The Sinister Scribe

GF Dingle PIes

These were quite yummy but I did forget the Xanthan Gum. Oh well. I have plenty of filling so I can try again tomorrow.

It was good to finally get to Karate class tonight. We did super-slow-mo katas and I think I finally got Ichi. Woot! Been having trouble with those big turns and getting those low stances LOW. It also helped to have Sensei Komez right there to watch. I realized she drops her stance a bit right before those deep turns. Aha! I know I still need TONZ of practice but it sure feels better now.

Th-th-that’s all folks. I’m getting to bed on time tonight! More new recipes tomorrow. And eventually I will also post some of the homeschooling things I’ve been up to lately. LOL!

Gluten Free Pizza!

Thought I’d comment on the GF recipes we used yesterday. They were all awesome!

The Quiche went pictureless as it disappeared too darned quickly. We did the crustless version. It was very good! And we’re not really quiche people, so that was a surprise.

Since breakfast was more of a brunch, we skipped lunch and had pizza for dinner.

Wow! This was our best GF pizza ever and I think it is because of 2 things… 1 resting time for the dough and 2 longer cooking time. AFter I mixed the ingredients, I let it all sit in the mixer bowl for about 30 minutes (covered in a warm spot). Then mixed it some more with a bit more water. Bob cooked the crusts for 20 minutes on regular baking cycle (not convection) This may be more due to our oven than anything else so YMMV.

The result was a crispy crust that was completely done through… no gooey center and no collapsing!

Oh! I used this recipe from Living Without but substituted this flour blend with garbanzo flour (because it has become a cupboard staple here).

Here’s the recipe for the Deep Chocolate Meringue pie. I substituted the above flour blend for he AP flour indicated. The crust was a recipe from the back of a Bob’s Red Mill rice flour package. Here it is. It cracked a lot but otherwise worked fine.

Hope your Pi Day was delish!

I know I’ve skipped a few weeks and I may get them up here eventually but for now… moving forward to next week’s menu. I’m trying to smooth out the process by creating this list as I print recipes and make my shopping list. If you use Shopping list Software from Home Plan, you can use this “itm” file. I’ve tried to include everything (except the frozen peas, blech!) so there will likely be a lot you can delete if you use it.

For Pi Day:

• Quiche
• Irish Cottage Pie
• Pizza Pie (gonna use pizza crust mix)

Rest of the week:

• Beef & Guinness Pie
• Corned Beef (on sale at Gerbe’s) & Champ
• Boxty & Dublin Coddle
• Dingle Pies (GF crust)

This is how my 12yo son makes it…

4C water and 3 bullion cubes
2 eggs
1/4 tsp ginger powdered
2T corn starch

Optional:
chopped green onion

Beat eggs, set aside. Mix 3/4 cup of the water with starch, set aside. Put remaining water & bullion in pot. Add ginger.

Bring pot to a boil and using a fork, drip in egg. Shake starch mixture and add to pot. Stirring carefully until thickened. Add green onion if using.

We like to ladle ours over rice.

You can use broth if you have it on hand. If so, you may want to add some salt or other seasonings. I usually have one or the other on hand. Found a good deal on WF bullion cubes not too long ago so that is usually what we use right now.

Delish and frugal too!

Yep, I’m rather behind again. I’ll catch up and get week 5 up if/when I can. Wanted to get this one up at least since last night Bob and I sat down and worked out next week. I even have my shopping list all ready to go! Woohoo!

On Sunday I got all meat prepped with marinades and into the freezer so mealtime prep has been a cinch and the meat has been extra yummy.

1. Fooshi rolls (see picture) or “faux sushi” IOW, no raw fish (sadly), tamagoyaki, egg drop soup
2. Oyakodon & rice: Changes: calrose rice, fewer eggs and chicken broth rather than dashi.
3. Coriander Teriyaki Steak with stir-fry veg over rice
4. Soy Glazed Chicken with stir-fry veg over… rice
5. Beef Bowl over… you guessed it, rice (a repeat recipe)
6. Teriyaki Chicken, sesame green beans and… more rice
7. Potstickers, rice and egg drop soup

Will get links up soon…. errr… soon as I can. Taa Daa!

Forgot to add the jobusai (freezer/fridge stash for lunches): Carrot Kinpira, honey mustard salad pickles and Spinach with sesame sauce.

This is going to sound old but all these recipes were great! Two were old standbys but the kids liked and ate ALL of them. Woot!

1. White Bean Bisque with Garlic Chips
   I was out of fresh garlic so I used powdered. Also made cornbread & side salad to go with it. We ALL loved it. 5 star.
2. Potato Leek
   An old standby.  Forgot leeks so I carmelized the onion.
3. Butternut Squash & Ham Bisque
   Another oldie but goodie.
4. Italian Wedding (slight mod to make GF)
   Where it called for bread crumbs I just substituted the same amount of WF flour mix. I really did not expect the kids to like this but they did! Not enough to have seconds but enough to finish a bowl full. 5 star.
5. Tortilla Soup with Chicken & Lime
   Oh! My! We all loved it. I did “cheat” and use store bought tortilla chips. My only complaint is that one batch isn’t big enough. LOL! So 4 stars on a technicality.

Next week we’re heading back to the Mediterranean area for Italian food…

This week’s theme is not really about geography as it is about weather. It is going to be cold this week!

1. White Bean Bisque with Garlic Chips
2. Potato Leek
3. Butternut Squash & Ham Bisque
4. Italian Wedding (slight mod to make GF)
5. Tortilla Soup with Chicken & Lime

We’ve already made the white Bean Bisque with GF cornbread. Yummo! Definitely a 5 star. I was out of garlic cloves this time so we didn’t to the chips

Going to have to streamline this or I’ll never keep it up!

Week 3 theme was South American and was nommy! It went something like this:

1. Empanadas
   Used leftover chicken and beef for filling and GF tortilla recipe for dough.
2. Peruvian Grilled Chicken
3. Arepas
4. Yucatecan-Style Pork
5. Enchiladas
   made corn torts with masa flour
   left over pork and chicken for filling
6. Skirt Steak Tacos with homemade GF tortillas

All recipes were great and al 5 star according to my rating system

1. Everyone likes it
2. minimal prep/cook time
3. Leftover/Freezer friendly
4. Cost effective
5. Will make again

The arepas had to be the most popular, hands down! First go was with masa corn flour and then I found some actual arepa flour. The flours are different for whatever reason but both made awesome arepas. We used mozzarella cheese.

For the “skirt steak” I used what was on sale. I don’t remember what it was called. The names of cuts of beef make no sense to me and I can never find the one I am looking for anyway. Target was something thin and cheap.

This week’s theme is Mediterranean… sort of. We’ve got an Indian and italian recipes in there too. LOL! At first I had down 5 new recipes but as the ingredient list grew longer and longer, I knew I had to cut back so Here are the new recipes:

1. Cold Plate Night: Keftedes, Hummus & Tzatziki & GF fry bread
2. Gyros Meat Sandwiches (using beef not lamb) & GF Tortillas
3. MYO GF calzones
4. Spicy Beef, Bombay Potatoes & Salad

In there somewhere will be a baked potato night and a left over night. I think the grocery bill this week was under $60. But I had a lot of what was needed already on hand. All breads will be from this GF flour mix and a tortilla recipe I found…somewhere.

Onward and upward!

Wow! That went fast!

Dinner prep went great and lunches were all delicious leftovers.

Thinking of coming up with a rating system. One point/star for each of the following

1. Everyone likes it
2. minimal prep/cook time
3. Leftover/Freezer friendly
4. Cost effective
5. Will make again

I’m only going to rate the new recipes…

1. Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork roast : 5 stars…  Very yummy and easy to prepare. Made dinner and several lunches!

2. Japanese Beef bowl & rice: 5 stars … Easy peasy! I can see adding a veg to it… carrots or broccoli maybe. But oh so good! Should get an extra star for being a one bowl meal too.

3. Sesame Chicken Pasta : One star… for cost. I could see this as a good summer pot luck dish. The recipe made a HUGE amount!

4. Seoul-ful Chicken with Minted Cucumbers & Rice: 3 stars… (make again, cost, freezer) It is really only partially freezer friendly. The cucumbers wouldn’t freeze, but the chicken will.

5. Pot stickers definite 5 star! Have made several batches already. I liked the dough best when I ran it through my kitchenaid mixer but even when I didn’t it was nice. I’ve tried freezing a few before cooking to see how well they cook after thawing. We used leftover char siu pork and beef bowl meets so all I did for the filling was chop them into smaller pieces. Dough could be made ahead too.

This week has only a few mediterranean recipes and we’ve already tried one.. keftedes! Yumm!