Summer Fresh Berry Steak Sauce

They say a good steak doesn't need any steak sauce. For the most part, that's true. There aren't a lot of options out there for a great steak sauce. The sauces are usually based on a brown-sauce style and include malt vinegar as one of the main ingredients. I usually only use salt and pepper lately and follow the Serious Eats philosophy for salting steaks at least 50 minutes before grilling. In addition, I love their Importance of Resting Meat  article as well.

Last week, I was out for dinner and I normally don't use steak sauce but the steak didn't have much flavour. So I had some HP sauce which is a British brown sauce-style steak sauce and it really didn't add much to the steak. So I'm sharing one of my favourite recipes. It's been modified from this recipe.  It's so simple yet so good.

Summer Fresh Berry Steak Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 pint raspberries, washed and dried
• 1 pint blackberries, washed and dried
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup GF Worcestershire sauce ( US- Lea and Perrins or Canada-Heinz London Style)*
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 20 drops hot pepper sauce ( or more to taste. the longer it sits, the hotter it gets, I use Frank's Red Hot)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1.  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine raspberries and blackberries and cook down for approx 10-15 minutes until berries have liquified and lost their shape. 
2. Strain berries through a fine mesh wire strainer until you have all of the berry juices that you possibly can. You will have a lump of thick berry residue in your strainer after this.                   
3. In a saucepan over high heat, blend berries,  brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, cider vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until thickened.               

I pour this into a few old sauce jars and it makes about 3-4 cups.
*Ensure you are using a Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce. Look under SAUCES for Lea and Perrins and Heinz which will be the London Recipe version.  Both are gluten free depending on where you are.

Slowly cooking berries down

Pour into strainer/sieve and press berries through. Scrape underside of mesh occasionally.

The remains

Nearly a cup of puree

Made over 1 3/4 bottles of sauce

Usually I buy a nice large tenderloin and cut it into smaller pieces to freeze or buy thick 16 oz steaks at the butcher and this sauce just compliments the beef so well. Sometimes, the heat of the sauce increases over time as you store it. It's perfect since berries are in season and it's the best time of year for grilling a nice juicy steak.

Gluten Free Chicken Fingers

It used to be a pretty safe bet that I would order chicken fingers in a restaurant. With BBQ sauce. Why look at a menu? You know I'm going to order it.

I'm not a fancy person. Gimme a burger, pizza, fries and I'm happy. Pub platters... I'm in heaven. Or I was.

It was a long time before I had chicken fingers again. There is some effort involved but as you'll see, I am set up for months after I make these chicken fingers.


Chicken Fingers

• Boneless chicken breasts
• Buttermilk
• Seasoned flour mix *see below - Flour is just a general GF mixture. 2 parts brown rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch, 1/3 part tapioca starch
• Oil for frying

Seasoned flour mix

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

This was for 2 cups of flour. If you want it spicier, add a little more.
 
Slice each chicken breast into however many pieces that you would like. Chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, chicken cutlets etc. 
Pour enough buttermilk into a bowl to cover the chicken, reserving a small amount (about 1/4 cup) of buttermilk.
Drizzle reserved buttermilk in the seasoned flour and stir lightly so that you see little clumps of flour start to ball up. Just a few are good.
Dredge the chicken breast pieces in the seasoned flour mix.
Let them rest for a few minutes in the mix while the oil preheats to about 375F. 




Time to deep fry some fingers!

When I make them, I prepare them for freezing. I love convenience food. It fits my schedule.
After letting them rest in the flour mix, I put them in the deep fryer at  for about 15 seconds, just long enough for the flour to set and slightly crisp up. Drained them and onto the parchment paper they went and then into the freezer overnight.Then they were bagged and kept in the freezer until needed.

I do small batches so that I can get them into the freezer as soon as I pull them out.

Of course, should you wish to deep fry them all the way, go for it and they probably take about 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

When you're ready to bake them, they'll need about 20 minutes at 350F to bake through.Convection is best or on a rack so the heat will circulate around them.  I use my NuWave oven ( Flavorwave oven)  which is a small convection oven and it takes them about 17 minutes.

 Or..... toss in a homemade buffalo wing sauce. Equal parts butter and hot pepper sauce such as Frank's Red Hot for a medium heat.

Serve with plum or BBQ sauce. Sweet Baby Rays is my choice for a spicy sauce.

Anytime I want chicken fingers, I have them now. I can also prep these as chicken cutlets for chicken parmigiana or breaded chicken burgers etc. I usually wait until chicken is on sale and then slice up some chicken for stir-fries as well. I'll buy a few packages and then prep up all kinds of breaded cuts and just increase the flour and seasoning as need.

 Frozen GF chicken fingers are definitely the way to go for me.

Raclette - October Unprocessed

Raclette? What? What's that? It sounds kind of .... French.

Well it is. Raclette is a semi-firm cow's milk cheese that is really good for melting. The dish began in Switzerland where it was originally left near the fire and it would start to melt and you would scrape ( the verb racler) it onto your plate to eat with items like small potatoes, gherkins, dried meat and bread.


There are 2 types, one that holds a large round of cheese and the other with a grilling top section and then little trays that slide in underneath that broil the cheese.  I wanted the grilling type.

In the summer, I went to a garage sale and they actually had one. Completely unused and they didn't have a clue what it was for. $20 later and it was mine.

My New Grill!!!

Have you ever fondued? Well I suppose this is kind of like that. You cook your own food.
I love fondue.

Anyways, I thought this would be good as October is Unprocessed Month over at Eating Rules and this is full of pure, simple foods.

I'm a mozzarella/cheddar girl and those have to be melted for me to eat them. I don't eat other cheeses except parmesan. I was in Quebec a few weeks ago to visit a friend and they had just had raclette the night before and told me all about it.   We visited the grocery store while I was there so I could pick up some snacks and they had  a ton of sliced fondue meats and also the raclette cheese which I decided to try.

There's no real recipe here.


Cooked food: 
Small potatoes - Steamed/boiled until cooked through. Placed in a bowl lined with a teatowel to keep warm.
Focaccia - I made Annalise Roberts' focaccia. Quick and easy

Raw food:
Shrimp - peeled and tail-off
Thinly sliced chicken breast
Partly steamed broccoli - just to give it a head start
Peppers - thinly sliced
Raclette cheese and mozzarella cheese
Onions - thinly sliced red onion
Ham - thinly sliced
Garlic butter
Parmesan

That's it.

Sit down to enjoy and cook.

Getting ready to move it all to the table

 I know you'll understand but I had to taste the focaccia to see how it turned out. Then I  ummm...had to try it with some olive oil and herbs. Then some olive oil, balsamic and herbs. Then others had to try it. So pardon it's shape  please.

Chicken, broccoli, onions, peppers and cheese

Okay so the focus is off but what do you expect? I have food in front of me. This is garlic buttered focaccia with cheese melted on it.

We had lots of extra trays so we could experiment. You can cook on top of the griddle or half on top/half broiled or fully broiled.

Some raclette ideas: 
Precook some chicken, broccoli, onions and peppers.  Add garlic butter to grill top if you like
Add these items to try and add cheese and broil until melty. Melty is a new word I use in cheese cooking.
Serve with bread.
You could even do it fajita style if you have some corn tortillas.

Ham/Cheese/Focaccia

Garlic butter/focaccia/cheese


Shrimp/garlic butter/cheese - cooked until pink and cheese is melted

The true way: just cheese in the tray and then when it's melty, pour it on warm potatoes.
I did this just after I'd cooked the garlic shrimp so there was still garlic butter in my tray which drizzled on the potatoes. Oh my.
I wasn't expecting much from this. It's cheese. It's potatoes. But wow, cheese and potatoes...YUM!

A big salad started us off with my Greek Salad Dressing and I actually added a little bit ( 1/4-1/2 tsp) xanthan gum to help it stay in more of an emulsified state so it wouldn't separate as easily. Wonderful.

Simple. Pure. Good.

Sweet Honey Glazed Ham

Sometimes you want a nice meal that doesn't take a ton of bowls and pots and pans. Ham, glaze, sides. Done. This is a recipe I've used for years. It's simple and really compliments the ham.  If you aren't looking for a turkey for Thanksgiving or Easter, ham is always an excellent choice.

Sweet Honey Glazed Ham
adapted from All Recipes

• 1 (10 pound) fully-cooked, bone-in ham
• 1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 large orange, juiced and zested
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place ham in a roasting pan.
2. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, pineapple juice, honey, orange juice, orange zest, Dijon mustard, and ground cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. Bake ham in preheated oven uncovered for 2 hours. Remove ham from oven, and brush with glaze. Bake for an additional 30 to 45 minutes, brushing ham with glaze every 10 minutes. 

Chicken Stock, Red Onion, Green Pepper, Carrots. Toss all in rice cooker. Simple.

Steamed fresh green and yellow beans, tossed with butter and dill. 

Buns. Gorgeous. Delicious. Part of my Adopt-a GF blogger post soon.

All in all, a simple classic dinner. Tons of leftovers. Lucky me. 

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays .  



xo

Kathleen

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Beer Battered Fish and Chips

Beer. Belly. Bloat. I used to think I was allergic to beer. That's what triggered my search into my symptoms and finding a celiac diagnosis.

I would leave parties early looking 5 months pregnant. I would just balloon up. Or if I tried to stay and we would walk home afterwards, I could barely keep up since my stomach hurt so much.

When I would go golfing, our golf carts had coolers attached to them so we would fill them with beer and I always felt awful.

I could drink 1 beer and feel fine. Phew. Beer was safe! It was not to be though. As soon as there were a couple beers, the same things would happen.

We went looking for Gluten Free Beer and found only 1 kind in our small tourist town. Le Messagere. So pale and I didn't really enjoy it. Returning home on vacation, I tried New Grist. Not bad although after 2, I still felt a little tickle in my stomach. I wouldn't drink more than that anyway but still...

During my road trip through the US, we ended up one night in Flagstaff, Arizona. Completely on purpose so that I could go to Picazzo's for the pizza I had read about months earlier. There I tried my first Bard's Tale.
Just like a microbrew it seemed. An excellent beer.

Coming home, I do a lot of shopping in the USA because of their labelling laws and one of the last times I went over, I brought back some Redbridge. Another great beer.

I think the Redbridge and the Bard's Tale are my two favourites for drinking.
This leaves me with a bunch of bottles to use for my fish and chips.

As soon as I can't have something, I want it. So I started looking for a fish and chip batter. Sometimes it's all about the pictures. The picture can captivate you or make you pass by the recipe to keep on looking for another. When you find that picture that helps you to see the outcome, it helps the less imaginative person like myself.

I found that recipe.

Real English Fish and Chips with Yorkshire Beer Batter
Adapted from Food.com - Enjoy the recipe as is on Food.com if you are not eating Gluten Free

4 servings

Ingredients  

• 4 cod  fillets or 4 haddock fillets
• 1 cup Gluten Free Flour *my flour mix below
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4  to 1 bottle Gluten Free Beer - you'll need a few sips for taste-testing or to thin out your batter
• 1/2 lemon, juice of
• salt & pepper
• extra GF flour

2-4 Yukon gold or yellow fleshed potatoes
Canola Oil for Fryer

Heat oil up in automatic deep fat fryer  to approx 325F.
Peel the potatoes and cut into chunky sized chips. Rinse and dry thoroughly.
Fry chips for about 3-5 minutes until soft but NOT coloured. Drain and shake well and set to one side so they cool.
 
Put some flour onto a plate. Dredge the fish fillets in the flour thoroughly - this is VERY important, it stops the batter sliding off when fried! Leave the fish fillets in the flour whilst you make the batter.

Put flour, baking soda, salt and pepper into a large roomy bowl. Add the beer gradually, stop when you have a thick coating type of batter. Drink any beer that is left! Whisk thoroughly until it is smooth and there are no lumps.

Add the lemon juice  Mix thoroughly again.
 
Turn up the heat to 375F.
You can cook either the chips or the fish next now.
 
After the chips have cooled, they are ready for the second cooking. They will only take about 4-7 minutes for this second cooking depending on how long your first batch cooked for. You want them to still be on the paler, golden side while being cooked through. Once they are cooked, toss with salt and serve or hold in a warm oven.
 
Take one fillet of fish at a time and holding it by the tail or thin end (!) swirl it around the batter until well coated - plunge into hot oil immediately. As soon as it has crisped up and set, add your other fillets one at a time, taking out the first ones as they cook - about 5 to 8 minutes depending on the thickness.
 
I like to thin out the batter a little after this and throw in some onion rings as well.
It's generally a fantastic beer batter recipe whether you follow the GF modifications or not.

*Gluten Free Flour Mix
2 parts brown rice flour
2/3 part potato starch
1/3 part tapioca starch


Crisp batter, golden fries. What more could you ask for?



xo

Kathleen

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Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!

The smells of fresh herbs in the garden... Anyone can grow herbs and they are almost always going to grow just fine. My garden is bursting with oregano, thyme and rosemary. The vegetables didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped this year. Too much heat at the wrong time I think.

The brussel sprouts just didn't sprout, the beans looked deformed, the onion sets never took and the peas just tangled with the onions. My roma tomatoes did just fine and my pepper plants flourished. I must go pick some of the jalepenos though. I have some peppers drying inside for an upcoming chipotle dish.

I picked some of the basil early to make some pesto and we didn't have as much as I would have liked near the end of the summer. Off to the market and we came home with a nice large bouquet of basil.

I could definitely make more with this batch.

Years ago, at a restaurant I worked at, they made a pesto dipping oil for the bread for guests. I never enjoyed it then. I don't know what was wrong with me. A couple years ago, I bought a pesto dip/sauce/just pesto in a fancy jar at a festival and then I brought it to a party along with a baguette and some extra oil to make it a bit more of a dipping oil. It was incredibly addictive mainly because of all the garlic in it I think.

There are so many pesto recipes out there. I don't enjoy pine nuts and there are plenty of alternatives out there such as walnuts or almonds but I choose to leave it out altogether.

Easy Pesto

• 4 cups loosely packed basil, washed and dry
• 3-5 cloves of garlic or more - Hey, why not? I have no one to kiss.
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste

I throw all the ingredients into the Ninja ( food processor) and give it a few pulses.

Voila!!

I added lots of oil to it afterwards to swirl it up.

I had some Italian flatbread from GF Patisserie, and warmed it for a nice bread to dip.

We'd recently bought some fresh mozzarella to make Insalata Caprese... fresh tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt and pepper, maybe a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if you're feeling crazy.

We had just come from the market and I was planning on having some bread with pesto and since we had fresh cherry tomatoes, I decided to change up the Caprese a little.

Little ripe cherry tomatoes...

Fresh pesto...

And small chunks of fresh mozzarella...

The basil thoroughly mixes with the tomatoes and cheese for much grander flavour.

Another day, I wanted to make something along the lines of My Sundried Tomato and Basil Cheese Dip.

I was making some of the Easy Pesto and placed about 7 pieces of sundried tomatoes in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes until they plumped back up. Then I added them to the Ninja processor and pulsed it all on up.

I poured a little olive oil on some baguette from Aidan's Gluten Free and broiled it for a couple minutes and then added some of the Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto. Delicieux!

And to round out the Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!, a delightful little number I like to call Sundried Tomato Basil Stuffed Chicken. A little chicken, a little cheese, a little STB pesto, grilled on up...

Fresh new potatoes, green and yellow beans with dill and parmesan

I think I won't have enough frozen pesto to last out the year. Might need to start growing some indoors I think!

This post is linked to Simply Gluten Free's Gluten Free Photo Contest.

Gluten Free Tortillas

I had a craving for fajitas today.

I hate corn tortillas. Dilemma.

I'm sure they are perfectly lovely for some people but I like my nice soft flour tortillas that don't have the texture of sawdust.

I've tried a commercially sold brown rice version but wasn't that impressed with it's thawing capabilities.

I found this recipe on the Forums. When I first found out about celiac, I pretty much lived on these kinds of forums. Living Without.... Tortilla Recipe  
It's about halfway down the page.

This one is from the folks at Living Without magazine I've changed it up a little since I'm not a bean flour girl.

Gluten Free Tortillas
Gluten-Free Flour Tortillas
MAKES 6-8 TORTILLAS.

1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup sorghum or millet
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 TBs vegetable or other shortening
3/4 to 1 cup warm water

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients, then cut in or work in the shortening using a pastry blender or two knives or your hand.
2. Add the warm water, starting with 3/4 cup and mix well.
3. Continue to add water until a soft, cohesive dough is formed.
4. Heat a comal, tapa or griddle to medium heat. Then, form a ball of dough into a flattened disk, cupping the outside edges a bit to form a round.
5. Using a bollilo or rolling pin, roll into a round disk about 1/8 inch thick and about 8 inches in diameter or to your preference.
6. Bake one at a time on a hot griddle until the surface bubbles. Turn only once, the first side should have brown flecks.
7. Bake until the second side has slightly browned - should brown in a very short time.
8. Keep warm in a tortilla keeper or wrapped in a cloth until served.
Note: Will freeze in a sealed plastic bag for up to three months.

One of the posters who has made tortillas forever uses a tea towel to push down on the bubbles that form. 


Finally. Tortillas that taste just like flour tortillas. I made one into a quesadilla right away and it was fabulous. I froze them between parchment after this.

Later, we made fajitas and the first two I heated in foil in the oven after a very quick defrost. First one was great, by the time I was ready for the second one, it had kind of hardened again. I tried to heat it back up but it didn't work.

I had to try again. I took one out of the freezer and put it in the microwave, with a little dish of water and then heated it for about 30 seconds.Worked wonderfully this time. It was pliable during filling, eating and then even a few minutes later when I checked the end of it.

Quesadillas!!!

UPDATE!!!!

I recieved a tortilla press for Christmas and I wasn't sure how that would work since they work best with corn tortillas. I searched out a few websites and saw a note saying that flour tortillas didn't work well with the tortilla press due to the gluten. Well, well, well. Not a problem here. I used a combo of guar gum and psyllium fiber husk and added a little extra brown rice flour so that it wasn't sticky and then I was able to use the press.

It worked beautifully!!

Hot Dogs

A friend and I went down to Niagara Falls sightseeing one day and we were hungry and I had no snacks. I know. Bad. But we saw a hot dog vendor and I wanted one incredibly badly. There was no wheat listed in the wiener but they were also $7.50 which is a lot to pay for a weiner wrapped in a napkin.

A few weeks later I was shopping at Wegman's and saw a new product that they were carrying. I've tried some other Hamburger/Hot Dog/English Muffin type buns and they are always sooo heavy.

These were "The Grainless Baker". They felt a little heavy before I defrosted them but once I sliced into one, I knew it was going to be good. It smells a little sweet but after toasting, that went away and it was like a normal bun.

It's not crumbly and held up to being toasted on the grill and held together once the toppings were on. And by toppings, I mean only ketchup. There was an article in The Food Network magazine a month or so ago about hot dogs and their toppings and although the pictures looked great, I'm still just a ketchup only girl.

Nathan's Hot Dogs, The Grainless Baker buns and it's going to be camping heaven!!!!

Oven Fried Chicken

Dear Colonel Sanders,
I miss you. We used to be friends. Now we are enemies. Your delicious crunchy skin. Salty, greasy fingers. Remember how I would come to visit you? And you would give me buckets of chicken and crisp fries? Oh those were the days....


Last year, I drove through the Southern States, fried chicken capital of the world. Oh how I craved it. Obviously there was no way I could though.

I poured through recipes looking for the best. Cast iron fry pans, well seasoned. Frying lid on, then taking lid off, or maybe it was the other way around.

I had a whole chicken and attempted to cut it into 8 pieces. I've done it before in cooking class many many years ago. I must have failed. That poor chicken. I ended up with the kitchen shears and continued absolutely butchering the chicken.
Which is why I now use chicken drumsticks. Easy and it cooks nicely so you don't have to worry about different sizes, shapes and cooking times.

Easy Oven Fried Chicken

Preheat oven to 400°F .

• 8 chicken legs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups of seasoned gluten free flour - I used my regular flour Mix A
• 2-4 tablespoons of butter

Dip the chicken legs in oil or shake in a freezer bag with oil in it.

Transfer to a freezer bag with  seasoned flour and shake until all pieces are covered. I used

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

This was for 2 cups of flour but I found that was a little too much flour, not enough spice.

Carefully take out and let them rest on a platter.Make sure they don't have a really thick coating of flour since you're not really frying them.

In your roasting pan, melt 2-4 tbsp of butter and then carefully place each leg in the hot roasting pan.

After about 35-40 minutes, turn carefully and continue cooking for about 20 minutes or until golden brown all over.

Updated: 10/30/10

I made these again and decided to take a whole bunch of blurry photos for you. 

Apparently I need my eyes checked? 

Eat. Lick Fingers.

Check out more fabulous recipes at Gluten Free Wednesdays 

Pasta!!!!!

I've had pasta 3 times since I've been gluten free. I love pasta. Love to go for Penne with Tomato Sauce. I'm so plain... but why mess with a good thing.

I haven't been to a restaurant to try their rice pastas yet though.


I've tried Tinkyada and found that it had no flavour. The texture was fine but it just seemed strange, like something was missing.

Then I tried Schar penne and I've had that twice now. It's a fantastic substitute for me although it didn't heat up the next day very well but that could be my technique so I'll have to try again.

mmm, Perogies

I've only had perogies once in my life before these. Safeway Potato and Bacon. Boiled and then fried in bacon and onions. Bacon fried in onions. Onions fried in bacon. I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.

So why would I even want them now that I can't have them? Because I can't have them.
I looked around the Internet. Found an American supplier but it was really difficult to find out where they were actually sold. Okay.... Seems there is a Canadian vendor at a farm market northeast of Toronto. I don't feel like driving.

Found a couple recipes on different blogs and after my favourite bakery, GF Patisserie in Cochrane, Alberta, made some, I decided to try it.

Made the mashed potatoes for it with bacon and onion and honestly made 4 times too much but I was more than happy to eat it. It was incredible.

I used the dough recipe from The Celiac Husband but substituted my own flour mix. My mix already has the xanthan in it so I didn't use quite that much. Here it is:

Dough:

1 3/4 cups GF Patisserie Flour Mix
Some more for dusting
3 teaspoons Xanthan
2 large eggs
1 tbs. sour cream
1/2 cup water; more as needed
Butter
Salt & pepper

In a large bowl, combine the flour, eggs (Beat them first), sour cream, and 1/2 cup of water. If dough is sticky, add more flour.
While you fill the perogies, put 5 qt. water on to boil.
Drop the perogies in batches into the boiling water, stirring occasionally. When they float to the top, cook for another minute.
Fish them out with a spider and put them in a bowl. Sauté in butter, simply add some salt and pepper.

Here's the flour mix I used:
1 part brown rice flour
1 part white rice flour
2/3 part potato starch
1/3 part tapioca starch
Add 3/4 tsp xanthan gum for each cup of flour you create.


Bacon & Potato Filling:

3 medium starchy potatoes
2 tbs. unsalted butter; more as needed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced 2tbs. freshly grated cheese
BACON!


Ready? Wanna see?




Sour Cream anyone?

Now, to be honest, I didn't cook them right away. Laid them all out flat on a parchment lined cookie sheet and slid them in the freezer overnight. Bagged them up in individual serving.

Now, they are all ready to go whenever I want some. Kind of like going shopping at the grocery store in the freezer aisle. How great is that?


So, the leftover scraps? Rolled them out super thin to make a Chinese wonton. Deep fried them. Just as practice for when I want to make a Chinese meal. Yum.

Swiss Chalet

Sometimes you just want something familiar. When I was on vacation with friends in the Dominican a few years ago, we were chilling in the pool area, having some cocktails and lamenting the lack of familiar food. Granted, the food was great to me to me at least since I've always been a bit of a plain eater.

But the talk soon turned to Swiss Chalet. Rotisserie chicken with chalet sauce with french fries and a soft roll is a classic. We all made plans for a couple of weeks after the trip, to meet there and have dinner once again.


Now I can't eat the exact same thing that I did then but I don't mind. Quarter chicken with white meat, salad with Italian dressing and no bun and I'm a happy camper.


The fries are cooked in oil that sometimes fries other breaded items so I stay far away from that.

But other than that, it's a quick fantastic gluten free meal. Check it out here: Swiss Chalet Allergy Guide