Crabby Patties! (Translated: Gluten Free Crab Cakes)

It's now the 4th week of Whip It Up, a chance to try a new recipe and show it off (read about Week 3's adventures). Last night, we attempted to eat gluten free at Outback Steakhouse, but they were already out of the pork tenderloin when we got there, so we decided to go back home. We've gotten to the point where we only eat what we want. It's a nice place :).

The conversation after we got inside and both washed our hands:

"What should we eat tonight?"
"Pork tenderloin."
"We already tried that, silly."
"CRABBY PATTIES!"

You SpongeBob fans know what I'm talkin' about. I had been hanging on to the idea of crab cakes in my head for weeks. I had also been hanging on to two cans of crab meat, which I know is a step down from awesome crab cakes, but still. I'm a crab cake amateur. The idea has hung in my mind since my 2007 visit to Richmond, Virginia, where some friends and I dined at The Tobacco Company. It was divine.

So, we set out to prepare Gluten Free Frenzy's Crabcakes with White Sauce. They were so easy to prepare. First, I threw together the spicy white sauce, which is a spicy sour cream with Mexican hot sauce, and my fav, lemon zest. While the peppers and garlic were sauteing, I threw the other ingredients in the bowl, and we were well on our way.

After eating, I decided we needed real, fresh crab, as well as fresh breadcrumbs from some Millet Oatmeal Bread, and that the texture would be greatly improved.

Overall:

The recipe was very easy to follow.

They were very tasty, although texture can be improved (at the request of the boy).

They were incredibly flavorful. You can't skimp on ingredients though. Use the good stuff.

Two delicious finds...

Up until today, I had been buying 2 pound bags of quinoa flour from Blue Chip Group, for about $9 a bag. At Costco today, we found 4 pounds of (whole) quinoa, from truRoots. All for about $11. True, this quinoa will need to be ground and sifted anyway, but I already do that with millet, and sometimes brown rice. (Pssst, come on over for some peanut butter bars, our favorite quinoa recipe.)


We also came upon a new find that our friend, Kassi, shared with us. Trio Bars. Three fruits, three nuts, and three seeds. The boy tried the strawberry Trio bar, and we bought the multi-pack of 20 at Costco today. We're looking forward to stashing these in our purses and man-purses. Oops, did I say man-purse? Hmmm, I must have misspoke.

GF Mommy's Millet Oatmeal Bread: Extra cheese, please.

Disclaimer: This is not my sandwich. The new camera should be arriving this week. I'm very excited about that.
Just rest assured the bread looks this good.

This week for Whip It Up (week 3!), we attempted the delicious. And this is the first week that delicious did not involve oranges, like my previous Orange Bars and Orange Creme Cupcakes. Mmmm... guilty pleasures.

Let's be straight - we don't really bother with bread around here. I'll make corn muffins, and we almost always have a "treat bread" around, like zucchini muffins or peanut butter bars. But, the boy had been asking for grilled cheese sandwiches for several weeks. That requires bread.

I have stumbled over Natalie's recipe for Gluten Free Millet Oatmeal bread over and over again. Natalie goes after whole grains in her bread, and that's what I wanted. No more white rice flour (it's just not worth it to me...) I think I had avoided making the delicious because I was out of flax seed for a while.

Short answer, this bread was delicious. We made two smaller loaves, and this was only a few days ago. We're now cleaning up the last slices of the second loaf. The other night we made some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches, which we ate with pizza soup.

The boy raved about it. Some friends of his stopped by (the same one who loved the Orange Creme Cupcake from last week), and he sliced them some too. So, two other men also tried these slices, firm enough to hold in the hand, and thought it was very tasty. I particularly like the buttery taste that nicely blankets the whole-grainy taste. It also toasted beautifully, wasn't gummy or crumbly, and had a nice texture.

Whip It Up:

The recipe was easy to follow. Bread making is complicated, but Natalie spelled everything out well.

Tasty: quite. Now I think I'm obligated to bake it more often.

Make it again: See above.

Update: Charlotte's Bakery Gluten Free Selection

One of the first things we bought was the gluten free Focaccia Bread, made by Charlotte's Bakery, and sold at Against the Grain.

Well, we both found it very tasty.

In my browsing of the web, Charlotte's Bakery has now updated their website, and it now includes the other locations in Utah and California that carry their delicious products.

Thanks Charlotte! High five to local, Utah-made gluten free foods!

Review: Pier 49 Pizza, Gluten Free Eats

Ah, pizza. It's so delicious. At the beginning of our journey, our friend, DR, sent us to Pier 49 Pizza, located downtown on Main Street, right next to a Trax stop. We had it last summer, and it was the first time the boy had had any pizza since his diagnosis. He was delighted.

Well, DR and the boy wanted to go to the most recent summer concert at the Gallivan Center to see Bon Iver. We also had another friend in town, and all of us, spur of the moment (as expected), converged on Pier 49, so the boys could get pizza and head to the concert. It does take 25-30 minutes for them to prepare a pizza on a gluten free crust, but they have also improved the crust since our last visit. I heard murmurs, between bites, of how good the crust was.

It does cost an additional $3.00 for a gluten free crust, but the toppings are added carefully, and the pizza is covered during cooking. Both the boy and DR are very sensitive, and they managed to survive a pizza place without being contaminated.

Pier 49 has gotten some great recognition for their move to offer gluten free crust. KSL 5 did a story on Pier 49 in April 2008, and even awarded a free pizza to all the teachers in the valley. Even the blog, Gluten Free in Utah, discussed the tasty gluten free crust. Gluten Free in Utah also pointed out that all of the Utah locations now offer the gluten free crust. Yippee for pizza.


Pier 49 Pizza
238 S Main St, Salt Lake City (right across from the Gallivan Center)
(801) 364-2974

See the Pier 49 website for other Utah locations.

Gluten Free Orange Creme Cupcakes: A Tasty Theme

This is the second week of Whip it Up - the summer is flying by. Last week, I made Orange Bars, and everyone else threw down some great stuff, too.

Whip It Up suggests a theme each week, and this round it's "Guilty Pleasures." While I didn't choose my recipe based on that, it turned out that way. And, there's a theme running through my recipes as well: oranges!

This week I made Orange Creme Cupcakes from Karina's Kitchen, the gluten free goddess herself. I like Karina's recipes because they are generally made with my favorite combinations of flours, including sorghum, millet, and potato starch, and they're even vegan (meaning no eggs or butter). Karina also generally bakes at high altitude, which translates well to Wasatch Front baking. (If you're not living in Utah, that's the name of our beloved mountain range).

I made these on a whim, shortly after my adventures in injera, or Ethiopian flat bread, showed me that I needed some practice. (I still have hope for injera, I just need to try a few more times.) It was Friday night, and I was preparing for a birthday party, after a rather rotten day at work.

I put these together, and they were so easy to prepare, ate two shortly after they came out of the oven, and then frosted one last one to take to the birthday party, a gift to my dear friend, Allison. It was a barbecue, where she prepared delicious gluten free turkey legs (oh, heaven). We're gluten free buddies. She was delighted to eat my cupcake. The evening then proceeded with delicious popsicles from a Mexican market in Provo, Guitar Hero, and chatting with my friend.

These cupcakes came in handy again yesterday, when the boy came by with a friend, and they were heading out to fix the friend's sprinkler system. A bright, sweet treat was much appreciated by both. Ah, cupcakes, helping me to win the hearts of many.

Whip It Up:

Easy to prepare? Yes, the recipe is very clear. :)

Tasty? Yes, at least 4 people whole-heartedly approved.

Make it again? Um, yes. When I need a cupcake, I know where to go.

Dairy Free Toffee Ice Cream - on a Gluten Free "Cone"!

Ice cream is in my blood. Not literally.

When I was 16, I went on my first date to a diner in downtown Boise, and to a school dance afterward. This was not a formal school dance, in fact, we were wearing pajamas. The vibe of the diner was electric, on a February Saturday night, and I loved it. My date was pretty fantastic too - he could sure cut a rug.

Several weeks later, I filled out an application and, nervously, handed it in. It was a slow Monday afternoon, right after school let out, and I sat in the parking lot, straightening my sweater and looking at myself in the tilted rear-view mirror. Ah, awkward teenage-hood.

Somehow, I got the job. I became a fountaineer. I worked at the diner for 4 more years, which included a transfer to another location (during college), and growing into other types of work there. I waited tables, greeted guests, and became an assistant manager. I learned the dance to "Splish Splash" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and sang our invented birthday song with all my might. Mary Hopkin even sung it out from the jukebox: those were the days, my friend. I thought they'd never end :).

I moved on - college to finish. But, oh.

Ice cream is in my soul.

---

Last weekend, we spent a few minutes on the back porch of some friends, our elders by several decades. Role models to us. I want to be them when I grow up. We sat in the wooden swing, a few other friends in chairs around the patio. We looked at the dahlias in her garden, and talked about the willow tree that shaded the house. Our friend told us about coming across a book her father loved as a child, T-Model Tommy. We lingered, hesitating to stand up and leave this moment. Later, they fed us big bowls of home made ginger ice cream.

---

I asked the boy a few days ago to choose between toffee ice cream and blueberry. Toffee it was.

Not too bad for a camera phone. My sturdy camera sprouted legs while I was at camp.

Dairy Free Toffee Ice Cream
Made without an ice cream maker

2 eggs (pasteurized, if you prefer)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups canned coconut milk
1/2 cup rice, almond or hemp milk

1/2 bag Heath brand Bits o' Brickle toffee bits (or regular Heath bits). The toffee bits are hard to find - go to Harmons!

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip eggs until they are fluffly. Slowly add the sugars, while the mixer is still beating. Add coconut milk and other milk, and keep whipping until it's frothy (really, you don't have to leave it on all day - just until you're tired of watching it. Maybe 2 minutes :).

Place the bag of toffee bits in the freezer so it can get cold.

Pour the ice cream base into a plastic container and place in the freezer for 12-24 hours (depending on how cold your freezer is). Take it out of the freezer and beat it again in the mixer several times, to incorporate more air and reduce the size of the ice crystals in the ice cream.

Someday, I'll own an ice cream maker. Like, maybe my birthday this year :).

Once the ice cream has set, or almost frozen, pour in the toffee bits and stir gently. If you pour them in too soon, they will start to dissolve.

Enjoy outside on a gluten free ice cream cone, like this one, maybe.

Gluten Free Cone!

Heat several tablespoons of oil in a large pan. Fry a small corn tortilla on both sides, until it just begins to stiffen (you can tell this when you lift it up with a fork). It will not brown yet, but once it barely stiffens, remove it from the heat, shaking gently off the excess oil. Immediately drop onto a plate of cinnamon-sugar, coating both sides. Then, flip it over to a flat surface and roll it into a cone shape. While it cools, place it top-down into a narrow cup or glass, so that it has a form to hold it's shape.

Oh, and eating out of this, it will drip out of the little hole in the bottom. Take this ice cream outside and enjoy it on the patio!

Gluten Free Orange Bars Recipe

Happy 4th! I'm scuttling around, meeting up with my family. And eating many of these:

We got some beautiful oranges in June's co-op order. It's much too late to do anything with the peaches and plums that my friend retrieved for me at our Saturday morning pick up time. The peaches were perfectly ripe, sending just a trickle of juice down my chin with each bite.

But the oranges, sweet and unassuming. Not all showy with their fuzz like those pretentious peaches. After all, aren't oranges one of those "first alphabet" fruits everyone learns? That sit on everyone's table? Still, on top of gluten free shortbread, the fresh-squeezed juice bursts with sunshine. I thought these would be a great idea for my first week of Whip It Up. (8 weeks of trying new recipes, or...gasp...creating your own!)

Gluten Free Orange Bars
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book recipe for Lemon Bars

In your stand mixer, begin beating:

1/3 cup butter

add 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour

Press this into the bottom of an 8x8, or 7x10 pan, and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. When you look at the crust, there will be holes in it, where the butter has created little pocks so the steam can escape. It should be light brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.

During the baking of the crust, add this to your stand mixer (you don't even have to clean the bowl!):

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 tablespoon white rice flour
2 teaspoons orange zest, finely grated
the juice of one orange, strained over a sieve to catch the seeds
a few squirts of lemon juice, for tartness
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Beat for 2 minutes, or until it's really mixed up well. Pour this over the top of the hot crust. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the top is set. Remove from the oven, and cool.

With your strainer, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Now isn't that just a sassy sweet treat? They are not as tangy as lemon bars, which I miss, but they are so fragrant. And that shortbread works very well to provide some crunch.