Gluten Free/Dairy Free Mini Pumpkin Pies

My boy requested a Halloween Party a couple months ago and one of the elements to his request was to have pumpkin pie. I'm not even sure if he's ever had pumpkin pie before but when I saw Bakerella's pumpkin pie bites I knew this was the perfect option.

For the crust I used Gluten Free Mama's pie crust mix and it worked wonders. I was able to make 42 mini pies with the crust. Your favorite pie crust will work here.

Mini Pumpkin Pies - GF/DF

Adapted from Bakerella

Double GF/DF pie crust

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I used Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 C canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 t pumpkin pie spice

Pumpkin shaped cookie cutter

1/2 C GF/DF chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Roll out the pie crust between two pieces of wax paper that have been lightly sprayed with oil. Roll to 1/4" thickness, I preferred a thicker crust to work with but play around and see what works best for you. Using a pumpkin cookie cutter (mine is about 3 inches in diameter) cut out pumpkins in the crust and then press into mini muffin tins. It's OK if things tear since you'll press the crust into the tin. Make sure the pumpkin stem won't overlap with any other stems and fill up the tin. Brush the crusts with egg white then fill with pumpkin pie filling. If you don't have a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter use a round cutter and then form stems for the pumpkins on your own.

For the pumpkin pie filling mix the cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until thoroughly combined. Fill the mini pies with filling then bake for 17 minutes or until the crusts just start to brown a little.

Repeat with the remaining crust and filling.

To decorate the pies melt the chocolate at 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval. Put a resealable bag in small glass, corner down, and pour the chocolate into the bag. Snip a small bit off the corner then pipe faces onto the mini pies. Store in the refrigerator.

I had a decent amount of melted chocolate left and since I didn't want to waste it I threw some Glutino pretzels down and drizzled them with chocolate. Now Hubby can enjoy some DF chocolate covered pretzels.

Salmon Cakes

Buying bulk cans of salmon at Costco has led to one fantastic meal, salmon cakes. This is the only way I can get my kids to eat salmon and it doesn't hurt that I let them call them pancakes. We top the cakes with tartar sauce (make sure it's free of HFCS) or ranch. This is a meal the kids will get second helpings on, can't beat that.

Salmon Cakes

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

3 cans of wild Alaskan salmon - skinless & boneless

1/4 C onion chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 T dried parsley or 1/4 C fresh parsley

1 1/4 C bread crumbs, I use Udi's

3 dashes red pepper flakes

4 T mayo

1 T dijon mustard

1 egg

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and shape into 2 inch patties. Place on a cookie sheet and cover with syran wrap then put in the refrigerator to chill for 20 min. This helps the patties keep their form.

Heat a skillet to medium-medium high heat. I spray my skillet with Pam but you can also use olive oil if you prefer. Cook the patties on each side for about 3-5 minutes or until browned.

New Gluten Free Finds

My fix for dinner, recipe to be posted soon, required a stop at Oak Street Natural Market and I found some new goodies that I've seen online but hadn't seen in our area yet. I felt like it was Christmas morning, but this warm weather pulled me out of that mind frame.

I couldn't wait to try the chocolate and yogurt covered pretzels so that was the kids' snack and I had some, only a few of course. They both are good but I liked the flavor of the yogurt ones best, the salt really popped with those. My boy preferred the chocolate and my girl preferred the yogurt, not quite what I expected.

The cinnamon rolls were breakfast and they were a little on the dry side but very delicious. The kids gobbled them down and really not much for complaints.

We haven't tried the Kinitoos, I'm waiting to open them later when I'm not the main person eating them, I love chocolate too much and can't always contain myself.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I've been trying to limit my carb intake and I hate it but the good from it came this great lettuce wrap recipe. I like it spicy but the kids protest so I keep the red pepper flakes a bit lower than what's listed. It's something I could eat every day, but I don't.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

2 T rice vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t ground ginger
2 t seasame oil
4 T gluten free soy sauce



Olive Oil, I use garlic flavored
4 chicken breasts, cut into bit sized pieces
4 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 C diced onions
1/2 C cashews, chopped
Lettuce leaves, rinsed and dried

Mix the vinegar, sugar, red pepper, ginger, seasame oil, and soy sauce then set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and brown the chicken pieces. Add the garlic and onions toward the end to until tender. Add the cashews and sauce and saute for a few minutes until warm.

Wrap in the lettuce leaves.

Gluten Free Coupons

There are some great gluten free coupons at Mambo Sprouts. I used the $2 off 2 Udi's items today, that can't be beat!

Candy that should be gluten free

I seem to be surprised every now and then with a candy that I assume would be gluten free, it really should be by all matters, but isn't or can't state it specifically is. Now add dairy free for Hubby to that and my favorite candies (aka chocolate) are off limits. Here are a few of my main annoyances, for now anyways.

Mentos

Now this is a simple mint candy right? There is no reason for it to have gluten but it does. The second ingredient listed is wheat glucose syrup. Can they not find a better glucose syrup to use? Bah is all I have to say.

Werther's

This was one of my favorite hard candies and it reminded me of my grandpa. So delicious yet not guaranteed to be gluten free and it's definately not dairy free. The reason they can't guarantee they're GF is "because some of our co-suppliers may have used gluten for another manufacturer and it may be in their lines."

Candy Corn

With Halloween quickly approaching I went shopping for candy corn this past weekend only to be disappointed. Brach's candy corn has always been my go-to candy corn and when I read "is made on shared equipment with wheat" I about had a tantrum in the aisle of Target. Hubby grabbed the gourmet candy corn at Target but it "may contain milk" so I put that back on the shelf. If you're looking for a GF/DF candy corn Jelly Belly brand is your answer though I have never seen it on the shelves and ordering it online isn't the cheapest option in the world. I have to say that didn't stop me since I really want candy corn.

I know we've eaten the Brach's candy corn, as recently as a few weeks ago before I read the bag, and none of us had a reaction. But I'm taking the better safe than sorry stance and will avoid it now. With all the other candies we'll be indulging in through and past Halloween I figure preventing known sources of possible cross contamination will hopefully make up for any unknown sources we may ingest.

Images courtesy of Amazon.com

Green teeth, a good thing?

This is something I was mortified about initially but I'm going to share it because I think it's a good thing in the long run. How the heck can green teeth be a good thing?

A few weeks ago I was brushing my boy's teeth and I noticed green along the base of his bottom teeth. I panicked and brushed that poor kids teeth like mad, he even asked me if his teeth were alright. We did everything we could for a week to try to get rid of the green to no avail. I had to call the dentist to admit my poor parenting because my son had green teeth. I was so ashamed.

The dentist checked his teeth and gave us the good news that it was only a surface stain and since it's green he believed it was a sign of excess iron. The excess comes out in saliva and can stain the teeth green, the Sonicare toothbrush we bought for him took care of the stain and his teeth look normal again.

I know you're wondering what this has to do with a gluten free blog so I'll back track 3 years. When my boy was 1 they tested his blood to check his iron levels and they were low. We had him on the liquid iron drops for awhile and then moved him to Flintstone's vitamins when he was older because they had iron in them. With the green teeth it's clear he doesn't need the extra iron anymore and I believe this means he is finally fully healed from the damage gluten caused to his body. It only took 18 months of a gluten free diet for him to get there but it's great news to know he's healed.

This then posed a new issue for me to find vitamins he could have. Be warned that Costco brand children's vitamins contain milk and wheat. It's in small print and I almost missed it. The Lil Critter's vitamins are GF and DF so those are a safe option and you can get them at Costco.

Gluten Free Cooking Classes & Sushi

I hope to get back on track with recipes and life as it normally is. Is Fall extra busy for anyone else? I think with the pumpkin patch, hay bale AND corn mazes, a Halloween party my boy requested, and preparing for the Holiday's my calendar gets filled up fast. At least baking is on the schedule and it feels like it's been a long time since I've baked anything.

Bridger Kitchens has two more gluten free cooking classes scheduled, the first is tomorrow so act fast if you're interested.

October 6th, 6:30-8:30 GF Cooking and Baking w/ Karen Ore.

November 18th, 6:30-8:30 GF Holidays w/ Karen Ore.

Both classes will have dairy free and egg free options available.


Dave's Sushi located in downtown Bozeman offers wheat free tamari so if you need a sushi fix, I'm trying to talk Hubby into one, check them out.