Biscuits and Mom's Tomato Gravy

Did I tell you that I have southern roots?  My family roots go back to Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia.  One thing southern people like is their biscuits!  I remember my mothers biscuit bowl.  A good southern woman will have a large bowl just for biscuits.  This bowl always has flour in it.  A good southern woman will curl her hand into a fist and make a little well in the middle of the flour.  Into this well she will add her shortening, lard or butter.   If she has any self respect the next thing she will add is buttermilk.  My mother, the good southern woman that she is, would then pinch off just the right amount of dough and roll it in her hands as she curled under the edges making a perfectly round little bit of biscuit dough.  If you can't picture that don't worry, I've spent 50 some years trying to figure out how she does that and I've come up with my own version.  Mom bakes her biscuits in a cast iron skillet and this is a tradition I faithfully and/or stubbornly stick to.  Mom also uses a cast iron skillet to make her gravy.  You can use any skillet  you have on hand but I swear it will taste better in cast iron and any good southern woman will have at least two.  Thanks to my loving husband who loves to collect old kitchen ware we have at least 6 or 7 cast iron skillets of varying sizes.  Some day I'll get them all in one place and show you a picture of them. 

Back to the southern roots.  I woke up this morning with a hankerin for biscuits.  If you are from the south you know what this is.  If your not it's an incredible craving for something you just have to have.  Since I've been wanting to try gluten free gravy I decided to do both. 

Biscuits
2 cups Gluten Free flour blend + a little for your board (I used Pamela's)
8 oz. cold butter cut in about 8 pieces
2/3 cup cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  If you're a transplanted southern woman like I am you will next plug in the food processor.  Place the flour in the tub of the processor with the cold butter.  Pulse till you have pea size flour/butter bits.  With the processor running pour the buttermilk through the feed tube.  Process just till blended.  Use your flour blend to flour a cutting board.  Scrape the dough onto the flour.  Kneed gently just till it will hold together well.  Do NOT over kneed or you will have heavy biscuits.  It is at this point that I gather the dough into a round and flatten slightly.  With a sharp knife I cut the dough into 8 equal wedges.  You could places these wedges in your greased cast iron skillet or on a baking sheet but I don't.  In an attempt to still be a respectable southern woman who can still look herself in the mirror after baking her biscuits, I take each wedge and roll it slightly in my hand with a little flour till I get an a round that resembles my mother's biscuits somewhat.  I then place my rounds in said greased cast iron skillet.  I have my respect still in tact as I place the pan in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. 

Tomato Gravy
4 oz. butter
4 - 6 T Gluten Free flour blend (again with the Pamela's)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes (drain and keep liquid)
1 cup milk

Over medium heat melt your butter in a cast iron skillet or seriously in anything you have that will heat butter.  Sprinkle the flour blend, salt and pepper over your melted butter and let brown for a minute or two being careful not to burn.  Pour the juice from the tomatoes over the butter and whisk quickly.  Pour in the milk as  you continue to whisk.  Add the tomatoes and continue stirring till mixture is slightly thickened.  Serve over buttered biscuits if you want them Southern style. 

Cookies...

Carrot Cake Cookie by Good Habit

I LOVE cookies!  Not just a little I love cookies!!!  Few things are as heart warming to me as a plate full of fresh cookies.  For the past few years however most of these plates of cookies have been off limits to me.  I'm not complaining.  I have managed to successfully alter a few recipes and found the time to bake occasionally.  When I do I pop most of the cookies in the freezer so I usually have something on hand to munch when the cookie monster in me strikes.  But what I like most, even though I love to bake, is when someone else makes me a batch of cookies.  I have found that someone!

I work with children for those of you just checking in.  Most of the parents know that I live gluten-free.  A few weeks ago M's mom brought me a cookie.  She said M saw it and wanted me to have it.  Now M is only 1 year old so you see Me is a very bright and thoughtful little person.  The cookie was called Apple Pie a la Mode by Good Habit and I couldn't wait to take a bite.  Oh my!!!  I don't care if you're gluten-free or not, you've gotta try this cookie!  It was so amazing that I carried the wrapper around in my purse for the next few weeks.  I finally looked the company up online and low and behold they are in Ventura County!  And even if you're not, they will ship. 

I had to find this place!  I vowed to devote a lunch hour this last week to finding more of these cookies.  Well, Friday came and I still hadn't gone in search of my cookies and it was raining.  No, it was pouring!  And I had left my umbrella in the car.  I don't care, I've gotta get one of those cookies!  I borrowed an umbrella and made my way through puddles and sheets of rain to my car.  The good news is there were few cars on the road.  Southern Californians are wimpy about rain.  I managed to find Good Habit at 1625 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. in the fine city of Thousand Oaks, CA.  I bought more Apple Pie a la Mode cookies as well as Original Chocolate Chip, Carrot Cake Cookie and Oatmeal Raisin.  They also have a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie but I'm not a big fan of chocolate in my peanut butter...sorry Reese's. 

I ate a Chocolate Chip cookie on the way back to work and just finished the Carrot Cake Cookie.  So far the Apple Pie a la Mode is still my favorite.  If you're not wanting a cookie by now, check  your pulse!  These are amazingly good cookies!

To order: http://www.goodhabit.com/

Celiac and other gluten intolerances

Yet another friend e-mailed me this week for the link to my blog.  Her father's girlfriend's grandson was just diagnosed with Celiac.  This is the very reason I began writing this blog.  It is my hope that I can show people who are living without gluten that it is yummy and easy.  You don't have to spend a fortune if (unless you want to).  Heck, a potato is gluten free!  It's not that hard but it can be overwhelming at first. 

If you have come to this site for a specific recipe and can't find it, tell me what it is and I'll try and help you find it.  If you have a question about living gluten-free e-mail it to me and I'll do my best to answer it.  That's what I'm here for.  In the mean time this week's I've posted links to sites that have helped me along the way with a brief description of why they're included.  Happy eating...

A great site for understanding what Celiac Disease is:
http://www.celiac.org/

My favorite breads:
http://www.arnelsoriginals.com/  Arnel's is my favorite but you need to bake it yourself unless you live in or near Ojai, CA where Arnel is often found selling her bread at the Farmer's Market on Sunday.
http://www.greatharvest.com/  A very close second to Arnel's is Great Harvest.  Not all of them make a gluten-free bread so call them and ask. 
http://www.rudisglutenfree.com/ A very good option found in the freezer section.  I like their multi-grain. 

http://udisglutenfree.com/sm-thanks?c=robinfosler@gmail.com I love their muffins and the snickerdoodle cookies are to die for!

http://www.livingwithout.com/landing/gluten-free-recipes.html?p=msn_gfr&s=msn_pd&st=ppc  I don't like the name but love the magazine.  This is a very good publication. 
http://delightglutenfree.com/ Another great publication.  I don't know if it's better than Living Without or if I just like the name better so I buy them both.

Best sites I've found for baking mixes and recipes
http://www.bobsredmill.com/
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/
http://www.arnelsoriginals.com/
http://www.pamelasproducts.com/

http://glutenfreegirl.com/ This site makes me glad I'm gluten-free.  Check out the brownies!

This list will likely get longer as there are more great companies every day.  If you find a great link not listed here, by all means please share.

Granola

I enjoy preparing gluten-free recipes and food and bringing them to you each weekend.  Today is one of my favorite.  I brought out one of my first gluten-free recipes because my mind has been on other things and if you will indulge me I will share them with you.

Part of this weekend was spent at a bridal shop with my beautiful daughter Samantha.  Treating her like the beautiful princess she is the bridal stylist helped her into one romantic white gown after another.  All the while I sat there with thoughts racing.  First was the day she was born and I relayed to her fiance's mother how her father adored her from the moment she was placed in his arms.  When she told me who her four brides maids were to be my mind went back to the day she met each of them, all before she was four years old.  I couldn't be prouder of the woman my daughter has become!  Sam wants her stunning dress to remain a surprise to as many people as possible so I will honor her request by not post pictures till after she weds her love in December. 

If there is a segway from that to my next recipe I can't find it.  So here goes...

When I first found I needed to cut gluten from my life it was breakfast that was the most difficult.  My mornings start early and they begin full speed.  Breakfast needs to be fast and I mean real fast.  One of my favorite is a bowl of plain yogurt with blueberries and granola.  Only trouble was I couldn't find a gluten-free granola that tasted good and didn't have something in it that I didn't care for.  I don't want raisins or sunflower seeds.  And whoever heard of sesame seeds in granola...yuck!  Why was this so hard?  Bob's Red Mill makes perfectly wonderful gluten-free oats so why can't somebody make granola with it.  They can...you can...here's how...

Granola

Ingredients:
3 cups gluten-free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
2 cups nuts (you can use any combination you enjoy but I like sliced almonds)
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons liquid sweetener (I use maple syrup but honey or agave syrup are also good)
1/4 cup coconut oil (measure melted)
3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine liquid sweetener, coconut oil and salt.  Combine both mixtures and pour into a large pan or two smaller ones.  It should be a shallow layer and you will want to be able to stir it.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve even cooking. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  If you like raisins or other dried fruit you can add it now but you won't catch me doing that. 

*have you ever had to cook something in increments and find you can't remember how many times you've stirred.  I place a piece of paper beside the oven and write five 15's on it.  When I put the pan in the oven I circle the first 15.  This tells me that I am in this 15 minute segment.  When I stir the mixture and place it back in the oven I put an X mark through the first 15 and circle the next one and so forth. 

**This recipe was adapted from Alton Brown's granola recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html