Twist on plain ol grilled cheese....

Let me be the first to admit that I sometimes like different...I have been known to throw a breakfast or lunch together with what ever I seem to have in the pantry or refrigerator. Sometimes I just cant decide what it is that I have a hankering for, and other times I am just to lazy to make a run to the store for ingredients, and actually have to use my imagination on these occasions... What ever the reasons are, I just like a change in my cuisine from time to time.

 

Grilled cheese is a all time favorite "go to" food in my house, but it can be just plain boring. Recently I came across a recipe for a Spinach-Artichoke grilled cheese sandwich  that caught my eye. The pic looked delish and I just knew that it was a must try....

 

I have to say the ingredients have such a smooth blend, and the taste was out of this world. So if plain old grilled cheese has left you in a rut, give this recipe a try.

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove garlic, minced or grated

1 tablespoon gf flour (rice is fine)

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

1 ounce cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup Greek yogurt 

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup (about 5 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 (6.7 ounce) jar marinated artichokes, chopped

8 slices gluten free bread

butter, for spreading

 

Directions:

 

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Whisk in flour until it makes a paste. Cook over medium-low heat for a minute or two, then pour in milk. Stir and cook one minute, if your paste gets too thick add a little more milk. Remove from heat.

 

Add cream cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan and pepper flakes. Stir until cheeses are melted. Stir in the Greek yogurt until smooth. Chop artichokes and spinach and add to the sauce. Stir to combine. Dip will be pretty thick at this point!

 

Heat a skillet,or griddle, oven medium-low heat. Butter the outsides of every bread slice, then spread about 3 tablespoons of the spinach and artichoke dip on the inside (the non-buttered side) of each slice of 4 pieces of the bread. Top off with another slice of bread, buttered-side up. Cook until each side is golden and crisp and cheese is melted, then gently flip and do the same.

Slice and serve.

 

If you  have any leftover spinach and artichoke dip you can use it for sandwiches or as a yummy dip the next day!

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2.2

Flour Tortillas that are gluten free...

Lately I have had a craving for a good Mexican burrito, or a great  sizzling hot fajita, or taco's...yum. I am so over most of the pre-made gluten free tortilla shells that you find in the stores, as I find most of them tough and tasteless. So I decided I must try to make my own. Although these take a little effort they are soft, pliable, and rather tasty. Hope you will give them a try and let me know what you think.

Although I use my own flour blend mix I am sure most gluten free all purpose flour blend mixes on the market would do.

Ingredients:

2 c. Gluten free all purpose flour mix
2 Tbsp. shortening (may sub lard or butter)
1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water

Add all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cut the shortening, lard, or butter into the flour so that it’s evenly distributed. (I use a pastry blender, and prefer shortening)

Add the cup of warm water to the bowl and mix the dry goods into the water with your hand. Just squish it all up until all of the dry ingredients are no longer dry.  If you think it is too dry at this point add a little more water, as all flour blends are NOT created equal :-)

Separate the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place all but one of the dough balls back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap until you’re ready to work with them.

Sprinkle a clean, flat surface with a bit of rice flour and then roll you dough ball into a roughly circular shape. Get is as thin as possible. I roll mine between parchment paper taped to my counter for easy cleanup.

Place each rolled tortilla onto a hot griddle, one at a time, with just a bit of shortening or oil, and let it cook approximately 1 minute or until it has started swelling up and the bottom side is getting puffy brown spots. Flip the tortilla over and cook the other side until it is toasted as well.

Repeat until you have cooked all 8 tortillas. Recipe makes 8 nice size shells...

Enjoy!!!
Sharon