GF Vegan and Vegetarian Pot Pie

 

 Vegan and Veggie Pot Pie. Gluten Free Crust Option
 

                                                                                                                                                                                               Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil.

1-2 cups sliced yellow onions
1/2 cup gluten free flour
2 1/2 cups organic butternut squash soup
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons almond milk
3 medium potatoes red or white, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups asparagus tips OR a handful of Kale and Spinach
1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced carrots (4 carrots)
3 celery stocks chopped
2 green apples cut into cubes with skin on
1 sweet potato , peeled and cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (1/2 pound)
combination of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, cloves and cinnamon.
salt and pepper


In a large frying pan, cook both the sweet potatoes and the regular potatoes in olive oil or coconut oil until they are slightly soft, about 15 minutes on medium heat.

Then, in a separate pan, Melt the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, 10 minutes. Add the flour, reduce the heat to low, then Slowly add the Butternut squash soup, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the almond milk, then add in the carrots, kale, spinach or asparagus. Also add in the apples and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add in herbs. Use your own preferred amount of the herbs according to your own taste. You should be able to stab the veggies with a fork, this is how you'll know it's done.

For the pastry:

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour OR you can use Wheat Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 tablespoon honey

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl or a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the coconut oil and mix quickly with your fingers OR a pastry cutter. If using a food processor, 10 pulses should be enough until each piece is coated with flour or until the dough looks like it is "meal". Add the ice water and honey ; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Put the Veggie Pot Pie filling in a glass pie plate. Put the crust on top.

Bake the Pot Pie for 30 minutes at 350 Degrees ..OR until a toothpick, inserted into the pie, can easily stab into veggies and pot pie liquid is boiling.
Always put a cookie sheet under pie plate so liquid doesn't get inside oven.

Resources

 Here is an awesome website for Shauna James Ahern and her husband, who is a chef.
 They have tons of GF recipes. She is a wife and a mother and she has Celiac Disease.


http://glutenfreegirl.com/


Here is a website for an amazing magazine..Living Without.
 If you are sugar free, dairy free, gluten free, etc this has tons of great recipes and ideas.
Thanks to my sister Emily who introduced me to this magazine.

http://www.livingwithout.com/

Gluten Free and Reduced Sugar White Chocolate Macadamia nut Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups GF flour. ( I used 1 cup Betty Crocker Gf Bisquick and 1 cup Pamela's GF flour ) Mix these together.

1 stick unsalted butter
2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup honey   OR   1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup    OR  a combo of both.

1/2 bag of Ghiradelli White Chocolate chips
1/2 cup  chopped Macadamia nuts


Directions:
Preheat the over to  350 degree.
 In an electric mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey/maple syrup , egg and vanilla.

Then, slowly add the GF flour. If you're using two or more flours, make sure you combine them together in a separate bowl first before adding them to the electric mixture.

Make sure these ingredients are blended well together. Then, slowly add the chocolate chips and nuts.

Use a tablespoon and drop the dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the bottoms and tops are slightly brown. The chocolate chips will not have melted, but they will melt in your mouth. Yum!

GF and Reduced Sugar chocolate covered Almonds and Pomegranant cookies

I had three different kinds of gluten free flours left over. Domata, Pamela's Kitchen and Betty Crocker GF Bisquick. I used one cup of each of these flours to make these cookies.
I also had leftover chocolate covered almonds and Pomegranates that I had bought in bulk.
I took a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe. When making these cookies, instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, I used honey instead of sugar. The only sugar in these cookies is whatever sugar is in the chocolate covered Almonds and Pomegranates. These cookies came out with a cake like density. I took them to a friend's bonfire and everyone loved them.

GF and Sugar Free Peach Croustade

Gluten Free and Sugar Free Peach Croustade

This is the same recipe as Ive posted in the past, but I replaced all refined sugar with 100% pure maple syrup and honey

Peaches:

• 1 1/2 pounds small ripe yellow peaches (about 6-7), unpeeled, quartered and pitted

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup.

Crust:

• 2/3 cup slivered almonds

• 1 cup gluten free flour

• 1/4 honey

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 7 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

• 1 large egg yolk

• 2 tablespoons honey

Honey Yogurt

• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt

• 3 tablespoons honey

Crust:  In a food processor, coarsely chop almonds.  Transfer nuts to a bowl (do not wash processor).  Blend flour, honey in processor.  Add butter, using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Drop egg yolk through feed tube and blend just until moist clumps form, using on/off turns.  Gather dough into ball, flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and freeze 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Roll out dough disk between 2 floured sheets of parchment paper to 10-inch round, sprinkling with .  Remove top sheet of additional flour as necessary.  Remove top sheet of parchment.  Sprinkle dough evenly with 1/2 cup chopped almonds.  Replace parchment atop crust and roll to 11-inch round, embedding nuts into dough.  Invert crust and parchment onto heavy baking sheet, nut side down.  Remove top sheet of parchment.

Put peaches in the center of the dough. leave a 1 1/2 to 2 inch plain border.  Using parchment as aid, fold outer edge of crust over edges of peaches.  Drizzle peaches with maple syrup and honey.  Sprinkle with remaining chopped almonds over crust and peaches.

Bake until crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Cool 20 minutes.  You can try and transfer the croustade onto a platter, but I generally leave mine on the baking sheet and serve.

Gluten Free and Vegetarian Dinner

Gluten Free Veggie Burger, Hummus, Sweet Potato chips and Scallops sauteed in olive oil and garlic


I recently went Vegetarian. Needless to say, eating a gluten free and vegetarian diet is a challenge, but also it is the reality for many people who find that they don't digest meat very well. I have only been vegetarian for two months. After getting my fill of black beans and avacodas for dinner each night, I decided to branch out. The meal above is not only super delicious, but it is very high in protein, which is essential to a vegetarian diet. 



Veggie burgers are great because you can pick them up in your local supermarket's freezer and pop them in the toaster. I cooked my scallops with only salt and pepper in olive oil for about 10 minutes on each side on medium low heat. I put some fresh garlic in the pan at the end.

Gluten Free Vegetarian Pot Pie

 Filling

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 2 cups sliced yellow onions (2 onions)
• Optional- 1 fennel bulb, top and core removed, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour
• 1 1/2 cups butternut squash soup + 1 cup water  OR  2 1/2 cups Chicken Stock if you are not Vegetarian
• Optional - a Pinch of saffron threads
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream or Almond Milk
• 1 1/2 cups large-diced potatoes (1/2 pound)
• 1 1/2 cups asparagus tips
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced carrots (4 carrots)
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced butternut squash
• 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (1/2 pound)
• 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
• Fresh Rosemary
• Fresh or dried Sage and Thyme to taste

Crust

• 3 cups Gluten Free flour. I used half Domata flour brand and half Betty Crocker GF Bisquick because these brands already have baking powder in them. IF you use a GF flour with no added baking powder, THEN, you have to add 1 teaspoon baking powder for this crust.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• half stick of cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

Directions

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and fennel and saute until translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the flour, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Slowly add the butternut squash soup OR Chicken stock, Pernod, saffron, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the heavy cream or Almond Milk and season to taste. 

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Lift out with a sieve. Add the asparagus, carrots, and squash to the pot and cook in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Add the potatoes, mixed vegetables, onions, and parsley to the sauce and then add the rosemary, sage and thyme. Mix well.

For the pastry, mix the flour and salt (and baking powder if your GF flour doesn't already have it) in the bowl or a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

 You can take a 8 inch or 9 inch pie pan. Divide the dough into halves and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the sides, pressing it to make it stick and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

Sarah's Birthday Cake

Chocolate cake layered with strawberry sauce and whipped cream

My sister asked for a lighter gluten free chocolate cake for her Birthday this year. I decided to use a Gluten Free mix this time. I used Pamela's which is a company that makes gluten free baking mixes.
I added an extra egg to the recipe, so that the cake would be fluffier. I also baked it for 10 minutes longer than directed.
I used two 8 inch round cake pans and greased them with coconut oil.
After the cake cooled down, I divided each layer into two, using dental floss so as to get a smooth cut.
Then, I made strawberry sauce to put into between the 4 cake layers.
Strawberry Sauce
2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries. If frozen, thaw in microwave oven.
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Bring all of these to a boil in a heavy sauce pan

After strawberries are boiled down, turn heat down to simmer and Add about 2 tablespoons of corn starch that is already mixed with cold water. 

Let the strawberry sauce completely cool down before spreading it on the cake layers.

Then, I made whipped cream and spread that onto top of the strawberry sauce. The final layer of cake has strawberry sauce and then I frosted the cake with the rest of the heavy whipping cream.

Heavy whipping cream: 
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar 
 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 
Bowl used to mix these and beaters have to be cold before making this. 

Gluten Free Flours

    Gluten Free Flours

The main gluten free flour mix I use in my recipes is the Domata brand. Here is a link to their website, so you can see what the mixture contains and what store near you sells it. In my area, I can get it at Hyvee and Natural Grocers.

http://www.domatalivingflour.com/

Domata flour already has Xanthan Gum in it, so it really is more cost effective to buy this mixture. Domata brand is one of the best tasting gluten free mixes I have tried. However, the flour mixture is dense, so I suggest NOT packing the flour into measuring cups. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup.

Also, you can combine Domata brand with this Betty Crocker Bisquick Gluten Free IF you are making cakes, biscuits, pancakes, waffles or anything that you want to rise- BECAUSE..Betty Crocker already has baking soda in it.

I usually use half Domata and half Betty Crocker GF Bisquick.

Here is a link to their website. You can order it here. I have found it at Walmart in my area. 

http://shop.glutenfreely.com/Bisquick-Gluten-Free/dp/B0045KDDU0?gclid=COjIoZmHuLACFWQDQAod9zPN7

                                 TRICKS

One of the other tricks is that I always add one extra egg to any recipe that call for eggs. I do this because of the egg's Coagulation quality.  Basically, the conversion of the liquid egg into a solid, binds together other ingredients. 

Binding together ingredients is essential to gluten free baking as there is no gluten to "bind" the flour to your other ingredients, which is why most gluten free products fall apart when you eat them. The Xanthan Gum is supposed to help with this "binding" process, but I have found that it isn't enough. Adding the egg will assist in this problem.

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

This is taken from my Bon Appetit dessert cookbook.
The original recipe is for Apple-Almond Crisp
 Ingredients topping
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour- I used 1 cup Betty Crocker Gluten Free Bisquick mix and half cup of Domata brand GF flour
 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup sliced almonds (about 4 1/2 ounces) I used Pecans instead
 Filling
3/4 cup sugar
 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 8 small Granny Smith apples (about 4 1/2 pounds), peeled, halved, cored, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
Preparation topping
Whisk flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend well. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in small, moist clumps. Mix in almonds; cover and chill until ready to use. DO AHEAD Can be made up to 3 days ahead.
  Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl; whisk to blend well. Mix in apples, then vanilla and almond extracts. Spoon filling into prepared dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake until apples are tender and topping is golden and crisp, about 1 hour. Cool at least 10 minutes; serve warm.

Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Tart

I wanted a simple, yet delicious, Easter Day Dessert. I found this recipe on Cooking Light's website. I modified it to make it gluten free.


Ingredients

Crust:
1 bag of gluten free Pecan cookies.Or you can use 30 gluten free graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 teaspoons water
Cooking spray

Filling:
2 packages of 5 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Topping:
6 cups small fresh strawberries, hulled and divided
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted. I used a skillet to toast the almonds because it's faster. Or you can toast them in the oven while the crust is baking.

Preparation


1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare crust, place crackers in a food processor; process until crumbly. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, butter, and 4 teaspoons water; pulse just until moist. Place cracker mixture in a 9-inch round removable-bottom tart pan lightly coated with cooking spray, pressing into bottom and up sides of pan to 3/4 inch. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
3. To prepare filling, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and extracts in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over bottom of tart shell.
4. To prepare topping, place 2 cups strawberries in food processor, and process until smooth. Combine strawberry puree, 2/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat; stir with a whisk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; cook 1 minute. Remove glaze from heat. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
5. Combine the remaining 4 cups strawberries and juice; toss to coat. Arrange berries, bottoms up, in a circular pattern over filling. Spoon half of glaze evenly over berries. Put Tart in the refrigerator for 3 hours to chill.

             Light and Fluffy Gluten Free Biscuits

I have finally discovered how to make my biscuits light and fluffy.

1 1/2 cup GF flour. I use Domata brand. **Do Not pack the flour into the measuring cup. This is the first step in keeping the flour "light" and not condensed.

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir these three together very well with a fork. Then add: 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter. **Spend twice as much time as normal to make it look like a "meal".

Then add 2 eggs and half a cup of milk. (I use almond milk). **Make sure you stir the eggs and milk very well together.

Then make a "well" in the dry ingredients. Pour the liquid in and do broad, wide strokes to stir the liquid together with the dry ingredients. **The less you stir these together, the fluffier your biscuits will be.

Add a tiny amount of flour if dough is too sticky. **Then use a soup spoon and drop biscuit dough onto cookie sheet.

Bake Biscuits at 450 Degrees for 15-20 minutes on 2nd lowest rack in the oven.

Almond Crusted Salmon


4 Salmon fillets
1/2 cup almonds
Butter- about 4 tablespoons
Lemon
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Coriander

Put almonds and seasonings in a food processor. Then, Melt butter. Dip salmon fillets in butter and then in the almond mixture. Place fillets in shallow pan that has been greased. Squeeze lemon juice over fillets.
Bake covered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until fillets fall apart when tested with a fork. Add butter and more lemon if fillets seem to be getting dry. Leave oven on.

After fillets are cooked. Add 1/2 cup butter to sauce pan at medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream. Stir until it is smooth and creamy. Take sauce off heat and add it to the cooked fillets. Pour about 1/4 cup chopped almonds over the dish. Put Fillets, with the sauce added to it, back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Bon Appetit Pumpkin Cheesecake..gluten free!

I altered this recipe slightly.You will below that I substituted cream cheese for the ricotta and mascarpone. I also found Gluten Free Gingersnap cookies and skipped down below to how you combine the cookies with.

* Special equipment: A 9"-diameter springform pan; 18"-wide heavy-duty foil

Ingredients
Gingersnap Cookie crust:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line spring form pan tightly with foil. Butter foil. Wrap outside of pan tightly with foil (to create a watertight seal during baking), pressing wrinkles flat.
*
Put half a package of Gingersnap cookies, 4 Tbsp. melted butter , 1 Tbsp. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 cup brown sugar in Food Processor. a large bowl. Press crumbs into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze for 10 minutes.
*
Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake until crust is fragrant and set, 20–25 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool.


Filling

* 2 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta - I used 4 packages of cream cheese instead
* 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. mascarpone- See above. I used cream cheese instead
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 large egg yolks
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
* 1 cup canned pure pumpkin purée
* 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom


Filling:

*
Preheat oven to 350°. Purée Cream Cheese or (ricotta and mascarpone), sugar, eggs yolks, 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a food processor until smooth. Scrape most of cream cheese (ricotta) filling into a large bowl, leaving about 1/2 cup of filling in processor. Add remaining egg, pumpkin purée, brown sugar, cream, cardamom, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to processor; purée until smooth. Scrape filling into a medium bowl. Pour ricotta filling over cooled crust. Spoon pumpkin filling over. Using a spoon, gently swirl the 2 fillings in 6–7 places.

* Put cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add hot water to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Cover roasting pan tightly with foil. * I used a cookie sheet that had 2 inch sides.

* Bake cake for 1 hour. Open foil carefully to release steam. Reseal foil and continue baking, opening foil to release steam every 15 minutes, until cheesecake is set around the edges and jiggles slightly in the center when nudged, Then bake for another 45 minutes–1 hour longer until toothpick comes out fairly clean.


* Remove cake pan from roasting pan. Carefully unwrap outer foil from pan. Chill cake at least 6 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides.