More pizza goodness

Ellie had been asking for pizza this weekend, so today I decided to try the Kinnikinnick pizza crusts that were in the freezer. I purchased these a few weeks ago from the Gluten- Free Grocery in Westchester. I found out these are the crusts they use at Aurelio's. After our last outing at the Chicago location, we were worried about cross-contamination issues, so we decided to just make the pizza at home from now on.

They come in a pack of 4 or 5, frozen and ready to bake. I sauteed an orange pepper, cut up some tomatoes and olives and bought a pack of pepperoni and pizza sauce from Trader Joe's for the topping. Ellie had fun topping her pizza with Daddy. We slid two of the crusts onto the preheated pizza stone and baked for 16 minutes.

They were delicious! The crusts were crispy and not soggy at all in the middle, like we had experienced with the Namaste pizza dough mix. It could not have been easier, or tastier. They have a slightly sweet taste, but the consistency is great. I'm in love!

Pizza Redux

So, if you don't have a pile of sausage around to make a pizza crust, what's the alternative? I've already mentioned that Amy's has a fine rice crust pizza, but if you're looking to start from scratch, I suggest the pizza crust by Kinnikinnick Foods. Aurelio's Pizza uses the crust to make their gluten-free pizza and, I have to say, it's pretty damn good.

I will caution Chicagoans that the Aurelio's in Chicago suffers from a dearth of... competence. We want to love it. I hear the Suburban locations are fine, but we invariably end up waiting until the Bean has melted down and is no longer hungry before the food comes. The pizza is good (I think it's the sauce that makes it) and the gluten-free crust is good. It's a little thick, but it's airy and meshes well with the other ingredients. It's just that the wait staff is so bad at getting the food to your table that they may as well be bringing a slab of shoe leather for all the interest our daughter shows in it by the time it shows up.

We've actually gone and bought a stack of Kinninnick crusts and will try making the pizza at home. We got them from the Gluten-Free Store in Westchester, IL. We'll let you know how they turn out.

Risotto

Yeah I know. This isn't the "real" way to make risotto. That takes time and yes, it is worth it. If I make a risotto from scratch, though, it will usually be the main dish of a meal.

Lundberg Farms
makes a risotto that works well as a side dish for a weeknight meal. They are, of course, gluten-free and delicious. I would take the suggestion on the box not to overcook, & they also don't make great leftovers (which risottos do?). Other than that, there's not much else you can ask for. The two year old loves it.

We've tried the Cheddar Broccoli and the Tuscan. It does have a strong flavor, but it's really pretty good.

Hells yeah

I'm always looking for quick and easy side dishes for dinner. Unfortunately, most of the pre-made rices and other convenience foods are either full of gluteny goodness or full of garbage.

Here is quite a find, the TastyBite Thai Lime Pilaf rice. Not only is it gluten free, it's also vegan and MSG free. Also the ingredient list is sans any crazy processed crap. And the best part is it's done in 5 minutes!

I served it with grilled Thai chicken and a cabbage salad.

- Chicken Marinade-
1 Tablespoon Light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Curry powder
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 Cup Soy sauce (San-J gluten free)
1/2 Cup Freshly squeezed lime juice
2 Garlic cloves -- minced
Crushed dried chile peppers

I didn't have dried chile peppers on hand so I used crushed red pepper flakes. I think I marinaded the chicken only about 45 minutes yet it had a lot of flavor. I love grilling.

Delicious!

Bumble Bars

I was excited to try these Bumble Bars when I saw them at Whole Foods last week. I must admit that I've been missing the whole granola bar thing, as that was one of my snack staples pre-gluten free days.

Yes they are a bit pricey; they don't come in a box like your Quaker chewy or Kashi bar. You have to buy them individually and they're about $1.69 or some such nonsense. But really, most GF food is expensive anyhow so I took the plunge.

First off, I must say the texture is pretty good. It holds together well and is somewhat chewy- what you might expect and want from a granola bar. The only caveat- the taste.

A pretty big caveat in my humble opinion.

I tried the Chai flavor. I love Chai (she thinks naively). This will be great! Let's just say that if you like the taste of incense and birdseed, this bar is for you!

Blech!

Gluten free cornbread

I've been putting off the inevitable- gluten free baking. Not because I don't like baking; I actually love to bake. I just have been feeling overwhelmed with the whole gluten free cooking, and baking takes a lot more skill and research than I could muster right now. Between getting the house ready for sale and the baby, I rarely have time to cook dinner, let alone bake. I thought that my first foray into the realm of gf baking should be a relatively easy recipe.

It actually turned out fine. I merely substituted the all-purpose flour in the recipe and added xantham gum.

Enjoy!

Buttery cornbread ( I never said it was healthy...)
adapted from an Epicurious recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups coarse stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
3/4 t xanthan gum
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend

Preparation

Butter 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan. Mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and coarse salt in large bowl. Add buttermilk, melted butter, and beaten eggs. Stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Let mixture stand 30 minutes to absorb liquid. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake bread until browned around edges and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let bread rest in pan 5 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature.

The Best Wheat Substitute

I don't think it would surprise anyone to know that the type of food most impacted by a gluten-free restriction is bread. In a nutshell, gluten-free bread sucks. It's actually hard to find gluten-free bread thats not frozen. Even full metal bread sucks after it's been frozen. Second, GF bread has this... too dense, too mealy, too crumbly quality to it...

There are a few notable exceptions... First - if you toast the bread, it sucks far less. Second - if you get it directly from a wheat-free bakery (like Rose's Wheat-Free Bakery), the results can be surprisingly good. Roses has a burger with beef from a ranch owned by Bill Curtis (yes, that Bill Curtis) served on Rose's sandwich rolls. The first bite is unsettling, because we have built up expectations about the kind of bread upon which burgers should be served. By the second bite, you notice how well the flavors and textures work together. By the last, you're anticipating the next time you can order one.

We've tried a number of GF frozen pizza options with varying degrees of success. The best of these has been the Amy's Rice Crust Pizza. Lou Malnati's, however, takes a completely different approach to gluten-free...

While other efforts replace the wheat with rice or corn, the Malnati's crew seems to have thought, "That's too hard." They went ahead and replaced the wheat with... wait for it... Sausage! That's right: When you order a Malnati's Gluten-Free Pizza, you get a big disk of sausage with sauce, cheese, and toppings on it. We actually got Pepperoni on a disk of cheesy, saucy, sausage... It ruled.

While this may be the nutritional equivalent of Hawaii trading a rat problem for a mongoose problem, I am looking forward to Malnati's serving me a hot dog on a bun made of sausage. Or, perhaps, a salad served in a sausage bowl... The possibilities are endless.