Onion Rings

This was breakfast! 

I have had a love/hate thing with onion rings.  I love onions and nothing smells better than onion rings....but I stopped eating them because they regularly disappointed me.....all batter, no onion.  I have never made onion rings myself before.  I have deep fried onions when already making fries, without batter, and they're tasty, but not the same.  These were light and crisp and just the right balance of batter and onion.

Ummmm, I think I need to go make some more....

Ingredients
1 medium Onion
1 medium Egg
Rice Flour for coating (or corn masa)
Salt
Coconut Oil for frying

1. Heat oil in deep pot.  Make sure to leave room from the top for bubbling oil.
2. Slice onion in rounds perpendicular to the stem/roots ends.
3. Remove skin and ends and save for broth in freezer.
4. Beat egg in small bowl.
5. Pop rings out of onion rounds.
6. Put some flour in a small, wide bowl or plate with sides.
7. Add some salt to the flour or egg at this point.
8. Dip rings in egg, then dip in flour, coating thoroughly. 
9. Place coated rings aside until oil is hot.  
10. Add coated rings in small batches to hot oil.
11. Cook for a few minutes, until desired color, but not too dark.
12. Strain out of oil and place on baking sheet or other wide, oven safe container.
13. Salt more.
14. Keep warm in oven until finished with all the batches.

Bonus step:  When you are finished making onion rings, add the remaining flour to the egg and add some sugar and possibly salt and cream of tartar, if needed.  Drop little balls of dough into the hot oil and fry up the extra.  They cook up fast, so don't turn your back. Oh, and don't forget to turn OFF the oil when you are done cooking.

See Ya In The Gumbo 
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Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Gluten Free Wednesday 
Real Food Wednesday

First Homemade Pizza (including GF crust)

I give this a B+. This was really easy to make...until things went wrong....mostly due to inexperience.

I had problems with wetness while mixing and stickiness after rolling  trying to get it off the rolling surface onto the pizza board and again off the board and onto the pizza stone in the oven.  It looked and tasted yummy enough to try again though....otherwise, I would be sticking to the occasional English Muffin Pizza. ;)

My surface area for rolling was too small, in hindsight, I should have divided the dough into 2 pizzas....or used less liquid?  I ended up adding a LOT of extra flour correcting the original wetness.  As it was, the dough when cooked was THICK, too much bread for my liking.  It held together very well though...only breaking where I ripped it trying to transport.

I don't know about you, but I try to avoid gums....guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthum gum.  Quite honestly, my digestive system can handle wheat on occasion BETTER than the gums.  The gums aren't just in gluten free baking products/flours, but in dairy, coconut and other products you wouldn't think needed "gluing."

Ingredients
2 tsp yeast
1 cup warm milk
1 egg
2 cups rice flour
2 tsp cane sugar
2 tsp gelatin
1 tsp sea salt
2 TBS coconut oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda

(Added to correct too wet dough)
1/2 cup corn masa, white or blue
1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca flour/starch
2 tsp coconut flour (optional)

Mix yeast into warm milk first in a separate container.  Add egg to mixer or food processor and whip.  Add other ingredients in order a little at a time, blending as you go.

Flour your rolling area well, I used additional corn masa flour.  My dough stuck where I missed a few spots. This amount of dough will make a very large pizza or 2 smaller pizzas, so adjust accordingly. ;)  Roll in thin as the dough will double, at least, in thickness.  Based on my experience, I would flour the paddle as well.

Cook crust for 10 minutes at 425* F.

Add desired toppings and bake for an additional 15 minutes or so.

The pizza pictured above is a freshly shredded Mozzarella/Parmesan blend  with dried basil and red pepper flakes.  We let is sit for about 15 minutes on a cookie rack before cutting.

Real Cornbread-gluten free

1 cup corn masa (white or blue or OG)
(Blue corn masa turns pinkish when cooked)
1 cup milk, kefir, buttermilk, or clabber
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1 TBS sucanat (optional)
1/2 tsp Homemade Baking Powder 
Coconut oil/butter for sides of pan


Mix and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick (inserted) comes
out clean. I use my toaster oven for this recipe, it's small. Serve with large chunks of butter.

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