Thanksgiving Recap: Stuffed!

Thanksgiving is one of my new favorite food-fest holidays.  And since I made very similar meals to the ones I've posted last year on here, I didn't feel the need to bore you with the same recipes.  However, I did add some new tricks to the dishes and those I'd love to share.  Our menu included a brined 11 pound turkey, mashed potato casserole, stuffing, steamed broccoli, and pumpkin pie.

The biggest improvement was on the mashed potato casserole, where I used a potato ricer to get the mixture even creamier than usual. 

I used a new pie crust, for the pumpkin pie which made me nervous, but it came out even better than the Whole Foods gf pie crust I usually use.  Gillian's GF pie crust had a much nuttier taste to it, and tastes more similar to a graham cracker crust than the buttery flavor of the Whole Foods brand.

Add some homemade whipped cream (1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, sugar and a touch of vanilla extract, blended with handmixer until creamy) and you are all set!!

Gearing up for Football: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Be warned...after reading this post, you will be completely inspired to make this dish...and then you, just like those who have already eaten this, will become addicted.  It is a serious problem amongst my group of friends.  So of course I'd love to share this with you, but just remember...you were forewarned!

Buffalo chicken dip

Eat with tostitos....larger chips are better since the dip is thicker.

1 rotisserie chicken (or 4 cooked chicken breasts) shredded
1 cup franks hot sauce
1 cup marie's blue cheese
2 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Add shredded chicken and franks to a skillet and combine over medium
heat.
Cut in both packages of cream cheese until completely melted and
combined.
Remove skillet from heat and add blue cheese.  Pour dip into a casserole
dish and top with cheddar cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until
cheese is melted on top.  Serve with chips, carrots/celery.....or just eat with a spoon :-)

Doughnuts: the icing on the cake

I have to give a big shout-out to Babycakes in NY for making me super-duper happy on my wedding day by supplying us with my fav - gluten-free doughnuts!! They worked with my mom to plan out the best way to showcase the doughnuts, and they wound up with my very own doughnut tower of the raspberry powered doughnuts.

It made the entire cake cutting ceremony stress-free and happy for me....and my husband even joined in the fun by sharing the doughnut with me.  We got engaged at Babycakes bakery, and it was great to include the doughnuts in our wedding as "icing" on the cake (pun intended!).

Meatballs and Spaghetti

Another day - another dinner.  Last night - meatballs and spaghetti.  I tried a new kind of pasta since I wasn't able to get to Whole foods to buy my normal GF spaghetti - brands like Schar or Tinkyada.  I used instead Hodgson Mill's brown rice pasta.  I found it to be very good with the sauce, but it definitely took longer to boil and was higher in starch than the ones I've used in the past.

I did also mix the ground beef with some Alesia's bread crumbs and one egg to make the mixture more flavorful and moist.

First I pre-heated the oven to 325 degrees.  Then I combined the meat, breadcrumbs and egg in a bowl and heated a skillet on the stovetop with a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Once it was hot I rolled the beef into balls and added to the skillet.  After a few minutes (until they were brown on one side) I turned them so they browned evenly on all sides.  Next I prepped them to go into the oven.  I like using a cookie drying rack that sits above a broiler pan so the meat drippings would fall through the grates, but the meat would not stick to the bottom of the pan (and also the meatballs remain round).

While the meatballs were cooking (about 20-25 minutes) I cooked the pasta on the stovetop and heated up the sauce.  My husband likes to make his own sauce (he is Italian) so we added onions, garlic to the skillet that I browned the meat in, then added it to a small saucepan on the stove with some tomato paste and red wine.  Added in some fresh tomato chunks and some canned sauce to give a good consistency.

Topped it off with some Parmesan and voila! 

Resolutions, Shmerolutions

Ok so as you can all see, I haven't been good at keeping my new year's resolution to write on this blog!  As it turns out, I was quite busy, with moving apts and then wedding planning, along with keeping up with my challenging role at a start-up company.

To bring you up to speed, the wedding was FAB and all the hard work paid off.  You can view some of the pics here at the photographer's website.

After vacationing in Greece for the honeymoon, I came back to a more peaceful NY, or so I thought.  That was until I found out that my company merged with another, with rounds of layoffs (me being included in that bunch).  So while it's a new chapter for my career, it is a great time for me to focus on the blog, considering that I am now home in time to cook meals for my new husband...I'd love to share with you all the yummy meals that are of, course, Gluten-Free.

First up, last night's meal: Braised Short Ribs.

I found this recipe online and I have to say it was quite easy and delish!  I used my 6qt. Mario Batali dutch oven to prepare this meal and bought the ribs from FreshDirect.com.  I paired this dish with quick cooking Polenta, which I did on the stovetop (following the instructions on the box) and added in some large shavings of Parmesan cheese, to add to the creaminess.

3 1/2	pounds boneless short ribs , trimmed of excess fat (see note and technique below)
	Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
2	large onions , peeled and sliced thin from pole to pole (about 4 cups)
1	tablespoon tomato paste
6	medium garlic cloves , peeled
2	cups red wine (see note)
1	cup beef broth
4	large carrots , peeled and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
4	sprigs fresh thyme
1	bay leaf
1/4	cup cold water

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat beef dry with paper towels and season with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until smoking. Add half of beef and cook, without moving, until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn beef and continue to cook on second side until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes longer, reducing heat if fat begins to smoke. Transfer beef to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and meat.
   
2. Reduce heat to medium, add onions, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. (If onions begin to darken too quickly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons water to pan.) Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until it browns on sides and bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium-high, add wine and simmer, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until reduced by half, 8 to 10 minutes. Add broth, carrots, thyme, and bay leaf. Add beef and any accumulated juices to pot; cover and bring to simmer. Transfer pot to oven and cook, using tongs to turn meat twice during cooking, until fork slips easily in and out of meat, 2 to 2½ hours.

Hello 2010!

And with a new year...I'm back!  I had many recipes which I had planned to share with you for holiday cooking, such as meatloaf, lasagna, pork roast, and awesome side dishes but, as it turns out, we had a minor disaster in my apt in early December when a heating pipe broke and flooded our entire apt.

So over the course of the month, it has been non-stop cleaning and adjusting, all the while figuring out details with the building, super, and insurance company.

Oh and did I mention a crazy amount of work to do before the end of the year at my new job and planning my Fall wedding?? 

In any case, one of my resolutions was not to let the blog suffer because of my other responsibilities.

Therefore, I'm posting this as a promise to you to keep you in the loop for great Gluten-free recipes that don't require a ton of specialty ingredients, modified as part of my experience in our cooking club.

And yes, be on the look-out for the lasagna, meatloaf and other great recipes to come!!

Ode to Thanksgiving: Pièce de résistance - Turkey!

And how can we describe a Thanksgiving meal without the centerpiece, the Pièce de résistance- the Turkey!!

We got our bird from FreshDirect, complete with a brining kit.  If you are a FreshDirect customer, you can find this recipe known as the "Two Hour Holiday Turkey."  If not, don't fret! Recipe below.

(notice the Aleia's stuffing in the background!!)

For the Turkey

1 Plainville Antibiotic-Free Butterflied Turkey, thawed
1 package FreshDirect Turkey Brining Blend
1 new, sealable plastic brining bag

Additional Equipment
Paper towels
Large sheet tray with rack
1 large sheet aluminum foil
Oven thermometer
Instant-read thermometer
Oven mitts/potholders

PREPARATION

1. To brine your turkey, first make sure it's completely thawed, then remove any exterior packaging and rinse the bird under cold running water.

Mix the brining solution by stirring 1 lb brining blend into 1.5 gallons water. (See brining blend label for more detail.)

Put the turkey into the plastic bag and pour in enough brining solution to fully submerge it. Depending on the turkey's size, not all of the brine may be necessary. Press out any air bubbles, seal the bag and chill for 6 to 12 hours in the refrigerator.

After brining, we recommend you rinse the turkey with cold running water, pat it dry with paper towels and chill it in the refrigerator, uncovered, for 2 to 6 hours. Drying promotes a crispy skin and is well worth the effort.

2. Preheat oven to 425°F. (Check temperature accuracy with an oven thermometer.)

Place the turkey breast-side up on a rack over a drip pan, making it as flat as possible. Turn the wings away and under, and turn the drumsticks away from the body to equalize the height.

Depending on the height of the roasting pan, you may pour in up to 1 cup of water to prevent the drippings from burning.

Rub a little oil on a large sheet of foil (to prevent sticking) and loosely cover the turkey. Poke a few small holes in the foil to vent steam.

3. Place the prepared turkey on the center-most rack of your oven. After one hour, if the turkey looks lightly golden, remove foil cover; if the skin looks very dark, leave the foil in place.

Check temperature in the breast (avoid contact with the ribs) with an instant-read thermometer. When breast temperature reaches 160 to 165°F, remove the turkey from the oven and transfer to a platter or a sterilized cutting board. Cover lightly with aluminum foil to retain heat.

To complete cooking and maximize juiciness, allow the turkey to rest for approximately 30 minutes before carving and serving.