Gluten Free Mom

Recipe for Hot Artichoke Dip

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1  minced garlic clove
• 3 T diced jalapenos (we use them from a can)
• bread crumbs to sprinkle on top (we use Orgran All Purpose Crumbs that I buy at our local health food shop.  Parmesan cheese works just as well)

Mix everything together in an 8 x8 dish.  I use a fancy pie pan.  Top with the bread crumbs or Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

If you want to make this healthier and/or more appealing to grown ups, you can add 1 small box of frozen spinach that has been warmed in the microwave and drained.  Surprise, surprise - my kids prefer it without the spinach.

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Menu

I had a John Lennon kind of day -

a day when regardless of how well laid out your plans are

life, mother nature or, most likely, God

jumps in and reminds you who is in control. 

I call these John Lennon days because of his famous, and one of my favorite, quotes:

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Our plans were to travel to  East Texas to visit family for Thanksgiving.  Trying to avoid the holiday crush of air travel, we decided to travel Saturday through Saturday and spend some time in San Antonio before the holiday.

What happened was a big wind storm (the first of this season),

that blew over some even bigger trees (around here they are called pine trees and grow a couple hundred feet tall),

that knocked the power out to my kid's school resulting in school being canceled,

which then resulted in a big event for my daughter being rescheduled for the Monday, you guessed, when we were supposed to be touring the Alamo.

So after a lot of debate, we decided to stay home. 

And now I have to plan a Thanksgiving meal.

For now, this is the menu:

• Artichoke Dip
• Deep Fried Turkey
• Cranberry Chutney
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Hearty Gluten Free Biscuits
• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Gluten Free/Casein Free Pumpkin Pie

I will post the recipes individually so they will be easier to find in the index.    

Happy cooking!

Recipe for Gluten Free Chicken Sandwich and French Fries

We had delicious gluten free chicken sandwiches and french fries for dinner tonight because, after all, kids love french fries. 

These are so easy to make that I feel almost silly about posting the recipe.  But, as with a lot of GF food, it is knowing the ingredients that is as helpful as knowing how to put it altogether. 

Homemade French Fries

• one Yukon potato per family member
• oil

These are so easy to make I cannot believe I never made them pre-diagnosis (but why would you when McDonald's is on every corner).  You can use any type of potato you like, but we love the flavor of Yukon's.  Slice the potato in half, then place the flat side down and make cuts across the back of the potato going the long way.  Flip these on their sides and cut in half to make them look like, you guessed it, french fries. 

You can fry them on the cook top in a deep pan but if are planning on eating french fries every so often, I would buy a deep fryer.  We started with an inexpensive fry daddy them moved up to DeLonghi Cool Touch Deluxe Deep Fryer. 

This fryer is pretty easy to clean and the basket rotates inside so the fries are evenly fried.  With this fryer, you just set the temperature to 370, let it warm up, lower the basket and fry for 15 minutes. 

Season the fries with salt.  We also like to garlic salt.

Chicken Sandwich

Obviously, you can use any kind of meat and/or bread that you want.  Tonight we used Bell & Evans Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Breast Tenders.  Available at Whole Foods.  They were very good.  Cook them for 25 minutes in the oven. 

We love to use Kinnikinnick English Muffins.  They are pretty thick so slice them into thirds.  Add a little butter or Earth Balance and toast under the broiler for a few minutes. 

For the toppings we used sliced pickles, mayo, ketchup, lettuce, tomato and onion. 

Okay, maybe tomorrow night we will have a healthier dinner?

Recipe for Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars

With the holidays here, a lot of Mom's are planning menus, counting place mats and cleaning up the house for company.

This can be an even busier time of the year for GF Moms, as we try to find gluten free ham or turkey and, more importantly to the kids, gluten free desserts.

Here is a very easy dessert.

Thanks to 123 Gluten Free for their wonderful Sweet Goodness Pan Bar mix, it is a breeze to whip up a quick dessert that is a crowd pleaser. 

Just follow the directions on the 123 Gluten Free Sweet Goodness Pan Bar mix for the pumpkin bars.  Order them at www.123glutenfree.com

Then top with cream cheese frosting:

• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
• 1 T milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, milk and vanilla on low speed until smooth.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth.  Store any extra in the freezer for next time. 

Even better yet, get the kids to make this dessert while you are running around getting everything else ready to go.

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Recipe for Gluten Free/Casein Free Samoas

In all honesty, my oldest daughter and I were a little bit grippy on Saturday (worn out from the week most likely). We decided to cheer ourselves up in the kitchen.  One of the greatest blessings of celiac disease is that it has brought us the common interest of cooking.  A couple hours spent in the kitchen trying out some new recipe and not only are our spirits cheered but we have new, usually yummy food, to eat. 

My daughter has decided she wants to grow up and be a chef.  Who knows how many times her plans will change, but I am confident she will always remember our time spent cooking together.

Dad took the younger kids to see The Bee Movie (which they all really enjoyed).  Alex and I turned on the Food Network on the kitchen TV and we tackled Gluten Free/Casein Free Samoas. 

It was quite an endeavor.  These are high input cookies.  After one chocolate explosion (the tip came off the end of the pastry bag) and four hours of finger-licking fun, we produced almost four dozen better-than-the-original Samoas. 

:

Cookie Ingredients

• 1  1/4 cup butter (or Earth Balance for casein free)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 1/4 cup gluten free flour
• 3/4 t xanthan gum

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes.  The mixture will become light in color and very soft and fluffy.

Fold in the flour by hand.  (It may not seem like it, but just keep folding it in and it will all stick together).

Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in sugar to prevent the dough from sticking.  Cut out the middle of the cookies with an apple corer.  (The shape of the cookie is up to you.  My daughter really wanted cookies that were round like the original Samoas and I figured I was already doing this much work, so might as well go ahead and make them donut shaped.  To make this recipe less time consuming, you could just make round cookies).

Bake for 18 minutes until they are a very pale golden color.  Yields about 4 dozen cookies.  They tasted fantastic as this point, so you may want to save some like this to eat.

For the Chocolate Bottoms

• 1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both gluten and casein free)

Melt in the microwave on 50%, stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do not take long to melt.

Flip the cookies over and coat the bottom with a layer of chocolate.  We found it easiest to do this with a spatula.  Put in the refrigerator or the freezer to set the chocolate. 

For the Topping

• 6 T butter (or Earth Balance for casein free)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup condensed milk (or 1/4 cup almond milk for casein free)
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups toasted coconut

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet and toast for 12 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Check to make sure it does not burn.

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium low heat, combine the butter, sugar and corn syrup. 

Stirring constantly, heat to a full boil.  Boil 3 minutes.

Continuing to constantly stir, add either the condensed milk or the almond milk.

Cook over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Beat with an electric mixer for 4 minutes then stir in the toasted coconut and mix well.

Top the cookies with the mixture.  We used a butter knife.  The mixture sets fast so if it gets hard warm in the microwave or keep it in a warming drawer.

The Grand Finale

• 1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both gluten and casein free)

Melt in the microwave on 50%,stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do not take long to melt.   Use a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with a small whole cut in the corner and add the signature chocolate swirl across the top of the cookies.  Store in the refrigerator.

This recipe takes quite a commitment, but it was worth it for my daughter who had not eaten Samoas in three years.  You can cut the work in half by not cutting out the round center.   It was not only time consuming to cut out the centers but the donut shape , but made it a lot harder to add the chocolate on the bottom and coat the tops of the cookies. 

For more great recipes, go to www.glutenfreemom.com.