Over the past week I’ve been working on simplifying our breakfasts. We’ve had a lot of smoothies, fruit salad, and toast and there will be some new recipes coming soon. This weekend I made a batch of "Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe No. 2" and these black bean sausages.

You don’t have to be a vegetarian [...]]]>

Over the past week I’ve been working on simplifying our breakfasts. We’ve had a lot of smoothies, fruit salad, and toast and there will be some new recipes coming soon. This weekend I made a batch of "Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe No. 2" and these black bean sausages.

You don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy these sausages. If you’re trying to increase your fiber, or cut back on the fat in your diet, these are a great choice. I’ve added all of the spices that are in pork sausage, so the flavor is very similar.

Black Bean Sausage Patties

2 tsp. canola oil
1/4 yellow onion, diced

1 1/2 c. brown rice, cooked
1 can black beans, or 2 c. cooked

1/4 c. brown rice flour
2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. fennel seed, chopped
1/2 tsp. red chili flakes
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin

1. Heat 2 tsp. of canola oil in a large skill over medium heat. Saute the diced onions until they are soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Combine the black beans, brown rice, and onion in a food processor. Pulse until all items are well combined (i.e., no visibly whole pieces of bean)

3. Scoop the bean mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the flour and spices. Stir to combine.

4. To make the sausage patties, divide the bean mixture into twelve pieces and roll each piece into a ball. (A little flour on your hands will help with the stickiness.) Place one of the balls between your palms, and squash it into a pattie shape.

5. Add a little more oil to your skillet and turn it down to medium low. Add the black bean sausage patties to the pan, and brown on each side.

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe No. 2
• Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe
• Gluten Free Waffles
• Breakfast on a Budget – Cream of Corn Cereal
• Minty Purple Peach Smoothie

Gluten free breakfasts are a thorn in my side. My whole-grain loving self cannot stomach gluten free cereals and John only likes eggs for about two weeks a year. So for the last couple of months we’ve been eating a lot of pancakes, biscuits, and grits, and I and my scale are ready for [...]]]>

Gluten free breakfasts are a thorn in my side. My whole-grain loving self cannot stomach gluten free cereals and John only likes eggs for about two weeks a year. So for the last couple of months we’ve been eating a lot of pancakes, biscuits, and grits, and I and my scale are ready for a change.

The last straw was a batch of biscuits on Friday morning. Monday is a big tax deadline so I was trying to get to work early on Friday to finish up one of my client’s extensions. I couldn’t think of anything quick for breakfast, so I started a batch of drop biscuits. (called”drop” biscuits because you drop them into the pan, rather than rolling them out). I didn’t have any Gluten Free Flour Mix mixed up, so I just started scooping out of various flour canisters to get the right ratio.

As I mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients I realized something was terribly wrong. A bit of quick math revealed the problem. Eight scoops with a 1/2 cup measure does not equal two cups. (If you think accountants are good with numbers, you’re wrong. We’re heavily dependent on calculators, especially at 6:00 AM.)

Now that I had invested 4 c. of gluten free flour in this batch of biscuits I was not turning back. I added more baking soda, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum and then reached for the soy milk. Soy Milk. Snap! I had just poured the last of it into David’s breakfast and lunch cups. So I went with water.

I also realized that I had already put the last of the shortening into the biscuits. There was no way that I was going to waste Smart Balance on biscuits, so I just left it out. We’ve had too much fat in our diet lately anyway.

After these additions/alterations the biscuit dough seemed to be about the right consistency. I scooped big spoonfuls out onto a cookie sheet, popped them in the oven, and in about 15 minutes, we had huge, yummy, golden biscuits.

Cooking Tip: Fixing a Cooking Goof

Here are some points to keep in mind in case you ever goof in the kitchen.

1. Figure out what you did wrong Hopefully, you will realize that something is amiss before you’re finished cooking. If so, take a minute to consult the recipe and compare it against what you’ve done thus far. Did you measure something incorrectly? Did you do something out of order? In my case, I had put in twice the amount of flour that the recipe called for.

2. Anticipate what will happen Now, try to anticipate the effect of the error. Sometimes, the goof will not have a big effect at all. In that case you may proceed with the recipe. For instance, if I add 1/2 c. of diced onion to a dish that only calls for 1/4 c., it’s not going to ruin the recipe so I can just keep going.

With the biscuits, I guessed that the extra flour would yield a very dry, flat biscuit due to a skewed ration of liquids and leavening agents to flour.

3. Consult a cooking reference, if needed If you’re not sure how your goof will affect the end product, consult a good cooking text such as Joy of Cooking. Besides recipes, Joy of Cooking has textbook type articles in each section that explain why recipes work a certain way. In the section on biscuits, I learned that the amount of fat in a biscuit recipe can vary greatly. This is why I chose to not add any additional shortening/butter to my dough.

4. Decide on a plan of action. Once you know what you’ve done wrong and what affect it may have, try to counter that affect. Some potential solutions are increasing or decreasing the remaining ingredients, increasing or decreasing another ingredient that serves the same function, or adding a completely new ingredient to the mix. This step is probably the most difficult, but your ability will improve the more that you cook, read, and experiment with new ingredients.

5. Write down what you’ve done Every now and then you’ll come up with a great new recipe when you’re just trying to fix a goof. I try to write my corrections down as I go, or quickly thereafter, just in case I’ve had a moment of brilliance =)

So, now that you’ve read all that here’s my new recipe for big batches of biscuits. It has less fat and doesn’t use a mix, and, therefore, may be more appealing to some of you. Enjoy!

P.S. I made a new breakfast menu for this coming week. Once I’ve tried it out and tweaked a few recipes I plan to make the whole menu and shopping list available for download.

Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe No. 2

(Yield: 16 large biscuits)

1 1/2 c. brown rice flour
1 1/2 c. corn starch
1 c. soy flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1tsp. xanthan gum

5 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
1 c soy milk
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 c. water
1 egg, beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl thoroughly combine the flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Cut the shortening into the flour (see "Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe"for further instructions). Add the soy milk, water, vinegar and beaten egg to the flour and stir until the dry and liquid ingredients are combined. Using a large spoon, drop the dough onto a greased pan to make 16 biscuits. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

(If you’re not vegan or casein free, feel free to use 1 c. buttermilk in place of the soy milk and vinegar.)

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe
• Black Bean Sausage Recipe
• Gluten Free Pancakes
• Gluten Free Waffles
• Gluten Free Bread: Submarine Rolls

My husband loves biscuits. In the pre-gluten free days, one of his favorite Saturday morning breakfasts was a sausage and cheese biscuit. For years we used gluten free loaf bread for our breakfast sandwiches, but a recent trip to Whole Foods inspired me to try my hand at biscuits. I have to say, these taste [...]]]>

My husband loves biscuits. In the pre-gluten free days, one of his favorite Saturday morning breakfasts was a sausage and cheese biscuit. For years we used gluten free loaf bread for our breakfast sandwiches, but a recent trip to Whole Foods inspired me to try my hand at biscuits. I have to say, these taste just like the biscuits my Mom makes.

If you’re new to baking, drop biscuits are a great place to start. You just mix them up, drop them on a pan, and bake them. (You also get to put your hands into the dough, which is a lot of fun.) I usually bake these on a weekend morning, and then heat up the leftovers in the microwave during the week. We also had them for dinner this week, and I’ll write a post on that soon.
Gluten Free Drop Biscuits
(Yield: 1 dozen)

2 c. "Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix Recipe"
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. xanthum gum

6 Tbsp. butter, shortening, or margarine
1 c. buttermilk
1 egg, beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl thoroughly combine the flour mix, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and xanthum gum. Cut the butter, margarine, or shortening into the flour (see below for further instructions). Add the buttermilk and beaten egg to the flour and stir until the dry and liquid ingredients are combined. Using a spoon, drop the dough onto a greased pan to make 12 biscuits. Cook at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

(Vegan/Casein Free Subsitution: Replace the buttermilk with 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar plus enough soymilk to equal one cup. Use vegetable shortening rather than butter.)

Cooking Lesson: Cutting in the fat

To cut the fat into the flour first measure out 6 Tbsp of butter and break it into small pieces (with a knife or your fingers) . Drop the pieces into the flour mix and, using your hands, toss the pieces of butter in the flour so that they are all coated.

Using a pinching motion (like you’re playing with a sock puppet), pick up some of the flour and butter in your hand and pinch the pieces of butter into smaller pieces. Make sure each of these pieces gets coated with flour when it falls back into the bowl. Your goal is to have lots of little flour-coated pieced of butter in your dough. These pieces of butter will melt when the bisuits are baked and make it fluffy and light. Be careful not to rub the butter into the flour as you pinch it – you’re just breaking the butter into smaller pieces and THEN coating them with flour. This is what it should look like when you’re done.

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Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Drop Biscuits Recipe No. 2
• Black Bean Sausage Recipe
• Gluten Free Waffles
• Breakfast on a Budget – Cream of Corn Cereal
• Minty Purple Peach Smoothie