laborofwonder

Where Whine Meets Wine

Apr 19

Monkey Bread Madness

by motherofwonder

Do to my love of all things Pinterest, I have an ever growing list of foods I want to make. Well, after looking through my fridge, I decided on pizza… and then I remembered this. Monkey breadish pizza. (Seriously, the pictures are so good it’s no wonder they’re on pinterest for the rest of us to drool over!)

Looks fantastic, right? Photo Credit: Confections of a Foodie Bride. (You can go there for the original recipe too.)

In the morning, Big E had called one of his uncles asking him if he could come over and play. So just as I was gathering up things for dinner making, I got a phone call asking if I’d mind some visitors for dinner time. And we were so happy they could join us.

photo credit: Biggest E

I will admit that this took a little longer to make than I originally expected. With some organization -or an extra pair of hands- it could be done a lot more seamlessly. Overall, I did find this a great way to use up some leftovers! The original recipe used cubes of mozzarella, and pepperoni. I had neither. I did have shredded mozzerella, bacon, and chicken… all just sitting in my fridge, begging to be used before they went bad.

First things first, though… the pizza dough.

  • 2/3 cup brown rice flour
  • 2/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1 1/3 cup tapioca flour
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp xantham gum
  • 2 cup water
  • 2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp cider vinegar

Combine the flours, salt, baking powder, and xantham gum in a large bowl. In another bowl, blend the water, olive oil, and vinegar and whisk to mix. Pour the liquid ingredients of the flour mixture. Stir hard, briefly, to make a smooth, soft batter. Occasionally, I have to add a little more flour to get the batter so that it holds it’s shape. If more flour is necessary, I use tapioca flour, and add it in a tbs at a time.

Step Two

  • 4 tbs butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 6 oz mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup shredded/chopped chicken
  • 1/4-1/2 package bacon
  • 3 cups marinara sauce, for dipping

Heat garlic and butter over medium heat just until the garlic begins to brown. Remove from heat and let sit. Lightly brush the inside of a bundt pan  with garlic butter. Pull off large marble-sized balls of dough and flatten- trying to stay consistent with the size. Top with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese (I used shredded but you could certainly use cubes. Might be easier to seal with cubes instead of shredded.), chicken, and bacon. Wrap the dough around the toppings, pinching well to seal. Very lightly brush the pizza ball with garlic butter and place into the bundt pan. Repeat until all of the dough is used. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes, while preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is very brown. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a platter and serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

Not a terrific picture, but you get the idea.

These were so good… super filled. And they went fast.

Ok, so I have a confession- the photos, and story, are actually from December… but for some reason I never posted. So, today seemed like perfect day to get back in the foodie saddle! Because a)it’s cold and grey out today, which makes me think about warm, yummy food. And b) my 3 little ones are all cuddled in a blanket together on the couch. Their being so sweet I’m a little worried they’re plotting something. Seriously, they’re all snuggled in, sharing a blanket and pillow. Giving each other hugs and occasional kisses on each others’ cheeks. So I’m going to be spending time soaking all this sweetness in.)

*I just wanted to add that I made this recipe again tonight and it was even better than I remembered. Biggest and Miss helped me, and I’m not sure if they added more water/oil or what, but I did end up adding about a full cup extra of GF all-purpose flour before I could actually get it to be the consistency I needed. But they weren’t too dense or too floury or anything. They were perfect. That said… after hubby helped himself to them right out of the pan (hence no new, great photos), I discovered the bottom layer ones were not cooked through all the way- they were still a little doughy, so I threw them in for about 5 more minutes. I just didn’t want anyone trying this out and feel like I sold ’em a bag of worms! (Because that would be just gross)

breads Chicken Gluten Free Impressively Simple Life According To Me Recipes

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Nov 17

(Simple) Game Day Foods!

by motherofwonder

To go along with my football post this morning, today’s Simply Impressive recipe will be game time foods! Which is one of my favorite things about football season! One was a first time taste-testing and the other I’ve made several times, but always forgot to post it on here…and I was having a hard time deciding which to post! But after some encouragement from my facebook wall (haven’t “liked” labor of wonder on facebook yet?! Well, get on over there and do it!), I decided on both!!

The first is my trusty jalapeno popper dip! This is seriously easy and seriously good! I’ve made it a handful of times, and find myself craving this anytime there is football on! (Yes, I crave it a lot) I found it/created it when I was really craving some actual jalapeno poppers, but it sounded like a whole lot of work and time to make… naturally, I searched for an easier way to fulfill this craving! I got the basis of my recipe here, but of course, made it my own way! Not a whole lot different, but just enough that I feel more like it’s mine! (When I googled this dip this morning, a flood of websites and blogs came up, each with a little different twist. So you can do it basic or find something fancy-shmancy if that’s what you’re looking for!)

I used peppers from my garden!

2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayo

6 oz jalapeno peppers (I found this amount to not have much heat to it, so this last time I used a whole 12 oz jar of them plus about 2 tbs of the “juice” but we like heat!)

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Optional Topping:

1 cup of crushed croutons/breadcrumbs (I used chili cheese GF “protons”/croutons with lots of protein)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 tbs melted butter

 

Preheat oven to 350. And spray pan. (I use a square 7×7 or my deep dish pie pan)

I do this all in my food processor so that I don’t have to chop anything, but you certainly can chop the jalapeno by hand. (If you bought whole jalapeno, remember to seed them! If it’s canned, don’t drain! If they came in a jar, use about 2 tbs of “juice.”) So, I throw in my jalapeno for dicing, and then I add in the cream cheese, and cheddar cheese until well blended. You can add more “juice” if it’s very dense, as you want it to be nice and creamy!

Now for the topping. I find it kind of unnecessary, as does my hubby, but if we’re going for more of a traditional jalapeno popper look and taste, then you might want to do it. (If you do skip the topping, I’d still sprinkle the top with the parmesan cheese.) In a small bowl, mix the croutons or breadcrumbs with the parmesan cheese and melted butter, then sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Until dip is bubbling and top is browned! My hubby prefers it served with tortilla chips (which is also an easy way to keep it GF and simple). If you want to gourmet it up a bit, I’d serve it on top of some really yummy bread! (All this talk of it, is having me reheat it for lunch!) *One note, if you’ve used the topping, when you reheat it, for the love of all things tasty, do so in the oven! Just throw it in (even as it preheats) and it’s done in a couple minutes (like 5ish).

I couldn't find a "end result" photo... but it's pretty hard to do wrong!

 

Now for the simplest, easiest, mini pizzas you’ve ever made! While cruising through some blogs, I came across this article from This Italian Family, showing where she’d made these mini deep dish pizzas from Dashing Dish (both of these blogs are wonderful! I also kind of hate them for the amazingness of their photos. Let’s just say my camera is less than mediocre and in dire need of replacing! Most people’s phones take better pictures than my camera…that’s just sad. If any of you ever hear hubbyman griping about not knowing what to get me, have him refer to this post!) Back to the pizzas…. they remind me just a little of my lasagna cupcakes, due to their saucy-ness (which is what -obviously- makes them like a mini deep dish) but they were really, really yummy. The kids were not sure about the looks of them, but when biting into it, Big E exclaimed, “This is delicious! Were you trying to trick me?” They each requested more and more.  There were no leftovers!

  • 3-4 tortillas (I used GF tortillas and threw them in the microwave for about 15 seconds so they’d be soft. If you can do wheat, go ahead and use regular flour tortillas, or make it even healthier and use whole wheat ones!)
  • 1 (15 oz can) pizza sauce- you may have some leftover (I used our homemade spaghetti sauce! sooo good! If you have spaghetti sauce on hand, just use that!)
  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • mini pepperoni (or large/regular cut into 4 pieces)
  • If using already seasoned spaghetti sauce, you can omit these. If using plain pizza sauce: 1 tsp basil/oregano mix (or Italian seasoning), 1/2 tsp garlic powder, pinch of sweetener (I added one packet of stevia)
  • pinch of black pepper

*Add in whatever your favorite pizza flavorings are! (I added mushrooms to the sauce of half of the pizzas!)

Preheat oven to 425 and spray a 12-muffin tin. Lay each tortilla out individually, cutting out medium circles. (I used the lid to my jar as a guide, and the original poster used the top of her can. Can also use the top of a cup or a circle cookie cutter.) It doesn’t have to fit the entire side of the tin, just fit snuggly!

Pour pizza sauce into a med. bowl, add in the parmesan cheese, and the rest of the seasonings. Stir until well combined. Spoon (about 2 tbs) into each tortilla. Top evenly with mozzarella cheese and top cheese with the mini pepperoni!  (I did about 6)

Bake about 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starting to brown. Wait for pizzas to cool (not cold, but cool enough to touch and kids to eat- they hold their form better if you’ve waited for them to cool.) and then they just pop right out! And I’ll just mention once again- these aer ridiculously easy as well as ridiculously good!

They looked cuter than the photo portrays! Unfortunately, they were eating them before I could get an out of the pan shot!

Gluten Free Impressively Simple Recipes Things Kids Say

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Apr 13

We’re expecting

by motherofwonder

As I sat out on my deck enjoying the beautiful weather yesterday, I couldn’t help but thinking, I’m going to cry if it snows again. Leave it to my husband to burst my bubble, but… we’re supposed to have snow this weekend (Ok, so he didn’t choose this weather, but because he informed me, that really becomes a moot point.). And I really may cry if we do see snow. We have, after all, had snow since October.

Anyways, this had me thinking about expectations… we expect spring to follow suit and spring into summer, but here that is not always the case.  It likes to dabble it’s way in and out until we’re in full meltdown, and then it’s winter again. Aren’t there many things in life this can relate to? We have expectations about so many things, both realistic and unrealistically. Like the expectation so many have that you’re going to live happily ever after, because you have found the one. My brother is getting married in less than a month and he and his fiancée spent the weekend with us, which also got me thinking about expectations. There was a little squabble about him not being willing enough to continue helping with the projects that are of course leaving this soon-to-be-bride a little frantic. Erik and I laughed and said, You think it’s hard now, just wait. (We’re so encouraging, right?) And we both reiterated that the first year or two or three… are spent learning each other in ways you maybe thought you already knew. And most importantly, you will learn how to fight with each other. I don’t mean you’ll learn how to defeat each other with one fell swoop (although you will learn which button to push to do just that). What I mean is that you will learn the way each other fights (this was a point from our pre-marital counselling that really was so helpful to us). You may learn that he needs to work issues out immediately or that she really needs to be given some space before being able to talk through an issue. Either way, you learn, and you adjust.

What does this have to do with expectations? Well, we expect things to be easy, we expect to continuously feel love, we expect to always feel/work/live/love as we do now. Unfortunately, what people often fail to take into consideration is this simple fact: Life does not just happen. We make choices. I think what it all boils down to, and what much of the last weeks’ Love Dare has been talking about, is that we can choose. We can expect the worst or expect the best, but if we’re not actively choosing the best, we’re not going to get it. Expectations are not the enemy, lack of choosing to pursue them, is. Especially in our relationships. As most newlyweds/new relationships of any kind (whether dating or friendships) you have this rush, this glow that you may feel defines your relationship and surely you will always get butterflies whenever you see them. I’m not saying you can’t have a great relationship throughout the years, what I am saying is that you have to actively pursue that. Because even though I have known my husband for hundreds of years (ok not that long, but 1/2 of my life! That’s gotta count for something!) he cannot read my mind! No matter how badly I want him to. He knows everything about me, all my secrets, all my fears, hopes, and dreams… and yet he cannot read my mind! And your other half can’t either. No matter how many sentences you can finish, no matter how many times you find the thing they were looking for (before they asked for it), no matter how much you can convey through looking at each other… Because he cannot read my mind, and because I often don’t speak what’s on it…we run into problems. And sometimes that leads me to days where I don’t particularly enjoy being his wife. And I think I can say with some authority, that on those days, he’s probably not enjoying being my husband either. But we choose to continue to be. Year five of our marriage was a bit tumultuous for us, as individuals we’ve had hard things emotionally and physically, and as a couple we’ve struggled between how to be a loving couple while working and raising children, very young and close in age children. And on the days that we weren’t really feeling like being active participants in this marriage, we choose to do it anyways. We chose to kiss each other goodnight, good-morning, and goodbye every day, even when we don’t really feel like it. Which is why, as we’re gaining on year 7… we’re not itching (you know, the 7 year itch). In fact, because we CHOSE to push our way through, to love our way through, to pray our way through…we are probably in the best place of our marriage, thus far. We are leaning on each other more, we trying to voice our feelings (especially the good ones) more, and we’re loving more thoroughly. But it is not by accident.

We believe in living with intention, and not just in our food. In our lives too- in our parenting, in our interactions with each other and with those around us, and in the way we love and show love. We don’t just believe in living that way, we practice it. It’s not perfect, and it’s not easy, but it is why I have the expectation that we’ll continue living and loving together as a family for as long as God allows.

 

Better Than Expectations Pizza

I know I mentioned previously doing pizza fridays (and I still really want to do that!) but because it was so good, I’m going to share this recipe with you now, on a plain old Wednesday! Friday I’m going out to buy an adapter for this stupid camera! So maybe Pizza Friday will be pictures! Anyways, the hubs texted me a couple weeks ago saying Buffalo Chicken Pizza sounded good. We’ve never had one before or made one, so I did what I do when something sounds good that I haven’t made before… I google as many recipes as I can. And then I make something completely different! Here is what I made:

Super Yummy Pizza Crust (Makes 2 small pizzas- fed four)

  • 1/3 cup brown rice flour
  • 1/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup tapioca starch/flour
  • 3 tbs dried milk powder
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tbs olive oil (evoo)
  • 1 tsp cinder vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray sheet for easiest crust removal. Combine flours, dried milk, salt, baking powder, and xantham gum. In a separate bowl, whisk the water, oil, and vinegar. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flours, mixing slowly with a spatula until it is a smooth and soft, that just holds its shape (more than pancake batter but less than cookie dough). Transfer about 1/3 of the dough to a pastry bag, or resealable bag (what I used) with one corner snipped off. Divide remaining dough between the two pans, spreading it thinly with a spatula- about 7inch rounds. Pipe a raised, “rim” around the edge of each one. *Brush all over with egg white (1 egg white, lightly beaten) to help sealing and browning. Bake until puffed and starting to brown, about 20 minutes. Cover with pizza toppings, return to oven for another minutes, or until bubbling hot.

*This crust was SO good! I think next time I make it I will double the recipe to make bigger, and a little thicker crusts.

Flying Buffalo Chicken

  • 3 cups of chicken breast, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (or whatever your favorite hot sauce is)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs flour (I used tapioca flour)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tsp buttermilk ranch seasoning
  • Shredded Cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)

While pizza dough/crust is in the oven (you can of course buy or make whatever kind of crust you like best), I do the topping: cook chicken over medium-high heat. When a little over halfway cooked, add in hot sauce. Stir to coat chicken thoroughly.

My husband isn’t a big fan of blue cheese, but you could always do the “sauce” with a blue cheese dressing, or ranch dressing from bottles. You could also use the hot sauce as the pizza sauce if you wanted a stronger taste/flavor and then have something for dipping. I make my own sauce:

Combine butter, flour, milk, ranch seasoning (the only mix I could find that is MSG and food coloring free!) in saucepan over med. heat. Boil two minutes, stirring frequently. If seems too thick add milk (by the tsp) if it’s not thick enough add flour/starch (by pinches).

Spread sauce on crust (as much or as little as you want), spread chicken generously over pizza and cover in as much, or as little, cheese as you like.

Stick back in the oven for about 7 more minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted and bubbling.

Enjoy! I’m not a big “buffalo” flavor lover, but this was really good- we’ll definitely be making it again!

Chicken Gluten Free Life According To Me Love Dare Marriage Recipes

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