Beef Stew



If you are making this recipe for a gluten-free guest, please read our Guide to Gluten Cross-Contact.



Ingredients:

2 pounds beef
3 - 4 Tb Sweet Rice Flour
2 Tb chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups cubed onions
1 1/2 cups of cubed celery
3 cups cubed and peeled potatoes
3 cups sliced carrots
28 ounces beef GF broth (Kitchen Basics, Swanson’s, Pacific, Imagine)
or (Herb-Ox w/ 28 oz of water could be used instead of beef broth)

Option - replace 6 oz of stock with 6 oz of red wine.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Trim fat from beef and cut into 1.5 inch cubes. We get stew meat that's already cubed at our meat market.

Put flour, salt & pepper into plastic bag. Drop in a handful of meat, close bag and shake to coat. Remove coated pieces and set aside. Repeat this until all pieces are coated. You may need to add more flour as you go. Just be mindful as to how many pieces you have left and how much flour is in the bag - you don't want to have a lot to throw out when done.

Discard excess flour.

Combine parsley, pepper & thyme and set aside.

Put half of beef on the bottom of a Dutch oven or a big pan with a lid. Top with half the onions, half the potatoes, half the carrots. Sprinkle with half the parsley mixture. Repeat layering (starting again with the beef and ending with parsley). Pour in broth [or broth/wine mixture]. Cover and bake for 2 hours.


Al & Peg Notes:

This recipe as it's shown is fine, however, it could use a bit of jazzing up. We are making this for dinner tomorrow afternoon. We are planning on replacing 6 oz of beef broth with red wine. 6 oz equals a mini bottle of wine that you get in a 4 pack.

Edit 2/5/07 - We really like the addition of the red wine. However, it turns the sauce [and the potatoes] a slight shade of purple. It tastes good, but color is not right.

We also added a several shakes of McCormick's Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning.

We did have to add a little extra salt after tasting it.

Creamy Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup




If you are making this recipe for a gluten-free guest, please read our Guide to Gluten Cross-Contact.



Ingredients:

1 medium onion - chopped
2 celery ribs - chopped
2 medium carrots - grated
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
2 tablespoons of sweet rice flour
4 cups of milk
1 can Progresso Cream of Mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of cubed cheddar cheese
3 cups of chopped broccoli - steamed
3 cups of chopped cauliflower - steamed
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned salt


Directions:

In a Dutch oven, sauté onion, celery and carrot in butter until tender. Stir in GF flour until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add soup, cheese, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and Lawry's; mix well. Cook and stir until cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Yield: 10-12 servings (3 quarts).


If you can do lots of dairy - this is a good one. We have not tried subbing out the dairy.

Note:

You can use the same base to make potato soup by replacing broccoli/cauliflower with 6 large potatoes, peeled, diced, and cooked (about 8 cups)


Minestrone Soup



This recipe is adapted from Living Without Summer 2005 issue.

It's one of our favorites and gets rave reviews from all who've tried - gluten-free or otherwise.

We save it for the fall/winter when it is cold and yucky on the outside and warm and yummy on the inside.

If you are making this recipe for a gluten-free guest, please read our Guide to Gluten Cross-Contact.



Ingredients

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 large onion - diced
2 medium carrots - sliced
2 stalks celery - sliced
1 medium potato - diced
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1 small zuchinni
1 tspn oregano
2 tspn salt
4 cups GF chicken broth (Kitchen Basics, Swanson’s, Pacific, Imagine)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 cup fresh or frozen green bean (1 1/2" pieces)
1 15oz can kidney beans - drained & rinsed
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (optional) or 2 cubes of frozen homemade basil pesto (See Al Notes)
Parmesan cheese (optional)



Add olive oil, butter & garlic to a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute until onion is transparent and soft.

Add celery, carrots, potato. Sauté for another 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and chicken broth.

Bring soup up to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15-30 minutes. Veggies should be tender.

Add the corn, green beans, kidney beans, zucchini and simmer for another 15-30 minutes.

Stir in fresh basil or add frozen pesto cubes and allow to melt.

Serve hot and don't eat too much. You could also top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.


Al Notes

Since we made a double batch, we use both kidney beans and black beans.

In the summer I will make fresh basil pesto. This is usually a Saturday project for me. We have a little farmers market downtown and I'll get several bunches. I'll whiz up a batch and pour it in ice cube trays and freeze it. After about a month of pesto making, we'll have several freezer bags full of pesto cubes we can use for a whole bunch of things...like this soup!