Sunday, January 20, 2013

Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns


OK I've been gluten free for over a year now and in that time my lips haven't touched not one single sweet decadent cinnamon bun. Have I craved them? Oh gosh yes. Have I seen gluten free options in the grocery store? Of course, but nothing I wanted to spend close to seven dollars on. Don't get me wrong they looked good but.... :)

Boy do I have a treat for you today!!
SINnamon Buns!
yes i spelled that right and boy are they sinful.

Let me share what I did.


First I made this flour blend.  
{BTW - I've never used a custom flour blend before. }
Secondly, I had never baked like this. Ever! 
In my kitchen I have always used cups as measurements
never grams.
Just so you know this recipe calls for Tapioca flour and I had none so I substituted it for more white rice flour and had no problems.

So moving along I have to tell you I've been resistant to try this. 
But I have to tell you if you are holding back...you need to move forward.
This flour blend was easy to make and OMG it's so awesome.

Once you have your flour blend whipped up.

Head over to Gluten Free on a Shoestring to snag the recipe for these lovelies!

Continue on I have lots of pictures to show you on how this recipe came together.
 I mixed my dough in my standing mixer. Then rolled it out onto to my cutting board. 
Here I continued to flour my board and knead until the dough was no longer sticky and became soft.
Once you get your dough just right it's then time to roll it out and for this I have an awesome trick to share with you.

For these buns you'll need to roll your dough into a rectangle no thinner than 1/4" thick.
Wondering how in the heck you can do this easily??
And without perfection sticks??

Take a look.

A regular rolling pin will fit perfectly in a jelly pan like so.
As you can see my pans are loved very much and played with often. haha :)
Now cover the bottom of the jelly pan with parchment paper with a little excess over the edges. This will give you something to grab onto to when you start rolling the dough later.
You get a perfect rectangle and check out the thickness of the dough! 
1/4" thick! No more no less!
Perfection.

Now we can whip up the cinnamon mix.
Using a spoon mix together until well incorporated then spread on the dough leaving about a 1/4" clean edge on all edges. I left a little more and that's fine too.
Ta-Da!
Now is where that extra parchment comes in handy. Roll on the long edge tightly to form a roll like so.
Then I scored mine to make sure I got them all close to the same size before I sliced them.
You can just use knife to slice the rolls.
I love how pretty they look!!
You can grease a 9x13 pan or you can use a muffin pan.
I really love my Rachel Ray muffin pan. Nothing sticks to it and I never have to grease it.

Yes they will bubble over. I removed mine from the pan and onto a cooling rack only minutes after leaving the oven. Make sure you cover the rack with parchment paper to keep the sweet stuff on the rolls and not your counter top. Then I spooned the spilled over cinnamon mixture onto each one. While they cooled a tad I made the icing. 

The recipe calls for mascarpone and powdered sugar I used cream cheese instead. 
Why? Well I just didn't have any mascarpone, so I improvised. 

The end result??
Lip smacking, finger licking and the sound of forks hitting plates.

Anna had a friend over and they were both very happy with the buns.
Perfect start to a chilly Florida morning. 

Hope you enjoy and give this recipe a try.
Stay warm my sweet readers!

Giving credit where credit is due...
Thank you so much for a wonderful Gluten Free Cinnamon Bun recipe by Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I haven't purchased many cookbooks since going gluten free but I have to tell ya 
I will be buying this one.











Saturday, January 19, 2013



Ingredients

  • 1 lb stew meat
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, thickly sliced
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup Gluten Free soy sauce (I used Tamari)
  • 1/2 brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp fresh minced finer
  • 1/2 hoisin sauce (Wizard's brand is Gluten Free but I couldn't find it)

Directions

  1. Freezer directions- dump all ingredients into a labeled freezer bag, seal, mix up, freeze flat. It's as easy as that!
  2. When you're ready to cook-take the bag out of the freezer the night before and let it defrost in the fridge. The next morning dump the bag into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you're going to be longer just add a bit more water so it doesn't dry out. Serve with fresh steamed, stir fried veggies or over rice!

    This meal was so good. All I did was put all the ingredients into a freezer bag and freeze.  Then just drop the contents into your crock pot and cover.  I do need to tell you that I don't know if you can even say this is Mongolian beef because I was unable to find the Hoisin sauce but the meat was still so good. I will try some different grocery stores and see if i can find it and retry this meal again. It was excellent without it though.


    Enjoy!!



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Gluten Free-zer Crock Pot Chicken Tacos



Gluten Free-zer Crock Pot Chicken Tacos!!

These turned our great!

I cut the roof of my mouth on a regular corn shell taco. Am I the only one that does this? I don't know hot pizza and tacos have it out for me. :)
So anyhow I decided to put everything into romaine lettuce and Oh My Goodness I'm hooked. 
These things were great!

Crunchy! Strong! Delicious!
If you haven't tried this definitely try one.
{and let me know what you think}


Ingredients

  • 3 boneless chicken breasts (This made a ton for us and we had to freeze the leftovers)
  • 1 packet of taco seasoning (I make my own My Taco Seasoning Recipe)
  • 1 can of rotel tomatoes or you can chop up fresh tomatoes and season as you like fresh is always better
  • 1/2 cup of water (original recipe called for 1/4 of water and 1/4 of oil i don't like to add oil)
Put your seasoning in the bottom of the pot.{Doodles optional} Place your frozen chicken tomato mix on top and cover. As you can see my frozen mixture didn't want to lay flat in the bottom this is why they recommend you thaw in the fridge over night. However this cooked just as awesome within a few minutes it had thawed enough and was flat in the bottom of my pot!

Directions

  1. In your crock pot pour the taco seasoning place chicken on top and pour tomatoes over the top following with water/oil mixture. Don't stir.
  2. Halfway through if you are home you can flip the chicken but it's not necessary. I didn't and the chicken was perfect.
    After the the meat is done just shred the chicken stir and serve on shells or lettuce.

This is what the chicken looks like in the end. Honestly all you need do is stir and the chicken shreds itself.
Serve with all your favorite topping!

Tip! I know the writing is messy but you can write directions for your meals on the fronts of the freezer bags then when you pull it out you don't even have to fumble with a recipe!
I hope you enjoy these tacos as much as my family has. 
Like I said it made a ton. We had them for dinner two nights and I had them for lunch one day and we still have enough left over for one more meal which I will freeze for a day when I just don't feel like being in the kitch!

Giving credit where credit is due I found this recipe on Who Needs A Cape.

What is your favorite Crock Pot Taco recipe??