Got Peaches? Don't worry, you will when you read this recipe...

Thank my friend, Kristin, for this recipe she found in Better Homes & Gardens: Cheesecake-Stuffed Peaches. Kristin says, "It reminds me of peach cobbler, but much easier and quicker". So there you go, if you needed any excuse at all, you naughty reader. Without further ado, here it is:

6 peaches, peeled, halved & pitted - Make sure the peaches are very sweet and ripe
3 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp cinnamon-sugar
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Dunk peaches in melted butter and coat with cinnamon sugar. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet, cut sides up. Mix cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Spoon cream cheese mixture into peach centers. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Of Pleasures and Pavlovas

Unexpected pleasures are the best.

We are having some family/friends over for dinner tonight and I decided to look up the recipe for a Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova in Nigella Lawson's book Forever Summer. I was prepared to substitute the wheat with a gluten-free flour alternative I have stored in my freezer (since half of the would-be diners are gluten-intolerant), when I suddenly realized it is naturally wheat-free. We are talking egg whites, sugar, cocoa and vinegar. Blessed day!

This might seem trivial-mundane even-to some of you, but chancing upon these types of recipes makes me lighthearted for at least an hour or two.

I hope you experience an unexpected pleasure today.

Little Secret

Super-easy Gluten Free Chili.

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can pinto beans
1 15 oz can red/kidney beans

1 medium yellow onion
1 lb ground turkey
olive oil
chili powder
garlic salt
black pepper

Combine olive oil, onion, garlic salt and ground turkey on stovetop until cooked. Afterwards, mix the cooked turkey with all the other ingredients. I usually add about 1/8-1/4 cup chili powder, because I like me some flavah, but this recipe is obviously meant to be adapted to your family. Cook on low crockpot setting for about 3 hours, or on the stovetop on low for 1-2. Whatever's easiest. Healthy. Delicious. Spicy. Enjoy.

Introducing: I'm Going to Let You In On a Little Secret

The easiest gluten-free crockpot recipe known to humankind:

Shoyu Chicken

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup LaChoy soy sauce
1 cup water
3-4 chicken breasts
black pepper
garlic salt

Add all ingredients to the crockpot. Cook for 4-5 hours on low.
Be sure to spoon the sauce liberally over rice and eat with veggies of your choice. Delicious.

The Single, Green Pumpkin

Once upon a time, there was a rogue pumpkin growing in our garden. Mommy saved it, still green, from the bitter-cold frosts that began to visit Utah a few weeks ago.  She wondered what to do. Finally, she decided to be patient and let it have a chance to reach its potential. So she and Squirty placed it in the windowsill so it could get some sunshine every day. Eventually, the pumpkin was ready to be sliced, diced, cooked and eaten!

 Squirty looked so cute picking up this pumpkin, which for some reason she's drawn to do every time she sees it, that I just had to include all of the pictures.

We decided to make some gluten free chocolate chip pumpkin bread. I froze the leftover puree so we can have some savory pumpkin soup of a frigid, snowy evening.

The End

Lupe's Kitchen

Remember these?

These are my house special: chicken and potato taquitos

To be fair, and because as an English major I've been trained to give credit where it is due, this recipe was greatly inspired by my friend, Lupe. I can't really invite you to Lupe's kitchen and it's too bad. You can't imagine how delicious her sopes tasted, her enchiladas, her special rice, always accompanied by an ice-cold soda. That woman was really something, and though she ultimately decided to not be baptised in my church this woman generously and gleefully prepared a delicious meal for us each week. So, with no further ado, I'll walk with you through this recipe.

It has been said by people who really know (Mexican women), that cooking Mexican food can be quite laborious. But it's so worth every yummy, spicey bite! These taquitos are no different. It can be a pain, but here are some ways to make it much easier:

Tip: USE LEFTOVERS. When I made these taquitos, I had prepared mashed potatos to accompany the meal two nights previous. I just made extra, knowing I would use the leftovers for this meal. I also had leftover salsa chicken (chicken thrown in the crockpot with enough salsa to cover it) from the night before to make up the chicken component of the meal. Make sure it's shredded. These are the most difficult parts of the meal, so if you can take care of them in phases it isn't too tough of a recipe.

What you'll need in addition to the chicken and potatos:

1/2 Onion

Small, round corn tortillas

Valentina's or Tapatio sauce (I adore Valentina's)

Queso Fresco

Lettuce

You'll be frying these, so heat up vegetable oil in a skillet or saucepan. While the oil's warming, separate about 10 tortillas from the stack and warm them in the microwave for about a minute. Keep them stacked, they'll all warm through. While the tortillas are cooking and cooling, dice the onion and stir it and about 2 tablespoons Valentina's in with the mashed potatos.

Take your first corn tortilla, and be careful because these things can stay hot for a while, and place about a spoonful of mashed potato in the center and smush it down a bit, add about a finger-width amount of chicken. Fold the tortilla as tight as you can without squeezing out the contents and carefully place in hot oil with the fold part up. Hold down with a fork for just a moment so the fold doesn't become loose. Repeat until your skillet is full. You'll probably need to flip, so just wait until the color is a golden-brown. When these are done, hold one end up to drain the oil and place on a paper towel.

When you've cooked as many as you want, shred or chop the lettuce, placing it on top and crumble queso fresco over it. Use as much Valentina's as you want for some flavah (yes, I said flavah). I love these things, and Lupe certainly made them the best. For my sake, please enjoy.

An Ode to the Gluten-Free Goddess

If I were a pagan (which I'm not), or if I worshipped multiple gods (which I don't), I would worship my sister-in-law, Steph, as the goddess of living gluten-free.

Our family's been going gluten-free since January due to Derrick's declining health and increasing indigestion. At Steph and Mandi's suggestion we decided to try eating without gluten and Derrick's been feeling much better since that time.

Sincerely, though, our house isn't entirely gluten-free. I still eat it with relish (not the pickle kind) for breakfast and lunch and I feed it to the Squirt, but I always cook gluten-free dinners and have Derrick take the leftovers for lunch the next day. We've become healthier and thinner and have saved money that we otherwise would have spent eating out.

Steph has been a big help to me during this transition; constantly sending me great recipes (see the one below) and giving plenty of encouragement.

This is the latest of the recipes she's forwarded to us. If you do eat gluten, just use regular flour, the measurements are the same.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
3/4 cup gluten free flour (we use pamelas baking and pancake mix)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (Walmart brand or Kraft)
1 cup pepperoni-cut into small cubes (Hormel)
Pizza sauce (ragu or Walmart brand)
Italian seasonings- to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the cheese and pepperoni. Add Italian seasonings. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin pan.
Bake 23-25 minutes until puffed and golden. Use heated Pizza Sauce for dipping!

We tried it and loved it. As the weather warms up, we're thinking of using this as a picnic food.

Thanks, Steph, for being such a wonderful support!

An Evening of Gluten Free, an Evening to Remember

We've been eating gluten-free together for several months now, and it's been relatively painless. A few months into our GF experiment I decided to learn how to make chocolate mousse, Derrick's favorite dessert. I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com, a recipe shared by my friend, Lisa. I had always thought of mousse-making as a very laborious and delicate process (which it seems, at first), but I'm pleased to say that, like most things, it becomes increasingly easier. So follow along as we explain the steps to you.

1) So this isn't exactly an official step, but eating it with strawberries is fun. Plus, they were on sale.

2) Here we go. We (Okay, I) decided to go with white chocolate for the very first time. I've always had a major penchant for it and we haven't tried it yet. Grab a bag of chocolate morsels, doesn't matter what kind, and melt it slowly on the stove with 2tbl. butter and 1/4 c. water. After you've melted it all the way, set it aside for 10 minutes, allowing it to cool.
3) In a separate pan, whisk together 1/4c. water, 2 tbl. sugar and 5 egg yolks. Slowly heat it until it reaches 160 degrees and keep it at that temp for 1-2 minutes. Do I seem like the kind of person who'd keep a thermometer around the kitchen to you? If you think so, you're grossly mistaken. I usually do this part by sticking my finger periodically into the egg mixture and guessing. It's worked so far.

4) Whisk the egg mixture into the now-cooled chocolate.
5) Set it into a sink full of ice-cold water and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
6) This part works best if you have a handy and helpful husband around (how's that for alliteration?). Whip a pint of whipping cream until it's as stiff as you can get it. We added a touch of vanilla.

7) After the chocolate has cooled, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate and continue folding until smooth.

8) Enjoy! This is the easiest part.
We got a little carried away...

But we harbor no regrets.

With recipes like this, who needs wheat?

Life Goes On

The Hunger Banquet has ended, amid much success and celebration, and life continues. I'll be catching up on some photos. Here are some from the last month as well as some updates on our latest achievements and plans.

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We wait with much anticipation to plant these.

I'm thinking I'll celebrate the first day of spring

by planting the peas 'n carrots. Gluten-free Pizza Night:

Just look at their worshipful faces.

These two have missed pizza quite a bit.
I know it looks a little funny, but it actually tastes great!

This little one is undergoing many changes.

She becomes ever more mobile.

Isn't this the just the cutest view in the whole world?Look at her on those knees!

I'm expecting her to

full out crawl any day now.

*

today i will...

Like most people I have one little thing that makes me feel better no matter how bad my day is and for me that thing is book shopping. Finding a good deal on a book is my Prozac. So a few months ago I was suffering from the doldrums and stumbled upon this delightful little book and fell in love with it. The authors, Eileen and Jerry Spinelli, have perused masses of children's literature, taken one excerpt or quote for each day from those masses and attached their own inspiring advice aimed towards young adults, but applicable to everyone.

I'll often read it as a part of my morning ritual and I read this for January 3rd:

"'There's something about a blank page that makes me tingle.'

-Jazmin's Notebook by Nikki Grimes

"You can take those words-a blank page-literally, or you can take them to mean any aspect of your life that is empty, a blank space. We all have blank pages in our lives: a thank-you or an apology not yet expressed, a forgiveness not yet offered, a challenge not yet attempted, a vegetable not yet tasted. Do the blank pages in your life make you tingle? Or retreat?

"Goal:

There's a stack of blank pages in my life.

Some of them, frankly, don't excited me.

But others do. Today I'll pick one out and fill it in. "

-

I would add that sometimes it isn't up to us to select those blank pages, sometimes life takes a hand. For instance, we've been suspecting for a while that Derrick may have a gluten-intolerance or a mild to moderate form of celiac disease. This means that we now avoid wheat/oat products and are looking for substitutes to our previously static recipe list. We feel, however, that instead of solely focusing on what we can't eat and trying our best to substitute (rice bread? it's just plain gross, sorry people) we're going to use this opportunity to write on a blank page of culinary worlds not yet explored. The great news? There are lots of ethnic foods we have no idea how to cook and that use no wheat. So today we went to an Asian market and bought some of this...

and with a few other items

made this delectable yellow curry,

sans gluten!So wish us luck as we write on this blank page in our lives, and if you have any gluten-free recipes, 'ethnic' or otherwise, please feel free to write on our page too!

oh, and if you get a chance, buy "today i will" because hopefully you'll love it as much as I do.