Gluten Free Potato "Chips"

Ok, this is a no brainer, no frills recipe. I love potatos and am trying to find ways for the kids to like them too. We have tried homemade french frys, mashed potatos, grilled potatos, baked potatos, boiled potatos... sounds like the movie Forest Gump talking about shrimp. I decided to try potato chips. I sliced the potatos thin, tossed them in olive oil and put season salt on them. We vbked them in the oven at 450 until they turned brown on the one side then flipped them until they were brown on that side. Verdict... they were GREAT! Times vary so just watch until they are brown.

Gluten Free Apple Muffins

Awe.. the smell of sweet success. Actually it reminds me of the saying "Don't reinvent the wheel". Jackson and I love muffins and especially apple muffins. I think often of the days when I had the HUGE muffins from Perkins.. YUUM! Well, I tried a recipe yesterday and it was a DISASTER. Didn't taste horrible but just didn't taste. So, back to the drawing board... or is it! We love the apple cake soo much that I decided to make them into muffins! It worked, well, kind of. I put too much batter in each so it didn't rise as much in the middle and I had to cook it a bit longer than I should but next time I will be making these again with a bit less batter in the tins. I made a cream cheese/powder sugar frosting and it is DELICIOUS!!!!

See apple cake recipe posted earlier (I did lessen the sugar to 1/2 cup white sugar and added 2 Tbls honey)

I also made a frosting for it.

1 block of fat free cream cheese

4 tsp butter

3/4 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups powder sugar (or until the consistancy that you like)

It made a ton of frosting but it stores great in the fridge or freezer.

Gluten Free Fried Rice

I LOVE fried rice. Here's the thing. I don't eat it at restaurants because I don't know what they put in it. Well, a girlfriend of mine gave me her recipe and I just adapted it to our liking. I am winging it as I type because I just added a bit of this and that. It was DELICIOUS! This meal was AMAZING! I marinated steak in teriyaki sauce/liquid smoke all day. (Tip, stab the heck out of the meat to tenderize it). The shrimp was just boiled. It was an AMAZING MEAL!!

2 cups of rice (I used brown rice. NEEDS TO BE COLD so cook the day prior)

4 Tbls soy sauce

1/4 tsp sesame oil

3/4 cup green onion

1/2 cup onion

3 Tbls canola oil

1 cup of pork (cut into small pieces)

3 eggs - slightly beaten

salt

pepper

Heat the oil in a fry pan until hot. Add onions,peas and any other veggis and cook for 3 minutes. Push to the side add rice and let cook. don't mess with it too much or it will get mushy. Make a well in the middle of the rice and add the eggs. Let the eggs cook until it is set. Mix the rice and eggs together, add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss until mixed. This was just as good the second day heated up as the first!

Any other veggies or additions you want

Gluten Free Jello Popcorn Balls

I thought these would be fun for Easter. We are going to make various color easter eggs for Jacksons classmates. This is such a simple recipe. Very sticky, but easy!

10 cups of popcorn (I buy huge bags of kernels and pop them in the microwave in a paper bag)
1 cup of light corn syrup
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 box of jello (any flavor you want)

Pop the popcorn and set aside. I try to get all the unpopped kernels out so that the kids don't bit into the popcorn balls and hurt their teeth. Melt together in a pan the corn syrup, white sugar and jello. Keep stiring until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over the popcorn. Mix it up quickly to cover all the popcorn. Wet your hands with cool water and start to form the popcorn into balls. You want your hands damp but not "wet". Get a little damp inbetween making each ball. I put the balls on wax paper until they firmed up a bit. I thought these were very sweet but Jackson loved them!

Gluten Free, Lower Fat Peanut Butter Bread

I was just searching for new ideas on the internet (as I do quite a bit) and came across this bread. I LOVE banana bread but wanted something a bit different. This was the ticket. I modified it to our liking and it turned out great. It is a denser bread but amazing none the less!!!

Modified from recipe found on recipezaar

3 very ripe bananas
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup of egg whites
3 Tbls unsweetened applesauce
3 Tbls peanut butter
2 cups oats, blended to turn it into a flour texture (I used my magic bullet)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of white sugar or splenda
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
nuts, chocolate chips, flax seed.. what ever else you want.
Next time I may add a Tbls of honey too.. yumm!!

Mash bananas in a bowl or squeeze them out of the skins. Add next 4 ingredients and mix. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pur iinto greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes (mine was closer to 1hr 5 minutes). Let cool before cutting... um.. couldn't wait that long!! I am sitting here eating a piece as I type.. DELICIOUS!!!

Gluen Free Egg Bake

I love breakfast foods as I have mentioned many times. An egg bake is a wonderful and easy meal to make and can be gluten free. You can change the ingredients to suit your familys likes. Be creative... enjoy.

1 dozen large eggs
Skim milk
4 slices of gluten free bread (see prior recipe)
1 bag of shredded cheese (flavor of your choice)
1 lb pork sausage
Salt and pepper to taste

This is really a toss and mix recipe. Turn oven to 425. Greese pan and place bread in bottom. Mix eggs and milk (I just pour in until it looks right.. maybe 1/2 cup). Whip that up until light and fluffy. Pour on top of bread. Add meat and veggies of your choice then top with cheese. (we use about a half a bag of cheese though my hubby would love if I used it all). Bake for 1 hour or until it is cooked all the way through. Let cool a bit and enjoy!!

Gluten Free Special Chex Bars

So who doesn't like an ooey gooey Special K Bar every now and again. I was mistaken when I thought that rice krispies were gluten free.. then I thought that special k and corn flakes were gluten free. WRONG. SO, what do I always turn to. CHEX! I had an open box of rice and corn chex and whipped these up one morning with my partner in crime.. Jenna

6 cups of Rice/Corn Chex. Honey Nut would be AWESOME
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 bag of chocolate chips
1/2 bag of butterscotch chips

Put corn syrup, peanut butter and white sugar into microwave bowl and heat for 30 second intervals. Stir after every 30 second interval. Continue until it is fully melted and just bubbling. Pour melted mix over the cereal and stir to incorporate. Put the chocolate chips into a bowl and heat in microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. Again mix at every 30 second interval. Pour melted chips over the bars and let cool.

Gluten Free Smoothie

Sometimes we get soo caught up with what we can create or make that is gluten free and we forget about the simple things. One day Jenna and I were ready for a little afternoon snack and I said, what about a smoothie! YES! So that is what we did. I didn't have anything fancy on hand as you will see but that is the fun part. Be creative. Use what you have.

Fill cup with ice

4 frozen strawberrys

Cherry Juicy Juice (filled enough to cover ice)

1 tube of frozen blueberry gogurt

Blend it all together and enjoy!! This was a great treat for me and Jenna to share! We also shared some tropical chex mix..

Gluten Free Apple "Cake"

I have a ton of frozen apples and wanted to make something with it. This is apple cake. It is really a great bread, put into a pan and called "cake". You could frost it if you want but I chose to put powder sugar on it. At first I sprinkled it with what I thought was powder sugar but turned out to be rice flour.. YUCK. So I blew as much as I could off and topped it heavily with powder sugar. Well, I hit it out of the park with this one.. it was DELICIOUS and was still moist and wonderful 2 days later!

3/4 cup of rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch (not flour)

1/4 cup tapioca flour

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup white sugar

2 Tbls honey

3 Tbls brown sugar

2 Eggs

3 Tbls Milk

1 1/2 cups apples. Cubed, shreaded or otherwise.

Icing of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 inch springform pan or 8 inch cake pan. In medium bowl whisk together all dry ingredients EXCEPT sugars. In mixer bowl cream butter until smooth. Add egg and continue to beat. Add both sugars and beat well. Blend in the milk. Beat flour in slowly until fully incorporated. When mixed well take off of mixer and fold in apples. Pour batter into greased pan and cook in oven for 40-45 minutes (mine took way over 55 minutes) until a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Let cool and top with what ever you please. Powder sugar was awesome.. Cream cheese frosting would be AMAZING!

Gluten Free Bagels

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bagels. I used to eat them all the time. Panera is one of my favorites! I saw a recipe for bagels and HAD to try it! Well, it was worth it as these are amazing. No, they are not panera bagels BUT they are going to fill that need for me when I just HAVE to have a bagel with cream cheese!

Source: Modified from Recipezaar.com

2/3 cup lukewarm skim milk

2 Tbls yeast

2 tsp sugar (plus dump a bit in the boiling water)

2 Eggs

1 cup potato starch

1 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt (plus put some in the boiling water)

1/2 tsp cider vinegar (I forgot this but it still worked out. I would use though)

Preheat oven to 375 and put a pot of salted/sugar water on to boil. In a large bowl, combine milk, yeast and sugar. Stir well to dissolve yeast. Mix in eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well to remove all lumps. (I always do in the mixer for a few minutes to get some air into the batter).

Divide dough into 6 portions. (use the middles of them to make an additional bagel. I got 7 out of this) Press into a round shape and use something to cut a hole in the middle. Remember these rise and expand so make the hole larger.



Gently place bagels into the boiling water. Boil bagels for approx 1 minute each (do them seperatly). Remove them from the water with a large spoon that has holes in it.



Place on a greased baking sheet. If desired brush with egg wash. Bake in oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! I will be freezing these and taking them out as needed for sure!



Nutrition Facts- 1 bagel. 277 calories and 2.9 grams of fat..1.2 sat fat. I think this is about right but this was based off of one bagel and I had 7 here.. plus I changed the ingredients to skim milk and changed out the flours a bit.. Either way it is a bagel.. not something you want to eat all the time but nice for a treat!

Gluten Free MOTHERLOAD!!!

This is the GLUTEN FREE MOTHERLOAD!!!!! I was able to stop at the asian market in Fargo and yes... I am sooo excited! I got 6 bags of potato starch, 7 bags of tapioca flour, 3 boxes of sweet rice flour, 9 bags of rice noodles and rice spagetti noodles... along with 12lbs of white rice flour..... HOW MUCH YOU ASK!!! In the store you would pay $3.50 for one bag of tapioca flour, $3.25 for one bag of potato starch, $3.75 for one box of sweet rice flour, $3.25 for one bag of rice noodles and roughly $12 for 4lbs of white rice flour. Add that up... well, I got all of this for..... $41.32!!!!!! Whoot Whoot... What did I do to celebrate... made some of our favorite white bread so that we can have egg bake and french toast this week!! Oh, and the HUGE TUB of honey is from the inlaws.. THANK YOU SOO MUCH as I use a TON of honey in my recipes esp the granola bars!!! YUM!!!

Gluten Free Tropical Chex Mix

What's a girl to do when she NEEDS something sweet, has given up candy/treats for Lent and still wants to eat "healthy". Tropical Chex Mix. It is a mix of crunchy, sweet and has some healthy components to it. I just threw in the remainder of the fruit/nut mix that I had from Walmart. I didn't have the banana chips or macadamia nuts so I just omitted that.

8 cups Rice chex cereal (I used a mix of kix, chex and king vitamin)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried banana chips
1 package dried tropical fruit mix (7oz)
1 jar (3oz) macadamia nuts
3 Tbls butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup frozen (thawed) pineapple or orange juice concentrate.

In LARGE microwave safe bowl mix cereal, coconut, banana chips, tropical fruit mix and nuts. In smaller bowl melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and juice concentrate. Mircrowave uncovered on high for about 30 seconds until hot. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered on high 6-8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes until mixture begins to brown. (took me 6 minutes). Spread on wax paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

Can be done in the oven too. Heat to 300 degrees. Follow same directions but cook for 30 minutes stirring after 15 minutes.