Weekend kitchen fun

Here are a couple gluten-free ideas—and a third, low-carb—yummy enough for everyone to try.

Sylvie knows I love stuffing, so she found a gluten-free recipe for (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner. Last night Danny and I had roast turkey breast, so I tried the formula to serve along with mashed potatoes, beets with butter and orange rind, and quinoa flour gravy. The quinoa adds an enjoyable grainy texture and lovely golden colour to complement other autumn dishes. This stuffing would also be good with fruit added, like apples or dried cranberries. Mushrooms, of course, are one of my favourite things, so undoubtedly they will make it into the mix one of these days.


Sylvie's Gluten-Free Stuffing

• ½ lb. good bacon
  
• 2 cups chopped onion
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic
  
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
  
• ½ cup pine nuts or walnuts
  
• ½ cup dry white wine, stock or water
  
• 1½ teaspoon fresh thyme; or ¾ teaspoon dry thyme; or 1 teaspoon fresh or dry rosemary, or winter savory
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• salt and pepper to taste

To cook whole quinoa, bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup of quinoa, boil three minutes then remove from heat, cover, and let sit 15 minutes. Yields about 2 cups.

Chop bacon and cook until crisp. Remove from skillet and drain all but 3 tablespoons of fat. Add onion and cook until softened, 5 minutes. Add garlic, quinoa, nuts, liquid, spices and crumbled bacon. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. Season to taste. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Remove bay leaf. Stuff bird and roast it.

I didn't bother to cool it or stuff the breast, just spread the stuffing in a casserole dish and put it in the oven along with the turkey.

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susandennis posted a yummy-looking quiche muffins recipe and I couldn't wait to adapt a gluten-free version. I was going to experiment with quinoa flour and measurements of baking powder and guar gum to replace the Bisquick, then realized I had a box of gluten-free muffin mix hanging around the kitchen, which made things easier.


Gluten-Free Quiche Muffins

• 5 large eggs
  
• Johnsonville Original Breakfast Sausage Rounds
  
• a little over 1 cup El Peto Muffin Mix (gluten-free)
  
• a little over 1 cup milk
  
• 3 handfuls Kraft Mozza-Cheddar shredded cheese

Mix it all together, pour into large muffin tins and bake at 375°F for 40 minutes. Makes 12 large muffings.

susandennis freezes these, and says you can warm them (after thawing) by nuking them for 30 seconds. It's doubtful whether I'll have a chance to try that. djjo and I finished off six of them for breakfast this morning.

They're yummy, but we agreed they could use a little something. Danny thought pepper, I thought thyme. It might be that the shredded cheese blend I chose is too mild. Something sharper would work well. How about a block of feta? I'd also like to try replacing the sausage with baby cooked shrimp and dill.

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And a footnote: katequicksilvr and kateslover are planning to launch a website called "Starving Artists in the Kitchen"! Sounds practical and fun, no? To test the first course Kate has posted a blog entry about garlic mashed cauliflower, a low-carb alternative to the perennial favourite. "You won't miss potatoes," she says. That remains to be seen, but I can't wait to try!