Eggplant Parmesan Bake

I feel like half the meals I cook come from Pinterest or are ideas based on pins. One of my recent favorites is this one: Eggplant Ricotta Bake from marthastewart.com.

You can find the full original recipe at the link above. It really is worth your time! Even if you think you don't like eggplant, I highly encourage you to give this a try. As for me, I made some adjustments (mostly because I bought the wrong amount of some ingredients) and my recipe is below. Also, I've renamed it Vegetarian Eggplant Lasagna because I feel that 'Eggplant Ricotta Bake' doesn't do it justice.

Vegetarian Eggplant Lasagna
1 large eggplant
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder
Oil (I used safflower, but I'm sure olive oil would be great, too!)
1 tub of ricotta (14oz?)
1 T.(?) of Oregano (use your judgement, I don't actually know how much I added)
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups of Parmesan cheese
1/2 jar of marinara sauce

First, preheat your oven to 375F. Next, slice your eggplant. I cut mine in rounds, but if you're using a rectangular oblong dish, slicing them lengthwise might be better. (I don't actually own a casserole dish, so I used a glass pie plate).  Grease a jelly roll pan (or in my words: a cookie sheet with sides) with oil, lay the slices of eggplant in a single layer on the pan and make sure both sides are brushed lightly with the oil (again, in my words: drizzle with oil and just rub them down). Also, season both sides of the eggplant with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Roast the eggplant for about 25 minutes in the oven (turning over halfway through).

While the eggplant is roasting, mix together the ricotta, the eggs, oregano and one cup of the Parmesan. This lovely mixture will be part of your filling. Set it to the side and wait for your eggplant to finish roasting.

This is where you need to stop what you're doing and just eat some eggplant. Seriously. I'd never really cooked with eggplant before so I tentatively tried one of the smaller rounds. Holy cow (and other more emphatic words that definitely apply but I will refrain from using at this time). Delicious. DELICIOUS.

Once you get over how amazing the eggplant tastes, you can start assembling your lasagna. Because I forgot to buy two eggplants like the original recipe told me to, my layers are a little bit off. But essentially, you want to follow this pattern:  sauce, eggplant, cheese mixture, eggplant. Repeat this until you run out of eggplant. The only rule is that you must end with the cheese mixture on top. Once you smooth out your final cheese layer, top with Parmesan cheese and then put in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes (or until the cheese is starting to brown and is nice and bubbly).

Look at those layers! Yum!

I let mine brown more than other people might like, but it was still delicious!

Spaghetti Cravings

Going gluten-free usually means giving up a lot of things. Yes, you're giving up gluten, but you're also giving up things people take for granted like dining out, or being able to comfortably and safely eat a home-cooked meal with your friends and family.

Being Italian, my family eats a lot of pasta. Every Sunday, you will find a group of us (ranging from 10-30 on any given Sunday depending on the time of year and event) congregating at my grandparents house. We talk (okay, most of it is yelling), laugh, hug, and especially eat. For the majority of my family, this means pasta and lots of it. It also means breaded chicken. As far as eating goes, we are for the majority your stereotypical American-Italian family.

This is an on-going trial for me with gluten-free. I know how good my grandmother's pasta is. I know how much I miss it. But I also know how much pain I'll be in if I do eat it. This weekend, I was hit by an insatiable craving for spaghetti.

Fortunately, there's this amazing little vegetable called the spaghetti squash which totally rocks my world. It's super easy to prepare (as long as you give it enough time), and even reheats well for packed lunches. If I had more time, I would make my own sauce and go into some diatribe about how the best sauce is Nonna's homemade sauce, but as I don't have the time and I was just packing lunches, I'll let you in on the recipe for my current favorite packed lunch: Spaghetti Squash with Marinara.

Ingredients

One spaghetti squash (I used a pretty small one)
Marinara Sauce (I used about a half a jar)
Stew beef (optional, I added about a 1/3 pound of browned stew beef to the dish while it was baking to add some flavor)


Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F.

Take one spaghetti squash and pierce the skin in a few places. Pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to soften the skin (it's really hard to cut otherwise). Slice it in half and remove the seeds. Place face down in a baking dish. Put in the oven and let bake for about 45 minutes. (Normally I'd bake it for about an hour, but it will be going back in the oven for this recipe).

Take it out and let it cool for a bit. Once it's cool enough to handle, remove the "spaghetti" by running a fork lengthwise through the squash. I then mixed this with some jarred marinara sauce and added the browned beef chunks and put it in a small casserole dish. Put the whole thing back into the oven for about another half hour.

And that's it. Seriously. I ate part of it for dinner that night and boxed the rest up for two lunches this week. I actually reheated some of it for my lunch today and it's fantastic. It even retains that al dente bite after reheating where pasta doesn't.

Cinnamon Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I nearly had a meltdown in the grocery store. I’m ashamed to admit it, but it’s true. There is a reason, really and truly, but it is a true story nonetheless.

For some time now, I’ve known that I need to go dairy-free. Gluten-free and yeast-free? Not that big a deal. But dairy-free? The thought alone makes me want to cry. Not for the butter, no (I already use mostly olive oil or coconut oil). Also, not for the ice cream or the milk. I only use almond milk at home and, while pricey, dairy-free ice cream is readily available. No, what really had me sad while standing in the middle of the store was the thought of giving up cheese. Oh. The cheese.

You see, I have yet to find a substitute that can hold it’s own against the real thing. (Except for, you know, in the healthy-for-you category...) Sure there are options (an image of the Daiya vegan “cheese” package comes to mind), but none of them live up to the reputation cheese has in my mind. I am a cheese lover. I have never met a cheese that I didn’t like. Cheddar, gouda, brie, bleu, stilton, ricotta, parmesan, manchego, chevre, provolone, swiss, you name it, I probably love it. And this is what I need to give up. Even now, I’m sitting on Pinterest searching phrases like “paleo cheese recipe” and “dairy-free cheese that’s not plastic”. The options right now are not looking so good.

To make up for the lack of dairy-free options over the past week, I made my first attempt at coconut milk ice cream. Believe me when I tell you that this recipe is easy. I managed to pull it all together with just a pot, a metal bowl, and a whisk --no blender, food processor, or ice cream maker needed (though it would probably be a LOT simpler and smoother if you did have one, it's not strictly necessary).

I started with this recipe from Paleo Diet Lifestyle (and didn't really vary that much, so the credit goes to them for developing this recipe). I'm not a huge advocate for the paleo diet, but it is very convenient to look at a list of paleo recipes and know that they're automatically dairy-, yeast- and gluten-free without any modifications.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• Seeds from two vanilla beans OR 4 tsp of vanilla extract (I actually used two sad, slightly-dried-out vanilla beans and about two teaspoons of homemade vanilla extract).
• Sugar to taste (I did add sugar, but I added it little by little until it was sweet enough for me, so I don't actually know how much I put in. Plus, tastes vary so, what works for me may not for you.)
• Cinnamon to taste (I think it was about 2 teaspoons)

Directions:

Bring some water to a boil in a pot and then reduce to a simmer for the double boiler. Put the coconut milk in a heatproof metal bowl that will sit safely on top of your pot (without the bottom touching the simmering water). Add the vanilla. Make sure that the mixture doesn't boil. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and temper them with the hot milk mixture (slowly add small amounts of the hot milk to the eggs so that it will bring them up to temperature slowly without curdling them).  Add the milk-egg mixture to the rest of the milk in the double boiler and stir for a few minutes until it forms a thick custard (kind of like instant pudding consistency before it "gels".  Again, don't let it boil.

Remove from the heat and let it cool (so that it's cool to touch) before adding other ingredients. If you don't have an ice cream maker, put it in a pan and pop it in the freezer. What you will need to do is to set a timer for 30 minutes and stir it really well every thirty minutes for about three hours (I did this while watching a movie and it proved the perfect distraction).

Result? Super tasty, dairy-free ice cream. Easy to make, easy to clean up and perfect for quelling those dairy cravings.

Very bad picture that doesn't do justice to the deliciousness of this ice cream

Gluten-Free Holiday Treat Recipes!

OK, I don't have pictures for you yet, but I wanted to point you in the direction of some great holiday recipes I'm pulling out this year --some of these are tried and true and some are new ventures, so I hope you enjoy!

Peppermint Meringues: This recipe from Bon Apetit was forwarded to me by my mom and I'm going to be whipping them together this afternoon. The recipe is fairly straightforward and it makes a large quantity (approx. 60 per recipe).

Stained Glass Windows: This was a childhood staple for me during the holidays --for gluten-free and gluten-eating alike. I'm a sucker for the chocolate combo, so these are always good in my book. And with just five ingredients (I usually leave out the nuts), they're ridiculously easy to make!

Crisp Coconut Chocolate Pie: I made this first for Thanksgiving last month. It worked so well and was so delicious (and a little bit rich) that I just have to make it again for Christmas. Again with the chocolate-coconut combo. This time I am trying it with coconut milk instead of heavy cream - fingers crossed that it actually works!

Poached Apples: I fell in love with poached pears earlier this year. (Seriously, if you're in the Cleveland area and haven't tried the poached pear with creme anglaise at Sasa Matsu, you need to go!). When I got three (ginormous!) delicious Jonagold apples with my CSA order this week (OK, there were actually four, but with peanut butter in the house the fourth one did not last long...), I wasn't sure what I would do with them, especially with no gluten-free flour, oats, or pie crusts... And then it struck me: poached apples. Poached. Apples. Yes, yes, and yes.

For more gluten-free recipes and ideas, follow my gluten-free board on Pinterest!

Happy Holidays!

Recipe Conversion - Egg Casserole

Growing up, egg casserole was a holiday tradition in my house. We'd all wake up on Christmas morning, open presents and then sit down to breakfast of cinnamon rolls (yeah, still haven't figured out gluten-free for that...) and egg casserole. Fluffy, cheesy, savory, egg casserole was always amazing.

When I went gluten-free I didn't even really think about how much I'd miss this until the holidays hit and then I remembered. Egg casserole is essentially a savory bread pudding. Yeah, there's that word: BREAD.  In the ten years since I first went gluten-free, the market has exploded with some great options for us GFree eaters and that includes bread, so after a long sabbatical, I decided to try to recreate my mother's egg casserole. This recipe below (which I pretty much eye-balled) filled an oval pan about 8x12".

6 Slices of Gluten-Free Bread (I used Whole Foods' Sandwich Bread), cubed
6 eggs
2/3 cup of milk
1 pound of gluten-free sausage (I used Bob Evans' original)
2 Tablespoons of yellow mustard
4-8 oz. of cheddar cheese (depending on how much you want)
Some nutmeg (not a huge amount, just enough to add some zip)

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Alrighty, so first things first: Brown the sausage and break it up into smaller bits (about bite-sized), next toss your bread cubes into the pan. I like to toss them with the sausage for flavor.  Layer the sausage/bread mixture in the pan with cheese throughout.

Beat your eggs and add the milk and mustard to them, mixing well. If you want to use Nutmeg you can also add it at this point.  (If you are making this ahead of time, i.e., overnight, you may want to add an extra cup or so of milk). Pour the egg mixture over the bread and press the bread down with a fork so it's all coated. It's totally alright if some edges stick up though because this will be crisp deliciousness later. Spread the remaining cheese on top and pop in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes until brown on top and the middle is set. Mine took about 45 minutes and it came out wonderfully.

Serve hot! Or, do what I did and divide portions up into individual servings for packed breakfasts. Going to try to freeze it and see if it will be okay, but that remains to be seen so far.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I know I did! For a (not-very-good-quality-cell-phone-)picture, see my tweet from last night. I will be posting the photos here eventually, but it won't be immeediately.

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Baking

Thanks to the holidays, I have been baking a lot more than I usually do (which is pretty much not-at-all). My experiences with gluten-free baking in the past have not been all that great. To be honest, there's a bit of a love-hate relationship between me and gluten-free baked goods. "Love" when someone else makes it and "hate" when I do. Also,  I have to contend with not only being gluten-free, but also being yeast-free as well --double whammy!

Anyway, this holiday season, I decided I would plan ahead and make my own gluten-free treats to take to holiday parties so that I wouldn't just go and have to watch everyone eat all the delicious food. I'll be trying to post more recipes as I go, but here's a synopsis of my current holiday favorites (which actually isn't all baking, but oh well!):

1) Chocolate Coconut Pie - Found this recipe on Pinterest and was surprised to see that it was a) relatively easy and b) completely gluten-free without any modifications whatsoever. I made two of these for Thanksgiving and I was pretty happy with the results. I will say that I'd like to try my hand at making this recipe a little lighter since it was so incredibly rich. Also, the crust was a little difficult to cut if you weren't careful.

2) Bob's Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix - I actually tossed these together last night after I got home from work. They were really quite simple and delicious, but (as with most gluten-free items) a bit on the dry and crumbly side. It may be heresy to do this to shortbread, but I'm thinking about adding a thin frosting (maybe a lemon glaze?) on top to add a little zing. Also, I found out last night that I don't own a rolling pin. I might need to remedy that. Last night I was rolling out cookies with the salt container...

3) Lastly, pumpkin pancakes! Yes, I know. It's not baking. BUT it was a fantastic holiday morning treat (especially after completing my first ever Turkey Trot). I modified Katie's recipe to toss out some delicious pumpkin pancakes that were just about perfect. They were a little too cakey for my taste, but future modifications can remedy that.

Happy Holiday and good luck on your gluten-free holiday baking adventures!

Happy (Belated!) Gluten-Free Thanksgiving!

Just writing a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving.

My holiday was deliciously gluten-free despite being at a family party where I'm the only one who has those specific dietary needs. It helps that I brought my own pie, snacks, and made part of the meal.

Two best things about yesterday? My mom was in town and she made gluten-free gravy (I know, I know, it's not that hard! But I just can't seem to get it right...) and gluten-free cookies that actually tasted good!

I made this pie. It was good, but oh-so-sweet. And it's ridiculously easy to make. Mine did not look as good as Martha's, though.

We also had three turkeys (yes, my family with just 18 people for Thanksgiving, roasted three turkeys), homemade cranberry sauce, cornbread, baked yams, mashed potatoes, the aforementioned gluten-free gravy, and tapioca jello. It was like all the nostalgia of childhood wrapped up on a plate.

Squash Curry Soup

Yesterday was my down day after an amazing event on Saturday (Seriously, getting to give the Cleveland Foodbank the money to help serve 200,000 meals? Pretty incredible!). But as with most Sundays, I have to start thinking about what the week will hold for gluten-free lunches.   Fortunately for me, I have this tendency to pick up ridiculous amounts of winter squash when autumn comes around, so there was no doubt in my mind what I was going to be working with.

Three butternut and one acorn squash were halved, cleaned out, and popped in the oven for baking.  While that was working away, I started scavenging through my cupboards to see what I could find. The results? A can of coconut milk, cinnamon, turmeric, garlic, cayenne, and black pepper.  That certainly sounded like a great addition and I decided to try my hand at a squash curry soup.

In a large soup pot, I combined the spices with some butter and then added the coconut milk and squash (I used one butternut and one acorn for this recipe). After adding some sage, and a half a round of chevre (I can't resist the call of cheese, I can't!), I put my immersion blender to use and it turned the combination into a creamy, rich golden soup. Upon final tasting I added some yellow mustard to try and cut through the richness.

All-in-all this turned out to be a pretty amazing soup. Hearty, flavorful, and full of fall flavor. Definitely looking forward to having this throughout the week!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Yes, they're gluten-free and, yes, they taste great!!

I based my recipe off of this fantastic recipe here, but I didn't have any regular gluten-free flour mix, so I decide to be inventive.

Preheat your oven at 450F.

I took four frozen chicken breasts and partially thawed them (I find still-slightly-frozen-chicken easier to chop up). After that, I cut them into just slightly-smaller-than-normal sizes for nuggets (think Chick-Fil-A sized nuggets).

In a large, Ziploc plastic bag, I combined equal parts chickpea flour and Parmesan cheese along with a combination of paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne. In all honesty, I added a little too much cayenne, but they're delicious. If you're not good with spicy, dial down or eliminate the cayenne all together.

Put the chicken in the plastic bag (if you're doing a lot like I was, this will have to be done in batches), seal the bag, and shake, coating all the pieces with the cheesy goodness.  After that, I spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and baked them for 15 minutes, flipped them and then backed for another seven.

The results? Spicy, super-moist, and really easy homemade chicken nuggets! This made enough for several meals and so far it looks like it reheats really well.

In hindsight: I had run out of parchment paper and foil, and that would've saved me a lot of trouble with the clean-up afterward.

Sunday Family Dinner

I come from a big Italian family. And when I say Italian, I mean Italian. The two most important things in this world for this family seem to be family and food (no big argument there from me).  As such, family dinners every Sunday are a big deal. A really big deal.

They're also a really big gluten-fest filled with booby traps and delicious, but deadly pitfalls. I usually end up making something for my self on the side and just having to look longingly at the pasta, meatballs, and Nonna's amazing homemade sauce. And then I got a big surprise this morning. Grandma (Nonna) informed that not only had she picked up gluten-free penne rigata (by Pasta Si) and even made sure that she had a gluten-free sauce on hand (Lidia's Marinara). While it still isn't Nonna's homemade sauce and meatballs, it means the world that she would think of me and go out of her way to make sure I felt included --and of, course, well-fed because that is the main love language of Italian grandmas everyone.

Along with this, I've thrown together a roast chicken piccata based on this recipe. It's in the oven now and it smells delicious!

Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi

Oy vey. When I first made gluten-free gnocchi a few years ago, it seemed like such a breeze. This time, I was apparently a little too ambitious (but keep reading because it actually turned out alright!). I decided to try a new twist for a family dinner tomorrow (err, today. This is the problem with writing posts around midnight).

My original gnocchi recipe that I've used with success is equal parts rice flour and mashed potatoes, plus an egg or two. Sorry for the vague/non-existent measurements. I am notoriously bad at keeping track of actual measurements and usual prefer to do things by touch/texture.

For the new recipe, I started with this recipe as a basis.  Below is listed the ingredient list that I started with (please note: "started with").

3 smallish sweet potatoes (in the middle of the recipe, it says that you need three cups)
1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/2 c. rice flour
1 1/4 c. tapioca flour

So, first I cut the sweet potatoes in half and boiled them for about 50 minutes. Then, I went through the really annoying process of ricing the sweet potatoes without a ricer. I used a strainer instead and it really reinforced the self-impression that I am lazy. OK, so sweet potatoes are riced and I've got my three cups.

{I think this is where I started to go wrong (or maybe not wrong, but took a detour). Because I started this a bit too late in the evening, I was impatient and didn't let the ricotta drain as long as I should've. If I'd been thinking, I probably would've started the ricotta a lot earlier in the day.}

I combined the sweet potato, ricotta, nutmeg, and Parmesan in a large bowl, then added the flour mixture little by little. This is where I really started to see a problem because the dough really wasn't coming together like I wanted.  So, I added a 1/2 cup more of each flour. And then again. And again. All in all, I estimate that I used about three cups of rice flour and two cups of tapioca flour. I ended up putting in more rice than tapioca flour just because I'm more familiar with the texture.

In the end, I just kept adding and adding until I got to the texture I needed and then divided it, rolled it out, and then started cutting the individual gnocchi. I didn't end up adding the ridges because a) I'm tired, and b) I'm really tired. (Hey, honesty is the best policy, right?).

Pillows of (hopefully) sweet potato goodness

My preferred method of cooking the gnocchi is to add into a pot of salted water at a boil, wait for them to rise and then pull them out and add to sauce. I've also had reasonable success with freezing them and keeping them for a couple months that way.

Two and a half pans of gnocchi in the freezer waiting for bagging

The actual dish will be finished in the morning and I'll try to grab a 'final' picture after I get some sleep.