A week at my sister's

So it's spring break! wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I'm spending the week at my sister and brother in law's new place! It's great to see them :)

Together the three of us are learning how to cook gluten-free style. I'm okay at cooking, I know a few things and have lived in an apartment for a semester and a half now, but my gluten free skills are limited. Before this week I made gluten free pancakes...this week is a learning adventure for all of us.

Here are a few of the things we've made.

Gluten free pizza.

We made this using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust mix. We followed the directions on the bag to make the crust, although if you do this make sure you don't accidentally make cinnamon rolls (the mix can also make that). When they say using wet hands to spread the dough, they really mean dripping wet. Water on your hands for this mix works like flour with normal dough. Then just use tomato sauce or paste for the sauce, your favorite cheese, and toppings and you're good to go, a yummy pizza!

Gluten free breaded pork chops

I know what you're thinking, breaded pork chops that are gluten free? That isn't possible!

Well it's actually really easy! All you have to do is use tater tots for bread!

First put tater tots on a tray (the amount needed depends on how many pork chops...overestimate just in case) Cook those according to the directions on the package. Take them out, and mush them into a bowl. Yes mush them, break them apart into little pieces. The outsides will be crispy and the insides, well not so much, but that's okay because they will be crispy the second bake around. Soak the raw pork in water for about ten minutes while you perform the next step, this will prevent dry pork. Next choose your favorite spices, we used a chipotle mix which was delicious. Season the tater tots to taste.

After ten minutes drain the pork. Scramble some eggs, this will help the tots stick to the meat. Put some cooking spray on the baking tray (you'll thank me for this later), it doesn't matter which kind. Dip the chops (one at a time) in the eggs, and then place them on the baking tray. Because its tater tots and not bread we couldn't get the tots to stick to the pork by dipping the raw meat in the mush. To solve this problem we just scooped the mush onto the top of the pork chops. Put the chops in the oven and time it according to what size chops you have (we had thin chops, so we baked them at 425 for 35 minutes).

We also had rice which we started when there was 20 minutes left, and corn when there was 5 minutes left. When the time is up take your pork out of the oven, put a piece on a plate, add a few side dishes, pour out some apple sauce and ta-da a yummy pork dinner without any gluten!

Gluten Free Tacos
(use corn shells and NOT flour tortillas!)

We made tacos. That's super easy! Brown some ground beef, the higher the % of fat the juicer the meat, the higher the % lean, the less juicy (and probably healthier) the meat. If you are going to warm your taco shells in the oven the best time would probably be right before you add the spices (if you have a taco kit follow the heating instructions, if not a low temperature for a short period of time works just fine).When the meat is brown throw in your spices. We used the chipotle spice from our pork and chili powder, and salt and pepper. If you get a taco kit it will come with mix. Stir in the spice. Once the spices are mixed your meat is ready to go. Prepare your tacos for eating using the beef, and any other toppings you want (lettuce, tomatoes  onions, cheese sauce etc.) Enjoy

(no picture of tacos)

Yummy bbq chicken!

it's way easier than you would think to make delicious bbq chicken! Step one get some chicken, if it's frozen, thaw it out. Once it is thaw put it on a cutting board. Stab the heck out of that thing. To stab it you can use a knife and then a fork. Now it should still resemble the piece of chicken you started with but just the same put a lot of holes in it for the flavor to soak into. Put bbq sauce of your choice in a zip-lock bag. Put the chicken in the bag with the sauce. Add some water, not too much but just enough to help the sauce sink into the chicken. Put your bag-o-chicken in the fridge for about an hour. At this point you should probably look up the appropriate cooking temperature/ time for your slab of chicken. (For chicken breast cook at 375 for 45 minutes). Plan accordingly! After about 45 minutes of the chicken being in the fridge pre-heat the oven. Bake the chicken. Think ahead about your sides. I did rice again (let's be honest it's fairly easy) and peas. Take your chicken out of the oven. Cut it to make sure it is cooked all the way. If not, cook for another five minutes and check again (but don't wait too long or you will dry out the chicken!).

Sorry no picture of this yummy one, but hey who knew these tasty treats were gluten free?!?