Sometimes, it feels like going gluten free requires a nutritional certificate and a degree in biochemistry in order to understand what, exactly, you are dealing with.

 

These things are so fantastic, I am making them constantly these days.

The creamy, buttery chickpea taste met with the crispy outside.  These are good for lunches, dinners, appetizers or picnics!

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 4 cans of chickpeas, or about 4 cups of cooked chickpeas
• 2 eggs
• 1 handful of chopped, fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 1/4 c. corn oil

Directions:

1. Take the cooked chickpeas and put them in a large pan with 2 Tbsp of oil.  Add the salt, garlic powder, pepper and cover for 10 minutes.
2. Remove the chickpeas and put them into a mixing bowl.  Mash lightly, but with gusto.
3. Add the eggs and stir until well combined
4. Add 1/4 c corn oil into the pan and heat until simmering
5. Drop 1 large spoonful of chickpeas into the pan to create a patty,and lightly smoosh it down with the spoon. You should be able to fit 3 patties into the pan.
6. Cover and fry for 4 minutes each side
7. Remove and put onto a plate to cool
8. Serve with hot stewed tomatoes for the full experience!

Tamarah.org Recipe!

Sit down folks, I’m going to tell you a tale:

This is the story of a young lady who believed, believed deep down in her heart, that chicken recipes could be redeemed.

She believed chicken breasts did not have to be dry.  She believed a whole chicken could have endless flavor, and not just a sticky salt and pepper skin that you chew through.

Chicken was a blank canvas, and the cook only had to wield the brush.

Now, here is my theory of cooking chicken, and this is important:

There are 3 layers to cooking chicken – 

1) The base

2) The wet

3) The seasonings

• Bake at 350F for an hour, uncovered
• Pressure cook on high for 25 minutes

 

It might seem too simple, but this is the chemistry of chicken, and you can mix it up however you want.  Just as long as you have this formula, you will always, ALWAYS, have amazing chicken.

For example:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes, olive oil
• garlic powder, parsley, kosher salt, ground pepper

or

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can corn, olive oil
• garlic powder, paprika, cilantro, kosher salt, ground pepper

or

• chicken pieces
• 1 can of chickpeas, 1 can of stewed tomatoes, olive oil
• garlic powder, parsley, kosher salt, ground pepper

or

• chicken breasts
• 1 can of sliced pears
• brown sugar, cinnamon, kosher salt

or

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 cup of rice with 1 can organic stewed tomatoes
• kosher salt, garlic powder, oregano

The combinations are endless, but the formula is the key!!

This is a depression era recipe that was passed down to me, and it has never failed me.

It is astounding how complicated turkey can become…is it too dry, is it burnt, do you deep fry the turkey, do you set your house on fire by deep frying the turkey…  There are so many avenues to go down.  But Thanksgiving is supposed to be relaxing; how about we keep this simple and delicious.

What you need:

• A huge baking dish (I use the aluminum ones from the store)
• A huge turkey
• Crisco
• 2 large paper bags
• 1 apple
• 1 butternut squash or yams
• 1 yellow onion
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, thyme, fresh rosemary
• yellow dish gloves
• paper towels

Assembly:

1. Preheat your oven to 425F   I will also suggest you make sure your oven is clean before you set it this high.  You might have small fires on the bottom of your oven if it has crumbs or anything.  Just speaking as a friend, here.
2. Wash your turkey in the sink, just to get debris/blood off.  Also empty the cavity of the neck/organs.
3. Now, take a paper bag, paper towels, the Crisco and set them aside together.  With your gloved hands, take a paper towel and get a big scoop of Crisco on it.  Now, start lining the inside of the paper bag with the Crisco.  It doesn’t have to be a thick layer at all, just make sure you get every inch of the inside coated with Crisco.  Do this to both bags.          –-this is going to keep the moisture of the turkey stable while it is cooking, as well as preventing the bags to catch on fire.
4. Go back to the turkey and place it in the baking pan.  Pour olive oil on top to coat the skin, then sprinkle all the spices on top.        – The olive oil is going to make the skin moist and crispy, and the spices stick to it if you do it in this order
5. Cut the apple, yellow onion and peeled yams and put them in the turkey      –-you could easily use butternut squash, but I have crazy reaction to them, so I stick to yams.  Also, this step is to season and moisten the turkey from the inside, plus it makes a fantastic gravy afterward.
6. Slide one of the bags around the turkey, and then slide the other bag on the other side of the turkey.  I used to be able to fit a turkey in one bag, but they made the bags smaller over the years, so now you have to use 2.
7. Your turkey should be completely enclosed in this bag tent, and resting in the baking pan.
8. Place the pan in the oven at 425F for 20 minutes.  It will smoke a little bit at first (just the Crisco cooking, no worries), so open a window.
9. Turn the heat down to 325F for the rest of the time.  How long?  15 minutes per pound.

This will absolutely be the best turkey you have ever made.  It is always moist, has tons of flavor, the gravy is fantastic.  Love, love, love.

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Macaroni & Cheese

 

I think that technically, this is an incredibly healthy dish.

You have the quinoa pasta, which has a bunch of protein, and you have a whole butternut squash in here, which is awesome.  I’m just going to call it: this is healthy.  BOOYA!
Ingredients:

• 1 sliced, baked butternut squash
• 1 box quinoa elbow macaroni
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg plus more for sprinkling
• heaping 1/4 teaspoon of paprika
•  4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup chicken  stock
• 1  1/2 cups of gluten free bread crumbs

Hold On To Your Hats, Folks!:

1. Get your oven to 350 degrees F, pronto, Jack.
2. Take your butternut squash and use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off.  Slice it in half, scoop the seeds out (you can plant these in your garden, fyi) and place them in your pressure cooker.  Add 2 cups of water and cook on high for 4 minutes.
3. When squash has cooled, set aside 1 cup of it, and use a stick blender to get the rest to a good, smooth consistency…with out turning it into a smoothie.
4. While all this is going, cook the macaroni in boiling water for 8 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
5. Now, Melt 3 Tablespoons butter in a pot and slowly stir in the 1/3 cup of flour to form a paste.
6. Take it off the heat, and gradually whisk in 1 1/2 cups of milk. Return to medium low heat until the sauce  is fully blended and thickens.
7. Then, add pureed squash to the thickened sauce.
8. Add all your mustard, salt, nutmeg, and paprika. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of cheese (set aside 1/2 cup for the topping) and 1 cup of stock, alternating cheese and stock by cupfuls. Make sure you taste it during this stage to see if you need more nutmeg, mustard or paprika for your taste!  This is your dish…own it!
9. Okay, finally combine pasta, squash chunks, and cheese sauce in a large baking dish, toss to coat evenly.
10. Melt the remaining Tablespoon of butter and blend it with the rest of the  1/2 cup of cheese and the breadcrumbs to make the topping. Spread this over the macaroni.
11. Now, place that casserole dish into your oven and bake it for 20 minutes at 350F.
12. Take that steaming dish out and let it cool, because baby, it’s hot in here…and it’s not just you this time 😉

 

This is an AWESOME dish that will be a big hit every time!

Enjoy!!

Yes.

It can be done.

 

What you need:

The Crust:

• 3/4 cup Bisquick® Gluten Free mix
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Do It!

Throw all these ingredients in a bowl and mix it together with a fork.  You’ll be spooning it on top of the chicken/veg mixture in the end.

The Filling:

• Chicken (I’ll let you decide how to get this.  I tend to bake/boil a chicken and use the meat off that, but you can use bonelesss skinless chicken breasts, or whatever is easier for you)
• Ground sage, parsley, garlic powder, kosher salt, coarse ground pepper
• 1 cup Sour cream
• 1 cup chicken stock (it’s handy if you boil a chicken, you have fresh stock right there!  BooYa!!)
• 2 carrots, diced
• 4 red potatoes, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 small can of peas and carrots.  (This one goes against every fiber in my body, since I’m generally opposed to peas….but canned peas make the dish.  Unfortunately.)

Make It!

Okay, now I do it a little different, so here it goes.

Throw all the raw chicken and veg in a huge pan and cook it there.  You get a better flavor and better consistency in a pan for this dish.  In the oven it tends to get a little mushy, for me.

Once this is cooked (about 20 minutes, I’d say), put the chicken and veg into a deep casserole dish.  I will admit, I don’t even have a deep casserole dish.  I have two white casserole dishes, and they kinda work for us.  But if I had a deep casserole dish, that’s what I would use!

Take the 1 cup of chicken stock and pour it into the pan with 2 Tbsp of cornstarch.  Heat it up until it’s thick and smooth, and then turn the stove off.  Stir in the sour cream gently, and then pour this over the chicken filling.  This will make the gravy, and it will combine with the potatoes and dough to be super great.

Now spoon the crust on top of the filling, and then spray the top with Pam.  It’ll be nice and brown and crispy when it’s done.

So throw this sucker into the oven, which you have preheated to 400F (right?) and let it be groovy in there for about 20 minutes.

En.Joy.  This is a great Fall/Winter meal 🙂

This chili is from scratch, and it is exactly how I like it.  It’s thick, it’s hearty, it’s meaty, it’s beany, and there are big killer tomatoes in it.  Totally awesome meal, extremely easy to make.  So here’s how it goes:

 

Down Home Chili

• 4 cups of dried pinto beans (do. not. use. beans. from. a. can.)                                                                        Bonus: if you want to spice things up in the bean dept., get a bag of dried bean mix, or throw some navy beans in.  I’m all for experimenting (within reason…like, don’t start getting brussel sprouts in here or anything), so try some new beans!  Just make sure the base of the chili is pinto beans.  Their texture and flavor make it chili.  That’s what I think.
• 10 cups of water
• 1 can organic stewed tomatoes
• 1 can organic tomato paste (just a side note: at Costco, this costs just as much as the non-organic.)
• 1 lbs. organic ground beef (I know it’s expensive, but it’s 1 lbs. and it’s worth it.  You have just got to trust me on this one.)
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• garlic powder, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, paprika, dried parsley

So here’s what you do:

Put the load of beans and water, and a little garlic powder into the pressure cooker.  The garlic powder really just makes the house smell amazing while you’re cooking it, which I think makes a big difference.  A house that smells like cooking plain beans isn’t the best place to be.  Just a personal preference here.  You want people to have excited anticipation about the meal, so create it for them.  Just a Tamarahism for ya.

Cook on high for 50 minutes.

While it is naturally releasing steam, throw the seasonings and spices into a pan with the stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, onion and ground beef and cover for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

Side Note: You totally can just throw the beef in the pressure cooker at this point if you wanted; it will cook just as well there.  But I have found that my family and I prefer the flavors of the chili if I cook the beef and onion in a pan a little slower.  But it’s totally up to you and what you like.

When that is all nice and cooked, spoon (or dump) the pan contents into the pressure cooker and mix into the beans.  Let it sit for a few minutes before serving, just to let the flavors mingle a little.

That is really all you do for homemade chili.  It is crazy easy to make, and it is nice and thick so you can have it with a bunch of other things: pour it on cornbread, make chili dogs, put a dollop of sour cream on top of a bowl of chili (this is my favorite)…it is a great chili.

 

If you want it a little thinner, because that’s how you like it: add a cup more water when you add the meat mixture.  The beans absorb water like crazy so you might need even more than just a cup of water, and it’ll gel with all the ingredients to work well.

Enjoy!

The way my husband puts it, “I wish cherry pie was my favorite, because I love cherry pie.  But nothing can compete with lemon meringue.”

And he’s totally right.  

 

Before you begin, I’ll tell you that there is a specific order in which to assemble this pie.  Crust, Meringue and Filling.

See, first you have to lightly bake the crust, then you make the meringue…and then you make the lemon filling, which you put directly into the crust and then put the meringue right on top while it’s still hot.  So, if you do it in order, the pie is perfectly assembled!  No muss, no fuss.

Here is what you need to make this amazinglicious pie that will win you awards and accolades across the board:

Crust:

• 1 cup Gluten Free Bisquick
• 5 Tbsp cold butter
• 3 Tbsp cold cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp water

1. Preheat the oven to 400F, and put a pan of water in the rack underneath.
2. Put the Gluten Free Bisquick into a mixing bowl, and then add in the butter and cream cheese.
3. Cut the butter and cream cheese into the Bisquick until it’s crumbly.  Feel free to use your clean hands for this
4. 
5. Add the vinegar and water and mix until it is well combined.
6. Spray or rub butter in the pie dish, and then start forming the pie crust into the dish.
7. 
8. Bake for 10 minutes
9. Take out and let cool, for about 30 minutes.

Meringue:

• 4 egg whites
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• A hefty pinch of Cream of Tartar

1. Place the egg whites into your Kitchen Aid bowl, or into a bowl for a hand mixer
2. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks forms
3. Add the sugar and Cream of Tartar until stiff peaks form

Lemon Filling:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• Hefty pinch of kosher salt
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• The zest of 6 lemons

1. Put the 4 egg yolks in a bowl and whisk away
2. In a saucepan, add the cornstarch, water, sugar and salt.  Whisk this, as well, and bring to a boil for one minute.
3. Remove the pan from heat, and start drizzling the yolks into the pan while stirring vigorously.  You don’t really want to cook the yolks, just incorporate it into the mix.
4. Once all the yolks have been stirred in, return the pan to the burner and boil for a brief minute.
5. Remove again and add the lemon juice and lemon zest and just stir away.
6. Once this is finished, pour it gently into the crust
7. 
8. Once this is done, use a spatula and gently smooth the meringue on top of the filling.  Make sure you cover the whole pie, as far as the pie pan will let you.
9. 
10. Bake this for 10 minutes
11. Let cool completely before eating…put it in the fridge after it is cooled down to room temperature.

 Honestly, this was the best pie I have ever made….in my LIFE.

 

I am not a baker.

 

 

 Baking is a precise science that requires measuring and patience, and fine tuning the ingredients.

After making one batch of carrot cake truffles, it looks like I just returned from an epic battle with the gingerbread man.

 So I’m saying: if you are a baker, go find a cake recipe book.  Really…they will nurture your spirit with delicate steps.

 However: if you are a barbarian in the kitchen, and you think a blow torch is a perfectly acceptable kitchen utensil, then this recipe is for you.  If you “eyeball” your baking soda, or guess on how much water to add, and think substituting ingredients is just part of the cooking process, then you are in the right place.  On the plus side, it tastes AMAZING.

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup roasted, sliced almonds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, maybe a small splash of almond extract as well
• 3 eggs

Icing:

• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• butter

Topping:

• powdered sugar
• ginger powder
• nutmeg
• melted chocolate chips

Directions to the Madness

1) First, make the yellow cake.  

You Need:

• 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup roasted, sliced almonds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, maybe a small splash of almond extract as well
• 3 eggs

Now You Need To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease and flour your cake pan (I use PAM or parchment paper and PAM).
3. Put the all purpose gluten free flour, baking powder, seasonings and salt into a large bowl.
4. In a large bowl, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating completely after each one.
5. Then add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine.
6. Finally, stir in vanilla, raisins and nuts, and then pour batter into the cake pan.
7. Here is a side note: bake this cake in a water bath – place tin on cookie sheet (or other tin with high sides); fill larger tin with boiling water while baking. This will give you an extremely moist cake.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F  for 40 to 45 minutes.

2) Second, make the frosting

1/2 package of powdered sugar to 1/2 stick of softened butter and 1/2 package of softened cream cheese.  Just put this in the Kitchen Aid until it’s fluffy.

3) Third, after the cake has cooled, gently crumble it with your hands

This is the hardest part, because it is like telling an artist, “I love your painting!  It is so beautiful and delicate.  So many subtleties.  Okay, now destroy it.”  But it’s what you need to do.

Add spoonfuls of the cream cheese frosting to the cake and use your hands to combine the two until it forms into neat balls.

4) Fourth, roll the balls in the Topping, and put a stick in it, it’s done!

 Put 2 cups of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and add nutmeg and ground ginger, and then roll the truffles in until they’re coated.

Place them on your dish, put a cake truffle stick in it, and place into the fridge to set.

I drizzled melted chocolate chips onto them….because….I’m a woman, and chocolate is just awesome.