Macaroni Vegetable Salad

When I was sick and in the middle of a move a dear friend brought us over a meal. It was so good! Much better then the Chex I had been eating for every meal while life was so crazy. I attempted to recreate it here.

Ingredients:

8- 16 oz Rice Noodles of your choice cooked and drained according to package directions (More or less depending on if you want more veggies versus pasta)
1 cup Tomatoes Diced (pictured above I used yellow and red tomatoes, but I've also used grape tomatoes and those are very good)
Handful of Spinach washed and cut into ribbons or chopped
1/2 Red Bell Pepper chopped into small pieces
2 Cellery stocks chopped into small pieces
1 Small head of broccoli chopped into bite sized pieces (Optional. I happened to be out of broccoli the last time I made this)
Italian Dressing of your choice
Chicken (optional)

Directions:
Mix all of the vegetables and pasta. Add dressing and mix well. In the above picture I added some chicken that I had previously canned. We have also added grilled chicken which is wonderful in the summer.

Taco Bake

A new favorite in our family is Taco Bake. It is adapted from this recipe I spotted on Pinterest:

3 cups cooked taco seasoned meat.
1 15oz. can tomato sauce
1 green or red pepper chopped (sometimes I add two because we really like peppers in our house)
1 package of gluten free spiral pasta cooked and drained (I have used rice noodles or corn noodles. Both turn out well.) 
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large sauce pan combine: taco meat, tomato sauce and peppers. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile combine pasta and sour cream in 8x8 baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Top with meat mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 325 for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

I recommend doubling the recipe. It's great for leftovers. 

Stir fry

The sauce:
4 cubes of chicken or beef bouillon
1 and 3/4 cups of water
1.25 tsp of ginger powder
1 T of garlic powder or 7 cloves of garlic minced
4 tsp of balsamic vinegar
2 tsp of brown sugar
pinch of black pepper
1/3 cup of white sugar
1 T of sesame oil
1/4 cup of canola oil
4 and 1/2 tsp of white vinegar
1/2 cup of pear juice
1/2 tsp of guar or xanthan gum
1 tsp salt

vegetables
sliced carrots
sliced green peppers
chopped broccoli

meat
4 pounds of beef roast trimmed of fat and thinly sliced

dissolve and mix sauce ingredients together until an emulsion is obtained between water and oil ingredients. lay meat in a glass pan and pour the sauce over it to marinate the meat from 1 to 24 hours. When desired marinating time has been reached, simmer the sauce and meat mixture on low for at least one hour. Steam vegetables and then add into the meat mixture before serving. Good over garlic infused basmati brown rice.

Mac and Cheese

8 oz of rice or corn elbow macaroni
1 medium red onion chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter
1 T corn starch
3 cups of 1% milk
2 cups of shredded mild or medium cheddar cheese

1. In a medium saucepan, saute chopped onions in 1/2 stick butter.
2. Stir in 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tablespoon corn starch.
3. Mix in milk slowly to attain a smooth consistency with no lumps, add in macaroni and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until desired texture is achieved.
4. Mix in cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and evenly blended into the mixture.

Mexican Rice

2 cups rice (we use basmati)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 chopped purple onion
2 tsp Taco Seasoning (see previous post for homemade recipe)
One 6 oz can of tomato paste
1.5 tsp salt
4 cups chicken broth

1. In a large Saucepan or stock pot saute onions in 1/4 cup oil and then add the rice stirring often to make sure the rice doesn't burn.
2. Once rice has browned slightly, add 2 tsp Taco Seasoning, 1.5 tsp salt, 4 cups of chicken broth and the 6 oz can of tomato paste.
3. Bring to a boil and then stir well to make sure the tomato paste has dissolved in the chicken broth. Once the tomato paste has dissolved, reduce heat, cover and and simmer until most of the broth has evaporated (I've never timed it, I usually monitor the steam coming out the top and use my nose to detect doneness).

tip: it may be easier to dilute the tomato paste first in a cup or so of chicken broth before adding it to the pot.

Dinner Idea: White Sauce with Rice and Chicken

Coming up with new gluten free meal ideas is difficult for me so I thought I'd post a few ideas we've come up with. Lately we've really enjoyed white sauce mixed with rice and chicken. It is very quick and easy, which is nice and it tastes pretty good as well.

White Sauce:

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons corn starch or rice flour
1 Cup milk

Directions:
In a small sauce pan over medium heat melt butter.
Add flour and stir until well combined.
Pour in milk and stir as mixture thickens. Add more milk if needed to create desired consistency.
Flavor to taste with Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Pour white sauce over rice and serve with chicken.

Favorite Gluten Free Pizza

We tried lots of pizza recipes... most of which were utter failures. We also tried buying mixes... much of which were utter failures. Then I found the best recipe ever. Dan prefers to quadruple the recipe and subdivide the resultant dough into 5 sections, 4 of which are stored in the freezer in gallon sized freezer bags until needed. Here is the slightly tweaked recipe:

1 cup millet flour

4 cups white rice flour

1 cup tapioca starch or corn starch

2 cups potato starch flour

Scant 3 Tbs xanthan gum

1 Tbs. salt

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tbs. sugar for proofing yeast

1/4 cup active dry yeast (buy in bulk from Costco or Sam's club to save quite a sum of money)

Scant 3 cups warm water, (heated to 105 degrees)

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

8 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup Honey

DIRECTIONS:

Combine ricotta cheese, eggs, olive oil, vinegar and honey in stand mixer. Combine 1Tbs sugar, water and yeast to proof. Once proofed add the yeast mixture to the other wet ingredients already in the stand mixer. Mix together the remaining dry ingredients in another bowl. With the mixer on a low speed add the dry ingredients a little at a time to prevent a flour cloud. Once all of the remaining dry ingredients are added increase the speed to high for a duration of about 3 minutes. Then subdivide the dough into five parts, 4 going into freezer bags and into the freezer while the remaining portion goes onto a pizza stone (no extra oil is needed on the baking stone). Using a silicon spatula spread the dough over the stone creating a raised rim at the edges. Let the dough raise for about 15-20 minutes at 225 degrees F and then increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Remove the baked crust from the oven when golden brown and top with sauce and toppings (I don't set a timer, but can tell from the smell when it is ready to come out of the oven).

Put back in the oven at 350 degrees and cook for about 7 minutes maybe more. If you want your cheese to brown, turn the broiler on for about 2 minutes before taking the pizza out. It’s really good this way! Be careful though because the pizza will burn if left too long- we’ve burnt a few. By we I mean Makayla.