Flip Cookbook

Sugar Free Sunday & Mother’s Day

Raj — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:01:04 +0000

Welcome to one of the sweetest weekly virtual potluck get-together ever! Yes indeed — it is Sugar Free Sunday! We host it every Sunday to exchange incredible sugar free recipes. Inspiration to start the week right? You bet!

A mother shows her love in many ways.. and in many forms. Often it’s as obvious as a kiss or a hug. But many times it’s not as obvious. It comes in forms of hidden sacrifices. It comes in forms of elating joys at your successes. It comes as support through the turns of your life.. right or wrong. It comes as a routine dinner meal.

This month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free theme is “Mother’s Recipe Box”. So go ahead, dig through the recipes you mom gave you.. or better yet, call her up talk for an hour and jot down the recipe direct from the souce. Then share it with everyone else! See details of the event here.

And don’t forget to share your sugar free creation of the week below!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

How do you participate in the virtual potluck?

Link your recipe post (NOT your homepage) if it does not use refined sugar. Your blog does not have to be entirely sugar free, just the dish you’re sharing!
Please link back to this get-together somewhere in your post’s text. It’s a great way to invite your readers to the fun!
Want to make something sweet without using refined sugar? Just check out all the ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without refined sugar here.
Your link doesn’t have to be to a sweet dish! We love to see your sugar free appetizers, entrees, soups, snacks — well — you get the idea!
Please don’t link to carnivals or giveaways. This is a party; bring a dish to share!
In the ‘Name’ field, please enter who you are and what you’re linking. For example Sonia would put: Bean Kale Pasta Soup [Sonia @ Flip Cookbook]
It’s not a party if no one chats! Please join the conversation by leaving a message in the comments section below. Also make sure you have the ‘Notify Me’ checkbox selected so that you can listen as well!
Sign up for free to our new venture Velvet Aroma. It’s a visual way to read the blogs you love and really bring their recipes into your kitchen.

We’re so excited to see what you’re cooking….. Sugar Free!

Click on the ‘Add your link’ button below to share.

Spiced Grilled Tofu

Raj — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:13:50 +0000

The best thing about Indian spices is that a little bit really packs in a big punch. I find tofu, much like paneer (Indian cottage cheese), makes a great base for really showcasing spices. That’s really what this dish was for me. A way to really highlight the spices that are used on a daily basis in Indian cooking. Or as my husband says – “It’s a delivery mechanism of spices”.

Today I’d like to talk about what these “daily” indian spices are… If you ever have the opportunity to cook in an Indian’s kitchen you may come across the following:

This is a spice box. It almost always looks just like this. Small removable metal containers within one large round metal container which has a lid. No, the small metal containers within don’t have lids of their own. Why would they? Remember, in Indian cooking, all these spices are used nearly on a daily basis. Which means, they finish quick and need to be replenished often.

So what are these spices you see in the magic box? Starting with the container with the spoon and moving clockwise it’s:

gaaram masala
cumin seeds
mustard seeds
coriander powder
cumin powder
cayenne pepper
and turmeric powder in the middle

The two other “spices” that are not generally kept in this box, but are used just as frequently are:

Curry leaves
Asafotida

When I first started making Indian dishes at home, if I didn’t know which spices to use in a particular dish, I’d just go in a complete circle. Usually that worked out just fine since I wasn’t a terribly picky eater.

I love how despite the variety and amount of spices used in most Indian dishes, each spice really holds out on it’s own. Enough so that someone with a discerning taste, like my grandfather, could always figure out exactly which spice needed to be adjusted till you had just the right combination of perfection.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Most Indians would imagine it to be quite basic.. however it really is quite delicious.

Enjoy!

This recipe is shared at the following virtual recipe potlucks: Wellness Weekends

Spicy Grilled Tofu

Makes: 2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients

7 oz Extra Firm Tofu
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
2 – 4 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 teaspoon gaaram masala
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided)
salt to taste

Directions

1. Remove and drain the tofu. Wrap in a paper towel to remove the excess liquid.

2. Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch slice.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place the tofu on the pan. Sprinkle the top of the tofu with salt.

While one side of the tofu grills, heat the remainder olive oil in a small pan. Check if the oil is completely heated by dropping a couple of cumin seeds into the oil. If they sizzle, add the cumin and mustard seeds and the curry leaves. Allow them to fry for about 15 – 30 seconds.

Once the seeds stop popping, add the cayenne powder, gaaram masala, cumin powder and coriander powder. Allow this mixture to fry for about 30 seconds.

Flip the tofu over once it has dark brown grill marks.

Pour the spice mixture onto each slice of tofu. Sprinkle salt on this side of the tofu as well. Allow the other side to cook till it also has dark brown grill marks. Eat hot!

No related posts.

Sugar Free Sunday & Corn Sugar Vs High Fructose Corn Syrup

Sonia — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:14:37 +0000

I went refined sugar free a couple of weeks back and, ever since, we’ve been reading the food labels like hawks! It isn’t like we didn’t read them before, we did! If a food had High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in it, it was not okay. A few days back, we were reading the label on my husbands favorite cereal and we saw a new name, Corn Sugar. So far I had let myself believe that corn sugar was an unrefined sugar of some sort. Since I was being super strict about what I ate, I decided to look into the difference, between corn sugar and HFCS, and what I found was shocking!

Apparently, manufacturers have begun replacing HFCS with traditional corn sugar as consumer awareness on the issue increases. The FDA sent a letter to the Corn Refiners Association requesting that they stop using the term “corn sugar” until a formal decision was made by them. Also, the term “corn sugar” already refers to the corn product dextrose, which further confuses the issue. The Corn Refiners Association responded with “We do not believe that anyone could be confused or believe that the statements regarding ‘corn sugar’ on the websites refer to anything other than high fructose corn syrup.” So that means my family was consuming HFCS, assuming that corn sugar was something different.

In fact, the makers of HFCS have petitioned the FDA to formally change the name of HFCS to corn sugar. This completely contradicts the first statement where they thought people would not confuse the two names! Hopefully, by the time this court case is settled there will be some ruling which declares sugar as an addictive substance similar to alcohol and get regulated! Meanwhile, I have to make sure I watch the labels even more carefully for fear of making incorrect assumptions. Do you’ll have similar stories or alternate names for sugar that you avoid?

How do you participate in the virtual potluck?

Link your recipe post (NOT your homepage) if it does not use refined sugar. Your blog does not have to be entirely sugar free, just the dish you’re sharing!
Please link back to this get-together somewhere in your post’s text. It’s a great way to invite your readers to the fun!
Want to make something sweet without using refined sugar? Just check out all the ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without refined sugar here.
Your link doesn’t have to be to a sweet dish! We love to see your sugar free appetizers, entrees, soups, snacks — well — you get the idea!
Please don’t link to carnivals or giveaways. This is a party; bring a dish to share!
In the ‘Name’ field, please enter who you are and what you’re linking. For example Sonia would put: Bean Kale Pasta Soup [Sonia @ Flip Cookbook]
It’s not a party if no one chats! Please join the conversation by leaving a message in the comments section below. Also make sure you have the ‘Notify Me’ checkbox selected so that you can listen as well!
Sign up for free to our new venture Velvet Aroma. It’s a visual way to read the blogs you love and really bring their recipes into your kitchen.

We’re so excited to see what you’re cooking….. Sugar Free!

Click on the ‘Add your link’ button below to share.

Simple Yellow Rice

Sonia — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:52:42 +0000

I called this recipe Simple Yellow Rice but frankly, it’s not really simple. Simple and quick to make, yes, but the aroma and flavors that you achieve are so flavorful and comforting… and that is why I called it simple! Some of the simple joys of life are so very comforting now, aren’t they?

I grew up in Pune a town close to Bombay (Mumbai, as it is now known) and we are pretty close to the South of India. For the North Indians we are already in the South and for the South Indians, we are in the north, geographically. As I write this, I remembered a funny conversation I had with someone a while back where we argued for a good few minutes about where Pune was on the map of India and it was hilarious now when I think about it, because we were both passionately going at it about the geographical location of Pune.

So, the point of that little story was that growing up *close* to the southern states of India, I was exposed to a lot of South Indian food. Funnily enough, even though I saw “Yellow Rice or Lemon Rice” on menus in restaurants, and ate the yellow rice out of my class-mates lunch boxes, I never really “took” to the recipe until I came across Chitra’s video over at The ABCD’S of Cooking. Her recipe has been posted here. Now, if someone tells me about their go-to comfort food and that they could eat it any day, any time, I take that statement pretty seriously. Since the flavor combination of this recipe is something I’ve eaten a lot, I was sold hook, line and sinker. The fact that I saw this post at 4:00pm and my brain was thinking about dinner already might have something to do with it , so I *had* to make this for dinner the same night! Has this every happened to you? You simply can’t get the recipe out of your head until you’ve cooked it! I did and loved it… even though I forgot to add the red chilies (in the nature of full disclosure, I’m a self professed spice-oholic! ). So if you love spicy food, don’t forget it like I did… either ways it turned out fabulously!

Enjoy!

NOTE:-
1. I didn’t add the dill since that felt like a very brave step for me, but the next time I make it, I will definitely give it a shot!
2. I also made 1 & 1/2 times the original recipe posted by Chitra and mostly freewheeled it because I’ve used the combination of urad dal, chana dal, hing, mustard seeds, etc… quite a bit. I’d recommend following her recipe for someone who is absolutely new to South Indian cooking!

Simple Yellow Rice

Adapted from ABCD’S of Cooking

Makes: 4 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ready in: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 cups basmati rice
2 generous pinches of turmeric
3 cups of water to cook the rice
1/2 cup of raw peanuts
1 tablespoon oil + 1 tablespoon oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 generous pinch of asafoetida
1 & 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
3/4 teaspoon urad dal
3/4 teaspoon chana dal
1 stalk of curry leaves
Juice of 1 & 1/2 lemon (more to taste)
handful frozen fresh grated coconut, thawed (I should’ve added more here!)
salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Directions

1. Cook the rice along with the turmeric and water on the stove. I like to see the rice get done, also it helps me get the right texture I want.

2. Now while the rice is cooking, fry the peanuts in 1 tablespoon oil. You want them to gently brown, with a wonderful peanut-y aroma in the kitchen.

3. Strain the peanuts out and keep them aside. I used the left over oil in my tempering for the final recipe.

4. My rice was done and looked lovely!

5. For the tempering, heat the 1 tablespoon oil, along with the left over oil from frying the peanuts on medium heat. Check to see if the oil is ready by dropping a few mustard seeds in. You want them to sizzle and pop. I first put the mustard seeds in and let them splutter and pop, next the chana dal went in, and roasted it for a bit (be sure not to burn the seeds!). Finally the urad dal went in. When the seeds had browned a bit, I put the curry leaves in for about 10 seconds and then mixed in the rice.

6. Mix, Mix, MIX till the tempering is well (you guessed it *smile*) mixed in!

7. Now add the shredded coconut, lemon juice and salt to taste.

8. Finally the peanuts and the cilantro go in and you give the rice one final mix. Enjoy this yummy, comforting dish!

Go Ahead Honey It’s Gluten Free and From Mom’s Recipe Box!

Raj — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:01:54 +0000

It’s May and every May since I was a child I celebrated Mother’s Day. This always happens on the 2nd Sunday of May. I remember looking forward to the day when I get to lavish on my mom the care and love that normally I relish in. One of the big things I liked to do was to cook something for her because normally she would be the one that would be cooking for us.

The morning starts out with great independence (and with my mother in bed). I’d climb a chair and tipy-toe to reach the top of the refrigerator where my mom stored the pancake mix. Then I’d scramble around the kitchen looking for a mixing bowl. As much as I’m taking credit for the rummaging around the kitchen, it was actually my brothers and I. At some point my mom would show up in her pink robe smiling. Most likely she was woken up by all our racket.. but at the time we thought it was simply because she couldn’t resist the surprise we were cooking up for her! I don’t know how, but at some point the cooking adventure somehow changes from us cooking for her to her cooking for us! (I know.. what kind of kids were we?!) Anyhow, long story short, we’d end up with a stack of pancakes, maple syrup and lots of happy grins around the table. All to celebrate Mother’s Day.

When I left home, I suddenly found myself quite alone in my kitchen. There was no one to take over my messes. There was no one to make me a stack of pancakes – or the other goodies my mother normally did. Thats when I rolled up my sleeves, called up my mom, and got a load of recipes. It’s been well over a decade since I’ve left my home and I still do this. I still call my mom and get recipes. After all this time, I still haven’t gotten through all her recipes.

So for this Mother’s Day month (in America), I decided to pick the theme of “Mother’s Recipe Box” for Go Ahead Honey It’s Gluten Free. I think it’d be fun to remember and cherish our mothers by cooking some of our favorite recipes that she made for us growing up. Not to mention another opportunity to get closer to making everything she had made! If your mother didn’t cook, then maybe pick a recipe that she loved to eat.

The Rules and Guidelines for this event are simple:

1. Everyone can participate! You don’t have to be a gluten-free blogger or even a blogger but your entry must be gluten free.

2. If your entry is a blog entry, you should link back to this post.

3. Please email me your entry’s picture, how it’s perfect for this month’s theme and a permanent link at flipcookbook@gmail.com by May 28th. At the end of the month I’ll post a round up of all the delicious goodies!

Looking forward to seeing what your mother cooked for you!

Sugar Free Sunday & Fun Facts About Bees

Raj — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:01:46 +0000

After doing a series of posts on honey labeling, I thought this week we could have a little fun with facts… facts on honey bees.

The honeybee’s wings flap their wings about 11,000 times per minute.
The male honey bees are called drones and are born from unfertilized eggs. They don’t do any work except for mating with the queen. They also don’t have any stingers.
The worker honey bees are always females but they are not able to reproduce.
The worker bee starts off by only cleaning the hive and feeding larvae. Then they move onto making comb cells then they gather pollen and nectar from the forager bees. Eventually when they’re old enough they become foragers.
The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed Royal Jelly in order to become sexually mature.
Bees stop flying when the temperature drops below about 10°C (50°F) and crowd into the central area of the hive to form a “winter cluster”. They consume their stored honey to produce body heat.
Honeybees account for 80% of all insect pollination.
For one kilo of honey a single bee would have to visit 4 million flowers and fly a distance equivalent of more than 4 times around the earth.
Honeybees are not native to Canada or the USA. They are European in origin, and were brought to North America by the early settlers.
Honeybees can perceive movements that are separated by 1/300th of a second. Humans can only sense movements separated by 1/50th of a second. Were a bee to enter a cinema, it would be able to differentiate each individual movie frame being projected.
Honeybees communicate with one another by “dancing” to give the direction and distance of flowers.
The average honey bee will actually make only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.

How do you participate in the virtual potluck?

Link your recipe post (NOT your homepage) if it does not use refined sugar. Your blog does not have to be entirely sugar free, just the dish you’re sharing!
Please link back to this get-together somewhere in your post’s text. It’s a great way to invite your readers to the fun!
Want to make something sweet without using refined sugar? Just check out all the ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without refined sugar here.
Your link doesn’t have to be to a sweet dish! We love to see your sugar free appetizers, entrees, soups, snacks — well — you get the idea!
Please don’t link to carnivals or giveaways. This is a party; bring a dish to share!
In the ‘Name’ field, please enter who you are and what you’re linking. For example Sonia would put: Bean Kale Pasta Soup [Sonia @ Flip Cookbook]
It’s not a party if no one chats! Please join the conversation by leaving a message in the comments section below. Also make sure you have the ‘Notify Me’ checkbox selected so that you can listen as well!
Sign up for free to our new venture Velvet Aroma. It’s a visual way to read the blogs you love and really bring their recipes into your kitchen.

We’re so excited to see what you’re cooking….. Sugar Free!

Click on the ‘Add your link’ button below to share.

Khichadi (Indian Rice and Lentils) & Birbal

Raj — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:27:23 +0000

For this month’s ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’, Zoe from Z’s Cup of Tea set the theme to be ‘Fictional Food – Treats and Dishes from Children’s Stories’.

When I read the story, I really thought I would end up making ‘Curds and Whey’ from the children’s poetry ‘Little Miss Muffet’. But as I thought about the stories I really read a lot of when I was very little.. Miss Muffet was really not it. In fact I think I didn’t know of Miss Muffet until I was in my pre-teens. I think it was when I was reading books to my younger brother!

I decided to put a little more thought into this idea.

When I was very young I used to read (and be read to) the short stories of Akbar and Birbal. Although the stories are fictional, they are based on historic personalities. Akbar is a Mughal Emperor who ruled over the Mughal Empire in India during the 1500s. Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court.

Generally every story with these “dynamic duo” followed the format of Akbar posing a question of morality or a brain teaser of sorts and Birbal devised a clever way to respond. In one of the stories Akbar asks if a man would do anything for money. Birbal responds ‘Yes’. To prove this, Birbal finds a poor man who needed money and brings him to the court of the Emperor. Akbar makes a deal with the man that in exchange for some large amounts of money, the man would have to spend the entire night in a frozen pond. The man did it! And the next day he shows up to the court to get his reward. When Akbar asked the poor man how he managed to do it he said that he saw a faint light about a few miles away and that helped him withstand the cold. Akbar decided that that was cheating. That somehow the man was getting heat from the light that was a few miles away. Birbal then has the Emperor over for dinner to eat Khichadi. After waiting for hours for the food to be served, Akbar finally got so hungry that he went into the kitchen to check out the how far along dinner had been prepared. To his surprise he saw that the Birbal had put the pot of khichadi about one meter above the fire from the stove. He thought this was ludicrous and told Birbal that. To which Birbal responded — if a poor man can get heat from a faint light a few miles away, surely this khichadi will get enough heat from merely a meter away. Akbar knew he had made a mistake and immediately rewarded the poor man.

You can read a more complete version of the story here.

So, for this month’s ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’, I decided that I’d make Khichadi. It’s quite an easy dish – perfect for when you don’t feel like cooking an elaborate meal.

Enjoy!

Khichadi

Makes: 2 servings

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ready in: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup lentil – tur dal or moong dal
1/2 cup rice (white or brown.. typically white, I used brown)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
water to cook lentils and rice (I used 3 cups)
salt to taste (I used about 2 – 3 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter)

Directions

1. Put the lentil and rice in the pressure cooker. Wash and let it soak for 30 minutes.

2. Drain the mixture. Add as much water as needed to cook the mixture. Add turmeric powder and salt. Cook in the pressure cooker according to the instructions of your cooker. For me – I cooked it for 15 – 18 minutes after the first whistle. Serve hot with ghee! Yum.

Sugar Free Sunday and 8 Common Foods with more Sugar than a Twinkie!

Sonia — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:48:06 +0000

Huffinton Post: Sugar In Food: 8 Eats With More Than A Twinkie

It seems like Twinkies have become the official comparison product to educate people about how much sugar they end up eating! I came across this interesting article published in the Huffinton Post recently, Sugar In Food: 8 Eats With More Than A Twinkie. Out of the 8 foods, some seemed obvious but some surprised me. Here are the foods listed in this article:

“Yeah I knew that had crazy amounts of sugar!” list:

Muffins
Canned Fruit
Smoothies
Cereal (Raj did a Sugar Free Sunday post on this one!)

“What? That has more sugar than a Twinkie!” list:

Yogurt
Fat-Free Salad Dressing
Tomato Sauce
Granola Bars

I think Muffins and Smoothies made at home with fresh fruit would definitely reduce the sugar content. As far as the Cereal goes, it always makes sense to have fresh fruit and/or eggs. Canned fruit? No comments! Now for the Granola Bars, Tomato sauce, and Salad dressing I think when made at home, again, you definitely end up reducing sugar because you know what you are putting into it. Yogurt, I’m still surprised… Why does it have sugar again? Maybe because it was sweetened with fruit preserves?

Either ways, all of the above can be made at home (except for Cereal… I have no clue how to make a grain puff up!) and so people just need to cook!

On that note, I hope you’ll are keeping a tab on how much sugar you consume. Happy Sunday and have a fabulous Sugar Free Sunday!

How do you participate in the virtual potluck?

Link your recipe post (NOT your homepage) if it does not use refined sugar. Your blog does not have to be entirely sugar free, just the dish you’re sharing!
Please link back to this get-together somewhere in your post’s text. It’s a great way to invite your readers to the fun!
Want to make something sweet without using refined sugar? Just check out all the ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without refined sugar here.
Your link doesn’t have to be to a sweet dish! We love to see your sugar free appetizers, entrees, soups, snacks — well — you get the idea!
Please don’t link to carnivals or giveaways. This is a party; bring a dish to share!
In the ‘Name’ field, please enter who you are and what you’re linking. For example Sonia would put: Bean Kale Pasta Soup [Sonia @ Flip Cookbook]
It’s not a party if no one chats! Please join the conversation by leaving a message in the comments section below. Also make sure you have the ‘Notify Me’ checkbox selected so that you can listen as well!
Sign up for free to our new venture Velvet Aroma. It’s a visual way to read the blogs you love and really bring their recipes into your kitchen.

We’re so excited to see what you’re cooking….. Sugar Free!

Click on the ‘Add your link’ button below to share.

Gluten Free Cheez-It’s… Goldfish.. Ducks and Tulips? (Spicy Cheddar Crackers)

Raj — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:56:59 +0000

Day dreaming about food is such a pain. I know, I should probably be saying that it’s the most joyous thing about being so integrally involved with a food blog. But it’s not. It’s really not.

Here’s how food blogging often works for me. I get this serious craving to eat a particular thing. Oh for example (just off the top of my head, you know) .. Cheez It’s. The craving is so severe that I start picturing little cheeze-it everywhere. Or even those cheese goldfishes. That diamond print on my Bounty: Cheez-It’s. The square warts on my office ceiling: Cheez-It’s. The smile on my Chester the cat desk decoration: Smiling Gold Fish. My computer screen: Cheez-It’s. The kleenex box, the tiles, the square pillow, the square cup holder, every toddler that is munching on those damn fishes! Oh.. it gets pretty bad.

Okay. Besides having intense imagination, there really isn’t anything wrong with this I suppose. Everyone gets cravings. And there is the most obvious solution – just grab the keys and head off to the grocery store to buy a box of Cheez It’s.

HA! I laugh in my own face. Driving to the store to curb cravings just doesn’t happen.

Why?

The obvious reason is because I’m gluten free and both Sunshine Cheez-It’s and Pepperidge Farms Goldfish are not. But the not so obvious reason is that my craving instantly turns into excitement – “Wouldn’t this be a great recipe to share on Flip Cookbook?!”.

And so, my craving ends up lasting for about a week till I figure out how exactly I want to make the goodie. And that my friends, is how I torture myself with my own cravings. And it’s also how this recipe came about.

I had a really fun time making these crackers because the duck and tulip shapes I used for the crackers. It felt like a celebration of spring. For many, Spring started about a month or so ago. But up here in the mountains, the snow is finally starting to disappear except for some patches in the shade. I’m starting to see some gorgeous birds like the American Robin with it’s beautiful orange belly. The temperatures are rising. I think we’re going to hit 70°F this weekend. Yes, spring is finally here.

I did have a little trouble trying to cut out the shapes because the dough kept sticking to my cookie cutters. I imagine if I had let the dough sit in the freezer for 30 minutes before rolling it out, I might have had an easier time. Never-the-less, the cookies were fun to make AND to play.. ehhmmm… create artwork.. with afterwards. Like this fun bird at the edge of a tulip meadow ensemble.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Cheez-It’s (Spicy Cheddar Crackers)

Makes: Lots of crackers (more than 50)

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ready in: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 block Cheddar cheese (About 8 – 10 oz.)
1 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
2 tablespoons yogurt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Shred the cheese. (Thickness almost doesn’t matter here).

2. Slice the butter.

3. In a food processor (or blender) pulse the cheese, flour, butter and cayenne powder. The mixture should look like coarse sand.

4. Add the yogurt and pulse till the mixture becomes dough like. You may need a little more yogurt but add sparingly!

5. Divide the dough into rollable amounts. Roll out a section on a non stick surface (like a well floured surface.. or wax paper .. or parchment paper). It should be fairly thin – about 1/8th of an inch.

6. Cut the dough into squares using something like a knife or pizza roller or have some fun with shapes using those underused cookie cutters!

7. Place the cut dough onto cookie sheets that are lined with parchment paper. The pieces should be about 1/2 to 1 inch apart.

8. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them after 10 minutes, they tend to get brown fast! Allow them to cool on racks for 20 minutes. Store in a vacuum sealed container or just start munching!

Sugar Free Sunday & Honey Labeling Part 3

Raj — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:01:21 +0000

We’ve talked about USDA certification and what it really means if a honey bottle is marked “organic”. Today I’d like to talk about the grading that is often placed on honey bottles.

The USDA defines 4 categories of grades deemed out of a total score of 100. (50 points for flavor and aroma; 40 for absence of defects; 10 for clarity if the honey is not strained):

Grade A: Has a score of at least 90. Absence of defect: Has no sedimentations that affect appearance or edibility. Flavor and aroma: Is free from caramelization, smoke, fermentation, chemicals etc. Clarity: It can have some air bubbles or pollen or particles but nothing that affects the appearance.
Grade B: Has a score of at least 80. Absence of defect: The sedimentation in the honey does not materially affect appearance or edibility. Flavor and aroma: Mostly free from caramelization. Free from smoke, fermentation, chemicals etc. Clarity: Fine particles do not materially affect the appearance.
Grade C: Has a score of at least 70. Absence of defect: The sedimentations in the honey does not seriously affect appearance or edibility. Flavor and aroma: Reasonably free from caramelization. Free from smoke, fermentation, chemicals etc. Clarity: Fine particles do not seriously affect the appearance.
Substandard: Has a score below 70 and does not meet the criteria for Grade C.

There are two things to note about the above system:

1. Grading of a honey is voluntary. There is no official / government check or enforcement. It’s left to the producers to judge what grade their honey gets (if any).

2. The list of properties that makes it to the US grading system are less than those specified by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO includes additional properties such as sugar content, heavy metals and hygiene.

Source: USDA. Standards of Grades for Extracted Honey
Source: WHO. CODEX Standard for Honey

How do you participate in the virtual potluck?

Link your recipe post (NOT your homepage) if it does not use refined sugar. Your blog does not have to be entirely sugar free, just the dish you’re sharing!
Please link back to this get-together somewhere in your post’s text. It’s a great way to invite your readers to the fun!
Want to make something sweet without using refined sugar? Just check out all the ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without refined sugar here.
Your link doesn’t have to be to a sweet dish! We love to see your sugar free appetizers, entrees, soups, snacks — well — you get the idea!
Please don’t link to carnivals or giveaways. This is a party; bring a dish to share!
In the ‘Name’ field, please enter who you are and what you’re linking. For example Sonia would put: Bean Kale Pasta Soup [Sonia @ Flip Cookbook]
It’s not a party if no one chats! Please join the conversation by leaving a message in the comments section below. Also make sure you have the ‘Notify Me’ checkbox selected so that you can listen as well!
Sign up for free to our new venture Velvet Aroma. It’s a visual way to read the blogs you love and really bring their recipes into your kitchen.

We’re so excited to see what you’re cooking….. Sugar Free!

Click on the ‘Add your link’ button below to share.

Flip Cookbook

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