Gluten Free Bajan Inspired Rice Casserole Recipe

A taste of Barbados today - and it's not what you're probably expecting!

Princess' 4H club recently participated in our county extension's International Night.  For their country, the club chose Barbados.  The kids learned all kinds of interesting facts about their chosen country, and had to prepare a sample of the country's native cuisine.  Well, it turns out that a common dish in Barbados is macaroni and cheese pie.  It is macaroni and cheese made with Bajan (pronounced BAY-jun like Cajun) spices.  One of the club members' moms made a big crockpot to share of this, and I have to tell you, it smelled oooooh. soooooo. gooooood!  She shared the recipe for Bajan Macaroni Pie with everyone, and I decided to play with it, based on gluten issues, and some of the comments I heard from the kids regarding flavor.

SPH Bajan Inspired Rice Casserole Recipe
2 cups rice
2 quarts chicken stock (I use Pacific Naturals Free Range Chicken Broth), divided
olive oil for pan
1 pound ground turkey
salt and pepper
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
1 onion, diced
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic (I use the kind from a jar - add more or less to your taste)
2 tablespoons paprika (I used 1 1/2 T. sweet, and 1/2 T. hot)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons dried parsley
couple shakes cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons gluten free all purpose flour (I use Glutino brand)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I use 365 Organic brand)
16 ounces grated cheddar cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour rice into a medium pan.  Add 1 quart of chicken stock.  Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add ground turkey, season meat lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until nearly all browned.  Add onion and peppers.  Cook until onion is translucent.  Add garlic and spices.  Cook until garlic is fragrant, just a minute or two.  Add flour, and cook for just another minute or two - to take the raw taste off the flour.  Add mustard and remaining quart of chicken stock.  Stir til starting to thicken a bit, then stir in all but one cup of cheese.

Stir meat/cheese mixture into cooked rice, then pour entire batch into a 9x13 baking pan.  Spread evenly, and top with remaining cheese.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or til cheese on top is bubbly and starting to brown.  Serve warm.

You can serve this as a main dish, like I did, or eliminate the turkey and use it as a side.  In Barbados, the pie is served with flying fish.

One of the best parts about this dish as that it is spicy, but not the spicy that burns your mouth.  It really warms you up from the inside out.  It's a perfect quick and filling supper for these cool spring evenings, especially after a chilly afternoon watching a kid play a sport or pulling weeds in the garden.

Have your own International Night, and try something delicious from Barbados!  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Sausage Cheese Biscuit Appetizer Recipe

So what do you do, when it's the night before trash day, and you have an odd assortment of this and that?  And it's dinner time?  And you haven't really thought about dinner yet? And no one really wants a meal - they'd just rather snack?

Enter my dear friend, Betty.  You know her - she's the nice lady with the big red personalized spoon.

Here's what was in the kitchen:
a couple leftover breakfast sausage links
a package with about a handful of shredded cheese
a partial package of Bisquick Gluten Free

and two kids, that were happy to gnosh on a big bunch of leftovers from brought-in lunch.

Here's Betty's recipe, and here's what I did.  I made the recipe almost exactly as it's written.  Yes, I really did.  Don't fall out of your chair - it's true!

The exceptions were very minor:

1. No parmesan cheese.  None in the house, and we don't really care for it that much anyway.
2. I think I used slightly more cheddar cheese because that's what was in the bag, and it needed to get used up.
3. I snipped up the two leftover sausage links with my kitchen shears into tiny slices.

Like I said, I just followed Betty's recipe.  I scooped dough onto parchment lined baking sheets with my cookie scooper and baked at 350 for about 25 minutes.

We enjoyed them with leftover beans and rice, and chips and salsa from a local Mexican restaurant.  These offered plenty of protein and carbs, and the two salsas added at least a bit of vegies.  The biscuits added a nice filling addition, and used up what needed to be used.

And of course, everything was all gluten free.

These make a  great little party appetizer, too - just serve with barbecue sauce.  Be aware, though - my recipe only made about 2 dozen when the original says 4 dozen.

If you need a recipe in a hurry, Betty has a HUGE selection of recipes (both regular and gluten free), and you know you can trust them to be good.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pizza Fondue Recipe

So you're going to a Super Bowl party this weekend and you need to bring as a dish to pass...
SPH Gluten Free Pizza Fondue Recipe
1 jar spaghetti sauce (your choice of flavor and brand - I use Muir Glen Organic)
1 pound Italian sausage, well-browned and well-drained (your choice of mild or spicy)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup beef stock/broth (I use Pacific Organic brand)

Empty spaghetti sauce and cheese into a crockpot.  Add sausage and stock/broth and stir well to combine.  Allow to cook on high for 1-2 hours, or til cheese is melty and gooey.  Serve with gluten free bread sticks (you can make these with a GF bread mix), or garlic toasts (Against the Grain brand has gluten free baguettes that taste just as good as "regular" bread).

When you take GF dishes to parties, be sure to mark your dishes and serving spoons well.  Explain to your host/hostess your system and explain the dangers of cross-contamination.  You may feel like you are being a pest, but you have to look out for you.  Nobody else will do that job as well as you can.

Here's an example:  Our first Thanksgiving gluten free, I bought all new serving dishes and some serving spoons.  All my dishes were red, and the handles of my spoons were also red.  My pie server had a hole in the handle, through which I tied a red ribbon.  This made it easy for everyone to tell what was what.  After all, that red worked as an international symbol of "STOP!" for everyone at the party.

Odds are that the folks you are partying with are your friends and/or family.  Most people within this group probably know about your situation, and are willing to help you stay healthy.  Certainly any reasonable person would not intentionally want to hurt another!

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Spicy Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

When it's so cold, it's so nice to eat something spicy!

The original idea for this recipe came from here.  It really needs no introduction, except that it is scrumptious, and insanely easy.

SPH Gluten Free Spicy Stuffed Bell Peppers
6 bell peppers, your choice of color, tops sliced off, and white stuff and seeds removed
2 c. long grain white rice
2 c. beans & corn salsa
4 c. chicken stock/broth (I use Pacific Organic brand) or beef broth/stock
1/2 pound chorizo (I used a package of Sausage by Amylu chicken chorizo)
a little olive oil
1/2 c. Mexican cheese, shredded
Extra cheese for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350.  If necessary, slice of bits of the bottom of peppers to make sure they'll be level in your pan, which is a 9x13, and rinse cavities to remove all seeds.  In a large saucepan, combine rice, salsa and stock (choose chicken or beef based on ingredients in your chorizo).  Bring to a boil over high heat, then drop heat to low and allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes, or til rice is tender.  Meanwhile, in another pan, heat oil over medium high heat.  Crumble chorizo into oil, and brown.  Since my chorizo came in links, I snipped them with scissors.  Drain on paper towels.  When rice has cooked, stir chorizo into rice mixture.  Add cheese and stir.  Place bell peppers into baking pan, and spoon rice/cheese mixture into each one.  Add about an inch of water to bottom of pan, and cover with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil, and sprinkle with extra cheese.  Bake for about 5-7 more minutes, or til cheese is melted.  Serve hot, with sour cream if desired.

I love how easy this is, and the bell peppers make it look so elegant and add so much flavor.  If you'd like, you can even eat the rice mixture by itself.  It would be delicious that way, too.

Stay warm, and enjoy!