Best Gluten-Free Italian Meatball Recipe

Gluten-free Italian meatballs recipe with pesto g-free pasta.

Craving meatballs but shun evil gluten?

Have I got a meatball recipe for you. And it's so good you won't even have to apologize to your Aunt Carmella. I promise. She won't ever suspect you pulled a switcheroo on the old family recipe and made it gluten-free.

Mum's the word (or is it Mama mia?).

Let's face it. When it comes to making meatballs every family boasts an ultra-special top secret meatball recipe, right? There's a loyalty to meatball mojo as fierce and tooth baring as the die hard belief that Mom's meatloaf can cure all ills, mend bruised hearts, and restore order to chaos theory.

So why am I putting myself on the line here? How do I even dare to post a gluten-free meatball recipe? The wrong ingredient or technique might actually lead to fisticuffs. Or bristling. You might turn away from Gluten-Free Goddess in utter, sheer contempt.

I'm putting my reputation on the line here, and I know it.

So why risk it? Why torture myself with the inevitable backlash? Reason one- an obvious plea. My meatballs are gluten-free and casein-free, in other words, GFCF. My audience. My people.

These meatballs also happen to be egg-free (yes, I hear the snorts of derision- may you wake tomorrow with a blooming albumen rash and come crawling back to peruse my egg-free recipes).

Reason number two? My spaghetti and meatballs? Killer. I'm serious.

Meatball bliss.

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Khanom Sod sai (Filled Coconut Cream)

 Chapter Introduction and Photo by Thai Street Food

This is one of those surprise desserts that you buy wrapped in a banana leaf. You will need to ask what is inside unless you like lucky dip! This one is called "khanom sod sai" though sometimes you might hear it being called "khanom sai sai". The brown filling in this one is shredded coconut though you will sometimes find alternatives. The pudding is sticky rice with a topping of coconut cream and rice flour. This is then wrapped in a banana leaf and put in a steamer.

Ingredients of filling

• 1 kg. palm sugar 
• 1.2 kg. grated coconut meat
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 measuring cups maltose syrup

Cooking:

• Mix palm sugar with grated coconut meat. 
• Put the mixture into the pan. 
• Stir over medium heat till thick, and then add maltose syrup. 
• Stir. Leave to cool. Form the mixture into 1/2 cm balls.
• Put into the tightly closed container filled with candle smoke.

Ingredients of filling covers

• 2 cups black sticky rice flour
• 2 cups white sticky rice flour
• 1/2 cup water

Cooking:

• Mix the two flours together. Gradually add in water and knead well.
• Form the mixture into 1-cm balls. Spread the balls to cover the prepared fillings.

Ingredients of topping:

• 2 cups and 6 tbsp. rice flour
• 8 tbsp. tubular flour (Pang Thao grandmother blacken)***
• 3 tbsp. and 1 tbp. salt
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 8 cups thick coconut cream
• 4 cups thin coconut milk

Cooking:

• Mix the two flours together. 
• Add sugar, salt, and coconut cream. Stir well.
• Heat the pan. Put the mixture. Stir till thick. Remove from heat.
• Put the filling in the middle of prepared banana. 
• Drop the topping onto the filling till the topping covers the filling. 
• Fold banana leaf into high triangular shape.
• Put the dessert into the steamer. Steam for 10 minutes.

Note:

• Outer banana leaves should be 2 1/2 inches wide, 7 1/2 inches long. 
• Cut both ends into oval shape.
• Inner banana leaves should be 2 inches ride, 5 1/2 inches long. 
• Cut both ends into oval shape.
• Use 1/2 inch wide, 12 inches long coconut leaf to secure the pack of the dessert.

 *** if cannot find "tubular flour" You can use "Cassava Flour" instead.

  

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A daring challenge!

I can't believe I made it through this challenge...........again. Why? it's because my computer caught a very bad virus, didn't use it for many days, after it was fixed I lost my bookmarks in which I have the link to the daring bakers' secret kitchen. I frankly didn't bother and send an e-mail to request another password, that's because I did that before and was too embarrassed to ask for the code......again! I could not figure out what was the challenge until the daring bakers started posting their pictures.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Fortunately, it was an easy challenge. I find cheesecakes pretty easy to make, like most American desserts, I think. The cheesecake came out smooth and fluffy. I made half of the recipe into chocolate by adding some melted chocolate to the batter. I also used less sugar (3/4 of a cup instead of 1 cup) and used Oreo cookies for the crust.
I wish I had more time to play with this challenge instead of making a "regular" looking cheesecake.I like to always improvise in this challenge, both in the look of the final dessert and the picture. Lately, I am just taking my camera and "point & shoot" I don't have enough time to take a nice picture. I am not happy with these pictures but had to post for that daring bakers. Short visit and short post I know, let's just hope for more free time to bake and blog and as usual I hope you'll try the recipe....it's a good one.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

crust

2 cups / 180 g Oreo cookies (filling removed)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
3/4 cup / 150 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 vanilla bean


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream and vanilla.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

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The Gluten-Free Diet Cheat-Sheet: How to Go G-Free

How to Begin a Gluten-Free Diet

Foods to avoid:

Gluten is the elastic protein found in wheat, rye, barley, durum, einkorn, graham, semolina, bulgur wheat, spelt, farro, kamut, and triticale. Commercial oats also contain gluten due to cross contamination in processing (see more on gluten-free oats below).

Recipes that use flour (bleached white flour, whole wheat flour, cracked wheat, barley, semolina, durum, spelt, farro, kamut, triticale) or vital wheat gluten are not gluten-free.

Semolina, durum, spelt and whole wheat pasta, including cous cous and ramen noodles, are not gluten-free.

Beer, ale and lager are not gluten-free. Brats, meats and sausage cooked in beer are not gluten-free.

Malt vinegar, malt flavorings and barley malt are not gluten-free.

Recipes calling for breadcrumbs, breaded coatings, fried onion rings, flour dredging, bread and flat bread, croutons, bagels, croissants, flour tortillas, pizza crust, graham crackers, granola, cereal, wheat germ, wheat berries, cookie crumbs, pie crust pastry, crackers, pretzels, toast, flour tortillas, sandwich wraps and lavash, or pita bread are not gluten-free.

The vegan protein sub seitan (made with vital wheat gluten) is not gluten-free; and some tempeh is not gluten-free (you must check). Flavored tofu may or may not be gluten-free due to seasoning. Injera bread (traditionally made from teff flour) and Asian rice wraps may be gluten-free, but are not necessarily gluten-free (check labels, always).

Barley enzymes used in malt, natural flavors, and to process some non-dairy beverages, chocolate chips, coffee, teas, and dessert syrups (and even some brown rice syrups) are not gluten-free. Always check.

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A-Lua (Crispy Sticky Dumpling)

A-Lua or Crispy Sticky Dumpling is made from wheat flour, coconut cream, and sugar. This dessert is crispy outside but soft inside, sweet, creamy, and scented. It can be colored by natural colors and food coloring.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups wheat flour
  
• 1 1/4  cups sugar
  
• 2 cups coconut cream
  
• 2 tbsp. pandanus leaves water
  

COOKING:

• Sieve flour and add sugar. 
• Add coconut cream gradually. 
• Knead till the sugar dissolves, then put all the rest of the coconut cream. 
• Stir well and sieve the mixture. 
• Put the mixture into pan. 
• Stir quickly over medium heat till the mixture is clear. 
• Add pandanus leaf. Stir till the mixture is thick and clear. Leave to cool.
  
• Grease the tray. Use 2 teaspoons to scoop the mixture and drop on the tray to be 1 1/2 inches far from each others. 
• Sun dry the dropped mixture or bake by using hot air.
  

TIPS:

Use high heat for about 2 - 3 minutes till the mixture is clear, then lower the heat and continues to stir for another 2 - 3 minutes till the mixture is cried.

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Luuk Chuup (Fruity Mung Bean Dessert)

Luuk Chuup is Thai dessert made from stir beans.  Very  popular of various types of fruit sculpture and look beautifully colorful.   The  child to love to practice their mastery of niceness.  Tender for the beauty and cleanliness to be caregivers.  So the ball is like a plate of "science" and "art" in it's own.

INGREDIENTS:

• 150 g. mung beans, washed and soaked overnight
  
• 1 ½ cups coconut milk
  
• 1 cup sugar
  

FOR THE COATING:

• 1 tbsp gelatin
  
• 2 cups water, with
  
• 1 drop of jasmine extract
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• 20-30 bamboo sticks, 10cm-12.5cm long, satay sticks or long toothpicks
  

PREPARATION:

Foam base measuring 15cm x 20cm (holds 20-30 pieces of look choop) 3 small paint brushesfood colourings: red, yellow, green, and purple

COOKING:

• Boil the mung beans until soft then drain thoroughly.
  
• Use the same pot to mash the boiled beans with the coconut milk and sugar. 
• Stir over low heat until thoroughly blended, and until dry. Set aside to cool.
  
• For the fruit shapes, take about 2-3 teaspoons of mung beans and use your hands to shape them into the form of the fruit desired - mangoes, oranges and cherries are popular choices. 
• Use the bamboo sticks to lift the fruit pieces and place them on the foam base.
  
• In a pan, mix the gelatin, water (with jasmine added) and sugar. 
• Bring to the boil over low heat. 
• Allow about one third of the water to evaporate so the jelly thickens.
  
• Coat the beans, paint with the food colouring so they represent the selected fruit. 
• Leave to dry.
  
• Once dried, dip each fruit in the jelly at least three times and leave to dry on the foam base.
  
• Sharpen the forms with a small kitchen knife.
  

  

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Woon Maphrao On (Young Coconut in Jelly)

Young coconut (maphrao on). Young coconut is found in most open-air markets is also fairly widely available from street vendors. Easily recognizable as a cylinder topped by a point cost is usually 10 baht, occasionally 15, sometimes as high as 20. Even some restaurants carry them, usually still very reasonable.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tbsp. Agar Agar
  
• 5 tbsp. sugar
  
• young coconut
  

COOKING:

• Cut the shell like in the photo
  
• Boil coconut juice
  
• Add sugar and Agar Agar then wait until it's dissolved.
  
• Then, pour it over the filter cloth. 
• Add young coconut
  
• Pour it in a block or back into the shell . 
• Then, leave in refrigerator until it gets solid.
  

TIPS:

The normal storage temperature is 2 days storage in a refrigerator 2 weeks.

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Asparagus Leek Risotto Recipe

Creamy asparagus risotto for spring.

May I just take a moment and express my deep appreciation for risotto? And tender-crisp spring asparagus? A week like we've had triggers a need for comfort food- but not the heavy, spice laced comfort food of winter. Something fresh and light and creamy. Asparagus risotto to the rescue. It's been a roller coaster week for us. From opening a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to learning that our buyer had run into a snag. He missed the deadline for obtaining a mortgage. We remain hopeful and knee deep in book stacks and boxes, however. He's still trying. Still interested.

And us? We're practicing our best zen detachment.

With bourbon.

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Vegan Carrot Soup

A simple and elegant vegan carrot soup.

Here's a fresh and easy vegan carrot soup recipe for spring. Why soup? Because it rains in spring. It snows in spring. It even does so simultaneously, accompanied by thunder, out here in the wilds of sunny New Mexico. We experienced the gamut of meteorological events over the weekend as we were loading boxes of books into the car. Four seasons in one day. Packing and unpacking. Once again weeding out what is no longer necessary, hunched in our cramped little storage unit, out of the stinging sleet, rummaging through boxes, weeding out for the next move. The migration West. To Southern California.

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Busy Times

During times of extreme busy-ness, I do miss baking........a lot. It is my comfort, it allows me to forget and play with my creativity. I feel such a joy when I am mixing, kneading, cracking eggs and smelling the aromas of vanilla bean, citrus, even the smell of fresh yeast!
They say diamonds are a girl's best friend?!! I have never been attracted to diamonds, fancy jewelry or even wished to own them. My kind of jewelry you would ask?? mixers, food processors, pans and different pastry tools, COOKBOOKS!

I always wonder why I have never pursued a pastry career. I always knew deep inside of me that this is what I want, this is my passion and I would never be bored working in that field. Instead, I didn't want to disappoint my parents and of course had to follow the "standards". So instead, I ended up studying Economics (something that I've never been excited about): statistics, macro economics, micro economics, political economics, probabilities...........the only thing about economy that would attract me was the availability of eggs, sugar, flour, not to forget the vanilla, extremely important for the economy!!

Past is past, right? everything was/is there for a reason and there is nothing wrong with dreaming. As long as our economy can provide us with the eggs, butter, sugar and the vanilla................bean, then I am more than fine.
This post has no recipe. I did everything in such a hurry: cake and pictures. I just made a simple chocolate cake for the base and a raspberry mousse. Let the mousse firm up in the fridge for couple hours. Then covered it with tempered dark chocolate and a ganache on top. I love mousse cakes, so don't worry whenever I am done with this busy phase and have free time, I'll remake the recipe, write it down precisely and post it. Meanwhile, try to be happy with what you have, and take care of your dream (s).

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Quinoa Recipe: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Quinoa stuffed portobello mushrooms are a lovely vegan nosh.

The stars are tuning their alignment in our favor. After eighteen months on the market (and more than once price reduction along the way) there are rumblings of a house sale. Negotiations are afoot. We are walking on Easter egg shells through the weekend. Monday will bring us definitive news. Send kind and generous thoughts to our buyer. Wish him luck with his bank.

We've been preparing for good news, sorting through books both old and new. Stripping away much of what we've accumulated since our last move. Lugging movies and art books and cookbooks off in recycled Whole Foods bags to the used book store in Santa Fe. Those things we carry.

Trading media for food.

We took the cash and bought wine, gluten-free flours, olive oil and boxes of tea. Not enough to last through May. On purpose.

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Tua Krop Kaew (Caramel Peanuts with Sasame)

I love eating all kind of "Nuts" such as peanut bar, boiled peanuts, toasted peanuts, deepfried peanuts, etc. Today I am going to show you how to make "Caramel Peanuts sasame". I don’t know if you know this dessert snack?? Caramel Peanuts with Sasame in Thai called "Tua Krop Kaew"

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 g. unpeeled raw peanuts
  
• 250 g. white sugar
  
• ½ tbs salt
  
• 2 tbs Ovaltine or instant malt powder
  
• 1 cup water
  

HOW TO MAKE:

• add caster sugar, drinking water, and peanuts into the pan.
  
• Now it is important that you adjust the level of heat. Use midium high heat. If you use too low heat, the nuts will be cooked too long and in the end you will get the burnt nuts before the sugar form its crystal. So, you should be more careful on selecting the right heat level. Otherwise you may get the dark chocolate peanuts instead but I swear you cannot eat that bitter nuts ha ha ha. Oh ! did you notice my hands holding the camera reflected on the pan side?
  
• Boil the mixed ingredients approx. 5 minutes. This depends on the pan quality, the heat level, and the water quantity. Just notice that the syrup start boiling up.
• Now that the syrup is boiling, start to stir the nuts in the pan. Otherwise, I can tell you that you may have to waste your nuts 100% or else it is possible to get the space wagon nuts instead because the nuts will stick together like the rock plate.
  
• From now onward, if you make the larger quantity such as double or triple amount from this recipe, I can guaranty that you will have the arm wrestling training machine in your kitchen. For better wrestling team, call your husby, wife, sisters, brothers, whoever around the house to be spared. Enjoy your training!!! Hahahah…
  
• 7 minutes passed
  
• 12 minutes passed and it is thicker?
  
• 13 minutes passed, almost complete dehydration
  
• 15 minutes passed, are you ready to increase the stiring speed? Oh!! honey you must do in order to avoid the nuts to stick to each other like rock plate.. After you have done this cooking, you can become one hand Keen & Jerk weight lifter. Congratulation in advance.
  

Tips

Beside the cooking pan, you need the wide flat tray for cooling the cooked nuts. You can also use the flat plate. In worst case, the normal dish is also applicable but I will instruct you one more procedure later. If yesterday you are angry with your husby/wife and broke all dishes in your kitchen, you can prepare a few pcs of A4 paper instead. Don't worry use what you have

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Gluten-Free Garlic and Sesame Crackers

Make your own gluten-free snack crackers- it's easy.

Crackers don't get enough credit. I guess they're not cute enough. Or sexy enough. No swirls of pastel icing. No confetti sprinkles. No tiny ribbons and bows. No Jackson Pollock drips of balsamic reduction or snow pea puree.

Just simple squares.

Ho-hum brown.

Crackers are the wallflowers at the food blogger's party. Too ordinary and unassuming to garner much attention. But there might be a few of you in the same boat I row upstream.

The snack deprived boat.

So this one's for you.

Folks who can consume gluten probably take their snacks for granted. After all, they can grab any bag of chips or cracker box off the shelf of any market or convenience store and motor on over to the cheese section without breaking a sweat. Snack attack solved. Please pass the Doritos.
But for those of us living gluten-free and casein-free- it ain't so easy. (And if you happen to have additional allergies- to sunflower oil or nuts or spices- you get one complicated serpentine quest for a safe little bite.)

At this writing, I can count on one hand the number of available chips or crackers I can eat. Safely. And for some mysterious reason that only the petulant Goddess of the Universe knows, that modest handful of snack options is never stocked. Anywhere.

I search in vain every weekly trip to Santa Fe for the one potato chip I can eat. Or a single non-GMO tortilla chip. Even those funny little white rice wafers play hard to get. New Mexico appears to be staunchly plain rice cracker free (I guess rice crackers don't like to flirt with guacamole and salsa).

Which explains why I bake my own snacks and crackers.

It's a pragmatic choice. I've made Pecan Crackers, and Savory Grain-Free Crackers (back when I didn't know I was allergic to Parmesan). I've made crispy sweet potato and gold potato chips.

But this week we found ourselves crackerless. So we baked up a new recipe on the spot. With garlic and sesame seeds. If you cannot eat sesame, darling, flax seeds or hemp seeds will work.

Crisp and lovely gluten-free crackers.

Garlic and Sesame Gluten-Free Cracker Recipe

I ended up using a half cup of pecan meal in this recipe because nut meal adds to the taste and texture of gluten-free crackers. If pecans are a problem for you, almond meal will work. Or use a quarter cup of seeds, if you prefer (note that adding seeds into the dough may make the crackers less crisp).

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup pecan or almond meal
1/4 cup quinoa flour or brown rice flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon dried thyme or dried crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Stir in:

1/4 cup good olive oil
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 1 egg whisked with warm water
1/3 to 1/2 cup warm water, to start
1 tablespoon honey, raw agave or molasses

Instructions:

Stir the ingredients until a stiff dough forms- you'll need to press the dough out into a thin layer, so if it appears too dry, or it falls apart easily, add one tablespoon of warm water and mix; repeat until the dough is malleable but not too wet.

Divide the dough in half.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a reusable Exopat.

Using oiled hands flatten and spread half the dough on the prepared baking sheet. Make as thin a layer as possible. Use the edge of a rubber spatula to straighten outside edges, if you like.

Score the flattened dough into cracker sized pieces. I used a pizza cutter to do this.

To bake you'll need:

Sea salt
Sesame seeds (or flax seeds, or hemp seeds)

Sprinkle the scored dough with salt and sesame seeds.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes till firm and slightly crisp (they will crisp up more as they cool). I use an Exopat, so keep that in mind; they may cook faster without one. Keep an eye on them.

Remove and allow the crackers to cool on a rack.

We bag and freeze the cooled crackers. If you find they soften from humidity, reheat them on a baking sheet for a few minutes before serving.

Makes 36 crackers.

Sesame seeds add a nice touch.

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