Gluten Free Poptarts

I know it's been a long time since I've posted but life is busy and I'm back with a delicious recipe to make up for my absence. I had some leftover pie crust in our freezer from the holidays and I figured a nice breakfast one morning would be gluten free/dairy free poptarts. They were so easy to make and were delicious. At first my boy said he didn't want them and then he took his first bite and declared they were good. He was right, they are good.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Poptarts

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Pie crust dough - I used Gluten Free Mama's mix
Fruit jam

1 egg, beaten
Sugar

Roll the pie crust dough between two pieces of wax paper to 1/4" thickness. Cut out a rectangle that is about 4x6 inches. On one side of the rectangle put the fruit filling in the middle leaving about a 1/4 " along the sides. Fold the side of the rectangle with no filling over the side with filling. Use a fork to press the sides together and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also use a cookie cutter to cut two shapes, my girl used her strawberry cookie cutter, and press the edges together to make a fun poptart.

Brush the tops of the poptarts with the egg and then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 350 F for about 15-20 min or until the tops are starting to brown. Let them cool then drizzle with frosting. You can also sprinkle the tops with colored sugar to add some fun.

For the frosting mix a 1/2 C powdered sugar with 1-2 t of dairy free milk. Start with the smaller amount and just add enough to get it to drizzle, too much will make it too runny like mine in the picture

Cholesterol Fighting Green Monster Smoothie - Gluten Free & Dairy Free

I know Green Monster smoothies are all over the internet but this has been our breakfast for the past few weeks and I love it, so I decided to share it. This Green Monster specifically fights cholesterol with the spinach, flax seed meal, blueberries, kefir, and avocado. I based it for my Hubby but I can always use help keeping my cholesterol down too. Hubby is not a big vegetable fan but this is an easy and delicious way for him to get the benefits of the veggies without having to eat them in the traditional manner, and you don't taste the spinach. You can add any fruit or leafy vegetables you like and I do mix it up now and then but this is our standard.

Cholesterol Fighting Green Monster Smoothie

2 C spinach leaves

1 T flax seed meal

1 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1 medium banana, sliced

1/4 medium avocado

1 C Vanilla Coconut Milk Kefir (DF milk and regular milk work also)

Ice, I use two handfuls

This is the DF Kefir I get, they also have strawberry and plain. It adds a creaminess to the smoothie.

Put the ingredients in a blender in the order above. Blend well until smooth, drink, and enjoy! This makes two servings and is about 210 calories per serving.

Even my boy loves a Green Monster in the morning.

Another Bread Fail

Even though I'm still on my diet I saw this recipe from The Baking Beauties awhile back and figured I'd give it a try, not only could we have some yummy bread but I could also post something, a double win! Sunday afternoon I whipped this together while the kids were napping and then I lost track while it was rising to find it overflowing my bread pan. No panic yet I just started baking it instead. It didn't turn out, see....

Obviously it's not the prettiest loaf in the world but a pinch of it tasted good so I thought maybe I could salvage it and tried to get it out of the loaf. Here's the result of that.

Even less pretty. The kids and I kept eating crumbs here and there and I decided I'd be resourceful since it did taste good so I made overnight French toast with it. Why can't the overnight French toast pictures every look appetizing? That was delicious and it didn't matter how unattractive this loaf was afterall.

I'll give it a try later but my weekends are busy with travel and guests for awhile so it wont' be any time soon.

Baked French Toast, Gluten Free

A few months ago I tried to make some gluten free rolls, they didn't turn out. They tasted fine but they were way too dry. I hate to waste anything and instead of throwing them out I turned them into French Toast but baked them. This is a great way to use up dry GF bread.

Baked French Toast

Adapted from Cooks.com

1/3 stick butter

1/3 C brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

6 eggs, beaten

1 C milk

Dash salt

6 pieces dry GF bread, 1/2 inch thick (I just cut my rolls in half)

Melt the butter and pour in the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon on top. Lay the bread in the pan. Mix the eggs, milk, and salt then pour over the bread. Refrigerate overnight and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 45 minutes in the morning. You don't need to serve it with maple syrup but it sure doesn't hurt.

M&M Pancakes

With Valentine’s Day coming up I’m in the mood to do some cooking that is tied into the day of love. Hubby and I never celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s just too gimmicky for me and I don’t need a designated day to let him know that I love him. I do like to make a nice dinner if we’re home and now that we have kids we buy them some Valentine’s treats because I can’t stop spoiling them. I picked up a bag of Valentine’s M&M’s with the plan to make M&M pancakes. It was going to be a few days before I made them until Hubby found out about my plan. This changed our dinner for the night to make them then, it’s easy enough so I agreed to make him happy. If you haven’t had them before they’re really yummy and kids (the big ones also) get excited about them. We served them with our normal butter and maple syrup and my boy pouted while he had to wait for more to finish cooking, it’s a hard life for him.

M&M Pancakes

GF Pancake Batter (I use Gluten Free Mama’s)*
M&M’s, several handfuls
Butter
Maple Syrup

Pour the pancake batter on a hot skillet. If I had planned ahead I would have made heart shaped pancakes, you can put the batter in a large Ziploc bag, cut the corner and pipe a heart shape on the skillet with the batter. Top the batter with M&M’s. Flip when the bottom is lightly browned and the top is starting to bubble a bit. Serve with butter and maple syrup though peanut butter would be delicious on top also.

*I like to let my batter sit for a minimum of 5 min and up to 30 min, it makes the pancakes fluff when they bake.

Cinnamon Chex and Trix Swirls

I have found Cinnamon Chex in Bozeman, ah sweet cereal! If you haven't tried them already they have a nice sweetness to them with a great cinnamon flavor. You can get them at Van's IGA located at 912 Nth 7th Ave.

Picture is courtesy of Amazon.com.

I've also discovered that Trix Swirls don't have any gluten containing ingredients and is also free of HFCS. My boy has really been enjoying them for breakfast.

Picture is courtesy of General Mills.

It's nice to have different options for cereal to give my kids, I'm so glad they can still enjoy the fun cereals and not feel like they're left out for being GF. Always be sure to read the ingredients list if it doesn't state GF on the box, better to be safe than sorry.

Potato Pancakes Naturally Gluten Free

This past weekend we had a wonderful dinner of steak, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, and Gorgonzola mashed potatoes. Yum and all naturally gluten free! The mashed potatoes are a favorite of Hubby’s, a restaurant we used to go to had these for a long time and he fell in love. I don’t really have a recipe for them, just make mashed potatoes like usual with some milk and butter added while you’re whipping them and then add about ½ C of Gorgonzola cheese whipping it really well. Taste test to see if you want more added before serving these yummy taters. We had a lot of these left over and I wanted an easy dinner so I decided to make Potato Pancakes, you can’t go wrong with these.

Potato Pancakes
Adapted from AllRecipes

2 C mashed potatoes
1 egg beaten
¼ C shredded cheese - for dairy free use Daiya
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
¼ C copped green onion

Preheat your griddle to about 400 F. In a bowl combine the potatoes, egg, cheese, bacon, and onion. Drop on the griddle and flatten to ½ inch thick. Fry until brown then flip and fry on the other side. My potatoes weren't very thick, they were more on the runny side, so I had to fry them for quite awhile before I could flip them. I had a lot of ugly potatoe pancakes from them not being fried enough but if your potatoes are thick you won't need to fry them for quite as long.

We like these as they are and don’t add a thing to them.

Gluten Free Caramel Rolls

I have been craving caramel rolls and thought the first morning having my little pumpkins back home would be a great time to have them. I followed this recipe for the rolls but I changed the sauce for them from rhubarb to caramel. They were so good and I couldn’t tell they were gluten free at all. This is either because my cooking rocks, I’m sure this is the reason, or I’m getting very used to GF breads. Either way I was pleased.

Caramel Sauce (from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book)

2/3 C brown sugar
¼ C butter
2 T agave nectar (or corn syrup)

Place the three ingredients in a saucepan and stir on medium heat until combined. Pour into an ungreased baking dish.

It hits the spot!

Chocolate Chex & Honey Nut Chex

I, I, love, love, honey, honey, chex, chex, better, better, than, than, the, the, rest, rest, rice, rice, corn, corn, we, we, want more…! Well it’s something like that but I’ve been singing the song all weekend because I found these at Lee & Dad’s IGA.

They are delicious and hubby and I have been enjoying handfuls from the boxes all weekend. In honor of being able to eat these I had to make a dessert and since it was delicious here’s the recipe. It was a great pick me up after a nice hike on Sunday.


Chocolate Chex Treats

¼ C butter
16 oz marshmallows (miniature are easier)
5 C Chocolate Chex cereal

Butter a spatula and 9x13 inch pan, you will need this at the end. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until they are melted and blended with the butter. Stir and cook for an additional two minutes then remove from heat. Add the cereal and stir until coated by the marshmallow mixture. Taking your buttered spatula press the mixture into the buttered pan and holler for your husband when you’re covered in marshmallow that you need a metal spoon, well that’s at least what happened to me. Once it’s cooled cut into squares and enjoy!

They taste a lot better than this picture makes them look, trust me!

Rhubarb Cinnamon Rolls

There is nothing like fresh baked cinnamon rolls especially when they have rhubarb with them. I wanted to make my hubby’s Father’s Day special so I made rhubarb cinnamon rolls and they were delicious. I always think cinnamon rolls are so time consuming and hard but they actually are pretty easy and I now can’t wait to make caramel rolls.

Rhubarb Cinnamon Rolls

Rhubarb Sauce (From Taste of Home magazine)

2 C sliced rhubarb
½ C brown sugar
½ C Agave nectar (you can use light corn syrup)
½ C butter

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 3 minutes then pour into an ungreased baking dish.

Cinnamon Rolls (From Jeanine at the Baking Beauties)

2 T shortening
¼ C white sugar
2/3 C milk, slightly warm (I put mine in the microwave for 20 seconds)
1 T instant yeast
1 egg
¼ C olive oil
1 ½ C Gluten Free Mama Almond Flour (or you can do ½ C potato starch & 1 C cornstarch)
¼ t baking soda
2 ½ t xanthan gum
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t vanilla extract
2 T sugar

Cinnamon Filling

2 T softened butter
½ C packed brown sugar
2 T cinnamon

Mix all three ingredients together. You can add nuts, fruit, etc to the filling if you would like.

Add the yeast to the warm milk with 1 t of sugar and set aside to proof. When bubbles form you know it’s properly proofed, if they don’t form after 5 min be sure to dump that out and try again. Be very careful that you don’t overheat your milk, I’ve found that 20 seconds in my microwave is usually plenty. In your mixer beat the shortening and sugar then add the proofed yeast mixture and mix well. Sift together the flour (or cornstarches), baking soda, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg to the mixer then add the olive oil and mix well. Add the sifted flour mixture, mixing well, and add the vanilla extract.

Lay out a piece of wax paper measuring longer than 8”x16” and sprinkle the 2 T sugar over it. Place the ball of dough on the wax paper then place another piece of wax paper over the dough. Pat it out to a rectangular shape then roll the dough out, with the wax paper on top of it, into a roughly 8”x16” rectangle. Remove the top wax paper sheet and spread the filling over the dough leaving about ½” of dough along one long end.

Starting with the long end that has filling to its edge roll the dough into a long cylinder. You can easily pull the wax paper away from the dough as you go. Pinch the filling-free edge of the dough to the cylinder to seal it. Cut the cylinder into 1 ½” wide pieces using a sharp serrated edge knife (be careful to not squish your dough) or a piece of string placing it under the roll and pulling it up to cinch through the dough. Place the rolls on the rhubarb sauce and bake in a 375 F oven. I initially baked mine for 20 minutes uncovered then I covered them with foil and baked another 15 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate and serve.

I made these the night before and put them covered in the refrigerator. I took them out about 1 hour before baking them to let them rise.

Gluten Free Banana Bread

I have a lot of frozen ripe bananas and figured it was time to make some banana bread again, I think I’ll actually make more this weekend since we’ve already finished these muffins. This recipe is one I’ve tweaked and played with and it is a favorite. My hubby went back for seconds which doesn't usually happen with banana bread and my son wouldn’t stop eating it. The chocolate chips are optional and I like to freeze half of it to grab one here and there for my son’s lunch at day care.

Banana Bread or Muffins

1 ½ c gluten free flour mix (I used the Gluten Free Mama Almond Blend)
½ T xantham gum
1 ½ t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c butter at room temperature
1 t vanilla
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
5 oz chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, xantham gum, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. In your mixer cream together the butter and sugars then add the vanilla. Beat in the eggs until combined and then the bananas until combined. Add the flour mixture in 2-3 parts then add the chocolate chips. Pour into a loaf or muffin pan. For a loaf bake at 350 F for about an hour and for muffins bake for about 40-45 minutes. It will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I find that using frozen bananas is a lot easier to mix, just let them thaw for a bit on the counter top before using, it's fun to squeeze them out of the banana peel.

EnviroKidz Koala Crisp Cereal

Gluten free cereals are not as easy to find as I thought they would be. Really who would have thought Rice Krispies weren’t GF or for that matter that they contain HFCS? For quite awhile we were only eating Rice Chex, which I still love and eat, but I wanted some variety and something fun for my son to eat. I’m sad he doesn’t get to enjoy the yumminess of Lucky Charms and all those other over sweetened cereals, I know that doesn't make sense since he'll be much more healthy without them. EnviroKidz is my answer for having variety and giving my son some sweet (but healthy sweet, no HFCS here) cereals. The Koala Crisp has a great chocolate flavor and will even turn your milk chocolate. I haven’t yet made rice krispie bars from them but I imagine they will be delicious when I finally do. I buy these big bags at Lee & Dad’s but you can get them in the box size at the Co-op and Rosauer’s. So far I haven’t been disappointed with any of the EnviroKidz cereals but my next favorite is the Amazon Frosted Flakes.

I've been keeping my eyes peeled for the new gluten free Chex cereals and so far I have only found the GF Corn Chex at Rosauer's. Since Montana seems to always be a bit behind hopefully we'll see them by the end of the summer. If you spot some let me know!

No Fuss Gluten Free Breakfast

I like making breakfasts that consist of more than cereal when I have time. Unfortunately I don’t usually have time so it’s a great treat in our house, well at least to me it is. This was a quick and easy breakfast and an excuse to review some gluten free products.

Kinnikinnick Cinnamon Buns were half of my quick breakfast. I let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then heated them in the microwave for 30 seconds, they tasted great and only had a mild GF texture. To accompany our cinnamon buns we had Applegate Farms Breakfast Sausage that I happily found at Rosauer’s. I’m not a big breakfast sausage kind of girl, a horrible experience with bad sausages has ruined me for life, but I’m always willing to try new things. I heated these in a fry pan and due to my sausage disaster I have to get them nice and crispy in order to find them edible, as you can see in the picture. I really liked these sausages and so did my husband and son. They were a hit and now I keep them stocked in the freezer.