Gluten-Free Banana Pancakes

Andrew's comment was "Me Likey" so I guess these are okay :) Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes.

Banana Pancakes

1 c. easy gluten-free flour blend

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 large banana

1 c. milk (may need up to 1/2 c more)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Puree banana in food processor; add eggs, milk and vanilla.  Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until there are no more dry spots.  Use extra milk to thin if necessary.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Spray oil to lightly coat and pour 1/4 cup of pancake batter. When the pancake starts to bubble and the edges begin to set, flip the pancakes. Repeat with the remainder of the batter.

See more yummies at Slightly Indulgent Tuesday or Pennywise Platter Thursday!

Easy Gluten-free Flour Blend

Another gluten-free flour blend.  This one uses mostly readily available flours.  So far it has worked well in a chocolate cake and pancakes.

6 c. white rice flour 

3 c. tapioca flour

1.5 c. cornstarch 

1 T salt 

2 T xanthan gum

Chocolate Honey Beet Cake (GF)

This is the year to conquer some of those harder to eat vegetables in our community supported agriculture (CSA) box.  And, by harder to eat, I mean those that I can't stand like swiss chard (will cover in another post) and beets.  The fennel still hasn't been conquered.  Now, it's probably not too kosher to cover up taste with chocolate but hey, it worked!  This cake is moist and yummy and I can't taste the beets.  Better than putting them in the compost.  Since we have a bit of honey around here I adapted it to use that in place of sugar (original recipe).  Andrew didn't think it was sweet enough.  I liked it.  A compromise would be frosting or a glaze instead of just the powered sugar.  

Chocolate Honey Beet Cake

3/4 c. butter, divided (or use melted coconut oil if you want it dairy-free)

1 c. honey (spray the measuring cup with a little non-stick, makes it a lot easier to pour out) (or 1 1/2 c brown sugar + 2 T water)

3 eggs

3 oz. baking chocolate (or 1/2 cocoa + 3 T butter/coconut oil)

5 medium beets (2 c. pureed)

1 T vanilla

2 c. gluten-free flour blend (mine was 3 c. white rice flour, 1.5 c. tapioca flour, 3/4 c. cornstarch, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 T xanthan gum)

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

powdered sugar for dusting

To make beet puree, trim stems and roots off beets and quarter them.  Place in heavy sauce pan filled with water.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 50 mins or until the beets are tender.  Drain off remaining liquid and rinse beets in cold water as they’ll be too hot to handle otherwise.  Slide skins off and place beets in blender.  Process until a smooth puree forms.  Let cool slightly before using in cake.  

In a mixing bowl, mix 1/2 c. butter and honey (this is where you use 1/2 c coconut oil plus the brown sugar and water if you don't use the butter and/or don't have the honey). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Melt chocolate with remaining butter in the microwave on high in 20 second intervals, stirring each time until smooth. (Or use the melted butter/coconut oil and cocoa powder here).  Cool slightly. Blend chocolate mixture, beets and vanilla into the creamed mixture.  

Combine flour, baking soda , salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; add to the above mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes  or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Sorry Girls!

With Dylan arriving at the end of August, our minds were elsewhere when we should have been removing the super (very top box) from our hive.  And, then it's just so darn easy to get sucked into baby stuff and enjoying two months off when you haven't taken hardly any vacation time all year.  So today while my mother-in-law was here with Dylan, Andrew and I took the super off.  It was kind of damned if you do or damned if you don't type of situations.  I was worried about the Girls being able to keep the hive warm enough this winter if we left the box on (about 93 degrees).  But, we've waited so long that opening the box could be a problem for them since it's about 51 degrees and it opens them up to attack.  I've seen quite a few yellow-jackets around the hive lately.  Oh well.  Time will tell.  We won't know until next spring but hopefully by then we'll have some more of this baby stuff figured out ;)

Chocolate Honey Peanut Butter Cups

Megan Telpner has a great perspective on life and posts quite interesting recipes at her blog Making Love in the Kitchen.  A couple of days ago she posted a recipe for "Chocolate Instead of Love Cups" or basically Hazelnut Butter Cups.  I have a similar type of recipe linked here for Yummy Mounds so I figured I'd like these.  However, I was too lazy to make hazelnut butter so I used peanut butter and I like stuff a little sweeter so I added more honey to the chocolate part.  Andrew thought they were a hit so I thought I'd share them here.  Be sure and check Megan's website out too!

Chocolate Honey Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate

1/3 c cocoa powder

1/3 c melted coconut oil

6 T honey (start at 4 and see what you think; with everything put together I wish I had used 4 T...the peanut butter is sweet as well)

Filling

1/4 c peanut butter

2 T unsweetened coconut

1 T honey

In a small bowl mix the filling together.  In a separate bowl, pour melted coconut, cocoa and honey.  Mix until well combined.  Heat more if it isn't mixing together well.

Using small muffins silicone forms (or what any muffin or ice cube trays with pop-out bottoms; the silicone peels back easy), spoon 1 tsp of chocolate (enough to cover the bottom).  Place in freezer 5-10 minutes or until solid. 

Remove from freezer.  Spoon 1/2 tsp (or half of what you put in as chocolate) into each form.  Using fingers slightly moistened in cold water, spread the filling out evenly.  Spoon another 1 tsp of chocolate over the top and put into freezer again for 5-10 minutes.  Enjoy!

NOTE: I used mini silicone muffin forms I purchased at WorldMarket for $2.99.  They don't list them on their website but they look a lot like these on Amazon -just for cheaper! I had 12 but 16 would have been perfect.  Not sure how many you would get of the normal sized muffin forms.

Check out more yummy ideas at Pennywise Platter Thursday!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

You must try this...immediately!  I adapted Straight From the Farm's Pumpkin Bread to be gluten-free.  Then, we took her suggestion and made French toast out of it yesterday.  Andrew didn't think it would be that great but even he thought it was pretty good.  I thought it was fantastic...and I could usually care less about French toast.  I made a few changes to this recipe because I was lazy ;)  Worked out well.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

8.75 oz gluten-free flour blend (approx. 1 3/4 c.)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 T cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

1/3 c olive oil

2/3 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 c pumpkin puree

1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease one large or two small loaf pans.  Set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder, xanathan gum, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Mix together olive oil and sugar.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add a third of the dry ingredient mix, then a third of the pumpkin.  Continue to alternate these two until all is just combined in the batter. 

Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake for an hour or until golden brown and springy to the touch.




For more yummies...check out Slightly Indulgent Tuesday over at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free or Wheatless Wednesday at Naturally Knocked Up!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This recipe was so easy.  I hate making enchiladas with corn tortillas...even if I dip the tortillas in the sauce they seem to tear.  So, I cheat and just layer them!  I based this recipe on one I found at $5 Dinners.  Not sure why I've never thought of making my own enchilada sauce.  It was definitely an "Oh duh" moment.


Chicken Enchilada Casserole


2 T butter
1 poblano chile, finely chopped
1 anaheim chile, finely chopped
1 clove garlic

2-3 pre-cooked chicken breasts - I used leftover fried chicken breasts

1/2 c quinoa cooked in 1 c. water

6 oz. tomato paste

18 oz water (three cans of water from the empty tomato paste can)

1 T chili powder

1 tsp each of cumin, garlic powder, salt and chipotle powder

1-2 c. corn (I used frozen, canned or fresh would be fine too)

18 small tortillas

1-2 c shredded cheddar (would be totally fine without it though)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring water to a boil and add quinoa.  Turn heat down and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter and saute garlic and peppers over medium heat in large pan. In separate pan, mix tomato paste, water and spices; bring to a simmer.
4. Add chicken; cook until heated through.
5. Add cooked quinoa and corn and 1 c. of sauce.
6. Spray 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Put thin layer of sauce in bottom.  Layer with 6 tortillas.  Spread with another thin layer of sauce.
7. Spread half of chicken mixture.  Sprinkle a bit of the cheddar.
8. Layer another 6 tortillas and sauce.
9. Spread remaining chicken mixture.
10. Layer remaining tortillas, sauce and cheese.
11. Cover with foil and cook for 20 minutes.

NOTE: This was not spicy...it was flavorful.  Add more spice or poblanos if you want it spicy. 

For more yummy recipes, check out Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet or Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.