Quinoa Chocolate Torte

Saturday night we were invited to our friends house for dinner. They were making their famous Sushi spread. And by the way.....What a spread it was! F and S have perfected making Sushi at home. I felt like I was in the city with a variety of Japanese food beyond my wildest dreams. Tuna Tataki. Venison Tataki with Huckleberry Ponzu . Unagi rolls. Scallops rolls. Salmon rolls. Miso. Sunomono Salad...... That's only naming a few. The table was overflowing with deliciousness!! Take a look....

Now being gluten free and a lover of desserts and sweets, I usually end up bringing a dessert to dinner parties. It guarantees  I can partake in a bit of sinful eating after the main event..... This time around I chose a dessert I've been meaning to try. I first had this dessert at a wedding I helped cater this past summer. One of the guest made it knowing a few of the other guests were Gluten Free. After trying it myself, I hunted her down and asked if she would share her recipe. Weeks later, I found a lovely email explaining how she had come across it herself.

She found it in a cookbook she has titled....."Quinoa 365 by Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming". Apparently you can double and triple the recipe with no problem.

Luckily I remembered to take a few pictures while eating it. But the picture my friend Francine took was much nicer....

Now I must say this cake is supreme. It's decadent but at the same time not too sweet. You can definitely have seconds.....And thirds!! The recipe makes two 8 inch rounds. We brought over one and I froze the second which we will use this weekend for our own dinner party.

Quinoa Chocolate Torte

2/3 cup Golden Quinoa

1 1/3 cups Water 

1 ½ cups White Sugar

1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/3 cup Milk 

4 large Eggs

1 ½ tsp  Gluten Free Baking Powder 

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

½ tsp Baking Soda 

½ tsp Salt

¾ cup Butter( or Dairy Free alternative) ,melted and cooled

Ganache:

¾ cup Heavy Cream( I used soy creamer due to dairy intolerance)

1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips ( You can use Vegan chips...again if dairy intolerant)

1 tsp Vanilla

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.

Preheat oven to 350; lightly grease a 10-inch spring form pan (OR two 8-inch round or square pans) and line with parchment paper.

Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor; add 2 cups cooked quinoa and the butter and continue to blend until smooth.

Whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add contents of the blender and mix well. Pour into pan(s) and bake on center oven rack for 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan.

Ganache:

Place 1 cup chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Heat the whipping cream to boiling; pour the hot cream over the chips and whisk until smooth. Blend in vanilla. Let cool briefly (3 minutes) and then pour carefully over the cake continuing until the cake is covered.

I chose to decorate the cake with raspberries. And it did not disappoint!

Store in sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

So I finally broke down yesterday and bought a package of xanthan gum. After a few attempts at making a decent GF bread using only egg and flax seed as binders, I decided to see what all the hype was about. Like I said in my previous post, my first 2 attempts were edible. The loaves just weren't sandwich bread material. They never rose above the bread pan. Actually they never made it to the edges of the bread pan. For those of you who don't know what xanthan gum is....It's a binder/ stabilizer used in GF baking to give the flour something to hold on to in the rising process. Wheat flour has gluten to do that.....

Over the last few days I have been looking for the perfect sandwich bread recipe. The internet is a wealth of information. Unfortunately looking at pictures and recipes all day long won't give me an idea how any of them are.....so I just had to pick one and see for myself. What I came up with was a guideline of ingredients from one site and instructions from another.

Now for anyone out there who has delved in the world of bread making, you know you have to put a bit of work into it. Unless of course you're so lucky as to have a Kitchen Aid mixer which does most of the work for you.....( No I am not bitter some of you have Kitchen Aid mixers.....Not. At. All!). Anyway, what I am trying to say here is.....Gluten Free baking is easy. No really it is!! I have done my fair share of homemade bread making in the past and GF bread baking is a breeze in comparison. Once all your ingredients are in the bowl....The only tool you need is a hand mixer. A hand mixer people! No kneading is required.

 As I write this blog entry, the bread is baking in the oven. And by the looks of it the xanthan gum truly works! I mixed the ingredients together, poured the batter/ dough in to the pan and after proofing for an hour the bread rose up just over an inch above the pan. I just checked on it and it hasn't fallen. It still looks like bread. And it smells like bread too. Here is what it looked like once I took it out of the oven.....

Gluten Free White Sandwich Bread

1 cup        Tapioca Flour
3/4 cup    Brown Rice flour
3/4 cup    Potato Starch
2 tsp        Xanthan Gum
3/4 tsp     Salt
1 Tbsp     Sugar
2 tsp        Active Dry Yeast
1 Egg  + 1 Egg yolk
3/4 tsp     Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp   Oil
1 1/3 cup  Warm Soy Milk

Instructions
1~ Warm soy milk on the stovetop. You just want it warm not scalding or boiling hot. Place in a bowl along with yeast and sugar. Let it sit about 5 minutes until it's nice and foamy.

2~ In the meantime, measure and mix first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

3~ Beat eggs with a hand mixer until frothy. Then add oil, vinegar and the yeast mix. Beat for about 30 seconds.

4~ Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Taking your hand mixer blend together until it comes together and resembles a muffin batter. It will be thick and somewhat sticky.

5~ Scrape batter/ dough into a greased 4x8 bread pan. I also lined the bottom with parchment paper.  Now cover the pan with plastic wrap and set it in a warm dry area. What I did was to warm the oven to 200F then turned the oven off and placed my pan inside. Let it rise for about 1 hour. Until the dough comes above the edges of the pan or doubles in size.

6~ Preheat your oven to 350F. Once dough has risen, place the pan in the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes. I baked mine for 45 and I should probably have left it in for a bit longer. You know it's done when it's sounds hollow when you tap the loaf. Once done remove pan from oven and then the bread from the pan. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy!

The resulting bread turned out great. Lots of airy bubbles inside the loaf. And it was light and moist....But like I mentioned in the recipe, I should have baked it a bit longer. I found it a bit too soft to slice but  managed it by being careful. For my first attempt using xanthan gum, I am ecstatic with the end result. I can't wait to try different flour mixes to try and up the nutritious factor.

Ok so I've finally done it....

After much thought, I've decided to create a blog to help store and organize the many recipes I've attempted over the years.....During the past 6 months I've been living a 100% gluten free diet....for the most part I will admit! And after spending a boat load of money on GF( gluten free) breads( oh and it's true.....some taste worst than cardboard)) I have started experimenting with my own recipes.

Now let me tell you, it hasn't been an easy feat. Baking gluten free is costly. And trying to work dough with no gluten is next to impossible......But I have been successful mastering a pizza dough. At least I think I have mastered it. The finished product tastes good and I didn't fear cracking a tooth. It was airy and chewy. Just like pizza dough should be!

My next quest is to create a perfect bread. My first attempts have been edible at least. But I've also tried making the breads without adding binders like guar gum or xantham gum. For some reason their names alone frighten me. So instead I tried using egg and flax seed. Although the breads tasted good and weren't crumbly or dusty, they lacked the height and bubbles some GF breads have. In the next few blogs I will share those first recipes with you.......

Keeping it safe and not at all about baking .....I chose a gluten free dinner as my first blog entry.

I love to cook. It is my passion. My past time. My means to relax. Those who know me can confirm my mild addiction to food. I am a weekly meal planner..... I get overly excited when my menu falls within inexpensive and bursting with flavor. This addiction does border on nerdiness sometimes. I spend too much time googling recipes and most days are spent talking about food a tad over the top.... I am ok with that though! Everything about menu planning for me is about taste first. Time management comes in second since I have a busy family household to cook for. And third living within a budget but not sacrificing on flavor just to save a few pennies.

Soooooo......If you're still reading this intro( thanks by the way if you are), not only will this blog be about my trials and tribulations baking GF but it will also include my weekly menu plan along with some of the recipes I will be using!

On that note....First up for this blog is a recipe I included as our Monday night dinner from this weeks menu plan.
We enjoyed it a lot. After spending the day grocery shopping for the week, the house smelled absolutely divine when we walked in. It just so happens I started prepping for our dinner last night by first soaking the beans. Everything else went into the crockpot this morning before I left the house. And voila! Forget burning some Nag Champa........ I could smell our stew before I opened the front door. So deliciously fragrant!!!

I adapted this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen. Hope you like it!!

Crockpot White Bean and Beef Stew

1 Cup       Dried Cannelini Beans, soaked overnight
1 Lb         Stewing Beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 Cup    Gluten Free Cornstarch
      Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp     Olive oil
1              Medium sized Onion, chopped
2              Garlic Cloves, minced
3              Stems of fresh Oregano
1 Tbsp     Cumin
1 Tbsp     Coriander
2 Cups     Chicken Stock( I used 1 McCormicks Gluten Free Bouillon cube)
1 Cup       Water
1              14 oz Can of Diced Tomatoes( I used Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic)

1~ The night before, start by soaking a cup of beans in 4 cups of cold water. Keep in the fridge until morning. I am sure the counter would be fine too.
2~ The next morning prepare beef and place into a bowl along with cornstarch. Season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.
3~ Get a deep pan nice and hot, add oil. Gently place beef into pan. Make sure not to crowd the meat. You want to sear it not steam or boil it. Sear meat on all sides. The beef will probably stick a bit to the bottom of the pan but don't worry. This will create flavor for the stew. Once the meat is browned on all sides remove and set in the crockpot. You may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches.
4~ Once meat is all seared add a bit more oil to the pan and add onions. Saute until transluscent. About 5 minutes or so. Then add garlic. Saute for another 2 to 3 minutes. Making sure not to burn either. Once onions are soft....pour in the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan removing any bits of caramelized beef that stuck to it. Pour everything into the crockpot along with all the other ingredients.
You could prep steps 2, 3 and 4 the night before and place in the fridge overnight. This is a great time saver if you are short of it in the morning. Just rinse the beans in the A.M. and put everything in the crockpot.
5~ Set crockpot on low for 8 to 10 hours or fast track it on high for 5 to 6 hours. Only you know how your crockpot cooks. They are all so different. I love  mine.....I can walk away from my kitchen for the rest of the day!!
6~ Enjoy!! We ate the stew as is ( Only because I totally gapped on the finishing touches....Sure would have added more pop to my picture) but you could add a bit more pizzazz just before serving........ Cilantro, Green Onions and a touch of Lime Juice. Make sure to adjust seasoning as you see fit.

This recipe fed 3 of us plus there are leftovers for lunches tomorrow. And it all cost roughly $10. That's including a baguette for the boys.