Creamy Spinach Casserole - Very Good! - and Gluten Free Too!

Creamy Spinach Bake - Gluten Free and Delicious!

I was looking through some old Taste of Home recipes and found a recipe for Creamy Spinach.  I wanted a complete easy to serve supper so I figured I'd add some mashed potato and Farmers Sausage to the recipe.  This was served to 4 teens who at first complained, groaned and grimaced over their supper - they do not like spinach or swiss chard!  They all got a serving on their plate and after one bite they all changed their minds and they all had seconds!

You can use a can of  fried onions or you can make your own.  They are easy to make and can be made gluten free very easily. I assembled this in the morning and put in the fridge.  Just before baking add the crumbs and french fried onions. Recipe for Fried Onions and Cream Sauce shown below.

Creamy Spinach Casserole
1 package 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (or make 1 1/4 cup of cream sauce - recipe below)
2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained. ( I used homegrown swiss chard)
1 can french-fried onions (make your own gluten free french fried onions - recipe below)
2/3 cup bread crumbs (use gluten free if required)
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 large potatoes, cooked and mashed with a bit of butter
350- 400 grams Farmers Sausage - sliced ( slice when partly frozen)
Method

Cook and mash potatoes.  Spread in bottom of 10" x 10" x 2" casserole dish.
Slice farmers sausage into thin circles.  Layer over potatoes.
In separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the soup or cream sauce; mix well.  Blend in spinach.  Spread over the sausage and potatoes.  At this point you can cover and put in fridge.
When ready to bake: sprinkle french fried onion rings over casserole (see recipe below).  Combine bread crumbs and melted butter.  Sprinkle over casserole.  Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes until filling is bubbly.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.  Top layer will be saucy.  Serves 5-6 .

                                                                   

    

Gluten Free Cream Sauce - to use instead of mushroom soup - this is what I used.

In sauce pan melt: 2 tablespoons butter.  Stir in 2 tablespoons of rice flour and 1 cup of milk.  Stir and cook over medium heat until thickened.

Gluten Free French Fried Onion Rings:   Slice 1 medium onion into thin rings - separate.  Place in a shallow bowl.  Add 1/2 cup milk (use in cream sauce later).  Let sit for 15 minutes, stir around to make them all moistened.
In a clean plastic bag put 1/2 cup of rice flour and a shake of salt and pepper.  Remove onion rings from milk - reserving milk for cream sauce.  Toss in the flour mixture inside of the bag and deep fry in hot oil until light brown.  Place on paper towel.                                                                  

thinly sliced onions

Deep Frying the onions in about 1 1/2" hot oil

Pizza Buns - Great for Lunch!

When the older boys were in Calvin I made these a lot for lunches.  Then Yvonne and I made them for the school's hot lunch day.  I'm making them again for my last four teenagers - easy to pop in a lunch on the way out the door.

Pizza Bun Dough- 
7 cups warm water
3 tablespoons Yeast
1/2 cup sugar
17-18 cups flour
1 cup margarine or butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons salt
Method:
In large mixing bowl place the water, yeast and a tsp. sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes until  yeast grows.  Add the flour, sugar, salt and margarine.  Mix on medium until smooth and elastic about 15 minutes.  Cover with towel and let rise until double.  Punch down.

Filling:
1 kg. diced pepperoni
5 cups tomato concentrate (do a mix of tomato paste and tomato sauce)
1 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
 200 grams shredded cheddar or mozzarella (depending on how cheesy you want them)
Mix the pepperoni, oregano, sugar salt and cheese together.  Add the tomato concentrate a cup at a time until it is saucy but not runny.

Pinch off about a golf ball size of dough (100 grams)and flatten in hand or on counter.  Place a spoon full of filling in center and pull up sides of circle and pinch in center to form a ball.  Place seam side down on greased baking sheet.  Let rise until light and almost double in size.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden.  Cool on racks .  The frozen buns microwave well.

Scaled down version:
Make a 2 lb basic white bread dough recipe in  your bread machine.
Filling:
2 cups diced pepperoni
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/4 teaspoon oregano.

Grandma Booy's Turkey Dinner - Gluten Free

1 20 lb turkey (Booy's always purchase Utility grade for .99lb!)
1/2 cup rice flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cooking oil

Thaw turkey for a few days in the fridge. Cut into wings, drumsticks, thighs, breast meat etc.
In large plastic bag put the flour and spices. Put a few pieces of turkey into bag. Roll the pieces around in the flour mixture. Place on baking sheet to air dry while you heat the oil and butter.
In large frying pan melt butter and oil together over medium heat. Brown each piece of turkey quickly and place in large roaster. I layer the breast meat on the bottom and then the brown meat so that the breast meat will not dry out.
At this point you can cover and refridgerate your turkey and bake it the next day or you can roast it.
Cover roaster with aluminum foil and bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 325 and bake for an additional 2-3 hours or until tender. Remove foil or cover for last 30 minutes.

Grandma always served this turkey with a rice stuffing, brussel sprouts, corn, cranberry sauce and applesauce. It was served at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with apple and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Slow Cooker GF Cajun BlackBean & Sausage Gumbo

Ingredients:
1-2 cups dried black beans or 3-4 cups canned black beans
7 cups water
Soak dried beans overnight in cold water to cover.  Next morning drain and cover with 7 cups of water.  Cook until soft - this could take one hour on stove top or in a pressure cooker cook 10 minutes and let cool.  Or, just use canned black beans 3-4 cups. You can use some of the cooked bean water in your soup.


In your slow cooker or pot on stove put the following:
2lbs Farmers Sausage, chopped into chunks (Farmers sausage is a lightly smoked sausage)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons thyme powder
2 cups onions, diced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 cup rice flour
At this point stir the ingredients that are in the slow cooker. then add:
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce or worchestershire sauce (both are good)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes 14 oz. approx.
Add more water to fill pot.
salt to taste - if you use homemade stock or low salt stock you may need to add at least 3-4 teaspoons.
Stir in the cooked or canned black beans.  Cover and cook on low 10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
If you wish you may brown the onions and Farmers Sausage first in a frying pan and then add.
This is very tasty as a soup or served over brown rice with a side of crusty bread/dinner rolls and a salad.

Chocolate Beet Muffins

                                                             


Chocolate Beet Muffins


I have a lot of frozen beets in the freezer and the teenagers in our home hate beets!  So, a good way to use them up is sneak them in their muffins...they love these muffins and after a few years of doing this it's no longer a secret ingredient!

 Chocolate Beet Muffins        
 2 cups cooked pureed beets
 1 1/2 cups canola oi
4 eggs
 1/4 cup yogurt - optional.
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 cups whole wheat flour**
2 teaspoons baking soda   
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ground flax (optional but good.  If using add the 1/4 yogurt or milk for sure)
1-2 cups chocolate chips (also optional but good)


 Method:  In blender puree cooked beets with a bit of water , milk or yogurt to make a puree that is like a pourable batter - like pancake batter or applesauce.  Total should make 2 cups.  Pour into a large bowl and stir in the eggs, oil and yogurt.  In a separate bowl wisk or stir together the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips if using.  Add liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until moistened - do not over mix.
 Line 3 muffin pans with paper muffin liners.  Spoon filling into muffin papers until almost full.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

** You can also use all purpose white flour or unbleached in this recipe**

Dairy Free Gluten Free Empanada/Calzone/Pasty Dough Recipe

I prefer the cottage cheese recipe but if you cannot have dairy you can try this one - the dough is a bit drier tasting - more like a pie crust.  Makes 12
Gluten Free Empanada Flour Mix:
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup millet flour
1/2 cup fine rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour

Wisk the above ingredients together really well - set aside.
Gluten Free Empanada/Calzone/Pasty Recipe 
2 1/3 cup above empanada mix
3 teaspoons guar gum
2 teaspoons pysillium husk (found in bulk food or health food stores)
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening, lard or margarine cut into pieces
1 tbsp. vinegar
3 tablespoons cold water
1 egg
Mix together the empanada mix, guar gum and pysillium husk. .  Add the shortening and mix well with fingers rubbing into the flour mixture until well mixed.   Mix in the vinegar in the same way.  Add the egg mixed with the water and mix well.  Knead the dough on the counter for 1 minute.  Roll between plastic wrap and cut into circles.  Form into empanadas or calzones.  Bake at 350 until golden brown.

Gluten Free Empanada Dough, (Clazones, Pasty etc)

Gluten Free Empanada/Pasty with Egg Yolk Glaze

I have used cottage cheese in other pastries and thought that it might have a good "binding" effect and moisture holding qualities in "pocket" dough.   The one shown here has tinyl little "cracks" in the dough but it doesn't actually split - most did not even have the cracks at all.  The trick is to use a dough that  has good binding ingredients like the cottage cheese and guar gum.

Gluten Free Empanada Dough for Empanadas, Calzones, Pasty and other Pocket Foods.  Makes 12 6" Empanada's.
Gluten Free Empanada Flour Mix:

3/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup fine rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour

Wisk the above ingredients together really well - set aside.

Gluten Free Empanada Dough:
2 1/4 cups Gluten Free Empanada Flour Mix (above)
3 teaspoon guar gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons soft butter
3/4 cup 2% cottage cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
Wisk salt, guar gum and baking powder into flour mix. Add 4 teaspoons butter and rub in with hands or a fork.
 In food processor process cottage cheese and oil together.  Add egg white and flour mix.  Pulse until it comes together Remove from processor bowl..  On counter knead the dough for about 2 minute until it becomes smooth.
Cover  your dough with plastic wrap while you make the filling.
Make your filling - a good one is a Pasty filling that I will post later.  The filling should not be runny.
To make empanada, pasty or Calzones roll the dough between plastic wrap and cut into large circles.  Place filling on one half , fold dough over and pinch /crimp well.  Place on greased baking sheet. Prick in center with fork. Glaze if desired with brushed on egg yolk.  Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes until nicely browned.  Less baking and it will be a soft calzone - longer makes it more crispy.  I bake it until light brown the first time and then freeze.  Later when we eat them I will bake the frozen calzones until a darker brown and hot in center.
Another nice way of forming the calzones is to use the Birds Hill Enterprises Fried Pie Machine as shown below.

Birds Hill Fried Pie Machine with 6" turnover die

Cover die with plastic wrap

Add ball of gluten free pasty dough

Cover with another piece of plastic wrap

Slice die back into machine

Close Fried Pie Machine

Open Machine and remove top plastic wrap.

Place pasty filling on front half of circle

Fold the hinged die in half to fold and crimp the pasty

Lift pasty out of die - the extra dough will come off

Baked gluten free pasty without the egg yolk glaze.