Moving on up...

Once again, I've kind of gotten away from this blog.  I didn't love that I tied the blog/blog title to Columbus, because it's kind of irrelevant where you live.  When I set it up originally, I intended to use it to post deals and events in Columbus.  But then I joined the "On the Cheap" network and started Columbus on the Cheap.  So I really didn't need a second locally-based blog, and have struggled finding a theme for this one.  I mostly started posting recipes with little personal voice, and it just wasn't any fun.  So I started a new blog - That's What We Did.  It's more personal, less structured, and I feel like I can post about whatever I want.  I'll leave this one live so the recipes are still here, but probably won't do a lot of posting on it.  SO - I'd love it if the few followers that I do have would follow me over to That's What We Do and subscribe to my posts there!

Gluten-Free Wonder Buns

Since I've been gluten-free, I've missed having a burger or a sandwich on a bun.  Some purchased GF bread products are satisfactory, but nothing more than that - and they crumble.  I don't eat a lot of bread products, so I'd have to freeze what I didn't eat and hope it wouldn't be gross when thawed.

WONDER BUNS TO THE RESCUE!

These buns are made individually in the microwave.  Seriously.  They take less than 5 minutes to mix up and "cook" in 90 seconds.  Just use whatever bowl you have that is approximate bun diameter - I've used a small pyrex bowl and an ice cream sized bowl to make (the straighter the sides, the better).  I haven't determined how long these will keep, but I have one in the fridge and one in the freezer as testers.  So far I've only had one the same day I made it.  I took it to a party and plan to take these to restaurants when I want a burger too!

Wonder Buns
adapted from Kitchen Therapy

1 large egg (if you need dairy free, use your normal egg replacer)
1/2 teaspoon molasses
2 tablespoons all-purpose gluten-free flour*
1 tablespoon almond meal (or make your own with almonds in a grinder)
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cocoa powder (mostly for color, so it's optional)
a pinch of salt
sesame seeds, to make it look more appealing

In a small bowl, beat the egg and molasses with a fork, for about a minute.
In another small bowl, add the flour, almond meal, ground flax seed, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder - stir well to break up any lumps. Add the eggs to the dry ingredients, stir until smooth.
Spray a glass bowl or cup with non-stick spray (or rub a little oil inside) and sprinkle sesame seeds on the bottom and sides. Pour the batter into the cup. Top with more sesame seeds. Microwave for 90 seconds.  Remove from bowl after a minute or two and set upside down on a plate or napkin to allow the bottom to "dry" a little (it's still a little steamy and would probably get soggy if left in the bowl).  ENJOY!

*the Kitchen Therapy recipe suggests sorghum flour and the comments from others indicate that most any flour would work - you could even make them with non-GF flour if not all family members needed gluten free.

Black-Jack Chicken Quesadillas

This is a great appetizer or a quick dinner with a spicy/sweet flavor combination.  

Black-Jack Chicken Quesadillas

1/3 cup blackberry preserves
1 chipotle from canned chipotles in adobo, pressed in a garlic press or chopped (with seeds removed)
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (or Trader Joe's sells frozen cubes of cilantro- use 3-4)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 cup cooked chicken breast, cut into small chunks or shredded
1/2 cup diced onions
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
10 (6 inch) flour or corn tortillas

In a medium saucepan, whisk together blackberry preserves, chipotle in adobo, balsamic vinegar, cilantro, garlic and black pepper. Turn heat to medium and heat just until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat. Add chicken to saucepan and toss to coat chicken in berry mixture. Toss onions and cheese together.
If using flour tortillas, spoon 2 tablespoons cheese/onion mixture evenly down center of each tortilla. Spoon chicken and berry mixture over cheese, dividing equally among tortillas. Fold tortillas over to make quesadillas.
If using corn tortillas, spread berry chicken mixture on one corn tortilla and top with 2 tablespoons cheese/onion mixture, leaving room at the edges for the mixture to spread. Top with another corn tortilla and carefully transfer to pan (sometimes it's easier to build the quesadilla in the pan).
Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium and cook quesadillas for 3-4 minutes each time or until cheese is melted and edges are golden brown. Cut each tortilla with a pizza cutter into triangles.

Zesty Seared Salmon

I like to try to incorporate a seafood dish 2-3 times a month and I usually buy frozen salmon at Trader Joes.  This recipe is super simple and could be served alongside almost any side - especially a creamy risotto.  Don't overcook or it will be dry and gross.  It will keep cooking a little after you remove it from the pan, so you may want to pull it a little early. 

Zesty Salmon

1 Tsp. chili powder
1/2 Tsp. cinnamon
1/4 Tsp. salt
1/4 Tsp. black pepper
2 salmon fillets
canola oil
sesame oil

Wash and dry the salmon fillets. In a small bowl mix chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Sprinkle this mixture on both sides of salmon fillets.
 Heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in a large sauté pan or cast iron skillet. When the oil is very hot, almost smoking; add the salmon. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until fish releases easily from the pan.  Don't move around until it releases easily or it will stick to the pan and fall apart. Flip the fish and cook it an additional 2-3 minutes more until barely cooked through.  You may need to reduce the cooking time if the fillets are thinner.

Caramelized Onion Pizza with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

We love grilling pizzas and it is much easier than it seems.  Use your preferred pizza dough - we usually use a roll of refrigerated dough or a Trader Joe's dough ball. If making gluten-free pizza, Bob's Red Mill dough mix is really good, though delicate to work with (be patient).  If you MUST have meat on your pizza, feel free to add some cooked, shredded chicken.  Since this isn't a "saucy" pizza, you may find it more like a flatbread.  Either way, it's good.

Grilled Caramelized Onion with Blue Cheese

Pizza dough; use your favorite
2 T. olive oil
2-3 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 t. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 T. balsamic vinegar
1/2 t. dried thyme
cornmeal for sprinkling pizza peel or baking sheet
3-4 ounces blue cheese (research gluten-free brands if you are avoiding gluten)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Oil grill grates and heat to medium.  Heat oil in a medium skillet at medium high heat. Add onions, sugar, salt and cook for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook until deeply brown- about 15 minutes. Stir in vinegar, cook for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, stir in thyme and pepper and cool the onions.  Set all the topping near the grill, as you will add your topping once one side of the pizza is cooked.

While onions are cooking, prepare dough according to directions if using a mix.  Sprinkle flour or cornmeal on counter, pizza peel, or baking sheet and roll dough into 2 smaller pizzas, as they are easier to handle than one large pizza. Don't roll too thin or it will be too hard to transport onto the grill. If not already on a peel or baking sheet, transfer dough to one and put pizzas directly on the grill and close the lid.  Once the dough is golden brown on that side, carefully flip pizzas and turn heat to low. Working quickly, spoon onion mixture onto the cooked side of the dough, dot the cheese over onions and top with walnuts, if using.  Close lid again to allow the cheese to begin to melt.  Watch the crust carefully as it will brown quickly.  Remove pizzas and let cool a couple of minutes before cutting and serving.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are very simple and very quick to make, but they are still delicious.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I prefer using reusable silpat sheet liners) Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat in the baking powder and add the egg. Mix until it is all well combined.

Using your hands, roll the dough into small balls (size is your choice, but the smaller cookies stay together better).  Roll the balls in some extra white sugar and place on the baking sheet - the cookies will spread, but not too much.

Bake for about 10 minutes. When the cookies are done, they will still be soft, but shouldn't look or feel doughy. You will know the cookies are done when they feel coherent, but still a little soft. Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest for at least five minutes. Carefully transfer them to a cooling rack for 10 minutes or more.

If you want to add something extra, gently press a hershey kiss in the top of each cookie as soon as you pull them out of the oven.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I'm well overdue at posting this - like a year.  But I wanted to get it posted since it's zucchini season and everyone has zucchini.  Your mom has zucchini. 

This is by far, my favorite zucchini bread recipe (or really, any homemade bread). I'm not even sure how it turns out so well since no yeast is used, but it's delicious and moist.  This is not gluten-free and it was baked in the oven, but like I said, I didn't actually make it this month (or this year even).  I do like to shred and freeze zucchini so I can make stuff with it in the winter (and you can guarantee that I always have b-berries in the freezer).  When you thaw frozen, shredded zucchini, you have to kind of squeeze it dry because it gets really watery upon thaw. 

Blueberry Zucchini Bread
I got the recipe from this blog, but like my picture way better
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups grated zucchini (about 3 small zucchinis)
2 eggs
1 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries - I probably used much more than 1 cup

Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with baking spray and lightly dust with flour, tapping out any excess flour. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl combine the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another large bowl combine the grated zucchini, eggs, yogurt, vanilla and sugar.
Gently toss the blueberries with 2 teaspoons of the flour mixture. This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf.
Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then run a butter knife around the edges and turn it out onto a cooling rack. Let the bread cool completely before slicing it.


I have a blueberry problem - this was just one trip



Slow Cooker Baked Beans

I love baked beans - a lot.  I don't like many canned baked beans, but I used to love these: yes, baked beans with chicken.  I used to eat half a can and call it dinner.  Kind of gross, huh?  I'm not sure that they even still make these because I haven't seen them on the shelf in years (trust me, I've looked). 

The next time I fell in love (instead of just "like" with baked beans, it was at the Fiery Foods Festival at the North Market this spring.  A vendor was selling his BBQ sauce on baked beans and it was intriguing enough to try - Apple Cinnamon Baked Beans?  Why not?  Ole Ray definitely got this right.  He even told us how to make them - buy Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans, drain the sauce off them (don't rinse, just drain) and add as much of Ole Ray's Apple Cinnamon BBQ Sauce as you like.  They sell this at the North Market and other various places for $5/bottle, so it isn't for everyday use. 

I wanted to try my hand at making homemade baked beans and I found this recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking, but I made some adaptations.  The beans in the linked recipe got a little too dry, so I'd suggest increasing the "sauce" ingredients below and/or adding some bottle bbq sauce at the end (which takes away from the homemade idea, I suppose).  But anyway, I loved these and they were so easy and made plenty.  I don't know what "we" did with the bacon after cooking - I suppose throw it out?  Or you could probably cut it in pieces and stir it in, though I'm not sure how cooked it got and I like my bacon crispy.  Lo turned these off when he got home with work and I never asked him what he did with the bacon (he likes bacon a lot, so consumption is likely).  These were pretty sweet, so if you don't love very sweet beans, cut down on the brown sugar a little.  Actually, if you're totally unsure of how the sauce will turn out, you're better off pre-mixing all of the sauce ingredients (br. sugar, molasses, ketchup, hot sauce, salt, mustard, and pepper) and adding ingredients to taste.  Not everyone is going to like the same sauce, so what worked for me may be hated by you.  Since we used the original recipe, we had to add some bottled BBQ after cooking - just whatever we had in the fridge at that time.   Wow, that was an incredibly long introduction to a very easy recipe - enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

serves 8-10
adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking (which is an awesome blog)

3 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cans kidney, 1 can pinto, like I did)
2 medium onions, chopped finely, or 2 T dried minced onion
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup ketchup
squirt of sriracha or hot sauce, as much as you prefer or some red pepper flakes, optional
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried mustard - I was out so I used a squirt of dijon
1/2 tsp black pepper
A couple of slices of bacon or chicken sausages (I used bacon, but am excited to use chicken sausages next time since I loved the baked beans with chicken)
Drain and rinse beans, and add them to a medium size crockpot (or whatever they will fit in). Add onion and brown sugar. Pour in the molasses, ketchup, and hot sauce, if using. Add spices and stir to combine. Lay slices of uncooked bacon on top of the beans, or slice chicken sausage and lay it over the top. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or high for about 4.
*If using bottled bbq sauce, check for gluten if you're GF.

Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Portobellos

I made this in May, so it doesn't count towards my no-oven August challenge.  We have finally figured out that we love portobellos! 

Cheese & Spinach-Stuffed Portobellos

Adapted from EatingWell:  March/April 2009

4 large portobello mushroom caps

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1 cup chopped or torn fresh spinach

1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I used 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joes)

3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, seasoning and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.

When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.

Gluten-Free Raw Samoas

Gluten-Free Raw Samoas

1 cup dates (I use Sunsweet)

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/8 tsp. pure vanilla extract

less than 1/4 tsp salt

3 T. chocolate chips

Blend all ingredients in your food processor, chopper, or blender.  You may need to scrape down the sides a few times or scrape the dough out of the blades to completely mix.  If too sticky, add more coconut.  Roll into balls and flatten slightly. Drizzle with extra melted chocolate, if desired.