Making Carmel Sauce

I have never made carmel sauce before. I actually never really cared much for carmel till this past winter when someone bought some dark chocolate with salted carmel filling. They really shouldn’t have done that 🙂  I really like carmel now.

So yesterday, I thought it would be so nice to have a bit of carmel to dip my apple slices in.  I thought that making carmel sauce would be hard or take a long time, so I went to the internet and looked up various methods to make carmel sauce. First there is the melt the sugar by itself version. Which is the one I tried.  And there is the put all the ingredients together at once and cook it till it is just right. That was the Martha Stewart version, so I guess it works.

Then there is the one that uses no butter at all and uses cream instead and uses a little water to help melt the sugar down, I think that is what I will try next time.

Anyway, I cut the recipe down because I knew however much I made was however much I would eat. It was great and I wished I had made more.

my recipe:

1/2 cup raw sugar cooked down till melted over low heat. stirring constantly. remove from heat.

Add 3 T. butter and stir till melted

add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk, I, of course did not measure… bad habit I know.

but start with 1/4 cup and if it not thin enough add more.

if it starts to turn into lumps just put it back on the low heat for a min to melt back again and keep stirring.

Let cool at least 10 min.  I had a hard time with that one. 🙂

I just started dipping apples into the hot goo and then tried to cool it off so would not burn my mouth.

Carmel sauce is great to put over ice cream, and for making carmel lattes also… yum!

Gluten Free Chicken Alfredo

I have been attempting to go “gluten free” for a while now, it seems that in some ways it is a simple task to eliminate wheat from your diet.  True. But… so many things have wheat in them. 

Take for instance, white sauce.  A base for so many dishes, yet it contains flour as a thickener.

So I got to thinking.  What about oat flour?  It is a thickener, easily accessible and you could make it your self in a pinch.  I mean, most people have oatmeal in the cupboard. 

So I decided to try it.  I make my own oat flour by blending it until smooth.  Then I sift it and store it in my flour bin, which now does not contain any wheat… or gluten.  Ready to go for my favorite recipes. 

Gluten Free Chicken Alfredo

Place in blender and swirl till smooth:

2 Cups milk

2 T. (heaping) oat flour

1/2 cup gouda cheese 

1/2 cup cream cheese 

1 gluten free vegetable or chicken bullion cube (be sure it is MSG free)

1 t. garlic powder or more to taste

salt/pepper

spice blend  (I like to use italian herb blend)

optional for spice: cajun seasoning

Saute in Wok:

1 onion chopped

3/4 cup butter 

1 cup chopped baby asparagus

when onion is clear put in chopped chicken.  (4 chicken breasts)

When chicken pieces are free from the pink raw look, swirl the blender once more to mix the cream sauce really well.

Pour slowly into chicken mixture while stirring. 

Simmer till thickened. If you feel it is getting too thick, you can add white wine. (1/2 cup)

Serve over your most delicious gluten free pasta, steamed vegetables, baked potato or rice.