Sweet Potato or Squash Bake

I never liked sweet potatoes, until I tried this recipe! Even my kids all eat this and love it! If you like pumpkin pie, you will like this. Also, it is much healthier than the traditional marshmallow topped potatoes.

3 cups hot, mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash
1/2 cup milk or cream (I use coconut milk)
3 Tbsp butter or margarine (I use olive oil or coconut oil)
1/4 cup brown sugar or 3 Tbsp honey
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp of each of the following: allspice, salt & nutmeg
(marshmallows for top, but optional)

-Combine the squash or potatoes and beat in milk, egg, sugar and spices until smooth. Pour into a greased casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min or until set. If using marshmallows, add to the top and brown for 5-10 minutes. Serves 6-8.

Gluten Free Stuffing (Dressing)

No Christmas or Thanksgiving meal would be complete at our home without this side dish! I make this for the family get together on my Husband's side of the family. I times this recipe by three to serve forty people. One batch serves 10-12 people.

1 gallon bucket of gluten free bread cubes (about 1.5 loaves of bread, cubed). I usually collect

leftover toast, cornbread, bread heels, etc in the freezer to use for stuffing. I do not use

dry breadcrumbs to make this stuffing as the rice bread is so hard when dry. If you do

use dry bread, adjust the amount of liquid accordingly.

1/2 cup fat - turkey or bacon fat is best, but oil, butter, margarine, or lard are also good.

1 cup turkey or chicken broth or bouillon

2 cups celery, chopped (about 5 stalks)

2 cups onion, chopped (about 2 medium onions)
1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 tsp poultry seasoning

-Put the fat, broth, salt, pepper and seasoning into a sauce pan.

-Add cut vegetables and bring to a boil.

-Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes

-Place the breadcrumbs into a large roaster, casserole or slow cooker.

-Pour the seasoning/vegetable mixture over the bread cubes and stir to coat. If the bread still seems dry, add more broth.

-Bake in covered casserole for 45 - 60 minutes at 325 degrees. In the slow cooker, place on low for 2-3 hours.

-Serve with turkey or chicken.

Melting Moments

*These cookies are egg free* I will be posting some pictures as soon as I have mine baked. :)

Christmas would not seem like Christmas without these pretty pink and white shortbread cookies as dessert. They are a family tradition from my Grandma Olive. These were always on the table at her house at Christmas. I remember one Christmas when I was about 14: I stayed with my Grandparents for a few days before Christmas to help Grandma prepare. We baked these little cookies together and sat at their oak dining table visiting while we iced them. It was a treat to be the only grandchild there while we worked together, baking, cleaning and decorating: pinning up the felt gingerbread man valance on top of her blue gingham dining room curtains. Oh what blessed things memories are!

Melting Moments

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 cup butter (I will say no substitutes because that is what Grandma said... but we can not eat butter, so I do substitute with Imperial Margarine - maybe coconut oil would work?)

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup corn starch

1 tsp xanthan gum

Cream butter and sugar. Add the sifted dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl and mix ingredients until very smooth and light.... about 5 min.. Chill for 20 min. Roll dough into SMALL balls (1/4 of a Tablespoon). Press down with a wet fork to make a flatish-round cookie. Bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 min or until set but not brown. Cool. Sandwich two cookies together with a very light pink vanilla icing (flat sides together).

Chocolate Melting Moments

I know you can't improve upon perfection, but perfection can come in more than one variety: vanilla and chocolate. :)

Make the above recipe, adding 1 square of melted unsweetened chocolate to the batter and increasing the icing sugar to 3/4 cup. Bake a couple of cookies. If they are kind of runny or do not hold their shape, add a Tablespoon or two of potato starch. (I'm sorry this isn't very definite, but this is the way I bake and it has been a year since I made these... when I bake this time, I will take notes and write this out better:-) Bake as above.

To ice, melt some semi-sweet chocolate (can be baker's chocolate or any chocolate bar, etc) adding 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine. Stir while melting and add a little milk or milk substitute if it seems too thick. Put cookies together with the chocolate, propping them so they do not slide apart before they set up.

Christmas Baking Is Coming Up!!!

I will be posting some Christmas baking shortly (probably as I do my own) :)
If any of you want to send me your Christmas recipes, I would love to post them here. Or you could just post a comment with a link to a recipe that works for you. I would love to try some new things! I will also try to include a few more recipes that are egg free.

Mocha Naniamo Bars

These squares are truly an indulgence. They are also my husband's favorite. :) If the Graham Cracker crumbs are already on hand, they are actually quite easy and quick to make.

MOCHA NANIAMO BARS

Crust: Melt 2 squares of semi sweet chocolate and set aside. Cream 1/2 cup of softened butter or margarine, 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 1 egg. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Now stir in 2 cups GF graham cracker crumbs, and 1 cup unsweetened coconut and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Press into a 9" square pan. Chill. (Since we like these bitter-sweet, I use 1 square unsweetened chocolate and 1 square semi-sweet. I also omit the sugar. The walnuts are optional - just increase the coconut by the same measurement.)

Filling: Whisk 1-2 Tbsp of instant coffee with 1/4 cup milk or milk substitute. When dissolved, add 2 Tbsp of custard powder. Cream 1/4 cup butter or margarine and add the coffee mixture to it. Beat in 2 cups of icing sugar until smooth. This should be like a thick, creamy icing. Spread over base and chill about 15 min.

Glaze: Melt 4 squares or semi-sweet chocolate with 1 tbsp of butter or margarine. Add a little warm milk or milk substitute if it seems too thick to spread. Spread over the filling layer and chill until just firm. Cut into squares (makes 25) and finish chilling. (Again, to make this less sweet, I use 1/2 unsweetened chocolate for the glaze.)

You can change the flavor of these squares by adding whatever flavor you like to the filling instead of the coffee. Mint is nice. You can also leave out the coffee and just add a little vanilla.

GF Graham Cracker Crumbs

I am including this recipe to go with the last post (Danish Apple Cake) and to go with the next post (Naniamo Bars). But really, these can stand on their own. We have made them into crackers just for snacking - they are very popular with the little ones. We also use the crumbs for pie crusts and sprinkling on ice cream (although I have another favorite for that which I will post later).

You can buy GF crumbs, but they are very expensive. These are quick and easy and taste great. I like to keep some on hand in the freezer for making easy deserts! Enjoy!

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUMBS

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour (white will work fine)

1 cup tapioca starch

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

METHOD:

Cream the margarine, sugar and vanilla together. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and add to the creamed mixture. Blend well. Your mix will now look like course crumbs.

For crumbs: spread the crumb mixture out on a large baking sheet (or two smaller ones) with sides. Just loosely spread them, do not pack them. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring once after 7 min. Let cool and break up any chunks. Use for dessert recipes or store in the freezer.

For crackers: add about 1/4 cup cold water to the crumb mixture and mix in till blended. Spread the crumbs onto 1 large or 2 small baking sheets with sides. Get out your rolling pin and roll the crumbs to pack them very firmly. Try to make the mixture all the same thickness and pack it well. Score the crackers with a knife. I usually just cut rectangle shapes. Bake the crackers at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Watch that they do not get too dark on the bottom - you may have to bake them in the top 1/4 of the oven. They should be lightly browned. Let them cool and harden and then break them apart and store in a tight container. These work great for GF S'mores. You can melt chocolate and spread it on each cracker first and then just roast marshmallows over the fire to squish in between two chocolate covered crackers :) :) Or they are just great plain as snacks for the kids.