Let's call it "crombler"

Is it a cobbler? A crumble? I'm not sure, because I pretty much improvised as I went along. But, when I was a houseguest of friends in Ohio and they had a glut of fresh peaches needing to be enjoyed, I was happy to take on the challenge of making some yummy, gluten-free desserty thing.

I had a successful second run at the recipe this weekend at my parents' house, with the variation that we substituted some of the peaches with my dad's favorite, blackberries. Both versions were pretty awesome, especially when served warm with a little vanilla or butter pecan ice cream.

PEACH or PEACH-BLACKBERRY "CROMBLER"

2 lbs. peaches (about 4-5) OR 1+ lbs peaches (2-3) plus 1 pt blackberries

1/4 c. maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. almond meal, divided

2 T butter or butter substitute, plus additional for greasing

1/4 c. sweet rice flour

1/2 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

Optional: pecans, walnuts or almonds, chopped into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8"x10" glass baking dish and set aside.

Peel and slice peaches into a mixing bowl. Add blackberries, if using. Stir in maple syrup, vanilla and 1/2 c. almond meal. Pour mixture into baking dish and spread into an even, shallow layer. If using nuts, sprinkle a thin layer over the fruit. (I didn't measure these, but I'm guessing about 1/4 to 1/2 c.?)

In a small bowl, combine the other 1/2 c. almond meal and the sweet rice flour. Add butter (or substitute) and pinch it in with your fingertips to form a coarse meal. Add brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt and mix well, using the same pinching motion. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit layer.

Bake 40 minutes, or until thoroughly bubbly. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. A scoop of ice cream is a very nice addition.

Pantry Creativity

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Earlier this month, I received my vehicle excise tax bill, and even the quarterly payment was a whopper. Ouch. And you know how gas prices are skyrocketing? Suffice to say, I'm on a seriously constricted budget for my grocery expenditures for at least a little while. I still have milk delivery each week, and I'll shop for a few, inexpensive vegetables and fruits (bag of carrots, frozen broccoli or spinach) to keep real nutrients in my diet. But basically, this means being reeealllyyy creative with what's in the pantry (and fridge/freezer).

I did have one strike of luck, in that a good friend of mine who is also vegetarian and gluten-intolerant recently moved across the country and had some pantry items she didn't want to ship. I "inherited" some GF pasta, a large jar of nopalitos, and more rice-paper wrappers than I believe are currently available in the entire country of Vietnam. All of these have played roles in my recent inventions.

I'll tweet more successful results (and probably the not-so-successful ones, too) under the #pantrycreativity hashtag until I get around to writing another post here.

Invention #1: Mac&PB&J

What can I say? I was feeling lazy and was out of bread.

56 g dry Tinkyada gf macaroni elbows

28 g peanut butter

14 g jelly (I used blueberry)

Boil macaroni in salted water as usual. While it's cooking, mix peanut butter and jelly in a bowl until well mixed. When pasta is ready, drain well (rinse if desired), then stir into PB&J mixture.

It's better than it probably sounds to some of you, not quite as good as it may sound to others.

Invention #2: Spring Rolls

Like I said: "more rice-paper wrappers than I believe are currently available in the entire country of Vietnam." I didn't have any of the usual fillings, like cellophane noodles, fresh spinach or lettuce, tofu or basil leaves, so I had to simplify.

6 "triangle" (1/4-round) shape rice paper wrappers

1 small carrot

28 g peanut butter

a splash each of rice vinegar and wheat-free tamari

85 g frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped smaller

Combine peanut butter, rice vinegar and tamari in a bowl. Grate carrot with the fine side of a box grater, then mix into PB mixture. Add broccoli and mix.

Have ready a shallow, heatproof dish (like a pyrex brownie pan), a large dinner plate and the smaller plate on which you plan to serve the spring rolls. Place one wrapper in the heatproof dish. Boil water in a kettle, then pour just enough over the wrapper to cover it. Gently poke it around in the water to make sure it stays covered and softens; this will take just a few seconds. Remove from water with bamboo tongs or your fingers if the water has cooled fast enough.

Carefully spread wrapper on the large dinner plate and immediately place the next wrapper into the still-warm water and poke it until submerged. Add about 2-3 Tbs of filling to the wrapper on the plate, and carefully wrap it by folding over one side, then the right-angle corner, then the round edge, and rolling toward the loose side as tightly as you think it can handle. Rest the roll at the edge of the plate to drain a little before transferring it to the serving plate. Meanwhile, the next wrapper should be ready. Repeat until all wrappers and filling are used, adding boiling water to the heatproof dish as needed.

These, I liked. I've repeated this a few times. I thought I had a photo, but unfortunately I can't find it.

Invention #3: Nopalitos Corn Bread

That was one ginormous jar of nopalitos my friend gave me. After a few days of nopalitos tacos and huevos con nopalitos, I just wanted to get rid of the things. This inspiration turned out to be very successful.

1 recipe "Southern Corn Bread" from The Joy of Cooking (p. 777 in the hardcover edition of the 1998 revision)

1 c. drained nopalitos, including the jalapeño from the jar, minced

Prepare according to the recipe omitting the sugar and cutting back the salt to 3/4 tsp (1/2 tsp might have been better), stirring in the nopalitos and jalapeño just before transferring batter to a preheated, 10-inch cast iron skillet. By the way, I substitute buttermilk powder and water for the buttermilk in the recipe, and only used half the water indicated (1 c. instead of 2, I think it was).

I ate it with some huevos con chorizo de soya (that's Trader Joe's soy chorizo, which is gf and vegetarian), to which I had added some Narragansett Creamery queso blanco, and a Redbridge. (Yes, it was a "treat" day.*) Yum!

Invention #4: Veggie+ Mac&Cheese

Normally, I like my mac&cheese unadorned, but I am trying to eat healthier, so here's what I did:

1 box gf mac&cheese (Annie's, Trader Joe's, Pastariso, whatever)

1/4 c nonfat milk

1 Tbs butter

1 carrot, grated fine

85 g frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped smaller

Boil macaroni in salted water. Combine sauce mix and milk in a measuring cup and stir well until smooth. When macaroni is ready, drain, rinse well, and leave in colander. Rinse pot and return it to stove over medium-low heat. Melt butter and add carrot, then cook while stirring regularly until a little soft. Add broccoli and cheese sauce, stir to combine. Add cooked macaroni and stir well over medium heat until sauce thickens a little, which takes at least a few minutes.

This made three generous portions, two of which I froze for later consumption. They reheated nicely in the microwave.

Invention #5: Carrot-Yogurt Salad

I make my own yogurt using a Deni yogurt incubator, so I usually have some on-hand.

6 oz. plain, nonfat yogurt

dill, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

28 g pistachios, chopped

1 carrot, shredded fine

2 Tbs ground flaxseed

Mix yogurt together with seasonings until well blended. Add pistachios and flaxseed and mix well. Mix in carrot. Ta-da! Very satisfyingly crunchy.

Invention #6: Pasta Salad

A friend of mine is having a potluck party this weekend, and is providing ice cream so she prefers that people not bring dessert. I have a lot of gf baking supplies on hand, but not much for baking savory things. She did say it was ok to show up empty-handed, but I felt embarrassed to do so.

Fortunately, I had an idea.

1 small onion, chopped (or 1/2 onion; I think I had a little too much)

1/2 c. plain, nonfat yogurt

1 tsp dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1-2 Tbs olive oil

1-2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 medium carrot

7-8 oz. dry GF pasta

leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh mint

salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion, separate the pieces well and soak in a baking soda solution (1 Tbs : 1 c water) for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse well.

Combine yogurt, dill, garlic powder, olive oil, and vinegar in a small bowl. Add onion after soaking/draining/rinsing. Cover and refrigerate overnight (optional).

Boil water in a large pot. When it reaches a rolling boil, stir in pasta and a generous shake of salt. Stir regularly, especially in the first couple of minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile, grate the carrot into a large bowl, using the coarsest side of a box grater. Add yogurt mixture and mix well.

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse briefly, shake out extra water, then add to bowl while still warm. Stir well to combine ingredients thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Snip mint leaves into small pieces over bowl, then stir to combine completely. Transfer salad to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve (preferably in the next day or so).

* After successfully reaching the "normal" BMI range, I fell into summer slothfulness (and travel-eating) and gained back some of the weight I'd lost. I decided that it's not worth berating myself over every cookie, but there had to be a way to balance rich snacks with healthy eating habits. My solution? First of all, treats are one small desserty-snack and one richer meal per day; second, I only get to have those days if my weight is down when I do the Wii Fit "body test" in the morning. If it's not down, then it's healthy-eating-only that day. So far, it's working fine (and I've re-lost about half the weight I'd re-gained).

A couple of days ago, a new friend was surprised to hear that I'd had a donut for breakfast that morning. Specifically, she asked, "How do you look like that, if you eat donuts?" I explained my treat-day system. But also thanked her: no one had ever before implied that I looked like someone who didn't eat donuts. I guess anything's possible. :-)

How possibilities can change ...

It has been over a year since I've updated this blog, but I think about it regularly. It's hard to find time to post, yes, and even harder to find adequate time to take good photos of the things I cook (even when there is time to cook). But, I invented a recipe this morning that I'd like to share, and I have some thoughts, in any case.

When I began this blog, nearly four years ago, it was my assumption that my body type was pretty much set for life, whatever changes I might make in my habits. But last summer, I decided I wasn't happy enough with my habits and needed to make more lasting changes.

I was exercising too little, eating too much, too frequently, too unhealthily. I had lost the habit of going a few days between servings of sweets, and of cooking up good food that I could grab for a meal when I was in a hurry. I needed better motivation. So, I decided to try Wii Fit.

It was a significant initial investment, so I saved my money by quitting my YMCA membership and using my second-hand exercise bike for exercise for a few months until I had enough money for the Wii and the Wii Fit. I quickly discovered that I don't like the Wii Fit's reliance on the BMI as the only measure of the user's health, and the fat-shaming it gives you if you're outside the "normal" range. And was I outside the "normal" range? Oh yeah, I was "obese." Which is just a lovely thing to be told every morning.

But, I did like the activities themselves, and found it cathartic to yell at the Wii when it called me "obese" or "unbalanced." After all, it is a gaming system, so I made it a game. I decided to stick with it, did different combinations of exercises every day that added up to 30 minutes, and built up my will power to skip desserts and bring my portion sizes back down.

And, lo and behold, and really at least somewhat to my surprise, I actually did start to lose weight. And kept losing it. And losing it. I went from a BMI of something like 32.25 to my current 24.75. That's nearly 40 lbs, on my 5'2" frame, and puts me within the "normal" range for the first time in over half my life. More importantly, I have more energy than ever, and I can actually run. I'm planning to participate in a 5K race in June.

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and I have started observing Lent much more, well, observantly in the past few years. I've decided that my health is a gift, and I should show my thanks by adhering strictly to my healthiest habits during Lent: 30 min aerobic exercise every day; meals made up of small portions of healthy foods like plain, nonfat yogurt, whole grains, vegetables, beans, and the occasional natural peanut butter and unsweetened jelly; no coffee or tea (except herbal); no alcohol; no sweets at all; no snacks. I also give up shopping for anything I could live without until Easter, so I end up doing a lot of creative cooking and rummaging through my pantry and freezer. I've eaten a LOT of various kinds of beans with brown rice.

And today, I made up a muffin recipe, thanks to the mashed roasted peaches I found in the freezer. (Note: I totally don't remember how I roasted the peaches and am too lazy this evening to find that recipe. If you don't want to try faking it, you can probably get the same effect by buying a can of peaches packed in juice without sugar and mashing them up with a potato masher.) This recipe is actually vegan! And decently tasty, although the muffins break pretty easily. But they contain no fat other than flaxseeds, are sweetened with brown rice syrup (Lundberg Farms is GF), and probably have at least a little protein in them.

I used Annalise Roberts's Gluten-Free Baking Classics as a guide for some of the quantities.

PEACH GINGER MUFFINS (GF/Vegan)

Dry ingredients:

3/4 c. ground flaxseed meal

1 c. millet flour

1 c. garfava flour

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Wet ingredients:

5/6 c. brown rice syrup

3/4 c. mashed, cooked peaches, in liquid

1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, whisking to combine thoroughly.

In a smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients and stir well. The syrup is heavy, so you will need to stir thoroughly.

[The above steps can be done the night before, if you want to be able to make fresh muffins quickly in the morning—although, I actually was able to do this whole process pretty fast. Just close each container well and store in the fridge.]

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 12 muffin cups with olive oil (I use a set of silicone baking cups arranged on a cookie sheet; if using a metal muffin tin, I'd suggest lining with paper).

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well incorporated, then spoon into muffin cups, distributing evenly. The batter will not quite fill the cups.

Bake about 22 minutes, or until firm and slightly golden on top. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool. The first one was tasty when cooled just slightly.

I've frozen the rest for future breakfasts. Hoping they reheat well!

How to make a cream sauce with no flour and lots of flavor

Yes, it's sometimes going to be a long time between posts. And I mean a loooong time. Sorry 'bout that. Also? This is totally not one of those healthy-eating posts, in the sense that even reading about this quantity of butterfat might just raise your cholesterol about 10 points. But there is some pretty good nutrition here, too, and it's not like I'm suggesting we eat this way every day.

When I was a graduate student in Chicago, I worked at a cafe in Rogers Park called Ennui Café. One of my coworkers was a culinary student who told me her approach to cream sauces: instead of starting with a roux, start with equal parts heavy cream and white wine, and reduce it down about 50%. Finding myself with some extra cream on-hand after making ice cream (more on that later), I decided to give it a try. Another person I met recently had a good rule of thumb for vegetarian meal-building: "a grain, a green and a protein," so I added canned navy beans and frozen, chopped spinach. Knowing that (a) vitamin C increases iron absorption from leafy greens and (b) tomatoes are yummy, I added some canned crushed tomatoes.

I'm still doing my best to use local ingredients, but since I spent most of last summer scuba diving instead of prowling farmers' markets and putting up veggies for the winter, there are a lot of supermarket goods in this one.

By the way, I've decided that there is no point in eating any brown rice pasta other than Tinkyada, ever again. Fin.

Brown Rice Fusilli and Navy Beans with Spinach-Tomato-"Atwell's Gold" Cream Sauce

makes 2-3 servings

2 c. light or heavy cream

2 c. white wine (I used Newport Vineyards Pinot Grigio)

Combine in a medium saucepan over medium heat and simmer to reduce. This will take bloody forever. Try being braver than I was, and turn up the heat a little more to speed up the process.

Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil for pasta, and ...

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

6 cloves garlic (or less, if you're not quite as insane for garlic as I am)

1 c. canned navy beans or cannelini, drained and rinsed

generous pinch of salt

1/2 c. canned crushed tomatoes, lifted out of the sauce with a fork to get as high a tomato:sauce ratio as possible

2 c. frozen spinach

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, then crush and add the garlic. Stir for a few minutes until garlic is fragrant and a little bubbly. Stir in beans and salt and cook for about five minutes to allow the starchy beans to soak up the flavors. Mix in tomatoes to deglaze pan and stir until warm. Add spinach and sauté, stirring occasionally, until warm and well distributed, then set aside.

When the pasta water is boiling, check to see whether the cream mixture is at least down to 2 1/2 cups volume. If not, turn the water to low or off and wait. Once it is, ...

2 c. (dry) brown rice fusilli or other short pasta (penne, etc.)

Add to rapidly boiling water along with a generous amount of salt, at least a couple teaspoons. Stir for the first couple minutes, then occasionally until desired tenderness. Drain, rinse and return to pot and toss with spinach mixture, and set aside.

When sauce is reduced to 2 c., reduce heat to low and start adding cheese:

1/2 c. freshly grated Atwell's Gold, asiago or pecorino romano cheese, plus additional for serving

Over low heat, add cheese a small pinch at a time, stirring after each addition until completely incorporated. When all cheese has been added, pour cheese sauce over pasta and spinach and combine over low heat, stirring gently until warmed through.

Serve in a warmed pasta bowl, topped with additional cheese and freshly ground pepper. Mwah!

** If you're dining alone, you can eat possibly deliciously for two nights! The whole thing might reheat well, but I didn't try it. What I did do was the following: Boil only 1 c. pasta and shred only 1/4 c. cheese (+ a little). When the spinach is all thawed and distributed, put half the mixture in a lidded container and refrigerate. When the cream mixture is down to 2 c., put 1 c. in a separate lidded container and refrigerate that, then proceed as above.

When it's time for leftovers, start the pasta first and shred the cheese while waiting for the water to come to a boil. As soon as the pasta's in the water and boiling happily, start warming the cream concoction over low heat. It will look like it's separating and bad things are happening, but I promise it's fine; I just did it. The pasta should be done just before the sauce is warm enough to add the cheese; drain, rinse, and return the pasta to the pot along with the cold spinach mixture. Heat the two together over low heat. Next, start adding the cheese to the sauce, slowly as above. As soon as all the cheese is in, pour this over the pasta mixture and heat thoroughly.

And about dessert ...

I'm feeling downright smug, because I succeeded in making tartufi, or scoops of ice cream encased in a coating of chocolate so that they look like big truffles. I used David Lebovitz's recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style, and his recipe/instructions for tartufi (except that I substituted brown rice syrup for corn syrup because corn syrup makes me cringe), and it was downright easy. Using my brief training as a helper at the now-defunct Ursula's, I drizzled them with white chocolate (which I thinned with whole milk, which I'm not sure was a good move but it made it drizzlable). And then served them over a small pool of raspberry sauce à la Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Plus, I made moose-munch-only-it's-not-moose-munch-because-that's-a-copyrighted-name from Patrick Evans-Hylton's Popcorn book, again substituting brown rice syrup for corn syrup and also mixing unsweetened chocolate about 50/50 with the milk chocolate for a richer flavor. I got a Whirley-Pop recently, and have been giving it a real workout because I loooooove popcorn. I was feeling very intimidated by toffee-involved recipes, and this was messy but overall pretty easy. And it made a lot.

Roasted butternut squash over pecorino grits

Q:

What happens when two Southerners meet and get married in the North, and raise two Yankee children, one of whom ends up going to college in northern California?

A:

Dishes like this one.



ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH OVER PECORINO GRITS

This is one of those meals that came out of the thought process of, "hmm, how can I use all those bits of leftover ingredients already in my kitchen?"

I had a few slices of roasted butternut squash, a small quantity of caramelized red onions, a wedge of pecorino cheese, a container of "quick" grits, a jar of pre-minced garlic, a bottle of homemade balsamic vinaigrette, a plastic boxy-thing of pre-washed salad greens, and a bag of walnuts.

I boiled a little more than 1 cup of water, stirred in 1/4 cup grits and about 1/2 tsp of minced garlic, then covered the saucepan, lowered heat to med-low and cooked (stirring occasionally) for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I shredded a whole bunch of cheese and found my bottle of ground cayenne pepper, and in a separate bowl, tossed a large handful of greens with a small amount of dressing. When the grits were about done, I mixed in the cheese and cayenne, then covered it again and turned the heat to lowest. Meanwhile, I microwaved the squash and onions for about 30 sec, and toasted a small handful of walnuts in a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat.



To assemble, I made a small mound of grits in the middle of the plate, arranged the butternut squash slices on top, then scattered the caramelized red onion over that. Next, I scattered the vinaigrette greens over that and topped with the toasted walnuts. Yum!

So, why do I like grits? Because I come from a Southern family. Why do I like them with cayenne pepper in them? That'll probably be the Baton Rouge side of the family. And the pecorino cheese? That'll be the years in California. And the butternut squash and walnuts? Pretty sure that's the Yankee in me.

Buckwheat Blueberry Bread

Um.  Hi.

Back when I introduced myself, I believe I mentioned being a teacher. Which may explain my complete lack of posts since before September 1. Still, wow, that's embarrassing. I had such grand plans! But I am still trying to keep to the philosophy, if not the posting, so there's hope. And I have a big backlog of photos of projects that didn't get posted back in the summer. Keep peeking in here from time to time, and I'll try to keep putting something up from time to time.

Like today.

So, how've I been doing? Well, I've trained myself to feel full on much smaller portions, to eat more variety and less cheese, to snack less frequently and to eat ice cream and others sweets much less frequently. I've been taking yoga classes weekly since mid-September, and even practicing on my own sometimes. I've been wogging (alternately jogging and walking on a loop around my neighborhood) sporadically and have taken to ice skating weekly on Thursdays. I've given blood successfully, so my iron count must be fine, and my blood pressure is still nice and low. I haven't gotten around to going to a doctor yet, so I don't know any stats about my cholesterol, but I'm optimistic. And I finally called the office of a new doctor just before sitting down to write this, so I should be back on track with regular health care soon. (Okay, I need a dentist, too. I'm hoping the new doctor might have advice about local dentists who get the gluten-free thing.) I don't own a scale and haven't weighed myself, but I'm wearing one size smaller than I was last summer, and am getting comments from friends at work. I'm working really hard not to let my self-image get tied up in my weight, but I do feel better about myself, nonetheless.

A lot of my healthier eating has taken place through variety and portion control, more than through avoiding fats and sugars. I'm saving money by eating less and making my groceries last longer (and buying fewer of them when I shop).

So the recipe I invented today isn't exactly heart-healthy.

BUCKWHEAT BLUEBERRY BREAD

This is a sweet, almost toffee-ish bread with a crisp, chewy outside and soft inside. It's the descendant of my previous experiments with buckwheat-cornmeal pancakes, which I started doing when I had too much cooked buckwheat porridge and couldn't begin to face eating it anymore.



1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp egg replacer
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup cooked buckwheat porridge
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan and dust the bottom and lower sides with cornmeal.
2. In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and egg replacer. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon. Add the brown sugar and cream well to combine. Mix in the egg and vanilla, stirring well until smooth. Add yogurt and mix thoroughly. Add buckwheat porridge, using back of spoon to mash if it has become solid from sitting, and mix until well combined.
4. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients until the surface is just coated, then mix them in. Repeat until all of dry ingredients have been added to wet, and the batter is uniform.
5. Fold in blueberries until well distributed. Pour batter into pan and use spoon to level top.
6. Bake about 1 hr, 10 min, or until bread is firm and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan about 10 minutes (which I didn't - oops!), then run a spatula around the edges of the pan before turning bread out onto a rack to cool completely.

Frozen Macaroni & Cheese dinners for those busy nights

Just ask anyone who's ever lived with me - macaroni & cheese is my go-to, default meal. When I was little and would hardly eat anything? Macaroni & cheese was one of my favorite foods. (As was broccoli. True story.)

Until I had to stop eating gluten, Annie's shells and cheddar was approximately my favorite thing on the planet. Their GF version doesn't thrill me as much, although I do like it. I find that DeBoles rice pasta and cheese dinner is much closer to the flavor of the original Annie's (for some reason, Annie's uses a different cheese in their GF dinner than in their original).

Just last night, I decided I needed to cook up that box of DeBoles that had been sitting in my pantry. Remember that broccoli-love I mentioned? Mmm, they taste great together.



But what I really loved when I was a kid was the Stouffer's frozen macaroni & cheese entrée, and since the start of my gluten-free diet, I've been a fan of Amy's rice macaroni & cheese. The problem is, a frozen entrée sells for upwards of $3 at my local Shaw's, and also it's not the best nutritional choice out there.

So, a week or two back, I pulled out my Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods, and did a little calculating. If a 9"x13" casserole makes 8 servings, what size stoneware dish do I need for an individual serving? Then, I went online and bought eight 16-oz ramekins with fitted rubber lids, and got ready to cook.

Let me take this moment to send my thoughts to the family of Bette Hagman, The Gluten-Free Gourmet herself, who passed away recently. She has given us all a great deal, and will truly be missed. Although I didn't follow her recipe exactly in this case, and haven't technically baked any of it yet, this one is


I mostly followed Bette's recipe for macaroni & cheese casserole, with two ingredient changes: in place of the butter, I used olive oil; and for the cheddar cheese, I used Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar. I tasted the sauce, and trust me, nothing's missing.



I combined the cooked macaroni with the sauce back in the boiling pot (after rinsing pot and macaroni well with cold water), stirred them together, then spooned the mixture into the ramekins. I covered each with its lid, then stacked them in the freezer. Stoneware can go from freezer to microwave or oven to dishwasher (if I had one), so it's perfect for homemade frozen dinners. Looking forward to quickly grabbing one of these on a busy night when I want something yummy and don't have time to cook it!