Maple-Thyme Chicken Thighs

This is the last recipe from the Oct/Nov Simple & Delicious issue that I'm trying.  Then onto the next one, which has a bunch of stuff I want to try.  Plus I got a great Taste of Home cookbook from my mom for Christmas this year that I'll be starting soon...woot! 

This recipe came together really quickly.  I made it on my George Foreman grill.  In case you haven't heard about my love affair with George...I got my first one (for free) at a yard sale several years ago.  I loved it, but hated washing it because it didn't have removable plates and couldn't be submerged.  I was practically standing on my head in order to wash it thoroughly without getting the dang heating element wet.  After a couple of years and a lot of neck cramps, I got a new one at Target with removable plates, which are also dishwasher safe.  This was a huge improvement.  But now my love for this one is growing cold, for two reasons...it's kind of on the small side, and now that the kids are bigger and eating more, it would be nice to be able to make more at one time.  And we have people over and I'm planning to use it, I have to cook in batches, which takes longer (obviously).  And also my husband's friend says he has one that has different temperature settings.  Mine has two: off and on.  And it gets really hot, and quite often the outside will be very done while the meat thermometer does not yet say the safe eating temperature.  You'll see this in the last picture on this recipe.  So I'll be keeping my eyes open over the next few months to see how expensive an upgrade will be.  I do use it a few times a month so I feel like I can justify it :)

Maple-Thyme Chicken Thighs
2 tbsp stone ground mustard
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

In a small bowl, mix the first five ingredients.

 

Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, rub on grill rack to coat lightly (or just spray your Foreman grill with cooking spray...easier).

Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat 4-5 minutes on each side or until 170.  Brush often with mustard sauce during last 4 minutes of cooking.

This was after 4 minutes.  I sauced it, then flipped it, and sauced it again.  Some were still not 180 with meat thermometer.  So I waited longer.  Here's one of the finished plates.

You can see that it is a bit darker than would be ideal.  Also the kids noticed that.  Maybe one of them said "mom, that is black."  I think it would look like this on a normal outside grill, too, but I guess it would taste like barbecuing then and they wouldn't complain.  We had this with green beans and fake potatoes (don't judge, I LOVE fake potatoes...and the Idahoan brand is gluten free).

So overall, I am happy with how quick this came together...like a 5 minute prep time.  It wasn't a big hit among certain of the children.  Not sure if it was the mustard flavor (which wasn't really very strong since I used whole grain mustard) or the "black"ness.  Oh well.

Loaded Tater Tot Bake

Now that I'm not working every Sunday anymore, I have time to make things for lunch that take a bit longer.  Like this.  It has a brunchy feel, even though it has tater tots in it.  It's from the Oct/Nov 2015 Simple & Delicious.

Loaded Tater Tot Bake
1 tbsp canola oil
1 med onion, finely chopped
6 oz Canadian bacon, cut into 1/2" strips
4 cups frozen tater tots, thawed
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream (I did not use this because I don't like sour cream)
½ cup half-and-half
1 tbsp dried parsley
¾ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp pepper
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 350.  In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until tender.  Add Canadian bacon; cook 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

Line bottom of greased 11x7 baking dish with tots;

top with Canadian bacon mixture. 

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, and seasonings until blended.  Stir in cheese; pour over the top. 

Bake, uncovered, 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Nom nom nom.  This smelled amazing.  Tasted great.  We had it with sliced apples and pears.  Oh Nathan hates cheese.  And tater tots.  So he had Canadian bacon by itself, with apples and yogurt.  And a good lunch was had by all.

As long as you carefully check your labels, this is GF.  Ore Ida tater tots are GF.  The Wal-mart store brand was not.  Hormel Canadian bacon is GF (and I didn't check any other ones since the first one I saw was GF).  As you can see, being GF isn't that bad ;)

Gluten Free Pizza Dough

Okay guys this was almost another fail.  I'll show you pictures at the end.  You might wonder why I would attempt another GF thing like this, so closely on the heels of the GF cinnamon rolls that almost made me forget what day it was (Christmas).  Well, it's from the Simply Gluten Free Magazine my sister gave me this fall (the fall baking special) and almost everything in this magazine that I've tried I have been really pleased with.  And, I had bought the stuff for pizza a while back and never made it yet.  AND the two GF pizza dough mixes I have bought and thought were okay (just okay) were $6 for one and $10 for the other (both of them made two crusts each).  And premade GF pizza?  Don't even bother.  Pizza Hut has a GF pizza that will do in a pinch (like if everybody else in your family is getting pizza and you don't want to just watch them eat) but the one in our town closed.  All these things are the driving force behind me trying this recipe.  First the recipe, then the pictures, so I can share my thoughts at each step without interrupting the flow of the recipe...

Gluten Free Pizza Dough
1 ½ cups gluten free all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
½ tsp kosher or fine sea salt
½ tsp sugar or honey
2 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup very warm water (about 110*)

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment.  Mix on low until combined.  Scrape down bowl once.  Turn mixer to high and mix for 3 minutes.

Dust work surface generously with GF flour.  Knead dough a few times until it is smooth and no longer sticky.  Press dough into pizza pan or baking sheet (use a rolling pin if needed).

Bake for 10 minutes.

Add toppings and bake an additional 18-25 minutes.

Ok so after I combined all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mixed it on high for 3 minutes, this is what it looked like:

Hmmmmm.  That doesn't look too good.  So I took a rubber spatula and tried to squish it all together to see if it would come together into one ball.

It mostly did.  So I reluctantly proceeded (at this point, well probably before this point, I should have added another tbsp of olive oil to see what would happen...but I tend to stick to the recipe as written the first time I make it...to the point of disaster, sometimes haha).  I turned it out onto my (well dusted) pastry mat and rolled it out into a circle and put it on the pizza stone, then put it in the oven.  Then was like "whoops forgot to take a picture of that."

Baked it for 10 minutes.  Pulled it out and thought "we cannot eat this."  It seemed so dry.  Cracking.  But I had no good alternative for dinner that I could prepare in the amount of time I had left before the hubs got home and then potentially would leave again for basketball (which he didn't make it to, but it wasn't the pizza dough's fault).  So, while mentally preparing my apologies to the family, I proceeded.  I topped it with tomato sauce, a thick layer of mozzarella, and then bacon, onion, and green pepper, then another thin layer of mozzarella.  Then put it back in the oven.  I had stopped taking pictures at that point, because I couldn't bear to share another fail with you all.  Pulled it out of the oven.  Sighed.  The crust looked so dark and dry.  BUT we are troopers, so I cut it into four pieces (Nathan is on an "I don't like pizza kick") and put it on plates.  To my surprise and amazement, this was really good.  Even the kids and the hubs, who eaten gluten daily and glutinous pizza regularly, liked it.  About halfway through my piece, I was like "wow!  I should share this one after all!  Take a picture of your half-eaten piece, self!"  And so I did.  Just pay attention to what the crust looks like.  The cheese is dark, but I love it like that, so I gave myself the burntest piece. 

Now the end parts are the parts that a lot of people leave behind.  I usually eat mine because I love the crunchiness.  The part of this crust uncovered by sauce and toppings you could break a tooth on.  We couldn't eat that part.  But seriously the whole rest of the pizza turned out very yummy.  Shockingly surprised.  A keeper for sure.  But I will try with a bit more oil next time.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

I should have known better.  Probably when you saw the title, you winced a little.  But I've been on such a roll lately (get it?) that I thought I could make these.  On Christmas morning.  Thankfully it was just us and my parents, so no Food Network people to try to impress or anything.  And it starts with gluten free Bisquick, which I am pretty much in love with (until this stunt it pulled).  But after trying the recipe, it seems like they just used a regular old recipe and subbed in the GF Bisquick instead of actually trying this.   I couldn't even take pictures to show you how bad it was, #1 due to my hands being perpetually covered in dough and #2 due to my rage.  I shall have to paint word pictures for you.  First, the recipe.  It's from BettyCrocker.com.  Who have no idea what they are talking about or the heartache they cause with willy-nilly cinnamon roll recipes.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
3 cups Bisquick™ Gluten Free mix  
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1 1/4 cups milk 
1 egg 
1/4 cup butter, melted 
1 cup powdered sugar 
1/4 cup whipping cream 

• Heat oven to 425°F. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray (without flour). In small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
• In large bowl, stir Bisquick mix, granulated sugar, milk and egg until dough forms.
• Place dough on surface sprinkled with additional Bisquick mix; knead 5 times. Roll dough into 16x12- inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter; sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture. Starting at short side, roll up tightly; pinch edge of dough to seal well. Cut into 1 1/2-inch slices. In pan, place slices, cut sides down. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan.
• In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and whipping cream until smooth. Spread glaze over rolls. Serve warm.

Okay you can probably guess when it all started going downhill.  I sprinkled like it said.  Rolled out the dough into the approximate shape of a rectangle (with difficulty since the dough wanted to stick the rolling pin very much).  Brushed with butter, sprinkled with reserved brown sugar mixture.  Then.  Could not.  Roll. It. Up.  Family members gathered around to see what I was screeching at.  First it stuck to the pastry mat.  Even though I sprinkled the surface of said pastry mat like it said to.  Then, once I painstakingly could get a few inches of dough off of the pastry mat (using a small rubber spatula coated with GFB) and finally could roll it, it broke.  By the end of it, it by no means looked like a roll.  It was more like a stack of layered dough.  I did smack it a few times for good measure, because it made me feel better to hit it.  If this had been a fail with regular ingredients, I would have thrown it away.  But GFB is like $4/box and it used almost a whole box.  And I am stubborn.  So I proceeded to cut it into slices and gingerly move them, while they are falling apart, into the prepared pan.  They looked funny.  Instead of nice circles, they were more gourd-shaped.  I baked them, figuring they would taste fine even if they were not cinnamon "rolls" at all.  Once they were cool, I did prepared the glaze as instructed.  But then I remembered that I bought Whipped Cream Cheese frosting for $1 at Marden's the other day.  SO.  I knew that would make them more palatable, if they were dry or otherwise unappetizing.  So that's what we had on top of them.  

Needless to say, I will not be attempting this again.  I guess some things you have to do without when you are GF.  Either do without, or pay mega-dollars to buy frozen Udi's ones (which I've never tried before but would consider now)(only for a special occasion like Jesus's birthday, not too often, because I'm not made of money).

Italian Pot Roast

When I think of pot roast, I think of brown gravy and potatoes and carrots.  So this one is a little bit of a different take on pot roast, because the sauce is more tomato-y and it's served with noodles instead of potatoes.  But it sounded yummy.  This is from the Oct/Nov 2015 Simple & Delicious.  One of the things you do at the beginning is put these whole spices into cheesecloth.  I can't remember where I got this cheesecloth, but as a nurse, it was difficult to use this without remembering the dozens and dozens and dozens of wounds I have dressed/packed/dabbed with gauze that looks EXACTLY like this.

So that was weird.  Probably someone is laughing somewhere as they  manufacture gauze that is both for cooking and wound dressing...

Italian Pot Roast
1 cinnamon stick (3 in)
6 whole peppercorns
4 whole cloves
3 whole allspice
2 tsp olive oil
2 lb boneless beef chuck roast
2 celery ribs, sliced
2 med carrots, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup beef broth or dry sherry (guess which one I used? Yep beef broth)
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
¼ tsp salt
Hot cooked noodles for serving

Place the cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, and allspice on a double thickness of cheesecloth.  Gather corners of cloth to enclose spices; tie securely with string.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Brown roast on all sides; transfer to slow cooker.  Add celery, carrots, and spice bag.

Add onion to same skillet; cook and stir til tender.  Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.  Add broth or sherry, stirring to loosen browned bits.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir until liquid is reduced to about 2/3 cup.  Stir in tomatoes and salt; pour over roast and vegetables.

Cook, covered, on low, for 6-7 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Remove roast from slow cooker; keep warm.  Discard spice bag; skim fat from sauce.  Serve pot roast and sauce with noodles.

Of course this smelled amazing all day.  And the meat was falling apart, which is just how we like it :)  the noodles I served this with are GF white bean pasta.  I got them at the Natural Living Center.  It's the second time we've had them.  I do like the texture, and they only take 3-4 minutes once the water is boiling.  But they cost probably twice as much as the two other GF pastas I usually buy, and Emma doesn't like these.  So, so long white bean pasta, it was nice while it lasted.  The sauce was very good drizzled over the noodles.  As you can see, we had this with corn, too.  A yummy meal and I'm sure I'll make this again.

This has lots of spices that I happened to have already that have accumulated on my spice rack through the years.  But if you don't have them, I could see not wanting to spend a lot of money to get these all at once.  I hardly ever have to buy a spice any more, but it's been like 10 years since I started doing New Recipe Night so I've had lots of time to gather.  They keep for a looooong time, despite what expiration dates may tell you.  There are a couple that can go bad, but I can't remember what they are...my mother in law told me, and maybe she'll comment on the post.  I think one might have been paprika.  Anyway you could sub with small amount of the dried spices mixed with the broth/tomato mixture before you pour it over the meat and I'm sure the flavor would be about the same.

Apple Snickerdoodle Bars

Ok this one was so good that I forgot to take a picture.  And there were no leftovers to take a picture of after the meal, which I sometimes do if I forget.  This recipe is from the Simply Gluten Free magazine my sister gave me.  This recipe is in the dessert section of the magazine, but I thought it seemed more like a coffee cake than dessert.  So we had this for lunch on Sunday, with eggs, bacon & fruit.  I will take a picture of their picture, which I hope is not copyright infringement, but it's not as if I'm trying to pass it off as my own.  I'm telling you right now that this is their picture.  You could very easily make this Glutinous instead of gluten free by using regular flour.  I bet it would still be good.

Apple Snickerdoodle Bars
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup plus 3 tbsp sugar, divided
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups flour (or GF flour blend)
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ cups peeled, diced apples (I used gala because that's my favorite)
1 ½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 8x8 pan.  In a mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and brown sugar, and stir well.  Stir in the egg, vanilla, flour (or flour blend), salt, and apples.  Spread into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine the 3 tbsp sugar with the cinnamon.  Sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.  Let cool completely in the pan.

We did not let it cool completely.  So it was a bit crumbly and we had to eat it with forks.  But it tasted so good!  You could really taste the butter and brown sugar.  Nathan said "I'm not going to like this.  You know I don't like cooked apples."  But then he had seconds.  And so did everybody.  Really it was so so good.  We will for sure have this again.

Hearty Tuscan Soup

Have you been to a Pampered Chef show lately?  I went to one in the fall.  Through the years I have accumulated many many PC products.  Several of them I don't know what I would do without (that sounds lame and cheesy but it's true).  One thing I always do when I place an order is order the "Season's Best" cookbook.  It used to be $1.00.  Now it's $2.00.  So, slightly more risky since you don't know if there's anything there that you'll make.  But I took a gamble.  There are two recipes there that I'm going to try.  This one (which is also the recipe that was at the show I went to) and then a dessert one that I'll try later.  These cookbooks are, I realize, mostly just glorified advertisements, to make you think you need this product or this spice blend to complete this recipe.  But you really don't.  So I will tell you their recipe and I'll put my modifications along with it.

Hearty Tuscan Soup
2 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans (they say reduced sodium but I just used regular)
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz Italian turkey sausage (2-3 links), casings removed
1 onion, diced
1 med sweet potato, peeled and cubed (I prefer white...so I got one large baking potato)
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tbsp Rosemary Herb Seasoning mix (my stuffing recipe from PC calls for this too and I googled substitutes way back when so I know you can sub 2 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp lemon peel, and 1/2 tsp garlic powder for 1 tbsp of this seasoning mix, so that's what I did)
½ tsp black pepper
1 pkg (5 oz) fresh baby spinach leaves, washed and dried (I do NOT like spinach so I left this out)
16 melba toast rounds (or GF bagel chips)
3 tbsp shredded Italian cheese blend (or 3 tbsp shredded mozzarella and 1 tbsp shredded parmesan, mixed...that's what I did instead of buy a whole bag of cheese for the sake of 3 tbsp) 

Drain and rinse one can of beans; set aside.  Drain and rinse second can of beans and place into food processor.  Process until almost smooth.  Set aside. (I have a manual food processor from Tupperware (gasp!) that I could have used, but I also have one you plug in, so that's the one I used.  I think you could just mash them like crazy too, but they need to be very well mashed because this is what thickens the soup)

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat 3-5 minutes.  Add sausage and cook 4-6 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking into crumbles.

Add onion, potato, and garlic to dutch oven; cook and stir 5-6 minutes or until onion is softened. 

Stir all beans, chicken broth, tomatoes, seasonings, and pepper into dutch oven.  Cover; bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Preheat broiler.  Remove dutch oven from heat; add spinach.  Cover and let stand 2-3 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Top soup with melba rounds; sprinkle with cheese. 

Place dutch oven 2-4 inches from heating element and broil 2 minutes or until croutons and cheese are lightly browned. 

Ladle soup and croutons into bowls.

At the show I couldn't taste the soup, because of gluten, so this is the first time I tried it.  This is what I used instead of melba toast (and who the heck is/was melba anyway??)

And I used way more than 16.  And I ate a few while I was was waiting for Steve to get home too.  Very very good. 

Nathan did not like this soup but everybody else really liked it.  There was enough for 3 servings for leftovers.  Of course the bagel chips kind of got soggy in the leftover portions, but that would have happened with melba toast too.  That is my only complaint about this recipe.  It was very very good and I'm sure we'll have it again.

Whoopie Pies

I have, of course, made whoopie pies before.  I am sure most people that grew up in Maine have.  I haven't tried it this exact way before though.  I have a recipe on this blog that I got from Rachael Ray that is for pumpkin chocolate chip whoopie pies, and that is a popular post.  But I think that's the only whoopie pie (henceforth will be called WPs in this post) recipe on the blog.  Two summers ago we went to one of my husband's coworker's homes for a summer party.  There was a pig roast (which was cool, the kids had never seen a whole pig roasted) and a swimming pool and people brought side dishes and desserts to share.  There was a plate of WPs on the table.  I didn't go for them but the kids each got one and they were RAVING about how good they were.  I wrangled one or two of them (it was a long time ago I can't remember all the details) to give me a bite (this is before I was GF), and the filling was PERFECT.  I tracked down the maker of these WPs and asked if she would give me the recipe.  She seemed surprised, and said something like, they're just whoopie pies.  And I said yes but my kids loved them and I don't have a recipe to make them like this.  So.  The following week she gave my husband a page photocopied from a cookbook.  I don't know the name of the cookbook, but it looks old.  She wrote a couple little notes on it for me.  I am sure this is a cookbook at least from New England, because it calls for Fluff, which is a strictly New England thing.  Other places have to use Marshmallow Creme, which everybody who has had both will tell you is not even close to as good.  I don't know why it took me so long to make them, but today was the day.

Also, a note about shortening.  A lot of people shy away from traditional WPs and filling because of the shortening.  Let me tell you my philosophy on this.  I have heard my pastor say many times that fire can be good, or fire can be bad.  In a metal box in your home, fire is good, and heats your home.  If fire is not contained, it is very destructive and can burn your home to the ground.  Now, in WPs, made the Maine way, you have to have shortening.  It's just not right if you don't.  Should you eat shortening off a spoon, or eat it every day?  Certainly not.  But in its proper context, once or twice a year for a special recipe, shortening can be a useful tool.  I hope that was helpful.

Whoopie Pies
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
5 tbsp cocoa
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Filling:
¾ cup shortening
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 cup marshmallow fluff
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup peanut butter (Optional)(but of course I used it)

Cream shortening and sugar; beat egg yolks into creamed mixture.  Mix and sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.  Stir in vanilla.  Drop from dessert spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. 

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Remove at once from cookie sheets to cool on a rack. 

Cream shortening and sugar with fluff (and peanut butter if using); stir in salt and vanilla. 

Spread filling between two cookies. 

Wrap each pie individually in plastic or wax paper.  Store in tins or freezer.  These "pies" are delicious eaten directly from the freezer.

These came out awesome!!  I used a GF flour blend, which can be a gamble in a new recipe.  The pies were a tiny bit crumbly but the taste and texture were amazing.  Even the kids thought so.  So I know that regular flour would be great in these too.  I am of course keeping this recipe. 

A little note about baking stones, in case you thought my cookie sheet was dirty...it's just well seasoned!  As they say at Pampered Chef parties, "the worse it looks, the better it cooks."  I promise it's clean :)  my stones are probably at least 10 years old and I love them and my cookies and baked goods (almost) always come out perfect, and if they don't it's the recipe's fault, not the stone's fault (like the ridiculous oreo cheesecake cookies that I posted, which you can find under "what not to make").  You do have to add a minute or two to the baking time, which can be off-putting to people who don't know that in advance and think their cookies didn't bake as well on the stone as they would on metal cookie sheets.  You just have to bake them a bit longer :)  All we are saying...is give stones a chance...