GF Cajun Shrimp & Polenta

One of the things about going gluten free that really bothered me was the idea of not being able to eat some of my favorite foods. That may sound ridiculous, but like I said - I'm quite the foodie over here. Sometimes I think the term "foodie" is just a nice way of saying fatty but hey! Lets go with it! 

I can't tell you how relieved and thrilled I was that Shrimp and Grits, a southern staple, was still on the list of dishes I could have! And without any sacrifices! Yay! And if you're wondering, grits vs polenta? What's the difference? Hardly any taste wise - but I like to use polenta because it's been easier for me to avoid being glutenized. 

Now this recipe is geared more towards people who like spicy food... aka me! But it's very simple to just adjust it to milder (and more normal) tastes! Simply take out the roasted jalapenos and reduce (or completely nix) the cayenne pepper! 

GF Cajun Shrimp & Polenta

Polenta:

2 ½ cup Chicken broth

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp heavy cream

1 cup polenta*

Salt

Pepper

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

10 slices of bacon

5 jalapenos

4 tomatoes.

*I prefer Bob's Red Mill Polenta Corn Grits

Preheat the oven to 350 degree. Do a rough chop on the jalapenos and tomatoes and put them in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Bring the broth, 2 ½ cups water, butter, and salt to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta – be careful, it pops! Continue to whisk for about 3 minutes, and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until it is thick, make sure to stir it often with a rubber spatula. Mix in the pepper, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. Keep stirring often for another 10 minutes.  

In the meantime cook the bacon, I like it to be crispy so you can chop it up and later put on your polenta.

Shrimp:

1 ¼ pounds medium shrimp, peeled & deveined, tails intact

2 tbsp butter

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1tbsp Cayenne Pepper (very spicy – use less if need be)

Juice of 1 lemon, plus wedges for serving

Dash of Tabasco sauce

2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley

Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic, and cayenne – cook, tossing, until the shrimp are pink, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbsp water, the lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, and parsley; stir to coat the shrimp with the sauce & season with salt and pepper.

To finish, mix in the roasted jalapenos and tomatoes with the polenta. Divide the polenta into serving bowls. Top with shrimp and sauce. Then sprinkle with the bacon pieces! Voila! 

GF French Roast

Today I decided the perfect thing for dinner would be my favorite roast: a French Roast! I have no idea what exactly makes it "French" but oh well! This is a really simple recipe that I love to use, basically you just throw all of the ingredients into a crock-pot for a good 6-8hours! How much easier could it get? 

The best thing about this recipe is that it's naturally gluten free! This is one of the few recipes that I barely had to tweak! I'm little ashamed to admit how ridiculously happy it made!! So here it is!!

GF French Roast

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast or even a rump roast

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder
black pepper

salt
1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
1/4 cup water to deglaze pan
2 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced (I prefer Vidalia) 

1/2 cup of baby carrots

4-5 baby red potatoes, quartered

1/2 cup of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup beef broth**
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

**If you're intolerant to gluten you need to be careful of buying certain broths! Some brands sneak it in there and you get glutenized!! Lately I like Pacific Natural Foods Beef Broth. I especially love that it has a nice big "Gluten Free" label right on the box!

Rub meat well with salt, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. Heat heavy pan with small amount of olive oil and sear the meat on both sides. This will take a few minutes; try to not rush the searing.

While roast browns go ahead and see to your vegetables! Peel your onions and cut into thick slices. Quarter your potatoes and slice your mushrooms! You can go ahead and start putting stuff into the crock-pot! I like to put the potatoes down first, then the carrots, then the onions, and then your mushrooms!

I like to mix all my liquids together before I put them into the crock-pot. So in  bowl stir together 1 cup beef broth, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, and 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce. 

When the meat is brown on all sides, remove the meat and then deglaze pan with 1/4 cup water. Add the pan drippings to sauce mixture.

Put meat on top of the vegetables and pour beef broth mixture over. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until beef is tender. The meat might be partly submerged in liquid after this much time.

This is delicious over rice, or even just by itself with a big hunk of GF bread (like I did above! Gluten Free Pantry Mix French Bread works great!) Plus the leftovers make yummy sandwiches!! .... on gluten free bread of course!

Who needs gluten?

Who needs gluten? Well I don't! Not anymore! About a month ago I discovered that I had a pretty severe allergy to gluten. Not only did it turn my little fingers and toes into sausages but it completely ruined the next week for me! So after a month of coming to terms with it, I've finally decided to blog about this experience.

And what an experience it is! I don't know if you've realized, but gluten is in all the good food! Fried chicken, pasta, beer, cakes, cookies, muffins, ... oh the list goes on! Not that I particularly NEED any of those things but wow, I'm going to miss them!

Many may laugh at my attempts to blog, I'm sure I will. And many is probably a gross delusion - how many people are really going to read this?

But I'm doing it. I'm going to blog my way though this gluten free extravaganza and drag you all along with me! Luckily for you my life isn't all about going gluten free!

Wish me luck!!