Early Bird Gluten Free Thanksgiving Planning

We spent Labor Day on the St. Lawrence River with friends. Since the weather looked iffy from the start, perhaps an indirect effect of Hurricane Earl, we decided to embrace the shift in temperature and plan a Thanksgiving-like Labor Day meal. After all, we still had a wonderful Stonewood Farms antibiotic- and hormone-free Vermont Turkey in our freezer, and Thanksgiving 2010 was just around the corner. We planned a simple meal based around the turkey, stuffed with Rosemary Baguette stuffing… and tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Our garden back in Vermont was bursting with tomatoes, as was our friend’s. Thus, tomatoes had to be on the menu in some way as well.

The weather turned out far better than we expected, but it was a weekend of violent fronts moving in across the River, white caps, and some of the most spectacular sunsets.

 At times, it seemed as though we went through three seasons in an hour. In the end, it was perfect roasted turkey weather, complete with a fire in the woodstove. So, in time for early-bird Thanksgiving planning, here is our recipe for awesome turkey stuffing—guaranteed to please the most gluten-free hostile relatives.

Gluten Free Rosemary Stuffing

Note: This recipe is based on the 13.5 pound turkey I happened to have. Stuffing amounts needed to be adjusted according to the size of your bird. This amount of stuffing was perfect for a turkey of this size; however, the next time I will double the recipe and bake some more stuffing separately. It disappeared on our table in nanoseconds!.

Ingredients:

2 Against The Gain Rosemary Baguettes, sliced and lightly toasted
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
½ stick butter
1 large egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Toast rosemary baguette slices for approx 15-20 min @ 250-300, and dice in approx ½ inch cubes.
2. Melt butter in frying pan; add chopped celery, onion, salt, and pepper and sauté for approximately five minutes.
3. Toss butter and vegetable mix with bread crumbs; add raw egg until evenly moistened.
4. Stuff turkey cavity and place in preheated oven (I cook my turkey at 325, but follow directions on turkey packaging.)
5. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. After one hour, cover breast with a small piece of muslin, and baste as needed until done, pouring off juices as necessary. You don’t need to cover the exposed stuffing if you like the surface to be slightly crispy.

Original Rolls or Original Baguettes will work just as well for the stuffing recipe. If you specifically want rosemary stuffing, add a Tbsp of fresh chopped rosemary to your sautéed vegetables. Rosemary rolls may be substituted for rosemary baguettes.

A Berry Delicious Gluten Free Day

Yesterday Alex and I celebrated the summer solstice (a little early—we took advantage of the perfect weather) by hiking up to the top of Mt.Wantastiquet. It’s a great mountain just across the Connecticut River from Brattleboro, VT with a carriage trail built in 1891 that switches back and forth to the summit.

It was hot, and we didn’t bring water, so we were thrilled to discover that we were the first to find ripe wild blueberries growing around the boulders on the summit. They were warm and sweet and tasted just like summer.

I always get a thrill when I come upon naturally growing berries. It’s like eating local at its ultimate best. Our scene was right out of Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal, except that our blueberry picking solitude was interrupted not by a bear, but by a Jack Russell terrier and a guy sitting on the summit monument talking for at least fifteen minutes on his cell phone. Welcome to the “connected” world of 2010.

As if that weren’t enough, on our way down, we came upon a young family of four heading up. Alex stopped dead in his tracks, and in his unvarnished directness, accosted them with “Your dog is wearing shoes!” No kidding, their boxer (I think they called her Lily) was wearing what looked like red Mary Janes called Bark’n Boots ($59.95 at Eastern Mountain Sports if you care.) Admittedly, our Golden, Chester, has some sensory issues, but all I could imagine was him rolling in contortions trying to simultaneously chew and scrape those shoes off. Besides which, how can a dog respectably give a squirrel a run wearing shoes with Vibram soles?

A shoe-clad dog is definitely an oddity in Vermont, and between the “bear” and the dog with shoes, we laughed all they way down. Along the railroad tracks in Brattleboro on the banks of the Connecticut River, we found MORE wild berries. This time, they were black raspberries. We picked a nice cup of them and brought them home to make GF raspberry muffins for Father’s Day. So here is my version of wild raspberry gluten free/casein free muffins…enjoy!

Wild Raspberry Gluten Free/Casein Free Muffins

 (makes 20)

2 ½ C GF Mix (1/3 rice flour, 1/3 cornstarch, 1/3 tapioca)
¾ C sugar
¾ C powdered sugar
4 large eggs
½ C non-GMO canola oil
1 C fresh raspberries
¾ C chopped pumpkin seeds (or seeds/nuts of your choice)
2/3C orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:
Combine all dry ingredients; then add wet ingredients and beat on high for 2 minutes. Fold in raspberries and chopped pumpkins. Ladle into greased cupcake pans ( ¾ full.) Bake at 350 for approx 20 minutes.
Note:  this recipe does not use xanthan gum.