Owner: Ginger Lemon Girl URL:http://www.gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:00:12 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Diary of a frugal, southern, (learning to be gluten-free), lover of all things food! Life, stories, recipes, food, and fun! Site statistics:Click here
A "chili" fall evening... 2007-11-28 07:59:00 Here is Carol at Michael's birthday dinner earlier this month!Notice the camera in her right hand. The woman never leaves home without it! My mom-in-law Carol has several "signature" recipes. Most of them she knows by heart and getting her to write them down is like pulling teeth! When Michael and I were dating, I ate "many a meal" at his house. Carol often cooked from scratch, and she made simple, hearty recipes.One recipe that Carol still makes on a regular basis is her chili. She calls this her "hot dog" chili, but it's the only kind of chili she believes in. She doesn't believe in other "chilis", as in a stew with beans, tomatoes, meat, and spices.We took Carol to one of our favorite restaurants last year. On the soup bar they were serving chili. Carol decided to try the chili to see if it was as good as hers (because you know, it doesn't get better than hers!) And of course, it didn't meet her standards. She said, "Well MY chili doesn't have all this other stuff in it!" Be Read more:evening
This Week's Menu (Nov. 26th - Nov. 30th) and a Simple Sour Cream Cornbread 2007-11-26 08:25:00 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe that November is almost over! I hope the holiday was relaxing for you and you enjoyed the food and the company you were with! I love holidays and I love the anticipation that builds up weeks before. It seems like for several weeks before Thanksgiving, my adrenaline just runs on the wonderful anticipation of the joy that big day brings!I also love the downtime after the holiday. The time when my body slowly adjusts back to "life as normal" which seems miraculously quiet and uneventful. The time I can indulge in a good book or two and not feel guilty about it. The time when cleaning the bathroom can wait, while you and your better half snuggle under warm blankets on the couch with a good movie. I haven't always found joy in the "everyday-ness" of life. But this week I choose too! I hope you will too.A gorgeous little fall leaf at my great-grandma's house.Natalie at Gluten-Free Mommy is hosting this week's menu swap. Th Read more:Simple
, Cream
Ginger Lemon Girl's Fall Mystery Contest Winner and A Corn Pudding Revision 2007-11-24 09:54:00 Ginger Lemon
Girl'sFall Mystery
Photo Contest
Winner is... Melanie from The Gluti Girls!Melanie guessed the correct answer of: COTTON! (Good thing too, since she was the only one who sent me an answer other than my sis-in-law Lisa and she doesn't count! Sorry Lisa! ;-P)A bail of cottonMelanie also sent in a wonderful story and picture of her favorite Thanksgiving memory! Here is Melanie's entry: "Gosh I really had to use my noggin on this one but I think it's cotton.""My favorite memory of Thanksgiving is pie. My grandmother made the most amazing pies. Of course she didn't measure anything, she did it by feel. She tried to teach me once me once but I never made them as well as she did. I miss her so much but I will always have the memories of her pie. That's why I was so touched when I first read your post about your grandmother's iron skillet. I'm a total mush for grandma's!" Cotton is harvested in the fall here in Eastern NC. Once the cotton has been picked: the Read more:Ginger
, Pudding
, Revision
, Contest Winner
Twist on a pumpkin! 2007-11-21 07:33:00 Sounds kinda like a crazy rock song doesn't it... or a strange version of Cinderella... or an odd way to play Twister... ;-)It's actually just a simple. little. delicious. pie.I've been wracking my brain to figure out exactly what pie I wanted to make this Thanksgiving. I will make a Libby's traditional pumpkin pie. You just can't beat tradition sometimes folks. And I really LOVE a Libby's pie... but you know me... I want to try something new... something different!So last weekend, I made a test run on a simple, easy, one-bowl pie recipe (crust and all!) I love this pie because it creates it's own crust! For us gluten-freebies, anything to make crust-making easier, is completely worth it! Also, with the exception of one ingredient, the pie is naturally gluten-free. And, to make it even easier, most of the ingredients are pantry friendly! You probably have all of them right now just waiting to be used!It's light and cozy. Simple and slightly sweet. I loved this pie cold, bu
Michael's Favorite and THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies 2007-11-19 09:00:00 You, my dear readers, are quite the lucky ducks today! I really did NOT want to share this recipe. I'm sorry. I hate to admit this, but I am selfish. I wanted to keep this little secret all to myself. You have recipes like this. The ones that are SO good, SO tasty, and usually SO easy, and SO requested by your fans that you don't want to share your perfect little secret. These are the recipes that make you seem like a kitchen genius! Why would you want to share them? When really, you just learned a little trick or two that makes the dish signature. Completely Julia Child!Julia could not have made a better cookie than this little. humble. chocolate. chip.Michael
and I try to eat healthy foods. We use a little too much cheese, but usually our foods tend to be on the healthier side, with less sugar, less saturated fats, and lots of chicken and veggies. I throw all of that out the window when it comes to cookies. Some things you just can't mess with. It's all or nothing baby! Actu Read more:Favorite
, Chocolate
, Cookies
A Cheesy Affair... 2007-11-17 14:49:00 I was in love with Mac and Cheese.Really, I was. Then came living gluten-free... and I said farewell to Mac and Cheese. I know, I know... there are rice pastas out there that are delicious (Tinkyada, I love you!) But as many times as I tried, I just couldn't replicate the delicious texture and taste of a big wonderful bowl of homemade "cheesy-noodley-goodness". But you know me... I'm a stubborn girl. Nan says so all the time. When it comes to cooking, I don't give up easily. When it comes to math, it's a whole different ballgame... A lot of families make homemade Macaroni and Cheese on Thanksgiving. My family never did. But that didn't stop us from eating it the rest of the year. And we ate the good stuff, right out of that pretty blue and yellow Kraft box. You know the kind I mean. With neon orange cheese sprinkles in a little foil-lined package to make that gooey cheese sauce. Seriously folks, it was tasty stuff! Today, I don't even have a box of Kraft in the house. I Read more:Cheesy
, Affair
A “Simply” Delicious and Frugal Gluten Free Thanksgiving Dinner Menu 2007-11-14 09:25:00 ** Click here for a printable version of this post (includes all recipes and the shopping list.)**Picture courtesy of What's Cooking America As you’ve heard me say before, I am a big believer in simplicity and frugality. I want recipes that are easy to make with (relatively) easy to find, inexpensive everyday ingredients. Since going gluten-free, I will admit this can be a challenge, but it’s still a goal I think we can accomplish. Often we can get so caught up in the details of an event or dinner that we end up not being able to enjoy the purpose of the event. This is especially true at holidays. So today, I am going to present you with my family’s ThanksgivingDinner
Menu – Gluten
Free Style! It’s a simple, easy (no-stress), delicious, and relatively healthy menu! I hope it will help you to relax this Thanksgiving. Let’s not stress over a holiday centered on Being Thankful! Be thankful that you now know what was making you feel bad for so many years (that naughty gluten) Read more:Delicious
, Frugal
Seriously Good Chocolate Oatmeal Brownies 2007-11-13 07:39:00 You know you are really nutty about cooking when your kitchen looks as if all the cabinets have exploded dirty dishes, and there is absolutely no counter space surviving, and yet, you MUST make a batch of brownies...If you have a fairy dishwasher you can lend me, I would appreciate it! Michael and I spent last weekend with a dear friend of ours named Betty. When I graduated from college and got my first "real" job, I rented a room from Betty. Betty is in her early 70's and she's one of the spunkiest women I know... she wears cool jeans, travels the world, and has never met a stranger! Betty knows how to truly live. She has no idea how much I admire her for that! Betty makes "70" look like the best time of your life!While we were visiting, Betty showed me a new cookbook that the local choral society had recently compiled. (I'm easy to please... you show me a new cookbook and I'll be entertained for hours!) Society and church cookbooks are my favorite kind. They are genuine. Cookboo Read more:Chocolate
, Seriously
, Oatmeal
This Week's Menu (Nov. 12th - Nov. 16th) 2007-11-12 08:15:00 Meet Moe... our betta fish.He was rather cranky right before this picture because Michael was holding Freddie the hamster,and Moe doesn't like hamsters.Menus from now through New Year's will not be "spectaculous!" (I know that's not a word, but I like the way it sounds!)As we're trying to figure out what we're cooking for the holidays, sticking to a frugal budget (which isn't always easy living gluten-free), and getting creative with Christmas presents... our weekly menu will probably be set on the back burner for a while!I will continue to have a menu plan because:1st) I like having a set plan to fall back on (even if I don't follow it exactly)...2nd) Michael likes knowing that he can click on my blog to see what we're having for dinner on any given night -and-3rd) It keeps me somewhat organized during the horrendously crazy upcoming holiday season!!********IMPORTANT NEWS:I still need a few more entries for the mystery photo contest! Please email your entry by tomorrow to: g
John's Thanksgiving Pumpkin Lasagna 2007-11-10 14:44:00 Thanksgiving PumpkinLasagna
is an excellent vegetarian fall casserole. It also makes a beautiful presentation and is relatively easy to prepare.My good friend John emailed this recipe to me. At first I kind of wrinkled my nose... pumpkin? In lasagna? That didn't sound too appetizing, at least not to my "very-slowly-evolving-frugal-foodie" palate.Then, I thought... Hey, why not? I mean heck, I had pumpkin puree that I had frozen last year, and I really needed to use that stuff... I mean how long are you supposed to freeze pumpkin puree anyway? Probably not from one Thanksgiving to the next, but we'll pretend it wasn't that long!The recipe also called for spinach... and I'm all about some spinach, especially if I can find a way to get my picky husband to eat it. I'm also trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our weekly menu. I mean seriously, especially in our American diet, we could all use a couple more servings of vegetables a week!So we made John's Pumpkin Lasagna. Read more:Thanksgiving
Amy's Pecan Chicken 2007-11-09 06:45:00 Meet Amy.... she's the genius behind Tuesday night's chicken!We grew up in the same tiny little town. Our families used to get together for Saturday dinners. Amy and I were the oldest girls. We teased our little sisters, hung sheet tents from our clothes lines, caught fireflies in glass jars, had a club with all of our dogs and cats as mascots, and played with our dolls. We had original cabbage patch dolls.. the ones with cloth faces. Then we went drifted in middle school. Amy's a year older, so she left me behind as she headed to Jr. High. Somewhere in our junior and senior years of high school we became close friends again. Shared in our teenage struggles, anxieties, and joys. Then we went to different colleges, in different states, but we stayed in touch with a newly emerging technology called e-mail (boy, do I feel old Amy!), we also wrote letters back then. Amy got married after college. Moved away from our small town. But we somehow were able to maintain our friendship. I'm Read more:Pecan
, Chicken
Thanksgiving Cranberry Cobbler 2007-11-08 06:37:00 This is one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving
side dishes! I actually make it both at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. Honestly... I could eat the whole pan myself!I'm not sure where this recipe originated, except that one year my mom just started making it. I think she may have received the recipe from a co-worker. The recipe originally made a very moist cranberry bread and Mom altered it to make a cobbler. One year, probably when I was in college, I took over the responsibility of making it and I've done it ever since! It's incredibly easy to prepare, and it's a gorgeous dish to bring out for company.This dish is perfectly tart and sweet at the same time! Before I was introduced to this Thanksgiving Cranberry Cobbler (which can be served as a side dish OR dessert) I did NOT like cranberries. Now they are one of my favorite foods! I could eat them all year long!Kate, over at Gluten-Free Gobsmacked is hosting Gluten-Free For the Holidays . If you would like to enter one or several
Ginger Lemon Girl's Fall 2007 Mystery Photo Contest 2007-11-06 08:30:00 Can you guess what this is?Hint: This appears only in the fall in eastern NC (and other agricultural areas of the US)!This is the first photo contest (one for each season) in which I will take a picture of a mystery item. The item may pertain to gluten-free food, something seasonal, or it may just be random picture I have taken. This photo contest comes with a few requirements though...1) You will have to guess what the item is by sending me an email to: gingerlemon_girl (at) yahoo (dot) com2) You must include your guess of what the item is - AND-3) YOU MUST INCLUDE YOUR FAVORITE FALL OR THANKSGIVING MEMORY/STORY/ RECIPE/ PHOTO, etc...! Please write at least 4 sentences, and include a photo if possible! OR - you can also do a full blog post with your fall/thanksgiving story if you wish and send me the link!4) The deadline for submitting your guess of the mystery photo along with your Fall/Thanksgiving story is TUESDAY, NOV. 13th!! All entries and the winner will be posted on the Ging Read more:Ginger
, Lemon
, Mystery
, Contest
, Photo
This Weeks Menu (Nov 5 - Nov 9) and Banana Nut Muffins 2007-11-05 12:14:00 What a lovely week this will be! Michael, my wonderful husband, will turn 29 on Wednesday! This IS reason to celebrate! Michael and I are roughly 9 months apart, we often joke about this!! I'm older. The poor guy married an older woman! But I'm so happy he did. Michael and I will be 29 together until March, when I turn the big 3-0. *sigh* I'll be making a lot of fun recipes this week, both new and old! To celebrate Michael's special day we'll be having tacos for his birthday dinner, and I'll be making a chocolate cake for dessert, thanks to Natalie's No Frills Chocolate Cake recipe.This is my best friend, my biggest supporter, my steady hand, and the kindest person I have ever met. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with him! Here, Michael is with Sampson, a neighbor's dog, and to him, a good buddy! I'm also excited about sharing two new recipes this week from some dear, longtime friends of mine: I've known Amy since elementary school. Read more:Weeks
, Muffins
Sweet Potato-Apple Casserole 2007-11-04 06:24:00 On Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of doing something I have never done before. Something I never would have imagined doing, even 6 months ago! Something that I will definitely be doing again!I spent an afternoon cooking with a fellow gluten-free blogger! None other than, Natalie, your Gluten-Free Mommy! Natalie graciously invited me to her home (since we both live relatively close by in the good ol' North State!) where we shared an afternoon creating and baking Thanksgiving Dinner casseroles! It was wonderful to share the time with another gluten-free cook, it's not something you get to do often!It is hard to describe Natalie without smiling! In a word, Natalie is quite simply: "Joy!"If you weren't impressed with Natalie's intelligence, kindness, sweet laughter, or amazing cooking abilities... her beautiful smile would knock your socks off!The theme of our afternoon was to re-create some of our families traditional Thanksgiving casseroles. The casseroles had to be glute Read more:Sweet
, Potato
, Apple
, Casserole
, Sweet Potato
GF Cooking 101 - Tuna Salad Southern Style and Super Yummy Milkshakes 2007-11-02 07:58:00 DISCLAIMER: Today's post is long, and hopefully you will enjoy reading it... but if not, just read a bit and come back! I'm combining several posts in one! Thanks for putting up with my eternal long-windedness! I was not in love with cooking last night. As a matter of fact, I’ve been off all week. It’s been one of those weeks. You know them… when you had great intentions of cooking up lovely meals every night, and somehow as soon as you got home from work in the afternoon, you get distracted by trick-or-treaters (or lack of them), “time-to-pay-the-bills” night, cats that have decided to puke up a week’s worth of food (this is more fun to clean up than you can imagine!), a husband who doesn’t feel good, and just other fun stuff in general. I don't know how I'll ever squeeze cooking in if we ever have children! And honestly, I really didn’t want to insult your intelligence by posting a tuna salad recipe today… I mean doesn’t everybody know how to make tuna s Read more:Salad
, Southern
, Style
, Super
, Yummy
Smokin' Hot Fudge Brownies 2007-10-30 18:47:00 -OR-The Saga of How I lost my cool Umbros and Susan Ashton T-shirt...Smokin
' Hot Brownie Preview... So the week was going well. Until tonight. Yes. Tonight. Maybe after I laugh and eat the chocolate candy we are "supposed" to give out to the neighbor's kids tomorrow it will get better...Fire must be attracted to me... like that character, Pyro, in the X-Men movies... I'm just not able to manipulate it at will like he can. One example of this attraction to fire happened when I was 18 or 19. I was cooking dinner at Nan's house back when I spent weekends with her during my college years. It was a quiet afternoon. I think it was Saturday. I was boiling water for pasta and I was reaching in the upper cabinet above the stove (what kind of architectural fool thought it was a good idea to put spice racks RIGHT above a gas stove... hmmm???) I remember I needed Old Bay seasoning, and I thought for sure Nan must have moved it or thrown it away because I couldn't find it up there... I kept se
This Week's Menu (10/29-11/2) 2007-10-29 06:59:00 This week I have the honor of hosting The Gluten-Free Menu Swap (begun by Natalie over at Gluten-Free Mommy). Natalie's ingredient for this week is:Gluten-Free Menus This Week:Ms. GF (from Recipes for a Gluten-Free Life) has a warm and tasty menu this week! A few of things she'll be making: Rustic Chicken Soup, and her favorite Roast Beef (I really need to learn how to make a good roast!!)Mary Frances (from Gluten-Free Cooking School) has a superb vegetarian menu for this week including tantalizing dishes such as Sweet Potato Peanut Stew (perfect for this autumn weather!) and Cheese Tortellini with Tomato Bechamel sauce (we all can't wait for that post on your bechamel sauce Mary Frances!)Sea (over at Book of Yum) has an incredible menu of International meals for this week including: Vegetarian Ma Bo Do Fu (Chili Tofu Dish), Vegetable Pakora, and is making a delicious roasted broccoli salad! I love how vibrant your menu sounds Sea!Natalie (over at Gluten-Free Mommy) has a spicy
Cranberry Apple Muffins 2007-10-25 08:11:00 Along with pumpkins, winter squash (which, I’ve never cooked, but I’ll get to that soon thanks to Mary Frances), and fresh apples… one of my favorite things about fall is cranberries. Those beautiful, bright red, little round glistening berries with a spunky tartness! I love the boldness of cranberries. I’ll be sharing several more dishes with cranberries this holiday season, but I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the beautiful berry in an elegant little muffin. I like to make muffins because they are portable, baked in single servings, and are great for quick “on-the-run” breakfasts. I usually make at least one batch of muffins a week. Our muffins vary from week to week: Some weeks we’ll use bananas that are hitting the expiration date, other weeks we’ll use leftover corn from dinner the night before. Muffins
can be sweet or savory, fluffy or crumbly, with a glaze or without… muffins give you a choice. I like that. For the muffins I made this week, I deci Read more:Apple
Apples and Thyme: My Kitchen Treasures 2007-10-23 06:40:00 *The 110 year old cast iron skillet that my great-great grandmother started housekeeping with. *My Nan’s mother’s silver biscuit pan. *An old antique wooden rolling pin, my mother gave to me. *My Dad’s old copy of the essential “Joy of Cooking” cookbook, with a crease in the binding found on page with the chocolate chip cookies recipe. These are the things I treasure most in my kitchen. I use my great-great grandmother’s iron skillet nearly every day of the week. Sometimes I wonder at the life that skillet has seen, the foods it has contained. My great-grandmother made cornbread in that skillet nearly every day. She also made fried chicken, hamburger steak, gravy, sausage, and whatever else happened to show up on the farm. I’m blessed to know my great-grandmother, a beautiful woman with 97 years behind her. Her son and daughter-in-law live close by and with their help, my great-grandmother is able to continue to live on her own. A reminder of her strength is in t Read more:Apples
, Kitchen
This Weeks’ Simplistic Menu (10/22-10/26) -and- a Shoofly Pie for Ginger 2007-10-21 16:12:00 Sim·plic·i·ty (sĭm-plĭs'ĭ-tē)n., pl. -ties. The property, condition, or quality of being simple or uncombined.Absence of luxury or showiness; plainness. I love the word simplicity. I don’t necessarily agree with all the definitions of this word as given by ask.com. Simple can be extremely luxuriant, and it certainly doesn’t always foretell a lack of good sense. Mark Bittman would call this minimalist cooking… but I like the word simplicity better. It is calming, homey, usually easy, and much enjoyed. This will be a week of cooking simplicity. Delicious. Unpretentious. Plain good cooking. I have to admit, with a food blog, I am especially tempted to try new foods every night of the week. But Michael is a man of habit. He misses simple foods. While some days this makes me giggle, other days I feel sorry for him. I wish I knew how to cook the deep southern foods he grew up eating…and while I do cook some of those wonderful old foods... for the m Read more:Ginger
, Weeks
A simple Amish breakfast... 2007-10-18 16:52:00 Oatmeal is one of my favorite foods. I ate so much of this stuff when I was growing up, you would think I'd never want to taste it again! But that's not the case. I guess there was enough of a variety with bagels, grits, and Dad's omelets to keep me from becoming anti-oatmeal.One of my biggest disappointments after going gluten-free was the fact that oatmeal could become so easily contaminated with gluten during processing, that it was off limits to most folks. I think I was more sad about oatmeal than I was about "gluteny" pizza crusts.One reason I like oatmeal is because I have family history of heart disease and high "bad" cholesterol levels (which unfortunately has trickled down to me!) and oatmeal is one of those foods that most people can eat without worry. It is actually good for your heart and even helps beat those pesky cholesterol levels.The other reason I like oatmeal is that it's just plain good. Warm. Comforting. Homey.When we were in Lancaster Co. a few weeks ago, Sa Read more:Amish
Baking away again in Marinara-ville… 2007-10-17 16:56:00 Please tell me you are Jimmy Buffet fans… I love Jimmy… when I’m having a rough day, or if I’m super stressed, Jimmy can always make me laugh and bring me back down to earth… it’s kind of odd. I don’t drink. I never have. Alcoholism runs in my family, as well as Michael’s, so except for the occasional dinner made with a wine sauce (which really doesn't count!), or my yearly fruitcake… we’re strict tee-totalers. But I still love Jimmy Buffet (sauced, as he occasionally may be!) He knows how to live with a lightness of heart that I admire. I think today’s recipe would meet with Jimmy’s approval. It’s easy, super quick, and extremely tasty! You can’t really go wrong with American Italian. This is a great dinner for a night, when you are way too busy to really cook. Toss it up. Throw it in the pan. Add some cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes and you’re good to go. It doesn’t get much easier than that. I use this recipe usually the week after I’ Read more:Baking
What's in a name... 2007-10-16 16:03:00 Slacker Mom (aka Mrs. GF) noticed this week that I'm posting a recipe for Ginger Lemon Muffins. She asked if that was the inspiration for the name of my blog. Good question! I guess it does need an explanation. No, the muffins aren't necessarily the reason for the name, although I must admit, they are delicious enough to name a blog after...Actually, I'm rather "Plain Jane". My absolute favorite kitchen spices are cinnamon and vanilla. (As you have probably already noticed in many of my dessert and baked goods recipes.) But my favorite cake is a simple Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce! Thus the name, Ginger Lemon Girl... in honor of my favorite cake. Truly, this simple cake with the warm, spicy sweetness of ginger and the tart, delicate lemon sauce, is the best cake in the world (in my humble opinion!) The gingerbread recipe that I have used for years will have to be revamped to be gluten-free, but I'm not worried, I think it will still be my favorite cake! I'll be posting a Ginger
This week's Menu (10/15 - 10/19) 2007-10-15 06:55:00 This the first week of Natalie's Gluten-Free Menu swap on Mondays! I'm glad to be a part of this great group of bloggers! If you have a gluten-free menu you'd like to share, please let Natalie, of Gluten Free Mommy know. Different gluten-free bloggers will host the swap each week! I can't wait to see what we all come up with!Natalie's secret ingredient this week is basil. I will be using sweet basil that I bought in Bird-in-hand, PA, in two of my dishes this week. I'm sure it won't be too hard to guess which recipes will include the sweet basil.I'll be spreading out some of the Amish recipes that I want to share throughout the next few weeks. I didn't realize some of the ingredients I needed for these recipes would be hard to find around here! Apparently ground ham and fresh beets aren't high priorities on shopping lists in eastern NC! But I still have quite a few great recipes I am going to share with you this week! I hope you will enjoy the recipes and the menu! (The recipe
How to Make Pomegranate Molasses 2007-12-06 08:57:00 I'm not exactly sure when I started hearing about pomegranate molasses, but it was such an interesting concept I had to try it out.I'm a girl who loves regular ol' sorghum molasses. It's good stuff. It's especially good dripping out of a buttery biscuit.I've not tried pomegranate molasses in a biscuit yet, but don't worry... I will soon!Pomegranate
molasses is a staple in middle eastern cooking. I don't do a lot of middle eastern cooking, but I love foods from that area. The molasses is a rich, thick syrup basically made from simply cooking down pomegranate juice.This molasses can be used to make beverages, sauces, homemade marinades, salad dressings, etc...You can also make appetizers by placing cream cheese chunks on crackers and drizzling the pomegranate molasses over them.It's also excellent drizzled over meats such as chicken and pork, as I did last night.You can also buy pomegranate molasses at a variety of online stores for exorbitant prices, but why would you do that, Read more:Molasses
Crispy Cheddar Crackers 2007-12-05 07:17:00 It may be due to the sudden spell of soup weather, but I started thinking about crackers last week.Before going GF I was a big supporter of saltine crackers. You could make one heck of a simple easy meal with a box of crispy, salty saltines! I remember when I was little and my dad would get home late from work, often he would make a meal out of tuna salad and saltines. When I was a teenager I figured out that you could melt shredded cheese over saltines for about 1 minute in the microwave and you had a quick easy snack! In my super thrifty days after college, soup and crackers was a hearty meal.But lately, I hadn't really thought about crackers until I thought about oyster stew (will be posting this soon!), which is what my family always ate on Christmas Eve! And you can't have a big cheesy bowl of oyster stew without some crispy crackers to go with it!I ran across a basic GF cracker recipe last weekend and decided to try it out. I made quite a few changes of course and eventually tu Read more:Crispy
, Crackers
The Gluten-Free Menu Swap (Dec 3 - Dec 7) and How to Open a Pomegranate 2007-12-01 10:37:00 This week I have the honor of hosting The Gluten
-Free Menu Swap! If you would like to know more information about this great weekly blogging event, please visit Natalie's GF Menu Swap Headquarters.For the 1st week of December, I have chosen the pomegranate as our signature ingredient!In the world of natural healthy fruits, the pomegranate is a super hero!! The seeds and surrounding pulp (also called the "arils") are the edible parts of the fruit. Each fruit contains around 600 edible arils. The pomegranate is a natural source of antioxidants which fight free radicals that damage cells in our body. Free radicals come from a number of sources including the air, fried foods, pollution, and even naturally from our bodies during metabolism! Pomegranate
s are also an excellent natural source for vitamin C (providing 16% of your daily requirement per serving!), vitamin B, vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), and potassium!For information on the amazing history and cultivation of the pomegranate,
Christmas Cookie # 2 -- Cream Cheese Meltaways 2007-12-15 07:33:00 Another cookie that I remember with fondness was made by my mom's friend Laura. I remember one day when I was 7 or 8, I think it was "parent-conference" day at school. I stayed with Laura and her new baby that day while Mom and Dad attended the conferences. What I remember best about that particular visit with Laura was that she let me help her make some sort of cookie that I fell in love with. They were soft and buttery, not too sweet, and seemed to melt in your mouth. I still have no idea what those actual cookies were, but the cookies I am sharing with you today bare a close resemblance.These cookies are very easy to make and I think I have discovered an extremely versatile gluten-free dough. I am seriously considering, making this dough (minus the sugar) and rolling it out for a pie shell. The first time I made these cookies I simply baked them as rolled tablespoons of dough. Then I realized that the dough did not spread AT ALL... which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. So I too Read more:Christmas
, Cookie
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Christmas Cookie #1 -- Preacher Cookies 2007-12-12 12:30:00 In 8th grade, I took a home economics class. The teacher was an older woman with brilliant white hair who taught me how to make buttermilk biscuits and Preacher cookies. In fact, when she couldn't figure out what to do with her class of mostly 8th grade boys (I don't know how I got stuck in that class!) she just let us make batches and batches of preacher cookies with government sugar and butter. I don't remember ever learning about the food pyramid, or how to eat healthily in that class, but the woman knew how to cook with butter and sugar!A few weeks ago, a good friend from high school named Eric emailed me his family's recipe for Preacher Cookie
s. I was so excited! I live a state away from where I grew up and it's rare that I hear people refer to these particular cookies as "Preacher Cookies
." Eric had no idea how much he made my day!You probably know these cookies as "No-bake Cookies", "Stove Top Cookies", "Haystacks", "No Bake Oatmeal Cookies", "Boiled Cookies", etc... (If y Read more:Christmas
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