Jen’s St. Patrick’s Day GFCF Irish Soda Bread

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Plain Kefir

Optional Ingredients:
3/4 cup currants or raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9 inch round cake pan.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl .

Add the wet ingredients to the dry bowl and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the currants, if using them.  Pour into the greased pan.

Bake for 60 – 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Wrap bread in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let stand overnight for the best flavor*

* This tip was from the allrecipes.com site and is very useful.

Bring a pie to Thanksgiving that everyone will want to eat, make side dishes and soups, and the most incredible baked goods and desserts using basic ingredients.  You don’t need specific flour blends or fancy ingredients.

No one will know that your Thanksgiving foods are gluten and dairy free and you can finally celebrate the holiday with foods that taste just like the “real thing”!

For less than the cost of a special holiday magazine from the grocery store, you can get all of your dietary needs met in this convenient cookbook.  Just click and download the .pdf. You can save it, print it or view it on your e-book reader.

It was so easy! Thanks to Amy’s very detailed email after Shirley assured me I was capable of doing this, I think I will Adopt a Blogger again in the future. The only bad news is that my picture of my very delicious bread didn’t turn out so well. But, other than that, it was lots of fun and I tried a great new recipe I wouldn’t have made otherwise.  Shirley’s August Adopt A Blogger post can be found here.  It turns out you don’t even need to be a blogger to Adopt A Blogger!  You can join in on the fun too – and Shirley is so nice, I bet she’ll help you figure it out if you are like me and lost at this sort of thing!

My Adopt A Blogger entry is for Kelly Brozyna’s Banana Fruit Bread. If you haven’t seen Kelly’s site, The Spunky Coconut, you should check it out.  I learned about all kinds of coconut based products that I have never heard of before (such as coconut sugar).  Then when I was at Whole Foods I found even more coconut based products that I had not ever noticed – like the rich and beautiful coconut nectar (it seems to work like agave nectar as a sugar substitute).

When I was growing up my mother had three rules of the kitchen.  1.  Make sure you have all the ingredients you will need for your recipe.  2.  Start with a clean kitchen.  3.  End with a clean kitchen.  I broke rule #1 when making my banana fruit bread.  I didn’t have some of the ingredients and I couldn’t find the coconut sugar in the store.

I followed Kelly’s recipe for Banana Fruit Bread but made these modifications.  Instead of 2 chopped uncooked apples I used one diced peach.  I used lemon olive oil instead of the coconut oil.  I added 3/4 cups dried cherries.  I replaced the coconut sugar with coconut nectar.

On a side note:  I purchased the vanilla creme liquid stevia that the recipe called for and made the mistake of tasting a drop on my finger.  I have never used liquid stevia before and was shocked at the terrible taste!  What was amazing was that it worked well in the recipe and didn’t have the bitter aftertaste that my sample did.  I’ll have to research stevia more and see why we used it in the recipe and why the bitterness doesn’t transfer to the recipe.

Overall, my Banana Fruit Bread Adopt a Blogger attempt went well.  The final product was absolutely delicious and a great way to use up those leftover bananas!  The recipe seems to be fairly forgiving since I was able to replace many of the ingredients with alternative ones.   Thanks for a great recipe Kelly!  And thanks to Shirley and Amy for encouraging me to Adopt a Blogger!

I make my flatbread wraps using Breads from Anna Yeast-Free Bread Mix.  I also have a flatbread maker which makes the whole process so easy.  It takes me less than three minutes to make the batter and then I make the flatbread while I am preparing the rest of our dinner.  You can find flatbread makers here.

I follow the directions on the Breads from Anna website for the flatbread.

Add these wet ingredients to the dry flour blend:

• 3 whole eggs
• 1 3/4 cups of water, milk or non-dairy drink
• 1/3 cup oil (canola, olive, coconut, butter or any other oil you like using)

Directions:

1. Blend well until all lumps are smooth.
2. Spoon out 3-4 tablespoons of dough and place onto center of Flatbread maker.
3. Close lid and let sit about 2 minutes.
4. Place handle down over lid and press down adding pressure to flatten out bread.
5. Repeat this 2-3 times in quick succession while adding pressure; you need to do this downward pressure to allow steam to escape.

One package of mix will make approximately 20 pieces of flatbread/wraps.
Dough can be stored in refrigerator for 24 hours and used incrementally.

©2009 Breads From Anna. All rights reserved.

This week my tae kwon do teacher gave me a special gift.  I was given a korean squash from her garden.  I was told that it was a little past it’s prime and that the outer “skin” might be a little tough since it hung on the vine for too long.  The squash was a beautiful round shape and I plan on using the rest of it for dinner tonight.  I didn’t find the skin to be tough and I got to use my favorite new gadget – The Julienne Peeler from Hiroko’s Kitchen.  I bought mine at Flavour Cooking School in Forest Park, IL where I teach classes but you can purchase them online too from Hiroko’s Kitchen.  The price at Flavour was $15.95 and the price online was $19.95 (includes S&H).

As you know, zucchini is one of those vegetables that seems to arrive in an abundant state.  There is always too much for just one dish.  I tried to make a batch of zucchini muffins this morning from scratch without looking at a recipe.  I assumed I had the basic ingredients and ended up with these poppers instead.  They are slightly too moist and light to be considered a muffin.  The first batch needed a little more flavor and I ended up adding more cinnamon and the dried cherries.  I also realized I used a flour blend (Domata Flour) that already had xanthan gum and then added more xanthan gum.  This might be some of the issue with why the muffins don’t have the texture of “muffins.”  I also added one too many eggs.  But….I really like how they turned out and I’d make them again just the same way.  I guess this is how new ideas are born every day – a screw up from trying to create something traditional.

Dry Ingredients:
1 ½ cups gluten free flour blend
½ cup maple sugar crystals
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt

Other Ingredients:
2.5 ounce jar pureed prune baby food
1/3 cup oil
¼ cup orange juice
3 eggs1 cup shredded zucchini
½ cup dried cherries or cranberries, optional

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray a mini-muffin tin with spray oil.  In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Using a small scoop or tablespoon, fill each muffin tin to the top.  Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

To make perfect gfcf croutons you just need four ingredients.

1 bag Udi’s Bagels (defrosted at room temperature)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375.  Take the bagels out of the bag.

Using a serrated knife, make sure each bagel is cut all through (follow the cut on the bagel that is already made).  Using the same knife, cut 1/2″ cubes of bagel making the perfect bite sized croutons.  Place croutons in a large bowl.

Peel garlic.  Either mince garlic or use a garlic press to mince garlic (I like to use the garlic press – it is so easy).  In a small saute pan add the garlic, salt/pepper and oil.  Place over medium heat and stir constantly once the oil start to bubble.  Heat for one minute stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.
Pour hot oil over croutons in bowl and stir to coat well.  You might want to use a spoon to stir so you don’t burn your hands on the hot oil.

Pour croutons onto a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for ten minutes, stirring once.   When croutons are slightly browned, remove from oven.  Allow to cool.  Once cooled you can store these in the freezer for months or use fresh this week.

Mulberries are a mild berry.  The tree would be considered a nuisance if it was anywhere near a car or house.  The berries seem to drop in prolific amounts and stain everything they touch.  I can also envision the birds having a grand old time with these berries and that would be another mess to deal with.  But lucky me…..my newly found mulberry tree is planted in my neighbors yard and hanging over my fence in perfect reach of the delicious berries!

According to www.encyclopedia.com, “The mulberry family is most important as the basis of the silkworm industry; silkworms feed on the leaves of the mulberries (genus Morus ) and sometimes of the Osage orange ( Maclura pomifera ). The white mulberry ( M. alba ) has been cultivated in China since very early times. In the Middle Ages it began to replace the black mulberry ( M. nigra ), which had been grown by the Greeks and Romans and, from the 9th cent., by the people of N Europe for silkworm culture. In Greek legend the berries of the white mulberry turned red when its roots were bathed by the blood of the lovers Pyramis and Thisbe, who killed themselves. Both the white and the red mulberry ( M. rubra, native to North America) have been cultivated in America since colonial times, but the lack of cheap hand labor prevented the establishment of a silkworm industry. Mulberry fruits are tender and juicy and resemble blackberries. In the South the fruit of M. rubra is made into wine and is considered a valuable agricultural and wildlife feed.”

Here is an easy recipe using Pamela’s Products Baking and Pancake Mix.  You could use any berries as this recipe is modified from one on the Pamela’s website that uses blackberries.

Mulberry Almond Muffins

1-1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
2 eggs
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk (cow, rice, soy, hemp, almond, coconut, etc…)
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup huckleberries (plus a few for the muffin tops)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large bowl, combine the baking mix with the almonds.  Add remaining ingredients, except berries, and mix until no lumps are left.  Fold in the berries.

Spray muffin tins or line with paper liners.  Fill 3/4 full.   Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with one or two berries and some granulated sugar and bake for 22-25 minutes.  Remove from oven when inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Yield: ~ Two 8 inch round pans, 1 large loaf

Ingredients
2.5 cups Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 cups Evaporated Cane Juice
2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher granulated salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 smidgen of ground clove

2-3 mashed very ripe bananas
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup oil (I used walnut oil)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups water (or less)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
Note: Sifting the flours and other dry ingredients together will evenly distribute ingredients and add air and lightness to mixture.
2. Mix wet ingredients in another vessel.
3. Add wet to dry; stir till combined.
4. Pour bake batter into your cake pan and bake 45 minutes, check after 30 minutes. Remove when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

NOTE: Adding raisins to this bread is a nice touch. For plump juicy raisins, place raisins in a dish with enough water to completely submerge and allow to absorb for a few hours. Alternatively, you can gently simmer raisins in water to expedite absorption. Once plump, drain and cool before adding to your mixture.