Black Forest Muffins (Recipe Review)

I bought this book from Thrift Books.

Finding gluten free items, whose texture isn’t off, is proving elusive.

Even more elusive is finding nut free items because everyone likes to use almond meal as a flour substitute.

While there are some recipes in this book that use almond meal, the bulk do not.

They use a brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch mixture.

We decided to try the Black Forest Muffins first.

My notes:

1.  I used nut free dark chocolate chunks and home dried tart cherries.

2.  I used vanilla to avoid the nut issue.

3.  I ended up with 12 decent sized muffins.

 4.  They took the full 22 minutes to cook.

The overall verdict is these are FABULOUS!

The texture is perfectly soft and not at all gritty!

I cooked these late in the evening and I apologize for the lighting.

This was the best I could get of the inside.

I’m hoping you can make out the cherries and chocolate chunks.

I want to either try pumpkin or gingerbread next.  

Holiday Baking — Ready or Not, Here it Comes

The holiday season is coming.  It always does whether I am ready or not.   😏. This year I am determined to be ready.  Starting early November we have a slew of celebrations.  We have three birthdays within the first two weeks of November.  My husband’s family is coming to visit for a long weekend.  Thanksgiving will be in there somewhere.  Then in December we have all the Christmas festivities. This year we have rented a beach condo for the holidays and I will be packing all our food.  With all that in mind, I’ve decided to practice a few easy desserts to make sure I can pull together one or two items that will work for the whole family.  I do not intend to be cooking multiple separate meals.

I ordered these books, along with three more I’ll share soon, from Thrift Books.  

I paid total for the 5 books less than one book cost new.

Like most gluten free books do, these contain some recipes I cannot use because of the nut content, but all in all I believe I will be able to use most of them.  

I’m quite used to “regular baking” by the seat of my pants, but I am still not ready to do that with gluten free products.

I don’t feel like I have perfected the ratios.

My town does have some options for gluten free products.

The Aldi has a small selection;  the Walmart Neighborhood Market does, too.

A couple of the nicer stores do, but I have difficulties frequenting them because of the fresh seafood counters.

After carefully reading over the recipes and some online searching, I decided to take advantage of a Vitacost coupon.

I was able to order my baking supplies for 20% off and receive free shipping.

I opted to order spice cake mixes because of their versatility....I’m dreaming of cake doughnuts, pumpkin muffins, carrot cake, chocolate chip muffins, and gingerbread.  However, what I really wanted was the flours to create the “base” for most of the muffins and desserts.

When it was all said and done there is about $55 worth of supplies there.

Not the most inexpensive, but not bad as far as the cost of gluten free flours go.

We have tried the Namaste all purpose blend and while it is okay, I am hoping we will like this homemade version better.

If we don’t then I’ll either go back to the Namaste or perhaps try another blend.

The nut and peanut allergies limit the varieties I can buy, so I have high hopes for homemade version.

I’m not affiliated with Vitacost in anyway, but I will say that I love how easy they are to shop from.

I also love that they do a quick turn around on shipping.  

I placed my order Tuesday evening, and it arrived by Thursday morning.

Beef and Broccoli Casserole (Recipe Included)

This recipe was a relatively easy one to convert to gluten free.

As usual I made a few changes:

1.  I used frozen broccoli and steamed it slightly before adding it.

2.  I made a white sauce and added cheese to replace the broccoli soup.

3.  I used gluten free bread crumbs.

4.  I cooked my rice with beef broth for added flavor -- used the Instant Pot for ease.

I made my casserole up in the morning and refrigerated it until I was ready to cook it.

Then looking at my general idea of the menu plan:

I went ahead and cooked 3 pounds of beef while I was at it.

I had 4 pounds in total, but the 4th was made up into patties.

1 pound went into this casserole, 1 pound was taken out of the pan (plain), and 1 pound had taco seasoning added.

Easiest Roast Ever

My daughter rarely raves about any food that isn't sweet, but she loves this roast.  Kind of amusing to me, because she is even willing to pick the pieces of onion off....(any of you, who read here, know she has texture issues with onions).

 I'm trying to continue the "fall in love with your cookbooks again" project.  I hadn't made this particular dish since last summer.  I'm not sure why.  However, finding a piece of beef on mark down was the perfect excuse.  This recipe is super easy and uses very few ingredients.  Also, I like that it uses ingredients I pretty much always have on hand.

 The only substitution I make is to use Braggs Liquid Aminoes, because I cannot use soy sauce.  That runs my cost up a little bit, but I offset it by buying in bulk.  I keep the huge bottle hidden in my pantry away from the light, and it lasts me quite some time.

 This recipe is from the Fix It and Forget It Big Cookbook.  (I bought my copy used -- hence the name written down the side..lol. I love reading it for inspiration, even if I don't follow the recipes exactly.)

I use whole wheat flour to coat my roast with.  

This evening, when I serve it, I will thicken the sauce a touch if it needs it. 

Most of the time it doesn't require much, if any.

My daughter has requested rice and veggies with it.

We haven't decided on the veggie, but it will be whatever we have on hand.

Chicken Chili

 

As part of the loving your cookbooks challenge, I am trying to make a point to justify having all these cookbooks around.

Last night, just before bed time I settled in to look for some recipes.

We had chicken and rice on the menu, but after talking about it we decided we didn't really want chicken and rice.

I had the chicken thawing in the refrigerator, and I knew I wanted to do a slow cooker meal today.

I pulled out my giant crockpot cookbook and started flipping through chicken recipes.

After some back and forth, we agreed upon chicken chili.

I put just under 2 cups of navy beans in water to soak overnight.

This morning, I cubed my chicken, drained the beans, and tossed in all the ingredients.

I forgot to photograph the peppers and I also added a heaping teaspoon of chicken bouillon. 

We did not add jalapeño peppers or onion.

I used onion powder.

I also won't add my salt until the beans are tender.

Cookbook Challenge

One of the things that I always have niggling in the back of my mind the question of how to best use my food storage.  Since Kimmy, of She's in Her Apron, issued a "fall in love with your cookbooks" challenge, I thought I would dig out a food storage cookbook.

This cookbook is a little different than my usual cookbooks.  The basic premise of this book is that the meals use "nothing fresh or frozen, and no water."  (Page 1 of 100 Day Pantry)  However, in the spirit of true food storage and frugality I am going to alter the recipe for Chicken Taco Soup.

(You'll notice I had already written a note to use black beans instead of ranch beans.)

So what am I using?

1 jar of my homecanned chicken

1 cup of dehydrated corn (because I have a #10 can open)

A jar of salsa

2 cups of homemade chicken broth

1 jar of home canned cranberry beans

1 chipotle pepper

Garlic, because it makes everything taste better

1 or 2 teaspoons of cumin

1 cup of whole wheat pasta

1/2 cup of water, because I added dried corn

I'm dumping it all in the Intant Pot and cooking it for 9 minutes.

Serving with shredded cheese and crackers for a quick "girls' day lunch."

 

New to Me

I admit to being a total book lover.

So far this year I've picked up 5 new books to come home with me.

The Taste of Home Fast Fixes with Mixes is one I have been checking out from the library.

I had a chance to buy a copy for a penny.  I paid $3.99 in shipping for a total of $4.

Now I know that mixes may not seem like the most frugal option at first, but as I have mentioned before I am not cooking for many people anymore and sometimes a small mix is just the right amount.

I also bought this book with a second consideration.

My daughter, who for various reasons has difficulty with slicing/dicing/etc., needs to know how to not rely on take out as she goes out into the world. Mixes are a good alternative for her and we are working on building up a repertoire of dishes she likes and can prepare easily.

The New Basics Cookbook came home from the library booksale.  

I paid $2.00 for it.  

Reading the bread recipes alone made me feel like it was well worth what I spent on it.

The Souper Recipes with Campbell came home from the same booksale. 

I paid $1.00 for it.

It falls under the same category as the Mixes book and I am actually looking forward to trying some of these recipes.

The last two books were for me and also from the library booksale.

I love reference books of all kinds and at $1.00 I couldn't pass up the book of synonyms.

The book about Ben Franklin ($1.00) is one I'll read and put back on my shelf.

He is an individual I have always found fascinating and I am looking forward to reading this to see if I learn anything new.

Recipe Meh (keeping it real)

One of my goals has been to try some new recipes.  Today we decided to try a stir fry that has ramen noodles as a base.  For full disclosure, I did alter the meat and veggies rather than use the original recipe.  However, by my estimation that shouldn't have changed the overall taste.  The recipe was from a Taste of Home cookbook. This recipe fell short of our expectations.  It isn't horrible, but it isn't great either.  It isn't well seasoned.  I'm sharing what I did and then I'll share what I would do differently if I ever make something similar to this again.  

I thawed a bag of stir fry veggies, which I heated in the wok.

I added cooked chicken breast.

When this was heated through, I added the pack of chicken flavored ramen noodles, the seasoning packet, 1 cup of water, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Then the recipe calls for it to simmer until the noodles were done, which we did.

 

(The original recipe called for pork and fresh stir fry veggies, but the rest was pretty much the same.)

   

 

Like I said, "It's just meh."

Despite me adding additional Braggs Liquid Aminos (my soy sauce substitute).

 

 

 

In the future, I'll approach this a little differently.

 

I'll cook my veggies and meat and add some onion powder and garlic powder.  Perhaps a dash or two of soy sauce.

I'll prepare my  noodles separately.

 

When they are done, I will drain them --  all but 1/4 cup of liquid.  I'll add the soy sauce and the seasoning packet.  Then I will serve the veggies over a bed of the seasoned noodles.

 

I'm hoping that will combat our biggest complaint -- the seasonings simply weren't the pop we were looking for.

Honey "Baked" Chicken

One of the "you tubers" I like to watch, Kimmy of She's in Her 

Apron, issued a cookbook challenge encouraging her viewers to pull out some of their cookbooks they don't use a lot and pick a recipe or two to try each week. The goal is to fall in love with them all over again.

 

I love to use my slow cooker and I don't know why I don't branch out more from the same old recipes.

I guess I just fall back into the familiar. 

 

This week I decided to slow cook a whole chicken and I pulled out my "big cookbook" of slow cooker recipes.

This recipe is my adaptation of Honey Baked Chicken.

 

I had a partial bottle -- a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard I wanted to use up.

I added a teaspoon of paprika.

There was just a touch over 2 tablespoons of honey in my bottle I wanted to use up, too.

I added a bit of salt and pepper and brushed it over my cleaned chicken.

 

 

 

I let it cook on high until the chicken was fall apart tender.

 

The results:

 

 

I picked all the meat off the bones.

I'm dividing it into three meals' portions.

1 portion for risotto with peas

1 portion for chicken tacos

1 portion for a stir fry

 

I know that is chicken three meals in a row, but the seasonings will give it totally different tastes each time and I think we will be fine with it.

 

A Gift

I came home from vacation to find these waiting for me.  Anyone think my husband is trying to give me a hint?

We've already tried one of the cookie recipes and they were great.  I'm leaning toward trying a cupcake recipe next.

Thinking Ahead to Christmas

I found these two used books for $1.89. Not only an I thinking ahead to Christmas gifts, but the recipes are great pantry staples users.

Vanilla Birthday Cake

This recipe from Duff Bakes is wonderful--Two thick layers, avoids my allergens, and my grandson loved it.  I topped it with a simple buttercream frosting.

Sorry for the messy cake plate photo. The after photos with a clean plate and slices were blurry.

Duff Bakes -- A Cookbook Review

One of the things I love to do best in this world is bake. I originally checked out this book from the local library and I quickly found that it was one I would refer to over and over. (While I have always loved to cook from scratch recent diagnosis of anaphylactic allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and fish have made it a necessity.  I am amazed at what they put in things or process them with/next to.)

Duff Bakes by Duff Goldman and Sara Gonzales is a fabulous book.  There are a few recipes where nuts are prominent and I can't adapt them, but all in all I believe more than 95% of these recipes will work for my family.  

We started out by trying the Chocolate Cream Pie with Oreo Crust and Marshmallow Meringue. (To be safe I just ate some of the filling, but my family loved the pie.

The crust is simple -- crushed Oreos and butter.  The filling is a chocolate custard that uses both cornstarch and egg yolks. It is cooked in a double boiler.  The meringue has traditional ingredients with melted marshmallows added.  (I had never made meringue with these added, but it held its shape well and did not weep -- even by the second day.)

My family ranked this pie a keeper. Their second request was the Vanilla Birthday Cake, which is similar to a "Funfetti" cake. I will share how that turned out later this week.