White Bread for Bread Machines

Recipe Title: Gluten-Free White Bread for Bread Machines
Recipe Link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gluten-Free-White-Bread-for-Bread-Machines/Detail.aspx

Status: Needs Work
Rating: 1/10

Jen's Notes: This recipe was pretty easy to make. Based on the reviews that I read ahead of time, I decided to pre-mix the ingredients before putting it into the bread machine. I also chose to substitute tapioca flour for the soy flour since I didn't have any soy flour on hand. The mixture came out extremely liquidy - more like pudding then anything resembling bread. So I added another cup of white rice flour, based on the advice of another reviewer. That definitely thickened the mixture up somewhat, but it was still on the thin side. I decided to let it ride, however, and see how it turned out.

One note I will make is that, if your buttermilk is not at room temperature, you can probably nuke it in the microwave but only for a very short time period. I nuked it for a minute, and the milk curdled. So I ended up letting it sit for awhile anyway.

After nearly four hours in the bread machine, I pulled out my loaf of bread. Epic fail. The top of it looked like someone punched it. The sides were very tall, but the middle was sunken in quite a bit. We decided to hang onto it for the next day anyway, just in case it tasted good but didn't look pretty. Unfortunately, it tasted horrible. I didn't actually get to eat any of it because my husband threw away the entire loaf after taking one bite.

Now you might wonder why this hasn't been moved over to the VETOED category. Mostly, it is because I am determined to find a good recipe for bread without using a mix. I refuse to spend $6/loaf on cardboard pre-made loaves, and the $6/bag of baking mix doesn't leave me feeling too happy either. So I think I want to play with the recipe a bit before giving up on it completely. I don't recommend making this recipe according to the directions linked above - you'll only be throwing away money.


Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes
Start to Finish: 4 hours, 10 minutes

Gluten-Free Pasta with Potatoes, Zucchini and Shrimp

Recipe Title: Gluten-Free Pasta with Potatoes, Zucchini and Shrimp
Recipe Link: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2007/08/honeymoon-approaches.html
Status: Needs Work
Rating: 7/10

Jen's Notes: Shrimp on a Monday. Oh, don't we feel decadent. Shrimp is one of those things that is so, so tasty, and not really THAT expensive (ok, it is a little expensive), and yet I never make shrimp for dinner. Well, not so last night!

So the first thing I'll tell you about this recipe is that it really is quite tasty. Even with the goat cheese (that's the chevre, in case you wondered), it's really low in fat. Basically the only fat in the whole thing is from the goat cheese. Now the next thing I'll tell you is that I wasn't very organized last night. First, I made out my grocery list for the week while I was at work. Then I left the list at work. So I decided to try to buy the ingredients for this recipe from memory. That almost worked out. Almost. I remembered everything except the zucchini.

Then I was in a rush to get the potatoes started, and I didn't read the part where it said to julienne them. I just diced them into large chunks and tossed them in the water. Then I forgot to cook the garlic before I threw in the shrimp. I actually think this worked out for the best, because the shrimp ended up still being a bit watery when I cooked it. It was frozen solid at the grocery store, and I defrosted it partially by soaking the shrimp in hot water but clearly, it was not completely thawed out.

So once the potatoes and the pasta and the shrimp were all cooked, I tossed it all into a colander to drain it all and mix it together. So now it was time for that goat cheese I mentioned earlier. You'll notice that the recipe called for dabs of goat cheese, and the picture even shows little tiny chunks of goat cheese mixed in with the pasta. I tried that for approximately two minutes. Tearing the goat cheese pretty much just managed to make a mess on my fingers, so I sliced it up a little, tossed it into my still-warm colander of stuff and mixed it all together until the goat cheese melted and coated everything. Basically, like a goat cheese sauce. I haven't used goat cheese much before (ok, ever). If you want the dab effect shown in the picture, try leaving your goat cheese in the fridge right up until you need it. Mine was fresh from the store, and just never went into the fridge so my problem might have been that the cheese had gotten too warm. No promises there, but something you may want to keep in mind. If not, the goat cheese sauce method works just fine.

But here come the reason for the ratings ding. When I first tasted the pasta, it was very bland. I had to add quite a bit of salt and pepper to get it to have any flavor. When you have a husband with a kidney disease, adding salt makes you nervous. I'm hoping that remembering the garlic next time will alleviate this problem. I'm also thinking of adding some fresh basil into the mix somewhere. Other changes: I doubled the shrimp (it came in a two pound bag anyway) and the goat cheese (hey, it came in a 4 oz package).

Potatoes paired with pasta: this seemed strange but interesting to me. The verdict? Meh. It didn't do much for the flavor in my opinion, and I didn't like the fact that I was basically getting double servings of carbs. Even gluten-free, a girl still has to watch her thighs, you know? So I think that next time, I'll cut the potatoes and double the zucchini (assuming, of course, that I can remember to buy it).

In summary, here's a list of things you can learn from my kitchen bumblings last night:

1. When making a grocery list, it helps to take it to the store.
2. Don't make this recipe the same day that you go to the grocery store. The shrimp needs time to thaw out completely.
3. Double the shrimp and goat cheese = WIN!
4. Skip the potatoes and go for more zucchini.

Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus time for the shrimp to thaw
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Start to Finish: 40 minutes

Onion and Mushroom Pizza

Recipe Title: Onion and Mushroom Pizza

Recipe Link: http://delectablyfree.com/2010/02/caramelized-onion-and-shitake-pizza/

Status: Needs some work, but has potential

Rating: 4/10

Jen's Notes: This is one of those cases where I probably should have stuck to the recipe. Instead, I embellished and it didn't turn out to be an improvement. But, I have hope that this can be saved so keep on reading to learn from my mistakes.

First off, for the pizza dough, I substituted Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust mix. I didn't have any pizza pans, so I decided to use one of my big cookie sheets (ala Bigfoot style). I wasn't sure how much of the dough to use, so I used all of it. I think that 3/4 or 1/2 of the dough would have worked out better, but it really depends on how you like your crust. Using the whole bag made it soft and chewy, and we usually like our pizza crust crispier. Next time, I'm going to take it out of the pan after the dough is in the oven the first time and cook the pizza directly on the oven rack. This will either make the pizza crispy, or make a huge mess in the oven, or both. Keep your eyes peeled to find out!

Another dough issue is that it ended up being very uneven when I pulled it out of the oven the first time. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get the dough even next time (it certainly looked even when I finished shaping the dough), but I might try breaking out the old rolling pin.

TIP: Make the dough first, so that it can rise while you work on getting the toppings ready.

Next, the toppings. Because I am too cheap to buy shiitake mushrooms (you'll find this is a recurring theme for me), I bought a bag of regular baby bellas. I also decided to add some lean ground beef because the hubby gets cranky if there is not meat in his dinner. And because I love garlic, I tossed in a couple cloves of diced garlic. Then I decided to add in some pizza sauce (Chef Boyardee) - and I think this was my biggest mistake of the meal. After I tossed the toppings in a little olive oil and the dough had gone through round one in the oven, I covered the dough in sauce and toppings and popped it in the oven for the recommended time (which was plenty, for once).

The end result? Well, the toppings tasted very yummy together, so I plan to use the same combination next time. However, as I talked about up top, the dough was softer than we like. Second, I believe because of the added pizza sauce, there was way too much liquid on the pizza. In places, the dough was soggy. I suspect this was due in part to the unevenness of the dough. I think the pizza sauce pooled and then soaked through the low spots in the crust. In spite of all of this, the pizza was pretty tasty but definitely needs some work. Sure, we had to use a fork to eat the pizza but it was still good.

Moral of the story? Sometimes it's a good idea to resist the impulse to embellish.

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Start to Finish: 1 hour, 10 minutes.