Fresh Chunky Salsa

We've previously stated our affinity for Tex-Mex fare. In addition to being made gluten free easily, it is also usually cheap. But sometimes you get what you pay for and salsa is one of those items. The tastiest salsas are usually chunky and fresh and expensive.

We don't let that stop us. We are cheap and resourceful. We make the most out of canned foods and cheap ingredients to come up with a delicious salsa.

Careful with the jalapenos or your friends won't like you.

Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup chopped pickled jalapeños
1 medium onion chopped
Chili powder
Crushed red pepper
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

Recipe
Combine all of the vegetables and stir. Add Seasonings to taste.

Note - adjust the jalapeños and crushed red pepper to taste for your palate.

Note - cilantro is a nice addition, but not 100% necessary.

Potential additions:
Bell pepper
Cucumber
Shallots
Crushed tomatoes (if diced are not available)

Baseball Season Means Hot Dogs!

The crew at Gluten Free Philly wrote about some ball parks having some new gluten free options.  Our favorite park - Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia - and our new local park - PNC Park in Pittsburgh - both offer gluten free hot dogs (and presumably gluten free buns).

We thought of a different approach - corn tortillas for our hot dogs.  We have done this with both hard shells and soft shells and loved it.

Perfect to enjoy while watching Roy Halladay throw a perfect game or watching the Mets just be terrible.

Try our take on relish to change it up a little bit!

An oldie before we knew the dangers of cross-contamination.

Relish with a Kick

To be clear, relish is gluten free.  This relish is just better!  We gave the standard store bought chopped pickles a little bit of support with some chopped onions and jalapenos.  We also threw in a dash of red pepper flakes for giggles.  Top your hot dog with this guy and you won't even remember that there is no bun.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup relish
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapenos
Red pepper flakes to taste.

Recipe:
Mix the ingredients together thoroughly.

Finger Lickin' Chicken

What cures that awful feeling the morning after too many margaritas? FRIED FOOD!

What makes someone who eats gluten free cringe? FRIED FOOD!

We were hungover. Our Snoopy waffles didn't quite do the trick, so we needed to feed the craving for dinner. We went back to the well with some sweet potato fries (with the addition of a round of broiling to increase the crispy factor) and paired them with a small salad and CHICKEN FINGERS! (All caps means we are excited)

We used some gluten free all-purpose baking flour and crushed tortilla chips to bread a sliced chicken breast, fried them up, and dug right in. Much like our spring roll mozzarella sticks, this dish brought a sense of normalcy to Brittany's diet. We made a lovely barbecue sauce to go with them and had a great Saturday night!

Ingredients

Before frying

1 large chicken breast, sliced into smaller pieces
3/4 cup gluten free all-purpose baking flour
1 egg beaten
1 to 1.5 cups crushed tortilla chips

Recipe
Standard breading steps:
1. Coat the chicken in flour by rolling it aroun in the flour bowl.
2. Transfer to the egg wash, coat thoroughly.
3. Roll in crushed tortilla chips.*

After frying

4. Pan fry over medium heat in olive oil until golden brown and cooked through.

* A real jerk once taught me two important things about breading:
1. Keep one hand out of the breading process, in order to make handling things easier, so that you can:
2. Add the bread (tortilla) crumbs slowly to prevent excessive caking and waste.
Don't be fooled. Hayes is still a jerk. Peter is awesome.

Sierra was sneaking in the background, waiting for her chance to steal a finger.

Pair this with a killer BBQ sauce, a small salad, and a whiskey-ginger.

Tangy Barbeque Sauce

Brittany "hates" barbeque sauce, or at least that is what she has told me since we started dating. They are too sweet and just don't do it for her
This is a problem because I love it in every single form.
Vinegar based.
Mustard based.
Tomato based.
All of them. So to go with our chicken fingers, I decided to give it a go for myself.  We decided to add a few ingredients to take the sweetness away - vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and spicy brown mustard.  I think it worked out pretty well.

And, now, Brittany doesn't hate barbecue sauce.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup of white vinegar
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha Sweet Chili Sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Recipe
Combine all ingredients over low heat, stirring often. Serve warm.

Sandwiches

Wanna hear something awesome? Boar's Head Lunch Meat is gluten free. Not just a select line or a few choice products. Every fricken' meat they offer is gluten fricken' free.

We just got one giant step closer to a real deal hoagie by finding a real deal gluten free lunch meat.

We decided to celebrate by making our own gluten free sandwiches. We made a loaf of bread with a Bob's Red Mill bread mix and a hand-me-down bread maker. (More to come on that from Brittany).  We also roasted peppers, onions and cucumbers for a fun twist. We even made a special mayo for these sandwiches. (I'll give you two hints to the secret ingredient and they are both Sriracha. We kinda like that stuff.)

Ingredients
One loaf of bread
One pound of Boars Head oven roast turkey
Two large peppers (one yellow and one orange for us, whole)
1 medium onion (quartered)

Get em roasted!

1 cucumber (spears or slices)
Garlic powder, salt, pepper and cumin
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 teaspoons Sriracha Sweet Chili Sauce

Set the oven to broil and get it piping hot.
Line a cookie sheet or roasting pan with foil.
Arrange peppers, cucumbers and onion on the sheet.
Drizzle with olive oil and spice liberally.
Roast in the broiler, turning as needed.
Remove vegetables when they look done (onions then cucumbers, then peppers*)

* Peppers only - after removing from the oven when nearly blackened all over, place peppers in some Tupperware and seal. This allows the steam from the peppers to help remove the skin.  Toss with olive oil and whatever spices you like.

Sriracha mayonnaise - combine them. Try not to eat the spoon.

That's it. Assemble your sandwiches and enjoy. Store left over roasted veggies in some olive oil and use them as a salad topping.

Mozzarella Sticks

Who doesn't love mozzarella sticks? I couldn't tell you the last time I enjoyed the delicious appetizer. Noble Pig, a website favorite of mine, posted a recipe similar to this one but using won ton wrappers, unfortunately not a GF food. However, I was able to find Vietnamese spring roll wrappers that substituted very well! Trader Joes makes a block of soy mozzarella cheese that is one of my favorite cheeses. Combine that with pepperoni, roll it in a spring roll, pan fry and serve with a side of marinara sauce! Yum!

Ingredients:
Mozzarella Sticks
- Blue Dragon Spring Roll Wrappers
- One block of Soy Mozzarella Cheese (from Trader Joes)
- Pepperoni Slices (3-4/stick)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil

Marinara Sauce
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 large splash red wine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup onion
- Seasonings: oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt and pepper

Marinara Sauce Recipe:
I sauteed the onions in olive oil until lightly browned and added the can of tomato sauce. I added one to two large splashes of red wine and the seasonings and let simmer while I prepared the mozzarella sticks, stirring occasionally.

Mozzarella Stick Recipe:
I sliced the block of mozzarella cheese into 6 1/4" slices while letting the olive oil and wok get hot. I placed one spring roll wrapper in the shallow tupperware filled with hot water for 10-15 seconds until completely soft. Once soft, I placed it on the large plate, put the mozzarella slice in the middle and the 3-4 pepperoni slices on top.  I crossed one side of the wrapper to the other, tightly against the pepperoni, folded up the ends and then rolled it to close the wrapper. Next, I placed it in the wok until all slides were browned and repeated.


Easy and delicious!

We enjoyed ours with a salad and glass of Pinot Nior! 

Taco Turkey Burgers

A dry, crumbly meat patty is not a burger.  A burger should be rich and juicy with tons of flavor.  Unfortunately, a lot of restaurant burgers, especially turkey burgers, are overcooked and flavorless, relying on rolls, cheese and condiments to add the flavor.

We sought to fix this by making a better turkey burger in a way that can be enjoyed by everyone, especially the gluten free.  We used home-made Not So Sneaky Taco Seasoning, crushed tortilla chips (our bread crumb substitute), and corn tortillas as the 'bun'.

Ingredients
14 ounces ground turkey (93% lean)
Not So Sneaky Taco Seasoning
1 egg
2 oz. crushed tortilla strips
2 corn tortillas

Lettuce, tomato, onion and salsa to dress the burger
Gluten and dairy free cheese
Jalapenos (optional)

Recipe
Combine the turkey, taco seasoning, egg, and crushed chips.  Mix well.
Form into 2 patties - larger diameter and thin to approximate the size of the corn tortillas.
Pan fry in an oiled skillet to cook all the way through (if it was nicer outside, we would have grilled them)

Remove the burgers from the skillet, wipe out excess olive oil and spray with cooking spray.
Warm tortilla shells on both sides, line with cheese and top with a burger patty.
(We served our burgers open-faced. If you are going with a standard two 'bun' approach, just flip the burger to get the other shell crispy).

Plate it, top it with the veggies and salsa and enjoy!

To go along with this meal, we recommend sweet potato fries with spicy-smokey-sriracha ketchup, and a margarita!

Avoiding Sneaky Gluten- Sweet Potato Fries with Sriracha Ketchup

Fries are one bar food that could be easily shared with a group of people and would usually not bother me if eaten in small amounts. That was until recently. I was told by a restaurant manager that fries are no longer GF, even if fried in a separate fryer. Apparently they fry better after being rolled in flour and this trend is becoming more popular within the restaurant community.

We decided to bake our own version at home to go with turkey burgers we made. And what goes best with fries? Sriracha ketchup! We used one large sweet potato, sliced into wedges and tossed in seasoned olive oil. The olive oil was seasoned with cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The fries were spread out on a cookie sheet and a little more garlic power and red pepper flakes were added. The Sriracha Ketchup was made with ketchup, few tablespoons Sriracha, cumin and red pepper flakes. Honestly, taste testing the ketchup was best for determining proper amounts of each ingredient. 

Ingredients:

- 1 large sweet potato

- 2-3 tbsp olive oil

- Seasoning: cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and garlic powder

- 1/4 c ketchup

- 2-3 tbsp Sriracha

- Seasoning: cumin and red pepper flakes

Recipe:

We combined all the spices with the 2-3 tbsp olive oil in a large bowl. We added the sweet potato wedges to the seasoned olive oil, tossing them around to make sure they were all covered. They were spread across a cookie sheet, added additional red pepper flakes and garlic powder and then baked them at 450 for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While they were baking, I added the Sriracha, ketchup and seasoning in a small bowl. This made a lot but I will never let ketchup go to waste. I put it on a lot of foods.

Buffalo Pulled Chicken

Gluten free Buffalo-goodness

Chicken wings are always a favorite treat for a weekend with friends. The obvious problem is that they are frequently breaded and the frying process is a huge problem due to cross-contamination.  How do you please the crowd while still maintaining your gluten free diet? Simple, use the greatest cooking invention since the oven - the crock pot!


We started with about 5 pounds of chicken, including both breast and boneless thighs for that nice dark meat flavor. We added a large onion (chopped) over the top.  The cooking liquid consisted of about a half cup of white vinegar and a half cup of apple cider vinegar.  You can adjust that to make sure your chicken has a little liquid to cook in.  We cooked the chicken low and slow for 8 hours.

When it came time to shred the chicken, we "pulled" it with two forks, but it really just fell apart with very little effort. We added a small bottle of Frank's Red Hot and that was it.

This chicken just falls apart.

In the past, we have used wing sauce and experimented with adding things like red pepper flakes, brown sugar and barbecue sauce.  This time we went very simple and it turned out better than ever.

We had rolls for the non-gluten free among us and we served it on corn chips for the gluten free folk.  We have also served it on corn tortillas and rice in the past.  This one is guaranteed to please all of the wing fans in the house.

3 pounds boneless chicken breasts
2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
1 medium to large onion, chopped
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 bottle hot sauce (about 12 ounces)

Combine the chicken, onion and vinegar in a crock pot.  Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.  Shred the chicken with two forks.  Add the hot sauce and let it cook for a little longer to allow the hot sauce to cook into the chicken.