Maple Pecan Pie, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, GF, Dairy Free

Maple Pecan Pie

My family demands I make this every year. It's a little expensive, but worth it.

¾ c real maple syrup (no fake stuff)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1 tablespoon molasses

1/2 teaspoons salt

5 egg yolk's

1 1/2 cups chopped, toasted pecans

one pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Toast chopped nuts on a baking sheet for 10 to 12 min. or until they look and smell toasted. You may also toast in a skillet which will take about 5 min. Watch it carefully, do not burn it. Pour toasted nuts onto pie shell.

3. Warm the maple syrup, brown sugar, coconut milk, molasses and salt in a pan on stove or in the microwave. Remove from heat and whisk in egg yolks. Pour over nuts into pie shell. Place in oven and immediately reduce heat to 325°F. Depending on the size of your pie pan and bake for 45 to 60 min. or until pie is Set and barely jiggles in the center.

Pie Crust

1 1/2 c GF flour mix*

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c olive oil (or neutral oil like canola)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp chocolate extract (essential to replicate buttery goodness) or cocoa powder

1/4  to 1/3 c nut milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional

1. Mix dry stuff. Add wet stuff and stir. It should look like clumps. Let rest in the fridge at least 90 min to hydrate so the flour can hydrate and the crust will be tender. Press into an oiled pie pan and fill with pie filling. Bake as usual.

*GF flour mix:

1 c rice

1/2 c brown rice

1/2 c sweet rice

1/2 c toasted bean flour

1/4 tsp pectin

Makes 2 1/2 c mix.

Green Bean Casserole

1 cup water

1 tablespoon chicken broth

3 tablespoons gluten-free flour mix

salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash or other seasoning to taste

half an onion, chopped

two cans of green beans

1. Brown the onion in a pot on the stove with a dash of oil. Add water, broth, flour mix in seasoning, cook and stir until thick. Add the green beans, stir. Pour into serving dish and top with crumbled Chex cereal if desired.

Scalloped Potatoes

4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices

1 tbsp oil or bacon fat (bacon fat is tastiest!)

1 small onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)

3 c chicken broth

1/4 c gf flour mix

4 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)

2 bay leaves (or tsp sage)

2 teaspoons table salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ tsp mustard powder, optional

Crumbled bacon, parsley or chives as garnish, optional

Heat oven to 350° F. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened. Add garlic and saute for half a minute. Stir in broth, flour, thyme, sage, mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir in potatoes.

Cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, or until a knife slips in and out of the potatoes fairly easily. Remove bay leaves (if using) and discard. Transfer potatoes to a 9×13 inch baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and thickened. Cool for a few minutes before serving. Garnish at will.

New flour mix 2014, no starch, no gums & Carrot Cake

I love having energy and no being wiped with allergies. Getting lots done, writing and cooking. I'm especially thrilled to have carrot cake back in my life. We decided that frosting was unnecessary sugary distraction, so we skipped it.

Carrot Cake

Packed with fiber, good oils, with a light yet luscious topping.

2 ½ c flour or GF flour mix

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1 ¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

½ tsp salt

1 lb carrots, peeled

2 c brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 ½ c vegetable oil

1 ½ c chopped nuts, optional

1 c raisins, optional (if using both raisins and nuts, increase cooking time by 10-12 minutes)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices in a bowl, set aside.

3. In a food processor fitted with a shredding disk, shred carrots. Add carrots, nuts and raisins (if using) to bowl with dry stuff and set aside.

4. Switch to the metal blade in the food processor. Process eggs with sugar until frothy. Slowly pour in oil, allowing eggs time to incorporate it all. It’s going to look a lot like mayonnaise, and is going to keep the cake from having a soggy bottom.

5. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing until just combined. Pour into a baking pan. Bake a 350 F 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

New flour mix:

1 c rice flour
1/2 c sweet rice

1/2 c toasted bean flour

1/2 c  toasted brown rice

1/4 tsp pectin

I’ve been through several flour mixes since the gel test experiment, and finally settled on the American Gluten Free flour mix. It has no starch, no soy, no gums and is very affordable. It also is a one for one exchange in recipes calling for regular wheat flour.

                                                                                                                     

This is the flour mix used in this book:

American Gluten Free flour mix:

1 c white rice flour

1/2 c sweet rice flour

1/2 c brown rice flour, toasted

1/2 c bean flour, toasted

1/4 tsp pectin

Multiplied by 8:

8 c white rice flour

4 c sweet rice flour

4 c brown rice flour, toasted

4 c bean flour, toasted

2 tsp pectin

This mix works because the white rice adds bulk, the sweet rice binds, the brown rice adds a lovely toasty flavor, fiber and vitamins, the bean flour makes a complete protein and helps with the structure of the baked goods and the pectin binds. Pectin also does other health related things. Available in most groceries in the canning section; I use the low acid stuff.

                            

Toasted brown rice is simply rice that’s been pan toasted until it browns slightly before being ground. This greatly improves the flavor, making a good cookie excellent.

Glutinous rice, aka sticky rice, sweet or waxy rice, is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous rice, because it sticks, even though it contains no gluten. Go figure. I use it as a binder.

Beans are any kind of bean, such as pinto, kidney and navy. I use small white beans because I toast my beans before grinding and it’s easier to see how the color is coming along. They also go through the flour mill easier. Toasting removes the raw bean flavor that would otherwise make your baked goods taste funny. Bear in mind, the darker the bean, the darker the flour and resulting baked good.

Toasted bean flour is made from oven toasted beans and takes away the raw bean flavor that would not be welcome in a cookie or cake. Toast the beans on a cookie sheet at 350 F until browned, cool and grind.

The eggroll shaped hole in my belly is finally filled.

Made gluten free eggrolls last night! I use rice paper wraps (the see through stuff on California rolls), dipped them in thin batter ( I used my GF waffle mix) and fried until golden brown. Yum! My family fell on them like starving wolves, had to reserve a couple for my lunch or they’d have been gone.

To use a spring roll wrapper, dip in a bowl of warm water for a few seconds (or run under the tap) to soften. I prep a couple at a time to speed things up.

Food Network has a video for how to use spring roll wrappers: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/fresh-vegetable-spring-rolls-with-two-dipping-sauces-recipe.html

Wrappers available in the Asian section of many groceries.

I really like what my new flour mix is doing for me. Not only am I more energetic and warmer, my skin is silky soft. My nails are stronger and my hair thicker, my allergies have improved and there's no rainy day asthma. I haven't caught the colds my family has brought home, either.

I believe removing the potato flour is the key. Windrose Clinic told me I was sensitive to a potato-grain combo, but I didn't take them seriously. I'd never heard of such a thing, and I had enough problems without worrying about that. No I know that they were on target, and I'm pretty jazzed.

My blood sugar is better, too. Less low blood sugar attacks are nice.

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is a good book

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

My library ordered this and I'm grateful. It's a good book and definitely worth a read. Bread making has come a long way in the last ten years, and I'm excited to see the progress. If you can't afford it, ask your library to order it.

Tasty, GF olive oil pie crust & pumpkin pie

Now we have pie crust. This is a big deal, since I love to grow squash. there's something about all the bright colors and shapes, plus they keep forever. I don't eat the seeds, but only because I prefer mine hulled. I saw a thing on the net about crushing the shells with a rolling pin and boiling the seeds. The shells are supposed to float to the top, so I may try that, or I could pulse them in a food processor and then boil.

I'm epi-pen allergic to milk, so butter is out. Shortening often has soy, another allergy, and I'm allergic to sunflower (God has a sense of humor), which is in otherwise useful butter substitutes (and almost all potato chips use sunflower oil). I can use Spectrum shortening (based on date palm) but it's not cheap and has no flavor.

Pie crust should taste as good as the pie.

Pie Crust

1 c GF flour mix*

1/2 c sweet rice flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c olive oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp chocolate extract (essential to replicate buttery goodness)

1/4  to 1/3 c nut milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix dry stuff. Add wet stuff and stir. It should look like clumps. Let rest in the fridge at least 90 min to hydrate so the flour can hydrate and the crust will be tender. Press into an oiled pie pan and fill with pie filling. Bake as usual.

*GF flour mix:

1 c rice

1/2 c brown rice

1/2 c sweet rice

1/2 c toasted bean flour

1 tbsp potato flakes

1/4 tsp pectin

Makes 2 3/4 c mix.

Mock Pumpkin Pie

Carrot or winter squash puree makes a great pie that is indistinguishable from pumpkin.

2 c thinly sliced cooked carrots (6 medium) or pureed winter squash or pumpkin

¼ tsp salt

½ c brown sugar

1 tbsp GF flour

2 eggs

1 c canned coconut milk

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ginger

9 inch unbaked pie shell

1. Boil or microwave the carrots until tender. Puree carrots, adding rest of ingredients until well mixed. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until pie is set and barely jiggles in the center when you wiggle the pie plate. Let pie cool, slice and enjoy.

Most excellent white chocolate orange cupcakes

I wasn't sure my kids would like this or if it would come out right off the bat, but as I was mixing the extracts and the perfume filled the house, I knew. Tasting the batter was a clue, and the cupcakes, a revelation.

The kids were squabbling as they walked in the door, so I threw cupcakes at them (figuratively speaking, of course. I'd never do that to these cupcakes). My daughter said they were awesome, my youngest son, that they were fantastic...then he ate six when I wasn't looking.

My oldest son has decided that he doesn't hate gluten free any more, oh, and can I have another one, mom?

The kids shoved a cupcake at John when he came home, beating me to it. On the third cupcake, he was too full to eat it, so he sat in his recliner and cuddled it, sniffing every couple of minutes. I've never seen him so blissed out on a pastry before. I think he stopped at five.

I had to make a second batch.

The kicker was when I was throwing away some old banana bread muffins (a sad experiment that shows how far I came). He looked at me incrediously, and a little hurt. "Are those more cupcakes? Are you hiding them from me?"

The force is strong with this one. I feel like a GF Yoda.

Adapted from the Nosh on This cookbook, which I'm totally going to buy, because she understands flavor. I had to remove the dairy, added chocolate extract and used real lemon juice instead of lemon extract (because that stuff is really strong) and used my flour blend, which is a great 1:1 stand in.

She has some tasty coconut frosting and flavored syrup that I didn't even attempt, but you should check out the options.

White Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

2 c GF flour, mine or the Nosh blend here

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c canned coconut milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

4 eggs

1/4 c olive or canola oil (mild oils only)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp orange extract or liqueur

1/2 tsp chocolate extract (you don't want to miss this. oh, boy!)

1. Mix dry stuff. Add wet stuff and mix well. Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake at 350 F until slightly golden and knife comes out clean. 25-30 min in my oven. Don't jiggle the pan or it won't dome nicely. Enjoy!

GF flour mix:

1 c rice

1/2 c brown rice

1/2 c sweet rice

1/2 c toasted bean flour

1 tbsp potato flakes

1/4 tsp pectin

Makes 2 3/4 c mix.