January 31, 2012

At football parties, few things frustrate me more than a plate of piping hot pigs in a blanket that I can't eat. (My team losing would be the #1 thing that frustrates me. I'm looking at you Green Bay.) A few years ago, I grew tired of this--it was time for a gluten-free version.

Traditional wheat-based pigs in a blanket are often made with store-bought dough, usually crescent dough or puff pastry. Those of us on the gluten-free diet currently don't have the option of using pre-made dough. While not as easy as popping open a can of dough, this gluten-free pastry isn't tough to make.

To prepare the dough, simply cut some butter (or shortening) into dry ingredients, add an egg and some milk and stir until a firm dough forms. That's it.

These can also be made ahead of time and frozen. After wrapping each wiener in dough, place them on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about three hours, until they're firm. Then place the pigs in a blanket in a plastic bag and return to the freezer.

When you're ready to serve, preheat the oven and bake from frozen. . . . keep reading

November 21, 2011

A few years ago, when one of my readers asked me to create a gluten-free version of Campbell's green bean casserole, I was excited. Until then, I had never eaten the classic Thanksgiving side. After perfecting the recipe, a funny thing happened: several of my friends revealed themselves to be secret green bean casserole lovers. Now I make this for Thanksgiving every year. Another huge part of the tradition is munching on the freshly fried onion strips.

July 9, 2011

I love coleslaw. But I don't love all coleslaws. First, I'm allergic to carrots. So many versions of coleslaw are off-limits to me. And I don't love soggy 'slaw.

This recipe, which uses red peppers and onions, is carrot-free, of course. Plus it uses mayo but not too much. It's also really easy to make. From start to finish, it took me about ten minutes. . . . keep reading

June 29, 2011

Thanks to a mix, it takes only minutes to whip up a batch of these cute cupcakes for the Fourth of July. . . . keep reading

My favorite ricotta cheesecake kicks off "Cake of the Month". It's lighter in both taste and texture than cream cheese cheesecakes. And, if you've never had one before, you might be surprised by the texture. It's slightly "gritty". But not in a bad way, I promise!

I like this cheesecake flavored with . . . keep reading

Each month I'm making a new cake for my "Gluten-Free Cake of the Month" column. Bake along with me and you could win a great prize!

This month we're making a lemony ricotta cheesecake! Let's get started! . . . keep reading

Have you ever eaten Italian Wedding Soup at a wedding? Probably not, and there's a good reason why: the name for this dish most likely comes from a mistranslation of the classic Neapolitan soup Minestra Maritato, which translates to "married soup". The soup's name doesn't refer to a marriage between people, but to how well the meat and greens work together in the soup.

Like Minestra Maritata, Italian Wedding Soup combines meat and greens, usually meatballs and spinach. My version is fairly simple to make. Just keep a few things in mind and . . . keep reading

A great pancake-waffle divide exists in my home. I'm a pancake person. My husband? He loves waffles.

For years I made waffles that I adored. They were delicate, with a slightly crisp exterior and a soufflé-like interior, and, thanks to a bit of buttermilk, they had a mild tang.

One morning my husband looked down at his plate and said, "You know, I don't love these. They're too soft, too pancake-like. I like waffles to be more, I don't know, waffley." You know you're in trouble when someone needs to make up a word like "waffley" to describe what they don't like about your cooking.

Looking at the recipe, I noticed that it contained a high percentage of wet ingredients. I decided to tighten the batter by increasing the amount of dry ingredients. This worked: the resulting waffles were crisp and no longer pancake-like. I made one more change. I swapped the buttermilk for milk in order to lose the buttermilk pancake-flavor. Now the waffles tasted, well, waffley!

These waffles are fantastically easy to prepare. Unlike some recipes, you don't need to whip the egg whites to lighten the batter. A generous amount of baking powder provides the lift, giving you a light, crispy waffle.

To make preparing the waffles even easier, measure the . . . keep reading

Have you ever made crackers? Even though my love of crackers began at an early age, I'd never made a batch until I started baking gluten-free. I don't know why, but making crackers seemed mysterious to me. Turns out, it isn't mysterious at all! Making the dough is easy, especially if you have a food processor. You just need to cut the fat (butter or shortening) into the dry ingredients. Like making a pie crust, this creates little layers of fat that leave the crackers flaky when baked. But crackers need a little more than just cutting the fat into the flour to achieve the correct texture.

After a few batches, I realized the key to making crackers is rolling the dough thin. Really thin. If you don't get the dough thin enough, the crackers resemble a savory shortbread more than a true cracker. Enter parchment paper! When you roll the dough between two pieces of parchment, you can roll it super-thin without any hassle. After rolling, slide the parchment, dough and all, onto a baking sheet. Then just pull the top piece of parchment away and score the dough. Since the crackers are baked on the parchment, they break apart easily once baked. (And if this technique seems familiar, it's because we used it to make graham crackers this summer.)

Made with a combination of brown rice flour and sorghum flour, these crackers remind me a little of Wheat Thins, only better. They'd be perfect with any cheese you might be serving on New Year's.

Want flavored crackers? Add about one . . . keep reading