Matthew's Puzzle and a mom putting it all together

Raw Beet Salad

February 16, 2012 By Maryann

We belong to a very cool CSA that actually delivers our produce to our home. We also, for a slightly higher fee, have the option to choose what veggies we want. Our family loves beets, so I often choose them for our weekly drop. I decided to try something a little different this time, and instead of roasting them I used them in a raw salad. I served them with homemade slow cooker pulled pork and oven roasted Brussels sprouts.

Raw Beet Salad

2 raw beets, peeled and grated (I used candy cane beets)
Salt
Pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbs white wine vinegar or Raw Apple Cider vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil

Place the peeled and grated beets in a serving dish. In another bowl mix the remaining ingredients and wisk to combine. Pour the vinegar mixture over the beets and toss to dress. Refrigerate until ready to serve or serve immediately.

This makes a beautiful salad that can be both elegant or down home. I used it as a replacement for more typical cole slaw, but it could be just as wonderful alongside a filet. Matthew loved it!

Wordless Wednesday – The Smile!

February 15, 2012 By Maryann

I love this smile. He lights up the world!

Gluten Free Banana Pudding

February 13, 2012 By Maryann

Yesterday was a special day in my family. Two of my favorite people share the same birthday, and it was yesterday. So we had a big family dinner with homemade (by my Italian husband) chicken parmesan, gluten free pasta with homemade sauce and meatballs. My husband even ground the pork for the meatballs and made sausage too. I was tasked with the dessert. Since one of the birthday boys was only turning two we opted to make a special dessert that the other birthday boy, who turned 85, would love. I made gluten free banana pudding.

Years ago, before we went gluten free, I made Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding from Paula Deen, and it was a big hit. But it uses boxed pudding mix and vanilla wafers. Not very gluten free and I do like to make my own food so I know what is in it, so that meant finding a pudding substitute. So I used her overall concept, but substituted homemade gluten free vanilla custard, and used gluten free animal crackers instead of chessmen cookies.

I used this recipe for the pudding, originally found here.

2/3 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups light coconut milk OR milk
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons dairy-free butter substitute OR unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and coconut milk OR milk in a heavy saucepan and whisk to blend ingredients. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for about 6-8 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Boil for 1 minute while continuing to whisk. Remove the pan from heat.

Place egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Slowly drizzle 1/2 cup of hot pudding mixture into egg yolks while briskly whisking. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the saucepan with remaining pudding. Return pudding to medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Don’t overcook! Add vanilla.

Stir in dairy-free butter substitute OR butter. Chill.

After the pudding was made and chilled I used Paula Deen’s recipe which i adapted as follows:

1 bag of gluten free animal crackers
6 ripe bananas, sliced
1 8oz bick of cream cheese, softened
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
8 oz of heavy cream, whipped
The vanilla pudding from the above recipe, chilled

Using a large glass baking dish spread 1/2 to 3/4 of the animal crackers in the bottom of pan, evenly. Add an even layer of bananas, using all the banana slices. In a separate bowl mix the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Mix the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream mixture in to the vanilla pudding. Pour this mixture over the bananas and animal crackers. Top with remaining animal crackers and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make this recipe Gluten Free/Casein Free use coconut milk in the pudding. You can omit the butter or use a GFCF butter substitute. Skip the Paula Deen portion and simply serve the pudding over the GFCF animal crackers and bananas.

Gevalia Kaffe Giveaway!

February 11, 2012 By Maryann

We LOVE coffee in our house. In fact, we have a standing joke that says you know you are part of this family if you sat on your grandma’s lap taking sips of her coffee going “mmm”. We have all done it, and my boys are exactly the same, they always want sips of our coffee!

I received two bags of Gevalia coffee to do a very formal taste test. Seriously, very formal. The first was a bag of the Gevalia House Blend, a medium/dark roast. We found it to be very smooth, with no noticeable acidity, which I liked. My husband found it to be a little too light for him, so the next day I made a pot of the French Roast (dark). We both enjoyed this blend very much. Some French roasts can be bitter, acidic and one very popular brand always tastes burnt to us. But the Gevalia brand was extremely pleasant and flavorful without those less desirable traits. Because we both enjoyed the French Roast so much I began mixing the two so that the House Blend had a little more punch. This was a great mix and would be amazing if used in cold brewing iced coffee.

Both bags we received were ground although whole beans are offered in some blends. Gevalia, available at Safeway, comes in 8 varieties.

Traditional Roast
House Blend
House Blend Decaf
French Roast
Columbia
Espresso Roast
Vanilla
Chocolate Mocha

Kraft would like to offer one of my readers a prize pack containing one (1) sample of the House Blend from Gevalia Kaffe, one (1) sample of the French Roast from Gevalia Kaffe and a Gevalia Kaffe branded coffee mug, just like I received.

To enter, simply leave me a comment sharing the Gevalia you most wish to try, or your favorite way to drink your cup of Gevalia. Please leave your email address so I may contact you if you win. For an additional entry tweet this contest and paste a copy of the tweet in the comments below.

The contest will run from February 11, 2012 to 11:59:59 February 25, 2012. One winner will be chosen at random, using a random number generator. The winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If I have not heard from the winner within 48 hours a new winner will be selected. To qualify you must make a meaningful comment. US residents only. MyBlogSpark requires the winner to provide their shipping address and phone number – DO NOT PUT THEM IN THE COMMENT AREA. I WILL CONTACT THE WINNER FOR THIS INFORMATION. PUTTING YOUR ADDRESS AND/OR PHONE NUMBER IN THE COMMENTS IS DANGEROUS AND YOUR ENTRY WILL BE DELETED.

To learn more about Gevalia Kaffe please visit Gevalia here.

Or visit Gevalia on Facebook here.

Disclosure:

Kraft Foods, through MyBlogSpark, has provided sample product to me and is providing the prizes for this program at no cost to me. This program is not administered or sponsored by Kraft Foods or its affiliates, but solely by Matthew’s Puzzle.

Prizes to be supplied by Kraft: