yummy cupcakes

  Well I just had to post some yummy cupcakes I made today......I wanted to bake something comforting and fallish.....so here are my yummy Hot Chocolate cupcakes with Marshmellow Cloud Icing

Doesn't this look soooo good.......and yes they were. I'm working on getting the recipe to you so be sure to come back :)

Happy Gluten Free baking

Oh My Heavenly Cake………Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cake!!…..Oh Yeah!

Oh I’m so happy with how this came out!!! I have loved this cake since making in my bakery. I very lovely lady passed it down to me to use and I’m so glad she did!  Again I just used the same recipe and changed out the flour for my Gluten Free All Purpose flour.  This mix has defiantly become my Very best friend!! Please try

My recipe score card

Yumminess: 10/10

Richness: 12/10 {you are going to need a large glass of milk!}

You tell me what you think…….Here’s the recipe…..

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cake

	Cake
2 Sticks	Butter
1 Cup	Peanut Butter
2	Eggs
1/2 Cup	Milk
1 Cup	Water
1 tsp	Vanilla
2 Cups	Gluten Free AP Flour mix
2 Cups	Sugar
1 tsp	Baking Soda
	Icing
1 Stick	Butter
1/2 Cup	Peanut Butter
2 Tbs	Milk
1 lb	Powdered Sugar
	Pre heat oven to 350. Prepare a 9x13 pan with non stick spray.  In a sauce pan place butter, peanut butter, milk , and vanilla.  Whisk the eggs in the water and also add to pan. Cook on medium till melted. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, and baking soda.  Add the peanut butter mixture and whisk together till blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake about 20-25 minuets.  This cake will still be moist when its done but should be firm and not wet looking on top While the cake is in the oven combine all icing ingredients except powdered sugar in sauce pan and cook till melted and then stir in powdered sugar.  Start by adding half at a time and add more to get the consistency that you like.  I like mine to be able to pour over the cake, the more sugar you add the thicker fudge like the icing will be.

Enjoy!

Melissa

On the Hunt…..

 

Well it’s a beautiful day here in Indiana and I thought “today is a great day to go searching for ingredients to make my All Purpose Flour mix.  So onward to Whole Foods……not sure what regions this store is in but it is our local grocer for specialty diet needs and organic food. I’m sure there would be something similar in other regions or you can shop for these items on line at places like Vitacost…….but who could resist going out on a day like today :)

I love this grocer, things are so fresh and pretty here…….of course with a family of 7 I can’t do all my shopping here and stay on my budget, but for some things I can spurge  :)

I was lucky and found all that I needed to make my flour mix.  I found a couple of recipes on line.  Food.com had a few and Gluten Free Cooking School had lots of great resources.  I basically used the recipe I found from the Cooking School but did change it a little based on what I saw on other recipes. 

The Results………

I was soooo happy.  I used this right away to make Chocolate Chip Cookies and they came out so good….not too thin, not to thick but just right.  I only changed out the flour in my old favorite recipe and that was it……how much easier could it get??  In fact my whole house, kids and all liked them…..the only one who could tell a difference was my husband……but he has super power taste buds! No joke this guy can tell if I don’t use Hersey’s Chocolate…….I swear even when I try to trick him!….. if I could only make money with his freak talent :)  All in all he liked them too ;)

Don’t these just look Yummy???

You should really give both recipes a try.  I haven’t used the flour in anything else yet but boy do I have big plans ;)

 

All Purpose Flour Mix

3 cups	Brown Rice Flour
3 cups	Tapioca Flour
2 cups	Sorghum Flour
1 cup	Masa Harina
2 teaspoon	Xanthan
1 teaspoon	Guar Gum del.icio.us Tags: baking,cookies,chocolate,flour mix,all purpose flour recipe
	Measure all and dump in a large bowl. Using a whisk, whisk everything up till incorporated

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 cup	Butter
1/3 cup	Sugar
1/3 cup	Brown Sugar
1	Egg
1/4 teaspoon	Salt
1/2 teaspoon	Baking Soda
1 teaspoon	Vanilla
1 1/2 cups	GF All Purpose Flour Mix
1 cup	Chocolate Chips
	Pre heat oven to 350 In a large bowl cream butter and sugars together. Add egg, salt, baking soda, and vanilla stir to blend.  Add in flour all at once and stir add chips, mix well. Scoop out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 7-8 min.

 

Enjoy

Melissa

Oh Pizza, Glorious Pizza….How I miss you

 

Oh to take a bite of that warm gooey cheesy slice of yummy satisfying pizza.  That is what I do believe I miss the most……ho hum.  There is a local pizza shop in town that has the most AMAZING bread stix ever!  My husband and I would frequent this place for an order each of bread stix…..those were the days :)

Well I had to figure a way to satisfy this carving {you know its not just the taste its the whole experience the joy of chewing on that salty chew crust….ok I’m officially drooling!} ….anyway, I found a ready mix at my local store and thought “why not”

And here is how it came out….

I also made bread stix :) Over all this was ok, I don’t like a thick crust I’m more of a New York style girl.  So I am going to have to do some searching to find a better pizza crust.  I think I would even like it if it was more like a crispy crust just not spongy like the Red Mill turned out to be.

Any thoughts? or suggestions? I would love to here them. 

Melissa

Gluten Free Fried Pickle Chips……OH MY!!

 

Ok, Ok, I know…….Fried not baked, but I couldn’t resist.  My daughter went on and on about these amazing fried pickles she had the other day and well I was feeling a little left out :( I do believe as I sit here I played right into her hands because…….”I’ll make some and make them so I can eat them”……just as she was hoping I would do :) the little sneak!

So here is what I came up with………

 

1/4 cup	any king of oil  {I used Vegetable}
1 jar	large whole dill pickles {I used the big Kosher}
1 Tbs	corn starch
1	egg
1 Tbs	milk
a splash	hot sauce, or more if you like
1/4 cup	corn meal
1 Tbs	gluten free flour
1/4 tsp	baking powder
	salt & pepper
	Greek yogurt for dipping
	Place your oil in a pan and heat on stove to 350-375 Place the corn starch in a small dish, set aside. Whisk the egg, milk, and hot sauce in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl mix the corn meal, GF flour, baking powder, and salt and pepper. Slice your pickles to the desired size, I cut mine thicker than hamburger slices. I wanted them to have a good crunch.  First dip them in the corn starch, give them a nice even coat. Next dip them in the egg mixture and drop them in the corn meal mix.  When oil is hot place coated pickle in the hot oil and fry for 1-2 min. flip and fry an additional 1-2 min. remove and place on a paper towel. Plate up and add some greek yogurt for dipping!  *Melissa’s note……you can use ranch or any other condiment to dip them in….even just plain is good, but if you like the sauce that is on gyros then try the greek yogurt….it tastes like that sauce YUM!

 

Quiet Moments……

 

How many of you are like me, and enjoy those moments when you get up before all the little one and can make yourself breakfast and drink coffee in utter quiet…….

I savor these times.  I can reflect on what I want to get done for the day, think about projects I want to start, and lets face it space out on Pinterest admiring what everyone else is doing out there……Well then everyone wakes up and sees me eating and starts begging me to fix them something yummy for their bellies too.  Gone now is the quiet coffee drinking reflecting Penterest enjoying moment :) which is just fine…….

Dinner Last Night:

I am having fun figuring out what to stick in my everyday recipes to make them gluten free. Last night was lasagna night and because I can’t eat the noodles I bought some Rice Lasagna noodles.  There were some other kinds to chose from but I just went with this type to try first.  Over all it turned out great!  The noodles were a little softer then I would normally like, not much bite to them.  I determined that it was the amount of water I used to steam them or its just the nature of the beast……rice does seem to get very soft if over cooked.  I will play around with this.  My children all seemed happy with it, my son {6} ate his first piece said “its ok” and continued to eat a second helping :) Now my husband is a carbavor so it was funny to watch his face eat diner…….His face read “there is something not quite right about this”  so after he was just about done I spilled the beans……I told him I had to make his healthier too :)  He loves me ;)

Melissa’s throw together Lasagna

1 box	Rice Lasagna Noodles
1lb	Lean Ground Beef
1 jar	GF Marinara Sauce
1 cup	Greek Yogurt
4 cups	Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
	Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Italian Seasoning, Dried Onion
1 cup	Water
	Pre heat oven to 350 Cook the ground beef and season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and dried onion.  When done turn stove down and add the jar of marinara sauce and Greek yogurt.  Mix well.  Add a ladle of sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 pan and top with four noodles then layer with more sauce and top with about a cup of cheese.  Repeat the layers and finish off the the cheese.   Pour the water down the side of the pan and cover with foil.  Place in oven and bake for 30 min.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 or till nice and golden. I like my lasagna saucy so I have another jar of sauce available to pour on top of each serving. :)

You have to watch what some companies put in their Marinara sauce.  I use a recipe that I found at budget bytes.  I doubled the recipe and bottle it up to have on hand…..yummy!

Its hard to be frugal and Gluten Free!

Ok, so in my last post I told you about finding a Gluten free all pupose flour.  It worked great but at 1lb for $7 that will be hard to justify everytime I want to bake.....which let me tell you is pretty darn often!!! just ask my daughter :)  So I had a choice......either find a cheeper altenative or go on a sweets diet and well....hhmmm what to do?  Cheeper alternative!! :) 

I have gotten out my" google pages" :) and got to researching how I could make my own blend.  I found some on Food.com and found a great resource at gluten free cooking school.  The latter is a great little blog with lots of info....if you haven't seen it you should give it a look!  Back to what I found.....all the blends I found seemed to be quite different so I am going to give them a try and give my take on how they work.  I know I won't like anything with a soy flour, it just has a very "green" taste to it I have also heard it discribed as metallic, either way its not a flour for me.

Some flours are not as available so I have to look around to see what recipe I will be able to make easy. Also my 2 biggest requirements - taste and dollar!  To accomidate my very frequent baking fits I have to find the most economical all purpose blend that I can.

If anyone has a recipe they would like to post or have me try let me know I would love to hear form you!

I will be posting my results as I get them done......can't wait! See you soon!

Melissa

the gluten free baker

My First Brownie!!

Yeah!!! I just went for it today, I said "just get some flour and go for it".......so here is what I made!

That's right a gooey fudgy Brownie.....yummy!!!!

I was at Wholefoods and found an All-purpose flour and thought I would bring it home and give it a try.  1lb box was $7.00.....that for me {the frugal girl} was hard for me to pull the trigger.  So I sure didn't want to waste this box of gold on just anything.  So I though.....give brownies a try....and I did :) 

I used my favorite recipe from before GF, it was always a very fudgy brownie and really never needed icing, maybe just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.  Of course my kiddos love them with icing and so I end up lathering some chocolate icing on occasionally :)

I was crossing my fingers that these would turn out.....the only change I made was to change out the flour that was it!!!  I did end up putting them in a 9x13 pan and I usually make them in a half sheet baking sheet, so these were thicker and took longer in the oven.  You have to try these and tell me what you think!! I hope you love them too.  Let me know if you change or add anything....

Melissa's Fudgy Yummy Brownies:

4 eggs
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup corn syrup
3/4 cup shortening
2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl add eggs and sugar and salt and whip up just till creamed. Add cocoa & baking powder and combine.  In a micro safe bowl melt shortening {just till melted not too hot} and mix in corn syrup, then combine in with cocoa mixture.  Stir in GF four and last mix in water.

Pour into a greased pan {I use Pam Spray} and bake in oven for about 25-35 min.  Enjoy :)

*These brownies get even better the next day, the crust softens even more so there are no crusty ends!

A New Beginning

Lets see......38 and having to change an entire life style.  I have discovered my body and all its insides are much happier without gluten.....you know the stuff that's in all that yummy bread, cakes, brownies, and cookies!  Owning a bakery for 10 years one might say I have a sweet tooth :) which I DO!  I figured their are a lot of you Gluten-Free sweet cravers out there so I thought I would bring you along with me on this gluten free baking thing.  I'm sure I will stubble along the way.....you know it can't be as easy as just swapping out one type of flour for another! :)

As you join me on my journey I would love to hear from you with what you may have learned or great sources that would be helpful

Let get started baking........