Thursday, February 12, 2015

Goat cheese stuffed tomatoes...






Tomato's, tomato's, tomato's....No mater how you slice it they are one of my favorite fruits...Yes I said fruit! I love anything with tomatoes in it, on it, or cooked in them... Pizza, pasta, and fresh from the garden with some salt and pepper. I am so excited that Spring is only weeks away and I can't wait to start my raised veggie garden this year after recently moving back to my home state.
 
I thought I would jump ahead a little to Spring and share a great light and refreshing recipe with you all. Anything to hopefully take your mind off this cold weather...That's what friends are for ya know :-)
 
Anyway here is the recipe which you can use even now as there are some pretty of good tasting tomato's in the stores right now. I hope you will give it a try and drop a line and tell me what you think.
 
Until next post....
Sharon
 
 
 
 
 Goat cheese stuffed tomato's:
 
8-10 small vine-ripened tomato, even Roma's will do...
½ cup goat cheese
5-8 fresh basil leaves, minced
½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (plus a little to garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
 
Hollow out the tomatoes by cutting carefully into the top to remove the top and stem. Use a spoon to remove the seeds. The remaining hollowed out tomato will look similar to a tulip.
Mix the goat cheese, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Stuff the goat cheese mixture into the tomatoes.
Serve on a plate and garnish with a little olive oil and strips of fresh basil.

* If using Roma tomatoes take a small slice off bottoms so they will stand upright on the plate...
 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Gluten free cookbook...

Hi all. Well I have had the past few days off from work as we are having some issues with our washing machine that seriously needed to be taken care of. It sounded like a helicopter taking off when it was on the spin cycle, and spitting black stuff onto my floor....I sometimes feel that life is out to get me, along with the washing machine!

A few days ago I posted that I was going to try agar agar in my bread recipe and let you know how it turned out. I have only made one loaf so far and I had actually tried a new flour mixture at the same time, so I honestly can't give a reasonable opinion. I will say however that I did keep the finished loaf and its in my freezer, so I guess it wasn't all that bad!!!

For the past month I have been feeling out of sorts with a irritated stomach most of the time, and when searching the web on gums and their affects I  found out that I had  many of the symptoms that others who can't consume xanthan gum have had...Seems not only was it affecting my gut, but also the lining of my nose and its membranes. Since I have been careful not to consume products the past few days with any xanthan gum in them my symptoms seem to be clearing up. I will keep you further posted on this matter when I have been off  it for a longer period of time...

Also I have been doing some intense research on the web about using a gum replacement along with the agar agar, or on its own, and have ordered another product that I am hoping will help solve my dilemma. I will also keep you posted on this venture.

Tomorrow it will be back to work as usual :-( , and after being retired once, I am definitely looking forward to that day soon again. Its hard working on new recipes and flour mixtures when I am so tired after a day of work...All I want to do is prop my feet up and try and relax. Maybe someday I will finally be able to complete the cookbook I started over a year ago....

Well that's all for today. Hopefully my "surprise" gum replacement will arrive this week and I can post some hopeful results for you all soon.

Until then have a great gluten free week.
Sharon

 

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