Gluten Free Cookies- March 3rd

 My sister and I came to visit my parents last Thursday. I see my sister very infrequent like maybe a few times a year so I thought it would be nice to make her cookies that she could actually eat for once. My sister has been gluten free for almost a year and has been suffering with not being able to eat food that has gluten in it. When I go visit my parents I ended up getting conned into baking something because I love to and I don't mind to.

My experiment was to bake with gluten free flour. I have never used it because I am not gluten intolerant. The recipe came from my mom's black recipe box. It was actually a recipe that she had cut out of the news paper several years ago.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Set 2 racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, and pecans together with a whisk or fork.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugartogether for 30 seconds until blended. Beat in the egg until smooth and barely fluffy. With mixer running on medium high, drizzle in the maple syrup, and vanilla until incorporated. Turn the mixer down to its lowest setting and gradually add the flour-oatmeal mixture.Blend just to combine, then mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop walnut-sized balls of dough onto a nonstick or parchment-lined cookie sheet at 3-inch intervals. With moistened fingers, flatten and round out the cookies a little. Bake for 9 minutes, turning the pan once for even baking. The cookies are done when they are lightly browned on top. Set the cookie sheets on a rack to cool.

I ended up substituting a few things and adding a few things. For one I made this a double batch, two I substituted regular white flour for an all purpose gluten free baking flour. I added the flour to the dry ingredients and added 1 teaspoon of xanthum gum for every cup of gluten free flour. My mom did not have a whole bag of chocolate chips so I ended up having to substitute, she's been snacking on them. There was a 1/3 of the bag left of each the semisweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and the coconut flakes that I added to the cookies. I baked them with a convection oven, kept the temperature the same as in the recipe but only had them in there for 10 minutes.

For a gluten cookie to confess I could not actually tell the difference in taste. I hear that good gluten free bread is hard to come by but gluten free cookies I think are actually good. The flavors were all very good but next time  I might add a teaspoon of cinnamon.  I should probably leave them in the oven for 8 minutes instead of 10 to have them be a little softer once they cool. Also my sister liked them but she was nervous about eating them because some oats as she was telling me could possibly have gluten in them because of where they were processed.

Tiki Masala March 1st

 March 1st my boyfriend and I decided to make Tiki Masala. Again I am a big fan of curry food so I decided to experiment with it. Britain claims chicken tiki masala as there national dish. This seems odd because I figure a type of dish like this would originate from southern Asia. Masala actually means that it is a mixture of spices that are combined and made into a sauce.

All I wanted to do was create the sauce and then I could add what ever to it like vegetables or meat. I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Basically I did not add chicken because I am poor and can't afford to eat much meat, especially because I try to eat as much organic food as possible. I opted on not following the directions of 2 or 3. I ended up steaming broccoli, red peppers, and red onion. I made white rice in the rice cooker. Once all that was made I combined them all in a pan and continued on to step four as well as adding sauteed potatoes and 12 ounce can of garbonzo beans.

In the ended it all tasted great but I think in the process of making it my boyfriend and I accidentally added to much spice of one thing, probably misread the amount of teaspoons added. Ended up making it overwhelmingly spicy that it was hard to eat without sweating. 


I would make this recipe again but maybe actually use chicken because that sounds really good. I have a a grill pan so I could cook the chicken that way. In all it was a well rounded meal. Next time I would probably add Garlic Naan to soak up all the yummy sauce. After doing this recipe I would like to sometime try Vindaloo it is similar as it is a sauce. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 long skewers
•  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat a grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.