More GF Cooking...

Did you know in supermarkets, the most expensive product is at eye level? The cheapest products are at the top and at the bottom of the sections. Cheeky huh? When it comes to gluten free shopping, it's damn expensive. I was so excited when San Remo began making gf pasta, that I wanted to support them so they would keep making it. Meanwhile, I was paying twice the price! I've now vetoed them in favour of smaller companies on the bottom shelves, we're talking pasta at home brand prices here folks. I dabble in vegetable, corn and rice pastas and cannot tell the difference between them. So anyway, this is the latest one I bought and LOVED.

I mentioned a while back that I was interested in trying TVP gluten free mince, and boy does it look like meat! The way you cook it is be pouring an equal amount of TVP and boiling water into a pot and covering with a tea towel for 5 minutes. Weird huh? But it WORKS.

As if this doesn't look like mince! What's even better about eating this instead of meat, is that you don't have to worry about making sure there isn't any pink leftover. There has to be less chance of getting food poisoning from this, right?

Added some 3 beans, some LSA and some cheese and voila - awesome.

At first I found it really obvious that it wasn't meat - it didn't have that.... heaviness. Initially I likened it to having a vanilla thickshake with pink colouring (knowing it's not strawberry, but still being suprised when it tastes like vanilla) but after my second bowl, I decided I actually really liked it in a meal. Some curry powder wouldn't have gone astray, I guess really, TVP is just a filler and you can make it taste how you want. How do you cook it?

At the time of cooking, SB was nibbling on some gluten free icrecream cones, so I popped some in the cones and we each ate one - delicious! (I've always eaten weird foods, toasted noodle and peanut butter sandwhiches, for example, and a psychic even told my sister that I ate weird food!).

In other exciting news, I COOKED GLUTEN FREE JELLY. Took me back to the days of making 'Airoplane Jellyyyyyyy' with my grandmother. It is DELICIOUS and suits people with allergies, check out the box, I TOTALLY recommend.

-SH.

Gluten Free Chicken Schnitzel Parmies!

(I say 'Parmies' because I have no idea how to spell the full word.) This works just as well with tofu.

Polenta for crumbing. Eggs. Chicken.

Dipped in eggs, rolled in polenta. Lightly brown in a pan.

Seeing as I have tomato sauce on EVERYTHING, I've decided to branch out and try new tomato sauces. I really am a rebel without a cause. Add sauce, avo and cheeeeese.

Bung in the oven at 180 for however long you can be assed. Checking often to check they ain't burnin'.

Add mash with spinach and onion (because you forgot to put the onion on the parmies). Add tomato sauce (the good stuff!) and then inhale.

SD ate EVERYTHING. Even though he bitches and moans when he sees I add spinach. Whatever Heather. Thrilled.

The leftover egg from the dipping, I added leftover chopped onion and a couple of extra eggs and chucked it in the frudge for easy scrambled eggs in the morn.

I give this meal an 8 out 10 for taste.

7 out of 10 for ease of cooking.

Peas n' Sausages,

SH.

NOM NOM NOM NOM

As a gluten free person, eating out can be a boring pain in the ass. If I have to eat another slice of 'orange and almond' I may have to gauge my own eyes out. It's soooo rare to find cafes with gluten free bread, let alone savoury gluten free snacks!

So, I have been brainstorming fillings since my last batch of gluten free savoury thingies. I found some free range organic chicken thighs reduced to clear and thought I would make potato top savouries.

I tried to photograph everything I was going to use, but I'm more of an impulsive 'ooh! I can put this in! Oh and this! And a pinch of that!'

Peas, carrots, corn, grated cheese, a tin of chick peas, roasted pumpkin, honey wholegrain mustard and curry powder. 

I chopped and then baked the chicken, probably would have been easier if I had baked then chopped...

Mashed potatoes, which I added spinach and brocolli to.

I could have googled how to cut the pastry but was way lazy and experimented instead. I found that two thin strips to make a 'cross' worked best. Some I was even able to close up like you would a cardboard box.

How do you cut your pastry? I would like to get a pie dish, would be healthier to eat less pastry and more filling I suppose.

Me in my vintage apron. I had no idea that I had a problem with shutting cupboard doors until I saw this. I may have to see someone about that. Or perhaps I should see someone about the anger which lies just under the surface of my sausagey disposition, which is totally directed at orange and almond slices. Such anger leads me to wield a BIG knife in preparation for a cafe massacre. Rahhh!! (Haha reminds me of people who say they don't have anger issues and then CRACK IT BIG TIME with road rage or at junk mail. I once did a psyke test and one of the questions was about my feelings towards junk mail, random, no?)

Sadly, SB woke up and I ASSUMED SD was watching the savouries, and SD ASSUMED I had a timer on, so they were a little crunchier than intended, but still ohhh sooo delicious. The mash complimented them perfectly and was a great way to slip in some extra iron and greenage. At least a couple of serves of the days vegies in this, which is something I try to think of when looking at the food intake for the day. Next time I'm going to try gluten free TVP mince.

I really enjoy making these and hope to one day be organised enough to make the pastry from scratch. There is enough to cover leftovers tomorrow and probably a snack as well so not bad. The pastry itself is $10 so all up, it's pretty expensive, I probably shouldn't be making this every week but I'll work on it and it will be nice to be able to rock up at a party with a dish that isn't my faithful gluten free Basco butter cake....

Do you have a dish you always take to parties? What's your favourite recipe?

On the Sausage Housewife FB page, we've decided to each try the same recipe and adapt it for our dietary requirements, and then post the photos. If you have a recipe you'd like to recommend, please email it to sausagemama@gmail.com.....I'm looking forward to expanding my very small repertoire!

I guess by morning I will find out if my chicken curry savouries were cooked properly! (Ahhh that was what was good about being a full vegetarian - not having to worry about food poisoning....)

Okeh bai,
SH.

I cooked! And it didn't suck!

Although I do need to work on my presenting food style, these gluten free savoury pastries were AWESOME.

The gluten free sheets were 3 for $10 from Bi-Lo and I filled them with Sanitarium Tinned Savoury Lentils and cheese, and a couple of turkey with cheese.

I am so full I think I'm going to have to roll to bed. Awkwardly on my back somehow.

Sorry it's been so long between blogs, SM is my first baby and SH is the one I enjoy but I don't have alot of inspiration for, as I really suck at housewifery. I hope to love my real children more equally!

Peeeeas.

SM/SH.