Pumpkin Pie Part 2

My husband brought home a container of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix instead of the puree...and I had to be at a party by 2:30 this afternoon.  So I decided to experiment.  Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix has all the sugar, flavor and pumpkin in it.  You add the eggs and milk.  It is labeled gluten free.

You are supposed to add 2/3 cup evaporated milk and 2 eggs.

I added 1/4 cup cornstarch and 2/3 cup of SO DELICIOUS Coconut Nog.  I figured it is thicker than regular milk so I would give it a whirl.  The raw pie filling tastes delicious-creamy and flavorful.  It LOOKS like regular pie filling more than the other recipe did.

It is currently baking-I'm not sure if it is going to be brilliant or a complete flop, so I'll update when it is done with a picture.  I don't know if it will thicken right!  Keeping my fingers crossed.

**Update** This was fantastic!  I did serve it later that day and the texture was a bit sticky, but after refrigerating overnight it was beautiful.  The pumpkin "custard" was thick, creamy and silky smooth.  The flavor was outstanding.  I would definitely do this again-the flavor was very similar to regular pumpkin pie.

Chocolate-Bourbon Cake

This is a cake that my husband loves-but it is so much work (and it smells so good) that I wanted in on the fun so had to figure out a gluten and dairy free method.

Inspired by: simplyrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

5 oz Earth Balance Coconut Spread

2 cups King Arthur's Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour

5 ounces Enjoy Life Mega Chunks

1/4 cup instant espresso (can use instant coffee)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup bourbon whiskey Jack Daniel's is Gluten-Free

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Pam Spray  a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity).  

2 Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool.

3 Put instant espresso and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Stir in whiskey and salt; let cool.

4 Beat coconut spread until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda, xanthan gum and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.

5 With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes.

6 Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 20 minutes. Let cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.

The cake came out really nicely!  It is moist with a nice texture.  It cooked much quicker than the regular-flour cake did-

I actually baked 2 cakes (so I could taste it before taking it to a party).  The lighter color pan (Nordic Ware) cooked in 45 minutes.  The darker pan took 55.  As you can see, it is important to let the cake cool before taking it out of the pan, the darker pan cooled 10 minutes, the lighter pan cooled 15.  I would recommend letting it cool slightly longer to ensure it gets out safely!

Gluten-Free Cookie Crust

I used a box of Dr. Lucy's Cinnamon Thin cookies and a few tablespoons of Coconut oil to make a cookie pie crust.  Great flavor!

Pumpkin Cupcakes: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

After making my pumpkin pie I had about a cup of pumpkin puree left-and I had a birthday party to go to so I decided to try a pumpkin cupcake.

I used this recipe and made some modifications:    Joy of Baking Pumpkin Cupcakes

1/2 cup Spectrum Vegetable Shortening

1 cup white sugar

Cream together

Add 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla and mix well.

Add 1 cup pumpkin and mix well.

Mix in a separate bowl:

1 1/2 c Bisquick Gluten-Free 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together. Using cupcake pan either greased or with cupcake liner. Fill cup to top (these raise nicely compared to the GF cake mixes I've used, when you fill to the top you get a nice dome).  

I made a standard shortening/powdered sugar/vanilla frosting, adding a bit of So Delicious Coconut milk to make it a bit lighter.  I added some cinnamon for flavor.

Very moist, flavorful and really nice texture!  Light, not dense at all.  We are able to tolerate baked egg in our house-but I think if you wanted to leave out the egg add another 1/4 - 1/2 cup pumpkin would make these great without egg.

Creamy Beef Pasta

Creamy Beef Pasta

I was boiling the pasta and browning the beef and realized I didn't have any spaghetti sauce.  So we went with this instead!

Brown 1 lb ground beef
Add crushed garlic, dried parsley, dried basil, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste

Pour in coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups), then add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch whisked in cold water.  Whisk as you add it to avoid lumps.  Will thicken in about 1 minute.

Boil Pasta (I like Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta in elbow shape), drain and add to the mix.

To be honest the kids weren't fond of it, but my husband and I loved it!  Next time I'll leave a bit of the beef and noodles with less seasoning for them...but it is definitely a keeper.

Favorite Products List! (Frequently Updated)

I'm going to start a list and add to it with time, I remember the hardest thing about food allergy shopping is spending lots of money on mediocre food.

I am a "scratch" baker and prefer to always make my own but the gluten free really has limited my ability.  I'm starting with favorite products and hope to branch out as I become more confident with gluten free ingredients.  For now it is keeping my baking alive to be able to use some of these premade flours/mixes to experiment with and having the frozen food for convenience is so helpful.

These products are all Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Peanut-Free, Tree Nut-Free (except coconut).  Most are also Egg-Free, however we tolerate baked egg fine so there are eggs in some of the baked goods.

King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour:  This is amazing flour with a great texture.  I have now baked sugar cookies, cakes, pie crusts with direct substitution into regular recipes.  I am still adding xantham gum.

So Delicious Coconut Milk Products:  We have switched nearly 100% to coconut based "milk" products.  The texture is amazing without the graininess of soy products and the ice "cream" is creamy!

Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread: best in my opinion for baking and topping everything.  Nice flavor, melts well, works well in recipes.

Ancient Harvest Pasta: great texture, al dente!  Doesn't get slimy and has a nice neutral pasta flavor.

Sunbutter-a life saver!  I don't even MISS peanut butter.  Sunbutter tastes so nice and the texture is perfect for recipes.

Enjoy Life: love the chocolate chips-I use them for baking, trail mix, snacking.

Van's Foods: Frozen waffles!

French Meadow: mini frozen cakes, muffins, tortillas-and my local Safeway is now carrying them!

Ian's: Corn Dogs!  Chicken Nuggets!  Fish Sticks!  Alphabet fries!!  Classic kid food available allergy free.

Udi's : Gluten Free Bread/pastries that tastes good.  I'm particularly fond of the cinnamon raisin bread toasted.

Dr. Lucy's Cookies: nice crunchy crispy cookies.

Gluten Free Bisquik: lovely for quick baking, pie crust, muffins, pancakes.  Light, neutral flavor (doesn't taste like beans like some flour mixes!)

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Mixes: Yellow cake, chocolate cake, BROWNIES!  The chocolate cake and brownies are particular favorites.  They have a nice texture and hold up to decorating.  These do call for eggs-and I haven't tried them egg-free.

Reactions

Food reactions are always so scary-especially when it is a little one who is having the reaction.  For us reactions can vary from stomach upset, urgent bathroom trips, hives, breathing difficulty and in one case shock requiring hospitalization.  Generally I can stem it by using Benadryl and we've thankfully never needed the Epipen that I carry everywhere.

It is so important to read labels.  I thought I had it DOWN with my son's allergies-and then Baby Girl had to go and throw me a curve ball.  She is allergic to green peas-easy, right? 

Not really-apparently many many gluten free items have pea protein added.  All the Kinnikinnick brand items I looked at today had pea protein....and I just found that it is also in Amy's GF/DF Mac & Cheese-I was so excited to have this for my kids to eat but no more (and I just bought 4 boxes!).  

Last week the kids devoured two boxes of this and Baby Girl started having hives and severe bathroom troubles....I couldn't figure out why.  I thought maybe they had mixed it up with the Dairy Cheese- Now I know. 

So READ LABELS Mamas!  

"Creamy" Chicken Enchiladas: gluten-free, dairy-free

This is one of my son's favorite dishes, it is pretty basic but I'm including the research I've done about the allergy aspects of the ingredients.  I started making this back when I only worried about dairy-free and now have made it several times since we've gone gluten-free.  It is quick and easy once you have the ingredients on hand!

I start with about 1 1/2 - 2 # chicken-I like to use chicken thighs and breasts and boil it about 20' in salted water.  If you want to make it even quicker you can purchase a whole roasted chicken at the store.

Just be sure your "helper" doesn't eat all the chicken!

Shred the chicken with a fork and toss it in the bowl to mix with:

1 large onion, diced

1 can sliced black olives

1 28 oz can La Victoria RED Enchilada sauce or Las Palmas RED Enchilada Sauce (the green is unfortunately not gluten free).   I usually use two-a hot and mild, mild in the chicken mix and hot for the topping.
La Victoria
Las Palmas

Several large tablespoons of Tofutti Sour Supreme (contains Soy & see attached about their response about gluten)
Is Tofutti Gluten-Free?

Wrap in gluten free tortillas (or alternately you can layer like lasagna), pour another can of sauce over top and bake 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Pie and Whipped Cream? Sure thing!

My favorite pumpkin pie is a modification of this recipe:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1937,159168-252205,00.html


The lemon extract really makes it! I just use So Delicious Coconut milk beverage in place of the milk and it is delicious.

Whipped Cream-I've seen many variations of this on vegan websites. Often they add other ingredients but I think the simpler the better.

Take a can of full fat coconut milk, refrigerate it upside down for several days. (I try to remember to always have one in the refrigerator so it is always handy). Flip it over, take off the top and pour off the liquid into a bowl (don't discard yet!). Put into your refrigerated mixer bowl (works best if everything is quite cold), and begin to whip it! It takes a little longer than whipping cream, I'd estimate about 5 minutes. You may add a little of the liquid in if it seems too thick, just be careful to not make it too liquidy. You can add a bit of sugar and vanilla if you like before it is done whipping. The nice thing about it is it doesn't separate so you can make it a little in advance. It holds up nicely in the refrigerator.

I've also read that the coconut milk works in the fresh whipped cream dispensers-I plan to purchase one of these before the holidays as a little gift to myself.

Whipped cream dispenser

Now with the gluten issue I need to just find a fabulous pie crust recipe and we'll be golden for the fall!

Birthday Cakes!

Since we can't just purchase birthday cakes over the years I have done them all myself-now friends are asking me to decorate for them too!

Top 8 Allergen Free Pre-School Snack List

I've always preferred to just supply my own food-I always have alternatives in my bag in case there isn't a safe food option for my kids.

BUT at our new Toddler Group the other parents said they wanted to be sure to bring only safe food for Baby Girl and another little boy who has food allergies in our class. Between the two of them we've covered most of the Top 8 allergens....

Baby Girl: Wheat, dairy, nuts, eggs & green peas. Friend Boy: peanuts, dairy, egg and soy.

His mom and I came up with a "safe" snack list of ideas for the other parents to bring. This group is 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 years old and so we have to avoid things that are also common choking hazards due to the preschool rules.

Here is the snack list we came up with, would love to add to this so any suggestions appreciated!

PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHECK LABELS!  Ingredients often change and you can't assume it was safe because it used to be!

• Fruit/berries/melons
• Veggies (except green peas!)
• Applesauce
• Hummus
• Olives
• Rice
• Beans
• So Delicious Coconut Milk/Yogurt (sold at PCC, Top Foods, Whole Foods and Safeway)
• Cereals: Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Kix, Trix
• Freeze dried fruit “chips” (such as the Costco Real Fruit Slices or Trader Joe’s packages.)
• Lundberg Brown Rice Cakes-salted or nonsalted-(Quaker Rice cakes are not safe)
• Jello/plain fruit gelatin
• Van's Free frozen waffles (marked Gluten & Dairy Free)

A few notes:

Please keep processed food packaging so we can check the ingredients.

Gluten-free Bisquick mix is easy for making muffins & biscuits and can be found at Safeway among other stores.

Please avoid adding margarine, mayonnaise, dressings as these often have dairy/egg in them unless specifically marked dairy/egg free.

Dairy-Free Lasagna (even my husband eats it!)

1 package of gluten-free lasagna noodles, cooked

1 pound ground sausage, browned

1/2 bag of frozen spinach, chopped onions and other veggies you enjoy. I like mushrooms and olives!

1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce (check the ingredients for dairy)

1/2 to 1 tub of Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese (depending on how creamy you like it)

Mix together.

In lasagna pan put 1/4 of jar of spaghetti sauce on bottom, then a layer of noodles, then a layer of the meat sauce. Alternate layers until you are finished with the meat sauce, I usually have 3 layers. Top with noodles and then the rest of the plain spaghetti sauce on top to keep it from being dry.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

I've tried this with different cheese substitutes and really feel they don't add anything. This recipe is good and creamy and while not exactly like lasagna both the kids eat it up and ask for more! My husband would be happier if I made half of it with regular cheese, but he still enjoys it.