Adventures in Gluten Free Living-Quinoa

Mother Nature continues to interfere with quilting.  Too much time spent doing snow removal!  Meanwhile, a girl HAS to eat...so my GF adventures continue.  Pictured above is quinoa - pronounced keen-wah.  I've tasted quinoa noodles, but had never tried cooking the grain itself.  The dish on the left is raw, the right is cooked.  The first step in preparing quinoa is to rinse it several times in cold water.  Herein laid the problem: the grains are smaller than my finest sieve!  Here they are next to my quilting ruler. 

They are so small that two of them actually fit beneath the ruler - which is elevated by the plastic grip pads.  After much experimentation (and a considerable amount of quinoa down the drain) I realized I could use my anti-splatter lid as a sieve.  So I cooked the quinoa up and tasted it.  Since I never tasted it before I didn't season it with anything but a little salt.  Tastes somewhat like brown rice in that it has a mild, nutty flavor.  Like brown rice, it needed a little salt or something to enhance the flavor.  It would be good if cooked with chicken broth, instead of plain water. Thinking of Mexican Rice, I stirred in some corn and the flavor combination was excellent with no further seasonings. 

Now I have a whole bunch of cooked quinoa to use up.  Tomorrow I'll saute some onions, celery, garlic and mushrooms for a pilaf.   Should be yummy!

Its Better with Butter...

....so they say.  Gluten free baking has been a challenge.  I've wasted time, effort and - worst of all - perfectly good butter on recipes that don't pan out.  So imagine my delight when a coworker sent me this link: 

http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/collection/10/best-of-gluten-free-recipes

Who, but the makers of butter to understand my dilemma?  Land O Lakes is  putting their product and reputation on the line, so I'm guessing these recipes will be tasty and reliable.  Perhaps there's still hope I can enjoy a GF rolled sugar cookie (or two) this holiday season.  Can't wait to get baking!  :)

What's Wrong with This Picture?

Gluten free Bisquick costs 2-3 times regular Bisquick, and the box is a fraction of the size.  Today I discovered that dang little box is only half full!  Gotta find a reliable GF cook book!