It "snowed" this morning. Southern snow is not like Northern snow. Flurries make people completely lose their minds. My first winter here I went to the grocery store on my usual day and was mystified when I found that there was no milk or bread in any of the stores. Turns out we were gearing up for a "big storm," which wound up to be a dusting of snow on the grass. School was canceled that day.
WG has not experienced much in the way of snow. Last year one of the very few times it snowed she looked out the car window and asked me what was wrong with the rain. This morning we had some flurries. On the way to school I asked WG if she saw anything unusual out her window. She said she didn't. I asked if she saw the white stuff in the air and she said, "Oh. Yes, I see the white bugs."
Friday, November 21, 2008
Baking day
I'm baking today because WG is sick of corn tortillas and turkey wrapped around cheese. She wants bread, cookies and muffins. I have recently learned a couple handy things regarding GF baking, so I thought I'd pass my secrets on.
* When you are developing your own GF recipes or converting "regular" recipes, ALWAYS bake a single test cookie / muffin / cupcake / whatever before you bake a whole panful. This is important even if you are using a pre-made mix that claims to replace wheat flour cup for cup. This allows you to do some tweaking of the batter if things go wrong without having to throw away a whole panful.
* Sometimes allowing your batter to rest is a good idea because it lets the xanthan gum start to tighten things up. The flip side of this is that if you are using flour to make gravy or a white sauce, it is best to use a plain mix without xanthan gum. The xanthan gum makes gummy gravy that just gets thicker and thicker. Ick.
* It's well-known that you can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls. This works for GF, too. You can also freeze unbaked muffin and cupcake batter. Put the batter in the muffin papers and freeze. When you are ready to bake, use the same oven temperature but they might need an extra 3-7 minutes. I know you could just bake them all and then freeze them. I like fresh-from-the-oven much better than defrosted / reheated.
* Nut flour / meal is the key to really really good GF baked goods that are very close in taste and texture to their wheaty counterparts. I haven't tried extra finely ground rice flour yet but I've heard that helps, too.
The November '08 issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for pecan pie that uses oats to make the crust instead of flour. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. Oat pie crust
I'm deciding on our Thanksgiving menu. I'll post it when I have it all figured out. It *is* possible to have a mostly traditional, absolutely delicious GF Thanksgiving!
* When you are developing your own GF recipes or converting "regular" recipes, ALWAYS bake a single test cookie / muffin / cupcake / whatever before you bake a whole panful. This is important even if you are using a pre-made mix that claims to replace wheat flour cup for cup. This allows you to do some tweaking of the batter if things go wrong without having to throw away a whole panful.
* Sometimes allowing your batter to rest is a good idea because it lets the xanthan gum start to tighten things up. The flip side of this is that if you are using flour to make gravy or a white sauce, it is best to use a plain mix without xanthan gum. The xanthan gum makes gummy gravy that just gets thicker and thicker. Ick.
* It's well-known that you can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls. This works for GF, too. You can also freeze unbaked muffin and cupcake batter. Put the batter in the muffin papers and freeze. When you are ready to bake, use the same oven temperature but they might need an extra 3-7 minutes. I know you could just bake them all and then freeze them. I like fresh-from-the-oven much better than defrosted / reheated.
* Nut flour / meal is the key to really really good GF baked goods that are very close in taste and texture to their wheaty counterparts. I haven't tried extra finely ground rice flour yet but I've heard that helps, too.
The November '08 issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for pecan pie that uses oats to make the crust instead of flour. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. Oat pie crust
I'm deciding on our Thanksgiving menu. I'll post it when I have it all figured out. It *is* possible to have a mostly traditional, absolutely delicious GF Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
We have cabinets!
Tim put the upper cabinets in this past weekend. He even put the doors on them (haven't gotten a picture of that yet.) I haven't had doors on my kitchen cabinets since we bought the house. To say that I am excited is an understatement. Even without the bottom cabinets done, I think I already have more storage room than I did. Tim plans to put the lower cabinets in this weekend.
A few weeks ago when he re-worked the wiring Tim was a bit perturbed because there was one bit of wiring that he had no idea where it went or what it was for. When he put the pantry in, our portable dishwasher lost it's home so he took out one of the lower cabinets next to the sink to make a space for it. The mystery wire was right there, sticking out of the wall. It was stripped and ready to go, not capped off or anything. (ACK!) Turns out the electric is already run to put in a dishwasher which is great because that was the biggest obstacle to our installing a regular dishwasher.
Anyhow, on to the pics!
Before:
After:
A few weeks ago when he re-worked the wiring Tim was a bit perturbed because there was one bit of wiring that he had no idea where it went or what it was for. When he put the pantry in, our portable dishwasher lost it's home so he took out one of the lower cabinets next to the sink to make a space for it. The mystery wire was right there, sticking out of the wall. It was stripped and ready to go, not capped off or anything. (ACK!) Turns out the electric is already run to put in a dishwasher which is great because that was the biggest obstacle to our installing a regular dishwasher.
Anyhow, on to the pics!
Before:
After:
Monday, November 10, 2008
A good review!
My quartet performed for the first time this season yesterday. It went well, we were happy. We were happier when we saw the review..... My heartfelt thanks to "the boys" for making this ambitious program a heck of a lot of fun to prepare.
Quartet plays togetherness beautifully from Knoxville News Sentinel
Quartet plays togetherness beautifully from Knoxville News Sentinel
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Our family loves just about anything that has to do with pumpkin. WG has been after me for a good week or two to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is not hard to make, especially with a gluten free crust (you mix it in the mixer and pat it into the pan. No worries about overmixing, either, since there is no gluten to overwork!) but work has been hectic and my kitchen is under construction so I haven't felt like baking.
Today WG is off of school because of the election. (When I was a kid we didn't get election day off!) She got up this morning and asked me if I made pumpkin pie for breakfast. So I decided to improvise and I made pumpkin pie oatmeal instead. It was a hit.
Pumpkin Pie oatmeal (per generous serving)
1/2 cup plain oatmeal
1 cup milk
about 1/4 cup pumpkin
Sugar to taste (brown sugar would be good) I used about 1 T
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Cook the oatmeal in the milk according to the directions on the oatmeal box. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. This would also be good with a few tablespoons of chopped pecans or walnuts stirred in.
Today WG is off of school because of the election. (When I was a kid we didn't get election day off!) She got up this morning and asked me if I made pumpkin pie for breakfast. So I decided to improvise and I made pumpkin pie oatmeal instead. It was a hit.
Pumpkin Pie oatmeal (per generous serving)
1/2 cup plain oatmeal
1 cup milk
about 1/4 cup pumpkin
Sugar to taste (brown sugar would be good) I used about 1 T
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Cook the oatmeal in the milk according to the directions on the oatmeal box. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. This would also be good with a few tablespoons of chopped pecans or walnuts stirred in.
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