Cherry Walnut Shortbread Bars

A good friend of mine, Mary, shared this recipe with me. I thought I would try it out, as I love maraschino cherries and shortbread. They are delicious and I want to start making them every Christmas. Enjoy!

Cherry Walnut Shortbread Bars

Shortbread base:

2 1/4 cups GF flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup butter

Cherry walnut mixture:

2 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I ground mine up very fine)

1/2 cup chopped Maraschino cherries

Frosting:

1 TBSP butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Cherry juice to blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the shortbread by mixing the flour, sugar, and butter and press into a 13"x9" pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Next, make the cherry walnut mixture by combining the eggs, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Next, add the walnuts and cherries, then pour over the shortbread crust. Bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Let the bars cool completely before frosting. Make the frosting by combining the butter, powdered sugar, and enough of the cherry juice to make a spreadable frosting. Spread onto the cooled bars, then cut into pieces. Enjoy!

Oven Roasted Potatoes

I have tried other oven roasted potatoes. But this one is the best yet! My husband said so and so will you. 

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Oven roasted potatoes with sausage blinchiki. 

INGREDIENTS:

4 Lbs of potatoes (peeled or unpeeled), cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 Tbsp melted butter

4 Tbsp oil

4 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp of garlic powder

HOW TO PREPARE:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place potatoes in a greased jelly roll pan.

Stir together dried seasonings in a bowl. Place potatoes in a bowl. Stir in dry ingredients. Put on jelly roll pan. 

Stir together melted butter and oil. Pour over potatoes evenly. 

Place in oven and and bake, stirring every 15 minutes (so they evenly crisp and don't stick to pan), until potatoes are tender and starting to brown in spots and get crispy. This will take about 45-55 min.

Cinnamon Rolls

I tried making gluten free cinnamon rolls two years ago. I essentially used gluten free flour in place of regular wheat flour in one of my pre-gluten-free-days-recipes. It failed miserably. I accepted the loss - and since cinnamon rolls are WORK to make, I didn't intend to try making them again. Wellllll, my husband LOVES cinnamon rolls and with all of this cold weather, I thought I would attempt them again - so away to Pinterest I went and I found this recipe! Voila! And now I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

DOUGH

1/4 cup water, lukewarm

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast, 1 package

1 3/4 cups whole milk, room temperature

2 large eggs, well beaten, at room temperature

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

4 1/2 - 5 cups gluten-free flour (I used this recipe)

FILLING

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

ICING

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup whipping cream

1/3 cup milk

½ tsp maple extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

HOW TO PREPARE:

Fill a small bowl with ¼ cup lukewarm water then sprinkle in the yeast. Add a small pinch of sugar then stir until water and yeast are well combined. Set the mixture aside for about 5 minutes—the yeast should start to bubble and become foamy.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the room temperature milk, eggs, melted butter, sugar and salt then mix until well incorporated. Stir in the bubbling yeast mixture then begin adding the flour, starting with about 4½ cups. Mix until well combined then add additional flour by ¼ cup until the dough is firm enough to handle. The dough will be much softer than regular bread dough—but you must be able to roll it out and handle it gently without the dough being too sticky or loose. Once the dough achieves the correct consistency, cover the bowl with plastic wrap then place it in a warm spot to rise for about 1 hour.

After an hour, the dough should have nearly doubled in size. Generously dust a work surface with gluten-free flour then turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Sprinkle the surface with a little bit more of the gluten-free flour then roll the dough into a rectangle about 18" wide and 18" deep. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon until well combined then set aside.

Spread the 6 Tbsp of butter evenly across the entire surface of the dough then cover the butter with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the dough up jellyroll style until you have an 18"-long cylinder. Cut the dough every 1½" to yield about 16 rolls.

Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick spray then space the rolls evenly inside the dish. Cover with plastic wrap then place in a warm spot to rise for about 1 more hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set out the ingredients for the icing so they can achieve room temperature.

When the rolls have once again doubled in size, bake them for about 25−30 minutes. Mix up frosting and then frost when the rolls have cooled a few minutes. Enjoy!

Turkey Pot Pie

A few years ago, we were invited over to Peter & Liz's house for dinner the day after Thanksgiving. Peter had whipped up some turkey pot pie and I was skeptical, to say the least. I had never eaten ANY kind of pot pie, so I was a bit nervous that I would hate it. Instead, I. Loved. It. It was savory and oh-so-good. Fast forward to last month, I had TONS of leftovers from our Thanksgiving feast. I thought I would give the whole turkey pot pie thing a go. And my family raved with the results. I figured that I had better type it all up here so I can find it again next year, for this will likely become a tradition for my family. Enjoy!

This pan is BIG. Keep that in mind. This recipe is formulated to feed a crowd. 

Turkey Pot Pie

Firstly, let's make the crust. I only did a crust on the top. I found the recipe here.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups GF flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup cold butter 

2 eggs

5 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar 

dash of dried thyme

HOW TO PREPARE:
1. Combine the flour and salt in large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or 2 forks to gradually work the cold butter into the flour until it resembles small pebbles, this should take about 3-4 minutes.

2. Lightly beat the egg with the fork and add it to the mixture. Next, and the old water and vinegar and stir until combined. (This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated at this point)

3. When ready to use the dough, cover a clean surface with a small amount of flour, and in the thyme and knead the dough to mix it in. Then, begin to roll out the dough 1 inch larger than the pie pan.

Secondly, you need to get out all the fillings that you have leftover from your Thanksgiving. I had mashed potatoes, turkey (cut into chunks), green bean casserole, and corn. I would recommend not adding anything sweet, like cranberry sauce or sweet potato casserole. 

Get a big casserole pan out - or two 9x13 inch pans - spray them down with a non-stick spray. Start layering the various leftovers in the pan. If you don't have enough leftovers, you can always cook up some veggies and put them in the pan. 

Now, you need a gravy to pour over the veggies/leftovers in the pan. I had a lot of gravy leftover from Thanksgiving dinner, but I wanted to add a cream sauce to the gravy, so I went with this one that I found here.

Creamy Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of butter
1/4 cup GF flour
2 cups GF chicken broth or stock
1 GF chicken bouillon cube
1 cup heavy cream
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper, for seasoning

HOW TO PREPARE:

Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Stir in the flour and whisk until mixed up.

Pour in the chicken broth and stir. Add the chicken bouillon cube and stir. The mixture should start to look like a creamy gravy, but still runny.

Pour in the cream and stir. Allow the mixture to cook over low heat, for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, so the mixture can thicken. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Be sure to taste it and make sure it is seasoned good! 

At this point I poured in the gravy that I had leftover. If you don't have any leftover gravy, you will want to double the creamy sauce recipe, so the turkey pot pie won't be too dry. 

NOW - you want to pour the creamy sauce/gravy mixture over the filling in the pan. Then top with the crust on stop. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Let the pie cool for 10 minutes before eating (this will help the mixture to thicken some as well). There are a lot of steps - but the results are WORTH it!

Corn Bread Muffins

These are delicious! I found the recipe on Pinterest here. I usually double the recipe and serve them with crockpot beans and shredded cheese. The leftovers are great for breakfast, too.

Corn Bread Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup oil

⅔ cup granulated sugar

1½ Tablespoons honey

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup yellow cornmeal

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup gluten free flour

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup diced green onions

Frozen corn

HOW TO PREPARE:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line the insides of your muffin tin or pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, stir by hand or mix on low speed, butter, sugar and honey together. Add eggs and buttermilk, stir or increase speed to medium-low until well mixed. Add cornmeal, salt and baking soda. Once this is well mixed, add the flour and then stir or mix just until the flour disappears.

Sprinkle the cheese over the entire mixture to prevent the cheese from clumping together.

Add the green onions and frozen corn and stir with a rubber spatula until mixed throughout.

Divide batter equally between the cups, filling almost to the top. This batter will fill 12 regular muffin tins, or 6 jumbo muffins, or can be placed in an 8-x 8" square pan.

Bake for 25 minutes. Prick the center of one muffin and make sure it comes out clean. If not clean, bake for about 3 more minutes.

Chicken Lazone

This recipe was a find on Pinterest. And it was an instant hit with my family. My husband may have mentioned that our daughter should learn it by heart. And so should you. 

Photo found here. 

Chicken Lazone

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs of gluten free spaghetti

4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1 inch thick slices

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil

4 Tablespoons of chicken broth

4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

4 teaspoons of cornstarch

8 Tablespoons butter (divided)

4 cups heavy cream or Half/Half

4 tsp garlic powder

4 tsp onion powder

2 tsp chili powder

4 teaspoons Parsley

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp salt

2 tsp Adobo 

HOW TO PREPARE:

1. In a large bowl, take your chicken and coat them evenly with all seasonings, set aside.

2. In large skillet, melt only HALF of the butter over medium  heat, add minced garlic, olive oil, chicken broth and the seasoned chicken, flipping to slightly brown both sides - ­heat until fully cooked.

3. Pour the half/half OR cream, cornstarch and remaining butter into the skillet, mix lightly until cornstarch is fully incorporated.

4. Add the remaining butter and mix until melted.

5. Reduce the heat and let simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes

6. In a large pot of salted water, bowl pasta until 'al dente' ­ drain well.

Gingerbread Pancakes

My  kids wanted pancakes for dinner tonight and asked if there were any Christmas-themed pancakes, and I immediately thought of gingerbread pancakes! I found this recipe and we were off and running! I substituted some GF flour for this recipe and it needed zero adjustments! I have found that most pancake recipes require added milk to get the correct consistency. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Pancakes

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons coarse salt

4 teaspoons ground ginger

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

6 large beaten eggs

2/3 cup molasses

6 cups buttermilk

HOW TO PREPARE:

For the batter, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add eggs, molasses, and buttermilk and stir until just combined. Cook pancakes on a hot griddle.