Fabulous February Food Finds

RECIPES: Dish Taco Bake ... Apple Cake.......... Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

PRODUCTS:

PASSOVER SHOPPING:

Dish Taco Bake (Adapted from Fleischmann’s Recipe) – Family-pleasing quick and easy meal. (In our house, we top a small one with GFCF cheese and another one with regular cheese.)

1 pound ground beef
1 envelope (1.25 oz) Old El Paso or other GFCF Taco Seasoning
¾ c brown rice flour
½ c corn meal
½ tsp Xanthan Gum
2 envelopes Rapid Rise Yeast
1 T sugar
½ tsp salt (I skip that)
¾ c very warm (120-130) WestSoy Rice Beverage or other GFCF “milk”
3 TBS oil
1 egg (Egg Replacer works too)
1 c Nature’s Promise or other GF chunky salsa
1 c Vegan Gourmet or other GFCF cheddar-flavored “cheese”, shredded (optional)
1 c Fritos or other GF corn chips, partially crushed

Brown beef and drain. Add taco seasoning and mix well. Combine flour through egg and mix well. Spread into a greased 9 ½ inch deep dish pie plate. Top batter with taco meat filling. Pour salsa over meat. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired, and corn chips. Bake by placing in a COLD oven and setting temperature to 350. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. (I just baked in preheated oven; turned out fine.)

Slow-Cooked Steak Fajitas (Adapted slightly from Light and Tasty) – When you want to go Mexican without a lot of work, here’s a crowd pleaser. It works well with chicken, too.

1 beef flank steak (1 ½ pounds) (I often use stir-fry meat to save time)
1 can (14 ½ oz) Contadina or other GFCF diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, undrained
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I skip this)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt (I use less)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium green pepper, julienned
1 medium red pepper, julienned
1 Tbs minced fresh cilantro (I use more)
2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbs water
12 6-inch Verole or other GFCF corn tortillas, warmed
¾ c Tofutti Better-than-Sour-Cream, optional
¾ c Nature’s Promise or other GFCF salsa, optional
Shredded Vegan Gourmet or other other GFCF cheddar cheese alternative, optional

Thinly slice steak across the grain into strips; place in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Add tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic, coriander, cumin, chili powder and salt. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Add onion, peppers and cilantro. Cover and cook 1-2 hours longer or until meat is tender.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Using a slotted spoon, spoon about 1/2 cup meat mixture down the center of each tortilla. Add 1 tablespoon each sour cream and salsa, if desired plus cheese if desired. Fold bottom of tortilla over filling and roll up. Yield: 12 servings.

Apple Cake (Adapted from Simply in Season) – This cake is moist and sweet and prone to disappearing!

5 c apples, unpeeled and chopped
1 1/3 c sugar
½ c oil
2 eggs (Ener-G egg replacer works, too)
2 tsp McCormick or other GF vanilla
1 c brown rice flour (recommend Bob’s Red Mill)
1 c + 2 tsp sweet rice flour (recommend Miss Roben’s), divided
1 tsp Xanthan gum
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 c nuts (optional)
2/3 c brown sugar
¼ c WestSoy Rice Beverage or other GFCF “milk”
1/3 c powdered sugar

Combine apples and sugar and let stand while mixing other ingredients. In a separate bowl, coming oil, eggs, and vanilla. In a third bowl, combine brown rice flour, 1 c sweet rice flour, gum, soda, cinnamon, salt, and nuts if desired.

Stir flour mixture into apples alternately with egg mixgture. Pour into a greased 9x13-in baking pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick.

While cake bakes, heat brown sugar, “milk”, and 2 tsp sweet rice flour to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Mix in powdered sugar. Drizzle over hot cake.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted slightly from the Quaker recipe) – Warm from the oven, these just can’t be beat! They freeze well, too.

2 sticks Earth Balance, softened
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
½ c granulated sugar
2 eggs (or 1 Tbs Ener-G replacer mixed with 4 Tbs hot water)
2 Tbs WestSoy Rice Beverage – Plain or other GFCF “milk”
2 tsp Giant pure or other GFCF vanilla
1 c Brown Rice Flour (recommend Bob’s Red Mill)
¾ c Sweet Rice Flour (recommend Miss Roben’s)
½ tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 ½ c Bob’s Red Mill or other GF oats (be careful!)
1 bag (10 oz) Tropical Source GFCF Chocolate Chips
1 c chopped nuts, optional

Heat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat margarine and sugars with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, “milk”, and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, gum, soda, and salt. Add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in oats, chips, and nuts, if desired. Mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes for a chewy cookie or 12-13 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets and remove to a wire rack. Cool completely before storing tightly covered.

PRODUCTS:

Simply Organic Banana Bread and Carrot Cake Mixes – Ten Thousand Villages

Nature’s Promise Bacon – A good all-natural choice – Giant

Nutty Rice (Perky’s) Cereal – (Does NOT contain any nuts.) – Camp Hill Giant, Healthy Grocer.

Kinnikinnik Muffins – Blueberry, Chocolate, Carrot – Giant

Enjoy Life Cookies – Snickerdoodles, Lively Lemon, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Brownie Cookies – 12 cookies per box – Giant

Enjoy Life Semisweet Chocolate Chip Cookies – Includes a great recipe for “bark” (like candy) – just melt and mix with Enjoy Life’s “Not Nuts” Trail Mix – Giant

Enjoy Life “Not Nuts” Trail Mix (allergen-free trail mix) – Giant (recipe note above)

Shelton’s Turkey Sausage Patties and Links – Giant

Banana Bread and Banana Nut Bread from Gluten Free 4 Me – Gluten Free Source

Donut Holes from Celiac Specialties LLC – (Contain BHT) – Gluten Free Source

Kinnikinnik Donuts – Cinnamon, Chocolate Dipped, and Vanilla Iced – Healthy Grocer

PASSOVER SHOPPING: Thanks to Kathleen for sharing this information about special deals available in a few weeks!

Passover -- a shopping bonanza for those on a gf/cf diet. Passover is a Jewish holiday that starts (this year) at sunset on April 19th and lasts for 7 days. The very strict observers of the faith follow the special dietary restrictions for this time period. They are not to eat any grains and therefore a lot of foods are specially prepared as "kosher for passover" meaning they will be gluten free. You have to travel to a big city kosher food market such as the Seven Mile Market in Baltimore to get these foods. Since the market has exploded with new cf/gf foods that are readily available, this isn't quite the "find of the year" it used to be, yet still good.

Some very important things to keep in mind:

• You need to be good at reading labels as some of the foods may still contain dairy and artificial colors/flavors
• Matzo flour or any of it's derivatives is NOT gluten free, it is specially blessed wheat flour (they can't bless the gluten out of it!)
• Most of the items you might find in the local grocery stores that are kosher for passover are not gf, most have matzo in them.
• Non gerbots means gluten free
• Some of the items that are good to get at this time (and mostly cheaper!) are: marshmallows, chicken nuggets, ice cream (made from sugar and coconut oil and is delicious), ice cream cones, dark chocolates in all shapes, sizes and flavors, and all kinds of baked goods--prepared and boxed
• Best time to shop is 2-3 weeks before Passover starts
• Don't expect anyone at the market to be able to answer any gf/cf questions.