Takeout Chicken with Green Beans

 Chicken and marinade:

• 12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

The rest:

• 1/2 cup chicken stock or water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon white pepper 
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 - 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 1 pound green beans (trimmed and cut in half)
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

Mix together marinade ingredients and toss with chicken, set aside.

Mix together stock, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and cornstarch to make the sauce.

Preheat wok or large frying pan to nearly smoking hot and add 2 tablespoons of oil followed by the chicken and marinade. Cook stirring until chicken is cooked through, remove chicken.  Add additional 2 tablespoons oil if needed followed by the green beans. Sauté the beans for 2 minutes and add 1/3 cup of water and cover the pan for a minute and a half so they steam. Remove lid and stir in garlic, wine, and the sauce mixture. Add the chicken back in and stir, cooking until the sauce has thickened to your liking.

Notes:

I used all regular soy sauce instead of two kinds

I used mirin instead of Shaoxing

I added a tablespoon of MSG to the sauce mix

Mutabal Kousa - Zucchini Dip

 2 large or 3 smaller zucchini 

Olive oil

3 tbsp. Plain yogurt 

2 tbsp. Tahini

Juice of 1 lemon 

1tbsp. Chopped mint

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pinch of salt

Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and drizzle with olive oil. Char zucchini over a grill or under the broiler until very soft. Put zucchini, yoghurt, tahini, lemon juice, mint, garlic, and salt into a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Let sit for 15 minutes before adjusting seasonings to taste. Serve with vegetables or pitas.

Note: If I hadn’t made this myself, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was mostly zucchini.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

 Quick and easy comfort food.

• 1 tbsp canola oil 
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce, divided
• 1 1/4 cups water, divided
• 1 pkg (0.75 oz) powdered Italian salad dressing mix
• 1 cup Minute® White Rice
• 4 bell peppers
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 400˚F.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat with onion until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of tomato sauce, 1 cup of water and salad dressing mix. Bring to a boil.
• Stir in rice; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cut tops off peppers. Scoop out seeds and discard. Mix remaining tomato sauce and remaining water in bottom of a 9-inch baking dish.
• Place peppers in baking dish. Spoon meat mixture into peppers; cover with foil.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until peppers are tender. Spoon sauce from the bottom of the dish over peppers just before serving. 

Notes:

Mine baked for 30 minutes on the convection setting.

I used my cookie scoop to get the stuff into the peppers.

Minute Rice is pretty perfect for this use. 

Patriotic Jello Jigglers

 Ingredients
2 3-ounce boxes strawberry Jello
2 3-ounce boxes berry blue Jello
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 0.25-ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin (i.e. Knox)
Boiling water

Instructions

• Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, stir together 1 box of the strawberry Jello, ½ an envelope of the Knox gelatin and 1 cup of the boiling water, ensuring everything has dissolved. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the refrigerator to set, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup boiling water. In a separate small bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of the unflavored gelatin over ½ cup cold water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Add ½ cup boiling water to the unflavored gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve. Pour into the sweetened condensed milk mixture and stir to combine.
• Once the red layer is set, pour 1 cup of the milk mixture over the red layer. Place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
• Repeat the layers, alternating the red and blue between the white layers, with blue being your last layer. Ensure that the colored Jello mixtures cool to room temperature before pouring over the previous set layer.
• Once all of the layers have been poured, refrigerate for at least 4 hours. When ready to serve, run a thin knife around the edges of the pan and turn the Jello out onto a cutting board. Cut into squares and serve, refrigerating any leftovers.

NOTES:

• A 1/2 pack of knox gelatin is about 1.25 teaspoons
• This goes quicker than it looks.  As soon as one layer goes in the fridge, make the next one, and it's cooled off a bit by the time you add it. (15 minutes or so).
• I made it my square rubbermaid container (a little bigger than 9"). Photo as a reminder for next time.
• Having a level shelf in your fridge is helpful.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

I brought some lemons back from CA (and bought more at Costco) with the intention of trying to make lemon marmalade again. Last time was good, but a little overcooked. This time I got lucky and it's pretty close to perfect.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 pounds Meyer lemons
• 2.5 cups sugar
• water (3 cups needed for the actual jam recipe, but start with more for boiling)
• Pomona's Pectin (I bought this in CA.  Not sure if it's available locally, but it's really a unique product that allows me to successfully make jam with less sugar.  It's a 2 step process - definitely different than using SureJell, so read the directions carefully.)

PREPARE THE PECTIN 

• Prepare the Calcium Water.  To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.  Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
• For this recipe, mix 4.5 teaspoons of pectin powder with 2.5 cups of sugar. 

SOFTEN THE LEMON PEELS

• 1.5 pounds of washed Meyer lemons (round the weight up if necessary, but don't cut a lemon to keep it at 1.5 pounds. I weighed 1 lb, 12 ounces for this batch.)
• Place in a single layer in a pot, cover with water, bring it to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes. (Cover with a lid to keep your water from evaporating.)
• Cool until you can work with them.
• Save the cooking water.

COMBINE INGREDIENTS 

• Cut each lemon in half and remove the seeds.  The lemon is pretty broken down after all that simmering, so use a cutting surface that will hold the juice that tries to escape.
• Peels and all, put them in the blender with 3 cups of the cooking water. (I divided the lemons and water in half to do this in 2 steps.  Not sure my blender would have held it all and I didn't want to overprocess it.)  
• I processed it on my slow pulse setting so it would roughly chop but not puree.
• Pour it into a pot and bring the water and chopped lemons to a boil.
• add 3 teaspoons of prepared Calcium Water (1 part of the Pomona's process)
• Add pectin-sugar mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the marmalade comes back up to a boil.  Once the marmalade returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.

PROCESS THE JARS

• Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.

NOTES (as if I needed more):

Food in Jars has a more traditional marmalade recipe but it's lemon ginger.  That sounds pretty great so I might use my extra lemons along with a tube of Aldi Ginger Paste to try this all over again.

I used bits and pieces of all these recipes.  Take a look if you want to refer to someone who knows what they're talking about.

• https://pomonapectin.com/orange-marmalade/
• https://foodinjars.com/recipe/meyer-lemon-ginger-marmalade/
• https://foodinjars.com/recipe/honey-sweetened-meyer-lemon-jam/

I'm pretty sure this is all firmly in the ranks of rambling, poorly written recipes, but since there are basically 5 readers, I'm not too concerned.  LMK if something is unclear and I'll update.

Rosemary Thyme Spiced Nuts

 

INGREDIENTS
3 c. large whole nuts - I like to use 1 c. cashews, 1 c. pecans, and 1 c. almonds (I usually buy nuts at Trader Joe's)
2 T. olive oil
2 T. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 300° F. Place nuts in a medium heatproof bowl.

Pour oil into a small heavy saucepan and place over medium-low heat until warm. Do not let it get too hot – the oil will burn. Add rosemary and thyme and stir until aromatic, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and stir in cumin and cayenne pepper. Pour the flavored oil over the nuts and stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle with sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir again. Transfer to a jelly roll pan or a baking pan with sides. Bake for about 15 minutes total, stirring after the first 10 minutes. Let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

JEN'S NOTES:

• Very tasty and simple! A nice break from all the sweet snacks this time of year.
• I made a double batch and divided them into little mason jars as St. Nicholas day gifts for co-workers.
• I used half oven-roasted, salted almonds and half unsalted, chopped pecans, which was a good mix for flavor and texture.
• I didn't have fresh herbs, so I used dried rosemary and thyme, and changed the proportions accordingly.
• I added a little garlic powder because, you know, garlic.

Source

Cinnamon Roll Cake - GF

 Prep Time - 10 minutes

 Cook Time - 35 minutes
 Total Time - 45 minutes

Ingredients
Cake:

• 3 cups *gluten-free flour I like Pillsbury gluten-free. Not all gluten-free flours are created equal. You may experience different baking results depending on the gluten-free flour blend you choose.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum leave out if your flour already contains it.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted 

Topping:

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened  (pretty sure I could have used less - maybe 3/4 cup?)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:

• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk (possibly add a little more to get the right consistency)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions
Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl add the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum (leave out if your flour already has it), salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
• Once combined stir in the melted butter.
• The cake batter will be very thick and sticky. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.

Topping:

• In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, gluten-free flour and cinnamon together with a mixer.
• Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the butter mixture into the cake batter.
• Use a knife to swirl the butter mixture through the cake.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Use a toothpick to check and see if the center is done.

Glaze:

• In a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, milk and pure vanilla extract together.
• Pour over the warm cake.
• Enjoy!

MY NOTES:

• This is a crazy amount of butter!  Try less in the topping next time.  
• It wasn't quite baked through to the middle after 45 minutes.  Possibly because of all that butter I dumped on top. ;-)
• It was a good Sunday brunch option and is equally good cold.

The best way to measure gluten-free flour is the “spoon & level” method. Using a spoon, scoop the flour into the measuring cup.  After you’ve spooned the flour into the measuring cup, use the back of a knife to level off the top of the measuring cup. Friends, please do not scoop the flour out of the bag with your measuring cup.

Original Recipe Here

GF Angel Food Cake

This mix from Aldi gets two thumbs up, even from the pro-gluten crowd!
It does require a dozen egg whites, so the texture is right on.

Tzatziki

½ English cucumber, halved

lengthwise

1 cup FAGE Total 5%, 2%, or 0%

1 garlic clove, minced or grated

1 tbsp minced fresh mint

1 tbsp minced fresh dill

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp fine sea salt

Black pepper to taste 

STEPS
1.  Remove cucumber seeds with a small spoon and grate cucumber on the large holes of a box grater.
2.  In a medium bowl combine grated cucumber, FAGE Total, garlic, mint, dill, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
3.  To Serve: Serve tzatziki with pita. Store any leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Thai Pork and Noodles

1 pound thin boneless pork chops, fat trimmed

8 ounces wide Thai rice noodles

1 cup fresh cilantro (leaves and stems)

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

2 slices peeled ginger

2 cloves garlic, smashed

3 red jalapeno peppers, seeded and roughly chopped

2 shallots, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

4 tablespoons peanut oil

1/4 pound green beans, split lengthwise and cut into pieces

Directions

1. Place the pork in the freezer about 10 minutes to make it easier to slice. Soak the noodles in very hot water until just tender, about 10 minutes; drain. Snip the noodles with scissors into shorter lengths. Cut the frozen pork crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips.
2. Puree the cilantro, lime zest and juice, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, shallots, fish sauce, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a food processor until smooth, scraping down the processor as needed.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add half the cilantro mixture and stir-fry 1 minute. Add the pork and stir-fry until no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pork with a slotted spoon to a plate. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil to the skillet; add the green beans and stir-fry until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the noodles, pork and 2 tablespoons of the remaining cilantro mixture. Cook, tossing with tongs, until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining cilantro mixture to taste.

Almond flour crust

• 2 cups (192g) almond flour
• 6 tablespoons (74g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons (21g) cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (85g) cold butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan.
2. To make the crust: Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to blend. Add the cold butter, working it in with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture is evenly combined and crumbly.
3. Dump the mixture into the prepared pan, shake to distribute, and press the crust into the bottom and about 1/2" up the sides of the pan.
4. Bake the crust until it's light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.
   This recipe was part of the King Arthur gluten free lemon bars. I didn’t use it for that, but it worked great with this pumpkin cheesecake.
   https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free-lemon-squares-with-an-almond-flour-crust-recipe
   
   
   
   

   1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin puree

   
   

   ½ teaspoon salt 

   
   

   15 
   

   whole graham crackers,

    broken into 1-inch pieces

   
   

   ¼ cup (1 3/4 ounces) plus 1 1/3 cups (9 1/3 ounces) sugar 

   
   

   1 teaspoon ground ginger 

   
   

   8 tablespoons butter, melted

   
   

   1 pound cream cheese, softened

   
   

   1 tablespoon lemon juice 

   
   

   2 teaspoons 
   

   vanilla extract

   
   

   4 large eggs, room temperature

   1

   INSTRUCTIONS

   Combine pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in small saucepan. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, 6 to 8 minutes; let cool for 1 hour.

   2

   Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Make foil sling for 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Grease aluminum foil.

   3

   Process graham crackers, 1/4 cup sugar, and ginger in food processor to fine crumbs, about 15 seconds. Add butter and pulse until combined, about 5 pulses. Sprinkle mixture into prepared pan and press into even layer. Bake until just starting to brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Let crust cool completely on wire rack.

   4

   Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat cream cheese and remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar on medium-low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, vanilla, and pumpkin mixture and beat until combined. Increase speed to medium; add eggs, one at a time; and beat until incorporated. Pour over cooled crust and spread into even layer. Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cheesecake cool in pan on wire rack for 2 hours. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate cheesecake for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. Using foil overhang, lift cheesecake out of pan. Cut into 24 pieces before serving.
   
   

Legendary Rice Pudding

The back story is that a friend of Grandma Donna’s brought this to her house on the day of Grandpa’s funeral. We ate it as we were writing thank you cards and it fed body and soul in a memorable way.

The proportions seem impossible but Katie has tried it and says it makes 6-7 cups.  So, one, maybe two servings.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

From a professional baker in a Facebook group I'm in.  These were a big hit with Johnny.

• 1 lb of salted butter, softened

• 2 cups of white sugar

• 2 eggs

• Extract of your choosing (my standard for sales is vanilla almond ....1 tsp of almond and 1 tsp vanilla but for our family Christmas cutouts i use anise extract like my grandmother always did. Any extract will work)

• 6 cups ap flour (can be subbed cup for cup with either king arthur or Pillsbury gluten free ap flour just beware that the dough is much more fragile making it kinda a pita to work with)

Cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes, beat in eggs, beat in extract, add flour slowly mixing until it all comes together. Refrigerate to make it easier to work with (though in a pinch I don't and it works out fine ...add small amounts of flour if you need it immediately and can't work with it yet for looseness or stickiness ). Roll out, cut out, (at this point I freeze the cut shapes on the tray for 10 minutes to ensure perfect shape but you can absolutely skip that step) and bake at 350 for between 10 and 14 minutes (as soon as they start getting a small tinge of brown around the bottom edge they're done....the majority of the cookie should be pale).


Royal Icing:
Oh yes...you do 6 tbs of meringue powder to one regular size bag of powdered sugar and about 1 cup of lukewarm water -then beat using a hand or stand mixer for about 5 minutes on high. 

From there you can color it in batches and thin it with water or thicken with powdered sugar as desired

Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole

This one is dairy light and veggie & egg intense.

3/4 pound uncooked sausage, casings removed
optional: 1 teaspoon dried rosemary to give the sausage more flavor
2 bell peppers, diced (any color you prefer; about 2 cups)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup fresh spinach
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 slices day-old gluten free bread (or whole wheat, white, sourdough, etc)
10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Directions:

• Place sausage in the skillet and begin to break it up with a spatula or fork. Stir in the rosemary and brown the sausage, about 6-7 minutes.
• Meanwhile, set a 2nd skillet over medium heat and coat it with nonstick spray or a drizzle of olive oil. (If you have a skillet large enough to fit both the sausage and veggies, you can just add the veggies to the sausage that is browning in step 1.) Add the peppers, mushrooms, spinach, onion, garlic, and a sprinkle each of salt and pepper. Begin stirring and cooking the veggies down until tender, about 6-8 minutes.
• Set sausage and veggies aside.
• Generously grease a 9x13 baking pan. Break the bread into pieces and place in the pan in an even layer.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and 1/4 cup shredded cheese together. Pour half of this egg mixture over the bread. Top with the sausage and vegetables, then the remaining egg mixture and remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper on top.
• Cover casserole with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight-- or up to 1 day. Allow it to come to room temperature before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C). Bake the casserole, uncovered, until the top is golden, edges are crisp, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean-- about 40-45 minutes. I like mine on the super crisp side, so I bake it for around 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then slice and serve. Kevin loves hot sauce on top of his. Try it! Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave to your liking.
• Make ahead tip/Freezing instructions: Obviously this is a make ahead recipe! However, you can brown the sausage and cook down the veggies up to 2 days in advance-- simply put the two in a tupperware in the refrigerator until ready to use in the recipe. Also, you can freeze this breakfast casserole. Prepare through step 5, then cover the casserole with plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature, then continue with step 7.

NOTES:

• Two whole peppers seemed a little intense.  I just used one plus a few little sweet red ones from the garden.  (I doubt they added up to an additional half though.)
• The sage was good.
• I'd use less garlic next time.
• Loved the spinach and mushrooms in it.
• I divided it all in half.  We ate one for brunch and froze the other for later.
• And I should also note my huge success - after owning my "new" stove for a couple years now, I finally tried the delayed start feature.  It worked flawlessly and was almost ready to eat when we got home from Mass.  Hooray!