Tag: gluten free

Gluten Free Banana Bread

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This post is way overdo, things have been a little busy lately!

Whenever I have bananas that have ripened too much I throw them in the freezer to use in smoothies or in this banana bread recipe (just let them thaw before baking). This is my mom’s classic banana bread recipe which I converted to be gluten free. It will yield about 18 cupcakes or 1 loaf of bread. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups gluten free flour
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 mashed bananas

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Using a mixer, beat egg and sugar together.
  3. Beat in butter to egg and sugar mixture.
  4. Add flour, baking soda, bananas and salt to mixture.
  5. Bake muffins for about 15 minutes.
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Gluten Free Vanilla Cake w/ Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

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Smash cakes seem to be the new thing for a youngster’s birthday, a small round cake that the kid can dive into and get messy with.  I had a request this past weekend to bake a smash cake and cupcakes for my favorite 1 year old’s birthday. I went with a classic vanilla cake with fresh strawberry icing, recipe below.

In addition, I made a number “1” topper for the cake. Cut out the number 1 on card stock paper, paint with Mod Podge Glue and sprinkle with gold glitter. Once that dries make sure you do a coat of Mod Podge over the glitter, this seals the glitter so that it doesn’t fall onto the cake. Then hot glue the number to a toothpick.

If you live in the Phoenix area and like to bake I highly suggest you check out ABC Cake Baking Supply Store. They have everything you need from baking pans, decorations, cookie cutters, boxes, etc. Last week was my first time to the store and I was memorized by all the stuff they had.

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Addie enjoying her smash cake

Gluten Free Classic Vanilla Cake (original recipe from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten free baking flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 5-by-3-inch cake pan, tapping out excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.
  3. Fill pan 3/4 full with batter; smooth top. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Baker’s Note: This recipe makes enough for the smash cake and about a dozen cupcakes. Also, when it came to the cake I did the toothpick rule when testing to see if it is ready.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing (original recipe from Food.com)

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, room temp (1 stick)
  • 1/2 cup pureed fresh strawberries
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (powder sugar)

Directions:

  1. Using a mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth.
  2. Add the vanilla extract and pureed strawberries.
  3. Gradually add the powder sugar until it has the consistency and sweetness you desire. You can alter this to your liking. If you make it a bit too sweet, add just a little bit of lemon juice. This will help balance out the sweetness.

Baker’s Note: I realized after making this that it is a icing rather than a frosting, the consistency isn’t as thick as traditional frosting.

Black Bean & Feta Quinoa Patties

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The recipe originally called for spinach, but let’s be honest I forgot to buy spinach and ended up substituting with black beans. Perfect recipe for those Meatless Mondays. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

Gluten Free Quinoa Patties:

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of finely chopped red onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup of black beans
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/4 cups of cooked quinoa (I made 1 cup of uncooked and had leftovers)
  • 2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs

Lemon Dill Yogurt Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup plain Non-Fat Geek Yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used half of a lemon)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • Next time I make this I might consider adding cucumbers to the sauce to make it more like a tzatziki 

Directions:

Lemon-Dill Yogurt Sauce:

  1. Whisk together the yogurt, scallions, lemon juice, and dill in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate the sauce for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld.

Quinoa Patties:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium-size bowl.
  2. Add the eggs, quinoa, black beans, feta, dill, lemon zest, and black pepper and mix well. Mix in the bread crumbs and let the mixture sit for a few minutes to allow the bread crumbs to absorb some of the moisture.
  3. Add a little olive to a grill pan and heat to medium-high tempature.
  4. Form quinoa patties about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Grill the patties until they’re cooked through and browned on the outside, 4 to 5 minutes. Serve warm with lemon-dill yogurt sauce.

Recipe adapted from this version: http://paninihappy.com/spinach-feta-quinoa-cakes-plus-5-quick-dinners-on-the-panini-press/

DIY Food Allergy Menu Cards

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I love hosting dinner parties but with food allergies on the rise it can often create a challenge for the host and the guest (I know from experience). If you are unsure, it’s not uncommon to ask your guests ahead of time if their diets have changed. Your guests will appreciate you going the extra mile to make them feel welcomed in your home. Check out my tutorial video on ways you can easily label the food for guests who have allergies. For more entertaining tips, subscribe to the Likeheared channel: http://www.youtube.com/iamlikehearted

Materials:

Total cost: Under $25 – $18 of this is for the Animal Stamps since I didn’t already own them

Time: 15 minutes

Steps:

  1. Make a key letting your guests know what the stamps stand for. For example, I used the cow stamp to mean “contains dairy.”
  2. For the the menu cards I used the “business cards” from Papersource, they are pre-cut and just the size I needed.
  3. Write out the dish name on a menu card with a sharpie.
  4. Use stamps with ink pad to tell what allergies are in the food.

Allergy Free Entertaining Tips:

  • Avoid cross contamination by using separate serving utensils with each dish.
  • Keep all food labels in case someone wants to double check the ingredients.
  • Ask guests to bring something other than food: bottle of wine, flowers or ice, that way you can control what food is served.

Mimosa Jello Shots

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I made the Mimosa Jello Shots for the New Year’s Eve party I hosted and was surprised how much of a hit these were. I saw this recipe on Pinterest but decided to put my own twist on it and use Orange flavored gelatin.  I will admit I did not get those perfectly cut squares that they show in their photo, instead I suggest using the clear plastic shots glasses for serving.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of Orange Gelatin (Jello)
  • 1 cup of boiling water
  • 1 cup of chilled champagne (I used Cava – Spanish Sparkling Wine)

Directions:

  1. Combine gelatin and boiling water in a bowl. Stirring until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Let it sit and come to room temperature.
  2. Slowly pour in the chilled champagne.
  3. Pour into clear shot glasses until they are about 3/4 filled and set in refrigerator to chill, about 4 hours.
  4. Sprinkle with shimmer sugar right before serving. Note, that the sugar dissolves quickly once on the jello.

Enjoying reliving the college days in a more grown up style.

Originally posted here:  http://www.perpetuallyengaged.com/2011/12/champagne-jello-shots.html

Kale Chips

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Kale Chips are my new favorite snack. They are easy to make, gluten free and healthy. I like to use the packaged Kale from Trader Joes, it is already washed and cut up! Otherwise, I pick up about 4 bunches at the farmer’s market. This snack doesn’t last more than a day in my house.

Ingredients:

  • Kale (4 bunches)
  • 1 garlic clove chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon of  sea salt
  • Olive Oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Spread out kale onto cookie sheet.
  3. Drizzle with Olive Oil.
  4. Sprinkle chopped garlic across kale.
  5. Season with sea salt.
  6. Bake for about 15 minutes. Keep a close eye on the kale as it can burn easily. It’s ready when the edges start to brown.

Benefits of Kale*:

  1. Low in calorie, high in fiber and has zero fat
  2. High in iron
  3. High in Vitamin K
  4. Filled with powerful antioxidants
  5. Great anti-inflammatory
  6. Great for cardiovascular support
  7. High in Vitamin A
  8. High in Vitamin C
  9. High in Calcium
  10. Great detox food

*Source: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4408/Top-10-Health-Benefits-of-Eating-Kale.html

“Really” Oatmeal Cookies

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I developed this recipe on accident…I had written it on a recipe card from a cookbook that my mom had and I somehow did not transfer it correctly. Let’s just say the ingredient list had an egg in it but the directions had no use for an egg…So,  I ended up merging a few recipes to come up with the one below. These cookies are much more crunchy granola rather than chewy or overly sweet. This is my ideal cookie.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour
  • Pinch of xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups of quick-cooking gluten free rolled oats (Trader Joe’s has a 32oz bag that are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free!)
  • 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips or walnuts or raisins (whatever you prefer!)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Put butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Mix.
  3. Add egg and mix on medium until well blended.
  4. Add flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix.
  5. Add oats and chocolate chips (or whatever you decided to add). Mix.
  6. Measure 1 ice cream scoopful of dough onto cookie sheet. Using bottom of scoop, press down on the dough ball to flatten.
  7. Cook 15-18 minutes. Or just until the edges are golden.