Food Love: Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

I have discovered the holy grail of gluten free cinnamon rolls, and I am here to share it with you.

I found a recipe at The Baking Beauties, and it is BY FAR the best baked gluten free food I have ever had and tastes exactly like 'regular' cinnamon rolls. They are so amazing that the first day I ate them, I ate three, the second day I ate two, and the third day I ate three. Yes, I ate the whole 8x8 pan by myself in three days and I don't regret it one bit.

I copied and changed the recipe a little bit and that's what I've posted here, but to see the original, go here. You should check out the blog either way, it's an amazing resource that has been added to my must read blog list! (Seriously, GF bagel recipes?! I might try that this weekend, it's been years since I've had one!)

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
Filling:
3Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Topping
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 c brown sugar
2 Tbsp real maple syrup (not the cheap stuff you put on pancakes) or corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp milk or half&half
In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter, sugar, and syrup until the brown sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla and milk/half&half and mix until combined, then pour HALF of the mix into the bottom of a greased round 8x8 pan. The other half you will use after the cinnamon rolls are out of the oven as a topping.

Dough:
2 1/2 cups GF mix (see here for a recipe or use something like Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 Tbsp rapid rise yeast
3 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup dry milk
1 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp margarine
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp veggie oil
1 tsp vanilla

Directions: (I didn't change this at all, this is from the original recipe)

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix all dry ingredients until combined. Set aside.
2. Put water and margarine in a glass measuring cup and microwave just until the margarine has melted. Remove from microwave and stir. Add milk, stir. Add other wet ingredients and whisk to combine.
3. With the stand mixer running (using the paddle attachment), pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Scrap down the bowl if you have to.
4. Allow to mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
5. Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out on a slightly damp counter top, so it covers an area bigger than 8″ x 16″. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Gently lay another piece of plastic wrap over the top of the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish shape. Lift and reposition the top plastic wrap whenever you need to. Roll the dough out (with the plastic wrap on top) to a square approximately 8″ x 16″.
6. Remove plastic wrap. Spread filling mixture evenly across dough’s surface. Leave 1 1/2″ along one long end without any filling, this is where your cinnamon rolls will be sealed.
7. Starting along the long end, use the bottom sheet of plastic wrap to lift the edge of the dough and roll it up, forming a long cylinder. Start with the edge that has filling on it, that will be the center of your finished rolls.
8. Using a long piece of dark thread (light colours can be lost in the dough), cut the long “cinnamon bun log” into 8 pieces, about 1 1/2″ wide. You can do this by placing the thread underneath the roll, crossing it at the top, and pulling the threads so they cross each other, pulling it through the dough. This way, you won’t be squishing your dough down by cutting with a knife. Place rolls in prepared pan, with cut side up. I like to push the rolls down to about 1″ high.
9. Allow the cinnamon rolls/buns to rise in a warm, draft free place for about 30 minutes, or until nearly double in size.
10. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are a nice golden brown.
11. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before inverting on a serving tray, and let the syrup run down over the rolls.
12. Added: Re-heat the rest of the topping and pour over warmed cinnamon rolls or dip your rolls into it.

Let me know if you try this out, it will be the best decision of your life if you are gluten free! Hehe.

Food Love: Gluten Free Breads

I don't typically buy prepackaged gluten free food or mixes for a couple of reasons:
1) It usually tastes like crap. Yes, manufacturer's have come a long way in the way gluten free food tastes, but a lot of the time it's still not great. It's always a little too dry or too off. I know that I can always make something better myself, so I don't even want to try it.
2) It's expensive. Like way way way expensive. A box of cookies that has 10 cookies? $6. And if you refer back to #1, they typically taste like crap. A mix for one loaf of bread? $5. And then I have to have the ingredients like oil, eggs, etc, on top of that. Sorry, but I'm too cheap for that!

So given those two reasons above, I usually steer clear of gluten free foods. A few weeks ago, I was given some prepackaged stuff from my grandma and another was on sale, and I'm in love with one of them and kind of like the other.

The first one I tried was Bob's Red Mill GF Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix. If I bought it at my local grocery it's about $5.50, though it's frequently on sale at 2/$7, which is still quite pricey because the mix only makes one loaf.

What I liked about it: 

• It's a mix, so it's obviously simple to do. Throw everything in a mixer a ta-da, you're done! 
• The loaf wasn't too crumbly. It sticks together pretty well so it doesn't fall apart when you bring it to your mouth.
• It tasted great. There was just the right amount of raisins and cinnamon.
• The loaf was a real sized loaf. It rose quite a bit and didn't sink like some GF bread does.

What I didn't like:

• You have to let it rise for an hour in addition to cooking it for an hour, and I am way to impatient for that! 
• The crust was hard. Like super hard. I couldn't eat the end pieces and I cut off the crust on most pieces I ate.
• I had to load it up with butter because it was a little too dry. I don't mind butter, but when I ran out of butter a couple of pieces were wasted because I didn't want to eat it plain.

Final Opinion:

• Overall, it wasn't bad, but I don't know if I'd ever buy it again, even on sale. I might buy it one more time and put it in muffin rings instead of making a loaf to see how they turn out. 

The second one I tried was Eating Gluten Free's GF Bread/Pizza Mix.

I have to say, I AM IN LOVE.  The EGF cookbook was the GF cookbook I ever bought and it's still one of my favorites. (Pst, all of the recipes in the book are also on their website for free!) One of the owners, Betsy, is my second cousin (or something?) so my grandma told me about her and her upcoming company at the time. I never bought any of the mixes, though, I just followed their online bread recipe (which I think is the exact same as the mix, you just have to mix the flours yourself). When my grandma was getting ready to leave for Peru, she asked me if I wanted all the mixes she had and I of course said YES.

What I like:

• Just like the cinnamon bread, it's a mix, so it's simple!
• It smells amazing, just like gluten filled bread. I know it's the yeast, but it reminds me of making regular bread as a kid. 
• After the bread is mixed, the dough looks so yummy and creamy. I know this has nothing to do with the quality of the bread, but it looks so pretty!
• It isn't crumbly at all. It's SO light and fluffy.
• Vince loves it, even though he is not gluten free. When we make sandwiches, he eats it and devours it. The downside of that is that I have to make bread more often!
• I can cook it in muffin rings so it's only a 25 minute rise time and 20 minute cook time. Fresh bread in 45 minutes!
• It freezes WONDERFULLY. If you're gluten free, you know that you need to freeze bread so it stays good. With other breads I've eaten, it sometimes gets a little 'tough' after it's been in the freezer but with this, after a minute in the microwave it tastes fresh out of the oven.
• It's $10 a bag, which seems like a lot, but I get SO much bread out of a bag. I've only used about half a bag (maybe a little more) and I've made bread three times, which is about 42 bread rounds. (As you can see in the pictures, I use english muffin rings to make my bread, which are about 4 inch circles.)

What I don't like:

• Sometimes I wish it were more 'multigrain', but most of the time I don't care. My grandma uses this mix and a lot of the time she'll substitute a small portion of the mix with something else, like oat flour, which gives it a little more nutritional value. 
• I can't buy it unless I'm in Utah or want to pay quite a bit for shipping. In the past I would chip in with my grandma to buy large quantities of flour (think 50lb bags of corn starch, teff flour, etc) and she would drive up there and get it when she visited family. Now I don't have that option! Now I'll have to keep an ear out for people who are driving to Utah...

Final Opinion:

• I have tons of flour to make this bread with, so I am excited about that, otherwise I would make a trip up to Utah, I love it that much. When I run out, I will definitely buy more, given the opportunity to. It's SO nice to have everything pre-mixed so that when I'm ready I just have to throw everything into the mixer and know it will taste delicious every time.

Do you have any recommendations for gluten free mixes?

Food Love: Over-Easy Egg in a Pepper

Side Note: I'm going to be playing around with my blog design over hte next few days, so if it looks weird, that's why!

For part of the wedding dinner we had shish-kabobs and we bought way to much food which meant we were left with tons of bell peppers! So for breakfast, I made a delicious egg-in-a-hole in a bell pepper, instead of a piece of bread. I can't find the site where I found the idea, but I think it was like Martha Stewart of something...either way, it's delicious! I really really love over easy eggs but sometimes I need something else with it so that I don't get a stomach ache and a bell pepper is perfect.

Over-Easy Egg in a Pepper
Makes 2 Servings      Prep Time: 2 minutes     Cook Time: 5 minutes

4 eggs
1 bell pepper (any color but green will be best!)
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Directions:
Step 1: Cut the bell pepper into four 1/2 inch rings.
Step 2: Add oil to a large skillet and turn on medium heat.
Step 3: Add the four bell peppers to the heated pan and let cook for about a minute. Add one egg to the center of each bell pepper ring and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let cook for 3-4 minutes until the top of the egg is starting to bubble and the whites are mostly cooked, but not the yolk.
Step 4: Flip the egg and let cook for another 30 seconds, then remove and eat! If you do not want an over easy egg, let cook for another minute and then remove.

I finished my eggs off with a nice cup of Vanilla Bean Coffee from World Market. I was shopping there the other day and was smelling this amazing coffee so I tried a sample of it. It was so delicious! I like my coffee black and it's not too strong; I've drank it every day since!

Food Love: Sweet Mango Sauce with No Added Sugar

Every time my stepmom Pam takes a trip down to Phoenix to visit someone, she stops at Trader Joe's. We had a running list on the counter for what we need from there and I would always put down Mango Sauce. When she would bring it home I would always get in trouble because I would eat like half the large jar in one sitting! 

It's since been discontinued, but I still crave it all the time, so a couple years ago I decided to create my own. I have 2 or 3 variations of the recipe, so I'll give you the base of the recipe, and then tell you what I add at the end to change it.

Sweet Mango Sauce

Serving Size: 4          Prep time: 5 minutes         Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:

1 very ripe mango,  de-skinned with the 'meat' cut off the seed

1/8-1/4 cup juice (It can be apple, orange, lemon, peach-anything you have around. I used peach juice from some peaches I canned last year.)

Step 1: Put 3/4 of the mango 'meat' in the blender with 1/8 cup juice. Puree. Add more juice if it is not pureeing. 

Step 2: Pour the puree into the container you want it in, and add the rest of the mango that is diced up into puree. Eat plain, or top over ice cream.

So this is where some things can change. I LOVE just the plain puree, but I also like a couple other flavors in. One thing I add is 1/8 tsp cinnamon, or 1/8 tsp pumpkin spice!

I like to split the puree up into thirds, and add cinnamon to one, pumpkin spice to another, and just leave one plain. Then I store them in little mason jars and they last for about a week.

Tip: When you are cutting mango, it's super easy to cut it off into small manageable chunks. After cutting off the skin, cut the mango into a checkerboard. 

Then, slide your knife along the inside seed and it will fall right off looking perfect!

Let me know if you try this!

Food Love: Pasta Salad

One food that Vince and I LOVE and that is super easy to make is pasta salad. We were originally going to make it when we were camping in Telluride, but we did spaghetti instead and saved the pasta salad for the hotel in Crested Butte.

Gluten Free Pasta Salad

Serving Size: 4        Cook time: 12 minutes         Prep Time: 5 minutes

1 tomato, 6 radishes, 1 red onion, 1 carrot, 1 bell pepper {any color}, 1 green zuchinni, 1/2-1 cup Italian dressing, 3 cups pasta {I use Tinkyada shells}, water

{1} Boil the pasta ccording to packaging directions.

{2} While the pasta is boiling, cut the tomato, radishes, red onion, carrot, bell pepper, and zuchinni into bite size pieces. Mix the veggies up in a large bowl.

{3} When pasta is done, drain all the water and run cold water over it to cool the noodles down. Combine the veggies, noodles, and Italian dressing in the bowl.

{4} Eat!

Side note: I'm a lush when it comes to dressing so I usually put and extra 1/4 cup in each bowl! I love it. The Italian dressing I use is Kraft brand and it just so delicious. According to the package, it is also high fructose corn syrup free! I don't usually care about that stuff, but just in case you do, I recommend it.

Also, if you are gluten free and eat a lot of noodles, BUY IT ONLINE. I love buying it in bulk online. I usually buy enough for one year, which is about 75 or 80 bucks. It's also so much cheaper then paying $4+ at the store!

Food Love: Gluten Free Coffeecake

One of my favorite things to eat is coffeecake. It's just so delicious. Last Wednesday, on my brother's birthday, I was looking through my favorite gluten free cookbook Life Tastes Good Again {and not just because the authors are family!} and I saw a recipe for coffeecake. After thinking about it, I realized that I haven't had any since I went gluten free almost 3 years ago! So I decided to make it for my brother's birthday breakfast.

All of the recipes in the cookbook are online, so you can also get it here. I must tell you to go check out their other recipes, they're amazing! I don't know what I would have done without this cookbook when I first went gluten free, and even now. There are so many 'comfort food' recipes that are delicious.

So here's the recipe:

Gluten Free Coffeecake

1 3/4 c. featherlight mix

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbs. butter flavored shortening

3/4 c. milk

4 Tbs. melted margarine

6 Tbs. brown sugar

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knives, until shortening is the size of peas. Add milk all at once. Quickly mix together with a fork. Pat into a 9X9 inch pan. Top with melted margarine and brown sugar. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

I undercooked it a little bit on accident, so when I went to eat some later it wasn't as good. It was delicious when it was fresh though!

Food Love: Ice Cream

So I'm pretty tired right now and not feeling as great as I could, so I'm going to repost a recipe. I posted this recipe way back when I first started my blog and had approximately 2 readers, so I figured most of you haven't read it! Even if you have, consider it a little reminder to try it out.

Ice Cream. Everyone loves it. Well, maybe not everyone, but mostly everyone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge ordeal for me to eat it. I tend to only consume organic milk ('normal' milk makes me sick-weeeird, I know) and I can't have sugar (or I'm a HUGE grump). Ya, ice cream with no sugar. I don't even know if you can buy that stuff, and if so, I'm pretty sure it's expensive; AKA not worth it. So.......I make my own!

I don't have room for an ice cream maker in my tiny apartment, so instead I found something even fancier...a grocery bag!

To start with, I poured 1 cup (organic) milk into a measuring cup, and added 1 tsp vanilla to it.

I then poured said milk/vanilla mixture into a Ziploc baggie. I used a freezer Ziploc because they seem to seal better, and I don't want milk seeping out. To that I added 1 teaspoon sugar and a 1/2 tablespoon cocoa, if I feel like chocolate ice cream. If I didn't want chocolate ice cream, I would have omit the cocoa. (Duh.) FYI: If you can eat sugar, it tastes best with 1 tablespoon sugar, as opposed to 1 tsp.

I then got 2 grocery bags, and put one inside of the other (so it's double layered). I put 2 cups of ice into the grocery bag along with 2 tablespoons rock salt. I added the Ziploc bag full of milk into the bag with the ice and then tied the inside grocery bag shut.



This is where it gets fun. And loud. Annnnnnnd very cold.

You have to have the bag in constant motion for the next 5 minutes by either bouncing it on your knee, hand, toes, floor, forehead...whatever works for you.

Side note: I used this recipe for my kids at the library where I work for a science experiment and it was SO noisy to have 50 (!) kids shaking grocery bags!

Anyways, after about five minutes, open the bags and see if the milk has turned more solid and into ice cream. It'll kind of be like the frosties from Wendy's. If it's not, add a little more rock salt and keep shaking away!

Now this next step is almost the most important part. I'm serious. Once the ice cream is frozen enough dry off the outside of your Ziploc bag with a paper towel before pouring the ice cream out. If you do not, your ice cream will taste SO SALTY from the dripping salt water, thus rendering all of your efforts unnecessary. Don't ask me how I know this. Just nod your head and say yes ma'am.



Now we get to the most important part: eat your home made ice cream that's actually good for you!

Food Love: Garlic and Spinach Quinoa

My first official Food Love post! To read more about what it is, click here.

This week the recipe is Garlic and Spinach Quinoa. As I said before, it is one of mine and Vince's favorite new meals and we plan on making it many times this summer!

I love how simple it is. You use a 2 pans, a knife, and a cutting board...that's it! It's also really quick to make and I always make enough for leftovers the next day!

I must admit that I am SO so incredibly lucky to be with a man who absolutely loves vegetables. I have many friends who have boyfriends or husbands who refuse to eat veggies, and I give them major credit for dealing with that. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have to 'hide' veggies or have to hear a man complain about what is for dinner! I think it's amazing the lengths that some of these women go to to get their man to eat healthy foods, so kudos! While I love that my man likes veggies, I would also like one who will do dishes, but I guess that might be asking for too much...I can't have it all, right? Hehe.

So without further ado:

Garlic and Spinach Quinoa

Servings: 4           Prep Time: 15 minutes           Total Cook Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked quinoa

4 cups vegetable, chicken or beef broth

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

10 baby carrots or 2 large ones, chopped

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1 piece of meat, chopped

salt and pepper

3 cups spinach

2 tablespoons minced garlic {5-10 cloves minces}

1 can black beans, drained

Step 1: Cook quinoa according to instructions on packaging, substituting the broth for water. I cook mine in my rice cooker and it comes out perfectly. 

*Did you know that it's actually really important to rinse quinoa before cooking? I didn't, until I read this article!*

Step 2: In a large pan {I use my cast iron} saute onion, broccoli, carrots and meat in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, or until carrots are softened. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper, to your preference.

Step 3: One cup at a time, add spinach and cook until wilted. If your pan is large enough, you can add all three cups of spinach at on time. Add minced garlic and black beans and allow food to cook for 5-7 more minutes, until the black beans are heated thoroughly.

Step 4: Mix the cilantro into the cooked quinoa and then serve the veggie mixture over it!