Tag: gluten-free breadcrumbs

GF Pantry: Gluten-Free Panko Crumbs

When it comes to pantry staples, I like to focus on items that are not pricey gluten-free specialty items. Often, there are better substitutes or alternate cooking methods that will save you money and time. One exception, for me, is gluten-free panko bread crumbs.

Traditional panko is made from crustless bread, resulting in light, airy bread crumbs. They are popular in Japanese cooking, and I loved them in my pre-GF life due to their ability to get crispy and stay crispy. I’ve found they don’t require a lot of extra seasoning to taste good. Continue reading “GF Pantry: Gluten-Free Panko Crumbs”

Macaroni and Cheese

Years ago during South by Southwest, my husband and I snuck out for a meal by ourselves. We ended up at the Moonshine Grill in downtown Austin. On the menu was an amazing macaroni and cheese with spicy green peppers. The moment we returned home, I started trying to recreate this recipe.

Over time, I stopped trying to make Moonshine’s mac and cheese, focusing instead on making my own. My ever-faithful bookclub has cheerfully (and hungrily) endured my experiments over the years, and there was only one major failure. Note to all: soymilk is not a good substitute for real milk in this instance.

You live, you learn.

From my perspective, the key to good mac and cheese is a mix of cheeses that bring appropriate meltiness and flavor. As a rule, I rely upon good old-fashioned regular milk when making my cheese sauce, but have, once or twice, tried out evaporated milk. The latter does add an interesting creaminess to the sauce…and that weird evaporated milk smell completely disappears in the sauce.

Needless to say, this recipe makes excellent leftovers. I do find that gluten-free pastas tend to absorb a lot of sauce, so I tend to go heavy on the sauce, lighter on the noodles.