Black Bean Brownies

One of my friends who is not even gluten free introduced me to these yummy treats - and I LOVE when I find a GF recipe that just uses "normal" ingredients instead of all the exotic flours and things that your average person doesn't keep around.  We've made these 5 or 6 times before finally getting a picture; they kept disappearing too fast!

Black Bean Brownies

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
optional 1/2 teaspoon each of baking power and baking soda to make them more cake-like

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor until blended well.  Pour into a greased 8x8 baking pan.  Stir in some chocolate chips or nuts if you so desire.  Bake at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.  They cut better if you let them cool.

Ginger Snaps

Our mom has the best soft and chewy ginger snap recipe and when I think about not be able to eat them in all their gluten-y goodness it brings tears to my eyes. So today while scouring the web for a GF dessert to make, I stumbled upon a paleo molasses spice cookie but changed it a bit because it had no sugar (whaaaa?) and had some other weird stuff instead of molasses. So here is my version:

  

Ginger Snaps
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger (I threw in a pinch more)
½ teaspoon cinnamon (and I threw in a extra pinch of this)
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup molasses

¼ cup sugar

Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Stir together the melted butter, sugar, and molasses.
Mix wet ingredients into dry.
Scoop onto parchment paper lined baking sheet 1 tablespoon at a time and gently press.
Bake at 350° for 6-10 minutes.
Cool and serve.

I didn't wait for them to cool completely to start devouring them.  They tasted very close to mom's recipe.  The only difference was the texture.  The almond flour makes them a bit grittier than our normal smooth floury ones.  

Are they as good as the originals? NEVER!

Are they a good substitute for what we really want and can't have? *sniffle* i guess....

Zucchini Boats

What to do with the mountain of zucchini that my garden is producing.  It is out of control!

Luckily for me, I saw this recipe on Facebook.  My garden is also producing tomatoes and basil, so this was a perfect fit.  It is now my all time favorite zucchini recipe.  We have made it several times and love it!

Zucchini Boats

Cut several small zucchinis in half and place on a cookie sheet.  Slice a little off the back if they will not lie flat.  Brush with olive oil.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Cover with thinly-sliced tomatoes.  Sprinkle with mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.  Top with fresh basil after baking.

These are the best!

Fried Chicken

I am amazed at how mainstream gluten-free eating is becoming.  My Costco now stocks gluten-free bread, pasta and flour.  Crazy.  In the Costco Connection magazine, they had an article about gluten-free eating.  This recipe for fried chicken was included.  It is from a restaurant, Posana Cafe, in North Carolina that is totally gluten free.  I hope Jessica and Taylor can try it out.

Posana's Fried Chicken  with Sausage Gravy

Flour Mixture

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup corn flour  (I used corn meal that I had on hand.)

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix thoroughly and set aside.  (This made way more than is needed for this recipe.  I did twice as much chicken as the recipe called for and I still had some of the flour mixture left over.  Next time I will divide this in half and save some for another time.)

Gravy

1/4 cup white rice flour

1 teaspoon potato starch

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 pound raw breakfast sausage

3 tablespoons butter

3 cups whole milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together white rice flour, potato starch and conrstarch, and set aside.  Cook sausage in a medium saucepan, breaking it into smaller pieces while cooking.  Add butter.  When melted, add rice flour mixture and stir.  When completely smooth, add milk and reduce heat to medium.  Let mixture thicken, stirring occasionally nad season with salt and pepper to taste.

Fried Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 ounces buttermilk

4 ounces canola oil  (I used coconut oil.)

Soak chicken breats in the buttermilk in a bowl.  Add oil to a cast-iron skillet or saute pan and heat on medium-high.  When oil is hot, remove chicken from buttermilk and let excess drip off.

Place chicken in the flour mixture to thoroughly coat.  Gently place breaded chicken in pan and cook until golden brown.  Turn to other side.  When second side is golden brown, remove chicken and place on rack.  Serves 4.

We didn't try the gravy, but the chicken was a big hit.

Pavlova

This dessert is as delicious as it is beautiful!  It was really quite simple, but looked so elegant.  We loved it.  I found the recipe in the July Good Housekeeping magazine.

Berry and Lemon Pavlova

2/3 c. sugar

1 Tbsp.cornstarch

4 lg. egg whites

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

3/4 c heavy whipping cream

1 c. prepared lemon curd

1 Tbsp. honey

Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.  Onto sheet of parchment paper, trace 9-in. circle.  Turn over; use to line cookie sheet.

2. In small bowl, whisk sugar and cornstarch.  With mixer on medium speed, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.  Add sugar mixture to whites 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating well between additions.  Add vinegar and extracts; beat until stiff peaks form.

3. Transfer whites to parchment circle; spread whites to form nest, with sides higher than center.  Bake 2 hours.  Turn off oven; let stand in oven at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

4. To serve, remove parchment from meringue.  Beat cream on medium high speed until stiff peaks form.  Spread over meringue.  Dollop top with curd; spread evenly.  In large bowl, microwave honey and 1 Tbsp. water on high for 20 seconds.  Stir in berries until well coated.  Spoon over curd.  Serve immediately.

I did add a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar to the cream.  I also omitted the honey because my berries were so sweet!

Oopsies

This recipe has been going around on Facebook and they looked delicious, so we decided to give them a try.  They are super simple and quick to make, and they don't taste bad.  Problem is that they really don't taste that good.  They are like eating air.  I could probably eat about ten and not even realize that I had eaten any.  The recipe on Facebook said that you could use them for hamburger buns, but they were much too delicate to hold up to a hamburger.  Here's the recipe, if you are interested.

Oopsies
6–8 depending on size.

3 eggs
100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cream cheese
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder or cream of tarter (can be excluded)

Separate the eggs, with the egg whites in one bowl and the egg yolks in another.
Whip the egg whites together with the salt until very stiff. You should be able to turn the bowl over without the egg whites moving.

Mix the egg yolks and the cream cheese well. If you choose, 1tsp of cream of tarter or baking powder (this makes the Oopsie more bread-like).

Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mix – try to keep the air in the egg whites.

Put 6 large or 8 smaller oopsies on a baking tray.
Bake in the middle of the oven at 150° C (300° F) for about 25 minutes – until they turn golden.

You can eat Oopsies as bread or use them as a bun for a hotdog or hamburger. You can also put different kinds of seeds on them before baking them, for instance poppy, sesame or sunflower seeds.