My first attempt at gluten-free scones

Found this old post sitting in the unpublished drafts section:

Inspired by the Gluten-Free Guru and memories of lemon scones made in college with a loved one, I absolutely had to try to make gluten-free lemon scones for breakfast. Besides, I had the rest of that lemon from the lemon oil cookies to use up! So here's my first attempt at gluten-free scones. 

12 oz GF flour mix
4 tsp guar gum powder
2 plentiful pinches of sea salt
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 oz of unsalted butter
4 oz mixed, dried fruit
2 large eggs
4 fl oz of fat free plain yogurt 
2 tablespoons myer lemon oil
zest of 1/2 lemon 


1 Preheat the oven to 375 f (190c)

2. Sift all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl

3. Using a fork, cut in the butter so that the mix resembles fine bread crumbs

4. With a wooden spoon, stir in the dried fruit

5. Whisk together eggs and yogurt

6. Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour in the yogurt, egg and lemon juice

7. Turn out onto a floured surface and lightly kneed until the dough comes together and is smooth in texture.

8. Roll the dough out so that it is 1 1/2 inches thick, cut out with a small glass or cookie cutter

9. Place on a floured baking tray and cook in the oven for 10 minutes or so, or until brown and slightly risen.

GF PB Zucchini Bread - Take 2

Although the last batch was delicious, it was more like Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blondies than zucchini bread.
It was more of a dessert. I wanted a more substancial, slightly more peanut buttery zucchini bread that would be good at breakfast.  So this time I decided to try again with a slightly different recipe and it's looking good so far.

Tips:
If the dough doesn't seem wet enough you can add a bit more coconut milk.
Walnuts or peanuts would be delicious in this if you wish to add them remember to adjust your calories
After grating zucchini, press with paper towels to reduce water then fluff with a fork before adding to mix
If you don't have an egg allergy like me, feel free to use 1 egg in place of the ground flax seed meal to get brown sugar loosely packed, use the 1/2 cup to scoop the brown sugar out of the container. when brown sugar is dumped out of container it should fall apart a bit, not be in one hard lump

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Grated Zucchini
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup ground flax seed meal
1/2 cup Polenta (Ground Corn Meal)
1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/2 teaspoon salt (fine, not the coarse sea salt kind)
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter
1/4 cup peanut butter chips (organic, no sugar added)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare bread pan (if it is not a non stick pan, lightly coat sides and bottom with oil or cooking spray)

Boil 1/2 cup water (see tips if in microwave) In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup ground flax seed meal, 1/2 cup polenta, and 1/2 cup  steel cut oats, add boiling water, stir, and set aside.

Grate Zucchini and press between 2 paper towels, fluff with a fork, then set aside

Mix 1/2 cup Almond Flour, 1/2 cup rice flour,  2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, then add 1/2 cup brown sugar (loosely packed) and mix till there are no lumps.


Add small bowl of damp flax, polenta and oats mixture and stir until there are no large lumps. Add 1 1/2 cup zucchini and mix well.

Add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 1/4 cup coconut milk, and 1/2 cup smooth organic no sugar added peanut butter. Mix well. If bread mixture is too dry and not sticking together, add a bit more coconut milk until damp enough to hold together well.

Pour dough into bread pan, pour 1/4 cup peanut butter chips over top, and place on center rack of the oven at 350  for 60 minutes (check with toothpick to see when done)

Zucchini Bread Update

I've tried several zucchini bread recipes recently. Some are gluten free, some are not. Some are lower carb than others. Just felt the need to test out a variety of recipes and see what we like best. All of them had their good points.

A few things I learned. Zucchini bread freezes well. We defrosted it and then heated it a bit in the oven.  Came out really great. Blueberries and dark chocolate actually go well with zucchini bread. So do walnuts, almonds, or peanuts and thus not surprisingly, peanut butter or almond butter work well also. All were vegetarian and egg free. Some recipes are vegan and all could easily be altered to be vegan. This is not because I'm vegan, if anything I'm a flexitarian and avoid eggs due to allergies. Baking eggless is simpler if starting from a vegan recipe as I mentioned in a previous post. I eat a little bit of all the food groups. But I mention it since many of my friends are either vegan or vegetarian.

So far my 2 favorites were the peanut butter zucchini blondies and blueberry walnut zucchini bread. The blondies happen to be gluten free, and everyone who ate them loved them. Good times!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Zucchini Bread

A friend of mine and I are going on a road trip today. In exchange for her driving services, I am chipping in gas money and gluten free snacks. Today I made Kale Chips (See previous post) and tried this new recipe for Gluten Free Peanut Butter Zucchini Bread. So far it smells delicious (and the batter was yummy too) Pics to come!

Tips:
Hold out oil to see if it is needed, as you may not need any oil at all in this recipe. If the bread dough seems wet enough, do not bother adding it, the peanut butter is oily enough without additional oil. If the bread dough seems a bit too thick you can add the oil or extra coconut milk
Preheat oven to 350
Use a toothpick to test for readiness when you think it's done
Walnuts or peanuts would be delicious in this if you wish to add them remember to adjust your calories
After grating zucchini, press with paper towels to reduce water then fluff with a fork before adding to mix
Coconut oil can also be used to replace EVOO
If you don't have an egg allergy like me, feel free to use 1 egg in place of the apple sauce

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Grated Zucchini
1 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup Polenta (Ground Corn Meal)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt (fine, not the coarse sea salt kind)
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/8 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup peanut butter chips (organic, no sugar added)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare bread pan (I used a silicon bread pan that doesn't require greasing since this is already a pretty oily recipe)
Mix 1 cup Almond Flour, 1/2 cup Polenta, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, then add 1 cup brown sugar and mix till smooth
Add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I use organic, no sugar added) 1/4 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce.
If the mix seems wet enough, don't bother adding oil, otherwise add 1/4 cup EVOO (or coconut oil or coconut milk) Mix till smooth
Add 1 1/2 cups strained and fluffed zucchini

Pour dough into bread pan and place on center rack of the oven at 350 for 35 minutes
At 35 minutes add  peanut butter chips on top. I like to press it into the top in swirls
Place bread back in oven for 25-30 minutes (check with toothpick to see when done)

Xanthan Gum

As some of my friends have problems with gluten and such, I was advised that it might be a problem that I was dealing with myself. After being tested twice, I was told no I do not have a gluten intolerance. However in the mean time, I have discovered many new to me flours and new to me ways of cooking and baking which I've found really enjoyable. I have learned to replace eggs in my meals because I'm allergic to eggs, and I have learned to cook gluten free if needed.

Along the way, I was introduced to Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum: http://www.bobsredmill.com/xanthan-gum.html which is often used to replace gluten. It looks like an off white powder. Much like almond flour, but finer. In reality, it a polysaccharide, derived from the bacterial coat of Xanthomonas campestris, as Wikipedia tells us.  


Xanthan Gum is often used to thicken things, or to help hold things together. I have used it to create a gel like texture in home made shampoo/body wash, and in various foods. The stickiness found in bread and other baked goods if not coming from wheat gluten, needs to come from somewhere and some people use eggs to help things stick together better, but I use either Guar Gum (Which I ran out of and haven't found easily accessible at a nearby store since) or Xantham Gum, or occasionally some apple sauce. I bought a small bag of Xanthan Gum a few years ago, and it is still working for me because I use such small amounts of it.

When looking for egg replacements I was usually told to use banana which I am allergic to, or store bought replacers which either have some egg whites in it or have white potato. Neither of which is particularly good for my body. So I began experimentation of my own. People told me to try replacing eggs with apple sauce. And in some instances this worked great, but in some instances, apple sauce added too much liquid and not enough stickiness. Knowing that Xanthan Gum adds the stickiness that gluten provides, I thought perhaps a mixture of apple sauce and Xanthan Gum might be a good egg replacer. It turns out, it works. I tried out various ways of mixing it into recipes and found that although you can put it directly into water and shake or blend to get a gel much like egg whites, it tends to clump. Same when mixed with apple sauce or pear sauce.

Instead, just add Xanthan Gum to the dry ingredients of the recipe and mix well before adding liquids, then add about 6 tablespoons of water per teaspoon of Xanthan Gum. It's more of an art than a science for me, so I've done a lot of trial and error. Depending on the size of the recipe, what is missing from the recipe (gluten, eggs, etc.) and what else is already in the recipe, I add different amounts. It has taken a lot of trial and error, but it almost always works for me these days when added in small amounts.

So Xantham Gum, is it worth the money? Well I'd say buy as small amount as possible if you're going to try it, and then don't be afraid to experiment. Let me know how it goes!

Gluten-free Baked Cucumber Fries

If you've tasted zuchini fries, you'll enjoy these. Tho they aren't actually fried, I decided to keep calling them fries because that's what people are used to. I recommend you use egg substitute if allergic to eggs as I am, it works just fine for this purpose. So, I promised I would share the recipe if they tasted good, and here it is:

Gluten-free Baked Cucumber Fries:
2 medium cucumbers
1/4 cup egg or substitute
1/4 cup teff flour
1/4 cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (I used the stuff from Bob's Mill)
1 tablespoon white cheddar cheese powder (or appropriate vegan substitute)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Spray oil
baking tray/cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 475
Cut cucumbers in thirds and then each third into halves and then each half into thirds again. (equal portions makes for equal cooking time)
Mix dry ingredients (flour and cheese mixture)
Coat cucumber slices in egg substitute
coat cucumber slices in flour mixture
spray baking tray with spray oil
Place coated cucumber slices on tray so they are not touching

Place in oven for 3 minutes, then turn 1/3 and spray lightly with cooking oil. 3 more minutes, then repeat, cook for 3 more minutes or until golden brown.

These were so delicious I ate the entire batch for lunch. They were crunchy on the outside, soft and hot on the inside. YUM!  Happy birthday to me!

My Birthday Delights

It's my birthday and I'll eat if (and how) I want to!

For breakfast Patch is making me pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. YUM! She's making it right now (yes, I slept in for my birthday)

I think I'll try making baked cucumber strips today with cucumber from the garden for lunch. Here's the recipe from delish I'm thinking of: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/oven-fried-zucchini-sticks-recipe-5380 although I am planning to use gluten free flour in order to test out the recipe and if it works, I'll make some for a friend of mine on a gluten free diet some time. If it turns out to be great, I'll post the recipe.

I know, shock of all shockers, we have a garden in the desert. It requires a special flooding technique to grow fruits and vegetables in our back yard. Twice a week Patch and Carlie drag the hose over there and flood the 6 by 6 area we've designated for growing fruits and vegetables. They've built it with ridges all around, so it's easy to flood between the ridges. So far we've really enjoyed the cantalope and cucumbers. It looks like the corn will be ready next. Things seem to be growing in alphabetical order which is hilarious. I wonder if the watermelon will be ready last. Speaking of which, if you want a watermelon and live in the area, please do let us know. Patch and Carlie won't be able to eat them all on their own.

I am allergic to watermelon. On a funny side note, we did not plant the melons, they were in the compost. If you don't want things you've eaten to magically grow in your garden, throw the seeds in the trash. But if you enjoy surprise fruits and vegetables, put those seeds in your compost. That's how we got our tomatoe bush as well. It grew right out the side of the compost bin. Composting our fruits and vegetables mixed with a slight bit of starter manure from the horse stable down the street has been the real miracle key to growing things in the desert. Now we have grown beans, cantalope, cucumber, corn, peas, tomatoes and watermelon. The beans sprouted and then died because the weather really did get too hot for those spindly little vines to stand up to. But I can see growing them again at the begining of next spring.

For my birthday dinner we will be eating food from The Original Burrito Company over in Ahwatukee. They recently moved into the building KFC used to inhabit. It's even got a drive through! I am so happy for them that they have been able to expand their business in such a way. Local, family run businesses doing well makes my heart happy. So supporting a local family owned business on my birthday and eating a special treat from my favorite restaurant is a great combination. So although I'm intolerant to chicken, I'm going to have a big ol' chicken, bean and cheese burrito for dinner.

I'm not supposed to be eating cake either, but for my birthday was told by both my integrative and endocrynology doctors to splurge. So we'll be having angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream from a spray can. Not exactly healthy, but occasionally it helps me stick to eating healthy foods if I splurge with the occasional sweet treat that reminds me of the foods we ate growing up. Angel food cake with all it's big fluffy delight and big fresh strawberries on top reminds me of Irvine. Summer in Irvine used to mean going out to the strawberry fields and picking through the leftovers. They would sell whatever you could fit in your bag for a buck. Fresh, hand picked, and delishous strawberries! What a great sensory memory for my 39th birthday.

Vegetarian Burrito

Recently we got out the gluten free vegan cookbook. This is a great thing to do right before making a shopping list, because it usually requires ingredients which don't last long. In this case, as usually, it turned out to be delicious. I did have to make a few modifications due to my personal preferences and allergies, but I tried things I had thought I was allergic to and been avoiding my whole life like tomatoes. Turns out, they're delicious in a burrito! (duh)

These can be vegan depending on what tortillas you use and how you cook your beans, or of course you could add meat if you're a raging carnivore. But they were delicioius as is, so I recomend you try them as are unless you're allergic or intollerant to something on this ingrediant list. Also, they are gluten free if you use

large rice or hemp tortillas (gluten free)
1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yam or 2 small yams
1 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 seeded and chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 cup seeded and diced tomatoe
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

prick yam all over and and cook through (5 to 6 minutes on high in microwave or 400 degrees for 20 minutes in the oven) rinse, strain and cook pinto beans
while the yams cook put olive oil in a skillet on medicum high heat and sautee chopped onion, then add bel pepper and then add garlic. Sautee them all well and then add the cooked, chopped yams. Finally add the rest of the ingrediants and mix together.

We put some of the ingredients into tortillas, had 2 burritos and saved the rest of the mixture in the fridge in an air tight container till later. It was delicious for the next 2 days whenever someone wasn't around to help and I wasn't up to the task of food prep. So it would probably be a great thing to have in the fridge for a pre-teen to pop in the microwave the next day. I just put some in a tortilla and heated it for 1 minute. Wallah! Lunch!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Obviously you can tweak the recipe to your own tastes, but we loved them just like this. Even Patch and Carlie admitted to loving them. We also love this with black beans as the original recipe called for.

Yam and black bean tacos

This is going to sound either very simple or very strange depending on your experience with the ingredients. It was inspired both by one of my favorite snacks (sweet potato chips and black beans) AND by a recipe we read somewhere for vegetarian tacos.

bake one sweet potato or yam and cube
mix with 1 can black beans (Strained) and heat until black beans are heated through
add feta cheese and 2 tablespoons lime juice
serve in warm corn tortillas.

YUM!

PB&J Banana Bread

I probably should have taken a picture of this... maybe next time. I would definitely make PB&J Banana Bread again. We used Bob's Red Mill biscuit and baking mix plus 2 bananas, about a cup of peanut butter chips, and 3/4 cup dried cranberries. We also thought about dried apricots, but Jenn opted for the dried cranberries. I love baking with friends, and this recipe happened to be gluten free. So just follow the recipe for banana bread on the back of the bag, and instead of raisins add dried cranberries, and instead of  nuts the peanut butter chips. We made sure to get gluten free peanut butter chips (which should be gluten-free anyway, but we checked to be sure) I suspect this would also be great with dark chocolate chips, but I can't eat chocolate as it triggers my migraines.

If you choose to make this, let me know how it turns out! I think my vegan friends can easily alter this recipe but let me know if I'm wrong, and at first glance it seems to fit vegetarian restrictions, but as I'm not myself a vegetarian again, please clue me in if it's not. And more specifically, if you are a friend of mine and have food restrictions, please let me know if this is on your edible list as I might just make some for you some time!

We loved it best warm. I've been enjoying this as a breakfast treat. It has grain, protein, fruit and sugar, what more could you want in a breakfast!? Whenever I eat a slice I heat it up with some buttery type product on it. DEEEEEELISH!

Gluten-Free Not the Answer for Me?

Good news? I tested negative for celiac. Bad news? Still no answers...although my allergist agreed with Dr Heather, I have immunity issues. She says this is why I get hives, my body is overreacting to minor allergens. She recommended my PCP give me a Pneumovax 23 to boost my immune system because apparently my pneumococal titers are way off. She also agreed that my Epstein Barr Virus had recently re-initiated itself which is why I felt exhausted and constantly droopy/fatigued recently. But I must say, the high dose of vitamins B12, D and now consistent vitamin A and B Complex that Dr Heather kicked it's butt! She has me on has me back to feeling energetic, so that has been a blessing this week as I had 2 to 3 doctor visits daily!

Daily doc visits every day this week except today that is, today is my day of rest. Well, supposedly it is so. I have a list of things to do. Doctors to call, addresses to find, things to ask people...it will be a busy day of rest but at least I'm not running around getting poked and prodded and made dizzy. Not today anyway.

So I feel a bit dejected. Is that strange? I should be celebrating not being a Celiac right? But I thought I'd found the answers. When I was eating 100% gluten-free I did feel better. I was however able to eat some really yummy mac n cheese on regular noodles last night. And I must admit, I am looking forward to trying out this new pasta bar in Phoenix. But I am still feeling disappointed. I think this is because I thought I had found the answer.

Now for my friends who are gluten-free and read this blog, never fear there will still be the occasional (probably more than occasional) gluten-free recipe. This is because I have found that many things we make are accidentally gluten-free and pretty much anything vegan I make or easily can be. And I will still be preparing vegan and/or vegetarian foods and writing about them here. So whenever I eat or prepare something I enjoy and I find it worthy of sharing with others, I'll post it here. Especially if I find it makes me feel healthier. I will add a gluten-free label to make it simpler to find my posts which have gluten-free recipes or when I post about restaurants that serve gluten-free food. Speaking of restaurants, we went out to celebrate a recent victory with some friends the other night, and they had a gluten-free menu at Pei Wei.

I am not going back to eating all gluten-filled foods all the time over night, heck probably never, but I did have pasta last night. It doesn't seem to have negatively affected me. I'm still feeling sick, but I still felt sick when I was off gluten. It just doesn't seem to be the fix for me. Unless the toothpaste I use has gluten. That's possible, I hadn't gotten around to checking that out. But again, I ate regular pasta last night and felt fine. A little gassy, my eyes and nose are itchy, but the gas was probably the cheese I put on it, and the itchy eyes and nose are most likely from sitting outside so much yesterday around all that ragweed. I think I will try going back to occasionally eating things that have gluten in them, and see how I feel. If I start feeling worse, I'll go back off the gluten and see if that fixes it. Because heck, if I feel better off the stuff, it's worth giving up. Or if I feel best on a low gluten diet, same thing.

Maybe today I will eat some oatmeal. Not a ton of gluten in oatmeal. In fact some people would say there's none...depends on if the oats were dusted with wheat flour. But I miss my morning hot cereal. Never did bother putting gluten-free hot cereal in the pantry. Maybe now I won't bother. Shopping gluten-free was a bit more expensive. Mostly because I hadn't mastered low cost shopping while gluten-free. If I end up not going 100% off gluten, maybe I'll never master that...but I do think I will try making some delicious low cost meals and writing about them. I made a really yummy one on the day before yesterday and it was even better when I pumped it up with some lime juice for lunch yesterday. That entry coming soon.

Enough rambling... catch you soon, and wish me luck in finding the culprit for my health problems, because I STILL have no concrete answers and that my friends, is the worst feeling ever. I'd have felt better being told I was a Celiac than being told there is still no clear answer. Although my allergist insists I will feel tons better once my immune system is sorted out and my allergies are treated, I have my doubts. All I can hope, is that she is right. And I can revel in some glutenous pasta and not feel any sicker than usual, while I wait for the new doctors I've been referred to. Plus I can continue seeing the miracle workers at Bodhi Body Integrative Medical Centers who have me feeling better than I have in 20 years. And THAT is something to celebrate!

Cornbread Muffins with Local Toppings

Patch made a Pamela's Products mix of gluten free cornbread muffins the other day. They turned out to be a great texture, but not as much flavor as I was expecting.  They're great with toppings.

So far we've tried both Cactus Jelly by the Cactus Candy Company, and local honey from the Fruit and Bread Basket store down the street. I love prickly pear anything, so the jelly is a big hit and great on the cornbread muffins. You can find versions of cactus jelly at lots of stores in the area. Whole Foods, or the little store we like to stop at on the way home are my two favorite places to find it. I'll take pictures next time we stop by the Fruit and Bread Basket or whatever it's called and I'll do an entry highlighting the place. Next time I'm there I plan on trying Orange Prickly Pear  Marmalade. Sounds delicious. But toppings like these are a bit more expensive and I tend to use them slowly over time, so for now it's local honey and cactus jelly.

The local honey comes in a variety of flavors. Mesquite, orange blossom, lemon blossom, etc. I like trying the various flavors so we have a few different kinds in the cupboard. I've found the lighter flavors go well with the cornbread muffins. The bonus of eating local honey is that it is said to help you develop resistance to local allergens. Handy! Maybe nature knows something we don't.

Polenta with Goat Cheese and Capicola

1 cup polenta
2 cups beef broth (fat and gluten free)
1 1/4 cups water
3 oz goat cheese
1 oz grated Parmesiana Reggiano
1 oz Capicola

Preheat oven to 350.
In baking dish, mix 1/4 cup water into polenta creating a slurry and stir well to help eliminate lumps. Then slowly mix in remaining liquid striving to avoid clumping of polenta. This helps ensure a smooth final product without requiring you to constantly stir.  Bake in oven for 50 minutes.
Chop goat cheese and Capicola (delicious, very thinly sliced Italian meat)
Remove Polenta from oven and stir in chopped ingredients
Sprinkle on Paremesiana Reggiano in thin layer over the top
Bake for 10 more  minutes

Creates 12 small or 6 larger servings. You can eat immediately as a soft polenta or place in refrigerator and cool until firm. Firm product is also delicious when reheated, but I do recommend eating some straight out of the oven (careful there's hot cheese in there!) because there's a thin crispy layer of Parmesiana Reggiano over the top and it's a great combination of textures. But it's great reheated and the Capicola was like tiny crispy surprise bits of joy sprinkled throughout.   I ate it as a side with leftover Carlie-made Lasagna, and then in the morning I had 2 small servings for a quick and easy breakfast before heading off to the doctor. I couldn't wait for it to heat up and tasted a bite of it while still cold which was yummy, but when reheated it had this great texture ... something between cheesy cornbread and polenta.

You've got to try this if you like Italian food. If you're used to Southern Italian meals like the food from Cicily, you may not be used to polenta. It's a corn meal and can be served in all sorts of ways most of which are vegetarian or vegan. This particular way is really tasty, but does have both meat and milk products in it so is obviously neither.

Carlie-made Gluten Free Lasagna

Carlie made some amazing lasagna. She always does. We did have a little problem with the gluten-free pasta... it said there was no need to boil it. In fact the instructions said not to boil it, simply to put it into the lasagna layers. We were worried it would still be mushy however when the lasagna was ready, the pasta was still hard. DOH!

It was better today after reheated, and I suspect it will be perfect tomorrow. Which is something to remember. Next time we're planning to SLIGHTLY soften the pasta before putting it into the layers.

Otherwise, delicious! So much so that Patch says it is delicious both ways and she doesn't notice the pasta being "too hard" It's not uncooked, it's simply a bit overly hard to the more critical pallets in the house. I found it much better today, and Carlie (self critical perhaps?) felt it was still a bit too hard. Like I said tho, I suspect tomorrow it will be the perfect consistancy. If we'd boiled it, it wouldn't last. Something to remember for the future. Maybe make 1/2 as much or make it when we have twice as many people to eat it? Still a work in process. I'll share the recipe and details once we get the details down pat and IF Carlie allows her recipe to be put out there. Family secrets to protect you know!

Cranberry Citrus Muffins

It seems to be that I notice I have most of the ingredients for some recipe or other, and by the time I get the rest, something has been eaten. Or in this case, drunk as the orange juice seems to have disappeared between our recent shopping trip and baking these. The muffins I made turned out to be good, but a little lacking in flavor and sweetness. Good texture tho. Light and fluffy!  I altered the recipe off the back of the Bob's Red Mill biscuit and baking mix a bit, but it's really good with topping. I was not expecting these to rise as much as they did since I have heard horror stories about baking gluten-free, nor to be as fluffy as they are. I was pleasantly surprised.

2 cups Bobs biscuit and baking mix
2 tblspn Meyer Lemon Olive Oil
1 heaping cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 lemon
1/2 cup cranberry apple juice
1/2 cup lemon-lime soda
1 heaping cup dried cranberries

Whisk oil, egg, sugar and vanilla. Continue whisking while slowly adding juice of 1 lemon, cran-apple juice, and lemon lime soda. Slowly stir in biscuit and baking mix until fully mixed, then add extra lemon-lime soda as needed until the consistency matches a slightly thick muffin mix.

Next time I'm going to replace 1/2 the sugar with something less fattening like apple sauce, and I'll use orange juice instead of the cran-apple, but I figured I was already replacing something in this recipe, why mess with it more. By the way, if you're watching your weight, you may want to use diet soda. I can't use most diet sodas for this trick as they usually have sugar replacements which trigger or worsen my migraines, but I'm keeping my eyes open. Suggestions?

Carlie helped me bake these, because running around the kitchen to get ingredients and then mixing them up is still a bit beyond my abilities, especially after a week of lab tests which have left me feeling drained. No pun intended. I'm glad Carlie likes baking with me on her days off, because I was feeling the need for bread in my life this morning and ended up deciding to turn a cranberry orange bread recipe into the slightly altered muffin recipe above. I figured I can portion out muffins better than I can a loaf of bread. Plus I was curious to see how the trick of adding soda to the recipe would lighten things up. Considering how yummy these are warm, with some margarine and orange marmalade, I think I may need to freeze some up to make sure we don't eat too many at once. We'll see how they hold up to the freezer.