Lime Tart

Sometimes there is a dessert that is so delicious, I cannot stop thinking about it until I make it again. And again. And again. This lime tart is so refreshing and wonderful, it is now in the rotation of, "Delicious Foods I Wanna Make For People 'Cause I'm A Feeder."

The tart shell is an adaptation from "Gluten-Free Baking Classics," by Annalise Roberts, and it would work wonderfully for any tart or even cut and baked into shortbread cookies. The filling is an adaptation from the Barefoot Contessa's drool worthy Lime Curd Tart recipe.

Eat this tart. It's fanflippintasticslapyourmommagood.

Gluten Free Tart Shell Crust

1 cup Bette's Featherlight Flour Blend (plus extra for the pan)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cubed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly grease and flour your tart or pie tin. I spray with olive oil and flour with GF flour blend, tapping off excess flour.

2. Combine GF flour, xanthan gum and sugar in electric mixer. Blend in unsalted butter until the mix is crumbly. Add in vanilla and milk and continue blending for another minute. Remove bowl from mixer and finish kneading with your hands until dough forms. Press dough evenly into a tart or pie pan.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is a light golden brown. Let cool.

Lime Tart Filling

4 limes at room temperature (5-6 limes if they are small)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temp
4 extra large (0r 5 large) eggs at room temp
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Remove the zest of all the limes with a zester (I use my fantastic Microplane), avoiding the white pith. Put the lime zest and the sugar in a food processor or blender and process for 2-3 minutes, until the zest is very finely minced.

2. Squeeze the limes to make 1/2 cup of lime juice. In the electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter with the sugar/lime zest mixture. Add the eggs one at a time. Then add the lime juice and the salt until mixed.

3. Pour the combined mixture into a sauce pan and cook over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Do not let the mixture boil. Once thickened, remove from heat and fill the tart shell with the thickened lime mixture, and allow to set at room temp. I like to then put it in the fridge until it's ready to be served with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

Quickie Asian Marinade

It's grillin' time, peeps. Here's a quickie marinade that works for any meat, veggies, or tofu you'd wanna throw on that grill, even if your grill is a Foreman. As you'll see below, each ingredient has an alternate ingredient. This means you can pretty much use any or all of the ingredients interchangeably and make a wonderful marinade from scratch. No chemicals or pre-bottled crap!

Quickie Asian Marinade

4 garlic cloves, chopped (or 2 tsp minced garlic)
1 tsp dried mustard powder (or you can sub Dijon mustard)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (or lime)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 tablespoons Gluten Free Tamari (or GF Teriyaki)
2 tablespoons agave nectar

Whisk all ingredients together, marinate some meat, veggies, or tofu, and then grill when you are ready (disposing of excess marinade).

DONE.

Curried Turkey Spring Rolls with Spicy Peach Dip

When I got married, someone gave me the ultimate "Congrats, You're Now a House Frau" cookbook called 365 Ways to Cook Hamburger and Other Ground Meats by Rick Rodgers. The back cover says, "Hamburger has always been a great quick-and-easy mother's helper," which we all know is a euphemism for, "if you're broke and breeding, throw ground meat at the rugrats." And Rick Rodgers gives us 365 recipes, one for each day of the year...oh, the ground meats we'll eat!

Since I had just bought 4 lbs of ground turkey, I needed something other than chili or tacos to use up this meat. Naturally, I turned to Rick Rodgers to come to my rescue with one of his 365 recipes. Never one to disappoint, Rick totally hooked me up with Curried Chicken Spring Rolls with Pineapple Dip. I subbed turkey, gluten free Rice Paper (the Thai kind with the Red Rose on the package), GF tamari, and peach preserves, and next thing I know, people are showing up at the house to eat these little taste sensations. I'm proud to have become the budget-friendly house frau I never thought I'd be.

Curried Turkey Spring Rolls with Spicy Peach Dip

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup veg oil
2 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, finely chopped
1 medium sweet or brown onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey or chicken
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon potato starch (or GF flour blend or corn starch)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 package rice paper (the kind with the rose on the package)
Vegetable or grapeseed oil for frying

Spicy Peach Dipping Sauce

1 cup apricot, peach, or pineapple preserves
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup wheat free tamari
1 tablespoon asian garlic chili sauce (optional)

1. In large skillet, melt butter in 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add apples, onion, garlic, and ginger and sautee, stirring often, until onion is super soft, about 5-7 minutes. And ground turkey, breaking up lumps of meat, until it loses its pink color, about 5-10 mins. Sprinkle on curry powder and potato starch, cooking and stirring in for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let filling cool completely.

2. Put water into a shallow bowl. Moisten each individual rice paper just until it softens and is pliable. Do not over moisten, or you will break the rice paper. Place 2 tablespoons (or more if you want large spring rolls) of filling into center of rice paper. Fold tightly like a burrito (fold top, then two sides, then roll up the bottom). The rice paper is sticky enough that the end will stay in place.

3. Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in large skillet until very hot. Test the oil by dropping a little piece of moistened rice paper in the oil to see if it sizzles. Fry up your spring rolls until browned a bit on each side (rice paper won't brown too much), about 4-6 minutes each side. Let drain and cool on paper towels and serve immediately.

4. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine peach preserves, wheat free tamari, garlic chili sauce, and rice vinegar in a pan until smooth and melted. Serve with spring rolls for dipping!

Gluten Free Integration at Ralph's

Endcap of GF goodies in a sea of gluten at the bakery department of Ralph's.

Most traditional grocery stores are clinging to the antiquated design notion that they should have a tiny, shittily lit, dusty "health food" section to appease the food allergy peeps.

Thank you, Ralph's, for placing GF items throughout the store in the departments of where I'd want to find those items, as evidenced above. The GF chips are now in the chip aisle. The alternative flours and sugars are now in the baking aisle. Even the frozen GF meals are within the mainstream frozen section. This is forward thinking, Ralph's. Keep it going.

FDA Research on Gluten Free Food Labeling

Please let's all y'all go fill out this survery (took me 7 minutes):

www.synovate.net/forgluten