Gluten Free Empanadas

I love these, but they are time consuming from both finding the mix to making them. But they are super tasty and everyone asks for them come the holidays so I’m going to try and make time to make these more often thru the year. They do freeze well so you can stock up on these and bake as needed. You can choose pretty much any filling for these, I like steak and green pepper with mozzarella, buffalo chicken with blue cheese or spinach and mushroom with cheddar.

Ingredients- Dough:

2-3 boxes of Chebe Focaccia Mix.

2 TBS olive oil,

4 TBS milk

1 cups strong shredded cheese (Like cheddar or similar)
2 large eggs

Filling & Directions:

You choose, I like canned chicken, shredded with Franks Buffalo Sauce for quick recipes. Steak and peppers using Steak-Um’s and diced peppers. Prepare the filling and place off to the side to cool so it’s easier to handle. I put a pinch of whatever cheese at the bottom and place more filling on that, and fold over to seal and close off the ends with a fork.

Prepare the dough based on instructions on the box. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Use a large cookie cutter, or large cup to create a circle piece of dough. Slightly flatten with your hands before you place filling on one side of the circle, so that you can seal them in half moon shapes. 

Freeze until you’re ready to consume, or bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees. If frozen, bake for an additional 15 minutes or until they look nice and crispy. 

Gluten Free in Vegas, Again!

Another Successful trip to Vegas! I have to say I love visiting Vegas, for more than gambling. Though I’m starting to gamble more and more on each trip, I love how there is so much to do in one area. This year was a bit rougher since I sprained my ankle pretty bad a couple weeks back, but I was hobbling along pretty good at this point.

We had several very tasty meals and found more places that we ended up loving after this trip. My first was making sure I got some In-N-Out Burger! Now that they are on the strip (Linq promenade) we could make it there w/o an Uber. Their protein style burger (Wrapped in lettuce) and Fries Animal style were so good. Greasy and bad for you, yes. But TASTY! I ate there 3 times all together on our trip, the 3^rd time my fiancé asked if we could go back because it was so good the first time we went (the 2^nd time I went w/o him). While Wahlburgers is close by too, In-N-Out is quicker for ordering and eating. The last time we went to Wahlburgers it was a 45 minute wait for lunch at 1:00! We really wanted Quicker food this time. 

Yardbird Southern Table and Bar is located inside the Palazzo in restaurant row (Between the Venetian Casino and Palazzo entrance). There is no separate menu for gluten free, but I talked to the gal at the counter and our waitress, for the scoop. They have a separate fryer for the Gluten Free Fried Chicken! Yes Fried Chicken! They also have several GF appetizers and side dishes. The chicken was so good and crispy, and a huge serving. You get 4 pieces for chicken, that with Brussels sprouts and Farmers cheese with Watermelon I felt like you’d have to roll me out of there, it was all so good! It does take about 30 minutes to make so go early, you’re going to be there a while.

Grand Lux Café in the Venetian & Palazzo. We were meeting friends there, and couldn’t find them. Turns out there are 2 locations to this restaurant, in sister hotels. One in the Palazzo the other in the Venetian, so confusing but very tasty. We ate at the one in the Venetian both times, it’s right at the back of the casino. Their menu has designations next to the gluten free dishes and they have everything from breakfast to late night options. We ended up eating her before our flight home the last day as well as had dinner a couple nights earlier. Both times the servers were very knowledgeable about gluten free substitutes. 

One night we opted to do something different and went for Chinese food. I read several shining star reviews of Wazuzu in Encore, so we decided to check it out. It wasn’t a huge menu for gluten free, but it had a few options we liked, like Sweet and Sour Chicken and Panang Curry Chicken. We split both and got a couple sides of brown rice. OMG SO TASTY! This totally hit the spot and made us happy. It’s located right on the Casino floor and was not busy, so we got right in on a Friday night at 7:00. It probably helps that Encore is further away from all the hustle and bustle of the main part of the strip. I totally recommend checking it out. 

At the Airport I wanted to grab a snack, I'm glad I did as our flight had some issues getting out and we sat on the tarmac for some time before they figured out stuff. That had our plane coming in to Chicago after 9:00 and for where we live, after all the quick eat places close. I found this box of Cheese, grapes and crackers. The crackers unfortunately are Gluten-ful, BUT wrapped in their own packaging making this safe for me to eat. I gave the crackers to my gluten eating travel partner while I ate my own crackers with the cheese and grapes.

Wine Gummies!

This is a new party favorite of mine, and it's pretty easy to make! I got some Lego silicone ice cube trays for Christmas. So I used those this time. I do have a kit for making Snoopy gummies that I've used previously also. The one thing I wish I did have for these is an eye dropper to make this less messy, but a deep ladle of a spoon works too. 

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Wine of your choice.
2.5 TableSpoons (or 2.5 packets) of Knox Gelatin
1/4 cup white Sugar

Directions: 
Place 1/2 cup of wine in a sauce pan, and heat on medium heat. Be sure wine gets warm, but does not boil. While wine is warming pour in the gelatin mix, being sure to whisk the entire time so the gelatin doesn't start to clump while pouring in.
Once all the gelatin is mixed in and dissolved into the wine mixture, start slowly adding in the sugar, again maintain whisking the mixture so the sugar doesn't clump. Keep doing this until the liquid is clear again and not clumped with sugar. 
Some more sparkling wines will get a foamy residue at the top, that's fine, that will show up in your item but doesn't change the taste. 
Once your liquid is clear not cloudy, turn off the heat and quickly spoon the mix into silicone molds. Or if you have an eye dropper, you can use that to fill the molds. You must work quickly cause the mix will start to harden once the heat is removed. 

Place the molds in the fridge for 20-25 minutes before you remove the shapes from the mold to serve. They can be kept in the fridge or at room temperature. The ones below were in the fridge about 30 minutes before removing them from the mold and placed in a bowl for serving. Be sure if wine has not boiled they will have alcohol in them, so please make sure to only serve to the adults at your party!