Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! :)

GFCF Pie Crust

1/2 cup Carol Fenster's Sorghum blend *
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1 tablespoon pure cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup GFCF milk
1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Makes one 9-inch pie crust **

* Carol's Gluten-Free Flour Blends: Use Sorghum Flour Blend (#3). Omit the 4th ingredient. This blend, minus the 4th ingredient, is featured in the Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook that I purchased in September.


Pulse the first 8 ingredients in a food processor until crumbly, or combine with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Add milk and vinegar and blend until pastry forms a ball. Knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour. Very lightly, dust rolling pin and dough on both sides with rice flour and roll into a 10 inch circle. Place dough into a 9-inch non-stick pie pan or into a very lightly greased 9-inch pie pan and press into place. Trim and/or crimp the edges.

** To make an additional pie crust for the top of your pie, repeat this same recipe. After filling the pie with the filling of your choice, place second pie crust on top and press/crimp the edges of the two crusts together. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Brush the top with a beaten egg white + 1 tablespoon water. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon pure cane sugar. Prick the crust with a fork several times before baking.

GFCF Buttermilk Pie

1 1/2 cups pure cane sugar
1 cup GFCF buttermilk
1/4 cup Carol Fenster's Sorghum Blend flour mix *
1/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup GFCF margarine, melted
1 teaspoon GFCF vanilla extract
3 eggs

Combine ingredients and blend for 1 minute with a mixer. Pour mixture into lightly greased pie plate. Bake for 50 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes.

* Carol's Gluten-Free Flour Blends: Sorghum Flour Blend (#3) - omit the 4th ingredient. (This blend, minus the 4th ingredient, is featured in the Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook that I purchased in September.)

GFCF Whipping Cream

TACA Whipping Cream Recipes

GFCF Diet Whipped Toppings

Mimicreme

Mimic Creme does not whip, but works well in recipes that call for whipping cream that is not to be whipped for the recipe. The manufacturers of Mimicreme will be releasing a new Product, "HEALTY TOP"™ in the next few months. According to their website, "Healthy Top (tm) will be a whip-able, non-dairy cream based on almonds and cashews", just like MimicCreme."

GFCF Caramel Cake

On the site meter, I saw that someone out west was searching for a GFCF caramel cake recipe. There have been a lot of searches lately for speciality items - I am guessing because of Thanksgiving. So I am breaking with my usual way of posting recipes, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and because caramel cake happens to be my second favorite cake of all time.

This is Carol Fenster's basic GF cake recipe: Carol Fenster's Basic Cake

It's not so different from Bobby Deen's (Paula Deen's son) recipe for the cake part of a caramel cake, other than CF uses 2 layers and BD uses 3 layers.

Personally, I would omit the lemon peel and also use an equal part of vinegar instead of lemon juice with GFCF milk (to make buttermilk) to make this cake for a caramel cake recipe. I just don't think lemons and caramel compliment each other, but that's just me. Be sure to substitute with GFCF margarine instead of butter or regular margarine, rice or almond milk as your non-dairy milk, and GFCF vanilla.

This is the recipe for Bobby Deen's Caramel cake: Bobby's Caramel Cake Recipe There are good reviews about it.

To make the filling and frosting GFCF, use rice or almond milk instead of milk, Mimicreme instead of cream, GFCF margarine instead of butter, and GFCF vanilla.

I have not tested this recipe, but I don't see any reason why these substitutions would not yield basically the same cake as Bobby Deen's.

So, to recap, we have Carol Fenster's Cake (with GFCF substitutions and vinegar instead of lemon) and Bobby Deen's filling and icing (with GFCF substitutions) combined to make a GFCF Caramel Cake.

I am looking forward to trying this recipe when we purchase more Mimicreme. In the meantime, I hope you all find this mishmash of two recipes helpful. And delicious.

Review: Carol Fenster's 1,000 GF Recipes

After downloading individual recipes online for weeks and then later searching through the various GF and GFCF cookbooks available, as well as customer reviews, in September I decided to order Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook.

This book is as thick as a Family Bible and offers step by step instructions for delicious recipes as well as explanations of the hows and whys of GFCF ingredients and cooking.

While the cookbook is GF and not GFCF, Mrs. Fenster offers CF substitution suggestions in almost all of the recipes.

Last night I prepared the pepperoni pizza recipe. It was the first time I had ever tried to make a homemade pizza or pizza crust. It was out of this world delicious. Today I prepared her chicken fried steak with white gravy recipe. I am still in Heaven. Mrs. Fenster has single-handedly restored our household back to the delicious way it was before going GFCF. I feel like I used to when I first discovered how to make delicious Southern delicacies with my Grandmother -- excited about cooking for my family again. And, hold into your hats, I am going to make her white sandwich bread within the next couple of hours. I am not worried. I am not nervous. I believe this will be a success.

So, if you are thinking about buying a GFCF cookbook and you are confused as to which one to purchase, I wholeheartedly recommend Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free recipes. It will make an excellent holiday gift for someone you know who is cooking for a GFCF household, or even for yourself if you are also GFCF.

Favorite Thing ~ Pamela's CC Cookies

Pamela's Products' Gourmet GF Chocolate Chunk Cookies are soooo scrumptious. They are almost too good. I cannot eat just one. Ever!

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

Comfort food at its finest.

INGREDIENTS: Flour Base (Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Sweet Rice Flour, Xanthan Gum); Organic Chocolate Chunks (Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Paste, Organic Cocoa Butter, Non-GMO Soy Lecithin/emulsifier, Gluten-free Organic Vanilla. Chunks may contain traces of milk protein due to manufacturing equipment.)
; Monounsaturated Safflower Oil;Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar; Eggs; Molasses; Gluten-free Natural Flavor; Non-GMO Soy Lecithin; Rice Syrup and Grape Juice; Sea Salt; Baking Soda; Xanthan Gum.

Buttery Mashed Potatoes

This recipe includes optional onions or chicken broth.


4-5 small to med. red potatoes, unpeeled
1 large sweet onion, sliced into thin strips *
6 tablespoons GFCF margarine
salt
pepper

Bring whole potatoes to a boil in salted water. Reduce heat to med./med low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. With a large slotted spoon, carefully remove potatoes from water and place in a covered dish. Pour the hot water out of the pan and place margarine and onions into the pan. Cover and saute over very low heat until onions are translucent. Carefully add cooked potatoes, one at a time, to onions and margarine, and mash to achieve desired consistency. Repeat with each remaining potato and stir well. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4-6.

* These potatoes are just as good without the sauteed onions but I thought onions would be complimentary with potatoes as our meat entree today was ungrilled chicken. If you omit the onions, use the same directions but add the margarine after you've drained and mashed the potatoes. After the margarine has melted, add 1/2 cup GFCF chicken broth. Stir well and season to taste with salt and pepper. The onions and/or the chicken broth make these potatoes really creamy.

{These are especially good if you use my Ghee and GFCF margarine combination - which is for this recipe - 3 tablespoons GFCF margarine + 1 1/2 tablespoons Ghee.}

Spaghetti With Tomato Based Sauce

2 large (or 4 small) cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 med. onion, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
12 oz. GFCF spaghetti noodles, uncooked
GFCF margarine
salt
pepper
garlic salt

In large skillet, saute onions and garlic seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic salt in olive oil over low heat until onions are translucent. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste and blend well. Heat until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 25 minutes, bring water for the spaghetti to a boil. Add salt and 1 tablespoon GFCF margarine. Add spaghetti, return to boil stirring well, and reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently to keep pasta separated. Drain spaghetti, rinse with hot water, and drain again. Into the empty but still hot pan, add two tablespoons GFCF margarine, 1 tablespoon garlic salt, and pepper. Add cooked spaghetti and toss well until margarine is melted. By this time the sauce should be ready, so add the buttery and garlic-y noodles to the sauce. Mix well, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serves 4-6.

{I have never liked spaghetti sauce from a jar so I created my own sauce when I was in high school. This is the GFCF version of that recipe. I don't enjoy herbs, but feel free to add your favorites, and just consider this a base. We stopped including browned ground beef in our spaghetti a long time ago, but feel free to also use that in yours. I would suggest 1/2 pound for this recipe. I have tried using both brown rice spaghetti pasta and the rice/potato/soy spaghetti pasta in this recipe but lately I find myself using a combination of both. The extra sauce really helps disguise the taste of the GFCF pasta (vs. non-GFCF pasta). The package directions for the pasta call for a cooking time that is half the cooking time I use, but I never liked al dente pasta, even when it was not GFCF, and I certainly don't like al dente GFCF pasta. Feel free to adjust the cooking time of the pasta according to your preference.}