Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread

I'd been wanting to make zucchini bread for quite a long while and we finally got around to it. I've been pretty pleased with how all my breads have been turning out, so yay! I used a tiny bit of xanthan gum, but I think I probably could have left it out since there was so much moisture in the recipe anyway.

If we ever get around to planning and planting our garden, I'd love to grow some zucchini and yellow squash. The weather this weekend is forecasted to be spectacular, so maybe we'll get around to weeding and digging out some of the old owners' stuff in the next few days. We need to do the digging quickly as some plants are popping up that are really encroaching on our blueberries.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

4c coarsely shredded zucchini
3c gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour)
2c sugar
1c canola oil
4 eggs (beaten)
1Tbsp + 1tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2tsp gf baking powder

Directions:

1. Generously grease two bread pans. (I use Spectrum palm shortening)
2. Beat all ingredients at low speed, scraping bowl constantly.
3. Pour in to pans and bake at 325 degrees for 50-60minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).
4. Cool ten minutes, then remove from pans.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

I've tinkered with this banana bread recipe a few times, but we finally got it to turn out perfect! This is Glenn's grandma's recipe.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 c Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free "butter"
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 c gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
3 mashed bananas (very ripe)
1/4c chopped nuts (if desired -- I always leave out)

Directions:

1. Cream "butter" and sugar.
2. Add eggs and beat well, then add flour, xanthan gum, and baking soda.
3. Crush bananas and mix in. Add nuts.
4. Place in greased pan (I use Spectrum palm shortening) and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Check with toothpick to see if it comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

These are an adaptation from the blueberry oat bars I made earlier. I've been wanting to try them with the pumpkin and finally got around to it. I think I could've eaten the whole pan in one sitting! They were delicious.

I use regular oats since I am eating gluten-free for Bubby, who is intolerant to wheat, but if you are gluten intolerant or have Celiac's you may want to seek out gluten-free oats (and baking soda, vanilla, etc etc) for yourself. Please double check that any ingredients are suitable for your diet.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

4 1/2c rolled oats
1 cup GF flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free baking flour)
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c DF "butter," softened (I used Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free buttery spread)
1/3 c honey
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1c pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
dash of cloves
1c chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips)


Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Press into a greased (I used Spectrum palm shortening) 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 min. Let cool. Cut into squares & wrap individually in wax paper. Refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving was an adventure in baking for sure! I was scared excited to see how everything turned out. I was very pleased with the pumpkin pie. I adapted this recipe. For the crust I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Biscuit and Baking Mix (the recipe for the crust is on the back of the bag). I used Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free butter when preparing the crust.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1-15oz can pumpkin
• 1- 14oz can light coconut milk

Directions:

1. Prepare crust according to directions.
2. Place 2 eggs in medium-sized bowl; beat lightly.
3. Beat in remaining ingredients.
4. Pour into shell and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about an hour longer, or until knife comes out clean when inserted into pie.
6. Cool completely.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Bread

Cranberry Orange Bread

As Autumn arrived and Thanksgiving was on my mind I vowed to start trying to adapt recipes early. We love Thanksgiving in this house! The baking, the family, the leftovers. The thought of our very first (and hopefully only) gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free Thanksgiving was a little overwhelming. Overwhelming with the possibility of being a really cool and exciting adventure I guess.

I haven't done as much adapting as I would like, but today Beanie and I made Cranberry Orange Bread. The original recipe is my mother-in-law's and it's one of our fall favorites. I am very pleased with how our gluten-free version came out.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Ingredients:

2c gluten-free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour)
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1c sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh grated orange peel
1/4c Spectrum palm shortening
3/4c orange juice
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2c fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift flour and other dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Put the palm shortening in the middle & cut it into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Blend orange juice and egg; add in to mixture.
5. Fold in cranberries.
6. Turn into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50min or until golden brown and a toothpick is dry when inserted into loaf. Cool on it's side on a rack.

Enjoy!

Quinoa for Breakfast

Breakfast Quinoa

One of our favorite new foods in quinoa. I had never had it before going on the elimination diet, but now we have it quite often. I was really intrigued when my friend said she had quinoa for breakfast. I gave it a whirl and it is delicious! It's a nice change from oatmeal.

Breakfast Quinoa 

1/2c red quinoa
1c water
rice milk (or other milk)
honey
brown sugar
cinnamon
slivered almonds
blueberries (or other berries)

Cook quinoa according to directions on box. Drizzle with honey. Add a pinch (or more) of brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir in rice milk, slivered almonds and blueberries.

I've tried it with regular quinoa too, but I really prefer it with the red quinoa -- much better! I don't really measure anything out, I just stir it all in until it looks (and tastes) good.

Oatmeal Berry Cookies

Oatmeal Berry Cookies

Last week I made my first batch of gluten-free cookies. I was very pleased with how they turned out! At first I thought they were a little too crumbly, but I quickly realized that was only because I was eating them before they cooled. They were delicious. I think this is originally the recipe from the Quaker Oats box, but I've had it in my cookbook for so long I'm not 100% positive.

Oatmeal Berry Cookies

1c Earth Balance dairy-free, soy-free butter
1c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
3/8tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2tsp flaxseed meal
1/2tsp salt
3c oats **
1c Trader Joe's golden berry blend (dried golden raisins, cherries, cranberries and blueberries)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat "butter" and sugars until creamy.

3. Add eggs & vanilla; beat well.

4. Add combined flour, xantham gum, baking soda, cinnamon, flaxseed meal, and salt; mix well.

5. Stir in oats and berries; mix well.

6. Drop by rounded Tbsp (or larger if you like big cookies like me!) on ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake 10-12min (13-14min for larger cookies) or until golden brown.

8. Cool on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Yield: 18 large (like six per cookie sheet) cookies.

** Since I am not gluten-intolerant myself, I just use regular oats. If you are dealing with Celiac's or other gluten intolerance, you may want to seek out gluten-free oats due to the risk of cross contamination. For more information on oats, click here.

Ann's Almost Famous Pumpkin Bread

Ann's Almost Famous Pumpkin Bread

My friend Ann gave me a pumpkin bread recipe a few years back. If there's one thing I love about Fall, it's pumpkin bread. And cookies, scones, pancakes, lattes, I could go on and on. Apparently I have a lot of recipe adapting to do this Fall.

The bread poofed up quite a bit while it was baking and then sunk down after I took it out of the oven. Do any gluten-free bakers know why? Too much xanthan gum? Not enough? It didn't sink too bad, the texture was good (if anything maybe a bit too moist??) and it definitely didn't affect the taste. The bread was delicious. I'll definitely make it again, although I may play around with the recipe a bit more.

Ann's Almost Famous Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/2c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
3 1/2tsp xanthan gum (**It was recommended to me by Amy at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free & Devan at Accustomed Chaos to try less xanthan gum, like 1 1/2-2tsp. I will try it that way next time. Thanks ladies.)
2tsp baking soda
1 1/2tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (I used ginger this time because, ergh, we were out of cinnamon!!)
2 tsp nutmeg
3c sugar
1c oil
4 eggs
2/3c water
2c mashed pumpkin or one small (15oz) can pumpkin
1c chocolate chips (optional -- I use the Enjoy Life brand; they're free of the top 8 allergens.)

***edited 10/28/11: I made this the other day & totally eliminated the xanthan gum. They were perfect!! I also added 2Tbsp of ground flaxseed. I think my dozen muffins and one loaf were gone in close to 24hours. I'll be making more tomorrow.***

Directions:

Sift together dry ingredients. Make a well in center. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Divide into two greased loaf pans (I use Spectrum palm shortening) and bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Serve warm with a dab of Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free butter and a hot cup of coffee or apple cider and enjoy.

Red Quinoa with Papaya & Mango Salsa and Arugala

Before going on this elimination diet I had never had quinoa. I didn't even really know how to pronounce it (think keen-wa). When I was only dairy-free a friend who was dairy- and soy-free told me she tried to look at it as an opportunity to explore new foods rather than a time of "Oh, I can't have this (and this and this and this)." I've tried to keep that mindset and we have tried a lot of new foods. Quinoa is one of my new favorites. And after a friend told me that she had it for breakfast I realized it's even more versatile than I thought!

I can't take credit for thinking up the idea for this quinoa salad. We were at Trader Joe's and they were sampling this recipe and it was so delicious we decided we would have to make it at home. And, hell must've froze over because Glenn said he wanted salmon to go with it. Salmon?!??! For the record, I love salmon but Glenn doesn't care for fish much at all and salmon has always been at the top of his I-dislike-fish list. So, when he said we should pair salmon with the quinoa salad I thought he was joking. Alas, he wasn't. And he actually liked it. (Yay!) Beanie ate a lot of salmon too. She kept asking for more and eventually ate a fair amount of the quinoa salad too.

Red Quinoa with Papaya & Mango Salsa and Arugala

• Red quinoa, prepared as per directions on box and chilled
• Fire roasted papaya & mango salsa (you could make your own with papaya, mango, chiles, cilantro, onions and lime but we just bought the prepared one at Trader Joe's. It's super yummy.)
• Arugala, chopped

To be honest, I didn't really measure out the ingredients. I put the quinoa in a bowl and stirred in the salsa & arugala until there was enough for my liking.

This is one of my new favorite cool salads & I'm so glad there are leftovers!

Italian Sausage Soup

Yes, believe it or not, that is a gluten-free baguette.

Tonight I was adventurous and we tried a new recipe. It was rainy & cool this morning and I felt like trying out this soup recipe a friend sent me. This is an adaptation from Cooking Light's Italian Sausage Soup.

8oz Italian chicken sausage
2c fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, & oregano (no salt added)
1 1/4c uncooked quinoa shell pasta
2c baby spinach leaves
2 Tbsp chopped basil
2 Tbsp Parmesan or Romano cheese (for the dairy eaters in the house)

Chop sausage into bite size pieces and heat in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add broth, tomatoes (undrained), and pasta to pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for ten minutes or until pasta is cooked. Remove from heat; stir in spinach until wilted. Sprinkle each serving with basil and cheese (if not dairy free).

The soup was delicious!! Beanie ate every last bite and didn't even fish out certain things she didn't want. I had seen these tasty looking gluten-free baguettes from Wheatless in Seattle and I knew it would be the perfect complement to the soup. It was!

This dinner is definitely going into our regular rotation. Next time I'll likely double the recipe. It was so easy to make & will make a perfect fall or winter dinner.

Greek Quinoa

Tonight for dinner we BBQ'd chicken and I made a quinoa salad. I adapted this couscous recipe from Cooking Light. It's been one of our favorites for a long time. I make it chilled; I tried it warm (as the recipe calls for the first time) and didn't especially care for it. But, as a chilled salad it is amazing. We always leave out the red onions and I just chop the ingredients (cucumber, Kalamata olives & grape tomatoes) and stir them in until it looks like enough. Always more than the recipe calls for. I guess I like more "stuff" in my salad. Except for the chickpeas; in my opinion one can is more than enough for a double recipe. I left the feta out of mine, but Glenn & Beanie had some in theirs. Actually, the feta is about all Beanie ate of the quinoa but we let it slide because of her recent tummy issues (more on that later).

It's such an easy recipe. I don't know why I don't make it more often. You just cook (and chill if you like) the quinoa. Stir in the olives, cucumber, tomatoes & chickpeas (and feta if desired). Toss with a dressing of water, lemon juice, salt & pepper and Waalaa! a delicious dinner is served.

Glenn actually said he prefers it with the quinoa. I did too. I'm glad we have a lot of leftovers!!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Blueberry Oat Bars

Actually, they're vegan too.

I adapted this from a recipe a friend gave me. They are delicious.


GF DF Blueberry Oat Bars

4 1/2 c rolled oats
1 cup GF flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp vanilla extract (I used a bit more probably bc I went to add "a little" splash and dumped a bunch in lol)
2/3 c DF "butter," softened (I used Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free buttery spread)
1/3 c honey
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c applesauce
2 tsp cinnamon
2 c blueberries (you could use DF chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries, etc etc)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Press into a greased (I used Spectrum palm shortening) 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 min. Let cool. Cut into squares & wrap individually in wax paper. Refrigerate.

They really held up well in the fridge. All three of us really liked them and they gave me quite a milk supply boost. Yay for another galactagogue if I need one!!

Well, Hello 31.

Years. Not flavors.

Although back in high school I really loved me a Cappuccino Blast with Gold Medal Ribbon.

Anyhoo, here's my birthday cake...

It was pretty darn good! Beat my expectations for a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free cake. I picked up some of the Bob's Red Mill gluten free Vanilla Cake Mix the last time we were at Metro Market. I looked for some dairy-free frosting, but no luck so I figured I'd look online for a recipe. Strangely enough, Cindy over at Gluten Free in Montana posted a recipe for Dairy Free Creamy White Frosting that very same day! Perfect. I ended up using about 5Tbsp of rice milk. The icing was a bit sweet for me so if I make it again I'd probably cut the sugar a bit. I'm not a huge icing fan anyway, so no surprise there. The cake was good too. Moist and fluffy like a "normal" cake. The strawberries were an afterthought -- Glenn picked them up because they were on sale & thought they'd be good on the cake. I agreed and Beanie had a great time arranging them with me.

******

And now about my birthday. It was great. Bubby helped me celebrate by being up to nurse every hour the night before ;-)  And Beanie woke up early, but Glenn got up with her. Glenn made breakfast & then we went on a hike. I had thought Beanie would like to walk some or all of the way, but she rode in the Kelty backpack. I carried Bubby in the Ergo. I can tell I'm out of shape because hiking back up I was hurting!! Beanie had a great time finding (and eating of course) huckleberries & Bubby enjoyed the scenery when he wasn't napping. It was our first real hike as a family of four. Glenn BBQ'd for dinner and then we did presents & cake. I got a gift card to go have some me time & go clothes shopping!! Woohoo. I keep holding out on buying anything because I have so many pants from my post-partum time with Beanie that almost fit. I really could use a few new things though and I can always go shopping again when I am at my desired weight again.

Here's a few pics from our hike. It wasn't a great time of day for photography with the sun out & very bright (and I was taking pics with my cell phone camera), but you get the idea.

The upper falls.

This picture does not do the scenery justice at all. It was gorgeous & I really wish Glenn had had his camera on him.

  The lower falls.

Anyway, happy birthday to me!

Adventures in Allergen-free baking

Okay, this post has been long promised and I am just now getting around to uploading our pics and having the time to write it out. I posted the recipe and etc earlier, but for the sake of having everything in one post (and because the recipe from Spark People was not exactly the same as my cookbook) I'm going to post again. The other post did have caloric and nutritional info for the original recipe, so if you want that click here. This recipe was adapted from Deceptively Delicious.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping:

2/3c old-fashioned oats (I used quick oats because, doy!, we didn't have any old-fashioned ones)
1/4c firmly packed light brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2Tbsp Earth Balance dairy free soy-free buttery spread

Batter:

1 1/2c rice flour
1c old fashioned oats (quick oats here again)
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp cinnamon
1c unsweetened applesauce
1/2c rice milk
1/4c canola oil
1 banana

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with baking cups.

To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the buttery spread.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large ziploc bag or mixing bowl and stir or shake to mix. In a 2nd bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, sugar, oil, and banana with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring just until moistened. Do not overmix -- batter is supposed to be lumpy. (I'll be completely honest here -- this time making these I totally spaced on doing the batter separately and just threw everything in one big bowl and stirred.)

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 minutes. Turn the muffins on to a wire rack and serve warm or cool.

 My little helper.

They turned out great. I really liked them but was a bit worried when Glenn said, "I guess if you were on an elimination diet they'd taste pretty good." He then said he was joking and they were good. Hmmm. I took them to Beanie's birthday playdate and everyone seemed to like them and said how good they were, so unless everyone was lying they really were a hit! I made three dozen and only brought a handful home.

And, bonus, they really boosted my milk supply although I really didn't need that at the time. Something to remember for later I guess.

Oh, and another bonus, the streusel topping is good enough to eat right out of the bowl with a spoon :)

Recipe Substitutions: Deceptively Delicious Applesauce Muffins

We are hosting a park playdate on Friday for Beanie's birthday. I had planned to make some muffins or cupcakes for the kiddos. I lean towards muffins because I'm not really about loading a bunch of preschoolers up on sugar and then sending them home with their parents ;)

I'd like to make something I can have too. Beanie likes baking with me, but we haven't done much of it lately. I found one of our favorite recipes that would be relatively simple to substitute. I think the following is what we're going to make. I feel like maybe we should make a test batch beforehand just in case the substitutions make them gross. I hope not!

I'll be sure and let you know how they turn out. 

Deceptively Delicious Cookbook - Applesauce Muffins

Nutritional Info

• Fat: 1.9g
• Carbohydrates: 37.5g
• Calories: 179.4
• Protein: 3.9g

Ingredients

* Nonstick cooking spray (will use a silicone baking pan -- I usually still spray, but ours has soy lechitin in it so I will likely use baking cups this time)

Topping
* 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
* 1/4 cup firmly packed light/dark brown sugar
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 2 tbsp margarine spread, melted (will substitute Earth Balance soy & dairy free natural buttery spread)

Batter
* 1.5 cups all-purpose flour (will sub Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour or rice flour)
* 1 cup old-fashioned oats
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1.5 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 1/2 cup skim milk (will sub rice milk)
* 1/2 cup butternut squash puree
* 1/2 cup firmly packed light/dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup egg substitute (will sub one banana)

Directions

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
* To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine.
* To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or zipper-lock bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix - the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
* Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and serve warm or cold.

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe & Nutritional Info from Spark People.