JeanC's Kitchen

The Ultimate 5-Minute Fry Sauce

2026-06-30T13:44:54.340-07:00

Photo by author

There are times when ketchup just won't do it when it comes to fries. The hubby and I love fry sauce, and while we could buy it in a bottle, I decided to make my own. I found a recipe I liked and tried it. It tasted pretty close to our favorite fry sauce from a local drive-in, so this is on my regular recipe list.

Photo by author

Most of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand. The powdered buttermilk is now a staple also as I love to add it to my gluten-free pancake batter.

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 tsp onion powder

3-4 tsp pickle juice

2 tsp powdered buttermilk

Mix everything, adjusting for taste. Cover and put in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the flavors meld.

Photo by author

Fry sauce goes with pretty much everything: fried potatoes and onion rings. I love to use it on my burgers in place of ketchup. Give it a try the next time you make burgers and fries.

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Forget Everything I Wrote: I Finally Baked the Truly Perfect Gluten-Free Bread - And it's Heavenly

2025-11-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

First published in Cat House & Shooting Society in Medium on 10/25/2025

photo by author

Last year, I wrote about finally making the perfect gluten-free bread by adapting the recipe from King Arthur Baking Company to use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking flour.

It was a recipe I’ve since used repeatedly, and I loved it. However, after being laid up for most of this year due to knee replacement surgeries and recovery, when the local county fair was announced, I had the urge to enter the baking competition. A year or two ago, they added a gluten-free class, and I’ve been wanting to try my hand at it.

I decided I was going to enter my bread, snickerdoodles, and try my hand at pumpkin bread—all gluten-free, of course. I also entered the only gluten-free huckleberry blonde brownie entry to the huckleberry challenge. I’ll write about those later; this is about my bread.

I needed to look at tweaking my recipe and seeing how I could make it better. I decided to see what adjusting the amount of xanthan gum would do.

I left out the xanthan gum with the 1st test loaf, relying on the xanthan gum already in Bob’s 1-to-1. It baked up fine, but using my non-gluten-free hubby as a test subject, I decided the texture wasn’t right. The slices were too delicate and tended to fall apart. The hubby also said the crusts were too dry.

I went the other way and reduced the amount I would have added to 3 grams (3/4 tsp) from 4 (1 tsp). I then tried it with 1 gram (1/4 tsp). Not bad, but then I tried it with 2 grams (1/2 tsp) and it was exactly what I’ve been looking for.

I also went from 227 grams (1 cup) of sourdough starter to 230 grams (a bit over 1 cup). It’s amazing what difference 3 extra grams can make. Plus, I also made sure Henry was freshly fed and burbling away happily when I measured him out.

Hubby usually finds the crust a bit on the dry side. I don’t have problems with that, but I brushed the loaf with melted butter once it was out of the oven. The hubby gave it four thumbs up.

I made a loaf of bread the day before I had to turn it in to the fair for judging. I didn’t brush it with butter since I wasn’t sure exactly when it would be judged, and the last thing I needed was the butter going off and poisoning the judges.

I won a blue ribbon. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

photo by author

I’m not exactly sure why it cracked like that. I can only assume it was from sitting out and unwrapped for two days before I got to the fair to see how I did.

I finally found the perfect recipe. But of course, I can’t leave anything alone. I know some bakers let their sourdough bread rest in the fridge overnight to let the yeast do its thing at a slower rate. So I decided to give it a try.

I’ve started making my bread in the late afternoon and putting it in the oven with the light on for the first rise of 90 minutes. Then I turn it into the bread pan, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it into the fridge overnight.

I take it out the next morning and let it warm up in the oven with the light on before baking.

NOM!!!! The flavor is more sourdough than if I did the 1-hour rise and baked it the same day.

So, here is my new, improved recipe for gluten-free sourdough sandwich bread:

Ingredients:

312 gr (2 cups) Bob’s Red Mill GF 1-to-1 Baking Flour

35 gr (3 Tbs) sugar

5 gr (1 tsp) yeast

6 gr (1 tsp) salt, kosher

2 gr (1/2 tsp) xanthan gum

35 gr (4 1/2 Tbs) powdered milk

230 gr (a bit over 1 cup) GF sourdough starter, freshly fed

57 gr (4 Tbs) butter, softened

170 gr (7/8 cup) water

3 eggs, large

Directions:

Whisk the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, powdered milk, and xanthan gum in the mixing bowl until well blended.

Slowly drizzle the water into the dry ingredients, using a stand mixer or an electric handheld mixer to mix it in. It will look crumbly at first, but it will come together when the liquid is fully added.

Add the starter and the softened butter to the dough and blend on low until combined. It will be a stiff dough.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until blended before adding the next egg. The dough will loosen up. Once the last egg has been blended in, increase the speed of the mixer to high for 3 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides once or twice, until the batter is thick and smooth.

Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place for 90 minutes until it has almost doubled. It will look puffy.

Grease a 9"x4"x4" Pullman sandwich pan. If the pan has air holes at the bottom, cut a piece of parchment paper to cover them. Scoop the batter into the pan and gently smooth the top with wet fingers or a spatula.

At this point, you can either loosely cover and place in a warm place for another 60 minutes until the dough has risen almost to the rim of the pan, or place in the refrigerator overnight to slow rise.

If you go the overnight method, allow the dough to warm to room temperature before baking.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177 °C). Bake the bread for 40–45 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 210°F (99 °C).

Turn bread out onto a cooling rack and brush with melted butter.

Let it cool completely before slicing.

photo by author

Depending on the time, I will most likely use the overnight method for most of my bakes. There will be times when I wake up in the morning and decide I need to bake a loaf of bread to take to a gathering or two. It’s nice to have options.

I try and use up a loaf as fast as possible. GF breads tend to dry out quickly. So I’ve started to slice the loaves and wrap the bread up in two slice packages and pop them in the freezer. When I want to use them, I pull out a package or two, thaw them in the fridge if I’m not planning on eating them right away, or thaw them in the microwave. Now I always have bread when I want it.

I still haven’t bought a decent bread slicer, though.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider buying me a coffee. It would be very much appreciated :)

Irresistibly Moist Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

2025-10-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

photo by author

A couple of years ago, the local county fair introduced a gluten-free class to its baked goods competition. I make a pretty tasty zucchini bread and banana bread, but I wanted to try my hand at something different. For their regular class, they broke the quick breads into various sections. I have never used pumpkin in anything other than pumpkin pie, so I decided to make pumpkin bread.

I baked the loaf the morning of the day I needed to turn in my entries, so it would be as fresh as possible when it was time for the judging. Luckily, it was going to be the next day, so as long as it stayed wrapped, it would stay fresh.

We went to the fair on opening day, which was a Thursday, around 5 pm, so we could wander around without the large crowds that would be there on Friday and Saturday. We didn't go straight to the exhibit hall; I was both excited and apprehensive about the results. I'd pretty much talked myself into thinking they would hate my entries. I shouldn't have worried:

photo by author

Needless to say, I was a very happy camper. With this blue ribbon and the ones I received for my other baked good entries, I am seriously hooked on competing in the county fair. I will definitely spend the next year doing a lot more baking to see what I can come up with. I am bound and determined to win best in class.

Photo by author

Ingredients:

216 gr (1 1/2 cups) Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF Baking Flour

72 gr (1/2 cup ) Premium old GF Flax & Ancient Grain AP Flour*

250 gr (1 1/4 cup) sugar

7 gr (2 tsp) Baking Powder

5 gr (1 tsp) Baking Soda

3 gr (1/2 tsp) salt, kosher

4 gr (1 1/2 tsp) pumpkin pie spice**

2 eggs, large

240 gr (1 cup) canned pumpkin puree

113 gr (1/2 cup) vegetable oil

2 gr (1 tsp) vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177 °C).

Mix flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a mixing bowl.

photo by author

In another bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract, and mix until well blended.

photo by author

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and mix until well combined.

photo by author

Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray and pour batter into the pan.

photo by author

Bake 45–55 minutes, or until internal temp is 200°F-205°F (93°C-96°C) or an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

photo by author

Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

photo by author

Notes:

*You can measure 288 gr (2 cups) of Bob’s Red Mill if you can’t get the Premium Gold.

**If you are not using pre-made pumpkin spice, add:

8 gr (1 Tbs) cinnamon

3 gr (1/2 Tbs) ground nutmeg

1 gr (1/2 tsp) ground ginger

1 gr (1/2 tsp) ground cloves

Gluten-Free Sourdough English Muffins - the quest for the perfect muffin

2024-03-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

First published in Kitchen Tales in Medium on 02/10/2024

Gluten-free homemade sourdough English muffin for breakfast for dinner (photo by author)

I have been missing my English muffins for a long time now. So I have been experimenting with some sourdough English muffin recipes. One recipe is gluten-free, and the other I am trying with a gluten-free AP flour blend.

First up is the gluten-free recipe from The Flour Farm. The recipe is nicely laid out using weight as a measurement, with the volume measures in parentheses.

I used the homemade flour blend I had made and kosher salt instead of the Himalayan pink salt. I used a couple of pinches, about 2 grams.

I don’t have muffin rings, so I did them in free form, as they suggested. The batter is like a very thick pancake batter. I used an ice cream scoop to drop it onto the griddle.

photo by author

I need to get my hands on proper muffin/crumpet rings. Making these free-form, while tasty, they couldn’t quite be split with a fork for a proper English Muffin.

Sliced with a knife English muffin (photo by author)

Even though I couldn’t split them with a fork, they still had lovely little crannies for butter to melt into.

We were having hamburgers for dinner that night, so they turned out to be not half-bad hamburger buns!

photo by author

The texture was very nice, and they were soft around the edges. This recipe will be going on permanent rotation, especially once I get those muffin rings.

The next recipe came from Ninnescha Homestead and uses wheat flour, so I used a mix of the flour blend I made and some 1:1 blend I bought from Winco in the bulk bin section.

I made the recipe as written. I didn’t add the optional citric acid, and I used coarse cornmeal instead of semolina.

There is a lot more work with this recipe, but it didn’t require muffin rings.

The two cups of water called for weren’t enough for the gluten-free flour, so I added more water a little at a time until the dough didn’t feel so dry. I may have added about 2/3 of a cup of additional water. Next time I will see about adding closer to an extra cup of water.

I turned the dough into a bowl sprayed with vegetable cooking spray and covered it with plastic wrap. It then went into the oven, where I had the light on to do the first proofing.

The fun part of this recipe is I finally got to use the unflavored waxed dental floss I bought for kitchen use. After I rolled the dough into cylinders, the dental floss made slicing the dough a breeze. I also managed to get the 24 muffins the recipe makes. Next time, I will use a ruler to make sure I get more uniform-sized muffins.

photo by author

I originally thought to skip cutting the parchment squares but went with it. I probably can skip this next time and put them all on a sheet of parchment. Since they were sturdy enough, I could just pick them up to put them on the griddle. I skipped spraying the parchment with cooking spray; it didn’t need it, especially after dipping the muffins into the corn meal.

photo by author

I put the muffins into the oven covered with plastic wrap for the second proofing.

Once they were proofed, I took them out of the oven and turned it on to preheat to 350F. I then heated my griddle, sprayed it with cooking spray, popped the muffins on to cook for about 6–7 minutes, then flipped them over for another 5 minutes.

photo by author

When the muffins had been griddled on both sides, I put them back on the baking sheet and into the oven to bake until they reached 190F internal temperature.

Once out of the oven, I let them cool on a wire rack.

photo by author

The muffins were a tad bit dry around the edges, but I went ahead and managed to get one opened using the fork method. I sliced one with a knife to compare the two.

photo by author

While the muffin that was sliced was okay, I definitely will be splitting the muffins with a fork in the future.

I will work on tweaking this last muffin recipe. I would like them to be softer and less dry. I might add some potato starch flour to it as I think that may give them softness around the edges like the first recipe. When I make the first recipe, I will take a note from the other recipe and pop them in the oven to make sure they are cooked through.

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The Costs of Gluten-Free Baking: the price tag is not for the weak of heart

2024-03-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

First published in Kitchen Tales in Medium on 02/14/2024

A loaf of homemade gluten-free sourdough bread (photo by author)

Anyone who has been diagnosed as gluten-intolerant or Celiac knows the cost of having to eat gluten-free is not cheap. Add in the fact that almost none of the gluten-free bakery goods come close to the original wheat-based goods' taste and texture, it can be soul-crushing. Especially for those of us who are bread-fiends.

When my doctor and I figured I needed to go gluten-free, commercial gluten-free substitutions were starting to hit the marketplace in greater quantities, but a lot of them left a lot to be desired. When several of my friends had been diagnosed with celiac a few years prior, there was next to nothing on the market for gluten-free baked goods. They had to start experimenting to try and come up with substitutes.

But there is nothing that can truly replace wheat-based bread. Trying to find a substitute is a challenge. Originally, the only commercial gluten-free breads were small loaves that you found in the freezer section. If you were lucky, when you took a couple of pieces out they didn’t have huge holes in the crumb big enough to drive a truck through. Okay, they weren’t quite that bad, but the holes were big enough that anything you put in your sandwich leaked through.

In my neck of the woods on the west side of the country, Franz Bakery started coming out with a line of gluten-free bread that wasn't found in the freezer. My first bite of their Mountain White and I was seriously happy, it was almost what I wanted, though still a bit moist and didn’t soak butter in as well as I liked when I toasted it. But, like all gluten-free bread, the loaves were smaller and pricey.

There is a Franz Outlet shop down in Lewiston where I used to be able to buy the bread for $3.99 a loaf, about half what the regular grocery stores charged. Alas, the prices have risen to almost what the regular store charges, so I don’t buy it very often.

So I decided to get into making my own. I’ve had a lot of good luck with cookies using Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free flour, which is legume-based. I had no luck making bread with it, but it was great in my cookies.

Bob’s came out with a 1:1 blend that you could measure just like flour, but it was too much for my budget at the time. Thus, my search was to develop a homemade blend.

I muddled through, coming close to an acceptable mix, but it was never quite right. Then I found a site where the author had some copycat recipes, My local grocery store doesn’t carry sorghum, so I went with recipe number two. I make enough to give me five pounds of flour to work with.

I buy all of my ingredients for the blend in the bulk bin at our local Winco. Buying in bulk costs brings down the costs a bit and you can get the amount you need.

Here are the individual ingredients for the copycat recipe, their price per pound, and the cost per ounce:

Potato Starch $2.78 lb or $.17 oz

Tapioca Starch $1.98 lb or $.12 oz

Brown rice $2.08 lb or $.13

White rice $1.98 lb or $.12 oz

Xantham gum $1.50 lb or .09 oz

Recipe for 5 lbs of homemade flour blend :

White rice flour 46 oz = $7.28

Brown rice flour 14 oz = $1,82

potato starch (flour) 14 oz = $1.68

tapioca starch 7 oz = $0.84

Xantham gum 0.5 oz = $0.045

Five pounds of my homemade GF flour blend comes to $11.65. Which breaks down to $2.38 lb or $0.15 oz.

I decided to compare it with the commercial blend Winco carries in bulk. The bulk bin commercial flour blend is $2.98 lb or $.18 oz. So 5 lbs comes to $14.90.

So, making my blend is a few dollars cheaper, though since I don’t use sorghum flour it isn’t quite a fair comparison. But I imagine it would still come out a bit cheaper than the commercial blend from the bulk bin.

I then decided to see what the cost breakdown would be if I were to buy Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking blend. The 44 oz bag runs $9.48 a bag, which works out to $.21 an ounce.

We decided to check and see what a larger bag would cost. The closest place I can buy a 25-pound bag is in the valley at the Chief Store in Clarkston. We go down once a month to hit Costco and a couple of other stores for shopping.

photo by author

We had scoped it out on a previous trip and checked the price:

photo by author

The price of a 25-pound bag of Bob’s 1:1 is $55.89. This breaks down to $2.33 lb or $.14 oz.

I just looked up the price for 25 pounds on Bob’s Amazon store. $80.99 a bag!!!! Needless to say, the Chef Store has the better deal.

Comparing the cost of my homemade blend to Bob’s, they are pretty close, even though I don’t have the sorghum flour. The only place I could source it locally is the Co-op and they do run a bit pricy. I suspect that if I did make the copycat recipe for the Bob’s, I would pay more per ounce.

I also thought about the convenience of buying Bob’s over making my own. I like making my own, but I also have limited pantry space for all the containers I need for the various flours. With the Bob’s I can eliminate a number of the flours I need. The only one I need to buy regularly is the brown rice flour. I need it to feed Henry and use it for making gravy.

photo by author

I also don’t have to run to the store every couple of weeks to buy the individual flours. It would be fine if I came out of the store with just what is on my shopping list, but there is always another thing that jumps in the cart that we didn’t plan on. So the convenience factor of buying the Bob’s tilts the scale toward it. Especially considering how much I go through in a baking session when I am experimenting.

So, for now, I will be using Bob’s 1:1, especially since several recipes call for it specifically. This will give me a chance to try recipes using the flour blend that is called for.

Fingers crossed that the Chef Store keeps it at that price or close. If so, we will probably bite the bullet and pick up two bags next time we are down.

By the way, a new author has joined Medium who has a good article on why gluten-free foods are so expensive.

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Polenta with vegetables

2019-12-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

The polenta is done in the Instant Pot.

4 cups water/chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup polenta

¼ tsp salt

7 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

¼ tsp fresh thyme

¼ tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 cup parmesan cheese

½ cup milk

2 tbsp butter

6 slices of thin pancetta, chopped

1 large onion, rough chopped

2 handfuls baby carrots, rough chopped or whole

1 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced

½ cup parmesan cheese

Pepper to taste.

Add water or stock to the Instant Pot and set to saute. Add salt and herbs. Boil gently for several minutes to infuse the water with the herbs and then add the polenta while stirring.

Turn off saute, put on lid with the vent shut. Set for manual for 7 minutes. When it is done, let it NPR (natural pressure release) for 10 minutes. Carefully open vent whe 10 minutes are up and finish venting if need be.

While polenta is cooking, cook the pancetta in a frying pan over low heat until golden. Set aside.

Using a whisk, stir the polenta to help thicken it. Add the butter and stir to melt. Then add the cheese, milk and pancetta and mix thru.

Turn the mixture out onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper or plastic wrap and spread out using a spatula. You want the polenta to be a ¼ to ½ inch thick. Put in refrigerator to cool for 2 hours or overnight. Make sure you cover the polenta with plastic wrap.

When the polenta is cooled. Cut into cubes and set aside.

In a skillet, add a tbsp of olive oil or butter and heat up. Add the onions and saute until golden brown, then add the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms cook until they release their liquid and then add the carrots. Grind some fresh pepper on and toss everything together.

To build your dish, spray a shallow baking dish with non-stick spray and put down a layer of polenta and spread some of the vegetables across the top and sprinkle on some cheese. Repeat the layer. Put dish into a 350F oven and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Jean's IP Meatloaf

2019-12-02T17:28:00.024-08:00

So, I finally broke down and made meatloaf for the first time in my life. I grew up loathing meatloaf, mostly a texture thing and it was just too weird.

But I had family coming for dinner last Tuesday night and needed to come up with something that was different and not turkey or chicken (with Thursday being the big turkey day, didn't want to ruin the anticipation). So I looked at what I had on hand and decided to give it a try.

I looked at several different Instant Pot meatloaf recipes and then came up with my own. I used gluten-free bread crumbs so I could eat it and simplified the glaze. Most recipes had way too many ingredients, not to mention sugar.

Meatloaf:

2 lbs ground beef

1 half onion

4 slices of bacon

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup bread crumbs

3 tbsp crushed garlic

1 tbsp seasoned salt

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp bbq sauce

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Glaze:

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Chop onions and saute them in a little oil until golden brown. Chop bacon into small pieces and

add to onions, Remove with a slotted spoon when bacon is cooked and add to the bowl with the

ground beef. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix by hand until everything is well distributed.

Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and pack the meat mixture in. Cover with foil.

Put 1.5 cups of water in the IP and put it in a trivet. Place meatloaf on a trivet, put on the lid, making

sure the vent is in the sealed position. Set on manual for 40-45 minutes (if using a bundt pan, you

can probably cook it in 35 minutes).

While the meatloaf is cooking, mix the glaze ingredients together and set them aside.

Let it NPR for 10 minutes and then open. If you are using a loaf pan, use a probe instant thermometer

to make sure meatloaf is cooked through (160F or 70C). Preheat the oven to 400F

Carefully remove meatloaf from the IP and remove the foil. Pour off any grease in the loaf pan into a

container for later disposal.

Turn meatloaf out into a baking pan and brush glaze on top. Put in the oven to let meatloaf brown up

and form a crust.

Take out of the oven and let rest for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Everybody liked it, including me! I was quite surprised and will definitely be making this more often.

Instant Pot Chicken Paprika with Mushrooms

2019-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Made a dish I used to make on the stove top in my IP last night and it turned out nicely. Chicken Paprika with mushrooms:

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb mushrooms (I use criminis), sliced
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup white wine or cooking sherry (optional)
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups chicken stock or water
2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoon flour

I use the 6qt Lux.

1. set to saute and add oil when it says HOT
2. add onions and stir until softened.
3 add garlic and saute until they give off their aroma
4. add mushrooms and stir until they have given off their liquid.
5. add salt, pepper and paprika and stir to coat onions, mushrooms and garlic.
6. add wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan (if not using wine, add some chicken stock or water to deglaze the pot).
7. layer chicken on top of mushrooms, onions, and garlic and pour the chicken stock or water over the top.
8. turn off saute and set the pot on manual for 12 minutes (my chicken thighs were still a bit frozen, so I went with 15 minutes).
9. when done let NPR for at least 10 minutes and then finish releasing the pressure.
10. while it is cooking, whisk the flour into the sour cream and set aside.
11. when done, pull out the chicken and set aside. Set the IP to saute and then add sour cream mixture once the liquid has started to boil. Whisk until smooth and allow to thicken. Add back the chicken and any juices.
12 Serve with rice or potatoes.

NOTES: I can my own chicken stock in pints, hence the 2 cups liquid. Mushrooms and chicken thighs give off quite a bit of liquid, so you can cut back on the stock to a cup if you prefer (I like LOTS of sauce). Paprika can be to taste (I like lots, so usually double it.

You can brown the chicken 1st. When browned set aside and then saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms.

I like to serve mine with rice and do it PIP. Last night we went with packet mashed potatoes.

Easy Mint chocolate fudge

2019-02-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I fell in love with an easy fudge recipe. Just chips, sweetened condensed milk and what ever flavorings you like. In this case, chocolate mint fudge.

Ingredients:

24 oz of white chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup mini dark chocolate chips (reserve a handful to top the fudge)
1 tsp vanilla
green and yellow food coloring
peppermint extract (to taste)

Put chips and sweetened condensed milk into microwave safe mixing bowl and melt on high for 1 minute in microwave. Give a stir and heat again for another minute. You can go 30 seconds if you want, the goal is to have it nice and smooth.

Remove, add vanilla and peppermint exact. I started with 1 tsp extract and added a couple more drops. Following the instructions on the food coloring box for mint green, I added 6 drops of green and 2 drops of yellow for the perfect mint green.

Once mixed, I added 1 cup of the mini dark chocolate chips and mixed it thru to create a swirled pattern.

Pour into a prepared 8" X 8" or 9" X 9" pan lined with parchment paper, wax paper or foil and spread the fudge out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining mini chips on top and pat down. Cover with some plastic wrap and put in the fridge for a few hours. Once hardened, you can remove the fudge from the pan, set on a cutting board and cut into pieces.

Store in a container in the fridge and when ready to eat, let it come to room temp for delicious fudgy goodness.

Experiment in gluten free sourdough bread #1

2017-05-16T11:34:00.001-07:00

Decided I wanted to try my hand at sourdough. I used to make it a lot before having to go gluten free and made some pretty killer bread. But working with non-wheat flour? That was going to require research and experimentation.

First up was making a GF sourdough starter. I found this recipe from Don't Waste the Crumbs and gave it a try.

So I pulled out my brown rice flour, a bowl, measuring cups and a coffee filter. Mixed up the rice flout with water and stashed the bowl on the microwave so it was out of the way and covered the bowl with the coffee filter.

Fed it for several days and I had wild yeast and live sourdough. Kept feeding it, tho not as regularly as the recipe said.

Finally was able to look at making bread, so I looked around and found this recipe on art of gluten-free Baking.

Started to gather my ingredients and realized I didn't have sorghum flour. So decided to use oat flour instead. Hauled out my kitchen scale and started assembling my dough.

Then I discovered I didn't have enough of a couple things. Starter for one, I was about a cup short. Same with my oat flour. Well, I was experimenting so onward I went.

I used fresh whey from the yogurt I had just strained instead of water. Since I was short on starter I just used more whey to get the dough consistency I was looking for. Once I reached it, I poured the dough into a bowl I sprayed with cooking spray (no parchment paper, really need to buy some) and popped it into my oven I had warmed up for a few minutes so proof the dough overnight (I had planned on making the bread earlier int he day, but ended up spending the afternoon and evening over at friends).

Next morning I got up, pulled my dutch oven out of the cupboard and into the oven it went. Oven set for 425F and let it heat up while I had my morning coffee and read my emails. I did pull my dough out of the oven before doing this btw. Once the oven came to temp, I pulled out the dutch oven, sprinkled in some corn meal and slide the loaf into the dutch oven and into the oven to bake.

The aroma coming from my oven while it baked was divine. Smelled of sourdough baking, so that was a good sign.

As I had to get to the pool and then to work, I had to pull the loaf out before it read 205F internal temp. It was a few degrees shy. I also put it on the cooling rack without resting int he dutch oven as long as it should. But as I have said, experiment.

Finally was able to check out the loaf when I got home:

Definitely under cooked, but looking like it should. It was a very dense bread, the loaf had been a lot higher when I pulled it out to cool, so there was some shrinkage.

But the flavor! OH MY!!!!! Sourdough goodness in every bite. Toasted up pretty well and was very yummy with butter on it.

Too flat to make sandwiches with, will experiment again and see if I can manage a sandwich sized and shaped loaf. But to do that I need to make new starter and this time make sure I have more than enough. Also need to find a decent container to keep it in once I get it going and storing it int he fridge when not needed.

Homemade yogurt cream cheese

2017-04-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

My 2nd batch of yogurt came out perfectly and I had decided I was going to make labneh, a middle eastern cream cheese.

This batch was very thick and creamy. I spooned out a 24 oz containers' worth so I could have some regular yogurt for the next couple days. I followed this recipe, tho since it called for a 12 oz container of Greek yogurt and I made a whole gallon, I winged it a bit on how many pinches of salt to use, about 10 pinches of kosher salt and then a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice (give or take). I blended that all in and then I ladled it into a wire mesh colander I had lined with some coffee filters I still had (I do need to see about buying some of the BIG coffee filters to make this step easier when I run out of the little ones):

1 gallon of milk makes a LOT of yogurt. I then folded over the filters, wrapped the strainer and the bowl in a plastic bag and into the refrigerator for 24 hours. I took it out once to pour the whey off into jars to save for other uses.

After 24 hours the amount of yogurt in the strainer was reduced quite a bit:

I unwrapped the top and there was a glorious looking cream cheese:

I turned it out onto a plate:

And unwrapped it:

The flavor is heavenly. Mildly tart and super creamy. I will make a couple containers to use as labneh to share with friends and the rest I will use as cream cheese and make a cheese cake.

I will probably not be making as big a batch like this again, except for when I need a lot of cream cheese (assuming this will work in the cheesecakes I am planning on). A block of cream cheese is at least $1.50 each and then I will need at least 2 for cheesecakes I will be making in the Wilton Excelle Elite 6 x 2-3/4 Inch Springform Pan I picked up. I am planning on picking up the Fat Daddio's Anodized Aluminum Round Cheesecake Pan to make larger cheesecakes, quick breads and even lasagna in my Instant Pot.

From here out, unless I need the whole batch of yogurt for cheese, I will take some to strain for cheese and the rest will go for yogurt.

Now I just need to figure out what I am going to use all the whey I have saved out for.

Homemade yogurt in the Instant Pot

2017-04-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

I had absolutely no intentions of making my own yogurt. I can buy what I like at the grocery store (Zoi Greek yogurt) and not deal with time and such.

Then all the evil people in the Instant Pot community group I am on insisted on posting about all the yogurt yumminess they have been making.

Problem is I have the IP-LUX60 V3 which doesn't have the yogurt function like the IP-DUO pots. But, I found the instructions that will let me make it in my pot here.

So I hit Winco for a gallon of whole milk and discovered they have a line of Greek yogurt under their brand. So I picked up a small container of plain NF yogurt with the live and active cultures.

When I was ready to go I pulled the milk out of the fridge to start warming up. Cleaned out my pot liner with hot water and put it in the cooker and added the milk. Pressed the saute button and set the temp for low.

I was amazed how quickly it came up to the recommended 180F degrees. I had gone back to the living room to my chair to watch some shows. I can see my pot from there so I can periodically go and see how things are doing. The milk heated up to a slow boil and the machine beeped done with the saute cycle and I took the temp of the milk with an instant read thermometer. 181F degrees.

Pulled the liner out and put the lid on to hold the heat after turning the cooker to off. I let the milk cool naturally, which took quite a while (even tho I had had a seriously long day, while I was a bit impatient to have it cool down, I was watching the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes on BritBox, so I was happy).

While it was cooling I put 2 heaping tablespoons of the starter yogurt into a measuring cup to let it come up to room temperature. Once the milk cooled to 110F I ladled a cup of warm milk into the started and whisked it together to temper the starter. Then poured it into the pot and whisked it to make sure the starter was well distributed.

I then put the liner back in the pot, put the lid back on, sealed the vent and tucked it to the back of my counter wrapped in a thick bath towel and went to bed about midnight.

I slept in until 9ish and finally got up. Started my coffee (I was smart and set it up the night before. Just had to push the button) and then it was the moment of truth. Was I going to have yogurt or a whole gallon of funny tasting milk.

I unwrapped the pot, took off the lid and saw:

It certainly looked like yogurt. The top was nice and bubbled from the happy cultres who had lots of room to grown and reproduce.

It wasn't quite thick enough to stand a spoon, but it was thick.

I took my big mesh colander and lined it with the coffee filters I still had after we'd picked up a wire mesh basket for the coffee make and put it over a large bowl. Ladled in the yogurt, covered it and into the fridge to chill and strain.

I gave it a taste test before putting it in the strainer. NOM! A just right tangy smooth yogurt. Can't wait to try it after it is strained and flavored. I picked up some frozen dark cherries to mash up so hubby can have cherry yogurt. As yet there is no sweetener in the yogurt. I will leave sweetening to when we have individual servings. Most likely I will sweeten with sucralose or honey if adding fruit isn't enough.

1 gallon of milk makes a LOT of yogurt. Will probably look at doing it in half gallon batches from here on out. I will freeze some of the yogurt so I will have starter for future batches. Will also explore what I can use the whey in so that isn't wasted. I am also going to like the cost savings. I get my milk for $1.98 a gallon at the moment and the starter yogurt was 68 cents. If my math is right, I should have around 16 cups of yogurt for the cost of 16.5 cents per cup! Talk about serious saving.

Instant Pot Gluten Free zucchini/banana bread - 1st attempt

2017-04-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups GF all purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Cream coconut oil with sugar, then add the eggs. Mix in the zucchini and mashed bananas.

Add the ingredients together, then add to the wet and mix until smooth.

Spray 6 inch springform pan with cooking spray and pour in the batter. Cover pan with foil.

Place trivet in Instant Pot and pour in 1 cup water. Make a sling of aluminum foil and place it under the pan to make removing it easier. Put on lid, sealed.

I set it on manual for 50 minutes. Then I let it release for 10 minutes naturally and then opened the seal.

The bread wasn't quite done so I put it back in for an additional 10 minutes, with 10 minutes NPR.

Once it cooled a bit I cut a slice to give to my hubby for his opinion. While the whole bread weighed heavy, he said the texture was lighter than usual. It was also very good. I had some and NOM! if I do say so myself LOL!

Will definitely be making my zucchini and banana breads this way, unless I am making several then it will be regular oven for that. But for just us, this is perfect.

Instant Pot chow mein

2017-04-05T10:30:00.001-07:00

Hubby had a craving for Chinese for dinner, so I changed plans. Found this recipe for chow mein and headed to the grocery store after work to pick up what I needed.

I changed the recipe up a bit. Went with just a pound of pork, so I tripled the crimini mushrooms. I also added chow mein noodles. Got everything prepped, cut up, and diced and ready to go.

Set the Instant Pot to saute and when it was ready, added coconut oil to melt and then put in the pork to brown. Seasoned it with salt and pepper and when it had browned, removed the pork and added the onions to saute for a few minutes.

Then I added the pork back in along with the celery, red pepper, and the water. I pressure cooked it on manual for 6 minutes, let it natural release (NR) for 5 minutes, the quick released.

Added a bit more water and then the chow mein noodles and mixed it up to get them into the liquid. Lid back on, pressure cook on manual for 2 more minutes and then a 5 minute NR and then quick.

Switched it to saute and finished the recipe as written. Hubby says I nailed it. I will never do chow mein any other way after this.. This recipe does make a LOT, will not use two packages of bean sprouts next time (didn't have any in bulk and no reason to save any for something else so used it all), so have lunch for me and hubby tomorrow (and maybe a side dish for dinner LOL!).

How to grow your own 2 - greens

2017-04-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday I decided I HAD to get my gutters up so I can start my salad greens and spinach so I can have some cold weather foods. The hubby likes salads and I love being able to feed him ones I grew myself.

Had found a great idea of using rain gutter as planters, so I had been collecting them of the local free group on Yahoo. My gutters and hangers I was able to find, but the end caps are somewhere in one of the sheds and I didn't feel like trying to find them, so I broke out the plastic and duct tape.

I pulled out two gutters and assembled the tools and supplies I needed:

plastic rain gutters

Screws, duct tape, water can, cordless drill, drill bits, screwdriver bits,
gutter brackets, and scissors

As mentioned, I couldn't find the gutter caps, so I folded up some plastic over the open ends and duct taped the heck out of them. They ain't pretty, but they will work until I can find the caps.

Duct taped gutter ends

Then I flipped the gutters over and drilled small holes along the bottom from one end to the other. They don't have to be very big holes, just enough to let excess water drain out, but small enough to keep the soil in.

Next up is to put up the brackets,

Once the brackets are all up, fit in a gutter. Then remove the gutter and then unscrew the end brackets and move them inward towards the center several inches each and reattach them to the railing.

PRO TIP: Make sure to accurately measure the length of the gutter and mark it before installing LOL!

Once that is done, fit a gutter into the brackets and fill with potting soil.

You can seed it with any shallow root plant, in this case I have two different salad mixes and spinach. Plus my favorite plant food.

Sprinkle the seed and plant food on top of the soil and then cover. I planted the spinach and musclun mix into the top gutter and then bottom gutter is the musclun mix and Italian greens mix.

Water and Viola!

I have my salad greens started and can't wait until I can have fresh picked salads for dinner. I don't even have to leave my deck to harvest it. Just go out with a big bowl and shears and cut as much as I need. I can then seed in new as the plants start to die back a bit. I should be able to have fresh greens until the weather gets too hot for them. Once that happens I will seed in something different that will like that planter.

I even have enough room on either end to put in some cut down gutters to plant my kitchen herbs. Just need to lay my hands on more brackets.

Instant Pot Lemon mustard chicken with brown rice.

2017-03-29T22:01:00.001-07:00

Saw this recipe on the Instant Pot Facebook group I joined the other day (a dangerous group, my Pinterest pin button is going to get worn out LOL!). It sounded delish so I decided I had to try it tonight.

But alas, I don't have any potatoes on hand, so I decided to adapt it a bit for brown rice.

Since I was doing brown rice, I increased the liquid to 1 1/2 cup. I also decided I needed some garlic seasoning.

So:

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons oil (used coconut oil tonight, tho I like olive oil)
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 big dollops of Dijon mustard
2-3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon garlic seasoning (Johnny's Garlic Caesar)
salt and pepper
1 cup brown rice

Got all my ingredients together and ready to go. I set up my Instant Pot and started with the saute function. When it was hot, I added the coconut oil and then seasoned the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and browned them in the pot. Did this in two batches and set the thighs aside while doing the rice.

Added the rice to the pot and sauteed it a bit, then added a 1/4 cup or so of the chicken broth to deglaze the bottom of the pot.

I then added the mustard, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, and the garlic seasoning along with the rest of the chicken broth. Mixed it up to blend the mustard in completely. Thn I added back the chicken, along with the accumulated juices.

Put the lid on and made sure the vent was set to sealed. Hit the manual button for 15 minutes and walked away.

OH MY GOODNESS!!

Talk about delicious! The brown rice was perfectly cooked and very saucy. The chicken was very tender and juicy. I will definitely be putting this on the permanent rotation. I also will be doing the recipe as originally written with potatoes when I get the chance.

Mini greenhouses, or How to grow your own

2017-03-25T18:54:00.002-07:00

food that is LOL!

After a 2 year break, I am getting a garden started again. I had found an idea of using 2 liter and 2.5 liter soda bottles for making little greenhouses to start my seeds. So this year I started saving bottles again.

The 2L bottles will have the potting soil and seeds, while the 2.5L bottles will be the greenhouses.

Gather everything you need and then start by removing the labels from all the bottles and rinsing them out if they haven't already.

Bottles, knife, scissors, label maker and drill

I then poke a pilot hole using a knife or similar sharp object. I cut the bottle in half (tho you will want to make sure the rim of the bottom half of the 2.5L will be below the 2L bottom when you nest them together.

Getting started

Cutting to size

Tops and bottoms of the mini greenhouses.

Once all the bottles are cut, I drilled holes in the bottom of the 2L bottles for drainage. Fill most of the way with potting soil. I also add some plant food pellets.

Drilling the drain holes

Pots all prepped and ready to plant.

This is what I use, I find it to be pretty good and easy to use.

Now that all the pots have been prepped, I make labels for everything I am starting. I put them on pots as I go so the pot is labeled with the right seeds. I've mostly tomatoes at the moment, plus 1 pot of Black Beauty eggs plants and 1 with the California Wonder Sweet Pepper. I also have some mystery seeds. I am thinking , but we will see what sprouts LOL!

A nice variety of tomatoes.

Mystery seeds. Wonder what they will be?

Seeds ready to be buried in the soil.

The first time I did this I put the labels on the 2.5L bottles, then somehow during the spring got the pots inside mixed up.

Once everything is seeded and labeled, I then water them and pop the tops on. Remember I said to cut the outer bottle so the inner pot sticks above the rim? This is so the top stays on.

The inner pot is taller than the outer one.

1 down, more to go

Now you just need to find a warm well lit spot to put your little greenhouses and wait for things to grow. Once the plants are tall enough you can remove the lids. When they get even bigger you can then transplant them into larger pots and eventually out to the garden in the ground or a suitable container if you are container gardening.

All set to grow

I so can't wait for Spring and summer to get here, I am looking forward to fresh tomatoes and other veg to cook with. Not too mention finding out what the mystery seeds are!

A wonderful cleaner

2017-03-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

A while back I started cleaning my kitchen with vinegar. I'd tried a lot of the commercial cleaners out there, they all worked fine. But even the environmentally safe ones required refills and a trip to the store, more plastic bottles to get rid of and I wanted something that was cheaper and more flexible.

I'd been using vinegar and baking soda to keep my drains clean, so using vinegar was a logical choice. I use it for lots of other stuff (refrigerator pickling and fabric softener in my laundry to name a couple). I usually have a gallon bottle or two around the house.

There are tons of recipes out on the net, all are pretty simple at the base. Take orange peels, put them in a jar and fill with white vinegar. Put on the lid and store in a cool stark place (pantry is good) and let sit for a few weeks.

Once it is ready, strain the vinegar out into another jar and you can then use it diluted with water in a spray bottle. I just use it straight up and always have a couple of bottles steeping so I never run short.

This is also very good for wiping down the inside of the microwave. You can pour a bit into a cup and microwave it for a couple minutes to get it nice ans steamy inside, then wipe down and clean any stuck on gunk.

I like to then put the peels in the garbage disposal with some baking soda, a shot of vinegar and let it sit overnight. Then in the morning I run the disposal and flush with hot water for a nice clean smelling kitchen sink and disposal.

I save my orange peels in a baggie in the freezer so I always have those on hand for making fresh batches of cleaner.

So check out the wonderful world of DIY cleaners on the net and try them out.

Stuffed burgers in the pressure cooker

2017-03-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

So have been having fun with my Instant Pot since it arrived. I've done quite a bit in it, so far mostly pressure cooking, stock making and used the slow cooker function one weekend (worked beautifully).

So one of the things I made was stuffed burgers. I hadn't planned on using it for stuffed burgers, but when hubby asked one day what was for dinner, I said burgers. His reply? "In the pressure cooker?" I laughed, said I don't think you could do that, then I hit Google. Sure enough there were sites where people used their pressure cookers for making hamburgers. In specific, stuffed hamburgers. So I said, why not.

I mix my burger with onion soup mix, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and fresh ground pepper. I use a patty maker to get a fairly consistent size when doing stuffed burgers. This time around I took string mozzarella sticks and used those to stuff the burgers. I always to my burgers in big batches, so made enough to stash several in the freezer and then I loaded up the cooker.

Was only able to fit in 3 stuffed burgers (they were pretty big) on to the rack and then added a bit of water. Set the cooker on manual for 6 minutes and waited.

When everything was done and the pressure vented, out came the baseballs, er, burgers. I am definitely going to have to work on time and making sure the burgers are shaped so they don't puff up when cooking.. The cheese stayed in the other two burgers pretty well, you can see this one split the seam.

I had sauteed mushrooms to go with it. Hubby had his burger & mushrooms on a bun with fries on the side.

I wasn't too sure about the texture, may have cooked it a bit too long. Next time will go with 4-5 minutes. Hubby liked his burger and said the texture was fine. I tend to prefer my burgers still mooing LOL! So that could be why I thought it was a little bit tough. But the flavor was good and the burger still nice and juicy.

I usually put my burgers in the oven on a rack to bake, usually from frozen. Have to look and see if they can be pressure cooked from frozen sometime.

I so love Thanksgiving leftovers

2016-12-13T12:00:00.001-08:00

So it has been a few weeks since Thanksgiving and I still have a few leftovers in my freezer. I turned the carcass into a nice thick stock and have several quarts in bags stashed in the freezer. Sunday I decided I seriously needed soup, so I started pulling things out.

Thawed a couple quarts of stock and put it into a pot to simmer. I then thawed the leftover mashed potatoes I had to make a potato soup base. From there I fried up some bacon and chopped it up and added it to the soup. For more protean I then added some diced up turkey and let that simmer for a while. Seasoned with salt, pepper and Trader Joe's 21 Spice Salute.

After simmering a while I decided it needed something more, so I added a package of GF potato gnocchi to give some added body and that did the trick.

Nice big bowl for dinner and several days of leftovers for my lunches. So yummy!

Buy my gluten free cook book for 99 cents thru October!

2016-10-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

JeanC’s Kitchen Gluten Free Cookbook. Buy it today at Smashwords for 99 cents (half off). Use coupon code DB63Z at check out. Offer expires 11:59 pm 10/31/16.

Batman Evolution - ThePianoGuys

2014-10-02T13:42:00.001-07:00

IT'S HERE!

2014-10-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

I did it! I now have a published cookbook! Finished it last night, uploaded and published thru Smashwords before I had a chance to chicken out. So it is live and for sale for $1.99: JeanC’s Kitchen Gluten Free Cookbook: Favorite recipes, now gluten free.

Sweet potato pancakes with turkey and gravy

2013-12-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

Sweet potato pancakes with turkey and gravy, originally uploaded by JeanC38.

I love holiday leftovers. Made pancakes out of the leftover sweet potato stuff I made and I have some yummy lunches this week. I used brandy in the potatoes originally, didn't feel like buying a bottle of bourbon just for one recipe. I added 3 eggs and a bit over a cup of GF all purpose flour and then onto the electric griddle and VOILA! Great use of leftover side dish.

Whipped up pancakes

2013-03-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Been wanting to try my hand at buckwheat pancakes for a while and finally gave them a try today. Didn't really use a recipe, I winged it.

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
egg sub made from flax meal (equivalent to two eggs)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp xanthum gum (couldn't find my baking powder)
2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
water to right consistency

So, with the exceptions of the flours, all other measurements are a guess. Not sure if I needed the xanthum gum, but as I said, I couldn't find my baking powder, which I will use next time.

Mixed the dry ingredients, then added the flax meal egg sub, yogurt and then added the water a bit at a time to get the right consistency for the batter.

This recipe will make a lot of 3-4 inch pancakes, so I have some made for breakfast this week.

Hubby really liked them, tho would have like a little more sweetness. That can be solved with using syrup (which we really don't use much), jelly which hubby does like or using honey instead of the brown sugar and adding a bit more. Which I will do next time round.