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I just realized this week that “Lardo” is actually a food and not just the name that my brother used to call me as a child… as in,

“Hey Lardo, shouldn’t you be running in place right now?”

No, I wasn’t an overweight child (though I don’t know why I swear I lived on pepsi and skittles for years!) actually I was quite thin… but you know how brothers are. Thinking of any mean thing to make you fuss. what a doll! I love him anyway.

so yeah, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don’t eat pork… but you would think as much time as I spend cooking, thinking of cooking, talking about cooking, buying food to cook, and watching cooking shows I’d have known that by now one way or another.

so…. here’s to Lardo! ( which I didn’t previously know existed and I wont be eating anyhow.)

This is a great article I found explaining how to use honey in place of sugar in recipes.

I sure wish I had stumbled upon this last year when I made the big switched from sugar to honey. It could have saved me a lot of burned and bland dishes   oh well… at least maybe some of you can learn with all the mistakes I made!

Sean has told me I now have earned myself a REAL KitchenAid mixer. I have hit my quota of baked goods I suppose. Does that make me a REAL housewife?  I’m so excited about the idea I’m almost giddy. no more trying to cream things with my 1969 wannabe stand mixer. No more trying to whip things by hand. I’m a real cook now, baby!

…. now only to find $229.00 plus shipping costs lying around somewhere…. I can wait. I don’t want to, but I can wait. It will just make it that much sweeter!

My recipes are on hold for the most part right now as we’re in the process of moving. I have many recipes saved on the recipe cards in both my kitchen drawer and my memory (which is always dangerous) that I plan on adding when I have the time.

until then it’s likely be pretty quiet here.

While there is nothing in my mind that could compete with warm flakey buttermilk biscuit, this serves the purpose well. It’s great with jam or eggs (that’s all I can attest to so far as it’s the only toppings I’ve tried yet!)  They have a slight buttery taste and if you keep in proper prospective that this should be a drop biscuit and not a roll and cut out biscuit, it’s really yummy.

I made these for the first time tonight and I am very pleased with them. I was dying for a biscuit so I tweaked by “corn-less cornbread topping” recipe. This is what I came up with.

Biscuits

dry:

• 2 C  blanched almond meal/flour
• 3/4 arrowroot flour
• 1/2 T baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet:

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 coconut oil or palm shortening
• almond milk (roughly 1/4 C)
• 3  T sugar **

Blend eggs well and sugar well, and add slowly add coconut oil or shortening. In separate bowl sift dry ingredients and slowly combine to wet while mixing. add almond milk as needed to thin. You’re going for a droppable biscuits, not a soupy mess. If by change you add too much milk let sit for a moment. almond flour expands and soaks up liquid. if it’s still too wet add more almond flour as needed.

drop by the spoonful onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated over at 350 degress for 15-20 mins.

these biscuits get done before they look done. they don’t have a large rise to them and by the time they are browning they’re past their peek of fluffy yumminess and on their ways to hockey puck statis – so stay nearby til you know how long it takes your oven to bake them to perfection.

**next time i will try honey in lieu of sugar – I was concerned it’d be too wet so I didn’t do it for my first try. I thought shortening would give it more of a biscuit buttery taste but I think I liked the coconut oil variety better. Let me know what you all think!

Those us of with high allergy needs often miss out on fun foods. Foods that are crumbly, sweet and warm get replaced with imitations that are dry, hard, and rubbery. It leaves you feeling punished for having an allergy. Isn’t it hard enough when you can’t eat something yummy at a get together? It’s just horrible to be promised GF/SF/EF/CF replacements that aren’t remotely close to the original. I rememer the very first GF dessert I ever tasted. It had been a month of watching other people enjoy their cookies and  treats while I tried hard not to think about it. I was depressed, frankly! and a local GF baker in Maryland offered me a taste of his GF cookies. I was SO excited!!! I could enjoy food again!

It’s funny thinking on that. The cookies honestly weren’t even good! I was just so excited about having *something* dessert like that the fact that it tasted like sugary grit didn’ even register! But surely, after the romance died down I was left feeling bored again. my tastebuds were so very sad.

It’s taken me about 3.5 yrs of being  gluten-free to come up with something worthwhile. I was previously living off of boxed GF cookies *shudder* and trying to ignore their lack of taste and abundance of cardboard like texture. But, then I had Vencenzo. time has shown us he is quite intollerant of many things i was eating. So now I am COMPLETELY free of (amongst many other little things):

• gluten *
• soy
• dairy
• corn
• fructose (meaning ALL fruits and many veggies)
• raw veggies  (see above)
• citrus
• leaf family
• berry family (which doesn’t include cran or blueberries as they are another family)
• pork *

(*would be off of anyhow)

I’ve finally come up with a few recipes for desserts that aren’t just “okay” by gluten standards, but dare I say… my gluten/dairy-loving relatives don’t know the difference.

——————-

Coffee Cake:

dry:

• 3 C      blanched almond meal
• 3/4 C  white rice floud
• 3/4 C  arrowroot flour (starch)
• 1/2   T baking soda
• 1/2   tsp salt

wet:

• 1/4 C  palm shortening
• 1 .5 C honey
• 8 eggs
• 3 cap fulls of vinegar
• 1 tsp almond extract

*crumb topping-

Start with these measurements. as always this isn’t an exact science. You will need to feel it here to make sure it’s right. If it’s too sticky add more flour. If it’s too crumbly increase shortening. If it’s too oily add more rice flour…. etc. each time in slightly different. You have to learn to eyeball some things in cooking – the inner baker will come out in you once your fear of cooking with GF flours dies down!

• 1/4 C palm shortening
• 1/2 C rice flour
• 1/2 C almond flour
• 1/4C honey
• 1/2 -1 T cinnamon
• optional: sliced almonds sprinkled on top

If you want it REALLY crumbly double the topping recipe- but don’t fill the muffins quite as full or they will overflow!

-

Pre-heat oven to 305 degrees. Fill a muffin tin (or 3) with parchment paper baking cups. With mixer cream shortening and honey adding slowly 1 egg at a time until each egg is thoroughly mixed. mix in vinegar and almond extract.

In separate bowl sift (of combine with hands, like I do!) all dry ingredients. Add in 3 steps with the wet ingredients until fully combined. use ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups 1/2-3/4 full and top with crumb topping. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until done. (you want it to not be too brown on top and still a bit moist – as always this will vary from oven to oven so try one batch first and see how it goes.)

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tips:

The picture above shows crumb topping – but I also tried them out as muffins – no fancy crumbly topping and everyone thought they were still good. I’m sure I’ll skip the crumb topping when I’m in a hurry.

You can make the topping in bigger batches and save for a couple of days in a sealed container in the fridge.

this week I’ve stumbled upon some new recipes I’m excited about. some from my own kitchen and one I found on another “allergy friendly” blog.

• coffee cake muffins
• steak with roasted mashed potatoes

soon to come!

While this takes time, it takes very little effort. Beans are cheap, simple and really good as a meal with rice or as a side.

To soak beans:

• 1 bag of Pinto beans (or Kidney/Black)
• cover beans with water – (4 inches above beans as they will expand)
• 1TBSP whey or vinegar

soak beans over night in this mixture (atleast 8 hrs).

Rinse and put into crock pot and add one diced onion, and cover with fresh water.

cook on low in crock pot until beans are tender (approx 3-6 hrs). add salt and pepper to taste.

YUM!

** use chicken stock in place of cooking water for extra flavour and nutrition

**my all time favorite is half kidney, half pinto.

**this is great to add to chili or over rice

I’m giving this it’s own post in the recipe section because it is so versatile. It can be used over chili (as in chili casserole), over top of cobbler, and for chicken pot pies.

Corn-less corn bread style topping:

• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 C Almond Flour
• 1 TBSP baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 honey
• almond milk (as needed starting at 1/4 Cup)

Mix all ingredients except milk. when everything is combined add enough almond milk ot make the batter pourable and not lumpy.

** for cobblers increase honey to 1/3-1/2 Cup and decrease almond milk

We don’t do casserole’s much in this house. We’re a meat, potatoes and veggie people here as it’s most allergy friendly… and I like it better   But, sometimes there is something we miss about having the ease of a casserole. Taking it out of the oven all browned on top and plopping it onto your plate like a perfect little squrre – reminds me of childhood! …and my mother’s version of Chicken Pot Pie… Mmmmm! ( <—— that’s ala Dawn Hall for you, Sean). for a long time I avoided casseroles like the plague because of the inevidable “cream of mushroom soup”…. which has soy, wheat and dairy in it right along with every type of preservative you could imagine. also? it taste like chemicals to me… bleh! since cooking everything from scratch I am much snoodier over chemical foods. So this weekI made TWO casseroles. both with decent success (except for by Cat who hates food all mixed together like every other SPD kid I know… but she’s a hard one to please so I still count it a success!) This was my favorite:

Chili Casserole with corn-less corn bread style topping.

Make a big batch of Chili.

Saute an onion (or 3 if you like them as much as I do) in oil with a little salt until translucent. You want to sweat the onions, not carmelize them so keep the heat at medium high and stir often.**

Combine onions into Chili mixture and pour into a baking dish. over top pour Bread mixture and bake at 350 degress for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 mins before serving so it firms up.

——–

Corn-less corn bread style topping:

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 C Almond Flour

1 TBSP baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 honey

almond milk (as needed starting at 1/4 Cup)

Mix all ingredients except milk. when everything is combined add enough almond milk ot make the batter pourable and not lumpy.

**ALWAYS start with a hot pan. do not add food and then turn the heat up or it will stick. (can’t stress that enough)