I know it is not Easter but.....

It is the year of the Rabbit!

Bunny Cakes
Light, fluffy, spongy, heaven. Not like any gluten free treat I have made before.
To make these you will need a little knowledge about origami.
Makes 24, 1.5 inch square mini treats.
First you will need to make 24 of these origami bunnies out of 6 inch square parchment paper (NOT waxed paper)
Then you will need:
4 oz soft Cream Cheese
2 T Dark Rum
2 T Milk
2 T Veggie Oil
3 large Eggs
1 t Vanilla
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Xanthan Gum
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Sorghum blend*

Method:
Pre-heat the over to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, add warm water, in a bowl that is just smaller than the first add the cream cheese and the rum. Blend with a hand mixed until fluffy. Then add the milk, oil and vanilla. You can now remove the bowl from the warm water. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and sugar until well blended. To this add the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum. Add the flour/egg mixture to the cream cheese/milk mixture.

In a clean, new squeeze bottle pour the batter. I guess you could use a piping bag but I had the best control with the squeeze bottle.

Now you are going to fill the bunny ballons to about halfway. There is a crease in the middle of the bunny so it is a good mark to fill to. Be careful not to make a mess. If batter gets on the outside of the bunny, it could burn in the oven and leave a dark spot. This is where the squeeze bottle tip comes in handy.

Place the bunnies on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To enjoy these tasty treats just unfold the wrapper.

Yumm!!

*Sorghum Blend- 1 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour, 1 1/2 Potato Starch, 1 cup Tapioca Starch mixed together

Potato Pancakes: Gluten Free

Tasty leftovers!

When my honey cooks he cooks for an army, even though it is just the two of us. Well, he made dinner the other night which included mashed potatoes. He makes them with a little milk, butter, salt, pepper and a few cloves of garlic. Needless to say we had leftovers. I hate wasteing food, so I set out to make something from them. Potato pancake is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

1 cup Mashed Potatoes

1 Egg

1 t Onion Powder

1 T GF Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill, but plan rice flour or corn starch could be used)

Olive Oil

Method: Mix together the egg, potatoes and onion powder. Add the flour a little at a time until the batter is a little thicker than regular pancake batter. Heat a small saute pan on medium to high heat, add enough oil to slick the pan, then add a scoop of batter. Cover the pan for 3 minutes or until the bottom is golden. Flip the cake and cover for 3 more minutes. If you spray the spatula with a little spray oil it will get under the cake easier. Serve with sour cream and chive, but I like them plan.

This is a pretty plan recipe, perfect to personalize. You could add chopped bell pepper, cubed ham, cheese, etc.

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Bread

Tasty goodness. Our CSA delivery brought us a medium size butternut squash and some walnuts, what better to make than spice bread!

Before you start the bread you are going to want to prepare the squash.

Take your medium size squash, cut it in half and clean out the seeds. I cut off the neck first and then cut the pieces in half. Place the pieces in a 9"x13" Pyrex cut side down and fill with 1/4" water. Place in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes or until the squash is just a little tender. Then peel and shred the squash. I used a veggie peeler and then I used the vegetable shredder attachment on my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. You will have extra squash, my plan is to make 2 batches of bread to use it all.

Ingredients
1 cup Flour Blend*
1/2 cup and 1 Tablespoon Tapioca Starch

1 1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Pie Spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp clove)
1 Egg
1/2 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cup Butternut Squash, shredded
1 cup Walnuts, chopped (optional)
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Use either one standard loaf pan on 6 mini loaf pans and spray with cooking spray. Mix together the squash, egg, oil, sugar and vanilla, I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, 1/2 cup starch, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices.

Slowly add the flour mix to the squash mix and blend well.

If you are using walnuts mix them with the 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch, this keeps the nuts from sinking to the bottom of the bread while cooking. Add the nuts to the batter mix.

Now pour the batter into the prepared pans and with a wet finger or spatula smooth the tops of the loafs. Bake in preheated oven for 50-70 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Flour Blend- 1 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour, 1 1/2 Potato Starch, 1 cup Tapioca Starch mixed together

Gluten Free Biscuits

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

Great for mini sandwiches, breakfast, with chili and so much more. These turned out fluffy and not crumbly. Perfect!!

Ingreadents:
3/4 cup Flour Blend*
3/4 cup Potato Starch
4 teaspoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Xanthan Gum
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Butter (shortening, Crisco or real butter)
2/3 cup Buttermilk (quick buttermilk**)
Rice flour for dusting
Milk for brushing

Method: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend together the flour, potato starch, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt. I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment but you can use a food processor or by hand. Blend in the butter until it resembles course cornmeal. Slowly add the buttermilk until the mix is just moist. The mix will be sticky. Dust your surface with rice flour. Drop the dough onto the surface and with a floured hand pat the dough into a 1 inch thick round. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray and dust with rice flour. With circle cutter, cut out your biscuits and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little milk. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until light golden crust, turn the pan halfway through baking. Makes 12.

*Flour Blend- 1 1/2 cup Sorhgum Flour, 1 1/2 Potato Starch, 1 cup Tapioca Starch mixed together.
**Quick Buttermilk- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar and enough milk to equal 2/3 cup of liquid, set aside for 10 minutes so it will thicken a little.

Bean Soup

Yummy Goodness

Gluten Free Dairy Free Bean Soup

~I didn't want to start with dried beans so I used canned.

15 oz can Cut Green Beans, drained
15 oz can White Beans
15 oz can Garbanzo Beans, drained
15 oz can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can Pinto Beans
15 ox can Kidney Beans
4 medium Tomatoes, diced
1/2 medium Yellow Onion, diced
1/2 medium Red Onion, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, diced
1 lb Ground Turkey
8 oz cubed Bacon
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Cumin
2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional Jalapeno Pepper Slices

Method: Brown the turkey in a skillet. In a stockpot, saute the garlic, onion and bacon cubes. Once the turkey and bacon/onion are fully cooked and the turkey to the stockpot. Add the white, pinto and kidney beans with the liquid in the can included. Add the drained green and garbanzo beans. Add the drained and rinsed black beans. Add the tomato. Give it all a big stir and add the brown sugar, paprika and cumin. All the mix
 to simmer for at least 2 hours, but it could be served as soon as everything is heated through.
Enjoy!

Pickled Veggies

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) we are a part of delivers awesome veggies. Sometimes we have so much that we don't know what to do with it. I decided it would be nice to make some pickled veggie mix. I like to put it on salads and sandwich wraps. This recipe does not require any canning processing and will keep in the fridge for 1 month or so.
Ingredents:
6 cups water
1 1/2 cups white vinager
1 cup apple cider vinager
1/3 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon coriander 
1 Tablespoon black pepper kernel
1 teaspoon celery seed
4 cloves garlic (I used one big elephant garlic clove rough chopped)
2 bay leaves
Whatever veggies you have on hand, I used 3 medium pattypan squash, 2 medium bell peppers, 1 cucumber and 1/2 medium onion, this was enough to fill seven 1/2 quart jars and still had liquid left over to pickle more.
jars and lids
Method:

Cut the veggies to 1/4 inch x 1/2 inch slices, and long enough to fit in your jars. I used a mandolin slicer.
In a large pot, bring the water, vinegars, salt, sugar, pepper, coriander, celery seed, bay leave and garlic. Boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Take the cut veggies and pack them into your jars. Ladle the cooled liquid into the jars, enough to cover the veggies. Make sure the veggies are stuffed enough not to float. Screw the lids on the jars. Store in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.

Apple Spiced Gluten Free Mini Muffins

Yum!!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons potato starch
2 Tablespoons water
1/3 cup veggie oil
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice mix
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup GF flour mix (I used a sorghum blend*)
1/4 cup tapioca flour
Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the mini muffin tray with a light spray of cooking oil. I am using a hand mixer, but this can be done in a stand mixer if desired. Mix together the sugars and applesauce. In a small bowl, mix together the potato starch and water. This will act as the egg. If you choose you can use 2 eggs instead. Add the potato starch mixture or eggs and the oil to the sugar/applesauce mix. Blend until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and soda and the pie spice. Add the flour mixture to the applesauce mixture. Drop tablespoon fulls into the prepared mini muffin tray. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Sorghum Blend
1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups potato/corn starch
1 cup tapioca flour

Gluten Free Chex Mix

Tasty goodness!!

For years and years before the gluten free diet change, I LOVED LOVED LOVED me some Chex Mix! All flavors anytime of the day. Now, I long for Chex Mix to make a gluten free variety. I don't see this happening anytime soon so I set out to make my own.
Ingredients:
4 cups Rice Chex (I use the generic store brand)
4 cups Corn Chex (I use the generic store brand)
1 cup Roasted Peanuts (or any nut will do fine)
3 cups Gluten Free Pretzels (I use Ener-G)
1/4 cup Gluten Free Margarine (I use Country Crock)
2 Tbsp Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce (I use Lea and Perrins)
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp White Pepper, ground
For spicy flavor add 1/4-1/2 tsp Cheyenne and 1/2 tsp Paprika
Method:
FYI: I do not have a big enough mixing bowl to do this so I use a stock pot.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together the chex, peanuts and pretzels. In a separate bowl, mix margarine, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and cheyenne and paprika if using. Microwave the margarine/spice mixture until the margarine is melted. Pour 1/4 of the melted mixture over the chex mixture, stir, pour a little more, stir, pour a little more, stir, pour the rest, stir. Microwave mix for 2 minutes on high, I think this helps the sauce get inside the chex and not just sit ontop of the chex. It is ok to microwave in 2 batches, I had to. Pour out microwaved mix onto 2 foil covered baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes, stir and rotate sheets and bake for 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container or large ziplock bag.
Enjoy!

Recipe Review: Gluten Free Sugar Cookies by Carol Fenster

My mom bought me the cookbook 1000 Gluten Free Recipes by Carol Fenster shortly after I switched to a gluten free diet. The same day I made the Pamela's Chocolate Chunk Cookies I also made some thumbprint cookies using the sugar cookie recipe from this cookbook on page 419 and homemade jams.
I followed the recipe for the sorghum flour mix and then made the cookies. Instead for rolling the dough balls in sugar, I just put them on the cookie sheet. After baking for about 10 minutes, I used the back of a spoon to make a bowl shape in the middle of the cookie and filled that bowl with a teaspoon of the jam from the other day. Then returned the cookies back to the oven for 5 more minutes. The cookies taste fantastic! Kind of like a whole wheat flavor, the texture was soft and moist. The jam flavors fit perfectly. A perfect cookie for my morning cup of chai latte.

Product Review: Pamela's Products Gluten Free

I have been dreaming about cookies lately. After the gluten free diet change I have not been able to find a decent  cookie store bought cookie. After a trip to Whole Foods, I came home with a bag of Pamela's Products Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix, hoping that it will be tasty and satisfy my cookie cravings. I followed the directions on the package. Increased the baking time by 5 minutes. They came out super tasty!! Crispy around the edges and soft in the middle. MMMmm! Even my he-man of a husband liked them. I give it 5 stars, something that I will keep in the house all the time.

OOOh, here is a picture of the finished cookies. The do bake to a dark color, that is because there is coco powder in the mix, making it extra chocolaty.

Chicken and Green Beans in a White Wine Sauce

One of my favorite dishes to make is chicken breast and green beans in a white wine caper sauce. Green beans are one of the only cooked veggies my honey will eat.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
6 cups cleaned and snapped Green Beans
3/4 cup and 2 tsp set aside Corn Starch
2 tsp Ground Pepper (I like White Pepper)
1 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp dried Rosemary
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 medium Onion, diced
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
3 Garlic Cloves, diced
3 Tbsp Butter
1/4 cup Capers, drained
1/4 cup Cold Water
2 1/2-3 cups White Wine NOTE: if it is not good enough to drink it is not good enough to cook with
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large ziplock bag, add the chicken breasts and the herbs. Then add the corn starch to the bag, zip it closed and shake away, coating the chicken in the herbs and corn starch. In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Shake off the extra corn starch and place each chicken piece in the heated skillet. Evenly brown each side of the breast and place in the oven on a cookie sheet covered with foil (for easy clean up) until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, in the same skillet the chicken was browned in over medium heat, add the white wine, garlic and lemon juice. Use the liquid to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the green beans, onions and garlic and cover. Cook till beans are just about done and remove the beans from the pan. Add the capers and butter to the pan. Mix the 2 tsp corn starch and the cold water, once mixed add it to the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil. Once the sauce has thickened enough to your liking, remove from the heat. Assemble the plate as follows: Chicken and beans and ladle the caper white wine sauce over all of it.

Jamming

So when my husband and I bought our first house in April of 2009, it had quite a few fruit trees already planted. The peaches bloomed and ripened the best of all of them. Having buckets and buckets of peaches and not knowing what to do, I called my mom. She said slice and peel the ripe ones and put them in freezer bags, freeze them until she can visit from to teach me to make jam. 6 freezer bags full of peaches have been sitting in my freezer since then. I convinced my mom and baby sister to come down and stay a few days to make jam. Oh, and baby sister is also getting her graduation pictures taken by Jessica at Sweet Pea Photography

There are lots of ways to make jam and this way is ours. This is the directions to make one batch of jam, we will be making multiple batches of jam. This will make a chunky tasty jam and not a clear jelly.
DISCLAIMER: This process is a HOT one. Be careful! You are making a HOT fruit syrup it can burn you. Even the most experienced jam makers still get burned from time to time.

To begin you will need some specialty items:
A steam canner pot
Canning jars (we are using 6 half pint jars)
canning rings and seals
Jar funnel
A box of SureJell fruit pectin (1.75 oz box)

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups of Peach Pulp and Juice (just so you know, I am lazy and didn't peel all of the peaches, it will just give it texture and will not effect the finished product in a negative way)
3 cups of White Sugar, with 1/4 cup set aside
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Butter (to cut the foam, if foam does form it can be skimmed off or stirred down)
NOTE: Please measure everything before beginning.

Wash the rings and seals, then put them in a pot of water, bring to a boil. Leave covered and take off of the heat. Sterilize the jars in the dishwasher, leave them in the dishwasher until you are ready to fill them DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! Set up the steam canner by filling the bottom part (the small pan) with water, put the grill on and the lid (the large part) on the stove and bring to a boil.

In a stockpot place the fruit pulp and juice, mix in the box of SureJell, the 1/4 cup of sugar and add the butter. Place pot on the stove and bring to a  rolling boil (a boil that can not be stirred down), stirring often with a wooden spoon.

Add the remaining sugar. Bring back to a roiling boil, stirring often. Once at a roiling boil, cook for 1 minute.

With tongs pull out seals and rings for the jars and replace the lid of the pot, to keep the remaining seals and rings warm. Pull jars out of the dishwasher and close the door, to keep the remaining jars warm.

 

Ladle hot fruit mixture into jars. Wipe down the jar rim and place the seal and ring, screw down the ring to just tight. Place the jars on the grill of the steam canner (at a boil), starting in the middle and circling outward making sure not to have the jars too close together. If the jars are placed too close they can break.

Replace the lid of the steam canner and once steam starts coming out from under the lid set timer for 10 minutes. When timer is up, turn off heat and wait till steam stops coming out from under the lid. Remove the lid and make sure that all the seals have popped down and wait 1 minute. With a towel, take the jars off the grill one at a time. Wipe off the water that has collected on the jars and tighten the rings. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN! Place jars on a trivet or folded towel to cool, leaving space between each jar. Allow the jars to cool over night before storing in a cool dark place.

I also had some some strawberries to jam. The method is the same, but measurements are different.
6 cups Strawberry pulp and juice
4 cups White Sugar with 1/4 cup set aside
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Butter

NOTE: Strawberry tends to foam even with the butter, so the best thing is to skim off the foam with a metal spoon. The foam is pretty tasty on toast.

Valentine Waffles!!!!!

It is Valentine's day and dh and I have no money. I woke up and found these in the kitchen.

DH clipped them from the bush out front, they are lovely and smell nice.

We decided to make waffles for breakfast. I love waffles!! I am always in search of the perfect waffle. Well after the gluten free switch, waffles are out of the question. But now I have put together a decent gluten free waffle recipe. Makes six 4inch square waffles
Ingredients:
11/2 cup Gluten Free flour mix (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1 large egg
1 t vanilla
3/4 cup milk(cow, rice or soy)
1 T oil
spray oil for waffle grill
Method:
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix together all the wet ingredients.

Mix the wet stuff into the dry stuff and blend well.

Now let the batter sit for 5 minutes. During that time, heat up the waffle grill. Give the grill a quick spray with spray oil. Pour ~1/4 cup of batter on each side of the waffle grill.

Close and wait 4 to 5 minutes, or until the waffles are just a little crispy in the edges. I like them extra crispy so I wait 5 to 6 minutes. Pull off and serve.

I like mine with cinnamon sugar butter(1T soft butter, 1t sugar, 1t cinnamon mixed together), DH likes his with regular syrup. To complete our breakfast we had his and hers Organ Chai 

Enjoy!!

My version of Baingan Bharta

Baingan bharta is a traditional North Indian dish of spiced, roasted and mashed eggplant. Awhile back, I was working at a bank with some really great ladies. They ordered some Indian food, naan, grill fired chicken, and baingan bharta. It all was fabulous. I can make naan and grill a mean chicken but I was nervous to try to make the baingan bharta. Here is my attempt.

Ingredients:
2 eggplants, roughly a pound
4 Roma tomatoes
1/2 Yellow onion, diced
4 T Olive oil
4 Whole garlic cloves
4 minced garlic cloves
2 t Cumin
1 t Chili powder, add more for spicier
2 t Paprika
2 t Coriander seeds, roughly crushed
Salt and Pepper to taste
You will also need a large sauce pan, a 9x13" baking dish and a stick blender
Method:
Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Peel and rough chop the eggplant, place in the baking dish with the whole peeled garlic cloves. Add 3 T of olive oil and toss to coat. Add all of the spices, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Place into the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the pieces and back into the oven for 15 more minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Mean while, take the tomatoes and over high heat of a gas stove (or grill) char the skins then plunge into cold water to remove the skins.

Chop the skinned tomatoes. In the sauce pan, add the last tablespoon of olive oil, diced onion and minced garlic, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until onions are soft, then add the chopped tomatoes.

 After the eggplant come out of the oven, add it to the sauce pan of onion and tomato.

 With the stick blender (or potato masher) mash the mix to a chunky salsa texture, finer if you wish.

Continue to simmer over medium/low heat till flavors are well blender, about 15-20 minutes. Serve with naan or pita bread.

I was trying to make gluten free flat bread to serve with it but the recipe failed miserably, I need to do some more research.