Almond Joy Bites

Looking for a delicious, gluten-free candy, to give to those special people in your life? Look no further, you have found it. I was internet hopping and found this recipe on Food Network.
This recipe comes form Alton Brown, one of my favorite chef-celebs on Food Network. Warning, these are rich, but well worth the time :)

Ingredients:

1 cup toasted chopped Macadamia nuts, or other favorite nuts
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
One 7-ounce bag sweetened shredded coconut
One 12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
1 tablespoon shortening


Directions In a bowl mix together the nuts, condensed milk, almond extract and coconut. Using your fingers, press the mixture into balls about 3/4-inch round. Place onto sheet trays and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours or in the refrigerator for 1 hour. After the balls have set up, melt the chocolate and shortening until smooth. Dip into the chocolate to coat evenly and lightly. Place onto a parchment or foil lined sheet pan to dry

Trifle Baby

Don't you hate it when you try a new recipe, and it fails miserably? I tried a roll cake recipe, and it was a total flop! It was so crumbly!
So, what do you do with your mistakes? You cover it with chocolate pudding, and fresh whipping cream. Looks pretty good for a mistake :)

Frosty

Do you ever get in the mood for a Weny's Frosty? Unfortuantely, I live 2 hours away from the nearest Wendy's, so I needed a way to get my fix!
After searching online for a copy cat recipe, I came to the conclusion there wasn't one I would try. Some require many ingredients, or an ice cream maker.
Since I had neither, I used what I had on hand, mostly from my pantry.

The cast of characters:

Pantry Items:
1/2 cup Coconut milk
12 heaping teaspoons Auguson Farms Morning Moo Chocolate Milk Mix

Fridge/Freezer items
1/2 carton vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 cup Cool Whip

First, combine the coconut milk and 2% milk into the bottom of the blender. Add the chocolate milk mix, blend well. Add ice cream, and blend about 1 minute. Add Cool Whip last, and blend for about 30 seconds. The cool whip really gives it that airy Frosty mouth feel. Enjoy!

Muffins

Wanted to share a quick recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins. If you have some bananas you need to use, this is a GREAT recipe.
If you dont have applesauce on hand, go ahead and use vegetable oil. Of course the applesauce IS healthier :)

Chocolate Banana Muffins

3 large bananas
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup white rice flour (or mixture of other GF flours)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp xanthan gum
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Giradelli’s)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees . Line a muffin tin with baking cups, and set it aside. In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher.
Mix in sugar, egg and applesauce. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum, to the banana mixture.
Mix lightly with a rubber spatula to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter should be just moistened but still a little clumpy.
Pour, or scoop batter into cups, and bake for 20 minutes.

WARNING: these are very chocolatey and gooey! If you dont like that much chocolate, omit the chocolate chips. Enjoy!

Go ahead, make your move...

Greetings from South Dakota! Yes you read correctly. The family and I moved from Utah, to South Dakota about 2 weeks ago. It was a tri-state move, with enough stress to choke a horse, but alas, we made it! We are now living in a small town in South Central, South Dakota. Ive been learning how to buy GF in bulk, and the harsh reality set in, when I saw my local grocery does not carry gluten free items. Guess I will be getting to know my UPS/Fedex guy, really well. It's been a while since I posted anything(moves do that to you)and I though I would share a recipe for yummy baked granola.
Don't pay 7$ for 12 oz pkg. Make this instead, and save yourself some money!


HOMEMADE Gluten-Free GRANOLA

2 cups certified gluten-free oats
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup sliced almonds or other nut
1/2 cup crunchy or smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup honey(or agave)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoons of butter (or my fav, coconut oil.)


DIRECTIONS: Combine all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a small saucepan( or in microwave), combine the peanut butter, honey(agave), butter (coconut oil), and vanilla.
Once the peanut butter mixture is combined, mix it with the dry ingredients until the oat mixture is moistened. Press the granola in a shallow pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 25 minutes at 300 degrees.
The granola will be pretty dark, but as it cools you will be able to break it up. I store mine in a gallon ziploc bag in the freezer.
A typical serving for this, as cereal with milk, is about a 1/2 cup. Eaten by the handful, well until you want to stop :)

Eureka!

I have FINALLY perfeted my Old Fashioned Cake Donut recipe! Hold onto to your waistline, because it's about to change :) Once you try one, you just can't stop! So here it goes..

Gluten-Free Sour Cream Old-Fashioned Doughnuts
Yields 10 doughnuts

2 1/4 cups gluten free flour mix(I used the UN-Flour recipe from Irresistibly Gluten Free, by Christina Davis.)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp iodized salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup
2 tbsp softened shortening, like Crisco.
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sour cream
canola oil/vegetable oil for frying

Directions
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together in a medium bowl, and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the sugar and shortening/vegetable lard for 1 minute on low speed, until sandy. Add the egg yolks, then mix for 1 more minute on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is light coloured and thick.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three separate additions, alternating with sour cream, mixing until just combined on low speed and scraping the sides of the bowl each time.
The dough will be sticky, like biscuit dough. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes(or up to 24 hours).
Heat your deep fryer to 350 degrees. Roll out the chilled dough on a generously floured counter or cutting board to 1/2 in thickness, flouring the top of the dough and the roling pin as necessary to prevent sticking. Cut into as many doughnuts as possible, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut.

I use a biscuit cutter, and a metal cake decorating tip to make the inner hole. Shake any excess flour off the doughnuts before carefully adding them to the hot oil a few at a time, taking care not to crowd them.(they will expand) Fry until golden for about 2-3 minutes per side.

Drain on paper towels and dip one side of doughnut into glaze and let dry.

Enjoy!

Simplest Vanilla Glaze

3 1/2 cups powder sugar,
sifted 1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp iodized salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp hot water, plus more if needed

Place the confectioner’sugar, salt, vanilla, and hot water in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth.

It's Springtime here in Utah, and that means Case Lot Sales! This week I got a great deal on Fresh Strawberries at Stokes Market, in Salem. 6.99$ a flat, which contains 8 quarts of berries... Needless to say, we have been eating strawberries, making freezer jam, and of course, strawberry pie!
For this month, I though I would share my recipe for my Mom's Scrumptious Strawberry Pie, only Gluten-Free!

First I start out by making the crust. I prefer the Donna Jo's Pie Crust recipe in Betty Hagman's book, More From the Gluten Free Gourmet.
Here is the recipe per her book: (This makes enough pastry for a 2 pie crusts, so half the recipe if you only need one crust)

Crust:
½ c. tapioca flour
½ c. cornstarch
¼ c. potato starch flour
1 c. sweet rice flour
1 rounded t. xanthan gum
½ t. salt
Dash of sugar (optional)
½ c. (1 stick) margarine
½ c. butter-flavored Crisco
1 egg, cold
1 T. GF vinegar
4 T. ice water (I use 2 T)
plastic wrap for rolling.

Directions:
Blend together the flours, xanthan gum, salt and sugar. Cut in the margarine and Crisco in small dabs until you have shortening the size of lima beans (not cornmeal). Beat the egg using a fork; add the vinegar and ice water. Stir into the flour mixture, forming a ball. You may knead this a big, since rice flour crusts can stand handling. Refrigerate the dough for an hour or more to chill. Divide the dough and roll out between two sheets plastic wrap, for easier handling. Place in a pie tin. If using plastic wrap, invert the dough into the pan. Bake as directed for the filling used. For a baked crust, prick the pastry with a fork on sides and bottom. Bake the crust in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly browned. Cool before filling.
When you are done, you should have a cooked and cooled pie crust.

Now onto the Pie recipe:
Mom's Scrumptious Strawberry Pie

One COOKED and cooled pie crust

Filling:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
8 teaspoons cornstarch
3 oz pkg of stawberry jello
1 quart of strwberries washed, hulled, and sliced.

Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Over medium heat, add water, and stir to dissolve. Continue to stir until mixture is thickened. Turn off heat, add powdered jello, and stir until dissolved. Layer sliced strawberries in pie crust. Pour jello mixture over berries, and let set for about an hour. (the refrigerator speeds up this process too)
Top with Cool Whip at serving. Doesn't it look divine?

Deal at Macey's grocery store

Wanted to post quickly about a gluten-free deal at Macey's grocery stores this week. If you live in Utah, they have a deal on the Gluten-free Rice Krispie Cereal 4 boxes for 10$. This cereal is normally about 4.79 a box(regular price) so this is BIG savings! Here was my scenario:

2 boxes @ 2.50 each
used a manufac. coupon for 1.00$ off two boxes(found in last Sunday's newspaper)
total= 2$ per box.

Also on special marked packages, there is a peelie for a free bag of M&Ms, yes FREE! It's a 3.79 value just on the M&M's, and with Easter coming up, that's a huge help.
So run down to Maceys and grab this deal today!

Gluten Free Night at Maceys

Was able to head over to Maceys last night, to get in a gluten-free cooking demo, put on by Sunflower Mills. I have tried a lot of GF mixes in my life, and I have to say, that this brand, is one of my top two favorites.

Now some of you know I run a GF cupcake buisness out of my home, and have struggled to find a good recipe for yellow cake. I have the chocolate, and red velvet perfected, but the yellow cake is elusive. I was hoping SM would fit the bill, but alas, the sample of yellow cake was a bit dry. They assured me that this was not the case if it was made into an actual round. Maybe a key ingredient was left out in the sample.

Anyhow, we were treated to some yummy zucchini cake, cinnamon rolls, corn muffins and the best for last, Peanut Butter Bars, that were made during our class. Those Peanut Butter Bars rocked! If you would like the recipe go to Sunfowermills.com and look for the recipe under the heading recipes or go here

http://www.sunflourmillsidaho.com/Sun%20Flour%20Mills/Recipes.html

Hope you will give these wonderful products a try.

Good Food on the Cheap- 3 Stir Potatoes (Fried)

I know we all crave that one dish your Mom perfected growing up. For me, it is fried potatoes. You would think with only spuds, grease, and some salt, nothing could go wrong? It's an accident waiting to happen.
Potaoes stuck to cast iron skillet like cement, burned on the outside, but oh-so-raw on the inside. Here's a fool-proof method for pan frying potatoes. By the way, you might want to clear the kiddos out of the kitchen for this one. Popping grease is hazardous to your skin :)

These directions are courtesy of Jerry @ cbsop.com (Cooking by the Seat of My Pants

Dorris’ Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

4-7 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾” pieces (this depends on the size of the potatoes and the size of the skillet. My skillet is 11½”, so I can generally fit 6 medium sized russet’s comfortably. A different sized skillet means a different amount.)
3-7 tbsp bacon grease (or butter, or olive oil, or Crisco… I’d go with the bacon grease if possible)
1 small onion, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Method:

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. When hot, add fat of your choice allow to come to a shimmer. (Just before smoking.)

Add potatoes to skillet as quickly (and safely) as possible in a single layer. If you’ve cut too many to fit in the pan, make them in batches.

Reduce heat to medium low, then walk away. Do not attempt to move the potatoes around, they’re stuck to the pan like cement at this point, and that’s exactly what you wanted to happen. Hang out, have a cup of coffee and use your ears and nose to guide you.

When there’s nearly no sizzle left in the pan and the potatoes start smelling almost sweet, it’s time to stir it up(stir #1). Use a stiff spatula and carefully dislodge the potatoes from the bottom of the skillet (if they’re sticking at all.) then walk away.(I calculated about 6 minutes to get them brown on one side)

Moving things around in the pan too often will irrevocably damage the process. Wait about 5 minutes and stir the potatoes again(stir #2).
Take stock of the amount of grease in the pan. If it looks dry, add another tablespoon.

Salt the spuds profusely. Don’t worry, they’ll soak almost all of it up without a noticeable effect on taste, but now is the time we want them to start letting go of the moisture we’ve trapped inside. Wait about 5 more minutes and toss the onions into the skillet(stir #3). Add pepper.

By now it should be safe to keep them moving more often, and you’ll need to do so if you want to keep the onions from burning. Caramelized is fine, burnt isn’t.

When the onions are cooked to your liking and the spuds are fork-tender, you’re done.

Restaurant Review-Big Al's Texas BBQ-Provo, Utah

I am a true Southerner. I have spent the last 36 years of my life in the Southern part of the United States, and I am what you call a "GRIT"
(Girls Raised in The South)
I know my barbeque, and the best part is every place I have visited, I have tried the regional flavor,ie. Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, Oklahoma, etc...I have to say Memphis Style is my favorite. There is something about taking a bunch of spices and sugar, throwing them in a bowl, and rubbing it onto a thick rack of ribs! I dont profess to be a master griller, I just know what I like. Dry rubs! For those of you not familiar with BBQ, Memphis Style is dry rub-doesn't include BBQ sauce(unless you want to put it on afterwards.)

There are some decent BBQ recipes out there. Americas Test Kitchen has a Memphis Style Rib recipe,that is fairly simple, that includes grilling, and finishing in the oven.

Now onto our review. We went to Big Al's Texas BBQ in the middle of the week, about 2pm for lunch. Even at that time, there were patrons getting thier BBQ grub on! My husband got the daily special, which is a type of BBQ sloppy jo, with beef and pork, in thier Texas sauce.
I had a small lunch portion of ribs, with baked beans, and coleslaw, which are both gluten free sides. Sorry to say, I found out the fries are not GF. FYI-they do have a list by the cash register of items that are gluten free.

The beef ribs were tender, and fall of the bone. If you like a little bit of heat, I would recommend the Spicy BBQ sauce. The coleslaw was incredibly good, but the baked beans had BBQ meat in them, and I kinda prefer a vegetarian baked bean. My husband gladly inhaled the beans :)

As far as price, this place ain't cheap. My lunch portion of ribs was 13$ and the daily special, was around 8$. On a scale from 1-10, I give this place a 7.

Now onto the next BBQ houses, Tommy's BBQ in Provo, and Sticky Bones, in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Carry on, BBQ lovers!

Monkey Bread!

When I was in college, say 20 years ago( yes,I am old..lol) Monkey Bread was all the rage. With a few cans of biscuit dough, brown sugar, and an oven, you could satisfy your sweet tooth.

Saturday is my baking day, and last Saturday I required something sweet. All I had in the house was a pkg of Grandpa's Kitchen Bread Mix on my pantry shelf, so I decided to give it a go.

The only thing I modified from the package instructions was I used 1.5 cups of milk, instead of the yogurt it calls for.
In addition, I melted 4 TBSP butter in shallow bowl, and prepped some cinnamon-sugar for rolling the balls of dough.
I basically used my smallest pampered chef cookie scoop, and dipped the dough balls in the butter, then rolled them in brown sugar.
I packed them loosely into a greased bundt pan, and let them rise for 45 minutes.


Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and bake the bread for 25 minutes. Cool the monkey bread in the pan for three minutes, then invert onto a plate, and enjoy!