The Gluten-Free Homemaker

It’s the season for eating apples, and one of my favorite ways to eat them is with peanut butter.  It’s a great combination of flavors and it adds protein to a healthy sweet snack.  This recipe just jazzes up the peanut butter a little.  I came up with it when recently I wanted to make a fruit dip as a treat for the kids.  I have several fruit dip recipes that I have enjoyed over the years, but when I looked at them I realized they all contained dairy.  Since I wanted to eat this too, I decided to try using the MimicCreme I had in my refrigerator. 

I really liked the result.  The MimicCreme lightens the dip making it fluffier than straight peanut butter.  The cinnamon adds a nice flavor, but could be omitted.  I used 1 teaspoon and thought it was good, but one of my kids said he would prefer it with less.  So I leave that up to you.  Add a little and taste it, then add some more if it needs it.  I used sweetened peanut butter in this.  If you use a natural unsweetened type, you may want to add a little sweetener.  It’s a pretty simple and flexible recipe.  See what works for you.

Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

• 1/2 c. peanut butter (I used sweetened)
• 1/2 c. MimicCreme
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. cinnamon

Place the ingredients in a bowl and beat them together with an electric mixer (I used a hand mixer) for a couple of minutes until well combined and fluffy.  Serve with apples or fruit of choice.

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Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

“That’s the ultimate recipe!”  Those were the words of my son when he realized I was using this recipe to make several delicious foods.  I’ll show you one of them here, but more ideas will be coming.  Here’s a teaser:

 
This is not a typical pastry dough.  For one, it’s gluten free, and you have to accept the fact that gluten-free pastry doesn’t act like gluten filled pastry.  You can’t produce (at least not that I know of) a pastry dough that is both flaky and flexible.  My gluten-free pie crust works well as a bottom crust for pie, but not as a top crust.  It would fall apart.

This recipe is not flaky like the pie crust recipe.  It uses melted butter rather than chunks of cold butter typically used in pastry dough.  However, it is smooth, flexible and pretty easy to work with.  It’s really quite fun to have a ball of gluten-free dough that you can press, squeeze, roll, cut, fill, and fold.  Give it a try and get creative.

I originally made this recipe using 8 tablespoons of butter.  I was able to cut it back to 6 tablespoons and have it turn out well, but it does turn out a little more dry.  Depending on what you’re making you can use either amount and adjust the amount of milk.

Gluten-Free Workable Pastry Dough

• 3/4 c. brown rice flour
• 3/4 c. millet flour
• 1/4 c. sweet rice flour
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• 1 Tb. xanthan gum
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 6 Tb. butter (or 8), melted (or 8Tb. Spectrum organic shortening)
• 1/4 c. + 1 – 2 Tb. milk or milk substitute (or 1/4 c. only if using 8 Tb. butter/shortening)

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Using a fork, beat together the milk and egg.  Add the milk mixture and melted butter to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork.  It will look crumbly, but everything should be wet.  If needed, add a little more milk.



Now use your hands to form the dough into a ball and work it a little until it is smooth like this:



The dough is now ready to be rolled out or can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator.  Roll the dough out on a silicone mat, pastry mat or piece of parchment paper.  Use a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough to keep it smooth.



Experiment with thickness.  Rolling it very thin makes it more likely to break when folding or transferring.  About 1/16 – 1/8 of an inch works well.  The things I've made with this have been baked at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

I promised to show you one way I used this dough.  It won’t thrill many of you, but if you have kids, they’ll like it. 

Pigs in a Blanket
I made these as a snack the other day when my son had a friend over.  On his way out, the boy grabbed another one and told his mom he loved them!  She said she’d have to get the recipe.  They’re not gluten-free eaters.


I used Hebrew National beef franks and cut them into halves or thirds.  I then cut the dough into rectangular strips and rolled up the hot dog pieces like this:



Place them on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes. Time depends on the thickness of the dough.



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Labels: appetizer and snack recipes, dessert recipes, pies/pastry

I had a casserole recipe all ready to share with you this week, but it didn’t seem appropriate for Christmas week.  I don’t have any great dinner ideas for you (I’m still working on that myself) so I though I would share an easy peasy snack idea that also makes great little gifts.

While these are very easy to make, it does take a little time.  After all, pretzels are pretty small and you can only do one at a time.  If you have kids, get them involved.  It’s fun and you’ll get them done faster.

Candy Coated Pretzel Recipe

Ingredients

• Small pretzel sticks (I like Glutino brand)
• Candy wafers (I found them at a craft store)
• Sprinkles
• Wax paper

Instructions
I bought two bags of candy wafers ($1.79 each in case you’re wondering).  I didn’t know how much I would need, but they actually go a long way.  It is the sprinkles that I have run out of. 



Start by melting a small handful of wafers in a bowl.  Follow instructions on the package for melting in the microwave.  Don’t use too many, because it starts to cool and harden after a while.  Once the wafers are melted, I find it easiest to use a soup spoon to dip up some of the coating .  It is easier than getting the pretzel down into the bowl, but do whatever works for you.  Spin the a pretzel stick around in the coating covering about half the pretzel.



Have some sprinkles pour out onto a plate.  Lay the pretzel on the sprinkles then lift it up and turn it. Put it down again and continue until it is cover in sprinkles.  If you try to spin the pretzel, the coating will bunch up so it works better to lift and turn.  Place the pretzel on a piece of wax paper and keep going until you run out of coating.



The above picture shows red sprinkles on a red coating.   I found that the colored coating didn’t make a lot of difference and it limited me to using a matching color of sprinkles.  Next time I will buy only white and skip the food coloring.  Red sprinkles on white coating looked almost as good.  Can you tell the difference?


You probably see a little white showing on the bottom one, and the red color isn’t quite as strong, but really no one will care.  I also added green sprinkles to the white coating and mixed colors.  I like the mixed colors with the white showing through.  I achieved the look by dropping or shaking sprinkles onto the wet coating.


Once the pretzels have cooled to room temperature the coating should be hardened.  You can them store them in an airtight container or try putting them in candy bags to give a gifts.

Note:  I tried using twisted pretzel shapes, but it was much more difficult and not worth the trouble.

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This recipe is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday.

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

I originally posted this naturally gluten-free recipe last December so if it looks familiar, you may have seen it already.  I’ve added a picture to tempt your taste buds.  The cranberries in this recipe make it a perfect appetizer for the holidays, and you will love the combined flavors of the  ingredients.  My niece gave me this recipe, and it's an interesting twist on salsa and chips.

We don’t like hot peppers so my recipe uses green chilies.  Feel free to substitute a hot pepper if you like.  I’m sure a sugar substitute would also work well in this recipe.  The ingredients are not items I always have on hand, so I have to plan ahead when I make it, but it is very simple to put together and is always a big hit.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Cran-Apple Salsa

 Ingredients
12 oz. fresh cranberries
3 medium apples, cored
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded
1 small red onion
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. apple juice
3 Tb. fresh cilantro, minced
2 Tb. canned green chilies
1 tsp. lime zest
Tortilla chips

Instructions
A food processor is easiest, but you can certainly chop the ingredients by hand.  Finely dice the  cranberries, apples, red pepper, and onion. Combine all of it in a serving bowl and add the sugar, juice, cilantro, chilies, and lime peel. Stir well. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with tortilla chips.

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The theme of this week’s “What can I eat that’s gluten free?” is holiday party food.  Be sure to check back Wednesday for more ideas and to enter your link.

Tasty Tuesday has an appetizer theme this week as part of the Bloggy Progressive Dinner. 
Thursday, Amy at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free is hosting the Holiday Food Fest with a theme of Holiday Cocktails, Mocktails, and Appetizers. You won’t want to miss those either.

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

Labor Day weekend my family left me to go camping.  Some of you are wondering why I didn’t go.  I have done my share of camping, including a 4 week cross country trip, but not this time.  Let me just say, there were 10 men & boys, dirt bikes, guns, and no bathrooms.  What would you have done?  Besides, one of my dogs had a sprained leg, and it would have been torture to take him but not let him run.

Anyway, I wanted to make some granola bars they could snack on that wouldn’t be full of sugar.  As is often the case, I combined ingredients and techniques from different recipes.  I was very happy with how they turned out.  I made two batches and put some in the freezer to have for quick gluten-free snacks.

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 2 c. gluten free oats
• 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut
• 1 c. sunflower seeds
• 1 c. nuts (I used cashews)
• 1/4 c. ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. nut butter
• 3/4 c. agave nectar

Instructions
Combine the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, nuts, flax seeds, and salt in a food processor and process until well mixed and in small pieces.  I had to do this in batches since I don’t have a large food processor.
Put it into a large bowl.  In a small bowl, combine the nut butter and agave nectar. Pour this over the ingredients in the large bowl and stir to evenly coat.  Place everything in a greased/sprayed jelly roll pan and pat it down with a spatula or greased fingers. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.   Cool before cutting.  They will keep at room temperature for a few days, or you can store them  in the refrigerator for at least a week.  They freeze well for long term storage.

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More more great recipes visit  Slightly Indulgent Mondays and Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

Appetizers are the theme of this week’s “What can I eat that’s gluten free?” blog carnival, but don’t worry if you don’t have an appetizer post.  The theme is only a suggestion and all entries are welcome.  If you would like to know more about participating, you can read the guidelines here.

I love eggs, and deviled eggs are something my mom has always made.  I think they make a great high protein appetizer, especially in the warm weather.  They are very simple to make once you boil and peel the eggs, but peeling those eggs was a problem for me for a long time.  After looking at many suggestions online and doing some of what I’ve always done, here is what I’ve come up with that gets consistent results (eggs that peel well).  Still, I add in an extra egg or two just in case.  This time I was only using 6 eggs so I added 7 to the pot.  It was a good thing because one of them didn’t peel well.


Hard Boiled Eggs:
Put the eggs in a pot and add 1/2 – 1 tsp. baking soda.  Cover the eggs with cold water and heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 

While the eggs are simmering, prepare a bowl of ice water.  When the timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to move the eggs from the pot immediately into the ice water.  Let them sit 10 minutes or more until completely cool.

Now you can peel them.  I have found that adding the baking soda makes a big difference.  I have also read that it helps to use older eggs, not real fresh ones.  Usually I do that also.

Deviled Eggs:
Cut 6 hardboiled eggs in half lengthwise.  Squeeze or scoop the egg yolks into a small bowl.  Add to the egg yolks:

1 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. mustard (I used Dijon)
2 1/2 Tb. mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. salt


Beat well until the yolks are smooth.  You can spoon some of the yolk into each white, or for a fancier look, use a cake decorating bag (the kind you put icing in) with a tip that has a large opening.  If desired, sprinkle with paprika just before serving.

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1. Gluten Free Taste of Home (Blackberry-Blueberry Crumb Pie) 2. Jessie (Fast Food) 3. The Food Allergy Coach (Ratatouille) 4. Gluten Free Gidget ( Veggie Sushi Bowl)

5. The WHOLE Gang- Posole New Mexican Stew 6. Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free (Chunky Banana Flax Muffins) 7. Heather (Avocado Salsa) 8. Brian (Caramelized Onion Dip)

9. Mikki (Caprese) 10. The Daily Dietribe (Ginger Coconut Vegetable Soup)

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes, What can I eat?

Today’s Friday Foodie Fix ingredient is strawberries. The last couple packs I bought were not very flavorful or sweet so for now I’m sticking with frozen strawberries.  BJ’s Wholesale Club has large bags of Dole frozen strawberries or mixed fruit that come out to $1.50 per pound. Given that the fruit is ready to eat with no seeds, pits, caps, or rind to remove, I think that’s a good deal.

Last summer, my kids learned to love fruit smoothies, but what they like most is more of a slushie. Why buy frozen ice cream bars or popsicles when you can have a delicious real fruit treat ready in minutes?  The kids like making their own in our Magic Bullet. They put fruit in the cup, add juice and water to cover the fruit (I make them use half and half instead of all juice), and blend it up. On a hot day, it is refreshing, tasty, and naturally gluten free!

Smoothie ideas abound, and I don’t have anything original to add. However, I will mention that one of my favorite ingredients to put in a smoothie is oatmeal. I start by grinding it to a coarse flour texture, then I add the rest of the ingredients.

The smoothie shown here contained 1/4 cup oats (gluten free), frozen strawberries, rice milk, and a little agave nectar. Yum!

For more ideas on using strawberries, visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

My kids are not spinach fans. Whose kids are? They will eat it raw in salads if there’s not too much, and cooked in one casserole they like. However, there is one spinach recipe that they ASK for. In fact, it’s my pickiest eater who asks for it the most. It’s spinach dip served with gluten free focaccia bread. I made it last week, but forgot to take a picture. I thought someone might be interested in trying it for a New Year’s Eve party, though, so the recipe is below. The focaccia bread recipe that I use is a modified version of Carol Fenster's Focaccia Bread. The recipe is very good as is, so give it a try if you need a bread to go with the dip. Just make sure the bread is completely cooled before cutting it up to serve with the dip. I have cut it too soon, and it ends up drying out.
Gluten-Free Spinach Dip Recipe
Ingredients

• 2 pkgs. frozen chopped spinach (10 oz. each)
• 1/2 c. sour cream (can use light)
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise (can use light)
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dill weed
• 1 bunch green onions, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Instructions
Cook the spinach and drain very well pressing the spinach against the colander to squeeze out some liquid. Combine with the remaining ingredients and refrigerate. Allow to chill at least 2 hours before serving.
For more spinach recipes, visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.


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Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

I recently gave you a link for Taste of Home's Corny Snack Mix. I gave it a try yesterday, and it was a huge hit with my family. This would be a great gluten-free snack to have around for the holidays. I of course substituted gluten-free cereal for the Corn Pops, but I also increased the amount of popcorn. I had plenty of popcorn to use, and I thought the sweetness could be stretched a bit. Here's my version of the recipe.

Sweet & Salty Gluten-Free Snack Mix

Ingredients

• 5 quarts popped popcorn 
• 15 oz. Enviro Kidz Gorilla Munch (1 1/2 boxes)
• 15 oz. Fritos corn chips 
•  2 bags Nestle premier white morsels (12 oz. each)

Instructions


Using several large bowls, combine the popcorn, cereal, and chips. In a saucepan, heat the white morsels until melted and smooth. I used medium-high heat, stirring almost constantly, and didn't have any scorching. Spoon the melted morsels over the popcorn mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to baking pans/dishes and allow to cool. I put mine on top of my chest freezer in the garage. This allows the melted morsels to harden. You end up with a pan full of snack mix all stuck together. Break it into chunks and put into serving bowls.

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Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

Taste of Home has a recipe for Corny Snack Mix. The ingredients are popcorn, corn pops, corn chips, and vanilla or white chips (the ones like chocolate chips). I know the corn pops are not gluten free, but everything else is (remember to read ingredients). I think some gluten-free cereal such as Gorilla Munch, Panda Puffs, or Rice Chex could easily be substituted for the corn pops. Sounds like an interesting recipe to me. Let me know if you give it a try.

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

Do you need an appetizer for Thanksgiving? This Mexican dip is easy, and people like it. In fact, I took it with me the other night when I played cards with some ladies, and it was a big hit.



Mexican Dip
Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. ground beef 
• 1 small onion, chopped 
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. chili powder 
• 16 oz. refried beans 
• 8 oz. tomato sauce 
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning (McCormick) 

 Topping: 

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes

Here is a recipe I have tried only recently. I have used this recipe with almonds and pecans and both turned out well. These are a tasty treat and would be nice to give at Christmas time. I found plastic bags to put them in at the craft store. They should store well because in the past I bought similar roasted nuts that kept for months.

The cinnamon in these is subtle.  You can try adding more or less to your taste.  You could also try making these with an alternative sweetener.  I have seen similar recipes that use a sticky sweetener such as honey or agave nectar and do not use the egg white.  In that case the sweetener works to hold the salt and cinnamon to the nuts.

Roasted Sweetened Nuts

1 egg white
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. whole almonds or pecan halves
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl whisk the egg white and vanilla until frothy, about 2 minutes. Stir in the nuts. Mix the remaining ingredients and add to the nuts. Stir to coat. Spread the nuts in a sprayed jelly roll pan. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Stir after the first half hour and again half an hour later. Nuts should be dry. Stir and bake a little longer if they are still sticky. Cool in the pan then transfer to a container.

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Labels: appetizer and snack recipes