Bulgogi

1lb thinly sliced sirloin (freeze for an hour or two to make slicing easier- and slice against the grain)
1/4 of pear, chopped or 1 kiwi
1/4 C soy sauce
2T sesame oil
3 T brown (or white) sugar
1/4C chopped green or white onion
2T sesame seeds
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
black pepper
1)Combine everything but beef, pour over beef in a dish or ziploc bag, marinate a few hours or overnight. (Not more than 24 hours or it tastes like soy, but I have frozen with fine results.)
2)For best results, grill on an outdoor grill, a couple minutes per side. (I find this difficult and use heavy duty foil on grill to prevent meat from falling through.) Can also cook in a skillet- cooks quickly. Discard uncooked sauce. (Tried in slow cooker, meat was kind of mushy. Might be okay if you only cooked it for a couple hours instead of 6 on low. Flavor was still great.)
3)serve with rice and roll meat and rice up in lettuce leaves. If preferred, you can add red pepper paste in the leaf or add red pepper powder to the sauce. (We don't.)
I usually triple this and use slightly less soy sauce, a whole pear, and a head of garlic. Usually served with a cucumber salad- thinly slice cucumber, place on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit an hour or two. Pour off liquid, place in bowl with a dressing of about 1C apple cider vinegar, 1/2C sugar, and 1/2 C of water. Refrigerate a few hours for best results. And when I have time I make gamja jorim from this site http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/potato-side-dishes

French Toast

We finally made some french toast with GF bread- and it was good!

I used the King Arthur Flour bread mix to make the bread. I haven't had time to try a bunch of recipes yet, and this is the box mix I like the best so far. (Thank you, Grandma Wilhelm!) And it's available at Meijer, so easily obtainable.

Comes out looking and tasting like any other homemade bread. And, it's kind of nice that it doesn't have to be kneaded. So far the GF breads I've made have a cake batter consistency dough.  Super easy, beat with a mixer!

Here's the recipe we use...

4 eggs

2/3 C of almond milk

1/3 C GF all purpose flour mix (I used this recipe but subbed tapioca startch for the sweet white rice flour that I didn't have.)

1/3 C sugar

1/2 t vanilla (check that it is GF!)

1/4 t salt

1/8 t cinnamin

Mix ingredients.

Heat skillet, butter or grease.

Dip bread for 30 seconds per side and let cook until nicely browned on each side.

Serve with syrup or powdered sugar.

I did double the recipe, but had more than enough for the whole loaf of bread.Not sure that a whole recipe was left, though.  Original recipe says this make 6 slices of Texas Toast.  I've never made it that way...but also can't remember how many we normally get out of it, Maybe 8 or 10? Sorry!

GF DF finds worth mentioning

Whole Foods carries both of these items. The bananas were reported to be very good, and WAY less messy than making your own.

I know, gluten and dairy free macaroni and cheese?? Believe it or not it's not half bad.  Of course, I haven't had mac and cheese in over a year so I'm probably easy to please...but really, pretty good!

Gluten Free Meatloaf

Meatloaf Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 C milk (I use coconut, unsweetened, unflavored)
1/2 C chopped onion
1 1/2 eggs (2 might be fine....I just beat 2 and dump a little out.)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t ground ginger
1/2 C crushed Glutino original crackers (about one bag from the 4.4oz box)

Topping:
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C Ketchup

Directions:
1) preheat oven to 350*F
2) Mix meat, milk, onion, eggs, salt, pepper, and ginger. Then mix in crackers. Place in loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes.
3) Mix brown sugar and ketchup spread over meatloaf and bake additional 20 minutes (or until done).

*This is my normal recipe that comes out great with regular milk and Italian seasoned bread crumbs as well. Also, I prefer the topping to be ketchup and A1, but Bryan likes the ketchup and sugar better. Be forewarned, it's a sweet topping

Sorry about the lack of a picture, but this was such a hit that there were no leftovers at all. That has NEVER happened before!!
(And if you've never seen a meatloaf pan, they are SO cool! All (most) the fat drips into the pan underneath!)

Goodbye Gluten!

For the past 15 months, my life has been dairy free as Micah has a dairy allergy/sensitivity/intollerance that is pretty sensitive (as I have been nursing him.) In recent months, we have determined that he also has a problem with wheat or gluten. Additionally we have found that at least part of Noah's stomach problems are related to milk. So, overall our whole family has been eating mostly dairy free (cooking seperate things got old after the first month) and we found that it wasn't THAT bad.  (I would pay good money for a real pizza or cheesecake, but overall it's tolerable.)

Unfortunately, poor Micah keeps having reactions- thanks to food that gets dropped (picture a human puppy under the table after every meal) or food that his sister is "kind" enough to share with him. And these reactions entail days/weeks of crying all day and night and are incredibly frustrating for me (who has to get up with and deal with him), Bryan (who has to hear about it and deal with a perpetually exhausted wife), and the rest of the kids who either get yelled at because of what Micah ate or get little attention as my time is taken up by caring for the poor child. And then, of course, there is the fact that Micah is acting in such a way out of extreme misery. Which is totally not fair, if preventable. And, we think it may be.

So the short of it, is that we are removing all gluten and dairy from our house. This helps Noah who, being 5, cannot always stop himself from eating stuff that he knows will make hime sick. And it also, in theory, will help Micah who will not inadvertantly be exposed to what we THINK is making him sick. (The help from the doctors (or lack there of) is a whole 'nother story.)

And because living life dairy and gluten free is an incredible adjustmen,t and there's actually quite a large community of people living this way, I hope to be able to share more of our favorite recipes and finds.

Here's our first, Betty Crocker's gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix. We used Earth Balance for the butter and thought that they were definitely a winner. I don't think you would know they were gluten free if you weren't told.

Creme Brulee French Toast (overnight)

*This is not GF as written, and I have yet to try with GF bread*

1/2 C butter, melted (I use earth balance, works fine)

1 C brown sugar

2 T maple syrup

French bread sliced into 1 inch slices, enough for one layer in a 9x13

4 eggs

1 1/2 C half and half or milk (I use almond)

2 t vanilla

1) Combine the butter, brown sugar and syrup. Pour into bottom of 9x13 baking dish.

2) Add bread to fit over butter mixture.

3) Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla together and pour evenly over bread. Cover and refridgerate overnight.

4) (In the morning.) Preheat oven to 350*F. Bring to room temperature. (I don't always do this because of time but it does cook much better when I do.)

5) Cook until puffy and lightly browned, about 35-40 minutes. Cool slightly and invert when serving.



Never had it puff like this before!



Became "normal" again as it cooled a bit.



Finished product. No syrup necessary!



My Kids' Favorite Pork Chops

I didn't name this recipe, but it is definitely the kids' favorite pork chops. And Bryan's and mine as well. Bryan doesn't want me to share it, since it is so easy but so good. He fears no one will be impressed when I make it for them when they know how ridiculously easy it is!

Ingredients

Pork Chops (any kind, any number as long as they fit in pan)

Steak Seasoning (like McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning)

16 oz bottle of Barbeque Sauce (any kind, we use Sweet Baby Ray's or 2 cups of homemade)

12 oz bottle(or can) of beer (any kind, and it seems to be just fine if the "born on date" is a year ago...we're not big drinkers, can you tell?)

I usually use boneless pork chops and trim the fat off to make it easier at the table (cutting up food for all the kids takes awhile and Bryan and I like to eat our meat warm on occasion.) Sometimes I even cut the pork chops up so they cook quicker if I'm in a hurry.

Now, are you ready for this?

Sprinkle seasoning on pork chops.

Brown pork chops in a skillet.

Add BBQ sauce and beer.

Cover.

Simmer an hour or two.

THAT'S IT.

And I swear to you they are outstanding!

I definitely think they are better after 2 hours, but it's usually one at our house (I'm just not that on the ball,) and they come out wonderfully. The "sauce/gravy" is really good, even on mashed potatoes.