Potato Soup

I made this soup today, thinking I had made it before, but discovered that I hadn't!  I have no idea where I got the recipe, although it was written out on a card in my handwriting.  At any rate, it is delicious.  My husband's comment was, "This is a potato soup that you would get at a fancy restaurant!" 

When I started making it, I assumed it would be a creamy soup -- all my other potato soup recipes are -- but surprise, it's a broth based one.  Plus it has some carrots and mushrooms (lots of mushrooms) in it, which also makes it different.  Anyway, I hope you'll try it.  I think you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Potato Soup

3 Tbsp butter
2 chopped green onions
2 sliced carrots
8 Cups Swanson's chicken broth
2 tsp dill weed
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
5 Cups potatoes, diced
1 lb sliced fresh mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 Cup light cream (half and half) or 1/2 Cup heavy cream and 1/2 Cup water mixed together
1/4 Cup rice flour

Saute green onions and carrots in 3 Tbsp butter for five minutes.  Add chicken broth, dill, salt and pepper, bay leaf and potatoes and cook about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Remove bay leaf.  Saute mushrooms in 1 Tbsp butter; add to above.  Whisk cream and flour together and stir into above a few minutes prior to serving to thicken slightly.  Makes about a gallon and a half of soup.

Quick Dinner -- Turkey or Chicken over Rice

I have been sooo neglecting this blog lately -- we've been traveling almost non-stop -- 3 times to Utah in a month (too much!) and lots of time in the mountains before winter gets here.  Anyway, I had nothing planned for dinner one night, so I quickly put this together with what I had on hand, and it turned out so good I thought I'd better share it!  I know the name is lame --- but I couldn't think of what to call it!  If you have a better name, let me know and I'll change it.

Quick Dinner -- Turkey or Chicken over Rice

Put your rice on to cook while you do the following:

6 Tbsp butter, melted
4 Tbsp rice flour

Stir together and cook 1-2 minutes.

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, sliced, or 1/4 Cup chopped onion
1 Cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 Cups shredded or chopped cooked turkey or chicken (you can used canned, if you want)

Add to butter/flour mixture and cook until veggies soften.

1 can chicken broth
1 tsp coarse ground pepper

Add to above and stir constantly until it's gravy.  Serve over cooked rice.  Quick and easy!

Ham and Cheddar Scones

Sorry I've been so out of touch lately -- been running around to out-of-state weddings.  Hopefully September will be a little less hectic.  I saw this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens.  The first part reminded me of my biscuit recipe, so I was pretty sure I could adapt it and make it gluten free.  They turned out great!  So here you go:

Ham and Cheddar Scones

2 Cups GF Four Flour Bean Mix or GF basic flour mix made with brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 Cup small diced cooked ham
1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dillweed
3/4 - 1 Cup sour cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in cheese, ham, and dill.  Combine sour cream, egg, and mustard; add all at once to flour mixture.  Stir until mixture is moistened.  (Start with 3/4 Cup and keep adding until it's evenly moist.  I used Four Flour Bean Mix and needed 1 Cup sour cream to get the right consistency).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead dough gently until it holds together.  Pat out until it's about 3/4 to 1" thick.  Cut with a floured biscuit cutter.  Dip cutter into flour between cuts.  Reroll scraps as necessary.  Place circles 1 inch apart on sprayed or parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden.  Serve warm.  Makes about 12 scones.

Dips for Fruit

Since we're at that time of the summer when fresh fruits are most abundant, I thought it would be fun to supply you with some great dips to go with all that fruit!  I got both of these recipes decades ago, and have used them frequently.  They're very different from each other, but both delicious and easy to make -- just a few ingredients that you're likely to have on hand!  So whip some up and enjoy.  They're perfect any time.

Orange Fruit Dip

1 6-oz can frozen orange juice concentrate
1-1/4 Cups cold milk
1 3-1/2 oz package vanilla instant pudding
1/4 Cup sour cream

Combine undiluted orange juice and milk in small bowl with electric beater.  Beat in pudding mix on low speed for two minutes.  Stir in sour cream and chill two hours before serving.

Raspberry Fruit Dip

1 3-oz package cream cheese
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 Cup Red Raspberry yogurt (or your favorite flavor)

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until softened and smooth.  Add yogurt and blend well.  Chill until ready to serve. 

 

Shrimp and Sausage Red Rice

I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine and tried it this weekend -- fantastic!  So thought I'd share it with all of you (along with my notes).  It's not fast (takes about an hour to an hour and 15) but worth it!

Shrimp and Sausage Red Rice

3 Tbsp bacon drippings (I didn't have any, so just used olive oil.  Bet it would be even better with the smoky bacon flavor from the drippings, though)
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1/2 Cup chopped green sweet pepper
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped*
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) (I put it in -- like the spiciness!)
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1 14.5-oz can petite diced or crushed tomatoes**
1 rounded Tbsp tomato paste
2 Cups chicken stock or water
1 Tbsp butter
1 Cup long grain rice
8 oz. andouille or cooked, smoked chorizo sausage, sliced in 1/2-inch rounds
1 Cup sliced fresh okra -- use small whole okra pods with the stem end trimmed (we were up in the mountains and the little grocery store up there didn't have okra, so I left it out -- it was great anyway) 
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

1.  In a large skillet heat bacon drippings.  Add onion; cook over medium-low heat without stirring for 5 minutes.  Add the sweet pepper, jalapeno, garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper.  Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper.  Cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until onion and pepper are soft but not browned.
2.  Add tomatoes and tomato paste.  Stir in stock; bring to a simmer.  Cover and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes.  Taste carefully for seasoning (broth should be highly seasoned to flavor the rice).
3.  In a heavy, wide-bottom nonreactive pot or heavy 12-inch skillet heat butter over medium heat until melted.  Add rice; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes until rice becomes translucent.  Carefully stir in the hot tomato mixture.  Cover quickly and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.  Add the sausage and okra, mixing in gently with two forks.  Return cover and cook 10 minutes longer over very low heat, just until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.  (When I went to add the sausage, I discovered that the rice had absorbed all the liquid and was done, so I just dumped in the sausage and shrimp all at once and cooked it until the shrimp was done)
4.  Sprinkle shrimp lightly with salt and pepper.  Stir the shrimp into the rice mixture.  Cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes longer, just until shrimp is opaque.  Remove from heat and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 servings.

*Hot chile peppers contain oils that may burn skin and eyes.  Wear plastic or rubber gloves when handling.
(didn't have any gloves at the cabin where I cooked this, so just washed my hands several times after chopping the jalapeno pepper, and then did the dishes after dinner, and that got rid of all the oil!)
**If you don't have petite diced or crushed tomatoes, you can use whole ones.  Working over a bowl, squeeze tomatoes with your hands to break into pieces.  You can also use fresh tomatoes in season -- dice up about 1-1/4 Cups.

Hearty Bread

I've been trying to create a soft, but hearty bread (thanks Geri, for your inspiration), and finally had success today!  This bread has a lovely, light texture, but hearty almost-like-wheat-bread taste.  It does include some rolled oats, so be careful -- if you know you can tolerate them, go ahead, but if not, either get gluten free oats or try using quinoa flakes (for those of you new to this, oats are usually harvested and processed in wheat producing facilities, and thus can't be tolerated by those with celiac.)

Hearty Bread

4 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 Cup evaporated milk

3/4 Cup warm water

3 eggs

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vinegar

1/4 Cup agave or honey

Whisk together and put into bread machine pan.

2 Cups basic gluten free flour mix made with brown rice flour (see here for flour mix recipe)

1/2 Cup rolled oats (see note above)

1/2 Cup teff flour

1/4 Cup sorghum flour

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

Whisk together and put on top of liquid in bread machine pan.  Make well in flour mixture and fill with:

1 Tbsp yeast

Choose your machine's white bread setting, medium crust color and press go.  That's it.  Hot, fresh bread on the way!

Pizza

It's been blissfully cool and lightly raining here all day, a blessed relief from the weeks of hot weather we've had, so I got reacquainted with my oven and made pizza!  In case you missed my post on pizza and how to make a good gluten free pizza crust, look here.  In that post I gave suggestions for toppings at the end, but since then have tried some new ones that taste great that you might like too.  Here's the latest:

Pizza

1 GF pizza crust, about 14"
3-4 oz of pesto
Grated mozzarella cheese -- whatever amount you like
Sliced Canadian bacon or chunked chicken
2-4 chopped green onions
sliced fresh mushrooms
quartered artichoke hearts (you can buy these canned -- I like them better than marinated ones)
Grated sharp cheddar cheese -- whatever amount you like

Prepare the pizza crust per instructions.  Use the pesto as the sauce and layer all the other ingredients in the order given.  Bake at 400 until edge of crust is browned and cheeses are melted and bubbling.  Enjoy!

Recently I found ready made GF pizza crusts at my local health food store.  We tried them and liked them!  They really speed the process along if you're in a hurry.  In my other post I suggested using a white sauce,  and pesto here, but of course you can always go back to your favorite red sauce.  That's the great thing about pizza -- it's design your own!  Have fun with it -- you can even throw a party, use previously made small individual pizza crusts or ready made ones, set out all the toppings and let guests make their favorites!

Yummy!