New Favorites

I can't believe I haven't posted on this blog for over 4 years! Once I caught the vision of Pinterest, I found I was keeping track of my recipes that way (which was the original purpose of this blog) instead of typing them up here. I still get asked for recipes and recommendations all the time, so I plan to post some of my favorite recipes soon. For now, I want to tell you about my favorite gluten-free cookbooks. This is not a paid post, this is just my true opinion.

The America's Test Kitchen "How Can it Be Gluten-Free" cookbooks:

The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques. Groundbreaking Recipes.

The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook Volume 2: New Whole-Grain Flour Blend, 75+ Dairy-Free Recipes

These books have completely changed my life. EVERYTHING I have made in them is good. If I follow the directions, things turn out great every time. I love that the recipes all use their gf flour blend and I can just scoop flour out of one container and move on. Yesssssssss!

I'm kind of a simple girl, so I don't like recipes that call for a bunch of stuff that I've never heard of. A few of these recipes call or psyllium husk, which is about as exotic as this book gets. That's the only one I had never bought before.

If you're looking for a good recipe for dinner rolls, brownies, cake, chicken & dumplings, blondies (OH my gosh!!!!), muffins, waffles, PIE CRUST, key lime bars, I mean you name it... These are fabulous recipes.

You won't regret adding these books to your GF collection. ;)

Quinoa Pancakes

My friend Chelsee raved about these new pancakes she made and loved, so I decided to try to make the recipe gluten free. The results were awesome. I’ve made them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (on different days =). My kids and husband love them, too. A word about the batter… The first time I tried this, I took one look at the batter and figured this was going to be a total disaster.  It looked kind of like cooked tapioca pudding, thick-ish like that. Don’t be scared, they turned out great. Plus, quinoa is super healthy so these are a great option. Enjoy!



Quinoa Pancakes

1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1/4 cup low-fat milk (I’ve used cow and almond, both are good)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
Fresh fruit or fruit preserves (optional), for serving

Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg white, butter, milk, and syrup until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter and heat over medium-high. Drop batter by 1/4 cup-fulls onto skillet. Cook until bubbles appear on top, 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter (reduce heat to medium if overbrowning). Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit.

Gluten Free Waffles

I love waffles, and it's been a real struggle for me to find a good recipe. Back in June when I had baby #3, my friend Jessica brought these waffles to our family for dinner one night. It was like absolute heaven!! She brought berries and whipped cream to have on top and it was so great. My husband and kids even loved them. The best part about this recipe is that it seems to be very forgiving. I've used the flour mixtures listed below, but when I was low on something or out, I just substituted some corn starch or sorghum flour here and there and still had great results. In my experience, they do need a little longer to cook than "regular" waffles, so when the light on my waffle maker comes on, I just wait another minute or so. You'll love these!

Gluten Free Waffles


1 1/4 cups rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk (I've used cow, vanilla soy, and vanilla almond...ALL good)
1/2 cup cooking oil or butter, melted
 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together.  In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together.  
Then add wet ingredients to dry and mix until well blended and there are no lumps.  Spoon batter onto waffle iron and follow your waffle iron's directions.
Makes 12 to 16 (4-inch) waffles.  






THANK YOU, JESSICA!!!

Gluten-Free Corn Bread

I love winter comfort foods. My favorite thing to pair with a good soup is corn bread, but I have struggled for years to find a good recipe. Today was cold, so I had soup cooking for dinner. On a whim I decided to give corn bread another whirl. It turned out so incredibly great. I played with an old recipe and it ended up being fantastic. Even my husband thinks so, and he’s quite opinionated when it comes to gluten-free breads. I think we’ll be eating this a lot this winter.

Gluten-Free Corn Bread
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl:
1/2 C. Rice flour
1/2 C. Tapioca flour
1 C. Yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
2 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt

In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 C. plain yogurt
2 Tbsp melted butter (I did pureed beans)
1/4 C. water

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Spoon into a greased 8” pan (mine was dirty so I did it in a 9” round pan and that worked well, too) and bake at 400 for 20-25 min. The top should “spring” when you press on it.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have survived moving across the country 5 weeks after having baby #3, and I’m finally ready to start making new things again. Hooray for that! I’ve tried a few new recipes I hope to post soon, but first I am posting this recipe for my favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’m kind of amazed that it’s taken me this long to do it, since I’ve had the recipe since 2003. It’s in my recipe binder but suddenly I feel greatly inconvenienced when I can’t pull up a recipe I want online. =) Anyway…These are good cookies. I love them because they’re easy and very forgiving. I’ve used all sorts of flour blends depending on what I have and they turn out great. Also, they don’t require xanthan gum. Because I’m super cheap, that’s important to me. I love these cookies fresh out of the oven or out of the fridge, but my VERY FAVORITE way to eat these is warm with vanilla ice cream on top. Amazing.


Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Combine:
1/4 C. butter (softened)
1 1/2 C. sugar
(beat ‘til fluffy)

Add:
1 egg
1 1/2 C. pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
(mix well)

In a separate bowl, whisk together:
2 1/2 C GF flour (I used 1 C Rice, 1 C Oat, and 1/2 C. Corn starch, but I’ve used several different combos with Tapioca flour, potato startch, sorghum flour, etc. Use what you have.)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C. chocolate chips (I like the mini)
1/2 C. chopped walnuts (optional, but super good)

Slowly add dry mixture to wet ingredients and mix well. The batter should be pretty moist. Spoon batter by tablespoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-17 min.

Gluten-Free Pancakes

• Last year I found a bunch of GF Bisquick on serious clearance at Smith's. I bought 13 boxes. I love that stuff so much. Last week I used the last box and I was so sad. I can't bring myself to spend nearly $5 for 3 cups of pancake mix. I just can't do it. So....I started looking for a new recipe. Lots of GF pancake recipes are too dense or gritty for me. This one has great texture, by my standards. I adapted it from a recipe on allrecipes.com.

Gluten Free Pancakes

• 1 cup rice flour
• 5 tablespoons tapioca flour
• 1/3 cup potato starch
• 1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 cups milk

Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Mix well. Add eggs, oil and milk and stir to combine. Cook on a well-sprayed skillet....like you would any normal pancake. I feel like a goober writing pancake instructions. Happy breakfast to you!

Gluten Free Tomato Soup

One of the “regular foods” I miss the most in the winter time is canned tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. I’ve tried a few recipes for tomato soup and never quite loved it. This is a mix of several recipes I’ve tried and I think it’s awesome. I made this with my 4 year old daughter one afternoon last week and we had so much fun.

Tomato Soup

3 (15 oz) cans tomatoes (you can use whole, diced, whatever…it’s just going in the blender)

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp dried basil

1/2-1  cup chopped onion (I only did 1/2 cup but next time I’ll do more)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup skim milk

Put all ingredients except the milk into large pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes. Pour soup into a blender (I did this in 2 batches) and blend on low for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Return to pot and add milk. Eat with grilled cheese sandwiches. =)

No-Bake Cookies

I was craving chocolate and my daughter wanted to make cookies. To satisfy both of us, we decided on these little babies. I did a ridiculous amount of research to figure out why mine are always either too crumbly or too runny. I guess when I'm pregnant I take cookies pretty seriously. Here's what I learned: it's all in the boiling time. If you boil too long they're crumbly, not long enough they're runny. You have to set the timer for 90 seconds as soon as it starts boiling and then when the timer goes off, immediately remove the pan from the heat. This was my first time trying it this way and they were absolutely perfect. Happy chocolate to you.

No-Bake Cookies
1 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
1/2 c. butter
4 Tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
3 c. gluten free quick oats
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 90 seconds. Remove from heat immediately. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Add oats and stir well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper and allow to cool.

Easy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

This is my new favorite pizza crust. I have finally stopped buying the packaged stuff because I was able to make something on my own that tasted great AND was really, really, easy. It's even the right kind of texture to roll with a rolling pin, which is a huge bonus, in my opinion. I am looking forward to trying calzones with this because I think it would work perfectly. Original recipe found here.

Easy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

2/3 c. warm water (or milk)
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Mix above ingredients and set aside while you prepare the rest. In a seperate bowl, combine the following ingredients and mix really well (I do this in my Kitchenaid):

2/3 c. plus 3 tbsp potato starch
3 tbsp sorghum flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
Rice flour for dusting pan/rolling pin

Add the water/yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and mix well. When the dough is well combined, dust counter or pan with rice flour and roll dough into 12-16 in. circle. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 min. Remove from the oven and top as desired, bake for another 10 min or until toppings are warm/melted.

Chicken Taco Bowls

This is one of my new favorite recipes, so I thought it was a good one to start off the new year. I’m becoming a bigger fan of my crockpot all the time, mostly because I love being able to just dump a bunch of stuff in there and have dinner ready hours later. Awesome. This is that kind of recipe. It’s super easy, really versatile, and tastes great.

Chicken Taco Bowls
2 large chicken breast halves
1 (16 0z) jar salsa
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and well rinsed
1 c. frozen corn
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. chopped cilantro (optional)
1/2 c. uncooked jasmine rice
Shredded lettuce (optional)

Put everything except the rice, cheese and cilantro into the crockpot. However you want. Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high from 4-5 hours. About 45 min before you want to eat, prepare the rice as directed on the package. I like to add a Tbsp of Lime juice and some garlic salt to mine.  Remove lid from crockpot and shred chicken. Mix all ingredients in the pot together and replace lid until ready to eat.
We make ours like this: Place rice on the bottom of your bowl. Then top with lettuce, chicken mixture, cheese and cilantro. You can eat it just like that, or I like to throw a little Ranch dressing on top. I have also used the leftover chicken mixture to make taco salads, nachos, or tacos for lunches.
This is so easy and you can tweak it however you want.

Fudge

I'm blaming all of this on pregnancy. I woke up yesterday wanting fudge so bad. I decided to make it today because we had lots of family coming to celebrate my little girl's birthday, so I knew I'd have help eating it. I've actually never made fudge before. Mostly because it's something I really love and I didn't want to risk screwing it up. I found a recipe on this blog that I figured I could handle and it turned out amazing. Happy Sugar Rush!

Fudge

4 cups of sugar (shocking, I know)
1 can evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Mix in a big pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Boil for 8 min. Remove from heat and add:

2 2/1 cups chocolate chips (I did half milk and half semi-sweet)
1 cup butter

Stir until mixture is melted and loses some of it's gloss. Add:

1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup more mini marshmallows

Stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour into butter cookie sheet and cool. This made very thin pieces for me, just thinner than I am used to. Next time I might use a 9x13 pan instead.

Shredded Beef Tacos

I’ve been slacking lately at keeping up with this blog, and if I’m honest with myself, most other things in my life.  I haven’t spent much time baking or trying new recipes for the past few months since I believe it’s never in your best interest to try a new recipe in your first trimester of pregnancy. =) Now I’m feeling much better and I have a few good ones I hope to have posted soon. This taco recipe is one I originally found on Crockpot365. I really love her blog. I only made a few preferential changes to it and we really loved it. I hope you like them!

 

Shredded Beef Tacos

3-4 pound beef roast

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

6 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion, diced

1 Tbsp ginger

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 half jalapeno, diced with seeds removed

 

Trim the fat off the roast and plop it in your crockpot. Then just dump the rest of the ingredients in however you want.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Shred the meat and stir to mix everything in well. It really is super easy. Serve in corn tortillas with lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and sour cream on top. Delicious.

Pad Thai

We love Thai food. Whenever we go I want to try new things but also can’t resist ordering my favorite, Pad Thai. I think that problem is solved because this recipe tastes as good to me as anything I’ve had at a restaurant. Now I can eat Pad Thai at home and try new things when we go out. Win-win!! The long list of ingredients looked intimidating to me at first (especially the fish sauce…look for that near the soy and thai sauces at your grocery store) but it’s very easy to make. We liked it so much we ate it twice this week, so try it out!

PAD THAI

3/4 pound bean sprouts
6 ounces pad thai rice noodles
4 eggs
salt
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons sesame or extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 cups grated carrots
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter (optional)
2/3 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup green onions, thinly sliced

Bring pot of water to boil and prepare rice noodles according to package directions. Add the bean sprouts to the boiling noodles during the last minute of cooking. Drain noodles/beans and rinse with cold water.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Stir together the lime juice, ketchup, brown sugar, and fish sauce in a separate bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet (or wok) over medium heat. Fry the garlic for about a minute. Add red pepper flakes and carrot and stir fry for one minute, move to one side of the skillet.  Add the beaten egg to the opposite side of the skillet and scramble.  Once eggs have set, mix them with the peppers and carrots. Add peanut butter and mix in until melted. Add the noodles, sprouts, green onions, peanuts, and sauce. Toss and serve.
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Silly Pancakes

This is my 4 yr old daughter's favorite breakfast. She loves to watch them bake into crazy bumps and bubbles. She started calling them "Crazy Pancakes" and it sort of stuck at our house. I have made these gluten-free several times, but this is the recipe that gave me the best results.

Silly Pancakes (German Pancakes)

Put the following ingredients into blender:
6 eggs
1 cup milk (I use vanilla soy and it's delicious)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt

Blend for about 1 minute. Meanwhile, place 3 Tbsp of butter in a 9x13in baking dish and set it in the oven while you preheat to 400 degrees. Keep an eye on it and pull it out once the butter is melted. When batter is well blended, pour into buttered dish and bake for about 20 min. Serve with maple syrup.

Kung Pao Chicken

I recently had my first experience with Kung Pao Chicken.  The restaurant version was great, but this recipe I made at home was even better. I am a big fan of simple recipes.  At first glance this seems a bit complex, but really it's simple. The steps are just broken down for my own benefit, so I don't screw-up. Dinner time is easily my hardest time of day as that's when I need to be paying attention to what I'm doing in the kitchen as well as the precious baby girl clinging to my legs.  Anyway, try the Kung Pao. It's divine.

Kung Pao Chicken

1 lb chicken (I used 2 frozen boneless skinless breast halves) cut into strips

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sweet thai chilli sauce (I used 3 tbsp)

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp sesame oil

2 green onions, diced. separate green pieces from white

1 medium green bell pepper (I did half green, half red), diced

2 medium carrots thinly sliced

1/2 cup zucchini, diced (optional)

1/2 cup unsalted peanuts

3 cups prepared jasmine rice

Prepare chicken marinade: Dissolve 1 Tbsp of corn starch in 1 Tbsp of water and then add 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil, 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of rice vinegar, and 2 tsp of minced garlic. Stir well. Pour over chicken in a container, cover and refridgerate while you prepare the rest.

Prepare the sauce: Dissolve 1 Tbsp of corn starch in 1 Tbsp of water. Then add 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Stir to combine and dissolve the brown sugar. Set the sauce aside.

Prepare the veggies: Slice the peppers, carrots, zucchini and green onion.

Prepare rice: add 1.5 cups jasmine rice to 2.5 cups boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Heat 2 T. oil in medium skillet. When it's very hot add white portions of the onions and cook for about 1 minute. Add marinated chicken and stir-fry until cooked through (about 5 min).

Add veggies and peanuts, cook for about 2 minutes. Add the sauce and cook until thickened (about 2-3 min). Serve chicken and veggie mixture over prepared rice.

Crockpot Potato Soup

My favorite part about this cold weather is busting-out all the soup recipes we love so much. This is one of my favorites. You can kind of play around with different ingredients and quantities so it's really easy.

Crockpot Potato Soup

Mix these ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hrs or on high for 4 hrs.
5 cups chicken broth
8-10 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper

Using a measuring cup, scoop about 2 cups of cooked soup from crockpot into blender and puree until smooth. Then pour pureed soup back into crockpot. This makes it really creamy without adding cream/fat. Then add any of these optional ingredients:
1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 green onions, sliced

My Favorite Fall Treats

We have been eating lots of fun fall treats this month. Most of them are already posted on this site, so I thought I would just give you some links to some of my favorites in case you are looking for some dessert ideas. I'm hoping that next week I'll get my favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe posted.  Let me know if you try something you like.

* Pumpkin Bars

* Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

* Awesome Sugar Cookies

* Crockpot Peach Pie

Buttercream Frosting

I've been searching for a homemade frosting recipe that tasted great but also had a good consistency to use in a decorating bag. Found!!! This stuff is fabulous and pretty versatile. I used it on a cake a few weeks ago and then again on sugar cookies today. Delicious. If you make it just like the recipe says it's quite firm and easy to decorate with, but it thins out easily so it's more spreadable, too.

(I used Wilton's Sky Blue food coloring and bought that edible Tangled graphic on Amazon. It's not perfect, but my 4 year old loved it.)

Wilton's Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c butter
1/2 c shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use almond extract...amazing)
4 c powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Mix all ingredients with a mixer. To thin, add milk 1 tbsp at a time to desired consistency.

Eleanor's Bake Shop

You guys! Today I discovered that I live less than 5 miles from an amazing, 100% gluten-free bakery and I never knew it. How is that even possible? I almost had a complete melt-down when I found out. I don't want any other Utah readers to be deprived of this fabulous place for another second, so I wanted to tell you all about it. Eleanor's Bake Shop is a family-run store that serves soups, sandwiches, pizza, and treats of all kinds. They gave me a free cake-pop (because I was a 1st timer) and that thing was down-right amazing. Life changing. Seriously. Between my little family of 4 we tried a cinnamon roll, brownie, and frosted sugar cookie. It was all fantastic. I can't wait to get back there and try the lunch food as well as more treats. On their website I found a "Daily Menu" tab that tells you what flavors of each thing they are offering for the day. I love that feature. A friend of mine told me about this place today and said she's bought their Birthday cakes and they were incredible. Delicious as well as nicely decorated. Did I tell you they do wedding cakes? How about that there's a little play area for kids? Isn't this amazing information?! Go try it. Let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I love all things made of pumpkin. When they turn out right. I’ve been looking for the right pumpkin pancake recipe and I think I finally found it! I made them for my family a few days ago and I instantly loved them. Imagine my disappointment when I asked my husband what he thought and his response was, “They’re…different.” Good-different? “It’s just like eating pumpkin pie for breakfast.” Umm, exactly. Some people don’t like dessert for breakfast. I am not those people. Whatever time of day you want to make them, they are fabulous. I got the original recipe at Baking Bites and converted it to gluten-free, so if you’re a gluten-eater, just use the original from their site. Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Pancakes
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3/4-1 cup milk
1 tbsp oil (I used beans, of course)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. In a medium bowl mix all wet ingredients until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into dry mixture and whisk until well-combined.  Heat a non-stick skillet to medium-high. Pour dallops of batter onto pan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook until golden and flip to cook the other side until golden. They may turn a little darker than regular pancakes, especially because they are kind of thick and need to cook a little bit longer. Serve with maple syrup.
I stored the leftover in ziplocks in the fridge for a few days. They heated up well in the toaster and they were a great snack straight from the fridge. I hope you love them!