Gluten-Free Flavor Full!

Gluten- Free Hummingbird Bundt Cake

2011-05-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

A Hummingbird Cake is usually a three layer cake with frosting between each layer, the top and sides. I will admit to being motivated in large part by laziness when I adapted the recipe to make it a Bundt cake. However, in the process I also made it a little less decadent. I replaced half of the oil with applesauce and since applesauce is sweet, I cut the sugar in half as well. It is just topped with frosting, so I only used a third as much frosting as I would if I were making a cake. If you wanted to reduce the sugar even more, you could dust the top with powdered sugar in place of the frosting and chopped pecans.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 8oz. can crushed pineapple, do not drain
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
2 cups bananas, chopped

Directions:

Combine rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Add eggs, oil, and applesauce. Stir by hand until the dry ingredients are moist.

Stir in vanilla, pineapple (with juice), 1 cup of pecans, and bananas.

Spoon batter into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan (use rice flour to dust pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 – 50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Spoon cream cheese frosting (recipe below) over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine cream cheese and butter; beating until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Today I’m at The 21rst Century Housewife Sharing How I Adapt Recipe to Make Them Gluten-Free

2011-04-28T10:52:00.001-07:00

Today I am sharing my tips for adapting recipes to make them gluten-free at The 21rst Century Housewife.
When I learn of someone who has just been diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease or a gluten intolerance, I encourage them by reminding them that if you think outside the box (or other packaged items) you will find an incredible variety of naturally gluten-free foods. I describe our diet as joyfully gluten-free, because I don’t focus on what we can’t have. Instead, I delight in growing and preparing fruits and vegetables for my family. Cooking real food from scratch is the easiest, healthiest, and most frugal way to prepare gluten-free dishes.
When someone is newly diagnosed I also recommend that they not jump immediately to packaged gluten-free substitutes, because they will most likely be disappointed. I encourage them to take a month off and then try baking gluten-free breads, cookies, and cakes from scratch. It is a bit more time consuming, but the reward is a more flavorful (and frugal) product. Visit The 21rst Century Housewife, if you are interested in learning how I adapt recipes to make them gluten-free.

Sweet Potato Pie with Easy Ginger Cookie Crust

2011-04-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I want to make a pie, but I don’t feel like making a pie crust. Just thinking about rolling out dough exhausts me. That is when I either tell my daughter that if she will make pie dough I will make her a pie or make a cheater pie crust with gluten-free cookies. Though I have been know to skip the crust all together and just cook the filling in a pie dish.

Pie Shell ingredients:

2 cups finely ground gluten-free ginger cookies (~8 oz. of cookies)
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

Grind cookies. I do it with an antique potato masher, but a food processor will yield a finer crumb. Stir butter into cookie crumbs.

Press cookie crumbs into a pie shell. Bake at 350^o for 5 minutes.

Sweet Potato Filling Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups or 1 - 15 oz. can of pureed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup evaporated milk

Directions:

In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine sweet potato, sugar and spices.

In a small bowl, beat eggs. Add to the sweet potato mixture.

Slowly add evaporated milk to sweet potato mixture.

Pour mixture into a pie shell. Bake at 425^o for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350^o and bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Is there something that you don’t enjoy making? Have you found a way to cheat?

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Guest Post at The Thrifty Mama and Substitute for Chocolate Chips

2011-04-08T15:43:00.001-07:00

Today I am sharing some tips for using up milk that is about to expire at The Thrifty Mama. The Chocolate Pudding recipe that I shared calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips, However that is a modification I made to my Grandma’s original recipe. If you avoid chocolate chips because they contain soy lecithin, you can substitute 1/2 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter for 1 cup of chocolate chips.

My kids prefer the recipe with chocolate chips and say it tastes like brownie batter. I prefer the original recipe. No matter which recipe I use, we both like our pudding served in chocolate cups and topped with Vanilla Whip Cream, though you may prefer Crystal’s Homemade Cool Whip.

Slightly Healthier Gluten-Free Garlic and Herb Pizza Crust

2011-03-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight when I made Chicken Alfredo Pizza with Broccoli, I used a slightly healthier version of my Garlic and Herb Pizza Crust. I replaced some of the white rice flour with brown rice flour and reduced the oil to 1 tablespoon. I also made it from memory and did something wrong, but it is a mistake that I think I will repeat: I let the dough rise as a ball in a warm location and then rolled it out. I liked the consistency of the crust better, so I have modified the direction to include my mistake.

It is not a lot healthier, especially since I topped it with Alfredo sauce AND mozzarella cheese, but it slightly healthier.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon basil
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup warm water (120 – 130 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (including spices) until completely mixed. Add the egg, water, and oil. Stir until it is completely mixed. Form the dough into a ball.

2. Cover dough loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes has elapsed, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

3. Coat a pizza pan with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal or rice flour. Roll your dough out 1/4 inch thick on the sheet. If the rolling pin sticks, sprinkle the top of the crust with cornmeal or rice flour.

4. Bake the crust for 9 -11 minutes at 450 degrees. Remove the pizza crust from oven; top with your favorite pizza toppings and place back in the oven for another 8 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

For more delicious, gluten-free recipes visit Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Gluten-Free Wednesday.

Organic Brown Rice Flour Sale

2011-02-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

I use organic brown rice flour all the time! Our favorite bread recipe is Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread from Wheatless Foodie. So I was excite to discover that Bob's Red Mill Organic Brown Rice Flour is on sale at Amazon.com. Four 24 oz. packages for 10.44; that is 2.61 a package, half off what I pay in the grocery store.

You can save an additional 15% by subscribing to have the flour delivered to you at regular intervals from 1 - 6 months. I use a little over one package a month, so I have a 4 pack delivered every 3 months. I always check the price before it is sent, if it goes up too much I cancel the service until the price comes back down.

This post is linked to Real Food Deals.

Today I am sharing a recipe at The Gluten-Free Homemaker

2010-12-07T10:01:00.001-08:00

Today I am sharing my Brown Rice Syrup Toffee at The Gluten-Free Homemaker. It is my favorite toffee because it has a nice buttery toffee flavor without being overly sweet.

I have found that as I have gotten older I have a lower tolerance for sugary items. I have done some experimenting with reducing the amount of sugar I use in recipes. In my Pumpkin Bread and Pear Bread recipes I used just enough to lend a sweetness. It is amazing how much of the sugar you can cut and still have a sweet baked good! I start by cutting the called sugar in half ( which I have discovered is often enough!) and gradually increase it as necessary to produce the desired sweetness.

One way that I have been able to cut more sugar from a recipe is to replace all or part of the oil with applesauce, which is naturally sweet. This has the added benefit of reducing the fat content as well.

I have found that I can cut out sugar by using brown rice syrup, which has the added benefit of being less sweet than sugar. I first discovered it when looking for a replacement for corn syrup in Chewy Granola Bars. I fell in love with the mild flavor that does not distract from the other flavors in the way that honey can. My kids still have a sweet tooth, so sometimes when I bake with brown rice syrup, I increase the amount I use to give it a sweeter flavor. But I have noticed that even when I increase the brown rice syrup in recipes like German Chocolate Cake, I do not get what I call “the sugar dumps”, which is the incredible need to take a nap after consuming sugar. Brown rice syrup, happily, does not have the same negative impact on me that sugar does.

Linda graciously hosts Gluten-Free Wednesdays each week. Bringing gluten-free bloggers together to share recipes and learn from each other. Linda’s Gluten-Free Challenges for this month is Gluten-Free Cookies. I am already playing with ingredients in my mind, perhaps my cookies will even be sweetened with brown rice syrup…

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

2010-11-09T13:52:00.001-08:00

My children will eat anything with pumpkin in it, but none of them are as crazy about it as my youngest son! He actually requested pumpkin pie for his birthday instead of a birthday cake. So I decided to use my old pumpkin bread recipe to make a gluten-free version for him. He has generously agreed to share with his parents and siblings.

While I was adapting my old pumpkin recipe to make it gluten-free, I decided to make a few other changes, to make it just a little healthier. I reduced the sugar by 2/3 cup and we didn’t miss it. I also replaced the oil with applesauce, which I think makes for a lighter bread.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree ( or 15 oz. can)
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup applesauce
2 tsp. gf vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat together pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, vanilla and eggs.

3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together.

4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

5. Divide Dough between two greased 8 x 4 loaf pans. Bake 40 –50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Notes:

You can halve the recipe to make only 1 loaf.

The bread freezes well.

You can add up to 1 cup of raisin and 1 cup of chopped nuts if you desire.

For more gluten-free recipes visit Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Butterscotch Pan Cookies

2010-11-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is a favorite of my children and their friends. I like that I can make them gluten-free and it isn’t obvious to the glutenavores. For that reason it is a party staple at our house. Usually, I send home leftover desserts with our friends, but my husband always discourages me from sharing this one. However, he had the audacity to complain to my friends that I cook too many delicious items, so he is forced to run more to work them off. One of my sweet friends told him that “if he was looking for sympathy because he was too well fed, he was looking in the wrong place”. To save my husband from having to do more rigorous workouts, I snuck a few of these squares home with friends. :-)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter (or df margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cup gf rolled oats
1 3/4 cups butterscotch chips

Directions:

Combine flours, potato starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, mix butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips.

Spread dough in a 13 x 9 greased pan. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 375 degrees or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. When cool, cut into bars.
I did make a slightly healthier, but much uglier version of oatmeal scotchies. You can view the recipe here.

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Gluten-Free Chai Latte Cupcakes

2010-10-26T00:52:00.001-07:00

I feel incredibly guilty sharing this recipe, not because you are going to become addicted to these cupcakes, which you are, but because they are so easy! Last month I won a Pamela’s Bakery prize package from Saxifrage at Sweet Sensitivity. I promised to share how I used the items and I didn’t make an exception for embarrassingly easy recipes.

Ingredients:

1 package Classic Vanilla Cake Mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup milk
3 chai tea bags

Directions:

Bring milk to a boil. Place tea bags in milk and let them steep for 10 minutes. Squeeze milk out of bags and discard tea bags.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add cake mix, eggs, oil and milk to a mixing bowl. Mix on medium-low for 2 minutes.

Pour batter into greased or lined cupcake tins ( I fill 18 instead of the recommended 14, which creates a better frosting to cake ratio.)

Bake for ~23 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I used Pamela’s Vanilla Frosting Mix to frost the cupcakes. When I first saw Pamela’s Frosting Mixes, I wondered who or why someone would buy a packaged frosting mix. Then I realized that the frosting mix contains gluten free vanilla, so it is perfect for family and friends who do not normally keep a gf kitchen, but want to bake something for us when we visit.

If you don’t feel guilty doctoring cake mixes to create delicious desserts you might enjoy Easy Applesauce Cake, Easy Triple Chocolate Cake, or Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake, which are all made with a Pamela’s Bakery Gluten-Free Cake Mix.

For more cupcake ideas, visit Cupcake Tuesday.

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Gluten-Free Pear Bread

2010-10-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

I am one of those people that complete strangers talk to. I don't know why, I am fairly shy and don't usually initiate conversations in grocery stores, but I must send out a signal that I don't mind if people talk to me…because they do! They walk up to me and ask me how to grow tomatoes in our area, they tell me that the mangoes are small here compared to South America, they call me "earth mother", and they invite me to smell the pears.

The lady was right, the pears smelled great! Then she told me that I should make the Pear Bread recipe from Joy of Cooking. I thanked her and told her I had the cookbook at home and would look it up. And I did, but my edition did not have a pear bread recipe. The seed had been planted though and now I wanted to make pear bread. Because of a conversation with a complete stranger, I decided to create the below recipe:

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (use 1 1/2 teaspoons if your pear or apple sauce is flavored with cinnamon)

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup pear sauce or apple sauce
1/4 cup pear juice or apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 large pears, diced (about 2 – 2 1/2 cups)
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Grease two 8x4 loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

3. In a medium bowl, combine sauce, juice, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Add pears and pecans and stir until thoroughly combined.

4. Add pear mixture to flour mixture and mix well.

5. Divide batter between the loaf pans. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in pans for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. The first loaf was gone before the sun set!

Do you have random conversations with strangers?

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays , Wheatless Wednesday, and Gluten Free Wednesdays.

Gluten-Free Bierock Dough

2010-10-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am a contributing writer on $5 Dinners and share my recipes on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Most of the recipes I share are naturally gluten-free, because that is how I normally cook. However, the last recipe I posted was not, so I wanted to share the gluten-free substitute I often use when I make Bierocks or “hot pockets” for my family.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rice milk (or milk)
1/3 cup shortening (or df butter or butter)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of tapioca or brown rice flour (don’t add until step 4)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, potato starch, xanthan gum and yeast.

2. In a small pan, heat milk, sugar, shortening, and salt to 120 – 130 degrees. (I use a candy thermometer to check the temperature).

3. Add milk mixture and eggs to flour mixture. Beat on low using dough hooks if you have them, if not stir by hand.

4. Add in enough of the last 1/2 cup of flour to create a moderately stiff dough.

5. Shape dough into a ball, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.

6. Divide dough into 12 balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll ball until it is 1/4 inch thick circle. Place 1/2 cup of your filling in the center and fold sides up to the center:

7. Pinch seems together:
8. Shape into a circle:

Bake on a greased baking sheet at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

You can use the Bierock recipe to make your filling or come up with your own. We also like combining cooked ground beef with leftover pizza sauce and cheese to create a pizza pocket.

We eat them hot the first night with Beef Stew with Cabbage, then I freeze the leftovers. When I pack lunches, I put the Bierocks in frozen and they thaw by lunch time.

Here are the naturally gluten-free recipes I have shared on $5 Dinners:

Chicken and Radish Salad
Herbed Chicken on Vegetable Confetti
Eggplant Pizza Bites

This post has been linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

Gluten-Free Apple Jumble Cookies

2010-10-06T01:48:00.001-07:00

These are my youngest son’s favorite cookies. He calls them “Tricia’s cinnamon cookies” because my daughter makes some for him without any chips or nuts. This is the perfect recipe for my daughter who prefers to jumble ingredients together. Despite her tendency to just throw ingredients together in a haphazard manner, she creates wonderful baked goods

Ingredients:

1 1/4 brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon gf vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup white chips (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until thoroughly combined.

2. Drop dough by level tablespoons on a greased baking sheet.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, at 375 degrees, or until the cookie bounces back when touched by a finger. Cool on baking sheet for a minute or two, then remove to a cooling rack.

These are the perfect cookie for a fall day, especially when my daughter serves them with her Chai Latte!

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

Gluten-Free Fall Party Mix

2010-10-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am always trying to come up with party recipes that use items that are naturally gluten-free. Our friends don’t mind eating gluten-free foods, but when I’m throwing a party for 20 – 30 people, it can get expensive if I am baking with lots of organic brown rice flour.

I used to serve both normal and gluten-free foods at parties, but this summer when my youngest started showing signs of gluten intolerance, I declared my home a gluten-free zone. Since then I have been vigilant in two things: finding gluten-free substitutes for all of our favorite foods and creating frugal gluten-free snacks for large parties.

Ingredients:

6 cups rice chex
6 cups popped popcorn
1 cup pecans (or other nut)
1 cup cranberries (or raisins)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine rice chex, popcorn, nuts, and cranberries.

In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

In a small bowl, melt butter.

Slowly drizzle butter over Rice Chex mix, stirring constantly to ensure the mix is evenly coated. Sprinkle with sugar mixture. Toss to ensure the sugar mixture evenly coats the party mix.

Do you have any frugal gluten-free recipes that feed a crowd?

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Sweet Potato Egg Puffs

2010-09-27T22:42:00.001-07:00

I can’t stop baking with sweet potatoes. Do you ever get hung up on an ingredient and just keep cooking with it until you run out of ideas? I think I promised once before to stop posting sweet potato recipes, so I am not going to make any promises this time, but I will try very hard to use a different main ingredient next time I post a recipe. Try being the operative word. :-)

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
1/2 cup pureed sweet potato
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Grease ramekins. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add all of the ingredients to a medium bowl. Use a whisk to thoroughly combine the ingredients.

Divide the mixture between 4 – 4 ounce ramekins or 3 – 6 ounce* ramekins.

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and cook for about 15 minutes or until they are puffed up, with golden tops, and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

We serve them warm and eat them right out of the ramekin. ( I pulled one out and cut it in half so you could see the texture in case you were visualizing some weird runny egg mixture).

My kids think these taste a bit like French toast. I think it is a great way to get veggies in them at breakfast time!

*If you use the 4 ounce ramekins the egg puffs will rise up over the top which gives a more dramatic appearance. I used 6 ounce ramekins because there were only 3 people eating the egg puffs for breakfast.

This post has been linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Gluten-Free Herbed Bread Sticks and Dipping Sauce

2010-09-15T23:28:00.001-07:00

My resolution for this year was to use up a jar of yeast and a bag of xanthan gum before they expired. This might be the first resolution that I have ever kept!

I have been having fun playing with pizza dough. Yesterday, I tried my hand at bread sticks. I slightly modified my Garlic and Herb Pizza Dough recipe.

It has obviously been a long time since we have had bread sticks because we devoured all of them in less than 24 hours. They were so easy to make that these will become a regular treat at our house.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon basil
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup warm water (120 – 130 degrees)
2 tablespoons oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (including spices) until completely mixed. Add the egg, water, and oil. Stir until it is completely mixed. Form the dough into a ball.

2. Sprinkle a baking pan with rice flour. Roll your dough out 1/2 inch thick on the sheet. If the rolling pin sticks, sprinkle the top of the crust with rice flour. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1” by 5” rectangles. 3. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes has elapsed, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

4. Bake for 9 -11 minutes at 450 degrees. Remove the oven and while the bread is still warm, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic powder. These are great served with Minestrone Soup with Quinoa Pasta. They also make a wonderful snack when pared with the below dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 – 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:
In a sauce pan, mix tomato sauce, spices, and sugar. Cook just until it reaches a boil. Serve while warm with bread sticks.

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins

2010-09-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

You would think that after I made 5 batches of Sweet Potato Donuts and a large batch of Sweet Potato Pancakes that my kids would be tired of Sweet Potatoes, but the requests for sweet potatoes keep coming in. My daughter wants me to try replacing sweet potatoes in all of my pumpkin recipes. Since the stores are out of pumpkin puree and the pumpkins in my garden are not quite ripe, I have been indulging her request.

Instead of just substituting sweet potatoes for pumpkin in my Pumpkin Muffin recipe, I decided to healthify them a bit. I substituted applesauce for the oil and reduced the sugar. These are almost guilt free muffins…almost!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk (or rice milk)
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 cup pureed sweet potato
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Topping:

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix flours, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, milk, apple sauce, sweet potato, and brown sugar.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix everything together until it is just combined.

Pour the mix into greased or lined muffin cups.

Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
My kids might want more sweet potatoes, but I promise to share a recipe that does not contain sweet potatoes tomorrow! :-)
Do you ever get stuck on an ingredient? I have been hung up on sweet potatoes in dinner recipes too.

For more delicious gluten-free recipes, visit Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

August's Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger Roundup is Up!

2010-09-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Shirley at Gluten Free Easily hosted August's Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger Roundup. She did a beautiful job compiling the posts, which could not have been easy as there were twenty participants last month. Two things stood out as I read through the posts: the photography and the connections. The photos will have you drooling, so bring a healthy snack with you to the computer. The connection the bloggers feel for those they adopted is touching. It is amazing how much encouragement and fellowship we derive from our online community. Visit Gluten Free Easily to get an overview and then visit the individual posts for more details.

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Pancakes

2010-09-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

I am very excited about the latest gluten-free challenge by Linda at The Gluten-Free Homemaker: Gluten-Free Pancakes and Waffles. The temperature is starting to drop which always makes me feel like cooking a hot breakfast and Linda has provided me with the perfect excuse to experiment while cooking!

This recipe makes approximately 24 – 4 inch pancakes. You can halve the recipe or freeze the leftovers and warm them up in the microwave on a busy morning.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk (or rice milk)
1 cup pureed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup oil
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

In a small bowl combine eggs, milk, pumpkin, and butter. Add to the dry ingredients; stirring until ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle. cook until the edges look cooked; flip and cook the other side.

What is your favorite type of pancake or waffle?

For more gluten-free recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

Gluten-Free Fall Specials

2010-09-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

Today I am sharing my recipe for Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Donuts at The Daily Dietribe. Iris is hosting a month of Gluten-Free Fall Specials, recipes that will either embrace the coming season or make life a little easier as the school year begins.

While you are there, be sure to read Iris’ inspiring post If I lose 5 pounds, I will Become A… And whether you are a beginner or not, you will appreciate her tutorial on waffles: How to Make Gluten-Free Waffles: A Beginner’s Guide.

I will share more sweet potato goodies here later in the week. Until then, I hope you enjoy the doughnuts!

The Gluten-Free Homemaker’s Snickerdoodles

2010-09-04T02:05:00.001-07:00

After eating one of Linda’s Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles, my son, without any prompting, said, “The texture is great and the flavor is awesome. They taste just like a snickerdoodle should”.

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie, but for some reason I never got around to trying to create a gluten-free version. Now I don’t have to, because as my son said, these taste and feel exactly how a snickerdoodle should. They are slightly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and do not have any of the sandiness that is common in gluten-free cookies.

I adopted Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker for August’s Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger Carnival because I had long wanted to try some of her recipes. This event provided me with the perfect excuse! I made Linda’s London Broil On the Grill, but because of bad weather I had to make it in the broiler. It was tender and tasty the first night and rolled over into a delicious stir-fry the next night. I also made her Brown Rice Salad. Linda said that it could be served warm or cold, but her family preferred it warm. I thought it was very good warm, but I enjoyed it even more cold. The Brown Rice Salad is a very easy and flexible recipe. I do better if I have complex carbs and protein at lunch, so I think this will become a regular lunch time meal for me!

The Gluten-Free Homemaker was one of the first gluten-free blogs that I discovered. I had been living gluten-free for many years, but Linda helped me to see that I was not alone; that I was a part of a larger community. Linda graciously hosts Gluten-Free Wednesdays each week. Bringing gluten-free bloggers together to share recipes and learn from each other. Linda’s Gluten-Free Challenges encourage me to stretch myself as a gluten-free cook, but I had lots of fun just following her recipes this month! Here’s one more peak at the snickerdoodles:

Easy Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cake

2010-09-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to Saxifrage at Sweet Sensitivity for the wonderful prize package from Pamela’s Bakery. The package included the products that you see to your left and a bag of Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies. The cookies are delicious eaten by the handful, but I am going to smash them and use them to make a chocolate pie crust.

I am so excited to have these mixes to play with; I really enjoy doctoring mixes! When I return from my trip this weekend, I am going to turn my attention to experimenting with these items. I will let you know what I come up with, until then here are a few of my previous creations using Pamela’s mixes:

Easy Applesauce Cake

Easy Triple Chocolate Cake

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ingredients:

1 package Pamela’s Classic Vanilla Cake mix
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 large eggs
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white chips (Optional; you could choose to go a healthier route and add nuts or raisins. But this recipe really does not need any extras to make it delicious).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, spices,eggs, pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vegetable oil. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 – 25 minutes; invert onto cake plate and let it cool completely. Drizzle with glaze

White Chip Cinnamon Glaze

3 Tablespoons evaporated milk
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a small sauce pan, heat evaporated milk until it reaches a boil. Remove from heat. Add chips; stir until smooth. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Drizzle glaze over cake.

Do you have a favorite Pamela's Bakery product? If you enjoy using Pamela's Bakery items you will enjoy reading Saxifrage’s wonderful interview with Pamela!

Easy Gluten-Free Sandwich Thins

2010-09-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

This idea was inspired by the Bread Slabs in Cooking for Isaiah. Nardone used her basic pizza recipe to make thin bread slabs for sandwiches. I used my basic pizza recipe and shaped the dough into rough circles, so my kids can use them in place of hamburger buns.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg, room temperature*
3/4 cup water ~120 degrees
sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:
Combine the flours, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl; mix well. Add, oil, egg, and water. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

Divide the dough into 8 balls and flatten on a greased baking sheet. Use damp hands to press the dough into circle shapes: Sprinkle half of the dough circles with sesame seeds, if you wish. Cover with towel or loosely cover with plastic. Let the dough sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. After the dough has sat for 20 minutes, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the bottom is crisp and the top is lightly browned. Let the buns cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

*If you forget to pull your egg of the fridge before you start cooking, you can quickly bring it to room temperature by running under lukewarm water.

What easy bread recipes do you use?

For more delicious recipes, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

Gluten-Free Bisquick Review and Scone Recipe

2010-09-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

“Bisquick was invented to make men think that they know how to cook” my daughter reflected after observing my husband’s pride over making waffles once again for his family. Until three years ago when my daughter joined me in my gluten-free diet, my husband would get up early on Saturday mornings and make a double batch of Bisquick pancakes or waffles. Then he would freeze the leftovers for the kid’s breakfast during the week. The kids had fun playing with their dad in the kitchen and I got an extra hour or two of precious sleep. This lovely tradition came to a grinding halt when we realized that my daughter was also gluten intolerant. My husband did not like the gluten-free pancake mixes on the market, though the kids didn’t seem to mind. And he wasn’t comfortable whipping up a gluten-free pancake recipe from scratch, so when he made pancakes from scratch, I had to get up to make the mix for him. Imagine my delight when I spotted gluten-free Bisquick at my Wal-Mart for $3.59. I bought 4 boxes because I plan to sleep in for a month of Saturdays!

My husband was pleased with how the gluten-free Bisquick performed. He said it tasted and acted more like Bisquick than the other mixes I had bought. Imagine that! Gluten-free Bisquick does not contain shortening or oil in the mix; it must be added. I don't mind because that allows me to control the quality of the oil and use non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. It also means that you cannot replace Gluten-Free Bisquick one for one with your original Bisquick recipes.

When my daughter was young she used Bisquick to make scones for her friends and have a "real tea party". I modified the old recipe that she used so she could enjoy a gluten-free version of her chocolate chip scones.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups Gluten-Free Bisquick
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
extra cream
extra sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, combine gluten-free Bisquick, cream, sugar, egg, shortening, oil, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Stir until a soft dough forms. If it still seems crumbly, form a ball with your hands.

Pat the dough into a 9 inch circle on a greased baking sheet. Brush the top with additional whipping cream. Sprinkle the top with additional sugar. Use a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 8 wedges, but do not separate the pieces.

Bake about at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. Place cookie sheet on a a cooling rack and let the scone come to room temperature before separating. Regular scones are crumbly; gluten-free scones disintegrate if moved before cooled. However, if you show a little patience you will be rewarded:
For more delicious gluten-free recipes visit Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Book Review: Cooking for Isaiah

2010-08-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

After learning of her son’s intolerance to gluten and dairy, Silvana Nardone set out to “blur the lines between gluten-free and gluten-full”. Like every other mother of a child with food intolerances, she did not want for her child to long for something that he could not eat. She wanted Isaiah to stop thinking about the fact that the food she was serving was gluten-free and dairy-free and instead “ experience firsthand that removing gluten from a recipe could mean that food could taste and look just as good, if not better than it’s conventional counterpart”. Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free is filled with not just child-friendly recipes, but recipes your whole family will enjoy.

My intention was to try a couple of recipes from each section before sharing my review. Once my kids started flipping through the book, I feared that I would never make it out of the Breakfast section. Their first request? Chocolate-Dipped Chocolate Donuts: My daughter had not had a doughnut in almost 3 years and these were everything that she missed in a doughnut. I can not wait to make waffle cones for her, so she can finally eat an ice-cream cone!

Nardone realizes that children with newly diagnosed food intolerances want to eat food that looks and tastes like regular food and for the most part she strives to deliver just that. However, her deviations from normal are as creative as they are delicious. She serves Sloppy Joe’s in potato skins, includes a recipe for making Belgian Waffles with hash browns, and uses savory waffles to make sandwiches.

Cooking for Isaiah includes many recipes that are naturally gluten-free and/or dairy-free. Rosemary-Garlic Potato Cake, Pumpkin Pie-Spiced Cider-Glazed Roasted Carrots, and Spinach and Roasted Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette are easy to make, delicious, and do not require a trip to a specialty store for ingredients. For the recipes that require a flour substitute, Nardone provides recipes for flour mixes. Her All-Purpose Flour Blend makes about 4 pounds and her Pancake Mix makes about 2 1/2 pounds. The flour mixes simplify the baking process allowing you to focus on preparing food your family will love rather than finding the right combination of gluten-free flours.

Many of the recipes are accompanied with photographs, which I personally find helpful; I want to know what the finished product is supposed to look like. The descriptive recipe titles give you a good sense of the flavors in the recipe, though “Chicken Rice Tetrazzini with Mushroom Gravy and Mustard Crumbs” does not exactly roll off the tongue when your kids ask what is for dinner. My only complaint with this cookbook is that it does not include a cracker recipe. Hopefully, Nardone will correct this oversight in her next cookbook!

My family knew that I was sent a free copy of Cooking for Isaiah to review and thoroughly enjoyed their job as taste testers. However, I knew the cookbook was a real hit when my daughter asked me if I got to keep the book after I was done with the review. Cooking for Isaiah will be released on August 26th, but is available for preorder at any major book store.

Is there a gluten-full or dairy-full food that you (or your child) had to give up that you still miss? This book has addressed the top two on my daughter’s list: doughnuts and ice-cream cones.

To read more gluten-free related articles, visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

Photo Credit: Stephen Scott Gross