Carrot Muffins That You Can't Tell Are Gluten-Free!

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tins for 24 muffins.

½ cup oil (I used coconut)

1 ¼ cups fructose, sugar or other sweetner

5 large eggs

1 1/3 cups plain yogurt

4 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

2 cups flour (I used ¾ cup lentil flour, ½ cup millet/rice combination, and ¾ cup fine cornmeal)

2 tablespoons, plus 2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons xantham gum

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 large carrots, grated (a generous cup)

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Mix the oil with the fructose/sugar. Add the eggs and beat well ‘til thick and smooth. Add the yogurt, vanilla, and vinegar – beat til smooth. Stir the dry ingredients together separately and add to the wet til well combined, but no additional stirring. Fold in the carrots and walnuts. Let sit for a minute or two (the batter will become puffy and rise in the bowl), then immediately fill greased muffin pans 2/3 – ¾ full. Bake at 350 for 20 min or until the top springs back lightly when touched. We made these muffins today, and truly, no one would ever know that they are gluten free! J

Gluten-Free, Mostly Sugar-Free Crispy Rice Treats

Gluten-free recipes that can also be made with alternative sweeteners are at a premium around our house. This yummy cookie is a cross between granola bars and crispy rice treats. It is easy to make, and packed with three kinds of fruit, nut butter, and a few kinds of seeds, and very forgiving if you don't have all of that on hand. If you have peanut allergies, you can substitute almond butter for the peanut butter. It's true, rice crispy cereal is lightly sweetened, but it seems like the amount of sugar is low enough that it doesn't cause any great harm to my brother who normally does not tolerate sugar well. (He seems to do fine with honey, fructose in moderation, and fruit.)

Gluten-Free Crispy Rice Treats with Fruit and Nuts
Makes about 20 2-inch squares

6 1/2 cups gluten-free crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup dried blueberries (I didn't have blueberries, so I increased the raisins and dried cherries)
1/2 cup dried raisins or dried zante currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried sour cherries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (I used a generous 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and some chopped walnuts)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/4 cup molasses (I used 1/4 c honey, 1/4 c. agave nectar instead of molasses and honey)
1/4 cup honey or agave nectar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Spray or lightly oil a 9-inch x 9-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil.

In a large bowl, mix rice cereal, dried fruit, and nuts together. Set aside.

Place peanut butter, molasses, honey, and butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir until butter has melted. Pour over cereal mixture, and stir to coat. Press mixture into prepared pan. Freeze for 30 minutes. Cut into 20 small squares. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

These bars were quite a hit around our house, and I just used what I had around. I expected the bars to be fine sitting out on the counter, but was surprised that they get soft enough to kind of crumble apart at room temperature. They really should be kept in the refrigerator. :)

Holiday Goodies

I, like usual, have been dreaming of a dozen yummy things to cook and bake, if only I had the time.

First, there's the midwife thing that gets in the way of my "want to do's." I may go ahead and start a couple of cheesecakes and hope that I get them finished before someone in early labor calls me back and I have to leave in a hurry...

Then there's the no-gluten and the no-sugar thing. Yeah. That makes perfection in baking much, much harder to achieve. At first, I thought it was close to hopeless to ever expect to have truly GOOD normal tasting desserts when gluten and sugar are not an option. Cut out gluten and at least you have a few fudgey options and good brownies left. Cut out the sugar and you can still make delectable goodies with honey, agave nectar or maple syrup. But cut them both out, and how is one to make anything taste normal and good??

I've been pleased to discover that though non-gluten, non-sugar baking will never make it easy and simple to turn out yummy desserts and baked goods, it is still possible. I think it's an art. One I'm trying hard to learn. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes my creations are hard, dry crumbly flops.

I'm glad that I can eat gluten and sugar. But with several family members in the house on restricted diets, we try to only make desserts that they can eat. The rest of us can splurge and enjoy our sugar and gluten on other occasions. :)

So, today I'm looking at recipes and trying to figure which ones are worth attempting to bake with gluten and sugar substitutes. I'm so grateful that said people can eat butter and cream cheese and eggs and other things that make baked goods yummy and moist and rich. :)

I think I'll start with the cheesecake and attempt to make some cookies that aren't too dry and crumbly. But more than likely I'll have to leave for a birth before I get any of it into the oven. That's what sisters are for, right?

I just hope I'm back in time to eat with the family tomorrow! :)

Favorite Summer Pie

Pineapple Pie

This pie is a light, cool and absolutely delicious treat on a hot summer day.
You can even feel pretty good about eating it since it's made mostly from fruit juice!

~ Pre-baked 8" pie shell (we usually make one from scratch, using coconut oil)

~3 c. pineapple juice, divided
~1/3 c. orange juice concentrate
~1/2 c. honey
~3 T. lemon juice
~pinch of salt
~3 T. instant milk powder
~1/2 c. cornstarch

Combine 2 cups of the pineapple juice with all other ingredients, except the cornstarch.
Combine 1/2 c. cornstarch with 1 c. pineapple juice in a separate container.
Bring the first mixture (orange concentrate, etc) to a boil over medium heat.
Add cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly til thickened.
Pour into pre-baked pie shell or graham cracker crust.
Immediately cover with plastic wrap (if you wait til it cools, the plastic wrap won't come off) and chill. Slice and serve.
I promise... if you like pineapple, you will LOVE this pie! Our dear friend and neighbor, Debbie G, had several of us girls over and taught us how to make all kinds of pies many years ago. This is Debbie's recipe, but we've been making it ever since! :)

The Very Best Pound Cake

I've always loved pound cake, but this recipe just outdoes any other I've tried!

It comes from our neighbor, Julianna, who used to work in fancy, super expensive bakery in Long Island, New York. Nothing holds a candle to her cheesecakes and pound cakes... so I asked her for the recipe and have been having fun with it.
Since I like the crispy edges of pound cake, I tried it in mini-muffin pans last time and it was absolutely amazing! We had our little bite sized pound cakes with a generous scoop of fresh chopped strawberries and a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top. Talk about what you really shouldn't serve! :)

6 eggs, separated
3 sticks butter, softened
1/2 c. Crisco or coconut oil, softened
3 c. sugar
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 325.
Beat butter, Crisco or coconut oil and sugar till fluffy. Add yolks one at a time. Add extracts. Combine baking powder and salt with flour. Beat whites till stiff peaks form. Add milk and flour mixture alternately to butter mixture. Gently fold in egg whites.
To make it a lemon pound cake, use 2 tsp. lemon extract and and add the grated peel of one fresh lemon.
Pour into a greased a floured bundt pan, or a 9x13 pan, or several loaf pans, or 2 9" round pans, or mini muffin pans.
For a bundt cake, bake approx. 1 hr, 15 min.
A 9x13 pan, approx. 50-60 min.
Loaf pans - about 1 hr.
Round pans - approx. 35 min.
Mini-muffin pans - approx. 15 min.
(All till a toothpick comes out clean and cake springs back lightly when touched.)

Family Camp and Dishpan Cookies

Our family has been bustling around, preparing for our church's annual Family Camp happening next week. We're in charge of Registration, so some of us spend an inordinate amount of time filling out spreadsheets and marking people's names on our little map of all the cabins and re-figuring the total amount of adults and children coming.

Family Camp is a great time to re-connect with friends who we only get to see once a year and to hear great sermons/messages every morning and night that are encouraging, inspiring, and quite frequently, uncomfortable and convicting. It's a reminder to "break up the fallow ground" in our lives... Its also a time to remember that we are as surrendered and holy as we want to be. Keith Daniel, our guest speaker from South Africa always reminds us of that. Our problem isn't usually that we don't know what God wants of us and our lives - our problem is that so often we aren't willing and broken and yielded to live every day the way He has called us to!

If you family happens to be interested in coming to Family Camp this year (Oct. 2-5), you can contact us at: mbcfamcamp {at} gmail.com. There are people coming from Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Montana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, but there's still room for more!

Things are coming together really well for the most part. (Maybe Jennifer, who's planning all of the meals and organizing the kitchen work doesn't think so! She has a lot to do!)

As we prepare for Family Camp, our house has been filled with the smell of baking cookies for several days! With 150 or more people to feed snacks to each day, and homemade cookies as the mainstay of snack time, that's a lot of cookies to bake!

Speaking of cookies, I need to go make a few more batches right now. Here's one of my favorite cookie recipes when baking for a crowd:

Dishpan Cookies
2 c. butter, softened
2 c. brown or raw sugar
2 c. granulated or raw sugar
Cream the butter and sugar till smooth. Add:
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix well, and then stir in:
4 1/2 c. flour (I've been using a combination of oat, wheat, and white flour)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
Add:
5 c. rice crispy cereal or crushed cornflakes
2 c. flaked coconut
1 - 12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
3 c. quick oats
Stir, till well combined. (Add more quick oats and/or rice crispies if the dough is too soft or the cookies spread all over the pan when cooked)
Preheat oven to 325. Drop rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 9-12 minutes till lightly browned on the bottom, still soft on top. Take out a bit early for chewy cookies. Makes 8-10 dozen. These freeze really well!

Bulgarian Pepper and Cheese Casserole

You'll find this recipe perhaps just a bit unusual, but I can assure you that it's delicious! Every member of our family loves it. And those of us who try to watch the grocery bills and be frugal are especially thrilled with it because we've grown most of the ingredients here at home!
Our 600 green pepper plants provide more than we know what to do with, and we're finding that we are having to use our hundreds of pounds of onions as quickly as possible, because it looks like they won't last all winter. Mom has been making cottage cheese almost every day with our extra milk, and we've filled out large freezer with shredded homemade mozzarella cheese. The chickens are laying lots of brown eggs, so there really isn't much to buy when making this! Now, if we just had a mushroom patch... (No, really, I hope we scale the garden back a bit next year!)


Bulgarian Pepper and Cheese Casserole
7 c. minced green peppers (or substitute part chopped celery)
2 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms (we usually omit)
3 c. chopped onions
5-6 T. butter

1 1/2 T. soy sauce
1 t. marjoram
salt to taste

3 c. raw bulghar wheat soaked 15 min. in 3 c. boiling water
3 c. cottage cheese (if we don't have lots of homemade around, sometimes we reduce this amount greatly or substitue with some sour cream/plain yogurt, etc)
1 1/2 c. grated mozzarella
4 beaten eggs
paprika

Saute onions in butter til golden. Add peppers and mushrooms. Cook until peppers are just tender. Remove from heat. Add soy sauce, marjoram, and salt to taste to sauteed vegetables. Mix grated cheese with cottage cheese. In a greased 9x13 pan, spread bulghar, then cover with a layer of vegetables. Add mixed cheeses, spreading as evenly as possible. Pour beaten eggs over all and dust with paprika.
(If making ahead to freeze, cover with foil and freeze. To serve, thaw and bake for recommended time.)
Bake at 375 uncovered for 35-40 minutes. Let stand 5-10 min before serving.

This is a great meal to make ahead and keep in the freezer for busy days. It also doesn't require a lot of precise measuring. We usually make up several pans full at once and all of the amounts are approximate! You can also vary the vegetables and cheeses according to what you have on hand.

Baked Squash Casserole

Just in case you have an abundance of squash, here's something new for your menu...

Baked Squash Casserole

8 medium yellow squash, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup cracker crumbs or dry bread crumbs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cook squash and onion in a small amount of water for 5-7 minutes. Drain well. Cream squash in food processor, blender or mixer. Combine squash mixture with remaining ingredients. Mix well and spoon into lightly greased casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Makes: 8 servings

Play Dough

I'm off to babysit the three little ones (cousins) that I nanny for from time to time. Since they are all six years old, I need lots of ideas for entertaining them and keeping them happily busy.
Making play dough is always a hit.

Here's my recipe:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
4 cups water
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup cream of tartar (helps it stay fresh for a long time)
Food coloring, if desired

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until play dough is completely formed and no longer sticky. (Really, it will cook up to a nice play dough consistency as long as you watch it closely and keep stirring!) Mix/knead in food coloring, if you want colors! Allow to cool at least part way before beginning to play with it! Store in an air-tight container or a zip-lock bag.

Shortbread

I've been been too busy to do much homemaking for quite a while, but the last few weeks have offered a welcome respite from politics and a chance to dive back into washing dishes, stirring soup, and weeding the garden. I've even had a few opportunities to revive one of my hobbies from years gone by - trying new recipes.

The shortbread I made a few weeks ago was a huge hit at our house. I believe it will be an enduring favorite. Just nibbling on the buttery crumbs is satisfying. Serving it with a bowl of macerated strawberries and a heap of our fresh whipped Jersey cream is a dessert suitable for any occasion.

Classic Shortbread

2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 t. coarse salt
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. confectioners sugar
(granulated sugar can be substituted in a pinch)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place rack in upper third.
Beat butter (with an electric mixer or a good, old-fashioned fork!) 3-5 minutes, till fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl. Gradually add the sugar. Beat till pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low (if using an electric mixer). Add flour and salt all at once; mix until just combined. Butter a 10-inch round cake pan or spring form pan. Place dough in center of pan. Spread a piece of plastic wrap over it (to keep it from sticking to your hands) and pat out to edges of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork or skewer. Bake until golden brown and firm in the center, about 45 min- 1 hr.
Cut into wedges and serve plain, with a big glass of cold milk, with fruit, or whatever you can imagine!