Thursday, November 22, 2012

Pumpkin Pie with Almond Crust

2 cups almond flour/meal
1 1/2 tablespoons melted GFCF margarine
1 tablespoon pure cane sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix almond flour, butter, and sugar. Pat evenly into bottom and sides of a pie or tart dish. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely.

2 large eggs
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 15 oz. can cream of coconut*
2/3 cup pure cane sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs with a fork. Add sugar, spices and salt. Blend well. Stir in cream of coconut and then stir in pumpkin puree. Whisk until well blended. Pour into cooled pie crust and bake for 55 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.

~ I'm sorry I am posting this on Thanksgiving instead of a few days before, but I wanted to try this recipe first. I tweaked some of the measurements and omitted and substituted some of the ingredients, and it turned out to be delicious! ~

* You can find cream of coconut in the international aisle of your grocery store, the baking aisle, or (as in our store) the wine aisle - in the drink mixers section.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Gluten Free Flours for Cakes

I was looking at referrals for this blog the other day and noticed that someone was searching for information about using GF flour mixes in cake recipes. I have used Carol Fenster's gluten-free flour mix for cakes and it works very well. Her cake recipes also call for leavening ingredients such as baking soda and baking powder as well as xantham gum and guar gum at times.

This morning I saw a link to Gluten Free Baking's Conversion Chart and thought I would share it here. I hope you find it helpful. Happy GF Baking!

New Products We Love

Happy Thanksgiving 2012 Everybody!

I wanted to let you know (if you don't already) about some new products that are on the market now. Udi's® now has pizza (not CF), more bagels, and new flavors of muffins and bread, as well as muffin tops.

Daiya now has cheddar, jack, and havarti wedges in addition to their cheddar, mozzarella and pepper jack shreds. The havarti listed on the website reads "jalapeno garlic" but our local store has plain havarti wedges in stock.

And Hail Merry Macaroons are the best I've ever tasted. (The blondies are my favorite.) Can't wait to try their strawberry and caramel sea salt macaroons next. And yes, they use organic strawberries! Yum.

We hope you are able to find some of these yummy new products in your area. xo

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Easier Meatloaf - Meatballs

1 pound ground beef
Lawry's seasoned salt
pepper
1 beaten egg
ketchup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season ground beef with seasoned salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon ketchup and the beaten egg and blend well. Roll into small meatballs and place in stainless steel muffin tins. Gently flatten meatballs. Spoon 1 teaspoon of ketchup on top of each. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove meatballs from muffin tins using tongs and cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Makes 12. Serves 4.

~ I don't think I will ever prepare traditional meatloaf again. :)

One way to measure the seasoned ground beef to ensure that you have 12 even-sized meatballs is to first divide the mixture in half and then the halves into halves, and then those quarters into thirds, until you have 12 equal portions/meatballs. ~

Easiest Delicious Summer Squash

3-4 large summer squash
GFCF margarine
salt
pepper

Grate squash. Melt 1 tablespoon margarine in a non-stick skillet. Place half of the quash into the skillet into a smooth layer. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the squash. Cook over med.- med.high heat for 5 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the squash over, salt, and saute for another 5 minutes after placing small bits of margarine around the edges of the pan and in the center of the squash. Continue to turn squash over every 4-5 minutes until it reaches the desired level of caramelization. Cool completely. (Cooked squash holds its heat well.) Repeat process with the remaining squash. Serves 4.

~ So easy - Grating and cooking summer squash like hash browns! ~

Easier Roast Chicken and Vegetables

8-12 boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
4 medium potatoes, cut into med. size chunks
6 carrots, cut into med. sized slices
1 small onion, chopped
Safflower oil
Extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potato and carrot pieces with oils and salt and pepper. Place in an 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Submerge chicken tenders in salted water and refrigerate for at least 5 minutes. Then, drain tenders and toss with oils and pepper. Return to refrigerator.

When the vegetables have cooked for 30 minutes, remove baking dish from oven, add onions and toss vegetables to coat with oil. Place chicken tenders on top of the vegetables in a single later and return the dish to the oven. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Toss chicken and vegetables to coat with oils and seasonings. Serves 4.

~ This is an easier version of roasted whole chicken with vegetables. It is not as good as roasting the whole bird, but it is pretty close. ~

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Best Fried Chicken Ever

Chicken strips
water
salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup Mimiccreme, unsweetened
1-2 cups GF flour mix
salt
pepper
garlic salt
safflower oil

Soak chicken pieces in salted water for 5-10 minutes. (You may skip this step but I recommend it.) Drain thoroughly. Add a beaten egg to 1 cup Mimiccreme and stir well. Add in a few chicken strips at a time and let soak while you mix the flour.

Put flour in a shallow dish or pasta plate and add two sprinklings of salt (I didn't measure), one sprinkling of garlic salt (this will not make the chicken garlicky; it will make you say, "Hmmmm. What is that yummy flavor?"), and one sprinkling of pepper. Mix well. Remove chicken from egg and cream mixture and coat chicken in flour on both sides and fry over medium heat until golden brown. Drop those chunks of flour and Mimiccreme that you have on your hands gently into the hot oil too. When they are golden brown and cooled, you won't be disappointed!

By the time I put the last batch of strips into the oil, they were falling apart.


~ This recipe is inspired by a TACA recipe Fried Chicken with Country Cream Gravy and Dr. King's Delicious Fried Chicken Recipe.

I did try to use Mimiccreme to make gravy after all the chicken was done (instead of CF milk or water) and it produced the richest, creamiest gravy ever. Thank you TACA! ~