Gluten-Free Cranberry Crumble

Gluten-free cranberry peach crumble. Easy as pie. Wait. Easier.

So I have a question for you. Albeit, rhetorical. Who doesn't love a warm-from-the-oven fruit crisp or crumble? Personally, I'm a big fan. Obviously. Here's why. Imagine tender, juicy melt-in-your mouth bites of sweet fruit. A kiss of brown sugar. A hint of cinnamon.

And Darling- best of all? Embarrassingly easy.

Think about it. No wrestling with stick-to-itself plastic wrap. No rolling out finicky fall-apart gluten-free pie dough that- I am sorry to tell you- never has the authentic tender flakiness of the real thing. My nose would be growing like a woody on a sixteen year old watching Angelina Jolie in Beowulf if I told you any gluten-free pie crust I ever ate was worthy of the filling.
And besides. Who needs the hassle? Honestly. And why pies? Whose bright idea was it to make pies the epitome of holiday baking perfection. The holidays are stressful enough. All the family mishigas. The drama.

I'm over it.

Easy and tasty is my kind of dessert. Hence my love for fruit crisps and crumbles. Sometimes I bake crisps in individual baking dishes. Sometimes I make fruit crumbles in a glass pie plate. This way, it even (sort of) resembles a pie. If you squint.

Or knocked back a vodka martini or two.

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Delectable delights in San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge
For hubby and I, one of our favourite things to do together is travel - get out there and experience new places, check out the local museums, shop (ya, that might be more "me" than hubby there), take loads of pictures and, of course, taste the local cuisine. We like to see as much as we can of a new place, and for us, that means lots of our time is spent walking - I've

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Natchitoches Meat Pies

These are at the top of my list of dinner foods. My kids ask for them, that's why. When that happens, whatever it is goes on the permanent menu. I love these and my husband like them as well, so everyone is happy when momma makes them. The pie crust is so flaky and just makes it taste so good. They aren't hard to make, so give them a try. Thanks to Our Best Bites for sharing these. They are a winner. I changed it a little to fit my family's taste.

Natchitoches Meat Pies

1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork

1 onion, chopped

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

Season Salt to taste

Tabasco sauce to taste (start with about 1/4 tsp.)

1 can beef broth

Potatoes, cut into small cubes, cooked, but not mushy.

1 can diced green chiles

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Pie Crust, tripled (or use store bought, already made)

1 egg

1/4 c. cold water

In a large skillet, brown ground beef and ground pork, breaking the meat into small pieces. When it's about halfway cooked, drain excess fat (if necessary) and then add  onion and garlic. Cook until tender and onions are translucent. Add Season Salt and 1/4 tsp. Tabasco. Add beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Cook for about 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with additional Season Salt and Tabasco if necessary, keeping in mind that the seasonings will mellow in the pie. Add the potatoes and green chiles. Heat through. You can refrigerate this mixture for 3-4 days before baking the pies.

Prepare pie crust and roll the entire ball onto a floured surface. For large (meal-sized) pies, I use a bowl that's about 6" across the top; I just invert the bowl onto the dough and trace a knife around it to cut the dough. Place about 1/4 c. of the meat mixture and some cheese onto one half of the dough circle, keeping about a 1/2"-1" margin from the edges. Fold the other side over and gently pinch the edges shut.

Preheat oven to 400 and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place prepared pies onto your baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and cold water and brush over the pies. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS: You could do this one of two ways; you can freeze them unbaked and just add the egg wash and bake them for an extra 15-20 minutes, or you can bake them and heat them up in the oven or microwave, whatever suits your needs better.

Printable Version

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Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Apple Cake Recipe

A lovely gluten-free apple cake with coconut flour.

The weather here has hula-hooped back into summer. I kid you not. It is ninety-seven degrees here in Little Russia, my West Hollywood neighborhood. As in 97. That's three shy of one hundred, Bubbe. In September. And what am I doing? Baking a cake. Heating up the kitchen. It figures.

As soon as I buy apples and start daydreaming about my favorite fall confections, imagining clear, cool evenings and Eva Cassidy's haunting rendition of Autumn Leaves, September turns sultry and sends me back into the closet, peeling off my straight legged jeans and Converse All Stars faster than Gordon Ramsay can mock sashimi.

So I may as well share my latest gluten-free cake recipe with you. I mean, I suffered extreme heat for it. I hot flashed till I was squishy for it. I panted and sweat until I resembled an over-ripe heirloom tomato. You know, dimpled and dented. Flabby. A little misshapen. And well. Squishy. Not a pretty sight.

Not that I'm trying to induce guilt or anything.

Not me.

So go ahead. Enjoy this new apple cake recipe. Share a slice or two amongst yourselves. Don't worry about me here in hot little WeHo. Really. Go. Bake. Discuss. Have some coffee.

And coffee tawk.

xox


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Review with CSN Stores

I love CSN Stores! They are an awsome company. Why? Because they asked me to do another review. I love getting something for free, who wouldn't? They have such awesome stuff and over 200 stores online. Upholstered dining chairs, kid's toys and games (Christmas is just around the corner), and much more. Go take a look. They offer free shipping on many items.

I chose to review this Le Creuset 8 qt. stock pot.

I have a casserole dish from them in the same color.

I ordered it today and it already shipped. Talk about great service!

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Favorite Autumn Recipes for a Gluten-Free Diet

It's that time of year again. Fall is for baking.

Gluten-Free Autumn Recipes

Welcome to my favorite Fall recipes- my collection of gluten-free comfort food for the golden, burnished season of Autumn. From harvest inspired appetizers to cinnamon laced baked goodies, from pumpkin soups to cozy casseroles, flavors are warm, homespun, and inviting- perfect for cool, clear days and early nightfall.

Take your inner domestic goddess by the hand. Grab your apron. Rustle up your favorite gluten-free ingredients. Turn on your oven.

Fill your kitchen with the comforting scents of apples and cinnamon, cranberry and pumpkin, butternut and maple, nutmeg and curry.

{For readers Down Under, here are my Favorite Spring recipes}

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Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

 These cookies are pretty perfect. You get peanut butter chips and chocolate chips in one cookie. Not much can top that. These are adapted from Quaker Oats. I could eat the dough all on its own.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups of Quaker Oats (Quick)

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together sugars and butter until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Slowly add to the creamed butter mixture, mixing well. Slowly stir in oats. Add chips.

  Drop spoonfuls on to a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Printable Version

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing

Gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.

Gluten-free cupcakes are hot. Or should I say, HAWT. Tack on vegan status, too, and you've got a trend worthy of the most BoHo WeHo GoGo. So I'm reprising this chocolate cupcake recipe to tempt you into baking this weekend. These little beauties remind me of Devil's Food Cake. Dark, moist and chocolatey. So go grab your inner Domestic Goddess by the hand and stir up some trouble.

But before we get to (what happens to be my favorite) chocolate cupcake recipe from the archives, I want to share something. Maybe it's the waxing moon, that cyclic siren pulling us toward wholeness, to embracing our shadow, urging us to let go, shed the outworn for the sake of authenticity. Or maybe it's the fresh start of a new school year, possessing me with cravings for newly sharpened pencils and thick stacks of paper, clean as a cloud. Fall always wakes me up. It conjures images of new beginnings.

And yes, there will be baby pictures.

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Gluten-Free English Muffins Recipe

Lovely, toasty gluten-free English muffins. I kid you not.

After four attempts we have a gluten-free English muffin we can toast with pride. An English muffin worthy of jam. Worthy of peanut butter. Or a sit down breakfast. Heck, worthy of breakfast in bed. These warm and golden little babies are too crispy-tender good to munch running to the bus stop or strapped in your car, thinking about the onslaught of your daily tasks. These muffins deserve a proper plate. A mug of tea. Your Sunday morning iTunes playlist.

I'm not sure why a simple English muffin is so tricky to recreate gluten-free (and in my case, also vegan- no milk and eggs to help the stubborn gluten-free flours fluff and rise). I thought it would be a snap. So I perused Alton Brown's recipes for inspiration, found his English muffin recipe, and did a quick gluten-free casein-free conversion. It seemed doable. Although I knew from experience that using a griddle to cook gluten-free muffins would be trouble.

I opted for baking the muffins on a sheet lined with my trusty Exopat (using a liner keeps those overly sensitive gluten-free flours from scorching on the bottom). I'm using English muffin rings to help shape the dough (I purchased them at Amazon). A reader suggested on Twitter I could use cleaned out tuna cans, but. That seems a tad unappetizing (intellectually, I know tuna cans would work; emotionally, all I keep visualizing is the mystery neighbor in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park who piles his smelly used tuna cans out in the hallway).

Using Alton's basic template the first batch turned out very dense, with no rise and no crunchy edges- though the dough looked promising (pictured above, rising). Dense was not a quality I wanted in my muffin. So I tried again, this time using my own original Gluten-Free Bread recipe as a template (I'm loving the combo of sorghum, potato starch and millet as a flour base for yeasted breads these days). The result was better- but still not quite there.

After a third attempt I realised that the issue might be moisture. I was creating a dough that resembled wheat dough, and I could shape it a bit and pat it into the English muffin rings, but the result was heavy and more resembled a gluten-free hockey puck.

The fourth try was the charm (sometimes perseverance pays off). I added more warm water to the dough (than seemed wise), until it was more of a thick cake batter than a stretchy playful dough.

And sweet bi-locating John from Cincinnatti! It worked.



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Tropical Smoothie

I am sneaking in one more summer-y treat. This smoothie is one that can be made anytime of the year since it uses frozen fruit. Although you may not be in the mood for one come winter. So hurry and make this because you will thank me when you do.

Tropical Smoothie

1 c. frozen pineapple chunks

1 c. frozen mango chunks

1/2 c. canned unsweetended coconut milk (found in the asian section)

1/2 c. milk

2 Tbsp. honey

Place all in a blender. Process 15-30 seconds until smooth.

Printable Version

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Tag! I'm it...

Michelle over at All Home Cooking. All Year Long. has tagged me in a game called Eight to the Eight to the Eight. The idea is that I'm supposed to answer Michelle's eight questions, then pose eight of my own, and tag eight people to answer those. And so on and so on. I am actually excited to do this and see who plays along with me. I think it lets people get to know the bloggers. So here are the questions Michelle asked me...

1. Who inspires you in the kitchen? Why?
*Many people inspire me. My mom. I remember making Christmas goodies with her every year for family and neighbors. I still use her recipes with my own family. Also, Giada and The Neelys. Whenever I watch them, I just want to cook something. Finally, all the amazing food bloggers out there. Wow! I have never seen such amazing recipes.

2. To sift or not to sift?
*No sifting for me. I don't have a sifter!

3. How do you feel about white chocolate?
* Pass. Unless it's a Hershey's Cookies and Cream candy bar.

4. How do you feel about Teflon?
* I think it's great for cooking, at first. Until the black stuff (Teflon) starts flaking off into the food. Who wants that? I received a stainless steel sauce pan from CSN Stores and love it! I'd like to replace all my Teflon cookware with that. Or Le Creuset. LOVE LOVE that stuff.

5. What dish are you famous for?
*Not so much a dish, but my Snickerdoodles. My sisters-in-law won't let me blog it. Sorry...

6. What's the biggest cooking disaster you've ever experienced?
* When my husband and I were first married, I made this for dinner with his 2 high school friends and their wives. Apparently I didn't let the rice cook long enough ( I didn't use instant rice) and when we ate it, the rice was crunchy. Embarassing! But the one kid had lived in Equador for 2 years and that's how they eat their rice, so he thought that's how it was supposed to be.

7. If you could cook with any one person, alive or deceased, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
* Definately the Neelys or Giada! How fun would that be?!

8. What dish would you consider your pièce de résistance, and have you mastered it yet?

* I would say Lasagna and no I haven't. I'm still trying to get my husband to love it  (he only likes food and doesn't get what all the fuss is about. No matter what it is. He doesn't understand when I taste something incredible and close my eyes to savor the taste. Can you believe that? Crazy, is what he is.).

Now it's your turn. Here are my bloggers that I've tagged...

1.The American Homemaker
2. ValSoCal
3. The Apron Girls
4. Rainy Day Farm
5. Sinful Southern Sweets
6. Making Memories...One Fun Thing After Another
7. The Better Baker
8. Heart N Soul Cooking

Here are the questions to answer...

1. What is your cooking tool/gadet that you can't live without?
2. What is something that you can't make unless you are sharing it, otherwise you'd eat it all yourself?
3. Favorite cooking memory growing up?

4. The one recipe you love from someone who inspires you? (Mom, Grandma, friend, etc.)

5. Where would you love to visit if money was no object, and why?

6. Why do you blog?

7. What is your favorite book?
8. Who would you love to have dinner with who is dead, alive, or famous?

Have fun & pass on the fun!

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Gluten-Free Banana Almond Bundt® Cake Recipe

Almond flour makes this banana Bundt® cake gluten-free gorgeous.

Baking weather has arrived. Are you feeling the urge? I am. It's Bundt® Cake time. Time for stirring up gluten-free cake batters with soft ripe bananas, pumpkin puree, and applesauce, filling the kitchen with the warm sweet scent of cinnamon. Time to tie on your cute little apron and invoke your inner Domestic Goddess. Because the groovy-spooky Fall Equinox is right around the corner, I am sorry to tell you. Summer fun is fading fast, Sweetpea. Your tan lines are disappearing.

Your UGGs are calling.

So paw through your stash of rocket shaped Popsicle molds, drink umbrellas and pool party napkins. Get ready to retire the flamingo adorned lemonade pitcher (unless you happen to live in Boca Raton). Snake your way into the back dark corner of your kitchen closet. Liberate the Bundt® pan you haven't used since Ground Hog Day.

It's dusty but it cleans up nice.


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Short Stack Cookies

I love an author by the name of Joanne Fluke. She writes these great books that are known as culinary mysteries. They are mysteries with some kind of cooking, baking, etc. in the storyline. I read one called Blueberry Muffin Murder and found the recipe for these cookies in it.

These cookies may make your kids think this...

But don't be fooled. These are cookies. They taste like little pancakes with butter and maple syrup on them. Or rather, in them.

Printable Version

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. melted butter

2 c. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c. maple syrup

4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

4 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar for coating the dough balls

Directions

• Melt the butter and mix in the 2 c. sugar; let it cool and add the beaten eggs. 
• Add maple syrup, soda, salt, and vanilla; mix it all up. 
• Add flour and mix thoroughly. 
• Chill the dough for at least one hour. 
• Roll the dough into walnut sized balls with your hands. 
• Roll the balls into the 1/2 c. sugar and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Do it 3 across and 4 down. Trust me. They spread and won't turn out if you don't follow my instructions!
•  Flatten with a spatula. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until nicely browned. 
• Cool on the cookie sheets for 1 minute and then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Think I could give these to my kids as breakfast? Hmmm...

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Gluten-Free Peach Muffins with Almond Flour

Gluten-free peach muffins baked with almond flour.

Today is Labor Day. And here I am working. Editing photographs of peach muffins and writing up a new gluten-free recipe. No rest for the wicked. Or the self-employed. We bloggers toil at our living daily, working through holidays and oftentimes, dinner. We tend and tweak and pretty much live a nerdy geek life. The opposite of glamorous.

Or maybe it's just me.

There are plenty of extroverted bloggers who travel and attend blogging conferences and hob nob. They dine together and smile brilliantly in group pictures, tweeting breathlessly their mutual squee. And I envy them. Sometimes. Just a little.

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