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.