I cannot believe it has been almost three days since my last post. Wow. Time flies when you’re busy, and for some reason, weekends seem just as busy or busier than the rest of the week. Oh, well. 🙂 I’m here now.
Another thing I can’t believe is that I haven’t baked since Saturday! Lol… that seems reasonable, but it just feels weird. It’s ok. I’ll be baking today. I’m completely out of gluten-free bread, and we might be due for some chocolate chip cookies…. hmmm.
I just took two meats from the freezer as I begin to plan my meals for the week. For tonight, I took out some crab meat, as my meal of choice for this evening is seafood fettucini (my mind just raced like a mile a minute, trying to figure out if we have all the necessary ingredients–we’re good). Tomorrow, we’re going to have a beef roast with mashed potatoes. Yum yum. 🙂 (I’ll be sure to post pictures and the recipe tomorrow. I’m drooling now just thinking about!)
On Saturday, I did get the opportunity to do a little baking and that was fun. I started off my day with a cluttered kitchen from leftover dishes from Friday night, but I decided that wouldn’t hold me back from baking an apple pie. I had already made my gluten-free crust the night before (it has to chill for 3 hrs, so I just let it chill overnight), so prepping this pie was super-easy. I haven’t made an apple pie since Thanksgiving prep of about 2005, the last time I had Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, and even then, I’m not sure I was the apple pie baker. That might have been Mandy.
Either way, I forgot just how easy it was! I’ll be posting my recipe for the pie below, so you can enjoy it too, but I still revel in the fact that this is one of the simplest but most-delectable treats one could make in the fall. (ooh… that and apple crisp — addicting.)
After working four hours tutoring on Saturday, I was actually able to go into town (Vestal) and get some clothes shopping done with some birthday money and old gift certificates. I was so blessed, because Kohl’s and Target were having some killer sales! I ended up saving almost 50% on my purchases at Kohl’s because of their crazy sales, and at Target, my most-expensive purchase was a sweater I got from the kids’ section. Almost everything I bought was under $5 including a polo shirt and a nice pair of shorts for Adam. So neat!!! I love sales!! I didn’t even let myself look at anything that wasn’t on sale, and I got great deals!! Anyway, I got some very nice winter clothes for some good deals. 🙂 That’s always fun!
That evening, I made a new recipe for dinner. Now, I’d never even had this made at my mom’s or anyone else’s house, so I wasn’t entirely sure (except from online pictures) what it was supposed to be like. However, despite rumors of it being complicated, making chicken cordon bleu was pretty simple. I was thankful to find a recipe online that was gluten-free, and not only did I make a meal that Adam really loved (and will be enjoying the leftovers of today for lunch), but I found out a wonderful new way to make my own gluten-free breading. AND it’s much cheaper than the gluten-free bread crumbs we buy. So, all in all, it was a major success. With the chicken cordon bleu, I made extra-corny cornbread muffins, which were super-easy, super-moist, and much heathier than normal cornbread muffins. 🙂 Don’t worry; I’ll post the recipe for this below as well.
Actually, I’m realizing more and more that I need to be posting the pictures and the recipes I’m discussing on here. It’s frustrating to get on a food-related website to hear discussions of great, easy, cheap recipes and the writer doesn’t post recipes. As a foodaholic myself, I find I want the websites with pictures and clear recipes.
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Gluten-Free Apple Pie
Gluten-free Pie Crust
(From the kitchen of my wonderful mother-in-law, Bonnie Bowman)
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1/4 c. potato starch
1 c. sweet rice flour
1 round tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. salt
Blend together these ingredients.
Cut in:
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. Crisco
In a separate bowl, mix the following ingredients together, then add to flour/butter mixture:
1 cold egg, beaten
1 T. vinegar
3 T. ice water
Form a ball and knead. Refrigerate for 3 hours (or overnight, as I did). Divide into 3 sections. Roll onto floured plastic wrap.
Bake as needed for pie (this is what I did) or bake ahead of time in a pre-heated 450° oven for 10-12 minutes.
Apple Pie Filling:
So, I’ll be honest regarding this part. I started using a recipe I got from Allrecipes.com, but I kinda misread it, so I ended up editing the recipe, and I love it! 🙂 Here we go:
Mix together:
7 c. peeled, cored, sliced apples (The key to a good pie is a variety of apples. I just used Cortland apples, but apparently, a mixture of apples is best!)
1 c. white sugar
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
Pour into pie crust. Top with 2 Tbsp. butter (dabbed around the top of the pie filling)
I used a crumble topping ’cause Adam’s not a big pie crust fan. It’s amazing!
Crumble topping:
1/2 c. rice flour
1/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter
It won’t look like this is enough to cover the top of your pie. Try as much as possible to spread it around evenly, but don’t worry too much. It’ll spread out as it cooks. 🙂
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Extra-Corny Cornbread Muffins
This is such a simple recipe, because I used Gluten-Free Pantry’s Yankee Cornbread and Muffin Mix. I followed the recipe on the back of the box but replaced the buttermilk with a 15 oz. can of creamed corn. I would almost recommend pureeing the creamed corn before adding it, because it can get a little gritty if there’s any extra-tough corn kernels, but overall, this was a success, as the muffins were super-moist (and still are on their 3rd day!!!— if you’ve cooked with gluten-free mixes at all, you know that’s almost impossible!). Plus, it was good to get some corn in Adam, since he wasn’t in the mood for veggies with our meal that night. 😉
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What recipes would you like to see my try?
If you have any ideas, questions, or comments, please feel free to comment here, drop me an email: agb_aeb@hotmail.com or find me on Facebook.
P.S. Regarding my title for this blog, I really am looking forward to hunting season. Not only do I want to try my hand at hunting, but I can’t wait for Adam to bring home a deer and for me to have the opportunity to cook with venison. 🙂 I can’t wait to try a few new recipes!
Making My Boast 