Gluten-Free Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and gravy were a special treat in my home growing up. We only had it when my Aunt Doris came to visit about once or twice a year. When I was older, before I discovered the joy of cooking real food, I use to make them with refrigerator biscuits, powdered gravy and precooked sausage. Yuck! That just won't do anymore. This recipe is proof that you can still enjoy your favorite foods even if you do go gluten-free.

1. Start by baking your biscuits. You can make the gravy while they are baking. Click here for a great biscuit recipe form Elana's Pantry or try the one below. I am still working on making my own recipe.

Drop Biscuit Recipe

2 ½ cups almond flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon honey

Combine the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine both together and mix well. Use a spoon to scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet. Adjust the size according to how big or small you want your biscuits. Bake them (at 450 degrees F) for about 15 minutes or until brown.

2. Cook your sausage.

Homemade Sausage

We usually buy our ground pork in bulk at Costco and then make a large batch of the below recipe and freeze them in individual packages. 

1 lb ground pork

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sage

2/3 teaspoon marjoram

1/3 teaspoon savory

1/3 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, grounded

Place pork into a large bowl. Add all the spices. Combine together well. I usually use my hands to make sure that it is combined well.

Place sausage into frying pan. Cook until it is brown and crumbly.

3. Create Gluten-Free Gravy

Gluten-Free Gravy

1 lb cooked sausage

2 tablespoons white rice flour

2 cups of milk

When your sausage is cooked check how much oil you have in the pan. If you have less than 2 tablespoons add enough butter to make up for it. Add white rice flour and cook until the flour absorbs the oil. Add the milk 1/4 a cup at a time until it is the consistency that you want it.

4. Combining all items into biscuits and gravy

Place a crumbled biscuit in each bowl, top with sausage and then the gravy mixture.

Strawberry Short Cake Gluten-Free Almond Flour

Sweet Drop Biscuit Recipe

2 ½ cups almond flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup butter

2 eggs

4 tablespoons honey

1 lb strawberries

1 cup heavy cream

Combine the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine both together and mix well. Use a spoon to scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet. Adjust the size according to how big or small you want your biscuits. Bake them for about 15 minutes or until brown. 

While the biscuits are baking. Prep the strawberries. Wash, core and slice them into fourths. If your strawberries are not sweet you can add 1 tablespoon of honey and let them soak in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. 

When the biscuits are done let them cool slightly. Top with strawberries an then a dollop of whipped cream. 

Kitty Cat Pancakes minus the Kitty Cat Gluten-Free

Kitty Cat Pancakes minus the Kitty Cat

I decided that at 31 I was too mature for Kitty Cat Pancakes and that we should make them into regular circles. I loved how thick these were. They are the perfect texture for making shaped pancakes. They are best served with lots of butter and real maple syrup.

1¼ cups rice flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon coconut sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

1 cup milk or milk alternative

2 eggs

3 tablespoons coconut oil

Juice of ½ a lemon (we guessed ½ tablespoon)

½ teaspoon of vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix in liquid ingredients. I enjoyed the thickness of the recipe, but you can add more milk if you want them thinner.

Pour ½ cup of batter onto a hot, greased pan or griddle.  Spread into a desired shape. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until bubbles form and then turn it over and cook for 30 more seconds, until it is brown.

Makes 5 very large, thick pancakes.

Serve with maple syrup, butter and lots of crispy bacon.

This recipe was adapted from The Gluten-Free Bible, page 114. 

Brazilian Cheese Rolls

Brazilian Cheese Rolls

1 cup whole milk

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter

¼ cup oil (I used more butter J)

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons tapioca flour

2 eggs

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine milk, butter, and oil (if using) in a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring to melt butter and keep milk from scalding.  Once mixture reaches a boil, remove from heat and stir in tapioca flour. 

Stir in eggs one at a time and then add cheese.  Mixture will be very stiff.  Cool in pan until easy to handle. 

Take heaping tablespoons of dough with tapioca-floured hands and roll into balls.  Place on a baking sheet about an inch apart.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Makes about 20 rolls.

I halved this recipe when I made it.  The first time I forgot to half the milk which meant I had to use more flour, but they still tasted great.  The second time I did it right, except that I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.  Coconut oil has too strong a flavor for these rolls, so in the future I will use only butter.  I also do not bother to roll them out, I merely blob them onto the baking sheet.  They turned out great.  Enjoy!!

This recipe was adapted from The Gluten Free Bible page 130

Gluten-Free Cranberry Lemon Muffins

I found this recipe at Elanas Pantry.

2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup grape seed oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup agave nectar, honey, or maple syrup
1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest.

Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then combine together. Place in a lined muffin pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Gluten-Free Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

Before going gluten-free I loved taking a piece of toast and putting an egg and some bacon on top of it open faced and eating it all together. Now that I now longer eat toast this is the perfect solution. We make six of these at a time and refrigerate them for up to a week. Chris grabs one on the way to the gym. They are great hot or cold. If you can eat gluten then just put a piece of white bread in the muffin tin and add the bacon and egg.

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

1 cup blanched almond flour

¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoon honey

¼ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

6 slices bacon

6 large eggs

Coarse salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the almond flour, salt, baking soda, egg, honey and vinegar in a bowl.
Divide the dough into 6 round balls. Press the balls into the sides of the six muffin cups.  Salt the cups.

Cook the bacon until it is medium done. Place a slice of bacon into each muffin cup. Break an egg into each cup. Sprinkle the eggs with salt. Bake for 25 minutes or until the egg whites are set. 

Updated August 12, 2012: Tip: Dip your fingers into a small bowl of water. It keeps the dough from sticking to your hands when you are placing it in the muffin cups. 

Buttermilk Biscuits

There is no need to buy those refrigerator biscuits when you can make them at home just as quickly. Since I am only cooking for two people I make a full batch of biscuits, then I bake the ones I want to serve and freeze the rest. When I  want biscuits I pull the dough out the night before and store it in the refrigerator. In the morning they will bake in 10 minutes and will be nice and fresh.

2 cups of flour
2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of flax seed (Optional)
1/3 cup of butter, softened*
3/4 cup of buttermilk**

Preheat the oven to 450. Mix all of the dry dry ingredients together. Add the softened butter. Mix it together with a fork until it looks like the texture of cornmeal. Then add the buttermilk until moistened. Drop the biscuits onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

*If you forget to remove the butter from the refrigerator, that is okay. Just pull out the amount you need. Cut it in small slices onto a plate and let it sit out while you are making the dry part of your biscuits. By the time you need the butter it should be soft.

**I buy powdered buttermilk. I add 3 tablespoons of the powder to the dry ingredients and add the water after I mix in the butter. It is not as healthy because it is more processed, so use fresh butter milk whenever you can. I am trying to move away from eating processed foods so eventually I will ween myself off of dry buttermilk.

Banana Bread

When I visit my sister Regina she often says "Sis, I have some old bananas, please make me some banana bread." The bread is the best answer for those last few bananas that are over ripe. Don't throw them away. Make this banana bread or peel them and place them in the freezer until you are ready to make the bread.

Ingredients:

3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°f (175°c). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Makes one loaf. You can freeze this bread and reheat it later. It makes a great snack. Sometimes we will eat it for breakfast. 

Home Made Tortillas

1/4 cup butter

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup hot water

Blend the softened butter with the flour until it looks like the consistancy of cornmeal. Add the salt. Pour in the hot water a little at a time until you have the right consistency. (Doughy but not sticky). At this point you could let it sit for 20 mintutes, but that is optional.

Seperate the dough into six balls. Take each ball one at a time and roll it out on the counter. Make sure you place plenty of flour under the dough and on the rolling pin. (If you don't have a rolling pin use a clean bottle in your cabnit). As you are rolling out the dough, flip the dough and roll it out until it is the shape you want. You want to get them as thin as possible with out it ripping.

Once the dough is rolled out, place them one at a time into a hot skillet. Turn constantly until the tortilla is slightly brown like the picture above.

These are real easy to make but make a big mess, so I like to make a double batch and use them for several recipes. Tortillas freeze well.