Around Crownsville

So, you think you don’t have any dessert in the house

It was late.  One car had a flat tire.  The other car had a warning light glaring at me. The problem — a severe need for dessert and no reliable way to get to anything.  The solution had to be in the pantry.  I went back in mind to an earlier time in my sister-in-law’s kitchen.  Continue reading Old Fashioned Sweet-tooth Remedy is Gluten-free

Adapted from Erin McKenna’s Recipe in Babycakes, a vegan, gluten-free cookbook.

When my son’s girlfriend comes to visit, I have a partner in crime in the kitchen.  We both enjoy cooking and eating.  The only difference is that she’s tall and thin– and I’m not!  The challenge is creating the stuff we love that she can eat.  She  needs to eat gluten-free.  It’s not a life-style choice.    Many of our successes are posted elsewhere in this blog.  A lot of what we’ve done has been blind experimentation.  We found some good conceptual recipes, too, that provide information on how these unusual ingredients work.

Christmas afforded time to really experiment.  Here’s one we adapted from the Babycakes cookbook.  With no need to be vegan, we used eggs and butter with abandon.   The recipe requires faith.  If you lick your fingers when you flip the finished cake out of the pan, you may want to throw it out– just keep going! Continue reading Triple Chocolate Fat Pants Cake Delivers on its Name!

Bean-haters Chili — the quiet meal

I love chili.  I remember exactly how my mother made it, and it included plenty of red kidney beans.  For her, like  most of the meals she prepared, chili was a budget-stretcher.  The ground beef went that much further, and it was tasty to me.  I would later discover, not so to others. Continue reading Bean-haters Chili for a Snowy Day in Crownsville

You may be in Crownsville, but enjoying the tastes of Arizona is especially easy this time of year.  Arizonans grow lots of tasty near tropical goodies.  The royally elegant Medjool date is among the tastiest.  You can turn it to a unique, quick, and tasty appetizer for winter entertaining or summer parties with just a few ingredients and no cooking. Continue reading Arizona in Crownsville Appetizer Treat

Pumpkin, Apple, Mince-- the Apple Crumb was gone before the photo!

Gluten-free pie crust– different and delicious!

Faced with the challenge of perpetuating the family tradition of pumpkin, apple, mince, and apple crumb pie for Thanksgiving and the need to be gluten-free for turkey day, I went in search of information about pie crusts.  With a hint here and there and a kitchen that looked a little like a chemistry lab, I ended up with four pies that were different from the traditional in texture, but still quite delicious.  The crusts required a few tricks to get the dough into the pie plates.  They were slightly sweeter than a traditional pie crust, and the texture was more akin to shortbread.  All in all, they made a great addition to the dinner — no sense of something missing here. Continue reading Have your pie and eat it, too– gluten free

Yum-m-m-m

So you bought a pumpkin to decorate the front of your house for the fall.   Pretty soon it will time to decorate for the next holiday, and you’ll be throwing that pumpkin away.  STOP!  If it’s still firm, it’s food for Thanksgiving. Here’s how you can make it into some delicious treats. Continue reading Pumpkin – More than a Decoration. It’s fresh and flavorful pie filling.

This recipe is Asian fusion because it has a little bit of this and a little bit of that from various cultures.

Ingredients

• 1 baby bok choy, cleaned and chopped
• 8 oz white mushrooms thickly sliced
• 8 oz fresh broccoli broken into small flowerets.  Peel and slice the stems
• 5 green onions sliced on the diagonal
• 8 oz super firm tofu cut into cubes
• 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp shredded fresh ginger
• ¼ c. oyster sauce
• ½ c. brown miso
• 1 jalopena, seeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• corn or peanut oil Continue reading Asian Fusion – Protein, Veggies, and Lots of Flavor

Hot crispy waffles with each little depression filled with butter and maple syrup need no longer be just a memory for those on a gluten-free diet.   A recent experiment turned into a fabulous success for a Sunday breakfast beyond compare. Continue reading Waffles- no longer forbidden on a gluten-free diet

A good blogger writes original content for readers.  When the content is as important as a really big job fair, I think it’s best to provide the words straight from the organizer.  Below is the press release provided by Mr. Jerome Duncan.  His information is as follows:

Would you spend $100 on a 1 in 100 chance of winning  $50,000?  The YWCA Annapolis and Anne Arundel County is  inviting your to do just that for their $50,000 “Make Dreams Come True” Cash Raffle.  All proceeds of the raffle will benefit Arden House – Anne Arundel County’s only Domestic Violence Safe Shelter – and the programs of the YWCA Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.

With only 2000 tickets being sold and 20 cash prizes, the odds of winning a cash prize are 1 in 100! Tickets will cost $100 each and can be purchased online at www.annapolisywca.org. Raffle rules are also detailed on the YWCA website.  Read the original Around Crowsville story for more details.

The winning tickets will be drawn at the YWCA Disco Magic Gala on Friday, November 6 at the Sheraton Annapolis.  Winners need not be present to win.  Take a chance – link your dream to those who can only dare to dream.

For more information, contact Emilia Poiter at 410-626-7800 x115 or by email at epoiter@ywcaaac.org.