Gluten Free Pizza

I love pizza!

In my freezer I always have a stash of Kinnikinnick Pizza bases. They are on the slightly expensive side at $2 per base, but I think that they are worth it and it is still cheaper to have a pizza at home than to go out. Plus mine are yummier.. is that a word?

Anyway, there are so many different combinations that you can use on pizza. I tend to just open up the fridge see what I can find and go from there. This week we had some left over roast lamb, some yellow peppers from a thai dinner, spanish onion from risotto night and fresh cheddar cheese which is always on hand. I love bringing a variety of ingredients together from a variety of different meals to create my own tasty surprise.

I have posted the recipe on GFL Cooking under Roast Lamb Pizza.

Enjoy!

 

Roger’s Chocolates Gluten Free

I recently moved into a new apartment and to my delight my new flatmate worked for Roger’s Chocolates!

Although I am not a die hard chocolate fan I new I was not going to be able to resist the temptation of all these tasty delights, so I decided to email Roger’s and get the word on whether these delicious treats were gluten free?

Their response “The only chocolate we have that is not Gluten Free is the Peach Victoria Cream, there is trace amounts in the flavouring. All of the other chocolates we have are Gluten Free. The Bear Paws are Gluten Free.”

I had asked specifically about Bear Paw’s because they are my favourite, along with the white chocolate with almonds, and the chocolate coated strawberries (valentines day special).

So for all those in Canada, visit your local Roger’s Chocolates and spoil yourself this Easter… and for those who are not fortunate to have a Roger’s Chocolates locally, they do ship worldwide!

Enjoy!

 

Rosemary Lamb on Grilled Polenta

This week I decided to experiment a little with one of my Aussie favourites – BBQ Lamb on Grilled Polenta with Fresh Spinach Leaves.

Grilled polenta is one of my favourite dishes. You can use it in place of bread, as a pizza base, in place of potato or just by itself. One of the key things I have learnt since making this dish is that you should use butter and parmesan to help bind it together and give it more flavour. Polenta by itself can be a little plain, so the added flavour of butter and parmesan really helps. You can also add salt, pepper and herbs to the mix, for added taste.

BBQ Lamb, Chicken, Beef or Chorizo? I have tried this dish with all of them and my favourite combination would have to be lamb and chorizo. It has a lovely flavour and the contrasting colour of the red chorizo against the yellow polenta and green leaves really adds to the presentation.

Mixed Baby Spinach leaves are currently my choice for salad, but you can also use a mix of baby spinach and rocket or just mixed leaves. Slow roasted or sundried tomatos are also nice with the salad.

Dressing – for years I have used a combination of lemon, oil and oregano as my dressing. It compliments the flavours perfectly and really makes this dish something special. In the interest of experimenting I decided to try a few other varieties such as ranch dressing, balsamic vinaigrette and even a Thai chilli dressing. They were all great and each adds it’s own little spin on the dish. In the past I have also used a ratatouille over the polenta. In this case I would leave out the spinach and just have polenta, meat and vegetables. It makes a great winter meal and is delicious with a nice glass of Italian red wine.

Enjoy!

 

Back in Canada…

After many hours of traveling across the pacific we are back in Whistler, British Columbia. We had a fantastic time in Australia but it is certainly great to be back in the land of snow! Whistler is having one of its best seasons on record and with over 35 feet of snow, we are happy to be back enjoying it.

Since being back, I have been frequenting my local grocery stores to pick up all my favourite gluten free products; Thai kitchen yellow curry paste, Glutino corn bread, Kinnikinnick english muffins and pizza bases, Bob’s Redmill gluten free cookie flour and Lifestream buckwheat waffles with maple syrup.

For a little touch of home I decided to make Jam Drops today. As a child my Mum and I would always makes these when I was at home board. It was one of my favourite recipes back then and still is today. To keep things interesting I decided to experiment a little. I find the Bob’s Redmill flour has a somewhat over powering baking powder taste, so I picked up a packet of Pamela’s Gluten Free baking mix at the store. This has a much nicer vanilla flavour, but the only problem is that once baked the cookies spread out much more than with Bob’s Redmill. To try and compensate for this I decided to use a little of both and voilà it worked like a charm. The mixture had a much nicer flavour and the cookies kept their shape. My next problem was that I had not had the chance to pick up any vanilla from the grocery store – I am still restocking the cupboards after being away – so in the interest of experimenting I decided to add 2 dessertspoons of gluten free custard powder. Wow! The result was delicious custard cream flavour cookie dough. I baked them for approx 10-12min before giving one to my non-coeliac resident food critic – my hubby James – and the result was a 10/10!

For the recipe check out Jam Drops on GFL Cooking.

Enjoy!