Author: stlmaryland

Gluten Free Shrimp & Vegetable Stir Fry

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Shrimp & Vegetable Stir Fry | Small Town Living in Nevada

I love shrimp and I love stir fries, so why not combine the two in a recipe that can be made in 30 minutes or less.

I normally raid the fridge to see what I can throw in my stir fry since they are so versatile and you can pretty much use whatever veggie you have on hand. In this case I picked the last of the fresh beans from my garden and used up some organic carrots from the fridge.

While I was stir frying I made white rice since it only takes 25 minutes. If you want brown rice, the rice will take longer to cook than this stir fry recipe and you’ll have to start the rice at least 30 minutes before you start the actual stir fry. Nevertheless, you won’t be disappointed with the wonderful flavors of this dish.

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Kids Halloween Party

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Having fun | Small Town Living in Nevada

Last week I hosted a kids Halloween Party at my house and have to say I was a little stressed over it even though it was Potluck. The reason is I have a small home and a large backyard. In Nevada where I live, the weather can be hit or miss… the saying is “Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change.”

Nevertheless, I wanted to host an outdoor party and was stressing on how the weather would fair that Saturday. Luckily, the weather turned out perfect. However, the next day was horrible, cold and windy. So I truly lucked out.

Since we were going to be outside, I went the minimalist route for decorating. And the dollar store AND Walmart were my main stops for decorations, my true friends for the event.

A year ago June, I made an outdoor buffet table from pallets laying around the backyard. I have to say it is one of the best things I have ever made. I can’t tell you how many times I have used it for BBQ’s, birthdays and now I can say for a Halloween Party.

I decked it out with cobweb, a festive plastic tablecloth and then waited for all the guests to start arriving with their food they were contributing.

Pallet Buffet Table | Small Town Living in Nevada

Since the weather was nice the kids enjoyed playing on the Trampoline and the swingset… as well as playing with the cornhole board that I borrowed, and a bowling sent. I even put together a craft table so the kids could make cut-outs and just have another level of fun. But they thought the tire swing was THE BEST thing since sliced bread, LOL!

Tire Swing | Small Town Living in Nevada

But it made me happy at how much fun all the kiddos had… and was thrilled with all the food the parents contributed even though I supplied the main dish of ghoulish hot dogs and condiments. AND one of my friends made Gluten Free Cake Pops cause she didn’t want the kids and I to miss out on the desserts!! Now how cool is she!?

Kids & Food | Small Town Living in Nevada

Crafts Table | Small Town Living in Nevada

Crafts made at the craft table…

Kids & Food | Small Town Living in Nevada

I placed an extension cord outside and placed all the hot dogs in the crockpot with hot water so no one had cold dogs.

All in all it was a great turn out and the kids and adults alike had fun. I call that a success!

Having fun | Small Town Living in Nevada

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Gluten Free Pumpkin Doughnuts

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Gluten Free Pumpkin Doughnuts | Small Town Living in Nevada

I have been baking non-stop for HOURS and all so my kids can contribute to their Halloween parties at school. I made my daughter Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting and my younger son Brownie cupcakes topped with the leftover Cream Cheese Frosting. They came out quite cute, but my favorites was making the Pumpkin Doughnuts.

I came across this pumpkin doughnut recipe on Pinterest and couldn’t wait to get doughnut pans . My mom surprised me a few weeks back with pans so I couldn’t wait to get started on trying different doughnuts especially since doughnuts are one of several foods I quite miss about living a gluten free lifestyle. Well, not any more!

The original recipe calls for a Cinnamon Sugar dusting and while that is fine and dandy I went a step farther and just glazed them instead.

This is one tasty doughnut… it is kid, husband and of course approved by me as well!

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Homemade Hollandaise Sauce

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Hollandaise Sauce

I absolutely LOVE Poached Eggs. And while I don’t normally make homemade hollandaise sauce for all my Eggs Benedicts I make… making your own hollandaise sauce isn’t all that hard to prepare.

Many people are afraid of making hollandaise sauce but honestly it is quite simple to prepare.

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Pasteurizing your eggs to use in Recipes

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Pasteurized eggs

Sometimes a recipe calls for raw eggs and while I love these recipes I don’t like the idea of consuming raw eggs. I’m not the only one, many cooks shy away from using those recipes. However, my solution is to pasteurize my fresh eggs before adding to the recipe so they are slightly cooked but still have the raw consistency.

Pasteurizing eggs basically reduce the risk of food-borne illness in dishes that are not cooked or are only lightly cooked.

Pasteurizing eggs in their shells are achieved through a technique that uses precise time and temperature zones within a pot of water. To Pasteurize eggs you are briefly boiling your eggs at a high temperature and then cooling them off with cool water. The yolk must reach a temperature of about 140º F.

Pasteurizing your eggs

  1. To pasteurize large eggs, place them in a saucepan filled with water and fitted with a digital thermometer. Turn on the heat and bring the water up to 140º F.
  2. Keep the water temperature at 140º F for 3 minutes (and no more than 142F), reducing the heat on the burner if necessary. Remove eggs from hot water and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
  3. Store in the refrigerator until needed or use right away.

Adapted from Baking Bites

Gluten Free cheese stuffed hamburgers

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Gluten Free cheese stuffed hamburgers | Small Town Living in Nevada

I recently broke my hamburger press and looked at purchasing another one to replace it. However, I came across a stuffed burger maker and decided to get that one instead so I can make cheese stuffed hamburgers for dinner.

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Lantern Fest 2015 – Event Review

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Lantern Fest - Fernley Speedway

Lantern Fest - Fernley SpeedwayI was fortunate enough that Lantern Fest invited my family to partake in their festivities on Friday. While it was magical, it was also challenging. It isn’t as easy as it seems and we only got one out of our two lanterns up and floating.  This was mostly due to the Nevada winds, unfortunately. Nevertheless, the kids had a lot of fun Lantern Fest - Fernley Speedwaydecorating the Lanterns, toasting marshmallows around the provided pits and making s’mores as well as watching all the twinkling lights from the Lanterns around us. It was an all round extraordinary event!

It was a spectacular evening regardless of the wind AND it was so breathtaking to watch hundreds of lanterns rise into the sky at once!!! It was like twinkling stars above us while the band played awesome music throughout the night.

Lantern Fest - Fernley Speedway

The location of having Lantern Fest at Fernley Speedway was great. There wasn’t any noise or light pollution to interfere with the ambiance.

While it was awesome to see the Lanterns rise… not all Lanterns did. Due to the Nevada winds many lanterns weren’t “rising” as they should, flying all over the place and into people and their belongs all the while on fire! This unfortunately happened to one of the two lanterns we had. We should had just been patient and waited the wind out and then tried releasing the second lantern then. Instead, we tried to fight the wind and eventually our Lantern tore and was no longer usable.

Lantern Fest - Fernley Speedway

It was nice that they had all kinds of activities for all ages prior to the lantern launch including entertainment during the launch which included awesome tunes from a live band to the fire performers.

All in all it was an awe inspiring sight to witness the lanterns that did rise into the sky as well as to have spent that evening experiencing releasing our Lanterns with my friends and family. I’d definitely participate in this event again!

Lantern Fest - Fernley Speedway

*** Disclaimer: I received our tickets free from Lantern Fest. I am not required to write a positive review and all opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Gluten Free Apple Cider Doughnuts

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Gluten Free Apple Cider Doughnuts | Small Town Living in Nevada

I had really been missing doughnuts for some reason or another and for good reason. I hadn’t had a doughnut in almost 2 years and then my mom goes and buy my kids and I gluten free powdered doughnuts back in June.

Well, no where in my little town do they sell gluten free doughnuts. So the next best thing was to buy doughnut pans and then experiment.

I saw a recipe for Apple Cider Doughnuts sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and thought why not lets try it!

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Chocolate Doughnut Glaze

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So I had experimented with making doughnuts for the first time ever the other day. I made Gluten Free Apple Cider Doughnuts and while they were awesome in their own right I wanted to dip them in chocolate just to see if they could taste even better. Yeah, it was taste-bud overload!

Chocolate Doughnut Glaze

Glazes 2 dozen doughnuts

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces dark chocolate chips
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

  1. Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted.
  2. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted.
  3. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.
  4. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately.
  5. Allow glaze to set for 30-60 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Alton Brown‘s Chocolate Doughnut Glaze.