Now for one of my many dirty little secrets: I love the kind of cranberry sauce that comes in a can. Always have. It is more like cranberry jello than cranberry sauce… which is awesome. But the new me couldn’t accept all the chemicals that typically go into that sort of thing. Strictly speaking, you can easily make the canned version just by making this jello recipe with bottled cranberry juice. But I’ve come up with this half-breed jellied cranberry sauce that I really like, so I’m going to show you how to make that here. I guess we’ll find out if I’m the only one who likes it! First, we have to make some traditional cranberry sauce, so start with a ten-ounce package of frozen cranberries, and dump 1 full cup of sugar on top.

Add 1 cup of water, and stir it all around. Another option is to use one cup of orange juice instead, which is a great flavor if you’re going the traditional route, but it does change the texture quite a bit if you go on to make my mock-can preparation, so you have to decide in advance which one you’re going to make.

Boil for about 10 minutes, until the skins of the cranberries begin to pop.

As it cools, it will thicken and goo-ify. Bet you won’t find that term in the Joy of Cooking glossary. Now, you can be a curmudgeonly coward and stop here, serving up a perfectly traditional but classy cranberry sauce. Or you can be a wild, modern trend-setter, and read on for something completely different.

First, make your sauce smooth in a blender or food processor.

There are probably still going to be some small bits, which I suppose you could try to strain out if you really wanted. Then, pour your puree into a large bowl.

Sprinkle one packet of Knox gelatin over the entire surface.

Pour in one cup of boiling water…

…and stir quickly to make sure all the gelatin dissolves.

Pour it into whatever container you want it to set in. These round tupperware containers are my homage to the metal can, of which I have precisely zero available in my kitchen.

Let it set in the fridge for several hours, and voila: jellied cranberry sauce! Fair warning, you may have to thwack pretty hard on the bottom of the container to get it to come out like this. But you could also leave it in the container — this stuff is still a bit spreadable, kind of like a very thick jam, which is the way I like it.

And while you’re planning your Thanksgiving table, don’t forget these great recipes:

Thanksgiving Turkey
Deviled Eggs
Sweet Potato and Apple Bake
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Corn Casserole
Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry Sauce

10-ounce bag frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water (or 1 cup orange juice)

Optional:
1 packet Knox gelatin
1 cup boiling water

See, it’s all about balance. Glutino, for example, can do the work of making these incredibly good gluten-free pretzels, and I will do the work of opening the bag. Sounds fair to me. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

The nice thing is, this recipe (which was originally given to me by my mother-in-law back in the Pre-GF Era) always called for a crushed-pretzel crust, so it was really pretty simple to convert once I decided to revisit it. A wide, flat crushing tool will be the most effective, but you could also enlist a child with a mallet if you happen to have one of those tugging at your sleeve.

Ultimately you want to end up with 1 1/2 cups (measured in its crushed state.) Then add in 2/3 cup of Spectrum shortening, which is kind of like a whipped butter substitute if you’ve never worked with it before. You can also use melted dairy-free margarine if you would rather, but shortening is one of those old-school ingredients grandma used to bake with, and there’s a reason. It adds a fluffiness to baked goods that just can’t be beat.

Add in 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and mix everything thoroughly with a fork until the shortening is evenly spread through.

The result will be kind of like a crumbly cookie dough, which you will then press into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Wet your hand with water occasionally while you’re doing this, otherwise it will want to stick to your fingers instead of staying down in the dish where it belongs. Bake it for 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, then take it out and allow it to cool completely while you’re working on the rest of the dessert.

Speaking of which, here is step one of the rest of the dessert. This is a 10-ounce bag of frozen strawberries that I have allowed to thaw, and then poured off the extra liquid into a measuring cup. You want to use frozen strawberries for this exact reason, even though you’re going to bring them back to room temperature, because the freezing breaks down the inner cellular structure so they do release all this lovely strawberry juice, and are softer in the final product.

Add water to the measuring cup until it reaches the 2 cup mark, then pour it all into a large bowl.

Sprinkle the contents of two gelatin packets over the surface of the liquid. You can buy plain gelatin packets in the baking aisle of any grocery store, and it is way cheaper and way healthier compared to buying that little box of chemicals that rhymes with yellow.

Now, measure out another 2 cups of some sort of strawberry-based fruit juice. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t even really have to contain any strawberry, something like a white grape juice would still be overwhelmed by the flavor of the strawberries and strawberry juice we’ve already put in the bowl. Heck, this “strawberry kiwi” juice I’m using is mostly apple juice itself. So use whatever you want.

Microwave the 2 cups of fruit juice until it’s lightly boiling, about 2-3 minutes, and then pour it into your bowl and stir immediately until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

In another bowl, whip up one refrigerated container of MimicCreme Healthy Top (also known as the most unbelievable dairy-free soy-free whipped cream substitute I’ve ever come across.) You also could have done this part earlier while you were waiting for your crust to bake, if you wanted to be more efficient about the whole thing.

Glob large spoonfuls all over the pretzel crust…

…and smear it out into a smooth layer with the back of a spoon, all the way to the edges of the dish. It’s important to really get it smeared across the edge of the glass, because this needs to form an airtight seal.

Spoon your strawberries on top (I know, they look pretty wilted and sad. But it’s okay because we’re going to cover them up.)

Then carefully pour your giant bowl of not-yet-solid gelatin over the top. You may need to squash a few of the larger strawberries down so they’re all submerged. If you left any gaps between the whipped topping and the glass, this is the point where your liquid will slowly seep down to the bottom, and everything else will float unevenly to the top. The end result will be just as tasty, but very jumbled and messy-looking. Look closely: if you see any large bubbles coming up after you pour on your gelatin, stick your finger in there and smear the whipped topping to close the gap. No bubbles = no problem.

Refrigerate the whole thing for a couple hours, until the gelatin is solid. This is a great dish to bring to a potluck dinner, by the way. It’s quick and easy to make, serves a lot of people, and no one will ever suspect that it’s one of those weird GFCF things you make your poor family eat.

Happy Eating!

(Not really) Jello Pie

1 1/2 cup crushed Glutino pretzels
2/3 cup Spectrum shortening
2 TBS sugar
10-oz package frozen strawberries
2 cups strawberry kiwi fruit juice
2 packets plain gelatin
1 container MimicCreme whip cream substitute

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The newer you are to this diet, the luckier you are, because more and more high-quality items are coming out on the market every day. And this one is mind-blowing, there’s just no other description for it. Dairy-free, soy-free, whipping cream, that tastes and feels just like the real thing. For really reals, y’all. It’s called Healthy Top, by a company called MimicCreme.  I don’t know that I’d call it “healthy,” to be honest. It is a processed food, and does contain some thickeners and emulsifiers. But it has no artificial dyes, flavors, or sweeteners, and more importantly it contains not a speck of dairy.

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Seriously, you have to try it to believe it. Add a little more sugar and you could frost cupcakes with this stuff, it’s so thick and creamy. How they made this with cashews and almonds, I’ll never know. Anyway, get one box really cold like the instructions say, whip it up, and put it back in the fridge until you’re ready for it. Or, you know, save this step for last, if you want to be all efficient about it.

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Next, pudding. Crack two eggs into a small pot on the stove.

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Pour in 2 cups of the milk substitute of your choice.

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Add 1/3 cup of sugar…

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…and 1/4 teaspoon of Adam’s Extract vanilla. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!] I use this powdered version, but the Adam’s Extract liquid is also fine. The reason you have to check your vanilla extracts is because they’re suspended in alcohol, which could be malted from barley, which would mean gluten. It’s a complicated world we live in.

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What you have in your pot right now is (or will be soon) vanilla pudding. You now have a critical decision to make. Are you truly going to make banana pudding, or are you going to layer slices of banana with vanilla pudding? Different people like it different ways. I’m pureeing the bananas for real banana pudding, so you can look carefully at the final product and decide if it’s the way you want to go or not, because fresh banana pudding doesn’t quite look like the boxed junk you are used to seeing. So that’s three bananas, blended with just a splash of almond milk to thin it out.

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Here it is, pouring into the pot.

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Cook the pudding just until it starts to boil, stirring frequently. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool, then refrigerate for 20-40 minutes, until it’s set.

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Er… hopefully your fridge has more space than mine.

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But what, you may ask, can you substitute for vanilla wafers? Well, these ladyfinger cookies from Shabtai Gourmet are an excellent facsimile thereof. In general everything they offer is superb. They are a bit on the expensive side, as all gluten-free products tend to be. But for the right occasion, I indulge, because I firmly believe that taking care of myself has to be a priority if I’m going to be in any shape to take care of my kids. Most of their items freeze very well, so you can use the flat-rate shipping and buy in advance. (Unsolicited tip: the Raspberry Roll? Holy cow. Just… dang.)

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You will now start to see why all-natural banana pudding may not be your cup of tea. Real fruit oxidizes, and pureed fruit oxidizes faster than whole fruit, because more of it is exposed to the air. It has not gone bad by any means, but it is going to first get khaki-colored like this, and then almost kind of purply-gray if many hours pass before you eat it. Flavor will be unaffected, but not everyone wants to eat purplish banana pudding. On the other hand, some kids are more affected by texture than color, and won’t appreciate banana slices hiding in their dessert like slimy round ninjas. It’s up to you.

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Layer cookies, pudding, (bananas,) cookies, then whipped cream in a 9 x 13 dish.

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Spread your whipped cream globs into a smooth layer with the back of a spoon. One box makes 4 cups of whipped cream, so it will be a pretty thick layer if you use all of it. You could always make more pudding. And then if you don’t have enough whipped cream to cover the second batch of pudding, you could make more whipped cream, and…

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Happy Eating!

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GFCF Banana Pudding

2 eggs
2 cups almond milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
3 bananas (plus a splash of almond milk if pureed)
1 box Healthy Top whippable cream
1-2 packages Shabtai lady fingers

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But this kebab recipe is better than just hunks of meat and vegetables. This is more like pure joy with a giant toothpick crammed through it. If you’re using wooden skewers like I am (bamboo, actually, which is a grass rather than a wood, but that’s beside the point,) you’ll need to soak them in water beforehand so they don’t burn. It doesn’t take long, you can just let them sit long enough for you to finish prepping the rest of the ingredients.

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Did I mention this kebab recipe involves bacon? I’ve been finding all sorts of wonderful new uses for bacon recently. This is Hormel Natural Choice, which is not only gluten free, but nitrate- and nitrite-free as well. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change recipes without warning. Always check your labels!] We want it separated into half-strips, so I just cut right down the middle of the package to open it. Done and done.

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Also cut your beef into bite-sized chunks. I forgot to take a picture of that, silly me. I think I used a round roast, but don’t quote me on that. Any solid piece of meat will do, including chicken or lamb if that’s more your thing. Next you’re going to set up two bowls. In the first bowl, put about 2-3 Tablespoons of chili powder.

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Take a piece of meat and dip half of it in the chili powder.

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Then flip it around and dip the other half in your second bowl, which you should have coyly filled with sugar without taking a photo of it. I was really off my game the night I made this, I tell you what. But yes, half chili powder, and half sugar. It is so good. And it gets better…

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Now wrap a slice of bacon around your hunk of beef. It’s like a teeny tiny filet mignon!

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Skewer it so that the bacon stays in place, and try to fill at least some of the space in between with things that are not meat. I’m using pineapple and red bell pepper, because they’re a fantastic combination. There is nothing in this world better than grilled pineapple.

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Do you grill? Because I totally don’t. I just can’t see the point in firing up an entirely separate cooking appliance, outdoors in the cold no less, when I have a perfectly good oven with a broiler. Direct heat is direct heat, and I honestly don’t see the difference, blasphemy though that may be to some of you grill acolytes. Anyway, this is a foil-lined pan, with my kebabs sitting on a little raised rack, so the drippings have somewhere to go. Turn the broiler on high, put the pan close to the top (where the broiler element lives, if you’ve never used it,) and give the kebabs about 6-8 minutes per side. It’s going to depend a lot on how thick your meat pieces are, so keep an eye on it.

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It’s done when it looks like this. You, however, won’t be done until there’s none left.

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Happy Eating!

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Beef Kebabs

1-2 lbs. beef steak or roast
2-3 TBS chili powder
2-3 TBS sugar
1 pkg Hormel Natural Choice bacon
2 cups pineapple
1 red bell pepper

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Okay, it’s not quite so simple right at the very beginning, I admit. There’s a fair number of ingredients in the sauce. But it’s extremely simple once the sauce is put together, and the thing is, this sauce will last in the fridge for up to a month or more, so you could make a big batch and have it handy in a jar for those nights when you’re in borderline-collapsing mode.

We start with a veritable Who’s Who lineup of Asian sauce ingredients: 1 1/2 Tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1/4 cup sesame oil, 3 Tablespoons soy sauce (or a reasonable substitute,) and 2 cloves of minced garlic.

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This is a case where an immersion blender will definitely come in handy, but you can get away with doing it in a traditional blender if that’s all you have. After assembling the first set of liquid ingredients, add some crushed red pepper flakes, depending on your spice tolerance. 1/4 teaspoon is a good average place to start, noticeable in flavor but not too hot. My tastebuds have been dulled by years of Mexican food, so I put in 3/4 tsp for a real kick. But to balance it out, we’ll also add 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/3 cup of water.

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Lastly, dump in 1/2 cup of dry-roasted, unsalted cashews. Raw cashews will work too, just make sure you don’t get any that are “honey-roasted” or otherwise coated in junk.

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The cashews are the reason you’d rather use the immersion blender here, because it’s going to get all those tiny nut pieces nice and smooth. Ultimately, we’re going to add some more whole cashews to the meal, so a little graininess shouldn’t be too distracting, but another alternative is to use about 1/3 cup prepared cashew butter instead of the whole cashews.

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Once you’re done blending, your sauce is ready for the plate or the mason jar, whichever you prefer. I vote plate, because I’m not very good at delayed gratification. These here are some Schar gluten-free noodles. They’re made with a mixture of corn and rice flours, so they’re a little starchier and firmer to chew than straight-up rice noodles, which is nice.

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The drawback is, like most blended-flour GF noodles, they release a ton of that starch into the cooking water, so you may find you have to drain, rinse, and refill the pot halfway through the cooking process. But it doesn’t add more than 2-3 minutes to the cooking process.

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While your pasta is boiling, finely chop 1 1/2 cups of fresh cilantro, also known as coriander.

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Mix the cilantro and the cashew sesame sauce into your drained noodles, and stir gently.

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And finally, garnish with another 1/2 cup or so of cashews for crunch. This simple little noodle dish may look light and unassuming, but it is surprisingly filling, and makes great leftovers too, either cold or hot. If you’ve never sent real leftovers in your child’s lunchbox, this might be just the meal to start with.

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Happy Eating!

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Cashew Sesame Noodles

1 1/2 TBS rice vinegar
1/4 cup Asian sesame oil
3 TBS soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup + 1/2 cup dry roasted cashews
12 oz. GF spaghetti noodles
1 1/2 cups chopped cilantro

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If you’ve never tried quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah,) there’s no better time than right now. Believe me, you’re in for a treat. This pearly little superfood is packed with protein and nutrients, yet is as easy and versatile as rice.

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This step is not strictly necessary, but it’s a good idea: toasting your quinoa lightly before the actual cooking will greatly enhance the flavor. You can do this the right way, which is to say in a dry skillet on the stove, but I’m lazy and do it in the microwave. Go for one minute at a time, stirring in between, until you start to smell this nice nutty aroma, usually around 3 minutes for 1 cup of dry quinoa. On the stovetop it will take more like 5 minutes, and then you’ll have a dirty pan to wash. Did you resolve to wash extra dishes in the coming new year? Because I sure didn’t.

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This step, on the other hand, you don’t want to skip, even if you’re pressed for time: rinse the seeds thoroughly under running water. This will wash off the bitter saponin coating that discourages birds and insects from devouring the plant before it ever gets harvested. I won’t tell the birds what they’re missing out on if you won’t.

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The rest is automatic. Add 2 cups of water to your trusty rice cooker…

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…and since I’m making this for breakfast, let’s toss in a handful of dried fruit, too. Think of it as an oatmeal substitute — anything you can put on hot cereal, you can put on this hot pseudocereal. Brown sugar, cinnamon, maple, bananas, it’s all good. I like to sprinkle my sugar over the top once it’s done, but you could add a few tablespoons to the cooking water instead for a more infused flavor.

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Close the lid, hit the button, and go take your shower. Or pack the lunchboxes, or whatever else you do in the morning that doesn’t involve cooking a hot breakfast, because that part’s taken care of.

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Wasn’t that easy? The final product will be light and fluffy, somewhat similar to couscous. Like I said, this stuff is very versatile. Swap out the fruit and sugar for some curry powder and frozen peas, and you have a fantastic dinner side dish. Or chill it with some leftover chicken and dressing for a pasta salad type thing. The possibilities are endless!

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Happy Eating!

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Breakfast Quinoa

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water
1/3 cup dried cranberries or other fruit
2 TBS brown sugar

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We start with, of course, onions. I prefer yellow, but you could make this with white onions as well. I chose to use four of them because a couple of mine were on the small side; three large ones would work fine too.

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Slice them thinly (or slightly less thin if you’re lazy like me,) with maybe one cut across the middle so you don’t end up with any hugely long strands. It ain’t French onion spaghetti.

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Now we’re going to throw them all in the bottom of a large soup pot, and add 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (or whatever quality cooking oil you prefer, grapeseed just happens to be extremely mild in flavor.)

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Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon of sugar, and sautee them slowly until they’re very well done, at least 15 minutes. You want those suckers to be deep golden and as translucent as possible. Don’t be afraid to add a little more oil if necessary.

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When they’re ready, gently mix in 1 Tablespoon of tapioca starch and stir it around until it’s nice and pasty, thoroughly blended with the pan juices. I know the bag says “flour” in a bigger font than “starch,” but trust me, no one ever calls it tapioca flour. It functions the same as corn starch and potato starch, so that’s what we call it.

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Measure out 2 1/2 cups of Pacific Foods beef broth. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!] Pour this into the soup pot, along with another 2 1/2 cups of water.

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While it’s true that “do as I say, not as I do” is not the most effective parenting technique, it’s not such a bad thing for cooking blogs. I have to admit that I cut a corner here, and it turned out to be a big mistake. But I make this soup rather infrequently, so I figured I’d just own up and tell you the right way to do it, rather than wait until I got around to making it again. What you want to be pouring into your pot right now is 1/2 cup of dark red wine. I used this rosé wine bottle that I happened to already have open (hey, at least it was a French wine!) and like I said, it didn’t work. This soup really needs the rich depth of a merlot or at least a pinot noir.

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See? It doesn’t even look like French onion soup, it’s so light. It’s just non-ethnic onion soup, I guess. But I know you will not be so reckless with your ingredients as I, and your soup will look and taste like mine normally does, which is to say delicious. Bring it to a boil and continue simmering for 10-15 minutes. Aside from maturing the flavors, this is what will boil off your alcohol content, by the way, making it fit for child consumption.

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Toast a slice of gluten-free bread, and you can even do that little floaty crust thing the French folks like to do. You could sprinkle a little Daiya on top too, if you need the full experience, but I like it just like this.

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Happy Eating!

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French Onion Soup

3-4 onions
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch 
2 1/2 cups Pacific Foods beef broth
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine

Of course, I eventually learned the error of my ways, under identical circumstances each time: I got invited on a date that involved said international cuisine, and I decided I liked the guy enough to suffer silently through a meal of torture. Come to find out, in both cases the food was much better than the gentleman after all! But that’s another story.

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The point is, I defected to the other side, and became a staunch sushi advocate. And it turns out, sushi rolls are surprisingly easy to make at home. First, of course, you’re going to want to start a batch of sushi rice (minus the wakame, in this case.) While that cooks, prepare your other ingredients for assembly. I’m making a modified California roll, so we’ll need a cucumber, peeled and cut into long thin slices.

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Make sure you cut the seeds off of each section, because nobody likes cucumber seeds.

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Also, we’ll need a bunch of avocado slices. (See this post if you need a rundown on how to properly cut up an avocado.)

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Now, traditionally, California rolls use “krab,” a substance that makes both foodies and English teachers cringe in unison. Those brightly-colored, perfectly straight sticks are not in fact made of crab at all, and more importantly, they are made of gluten. If you’re lucky enough to have a kid who will eat sushi, you must remember that all crab on a sushi restaurant menu is probably going to be the fake kind, even if they spell it like the real thing. But if you look in the right place in your grocery store, you will probably be able to find real, actual crab meat, and that’s something we can use.

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This is a sheet of nori, or seaweed paper. You can find it at an Asian market if your grocery store doesn’t carry any, but check your ethnic foods aisle first, you might be surprised. It has a shiny side and a bumpy side, and the shiny side goes face down.

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Spread out a layer of your sushi rice on top of the nori, leaving only a small space around the edge. The rice will be very sticky, so it’s easiest to do this with the back of a wet fork. You can also tell that I was too impatient and started spreading the rice on while it was still hot, thus partially steaming and shriveling my seaweed paper. Try to let it cool as much as you can. Then, line up your inner ingredients along the bottom edge.

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The bamboo mat is an essential piece of equipment for this, by the way. If you try it barehanded, your fingers are guaranteed to stick to everything and tear the delicate paper to pieces. Also, the proper technique would be to use both hands to make sure you’re rolling it as tightly and evenly as possible, but a photography assistant is just a teensy smidge out of my price range, so you’ll have to bear with me. (Truth be told, if I were filthy rich I’d hire a real sushi chef instead and still take the pictures myself.)

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As you inch forward, squeezing the roll tightly the whole way, peel the mat away from the front edge so it doesn’t actually get wrapped into the roll. I wouldn’t normally be doing this with one awkwardly stretched index finger, but again with the one-handed photography thing. Incidentally, there’s this pervasive idea on the internet that you should put a layer of plastic wrap on top of your bamboo mat to keep it clean. I’m here to tell you that’s ridiculous, and it just gets in the way. Use the bamboo mat the same way the Japanese have been using it for thousands of years, and wash it when you’re done; it’s not that hard.

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Slice your roll with a very sharp, wet knife, and voila! (Sorry for the linguistic insensitivity, but I don’t know how the Japanese would say it.) You should get 3-4 rolls out of this quantity of rice, depending on how full you stuff them with other things. I ended up with a little bit of cucumber and a ton of crab leftover, but I’m sure I can find a use for the crab later in the week. And if we’re lucky, it’ll turn out to be something worth documenting and I’ll share it with you!

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Happy Eating!

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Sushi Rolls

1 batch of sushi rice
1 cucumber
1 avocado
1/2 cup 100% crab meat (not krab stick)
3-4 sheets of nori

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First, take a 2-3 pound pork roast, and place it in your dutch oven (or a crock pot, if you must.) This particular cut of meat is called a Boston Butt, so excuse me while I snicker like an 8-year-old. You should always place slow-cooked meat fat side up, by the way. I like to put a sliced-up onion in there as well. It’s not really to eat, it just kind of adds flavor to the vapors as the meat cooks. I’m convinced it makes a difference, anyway, but you could skip it I guess.

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I used to have this whole dry spice rub procedure, but it always ended up making a kind of crust on the meat — which is great, if you’re slicing it, but we’re shredding this meat, and a stiff outer layer just gets in the way. Better to cook the meat plain, and put the spices in the sauce. So just give it a liberal splashing of Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce for now. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

Now add 1/2 cup of water in the bottom, put the lid on and stick it in a 300 degree oven for 3-4 hours. (Or set your crock pot to HIGH for 3-4 hours if you’re doing it that way. But make sure that crock pot lid is on tight, or all your moisture will escape and your meat will be tough and chewy.)

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A few minutes before your meat’s ready to come out, prepare the sauce. Now, this is a traditional Kentucky barbecue sauce, which means it’s vinegar-based. If you’d rather just slather yours with a Southern style (i.e., thicker and sweeter) barbecue sauce, that’s your call. I’m a fence-sitter in the great barbecue sauce debate: I prefer Southern style for brisket, and Kentucky style for pulled pork.

Start with 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. Please ignore the really ugly label; this is the good stuff, I assure you. It tastes better than the processed kind, and it’s better for you too. But if you do get another brand, be sure that it’s not “apple cider flavored” vinegar, because that might contain gluten.

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Add in 1/2 cup of Heinz ketchup…

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1 Tablespoon of white sugar…

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And 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar.

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Then add 1/2 Tablespoon each of salt and white pepper. You could substitute black pepper, but the white pepper is more subtle.

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Will you look at that beauty? It’s still in the dutch oven in this shot because I couldn’t even get it onto a serving plate in one piece, that’s how tender it is. Falling apart!

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This is what’s become of my onion, by the way. On the one hand, no, you wouldn’t want to eat this slag formerly known as a vegetable. But on the other hand, that little pile used to be an entire giant onion. Where did the rest of it go? Flavoring the pork, that’s where!

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Scrape at the chunks of meat with two forks until it’s all nice and shredded.

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Then pour in your sauce. Depending on how large your roast is, you may not need all of it. I start with about 2/3 of the mixture and then add more as necessary. You want everything coated, but without a large puddle at the bottom of the bowl.

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It’s time to warm up our gluten-free buns! Our store started carrying this Kinnikinnick brand, and it immediately became our new favorite. I have served these to people who didn’t know they were gluten-free, and they honestly had no idea. Like most other prepared gluten-free breads, you just store them in the freezer and then microwave however many you need when it’s time to eat.

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I think this picture speaks for itself. If you’ll excuse me, I have some chowing down to do.

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Happy Eating!

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The GFCF Lady’s Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2-3 lb. pork roast
1 onion
2-3 TBS Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water

1 cup Bragg apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Heinz ketchup
1 TBS white sugar
2 TBS brown sugar
1/2 TBS salt
1/2 TBS white pepper
Kinnikinnick hamburger buns

You can get sweet rice (also sometimes called “sticky rice”) at Asian markets, but to be honest, I’ve never been able to taste the difference, myself. You could make this with any short-grain rice and it would work just fine.

Put one cup of it in your rice cooker, along with 1 and 3/4 cups of water. If you are using sweet rice, they say you should let it soak at room temperature for at least 20 minutes. I usually do, but only because I’m busy getting other stuff ready at the time.

This can of coconut milk was more separated than most. Yuck.

I had to actually dump the whole thing into a separate bowl to get it reincorporated without making a giant mess. But eventually it started looking like coconut milk again.

Now, pour 1/2 cup (or 1/4 of the can) of coconut milk into the rice pot, and set the remainder aside for a minute. Add 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar…

And 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Give everything a good stir, and begin cooking the rice.

Meanwhile, pour the rest of the coconut milk into a small saucepan on the stove.

Add 1/4 cup of sugar. I prefer brown sugar, but it does give the final sauce a slight beige color, so if you think your kids would prefer something frosty white, just use cane sugar instead. Useful tip: if your brown sugar has become hard as a rock in the container, microwave it for 10 seconds at a time, and it will loosen right up.

Also add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Liquid vanilla extract is one of those things that might have gluten in it, because it’s distilled with alcohol and the manufacturer might use a grain alcohol. So you can hunt down a safe brand, or use this powdered vanilla that says gluten-free right on the bottle. Either way, it’s still one teaspoon.

While the sauce is warming, prepare your mango. I’m using a bag of frozen mango pieces, but you could certainly cut up a fresh mango or two if you want. But did you know that at certain times of the year, frozen fruits and vegetables can actually have more nutrients than fresh? That’s because when you’re buying something like mangos out of season, they’re most likely traveling to your store from a place where they are in season, like South America. The farmers know that the produce is going to take 2-3 weeks to get to its destination, so they pick the fruit early, letting it ripen on the trip over so it’s just right by the time it gets to you. But ripening on a truck is not the same as ripening on the vine; it’s not getting any additional nutrients as it develops, it’s really just dying slowly. If the fruit is destined to be frozen, however, the farmers leave it on the vine until it’s perfectly ripe, then pick it and freeze it immediately. Some nutrients are lost in the freezing process, but not as many as are lost by picking the food so many weeks early. Moral of the story: buying frozen fruits and veggies isn’t unhealthy, and might even be healthier than fresh depending on the food and the time of year. (Canned, however, is never going to be the best option.)

Okay, enough with the nutrition lesson. Let’s get back to our dessert that’s loaded with carbs and sugar, shall we? Whisk your sauce gently with a fork to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. You want the sauce to be warm, but try to avoid boiling it, otherwise all that sugar will start to carmelize.

Because we don’t want the coconut milk to reduce by boiling, we’ll need to thicken it just a bit with 2 teaspoons of corn starch (or potato starch, or arrowroot) dissolved into 1 Tablespoon of water. Once the corn starch is totally dissolved in the water, then it’s safe to add it to the pot without fear of lumps. Make sure to keep stirring as it thickens.

Round about this time, your rice should be done cooking. Gently fold in your mango pieces. (If you started with frozen, you will want them to be thawed before you do this.)

Serve with frosting — er, I mean, coconut sauce drizzled on top. Seriously, this stuff is sweet enough to put you into diabetic shock. But that doesn’t stop me from putting on way more than a drizzle, if you know what I mean. It’s just so delicious! You could also make this with bananas, or even pineapple, if your kids aren’t into mangos.

Happy Eating!

Mango Sweet Rice

1 cup sweet (or short-grain) rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 can coconut milk
1 TBS brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1-2 mangos
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cornstarch