lightening up: tuber soup.

 

Hooooooo-boy. There is nothing quite like the over-indulgence of the holidays to make a person feel like enough is enough. Time to say “NO!” to those cookies in the cupboard! Lighten the load! Eat healthfully and deliciously! At least that’s what we were saying to one another last night when dinner time came round. With very few ingredients kicking around the cupboards, we whipped two varieties of tubers – garnet yams & russet potatoes – into shape and supped on this light, filling and delicious soup. (hint: try a grilled cheese sandwich on the side for an extra warm & fuzzy meal!)

Two tuber soup

2 tablespoons olive oil (we used Merchants & Millers Olio Nuovo)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 slices turkey bacon, diced (omit for vegan option)
2 medium garnet yams, peeled and cut into small dice
4 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice
8 cups water
1 tablespoon Chicken Better Than Bouillon (vegans use No Chicken Better Than Bouillon)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon Zatarain’s Concentrated Shrimp & Crab Boil
1/2 teaspoon Cajun spice blend
2 5-inch sprigs fresh thyme

Heat oil in a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and bacon; cook until onions are translucent and bacon is browned, 5-8 minutes. Add diced garnet yams and russet potatoes. Stir to coat, then season lightly with salt and pepper.

Add water, bouillon, white wine, concentrated shrimp & crab boil, and Cajun spice. Turn heat to high, cover pot and allow to come to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash up some of the diced potatoes. Add the sprigs of thyme (the hot broth will cause the tiny leaves to fall off on their own) adjust seasoning to taste, and keep soup at low heat for another 5-10 minutes to allow flavors to come together.

Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche. Grilled cheese sandwiches & hard cider make a perfect accompaniment!

need some last minute recipes?

We know. The holidays are crazy (and, pssst…they’re almost over!). So in case you need some last minute recipes to fill out your table – or in case you need a delicious GF side dish to bring to Aunt Betty’s that your family politely avoids because it’s gluten-free – head on over to Craft for a little assemblage of holiday recipes, many of which are GF, most of which sound deee-licious!

Happy eating and happy holidays!

lisa simpson promotes gluten-free crackers.

You KNOW gluten-free is mainstream when cartoon characters start talking about gluten-free foods! Overheard last night whilst a GF Lab spouse was watching an episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa takes over coaching Bart’s baseball team, The Isotots:

“OK, everyone study two-out situations, count management and I’ll be back with some gluten-free crackers.” — Lisa, handing out spreadsheets while the other team enjoys pizza between games of a doubleheader

. . .

If you’re looking for a yummy gluten-free cracker – maybe for your holiday snack table – here are a few of our faves:

Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers

Edward & Sons Exotic Rice Toasts

Glutino Table Crackers

Mary’s Gone Crackers

Blue Diamond Nut Thins

there’s still time!

If you’re still wondering if you (or your recipient) can get a copy of our cookbook in time for Christmas, the answer is yes! We’ll ship your order out just as soon as it comes in. In fact, a few of our gluten-free gifters have paired the Dig In: Sweets with a mixing bowl, a set of cute measuring cups, a whisk and a kitchen towel to round out the gift. Others have made a recipe from the book and paired the goodies with the book. Brilliant, we say!

So feel free to borrow those ideas if you’re stuck on last minute gifts. Or mosey on over here to check out the gift guide we created on our other blog!

Happy holidays, happy baking, and happy gluten-free eating!

holiday baking: gluten-free sugar cookies.

photo by Jessamyn Harris

Gearing up for some holiday baking? So are we, and we are pleased as punch! This year’s goal is to come up with a good GF recipe for Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Russian Teacakes)…definitely feeling a little nostalgia for that powdery, crumbly goodness all up in our mouths. Since we don’t have that recipe ready to share with you, what we CAN share with you is a solid (as in: solidly delicious) recipe for gluten-free sugar cookies. Make it. Roll it. Cut it. Bake it. Decorate it. Eat it.

. . .

Almond sugar cookies
Dust off those old cookie cutters you haven’t used since you kissed gluten goodbye, because these sugar cookies were made for decorating. They’re thin and crisp around the edges and moist and chewy in the middle.

makes 18 cookies

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup fine almond meal
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (do not substitute white rice flour)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light in color, about 2 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk almond meal, sweet rice flour, potato starch, brown rice flour, and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, beating until combined, about 1 minute. Mixture will look crumbly. Beat in egg and vanilla. Dough will remain crumbly but should hold together when pinched.

Transfer dough to a large sheet of parchment paper. Form into a ball and flatten to a 6-inch disc; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F, grease cookie sheet, and lightly flour a rolling pin and cookie cutters. Let dough rest at room temperature for 3 minutes, then roll out to a 1/4-inch thickness and cut desired shapes. Transfer cut cookies to the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on the bottom, 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

gluten free snacks by snyders of hanover. yum.

In the food biz, patience is a virtue. Remember long ago – last March, to be exact – when The Lab trekked down to Los Angles to the Natural Foods Expo for the specific purpose of scouting out new gluten-free products? There were so many delicious finds that we were eager to share with the world, but alas, there were so many that would not reach grocers’ shelves for months, or in some cases, a full year! Snyder’s of Hanover’s new gluten-free pretzel sticks and muligrain tortilla chips are two of those products. We fawned over the brittle snap of the pretzel and the whole-grain vibe of the tortilla chips. With a release that’s just in time for holiday entertaining, we look forward to many an hors d’oeuvres tables complete with veggie crudité, dip, and crunchity, crackery pretzles and multigrain tortilla chips.

If you can’t find these at your local grocery store, be sure to request them from the natural foods buyer! And in the meantime, purchase the pretzels and the tortilla chips online.

party food: paella with sugar snap peas

Over the weekend The Lab had a holiday gathering. And as the guest list grew, so did the dietary restrictions. The one food that could please them all? Paella. We had two versions: your standard run-of-the-mill version with chorizo, chicken (and a few handfuls of shrimp thrown in for good measure); and a vegan version made without chicken broth and with extra snap peas in place of the meats. The result? A delicious, hearty meal that all could enjoy (gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan…woo!), and a specialized meal that doesn’t even require the paella pan. We will do this again and again, and we hope you will, too.

Paella with sugar snap peas [with vegan option]

1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks [vegans omit]
4 ounces 1/4-inch-thick slices fully cooked smoked Spanish chorizo [vegans omit]
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
2 cups low-salt chicken broth [vegans use veggie broth or the juice from the jar of roasted red peppers]
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers from jar
1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives
2 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed (about 8 ounces) [vegans use 14 ounces snap peas]

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix white wine and saffron threads in small measuring cup; set aside. Combine salt, smoked paprika, and black pepper in small bowl; rub spice mixture all over chicken thighs [vegans, add spice mixture to onions in step 2]. Heat heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chorizo and sauté until fat begins to render and sausage browns, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Transfer chorizo to large plate. Add olive oil to skillet. Add chopped chicken to skillet and cook until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate with chorizo.
2. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Add chopped onion and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add long-grain rice and stir to coat. Add wine-saffron mixture and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet. Add chicken broth [vegans use veggie broth or juice from jarred red peppers], tomatoes with juice, roasted red peppers and olives. Bring to simmer. Stir in browned chorizo and chicken [vegans omit]. Cover skillet tightly with foil, then cover skillet with lid. Bake paella until rice is almost tender, about 25 minutes.
3. Stir rice; season to taste with salt and pepper. Scatter snap peas over. Return chicken to skillet, nestling into rice. Cover with foil and lid. Bake until snap peas are crisp-tender, rice is tender, and chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes longer.

** Spanish chorizo, a pork-link sausage flavored with garlic and spices, is milder than Mexican chorizo. It’s available at specialty foods stores and Spanish markets, or spicy Andouille sausage is a good substitution.

give the gift of dessert!

It’s getting gifty over here at The Lab! We love making gifts look pretty (in fact, we just created some free downloadable gift tags over at our other blog, which we highly recommend you print & use on all your gifts this season!), and we’d love nothing more than to send your friends & families their very own copy of Dig In: Sweets, available for sale on this blog for $15. That $15 packs a whole lotta value. Of course there are the 20+ delectable dessert recipes in the cookbook, but maybe you didn’t know that there’s also a gluten-free flour guide, which talks about the properties and flavors of some of the more popular gluten-free baking flours and in what proportions to use them.

To boot? We’ll wrap up the whole kit & kaboodle for you — complete with a handmade tag — and send it to you OR to your recipient! Or YOU’RE the one that wants the gift of dessert for the holidays (and why not?! You’re the one reading this blog!), forward this blog to your besties and let them take care of the rest.

**if you would like to order more than one cookbook and have them shipped to the same address, email us first with the details of your order so we can adjust the shipping cost!