A Week of Pie Crusts #1: Best Ever Flaky Pastry Dough

Welcome to Off the Wheaten Path's first-ever Week of Pie Crusts! And not a moment too soon, I'm guessing for most of you. We've talked about Thanksgiving and pie crust before, during our In Praise of Pumpkin series. For most people who don't eat wheat or it's cousins, Thanksgiving can be one of the most dreadful holidays of the year. "Don't eat that gravy! I made it with flour!" or, "I'm sorry I don't have any pie you can eat. How about ice cream instead?" are some of the more popular phrases we hear this time of year. Some of us hear them from our own families! But ice cream? On Thanksgiving? (Someone out there has a family tradition where they eat ice cream instead of pie on Thanksgiving, I just know it.) Give me a break. This year, don't be the victim and skip dessert in the corner like a sad little deprived person, get into the kitchen and make your own! Bring a dessert you will be sure to eat instead of crossing your fingers and hoping for a spoon and some cool whip. I guarantee you if you make any of the crusty desserts I have for you this week, your peeps will love them. And you won't feel so left out. So get out your rolling pins, because we're pie crusting up a storm this week!

My first crust is a basic pastry dough you can use for any pie. For those of you who watched me make this crust on KJZZ this week, please note that I totally messed up my water measurement on the show and I completely spaced the vinegar. No wonder the crust wouldn't roll out during the segment! I was about 5 tablespoons of water off. So anyways, I'm gonna chalk that up to a rookie mistake and tell you how to really make a good crust. And, let me introduce you to your new best friend when it comes to making a pie crust in no time flat:

I've always pooh-poohed the idea of using a food processor. I would use my little pastry cutter and work that butter in by hand because that's how the pioneers did it. Then I actually used a food processor and I was like, "Where have I been for the last 20 years?" Treat yourself or have your husband buy you one for Christmas. You will never regret having one.

Gluten Free Pie Crust

(for a 9 inch pie tin)

1 1/4 cups Grandpa's Kitchen Flour (I highly recommend this brand for the best possible tasting crust. Do not use any flour with garbanzo or fava bean flour. The taste is not superb.)

5 T very cold butter

1/4 +1 T very cold water

1 tsp white vinegar

Place flour and butter into the food processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal, like little peas. Add about half of the water and pulse again. Add the teaspoon of vinegar and pulse. Add the rest of the water gradually until your mixture mostly comes together into a ball. You may not need all the water, or you may need a little more. It depends on humidity and stuff like that. Dump out dough onto a piece of waxed paper that has been lightly floured and knead into a complete disk. Place another piece of lightly floured waxed paper on top and roll out to desired thickness and width. Take your pie pan and invert it over the dough to see if it's big enough. When it is the size you need, remove the wax paper from the top layer and place your pie tin upside down over the dough disk and flip over in one fluid motion. This will not be perfect! You will still have to manhandle your crust a little bit and you may have to press together some cracks. This is okay. And if you have a little piece of crust that is not quite covering your pan, take a piece of the excess off and press it onto the missing part. It's okay to pretend you are using Playdoh. Gluten Free crusts are not as pliable as regular flour crusts, they need more water, and they bake up pretty much just like you set them in. So if you have to play around with them a little bit, don't worry about it. As the Nester says, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." Amen.

A note about crimping the edges: my suggestion is to simply press the edge with a fork over the edge of your pie dish. This is the simplest way to get a decorative gluten free crust. If you really rolled well and you have quite a bit of crust hanging over the edge, you can trim your crust and do a fluted edge like this, but don't worry if you are barely making it to the rim. Do the forked crust edge, you'll be fine.I think it works easier to crimp the edge and then trim the excess, just because the dough is a little finicky.

Another suggestion: this crust tastes the best when rolled thin. If you want a flaky crust, use butter. If you want a softer crust, use shortening. But it will be stickier and need less water. I think the shortening crusts are a little difficult to work with, but that may be just my inexperience talking.

With a little practice and a lot of patience, you can get a crust like this with a fabulous lemon meringue filling that tastes just about as close to regular pie as you can get. Tune in tomorrow for another great crust recipe!

Happy eating!

Ga-Ga for Gorgonzola, Part 2: Easy Delicious Dinner

Continuing on with my obsession with Gorgonzola cheese, I have one of the easiest dinners ever coming up. And you will want to eat this at least once a week from now on. I promise. Okay, maybe that's just me, but it's really really good food, trust me. Get yourself to the grocery store and find a good cut of London Broil. I used to be intimidated by London Broil. But it is one of the yummiest cuts of meat, it's lean, and it's not hard to prepare. So get over the fancy name and just buy it already. And while you're there, don't forget your Salemville Amish crumbled Gorgonzola.

My next piece of advice: don't underestimate the power of a good pan. I finally broke down and bought a grill pan a few weeks ago because it will soon be too cold here in Utah to use my outdoor grill and then where will I be? Plus I always try to trick myself into eating healthier, so when I grill my meat I always feel so...gourmet. So I bought this Calphalon pan and let me tell you: it rocks. I just heat it up to medium heat before I add the meat. I don't have to spray it with Pam or anything because it's, well, Calphalon, and you get really great grill marks on your food that way. And, yes, this pan does NOT look clean. That's because I'm really bad at dishes. Anyone who knows me knows I never do my dishes. Come over to my house anytime, and you will find a sinkful of dishes GUARANTEED. But I can cook, so it all balances out.

So put your beautiful London Broil on your grill pan and grill it on both sides for about 8 minutes for medium rare meat. Cook a little longer on each side if you don't like your meat pink. Only flip the meat once. And then, slice the meat starting at the tip of the piece and keep slicing away. If it doesn't look right when you are cutting it, rotate your meat and try cutting it from the other side. I don't want to tell you exactly which direction to cut from the grain of the meat because I don't know what it is. I just cut a piece and if it looks wierd I cut from the other side.

Then generously crumble your gorgonzola over the meat and voila! Meat paradise. I think this is one of my favorite dinners of all time. I am a meat and potatoes girl, so this one is right up my alley. I hope you live on this alley, too!

Happy eating!

Ga-ga for Gorgonzola, Part 1: My New Favorite Salad

What I really wanted to call this post was: Bad Breath Salad. But really, when you are doing a Google search for gluten free lunch ideas, who's gonna type in "Bad Breath Salad?" Anyway, one day I was messing around in the kitchen, cleaning out my leftovers and trying to make up something with a lot of flavor. I have to be honest here: I don't love salad dressing. I don't know why, but it has to be just the right balance of dressing and lettuce for me. I think that's why I like this salad combo so well. You don't need a drop of dressing and it has so much character.

And let's just talk about gorgonzola for a minute. Gorgonzola cheese is just basically an Italian Blue Cheese that crumbles and tastes a lot like French Bleu Cheese. It's a little creamier and it has a tangy bite to it that I am, quite literally, addicted to. I buy the Salemville Amish Brand, and I like the pre-crumbled kind. It has a dark blue label, you can't miss it in your specialty cheese section. There are two reasons I have been drawn to Gorgonzola. One is that back in the day when I was first diagnosed with Celiac's disease I read some literature that said to be careful with Bleu Cheese because of the way they produce it. I'm always longing for the taste of Bleu Cheese but scared to try it just in case that literature was right. When I looked on the Salemville label, it specifically states that they use corn starch to keep the cheese crumbly. And I checked it out on Gluten Free Fox, too, and gorgonzola is a safe cheese. Whew. At least they can't take that away from us, right?

So here's how I make this super-yummy, semi healthy salad:

1. Chop one romaine heart of lettuce and place in a bowl.

2. Chop one or two green onions and add to the lettuce.

3. Add some chopped mushrooms, if you have them.

4. Put a scoop of tuna/mayonnaise mixture over the veggies. (If you've made a tuna salad the day before and didn't add relish, this is the perfect way to use up that tuna.)

5. Crumble gorgonzola cheese over the top. Be generous! The flavor is fantastic!

That's it. I try to trick myself into thinking this is diet food. I know it's probably not, with the mayo (I DO use light mayo) and the cheese (but there's protein in cheese!) but it's filling and de-lish, so I look on the bright side about it. And keep your Altoids nearby...you may need them when you're done.

Happy eating!

And the Winner is...

The winner of our Betty Crocker/General Mills Prize pack is.....Melanie Swanson! Congratulations, Mel! You will be recieving a free package shipped right to your door full of fruit snacks, a frisbee, pick up sticks, and other family fun items! Since I didn't have any comments on the blog post, and it's probably because I posted it the week of Halloween (oops), I chose a random follower from my blog to win. These are the perks for following your friend's blog, I'm telling you...Have fun!

How to Blend in during Halloween Festivities

Today is the day that we run to the school about four times for different parades, parties, and Halloween festivities. So I don't have a ton of time for blogging. However, don't feel like you can't partake in Halloween festivities just because you can't eat wheat. For example, the other night when we carved our pumpkins I made cupcakes from a regular mix for the family. We had a little bit of Betty Crocker frosting and sprinkles left over, so I frosted up some of my Kinni-too vanilla sandwich creme cookies. They were yummy, fast, and I was part of the fun. Use your creativity and you can fit in at any party! Don't forget to make a comment on yesterday's post to win your own free prize pack from Betty Crocker and General Mills!
Happy Halloween eating!

Product Review: Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks...You Can Get Free Stuff!

Betty Crocker has some new fruit snacks out called, "Create-A-Bug" that happen to be gluten free. Betty and General Mills were kind enough to send me a free gift package with these little cuties in them along with some fun toys and family fun items. (It was the highlight of our day, I tell you.) I wanted to try them out so I put together a very discerning panel of judges:Betty also makes these fruit snacks, which I must say I ate way too many of in the beginning of my celiac diet six years ago. I'm sure you've heard of them:


Personally, I don't love the Gushers. My kids think they are "the bomb" but not so much for my adult palette. Fruit Roll Ups? I could get eight cavities from how much I love them. Back to the Create-A-Bug snacks. They come in these cute little bug body shapes so that you can build a thorax, head and wings to make your own buggy creation and then listen to them scream while you eat them.Or, you can use them as useful objects to put into other toys:These fruit snacks had pretty good flavor, and to be honest, they tasted pretty much like every other fruit snack I've ever eaten. The main plus was that the kids really liked them and the whole box ended up being eaten within ten minutes. These are a great lunchbox option for celiac kids, I think. I do have one parental frowny face about all fruit snacks, though: Please make your fruit snacks not so sticky so that my kids don't get cavities from eating them! Make them dissolve so they dont' cause dental caries! There, now that I've gotten that off my chest, please enjoy these with your kids. Even if you don't eat many of them, the fun of building your own bug and attacking your children with it is priceless. And, I'll be hosting a giveaway on this site for you to win your own completely FREE prize pack sent directly to you from Betty Crocker/General Mills. Just leave a comment at the bottom of the post before November 1 and check back here Monday morning to see if you've won! Good luck!

Happy eating!

Kielbasa, Potatoes, and Cabbage: A Naturally Gluten Free Meal

My friend, Anna, is the epitome of the good homemaker. Not only does she can her own fruits and jams and always has a freezer full of goodies, she can sew like nobody's business and decorate your room in three weeks or less. Not to mention she is the author of a pretty impressive art curriculum for elementary students. She doesn't even let her kids watch tv. Well, not much tv. But the best thing about Anna is she can make up a recipe on the spot with whatever she has on hand. She's really good with the spices and can put together dinner from hot air and a prayer. One day I was lucky enough to be over at Anna's house on "Leftover Lunch

Day" where she was cleaning out her fridge and making the kids eat the leftovers for lunch. I got to have the sausage, potatoes, and cabbage, because it was the only gluten free thing she had in her possession at the moment. It was so yummy! I love german food and bratwurst and sauerkraut, much to my husband's dismay, and the roasted cabbage was simply divine. The best thing about this dish, aside from the fact that it is naturally gluten free, is that it is so simple and easy to make. Six ingredients and you're into the oven. Here's how to make it:

Kielbasa, Potatoes, and Cabbage

1 pkg Kielbasa or Sausage

4-6 potatoes, depending on how many you are feeding

1/2-1/4 head of cabbage, depending on how many you are feeding

1/2 cup white wine

pinch of black pepper

1 tsp garlic salt

Coarsely chop sausage on the bias. Peel and coarsely cube potatoes. Chop cabbage into bite-sized pieces. Pour wine and spices over the top. Give it a stir to incorporate all the ingredients. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours, until potatoes are tender and cabbage is roasted through.

Happy eating!