What's for Dinner? Turkey Tenders

Last time I tried to make nuggets I used a 'just like McDonald's' nugget recipe. Well, I'm not a fan of those but my kids usually like that junk so I figured it was worth a shot. No go. I don't know if it was my choice of flour sub (buckwheat & something, IIRC) or what but DS1 would barely touch those things.

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I thought I'd try again and just be careful about the flour. I looked at a few recipes and then (largely because I didn't want to take the time to go fire up the other computer so I could print out a recipe) I made one up on the fly.

Here we go...I'm pretty sure this would work for anything you might want to eat a 'tender' of. Since chicken's a no-go for Ponyo, I used turkey. The quantities shown here fed me and the two boys, with 2 tenders left.

Turkey Tenders
2 turkey tenderloins, cut into wide strips
2 cups Chex cereal of choice, crushed (you might want to add just a tad of safe flour for better sticking, unless your crumbs are really tiny)
2 tsp California Garlic Pepper Blend (or other combination of spices to taste)
EnerG egg replacer to equal 2 eggs
1/2 cup safe flour (I used masa)

Put out three bowls: one for flour, one for egg sub, one for Chex cereal. Coat turkey tenders lightly with flour. Dip into egg sub and then into Chex crumbs, making sure the tenders are well coated. Handle tenders carefully so coating doesn't fall off.

Cook in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown and turkey is cooked through. Serve with your choice of dips, over pasta, whatever strikes your fancy!

Now, neither boy was a big fan of this until I gave them some dip. Then Wee Laddie ate three tenders (that's pretty good for him) and the Sprog at at least three. Nobody but me ate the green beans, but I keep trying. ;)

Hello, (Chocolate) Cupcake!

I am not a baker. I can make a pretty yummy (and easy) quiche but fat lot of good that does me now, eh?

The thing is, I have kids now. And they have food allergies. AND they go to birthday parties where other people eat cake & cupcakes & things that look yummy. Things my kids want to eat. And those parties don't usually have those treats in a top 8-free version. So bake I must.

Those of you who know me from other forums (TKWFA, mostly) know that I have a GF baking 'crush' (if you will) on Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess. I have only made a few of her recipes but I very much admire her a) writing, b) ability to create/convert a kick-ass GF (at the very least) recipe, c) the fact that she has some recipes I can use without making ANY substitutions, and d) she's given me the closest thing I've had to cheese in almost 2 years. That's almost love, baby.

Normally, when I have to make changes to a recipe I go ahead & modify the instructions and all so that I can post it here in its entirety without infringing on anyone's intellectual property. But I only made one tiny substitution to each of these recipes so I'll just link you to them on Karina's own blog. Look around, make yourself at home. She's not top 8-free but odds are you'll find some stuff there you can convert for your family without too much trouble.

I've made these cupcakes twice now, close enough together that I only needed one batch of frosting (I'm a light froster). I'm putting them on my short list of go-to cupcake recipes. My toddler liked them better the first time but now turns them down. I wonder if they're too strong for him...they do have a bit of a dark chocolate flavor to them. My sugar-loving, carb-junkie preschooler, on the other hand, would probably eat them all day long if I'd let him. And I'm not sure why but the recipe seems to give me quite a few more cupcakes than it's supposed to. Am I being stingy on cupcake height? Don't know. Like I said, I'm not really a baker...which should be reassuring, since these cupcakes turned out pretty well for me. :)

So without further ado, the GF Vegan Chocolate Cupcake recipe. The only thing I substituted was that I used oat milk in place of the coffee. My preschooler isn't so hot on the java yet. ;)

And the Vegan Coffee Icing recipe (just scroll down from the cupcake recipe). Again I subbed oat milk for coffee. I think I made mine a bit too thin (way thinner than Karina did, as you'll see) but I didn't want to thicken it as I was worried the powdered sugar flavor would take over. Honestly, I found it a tad strong already.

On a side note, I'm thinking the chocolate cupcakes would be divine with Karina's Vegan Orange Creme Icing. The orange creme cupcakes, by the way, were my last attempt at cupcakes and I thought the flavor was amazing, but I underbaked them. And my palm shortening was apparently past its prime so it never got creamy (ick...small globs of it stayed, well, globby). Those will be my next cupcakes and I'll post more then...if they're as good as I suspect they will be once properly baked.

All-Purpose Gravy

This recipe can be made ahead and even frozen.

1 small carrot (about 1/2 cup) peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 small rib celery (about 1/2 cup) peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 small onion (about 1/2 cup) peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
3 Tbs unsalted butter or shortening
1/4 cup safe flour
4 cups safe chicken/beef/vegetable broth (may be combined as desired, to taste)
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme
5 whole black peppercorns
salt and pepper to taste

Use food processor to chop carrot, celery and onion into 1/8-inch pieces (about five one-second pulses) or chop by hand.

Heat butter/shortening over med-high heat in large saucepan with heavy bottom. Once butter/shortening stops foaming, add vegetables. Cook, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes or until well-browned and soft. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes or until fragrant and thoroughly browned. This is what is commonly referred to as a roux.

Whisking constantly, gradually add broths to the roux. Bring gravy to a boil, skimming foam frequently. Lower heat to med-low; add bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns. Simmer 20- 25 minutes until gravy is thick and has reduced to about 3 cups, stirring occasionally.

Strain gravy through fine-mesh strainer into clean saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Use a Dutch oven to double the recipe; you'll need the extra space to brown all of the vegetables. Cook times will also need to be increased by about 50 percent.

You can freeze the gravy for later use. To thaw: Heat gravy plus 1 Tbs of water over low heat in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a simmer; then whisk to recombine gravy and restore smooth texture.

modified from this recipe for Make-Ahead Gravy

Squash-Buckwheat Pancakes

3/4 c buckwheat flour (or other safe flour)
1/4 c tapioca starch (or other safe starch/flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or sub in spices to taste: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc.)
2/3 c squash puree (I used the baby food kind 'cause we have lots of it)
add water to squash to equal 1 cup water, may need add'l water depending on thickness of squash puree

Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Mix squash puree and water thoroughly. Add to dry mix and stir well. If batter is too thick, add water to desired consistency.

Cook in lightly oiled skillet over medium heat. Turn pancakes when bubbles pop and leave a hole. Cook until golden brown.

Serve with desired toppings. I tried honey and strawberry jelly...both were good but the jelly flavor was a bit overpowering.

Subtle flavor in these. Very good pancake texture (not a weird GF concoction) and I liked having some veggies in there for added goodness. I'll be making this again, for sure.

Top 8-Free Muffins/Bread

It has come to my attention that there are some folks out there who are reallyreallyreally missing bread products. You just think they'll always be there for you and then all of a sudden, WHAMMO! Food allergies. Or Celiac Disease. Ugh.

This is a very flexible recipe for muffins/bread. The bread won't quite stick together well enough for a regular sandwich but I do like to use it for grilled sandwiches. The grilling kind of holds it together and then I use a fork to eat it so it's all good.

The prep on this is quite fast... maybe 10 minutes. (I'm slow.) And here's what one looked for a Thanksgiving dinner.

GF Muffins
1 cup rice flour
1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum or about 1/2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (I usually use grapeseed but have also used olive)
2 eggs/egg sub (I use 1/2 cup applesauce. I suspect flax goo would be better, but it's an allergen at our house.)
1 cup rice milk (I use oat milk)

And here are flour subs I've tried. We are rice-free.

Blend #1: Bob's Red Mill GF all-purpose flour.
Didn't really like this one. The beany flavor was way too strong for me.

Blend #2: This blend was pretty good, with just a tiny bit of sweetness to it.
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup sweet white sorghum flour
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour

Blend #3: I also liked this one but maybe not quite as well.
1 cup oat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another; mix each separately first. Combine wet ingredients with dry. Stir until well blended.

Add herbs/spices if you want...garlic, rosemary, basil, etc. I think it would be good with olive oil, rosemary and olives.

MUFFINS: Spoon mixture into muffin cups, bake at 350°F for 16-20 minutes.
BISCUITS: Drop batter directly onto cookie sheet, bake at 350°F for 16-20 minutes. These aren't very biscuity, really, I'd use the 'Buttermilk' Biscuit recipe instead.
BREAD: Pour mixture into greased bread pan, bake at 350°F for ?? (I didn't write down the timing...I'd try 40 minutes to start & go from there.)

In general, my feeling on this recipe is that you can use almost any combination of flours and you'll have a pretty reasonable muffin/bread. I will continue to play with this, as I think a person could come up with some really fabulous combinations. I look forward to hearing what you, friends/readers, come up with!

Orange Spice Cake

This recipe adapts well. We've got an orange allergy in the extended family so we've subbed lemon in for the orange ingredients. You can also try different jams on top. Lemon cake w/raspberry jam, orange cake w/strawberry jam, etc. You can also skip the jam entirely and top with fresh fruit. Lots of options. So far every one I've tried has been a big YUM. I adore this cake.

1 2/3 cups safe all-purpose flour
1 tsp xanthan gum (leave out if using wheat flour)
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 cup orange juice (increase to 1/2 cup for wheat flour)
1 Tbs orange zest
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 cup mild molasses, sorghum or rice syrup
1/3 cup oil (increase to 1/2 cup for wheat flour)
1/4 cup applesauce (can sub 1 egg)
1/2 cup orange marmalade

Dress it up:
whipped topping, optional
orange slices, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil (most cooking sprays contain corn and/or soy) a 9x9" baking pan and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl; add to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened; pour into pan.

Bake for 16-20 minutes (times may vary for different types of flour). To check for doneness: Insert a toothpick or knife and pull out. Cake is done when toothpick/knife comes out clean.

Spoon marmalade over warm cake. Cool on wire rack.

Dress it up if desired. Serve.