Trial runs or what to do with "aging" fruit

Have I mentioned that the monkey loves pot pie? This past February his school offered pot pie as the alternate meal one week. He had it for three days. Unfortunately, they ran out or he would have had it the other two days as well. He is obsessed! :) So for his family birthday dinner on the 28th of this month I plan to make pot pie like I have done for at least three of his 6 birthday's (last year he wanted chocolate chip pancakes). Only it won't be exactly the same since he can no longer have wheat or milk.

I decided I needed a test run on a pie crust. I have been searching for about two weeks, and bookmarking ones that looked doable. Today I decided to start with one from Amy at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free. Now that recipe was for an apple tart, and I decided to go ahead and use up some of the apples & pears that were starting to go bad. Mini-pies or dumplings or tarts were born. I highly recommend the crust, and will be using it again for that pot pie. Now to figure out the filling....


Apple-Pear Tarts

1 batch flaky pie crust, make according to instructions
2 small apples, cored, peeled, sliced
1-2 pears, cored, peeled, sliced
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 Teaspoon cardamom
1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Melt butter in microwave for about one minute. Remove and add spices and brown sugar. Stir and return to microwave for another minute. Dump apples and pears into the butter mixture, and stir until coated.

Remove crust from refrigerator, and divide into six equal pieces (though it might be easier to do this beforehand). Roll or pat out into squares. Place on greased cookie sheet and form into a bowl. This is kind of like making a clay pot in Kindergarten. :) Dump apple-pears into bowls. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-30 minutes. The shells should be slightly crispy and brown.


What's your favorite way to use up ingredients that are starting to go bad?

Loving fall and its foods

Fall is all about apples and comfort foods. Granted the apples came in early, just like everything else this year, but they are what I think about when I think fall. (For now, I am ignoring the bit of white stuff that is littering the yard!) What says fall or comfort foods to you?

When it comes time for fall, I am compelled to make an apple salad that I discovered about seven years ago. Our choir and handbell ensemble did a silent auction to raise funds for our tour of England (best trip ever!), and each person had to donate something. I am not crafty in any way shape or form, but I can cook. So I donated a continental breakfast for four. When I was setting the menu with the winners, I came across this salad I knew it was perfect for the event. I haven't made this salad in quite awhile as the monkey and I are the only ones who like it, and he can no longer have milk. Then the first week of A Gluten Free Holiday came around. My thought and experience is that this pairs well with a roast beast meal or with a continental breakfast watching the parade. Here it is paired with dinner, but I plan to have it with my gluten free muffins and coffee tomorrow morning.

Every time I make it the flavor changes, but this is essentially my recipe. Please remember that I am a dump and pour girl.

Autumn Apple Salad

3 medium apples, cored and chopped (I like Fuji or Jazz)
1-6 ounce plain or vanilla coconut yogurt
1/4 Cup dried cranberries
1/4 Cup dried cherries
1/8 Cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large bowl mix together yogurt and whatever spices you like. Add apples, dried fruit and nuts. Good as a side for dinner or for breakfast. Makes 4 servings.

Note: For this rendition, I used homemade coconut yogurt mixed with cinnamon, ginger, apple pie spice and a bit of honey (agave would work). I used dried cranberries and almonds. In the past, my spice mixes have included cloves and cardamom as well.


That above is a bit of comfort food with apple salad. I adore shepherd's pie, and was craving some. Having never made it I went to my Facebook community to see what other's favorite recipes are, and what they would like to see. The answers were varied, as was whether or not certain things could be called shepherd's pie at all. For a bit more reading check out this article on Wikipedia. I settled on the term cottage pie. This one holds to the true meaning of the words as I used leftover taco meat for the base. The top is a mashed sweet potato, making this my first entry into this month's SOS Kitchen Challenge. :)

Taco Cottage Pie

1 pound ground turkey* (See note for vegan alternatives)
1 package Nueve Cocina chipotle taco beef seasoning
1 large can tomato sauce, more or less
1/2 bag frozen squash rounds
1/2 Cup carrot chips
2 small sweet potatoes
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/2-1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
butter for mashing

Prep work:

1. Cook and drain turkey. Return to pan and prepare according to the package directions. For the pie I used about 10 ounces of leftover meat.
2. Clean sweet potatoes, and place in a 4-5 quart pan of water. Make sure water covers them. Bring to a boil. Continue to boil, adding water as necessary, until a fork stuck in the potatoes goes all the way through. They should be a bit squishier than when making candied sweet potatoes.
3. Drain pan and peel sweet potatoes. Return to pan. Add spices and butter. Use a potato masher until a smooth consistency. Add more butter as necessary.

Putting it together:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray an 8 x 8 pan with your favorite non-stick cooking spray.
3. Put frozen squash and carrot chips into the pan. Pop into the oven for about 10 minutes. This is so you can cut the squash into smaller pieces. If you are okay with big pieces, don't worry about this step.
4. Put meat and vegetables in the prepared pan. Add a couple of big spoons of tomato sauce. Stir and level out in pan.
5. Pour mashed sweet potatoes on top and smooth out with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serves 6.


*Note: I needed to use my leftover meat and this seemed the ideal way. If I hadn't I so would have used some black beans and kidney beans as my "meat" base. We can't use soy crumbles since the monkey is allergic to soy, but they would also be a great alternative if you can have soy. I would, also, treat the veggies just like the meat-just use whatever you happen to have to hand.

Apple-Ginger Scones (Slightly modified, but still very tasty)

Leading with the big, close up view of these lovely Apple Ginger Scones, or at least what should have been scones and turned out a cross between a cookie and a scone. I made these last week for the monkey. The recipe is from Hannah at BitterSweet, but I found them originally on Go Dairy Free. I subbed out 1 1/2 Cups King Arthur Multipurpose gluten free flour, 1/2 Cup oat flour, and added 2 teaspoons xanthan gum for the wheat flour. Otherwise, everything remained the same. The monkey thought they were pretty fabulous. I sent him with four for his morning snack on Monday, and he scarfed them down before anybody else could ask for a taste.

I will note that I used apple butter made by my mother at Hundred Acre Farm, and the apple cider is made locally at Buell's Orchard, which we visited on a home school field trip.

Scones, apple cider, and the monkey's first carved pumpkin

Gluten Free Bisquick: A Review

I have always been a big fan of Bisquick. I use it in a whole host of foods, because it simplifies my life. The monkey has always loved the pancakes/waffles made from the pretty white box. Yes, the Heart Smart is one of the ways I tried to be a bit healthier. Then we had to essentially go gluten free. Cue the sad music, because now we can't just have pancakes at the drop of the hat. It takes a bit more work, and well we have had limited success in pleasing the monkey's palate. So I read that Bisquick is coming out with a gluten free product. Yippee! Now to find it someplace local. Whoo hoo, I find it in a local store! Ouch on the price tag, but that seems to be par for the course for most gluten free products. We had the pancakes that night, and I will say that we were all pleased with the results. The batter went together nicely (we used vanilla almond milk), cooked up beautifully, and were very tasty (especially with the addition of the monkey's favored chocolate chips). We will probably be using this rather regularly for the monkey's pancake needs.



What convenience product do you miss? Have you found a good substitute for it?

Sack Lunches

I knew once we got the monkey's allergy results that we would have to start sending sack lunches again when he went back to school. I wasn't sure how it would work at the public school since there would be no way to monitor him, and the school is not exactly on top of things like that as they don't have but one or two children with food allergies in the school. When we made the decision to home school, for allergies and other reasons, I heaved a mental sigh of relief. I could send a lunch that he could eat, and be nearly 100% certain that he wouldn't get any of his allergens. Nearly 100% since his cousin is constantly offering and/or sneaking the monkey things he should not have, always with the best of intentions.

Sack Lunch for Field Trip

The monkey's favored lunchtime fare is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is followed closely by dairy bar (yogurt, cheese and crackers, fruit) and pot pie. For peanut butter and jelly, we started looking for a bread recipe. I tried converting my Honey Oat Bread, which was a dismal failure. Then we bought a couple of loafs of oatmeal bread from Dee's One Smart Cookie. I really liked it, but the monkey said he didn't when the second loaf arrived home. I gave up for awhile, and started working on sweet breads and breakfast food instead. He had pb & j on oatmeal pancakes and banana bread. Then I read that King Arthur was coming out with a line of gluten free products. I prepared myself to be disappointed in their mixes since most gluten free mixes contain one of the monkey's other allergens. When I pulled up the nutritional information, I actually bounced up and down in my seat. There were things he could have!!! I found the new products at Whole Foods, and a local store as well. I bought the multipurpose and the bread mix. I used the multi-purpose in a Brownie Pudding recipe, and just last night made up the bread. I followed the directions to the letter, and the most fabulous, yeasty smells started coming from my kitchen. I couldn't wait to try it, and had a hard time restraining myself.


I cut the bread open this morning and it was lovely. It sliced nicely, and didn't crumble when I slathered it with peanut butter and Organic Superfruit jam. His Auntie Bubba says that he just couldn't stop eating it at lunch time. I had a slice myself, and it is just as tasty as "regular" bread. The monkey says, "Two thumbs up!"

Easy Bake Oven

For his sixth birthday, the monkey is going to receive an Easy Bake Oven. I got it at the goodwill for less than $5 before his diagnosis, and was so excited as he and I have been talking about it for almost 2 years. I have been debating giving it to him due to his allergies since all the mixes contain wheat and sometimes one or more of his other three allergens as well. Then I thought, we can figure this out together, and maybe it would be a great blog series. Heck yeah! We are still going to do the series, but I found a website called Gluten Free Essentials that does some mixes that can be used for the Easy Bake Oven.

So what are your favorite treats that you either made in your Easy Bake Oven or would like to have made if you had one? Please share!

Sesame Roasted Eggplant with Lemon-Sesame Rice Pilaf

This month's SOS Kitchen Challenge ingredient is sesame seeds. I had all sorts of ideas running around in my head. Even voiced a few, but as I was thinking Sesame-Eggplant Hummus would be great the idea for this recipe popped into my head. I had been wanting to try roasting eggplant again ever since I utterly failed at the endeavor when I lived in Mississippi. In fact, I hadn't done anything with eggplant in the almost seven years since. This summer I picked up eggplant at our local farmer's market several times as an experiment. I did well. I got daring, and that is how my entry came about.


Sesame Roasted Eggplant with Lemon-Sesame Rice Pilaf

4 small finger sized eggplants
2 Teaspoons sesame seeds
olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and brush or dump olive oil to cover the pan. (Note: I tend to dump about 2 Tablespoons.) Sprinkle sesame seeds on pan. Place sliced eggplant on top. Place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Drain on a wire rack. (More information can be obtained here.)

1/2 Cup long grain rice
3 Teaspoons sesame seeds
1 Teaspoon minced dried onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Saute sesame seeds and dried onion in olive oil until slightly brown. Add rice, vegetable broth and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Liquid should be fully absorbed. Fluff rice with a fork. Serve warm with slice roasted eggplant.

Notes: The eggplant is a bit on the sour side, but still tasty. The rice is very good, but a little crunchy. I would probably add another 1/4 Cup of vegetable broth. I added a bit of parmesan cheese before microwaving the leftovers this morning (yes breakfast), and that actually I think completes the dish.

Turning failure into success

Before the apple muffin disaster, there was the apple bread failure. The monkey had run out of banana bread for his sandwiches, and I didn't want to make another batch. So I turned to the apples sitting in my fridge, and an apple bread recipe from allrecipes.com. Substitute flour, add xanthan gum, and we were good to go. It looked and felt like the banana bread recipe. I put it in the oven with no other thought than it smelled wonderful. I had no idea it would come out a crumbly mess. Grrrrr! What a waste of time and ingredients. Not to mention that I now had no bread to make the monkey pb & j on for his field trip the next day nor time to make something else. I put the bread in a bag in the fridge with the thought that I should use it somehow to not waste. Earlier this week I hit upon what I was going to do...Bread Pudding! This is just a variation on my tropical one that I had previously posted.




Apple-Apricot Bread Pudding

2 large loaves of apple bread, cubed
10 dried apricots, soaked overnight and diced
1/8 Cup slivered almonds
4 eggs
1 Cup vanilla coconut milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Teaspoon hazelnut extract

Combine eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and hazelnut extract in a large bowl. Add bread, apricots and almonds until all bread is wet. Place in a greased 9 x 11 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until the custard is set and bread is crisp on top. Pour brown sugar sauce over the top. Serve warm.

Brown Sugar Sauce (taken from Berry Bread Pudding with Brown Sugar Sauce)

1/2 Cup unsalted butter
1 Cup brown sugar
1/3 Cup water
1/4 Teaspoon apple pie spice

Melt butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, water and spice. Cook stirring constantly for about three minutes. Serve hot over bread pudding. (Note: I omitted the egg as I am not a big fan of it in my sweet sauces. Theoretically, one could use tapioca starch or arrowroot starch to thicken it a bit more.)

Crumbly Pre-Pudding Bread

SOS Kitchen Challenge-Apples!

This is not an official entry into the SOS Kitchen Challenge, because it is a fail. I had this great idea for apple crisp muffins based off the very glutenous and definitely not vegan Favorite Muffins recipe that I grew up on. Oh, I had grandiose ideas! I researched replacements for "regular" ingredients, and did everything right based on my research and recent experiences with gluten free baking. I worked on this recipe for three days trying to make it bake up at least edible. I added flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, more flour, more tapioca starch, and cooked at both lower and higher temperatures. A slightly less gooey mess arrived out of the oven each time, but never anything edible. Sigh. I got a few photos of my disasters, and am going to post the original recipe and my "please don't use this recipe" version.



Favorite Muffins

3 eggs
1 1/4 Cups milk
3/4 Cup oil
3 to 3 3/4 Cups flour
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon salt


Apple Crisp Muffins or Quick Bread (use at your own risk!)

2 1/2 Cups oat flour
2 1/2 Cups white rice flour
1 1/4 Cups tapioca starch
1 1/2 Teaspoons xanthan gum
3 Teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 Cup agave nectar
1 1/2 Cups grated apple
1 Cup apple juice
3/4 Cup canola oil
4 1/2 Teaspoons EnerG egg replacer mixed with 6 Tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix together the oat flour, white rice flour and tapioca starch. Set aside. Mix egg replacer and water together in a small bowl. In large mixing bowl, blend together the agave, grated apple, apple juice, canola oil and egg replacer. Add the flour mixture to the wet about a 1/2 Cup at a time. Add the xanthan gum, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Grease mini-muffin tins or standard muffin tins or bread pan with a non-stick spray. Bake for 60-75 minutes.

Note: I placed almonds on top as that is what I had handy for a bit of crunch. I would have liked to try a more standard crisp topping using oat flour, sucanat and a dairy/soy free "butter."

Fourth Attempt as a regular muffin


An attempt as quick bread

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I signed up to make a baked good and a crock of soup for the annual church snack bar at the Six Paca Farm open house weekend. Didn't think much about it as this is something I normally do. Then a week before my sister asked if I was making my chili for the event. I told her I didn't know, but it started me thinking again. Chili would be good, but I couldn't get excited about it. My other sister brought home a cookbook for kids, and was reading titles out of it. I decided to make the Black Bean Soup, and I will say that it was very tasty. However, this is about my baked good. At the time I decided on the soup I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make cookies that the monkey could eat. We have Enjoy Life chocolate chips in the freezer so chocolate chip became the flavor to make.

I may be one of the few people who aren't overly fond of chocolate chip cookies. Double chocolate cookies or just a good piece of chocolate, yes! Chocolate cake, brownies (unless crisp & filled with caramel) and chocolate cookies fall near the bottom of my sweets of choice list. The monkey is very fond of chocolate in any form it might take. He found these perfectly acceptable, and asked for a glass of chocolate almond milk to dunk them in.

Our modifications:

1/2 Cup butter
1/4 Cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup white rice flour (think that a mix of flours would be good-just not sure what)
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 Cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, xanthan gum and baking soda to make dough. Add chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls (or use a mini-cookie scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Give them plenty of room as they tend to spread a bit. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Pizza night

We try to have pizza night once a week in our house. Generally a Friday night treat. I have been cheating on this since the monkey was diagnosed. I have been letting him have the regular English muffin for his pizza. Yes, for the most part he gets allergen free sauce and vegan rice cheese, but he was still getting the wheat. I was just tired of trying to find something he liked and bombing. So, I just dealt with it by caving. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at a gluten free pizza crust. I followed the recipe to the letter (to much for our pan), added the special sauce (not enough for the crust), then added a layer of crushed pineapple and a new cheese (not enough for the size of the pizza). It went over like a lead balloon. Sigh. I had once again failed him. He didn't like the sauce, the cheese or the bread. He did like the canned pineapple. Then I had a piece. Yes, it needed more sauce and cheese, but overall it was extremely tasty. I added some extra sauce and cheese before microwaving, and it was exquisite. The monkey has just decided to be stubborn about everything, and has decided to not like anything that doesn't taste like it did before. So, take my word for it. This was a great crust!

Pizza Crust Recipe

I will say that I didn't use corn meal and we subbed coconut milk. Oh, and the cheese we used was by Daiya. It says it melts well, but as with the cheeses we have tried so far I don't really find that to be true. However, it has a great flavor to it, and that is really what is important.

First Day of School Treats!

Today was the first day of first grade for the monkey, and the first day of home schooling. I had been planning for awhile a special morning treat for him, and decided to do a special dinner treat as well. He really enjoyed both, and I personally can vouch for the cobbler and the frosting. Yum!

Baked Oatmeal Cobbler (from Wellspere) - Today's version follows!

1 can dark, pitted cherries (drained, rinsed, quartered)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Cup oatmeal
3 Tablespoons oat bran
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Cup canola oil (I considered the sunflower oil we have in house as well)
1 Cup so delicious vanilla coconut milk

Before Baking

After Baking

Served Up!

And for an after dinner treat I made Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Namaste Vanilla Toffee Frosting!

Banana Bread

My mom's banana bread is always devoured quickly. The monkey LOVES it so much he can eat an entire small loaf in a sitting. My first batch was very crumbly. So I decided to try xanthan gum in it to thicken it up a bit. This was prior to my discovery of the corn connection with xanthan gum. I am now thinking that maybe just a bit more flour or possibly tapioca starch would help make it a bit more firm. This bread makes a lovely choice for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Original Banana Bread

3 mashed, overripe bananas*
3/4 Cup butter **
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
3/4 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup buttermilk
1/2 Cup chopped pecans (Optional)

Modified Banana Bread

3 mashed, overripe bananas
3/4 Cup butter
1 1/2 Cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 Cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 Teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 Cup So Delicious vanilla coconut milk

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 2 large bread pans (or 4 small) with your cooking spray of choice. (We use Spectrum Coconut Spray.) Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Add bananas. Add flour, baking soda, xanthan gum mixing thoroughly. Stir in milk. Bake for approximately 45-60 minutes or until knife inserted into bread comes out clean.


*Note: The monkey and his cousin watch the bananas intently, and know when they are ready to make bread. They should be mostly brown bordering on black. If I can't use them right away, I peel them into a freezer bag and store them in groups of three. Peeling before freezing makes them much easier to handle.

**Note: We haven't found a good substitute for butter that doesn't have one of his allergens. So we are keeping with butter for now.

In contemplating corn

In some ways corn has been both the easiest and the hardest of the monkey's allergies to contend with. Corn and corn syrup appear to be in just about everything that stands still including gluten free products as it is not one of the top eight allergens. Easy enough to eliminate right? Hmmm.

Everything I have read for making a gluten free bread says to use xanthan gum. So, after that first attempt at bread came out flat and hard as a rock I bought some from my favorite local store. Tried using it in some of my quick breads. Seemed to work pretty well. Then I was poking around the internet looking for new ideas for the monkey, and found that xanthan gum is CORN. Or at least a close relative of corn.

"Xanthan gum is considered a polysaccharide in scientific circles, because it is a long chain of three different forms of sugar. What's important to know is that all three of these natural sugars are present in corn sugar, a derivative of the more familiar corn syrup. The Xanthomonas campestris bacteria literally eat a supply of this corn sugar under controlled conditions, and the digestion process converts the individual sugars into a single substance with properties similar to cornstarch. Xanthan gum is used in dairy products and salad dressings as a thickening agent and stabilizer. Xanthan gum prevents ice crystals from forming in ice creams, and also provides a 'fat feel' in low or no-fat dairy products." (WiseGeek)

"Produced primarily from cellulose from corn or cabbage, xanthan gum functions similarly to gelatin in recipes with regards to stabilizing suspensions, but it is completely vegan and great for cooking and baking for persons with food allergies and restrictions, especially for those who are omitting dairy, eggs and soy from their diet." (About.com)

To say I am annoyed would be putting it mildly. I know corn isn't a top eight allergen. I truly get that corn is great for going gluten free. Now, I am wishing the monkey's corn allergy to farthest depths of the galaxy, and wondering what else I need to be watching out for to make sure we aren't getting any corn in his diet.

Goldbaum's Ice Cream Cones

Since May, I have been steadily accumulating gluten free and/or allergen free recipes, blogs, and websites. I don't even remember how I found Adventures of a Gluten Free mom, but I am eternally grateful. She had a give away for Goldbaum's products, which clued me into the fact that there are ice cream cones that the monkey can have. Whoo hoo!! I found them locally at Kokopelli's Bounty, and we tried them out tonight. The monkey of course loved them. :) My nephew, also, asked for some chocolate ice cream cone, and enjoyed them as well without knowing that they were special for the monkey. Score on both counts!

Coconut Milk Yogurt

The monkey lives on yogurt. He could probably eat it three times a day if I would let him. So when we got the news that he was allergic to milk, I went into a bit of a panic. I made yogurt last spring/summer for him using regular milk and a regular yogurt as starter. It all went really well, and was simple. So, I figured that making coconut milk yogurt would be simple as well. HA! The first attempt had a slight curd in the middle, but it was mostly just liquid. Lesson one: So Delicious Coconut milk beverage is not a good base for home made yogurt. So, I did some searching, and found this article/recipe. The recipe itself is simple, and easy to use. I was not fully comfortable with the final consistency of the yogurt, and need to play with it a bit to firm it up more. Maybe more gelatin? Maybe some other firming agent? I don't know. We have been using it for smoothies. We use a food processor for blending the smoothie.

Banana-Blueberry: 1 jar yogurt, 1 banana, 1/4 Cup blueberries, ice (optional if you use frozen banana or blueberries)

Banana-Chocolate Chip: 1 jar yogurt, 1 frozen banana, small handful Enjoy Life chocolate chips, 1 Tablespoon peanut butter (we like the natural version from Skippy)

Banana-Chocolae Chip Smoothie!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This recipe comes from one of those shiny cookbooks that they place in the checkout line to tempt a person into all sorts of things, but most importantly to buy the pretty cookbook. This one I believe was by Pillsbury, and has been used quite a lot by my mom when baking for her bed & breakfast. The monkey has been enamored of them since he was about 18 months old. It made sense then that it would be the first muffin we tried after buying our brand new Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. As an aside this was my first foray into using xanthan gum in a recipe.

Original Recipe:

2 extra-ripe, medium bananas, peeled
2 eggs
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Cup chocolate chips
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

Allergen (at least ours) Free Recipe:

3 extra-ripe, medium bananas, peeled (we like it extra flavorful)
2 eggs
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup butter or Earth Balance Buttery Spread (Soy Free), melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 Cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 Cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

In medium bowl, beat bananas, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla until well blended. Add baking powder, xanthan gum, and cinnamon. Beat well. Add flour 1/4 Cup at a time, blending well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon into well greased muffin cups (we use Spectrum Coconut Oil Spray). Bake in 350 degree F oven for 20-30 minutes. Remove from pan.

Makes approx. 12 muffins



They may look a little funny, but they are very tasty. This morning they were served with fresh raspberries purchased at our local farmer's market last night.

Chicken Tenders

Chicken nuggets/tenders and fries have been a staple in our home since he really started in on the solid foods. We have been slow in transitioning the chicken as I was just loathe to try it at home, and deprive him of this favored meal. I tried a new recipe at home tonight that I really like. Will have to probably not use the mayo and lemon next time and just whip up an egg. It was tasty all by itself, and in my pasta salad. I highly recommend them!

Gluten Free Crispy Chicken Tenders

The meal was served with crinkle fries, grapes, and Simply Heinz.

Cashew Butter Cookies

I adore cashews! My very favorite of the nuts in mixed nuts after the hazelnuts. So I figured I would love cashew butter. It made sense since I have had macadamia butter, and think it is nectar. Maybe it was the brand, but I didn't like the cashew butter at all. So it sat in my fridge. And sat. Until I had the brilliant idea of using it to make peanut butter like cookies with it and the last of a can of cashews. And I figured while I was at it that I would make them allergen free for the monkey.

Starting recipe: Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies from Crisco (my very fav peanut butter cookie recipe)

Cashew Butter Cookies

3/4 Cup cashew butter
1/4 Cup chopped cashews
1/2 Cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (Soy free)
1 1/4 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 Tablespoons So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 Cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
3/4 Teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine cashew butter, buttery spread, cashews, milk, egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg and beat until blended. Add flour and baking soda to the creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until just blended. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet (I use my small cookie scoop). Flatten slightly in a crisscross fashion with the tines of a fork (if sticking or pulling dip fork into a glass of warm water). Bake for 8-12 minutes or until just set and beginning to brown. Cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen.

Honey Oat Bread

Well the first attempt fell a little flat. Literally. I am going to up the yeast next time and add some xanam gum. This recipe is based off a Honey Buttermilk Oatbread recipe that I had previously tweaked.

Honey Oat Bread

3 Cups gluten free all purpose flour (used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/3 Cup oat bran
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 T unsalted butter, softened
1/4 Cup honey
1 egg
1 1/4 Cup oat milk*
1 package active dry yeast

Combine flour, oats, oat bran, baking soda and yeast in a bowl. In a small microwaveable bowl, heat honey until melted and bubbly. Add egg, butter, milk and honey to the flour mixture. Knead well in the bowl with dough hook. Form into one large loaf, and place in greased pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes.

*I used vanilla oat milk. Rice milk or coconut milk would work as well.