Homemade Granola

We love granola in our house but buying gluten free granola is a challenge. So here is my basic recipe. The beauty of making granola is that there is no wrong way to do it. You can add whatever you like within certain ratios and viola! personalized to your taste.

3 cups gluten free rolled oats (I buy mine here in bulk.)
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raw pecan halves
1/8 cup golden flax seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients together. Then add in wet ingredients-
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup oil of choice (I like coconut oil or safflower oil. Choose a neutral oil.)
1 tsp vanilla (I buy alcohol free here)

Mix wet with dry ingredients and spread out onto large cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir after fifteen minute intervals.  Take out of oven and let cool on cooling rack. At this point add any dried fruit you desire. I add 1/2 cup of raisins. I don't like my raisins baked with the granola, I think they get a weird off taste to them. Let mixture cool completely and store in an airtight container or zip-top bag. Makes 9 servings (1/2 cup size).

You can add whatever kind of raw unsalted nuts you like and whatever dried fruits you choose. You can also exchange the maple syrup for honey or another sweetener like rice syrup if you like. I plan to try out some other derivations in the future and I can post my results later.

Rice Lasagna

This is a favorite in our house, but you do need to think ahead and cook the brown rice before hand. I often have made this with leftover rice. If not, then you need to plan your assembly time to start after your rice is cooked. 1 cup of uncooked rice makes about 3 cups of cooked rice.

[Just in case you don't know- Cook brown rice in a medium pan with lid. 1 cup rice and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and simmer covered until rice is tender. (Brown rice takes about 45 minutes or less at our house.)]

Rice Lasagna

1 lbs Ground Beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
30 oz. spaghetti sauce (your favorite jarred or homemade. I like Muir Glen-Garlic Roasted Garlic)
15 oz ricotta or small curd cottage cheese
2 egg whites (or 1 whole egg)
8 oz. or more of shredded mozzarella
3 cups cooked rice (I use long grain brown rice)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized pan brown beef and onions and then drain off fat. Stir in spaghetti sauce. In a separate bowl combine ricotta/cottage cheese, egg whites, and shredded mozzarella (you can add more than 8 oz if you like it cheesier). In a 13X9 lasagna pan spread 1/3 the meat sauce mixture, then 1/2 of the cooked brown rice and then 1/2 the ricotta mixture. Repeat layers a second time. Save last 1/3 of meat sauce for very top. Finally, cover top  with grated Parmesan. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Whole Wheat Bread

I just posted my recipe for Whole Wheat Bread, complete with step-by-step pictures. I am sure that I am not the only one who has to feed their family member/s with allergies along with balancing feeding everyone else. So this is for the "other" family members. You can find the recipe here.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake!!!!

I had a birthday this past weekend and was blessed by one of our dear friends. She took a recipe that I was planning on trying and made it for me. It is a modification of a simple chocolate cake recipe that I have used for years. My dear husband even made the original recipe to sell at our Church's Men's Bake Off. It was yummy!!! So here is a picture of the cake my sweet friend made and a couple of different possible ways to make this chocolate cake. It is the best Gluten Free Cake I have EVER eaten. It lasted beautifully in the refrigerator and did not dry out. (I ate a piece today after it sitting for five days.) It is chocolaty, sweet, moist, and delicious! YUM! YUM!

This is where I got the original recipe. You can top this with a German Chocolate Cake Frosting if you are able to do dairy. You can make it Gluten Free with Dairy OR Gluten Free and Dairy Free. If you want to make this dairy free you can make a confectioners frosting to put on it. The picture above is frosted with a butter cream frosting made out of butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and coconut milk.

1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour (Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour was used here)

2 Cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk (coconut milk was what was used here)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use safflower oil)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and oil. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes on medium. Add boiling water and mix gently with a spoon by hand until well combined. Pour the batter into two greased and floured 9 inch round cake pans or three 8 inch round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes and until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly and then turn out of pans onto cooling racks to cool. Let cool to just barely warm and then cover loosely and let finish cooling. Frost with your frosting of choice when cool and store in refrigerator before serving.

Our Favorite Gluten Free Bread

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I still have not created a scratch recipe for gluten free bread. But this is our favorite gluten free mix Gluten Free Pantry's French Bread and Pizza Mix. This is the way I make it for our food limitations.

First off I will give you the ingredients for the mix: white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, guar gum, granulated honey, salt, and Red Staf Instant Yeast (packet included). It does say "may contain traces of soy". But my son has never had a problem with it.

(Set Oven to preheat at 375 degrees. )
In my Bosch Universal mixer with batter whips attached I dump the contents of the box and yeast packet and then the following ingredients

1 3/4 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tsp cider vinegar (if vinegar is an issue you could probably substitute lemon juice)
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
2 eggs plus 1 egg white

I turn my mixer on low to combine the ingredients and flip it to medium and let it run for 2 minutes. While it is running, I spray my 9X5 bread pan will Pam Olive Oil Spray. When the two minutes is over, using a ladle I carefully scoop the batter into a well greased pan. The batter has the consistency of mashed potatoes.  This is what it looks like.

Then cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough rises to touch the plastic wrap. After I pulled the wrap off the risen dough, it  looked like this.

Place in 375 degree preheated oven. And bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Turn out of the pan onto a cooling rack and let cool until warm to touch. I bag my bread as soon as it is warm and no longer hot. That keeps the crust soft. Then once it is cool in the bag, I take it out and slice it. I place plastic wrap between each slice and then freeze the bag of sliced bread. I pop a slice at a time into the microwave for 25 seconds, then flip it over and then another 10 seconds. Voila! Instant fresh soft bread!

New Gluten Free Baking source

I am excited to say that Country Life Natural Foods has started carrying gluten free items, particularly gluten free oats and gluten free rice flour. And they are in a price range that we can afford! They also have gluten free all purpose flour mix (which has legumes in it) and gluten free pancake mix. Go check it out here!

Gluten Free Pancakes (Take 2)

I have played a little with my pancake recipe, thanks to my sweet sister who has been trying them out. She is helping me to know if my recipes are easily reproducible in another person's kitchen. This last time I made them I took some pictures and changed one thing to hopefully create a better product for more people.

2 cups Rice Flour mix

5 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp honey

4 Tbsp oil of choice ( I use safflower oil)

2 eggs

2 cup almond milk (I like Almond Breeze unsweetened) or other milk

Mix dry ingredients together and them add wet ingredients and whisk. 

Using a ice cream scoop, ladle mixture onto hot non-stick pan or griddle. I use my electric griddle and set it at 350 degrees. These pancakes seem to do better on a slightly hotter griddle than my wheat pancakes.  The honey seems to help them brown. Flip when lightly brown on one side and bubbles pop. 

Cook and eat or freeze right away. Makes about 24 standard sized pancakes. We love these with butter and agave nectar or maple syrup or even jelly.