A slightly sweet twist.

Come join us over at the Gluten Free Homemaker's blog for What's for Dinner Wednesday. A gluten free blog carnival to help fuel your what's for dinner brainstorm.

This last year I discovered a recipe for pork roast, a recipe that I was actually very unsure of trying. You see, I think my roasts should be savory, who ever heard of a sweet roast. Brown sugar, applesauce, cinnamon... PORK! It just couldn't taste right. However, I also like to try new preparations for old favorites. My husband loves a slightly sweet twist to things, so I decided to give it a go. I'm happy I did.

This has been adjusted from the original recipe, which was already gluten free. However I cut back on a few ingredients and changed the cooking method.

Pork Roast with Brown Sugar and Applesauce (adapted)

Ingredients:
2 lb boneless pork roast
1 single serving all natural applesauce
Dash of cinnamon (more or less to taste)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger (I use freshly grated)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a small bowl, mix applesauce, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.

Place roast in a casserole dish, pour applesauce mixture over top of the roast and put the lid on the dish. Place in the oven for an hour (or until done when temped.)

Serve.

Baked Cavatelli

Join us for What's for Dinner Wednesday over at the Gluten Free Homemaker. We love sharing dinner ideas, whether it be side dishes, main courses or dessert. Share your ideas too, the more the merrier.

Last week I thought I would try to make a dish called baked cavatelli, I don't know why it's called that, but I made it. It was very very easy and oddly enough tasted a lot like lasagna, a very easy to put together version of it. Tasted great and made quite a bit of food.

I've learned that sometimes easier is better. I had all these ingredients on hand which also made it handy.

Baked Cavatelli:

Boil up 2 cups gluten free noodles, I like spiral noodles or macaroni noodles for my baked dishes. Drain.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate bowl grate 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and a jars worth of red pasta sauce (your choice.) Add the drained noodles and mix gently.

Saute some onions, italian sausage and mushrooms until tender (Make up as much as you like, you're eating this dish so adjust it to your taste,) and then add to the noodles and sauce, again mix gently.

Pour mixture into a casserole dish and bake at 350 until heated through and a bit bubbly. Add a bit of mozzarella to the top and return to the oven until melted. Serve.

Tostada Pizza

So I wanted to participate in Friday Foodie Fix - Avocado.... but, my family doesn't really eat it unless its in guacamole form. I did however come up with an idea for a meal that would be perfect with or without the addition of avocado.

Tostada Pizza... this is so easy. Make your favorite gluten free pizza crust, prebake it for 5 to 10 minutes. Then smear a can of refried beans or smooshed pinto beans with jalapeno (like I did) on the crust. Top with some ground meat (turkey, beef, chicken... whatever you use,) that you've browned with a 4 oz can of chiles, a bit of chile powder and some taco seasoning (to your taste of course,) and put back in the oven until your crust reaches doneness. Top with some cheddar or monterey jack and put back in the oven until just melted, 1 or 2 minutes. Remove your pizza from the oven and top with your favorite tostata toppings.

Honestly, this was really tasty. The flavors weren't anything new or suprising the having this on a pizza crust added just the right amount of specialness that it made for a really good and filling dinner.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Come join us over at the Gluten Free Homemaker for What's for Dinner Wednesdays. You'll find many great ideas for meals, sides and even dessert. It's fun, share your food with us.

I decided to try something this week that I hadn't as gluten free yet. I knew I didn't want to do anything fancy so I planned to just keep it simple. Simple and quick.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

All you'll need is 4 chicken breast halves, 4 thin slices of some ham or proccuitto, 4 slices of swiss cheese and some toothpicks.

Pound the chicken out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap using the flat side of a tenderizer, or a rolling pin... or however you want to do it. Just don't mutilate the breasts.

Salt and pepper each piece of chicken, lay a piece of meat and cheese down and roll. Hold in place with a toothpick.

Put in a saute pan (I use cast iron so I could put it in the oven,) just under medium heat. Cook through (took 20 minutes or so for me.) Remove toothpicks before serving. I made a mustard sauce to go on them, but I'm sure there are many other things you could do. Have fun, make it your own.

Enjoy.

This weeks menu.

So this week I'm trying a couple of new things. Nothing extraordinary, just items I don't regularly make. Should be fun, and tasty. I'll probably try to make a gluten free flourless chocolate cake from the Goddess this week too... I bought all the stuff for it.

Monday: Baked Cavatelli (I'm using spiral noodles.)

Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Bleu (yes a gluten free version, this is my super excited about it this week recipe.)

Wednesday: Tostada Pizza, yum yum.

Thursday: Some sort of fish (haven't decided yet and I'll buy it fresh that day.)

Friday: BBQ Chicken Drummets with Caramelized carrots

Saturday: Meatloaf and potatoes (using ground venison and turkey.)

Sunday: Leftovers

The Sweeter Side.

I have a toddler that's recently turned two. This little boy has amazed me in his short lifespan, eating everything I put on his plate, especially the spicy or very unusual tasting things. From the beginning of his non-milk meals I have fed him homemade foods, pureeing my own vegetables, mashing my own fruit. I wanted him to have the best he could get, without the extra sugar and whatever else processed foods have in them, (although you can find "baby" foods that are pretty natural with not a lot of added junk.) It simply felt good to be taking good care of him.

The last couple of weeks however, his little appetite has hit a roadblock. The Dr. says it's normal for little ones his age to go through a phase like this, a lot of it has to do with texture. My little guy is also teething heavily. He's been quite slow getting his teeth in, the first one didn't break skin until 10 months and then it was another 3 before the second one came through. We still have 1/3 of the way to go before he's done.

So, vegetables are not his favorite at the moment. However, he loves fruit. So I thought to myself, what if I tried to sweeten up the vegetables. Maybe I could get some in him that way. Low and behold he actually ate some, and so did my husband, which is saying something. So here are two vegetables that I sweetened up a bit. Maybe you'll like them too. Feel free to share some of your toddler tips with me, let me know how you get your little ones to eat their foods.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar.
No real recipe here. I bought the squash at the market and followed the baking directions. When the squash was done I slabbed some butter on it, and some brown sugar and then stuck it under the broiler to caramelize. I served it hot with a little salt and pepper. Now, I don't normally care for squash, but this won even me over.

Caramelized Carrots
Again, no real recipe here. I sauteed the carrots in some butter until they just started to get some color on them and then added just a touch of brown sugar. These I must say were very tasty and inspired by a caramelized sweet potato and carrots baby food that my son used to love. I know, a strange inspiration... but they taste great.