ChocoVegie Muffins, gluten free

I have been experimenting with punting vegetables in Chocolate  muffins for a while. The first batch I liked was with carrot and zucchini. Then the next time I was thinking that I would like to make more, but I did not have zucchini. So a little experimenting, and I used some very ripe bananas.

This is a small batch, only 6 muffins, but since i'm the only GF in my house, six is enough for me, to eat, before they go bad.
This recipe is so good, my three and six-year old will eat them too. So Sometimes I double the batch. We will eat them for breakfast, I would think slightly healthier then chocolate cereal, but maybe not.

So there we have both versions.

CocoVegie Muffins

1 C Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix.*
1/4 C coco
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 C sugar
1/2/ C carrot
1/2 C zucchini OR 1/4 C oil + one ripe banana.
-I have also tossed in a handful of chocolate chips.

Prep the vegetables by pealing them. Then shred, or grate them. I process mine in a blender, so make them super smooth.

Mix the dry ingredients, then add wet.
Mix it with a spatula or spoon, because the batter is a little stiff.
Spoon it into six muffin molds.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until the top springs back when presses lightly.

* I relay like to have Mixes on hand. I just don't have the cupboard space for all of the variety of ingredients, and since many recipes call for such a minor amount, of some obscure thing, it's not cost effective to get it, and then have to toss it out before using it all.

Steam cake

It's hot. Well, hot for the NW.  lower 80s or so. Makes me not want to heat up the stove. But we have strawberries, and I want shortcake. So search the internet for cake in a steamer.
http://dingoozatfood.blogspot.sg/2014/10/easy-steamed-eggy-cupcakes.html?m=1

I adjusted the ingredients to be gluten free,and it came out nice.

• 1/3 C Namaste Gluten free flour blend
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tb powdered milk

Sifter together.
Then add:

• 1 egg, 
• 2 Tb sugar
• 1Tb vegetable oil
• 2 Tb Milk

Mix well, and divide between 4 silicone cupcake molds. Place molds in streamer basket.
Steam for 15 min.

Pudding pie

I was in my chest freezer, and I noticed the apple pie filling I had put in a few months ago, and I thought "yum, that sounds good" So I got it out.  But I was not in the mood to make a regular crust, and I was leaning towards something creamy. So I searched google, and then pintrest for an apple pie, that used a crumb crust, and vanilla pudding. But no luck.
So I came up with this:

Apples, sliced, sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar.
1.5 Cups crushed Cheerios, I had pumpkin spice on hand.
1 Stick butter, melted.
1 package instant, vanilla pudding,
3 cups milk, instead of 4

Mix crushed cheerios with melted butter.
Press into an 8 inch glass pan. Square or round.
Layer the apple slices on the crust.
Microwave 4 min, on high.
Let cool.
Mix the pudding powder with 3 cups of milk.
Spread pudding on top of the apples.
Refrigerate until set.

Enjoy.
I like the combination of flavors. It's like a pudding pie, with an apple layer.

Pecan pie bars, Gluten and dairy free

Pecan Pie Bars. Gluten free, non diary

Crust: 

• 1 3/4 Cup  Namaste Gluten free flour blend
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3/4 Cup Crisco
• 2 TB water

Line 9X13 baking pan with parchment paper.

Cut the Crisco into the flour and sugar. 

Press into the pan

Preheat oven to 325, Bake for 20 minutes

Filling:

• 2/3 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1/ 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup pecan half's

Mix the brown sugar and flour. 

Whisk the eggs, vanilla, salt and syrup. Then mix into the sugar and flour. Let stand while the bottom layer bakes.

As soon as the bottom layer comes out of the oven, mix the pecans in, and pour it into the crust.

Back into the oven for another 40-50 minutes.

Chill at room temp.

Then fridge overnight.

Grain free Brownies

I've got a friend doing a grain free diet. And only sweeteners like honey and coconut. Not sure of it's name, but she gave me a recipe she wanted to try, I looked it over, and adjusted it to what I had in my cupboard, and to be dairy free.

1/2 Cup Coconut oil
4 oz bar, unsweetened chocolate
12 TB cocoa powder
4 TB coconut oil
-Melted together in a double boiler, then add
1 Cup honey
1 tsp Vanilla
-Remove from heat, and While it cools a little
-In food processes:
3/4 Cup Coconut sugar
1/2 Cup blanched, slivered almonds
2TB coconut flour
114 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
-Process until the almonds sugar have broken down to a flour consistency
- Then add
4 eggs, one at a time. Fully integrated.
Preheat oven to 350
Line an 8 X 11 pan with parchment paper.
Pour in the batter, and spread in the pan, to an even height.
Bake
Remove from pan, and Allow to cool.

It had a very rich and heavy texture. Not quite as fudge like, as a tort. I had some with whipped cream, and on another occasion with strawberry syrup. Either is good.

Quest for GF Sugar cookies continues,

My next attempt to find a Gluten free recipe for cut out cookies took me to glutenfree on ashoestring.com She always has excellent recipes.

My son and I don't particularly like ginger bread or gingersnaps, so I just left the ginger out.

And I used corn syrup instead of molasses.

It worked out fairly well.

Some held their shape better then others. 

We made them rather small, and they were very fragile.

Quest for GF Sugar cookies, that you can shape

My Little Squeaker wanted to make gingerbread men, since he had been learning about them in kindergarten.

I however do not have a reliable gluten free recipe for cut out cookies.

So the hunt began.

First I tried the "holiday cookie" recipe I found in my American test kitchen, cookbook.

I used Namaste flour blend, an chilled the dough twice as long as the recipe suggested, but it was a FAIL.

Sweet corn Bread

I have said before that I like a sweet cormn bread.
So on the look out for a new sweet cornbread muffin, I found this: mygluten-freekitchen.com
glutenfreeeasily.com

I modified the recipe a little

I used corn flour instead of meal
And a little brown sugar for white.
Splash of vanilla 

The results were:
Heavy, but not too. 
Not crumble. 
Sweet but no cake like.

Excellent with some chicken chilli

Apple cobbler with hidden veggies

I love Cameo Apples. For everything.
This is a recipe to sneak more veggies into my children's diet.

1 apple, pealed, sliced into16 slices

1 apple, half sliced into 8 slices, Half  dices (peal on)

1/3 C diced yellow Zucchini (seeds scooped out)

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

-Stir and let juice while you prep crust

1/2 C Namaste flour

1/4 C Oats, Bob's red mill

1/4 C Brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

1/2 C Shortening, melted.

-Mix

-Pour fruit into 8X8 pan, spread evenly

-Take handfuls of topping, and pat in you hands, until flat-ish, lay on top of fruit. Repeat, covering entire top of pan.

-324 for 35-45 min, until apples bubble, and crust is firm.

Tea cakes. Gluten free Bananna Bread

For some reason tea cake recipes have been hard to find; And By tea cake I mean; banana bread, zucchini bread, lemon poppy seed loaf or Applesauce cake. I have also heard these called snack cakes, but I think that implies that they are baked in a square pan, not in a loaf pan.

The kind of things that my mother would give us a slice of afterschool. Not as sweet as cookies, but more of a treat than muffins.

But I think I finally have one;

Chocolate banana bread: 

1 cups	Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend
2 Tb 1/2 tsp	coco powder baking soda
pinch	salt
1/4 cup	canola oil
1/4 cup	White sugar
1/4 cup	applesauce
1	large egg
1	banana, mashed
1/4 tsp	gluten-free vanilla

Preheat to 325.
Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
Pour batter into two small loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 30 min. Rotate pans, and bake for 30 more, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Thing is; back in 2001, when I first went Gluten Free, all of the recipes I could find were also dairy, nut and egg free. Now a days, Gluten Free is associated with Paleo, and the nuts are back and  introducing other costly ingredients.

Rustic peach cake

 

Peach cake. (rustic coffee cake)

1 box Krusteaz Gluten Free Honey cornbread mix
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp Four season's gourmet cold pressed Blueberry Vinegar
1 Tb white sugar
1 ripe peach, thin sliced
1 TB brown sugar

Mix vinegar into milk, making blueberry buttermilk. (could use any vinegar)




Wisk oil, egg and milk.
Stir in white sugar and mix, until moistened
Spoon batter into greased 8X8 pan
Top with peach. Press peach down into batter.
Sprinkle Brown sugar on top
-let rest while oven preheats to 375.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Check center for doneness with a toothpick, might need 5-8 more min.

Let cool, and slice.

We love it. And it's not super sweet or heavy. It's a nice snack cake as is, or with some wiped cream, and caramel sauce, makes an easy desert.

Chocolate tropics. Choclate cookies with dried fruit.

A cross between a cookie, and the corner piece of a brownie.

Chocolate Tropics

 

12 oz bag semi sweet-chocolate chips,
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
2 eggs
4 Tb oil Coconut is best, but any oil will work
1/4 cup banana, ripe, mashed

3/4 cups Bob flour
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1/4 guar gum
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup total of: white chocolate chips, coconut, dry tropical fruit, chopped nuts.

 

-Melt chocolate chips, then allow to cool slightly.

-In a large bowl beat in sugars, eggs, oil and banana, until smooth.

-Add chocolate to big bowl and stir to incorporate

-In a small bowl, whisk together flour, soda, gum and salt.

-Add dry to big bowl, stir to incorporate.

-fold in fruit and nuts.

-1 Tb of dough into each cup of a mini muffin pan.
Bake 350 for 12 min.

 

These very chocolaty treats came from an old recipe, that I loved, but when I tried using a GF flour, even with the Gar gum, they would just puddle all over the place, so one day I put them in the mini muffin pan, to keep them from spreading, and the results were delicious.

Pad po tak. Thai noodle seafood and sausage (gluten free)

 I think this would be called Pad Po Tak.
It's a variation and amalgamation on a few recipes

Soak rice noodles in cold water 3 hours. Then drain.

 To make sauce, mix
 1/4 tsp Thai green curry paste (I used red, should be more mild)
 3 Tb Coconut cream
 3 Tb fish sauce
 2 Tb white sugar
- mix together, set aside.
- Heat a large deep sided pan. In 2 Tb of oil sauté
 1/4 lb Shrimp, shelled, deveined
 1/4 lb white Fish, cut into bite sized pieces (snapper, cod, tilapia)
 2 Thai Sausage, Lemmon grass,  sliced

-then add
 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced
 1/4 cup fresh basil
 Noodles
 Sauce
 -Stir to coat.
 -cover and simmer for 3 minutes, until noodles are translucent.

Excellent on its own, or with another Thai dish, like curry soup.

Recipie review: ATK Lemon loaf

I had a craving for pound cake. A nice, cake like loaf with lemon and blueberries. I had not yet tried the Lemon pound cake recipe from "America's Test Kitchen, How can it be gluten free" cookbook.
I decided to use some of my frozen blueberry supply to make a lemon loaf.

The batter was a little thin, so the berries sank to the bottom.
At the designated time, the loaf was a little doughy, so I turned the temp down a little and left it in another 10 min.
The finished loaf was rather dense, and crusty. A little hard to eat. It was dry and doughy at the same time.
Not what I was hoping for, in a lemon loaf.
I ate about a third, and then put the rest in the freezer. Perhaps it will make a nice French toast, or cake pop...

Up-Cycling pasta #5 Kielbasa Pasta

Kielbasa Pasta

4C cooked pasta
12oz Sliced Kielbasa
1/2 red bell Pepper, diced
1/2 orange Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 C broth

Sauté Peppers and Kielbasa in oil.
Add broth and noodles. Simmer 10min.
Top with Hard cheese shreds. (we like Parmesan, and Mizethra)

Breakfast Bullets

This started out as a crust-less Quiche.

Then, I decided to put it in muffin pan, to make individual servings

Then I decided to make it microwaveable.

 

Breakfast Bullets

1 Cup broccoli florets

1/4 C baked potato, crumbled

3 slices of bacon, crumbled

2 slices Cheese, Colby Jack

4 eggs

1/4 C Parmesan cheese

 

In a silicone Muffin pan, distribute the Brocci, potato, bacon.

Top with cheese slice.

 

In a small bowl, beat the eggs, with the Parmasane and season to your liking.

Pore the egg mix in to the cups.



 

 Microwave for 2 min.

I served these with breakfast, on Pi day. Because it is round.

Califlour crust

This was my second try at making a cauliflower pizza crust.

4 cups grated cauliflower
1 egg
.25 cups Parmesan, Pre grated, from the Tub
.25 cup shredded Colby Jack blend
Pinch salt and a dash of Italian seasonings

*Preheat oven to 400 WITH pizza stone inside.
1. Put cauliflower in a microwavable dish, cover, and cook for 3 min.
2. Put the cauliflower into mesh strainer, and drain off the water. Give it a good press, to get as much water off as possible.
3. Mix the cauliflower with the rest of the ingredients.
4. On a piece of parchment paper, press the mixture out into a crust shape.
5. Slide the parchment and crust on the stone in the oven and Bake 35 min.
6. Pull the Crust out (still on the parchment) onto a cutting board or cookie sheet, and put your toppings on.
7. Bake on the Stone for another 5-10 min to finish the toppings.

Bread? Don't need no bread!

I started eating gluten free in 2001.
It was very difficult to find gluten free sandwich bread, and what I could find was not that good.
So I made other choices.
#1, was Apple.

 

Two, thin slices of apple, a little honey ham, and Colby jack cheese.
Super easy, and tasty.

Gluten free Tropical Trifle

Now You should know that you can NOT just substitute gluten free cake mix into regular cake mix.

Its important to respect the difference. So it took me a few tries to change my old Jello in the cake recipe. We are not talking poke cake.

We are talking about pouring dry Jell-O powder into a white cake batter, and then baking it into a fabulously colored cake.

In this case: A tropical trifle:

I started with A box of cake mix, in this case Betty Crocker's yellow cake mix

I followed the directions on the box, but with an extra egg, and a Tb more water.

Pored in a small box of Tropical Flavored Jell-O.

Then baked in a 9X13 for a little longer at a little cooler.



Cut the cake into cubes, and layered it in the Trifle dish with Pineapple chunks, strawberry slices, mango, coconut, whipped cream, and banana pudding.

Gluiten free Brownies in the microwave

I'm not new to the idea of making a brownie in the microwave. I tried a store bought version back in 2010.
I like the idea of being able to make a small batch of brownies, quickly. I'm the only one eating gluten free in my family. So when I found a recipie for "1 minute flourless chocolate" no gluten, no dairy, over at ditchthewheat.com I gave it a try.
It was good, but I needed more chocolate.

My version is:
1 egg
2 Tb of cocopowder
2 Tb of white sugar
1/4 tsp baking Soda
1/8 cup mini-chocolate chips

Mix that up with a spatula
Spoon into three silicone cupcake molds, staggered.
Microwave at 75% for 1 min.

Not very attractive, but very tasty.