Gluten-Free, Corn-Free Crusty French Bread Rolls

I posted this picture on Facebook today because I was eating this roll and thought I might cry in happiness:


The recipe I used came from this book:


You can click on the book and it will take you to amazon.com to purchase it. Or you can look inside of it there too. I have made several recipes from it now and I feel like I can now highly recommend this book as a whole! There is a recipe in the back for CHEESE NIPS & for GRAHAM CRACKERS. I’m really really excited to make those at some point. There are many other things I’m excited to try too but I’ve never found corn free/wheat free cheese crackers or graham crackers.


For the friends who asked for the recipe (I’m sure this is some kind of copyright infringement lol)…

In the book she has several flour mixes and each of the recipes are based off one of the mixes. These rolls are from the “French Bread/Pizza Mix”.

The following makes 6 cups of the mix. 

• 3½ cups White Rice Flour (I was running low on white rice flour and had about 2 cups. The other 1½ was brown rice flour.)
• 2½ cups Tapioca Flour
• 2 TB Xanthan Gum
• 2 (1 oz/7 grams) packets Unflavored Gelatin
• 2 TB Egg Replacer (This link is to the egg replacer I use. There are others. Bob’s Red Mill has one. I’ve seen a few)
• ¼ cup Sugar (white)

Just put that all in a baggie (or whatever). Mix it up. Label  it. You can also double it. The 2 TB of xanthan gum & egg replacer doubles to ¼ cup.

Crusty French Rolls - 6 Rolls (In the parentheses – The second number is the amount if you want to double the recipe – not everything actually doubles)

Dry Ingredients

• 1¾ (3½) cups French Bread/Pizza Mix
• 1 (1) TB Yeast Granules
• 3 (6) TB Dry Milk Powder or Nondairy Substitute (There’s a brand called “Better Than Milk” that comes in soy, rice, etc – I haven’t tried it but I keep meaning to. Dairy free would be nice too)
• ½ (1) tsp salt
• ½ (1) tsp baking powder (make sure it’s corn free!) 
  
• FYI: substitute for 1 tsp baking powder (in case you can’t find a corn free baking powder):
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp starch – arrowroot, potato starch (not potato flour), tapioca starch

Wet Ingredients

• 2 (4) Egg Whites
• 1 (2) tsp Dough Enhancer or Vinegar (I use vinegar)
• 1½ (3) TB Vegetable Oil
• ⅔ (1⅓) cups warm water (more or less this amount. I had to add some more to get the texture she described)

Grease 1(2) cookie sheet(s) with vegetable oil spray. Dust with fine cornmeal. (I used millet flour.) 

In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, combine the dry ingredients. Blend gently with the mixer on low. In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites, dough enhancer/vinegar and vegetable oil. Add most of the warm water.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and blend. If the dough is too thick, add more water until the dough seems thick enough that it will spoon out into a roll shape. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 2½ minutes.

Spoon onto the prepared cookie sheets and form into French roll shape. Cover lightly and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 35 minutes for rapid rise yeast, 60 or more minutes for regular yeast). Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20-22 minutes.

Stuff face.

Okay. It doesn’t say that last bit exactly…

I’ve typed this up but seriously – buy the book. It’s worth it. You can make pizza crust (obviously), pita bread, bagels, pretzel sticks… Plus there are 4 other flour blends and many more recipes. /*end sales pitch. You’d think I got something for it. lol

Oh one more thing – I made 8 rolls out of the 6 roll recipe. I know it was supposed to be 6 but I was too lazy to repair the situation. lol.

I brushed them with butter because I’m a brilliant bad person.

DELICIOUS. I think I’ll go have another now…

Cooking Blog

I emptied my old cooking blog – which has been unused for awhile anyway. http://cookinginwyoming.blogspot.com/ – Now it’s a place where I’ll be storing things I find or try or use – that are corn free, wheat free, peanut free ways to feed my family.

I can’t imagine it will ever be of a ton of use to anyone else but there it is. It will be helpful to me. haha.

Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes

If you’d asked me a few years ago how I felt about sweet potatoes, I would have said what I’ve been saying most of my life: Ew.

The whole candied yam thing? Ack. Nasty.

But 2 years ago? Maybe 3. I was talking to Camela and (as we constantly discuss the most random of things) we started to talk about sweet potatoes. Apparently my not liking them was upsetting to her.

So she sends me a box in the mail and this recipe is in it…

Lara’s Sweet Potatoes
Serves 8-10

• 3 cups cooked & mashed sweet potatoes*
• 2/3 cup white sugar (that’s too much)**
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten

Topping

• 1 cup packed brown sugar (way too much)***
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

Mix together sweet potato, sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and eggs. In a separate bowl mix together the topping ingredients. Pour the sweet potato mixture into a 9x13****, crumble topping on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

**************

Anyway! What else is in the box? Sweet potatoes, brown sugar, white sugar, pecans, etc. I had to buy eggs. geez! Okay, maybe I already had those in the fridge… The woman shipped me sweet potatoes from Maryland! Crazy.

She decided if she sent it all in the mail I would feel obligated to make this recipe and give the sweet potatoes a chance.

And guess what? I LOVED it. And I mean LOVED. And now I eat sweet potatoes in all kinds of ways. Sweet potato fries are the best! But still no candied yams. (yuck!) The first year I made them at Thanksgiving Drew said (and I quote): FORGET the candied yams. Always make these! That man has always loved candied yams so I make them every year for him but no more! Yay! My dad too actually. He told me to bring those to every holiday dinner.

So there you have it. Just one of the many ways Camela has changed my life for the better! Between sweet potatoes and football – I think I might be indebted for life.

The asterisks…

*I HIGHLY recommend you just baked these and then mash/stir. When you bake sweet potatoes the skin just pops right off. A couple hours and you don’t even have to mash them. Just stir. Chopping and boiling is entirely too much work

**The parenthesis are her notes. I do 1/2 cup of sugar because she said that.

***I disagree. I love that topping. I always do the whole cup.

****Sometimes I do it in an 8x8 and then the mixture and the topping are thicker. Yummy also.

Oh and that serves 8-10 bit? Maybe. If Drew isn’t there….

Breakfast (… and 2nd Breakfast)

I guess you could call 1st Breakfast the Breakfast Appetizer but really if you’re a hobbit deep inside (who longs for adventure) the proper names are 1st and 2nd breakfast.

1st Breakfast

Donut Muffins
Dry Ingredients. Whisk together.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Wet Ingredients. Beat together.

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup yogurt (I used strawberry-honey greek gods. yum.)
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Combine the two bowls. Mixing just enough. If you mix too much you’ll have tough muffins. The more you mix – the tougher the muffin.
Bake for 14-15 minutes at 400 degrees in greased muffin cups. (do the toothpick test to make sure they are done)
Melt half a stick of butter or so in one bowl.
In another bowl mix:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

When the muffins come out. One by one dip the muffin tops in the melted butter and then roll the tops around in the sugar mixture. Set them on a wire rack to cool.
It’s like a donut muffin and just kind of melts in your mouth. Yum.

2nd Breakfast

Sweet Potato Hash

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup sweet onion, diced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp red pepper
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

I sautéed that in a skillet until it was all done the potatoes where soft pieces and the onions soft and browned some. Then I moved the whole lot to a cookie sheet and set it in the 400 degree oven to keep roasting while I fried some eggs.
Oh I also took some of that really that “microwavable” bacon and laid it across the top of the sweet potato hash in the oven. It cooked like that. It’s the best way. Trust me.

PS That’s the egg no one ate. The others all had the appropriately runny yoke. Promise.

Breakfast Invention

2 cups Krusteaz Pancake Mix
1 1/2 cups water
2 TBSP melted butter flavored shortening (you could use butter or oil)
1 TBSP Orange Zest (I used dried)
1 tsp Vanilla (Mexican. yummy)

1 Belgian Waffle Maker

I left the batter to sit while I made the sauce so that the dried zest could hydrate. 

Sauce:

1 can Mandarin Oranges
2 tsp Sugar
1 TBSP Honey
1 TBSP pure Maple Syrup
Pinch of Nutmeg
Pinch of Allspice
1/8-1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Boil for about 10 minutes.

Pour into another container (or you could just remove from heat). Add some vanilla. About a teaspoon.

Assembly:

A waffle.
A dollop of Greek Gods Honey Yogurt.
Mandarin Orange Sauce.

Personally I thought this was fantastic. Drew isn’t here so I don’t have another adult opinion. Hannah ate it fine – although she has a fever and she didn’t eat a ton.

Leah: This tastes good but it looks weird so I don’t want to eat it.

Me (through very clenched teeth): Go. To. Your. Room.

A few minutes later I go to her room…

Me: Seriously Leah? It looks weird?

Leah: I’m not hungry.

Me: Just stay in here until you are. (Which I only said because I knew she was lying. She’d been begging for breakfast for a good 30 minutes). She came out about 2 minutes later. *rolling eyes*

She’s now eating her waffle.

Why do I bother? I’m just going to keep reminding myself that I cook because I enjoy it. I’m worth it too, right?

PS Most of the measurements are guesstimations. Sorry. I wasn’t actually planning to blog this until the child fit started.

I’m gonna go assemble another one just to take a picture of now. I’d take a picture of mine but I inhaled it while I typed this. I might be forced to eat more bites since I’m assembling it anyway….

Update: Leah decided not to take more bites and now she’s just hanging out in her room to preserve her life.

Another Update: She came back out again and is now for real eating the waffle. Oy.



Looks like torture, eh?

Oh AND if you haven't had Greek Gods Yogurt. Get thee hence to the store!!! Store Locator here. To Die for. Honey. Strawberry Honey. YUM.

Valentine’s Breakfast

Happy Valentine’s Day! This was great fun for Leah…

I’d tell you how I perfectly centered that egg… but then I’d have to kill you.

Pancake -

Leah’s Plate… 

Later I should post about Drew’s Valentine’s Day Present. He wanted my Green Chili (you can see that HERE) and tamales. I’ve never made tamales. It’s like some unreachable thing that people sell, right? Like you can buy A tamale for 2 bucks. Crazy. I told him no way. He didn’t ask for that FOR Valentine’s just mentioned I should add that to my list of things to learn. So I decided for V-Day I would do it. And homemade refried beans and Spanish Rice. It was a meal that took 2 days to prepare and 20 minutes to eat. Just like Thanksgiving! I invited my Mom & Dad over. Drew was a very happy man. (as were Mom & Dad!)

Oreo Balls & Molten Lava Cake

I made two things today. Well three. I did the Shrimp/Zucchini Tostada that are HERE (I had a craving for those) but two new things. This is going to turn into one really long blog post with two recipes but here goes…

Oreo Cookie Balls

These were really very simple to make.

Combine:

1 regular pkg Oreos
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese

I did this first in my food processor which chose the moment half way through to seize up and begin to spew smoke! Excellent timing, don’cha think? So then I transferred it to a bowl and finished with my immersion blender. I should have just done that to begin with LOL

After you blend these things together you can form little balls and place them onto a foil covered pan (or wax paper. whatever you have). I used a 1/2 TBSP spoon and another spoon to scoop it out to form the ball. Then you put them in the fridge for an hour or so.

**Leah’s mouth covering… She’s sick and she kept coughing all over the place. I said she could keep helping me but that she had to wear that. She was not too pleased with the idea but she had no choice.

She really was very good at making the balls though!

Towards the end of that time you melt some chocolate of whatever chocolate floats your boat. I saw a lot of suggestions about chocolate bark but I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking chips (one whole bag). I melted them in a double boiler.

Then I pulled out the balls and formed them into more perfect balls with my hands. Then I just used a spoon to roll them around in the chocolate. Back onto the foiled pan.

 

Once the chocolate was set some we drizzled decorating gel over the top and stuck them back in the fridge.

I don’t know what I expected of these but they’re delicious. The inside goo stuff looks like black tar which is mildly frightening but they’re delicious! What’s not to love? Oreo, cream cheese, and chocolate. Yummo.

Molten Lava Cake

So for such a “I always eat this in fancy restaurants” kind of dessert this is fascinatingly simple to make.

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tins
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for muffin tins
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted ( 1 1/3 full cups of chips)
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• Whipped Heavy Whipping Cream (to top with when you eat. you could do ice cream or something of course)

Preheat to 400 degrees.

So you take a 6 cup muffin tin (or use a 12, just do this to 6 and put a little water in the other 6 to avoid scorching during baking), coat them in the extra butter, then liberally coat each cup in sugar.

Don’t skip this part. It gives a delightful outer crust to the cake!

Now mix until fluffy the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs – one at at time and blend thoroughly after each egg. On low, add the flour and salt until blended. Now slowly added the melted chocolate (do this by hand) and just folded it in until combined.

Split the batter between the 6 cups, bake for 8-10 minutes.

*Note – if you cook these too long they will not be ruined. They won’t be lava cakes anymore. They will be rich dense cupcakes.

Turn them upside down, dust with powdered sugar, and top with a dollop of whipped cream.

I took this first picture before I took a bite of course. Then I cut it open and got so excited I kept taking bites and forgot the original flowing lava picture. Oops. LOL Although this one still looks dang yummy!

That is one worthy dessert.

Drew was at work while I did all this and I didn’t realize he was coming home at 3 in the afternoon and he walks in and all 3 of these things were hot and waiting. He was one happy man!    

Baklava

I already posted this picture on facebook but now I’m adding it to my blog. Sorry to those of you on FB who are now seeing it for the 2nd time!

I used Alton Brown's recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baklava-recipe/index.html

I used ground cinnamon and ground allspice (1 tsp is equivalent to 5 allspice berries) in the first part instead of grinding all that stuff up - cheating but whatever. I did use the cinnamon stick in the sauce part. And I did the recipe in half. Heaven knows I don't need a 9 x 13 of baklava sitting on my counter!

It's a long process but well worth it once it's in your mouth - Enjoy!

Mini Strawberry Tarts

Mini Strawberry Tarts with Mascarpone Cheese

*swoon*

Ingredients - Sugared Pizza Crust, Mascarpone Cheese, Sugared Strawberries, & a Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

I saw this on TV this morning and went and recreated it. That’s my picture. After I did it I hunted down the recipe on the site so I could share!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/mini-strawberry-mascarpone-tarts-recipe/index.html

I pretty much did just that except I used the pizza crust I posted about a couple weeks ago.

Do it. And enjoy.

Oh glorious happy day that was yummy in my mouth!

I only made four to begin with. There are more cooking now. Leah & I both agreed we need more.

And at HER suggestion we’re going to do a couple with blueberries. I love my little chef child! lol

I hear the timer! Perfect timing – gotta go have more…

Pizza Making

I decided a few weeks ago to do some research about Pizza Crust. I wanted to make pizza crust and I wanted it to be GOOD. And I didn’t want pizza crust that was like American “Pizza Hut” pizza crust. I wanted something Italian. Something authentic…

Best Pizza Dough Ever Recipe – I changed nothing about this recipe. I know a nicely done recipe when I see one! I’m not crazy. (Well okay. That might be overstating things… but alas. I changed nothing about the beautiful recipe in that link). In telling her story on that post she says – “For a long time I didn't really know where to look for guidance - I just knew I wanted pizza the way I'd enjoyed it in Rome and Naples.”

That caught my attention. AUTHENTIC. That’s what I wanted!

And it’s good. It’s an involved recipe. And you don’t get to make it and eat pizza the day you  make the dough – so no instant gratification going there but this is GOOD. So very very good. Perfect texture. Hmmmmmmmm… (I’m so glad while I write this I made dough today and I get to eat more tomorrow!)

Once you have this beautiful crust there are topping decision to be made. I really don’t think you could totally screw this up – unless you just put way too much stuff on the pizza. She recommends four things or less – and that includes your sauce and cheese. She called what we often get as pizza the “kitchen sink” approach. I thought that was funny.

So here’s the choices I made -

Cheese – Olive oil with garlic crushed and heated in it to intensify the flavor – brushed it on the crust then mozzarella and parmesan. It was like this delicious melt in your mouth giant breadstick. This was Leah’s favorite. “MOM! This is GOOD!” in some kind of shock at what had just happened in her mouth. It was very funny.

Basil Pesto, herb seasoned chicken, a little mozzarella, a lot of parmesan:

a small batch of Alfredo, brushed it on the crust, sprinkle with nutmeg, fresh spinach that I blanched and squeezed all the water out of obsessively (heaven forbid I risk my crust with soggy spinach!!), and then a lot of mozzarella, a little parmesan…

Drew requested that one of the pizza’s be “Hamburger Pizza”. I swear I didn’t think I could bear to just sprinkle hamburger on the pizza. Seriously. It seemed wrong to put that on this crust. Like it wasn’t worthy or something (I’m so MENTAL!!!). But I love the man so…

tomato sauce that I’d made the day before (fresh basil, some dried Italian herbs, garlic – very fresh tasting), the hamburger (which I browned but added to it: cumin, garlic powder, onion salt, pepper, white pepper, red pepper, Italian herb mix –), then as the hamburger was almost browned I added about half a diced onion and then cooked until totally soft onions, covered in a lot of  mozzarella. This all satisfied my mentalness about jut putting hamburger on a pizza but this was AWESOME. lol

This is the only one I remembered to take a “before” picture of – the hamburger pizza.

And that’s it. Pizza.

*happy sigh*

Rice Pudding

for Erin :)

(Pizza Crust post later – promise Renee!)

I’m very glad I’m actually typing this one up. I have the original recipe printed and all kinds of notes all over it as I changed things over time. It’s messy looking and sometimes it takes me a minute to decipher my own notes. lol

3 cups of cooked rice (great way to use up leftover white rice!)
3 3/4 cup milk

Combine rice & milk in a saucepan. Bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat to medium low. Cover the pan but leave the lid slightly ajar – don’t completely cover it. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes – or until the rice is soft and the mixture is thickened.

While that is going combine:

3 eggs, beaten
4 1/2 – 5 TBS, DARK brown sugar *
3/4 tsp vanilla **
scant 1/4 tsp salt
full 1/4 tsp cinnamon

When the rice mixture is ready, slowly drizzle in the egg mixture while stirring the rice – be careful – scrambling the eggs because you don’t it all in at once would be… well… disgusting. lol

Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

I like to eat this warm. I think traditionally rice pudding is supposed to be cold.

* okay. It doesn’t HAVE to be dark brown sugar. Regular brown sugar will do. But I do love it best with dark.

** I love vanilla flavor so I use a double strength one.

Oh and PS – Yes, I don’t add raisins. If you really want them you have two choices.

1. Put them in when you start the rice/milk mixture. They’ll do the soft gooey thing.

2. Just sprinkle some on top when you eat it.

Personally, I sprinkle more cinnamon on my bowl of rice pudding. I don’t care about the raisins and I don’t love raisins that have been cooked so long they're practically grapes again. ;) But that’s just a personal preference. lol

I totally forgot to take pictures. Oops!

Corn Casserole

I've had this recipe for like 10 years but I haven't made it for awhile. I'd forgotten how easy it is and how much I love it.

1. Mix all together:

1/4 c butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 c milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 12 oz cans corn, drained
nutmeg (just a dash)
1/2 - 1 green onion, depending on taste - optional

2. Pour into a buttered casserole dish

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

***
It takes awhile to bake but I just put it together, stick it in the oven and then do the rest of dinner at a leisurely pace.

Yummy and better than just having a can of corn.

One of these days I'm going to remember to try this with fresh corn just cut off the cob. Of course then I'll ruin it for myself and not be able to go back to the canned corn so maybe I shouldn't!

PS There ya go, Dale! :)

Southern Pecan Cheesecake

This is all because of Jeff Whitfield (a beloved high school friend). He posted this picture on his facebook wall when he had this cheesecake for his birthday that had me drooling. Since he got it from a shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma where I can’t get to buy a cheesecake I started doing some research about recipes and after reading about 20 recipes. I took tidbits of many and put this recipe together. And holy cow am I glad I did!

Sorry this is so long. It’s a rather involved recipe -

Crust

• 1 cup finely crushed gingersnaps
• 1/3 cup pecans, finely crushed
• 6 TBSP butter, melted
• 2 TBSP brown sugar

For the crust, combine ingredients and press into bottom of spring form pan. (It needs to be a large one if you want one big cheesecake but I used two 7 inch spring form pans and it was perfect with the two. One 7 inch cheesecake feed 6 people with a piece left over. It’s VERY rich.)

Caramel

• 25/26 caramels or half a caramel bits bag
• 6 TBSP sweetened condensed milk

Melt together over low heat. Mix thoroughly. Pour into crust.

Filling

• 3 – 8 oz cream cheese (1 1/2 lbs) – Do not use low fat
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 16 ounces sour cream1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or try using 1 tsp of lemon zest)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Using an electric mixture on low (this matters – stay on low the ENTIRE time. Don’t be tempted to speed it up) beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
3. Continue mixing on low while you slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese.
4. Continue mixing on low while you add one egg at a time, beating after each egg.
5. Add flour, vanilla and lemon juice (or zest) and mix on low.
6. Add in the sour cream and mix on low until completely blended.
7. Pour the mixture into the spring form pan.
8. Bake the cheesecake on the top rack of the 325 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
9. Once the timer goes off, prop your oven door open, turn off the oven and let the cake sit inside the oven for 1 hour.
10. Remove from the oven and let your cheesecake cool in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Here’s the thing about the 24 hours. We ate my first one after about 8 hours. It was to die for. We LOVED it. But the next day? When it had been 24 hours? Unbelievable. It seriously gets better the longer it sits in there. So make this the day before you need it. And trust me – and WAIT.

Topping

The topping – Pecans pan toasted with butter and brown sugar – arranged in a circle. Pan toasted again with the chopped pecans (more butter and brown sugar) and put in the center.

PS – While I pulled all these ideas from several places – the filling is from a copy cat restaurant site – Cheesecake Factory.

Now – for pictures! I should go get Jeff’s picture so you can see where I started from…

Jeff’s Cheesecake:

See why I needed this?

My cheesecakes -

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free!

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Stir peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt together. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into small balls, smash just slightly (with your hand or a fork) and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Move the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool.

Makes about 18-24 cookies.

*****

I made these today for a woman at church. When we were doing the thankful jar thing one of them was to be grateful your teacher (I think that was what it said). Anyway, Leah chose her teacher at church who she ADORES. But I knew she had lots of food allergies so I wanted to ask her first before I brought her cookies she couldn’t eat. She can’t have artificial sweeteners when it comes to cookies  but her mother has celiac disease so she needs gluten (flour) free food. So I wanted to make something they could both eat. Years ago I made a cookie similar this to another woman I know with celiac. Those didn’t have baking soda in them. I like what it did to the texture of the cookie.

I read several recipes today looking for the one I had before. The one I posted above is not exactly like any of them I read but they’re by far the best version of this I’ve had. I think it would be stellar to have some crunchy nuts in there. Peanuts seem like the obvious choice. Maybe walnuts.

Oh PS The cookies are very crumbly while still warm – leave them be until they’ve cooled off some!

Chip Dip

Today is the last day of NaNoBloMo! I feel like I should do some grand post but... I got nothing grand to share with you today!

I'm sick today and feeling particularly uninspired.

I did make a yummy dip yesterday. I took a picture before I baked it but forgot to afterward.

In the dip I put every cheese in my fridge - mozzarella, sharp cheddar, colby jack,  some white velveeta with green chiles in it (this is something I've never found in name brand velveeta - it's a Kroger brand thing and great for chip dips!), a little parmesan, a brick of cream cheese, sour cream, milk, some juice from a jar of jalapenos (I didn't add the jalapenos because Leah was going to be eating it), salt, pepper, red pepper.

Then I added a bunch of chopped up ham and then I cut the corn off three ears of corn on the cob and added that.

So it was Ham Corn Cheese Dip.

This is Drew’s plate – he who was too impatient to wait for me to bake it. Then I forgot to take a picture of the baked version. It just had a slightly crusty top – would have made a better picture though.  A very hearty chip dip with little bursts of sweetness from the fresh corn. Dinner served!

PS Not exactly a health food. Or particularly great for my blood sugar… But yummy!

Potato Pancakes

Recipe

And what I did:

2 cups of mashed potatoes (day old as suggested)
1 egg
a scant 1/4 of flour (it needed more than the recipe link said - just slightly)
1/4 diced onion (I sautéed it first in butter)

Then I proceed as the link suggested.

These, of course, will only be as good as your mashed potatoes were to begin with.
I put gravy on top like syrup and then a dollop (I love the word dollop) of sour cream on top.

Thanks to Camela for the idea of making potato pancakes and giving me the craving. And thanks to Pep for the sour cream on top idea!

Pumpkin Pie Bites, Part 2

  These pictures are for you, Connie. This is the PERFECT way to eat these little bites.

A little whipped cream – sprinkle with cinnamon.

 

This is the deal with these. I love pumpkin pie but I always like to turn the pie on it’s side and get crust in every bite plus I want whipped cream in every bite. It’s a lot of organizing to eat it correctly. But this? Perfect. Everything you need in every bite!

PS One more post coming. I feel like it’s cheating to do the same topic two days in a row! lol

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Pumpkin Pie Bites

I made these today (I know, I know. I said I was going to do it days ago. Sue me.) - they're rather delicious. They're supposed to be for tomorrow. I may have eaten four. I'm not admitting to anything for certain though...

They look different than on the site I got them from for a couple reasons. I used circles not pumpkin cookie cutters and I used the fresh pumpkin so the color is considerably lighter. I also didn’t do it in two batches as she suggested. I guess if I was doing the pumpkin cutters that might have been necessary but these fit just right.

Actually a little more work than just making a pumpkin pie. Tomorrow I’m going to do some heavy whipping cream with sugar and cinnamon to eat on top. That will make it a perfect little pumpkin pie bite!

  

PS I keep saying tomorrow because we’re having a Thanksgiving dinner at mom’s tomorrow since she’s going to be out of town. Hooray for Thanksgiving dinner!

Birthday Cake

We are having Leah’s birthday party today (her birthday is actually tomorrow). And I’ve been working on her cakes this morning.

Here is the tablescape all put together:

A close up of the lady bugs – which I just think are adorable!

This is what the butterfly cake looks like – it’s just a round cake cut in half, cut outs, put back to back. I sliced a little slice off the back side of each too to make them fit together better.

The instructions for all these things can be found here: 31 Incredible Birthday Cakes.

There are a few things I did different out of necessity. Dark green muffin cups are not easy to come by. I went to 6 stores! So for the snakes I dyed the cake batter green and used mint green cups. It worked well. You can see them in the picture below. The lady bugs I used pink ones but I didn’t dye anything. They didn’t need it.

The instructions say to use mallomars for the ladybug body (and then cover in frosting) but I couldn’t find those anywhere either. I used mini cakesters. They worked perfectly – slightly bigger than mallomars I think.

If you look at the butterfly cake above you’ll see several candies are different. I couldn’t find sprees so I used these giant smarties a checker in walmart showed me. I didn’t know those things came so huge! They’re slightly alarming. I still haven’t eaten one. lol

The grass is dyed coconut. A little warm water, green dye, a little yellow – done in two batches to get multi tones.

I think everything else I did pretty much what they said. Leah loves it!

Now I’m off to finish cleaning, cook some rolls, and make a ham corn potato chowder. Yummy on this snowy day!

Applesauce

Here’s the recipe I used: Simply Recipes – Applesauce

I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear I did exactly what this recipe said. Although it was a recipe with built in “the sugar is guidelines – depends on your apples”. That’s the best kind. ;)

I stirred that up so the picture wouldn’t just be apples but really I left the lemon peel and cinnamon on the bottom to make sure they soaked in the water a long time.

After about 30 minutes I pulled the peel and cinnamon stick and dumped it hot into the food processor. Put it on high for about 20-30 seconds. And ta-da! Applesauce:

Leah helped with the whole process. She was ever so pleased with all of it. She did discover she doesn’t like applesauce when it’s warm.

This is so good now I don’t want the stuff in the handy jars anymore… great. Just great.