Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger - September

This month I decided to adopt a gluten free blogger who tempts my tastebuds often with wonderful stories, great ingredients and beautiful pictures. Nancy at The Sensitive Pantry has just the right touch when it comes to sharing her gluten free recipes and ideas. I love going to her blog just to see what the latest creation is and tempting myself beyond reason at times... those blondies look delicious. Nancy, keep on doing what you're doing.

Recently Nancy shared a recipe that I decided to just dig my heels in and try. For one, I've never ever eaten it or one of the ingredients before and two, that means I've never tried to make it before either. Caramelized onion and fennel risotto. We love caramelized onions in my house, almost every time we grill up a steak I'll be caramelizing some onions to serve right on top of it which made this recipe very tempting to try and before making this recipe I'd never tasted fennel, its a very interesting vegetable.

Nancy gave great instructions for both the stove top method of cooking this and the oven baking method. I went with the stove top. Due to the well written directions I was able to produce a, what I hope was, very authentic risotto. It was creamy, had just the right tooth feel and ended up extremely tasty. Nancy has a great flavor combo here and she was right, caramelizing the fennel took the anise flavor right out of it. I must say that the addition of parmesan cheese is what made the dish for me, the risotto took really well to the sharp, saltiness of the cheese.

I can't wait to make risotto again, and try all the many wonderful flavor combinations there are out there for this deliciously creamy and hearty dish.

Caramelized Onion and Fennel Risotto

Honey Mustard Chicken - Grilled

Here's to another great installment of, What can I eat that's gluten free? over at the Gluten Free Homemaker. Thanks again Linda for keeping such a wonderful resource going. I love seeing what everybody has to share each week.

I've been eating tomato and pepper free the last half of summer in an attempt to solve some health issues. I don't know how well its been working as while the symptoms didn't go away completely they did seem somewhat alleviated. Back to why this is relevant, summer is grilling season and we grill a lot. My husband while very tolerant was getting quite sick of having teriyaki everything from the grill (the only sauce I'd come up with that didn't have tomatoes or peppers and I could make gluten free). BBQ sauce is of course not an option due to the fact that it's full of tomatoes and pepper based spices. Can't say I blame him, I was getting a little tired of it too, while I love teriyaki, one can only eat so much of a good thing.

Desperate to change things up a little I started roaming the web for sauce recipes. One shouted at me, honey mustard. I'd shopped around a lot and have found a spicy mustard that didn't have anything in it I couldn't use so knew I was going to give it a try. Low and behold it was super yummy. If you want to add a little heat to this I'm sure the recipe would take it well.

Honey Mustard Chicken on the Grill.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mustard (use your favorite as its the base flavor in the dish)
1/2 cup honey
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
20-25 chicken drummets (rinsed and pat dry)

Directions:

In a large bowl mix the mustard, honey, and mayonnaise. Set aside a small amount of the sauce for basting with later.

Add chicken to the bowl and coat well with sauce. Let it marinade thirty minutes to an hour.

Lightly oil your grill and cook your chicken until done (will differ depending on what cut of chicken you use), basting occasionally with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes or so careful as they can char quickly if left unmonitored. Serve and enjoy.

Lettuce Wraps - Asian Style

Join the What Can I Eat That's Gluten Free blog carnival hosted by Linda at the Gluten Free Homemaker. You'll find plenty of tasty things to eat and maybe be inspired to share something out of your kitchen.

So, it's been a while oh, food bloggy blog. I must say life has had me busy and at the end of the day its hard to sum up the energy to post. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things and be sharing regularly with you again soon. We've been eating well while I've been away from the food blogging world and I've been logging it so have plenty to share with you. In the meantime enjoy this yummy dish.

My mom had us over for dinner one night and whipped up a deliciously light and satisfying meal. I knew I'd be adding it to my rotation and often. The dish she made was asian lettuce wraps, one version of them. I've had quite a few different wraps lately and while they all have their similarities each is wonderfully different in its own way.

Here is my recipe for gluten free asian style lettuce wraps. I think its a perfect summer dish, I of course eat them all year round. Just can't get enough.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
A whole bunch of boston bibb or iceberg lettuce leaves (as intact as you can peel them off)
1 lb ground pork
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 large onion chopped
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts drained and chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoon pickled ginger, minced
1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup gluten free hoison sauce
Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons sesame oil

A handful of chopped cilantro

1 bunch bean threads (I'm sure a small rice noodle would work)
A few inches of oil in a wok for frying

Directions:
Heat oil in wok until frying temperature. I just test it by dropping a bean thread in, if it puffs up immediately I know that my oil is ready. I usually cut the dried bean threads to a couple of inches in length with kitchen shears (this is messy but I feel very worth it) drop them in the oil until they are puffed up, fish them out and lay them on a paper towel until ready to serve. The fried bean threads add great crunch to the lettuce wraps.

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, be careful not to tear them. Set aside.

In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the pork in the tablespoon of oil, drain and remove from skillet, set aside to cool. Reduce pan to medium heat, add onion and saute until translucent, add garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, stir well. Add chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, cook until the green onions begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Mix in with the meat and you're ready to eat.

I serve this meal family style and we assemble at the table. Take a lettuce leaf and place some of the fried bean threads in the bottom, place a decent portion of the meat mixture on top and garnish with cilantro. Super yum.