It was the boys birthday...

It was the boys birthday last week. I was SUPER busy. I didn't have huge amounts of time to make a cake so I wanted something easy that I could throw together. I used two flan pans, thew the icing in the middle and made a giant cookie.

I've updated my flour recipe and I'm really liking it. DH swears that he can taste the corn flour in the other mix so I swapped out sorghum for the corn flour.

1 cup of corn starch

1/2 cup of brown rice flour
1/2 cup of white rice flour

1 cup of potato starch

1/2 cup of sorghum flour

1/2 cup of tapioca starch

4 tsp xantham gum

and I used my standard cake recipe I've been using for years:

1 1/2 cups of the above flour

1/2 cup of GF oat flour (you can grind your own)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of butter

1 3/4 cups of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

1 1/3 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Add flour and milk. Mix until smooth. For flan pan bake for 20 min or until tooth pick comes out clean.

For the butter cream icing:

1 1/2 cups of salted butter, softened

2/3 cup Crisco shortening

5-7 tbs heavy cream 2 tsp clear vanilla

2 lbs powdered sugar (about 8 cups)

1-3 tbs corn syrup

Mix the butter, crisco cream, corn syrup on low speed until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until mixed through.

P is for Pasta

I was at my favorite supermarket today looking for silken tofu and found gluten free Pasta Slim Fettuccine. It is a shirataki konjac flour noodle that is pretty much instant. The biggest bonus is, that this noodle only has 50 calories per package (2 servings in the 200g package)

I'm so excited to find a GF pasta that isn't packed with empty calories. From a nutrition point of view, that is the hardest part of not eating gluten. Normal wheat flour is fortified giving it extra nutrition. Gluten free products, especially in Canada are not. They also usually have more calories. Finding a gluten free low calorie substitute really excites me.

not so green smoothie

I love green smoothies. There is nothing like drinking your veggies. They are usually my first food of the day. I found them fairly early on in this voyage and found it hard to believe that a bunch of raw fruits and veggies pureed would calm a tender tummy but they do unlike anything else. We won't even talk about the massive amounts of fruits and veggies you get in one single smoothie. By my accounts, you get a full days 8 servings of plant matter in a single smoothie.

I always start with a base of avocado and spinach. I usually use half an avocado and a couple of handfulls of spinach. The rest I just play around with.



I had some frozen blueberries in my freezer. I have been reading about the wonderful antioxidant powers of blueberries. Keeping them frozen, makes the smoothie deliciously cold.

I am very fortunate to live in a place in canada were the climate is warm enough for peaches to grow. They are in season and pretty irresistible right now. Today I threw in a whole pitted peach along with a splash of orange juice to make things flow. I wiz it through the blender and, viola, a not so green smoothie. Thank you blueberries!

Gluten Free Date Squares

My mother and my aunties always called date square, matrimonial cake. I'm not sure why. I remember going to my Auntie's house when I was a kid and having home made date square for the very first time. She had lovingly hand chopped the dates into a fine paste. I started experimenting with date square when I was pregnant with my youngest son. Oh, what those cravings will do for you. My older two kids were as nuts for it as I was as a kid.

I realized quite early on in my celiac journey that date square would be pretty easy to make if I could find GF oats. I found them on-line from a place called Only Oats out of Saskatchewan (onlyoats.com).

No hand chopping of dates for me, its the blender all the way and I love the texture of pureed dates.

Filling

3 cups of dates

1 1/2 cups of water

3/4 cup of brown sugar

Crumble

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of butter softened

1 cup of brown rice flour

3/4 cup of sorghum flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 of gf baking soda

1 1/2 cups of GF oats

Date Filling

Place all ingredients into a large pot and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. Puree with a blender or food processor.

Directions

Heat oven 400 degrees. Grease rectangular pan (13" x 9"). Mix together butter and brown sugar, then add remaining ingredients and mix until it appears crumbly. Press half of the crumb into bottom of the pan. Spread date filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture, pressing lightly. Bake 25 to 30 min until golden brown.