When it was just my husband and I living in Lake Tahoe, I use to make a different version of this recipe quite often in the winter since it was such a nice comfort food to warm you up from being out in the snow. But being Chicken and Gluten intolerant – I have changed the recipe up and literally have reinvented it. My oldest son said the biscuits were 1000 times delicious – So I guess I did something right!
Turkey and Biscuit Casserole | Small Town Living in Nevada
Last night before bed I put together a Pumpkin French Toast Casserole …. Got up early around 7:30am stuck it in the oven for an hour and went back to bed til the oven timer went off. This is what our Sunday breakfast looked like!
Even though October is on its way out I am still getting zucchini in my garden which is something odd since september is usually the cut off before the freeze hits. Nevertheless, I needed to come up with something different and thought Chocolate Zucchini Bread would be the zing we needed. 
Ingredients 1-1/2 cups Gluten-Free Flour mix 1/2 cup Hershey’s Cocoa powder – 100% Cacao Special Dark 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon xanthan gum 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3 extra-large eggs 2/3 cup cooking oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1-1/2 cups to 2 cups shredded zucchini 1-1/3 cups dark chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a loaf pan. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. In another bowl mix together vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, zucchini and granulated sugar. Mix until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into the loaf pan and smooth top. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Last night I made Stromboli for dinner. Is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses, typically mozzarella, Italian meats and / or vegetables. The dough traditionally used is Italian bread dough or pizza dough that is rolled into a cylindrical shape and then baked. For mine, the dough was a little sticky and I didn’t get that perfect cylindrical shape. Nevertheless, it came out really tasty.
INGREDIENTS:
Homemade Pizza Dough ( I used Hodgson mill gluten free pizza crust mix )
Mozzarella Cheese, grated
6 slices Provolone Cheese
8 Ham slices
1/2 cup Turkey Italian Sausage, crumbled
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
4 ounce can of mushrooms
Olive Oil
Salt
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 450º F .
On a lightly floured sandstone used roll the dough out to a large rectangle.
Sprinkle the Parmesan Cheese over 3/4 of the pizza dough leaving borders on all sides of the dough.
Layer your Provolone Cheese, Ham, Sausage and Mushrooms, then top with the shredded Mozzarella Cheese.
Fold over the sides then roll the dough 1/3 of the way. Grab the other side of the parchment and fold it over the rest of the way. Position the Stromboli seam-side down.
Brush the entire roll with olive oil and make diagonal slits for venting. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove and allow the stromboli to cool for 5 minutes before slicing 1 to 2 inch strips.
Serve with pizza sauce for dunking.
Over the weekend I harvested a nice size bucket of beautiful red tomatoes from my dwindling garden.
I covered the tomato plants with plastic (a makeshift greenhouse) so I can get my plants to last as long as I can. Especially with the numbers dropping near freezing at night these days.
Regardless, I took 2 pounds from the bucket and made homemade Tomato Soup and the rest is now as they say history. 🙂
Ingredients
1 medium white or yellow onion, diced
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
Two pounds of fresh tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans of Tomato Sauce
1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable base
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Dried basil to sprinkle as garnish
Directions
Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat.
Throw in the diced onions and cook until translucent.
Place fresh tomatoes and onions in a blender to liquify. Then pour liquid through a sieve into a large pot and add tomato paste and tomato sauce, then stir to combine.
Add sugar, cream, base, salt and pepper to the soup and stir well. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes to blend flavors.
When ready to serve, top with a dash of dried basil.
I had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner. But then I thought — I just bought some Turkey Tenderloins — maybe I can make something with those…. BUT WHAT??? And then I thought Turkey Pot Pies!!! It is fall, the weather is cooling down — so why not make some comfort food for tonight.
I always have issues with making chocolate chip cookies because of the altitude. Now the challenge is gluten free. But I think I hit on a winning combination that is to please all.
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla
2 eggs
2-3/4 cups Gluten Free Flour
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounce bag of Hersey’s Halloween Chocolate Chips
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. In a bowl – Stir together flour, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt – set aside. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with a fork.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Yesterday two of my barred rock chickens hopped our fence into the neighbors yard. Unfortunately, the divider fences are 4 foot chain link – so quite easy for a chicken to jump up to.
Well the pugs (there are 5 of them) were not too tolerant and I will spare the actual details. One chicken is missing and presumed dead and the other hen’s back end was a mess. My husband Josh and his friend Mark tried cleaning and patching her up last night not certain if she was going to make it.
My thought was she would most likely get an infection and die eventually. I am so upset. I know it isn’t my neighbors fault at all… and as a precaution Josh ended up clipping the rest of the new chickens flight wings to be on the safe side.
We placed her comfortably in a cat carrier and left her in the house last night hoping for a miracle I guess. But my husband came into the bedroom this morning and said, even though she is alert and still alive he didn’t think she could be saved with the extent of her injuries. My concern was if she did heal — which could possibly take months — would she be able to go to the bathroom and even lay an egg. The damage was horrible in the area of her Cloaca. And unfortunately that opening serves as the only opening for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tracts of chickens. So we decided instead of chancing her to worsen or end up getting an egg impacted down the line — it would be best to put her down. AGH, I feel so horrible.
The kids are upset. We haven’t buried her, yet, because kids want to help with that part. Breaks my heart.
Yesterday my daughter and I attended a birthday party that was serving pizza and cupcakes. So armed with that knowledge before hand, I made gluten free cupcakes and 2 personal size gluten free pizzas to bring to the party.
I made Pepperoni Pizza with the Ener-G Yeast Free Pizza Shells and have to say the pizza came out really tasty and the crust was great. I baked the pizzas before I left for the party and then the hosts reheated the pizzas a couple of hours later in the oven and to my amaze came out great! The crust was chewy in the middle and had a nice crisp on the outer crust.
Definitely will have to make more pizzas with these pizza shells.
I was battling the what should I make for dinner question until the last minute when I decided it was a burger kinda night. And then proclaimed it was even better — a patty melt kinda night! I love grilled onions… So having an excuse to sauté some up is heaven.
Gluten Free Patty Melt 5 servings
Preheat panini grill to medium-high heat (375°F).
Add olive oil and 1/2 Tbsp of Butter into a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add onions and sauté until browned, about 8 minutes.
Butter one side of your bread. On other side top bread with a slice of cheese, onions, the burger patty, thousand island and a final piece of bread.
Grill your sandwich until golden and the cheese melts, about 2-3 minutes. Repeat for each burger.
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