Super Tasty Pizza

I have made pizza before (see here), but the one I made today (just in case my mac & cheese turned out bad - which it did, see "Attempted Mac 'n Cheese") was a step above those I've made in the past. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure what I did differently. I used the following recipe - adapted from the one on the Gluten Free Bisquick box.


Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups GF Bisquick
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 cup of water
1/3 cup of egg whites (or egg substitute)
1/6 cup of olive oil


Preheat the oven to 425º. I just put all the ingredients in the same bowl and then mixed them up until it all lumped together. I then covered a cookie sheet with tin foil - shiny side up (I was borrowing a pan - so it was more for contamination safety measures but I'm not sure if it played a role in how the pizza cooked) and sprayed it with dairy free butter flavored cooking spray. I then pressed the pizza crust out onto the pan, pinching up the sides to give it a crust. 


Once the oven was heated I baked it for 15 min. I took it out and added pizza sauce and my toppings (chopped spinach - the kind that comes frozen in a box, sliced black olives and mushrooms). 






I then topped it with "Toffuti" Mozzarella slices. I then put it back in the oven for 20 minutes. And then took it out and let it cool.






What I particularly liked about this pizza was that the crust was still soft - it wasn't crunchy and the spinach reminded me of "Gino's East" pizza. We used to get the deep dish spinach pizza from there and it was amazing it is one of the things I miss the most.

Attempted Mac 'n Cheese

After figuring out that my favorite soy cheese "Teese" had tapioca in it and was making me horribly sick, I have been on the search for a comparable alternative. This post is NOT an alternative, it is more of a "what to avoid" post. Some research I had done suggested that "Nutritional Yeast" could be substituted for cheese - in combination with other ingredients of course. 

So I got everything I needed, soy milk, powdered mustard (I thought this was a bit strange but having never made this before I thought it might be necessary - like potato salad has to have mustard or else it's not quite right), olive oil, flour (I used arrowroot). 

I followed the directions exactly, mixing the mustard and flour into the oil (picture at left) after it had heated then slowly mixing in the milk (next picture) - which took a painstakingly long time to do. By this point it wasn't smelling wonderful, but I thought well the yeast flakes are supposed to give it a cheesy sort of flavor. 

So I finally got it all mixed, cooked it the extra 2-4 minutes until it was a creamy texture (it did not look very appetizing - picture at left). I took it off the heat and added the flakes - upon first opening the flakes they seemed to smell kind of cheesy but the longer they were open the worse they smelled. 

But I added them any way, the product they made in combination with the milk mixture was a gooey yellow blob that smelled relatively awful and it looked gross (picture at left) - and the recipe said to mix it with the noodles (cooked while making "cheese" mixture) and bake it. 

But don't be fooled by the actually decent looking picture to the left of what appears to be tasty mac & cheese. I, however, thought sometimes baking changes the flavor of things so I decided to go ahead and mix the "cheese" stuff with the noodles and bake it. 

However, once it came out, I am very glad I had a glass of juice standing by because it was nearly inedible. I DO NOT recommend this as an alternative to cheese - there has to be something better out there. For now I will stick with pasta and sauce, having so many food allergies I try not to be too picky, if I can eat it I usually do, but this was absolutely disgusting. 

If anyone has an alternative, or knows what went wrong please post it below. I hope this post is helpful for those thinking about trying "Nutritional Yeast" - my vote is don't.

Jell-O

With so many allergies it is often difficult to find a desert that I can eat and others don't think tastes strange. I was at lunch with some of my boyfriends family the other day and his aunt had made Jell-O for dessert. For this recipe though I have adapted how my grandma makes it to make individual servings, perfect for taking on the go.

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Jell-O*

2 cups boiling water

12-16 ice cubes (this is for rapid set)

1 can fruit cocktail (I prefer the kind in either light syrup or fruit juice)

1 banana cut into small chunks (I cut each slice into quarters)

1 apple (cut into small pieces)

mini marshmallows

6 small tupperware (9.5 oz - the snack size)

Put the two cups of water in a small pan to boil. First cut up the apple and banana and put in a medium sized mixing bowl. Next open the can of fruit cocktail and drain the fruit, and add it to the apple and banana, mix well. Set out your containers - if they are new make sure you wash them first. Once the water has boiled pour into a separate bowl or you can leave it in the pan, add both Jell-O mixes and stir thoroughly, add the ice, mix until all ice is melted. The Jell-O will start to thicken some, make sure if you used the full sugar kind that it is well mixed and there is no sugar settled on the bottom of the bowl/pan.

Jell-O covered marshmallows

Using a ladle scoop the mix into the containers you set out - they should all b about half full of jello mix. Then put about 3 spoonfuls of the fruit mix in each container. After all the fruit is equally divided in all the containers, cover the top of each with marshmallows; then use the back of a spoon to press the marshmallows down so they all get covered with Jell-O mix.

Once all of the containers have marshmallows put the lids on and place in refrigerator. Let them chill until they set.

Set Jell-O ready to eat!

*I used the full sugar kind because I've been getting sick from something (usually after I have dark diet soda), and the sugar free kind uses a lot of artificial sweeteners and such and I haven't done enough research to know if that is what is causing it.

French Toast

If you're the only one in your house that is gluten/allergen free, eating a whole loaf of bread before it goes bad can be a challenge sometimes. Well, this tasty solution will take you back to the pre-gluten free days when food didn't have nearly as many strange textures or taste just plain weird.


Ingredients:
Egg substitute or egg whites
Soy milk (I use 8th Continent Light Vanilla)
Cinnamon
Vanilla
Cooking Spray (make sure it does not contain milk)
Shallow dish (I like to use a shallow square tupperware container)


Pour enough egg substitute/ whites into the container so that it would cover a slice of bread. Add a little soy milk, probably no more than a couple of tablespoons. I add about a capful of vanilla - you can add more or less depending on how much you like vanilla, and then sprinkle some cinnamon on top (I like lots) and mix it up - I use a fork but a little whisk might be more productive - just be sure not to whip your eggs.


Turn on the stove and start heating up your skillet, it is best if it's warm before you start cooking your french toast. After everything is all mixed up set one slice of bread in the mixture and press down so it is completely covered. Let it sit there for a couple of min to soak, then flip it over and let it soak on the other side for another minute. By now your pan should be hot, so just place it in and flip every few min until the egg is cooked. I sometimes press down on it in the pan to make sure no egg squishes out. While the one slice is in the pan make sure you are soaking the next one in the egg mixture.

Picture was taken on my phone - will post a better one next time I make french toast.

*NOTE: The cinnamon may try to float of to the sides and stick to the walls of the container, just scrape it off and remix it back in.

Hot Bologna & Cheese

This sandwich is super easy to make, and a very tasty lunch. I used Shar gluten-free multigrain bread (one of the few store bought breads that does not contain tapioca), "Tofutti" American cheese singles, and Oscar Meyer turkey bologna.


Ingredients:
2 slices of gf bread
1 slice of cheese
2 slices of bologna
buttery spread (or non-dairy alternative) and/or salt


If you know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich you're pretty much golden. Either butter or salt the outside of your bread - I like to butter it because it makes the bread a seem little less dense and have a more normal texture. Layer the bologna and cheese between the two slices of bread, place in a skillet on the stove and grill away! It should take about 5-10 min, and be sure to flip it occasionally (because not everyone enjoys burnt grilled cheese sandwiches like my mother).

Corn Bread

I used this cornbread recipe for "Popcorn Stuffing" and it worked amazingly! This recipe is adapted from "Gluten Free Mommy" (original recipe here), and even my gluten eating family agreed that this was a very tasty rendition of real cornbread, however it did seem a bit grainier that gluten cornbread. Being gluten free though we sort of just become accustomed to things not being quite the same texture as their gluten counterparts. Additionally, this cornbread is entirely edible by itself, however it is quite tasty with jam, butter, or honey.


Ingredients:
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cups cornmeal (I've heard cornmeal can contain gluten - but if it says its 100% corn it should be fine, I always check to be sure. Boxed cornbread mixes are NOT okay.)
2 1/2 Tbps sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup melted butter (I use "buttery spread" made from oil - dairy free)
1/3 cup egg substitute or egg whites
1 cup soy milk (I used light vanilla soy milk)
Cooking spray (check to make sure it does not contain milk)


Preheat the oven to 400º. Mix together all the dry ingredients, and the wet ingredients in separate bowls, then pour all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Spray either a 10" cast-iron skillet or an 8-9" round baking pan with the cooking spray. Pour the batter into the skillet or pan, and bake for 15-20 min or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Popcorn Stuffing

Stuffing is a staple at Thanksgiving, but when you can't eat bread finding a recipe that actually tastes good is difficult to find. Last year my family and I made a quinoa stove top something - I love quinoa, however this "stuffing" was not very tasty. However, this "Popcorn Stuffing" adapted from Mr. Food's recipe (original recipe here) was absolutely amazing. My dad even asked for seconds - being that it was allergen free I got the last bit left.

Ingredients:

6 cups crumbled corn bread (recipe posted soon)

3 cups air popped popcorn

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups chicken broth* 

1/2 cup butter (I use "buttery spread" made from oil - no dairy, there is also non-dairy butter available at some supermarkets)

1/3 cup egg substitute or egg whites

1 1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage

Craisins to taste

Preheat the oven to 375º. Mix everything up with your hands in a large mixing bowl until it becomes a squishy mass that holds together pretty much on its own. You can either then bake it in an 8" square casserole dish, or what we did was put it in a silicone cupcake mold - creating individual servings and they were fun shapes (ours were flower shaped). Bake for 40-50 min.

*NOTE: If you use bullion make sure you read the ingredients many bullion cubes are not gluten free - I use "Better Than Bullion - Vegetable Base", and that's what we used for this recipe as well