Fridge Salad - for a week!!

It really can't get much easier than this:

Ingredients:

- 1 to 2 heads of Romaine lettuce (it depends on how much you want to make and how many people will be eating it. I recommend Romaine simply because it does a good job of not getting all flimsy and wilting on you after it's covered in dressing and left in the fridge).
- 5-6 TBL of dressing (I use about 5 but it depends on how much you like dressing; the trick is remembering that once it all sits in the fridge for a little while, the dressing becomes a bit more noticeable - if you put way too much you'll drown your lettuce!)
I use Newman's Own Light Sun Dried Tomato



- 1 can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), drained and rinsed (AWESOME source of fiber and protein)
- Any other salad fixin's you want (I add 1 sliced zucchini and 1 green bell pepper)



Directions:

Just like it says above:
- Throw all the ingredients together, mix it up so they can make friends, and place in a covered container in the fridge until you're ready to eat it
- I keep mine for one week (if it makes it an entire week!)


(Note to self: clean fridge before posting another picture of it)

Before I eat, I crunch up a handful or two of tortilla chips in it - I love my salad with some crunch to it!! We always use Mission tortilla chips (known for being gluten free and they have a great Allergen Control Program in place)



So I mentioned that I try to do this whole thing as cheaply as possible, so here are my tips:

- Yes, it takes more work, but buy the heads of lettuce rather than using the kind in the bag
- Rather than crunching up new chips, when you get to the bottom of the chip bag save the crumbs! I keep mine in a separate bag and use them for this purpose.



- Eat this salad instead of having to go out to buy one :-)

DONUT DAY!!

So I know this is a bit of a rush....but I couldn't help but go ahead and put this post up. Seriously...How can I keep this yummy goodness for myself? That would just be down right selfish..wouldn't dream of it!

Alright...so with Celiac Disease you kinda lose out on the convenience aspect of today's world since you can't always run down the street and pick up a donut...BUT...doesn't mean you can't still partake in the yumminess of food (usually after a bit of experimentation...favorite part!)!! So because I'm home and can't drive myself around after the little surgery, I decided to step out on a limb this morning and try GF donuts. ROCK N' ROLL (well, after I realized I had no eggs and Sam had to drive to the convenience store up the road to get some...BLESS the man). They're REEEEEALLY tasty and not too bad to look at either :-) (more of a miracle than you know if you've never cooked gluten free from scratch). So just wanted to share my success story. YAAAAAAAAAAAY for DONUT DAY!! (Recipe adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C milk
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBL butter, melted
1 3/4-2 C flour mix
Vegetable oil for frying

NOTE: For me, this recipe made 7 donuts and about 15 donut holes (most of which aren't in the final picture because I had to make sure the recipe was good before serving it. Otherwise, how could I call myself responsible?! )

Toppings:

I used powdered sugar for half of the donuts and cinnamon and sugar mix for the others.
Next time I make these (which will be this Saturday for company, so stay tuned!) I'm going to make glazed donuts :-)

Directions:

-Mix together egg, milk, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and butter
-Add flour and mix (you may need incorporate it with your hands at end of mixing).
-Cover and refrigerate for about an hour (to firm up dough)
(Let's have a little heart to heart for a moment, shall we? I wanted donuts. And when I say I want donuts....need I say more? I wasn't about to wait a whole hour before getting to start these morsels of heaven. You'd have to be outside your mind! So...I stuck mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes while I prepped the oil, etc. and then I got right down to it. My dough behaved just fine, and if it did get a little out of line (started to stick when I rolled it out) I just used a bit more tapioca flour on the cutting board)

-Prepare to roll out the doughnuts. I dusted a cutting board with flour and rolled out and cut out the dough there. Based on a suggestion from several other websites, I used tapioca flour for this--it won't add graininess to the dough.
-Roll out the dough to 1/2" thickness (be sure it's not too thin)



-Cut out donuts with a biscuit cutter and donut holes with smaller biscuit cutter



(Heart to heart - Take #2: I know what biscuit cutters are but I definitely do not own any, much less two different sizes of them. They're on the wish list but that may be a while, and remember...I don't wait for donuts! So...I simply floured the lip of a plastic glass and used that to cut out my donuts. I did want to make some donut holes (because when I ate donuts for the first time in MONTHS I wanted them to look like real donuts...plus donut holes have always been my favorite and they're so much fun to eat!) All I did was cut out a circle from the inside of each donut and - TAHDAH!)



- Place oil in a pan and heat to around 360 degrees. (For those of us without a candy thermometer, I put mine on just over medium heat). You need to have enough oil so that the donuts are completely submerged in the oil when you place them in the pan.
- Prepare a plate with paper towels on it as a place to put the donuts once they are done cooking.
- Before just jumping in with both feet to this thing, test the oil. Drop a small piece of extra dough into the oil to see if it fries. If it starts frying immediately, then the oil is ready.
-Carefully place donuts into the oil. I set each piece of dough in a large spoon and set them into the oil gently since I am not a big fan of splashing hot oil. They should drop into the oil and start frying.



- After cooking a couple of minutes, the donuts will rise to the surface of the oil. This is a good time to turn them to make sure they are cooking evenly.
- Once they are golden brown you are ready to rock n' roll! Take them out of the oil and place them on the paper towel covered plate you set out earlier.
- After they cool slightly, dust them with the toppings you have. I placed the powdered sugar and cinnamon/sugar mix into separate bowls the placed the donuts in the bowls and covered them completely (I mean..if you're gonna do this...you gotta commit! No simple "dusting" here!)





AND ENJOY!!!

A humble introduction...

So...at the end of last week I had to have a lymph node biopsy done (can you think of a better way to spend a Friday?! I think not.). As a result, this week is full of...welp...a whole lot of nothing. Apparently, most people frown on it if you drive while taking pain medications (crazy law-abiding folk!) so I am stuck at home working on a good case of cabin fever. This blog was likely born of that situation, but I hope it will be of help to someone..anyone.

I grew up loving to cook but years of college and graduate sc

hool seem to dim a passion like that. All it takes is cooking a nice casserole for yourself and then realizing, after 4 days of eating the same thing continuously, that cooking for 1 is a little bit of a challenge sometimes. Well, now I am married (to an incredible, supportive man who works hard for the U.S. Army) and get to cook for two (plus a little puppy that we give in to and let him eat some bits of the meal, too!)

Because I am working on my thesis full-time, I spend my days working out of our home. Working on thesis research for hours on end will drive a girl crazy, so I work in some time to do what I enjoy...cooking.

As additional constraints have been placed on my diet, we've been forced to experiment with new ideas! At first, our meals consisted of ground beef with cheese melted on top and a few veggies. GREAT at first, but I wanted to challenge myself more, and hopefully provide us with a menu with some degree of variety. It's amazing how God prepares you for things far before you realize what He is doing. As I mentioned, I have ALWAYS loved to cook - and though, for a while, I lost sight of that, here He is using that in my life now. He's saying "See! Remember when I said that "I know the plans I have for you..." Amy?!" (Jeremiah 29:11) What a blessing!

All that to say...

This blog will consist of recipes from all over the place - and I'll let you know where I got them. I usually end up taking a recipe, tweaking it, and then crossing my fingers (and toes and eyes and whatever else I can muster up) that it turns out well. EEEK! Sometimes we get an overwhelming "YES" and sometimes you end up hearing a resounding "NO" - such is life.

Thanks so anyone and everyone that stops in here :-)

Amy's flour mix