Thirteen beautiful rolls of Poison!

On Friday I get to go to school to help with 6th grade Science Enrichment. Our topic is safe lab practices. I've been practicing preventive safe lab practices all this week because I've been baking cake--not gluten free cake.

I'm in the midst of baking, rolling, unrolling, filling, rerolling and frosting cakes, and when one is working with dangerous substances, safe lab practices are essential.

I'm clearing the counter, washing all tools in hot soapy water, dishtowels in separate loads in the washer and I've changing clothes twice during the process. (It's a contamination issue, because I spill a lot.)

Most importantly, I'm baking cakes with my retainers in. Retainers are worth more than just a great smile, sometimes they are a life-saver. Unfortunately, I am a taster baker which means that after the cake is in the pan, the frosting or the batter tool makes it to the mouth on it's way to the dishwasher. And that thoughtless little mistake could prove deadly, so I'm wearing the retainers and it's working.

I'm glad I don't do this very often because it's torture to bake thirteen cakes without slurping even one drop, nor pulling even a crumb off the baked pan.

(This is not wrapped solely for my protection, but because the cake has to freeze solid before it can be frosted.)

The final slap, in the time it takes me to bake one gluten-free cake--I can have four box cakes whipped up and out of the oven.

Oh the trials! What I will sacrifice for beauty, no I mean health--well, health and beauty.

Partyville!

175 people, yet so fun and so easy. The taco truck came and parked in the driveway and made life so easy! I'm stuck with six extra cakes, and not a one gluten free one in the bunch!

Fiesta Adios! Party's Over!

Whew, glad that's over. I forgot photographs during the event, but I should have snapped a shot of the detritus afterward.

Today, I'm baking a gluten-free cake. I can't look at these languishing in the freezer one more minute without cracking one open and gobbling it up. The rice and beans I made were naturally gluten free and here are the recipes.

Smoky Chili Rice follow this link

Refried beans, I used the standard recipe, I soaked pintos overnight, rinsed then simmered then all day in water with onion. When they were soft, I added a handful of bacon (already fried and crisped--remember, I'm bacon lazy) and mashed them with my potato masher. I added a scoop of taco seasoning and a splash of salsa and they were delicioso!

If you were wondering, the side dish calculation is four pots of beans = 3 oz. per serving for 175 people, approximately 6 gallons of beans, just FYI.

Next week's house party is back to 12 people and gluten-free stability! Hurrah!

Enchilada Sauce from scratch

Today I made easy enchiladas from scratch! I know! No can of red sauce, nothing. Admittedly, I didn't homemake the cheese, but the sauce was magnifico!!!!!

I'm never rolling them up again. My corn tortillas always rip anyway. Today I laid in sauce on the bottom of the 9x13 pan, laid on a corn tortilla layer, next a fried ground beef layer and then a cheese layer and repeated four times. I baked it a half hour at 350 to firm up because all the ingredients were hot.

For the sauce, I used one of those dry dark Ancho chilis (you have seen them in the ethnic aisle of the store and have wondered what to do with,) and put it into my blender with an onion, two cans of tomato sauce, 1 tsp. ground red pepper, two tablespoons of dried green peppers (I was out of fresh) and blended it up. It didn't look as bright red as Walmart's red sauce, it was a deeper red. I simmered it for about 20 minutes and added water to thin to the right consistency.

It was too hot and too spicy at first, but as it simmered and mellowed (and I remembered to add the 1/2 tsp. of salt,) the flavor at the front came together and the spice at the end wasn't as strong and as I said,

Magnifico!

Okay, okay, it's not as easy as the Walmart brand red sauce, but it is mucho deliciouso.