Why Gluten Free?

You may have noticed by now that even though the name of my blog doesn't indicate it at all, my blog is entirely gluten free.  Without giving away too many gory private details, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease as a teenager (there are some lovely explanations of Celiac Disease here and here) and as a result I am on a life-long gluten free diet.  Gluten is found in wheat, rye, spelt, barley, and certain oats, and the foods that I eat and prepare for my family are 'free' of those ingredients.  

Before going gluten free, I ate a regular kosher-American diet.

Is there such a thing as a regular kosher-American diet?

Hmmm. I digress.

One of my favorite foods before I was diagnosed was a carrot ring that my mother used to bake for holidays. She would bring it to the table with peas stuck in the middle of the carrot-kugel ring and my mouth would water just staring at it.

After diagnosis, carrot kugel ring became a thing of the past.

Until recently.

My toddler is OBSESSED with carrot kugel. Since she was underweight for a long time, I did anything and everything to incorporate her favorite foods into the menu. A friend of mine gave me a recipe for carrot kugel that used jars of baby food. While my little one was little, we ALWAYS had an endless supply of baby food jars in the house. Now that she's older, when I went to make kugel, I discovered that just like poor mother Hubbard, my cupboard was bare.

So I turned to the internet.

And rediscovered carrot rings.  On a wonderful blog called Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog, I found a recipe for gluten free carrot ring that did not call for jars of outrageously expensive baby food.  And I just HAD to try it out.


  With my Cuisinart Smart Stick Blender's food processor attachment.

The results of the shredded carrots are pictured above.

Carrot Kugel Ring
 

Ingredients:
8 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
4 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 c. rice flour
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/2 c. tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Heavily grease a bundt pan.  Shred carrots finely in smart stick food processor, and then dump into a nonreactive mixing bowl.  Add the eggs, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice.  In a separate bowl, mix the flours with the xanthan, cinnamon,  and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the kugel batter.  Mix well.  Pour into the bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes.
Supposedly freezes nicely.  (You'll see why supposedly in a minute.)

RESULTS:
This is the first time that I wasn't thrilled with my Cuisinart Smart Stick.  I thought that the carrot kugel was OK.  It released easily from the pan, it didn't collapse into 2,000 crumbs like some gluten free baked goods.  But I wasn't thilled.  I thought that I should have used more vanilla or cinnamon because the kugel wasn't as spicy as my usual tastes.  Also, I felt that the carrots should have been shredded to a finer consistency (pictured above).  I cut the carrots into chunks, and the food processor attachment let me shred approximately 2 carrots at a time.  The resulting shreds were fairly evenly textured, but in retrospect they were two chunky for this particular recipe.  Maybe I merely should have whirled them for an extra minute in the processor.

I'm not sure.

But either way I was outvoted.

I made this recipe and unmolded it about an hour before Shabbos.  With all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready, I never had a chance to take a picture.

And the kugel was DEVOURED on Shabbos.  Although it wasn't too my specific tastes, DH, my toddler, the guests....they just completely demolished my picture-perfect kugel ring.

I'm going to play with this recipe and see what a little tweaking can do.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

My kitchen is under siege.

The Yobaby yogurt is tucked away in the back of the fridge behind cartons of orange juice and 2% millk.  The cheese is in a colored container to make it less visible.  Apples, raisins, and cereal are never left on the counter for extended periods of time.

And sadly, we've dismantled my banana tree and have taken to hiding the bananas inside the cabinet with my Pyrex baking dishes. 

We're neither preparing for another blizzard, nor is this some strange attempt to stockpile and save money at CVS.

My toddler has discovered food jags.

She dances around the house and then goes to the kitchen and announces she wants a snack.  "Nana!" "Yobaby!" "Cheeeeze!" With a smile in her eyes and a puppy-dog pout she managed to fill up on snacks instead of eating her sandwich for lunch, or her chicken for dinner.  Before we realized how diabolical she could be, she conned her way into eating 3-4 bananas in one day.

And that could not be allowed to continue.

This is especially true because mornings are so hectic here that it's easiest to grab a muffin, head out the door, and eat it from the safety of my car.  Where my favorite almost-two-year-old can't cry and beg for large pieces of my breakfast.

My favorite muffin is banana chocolate chip.

Banana chocolate chip muffins are meant to be used with the mushiest bananas that you have lying around.  Unfortunately, we're lucky if the bananas haven't been devoured before they finish turning yellow.  So, since I'm all for instant gratification since I wasn't going out in this weather to buy more bananas, I decided to make banana chocolate chip muffins with my just-turned-ripe-bananas.

I originally was not planning on trying out my Cuisinart Smart Stick with this recipe.

But the bananas would. not. mash.

I tried a spatula.  I tried a metal fork.  I tried a wooden spoon.

NADA.

I debated pulling out my ginarmous large cup capacity food processor and making the muffins in there, but I really wasn't in the mood to clean a steel blade, lid, bowl, and the bowl that I had already started using to make the muffins.

And then I remembered this blog.


And I felt like an absolute idiot.

I pulled the immersion blender attachment out of the drawer, plugged it in, and got the bananas to go to that perfect thick-mashed-banana-consistency.  Plus using the blender cut down on the time it took to blend in the sugar, oil, and ground flaxseed.

Feel free to omit the flax seed.  Just replace the 1 cup flax seed with 1/3 cup oil.  I use the flax seed because it makes me feel less guilty about eating a cupcake for breakfast.  In place of the brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum you can use 1 3/4 c. regular all purpose flour, or your favorite gluten free mix.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas (mashed using the Cuisinart Smart Stick)
2/3 c. white sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 cup ground flaxseed
2 eggs
1 c. brown rice flour
½ c. potato starch
¼ c. tapioca flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 ¼ c. semisweet chocolate chips

Baking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-muffin cup pan with paper liners.  Then, in a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and soda, the xanthan gum, and the salt.  In a separate bowl combine the mashed bananas with the sugar.  Add the oil and the flax seeds to the bananas and sugar; mix well. Next, add the eggs, one at a time.  Mix the sifted dry ingredients into the banana mixture until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and then pour into muffin cups.  Bake in the center of the middle oven rack, for approximately 25-30 minutes.  Begin checking for doneness after 25 minutes, by inserting a toothpick into the center of the muffin.  If it comes out clean the muffins are done baking.  Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes inside the muffin tins, and then remove the liners from the muffin cups.  Cool the individual muffins on a wire rack.

Freezes really well.

Yield: 12 oversize muffins

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Snow-maggeden arrived last week to the Midwest!  AKA the Snow-pocalypse, the worst blizzard in years, and the Great Whiteout of 2011.  After shoveling out the front steps, the back walk, two cars, and the sidewalk I decided that I was too exhausted to began testing a kitchen appliance.

But I did it anyway.

Because I'm obsessed dedicated.

One of the attachments that comes with the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender is a wire whisk. Amazon reviews gives this lil gadget (pictured left) 3.5 stars out of 239 reviews.  One of the themes I'm noticing for lower reviews is because the warranty gave people issues (oh well, the 3 year warranty is already up anyways,) and the wire whisk doesn't really work well.  I've used my pareve immersion blender in the past with the blender attachment, but never the whisk.  And although I'm slightly incapable when it comes to kitchen technology, even I know when whisks are absolutely vital: whipping egg whites.

I have some awful memories from my freshman year of college of trying to make a low fat cheese cake and being unable to whip the egg whites because the immersion blender/whisk that we were using didn't have the capacity.  I can also remember one Pesach trying to make a sponge cake with nothing more than a regular Kitchenaid totally-non-electronic-whisk. I'd love to say that the experience didn't traumatize me for life, but suffice it to say that I'm not making a sponge cake anytime soon.

So to test out my wire whisk, I decided to make a decadent, delicious, flourless chocolate cake.

It took me about five minutes to hook up the wire whisk to the power source.  I'd love to claim that this was because the Cuisinart Smart Stick was defective in some way, but I can't.  I spent four-and-a-half minutes trying to jab one of the beaters from my Kitchenaid mixer into a Cuisinart hand blender.  Oops.  It took about twenty seconds to locate the correct whisk attachment from my drawer and ten seconds to screw that and the nifty-little-black-top-thing in.

And the results were wonderful.  The egg whites whipped up easily, and in record time.  I'm not going to lie, the machine was a little louder than I expected, but my toddler was napping in the next room and the noise didn't wake her up.  The manufacturers claim that features include a "lightweight design, an easy-to-grip ergonomic handle, and simple push-button control."  While the whisk did feel heavier while it was on, it weighs about the same thing as my hand mixer but there was only one whisk instead of two.  Unlike some of the more complicated mixing apparatus that scare me with 2,000 speeds and an extra power button, that I've seen, this one just has a simple push button.  It didn't feel awkward to press the button (and therefore hold the Smart Stick) with one hand, while using the other hand too keep the bowl steady.  Plus I liked the fact that egg whites didn't go splattering about my kitchen and instead stayed nicely in the bowl.

Where they belonged.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup margarine (you can use butter to make a dairy version of this cake)
8 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 2 round cake pans (I used disposable aluminum ones) with a non-stick spray.  Then in a large microwave safe bowl melt chocolate and margarine (medium power for 20 second intervals, stirring between intervals until melted).  Let cool.  Next in a large bowl beat the egg whites with your Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender until soft peaks form.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed (use the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender) until the mixture gets a very thick consistency and turns light yellow.  Add the vanilla and salt.  Make sure the chocolate mixture is cooled and then pour into the egg yolk mixture.  Carefully fold the egg whites into the chocolate-y egg yolks.  Restrain yourself from licking the batter.  Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.  The cakes will still look slightly raw and jiggly when you remove them from the oven.  Let cool.  Serve with whipped cream, fresh fruit, or chocolate sauce (none of which I had in the house while serving this).

Serves approximately 14 people.

Freezes ridiculously well.

You got how many immersion blenders?!

5.

Pictured above are the three that I ended up keeping.  For various different reasons, I was unable to return these.

So, I did what any kosher cook would do, I kept them.  And stuck them into random locations around my house.

The hand blender on the right is my milchig blender.  It's a standard Cuisinart immersion blender that has a detachable (and supposedly dishwasher-safe, but I lack a dishwasher to test that theory out with) blade and a mixing cup.

The blender in the middle aka my pareve blender is also a Cuisinart detachable hand blender, but this one comes with bells and whistles.  In addition to the regular blade and plastic mixing cup, this has a food processor chopping attachment and a wire whisk.

And last but not least, the blender on the left is my pareve Pesach immersion blender.  I've been lucky enough to be blessed with the long and very difficult task the absolute joy of making Pesach for the last four years.  (Yes, I've been married for four years.  Yes, that is a random strange coincidence).  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) that blender does not reside in my kitchen.  At the moment it lives up in a closet and so it will not be tested right now.  Besides, I have vague memories of finding the darn thing it useful last Pesach.  On the other hand, I had a newborn so my memories are suspect to sleep deprivation.

Other than the Pesach blender, until now, I can honestly say that the best thing about these immersion blenders is that the mixing cups are absolutely WONDERFUL.  No matter what happens when immersion blender month is up, the mixing cups are NOT LEAVING.  They will be staying in their respective cabinets where they belong.  After all, they have a pouring lip, easy to read measurements in both ounces and cup size, and best of all, they don't break when your toddler slams them on the floor.  Not that that's ever happened in my house or anything.

Moving on.

So, Feb 2011 is officially, test out the handblenders month.

I mean seriously, I don't even use ONE of the immersion blenders.  Why am I even bothering to keep 3?

Although when I told a friend of mine that I returned two immersion blenders after receiving 5 she was dumbfounded by the fact that I didn't keep them for fleishig (Pesach and year round).  Fellow blogger (glutenfreebay.blogspot.com) also indicated that immersion blenders are a kitchen miracle.


So I'm off and running.


I'll let you know how each recipe turns out.  And whether my immersion blenders stay Kosher Kitchen Stuff or if they become a donation to the local Chesed (charity) fund!

Welcome to Kosher Kitchen Stuff!

My name is Tamar and my kitchen is crammed with appliances!

I keep a kosher home which means that I have dishes (and pots, pans, cutting boards, knives, etc) for milk, meat, and pareve (neither meat nor milk).  When I got married I received 3 food processors, 4 mixers, 5 immersion blenders, numerous vegetable peelers, all sorts of crazy gadgets!


Flash forward four years, and almost all of my expensive, wonderful, time saving devices just sit in a drawer collecting dust.

I never learned how to use half of the stuff that I got.

Plus, now I have a toddler, a husband in grad school, an internship to land, errands to run, a gym membership that I never seem to manage to use...

My life is BUSY! 

And I don't have time to waste time.

So...I've decided to try and streamline my kitchen!  Each month I'm going to pick an appliance out of my crazy kitchen and use it daily, to see if it ACTUALLY makes my life easier.

If it does, then I've got a shortcut to helping me get dinner (or breakfast, lunch, snack, 2nd breakfast, brunch) on the table.

If the appliance, breaks, doesn't work, or doesn't actually make my life easier...

Than either the goodwill or the garbage can is going to be getting a donation from me!