Jules did a great job and showed how easy it can be to make great tasting gluten free foods.  Jules brought already made items (day before) and also showed how to make each of these items live during the demo.  This was great because we could sample each item a day after it was made… as many celiacs know, most baked goods don’t taste that great the day after you make them.  Her items were all very delicious that she had made he day before.

Jules Shepard Demonstration

So you are probably asking yourself, what did she prepare / demo?  Well she demonstrated how to make bread in a bread machine, pierogies, graham (like)  crackers, and finally a two-layer birthday cake.  All of which were very good.  The graham crackers were the best gluten-free ones I had ever had, light and crisp!

It was also nice to hear her talk about how you could vary the recipes to get different results… like how to make ravioli using almost the same recipe as the pierogies(for the dough).  I also enjoyed hearing about bread machines and makes me want to bust mine out of the closet again to start making breads.

At the end of the evening, she had a raffle and the group attendees could win one of three items: cake batter, graham cracker dough, or pierogi dough.  I won the cake batter, so I will be making that tomorrow night!  I also bought one her books: Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating.  I definitely enjoyed the demonstration and encourage those of you that are near one of Jules’ demonstration locations to attend!

Thanks to Natures Pantry for providing water and the space for the demonstration.  Thanks to Karen from the State College Celiac Support Group for initiating and organizing this event.

Gluten-Free Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Tinkyada Brown Rice Grand Shells Cooked
• 4 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 3/4 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 cups favorite pasta sauce

Cooking Temp and Time: 350F for 35 mins

As with most recipes in the Gluten Free Kitchen, the flour combinations are extremely simple using common flours available at most local grocery stores.

Anyhow, below is a photo of the finished product.  If you get a chance try this recipe out, you won’t be disappointed, and be sure to follow the instructions on the forum post. The post author showed a sweet trick (thanks to Alton Brown) to rolling the dough so that you don’t have to touch it by hand.

Casey and I shared a GF Cheese Pizza and the kids had regular personal cheese pizzas.  Unos GF cheese pizza came very quickly, almost as quick as the kids.  Unos GF Cheese Pizza was a very thin crust, much thinner than Corinado’s and extremely thing compared to my gluten free pizzas I make at home.  Unos GF Cheese Pizza had decent flavor and I would most likely have it again when traveling with the family.  The price was decent too:  $10 for a 12-14 inch pizza.

So if  you are out and about on travel, and looking for a decent GF pizza, give Unos a try.

Casey made the bread from a recipe on the back of a Pamela’s Products Baking and Pancake Mix.  She said it was so  easy and the results were definitely the same as everything we have made with this mix, super yummy.  Below are some photos for you to enjoy.

Kyra and my mom spent a lot of time here at our house, but they also visited with GG and took Hailey out and about with them.  My dad stopped over on Thursday to see Paulie.

While our guests were here I made sure to keep their bellies full with yummy food.  I cooked breakfast, but I mostly took care of the dinners (Gluten-Free of course).  Some of the things I cooked included homemade pizza, an apple pork tenderloin dinner, rosemary balsamic chicken kabobs w/ mac n cheese, and apple crisp for desert.  Below are a few of the photos.

All in all, I think Kyra, Paulie, and mom had a great time and we sure hope they come visit again soon.

Links/recipies for the foods shown above are listed here:

• Pork Tenderloin with Apples
• Gluten Free Mac and Cheese
• Gluten Free Apple Crisp (Book: Gluten Free Baking Classics)
• Rosemary Balsamic Chicken Kabobs (Wegmans prepared or by their marinade)

I used the recipe from my favorite gluten-free cookbook (“Gluten-Free Baking Classic”) to make the roll.  I thought I would post the photo for now just so people could see what the recipe from this book actually looks like when baked.  Enjoy!

Casey asked me for blueberry pancakes yesterday and I figured I would give Pamela’s mix a try and see how the pancakes would turn out.  The batter was just like real pancake batter, the batter baked up just like real pancake batter, and most importantly, they sure tasted like real pancakes!  Enjoy the photos and be sure to try out this mix for your gluten-free loved ones.