Merry Mac & Cheese

Who says that the gluten-intolerant can't enjoy one of America's favorite comfort foods during the holidays - Macaroni and Cheese?!

I think I may make the best homemade Mac and Cheese on the planet - and it's gluten-free. For the holidays, add some Christmas color by folding in or laying the noodles and cheese sauce with a your favorite red. white and green veggies, lightly sauteed. I call this version Merry Mac and Cheese. This dish is a great way to get your kids to eat more veggies!

This recipes does have some dairy, as I won't give up real cheddar cheese (soy cheeses are no substitute in this case). So, for those that are also lactose-intolerant, who don't want to give up their mac and cheese, consider taking the enzyme supplement lactase. I find that soy cheese is tasteless and doesn't melt the same as regular cheese, but give it a try, if real cheese is absolutely not an option for you. Let me know how it turns out.

Ingredients (I like to double this recipe. If you do, remember not to double the salt):

1/2 pound medium or sharp Cheddar Cheese, cubed
4 tablespoons Butter (or butter substitute)
4 tablespoons all-purpose, gluten-free Flour*
1 teaspoon Vegetable Bouillon
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Dry Mustard
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Dash of Nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1-1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt (I love using Herbamare; watch out for MSG in seasoned salts)
2 cups Milk Substitute (I use Rice Milk or Coconut Milk - original (neutral flavor))
1 8-ounce package of Quinoa Elbow Macaroni (I find that rice noodles tend to get mushy, but not the quinoa noodles - they stay firm)
Paprika for the top garnish
Mix of red, white and green vegetables to stir in or layer is optional*

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
2. If including colorful vegetables, chopped and lightly saute mixture with a little olive oil or butter (substitute).
3. Cube the cheese into 1/2-inch cubes and set aside in a bowl.
4. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter, blend in the *gluten-free flour mixture*, the seasonings and bouillon (if cubes, crumble first; if paste, blend first with butter).
5. Over low-heat blend and stir mixture until smooth and it starts to bubble. Do not let it brown.
6. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk.
7. Return to the heat and bring to a boil, stirring continually. Add more milk, if too thick. Once the desired consistency is reached, reduce the heat to low and add in half or all the cheese. If you use half the cheese, the other half can be layered along with the *lightly sauteed vegetables or only the cheese.
8. Stir the cheese sauce until all the cheese is melted.
9. Cook the macaroni noodles according to package directions (add a little oil to the water, and stir to keep them from sticking together), drain and rinse.
10. In a "buttered" casserole dish, large enough for a single or double batch (picture here is a double batch), layer half of the macaroni noodles, sprinkle remaining cheese if you didn't add it all to make the cheese sauce, along with the sauteed vegetables. Pour half the cheese sauce evenly over the first layer of noodles (and vegetables).
11. Layer the remaining noodles, evenly pouring the the remaining cheese sauce over all. 
12. Garnish with paprika.
13. Bake the Mac and Cheese in a 350-degree oven for 30-40 minutes for a single batch and 40-50 minutes for a double batch.
14. One batch serves 6-8.

* Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix

Blend together the following ingredients and store in an air-tight container:
2 cups Rice Flour
2/3 cup Potato Starch
1/3 cup Tapioca Flour

Thanksgiving Dinner that Your Mama Didn't Make

Creating a sauce that tastes of warm carmel apple with the pleasant and not so over-powering tang of cranberry, was the beginning of putting together a semi-non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner that taste better than any traditional meal I've made in the past. According to my husband, the best ever!

Don't wait until next Thanksgiving to try these recipes - Christmas is just around the corner. Enjoy!

Our Gluten-Free Holiday Menu

• Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Tamari Gravy 
• Tempeh and Sage Loaf with Cranberry Maple Cider Sauce
• Ginger-Glazed Parsnips & Carrots
• Romaine, Red Onion & Orange Salad with Lime Dressing
• Cranberry-Apple Pie

So, let's go through the ingredients and directions for all the recipes. Click here for the cranberry sauce.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Gluten-Free Tamari Gravy

Since you probably already know how to make garlic mashed potatoes, I'll only share that we boil white potatoes until soft, then mash them with freshly minced garlic, a cup of non-dairy sour cream, along with some of the reserved potato water in the pot, with sea salt to taste.

Tamari Gravy

You'll love the ease and simplicity of this one!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Tamari, organic and gluten-free soy sauce (San-J)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup Water

1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast

Directions:

Pour all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until a smooth consistency. While preparing the rest of the meal, I leave the gravy mixture in the blender to give one final blend until ready to pour into a small gravy bowl or pitcher as dinner is about to be served. Yields 1 cup.

Tempeh and Sage Loaf

I thank my daughter for this fabulous gluten-free entree, which she found in the cookbook Casseroles (and Loaves) You Wish Your Mother Had Made (page 99). My husband says it's an excellent alternative to both turkey and stuffing all in one. What I love about this recipe is that you mix the ingredients a day ahead and then on the day you serve it, it slow cooks in a crock pot while you busy away in the kitchen making the side dishes to accompany it.

Ingredients:

1 package plain Tempeh, cubed (8 ounces)

1 small Onion

2 cloves Garlic

2 stalks Celery

1 medium Carrot

1 cup fresh, sliced Mushrooms

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 cup gluten-free Bread Crumbs

2 tablespoons Flaxseed mixed with 2 tablespoons Water

2 tablespoons vegan Chicken-Flavored Bouillon

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 teaspoon rubbed Sage

1/2 teaspoon Oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried Rosemary

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions:

1. The day before, steam the cubed tempeh for 10 minutes and cool.
2. Using a food processor, mince the onion, garlic, mushrooms, celery and carrot. To avoid the mixture from becoming mushy instead of minced into small bits, I pulsed separately first the onion, then the carrot and celery, and lastly the garlic and mushrooms.
3. After heating the oil on medium heat in a skillet saute the vegetables for a few minutes, only until the onion is translucent.
4.  In a large bowl, crumble the cooled tempeh and add the vegetable saute, the bread crumbs, flaxseed mixture, bouillon, herbs and salt.
5. Mix thoroughly, then refrigerate in a sealed container overnight.
6. Planning ahead when you wish to serve your meal, put the tempeh mixture into the oiled crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours (7 is about right). Keep the lid propped open during cooking to keep the condensation from dripping on top on the loaf. You want the top to have a crisp texture; the center will be moist. Use a flat spatula to cut and lift out each serving. Serves 6 

Ginger-Glazed Parsnips & Carrots

This Ginger Glazed Carrots recipe has been one of my favorite holiday side dishes for years; a recipe from Spices of the World Cookbook by McCormick I acquired in 1978. This adaptation includes my other favorite root vegetable, parsnips.

Ingredients:

4 medium Carrots

4 medium Parsnips

1 teaspoon vegetable-based Bouillon, chicken-flavored optional 

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Bon Appetit seasoning, optional

3/4 cup Water

4 tablespoons Butter or butter substitute

1 tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice

3 tablespoons Honey

1/2 teaspoon Ginger powder, or fresh minced

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg powder, or freshly grated

Parsley

Directions:

1. Wash, peel and slice diagonally carrots and parsnips. 
2. Finely chop some parsley for garnish.
3. In a skillet add the carrots and parsnips, bouillon, water, sugar, Bon Appetit and 1 tablespoon of the butter.
4. Cook covered over medium-high for 10-12 minutes - or until tender, then drain.
5. To the skillet, add the remaining butter, lemon juice, ginger, nutmeg and honey.
6. Cook uncovered over medium heat 2 to 3 more minutes, tossing continually to glaze the carrots and parsnips.
7. Garnish with parsley when serving.
8. Serves 4

Romaine & Orange Salad with Lime Dressing

Dressing - Mix the following ingredients by shaking in a tumbler or by blending in a blender:

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1/8 teaspoon grated Lime Peel

1 tablespoon fresh Lime Juice

1 large clove Garlic, minced

3/4 teaspoon Sugar

1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt

Salad - Toss together six (6) cups of washed, crisped and torn Romaine Lettuce leaves with 1/2 cup thinly-sliced red onion and 1 can of drained or freshly chopped mandarin oranges. Either drizzle dressing over individual salad servings or toss the dressing with the salad.

Cranberry-Apple Pie

Working with a gluten-free dough can be tricky, especially when trying to make a pie with a lattice top. Photo clearly shows the challenge I had making a "pretty pie". If it's texture and taste you're going for ,bursting with flavor, tucked into a flaky crust... it's so worth the effort.

Start by making the dough for the top and bottom gluten-free pie crusts:

Recipe for 1 crust (for 2 crusts, double the ingredients except for the salt)

Wet Ingredients:

1 Egg

2 teaspoons White Vinegar

Dry Ingredients:

1-1/4 cups Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour*

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

Additional Ingredients:

6 tablespoons Butter Flavored Crisco, chilled or frozen

1 teaspoon ice cold Water

Directions:

1. Whisk the egg and vinegar until very frothy and refrigerate while mixing other ingredients.
2. Combine the dry ingredients.
3. Cut the Crisco into the flour mix until a coarse, mealy consistency the size of small peas.
4. Add the egg/vinegar mixture. If the flour mixture is still too dry, add cold water 1 teaspoon at a time until you have the consistency where you can form the dough into a ball (2 balls if doubling for 2 crusts).
5. Wrap dough balls in plastic wrap and refrigerator for an hour.
6. Roll the dough between wax paper or parchment paper until the circle is the size to fit your pie pan.
7. Add the filling** and top second crust. I used a lattice cutter as I found the top too fragile to weave strips of crust into a lattice top.
8. Brush the top with a glaze made of mixing together: 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk brush over the top and edges of the crust, then sprinkled with a mixture of: 2 teaspoons sugar and a dash of cinnamon.
9. Bake pie in an oven pre-heated to 400-degrees and bake for 25 minutes.
10. Reduce the oven to 325-degrees and continue baking for another 40-45 minutes.
11. Especially yummy served warm a la mode with vanilla coconut ice cream.

* Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix

Blend together the following ingredients and store in an air-tight container:

2 cups Rice Flour

2/3 cup Potato Starch

1/3 cup Tapioca Flour

** Filling for Cranberry-Apple Pie

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the following:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried Currants and Raisins

2 tablespoons Dark Rum or Water

1 cup fresh, whole Cranberries, washed and drained

3/4 cup Sugar

5-6 medium Baking Apples - Fuji or Braeburn, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 tablespoons quick-cooking Tapioca

1 tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice

1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

'Tis the Season

I don't even know where to begin, because I don't know where the past few months have gone! The last time I posted was three months ago, and here we are embarking on the Christmas season.

Today on Facebook (facebook.com/leeenryerickson), my status reads: "We're a blended family... gluten-happy and gluten-free." The past two days I have been making Christmas cookies with my youngest daughter and granddaughter. They are "gluten happy". We had so much fun decorating sugar cookies cut out in the shape of a tree, star and snowman. They were all for their enjoyment, because I am "gluten-free".


Next time we bake together, we will make a variety of Christmas cookies in a cookie mold with gluten-free dough. And they will be for all of us to enjoy, when visiting Nana and Papa's house during the holidays.

For a recipe for gluten-free Christmas sugar cookies go to Celiac.com, the Gluten Free Cooking School and About.com for their "Decorated Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe". Oh, and if you don't have time to make your sugar cookie dough from scratch, Cherrybrook Kitchen makes a terrific sugar cookie mix that is nut, dairy, egg, wheat and gluten free.

These past few months, I've been distracted and preoccupied with many things... health issues, sailing, projects, and especially busy with our family as we prepare for the arrival "Littlest" Sephira Lee's baby brother "newest" Leif Kohl Ericson. He can make his debut any day or week now. I'm waiting for the call! I've devoted little time for experimenting in the kitchen. Since we moved last July, leaving my large, beautiful kitchen behind, I've lacked some of the motivation I had adjusting slowly to working in a smaller, less inspiring and accommodating space. And, to be perfectly honest, there are times when I just don't feel like cooking much.

I have found however, that my interest in learning all I can about the differences and similarities between celiac disease (CD) and gluten intolerance has greatly increased. I recently posed that very question on Facebook. If you are a member, click here to add your vote and join the discussion. At the time of this posting, the vote is nearly 50/50. I'm also trying to connect with a many people and experts as I can who are either a Celiac or gluten sensitive. Another online community that I have joined to connect with others is Gluten Free Faces. I'm beginning to feel inspired once again!

My intention is to reboot my blog with entries about experimenting with more raw foods and gluten-free recipes, as well as working all this into an acid-alkaline balanced diet. I recently responded to a friends inquiry: What do you guys think of the acid v alkaline theory? The following was my response:

I've learned that a balanced alkaline-acid body chemistry is foundational to health. If our bodies are too acidic, then that imbalance can cause a myriad of maladies from a-z. Acid waste in the body attacks joints, muscles, nerves, organs, gut, glands, including our thyroid, adrenal and lymphatic system... and opportunistic infections and insidious diseases like cancer. It's primarily our poor dietary choices, which lead to alkaline-acid imbalance that is the underlying, root cause of why we see a pandemic of illnesses, allergies, sensitivities and syndromes. Alkaline neutralizes acid. It is essential to know which foods and minerals are alkaline-forming or acid-forming to avoid over-acidity and create alkalinity. The best diet is an organic, raw foods diet rich in alkaline-forming foods and drinking the purest water we have access to.

The best book I've read on this subject is Alkalize or Die by Dr. Theodore A. Baroody.

I also plan to start putting together a blog entry that will provide links to my favorite celiac disease/gluten-free blogs and website, as my side bar would cascade to the bottom of the sea if I posted all the links there.

Last Christmas I shared my recipe for making a delicious, organic Gift of Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix. 'Tis the season to share it again. Click here. Gift a batch of sugar cookies while you're at it!


Happy Gluten-Free Holidays to You and Yours!