Gluten Free Lasagna- my Mom’s recipe

My favorite pre-gluten free days food was lasagna. It was my favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My moms lasagna, specifically. So good! I’ve never tasted another lasagna like it and so since I grew up on my mom’s, I think hers is how lasagna is really supposed to taste. 

A little background on my mom’s lasagna: When my mom had a baby (I think it was my 23 year old sister, so this recipe has been in our family for awhile now) 3 neighbors brought her dinner. And all 3 were lasagna. At least lasagnas can taste different depending on the recipe. So my mom chose her favorite of the 3 and asked that neighbor for her recipe. It’s the only one she’s used since. And it is GOOD!

Thank goodness for gluten free lasagna noodles, so I can still have my mom’s lasagna on occasion! When I make this I make one casserole dish for me and one casserole dish for my family. They all share it and I eat mine over the next week for lots of meals. Yum. It’s also freezable, so if you’re not into eating the same thing for every meal for a week, I suggest you do that.

The gluten free lasagna noodles I used were Tinkyada, which is a good pasta brand,

but even still the noodles fall apart easily (this is what’s left after I used the big pieces):

So I just used the biggest pieces first and then put the smaller pieces together like a puzzle. Still turned out delicious!

My kids love this too, so next time I’ll add some finely chopped spinach to the sauce to sneak in some extra nutrition for them (they won’t eat salad).

Here’s the delicious recipe (I actually double the sauce part (from garlic powder to water) because I like lots and lots of sauce):

Gluten Free Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 lb hamburger (browned and drained)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• 2 cans tomato paste
• 2-3 cups hot water (this depends on how runny you want it- I like it kind of “soupy,” my husband prefers it less so)
• 1 pkg. gluten free lasagna noodles
• 1 carton cottage cheese (a small one is probably enough, but I usually get a big one because I like a lot and would rather have extra than not enough)
• mozzarella cheese (a lot!)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients except noodles, cottage cheese, and mozzarella in pan
2. Simmer 30 minutes
3. Cook noodles
4. Layer: sauce, noodles, carton of cottage cheese, mozzarella, sauce, noodles, sauce, mozzarella
5. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees

Enjoy! And let me know if you try it. So far everyone I’ve ever served this to has at least had seconds, and often thirds.

Cookbook Review and Gluten Free Banana Muffins!

I had the opportunity to review the book “Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy” by Susan Bell.  What a great book!  I often run across the same problem with gluten free cookbooks that I do with gluten free blogs:  the recipes in them aren’t ones I want to prepare for my family.  This book is not one of those.  It’s very family friendly!

The description on Deseret Book says:

No more preparing two separate meals at dinnertime — one for family members with celiac disease and one for those without it. With Susan Bell's kitchen-tested recipes, you can serve meals your entire family will love. In this book, you'll find delicious breakfasts, breads and muffins, main dishes, soups and salads, side dishes, desserts, drinks, and even home-canning recipes.

The recipes looked good from reading them, but of course the true test is making them.

So I made the Banana Muffins! 
And it was easy!  

I’ve always used a gluten free baking flour mix or just plain rice flour and this was the first time I’ve bought Xantham Gum (shocking, I know… more about that another time).  I was a bit nervous to bake gluten free from scratch, but with this cookbook there was no need to be.
First I went to Whole Foods and bought my ingredients:I was able to get everything in the bulk section except the Xantham Gum and Sorghum Flour.
I pulled my ripe bananas out of the freezer:(They look gross, huh?  This is the best way to do banana bread though.  Anytime you have an over ripe banana, you don’t have to throw them out and you don’t have to suffer through eating them.  Just throw them in the freezer till you’re ready to bake your bread of muffins, then pull them out and let them thaw for a little while on the counter.)

Then I went to work making the muffins:

I had two awesome helpers

Who fought over who got to hold the bowl…

and who liked to stir the dry ingredients with their hands…

But I kept working

And so did my helpers

And we were rewarded with some amazing muffins!

I still can’t believe how delicious these things were!  I had planned on freezing at least half of them… but that didn’t happen.  They were gone within a few days.  And that was with me holding back, trying to make them last longer.

I’m excited to try out the other muffins in the book (as in, I’ve been craving them since making these)!
Here’s the recipe from Susan Bell’s book “Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy”

Gluten Free
Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

6 ripe bananas
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
¼ cup corn flour
¾ cup sorghum flour
1½ cups tapioca flour
½ cup brown rice flour
¾ cup potato starch
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
   
2. Use a blender to mix the bananas, oil, and eggs at high speed until smooth.
   
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
   
4. Add mixture in blender to dry ingredients and combine. (Overbeating the batter will cause the texture of the bread or muffins to become tough.)
   
5. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins, about ¾ full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  

This recipe freezes well.

Makes 26 to 28 muffins
 
For bread, use two greased pans (8½ x 4½ x 2 3/4 -inch) and bake the bread at 325ºF for 45 to 55 minutes.
 

We made one pan of mini muffins too, because my daughter insisted on it.  She thinks they’re “so cute.”  We baked them for 16 minutes.

Give them a try!  And be sure to check out Susan’s blog while you’re at it.
Her cookbook is for sale at deseretbook.com, amazon.com, latterdaylightbooks.com, barnesandnoble.com (all of these links are on her blog) and at your local LDS bookstore. It will also be available soon at associated food stores in Utah.  Check it out!

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Soufle

This is one of those dinner side dishes that could pass for dessert. I love those! I make this for my big extended family Christmas day potluck every year.

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Soufle

Ingredients:

• 6 medium sweet potatoes or yams
• 2 large eggs, beat until foamy
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk (can use soy or rice milk to make dairy free)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Peel, cut, boil, and mash the sweet potatoes/yams
2. add beaten eggs, vanilla, milk and cinnamon
3. put in 9x13 casserole dish
4. mix butter, sugar, and pecans in separate bowl and sprinkle on top of potatoes (usually you add flour to this and you could use GF flour if you wanted, but I don't think it's lacking anything if you just leave it out altogether)
   
5. bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
6. Enjoy!

Bonus: You can freeze this!

Gluten Free BBQ Chicken Salad

Do you remember this easy and yummy recipe?  Hopefully you've tried it over rice already.  Now you've got to try it as a salad. 

Layer it with anything you want.  I love rice, black beans, baby spinach, tomatoes, Crockpot BBQ Chicken, and ranch dressing.

And just in case you're not already convinced that this is a good recipe... you can freeze the bbq chicken.  Cook up a huge batch and freeze some for a busy night.  Yum!

Southwest Chicken Chili

I'm not sure what's going on, but I can't get the format right on this post, so it's going to look a little weird. Sorry!

This might look a little weird from the pictures, but it is delicious! I got the recipe from my sister-in-law and my husband asks for it all the time (he calls it white chili). It's another simple one (of course... that's what I do), but it does take some time to simmer, so you have to plan ahead at least an hour.

This freezes well, so I like to double the batch and freeze half (or 1/3 depending on how many left overs I want). My latest love is freezing food, especially since it's hard to find quick frozen gluten free food (or it's expensive).

Southwest Chicken Chili

Ingredients

¼ tsp	Salt
¼ tsp	Pepper
1 med	Onion
1 can	Green chilies, chopped
4-6	Cloves garlic
2 tsp	Ground cumin
1 ½ tsp	oregano
¼ tsp	Cayenne pepper
6 cups	Chicken broth
1 cup	Shredded cheese

3-4	Chicken breasts
2 cans	Great northern beans
Garnish	Sour cream, chips, cheese

Directions

1. Sauté onions, chilies, garlic in olive oil

2. Add cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Sauté a few more minutes

3. add chicken broth and chicken breasts

4. simmer 30 minutes, then add beans

5. simmer 30 more minutes

6. Right before serving shred or cut up chicken and add 1 cup of cheese, stir till melted

Print the recipe for yourself:
I'm not sure why, but when I upload my documents in scribd the format is often changed. The recipe looked better and had 6 steps, but now it just looks weird. It still has all the right info, so it's still useful. Print it on card stock and it should be the right size for a recipe card.

Southwest Chicken Chili

Gluten Free Corn Dogs

I had these for the first time before I was even eating gluten free. My friend made them and I couldn't believe how good they were! Once I went gluten free she taught me how to make them. She's posted the recipe on her blog, The Gluten Free Gallery. Check it out! I'm posting the recipe here as well, with some pictures I took.

One of the best things about these is that you can freeze them!!! Just pop them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes straight from the freezer. Yay!

DISCLAIMER: I only had a tiny bit of oil left, but I was craving these, so I made them anyway. You'll be using more oil than you'll see in my pictures to fry yours in and your corn dogs shouldn't turn out so dark (aka semi-burnt) as a result. They were still delicious!

Ingredients*:

• 1 cup Masa Flour (I find mine in the baking aisle at the grocery store, near normal flours. It's inexpensive too)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• About 1/4 cup water
• Hot dogs
• Vegetable Oil (for frying)

*(I actually just have all these ingredients out while I make this because I like to make a lot- they're so good as leftovers. You don't want to double or triple the recipe. Each time you mix this up just do it with the amount of masa, sugar and water listed. It works better that way.)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl mix the masa flour and sugar.
2. Gradually add water a few tablespoons at a time until mixture is consistently moist and malleable, but not runny or overly wet.
3. Fill a small saucepan about 1/3 full of vegetable oil and heat on medium to medium low temperature.
4. While oil is heating cook hot dogs in microwave for about 30 seconds. I cut mine in 5ths because I like them to be little corn dog poppers. 5. Then use your (washed :) ) hands to coat the hot dog in the batter, so it is completely covered*. 6. Place in oil, turning it as one side becomes brown. Once corn dog is evenly browned* remove from oil and set on paper towel to remove excess oil. 7. Sprinkle with salt while still warm, and then let them cool slightly before eating.
*You can make them with thicker or thinner coating depending upon your personal preference, as well as cook them longer for a more crispy result.

It actually took me a bit to figure out how to make these, but once Gabby showed me it was so simple!!! She has some troubleshooting hints to help you out if it isn't working for you. Click here to troubleshoot.

Thanks Gabby! I love these corn dogs as do my husband and daughter (who are not on a gluten free diet)!

Feel free to download and print the recipe:
Homemade Corn Dogs

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Here is another of my favorite meals and it's really easy to make. It's also one that the leftovers are delicious.

Also, you can freeze the bbq chicken, so make a big batch. You can have it on rice, salad, sandwiches, etc.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts (or 2-4 depending on your preference)
  
• one 12 oz. bottle bbq sauce (that's 1 1/2 cups) -Make sure it's gluten free! I've found that about half the bbq sauces I check are and 1/2 aren't. I used Sweet Baby Ray's from Costco and it's delicious.
• 1/2 cup Italian dressing (I prefer Kraft Italian)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce -Again, be sure it's gluten free! I used a Kroger brand which is GF. Lea and Perrins is also GF and is my favorite.

• Rice to put bbq chicken on (unless you'd prefer to have it on a salad or in a white corn tortilla wrap)
  

Directions

1. Put everything in crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours (or high 3-4).

2. Shred chicken when there's 15-30 minutes left and put back in crockpot.

Our favorite side dishes with this meal are corn and jell-o. It's the perfect combination of flavors.
SOOO GOOD!!!!

Print Recipe:
Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Amazing Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is one of my favorite meals. So good! And though you need more than 20 minutes to make it, it's quite simple (just 15 min. prep, then 45 mins. to simmer) and very gluten free. It makes about 10 servings (I always make the full batch because we eat a ton, plus it's a good leftover). It freezes well, so double the batch and have some ready for next month!

Amazing Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients (be sure to check all your canned ingredients to make sure they're gluten free- I found chicken broth that had gluten in it once)

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped (I leave this out)
  
• 1/2 medium green pepper
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I never have this and always forget to buy it, so I leave it out)
  
• 4 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

Toppings (optional)

• 1 cup gluten free tortilla chips
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar cheese
  

Directions

1. Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper with olive oil in a large pot until soft.
2. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the large pot and bring to a boil.
3. After about 15 minutes, remove the chicken breasts and shred. (Two forks work well to pull the chicken apart!). (I do more of a cut/shred with my chicken depending on my mood)
   
4. Return shredded chicken to the pot and simmer an additional 45 minutes.
5. Serve, topped with crushed chips, sour cream, and cheese if wanted.

I got this recipe from Recipezaar here (and if you don't believe me that it's amazing check out the reviews).

I like mine with all the delicious toppings. This is so good!!!

TIPS to make prep time even faster:

• Anytime I have leftover chopped onions or green peppers I put them in a baggie and freeze them. If you've done this then when you're making this meal you can skip the chopping part and just throw the frozen vegies right in to sauté. (This meal calls for 1/2 a green pepper. Cut up the other half too and freeze it.)
• Buy a container of garlic and it cuts out having to mince the garlic.

Print Recipe (I'm not sure why the formatting gets messed up when I upload it into Scribd, but if you download it into word you can easily fix it):
Amazing Chicken Tortilla Soup