General Tso’s Chicken (gf version!)
February 8, 2010 | Comments
Do you ever get tired of eating the same thing day in and day out? I have a handful of recipes that are my go-to’s because I know how to make them well and can usually cook them in under an hour, which is key when you get home after a 12 hour day of work. Every so often though, I’ll get an itch to try something different, and it’s usually something that I can get via takeout fairly easily – like General Tso’s chicken. Ok, so here’s the thing – I can only find a mediocre gluten free version of this from PF Changs, which is a FAR, far cry from authentic Chinese food, but I eat it because it’s convenient and gluten free.
chicken & broccoli frying in pan with sauce added
I decided to break out of the takeout box and try to make my own General Tso’s chicken. I really had no idea where to start so I scoured the net for a recipe that sounded good and looked good too. I seriously won’t try a recipe unless I can see a photo of the end result – it gives me something to strive towards, lol.
I was worried this would be an utter failure, but it was the opposite. General Tso’s chicken is actually super easy to make and this recipe came out really good, plus this version was already naturally gluten free. I tried it a second time using white meat instead of dark and it was a toss up from which I liked better. I think the dark meat is a little more moist, but the white meat version was really good too. Maybe next time I’ll do a combo of white and dark!
Ok, onto the recipe!
General Tso’s Chicken (adapted from Blog Chef)
Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1” chunks)
5 dried red chili peppers
3 scallions (sliced)
3 eggs (beaten)
½ cup cornstarch
oil (for frying)
(I included broccoli in my version because I like it. If you want to add broccoli just make sure you add in fry time for the broccoli after you fry up the chicken. A few minutes in the wok will do it.)
Sauce – (I highly recommend tripling the sauce ingredients or it ends up being too dry)
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce (Temari Wheat Free)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Preparation:
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly.
Step 2: To make the sauce- in a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
Step 3: Heat deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees and deep fried chicken bits in batches. Drain on paper towels.
Step 4: Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to your wok. Add dried chili peppers to your wok and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken bits to the wok and stir fry for a couple minutes.
Step 5: Add sauce mixture to the wok and cook stirring until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly. Garnish with scallions and serve.
Boulder Canyon Rice & Adzuki Bean Artisan Snack Chips
February 6, 2010 | Comments
I’m so excited when I go to Whole Foods and find new gluten free treats. I’m not a big chip eater, but I was having a party and wanted to have a pita like chip that would be great for dipping in hummus. I’ve seen the Boulder Canyon Rice & Adzuki Bean chips before, but I never bought them because I didn’t know what an Adzuki bean was and I wasn’t sure if they would taste good. According to Wikipedia, Adzuki beans are grown in East Asia and are commonly used for making red bean paste. I had no idea!
I was pleasantly surprised to find that these chips are really good. They are very thin and have a great savory flavor, almost like garlic or some type of spice, and a subtle hint of sweetness. These are definitely not pita style chips in any respect, but I didn’t mind at all. I didn’t even bother with dipping them in hummus because they tasted great right out of the bag!
GF Linzer Cookies from Risotteria
January 28, 2010 | Comments
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have an obsession with jelly cookies or more specifically “cookies with the red dot” as I like to call them. I have no idea what they are really called, but it’s basically a shortbread cookie with a jelly dot in the center. Yum. I used to buy $1 packs of these cookies in the 80s and haven’t had them in years, but I still think fondly about them.
Now that I’m old and grizzled (lol, ok maybe not grizzled), I still have a mild obsession with those red dot cookies. I get all sorts of excited whenever I find a gf linzer cookie, because it’s the closest I can come to my nostalgia. Which is why I was in near euphoria when I went to Risotteria recently and saw that they sell individually packaged linzer cookies. Amazing.
Once I saw that they were dairy free the $4 price tag didn’t matter. Dairy + gluten free is always a win win situation for me. I bought one and devoured it as soon as I got back to my office. It was pretty much everything I hoped for, yummy raspberry jelly filling, a sweet (but not too sweet) cookie that still had a little give to it – perfection. The only thing that could be better about these cookies is if they sold them in a box of 12 and maybe made them a little smaller.
Risotteria is simply awesome. If you’ve been there you know what I mean, and if you haven’t – make sure you go one day. It’s well worth the visit just for the fantastic gf pizzas, but you really can’t miss out on their desserts either. Take your desserts to go if you aren’t hungry, you’ll thank me later.
I <3 Cupcakes
January 18, 2010 | Comments
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for me – my little one had her first birthday, which was cause for celebration and lots of commotion getting things ready. I love parties with themes and decided that a Mad Hatter style tea party would be fun. Making everything gluten free would have been a huge challenge, but I did have two kinds of gluten free cupcakes and a tray of gluten free tea sandwiches.
During all of the shenanigans I didn’t get a chance to snap any pictures of the sandwiches, but I assure you they were yum. I made egg salad, chicken salad with globe grapes and cucumber sprout sandwiches. The cucumber sandwiches were a sleeper hit – I never had one before and didn’t taste any of the ingredients as I went along so I was surprised that they were full of flavor and really good. I think a lot of people agreed with me because they disappeared really quickly. The egg & chicken salad sandwiches were both really good too – I did store bought for the chicken salad and whipped up a quick egg salad with mayo, mustard, onion and some spices.
Who are we kidding though – the real pièce de résistance were the cupcakes. I wanted them to be bright & cheery, but didn’t want to put a ton of time into making them since I was pressed as it was. I had two gluten free cupcakes mixes on hand already - one from Dowd & Rogers and one from Pamela’s.
I’ve made cupcakes from the Dowd & Rogers mix a ton of times before and always thought they were good, but they really didn’t hold a candle (lol) to the Pamela’s cupcakes. For one, the D&R mix doesn’t rise the way that the Pamela’s mix does, and while they both taste good – the Pamela’s cupcakes taste and feel more like regular cake.
For frosting, I did store bought Betty Crocker (gluten free – woot) vanilla frosting and tinted it different colors using food dye. I topped all of the cupcakes with pink sugar, sprinkles and piped flowers.
Dowd & Rogers Dark Vanilla Cupcakes
What do you think?
Pamela’s Vanilla Cupcakes
Oh and because I think you should really try it – I included the Cucumber Tea Sandwich recipe below. So tasty!
Cucumber Tea Sandwich Recipe
1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced very thinly
Salt
3/4 cup soft butter (I used spreadable butter)
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
20 slices bread (I used Whole Foods gluten free bread)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pepper to taste
Lightly salt the cucumber slices and place them in a colander to drain for 1 to 2 hours. Then combine the butter and garlic and apply to one side of each slice of bread. In a small bowl, stir together the lemon juice, olive oil, and pepper. Add the cucumber slices, coating them well. Arrange the cucumber on 10 of the bread slices, top with the other 10 slices, remove the crusts, and quarter. Serve immediately. Makes 40 tea sandwiches.
Stonyfield Farms Yogurt is Gluten Free
January 9, 2010 | Comments
I’m (mostly) dairy free, which can be challenging because most soy substitutes pale in comparison to the original. Take yogurt for instance, dairy yogurt has that tang that soy just can’t mimic, no matter how hard it tries. It’s ok though – I’ve convinced myself that eating soy yogurt is healthier, whether it really is or not.
I used to be all about WholeSoy & Co. yogurt, but didn’t really like the chalky/watery taste and moved on to Silk Live! soy yogurts, which are actually really tasty, but they are hard to come by at most big chain stores, so I can only get them when I make a Whole Foods run. Stonyfield Farms yogurts are everywhere, but I never noticed that they had a soy version of their yogurts until recently and I’ve really been missing out! Their O’Soy yogurts are really thick and creamy – which makes for a very satisfying snack/breakfast. I checked out their site and found out that many of their yogurts have been certified gluten free by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO) so you can add another mainstream item to your list of gluten freedom. Below is the list of Stonyfield Farm yogurts that are gluten free – moms, take note of the YoBaby yogurts for your sensitive little ones! My 1 yr old daughter is not GF, but she majorly hearts her YoBaby’s.
The GFCO certification includes the following Stonyfield Farm products*:
- 6 oz. Fat Free, Low Fat, and Whole Milk Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
- 32 oz. Fat Free, Low Fat, and Whole Milk Organic Yogurt quarts (all flavors)
- 4 oz. Fat Free Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
- 4 oz. YoBaby Organic Yogurt cups (except for YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal)
- 6 oz. YoBaby Organic Drinkable Yogurts (all flavors)
- 10 oz. & 6 oz. Low Fat Organic Yogurt Smoothies (all flavors)
- 4 oz. & 6 oz. O’Soy Soy-Yogurt cups (all flavors)
- 4 oz. YoMommy Low Fat Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
- 4 oz. YoKids Low Fat Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
For more information about Stonyfield Farm, its products and initiatives, visit www.stonyfield.com.
Enjoy!
