Monday, September 13, 2010

By Request

Good Morning from a warm and toasty Moose Nugget Household!
It was 34F this morning. J was kind enough to start a fire before heading out to cut firewood. Beans, Nugget, and I snuggled in the big bed, pulling the blankets up over our heads, and waited for the cabin to warm up.
Sweater Weather is my all-time favorite. The sun is lazy to rise, and this morning I had coffee brewed before the sun peeked above the treeline. I'm not much of a morning person, but Autumn makes it easier.
As the fire heats the log cabin, the scents of coffee, woodsmoke, and coffee cake (gluten free, of course!) mingle.
The roosters crow indignantly at the hens who dare eat breakfast without satisfying their breeding desires. This is the dance of the morning. The cackles of hens and cries of their jilted lovers mingle with the clatter of pots and pans, and little girls arguing over blocks or books or dollies.
I have a few moments yet to savor some sunrise and some espresso roast, then our day must begin in earnest. With the morning temps so close to freezing, the autumn chores can wait no longer.

***
JackDaddy- sounds like you left around the same time we did? (May 08)
I was originally there because of MAFB. My original reason to be there left. I finished up medic school and stayed a few more years. J was a govt civilian at Maxwell and Gunter. In addition to working with Haynes Ambulance for some time, I also worked as a medic on the base (Same company, but under contract). Knew lots of folks from the base because of it, and lots of lab owners too! :)

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By Request: some recipes
Don't forget, you can sub milks and such with whatever your dietary restrictions are pretty easily! And send feedback! If I ever get past blogging and writing my crappy memoirs, maybe I'll write a cookbook. Or open a gluten free bed and breakfast. Or start marketing my recipes. Or just keep cooking yummy stuff for my kiddos...

Focaccia:
*use a round cake pan or springform pan for best results. Um- square would probably be fine too?*
Prepare pan: spray with nonstick then dust with cornmeal

in large mixing bowl:
1/2 c quinoa flour
1/4 c sorghum flour
1/4 c corn starch
1/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c arrowroot starch
1-2 Tbl Teff flour (adds texture and nutrition. Can do without if you don't have it)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 ounce yeast (I think it worked out to 2 tsp if you dont have a scale?)
1 Tbl sugar

1 tsp olive oil
3/4 c WARM water (110F ish)

blend until moist, then beat with electric mixer on high for 2 minutes. Spoon into pan and spread dough to edges. Cover and rise 40 minutes or until doubled. Drizzle with olive oil and add any spices you like. (we do plain sea salt)
Preheat oven to 400F
Bake 20-25 minutes. Crust should be golden or beginning to brown and bread should be cooked through.
Has delicious chewy consistency that most glutenfree is missing. (Reminded me of domino's pizza crust, actually! Or bagels. Or a hundred other yummy delicious things we can't eat anymore! Crisp and chewy!)

***
And another recipe I tried yesterday. This was so good that even my pickier eater ate three servings of, and asked me to make again today.
You can use any kind of fruit you want- we used peaches and rhubarb. If you use a particularly wet fruit, adjust your liquids.
If you have leftovers, refrigerate and then reheat in the OVEN, or it will be soggy ickiness instead of yummy deliciousness!
Honestly, it reheats okay but next time I would probably half the recipe.

Fruity Coffee Cake:

3/4 c sorghum flour
1 c brown rice flour
1/8 c cornmeal (adds texture. Can skip if you wanted)
1/4 c tapioca flour
1c sugar (can use 3/4 if using sweeter fruit than I did!)
1Tbl baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c almond milk (can use subs!)
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1-2 tsp seasonings (I used Ginger in this one. Cinnamon would have been good too!)

2 cups chopped fruit of choice

Preheat oven to 375F
Mix dry and wet ingrediets seperately, then combine, stirring until moistened and no lumps. Add fruit and stir to coat evenly. Spread into 9x13 pan (cooking spray helps!) and sprinkle with "fancy" sugar. (or regular sugar. Or make crumb topping if you can have butter. Or just bake the dang thing!)
Took about 30 minutes, I think? Top with be lightly golden and you should be able to have a toothpick come clean.

In the words of Beans, "I yike it! I even ate a peaches and it wasn't uh-skust-ing"
(NOT a fan of peaches, can you tell?)
she ate three adult sized pieces of it.
Beans mostly smeared it in her hair, along with some bacon grease for good measure. But she ate more than she put in her hair.
J declared it "awesome" and told me I should enter it into te Rhubarb Bake Off contest next year.
Must have been pretty good!

***

Off to start the farm chores and put a nice soup on to simmer. 'Tis the season for soup!

Until Next Time,
Happy Moose Trails!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It sure sounds like the season for soup up there! Thanks for the recipies! I am passing them on to a friend at work who is gluten free.

Anonymous said...

Thank-you for the recipes!!! Hubby's gonna Love them!! :)
We are seriously changing our eating habits mostly due to allergies, but also I'm taking on-line classes for "Nutritional Consultant" we want to eat healthier so these recipes are perfect :)
Keep Cookin Girl!! You Rock!!

Aries Too said...

"Honestly, it reheats okay but next time I would probably half the recipe."

Halve is the verb form...
Half is the adverb...

(Halving is the present participle for of the verb halve. ( Not to be confused with calving which produces either a calf, or an iceberg. ))
Thus ends the cabin school lesson...

Wild Bluebonnets said...

Coffee cake is in the oven! Thanks, I was looking for something different for breakfast this morning!

Anonymous said...

Found a Jerky recipe for you:)

1 1/2 Lbs Flank Steak
3/4 cup wine vinegar
1/2 cup Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 large onion diced

cut meat into 1/2 think slices. combine ingredients and let marinate in frig overnight. Lay meat on cookie sheet and bake 150 degrees. cook 2-3 hours. Turn pieces over and dab the meat to absorb the grease. Cook another 2-3 hours until all meat is dry. if moisture is present then meat is not cooked throughly.

I have never made this recipe before I was searching my cook books and came across this one and thought I would post it for you. If there is any ingredients in it that you can't have I'm sure you can tweak it :)

Let me know if this works....if not I'll keep searching:)

Liz

Sasha said...

Can't wait to try those recipes.. thanks for taking time to type them all out. Gluten free is necessary for us too, but sometimes tastes like crap.

BTW love love love the blog. We were going to move up there 10 yrs ago but ended up staying in the Rockies.. now I can live vicariously through Moose Nuggets :)