Archive for April, 2009
Heather’s Favorite Egg Salad
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Thanks to Easter, I still have lots of hard-boiled eggs (in many colors 
) in my refrigerator. One of my favorite things to make with them is egg salad. A few years ago, I was in search of the tastiest egg salad recipe. I tried a few, but each one seemed to be lacking something. Perhaps it’s one of those recipes that you just have to adjust to your own liking. So, that’s just what I did. And fortunately, I wrote down the ingredients and amounts so I could duplicate it year after year. If you haven’t created your own recipe for egg salad yet, try starting with mine:
Heather’s Favorite Egg Salad
Ingredients:
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 Cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard (I use coarse, or whole, grain.)
1/2 tsp prepared yellow mustard
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 TBSP sweet pickle relish
3 green onions, sliced (about a 1/4 Cup)
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, yellow mustard, lemon juice, and relish.
- Then add eggs, green onions, dill weed, and celery seed.
- Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.
Additional Notes:
- Serve your egg salad on bread, rolls, tossed greens, or whatever your preference. In the picture above, I have used Schar dinner rolls, sliced in half. I gently removed the center of the bread and placed a leaf of lettuce in the bottom. Then scooped egg salad on top. I thought it made a nice presentation and was oh so good!
- Schar Classic White Rolls are wheat-free, gluten-free, and lactose free. I found them on the shelves with other gluten-free items at Wegmans. Because they are not frozen, you can also purchase them online at glutenfree.com. We use the rolls for hamburgers, too.
- For tips on hard-cooked eggs check out these websites: Anastasia’s Table and Kalyn’s Kitchen.
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting
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My gluten-free carrot cake turned out great again this year for Easter. Rave reviews from the whole family. I use Pamela’s Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix, found online at Glutenfree.com and Amazon.com. I use Pamela’s recipe for carrot cake with slight variations to double the recipe. The cake is moist even after being refrigerated overnight. I don’t use Pamela’s frosting recipe, but instead use a classic cream cheese frosting recipe (below) that is fabulous. Serves 16-20.
My Best Gluten-Free Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1 Cup oil
1-1/2 Cups sugar
3 Cups grated carrots
4-1/2 Cups Pamela’s Baking Mix
1 TBSP cinnamon
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp allspice, ground
1 tsp salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, beat oil, eggs, and sugar together. Then mix in remaining ingredients. Batter will be thick.
- Pour equal amounts of the batter into two greased 9-inch round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes (switching pans halfway through baking). Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean.
- Frost with cream cheese icing (recipe below).
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Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
16 oz. cream cheese
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
2 Cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- Set out cream cheese and butter and let them soften at room temperature — about an hour.
- In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until creamy smooth. Then add the vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined.
- Gradually mix in the sugar — about a 1/3 cup at a time — until it is creamy smooth.
- Frost cake and store in the refrigerator.
Additional Notes:
- Reserve about 1/2 cup to a full cup of frosting for decorations. Place in the refrigerator until ready to decorate.
- Frost the top of one layer of cake, then place the other cake on top. Continue to frost the cake by covering the sides and top, so the cake no longer shows through the frosting.
- Take out the reserved frosting and add another cup of powdered sugar to it. This should make it thick enough to add decorations the cake.
- For carrot decorations: Take a small amount of frosting (less than 1/4 cup) and add food coloring to make it orange. If using liquid drops, try one red drop and four yellow drops for orange. Mix it until it no longer has streaks. Using a frosting bag and simple round tip (or a zip-style plastic bag with a cut corner), fill it with orange frosting and begin making carrots on the top of cake. I usually put 16 on it so it’s easy to arrange evenly.
- For green carrot tops and cake bottom edge: I usually use a frosting bag and leaf tip for making the leaves, and even decorating the bottom edge of the cake.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- I usually bake and frost the cake the night before an event. It’s always moist for eating the next evening.
Notable Links:
- Celiac Family’s Chocolate Eggs in a Cookie Basket also make great dessert treats for the kids.
- Try Celiac Family’s carrot recipes for groups and small gatherings.
- For more carrot recipes from some gluten-free friends, visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang for this week’s Friday Foodie Fix.
Weekly Menu April 13
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Once again, I’m joining Laura @ I’m an Organizing Junkie and 400 other ladies (and men) in Menu Plan Monday, by sharing my weekly menu. It seems like a great way to get my week started off right.
I hope everyone had a great Easter. We’ve been spending a lot of quality time with the family and doing a lot of cooking, too. Today my fridge is already full of leftovers, so we’ll be trying to use them up this week. It will be a nice break from all the cooking.
Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness is temporarily organizing the Gluten Free Menu Swap and is hosting it this week, too. Sorry I don’t have the theme ingredient of the week, flax seeds, in any of my recipes. I’ve never cooked or baked with flax seeds, so I’m anxious to see what everyone else is doing with that ingredient this week.
Monday – Leftover Buffet
Everything comes out of the fridge, and everyone gets to choose what they want. I think I’ll be having the last of the gumbo.
Tuesday – Chicken Divan
A chicken and broccoli casserole served over leftover rice.
Wednesday – Chicken Wraps
Leftover chicken and salad chopped thinly and wrapped inside rice paper/wrappers. I think I’ll try Emeril’s Honey and Mustard dipping sauce to go with it, too. Served with leftover red potato and green bean salad.
Thursday – Broiled Tilapia with a Parmesan Sauce
Served with broccoli and rice.
Friday – Pizza
Haven’t decided yet if it’s going to be homemade pizza, or a trip to zpizza, or maybe Uno’s for their new gluten-free crust.
Saturday – Leftovers
One more day of a leftover buffet. I think it will be nachos or quesadillas for me with leftover taco meat.
Sunday – Meatballs
Trying a new recipe for Porcupine Meatballs posted by Angela at The Nuts Blog. Serving with french fries and fruit salad.
Looks like an easy week of cooking for me.
Happy Easter!
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From our family to yours, hope you have a wonderful Easter.
Creamed Eggs
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Diane at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang has started a new weekly recipe challenge, Friday Foodie Fix. This week’s featured ingredient is eggs. Perfect! My kids colored and decorated two dozen hard-boiled eggs this week for Easter. So, I’ve been thinking about what we’re going to do with all of them. With my parents visiting for spring break, we decided to make one of my dad’s favorite meals for breakfast: Creamed Eggs.
Creamed Eggs
Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP rice flour (or other gluten-free flour)
salt & pepper to season
3/4 Cup milk
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into small cubes
2 slices toast or English muffin (gluten-free variety, of course)
paprika
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add in rice flour and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour milk into saucepan. Increase heat and stir frequently until the sauce thickens.
- Stir the eggs into the sauce.
- Pour the creamed eggs over toast or an English muffin. Sprinkle a dash of paprika on top.
Additional Note:
- For cheesy creamed eggs, stir in 1/3 cup shredded or processed cheese to the thickened sauce and let it melt before adding the eggs.
- Consider adding a minced clove of garlic to the melted butter and saute before adding the flour.
Notable Links:
- For more recipes with eggs check out Friday Foodie Fix.
- Need tips on cooking hard-boiled eggs? Check out Kalyn’s Kitchen.
- How to make “perfect easy-to-peel hard-cooked eggs”at Anastasia’s Table.
- I’ve also linked this recipe to The W.H.O.L.E. Gang’s collection of Father’s Day Favorites.
