Sweet Potato With Coconut Butter

1 medium to large sweet potato
2 tablespoons Ghee clarified butter
3-4 tablespoons coconut butter (recipe below)
3-4 dashes sea salt
1 packet Stevia

Bake sweet potato for 45-60 minutes at 400 degrees. When cooled, remove skin and place into a skillet. Mash the potato and add the remaining ingredients. Blend well. Heat to medium, stirring occasionally until the Ghee is melted. Allow to cool.

Coconut Butter

8 oz. organic unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 packet Stevia
3-4 dashes of sea salt

Put ingredients in a food processor and allow to process for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and allow to process 10 more minutes. Scrape down the sides and allow to process for 10 more minutes. Repeat this process until the coconut looks like moist sugar cookie dough. You may continue the process until the mixture begins to liquify. (If you have a Vitamix, the entire process could take as little as 5 minutes.) Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

~ I started the Paleo diet Sunday and this is one of the first recipes I tried. It is delicious! My child has a bit of an issue with the texture, but it is so nutritious that I was committed to finding a way for her to enjoy it. My solution - mix it in with a baked sweet potato! YUM. ~

No-Bake Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

3/4 cup pure cane sugar
1/2 stick gfcf margarine
3/4 tablespoon cocoa
1/4 cup cf milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup oats (processed in a gluten-free facility)
1 cup crushed GFCF pretzels

Bring sugar, margarine, cocoa and milk to a rolling boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Add oats and then pretzels. Stir to combine. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto wax or parchment paper. Cool completely. Makes about 15.

~ A new twist on an old-fashioned no-bake cocoa and oats recipe! If there is a peanut allergy, perhaps you could use another type of nut butter...? ~

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.

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!

Healthy Top GFCF Whipping Cream!!

It's here!

CLICK

Cherry Crumble

1 large can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1/2 pkg. Bob's Red Mill GFCF Vanilla Cake Mix
1 stick Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
GFCF non-stick spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 x 8 square baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour cherry pie filling into the dish. In a bowl, combine melted buttery stick with BRM GFCF cake mix. Crumble the buttery cake mix mixture evenly on top of cherries. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely. Serves 6-8

~ This recipe is adapted from a recipe from our dear friend, Molly, in Florida. Could this be any easier? 3 ingredients! OK, 4 counting the non-stick spray. :) Feel free to use the fruit pie filling of your choice - apples, blueberries, etc. ~

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, EVERYBODY! :)

Bread Pudding

6-8 slices Udi's GF Whole Grain Bread, cubed *
2 cups GFCF milk
4 large eggs
1 cup pure cane sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

*If the bread slices are compact and you prefer bread cubes without crusts, you may want to use more than 6 slices.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 2 to 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish. Place bread cubes in baking dish. In a bowl, mix or whisk remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over bread cubes to cover completely, pressing bread cubes into liquid as necessary. Let stand for 10-15 minutes. Place lid on baking dish (do not use aluminum foil) and bake 35-40 minutes. Remove lid and bake 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes (while you prepare the glaze). Pour cinnamon glaze evenly over top, or spoon over individual servings. Serves 8.

Cinnamon Glaze

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons GF cornstarch
2/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon GFCF margarine
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Add margarine and lemon juice. Stir until smooth.

~ If you want to toss 1/2 cup of raisins on top of the bread cubes at the beginning of the recipe, go ahead. We don't like them. Please don't hold it against me. ;) ~

Strawberries, Fruits & Veggies Info.

Environmental Working Group's list of 47 fruits and veggies, ranked by pesticide load:

List


Tips


Non-Organic Strawberries Alert

Healthy Top™ Whipping Cream update

Mimicreme Updates

...In addition, Spring will also see the much anticipated release-- HOORAY!-- of our Healthy Top Whipping Cream. (Phew, that was hard-- way hard!!)

Healthy Top will be the first truly Non-Dairy, Non-Soy Whipping Cream made without fractionated (or partially hydrogenated) oils and it will not contain any hidden caseinates...


Ooooh, I can hardly wait for this! :)

July 1, 2010 UPDATE (It's here!): CLICK HERE!

Banana Walnut Muffins

1 large egg, beaten well
1/3 cup GFCF milk
1/3 cup pure cane sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon GFCF vanilla
1 small, very ripe banana, mashed well

1 1/8 cup GFCF flour mix
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Mix first 6 ingredients well with a fork. Combine next 4 ingredients, mix well, and add to banana mixture. Mix well with a fork, add walnuts, and combine. Spoon evenly into paper lined muffin tins (1/3 cup batter per muffin) and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

~ These are especially delicious when spread with Earth Balance Organic Buttery Spread while warm. ~

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 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.

Grandma's Pound Cake

2 1/2 cups pure cane sugar
1 cup Crisco shortening (not melted)
6 eggs
1/2 cup Mimic Creme (a GFCF cream substitute) *
3 cups sifted GFCF flour **
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. xantham gum

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time. Add Mimic Creme and beat for 3 minutes. Add remaining dry ingredients in small amounts and mix well, until smooth. Pour into greased and GFCF floured tube or Bundt pan and bake @ 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

* Mimic Creme does not whip, but the manufacturers 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 our regular MimicCreme)."

When this product is released, I will test it and modify this recipe accordingly. But basically, the GFCF "whippped cream" will be folded into the batter just prior to pouring the batter into the pan. The amount required will increase to 1 cup (prior to whipping).

** GFCF flour: I use a combination of Bette Hagman's Featherlight and Taca's GF Flour Mix II. I omit the almond flour.

{This is the GFCF version of my Grandma's Pound Cake. I have never seen the original version of this recipe anywhere else. The aroma and flaky crust take me back to her dining room, every time.}

Pecan Pie

3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white corn syrup
3/4 stick GFCF margarine, melted
1 cup pecan halves or coarsely chopped pecans
1 prepared recipe GFCF pie crust, unbaked

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Blend first 4 ingredients well with a mixer. Fold in pecans. Pour into pie plate lined with prepared GFCF pie shell. Bake for 50 minutes.

{Nothing says "holidays" quite like a delicious pecan pie.}

Caramel Bars

3/4 cup GFCF margarine, melted
16 oz. light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups GFCF flour mix *
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. GFCF vanilla flavoring

* About GFCF Flour Mixes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream margarine, brown sugar, and eggs. Add flour mix, xantham gum, salt, nuts, and flavoring. Mix well. Pour into 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool thoroughly and cut into squares. Serves 8-10.

{These are so good! There isn't a word to describe how good they are. Maybe "scrumptious" comes close ~ from our precious friend, Mary H. in North Georgia.}