Crustless Canadian Quiche

Some of you might be following The Gluten-free Homemakers' Gluten-free Wednesdays Monthly challenge, if not I would totally recommend checking it out. Anyhow, the challenge this month was to create and make a quiche. Now I have never made a quiche in my life, nor have I ever eaten one, so when this challenge came out I was really excited to participate.

First, I looked at a lot of recipes for different kinds of quiche. Bacon quiche. Quiche Lorraine. Veggie Quiche. A lot of different kinds of quiche.
Second, I decided to build my own recipe, but adapt it a little bit.
I knew that I wanted to make it crustless to cut down on the calories, and then I decided to make it with mostly egg whites to cut back on the cholesterol.

I am really happy with this recipe, it was a sooo good and only 200 Calories a slice.

Check this and other recipes out at The Gluten Free Homemaker.

Crustless Canadian Quiche

3 egg whites

3 whole eggs

1 C. Skim Fat Ricotta Cheese

1/2 pack of Canadian Bacon (I use Hormel)

1 large Tomato or 2 small

1/2 C. Celery, diced small

4 Tbs Parmesan cheese, optional

Salt

1. Spray a glass pie plan with non-stick spray.
2. Beat eggs together. Add ricotta. Mix together.
3. Add all other ingredients on top of egg mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until center doesn't wiggle when jiggled.

Hamburger Buns

For a while there, it actually felt like summer. It really did, but now it's cold and rainy and dreary and dark.

 

I hate being betrayed by my own weather. Oh well. April showers bring may flowers, right?

 

I even had a summer recipe all sset up to share with you. Hey, maybe you would like to see it anyway?
Okay, well the other day I was watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network. Oh my goodness. This is one of the few shows that when I watch it, drool pools in my mouth. You ever had that happen? Of  course most of the food is soooo bad for you! Always deep fried, smothered in cheese, and served with fries. Oh god. Your head is screaming "Don't eat that!", but your stomachs saying "Please! Just a bite!!!". The episodes that really get me are the pancake and burger episodes.

 

Burgers are my achilles heel. Anyhow, the episode had burgers from a restraunt in Long Beach, California. The burgers were so juicy and smothered in things like grilled pineapple, that they literally dripped down the patrons hands. So now my plan is that once it warms up I am going to make burgers like that, including the grilled pineapple! But first lets talk about the bun. Gluten Free Hamburger buns are pretty much disgusting, especially the store bought ones. They are all hard and dry, and are only palatable if you toast them. Well, I have discovered a recipe for hamburger buns that are a vast improvement over those hard things.

 

 

 

Gluten-free Hamburger Buns

 

4 C. White Rice Flour
2 C. Tapioca Flour
1/2 C. Sugar
7 tsps Xanthan
2 tsps Salt
3 Tbs Yeast
3 1/2 C. Warm water
1/2 c. Olive Oil
2 tsp Rice Vinegar
6 eggs

1. Add all the dry ingredients except the yeast a stand mixer. Blend together. Pour the yeast in on top.
2. Add the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Add the oil, vinegar, and eggs.  Mix on high 5 minutes.
4. Scoop into english muffin rings or rings made out of aluminum foil. I like to use a large ice cream scoop to do this.
5. Let rise on your oven for 30 minutes.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Makes 15 hamburger buns.

Beef stock

For most people with multiple allergies finding prepackaged food of any kind is extremely difficult, if not darn near impossible. Where as most people who have to eat just gluten-free or just corn-free can typically find something to eat, those with multiple allergies never can. It's true. They never can. If it doesn't have garlic then it has soy. If it doesn't have carrot it has russet potato. If it's tomato free then its cooked with corn oil. Bluch. Why even bother? I say, let's just make everything ourselves! A perfect example of this is beef stock.

Beef stock is one of those basic necessities that every cook needs in there kitchen, it is positively invaluable when making meatballs, soup, or gravy. The problem with store bought stock is that every single one contains pepper, carrots, and soy. All three of these ingredients my mother is allergic to, so in my house we make our own beef stock. Here is how I go about doing this: Here is what you'll need.

Ingredients
3 lbs of Beef Bones
1 Onion
1 Bunch Parsley
1 Celery
Olive Oil
Salt
1 Bay Leaf

First place your bones in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, and then rub the bones with the oil.

Chop the onion into fourths, and the celery into four inch chunks (including the leaves, they add a lot of flavor). Add to the roasting pan and sprinkle all with salt.

Roast for 1:30 at 400degrees, flipping the bones every half hour.

When finished roasting, place all the bones and veg into a large stockpot.

Now place the roasting pan over two burners on your stove and heat just until the pan is hot. This only takes a minute.

 When the pan is hot, add 1 cup of red wine and scrape the pan with a wooden spatula to get all the lovely carmalized drippings off the bottom of the pan.

Pour the wine and drippings into your large stockpot.

Add a bay leaf and the rest of the parsley. Now if you can have pepper, then it would be good to add 5 or 6 peppercorns to the pot too.

Fill the pot with water, put on the stove and heat just till simmering.

When simmering, lower the heat just until you see a few bubbles rising to the top.

Do not let it boil.

Leave it on the stove to lightly simmer for 4-6 hours.

Now go watch a movie. I recommend Julie and Julia or The Three Musketeers, but you know, whatever floats your boat. The important thing is to leave the pot alone. Do not stir. This will make your stock cloudy.

After the 4-6 hours, remove the pot and strain the bones and vegetables out of the stock.

Leave the stock overnight in the fridge. In the morning a thick layer of hardened fat will be on the top.

Scrape this off and throw away.

Now you are ready to package and freeze.

I like using Glad containers for this.

Now you have stock for all of your favorites recipes.

Check this recipe out at Gluten Free Wednesdays.

Amaranth Cereal

Hey everyone. Sorry I havn't been around for a while. I've had the stomach flu for the past week, and as most of you know, throwing up and writing about food are not a good combo. I couldn't even watch the food network. Yeah. That's bad. I'm still under the weather, but at least the stomach part is over. Thank goodness.

Now back to our normal broadcasting schedule.

When my family went gluten free something we quickly came to realize is how messed up most peoples diet is. At least half of Americans go a full year without eating a single whole grain. How shocking is that?! When I first heard that statistic it really made me think. If you dissect the average persons diet you can really see the where the problem areas are.

The average Americans diet:

Breakfast:
Coffee or mixed, blended coffee-like drink
Cereal (bleached, dyed, sweetened, and then "enriched")
Pastry ( sugary, buttery, and doused with preservatives)

Lunch:
Fast Food (fat chance of finding a whole grain there)
School Cafeteria food (deep fried, soaking in ketchup, french fries counting as a vegetable)

Dinner:
Fast Food (deep fried, depleted, with 23 different ingredients)
Restaurant Food ( Containing the same amount of calories you should have for your whole day)
A frozen dinner ( seriously? No whole grains unless you specifically are looking for them)

There you go. Not a whole grain in sight. Unfortunately, with some people who go gluten free it sometimes is not a lot better. White rice flour is not a whole grain. When we went gluten free, my family and I decided we were going to try to eat as healthy as possible. As part of this endeavor, we decided to add whole grains into our life as much as we can. Here are a couple of ways to incorporate whole grains into your life:

• When eating pasta try quinoa, brown rice or flax pasta instead of white.
• Instead of white rice try brown rice or quinoa as a side.
• Try puffed whole grain cereals like Arrowhead Mills Puffed Millet.
• Buy a bread machine and make your own gluten free bread with millet, amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat flours.

One of my favorite whole grain foods is Amaranth cereal. Amaranth seeds, like buckwheat and quinoa, contain a complete set of amino acids. Its seeds have a protein content greater than that of wheat. Several studies have shown that like oats, amaranth seed or benefits those with hypertension and cardiovascular disease; regular consumption reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels. I personally think this is awesome. I love cooking amaranth for a breakfast cereal similar to cream of wheat.

Amaranth Cereal

2 c. Whole Amaranth grain
6 c. water
dash salt

1. Add all ingredients to pan, cover and bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 25 or until the consistency that you like.

WARNING: When lifting the lid to check thickness watch out for amaranth popping. When a semi-solid substance boils it tends to pop you with boiling hot amaranth cereal that burns your flesh. Be careful.

My mom likes to eat this cereal sweetened with splenda. Pureed prunes also taste really good too. I know weird, but good.

For more recipes check out Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.