This Post is Gluten Free

First, an aside. Why does this cartoon make me think of Cookie?

Ahem.
Anyway, back to the subject.

In my last couple of trips down to Las Vegas (home of the nearest Trader Joe’s), I looked for a few gluten-free items that Margene might like.

On the last trip, I picked up some of Trader Joe’s Guten-free brown rice tortillas. I thought I’d better try some myself, so I made one of my favorite quick dinners – the Crisp Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Slaw. The tortillas are a little denser and chewier than flour ones, but fried up in oil until crisp, they were very nice. The husband loved them. In fact, I think he likes them better than regular flour tortillas.

Then I had an idea to use some to make pizza. I topped them with sauce, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and some pine nuts, and baked them on a pizza stone at 450^o F for about 7 minutes or so.

Here’s the result:

I didn’t think this was quite as successful as the tacos (I really liked how the tortillas fried up in a bit of oil and got flaky and crispy), but they were still pretty good. DH was in heaven. He said they were everything he likes – tomato sauce, cheese, brown rice, and crispy. He’d be happy for me to make these any time. Or the tacos.

The tacos, by the way, went very well with this Crios Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza 2007, from Argentina. It seemed a bit lighter and fruiter than what I’d expect from a Cab, perhaps even a little jammy, with soft tannins. Perhaps a little closer to a Shiraz than a well-aged Bordeaux. Although we both like Cabernet Sauvignon, we don’t have it often because we’re usually eating foods better complimented by white wines. But this turned out to be a nice, light, drink-me-now red wine that worked well with our meal. It would probably be a nice choice for people who are not into more assertive red wines. I’d buy it again. (And I did.) Around $15 in Utah, probably less if you live elsewhere.

Something else I thought I’d posted about but evidently didn’t… I made some gluten-free Coconut Macaroons using this recipe. They were sort of like meringue cookies, but soft and chewy and coconuty on the inside. They were a big hit, though I would probably cut down slightly on the sugar next time as they were very sweet. The recipe made a lot, so I popped some in the freezer to see how they’d freeze. Or more specifically, how they’d defrost after being frozen. They were pretty much the same after being frozen, so that was a successful experiment.