Your Gluten Free Recipes

My Dad made the best meat loaf and meatballs when I was growing up.  He had his secret little recipe, which he admits was just adding what he thought would taste good.  Unfortunately his recipe used saltine crackers, which I can no longer eat, so my latest challenge was to make a meat ball that was as good as Dad's but gluten free.  Here is what I came up with my first run.  It still needs tweaking,in my opinion, but everyone enjoyed them.

Grass fed meat give-a-way

I know I have been absent of late.  I am working on a cookbook and some research into various gluten free flours.  I wanted to take this time to mention a give-a-way that I think is fantastic.  It is for $100 of grass fed meat.  Go here for the give-a-way.  I would like to win this, because grass fed meat is more nutritiousness and tastes so much better. Who wouldn't want free, high quality meats.

Hope to have a new recipe post soon.

Valentine's Day is just a few days away and my mind wanders to chocolate delicacies.  One of those is a simple brownie.  Several years ago I found a recipe that came from an unusual source.  I home school my kids and use Saxon math.  One of the lessons in third grade math was following a recipe.  That recipe was for brownies.  They were the best brownies I have ever had.  They totally blew away boxed brownie mixes from the store.  Now that I am gluten free we had to rework the recipe.  The only change was to replace the flour with a gluten free mix.  It is such a simple recipe, why would I want to use boxed mixes with inferior taste, quality, and ingredients.

2 squares unsweetened chocolate (organic if possible)
1/2 C. butter
2 Eggs (organic. cage free are best)
1 C. sugar
3/4 C. gluten free all purpose mix
1/2 tsp. baking powder (aluminum free)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 C. walnuts( I use pecans because I am allergic to walnuts) optional


Do Not preheat oven!  Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.  In a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar. Add the chocolate and butter and mix well.  Add in the flour and baking powder.  Finally add the vanilla and nuts if you are using.  Pour batter into a greased 8" baking dish.  Bake at 300 degrees for 55 minutes.  These are great plain, but you can frost if you desire.

For other great recipes check out http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-february-12th/#comment-11067

Oh, the power of cheese!  I love cheese.  I have been experimenting with my husband on making the perfect cheese sauce.  I have made many mistakes along the way.  Some of the sauces I came up with were more like cheesy mashed potatoes and others were like cheese jello (threw that out, yuck).  My husband came up with a recipe I think knocks the socks off commercial cheese sauces, in my opinion any way.  This sauce can be used over gluten free noodles to make homemade mac and cheese,  over vegetables, or in any way other cheese sauces are used.

3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP corn starch
2 C. raw milk
3/4 tsp. sea salt
2c. shredded cheese ( your choice, I use cheddar)

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add cornstarch and stir until well blended.  Slowly add milk and whisk constantly while heating.  Heat until just beginning to bubble and slightly thickened.  Take of heat and stir in cheese.  Now your cheese sauce is ready to use.

One of my most favored soups is French onion soup.  Several years ago I discovered how very simple it is to make from scratch.  I found the original recipe in The Natural Healing Cookbook.  I have made a few modifications of the oils used and the bread to make it healthier and gluten free.  Serves 2.

1 TBSP coconut oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced (a sweet variety works best)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 C. gluten free chicken stock
2 tsp. wheat free tamari
1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses ( we we out of this and brown sugar does work, but not as well.  You need to use more, around 2 tsp)
1 bay leaf
2 thin slices gluten free sandwich bread, cubed
Parmesan cheese, shredded for garnish

Place oil in stock pot, add onions and saute.  Add a tablespoon water if needed to keep onions from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  When onions are slightly tender, add garlic, stock, tamari, molasses, and bay leaf.  Simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.  Place in 2 oven proof bowls. Top with cubed bread and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Place under broiler until cheese is melted and begins to brown.  Careful!!! Soup will be very hot!

Before I chose the gluten free lifestyle, my family loved this recipe found in the Once- A- Month Cooking.  We have been experimenting to try and find a gluten free version that resembles this recipe.  We have had some failures which were tasty but fell apart and wasn't quite what we wanted.  Finally we gave up on the exterior being the same and changes it to a pie crust exterior and found it to be even better than the original version.

4 C. cooked, chopped chicken (organic if possible)
1 -8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP chopped chives
4 TBSP milk (preferably raw)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. thyme
pepper to taste
gluten free pie shell ( 2 crusts worth)

Mix chicken, cream cheese, milk, chives, garlic salt, pepper, and thyme in a large mixing bowl.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out pie shell into 2 rectangles, enough for 8 sections each.  Using a pizza cutter, mark 8 sections on one of the rectangles (do not cut all the way through).  Put filling on the center of each section.  Place the second, unmarked rectangle over the rectangle of dough and the piles of filling.
Gently press or stretch this layer of dough over the filling, expect small tears - these will allow moisture to vent from each serving and allow the dough to become crispy during baking. After pressing dough down, use the pizza cutter to cut servings into separate sections.  Using a spatula, place each section on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until dough becomes browned and crispy on the edges.
Serves 8

Finding a flaky gluten free pie crust recipe has been a challenge for us. A lot of the recipes have a tough crust that is somewhat chewy.  My husband came up with this recipe while looking for a crust for chicken packets.  We also used it as the crust for lemon bars, of which my Mother-in-law said it was delightful.  It actually is light and flaky like a normal pie crust.

1/2 C. tapioca
1/2 C. cornstarch
1/4 C. potato starch
1 C. sweet white rice
dash of sugar
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. coconut oil
1 egg
1 TBSP vinegar
4 TBSP ice water
Sweet white rice or Tapioca Starch, for rolling the dough out.

Thoroughly mix all dry ingredients in a bowl large and shallow enough for a small amount of hand kneading near the end of mixing dough. Cut both butter and coconut oil into the dry ingredients until a finely grained, sandy looking mixture is obtained - typically 5 minutes of vigorous cutting with a pastry knife.
Combine the egg, vinegar, and water in a bowl or large cup. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and combine with a fork until large clumps of dough and almost no dry powder is left.  Knead dough by hand until it remains in a single ball of a very even consistency.  Form dough into a thick disc and wrap dough in plastic wrap (or butcher's paper) and place in the refrigerator for one to two hours.  This will chill the butter and coconut oil to make rolling and handling easier.
When rolled out for use dough should be coated in either White Rice or Tapioca starch, and placed atop a small pile of same to reduce sticking to the surface.  Handle the dough as little as possible as the heat from your hands will soften the dough and make it more difficult to place in the baking dish.
This dough may be rolled out to 1/8" thickness for a crispy\flaky finish, or left up to 1/2" thick for a slightly more 'shortbread' style crust.