Braised Short Ribs (slow cooker)

Well lately for some reason every time we go out to dinner and there have been Short Ribs on the menu I have been ordering them!.....There is just something about this comfort food that made me want to try and make them myself....after researching a lot of recipes this is what I came up with......I don't know if my husband was just being nice, but he said they were the best he has ever had!...So I guess I will be making them a lot more often!....Here is what I did...Enjoy!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

6 whole short ribs (cut into 3)

salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil +1 Tablespoon butter

 

1 onion chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 cloves garlic minced

 

2/3 cup ketchup

2 Tablespoons agave nectar

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

3 Tablespoons Liquid Amino's (braggs)

2 Cups beef broth

1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

 

2 Tablespoons cornstarch (divided)

 

sauce ingredients

 

DIRECTIONS

 

1. Cut ribs into thirds and trim any excess fat off the edge. Salt and pepper them

 

2. Add oil and butter to fry pan and add the ribs, in batches if you have to...brown both sides and add to crock pot when done...leaving the juices in the pan.

 

3. Add chopped onion to the pan and cook about 10 minutes add the wine and cook 5 more minutes add the minced garlic and then the rest of the sauce ingredients at the end whisk in 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch before adding over the ribs in crock pot

 

4. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours

 

5. When done sauce may be a little oily, ladle out a couple of ladles full of sauce into a saucepan and heat on medium and add 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch whisking until thick, once thick add this back to crockpot, this will give you a nice rich gravy.

I served over mashed potatoes with a side of glazed carrots!

 

**Note**

ribs do shrink a lot when cooking, you can add more than 6 if needed

 

 

 

 

 

Shrimp Lo Mein (gluten free)

I am becoming a big fan of these Asian rice noodles I have been using lately. I would always see them in the grocery store and finely decided to give them a try!....They can be used for a lot of your pasta recipes..You can switch out the shrimp in here and use chicken and you can also use broccoli instead of peas!...I used what veggies I had on hand. You can conform this any way you like using your favorites!...I also used dried ginger that I found in the herb section, but you could grate fresh if you like. And I used liquid aminos instead of soy sauce to make it a little healthier....Here is what I did....Enjoy!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

1 package Lo Mein noodles

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 carrots (Sliced)

1 package sliced mushrooms

1or1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1 shallot (diced)

1 pound raw shrimp (no tails)

scallion or green onion for garnish

 

SAUCE

 

1/4 cup Chicken broth

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Braggs Liquid Amino (or soy sauce)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 clove garlic (minced)

sauce ingredients

this is the ginger I used

 

here are a couple versions of the rice noodles, either is fine

 

adding the shrimp to the veggies

 

 

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl...whisk and set aside.

2. Heat sesame oil in pan add the vegetables and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until carrots are soft.

3. Add shrimp and cook until no longer translucent.

4. add sauce and simmer.

4. Cook noodles according to package directions.

5. Drain noodles ...quickly rinse and drain again .....add to serving bowl ...add the shrimp and veggies and toss to mix together...you can garnish with scallions or green onion

 

Baking Tip......Check the date on your Baking powder

Here is a Baking tip for you, that I had to find out the hard way!
Last year my daughter and I were doing our Holiday baking and making my Italian cutout cookie recipe, we tasted one and they were awful!!
It tasted like I had put a cup of salt in them....so we threw that batch away and started over. Well the second batch tasted the same way, needless to say after the third time I went one by one and checked each ingredient I used. The culprit was expired Baking Powder!,,,I felt bad wasted all of those ingredients,,,It was very frustrating!.....So now I always check the dates on all of the ingredients I am using.....Lesson Learned!!

Gluten- free Butter Balls (Snowballs)

Well I have been in the test kitchen working to see if I could convert all of my regular holiday cookie recipes to be gluten free...So far my S- cookie recipe was a winner!...So I thought I would try one of my other favorites the Butter Ball! Some people call these Snowball cookies....The thing with gluten free baking is that dough can become crumbly and not hold together because of the lack in gluten, so some sort of binder needs to be added to compensate for that. That is where  the ingredient Xanthum gum comes in. Another ingredient used is Guar gum (Bob's Red Mill brand has both of these)..well I used both in this recipe for insurance because the texture of this cookie can be crumbly to begin with and it worked!....If you don't need this cookie to be Gluten-free you can omit the xanthum and guar gums and just use the same amount of regular flour...I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour(pictured below) for this and the other cookies I have tested and it has been working really well....Well here is what I did ....Enjoy!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

2 1/4 Cups Bob's 1 to 1 flour...or Regular

1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon Xanthum gum

1 teaspoon Guar gum

1/2 Cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1 Cup (2 sticks) soft butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla

More confectioner sugar for rolling cooled cookies in

Here is the flour below

 

 

DIRECTIONS

 

In your mixer with dough hook attachment,  add the flour, sugar, salt and the gums and give it a few rounds of mixing on low to blend

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until everything is incorporated

It should look like this

It will look a little crumbly...but when you roll into ball and squeeze together from hand to hand it gets moist and comes together.

I used a tablespoon size cookie scoop to measure size and then roll into a ball

Place onto a cookie sheet (I used a silpat)

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes...

bottom will be golden

 

When cool roll into a bowl of Confectioner Sugar

You can store in a seal tight container until serving

(If they last that long!)

This recipe yields about 4 dozen, depending on size

 

**NOTE**

If you don't have a mixer this can be mixed by hand

 

**TIP**

Do not roll these too big...these tend to be better on the smaller side

 

Cutout Cookies

This cutout cookie recipe has been in the family for years!....And it is the only recipe I use for my Christmas cookies but it can be used for any occasion you need a cutout recipe for. I just recently started using this glaze (included below) for these cookies. In the past I have also frosted with canned vanilla frosting and then topped with sprinkles the choice is yours....This recipe can make up to 100 cookies so you can cut it in half if you only want to try a small batch!...Here is what I do...Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

6 cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

8 teaspoons baking powder

6 Eggs

2 1/2 sticks Butter (softened)

3 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all of the ingredients to form dough....I start with the butter and eggs then add the rest....you can use your stand mixer with dough hook

Using plenty of flour, roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick.

Cutout with your favorite cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet.

Bake in 350 oven for 6-10 minutes or until bottom is lightly golden. These cookies do puff a little and should be very light and airy,,,not thin and crispy

When cool you can frost with my cookie glaze that dries hard and shiny

GLAZE

2-1/4 cups Confectioners Sugar

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup (Karo)

2 Tablespoons milk + more

1-2 drops almond extract

Add sugar to mixing bowl add corn syrup....then add milk 2 Tablespoons at a time and mix until it becomes a spreadable consistency...you can add food coloring or a different extract flavor if you like

Gluten - free Bread or Rolls

Well I have been fiddling with bread recipes for a while now.....bread has to be one of the hardest things to make gluten free but it is one of my most favorite things and the one I miss the most! Once I tested this combination of ingredients and flours (a lot)....I knew I had something I could live with and enjoy!....I have baked this recipe in loaf pans and mini loaf pans, but I just recently baked in a muffin tin for dinner rolls and they were fabulous!,,,Especially when I eat it my favorite way which is dipping it in olive oil with parmesan cheese and adding a little balsamic vinegar or my husbands home made pesto!....Well here is what I did....Enjoy!

 

INGREDIENTS

 

DRY

 

1 cup white rice flour Bob's red mill

1 cup Pamelas artisan flour

1 cup arrowroot flour

1 Tablespoon xanthum gum

1 teaspoon salt

 

here are the flours I used

this is the yeast I used

 

 

1 -1/2 cups warm water

2 Tablespoons active dry yeast

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (Braggs)

 

 

3 egg whites (room temp)

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

 

In your mixer with the dough hook adapter... add all of the dry ingredients and give it a few rounds of mixing to blend

In a 2 cup capacity measuring cup add 1 1/2 cups warm water and stir in the yeast until dissolved.....add the honey olive oil and vinegar and stir to combine.

Start adding the liquid to the flour mixture and mix until all combined

In a small bowl add egg whites and mix with a fork....add the eggs to the dough and mix (the dough will be a little sticky)

 

You will have enough dough for 2 regular loaf pans or 4 mini loaves

Spray your pan and divide dough and add to pans...use wet fingers to smooth the top of the bread

I added pans to the microwave to rise and draped with a kitchen towel

 

Let rise until it doubles in size (about a half hour)

Bake bread in a Preheated 350 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes until golden brown on top.

Here is how the rolls looked!

Let bread cool and enjoy!

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala

I have just recently become a fan of Chicken Marsala. But I really wanted to try and make it a little simpler. So through some trial and error I came up with a way to do it in the Crock Pot, which I love that you can do!...This is the time of year that I get it out of the pantry and pretty much never put it away!...Well here is what I did...Enjoy!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

4 chicken breasts

salt and pepper

3/4 Cup Marsala wine

1 shallot (sliced)

3-4 cloves garlic (minced)

2 bay leaves

16 ounce package sliced mushrooms

2 Tablespoons arrowroot flour + 3 Tablespoons water **

parsley for garnish

 ** you can use regular flour or cornstarch in place of arrowroot

 

DIRECTIONS

preheat crockpot on low

 

1. Salt and pepper chicken breast and place in a non stick sprayed crock pot.

2. Add Marsala wine, shallot, garlic and bay leaves

3. Top with mushrooms

4. Cover pot and cook on low 5-6 hours

5. Remove chicken (gently)

6. In a small bowl whisk together flour and water until smooth then add to crock pot and whisk into sauce..... you can also add more salt if needed

7. Add chicken back in and cook another 30 minutes

8. Serve over pasta or rice if you like and top with chopped parsley