RECIPE - Gluten Free Garlic Bread

Even vampires would have trouble resisting this delicious, toasty, gluten free garlic bread!

Try this at home! The hardest part is making the bread! The rest is easy, and a great way to enhance the bread you've baked. Especially useful for stale bread, just add a few drops of water onto the bread before the oil and garlic.

Ingredients:

1 large loaf of gluten free French/Italian bread from "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts. Check out her website here. Purchase the book on Amazon here.
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or through a garlic press
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp italian seasoning (mixture of basil, parsley, oregano)
salt and black pepper
1/2 shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Let your freshly baked loaf of gluten free bread cool. Try to resist the temptation of nibbling.

Slice bread in half "hamburger" style and lay flat. Mix together olive oil, garlic and spices. Slather on bread halves.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until the bread starts to get toasty. Add mozzarella cheese and bake for another 5 minutes until cheese melts. Slice and serve!

RECIPE - Gluten Free Pork Ribs & Corn Bread Muffins

I love Southern food. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Another Jersey girl that's never been to the South tries some KFC fried chicken and thinks she's on the pulse of Southern cooking". Don't worry. I've been to Tampa and to the Atlanta airport, that totally counts as the South. Also, I watch the Food Network, and they only show authentic Southern cuisine. I have standards, ya know?

Let's start with the cornbread muffins. These muffins came from my new favorite cookbook "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts. Annalise is part of The Food Philosopher group, run by Annalise and her sister Claudia Pillow. They are both highly active in the gluten free community. Annalise has written two books on gluten free cooking, and Claudia is a DOCTOR(!) and serves on the board for the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (GIG).

This cookbook has changed my mindset about cooking, and especially about baking. Annalise talks a lot about the delicate balance between flours, liquids, baking temperature, and storage for all the goodies in the book. An over-measurement of flour or a minute or two under-baking can cause some real damage to your baked goods. So I've been trying to be as careful as I can with measurements and such (cutting down on the "BAM!"s, and it turns out that (literally) everything I've made from this cookbook has blown my mind.

The cornbread muffins are no exception. They turned out soft, moist, and with perfect texture. Here's a link to the recipe from The Food Philosopher's website.

I wanted to mimic my Grandma's recipe for cornbread, so I added some frozen (and defrosted, then squeezed out) corn kernels. If I really wanted to follow my Grandma's recipe, I would also add a gallon of cream cheese and a pound of grated cheddar cheese, but I'm saving that for the next batch. The corn was a fabulous addition.

Now, onto the ribs. I cannot take any credit for this recipe. The only thing I can take credit for is choosing the perfect barbecue sauce to complement the spicy rub. Here's the recipe, courtesy of Food Network and the Neely's. I know it seems like a lot of work, but you can make a large recipe of the rub once and use it multiple times.

For the barbecue sauce, I ONLY use Sweet Baby Ray's. You can't do any better. I once tried using their Hickory & Brown Sugar version for the ribs, but it was too sweet because there was brown sugar in the rub and the sauce. I like using the Original recipe for this because it's not too sweet. The combination of the spicy rub and this sweet and tangy sauce is ridiculous. Everyone that's tried these ribs spends about 20 minutes shaking their heads in disbelief. They're that good.

Even though it's still pretty cold out, you should definitely be preparing for the summer months. You'll want to make these gluten free cornbread muffins and pork ribs for every BBQ you attend, so try these recipes out now!


PS. For another southern recipe, check out this recipe I posted in the fall for gluten free buttermilk fried chicken.

RECIPE - GF Soft Pretzels with Beer Cheese Dip

It's OK to drool. I won't tell anyone...

Ok, so the gluten free soft pretzel recipe I cannot and will not share with you. I got it out of my new cookbook "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise G. Roberts. Check out her website, The Food Philosopher.  They're fantastic. Simply said. Do yourself a favor and buy this cookbook. Seriously! Your family will thank you.

Now, onto the cheese dip!! I first encountered beer and cheese in dip format at a great restaurant The Readhead in the east village. Besides having the 2nd best (umm, hello? see mine) fried chicken ever, they make this amazing cheese-y beer-y dip for soft pretzels. I did my best to make a gluten free lactose free version. That recipe I'll share with you.

Now, there's a couple of things that make this recipe awesome and special despite its being gluten free and lactose free. The first is Cabbott cheese. Oddly enough, my grandpa told me about this gem. Their cheeses are gluten free AND lactose free. And they taste like CHEESE!!!!

The second is the Tofutti cream cheese. I've used this cream cheese in the past as a healthier alternative to cream cheese, but it's also great because it's gluten free and dairy free!

And finally we have the beer. You only need a little, so use your favorite gluten free beer. I recently tried Estrella Daura, the best American-tasting gluten free beer (vs. the best European-tasting gluten free beer Greene's beer).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shredded Cabbott cheddar cheese
2 tbsp Tofutti original cream cheese
1/4 cup gluten free beer (I recommend Estrella Daura, see my review here)
a little salt and pepper
1 tbsp Hot Sauce (like for wings)

Directions:
Put everything into a bowl. Microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring after each burst. Once everything melts together, pour into your serving bowl and refrigerate. Difficult, eh?