Happy New Year!

Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe HERE.

Another year has come and gone. I look back at this past year and think of all the exciting growth that has happened with my blog. Thank you all so much for supporting me by coming and reading and asking me questions about cooking. You all make my life so much brighter! I look back to a year ago when I sold my company and wanted to semi-retire and just focus on what I love doing... cooking, baking, writing, sailing, travelling.  I have to say this year was a major success! With over 430 posts this year to this blog, over 4,000 followers on pinterest, nearing 2,000 followers on facebook. I am calling this blog a big success for 2012! 

me and my hubby at dinner en blanc
I had a few setbacks. One of them being diagnosed with Phyto-Photo-Dermatitis. Which to  sum that up for you... I am allergic to limes, lemons, and anything acidic. I just have to wear gloves when I work with them or this happens:

Glad to have that painful experience over!

One of the best accomplishments of 2012; Becoming an official published author! For those of you that missed it. You can now buy my cookbook; "Gluten-Free is Easy". It is available at amazon and barnes and noble in e-book formats, and will be in print in May of 2013. Get it here: www.glutenfreeiseasy.com.

2013 will be a big year for us, because we moved to a loft downtown. 

We are now officially empty nester's. I will be missing my daily hikes with my daughter and fuzz butts.

 Don't you worry though. My daughter and I have many a cookin' day planned and I will keep updating you with great gluten-free recipes. I am also cooking for my husband and writing for Gourmet Cooking For Two. Feel free to follow: www.gourmetcookingfortwo.com. It is a romantic blog about cooking for just 2 people and how to keep the romance alive. I am having fun with it! 

I am thinking about starting just a blog about Christi in the city, that will just be me randomly taking pictures like I usually do. I have not ever lived in the city before. I come from a very small town in Oregon, so this is going to be quite the culture shock, but in a good way! It is something I have wanted for a while, but as you all know, you put your dreams on hold for your kids. Now it is time for them to go live theirs and for me to live mine. We will still live close and I will see them all the time, so it is not as scary as it sounds! 

So I am going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes: "Don't listen to the nay-sayers. They are the ones that let all the negatives keep them from living their dream... Don't you dare let them prevent you from living yours."

What is your dream? Spend 2013 making your dream happen! 

Happy New Year!!!

Cocktail Round-up

What does everyone have planned for New Years Eve? We don't have much planned, because of the move. We will be opening a bottle of champagne and bringing in the new year in our new Loft.

So I thought I would share a couple cocktail recipes you may want to try at your new years event. 

These are from my Gourmet Cooking For Two blog. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Martini	Candy Cane Martini
Lemoncello	Orange Dreamsicle

Gorgonzola stuffed mushrooms

I have exciting news! We are moving! The time has finally come. Our kids are old grown and leaving the nest, so my husband and I are downsizing to a loft downtown San Diego! I am so excited! We have had so many joys bringing up our kids, but now it is time to move into the next phase of our lives together! I am letting you know that my posts will be a little off and on for a week or two as we get settled into our new home. In the meantime... Let me give you my husbands absolute appetizer recipe: 

Gluten Free Stuffed Mushrooms

10 large white large mushrooms

1/2 C GF Italian vinaigrette

1/4 C minced green onions (white and green parts)

2 garlic cloves minced

5 oz gorgonzola cheese

5 oz cream cheese

3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

in a saucepan, add vinaigrett, green onions, garlic, and bring to a boil.

Add 3 cheeses, reserving 1/4 cup of parmesan for sprinkling over the top of the mushrooms. Heat until fully melted and then remove from heat.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms. Fill mushrooms with cooked cheese mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350.

Turkey Tetrazzini

After Thanksgiving and Christmas, we always end up with a bunch of Turkey leftovers. So we have traditions in this house on what they are used for. We roll turkey Taquitos and we make Turkey Tetrazzini. Those of you that have been reading me for a long time, know that this is the first meal I ever learned to cook. I have had to make some changes to it, since going gluten-free, but it is just as tasty as ever. This is the perfect thing to make with your leftovers. It freezes well too! 

Gluten- Free Turkey Tetrazzini

from the kitchen of Kathy Querin

1/4 cup butter

1/8 cup better batter flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup whipping cream

2 TB sherry

1 package (7-8 oz) cooked quinoa spaghetti or linguine noodles

2 cups cooked Turkey

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350

Melt butter over low heat

blend in flour and seasonings

cook stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly

Remove from heat

Stir in broth and cream

heat to boiling stirring constantly

Boil 1 minute

add sherry

Stir in pasta noodles and chicken

Pour into a baking dish and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese

Bake 30 minutes.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Garlic Herb Risotto

I hope everyone had a tremendous Christmas! We had a nice quiet one that was really needed. There has been a cold/flu going around and I ended up getting it so I took it easy after I got all the food on the table for the family. 

I am going to be posting some great leftover recipes on here this week. For now I want to share with you one of my easy go to recipes to feed the family. They love it. Sorry the pictures aren't the best. 

Gluten-Free Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Garlic Herb Risotto

1 Whole boneless chicken breast

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan

1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

1 tsp italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

1 TBSP milk

1/2 cup flour

For Risotto 

1 cup risotto

2 tablespoons butter

3 1/2 cups of chicken stock

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated parmesan

salt

pepper

1 tsp of Italian Seasoning or your favorite fresh herbs

Trim your chicken breast of fat, and rinse off the breast.Cut it up into 4 portions. 

Preheat skillet for risotto and heat chicken stock in the microwave until hot to the touch. 

In hot skillet, melt butter and add one cup of risotto. Stir gently and constantly until risotto becomes translucent with a still visible white core.

Add a half cup of chicken stock and continue to stir constantly.

You will know when it's time to add more chicken stock by running your spatula or spoon across the bottom of the pan, if it appears dry except for a shiny layer of butter, it is time to add more.

During the chicken stock and stir process, add a pinch of salt and a scant of pepper. Add garlic. Add parmesan.

When risotto is done (between fifteen and twenty minutes), let rest in serving bowl for five minutes and then stir again before serving.

Salt and pepper your trimmed chicken breast pieces.

Next line up your dipping station. Put flour in one bowl, Eggs in another, and, chips cheese and italian seasoning in another blowl. Start by generously covering your chicken with flour. 

Next dip in the egg mix and next into the chip/cheese mixture. 

Set chicken aside while you pre-heat your skillet. 

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add canola oil. Heat to 350 degrees. 

Add your chicken in small batches. Cooking is usually 5 minutes per side. 

Slice chicken on the bias.

I like to place my risotto in a ring mold to give it a great shape and make it more inviting to dig into. 

Place risotto in the middle and surround with chicken and serve. 

Gluten-Free Apple Cider Cupcakes

I got a little over productive with my apples this year. Then to top it off I got my juicer. The juicer has been really great! I love that I can make fresh cider and all things yummy to go with it. I saw a recipe for Apple Cider layer cake that looked great, but I don't like having a big cake around. I prefer cupcakes because then I can easily hand them out, to prevent me from eating them all. These cupcakes taste of all things apple and are very yummy! Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Apple Cider Cupcakes

adapted from A Hint of Honey

3 cups Maninis All purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

1½ cups light brown sugar

¾ cup canola oil

¾ cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 eggs

1½ cups buttermilk

Apple Cider Frosting:

7 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup apple cider 

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a second large bowl, beat sugar and oil together with an electric mixer until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add applesauce, condensed milk and vanilla, beat for 30 seconds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk, and continuing to beat until well combined.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. 

Set aside to let cool for 10 minutes.

For the frosting, put sugar, butter, cider, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Frost and serve!