Enchilada Lasagna

Where's Kelly?

That is what everyone keeps asking me.  I should change my outfit to horn rimmed glasses and a red & white striped shirt and change my name to Waldo right?!! lol....

It seems that summer has just whizzed by.  I am not complaining that is for sure.  Have had a great summer so far.  A few ups and downs, but so far so good.  Just hoping for an Indian Summer so I can recoup some of my wasted time.

My awesome sister came and visited during my week at the fair with the Cheerleaders.  Sure wish we could've spent time golfing, but I enjoyed her company at the Fair.  She bought me my first pair of bling bling capris and a pair of bling bling jeans.  She is the best ever.  Oh and for anyone who wants a pair of these awesome jeans contact Kory Olsen at the Cascade Farmer's Flea Market, her business is called Tracks and Racks and her prices are to die for.  She has the cutest pants, capris, shorts, purses, belts, hats and all kinds of really super cute bling bling clothes.

I have not spent a lot of time in the kitchen at all and it's really getting to me.  I need my Zen and I am not getting it.  I did place the Lemon Blueberry Coffe Cake into the fair and won first place in my division and 3rd place overall, that was a good accomplishment.  I sold the delicious Carne Asada Tacos and Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches at the Fair and SOLD OUT!!!!  Learned some things to do and not to do next year that is for sure...

One thing I will NOT to do is spray Eazy Off Oven Cleaner in my stove, forget to wipe the excess off of the heating element and leave it overnight.  The morning of my first day of fair and had to get the coffee cake into the fair by 1:30pm, I went to clean out the oven and uh yeah the oven element disintegrated in my hands!!! Oh all I could do is laugh about it because really what else was there to do.  UGH!  Thank goodness for Ebay, got a new one a week later and back to cooking for me.  A week some of you say?  Well I live over an hour away from any major store so a week is good timing.

So for the first time tonight I actually cooked in my semi new oven.  I found this delicioso recipe today and fed it to the family and the extended family (Joey and Tucker).  It was a hit and its all gone already, bummer, no left overs for work tomorrow.  Oh well everyone is stuffed and happy...... My job is complete for the day.

 Photo by Kelly Taylor

Enchilada Lasagna

adapted from mogwaisoup.blogspot.com

2 Tbsp. virgin olive oil

1 lb. chicken breast, chopped into bite size pieces

5 cups mexican blend cheese

1 can cream of celery

1 can cream of chicken

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup canned and chopped green chilies, drained

small corn tortillas

1 tsp ancho chili powder

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 Tbsp parsley flakes

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 425°

Brown chicken in a pan with the 2 Tbsp of virgin olive oil; season with salt, pepper, cumin, ancho chili powder, garlic and parsley.

In a bowl combin cream of celery, cream of chicken, sour cream, cheddar soup mix and green chilis.

Prepare a bowl of water to do dip the corn tortillas in.  In a 9 x 13 in. baking dish, put 1/2 cup of the cream mix on the bottom of the baking dish and spread.  Layer a row of tortillas followed by cream mix, chicken and cheese.  Repeat.  Make three layers of this.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted and golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies - Gluten Free

Okay so I just had my first experience with losing an entire blog!  UGH!  So unfortunately this blog is going to be short and sweet.  Unlike my mood!  Blah! 

Last week sure did seem to fly by right?  It probably had to do with me getting stuck in the bathroom all weekend.  No, it's not what you are thinking, I did not fall off the gluten free wagon.  I was painting.  I really am probably one of those rare individuals that loves to paint.  I won't say that I am awesome at it by any means, but it is very relaxing to me.  Oh except the taping part, I don't like that part at all.  Anyway, I think it turned out nice.  Alec says to me, "it's about time you painted the bathroom, its so sterile and cold feeling in there."  Really, sterile?  I took it as a compliment, ooh because of my new BFF Kaboom with oxi clean.  Anyway he wanted me to paint all around the shower/bath because its a nice chocolate color and he said that it would feel like the shower was surrounding him with warmth while he was showering.  Really, what planet is that kid from?  This coming from a kid who EVERY stinking day warms up his pants with the blow dryer because he can't stand the feel of cold pants.  Do you have any idea how many blow dryers I went through before I figured out what the heck was going on with that whole ridiculousness (is that a word?)? 

Anyway, here is a delicious recipe for brownies, which are one of the kids' favorite things.  I went through quite a few recipes before I settled on this one.  Several of them turned out resembling something that I could've used to make a beautiful hearth for the woodstove.  These usually only last one night, maybe two if the kids' friends, "I don't know" and "It wasn't me" show up and eat all of them.  I really wish their parents would not allow them to come over as much as they do.  LOL!  I have one more that is marvelous and will post that at some point too.  In this pic though, I just mixed all the ingredients together because I was in a hurry, Alec was disappointed, it was his birthday and he wanted the marble cheesecake brownies.  Yeah well, hey buddy I was busy trying to make your bathing experience warm and inviting. 

If you want them non gluten free - substitute the same flour amounts with all purpose flour!  Jealous!

BTW - I don't remember where I stole this recipe from, but whomever it is.... It is UH Mazing! Thanks.

Enjoy~

Photo by Kelly Taylor

Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies

4oz. unsweetened chocolate

4oz. semi sweet chocolate

1/3 C. butter

6oz. cream cheese, softened

2 C. sugar, divided

6 large eggs, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. gluten free flour mix (Bob's Red Mill)

9oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

1 C. gluten free flour mix (Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 tsp. xantham powder (or guar gum)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Melt the unsweetened chocolate, semi sweet chocolate and the 1/3 c. butter in a double boiler or in a pyrex bowl over a simmering pot of water, making sure not to boil so that the water does not get into the mixture.

Beat cream cheese  and 1/4 c. butter until creamy, gradually adding 1/2 c. of sugar, beat well.

Beat in 2 eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping the bowl after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla and fold in 2 Tbsp. of flour and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, set aside.

Beat the remaining 4 eggs, gradually add in the remaining 1 1/2 c. of sugar; add chocolate mixture and 2 tsp. vanilla; beat until well blended.

In a bowl, combine 1 C. flour, baking powder, xanthan powder and salt; fold in the chocolate batter and remaining chips.

Set 3 cups of the batter aside.

Spread the remaining batter into a greased rectangular pan; pour cream cheese mixture over chocolate batter then top with the reserved chocolate batter and swirl with a knife.

Bake at 325° F for 45 minutes.

Cool completely.

Beef Jerky

I have decided to start making some gourmet salts.  I wanted something easy and not a lot of maintenance or preparation.  I searched all over and found some pretty good recipes not only for salts, but sugars, spices and extracts.  Brewing in my linen closet as we speak is vanilla, coconut, almond and orange extracts.  I can't wait to see how those turn out.  Hopefully all of this will come together before the first week of August, when our local County Fair starts.  So I found a recipe for Citrus Salts, which in theory seemed pretty easy right?  Add a few dried citrus fruits to some sea salt and BLAM! you have citrus salts.  The recipe for drying out fruits in my oven seemed easy enough right, 200° degrees for two hours, easy peasy!  WRONG!  I sliced them way to thin and they burned up, thank goodness fruit is inexpensive.  So as Toby and I were in Walmart, looking to buy out the store to furnish his new house with kitchen and bathroom gadgets and what nots, I came across a food dehydrator.  $42.00, what a steal.  Toby was generous enough to buy it for me. 

The first thing I decided to make in my new little gadget was some jerky.  We don't get to eat a lot of jerky anymore because a lot of the store bought stuff has gluten in it.  It's amazing what you can't have once you start looking at labels.  Stephanie actually teethed on beef jerky, I know that seems a little mountain hillbilly, but she loved it and it was not near as messy as those nasty little cookie things.  Alec of course was super duper excited, he loves the stuff.  The first batch I made he "allowed" me to have a small bag to give to Toby, then the big bag mysteriously disappeared into his black hole of a room.  Oh well, I don't care, I would rather he munch out on beef jerky than garbage.  Which BTW is another bonus of eating gluten free, no cookies, cake, twinkies, ding dongs, etc.

Here is a recipe I found at http://blisstree.com, it's actually really good, but I would beef (no pun intended) it up a little, it could have been stronger in flavor for my tastes.  To make it peppered beef jerky, just sprinkle cracked pepper on it right before you start dehydrating it.  Not too much though, if you use the fine ground pepper, it's just not the same.

Enjoy!

Photo by Kelly Taylor

Beef Jerky

adapted from http://blisstree.com

1 1/2 – 2 lbs. of lean meat

1/4 C. soy sauce (La Choy - gluten free)

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. hickory or mesquite liquid smoke-flavoring

Slice your choice of lean meat very thin, about 1/4 inch slices works.  If you slice it any thinner than you get a tougher crispier finished product.  I used a top sirloin roast or a rump roast and trimmed all of the fat off of it.  It was not that hard.  London Broil is a good choice too. 

Put all of the meat in a Ziploc bag, mix all the marinade ingredients together and give it a good whisk.  Pour the marinade into the Ziploc bag with the meat.  Zip it up and really work that marinade into the meat by squishing it around in the bag.  Place the bag in the fridge for several hours.  I let my stay in there overnight, flipping it around a couple of times so the marinade had a chance to coat all of the meat.

Take the meat out of the bag and pat it down with paper towels, you don't want it really wet.  Place it in single layers, NO OVERLAPPING, onto the dehydrator trays.  Allow it to do its magic for at least 5 hours.  I rotated my trays every hour or so and dabbed it a few times with paper towels to remove the meat juice off of the drying pieces.  I didn't have too much of this though because I chose very lean cuts of meat. 

Once the meat is dried to your tastes, place it in airtight baggies and you can store it in the freezer for months.

ENJOY!

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

My daughter, Stephanie, just graduated High School a week ago (Valedictorian, I might add.)  For those of you who do not have a teenager who is close to graduating, you are in for one of the most bittersweet moments of your life.  I can remember having random moments of tears welling up in my eyes at the thought of her moving out and getting her own life.  It's one of those contradictory moments in your life when you realize that all those times you thought to yourself, " I can't wait til they move out" and then that moment is actually upon you and you're like "wait, wait a damn minute, I am not ready for her to leave yet."  Then reality sets back in when a couple of days after graduation you go into her room to put that nice fresh clean pile of laundry that you thoughtfully folded on her bed for her to put away and BLAM you walk in to what looks like what New Orleans must have looked like after the water receded.  UGH! I can't wait til she moves out.....(not really ;) )

In the meantime.....  I bake or cook to help me relax and unwind.  And lately I have been baking and cooking up a storm... lol

The recipe that I am posting today is one that I found while surfing the internet one day this very long winter.  UGH winter, I hate even saying that word lately.  Idaho seems to be on some kind of weird climate twilight zone lately.  It snowed two days ago and quite frankly I am getting sick of it.  Bring on Summer!  Anyway I found it originally at www.foodgawker.com, which led me to the original site of the www.kitchenrunway.com. These folks have some amazing recipes and you should check out their site.

A few months ago I started baking something for our weekly supervisor meetings at work, using them as guinea pigs, because Toby is not always a fan of what I make.  Trust me my co-workers are up for the challenge on this one.  The only thing I will not bring them are Donuts, hello for anyone who knows me, the answer is obvious as to why.  This recipe was such a hit, I have literally made it four times already.  I am not sure what it tastes like, because of the whole WHEAT nemesis, but I am told that it is one of the most delicious coffee cakes that they have eaten.  It must be good right? 

Hope you enjoy!

Photo by Kelly Taylor

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

Adapted from www.kitchenrunway.com

Crumb Topping

1 3/4 C. all purpose flour

3/4 C. light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. coarse salt (I omitted)

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Cake

2 C. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

2 C. sugar

3/4 C. regular butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

12 oz. fresh blueberries (I used 6 oz.)

Glaze

1 C. powdered sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 Tbs. milk

Pre heat oven to 300°F.  Grease a 10 inch spring form pan (or tube pan) with butter or spray. 

First prepare the topping.  Combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter, using a fork or a pastry cutter, combine the mixture until small medium clumps form.  Place in the refrigerator. 

For the cake, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, give it a whisk and set it aside.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on medium high speed until mixture is lighter in color and has increased in volume a bit, about 5 minutes.  Turn the mixer to low and slowly add butter, making sure that it has cooled, you don't want to cook the eggs.  Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for 2 more minutes.  Add vanilla, zest and lemon juice and stir.  Slowly fold a 1/2 a cup of the flour mixture at a time into the egg and sugar mixture.  Add blueberries and stir gently to incorporate.  Not too much, you don't want to make them mushy.   Pour into the pan and top with crumb topping.  Bake on the middle rack for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk until smooth.  Drizzle the glaze over the cake.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the glaze to set.

~ENJOY~

Black Peppered Chicken

Who doesn't love the Panda Restaurants?  This is the closest I have come to their black peppered chicken and it is too die for.  You will notice that there is no celery or onions pictured in the recipe, my children are not big fans, however it's very easy to add and I would suggest that you do so.  Remember if you are wanting to make this gluten free, it's all in the soy sauce.  You can purchase gluten free soy, but La Choy is in almost every supermarket and it is gluten free.  I love chinese food because a lot of it is naturally gluten free and if it is battered in some way, its usually done with cornstarch. 

If you don't own a rice steamer, you are missing out.  My daughter came home one day and informed me that her boyfriend's mother made her some of the best rice she ever had, "sorry Mom, no offense, but it was really good."  So the next time I went to Boise I bought a rice steamer and she was right!  I now make all of my rice in my trusty steamer, including the one's that come from a box.  Which by the way are not too many, with the whole gluten free thing, it's hard to find anything from a box anymore.
Note: Its very easy to overdo on the pepper, so if you don't like spice, then cut back about a 1/4 tsp. of the white pepper, a little goes a long way.

So here is my take on Black Peppered Chicken ~Enjoy!

 

Photo by Kelly Taylor

Black Pepper Chicken

Sauce:

1/4 C. oyster sauce

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. rice wine

1 lb. boneless chicken breast

1 white onion, sliced into strips 

2 celery stalks, sliced into strips

oil for frying

Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Cut chicken into 2 inch strips. Heat about 2 Tbsp. of oil in pan and cook chicken until done.  Drain the chicken on paper towels.  Clean out the pan, heat about 1 Tbsp. of oil.  Add the onion and celery and cook for two minutes.  Add the sauce mixture and heat until bubbly.  Add the chicken stirring to fully coat with the sauce mixture. 

Serve with steamed rice.

~ENJOY!~

Carne Asada Tacos

Because I love tacos!  These are probably the best Carne Asada tacos I have ever eaten.  The recipe is so easy and adaptable that you could use it for enchiladas, machaca burritos, whatever your mexican heart desires.  Served up with a side of spanish rice and refried beans, mmmm mmmm good!  This recipe is actually like wine, the longer you let it marinate, the better the flavor.  The last time I made it, which was just two days ago, I got side tracked with another great food idea and put off cooking them for a day and boy am I glad I did, they were AWESOME!  Note: most grocery stores have meat sliced thin for carne asada or you can use french dip meat or simply ask your meat department to slice the meat very thin.  I have found that the thinner the meat the better the flavor and it is not as tough.

~ENJOY~

Picture by Kelly Taylor

Carne Asada Tacos

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 25, 2008

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. Flank Steak

1/3 cup vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce ( La Choy is gluten free)

1/2 cup olive oil ( I used canola)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1-2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. onion powder

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

2 limes, juiced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and whisk well, making sure that you blend all of the inredients.  Pour into a large Ziploc bag with the flank steak.  Seal the bag and give it a couple of good shakes, making sure that you coat all of the meat.  Let marinate for at least 6 hours, overnight is better.

Grill your steak to your desired doneness, for thin steaks, it will only take 2-3 minutes on each side for it to be done.  Once the meat is done, let it sit for at least 5-10 minutes.  Slice meat against the grain into small chunks.

Serve in warmed corn tortillas topped with your favorite toppings.  We use Cojito cheese, its a great mexican cheese, lettuce, olives, avocado and Pico De Gallo!  I also serve them with rice and beans.  In my refried beans, whether they are from a can or dehydrated, I always add about a tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of garlic, it gives them great flavor.

Delicioso!

My very first posting!

I can't believe it, I finally did it.  Yes! 

Over the last year I have been cooking, baking and taking pictures of almost everything that comes out of my oven, well except the things I have thrown away!  It has not always been a stairway to heaven, but rather a highway to hell.  Whoa, I just totally dated myself. 

A little over a year ago I was speaking with my wonderful Grandmother via email and we were discussing my son in particular.  My son, Alec, at the time was thirteen and he resembled a very tall five year old with an eating disorder.  I was very concerned that he just did not seem to be growing.  Now, I shouldn't have been too concerned since I myself am vertically challenged and my Dad kept telling me, "Oh now Kelly, I didn't hit my growing spurt until I was a freshman in High School, he will grow, just give him some time." (in my best deep voice Dad impression).  Yeah well I was still wearing a size 6X in the 9th grade, so that was not really helping me out.   I decided that having a short child really wasn't all that bad.  I mean I am short and it's never stopped me from doing things, unless you count stacking things on top of each other in incredibly stupid arrangements that could easily cause you to fall and possibly break your neck, I really have not suffered from it.

Anyway, getting back to the Grandmother story.  I was complaining to her via email and low and behold about a week later in the regular "snail mail" comes a letter from my Grandmother, in her beautiful, delicate handwriting which has not changed a bit since I was little.  Now my Grandmother comes from the generation where talking about her personal health and such is just a "private" matter and is not discussed, especially with the Grandchildren. 

Thank Goodness she broke the Grandmother Code of Silence!  She goes on to tell me about ten years ago she was diagnosised with Celiacs Disease.  Well being the seeker of knowledge I am, I immediately head to my computer and type it in.  I am reading the symptoms and BAM! my son is a walking poster child of this disease.  I marched his happy little (literally) butt up to the clinic, demand he have a blood test and inform them I am not leaving until it's done.  A couple of days later our trusty dusty doctor calls me and tells me I am receiving a 20% discount for bringing the diagnosis to them! Ha Ha Ha!  YES! Finally an answer that I love to hear! I WAS RIGHT!!!  So up to the doctor goes me and Stephanie, BLAM! we are positive too!!!!

Well that began our journey of figuring out now what we can and can not eat.  At first I was like, holy shiznit, this sucks, we can't eat anything from a box, UGH!  What is a hamburger helper girl gonna do? 

Little did I know this was going to be the turning point of my culinary skills!  Of course the big challenge was going to be trying to find a balance because three of us needed to eat Gluten Free and two, sometimes three, could eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, (jerks, lol.)  

This actually turned out to be a good thing.  I can cook all of the deliciously glutenous confections I want and I CAN'T eat them, which means, that's right, NO WEIGHT GAIN!  It is the best diet I have ever been on!!!!

So.... this blog is about my trials in cooking and baking gluten free and not so gluten free.   I have found the inner chef in myself.  I hope you all enjoy at least one of these delicious recipes!

~Enjoy~

Kelly