Mac N Cheese and the Christening of my Beautiful Vintage Pink Pyrex

    I asked for some suggestions on what recipe I should make to christen my new pink Pyrex. One reader suggested some Mac N Cheese. I thought that was a GREAT idea!! So tonight I whipped up a recipe that was passed from my Dad's Mother down to My Mom and then on to ME. I grew up on this Mac N Cheese. It is pretty amazing and was easily converted to gluten free when I was diagnosed.

Macaroni and Cheese - gluten free

2 C. Gluten Free Pasta
2 C. Milk
2 Eggs
1 1/2 C Velveeta
1/4 C. Margarine
1/2 tsp. Minced Onion
1/8 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Parsley Flakes

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain and pour into a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. In a small sauce pan whisk the eggs into the milk. Add margarine, cheese, pepper and minced onions. Heat over low heat until cheese and butter are melted. Add paprika and parsley to the liquid mixture. Stir and then pour into the baking dish with the pasta. Toss to coat and then bake uncovered for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven and allow the dish to set for 5-10 min. before serving. Serve hot.

Cook your favorite gf pasta according to the package directions

Place the pasta into your baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Whisk the milk and eggs together. Add the cheese, pepper, minced onion and butter. Heat on very low until cheese and butter are melted. Don't cook at too high of a heat or you will cook the eggs.

When the cheese and butter are melted add the parsley and paprika.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes

Yummmmmmm

Beautiful pink Pyrex and amazingly yummy Mac N Cheese. Two great things!!

I hope you enjoy my family recipe of Mac N Cheese. I happen to think it's amazing. Enjoy!

-Jessica

If a jelly doughnut and a snack pie had a baby....gluten free Sufganiyot

     The other day Udi's sent out a link with some recipes for Hanukkah. In their list was this recipe for Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts). I do not celebrate Hanukkah, but I DO love jelly doughnuts. I knew I would have to give this recipe a try for sure!!  The original recipe comes from a blog called Gluten Free Bay.
      I looked over the recipe and decided that I couldn't shell out 5 cups of my expensive gluten free flour for a first try on a recipe. So I cut the recipe in half. Boy I am glad that I did. The 1/2 recipe made 30 little jelly doughnut pies!! I would have been frying pies all day with a full recipe! OY! I also made a couple other little tweaks (as always ha).
     After trying a couple of the Sufganiyot I decided they are not really a jelly doughnut. They are sort of like a snack pie, but not exactly. I decided that Sufganiyot are the result of if a snack pie and a jelly doughnut had a baby. They are yummy!
      The original recipe called for them to be rolled in sugar. However, I thought they needed a glaze, so I found a glaze recipe by Alton Brown and gave it a whirl.
     Here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Sufganiyot (the baby of a jelly doughnut and a snack pie)

1egg, beaten

1cup buttermilk

2 T. Butter, melted

2 1/2 C. Gluten Free Flour Mix

1/2 C. Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

3/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Xantham Gum

1/2 tsp. Pie Spice

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

1 beaten egg (set aside in a bowl)

Raspberry or strawberry jelly (seedless)

Glaze:

1/4 cup whole milk (or evaporated milk if you don't have whole)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat egg, buttermilk, and melted butter in a large bowl with a whisk.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold slowly into the wet ingredients, mixing by hand with a wooden spoon. When the ingredients are mostly combined, use your hands to knead a few times to make sure the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Sprinkle extra rice flour mix on your countertop or a large cutting board. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. If dough is sticky, work in more rice flour blend.

Heat 2 inches of canola oil until very hot (375 degrees F).

Use a glass, biscuit cutter or jar with approximately 3-inch diameter to cut disks out of the dough. Place 1/2 teaspoon of jelly in the center of one disk. Brush the beaten egg you've set aside around the outer edge of the dough. Place a second disk of dough on top, and use your fingers to crimp the edges until they are sealed. Repeat until you've used up all the dough. Remaining dough scraps can be rolled into balls ("donut holes") and fried.

Carefully place sufganiyot in hot oil with a slotted spatula. Cook until very brown on one side. If necessary, turn the donut over and brown on the second side. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with two layers of paper towel or brown paper. While warm, roll sufganiyot in the bowl of sugar to coat or prepare glaze and dip warm doughnuts into the glaze. Let dry slightly on wax paper. Best served warm.

Glaze Instructions:
Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Sift confectioners' sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a waxed paper for 5 minutes before serving

If you are like me, you don't keep buttermilk in the fridge. However you can make it by adding about 1T of lemon juice to a cup of regular milk. Wait a few min. for it to "work" and you have buttermilk.

Using your wooden spoon, work the wet and dry ingredients together. I had to add probably about 1/2 cup of extra flour to my mixture. It was VERY sticky when I added the 2 1/2 cups.

When working with gf dough I always lay down plastic wrap. I cover the dough with plastic wrap too. GF dough is always so sticky and sticks to EVERYTHING! :) It will save you alot of headache if you use plastic wrap.

I used a drinking glass to cut my circles.

Drop your jam/jelly onto the middle of the dough circle. Brush with beaten egg and top with a second circle.

Use your fingers to press the edges and seal in the jelly filling.

Very carefully slide the doughnut into the hot oil.

Flip the doughnut over after it is golden brown.

I may have possibly eaten a doughnut before it was glazed....shhh ;)

I hope you enjoy the Sufganiyot. Even if you don't celebrate Hanukkah, these are still a yummy treat.

-Jessica

Healthy Fudgy Brownies...........isn't that an oxymoron?

Sometimes craving chocolate is serious business. Today was one of those days. I decided that I would make brownies. I also decided to give a new recipe a whirl. I did a google search for gluten free brownies and came up with a recipe that sounded "healthy". It included two different kinds of fruit!!!
      I am not sure fruit belongs in brownies, but I thought I would give it a try. I have been trying to eat more fruit and if you can get it in a brownie then I'm all for it!!
     Of course I had to tweak their recipe........I'm not one for following the recipe ha
Here is the link to the original recipe that I found in my google search: Emeril's Gluten Free- Dairy Free Brownies and now on to the recipe that it morphed into. (mine is not dairy free though, sorry folks)

"Healthy" Fudgy Brownies

 cooking spray
1 ¼ cups applesauce
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 mashed banana
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup Gluten Free Flour Mix
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 cups Milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 deg.  Generously spray a 8x8 pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl peel and mash banana (if it doesn't mash easily you can microwave it for about 30 seconds to get it smooshey). Combine all of the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Pour the mixture into the 8x8 pan. Bake for 45-50 min. or until toothpick in the middle comes out mostly clean (remember these are fudgy brownies).

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Ok, so this was a new recipe for me. It wasn't too bad. It was moist and gooey. I could taste the banana just a little. I think that next time I would leave the banana out of the recipe. I don't think it really serves a purpose. I like cooking with applesauce instead of lots of oil so I would leave that in. I think that applesauce also adds moisture to our sometimes very dry baked goods.

Overall this is a pretty good recipe, would be better minus the banana. So I would give it another shot sometime. It cured my chocolate craving for sure!!

        

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf......the meatloaf of champions!

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I sometimes use ground turkey)
1 c breadcrumbs (I usually use crumbled tortilla chips 1/2c and 1/2c minute rice)
1/4 tsp Pepper
2 eggs
1tsp minced onion
2 8oz cans tomato sauce

Topping:
1 of the cans tomato sauce
2tbsp. brown sugar
2tbsp. vinegar
1/2 C Sugar
2tsp. yellow mustard

Mix together beef, breadcrumbs (or tortilla chips/rice), pepper, and eggs. Add onions and one can of tomato sauce. Form into a loaf in a 9x5x3 pan. Bake at 350 deg. for 50 min. In a saucepan combine topping ingredients. Bring to a boil. Pour over the meat and bake for another 10 min.
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I can't take the credit for this recipe. This recipe is the meatloaf that I grew up on. It is my Mommy's meatloaf recipe. I never understood why kids hated meatloaf....my Mom always made yummy meatloaf!!!

This was one of those recipes that was very easily converted to gluten free. We tried several things instead of the bread crumbs and finally settled on a combination of crushed tortilla chips and some minute rice.

To me this is warm comfort food!! Enjoy.

-Jessica

Stuffed Pepper Soup

So, it has suddenly turned cold here. I am NOT a fan of the cold!! I turn into a blanket wielding, robe wearing, fuzzy slippered goon! I also tend to sway towards comfort food in the cold weather. Comfort food is warm. Sooooo I have been pinning recipes that are warm on Pinterest. If you aren't on Pinterest yet, you totally should be!! There are tons of yummy recipes (and of course crafty things to make, clothes, jewelry, etc). I found a recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup, however it didn't sound quite right to me. So I did a search for Stuffed Pepper Soup and found another recipe, but it also didn't sound quite right to me. Soooo I took what I liked from both recipes, and then added in my own ingredients that I thought would make it MUCH better. Below you will find MY recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup...and I have to say it is AMAZING!! 

Stuffed Pepper Soup

• 1 lb hamburger
• 46 oz. Tomato Juice (I used V8 to get more nutrients in)
• 28 oz. Diced Tomatoes
• 2 tsp. Beef boullion granules
• 1/4 C. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 Tsp. Garlic Powder
• 2 C Green Peppers-Diced/chopped
• 8 oz Long Grain Brown Rice (or white, but brown is healthier you know :) )
• 1/2 C Diced Onion
• 3 T Soy Sauce

1. Brown hamburger and onion in a large soup pot. When no longer pink drain off any fat.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until peppers are soft and rice is fully cooked (about 40-50min.)