The Gluten-Free Homemaker

This month, Lauren of Celiac Teen is hosting Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free.  Her theme is Follow the Calendar, which gives you lots of choices.  When I looked over this list of January Food Holidays, and saw that January 9th was National Apricot Day, I knew I had to make an apricot recipe.  You see, I had a bag of dried apricots in my pantry that I had been meaning to use for several months, but it just hadn’t happened.  This was the motivation I needed.


I did a little recipe searching and decided to modify this very simple recipe for Apricot Balls.  The biggest challenge was making it dairy free since the recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk.  I figured all that was really needed was something sweet, thick, and sticky, and so I decided on honey.  I also added a little bit of pecans to the balls and chose to roll the balls in pecans.  I like the flavor and protein they add.  I used sweetened coconut for this, but you could use unsweetened.  You might want to taste test and consider adding a little sweetener of choice because the apricots can be a bit tart.

The apricots are definitely the strongest flavor in these slightly sweet treats.  One small ball packs plenty of flavor and chew which means that eating only one or two is satisfying. I like that.

A food processor is the best choice for making these.  If you don’t have one, you could try other methods, but I’m not sure how well they will work.

I haven’t tried this recipe with other dried fruit, but I bet it would be good.  It might be fun to try different fruit and nut flavors.  What do you think?

Nutty Apricot Balls

• 8 oz. dried apricots (unsweetened)
• 1 c. sweetened flaked coconut
• 1/4 c. + 1/3 c. pecan halves
• 1/4 c. honey

Start by processing the 1/3 cup pecan halves in your food processor.  The balls will be rolled in these, so they need to be very finely ground, almost like a meal.  Remove to a small bowl.


Place the dried apricots, coconut, and 1/4 cup pecan halves in the food processor.  Process until finely chopped and combined well.  Add the honey and process until it is evenly distributed.  Place the mixture in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate about 30 – 60 minutes until chilled through. 


Use a spoon to scoop up a small amount of the mixture.  Press it together with your hands and form a small ball 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Roll the ball in the finely ground nuts.  Place on a serving plate or in a container.  Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

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This post is linked to the following food carnivals.  The recipes you will find there are not necessarily gluten free, but many of them are or can be easily adapted.

• Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays
• Tasty Tuesday

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts, Go Ahead Honey

I have mentioned the zucchini I’m getting from my garden, but this week the main produce item is cucumbers.  I’m not much of a gardener and have only done it the past couple of years.  Last year I planted about six cucumber plants.  They were large burpless cucumbers and we had them coming out our ears.  So this year I only planted three cucumber plants, and they were the small pickling cucumber variety.  I thought that would be just right for us.  Well, the plants took off, and I still have cucumbers coming out my ears!  Next year I think we will have one cucumber plant.  I really need to go for more variety in my garden, but since I’m a beginner, I like having just a few things that I know will do well.

This granita was born out of the need to find some way to use these cucumbers.  Of course, I know what your thinking—make pickles!  We are really not that fond of pickles.  I chose pickling cucumbers because they are small and have nice edible skin.  I have thought about making pickles to give as gifts, but then I have to get into canning.  For now, I’m giving away cucumbers, eating cucumbers, and making this granita.  I originally called it a sorbet because I made it in my new ice cream maker.  But in the end, it was more like a granita.  I forgot to take pictures when I first made it, and once you freeze what’s left, it definitely becomes a granita.  It freezes together pretty solidly and has to be broken up or shaved.

I’ll admit that the kids weren’t too fond of it.   They didn’t say it was bad, it was just weird.  You have to prepare yourself for that fact that it is not a fruity or creamy dessert.  It will taste like cucumbers.  However, if you like cucumbers and mint, I think you will enjoy this.  If you don’t like mint, you could try substituting another herb such as fresh dill.

Cucumber Mint Granita

• 4 c. peeled, seeded, chopped cucumber
• 1 1/2 tsp. chopped mint leaves
• 1/3 c. sugar (or to taste)
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp. salt (I used 1/4 but will try less the next time)

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until the cucumbers are pureed.  Turn on your ice cream maker and add the mixture.  Mine only took about 10 – 15 minutes.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour it into a large flat container (a 9 x 13 inch pan works well)  and freeze.  About every 30 minutes stir and/or scrape the mixture to break it up.  You can use a fork to “shave” it. 

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More Cucumber Ideas


If you are looking for more cucumber recipes, last year I made cucumber lemonade, and this week Shirley posted a cucumber chickpea bruschetta.  Do you have any favorite cucumber recipes?

This post is linked to some great food carnivals:

• Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
• Delicious Dishes
• Ultimate Recipe Swap

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts, other recipes

Last week I promised to give you a blueberry cobbler recipe, and I won’t keep you waiting any longer.  I have to admit that I wasn’t sure it would be very good.  I was unsure about the topping ingredients, and it seemed like a lot of bready topping for the amount of fruit.  However, once we had it on our plates and started eating it, we found there was plenty of wet blueberry to go with the topping, and it was simply delicious.  We loved the whole grain flavor of the sorghum and oats paired with the blueberries.  Just thinking about it now makes me want to make another one.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Cobbler

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

• 3 c. frozen blueberries (you could probably use fresh)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 Tb. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tb. corn starch

Topping:

• 1/2 c. sorghum flour
• 1/2 c. potato starch
• 3/4 c. gluten-free oats (whirled in a food processor or blender if not instant)
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 6 Tb. butter
• 1 c. milk
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. sugar

Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and corn starch in a sauce pan.  Cook and stir over medium high heat until thickened.  It will get runny as the blueberries warm up, then thicken as the cornstarch cooks.  Pour this into the bottom of a 8 - 9 inch square baking dish.



Combine the sorghum flour, potato starch, oats, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl.  Use a pastry blender, or your fingers, to cut the butter into the dry mixture until crumbly.  Pour in the milk as you stir with a fork, just until moistened.  Spoon the topping onto the blueberry mixture in the dish.  Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tsp. sugar over top. 



Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 25  minutes until the topping tests done with a toothpick.  Let it cool until warm before serving.



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This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.  Stop by to find more fabulous food made a little bit healthier.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

Here is another example of the kind of tasty treat you can make with my multipurpose pastry dough.  My family really likes these.  They are like individual apple pies, and make a perfect dessert or snack.  Of course, I hope you will experiment and try other fillings. 

Unfortunately, I misplaced the paper where I wrote down the actual amounts I used for the filling, but it’s really a matter of taste.  Here’s what I think I did:

2 apples
1  - 2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. sugar

I’m sure other sweeteners would work well too.  Chop the apples pretty small then combine them with the cinnamon and sugar.



Make 1 recipe of  pastry dough.  Roll the dough and use a bowl to cut it in circles about 7 – 7 1/2 inches in diameter.  Place some of the apples on half the circle. 



Fold the dough over and press the edges together.  Place it on a baking sheet and prick the top of the dough with a fork several times. 



Bake at 350 degrees 15 – 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

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Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

The other day  Aldi had very ripe bananas  on sale for $0.50 per bag.  I bought a couple of bags, but I wasn’t in the mood for making banana bread.  Instead, I made this simple, sweet, and sugar free dessert.  It was nice by itself, but would also be delicious served with ice cream.

Baked Bananas

• 5 bananas
• 2 Tb. butter, melted
• 3 Tb. agave nectar
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Peel bananas, remove any mushy parts, and place them in a buttered square casserole dish.  You can cut them into sections if you like.  I cut them into thirds so they would fit into the dish more easily.  Drizzle the butter, agave nectar, and orange juice over top (you don’t need to combine them).  Sprinkle the cinnamon on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Serve warm.

While I thought that little dish of baked bananas was wonderful, my hungry guys like something with more substance.  To use my second bag of bananas I created a banana cobbler which consists of batter in the bottom of a baking dish with the above baked banana recipe on top of it.  It turned out great.

Gluten-Free Banana Cobbler

• 3/4 c. sorghum flour
• 1/2 c. white rice flour
• 1/2 c. potato starch
• 1 Tb. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 6 – 8 ripe bananas

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.  In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, combine the milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a fork or whisk until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Spread the batter into a buttered rectangular baking dish (about 9 x 13 inches). 



Peel the ripe bananas and cut them into three pieces, placing the pieces on top of the batter.  Drizzle over top:

• 2 Tb. melted butter
• 3 Tb. agave nectar
• 1/4 c. orange juice

Then sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.  Bake at 350 degrees about 35 – 45 minutes, or until the batter tests done. 



This cobbler is low in fat, but it is not dry.  However, I loved it eaten warm with milk over top.  It’s great by itself, too, and I’m sure it would be even better with ice cream.

Visit  Friday Foodie Fix for more recipes that use agave nectar, and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays for fabulous food made a little bit healthier.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

I’ve been so fixated on pumpkin this fall that I haven’t done much with apples.  Apples are not my favorite fruit to eat raw, though I do like them with peanut butter.  I enjoy them most when they are cooked, whether they are part of a sweet dessert like this one, or simply sautéed with onions.  I almost left the cinnamon out of this recipe.  It is hard to imagine an apple dessert without cinnamon!  Luckily, I did remember in time.

Once again, I adapted this recipe from Mennonite Country-Style Recipes and kept the word strudel in the title.  However, it is not a real strudel because it is not a pastry.  It is very similar to an apple crisp, but instead of mixing the dry ingredients with butter, they are mixed with an egg.  I cut down on the sugar and increased the flour, gluten free of course.  Although it still contains a total of one cup of sugar, this recipe does not use any fat.  It didn’t taste real sweet and we liked the doughy topping for a change.

Gluten-Free Apple Strudel

Ingredients

• 4 – 6 tart apples (I used 5 large Granny Smith apples)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c. gluten-free flour mix (I used Carol’s sorghum blend)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg

Instructions
Peel and thinly slice the apples.  Place them in a sprayed 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Sprinkle 1/2 c. sugar and the cinnamon on top. 

 Combine the flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg.  Add the egg to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork to make a crumbly mixture.  Evenly distribute this over top of  the apples.











Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the apples are tender.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

Welcome to “What can I eat that’s gluten free?” It is a weekly blog carnival where bloggers share links to their gluten-free eating ideas. This week there is a theme of cold treats, but that’s just a suggestion. Any gluten-free eating links are welcome.

My mom has made this recipe for years and I doubt she remembers where it came from. It’s one of my favorite summer time treats. It’s versatile in that you can change the Jell-O flavor and the fruit, though I tend to use the same ones.

Jell-O Fruit Dessert

Ingredients

• 6 oz. Jell-O (large box)
• 16 oz. canned fruit
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. cool whip

Instructions

Dissolve the jello in two cups hot water. Use juice from the fruit and enough water to make 1 1/2 cups. (I add ice to the juice to help speed the cooling process.) Add the juice/water mix to the Jell-O. Stir and chill until slightly firm. It shouldn’t be watery any more, but not well set.

In a blender, combine about 1 cup of the Jell-O and the cream cheese. Add the remaining Jell-O and mix well. Cut the fruit into bite size pieces. Add to the Jell-O, then stir in the cool whip. You have to stir it well so the cool whip doesn’t stay in big lumps. A few small ones are fine.

Put into serving dishes, a large bowl, or a rectangular dish and chill.

Note: I like using canned pears the best. They go well with most flavors, but I particularly like them with cherry or raspberry.

Please join in and add your link below.

1. Jen ( Spinach Smoothie) 2. Debbie (Cherry Coconut Ice Cream)

3. Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free (Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce) 4. Brian (Frozen Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate)

5. Gluten Free Taste of Home (Cherry Chocolate Cookie Tart) 6. Mikki (Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake)

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Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts, What can I eat?

My family enjoyed this strawberry rhubarb pie so much that I made a second one not long after making the first. That used up the two Whole Foods pie crusts that I had bought. Instead of buying more, I decided I wanted to try making my own pie crust. I bought more strawberries and rhubarb, but they were starting to go bad and I still didn’t have time to put together a pie from scratch. That’s when I decided to make a topping.

The topping is similar to the pie filling, but uses less sugar. We ate it on ice cream, but it would also be good on cake or even biscuits.

Strawberry Rhubarb Topping

Ingredients

• 3 c. rhubarb, chopped
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 Tb. cornstarch
• 2 Tb. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. strawberries

Instructions

In a medium saucepan combine the rhubarb, 1/4 c. water and sugar. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer about 5 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and 2 Tb. water. Add to the pot while stirring. Cook about 1 minute. Stir in the vanilla and then the strawberries. 

This was delicious with Breyers vanilla ice cream.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

I've given you a couple of cranberry recipes this week, and I thought I would follow with a cranberry dessert. This recipe is adapted from Bette Hagman's cranberry trifle in her book The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert. It looks nice in a trifle bowl or other clear serving bowl.




Ingredients

1 sm. pkg. instant vanilla pudding
3-4 c. torn yellow cake
1/2 c. orange juice (or 1/4 c. o.j. and 1/4 c. rum)
16 oz. whole berry cranberry sauce
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
whipped cream or cool whip

Instructions
Prepare the pudding according to the package instructions and chill. Place half the cake pieces in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with half the orange juice. Top with half the cranberry sauce, oranges, and pudding. Repeat cake, juice, cranberry sauce, oranges and pudding. Chill for several hours. Top with whipped cream or cool whip before serving.

For more great recipes and ideas visit Blessed With Grace's Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
Stop by The Happy Housewife to see more desserts as part of the Bloggy Progressive Dinner.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts

Last evening I decided to pull out one of my favorite cookbooks from before my celiac diagnosis. It is Mennonite Country Style Recipes by Esther Shank. I found this dessert and decided to try converting it to be gluten-free. The result was scrumptious.

Gluten-Free Applescotch Dessert

1 c. brown sugar
1 Tb. corn starch
2 c. cold water
2 c. gluten-free flour mix (I used Carol Fenster's sorghum blend)
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tb. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tb. butter
4 c. chopped peeled apples
3/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tb. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine the brown sugar, cornstarch and water in a saucepan. Cook until slightly thickened (very slightly). Pour into a sprayed 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Mix together the flour, 1/4 c. sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or fork. Stir the apples into this flour mixture. Combine the milk and vanilla and stir into the flour/apple mixture. Stir just until moistened. Drop by serving spoonfuls into the baking dish. Combine the 1 Tb. sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Let sit for 10 - 15 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Note: I might try to thicken the syrup with a little more cornstarch next time. It did thicken as it baked, but still ran out from underneath as I started dishing it up. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. brown sugar which I cut back to 1 c. so that might have made some difference. Also, I somehow missed the directions to add 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 Tb. butter to the syrup just before pouring it into the baking dish. I might try adding the vanilla next time.

Labels: dessert recipes, fruit desserts