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.

Egg Free Apple Sauce Muffins

These muffins were adapted from the recipe on Daily Pleasures. I was hesitant to try a recipe without eggs as I have felt that gluten free baking really needs eggs to turn out well. These muffins were a very pleasant surprise - they turned out moist, soft and surprisingly light. On the second day, they were a little bit dry, but a few seconds in the microwave restored them to a fresh state. I was so pleased to post a recipe that my "egg-free" friends can use.
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup honey or sugar
1 1/2 cup thick apple sauce
1/2 cup water

METHOD: Just as a note, if your apple sauce is runny, you will not need to add as much water. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Add all wet ingredients and mix well. Spoon into greased muffin tins or paper muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon if desired. Bake at 385 F for 20 min. This makes 12 muffins. These smell wonderful while baking. Raisins would be a lovely addition.

Devilish Dessert

My husband named this "Devilish Dessert" because he said the wicked stuff always overpowers his better judgement to have a second piece. :)
My Dad suggested "Heavenly Dessert", for pretty much the same reason.
This recipe makes a 9x13 pan.
BASE:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 cups gluten free graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
Combine the crumbs, margarine and sugar together thoroughly. Place in a 9x13" pan and press down firmly and evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min. Cool.

PUDDING LAYER:
4 cups warm milk or milk substitute (I use coconut milk - it gives a wonderful flavor - I take
one can of rich coconut milk and dilute with pure water to make the 4 cups)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa (or equivalent in unsweetened chocolate)
1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp rice flour
2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 tsp butter or margarine, optional
Place flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in a sauce pan, whisking to mix. Slowly add the warm milk, whisking to prevent lumps. Stir over medium heat until thickened. Whisk in the beaten eggs and cook for about 1 min, stirring to prevent burning. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter (if using). Pour over crust and place in fridge to cool.

TOPPING:
Beat 1 cup of cream or whip topping and apply to cooled pudding. Cut into squares and serve.

VARIATIONS:
Make vanilla pudding by removing the cocoa and decreasing the sugar if desired. Instead of whipping cream on top, you could add meringue - and you have a traditional "Flapper Pie".

You could make Banana Cream by making the vanilla pudding: first slice 2 or 3 bananas on the crust and pour the pudding over. Top with whipping cream.

Note: The chocolate recipe makes a semi-sweet chocolate - if you prefer a sweeter chocolate, increase the sugar to 3/4 cup. If you own a Vita-Mix blender, this recipe was developed from the one on page 108 of the recipe book that comes with the mixer. You can follow their directions for using the mixer to make the pudding.

Waffles

My family enjoys when I make a special brunch on Sundays. Waffles are the kid's favorite choice. These turn out light and crisp and are nice to store in the freezer to heat in the toaster as needed. (Yes, this is my husband's breakfast - I interrupted him to take a picture of his meal) :)

GLUTEN FREE WAFFLES

2 cups rice flour

1 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

4 eggs

3 cups water

1/2 cup oil or melted butter

METHOD:
Sift dry ingredients together. Whisk eggs, water and oil or butter together and then stir it into the dry ingredients to make a smooth batter.

Pour 1/2 cup of batter into a hot waffle iron and cook until the waffle stops steaming and is lightly brown and crisp.

Serve hot or keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. If you are freezing them, let them cool on racks. Freeze on cookie sheets and when hard, place in bags.