Bread , it was bound to happen

So I hadn't had a really bad loaf of bread yet. Some didn't rise like they should have but they were passable at least. Then the concave loaf happened. So ashamed, I immediately got cracking on another loaf to rectify the situation. The fallen loaf is now bird food. LOL. nice way to dispose of it I think? But for your amusement, a picture of the bad loaf, and one of the good loaf…..

Gf dinners are fun!

Beef tips with GF: cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, chicken broth (I ran out of beef broth) and spaghetti! I also made garlic bread out of my newest loaf of GF bread out of the bread machine :-) I can say, I was totally digging this!

more links to gluten free lists

From Hunt's (I live in PA, we are all about the ketchup!) :
http://www.penny.ca/Hunts.htm

Some Grocery store in Massachusettes, but they have a nice listing of gluten free products:
http://www.colellas.com/gluten_free_products.htm

Wolfgang Puck (sold through Campbell's):
http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/pdf/FAQ_GlutenFreeProductList_WolfgangPuck.pdf

Campbell's:
http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/pdf/FAQ_GlutenFreeProductList.pdf

Possibly one of the best GF Links

http://www.gfoverflow.com/m/index.php
You can search all sorts of stuff to be gluten free :-)

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Ken's mom has made this before for us and we have never successfully recreated it, until now!   It really is a yummy treat.   It's different from other Mac and Cheese recipe's as the cheese curdles and becomes little clouds of cheesy goodness!  I used brown rice macaroni noodles in the following recipe:  

2 cans evaporated milk

½ tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

2 T minced onion

10 oz cubed cheese (sharp or cheddar, sharp works best)

2 T butter

1 egg, beaten 

Put all the ingrediants in the crock pot and stir well.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hr.   Stir occasionally.   Then add in 1 ½ cups dry macaroni.   Stir and cook on LOW for 3-5 hours, however ours was done in 1 hr 15 min.  The cheese will look curdled when it’s done.   

Bread, glorious bread

So the bread journey continues. Last night I made loaf #4 and by far the most normal looking one. It doubled in size and has real nooks and crannies in it! You wouldn't be able to tell it's Gluten Free. SCORE! I think the best tasting loaf so far has been the cinnamon raisin. I am making another loaf of that this weekend. :-) The White loaf is going to be cut up for stuffing for our Christmas dinner with my family tomorrow.
Also of note, Classico's red and white sauces are gluten free. I decided to mix the vodka sauce and Alfredo together and bake with some penne, Italian cheese blend and gf bread crumbs. Mmm mmmm good! The next night we reheated it and added the AppleGate farms gf chicken nuggets with some cheese on-top for a bite sized chicken parm. I can say this was awesome. Will make again :)

Bread Machines and new goodies at Wegman's

As the cost of anything Gluten Free is borderline prohibatively expensive, I decided to start looking into a bread machine to start making my own gluten free bread as almost $6.00 a loaf makes me wanna cry.  I have almost gotten to the point where I don't even look at the prices of my gluten free items and just accept the high bill at the end.   So my friend gave me hers as she was no longer using it.  I purchased a book for gluten free bread machine recipe's (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0778802388/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00)  and the first loaf turned out OK.  Yeast and I are still learning to work together.   I have another loaf in the bread maker right now following Oster's recomendation for gluten free breads in their bread machines.   The book said to do a dough cycle then a bake cycle, they said:

Thank you for contacting Oster, a brand of JardenConsumer Solutions.     

We recommend the wheat setting for gluten free bread.

We appreciate your business and are happy to help if youhave any further questions.

Sincerely,

Margarita

Jarden Consumer Solutions

www.oster.com

We are interested in your feedback regarding your emailexperience. Please click the link below to complete our online customersatisfaction survey. You will need to enter in or copy/paste the followingreference number.  1-1634342011

http://research.affina.com/snaponline/surveylogin.asp?k=128864872801

So that is the current experiment and I should know in 3 hours if it worked.    Fingers and toes crossed.

On another note, we hit Wegman's the other day and investigated their newly expanded gluten free section and they have a lot of teh same stuff as my Giant does, but some other nifty finds, like gluten free pizzelles!!! so incredibly happy :-)  They are close to what I grew up with.   (http://www.bellaluciaglutenfree.com/).  Also of note, they had Bell and Evans gluten free chicken nuggets and chicken breasts, and they are good.   It's nice to have options.  I still love the Applegate Farms nuggets, but there is room in more life for more than one brand.  :-)