Gluten Free Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Whether you’re gluten intolerant, just want to cut back or perhaps you have friends who are — this is a perfect sauce to have in your back pocket. Toss it on some pasta, zucchini ‘pasta’ or dress up some steamed cauliflower, you’ll be surprised at how good it is! I’m using my tried and true lentil purée for the thickener and boy does it thicken! And the cheese creams up with it perfectly — I used cheddar, but you can use whatever cheese you prefer. You’ll have to watch this sauce because it thickens very quickly and can become too thick when it cools down, so serve it hot. I hope you love this sauce as much as I do.

Gluten Free Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cooked puréed lentils
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 60 g grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt to taste
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook milk and puréed lentils until smooth, thick and creamy.
2. Add cheese and stir until smooth and melted.
3. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

This is a really creamy sauce

Serving suggestions:

• Serve over cooked macaroni garnish with Parmesan and broil for a minute until cheese is melted and bubbly. Garnish with chopped green onions and enjoy!
• Pour over steamed broccoli or cauliflower.
• Use as a base on pizza.
• Make this into cheddar soup (although that would be very decadent!)

Based on 4 servings

Read Full Post »

Cheddar Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

At the Delicious Food Show, JT and I happened upon a lovely vendor who makes the most beautiful savoury Shortbread Cookies. You know that I’m definitely more of a savoury person (no pun intended!) so I was excited to make these delicate little cookies as soon as I got home. I didn’t want the rosemary to be too overwhelming so there isn’t that much of it, feel free to add more. You could also brush the tops with a beaten egg and sprinkle a little flavoured sea salt on each one, but I didn’t want to fuss that much. I served these for cocktails with one of our neighbours as part of an antipasto platter. They were very much appreciated!

We bought three types of cheese, three types of meat and served it with grapes, grilled tomatoes on the vine, roasted almonds, bacon jam and the Ice Wine Syrup

The light is beginning to fade to winter.

Makes about 72 little single bite cookies. Original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 227 g Old Cheddar Cheese (or any other sharp cheese that would pair well with rosemary)
• 1 tsp salt (or less if using a saltier cheese)
• 2 1/2 cup Flour (cake and pastry)
• 227 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. Sift together salt and flour; set aside. Using electric mixer with cookie dough hook, cream together cheese and butter until well blended.
2. Gradually add dry ingredients: if dough becomes too thick, use a wooden spoon to stir but don’t work it too much, this is shortbread so you don’t want to activate the glutens too much. Divide dough in half and shape into rounds; wrap well in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour or freeze for another time.
3. Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough quickly into 2mm or 1/4″ thick sheet and cut with a small cookie cutter (I used 4 cm or 1 3/4″ round for these, they do shrink a bit). Put dough into refrigerator while waiting to bake batches.
4. Bake just until slightly golden, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from baking sheets and cool on a wire. Store in an air tight container or freeze, as I do. To serve, thaw desired amount at room temperature and serve.

The rosemary is very subtle in this tender savoury shortbread cookie.

Read Full Post »

Scrambled Quails Eggs with Cheese

Who says you can’t have breakfast for hors d’œuvres? Breakfast anytime is great, particularly when I had a few quails eggs left over and we needed a quick little hors d’œuvres for cocktail hour! Serve these on toast points or rice crackers like I did. I garnished with a small dot of yogurt and dill for colour.

Makes about 8 crackers

A little scrambled egg bite

Ingredients:

• 4 quail eggs
• 2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
• dill to garnish
• 8 rice crackers (I used these)

Directions:

1. In a heat proof bowl, whisk together the quail eggs and cheese. Cook over a Bain Marie until the eggs are no longer runny, folding over constantly.
2. Serve about 1 tbsp of the scrambled egg on toasts or crackers, garnish with yogurt and dill.

Read Full Post »

Cheez-what-itz? A delicious recipe from Ann

We’re winding down at work, but just getting started for the holidays. Our plans to spend a few days away in New York fell through; but we’ve decided to do something we’ve not done before, we will be sampling a different restaurant every day, and I’ll be blogging about it. We will alternate with Lunch and Dinner each day — I’m actually very excited about it. Plus one day I’m going to treck out to Gilda’s a huge kitchen store in Mississauga (like a kid in a candy store).

My blogging buddy Ann at Cooking Healthy for me posted this recipe the other day and as soon as I read it, I knew it was for me! I could not resist the cheesiness that she expounded. It was like cheese on steroids, super cheese, super duper cheese…well, you get the gist!

Since I wasn’t familiar with the brand that I’m sure she was duplicating, I decided to make my crackers out of scalloped rounds and squares. They shrunk quite a bit but it didn’t bother me because they sure are cheesy (started out about 1.25″ and ended about the size of a gold fish, yes that other cheesy goodness). Although they have no egg or any kind of leavening, they puff up quite a bit, and they don’t fall back down! Other than making sure you don’t overbake them, you really need not worry about them … well, with the exception of  “evaporation” (you know, the same “evaporation” that affected my block chocolate?)

I can only say, THANK YOU Ann. I am definitely adding this recipe to my appetizer/snack repertoire. They are sure to be a family favourite for years to come. Cheez-itz Recipe.

Crispy and cheesy

If you get a chance, check out Katherine’s recipe at Rufus’ Food and Spirit, she whipped up an amazing peppercorn martini that would be divine with these little bites.

OMG! Who invited him? Not me that's for sure.

Read Full Post »

Caramelized Onion and Cheddar Dip

I still have one more cookie to bake, but I had to take a break. I did cut down and made only made 7 things this year. We’ll see how it pans out.

The sale of alcohol is controlled by the Government in Ontario. The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is the single largest alcohol buyer in the world! Crazy, but true. Recently, the Auditor General conducted a study (see article in the Toronto Star) that found Ontarian’s pay too way much for booze since the LCBO is the single largest purchaser in the world! We’ll see what happens with that! The LCBO has an enormous marketing budget and they produce some very classy promotional material. One such promo is their Food & Drink magazine. This magazine promotes booze, of course, but it also contains a huge number of recipes that are exceptionally beautifully photographed.

Entertaining season is in full swing and I always like to have a quick something that I can easily serve in case friends drop by; the recipe below is a delicious dip of sharp cheddar, caramelized onion and goats cheese. I noticed our local grocer had old cheddar bricks on sale, so I stocked up (I usually grate the cheese and freeze in a zip-lock baggy — it’s great for baking and cooking). Click here for the original recipe.

Freezing the dips in the shape of the ramekin for later use

Makes about 3 3.5 oz ramekins or one really big one!

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp (25 mL) cider vinegar or beer
• 1 tsp (5 mL) butter
• ¼ tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper
• 4 oz (125 g) goats cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cup (250 mL) shredded aged cheddar cheese
• ½ tsp (2 mL) dry mustard or Dijon
• 1 tbsp low fat mayo
• 1 tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh thyme, or ¼ tsp (1 mL) dried
• Thick pretzels or crackers, for dipping

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF (230ºC) or barbecue to medium-high.
2. Combine onion, vinegar, butter and pepper in a shallow baking pan (for oven) or in a foil pan (for barbecue). Roast, stirring twice, for 15 to 20 minutes or until soft, translucent and starting to brown. Let cool slightly.
3. Mash softened cream cheese with the mayo, mustard and thyme in a bowl. Add onion mixture and cheddar cheese stirring until well blended. Pack into an ovenproof ramekin or serving dish or a foil pan. Cover and refrigerate. To freeze, line your individual ramekins with plastic wrap and freeze. Once frozen, remove the little package from the ramekin and store in a zip lock bag. The dip freezes in the shape of the ramekin and all I need to do is remove the plastic wrap and tuck back into the ramekin and it’s ready for baking. (Make sure you try to remove the folds in the plastic wrap, otherwise you may not be able to get it all off).
4. To serve, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) or barbecue to medium-high.
5. Heat dip, uncovered, in oven or on grill, for about 15 minutes or until hot and bubbling around edges. Stir and serve with thick pretzels or crackers for dipping.

Of course, we had to have a wee taster. YUM!

Read Full Post »