Breakfast Quiche, Updated

This is basically the same recipe I posted earlier, except now I've modified it to be grain free as well as gluten free!


Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
10 eggs
3 T almond flour

3 T coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb cottage cheese
1 lb jack cheese, shredded

Popular additions/substitutions for the quiche: 1 lb diced cooked gluten free breakfast sausage or bratwurst, 4 oz can diced green chilis, bell peppers, onions or dried onion flakes, cheddar cheese or mixed cheddar/jack instead of jack cheese...use your imagination! BTW, I think that a whole stick of butter is a bit much, especially with all of the eggs and cheese in there, so I've used 1/2 a stick successfully.

Directions

Melt butter. Whip eggs until fluffy, add flours, baking powder, salt, cottage cheese, butter, optional ingredients such as sausage, chilis, etc, and about 2/3 of the cheese. Put in 9" x 13" pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 400 for 15 min, then lower temp to 350 and bake for 20-30 more min (until lightly browned on top). NOTE: be careful to verify that the cottage cheese, sausage, and non-stick spray are all gluten free!

Chicken and Dumplings, Updated

Here again is basically the same Chicken and Dumplings recipe (also from Stephanie) that I've already published. The main differences are using ThickenThin/NotStarch, almond milk, and arrowroot, plus I used my Grain-Free Biscuits to make the dumplings and they WORKED! I was really craving some Chicken and Dumplings and was so glad to find out that I can make it grain-free and casein free!

Ingredients

2 T arrowroot
ThickenThin/NotStarch
1 cup almond milk
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
16 ounces frozen vegetables

Plus one batch of drop biscuits: I used the grain-free biscuits recipe.

Directions

In a medium saucepan, mix the milk and broth with the arrowroot powder while whisking constantly, and cook until thickened; stir in the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. If necessary, add the ThickenThin one teaspoon at a time (whisking well!!) until the sauce is thick enough.

Any Crockpot with a capacity of 4 quarts or more will work. Put the chicken and vegetables into the bottom of the Crockpot. Add the milk-broth mixture. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. An hour before serving, shred chicken with two large forks, and mix up the biscuit dough. Drop the dough in large spoonfuls on top of the hot chicken stew and replace the lid.

Cover and cook on high for another 45 minutes - 1 hour. The dumplings are done when you can insert a knife and it comes out clean. They will be spongy but firm to the touch.

Serve in bowls, with a dumpling or two per person.

Crockpot Cranberry-Orange Roast

Another recipe from my other blog, it was inspired by a recipe on Stephanie's website, although I've changed it a bit (note: this is technically not grain free because there's cornstarch in Lipton Onion Soup Mix, and it also contains some soy):

Ingredients:

3-5 lb beef roast (or pork roast or stew chunks)
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix (yes, it's gluten free!)
3 T gluten-free soy sauce
2/3 of a bag of fresh cranberries
1/2 - 1 C orange juice
1/4 - 1/2 C agave nectar

Directions:

First make a cranberry sauce using the fresh cranberries, orange juice and agave nectar. Put washed cranberries into a medium saucepan; add orange juice until the level of the juice is about 1/2 inch below the level of the cranberries...you don't want so much juice that it's covering the berries. Add agave nectar; start with 1/4 C and add a bit more if it's not sweet enough (or add a tiny bit of stevia). Place pan on stove over medium high heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat. You want it to be higher than a simmer but not a fast boil. Stir often. The cranberries will begin to pop; after most are popped removed from heat.

I have a large (7 qt) Crockpot, and the roast I used was about 4 1/2 lbs, and SOLIDLY frozen. You don't have to use frozen but it works just fine if you do (add a little more time or cook on "High"). Put roast in Crockpot then sprinkle the onion soup mix and soy sauce over. Pour the cranberry-orange-agave sauce over the top. Do not add water. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 5-6. If you are cooking on high, you may want to break apart the meat into smaller chunks an hour or so before serving so that the juice penetrates more deeply into the meat.

We ate it over mashed potatoes with a green salad, per Stephanie's suggestion. What a fabulous meal for a cold night!!

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Grain-Free Clementine-Cranberry Baby Cakes

Here is a recipe (also posted on my other blog) that I created based on the Clementine Cake; I did use agave nectar this time as the sweetener and made them in muffin tins. These little cakes have a wonderful fresh fruit taste and fragrance, but are not overly sweet. They're moist, yet firm...not crumbly as many gluten-free, grain-free baked goods can be.

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 pound of clementines (for me that was 10 tiny clementines)

1 heaping cup fresh or frozen cranberries

6 eggs

1 C minus 2 T agave syrup (1 scant cup agave nectar)

2 C almond flour

1/3 C coconut flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Remove any stem remnant from each clementine if necessary; place whole clementines into a pot with cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and cover pot, cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain the clementines and set aside to cool until you can handle them.

As the clementines cool, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Total bake time is approximately 18 - 22 minutes depending on your oven and how full the muffin cups are.

Grease approximately 20 - 22 muffin cups (if you plan to fill them about 2/3 full).

Coarsely chop the cranberries by hand or in a food processor. Set aside.

When the clementines are cool, cut each one in half and remove the seeds, if any. Squeeze excess water out of each clementine half by hand. Then process them in a food processor until pureed.

Beat the eggs then add the agave nectar. Mix almond flour, and baking powder together in a separate bowl, then add the egg-agave mixture. Mix well, adding the clementine puree after the eggs and agave, and the chopped cranberries last.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes, depending on your oven. The top will yield but rebound when done. It's normal for the sides of the baby cakes to be dark golden brown, but the tops should only have a few brown spots.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a rack. These are wonderful right out of the oven, but are even better the next day!

Grain free, dairy free, pliable flatbread!!

I first published this recipe and the previous one on my other blog; sorry it took so long to get them over here to the archive!

Another recipe we've become fond of recently is a very tasty grain free flatbread originally posted by Liz (aka "lonewolf") in one of the forums on celiac.com.


Grain-Free Flatbread

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
2 - 4 egg yolks (note: original recipe calls for 2 yolks, but 4 works too)
1 tsp melted butter (or coconut oil for dairy-free/casein-free version)
1 tsp agave nectar or honey
1/2 C almond flour
dash salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Separate egg whites and yolks....


Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.


Beat yolks with melted butter or coconut oil, dash of salt, and agave or honey.


Sprinkle the almond flour over the egg whites and fold in gently along with egg yolk mixture.


Spread the batter onto the parchment paper into a 12" by 12" square (if using 2 yolks only) or a 12" by 14" rectangle (if using 4 yolks). Make sure the thickness is uniform over the square (or rectangle). Bake at 350 for 12 minutes; it should be turning golden brown on top when done.


This bread is so versatile! You can simply cut it into squares and use them for regular sandwiches, or into the right-sized rectangles to be wrapped around hot dogs as a bun-replacement. You can even take an entire sheet of bread and cover it with Dijon mustard, ham slices and Swiss cheese, roll it like a jelly roll, microwave it until the cheese starts to melt, slice and serve.


OK....it's not as flexible as wheat-based bread, so it does tend to crack a bit when you're rolling it up, but it's still AMAZING bread when you consider that it's entirely grain free!

Clementine Cake

The luscious cake pictured above is my version of a Nigella Lawson recipe, Clementine Cake. Actually this recipe is all over the Internet in various forms, and was brought to the attention of the larger public by Starbucks, who sold a similar cupcake called the "Valencia Orange Cake" for several months. It was advertised as "gluten-free" so people didn't buy it often (unless they HAD to buy gluten free), so Starbucks decided it was unpopular and stopped selling it. :(

The great thing about this cake is that it's ALWAYS been gluten free, because it's traditionally made with almond flour. You can use oranges, clementines (which are a type of mandarin orange) or even a mix of oranges and lemons with extra sugar, but clementines are my preference because the little ones I buy at Trader Joe's have very thin skins. The thinner the skin, the better your chances are of having the cake turn out well, because thick skins contain more pith (the white part) and can make the cake bitter.

We had Clementine Cake for our dessert on Christmas Eve; it received rave reviews! Here is my version; as usual I used both almond and coconut flours:

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Grain-Free Clementine Cake

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 pound of clementines (for me that was 10 tiny clementines)

6 eggs

1 1/4 C sugar (yes, I used sugar....I do plan to try it with agave syrup)

2 C almond flour

3 T coconut flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Remove any stem remnant from each clementine if necessary; place whole clementines into a pot with cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and cover pot, cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the seeds, if any. Squeeze excess water out of each clementine half by hand. Then finely chop the clementines in a food processor until they achieve a sauce-like consistency.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Total bake time is about 40 - 50 minutes.

Grease and line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs. Mix the sugar, almond flour, and baking powder together in a separate bowl, then add the beaten eggs. Mix well, adding the processed clementine "sauce" last.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes; cover the cake with foil at that point to prevent the top from burning. Cook for 10 more minutes or so until a metal skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. It's normal for the outside of the cake to be dark golden brown; it's also normal for it to "puff" up above the pan and then settle back down towards the end of baking.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a rack. This cake is fabulous as soon as it cools, but is even better the next day after the flavors blend and mellow....it's moist, light and delectably citrus-y. Yum!!