Signs of Spring

My 3' x 5' strawberry bed. It was overflowing with
plants last year, but I have high hopes for their recovery.

    Our local weather has definitely been the topic of many conversations this last month. After the many inches of snow in January, we had an unseasonable warm spell last week. For about five days, we had gorgeous sun and mid - high 50s here. I saw many people working in their yards and it definitely put a bounce in everyone's step. I decided to go out and work on clearing out my strawberry patch. Last summer, the deer came and ate every green leaf out of the patch and I was sure I would have to start over from scratch this year. I started clearing, in one small patch and soon realized that buried under the weeds was a strawberry plant. I then changed tactics and used a little more care with what I was pulling out. Happily as I cleared more and more, I saw that my strawberries did survive that seemingly decimating blow last year. They are definitely a bit worse for the wear and not nearly as plentiful as they were at the beginning of spring last year, but giving them a nice year of tender - loving - care this year and keeping the deer away will hopefully be enough for them to fully recover.
 
    As the sun brought out lighter spirits, it also ignited my desire to get back into the kitchen. I recently have joined Pinterest and am delighted by the wide variety of items that appear on my page throughout the day. On Pinterest, I saw this recipe for Peanut Butter Bars and I made them one evening for dessert. I didn't really like how they weren't very 'solid' at room temperature and the amount of sugar also made me cringe a bit, so I decided to revamp them to be a bit more of a healthy dessert. I also made them more bite-sized by molding them in my mini-muffin tin, which also made the application of the chocolate a lot simpler. Without telling my kids they were a healthier version, I sent them to school in their lunchboxes for dessert. Rave reviews at the end of the day, they never would have guessed I had even changed the recipe. Here is the revised recipe, which (depending on your ingredients) is gluten-free and refined sugar free and packed with protein and vitamins. Below the recipe are suggestions for dairy-free or ingredient substitutes.


Hidden Health Peanut Butter Bites
[Printable Recipe]


1 c (179 g) creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp (55 g) agave nectar
1/2 c (42 g) dry milk powder
2 Tbsp (12 g) ground flax seed
1/4 c (23 g) quinoa flakes
1 c (31 g) rice crispies


4 - 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips, separated


In a medium sized bowl, mix the first five ingredients, until well combined. Add rice crispies and mix with your hands until the rice crispies are fully incorporated and you have a crumbly mix that will just hold together when squeezed in your hand. Form 24 small balls of dough, approximately 1/2 Tbsp each. Flatten each to the size of a silver dollar.

       

Muffin tin with chocolate in bottom of
each cup and 24 balls of mixture

Flattened Peanut Butter Balls,
approximately silver dollar sized.

    In a microwave safe bowl, melt 4 oz of chocolate chips in the microwave on 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until fully melted; about 1 1/2 minutes. In a silicone mini-muffin tin or using waxed cupcake liners (or waxed paper cut to fit), spread approximately 1/2 tsp of chocolate in the bottom of each cup. Press each flattened peanut butter ball into the chocolate. You can refrigerate at this point or you can melt the remaining 4 oz of chocolate chips and put a thin layer of chocolate on top each cup, creating a sandwich of chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Remove from muffin tin and wrap in waxed paper. Store in the refrigerator.


    These work really well in lunch boxes, but I would not put them in with a warm lunch or in a bag where the chocolate would melt. They are solid at room temperature, but I recommend storing in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them or pack them in your bag for a quick snack during the day.


Yield: 24 mini muffin bites


NOTE: To make dairy-free, try replacing the milk powder with equal amounts of dry milk powder, rice flour or garbanzo flour. If you can't find the quinoa flakes you can substitute gluten-free quick oats, though you may have to decrease the amount or add a bit of melted coconut oil to help bind the ingredients.

Finally a Birthday

    With our uncharacteristic weather last week, Little Bigfoot had to postpone celebrating her birthday with her friend. Every year, she is given the choice of how she would like to celebrate with her friends. She has come to the realization, that she really prefers to interact with her friends on a one-on-one basis. Less confusion and easier to keep up with. We had been planning since Christmas for her friend to sleep over the weekend of 14 January, but with the snow being forecast for that afternoon, we decided it was best to postpone the plans a week. Then we were under 18" of snow the next weekend, so it definitely wasn't happening then. Now after a week of typical Seattle winter weather, most of the snow is gone and we were able to go forward with the 'party'.

  I picked the girls up from school and they proceeded with the fun. This involved a lot of giggling, playing with Littlest Petshop toys (of which LBF has 3 large Rubbermaid totes full of) and general fun. I had picked up Papa Murphy's pizzas earlier in the day for dinner and crumb-coated the cake (which was a lemon pound cake with lemon pudding filling, neither gluten-free, dairy or egg free, as those aren't an issue for the kids). It had earlier been decided that DragonNight would do the artwork for the cake, as only she could properly depict LBF's vision of a wolf silhouetted by the moon. It was later decided that she would also do the actual decorating. This would be her second cake decorating adventure. I think she did an outstanding job. I really love how their idea of ringing the moon with the candles, really highlighted the whole cake and brought the image to life.

    We will later go to my mother-in-law's house for another postponed birthday celebration (both LBF and my MIL's). I guess we could say that this year is the year of the never-ending birthdays. Hopefully the rest of the birthdays this year will happen more smoothly, since they are all summer season ones. It is the year with three Friday the 13ths in it, so the luck should fall into place at some point.

Colder Weather

Oh my, I can't believe it's been so long since I last did a post. So much for me trying to get something up here every week. We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday and I perfected gluten-free cornbread and therefore enjoyed a wonderful cornbread dressing with our smoked turkey.

I haven't been knitting all that much new lately. I am working on a few Christmas presents and therefore can't share those quite yet and have finished the square of the month for December, but knitting and baking have not been high on my list of things to do lately. The weather has turned colder of course and so I'm slowly working up to Christmas celebrations and figuring out what the kids can give to classmates while they work diligently to finish up their assignments before they start winter break this Friday. 

I recently spotted a flea on our white cat, who I believe is actually allergic to flea bites, by the bald patches that are appearing on her as a result of her over grooming. I've bought a flea collar for her and even tried a hydrocortisone shampoo bath (which almost killed her, so to speak). I gave her the bath and within about 3 hours she was vomiting violently and was lethargic and uninterested in food for about 24 hours. I'm still not 100% sure what caused this reaction, but I'm not inclined to bathe her again very soon. Her favorite spot right now is, as you can see, curled up to the heater. We find it quite amusing to see how much of herself she manages to fit under the 1" clearance space underneath.

Last evening was the holiday party at my local knitting guild, Snohomish Knitters Guild. There was the gift exchange and a lot of food. With my new food guidelines, I've learned to either eat before I go or take whatever I want to eat all evening, so I don't cheat and eat things that will have consequences later. I found a wonderful recipe for Carrot Fritters that I was able to adapt to be gluten-free and egg & dairy free as well. They seemed to be the hit of the ball and everyone requested the recipe. I didn't take a picture of them, but if you go to the link above, you can get an idea of what they are supposed to look like. I quadrupled the original recipe and had about 40 2" fritters and I guess that was a good quantity, because there were only 2 left on the plate when I packed up to come home. Here is the recipe with my adjustments. I'll formalize it later with an actual picture, but it will get you started.


Carrot Fritters
Adapted from Food.com

7 large carrots (about 8 cups grated)
2 small yellow onions
8 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour
6 Tbsp Tapioca Starch
6 Tbsp Millet Flour
4 Tbsp ground Chia seed
8 Tbsp warm water
4 tsp dried dill weed
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder

Grate the carrot and onion together. Stir in brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and millet flour. Mix ground chia seed with water, mix well and pour into carrot mixture. Add remaining seasonings and mix well until all ingredients are well distributed. Shape into small 2" fritters and place on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Chill for minimum of 1 hour, maximum 12 hours. Heat a large fry pan with a shallow amount of oil on medium-high heat. Fry the fritters, in batches, in the oil about 5 - 8 minutes per side or until brown. Drain on paper towels and serve while hot.

Thanksgiving Preparations

Now that Halloween has passed us by and we are surviving on the candy of our children, it is time to start thinking ahead to the next holidays that are swiftly approaching. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has always been about those amazing flavors of traditional feasts past and in the past we have enjoyed many dinners at my parents' house and also at my in-laws' house. I'm finding though, that having such an eclectic variety of foods that are on my 'Don't Eat' list, that 95% of the foods that I have come to associate with this holiday are no longer safe for me to eat. Last year was an adventure of new flavors, but without gluten this year, Thanksgiving seems like it just won't be the same. Some adjusting will have to be done.

My mother-in-law is a terrific baker and loves to make the pies for Thanksgiving dessert. Last year, with pumpkin no longer acceptable for me, she took on the challenge and created a delicious butternut squash pie, that tasted just as a pumpkin pie should. This year, she has requested that I provide her with a gluten-free pie crust recipe, so that she can recreate this tasty delight for me. I'm not a pie baker and have only made 1-2 pie crusts from scratch my entire life. I know many people would say that I am missing out, but pie crust remains one of those elusive baking feats that I have yet to master. I know the techniques and mechanics, but have yet to create that flaky, dreamy crust that people beg for. However, that being said, I needed to create something and make sure the flavors worked together, before sending the recipe off to my mother-in-law, for her to perform her magic with, to result in a dreamy pie for my Thanksgiving dessert.

So when I realized this morning that I needed to use the left-over apples that I had sent to school with Little Bigfoot for her Halloween party, I decided that I would try again with pie crust and make some apple tarts. I changed my mind right at the end and instead used my jumbo muffin tins to create mini apple pies, but the crust tastes good and I know my mother-in-law will find the right magic to make it a delight. Here is the recipe I used:


Gluten-Free Pie Crust for Apple Pie
Adapted from GlutenFreeGirl.com
[Printable Recipe]

40 g Coconut Flour
40 g Amaranth Flour
60 g Millet Flour
79 g Oat Flour
79 g Tapioca Flour
65 g Teff Flour
96 g Arrowroot
51 g Sweet Rice Flour
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
¼ tsp Guar Gum
½ tsp kosher salt
5 Tbsp Frozen butter, grated
4 Tbsp Frozen shortening, grated
1 large egg
6 – 8 Tbsp cold water (or enough to bind dough)
   
Combine all dry ingredients thoroughly. Add in frozen butter & shortening and blend with fingers until you achieve a sandy consistency. Mix in egg and then gradually add water until you have a smooth dough. Divide in half and roll out  ¼” thick. Place first crust in an 8" pie pan. Repeat rolling instructions with other half. Make filling below. 

Filling:

6 c Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled & chopped

112 g brown sugar

38 g white sugar

2 Tbsp Arrowroot

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp allspice

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, making sure the coconut oil is well distributed throughout. Pour filling into pie crust, top with remaining crust. Crimp edges and cut several vent holes in the top. Bake 20 minutes or until the filling is bubbling well. Cool, cut and serve.

Yield: 1 Double Crust 8" Pie or 6 Mini Pies

The crust recipe took quite a bit more water than the recipe calls for. I'm not sure if this is due to the different flours (that I substituted) or some other unknown factor. Be sure to use enough water to achieve a smooth dough that does not crack when it is rolled out.

Early Morning Baking

Every weekday morning at my house starts at 5:00 am. My oldest daughter (DragonNight) needs to catch the bus for school at 6:30, my husband (the Redneck) leaves the house before 6:00 am for work and my youngest (Little Bigfoot) must catch the bus by 7:30. This means I'm up organizing and making sure that everyone has what they need, to help them be successful through the day. It is also a time where I often can get some knitting time in, as the kids are eating or between buses. I sometimes use this time to do fresh baking for their lunches. I find I often have more inclination and energy to do this first thing in the morning, than I have in the evenings, which are often full of homework or meetings.


My favorite thing to bake first thing in the morning are my Easy Peanut Butter cookies, but since only one of the girls like those, unless I'm planning on baking 2 different items in the morning, I often need other ideas. It is often difficult to bake one dessert item that both the girls will like; one is addicted to chocolate, but doesn't like anything crunchy, the other one doesn't mind crunchy but isn't that fond of chocolate and doesn't like peanut butter. Neither one is fond of oatmeal cookies and only tolerate sugar cookies in order to decorate them. *Yes, I have very particular children who know what they don't want, seldom do they know what they do want though.* This morning I decided that I was tired of cookies and so scanned my Hershey's Cocoa Cookbook ©1969 for a cake or brownie recipe and found this one (see below). It had a minimal amount of flour, so I decided to try it gluten-free so that I would be able to enjoy a bite or two before the girls eat them all. I'm going to try another batch later today using coconut oil and egg substitutes to see how they turn out to make it a true allergy friendly treat. I'll update you with those results later, for now, here is the recipe for Quick & Easy Brownie Bites.

Quick & Easy Brownie Bites

Adapted by Tandy Imhoff from Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook

[Printable Recipe]

½ c melted butter or vegetable oil

201 g (1 c) sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

20 g Tapioca Starch/Flour

48 g Brown Rice Flour

32 g (⅓ c) cocoa

¾ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven 350°. Grease 24 mini-muffin tins or a 9 x 9 baking pan. Blend butter/oil, sugar and vanilla well, in a medium mixing bowl. Add eggs and beat well with a spoon. In a separate bowl, combine flours, cocoa, baking powder & salt. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, mix until well blended. Gently spoon batter into muffing tin, filling ⅔ full. Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until they start to pull away from the edges or test done (toothpick method). Cool in pan, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or frost as desired.

Yield: 20 - 24 mini brownie bites/16 cut squares

*You can substitute ½ c of all purpose flour for the Tapioca Starch & Brown Rice Flour if you are not gluten sensitive.

My Baking Bible

Everyone I know has something that they can't do without in the kitchen. Some of us would be lost without their favorite cookbook (handed down through the generations), others couldn't do what they do without this gadget or that, but my number one tool in the kitchen now, is a piece of paper.
 
It isn't a very fancy piece of paper to look at, but I would not be able to bake anything without it. This piece of paper is my Baking Bible, aka Common Ingredient Weight Equivalencies. When I was first working on becoming gluten-free I needed to learn how to replace many of the common ingredients found in gluten-free baking with other ones, due to my extremely long list of foods that I should avoid. I somehow, during this time, found my way to Shauna James Ahern at glutenfreegirl.com. I loved the way she shared her 'secrets' to success and I found a lot of inspiration. She led me to exploring the chemistry of baking and so I borrowed as many books as I could find from the library about these topics. Many of these books had listings of ingredients, but none of them had all of the ones that I needed. So I started compiling my own lists.

I now have this list printed in a plastic sleeve, taped to the inside of my kitchen cabinet door, near where I do all of my mixing. Whenever I am trying a new recipe, I flip open the door and use the measurements to convert and replace the ingredients. The true bonus to this type of baking is that the results are 100% repeatable and if there is something just a bit off (moisture, oil, etc), it is easier to play with just those ingredients while ensuring that the rest of the recipe is consistent.
 
It comes in incredibly handy, when I am trying to convert a traditional recipe to a gluten free recipe, because I now know that I need to make 125 g of gluten-free ingredients to replace every 1 cup of traditional flour. This measurement leaves me a lot of room to play with mixing starches and alternative flours together to achieve the right mix of flavors and textures. If you click on the picture above you will be able to download a PDF of this page to help you become a master of gluten-free cooking.