Jen's Mental Scribblings

For the third time in a week, I've gotten glutened.

The first time was french fries cooked in contaminated oil. That just gives me a headache and a little digestive problems.

The second time was Saturday. A friend brought dinner over from Boston Market. She had asked the guy behind the counter if a particular side was safe (Squash Casarole) and he said it was.  I ate one bite and said "I don't think so, there's breadcrumbs in the casarole" I looked up the info on the website and yes, it does in fact contain gluten. I got a nasty headache, big digestive problems, stomach cramps, and I just realized its why I've been tired for the last 2 days even though I've been feeling awesome since Gray showed up.

The third time was tonight. Another friend brought over dinner (someone who completely understand the whole celiac thing no less!) She brought over her standby Asian Chicken and Rice Salad. Which is wonderful! I didn't notice until I almost finished the second bowl that, in addition to normal rice, and wild rice, it contained standard orzo pasta. *hang head* I've already taken Advil for the massive headache that is building, I'll be downing Immodium for the digestive problems, and I think I'll just go to bed for the next couple of days....

Now for the humor of the meal. Ike came in while Joe and I were eating, looked at the salad, pulled out a grape with his bare, dirty fingers and Joe started berating him for not having "a bare minimum of table manners" and I, not thinking, piped up. "So speaks the man with his mouth full of food" I got a dirty look from Joe, while Ike and I just looked at each other and started to giggle. It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but its been the first time in a LOOOOOONG time that something slid past my filters.

And it really was funny though.

First, Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Rice Pasta and Cheese (better known as GF Mac and Cheese). So, in keeping with their ever expanding line of proprietary GF foods, Trader Joe's recently released their version of GF M&C. I've tried about 4 other brands of GF M&C and they all sucked. Or more specifically, the pasta of those box meals sucked, the cheese sauces all tasted good, but the pasta it was put over was just HORRIBLE. (Annie's was the first I tried and I spit it out into the sink it was so bad) And I admit, I'm not the biggest fan of boxed Mac & Cheese, but I did appreciate having one in the pantry so if I was starving, I'd have something decent tasting to eat. So I was a little reluctant to try TJ's Mac & Cheese. I didn't want another disappointing experience. But I took into account that all the other TJ's GF stuff was, if not good, but excellent, I'd invest the dough to try a box. I was not disappointed. I cooked it up the other day for lunch, it made exactly one bowl, perfect for a mid day repast. The sauce was a bit thin, and I need to cook the pasta just a hair longer next time, but it was really, really good. I won't make a steady diet of the stuff, but the next time I pop into TJ's, I'll buy a couple of boxes, assuming I find any, my local TJ's has a hell of a time keeping GF stuff on the shelves, it just flies out the door.

Second, one product, two different preparations. I tried Gluten Free Pantry's Quick Mix, made into bisquits and dumplings.

I finally made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner tonight, and pulled a box of the Quick Mix out of my pantry. I've been told that when I make Chicken and Dumplings, my dumplings are odd. Joe grew up with a rolled out and cut dumpling. Me? I use a baking powder drop bisquit recipe, and just drop it into the boiling chicken soup by the tablespoon. It cooks in about 15 minutes, it not only makes dumplings, but thickens up the soup beautifully. From previous experiences, even before going gluten-free, I found that a full batch of bisquits was waaaaay too many for the soup. Dumplings left in overnight in leftovers become sodden lumps of dough. Not appetizing. So I mixed up the Quick Mix using the instructions for bisquits, put about half of the dough in the oven (about 6 good sized ones) and put the rest in the soup.

The Bisquits are very good. Warning! They crumble when hot, so let them sit a bit if you can stand the lovely smell.  After cooling they hold up under the weight of honey very well. These are a bit sweet tasting without any adjustments. Next time I might add some more salt to savor it up a bit. And they will be perfect for pouring hot leftovers on.

The Dumplings were also very good. My last few attempts of making GF Dumplings have been abject failures. Not fluffy on the inside, just a nasty, gluey, inedible lump. These cooked up beautiful with fluffy centers. Yea! The only problem I have with them is one I just mentioned. This mix is a bit on the sweet side. It was just a bit too sweet for my taste for a savory soup. Next time I'll add a bit of salt and herbs to the dough before dropping them in.

I'll definitely be buying more...I can't find it in a 5 lb size, which is annoying, I'd prefer to buy in bulk. Much cheaper!

Three (okay, two) new products, and three thumbs up!

EDIT: Oh yea.The Quick Mix calls for 1 1/2 cups of butter. Next time I'm going to try 1/2 & 1/2 butter and shortening...the biscuits might not spread so much. The butter flavor was good, but a bit much.

And another batch of cookies in the trash.

I'm running short of the GF AP flour I use. So for Chocolate crinkles I decided to try using an AP flour my mom bought me. It uses four different flours to make the 1 to 1 mix and the base is garfava flour. (A combination of Garbanzo and Fava Bean flours) which upon previous attempts at using proved to be bitter and just plain Blecky. It is recommended that you use this flour with strong tasting things to cover the bitterness. Molasses cookies, pumpkin bread, etc, etc. I figured that any recipe that has 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate would be enough to cover up that taste.

I was wrong.

Blech!

Although Joe is still eating them. I'm not surprised mind you...but as he said "Its chocolate rolled in sugar...I'm eatin' it." and "I've eaten my own cooking. Its gotta be a lot worse than this for me not to eat it."

I didn't even finish my first bite of the second cookie, I spit it out. And 20 minutes later the bitter, yucky aftertaste is still with me. Blech! Just nasty. This is starting to make me a bit discouraged in attempting to bake using my own recipes. I'm beginning to wonder if its worth the trouble. However, I just don't want the kids to see all the baking I do come from boxes and mixes. I love to bake. I'm just finding it annoying to try and bake gluten-free.

EDIT The kids apparently think these cookies are worth pulling out of the trash. Ew.