Quarkbällchen - doughnut heaven

Yep. You heard right. Gluten free doughnuts. Homemade, deep fried, and so completely German!

As some of you might know, Germany is THE place to be at Christmas time. We actually discovered that the region we live in, the Erzgebirge (or Ore Mountains), is the birthplace of Christmas as we know it today. The Christmas tree, ornaments, and especially the lights we put up came from this region of Germany! They also started the wildly popular European tradition of Christmas Markets. And boy are they amazing! They build little villages for the whole month before Christmas and they are right out of a Hallmark card. Lights everywhere, music playing, people drinking mulled wine and eating... doughnuts! Ok, they're eating quarkbällchen, which is basically a doughnut.  They have all different flavors: vanilla, almond, cinnamon sugar, etc. So of course Levi tries one. And he LOVES them. So we get them a few more times. And finally, I'm a little fed up with watching someone else eat delicious, German doughnuts...

These are not just any doughnut. They are made with a special dairy product called quark (hence the name). It loosely translates as curd cheese. This is different than cheese curds and most closely resembles cottage cheese. I checked and I guess they sell it at Whole Foods! Not sure about regular grocery stores as I can't really check until I get home this summer. It's everywhere here. Very popular and treated almost like yogurt. They flavor it and eat it right out of the container. This is completely new to me so excuse me if this is common in the US. Maybe I've been living overseas too long...

So what do I do when I want something I can't have? Make it myself! And boy was it worth it.

This is adapted from a German recipe so all the ingredients are listed by weight.  I have a kitchen scale (which is awesome) so I didn't convert anything to typical US measurements. Sorry!

Gluten Free German Christmas Doughnuts (Quarkbällchen)
Makes: 20-30 doughnut balls               Time: 10 min prep, 20 min frying

INGREDIENTS

• 250g All-purpose gluten free flour (see my blend here)
• 250g Quark (or cottage cheese if you have to)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 113g Sugar
• 8g Baking powder
• 3/4 tsp Guar gum
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 Eggs
• Oil for frying (I used vegetable oil)
• Toppings: powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar

METHOD

1. Add about 4 cups of oil (or 1 liter) to a sauce pan and heat on medium or a little higher. You're deep frying so be careful! You'll have to test the oil temp with a few tester doughnuts to get it right. You want it to sizzle but not get dark too quickly. The inside needs to be cooked and the outside golden brown.
2. This is exactly why this recipe is awesome: put all the ingredients in a bowl (except the oil and toppings) and use a hand mixer to make a smooth batter.
3. Take a mini ice cream scoop, or use two spoons, and scoop small balls of dough into the oil. Do a couple at a time so they cook evenly. Trial and error is the name of the game. Make one, cook, cut it open. Is it done on the inside? Is the outside a dark golden brown? Did it take forever to cook? Change the temp accordingly and be aware it takes a while for the oil temp to change.
4. Once they're cooked, fish them out with kitchen skimmer. Put on paper towels to soak up excess oil.
5. To finish them off, either dust with powdered sugar or roll in cinnamon sugar.

Eat them while they're fresh! They are incredible. Light, fluffy, sweet. Have with a mug of hot mulled wine to get the full German Christmas market experience. Invite friends over and they will be floored. Or don't because you really want to eat them all by yourself.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Here's some websites that talk about the history of Christmas in our region:

• http://www.christkindl-markt.com/erzgebirge-germany-home-christmas-ornaments-a-12.html
• http://www.live-like-a-german.com/germany_related_articles/show/The-Erzgebirge-Christmas-Country-in-Germany

Zucchini Bread - it will change your life

Hi everyone! It seems crazy but our regular season is already over! It's playoff time and we're really excited to actually be in the playoffs this year. That also means that our time here is almost over. Whenever something is coming to an end it makes you look back and remember that stage of your life. Our time in Poland has been great. Sometimes hard, frustrating, even boring but overall we've enjoyed ourselves here.

Looking back at my year usually involves thinking about the best things I've made. This one was actually brought to my attention by one of our teammates. I made some zucchini bread at the beginning of the year and brought it to some of our friends. He thought it was the best thing he's ever eaten. And he kept telling me how great it was. He ate the whole loaf in one sitting. Then he told me he would invest in my bakery if I ever opened one in Israel. That was definitely one of the best compliments.

Honestly, I've always loved zucchini bread. My mom has made it ever since I was little and it's one of my favorites. So being gluten free was not an excuse to leave behind one of my favorite things.

So I found a recipe online and adapted it to be gluten free. And it just so happens to be dairy free. After a couple of trials I have tweaked it to be just right. Not that it needed changing. Just perfecting. That's kinda how I do things :)

I adapted this recipe to be gluten free from this regular version: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/

Zucchini Bread

Time: 1 hr 20 min                              Servings: 2 loafs

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups All purpose gluten free flour (see my blend here)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tsp Guar Gum (or xanthan gum)
• 2 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup Vegetable oil
• 1-3/4 cups Granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 2 cups Zucchini, grated
• 1 cup Walnuts, chopped (optional)

METHOD:

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, guar gum, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in zucchini and nuts. Pour batter into pans.
4. Bake for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top becomes too brown, tent it with some aluminum foil. Cool bread in the pan for 20 minutes.

You're supposed to wait until the loaf is completely cool before you slice it, but it's soooooo good warm from the oven. It's kinda like cake that you pass off as a bread. If I make it for dessert, I don't put the nuts. You could even add a glaze to be extra fancy. Either way, you will love this. It might unofficially be the best thing I've made this year...

Love,

Maura

Kielbasa Risotto

Happy Easter everyone!! Us K's have been pretty busy here over the last few weeks. The second round of our season has started and Levi has been having games twice a week instead of once. He also happened to have a pretty bad ankle sprain during one of those games so he's been out and slowly recovering.

In all that chaos, a guy's gotta eat (ok and me too). Since cooking and grocery shopping are my job, it was really important that I get everything I needed for Easter. As is typical in Europe, everything is closed during holidays. Easter was no exception and they decided that because Easter is on Sunday they needed a business day off as well. So absolutely no stores open for 2 days. This doesn't really seem like that big of a problem until you realize that I go grocery shopping everyday. Our apartment and kitchen are small. So having a whole bunch of extra food on hand just doesn't work.

That being said, I spent Saturday doing a bunch of grocery shopping. This is also not as easy for us as all the grocery stores here carry different things. So I had planned on going to 4 different ones to get all the things I needed for the holiday weekend. Little did I know that stores also decided to close at 4pm on Saturday. So I only got half of the food I had planned on getting. So I was pretty frustrated when I couldn't buy any meat for my large, carnivore husband for the whole weekend.

Thus, this recipe came out of necessity. When you only have kielbasa in your freezer, this is a great way to make something special. I was honestly surprised by how good this was. It's now my favorite kielbasa recipe. This recipe was adapted from http://singleguychef.blogspot.com/2008/01/creamy-cauliflower-risotto-with.html to fit what I had and to make it dairy free.

Kielbasa Risotto

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 White onion, diced
• 5 Button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1 cup Rose wine (or dry white wine)
• 2 Kielbasa sausages (each about the size of a hot dog), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1-1/2 cups Chicken broth
• 1 tbsp Butter (or vegetable shortening)
• 1/4 cup Heavy cream (I used rice cream)
• 1 tbsp fresh Parsley, chopped

METHOD:

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic and the onions until the onions are translucent, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the mushrooms and cook another 2 minutes.
3. Add the rice and cook for a minute to toast it. Turn the heat down to medium.
4. Add the wine. Cook, stirring often, until most of the wine is absorbed.
5. Add the sausage and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth. Again, stir until most of the liquid is absorbed.
6. Continue to add the chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it's absorbed and the rice is tender but not mushy, about 15 minutes.
7. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter and cream.
8. Finally, stir in the parsley.

And that's it!! One pot meals are always my favorites (and Levi's since he has to hand wash everything). I hope you try this one. It's super creamy and comforting. A good winter dish for those of us who still have cold weather....

Maura

Secrets of GF Baking - The Flour

I've always been the kind of person who can just follow a recipe and have something turn out. This is thanks mostly to my mom who at the very least made us a good homemade dinner every night. So cooking was pretty normal to me.

Then this doctor decided I had this gluten problem. Great, I'll just continue with my normal way of baking. WRONG! Gluten free baking is oh-so-different. It's not hard; just not what we're used to. Gluten has major effects on a finished baked good. You always have to be careful not to over mix but things always come out fluffy, chewy, and wonderfully held together.

Successfully baking gluten free requires a change in mindset. The norms of baking are gone and you'll have to learn the special nuances of the GF versions. If you have any cooking talent at all, I promise you can figure it out.

The factor that has the largest affect on the finished product is the flour. Some people buy mixes for breads, muffins, even pizza dough... only in America people! Europe, especially outside of the major tourist attractions, doesn't have a culture of pre-made, pre-packaged food. These people make things from scratch. If you've been to Europe I know you've gone into one of those pastry shops and wanted to try everything (or maybe you did). Different pastries are in different countries but same concept.

So good luck finding a GF cake mix for your birthday, etc. Aaaaannnnnddddd, if you do find it, it's definitely not healthy for you. Maybe it's because I live in health-obsessed Colorado but you can always find healthy, GF choices of bread, crackers, even sweets. But for some reason Europe has decided that everything that is GF has to be made from cornstarch. Please look up the nutrition facts for cornstarch. You will discover it has basically no nutritional value. Then compare it to whole wheat flour and you will be even more stunned how bad it is.

As a Celiac, I have to cut out a huge portion of a typical diet by not eating gluten. Remember the food pyramid? Yep, grains is the big category on the bottom. The majority of people fill that category with allll gluten products. So now I need to replace that big part with other grains. So, in an effort to be healthy, there is no way I'm going to replace all that with cornstarch.

So the answer is: make your own blend of flour! This is crucial in not only being healthy but it is a widely know fact than no single kind of gluten free flour can be a 1 to 1 substitute for wheat flour. They just behave differently. But when you mix different kinds together in the right way... blam! It works great.

All that said just so I can give you my fool-proof recipe for GF Flour. This is modified from one of my awesome cookbooks, Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking. Their basic ideas combined with the ingredients that are available to me have been a perfect substitute for an all-purpose flour.

As a sidenote, this recipe changes based on where I am and what I can find. I could find certain flours in Mallorca, others in Huesca, and others in Slupsk. Even still, the basics always stay the same.

ALL-PURPOSE, GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR BLEND
Time: 5 min               Makes: 6-1/3 cups

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups different types of GF flours (rice, millet, sorghum, teff, amaranth, buckwheat, oat, etc.)
• 1-1/3 cups corn starch
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed (optional)

METHOD

1. Combine all the ingredients in an airtight container (mix with a whisk or just shake till it's combined)

TIPS

1. Do not use corn flour, coconut flour, or nut flours in this recipe. Each of those have very different baking properties and should be used only in recipes that call for that specifically. Bean flours might work but honestly anything I've made with them tastes and smells like metal so I don't go near them.
2. I always use rice flour. It is very easy to find and very inexpensive. Brown is obviously better nutrition-wise but either works.
3. I make double this amount every time. It lasts longer.
4. Teff flour is very expensive so I use it sparingly. However, I do always use it because it has an extremely high iron content which is always something women are lacking.
5. SPAIN: Mercadona (grocery store) sells white rice flour and a "bread mix" that is nearly all cornstarch. Otherwise, they have stores called Herboristeria that has some other choices. Also, there is a great online store outside of Zaragoza called Biomix. They have everything you need.
6. POLAND: Buckwheat and rice flour are in many grocery stores. Delima also has amaranth flour. For other kinds, buying online is both cheap and easy. Biokiosk is the one I have used many times.

Yep, I currently use 5 flours in my blend! 1 cup rice flour, 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1 cup amaranth flour, 1/2 cup oat flour, and 1/2 cup teff flour. Oops, and I forgot to label that little bag at the bottom!! That's ground flaxseed. 

Ok, I think that's all.... That's a lot to digest but I promise this has always worked great for me. Leave a comment if you have any questions!

Christmas Cookie Decorating - an American Tradition

Decorating dozens of sugar cookies is what most American families will be doing at Christmas time.  This is definitely a tradition we brought with us to Poland. Our Polish friend was very excited to learn what this craziness was all about. Unfortunately, since the American population in Slupsk is quite small, there are not a whole lot of cookie decorating supplies in the grocery stores. So we did our best with no cookie cutters or food coloring for the frosting. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time. So if you are in need of a gluten free/dairy free Christmas cookie recipe, this is it! Just make sure your decorations are also.

Frosted Sugar Cookies
Makes: ~3 dozen       Time: 10 min prep, 3 hrs chilling (optional), 8 min baking

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks, 250g) Salted Butter, softened (or shortening for dairy free)
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp GF Vanilla Extract*
• 1/2 tsp GF Almond Extract*
• 2-3/4 cups All-Purpose GF Flour
• 1 tbsp guar gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cream of tartar*

*NOTE: They do not have extracts in Poland. They instead have something called aromat which is scented but honestly tastes terrible. Real extracts are preferred. Also, cream of tartar has proven very hard for me in find in both Poland and Spain. Lucky for me, I can bring a 9 month supply of these with me each time.

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 2-1/2 tbsp Salted Butter (or Shortening)
• 1-1/2 tbsp Heavy Cream (or Soy Milk)
• 3/4 tsp GF Vanilla Extract

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (I used a silicone baking mat)
2. Cream together the powdered sugar and butter/shortening in a mixer (or with a hand mixer) until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
3. Stir in the flour, guar gum, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Careful not to get covered in flour if you are using your mixer still :)
4. Now that your dough is ready, you can choose the fast or slow option. If your kids (or you) can't wait 3 hours before baking/decorating, just spoon rounded tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet and press to flatten. Otherwise, chill the dough for 3 hours in the fridge. Then you will be able to roll it out (about 1/4 inch thick) between sheets of plastic wrap to cut out shapes. Dip your cookie cutters in flour so the dough doesn't stick.
5. Be careful when you are spacing out your cookies. They will grow in size so leave about 1-2 inches between each one. If the dough gets too sticky, put it back in the fridge for 10 minutes or even in the freezer. Cold dough is key! You could even cut out the shapes, remove the excess dough, and then pop them back in the fridge before attempting to transfer them to the baking sheet.
6. Bake for 7-8 minutes until the edges are lightly brown. Baking them on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat with allow for easy removal. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.
7. Frosting: cream all the ingredients together until smooth.
8. Wait till the cookies are cool and then frost away!

I love knowing that even though I can't have gluten and Levi can't have dairy, we can still have an awesome and delicious cookie decorating party. And I bet you wouldn't even know. Merry Christmas!!!!!!

The Knutsons 

Chicken Ranch Salad Pizza

We had this yesterday and it was AMAZING! As you can tell, I don't make the same thing very often. However, I told Levi I could eat this once a week. It was sooooo good. Especially because our diet has become even more limited since Levi got a stomach ulcer from some medicine he was taking. So tomato sauce has been off the list of allowable ingredients. That makes it kinda hard to think of pizza recipes. Especially since it has to be dairy free and gluten free. Sooooo, not only will I be posting my all time favorite gluten free pizza dough, but the link to the recipe for dairy free ranch dressing. Even if you have no food restrictions, you gotta make this. Homemade pizza is WAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY better than ordering or store bought.

Pizza Dough Recipe
Makes: 1 medium pizza             Serves:2-3 (only 2 if your husband is a 200lb athlete)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup warm water (about 115 degrees F)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 package)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (or guar gum)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I blend my own because store bought is not very healthy or is really $$$$$)

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, combine the warm water, honey, and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes until the mixture bubbles (this just means your yeast is alive and will actually work)
• Stir in the olive oil, xanthan gum, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. Mix in the flour with a spoon until it forms a soft, smooth dough.
• Form dough into a ball and drizzle with olive oil. Spread the oil around until it is evenly coated. Put back in the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm location to rise for 20 minutes (I set mine in the microwave just so the temperature stays consistent).
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a spatula, press/spread the dough out into a circle (use a little more olive oil to make it easier to spread). Par-bake the dough for 10 minutes in the oven.
• Finally, add all the toppings you want and put it back in the oven for another 10ish minutes. If you are using cheese, bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

CHICKEN RANCH PIZZA TOPPINGS:

• dairy free ranch dressing (find the recipe here: http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2011/08/ranch-dressing-dairy-free-egg-free-corn-free-nut-free-and-soy-free/)
• spinach
• diced, cooked chicken
• diced red bell pepper
• diced green onion
• optional: shredded cheddar cheese (for those of us who can have dairy)

Seriously, make this for dinner tonight. You will LOVE it. Especially if you are dairy free and have been craving something with a creamy sauce. Do it.

Maura

We're back! With Garlic-Cheddar Muffins

SOOOO much has happened since my eyes have silenced my blog posts. One, my eyes are doing a little better with something the Polish doctor gave me and I'm optimistic knowing that in 2 weeks I will be home and can see a doctor who speaks English.

That said, we're coming home for Christmas! I cannot explain to you how rare it is to be able to take a week off during Christmas in the basketball world. So many of our teammates who have been playing overseas for 6+ years have only gone home once and some never have. So we are incredibly lucky and grateful that the team is letting us go home.

We have had both my parents and Levi's parents visit us in the last month. It was so wonderful to have both of them here. We always love having company and being able to share our crazy life with people. It also gives us an excuse to do touristy things :)

The team has also had a bunch of games. After the first two losses, they went on to win 7 regular season games and 2 tournament games in a row. However, they just lost their last 3 games, two of which counted toward the playoffs. So we've had some serious highs and lows. Overall, we have a really good team and I see us doing really well. We just have a few kinks to work out.

On a different note, my wonderful, 88 year-old grandmother passed away just before Thanksgiving. We are so grateful to have had so many wonderful years with her and especially thankful we were able to see her this summer. We miss her so much but are so happy to know she's finally home. All these recipes have a little bit of her in them as she always made us wonderful things and always let us help.

And as I said before, the posts stopped but the cooking certainly didn't. Not with a hungry basketball player in the house. Today's recipe will be a rare one that is NOT dairy free. All the basketball wives got together while the team was on a roadtrip and so I took this as my opportunity to make something with cheese. Honestly, cheese is one of my favorite foods and when there are so many other things you can't eat, it's hard to cut something out that you can. This is a great appetizer or even a side to soup.

Garlic-Cheddar Muffins
Makes: 9 muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cups almond flour (I used hazelnut flour since that's what they have here)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, firmly packed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup green onion, thinly sliced

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius. Line muffin tin with baking liners.
• In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and olive oil.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well with a spoon.
• Stir in cheddar cheese, garlic, and onions.
• Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup. The batter will be really thick and you will have to press it down into the liners. It will be more like cookie batter than muffin batter but I promise it works out.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Serve warm

Hopefully you enjoy these as much as I did. It might have something to do with the fact that I haven't had cheese in so long :)

Maura

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies...with Coconut Flour!

The more gluten free baking I do, the more random ingredients I come across.  Coconut flour is kind of exotic and honestly, without Celiacs, I probably never would have used it. However, coconut flour is awesome! First, it's really absorbent so you use WAY less flour than a normal recipe. I've made a batch of cupcakes with only 1/2 cup of flour. Second, it makes the most light and fluffy baked goods ever. And it's pretty healthy! Gluten free or not, you should try some recipes with coconut flour. 

Oh, and conveniently, I am going to give you one. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies! These are so good. The fudgy cookies that are covered in powdered sugar and then when you bake them they get all cracked. I think people make them around Christmas time but I make them whenever I want. I made them for the team a couple weeks ago and they were a hit.

I've adapted this recipe slightly from the one on tropicaltraditions.com. They have all kinds of recipes using coconut flour and they also sell coconut flour that is really good quality. Their recipe creates a gluten free flour blend but since I already have an all-purpose flour, I changed it a bit.


Gluten Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Servings: 3 dozen cookies
Prep: 1 hr and 20 min

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup melted butter, coconut oil, or shortening (I used shortening)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-3/4 cup all-purpose gluten free flour
3-1/2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp xanthan gum (I use guar gum, it's cheaper and works the same)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
powdered sugar

1. Melt chocolate in bowl the microwave. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring well in between until it's all melted.
2. Whisk in oil and sugar. Then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla extract. The mixture should be thick.
3. Then mix in all the dry ingredients (flours, xanthan gum, salt, & baking powder). The batter will look like brownie batter.
4. Refrigerate for an hour or more, until the batter is firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
6. Put powdered sugar in a small bowl. Take a tablespoon of the batter and roll it into a ball and then roll in the powdered sugar.
7. Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies look set. Let cool for 3 minutes before moving to a wire rack.

That's it! Really make sure the dough is cold so that the rolling process is easier. You will have sticky hands but that's ok :) My batch made about 32 cookies. They are meant to be kinda small, only about 2 inches wide. They are soooooooo good! You will need to find a reason to give them away or you'll probably end up eating the whole batch...


Maura

Pita Bread

Europe doesn't really do fast food (minus the american fast food chains) but if they had to have an equivalent, kabobs would be it. Kabobs are middle eastern street food but there are about 50 kabob shops just in Slupsk and there were tons in Spain too. A kabob is not what you might initially have thought. It's not a shish kabob where you put meat/veggies on a stick and grill it. It's basically pita bread filled with meat that they have shaved off these big roasters. Everyone here loves them. Levi tried some with his teammates.

With this in mind, I wanted my own kabob. My parents and I always got gyros when I was little and I loved them. Kabobs are a lot like that. Luckily, my favorite gluten free cookbook/blog has a recipe for pita bread. I've made it before but this time I attempted to make it dairy free also. It came out great! Maybe some of the best bread I've ever made and really easy to to re-use for things other than kabobs.

Gluten/Diary Free Pita Bread

From Glutenfreeonashoestring.com

Makes:12 pitas

3 to 4½ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour, divided
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
4 tsp instant yeast
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus more
2½ cups warm milk, about 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (can use a dairy substitute but whatever you use must have a little fat)

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place 3 cups of flour and the xanthan gum, along with the salt, and mix to combine well. Add the yeast and sugar, then the oil, mixing well to combine after each addition. I don't have a stand mixer so I used a hand mixer.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the milk in a slow pour. The dough should begin to come together. Continue adding the milk until it’s all in there.
• Add enough additional flour so that the dough is thick and kinda creamy looking – not dry, and not really sticky, but tacky so if you touch it some of it sticks to your finger. You can always add more flour. I added just over 1/2 cup extra to mine.
• Dump the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over a few times to coat with oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm, humid place for about an hour, or until nearly doubled in size. I put mine in the microwave (don't turn it on, just set it in there) because it keeps in at a constant temperature with no draft. It will look dimply, and will be a bit tough to handle.
• Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (if you have a silicone mat, this would be a great time to break it out). Divide the dough into 12 to 15 pieces.
• For each piece of dough, roll it into a ball and press it together, squeezing out the air. Then, with the heel of your hand, press it into a disk. Press from the inside out, taking care not to make it too thin (especially at the endges). Sprinkle flour lightly on any sticky spots. Rotate the round of dough on the floured surface, and flip it frequently. If you have added too much flour at any point, drizzle in some canola (or vegetable) oil. It's ok if you have to oil up a piece of dough and start again. They should be just a little thicker than a pancake.
• Place rounds of dough on your baking sheet so they don't touch. Bake for between 5 and 8 minutes, taking care not to allow the pita to burn. It will be darker on the underside than on the top.

They are best right after you make them but be sure to let them cool completely before you try and cut into it. Slice each round in half, then run your knife on the inside of the bread to make a pocket. Now you can stuff it with whatever you want! We had chicken, peppers, red onions, spinach, cucumbers, and tzatziki sauce. I LOVE tzatziki sauce so I couldn't really imagine eating a pita without it. This is a really fun dinner for kids too because they can build their own.

Hopefully you enjoy middle eastern street food as much as we did!

Maura

Famous Almond Flour Scones

I've been making these scones for about a year now and pretty much everyone I serve them to either thinks they are the best scones they've ever had and/or have asked for the recipe. These are easily my favorite breakfast item and every time we travel I make a batch and bring it with me. They travel really well and will keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container or over a week in the fridge. Since tons of hotels now have breakfast included (none of which I can eat), I bring my own breakfast so we don't have to go about searching for something just for me. These scones make breakfast on a trip a huge treat instead of stressful or boring. I make extra so that Levi can have some too because he would rather eat these than the breakfast hotels serve.

I got this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks (thanks to my friend Kristen who gave it to me) called The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam. There are some amazing recipes in this book but the baked goods are by far the best. The cookies are easily my favorite chocolate chip cookies, gluten or not. She also has a great online blog called elanaspantry.com. 

I have found that the recipe for these scones, as well as the other recipes in the cookbook, is very dependent on the type of almond flour you use. She recommends Honeyville Almond Flour. It's probably the best quality that I've used but you have to buy it online and its $30 for 5lbs. It lasts a while because it is really finely ground and thus you can use less. It's definitely not the cheapest option though. We were lucky enough to get an amazing blender as a wedding gift. This means I can make my own almond flour. I can buy 3lbs of whole, unsalted almonds at Costco for $9. So it's about half the price as Honeyville's. Put 2 cups of it in the blender at a time. Blend on whatever setting your blender recommends for nuts for 10 seconds. Shake the blender to move around the almonds. Repeat 2 more times. Then sift it into a bowl using a fine mesh sifter. That's it! Homemade almond flour! Another note, do NOT use Bob's Red Mill almond flour. First, it's really expensive. Second, it has too high of an oil content so the final product never comes out right unless you add a lot of extra flour.

This recipe is also really versatile. You can add tons of different ingredients and they always taste great. I've added chocolate chips, dried cranberries, gluten-free oatmeal, coconut, almonds, ..... whatever I feel like really. 

Almond Flour Scones
Makes: 8-10 large scones

2 1/2 to 3 cups Almond Flour (depending on which kind you use)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 agave nectar (or honey if you don't have any)
2 large eggs

*You can add about 1 cup of additional ingredients: chocolate chips, dried fruit, coconut, nuts, etc. If you add oatmeal, reduce the amount of flour.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix to combine.
• In another bowl, combine oil, agave, and eggs. Whisk to combine.
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. 
• Fold in any additional ingredients.

VERY IMPORTANT: Your batter should be very thick and hold together. If you take a spoonful and it kinda "melts" off the spoon, you need more flour. Your should be able to shape it with your hands. Otherwise you will get breakfast cookies. Which are good to but not very scone-like.

• Using the 1/4 measuring cup, drop the batter onto the cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 12-17 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the scone comes out clean.
• Let cool for 20 minutes or until they are set.
• Try not to eat them all in one sitting :)

I hope you like these because I can't imagine you wouldn't. Mmmmmmmm.

Maura

Plum Crumble Bars

These were SOOOOOOO good. I made them for the team after their first exhibition game. The first game it's always hard to gauge when it is appropriate to hand out treats. So I waited a little to long so only about half the team got some. I brought 24. The team has maybe 12 players, 2 coaches, and a couple of managers and such. So maybe 20 people max. All but 2 were gone between about 6-7 players and wives. So they were epic.

I had been seeing plums everywhere in the grocery stores here. When I saw this recipe for plum crumble bars on one of my favorite websites (glutenfreeonashoestring.com) I had to make them. They tasted like little apple pies, but much more portable. They were dairy free because I found some vegetable shortening here to substitute for the butter (not healthy for you but at least Levi wouldn't get a stomach ache). I doubled the recipe and ended up having too much of the crumble topping. But I just froze it and will use it for a quick dessert some other time.

Here is the epic recipe:

SHORTBREAD PLUM CRUMBLE BARS
2 cups + 1/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 tsp xanthan gum (I use guar gum. same result, but way cheaper)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
16 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (or shortening for dairy free)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (in Europe, they only have granulated brown sugar but the end result is the same)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pound plums (ripe, but not very soft), rinsed and blotted dry
1 tsp cornstarch

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square pan with crisscrossed sheets of unbleached parchment paper, each overhanging two opposite sides. (This helps you take it out at the end with no sticking and no mess.) Set the pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, place 2 cups flour, the xanthan gum, sugar and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the butter, and mix to combine. The mixture should come together as a soft dough. Remove about 3/4 cup (150g) of the dough and transfer it to a medium-size bowl. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and the remaining 1/4 cup (35g) flour to the reserved dough, and mix to combine. This is the crumble topping. Place the bowl of crumble topping in the freezer to chill.
3. Scrape the remaining soft shortbread dough into the prepared square pan, and press into an even layer with well-floured hands. Set the pan aside.
4. Slice each of the plums in half, then remove and discard the pits. With a really sharp knife, carefully slice the plums into wedges, each about 1/4-inch wide, being careful not to bruise or crush the fruit. Blot the plum slices with paper towels to remove extra juice on the surface. Lay the plum slices on top of the shortbread in 4 parallel rows, from one side of the pan to the other, overlapping them slightly in each row. Sprinkle the plums evenly with the cornstarch.
5. Remove the crumble topping from the freezer and sprinkle it in an even layer on top of the plums. Press down on the topping gently but firmly.
6. Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is uniformly light brown in color and seems set. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely (place in the freezer to speed the process). Carefully remove the bars from the pan by the overhung parchment paper. With a very sharp knife, slice into 16 equal pieces. The bars will be moist and will not set up rock hard because of the moisture in the plums, but will hold together when handled carefully.
7. Serve chilled or at room temperature. I preferred room temperature because they are easier to bite into. Freeze any leftovers.

I followed this recipe almost exactly. It worked out really well but the set-up is fairly time-consuming. Pitting, slicing, and placing all the plum slices along with the rest of the pre-baking steps take about an hour. Then 45 minutes of baking. So make this well ahead of when you want to serve them. I bet you could use peaches or apples with this and it would also be totally amazing. Hope you like it!

Maura

Dairy-Free Basil Pesto

Hi everyone!

Cooking is in full swing these days. I've already given the team their first batch of cookies, made 3 loaves of zucchini bread, homemade granola as well as some yummy dinners. I'll be posting some baking recipes soon too but for now another dinner.

Since everything here is about 50% cheaper than the US, it helps me not feel guilty when I buy lots of ingredients that sometimes can be expensive. Thus I decided to buy some fresh herb plants. Basil, thyme, and rosemary. Honestly they are the less expensive way to buy fresh herbs so I think everybody should have a fresh herb garden. Mine have been doing really well, particularly the basil. Making pesto was really the only way to remedy this problem. And I love pesto. But the problem with typical pesto was the parmesean. So I did some internet searching and found a dairy free pesto recipe. I found a great recipe but was equally excited about the website it was on: www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com. This mom cooks all kinds of things without common allergens. Her son is gluten and dairy free so that's pretty helpful for me :) I'm trying the dairy free ranch dressing today! Anyway, here is the pesto recipe. I tweeked it just a bit based on what I have...

Dairy-Free Basil Pesto

2 cups Fresh Basil Leaves, packed

1/3 cup Walnuts

3 Garlic Cloves, minced

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1-1/2 tsp fresh squeezed Lemon Juice

3/4 tsp Sea Salt

1. In a food processor or blender, combine the basil leaves with the walnuts, lemon juice and sea salt. Pulse a few times until mixture is reduced in volume and the mixture is well incorporated.
2. Add the garlic and pulse a few times more.
3. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the blender or food processor is running, stop to scrap down the sides with a spatula.
4. Taste.  Add more lemon juice and/or salt if needed. Mine needed more salt.
5. Add to any style of Gluten Free pasta (here I found the Sam Mills brand), toss, and top with chicken!

Because cheese might be my favorite food, I added some parmesean to mine :) This was delicious so go buy a basil plant, haha.

Maura

All you basketball fans, don't worry we'll have lots of things to post about that when the season starts. Only 2 days till the first exhibition game! We have the schedule finally so I'll post that too.

Thai Coconut Cilantro Chicken

Hi! Now that we've been able to explore a little and had time to collect some ingredients, I've been able to make some new recipes! Since Levi has recently discovered he is lactose intolerant (just a couple more ingredients I can't use...) I've been excited to learn about coconut milk. A pleasant surprise has been that they have some in nearly every grocery store here. They must like Asian food because I have already discovered gluten free soy sauce which I was a little worried about.

I have had this chicken recipe in one of my trusty GF cookbooks - Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli & Peter Bronski. I'll have much more to say about this book in later posts but for now we'll stick to the chicken.

I'll admit this picture isn't very exciting. But the sauce was delicious! For any you who are dairy free, this is a great one to try. Here is the recipe:

Thai Coconut-Cilantro Chicken
14 oz. can of coconut milk
1/4 cup tamari wheat-free soy sauce (I have only found the Kikoman brand overseas)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chile peppers, seeded (unfortunately I had to use jarred because I couldn't find fresh ones)
2 tbsps chopped fresh ginger (I used powdered at the time, 1/4 tsp, but have since discovered fresh)
Grated zest and juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp brown sugar (European kinds are very granulated and don't pack at all but the results are similar)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1. Combine coconut milk, soy sauce, cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, ginger, lime zest and juice, and brown sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. I have an immersion blender so I just put it all in a big bowl and blended it up.

2. Transfer the sauce to a shallow dish, add the chicken, and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

3. Here the recipe calls to grill the chicken, which would be delicious I'm sure. Of course we don't have a grill so I boiled the chicken  for about 15-20 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink. If you do have a grill, heat it to medium-high and cook for about 8-10 minutes on each side. Baste the chicken with the sauce as it cooks.

4. If grilling, take the remaining sauce and bring it to a boil over high heat. Cook for 4 minutes. If you do what I did, you end up boiling the sauce with the chicken so it's already good to go. Serve the sauce with the chicken.

This was great served over brown rice and adding a few sauteed peppers and onions would be really good. Hope you like it!

~Maura


*As an aside, I'm going to try to post what ingredients I find and where I find them so if anyone else with Celiacs finds themselves in Slupsk, Poland they'll have some guidelines. This will only be for specifically gluten free items.*