Egg Roll in a Bowl {Gluten-Free}

January 13th is National Gluten-Free Day which is every day for me.  It's fortunate (or unfortunate really) that there are enough gluten-allergy sufferers that there is a food holiday devoted to us!  It has been a few years now, so eating a gluten-free diet is part of our daily life and I normally don't give it a second thought.  Developing recipes and adapting old ones to become gluten-free are something I enjoy doing most of the time like taking our family's Indian Fry Bread Recipe and coming up with a Gluten-Free Version.  Occasionally though I'm in a hurry or I'm not in the mood to experiment and it's easier to just eat a hamburger without a bun or a taco fillings without a tortilla.  Sometimes I can get my Asian fix with a good spring roll since the wrappers are rice paper but since I have to be cautious about soy sauce, it's safer to prepare Asian recipes at home.  That's when I realized I can have the delicious flavors of an egg roll without the gluten-y wrapper.  And it's prepared as a satisfying meal instead of an appetizer!  This recipe comes together super fast and if you go light on the sauce, it's pretty healthy too.  All the flavors of an egg roll, minus the gluten and minus the hassle of rolling and frying.  Win Win for everyone!

All the flavors without the wrapper!

Saute onions and garlic

Add additional ingredients and cook until
cabbage is wilted slightly.

Add shredded chicken and garnish with green onions.

Whip up a quick sauce with mayonnaise and
sriracha sauce.

Drizzle sauce over and enjoy.
Bonus: Gluten-Free!

Copycat Beaver Nuggets - I'm "Eager" to be your Valentine + FREE Printable Valentines

The saying goes, "Everything is bigger in Texas" and it's true.  If you've ever traveled around Texas, chances are you've stopped at a Buc-ee's.  To call it a convenience store would be a serious understatement.  Buc-ee's typically has it's own dedicated highway exit and 35 locations around Texas.  The New Braunfel's location is the largest convenience store in the world.  It is so big you could fit 22 average-sized 7-11 locations inside this location.  Buc-ee's is known for their famously clean restrooms, beef jerky bar, homemade fudge, a WALL of candy choices, home decor shopping, t-shirts, lawn chairs, hunting accessories and of course Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets.  With their unmistakable Beaver Logo, it's only natural that they would have their own world-famous snack food:  an addicting caramel coated puffed corn snack.  We buy a bag or three every time we visit, usually diving in before we even leave the parking lot.  Imagine a treat, similar in texture to a Cheetos puff, minus the savory cheese.  Add a caramel-y, buttery, slightly maple flavor.  Now you know why Buc-ee's is a MUST VISIT when you're in Texas.  If you aren't visiting anytime soon, you can satisfy your addiction until the next trip by making them at home.  With Valentine's Day tomorrow, they are the perfect treat for family and friends.  In the past I've made Red Hot Applesauce (Valentine You're Awesome Sauce) and Strawberry Brownies (Shooting For Brownie Points Valentine) So a Beaver- Themed Valentine seemed  silly and appropriate.  I made little Valentine Tags, perfect for gift giving: I'm EAGER to be your Valentine.  Whether you're sharing the Beaver Nuggets with people you love, or hoarding them all to yourself, whip up a batch immediately for a true Taste of Texas!                         

Careful, these are addictive and anyone you
gift them to will LOVE you forever!

Step One: Locate Chester's Puff Corn.

Step Two:
Boil together butter, brown sugar,
and corn syrup.
Much like you're making caramel corn.

Step Three:
Remove from heat and add baking soda
(the mixture will foam up, so use a good-sized pan)
vanilla and maple extract which is key for the authentic
Buc-ee Beaver flavor.
Combine this mixture well with the
puff corn in a large bowl.

Step Four:
Make sure your puffed corn is well-coated.
Place onto couple of pans lined with parchment paper
and bake in a 250 degree oven for 45 minutes,
stirring every 15 minutes.
Allow to cool before breaking into pieces.

Step Five:
Now you can consume the Beaver Nuggets
all for yourself OR you can share with your
family and friends, especially for Valentine's Day
using the tags I've provided.

I'm EAGER to be your Valentine.
(These almost said, "Are you a Beaver cuz Dam" but
I'm not sure the grandparents would appreciate my humor AND
in the unlikely event you make these for school-aged Valentines-giving...well inappropriate)

Copycat Beaver Nuggets,
the quintessential Texas Road Trip Treat!

I found little treat bags at Dollar Tree.
Since these are going to adults and not school
Valentines, I was generous and scooped about
4 cups per bag, tied them up with a cute ribbon
and added my adorable homemade gift tags.

Here are the FREE Printable Gift Tags.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Right click to save to your computer.
Open with the software of your choice and print onto cardstock.

These images are my exclusive artwork.
Please be courteous when using these printables
and remember they are for personal use only.

Happy Valentine's Day Friends and Foodies!
I'm EAGER to be your Valentine

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce from the Occidental Hotel

One of the zillion things I love to collect is paper ephemera.  That's a fancy word for collectible memorabilia that was for a short term purpose.  Ticket stubs, post cards, newspaper articles.  I really don't collect recent ones as much as I love to prowl antique stores and estate sales for little historical things that catch my eye.  There's not really a theme, just little advertising images or blurbs that were once tossed aside but now seem historically interesting to me.  So when I saw this cute little newspaper article including a hot fudge recipe I immediately had to try it.  In true historical fashion, I had to do a little research on the Occidental Hotel.  It was originally built int 1864 in Muskegon, Michigan as the Hamilton House Hotel.  It reopened as The Occidental in 1868 and enjoyed many decades, even experiencing a devastating fire in 1936.  It finally closed the doors in 1970, making way for the Muskegon Mall.  But back in the glory days, apparently Betty and her friends that worked at Sears nearby were onto something because the hot fudge sauce is amazing.  I'm ashamed to admit how many nights in a row we ate hot fudge sundaes.  With Valentine's Day coming up, this is the perfectly classic ending to a Valentine's Day meal.  Enjoy with someone you love!

This sauce is so thick, rich and luxurious.
Be sure and use quality cocoa powder,
whole milk, real butter and quality vanilla
to get the full experience.

Here is the original newspaper clipping
that caught my eye and inspired me to
make this recipe.

Aren't these just the cutest little Valentine's Day Desserts?
A Classic Hot Fudge Sundae with
Homemade (Historic) Hot Fudge Sauce

Be generous with the Hot Fudge Sauce and
Whipped Cream.  You only live once!

This is soooo good.  We ate sundaes for a week.
We have the scale to prove it.

Using quality ingredients in the sauce makes
all the difference.  Using homemade whipped
cream and splurging for these cherries will too.
The Merry Marachino Cherries from Tillen Farms are the best cherries ever.

Here are a few of the little paper ephemera
things I have collected over the years.
Sometimes I change it around for the holidays
with things like vintage Valentines.

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce from the Occidental Hotel

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup cocoa (I used dutch-processed)
6 tablespoons flour (I used gluten-free flour blend with great results but feel free to use all purpose)
1 teaspoon salt (I used Diamond Kosher)
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, cocoa, flour and salt) in a saucepan.  Place over medium-low heat stirring in the milk and cubed butter.  Stir constantly until combined and thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Store in refrigerator.  To reheat, place in a microwave-safe container and heat for 20 seconds at a time, stirring well in between until hot.

NOTE:  I varied a little from the instructions when I made this.  The clipping wasn't entirely clear when to add the butter or vanilla so I added ingredients according to similar recipes with great results.

Prep Time:  Approximately 5 minutes     Cook Time:  Approximately 25 minutes

Three-Ingredient NUTELLA Brownies {Gluten-Free}

It's World Nutella Day!  WHAT?!? That should be every day.  It's a holiday devoted to the globally sensational cocoa hazelnut treat.  I made these brownies for the Super Bowl, simply because they are made with almond flour so they are gluten free.  I took a platter full to the party hoping they would be overlooked and I would have leftovers.  NOPE!  They were gone in a flash.  The texture of a rich, fudgy brownie with that Nutella flavor we all know and love.  You would never ever know these are only made with three ingredients and the almond flour is a great alternative to regular all-purpose flour and gluten.  I've been using almond flour a lot as I've been dabbling in Macarons, and I really like baking with it.  (Stay tuned once I get those suckers perfected!) Super easy, super tasty, Super Bowl festive and totally worthy of an international holiday celebration.  Pour the milk and party!

World Nutella Day here I come...

A thick, fudgy brownie sans gluten.

Only 3 ingredients to a tray full of treats!

Break out the milk and enjoy.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ranch Dressing is the quintessential Okie condiment.  I'm not positive but I think the trend of putting ranch salad dressing on pizza started in Oklahoma.  I remember doing it in high school much to the chagrin of my parents and Pizza Hut waitresses everywhere.  As I've gotten older though my tastes have changed and while you'll still catch me grabbing a bottle of Ranch Dressing when we order a pizza, it's not something I really put on a salad anymore.  Mainly because I like to make things from scratch.  In fact, we make so many things from scratch around here when I do eat something like a store bought cookie all I can taste is preservatives.  So the other night we made lovely salad for dinner.  I brined and baked some chicken breasts, fried and crumbled some bacon, chopped some hard boiled eggs.  We had Romaine lettuce, chopped celery and carrots.  It was quite colorful and refreshing and lovely to look at and then I realized I had no dressing to put on it.  What would have been perfect was Mr. DD's Blue Cheese Dressing but I didn't have any blue cheese on hand and I sure wasn't changing out of my pajama pants to make a trip to the store.  So I came up with a quick little version of Homemade Ranch Dressing that was an absolute hit.  The secret ingredient?  Pickle Juice. Mr. Devilish Dish loves anything with lots of dill and while I did add dried dill to the recipe, I wanted to boost the dill flavor and thin the dressing just a little.  The result was delicious and we ate salad for days.  This is my new favorite go-to dressing and I just might have to order a pizza for old times sake and try it out! 

Oklahoma's favorite condiment: HOMEMADE!

Delicious on salads, veggies, as a dip
and of course on pizza!