Peanut Butter Balls

A great snack and easy to make. The kids can even help make the balls.

Peanut Butter Balls

Mix together in a medium bowl:
1 C. Peanut butter
3/4 C. honey

Add:
3 C. quick oats

Mix in, along with any extras you want to add. We usually do:
1/2 C. ground flax seed
1/2 or 3/4 C chocolate chips
1/2 or 3/4 C craisins

We've done sunflower seeds, too.

After it all is mixed together, make 1-inch balls and refrigerate. If the mixture is especially sticky refrigerate for 15 minutes, then make the balls.

This is one of my kids' favorite snacks (along with granola bars). We go through a batch every week. Or sometimes in two days. :)

Homemade Fruit Snacks

I recently saw some recipes for homemade fruit snacks that I thought I'd try. I tried this one first, but the lemon juice made it too tart/sour for my kids' taste. So I looked at a few other recipes, and did my own version using proportions that looked like they worked in the other recipes. And we had success!
Since gelatin is actually good for you (a good amount of protein and good for your hair, skin, nails, etc.), and the only other ingredients are fruit and some honey, I let my kids have a lot more of these fruit snacks than I ever let them have of the store bought ones.

Fruit Snacks
1 1/2 C. strawberries or other fruit
1/2 C. fruit juice (I used V8 Fusion)
2 T. (or a little more) honey
1/4 C. gelatin

Heat fruit and juice on stove top for about 5 minutes until fruit is soft. Puree in a blender or food processor, add the honey, and whisk in a little at a time the gelatin, whisking continuously to avoid clumping of the gelatin. Pour into silicone molds and let set in fridge for an hour or two.

Delicious Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

A friend of mine brought me a plate of these delicious cookies with the recipe as a thank you last year for letting her borrow something. Turns out these are a perfect cookie for people who don't often cook gluten-free to make because they don't require xanthan gum. Who wants to spend $10 for xanthan gum you will rarely use and only need a teaspoon of to cook some cookies? 

They're also perfect for those who cook gluten-free a lot because they taste so good and are easy.

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. almond flour/meal

1/4 t. baking soda

1/8 t. salt

2 T. canola oil

2 T. agave nectar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/4 C. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, agave and vanilla. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by level teaspoonfuls (literally-a measured teaspoon!) onto baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 7-8 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Beware, they're bite size and delicious, so before you know it the whole batch will be gone. You might want to double the recipe if you want it to last more than 10 minutes.

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is super easy to make, especially if you have potato flakes (make sure they're GF). This time I made them with some Worcestershire Sauce and something else (tomato sauce, maybe, I don't remember) that I've learned that my kids don't like so much. Their favorite is super easy:

Shepherd's Pie

ground beef, cooked (with dried onions if you like it)

frozen mixed veggies of your choice (we especially like peas and corn)

Hormel mini pepperoni (the key ingredient to make it extra tasty)

After you cook the ground beef, add in the veggies and pepperoni (and a shake or two of Worcestershire Sauce if you like) and warm through.

Make mashed potatoes, either from real potatoes or potato flakes.

Put the beef mixture in the bottom, then cover with potatoes and cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

If you like cheese (and can eat it), add it for the last 10 minutes to melt on top. I've frozen this before successfully as well. Just make double and save one for later in the freezer.

 

Super easy Chewy-style Granola Bars

I have been on a quest to find the perfect homemade granola bars. My kids and I really like the Chewy granola bars, but, of course they are not gluten-free. I liked this one pretty well, but then I found this no-bake recipe that is super fast and easy and tastes just like the Chewy granola bars we used to buy.

The original was shared by a friend on facebook and credit was given to Carole Jones of My Kitchen Escapades. I've changed it just a little, and probably will tweak it a little more--if I fill the 9x13 pan they are too thin to stick together well, but I just leave 3 inches at the end clear and they're thick enough to stick really well.

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars
(recipe makes a 9x13 pan)

2 cups quick cooking gluten-free oats (or pulse whole oats in a food processor a bit)
1 C GF Rice Krispies cereal

1/4 C butter
1/4 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

I've subbed in coconut oil for the butter and it works just fine and makes it dairy-free as well. I think it doesn't stick together as well as with the butter, though. I've read that clarified butter is actually casein-free, so I've made some clarified butter to use and like that taste a little better, but it adds a lot more time--rather than making it in less than 5 minutes it's more like 15.

Mix -In variations listed below

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oats and cereal. Set a small saucepan over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the honey, brown sugar and salt. Stir together then leave it alone as it comes to a boil. Once the boil has reached all the way around the edges of the pan, begin timing. Allow this mixture to boil for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. During this time, you may need to turn the heat down a bit so it doesn't overflow, but be sure it keeps boiling.
2. Pour the mixture over the oats, using a rubber spatula to get all the sugar mixture out of the pan. Mix the ingredients together until the oats are completely coated. Add in your desired mix-in then press very firmly into a lightly greased 9x13" pan. If you like your bars thicker, you can use a smaller pan. If you do not press firmly enough, the bars will fall apart when you eat them. Place them in the fridge for 20 minutes then cut to size. Like I said, I do it about 9x 10 or 9x11 to get the thickness I like. I use a pizza cutter to cut them, except the very edges, which require an actual knife.

Chocolate Chip
Add 1/2 C of mini chocolate chips to the finished mixture before pressing into the pan, allowing it cool just a bit or you will end up with melted chips. Sprinkle on a few extra chips over the top after they are pressed into the pan.

White Chocolate Cranberry
Add 1/3 C of white chocolate chips and 1/3 C of Craisins to the finished mixture before pressing into the pan, allowing it to cool just a bit first or you will end up with melted chips.

Candy Bar
Add 1/3 C of Heath bar pieces, 1/3 C of mini M&M's and 1/3 C of chopped pretzels to the finished mixture before pressing into the pan.

Peanut Butter
Add 2 Tb of peanut butter to the finished sugar mixture before pouring it over the oats. Once mixed with the oats, add 1/2 C peanut butter chips before pressing into the pan. This is my preferred mix in, along with chocolate chips.

Raisin Nut
Add 1/3 C of chopped raisins and 1/3 C of chopped pecans to the finished mixture before pressing into the pan. 

I haven't gotten the timing right to not get the chocolate chips to melt, so they're pretty darn messy. But they are oh, so tasty.

Back to blogging update

Yes, this is the first post in about a year and a half. And consequently my baby boy will turn 18 months in just a couple of weeks. Looks like 3 kids is over the limit for keeping up with a food blog. But this 3rd kid was recently diagnosed (by myself) with Celiac Disease. So we're doing gluten-free hard core now. And he has a story all his own.

When Ryan went in for his 4 month check up he had dropped from 35th percentile down to around 5th percentile. Kind of a big drop. So we decided to start solids and come in for a check up in a month. He gained 3 ounces that month. I was breastfeeding and had not started him on gluten solids yet, so I decided to try going gluten-free to see if that helped. We came back in a week later and he had gained 6 ounces. The pediatrician and I were convinced. She sent me to a pediatric GI the following week. That week he lost 3 ounces, so the GI said she didn't think it was Celiac and we started supplementing with formula and extra calorie powder. Soon thereafter Ryan decided he was done breastfeeding and would only drink formula. He began to gain weight (though he had fallen below the curves on the growth chart and has not yet gotten back on) and I forgot about the idea of him having Celiac disease. 

I now realize that him giving up breastfeeding, he probably stopped having gluten through my breastmilk and started gaining weight because of that. And I can only assume that I was super good that first week, but the second week I somehow had some gluten sneak into my diet and it took it's toll on his little, sensitive body. 

Fast forward a few months, and Ryan would occasionally get diarrhea, like any kid does. But unlike any kid, it lasted for weeks every time. Most of the time it would be going on 2 or 3 weeks and I would decide to be super strict on his diet, cutting out all gluten and dairy. Basically he ate bananas, applesauce, rice, meat, and yogurt. Then the diarrhea would stop and we'd get him back to a normal diet. A month or two later he'd come down with diarrhea and the cycle would start again. After so many times of this happening, at his 15 month appointment he had dropped even further away from the bottom curve on the growth chart, and had diarrhea again. We went on vacation two days later, and that morning before I left I decided we had to cut everything out of his diet again. His diarrhea cleared up slowly, but never really returned to normal the whole time we were on vacation, so I determined that when we got back I would order a test through enterolab.com. I had looked into their testing before, but they told me their tests work well on kids older than 1 who have not been breastfeeding for more than 6 months to make sure any antibodies are not leftovers from mom. We ordered a test for gluten and casein sensitivity and both came back as abnormal readings, meaning yes, Ryan has an immunological reaction to both gluten and casein. So I diagnosed him with Celiac Disease. I haven't taken him in to the doctor yet because I figure I know more about the disease than my pediatrician. But he has his 18 month check up in a couple of weeks, and I already have a pediatric GI visit scheduled for after that, because I know our pediatrician will send me on to that. I would like to have 3 months of gluten-free weight gain to show before we take him in. Which some times I feel like "Yeah! He's gaining weight!" and other days I think he is stuck on a plateau, or sometimes even loses weight.

At his 15 month check up Ryan weighed 19 lbs. 6 oz., which was 13 ounces he had gained in the previous 3 months. A month later on our not-incredibly-accurate bathroom scale he was weighing in consistently at 20.5 pounds. 1 pound in one month was more than he gained in all THREE months prior. But then the following week he was down to 20.0. We decided he was getting gluten from his sister's water bottles that he found all over the place and drank out of, and the gluten cereal that my daughters would eat with strict instructions to stay at the table, then spill all over the floor when they were watching TV. So we cut gluten out of all the kids' diets. Our house is now gluten-free. Soon after that change Ryan was back up to 20.5. And now he sometimes even weighs in at 21 pounds, though he must be around 20.75 lbs. because it goes back and forth between 21.0 and 20.5 depending on time of day and fullness of his diaper. 

Anyway, I'm convinced we've found the solution to his problems. His face is looking more full, he has had 2 bouts of diarrhea since he's been gluten-free and they both lasted less than a day. Even my friends are starting to notice how he looks bigger. 

One of the doctors when he was 5 months old and I thought he had Celiac Disease told me, "Babies this age don't have Celiac Disease." Wrong! Babies that age don't get diagnosed with Celiac Disease because it's not the first thing moms or doctors think of. And even when moms like me do think of it, I got talked out of it real quick. I often wonder what would have happened if I had gone with my original gut reaction and insisted we tried gluten-free for a little longer. The kid would probably be at least an inch taller and a couple pounds heavier. But I'm just thankful we caught it now, and not in 5 or 10 years when it's done more damage and caused other problems. 

And thus we embark on another chapter in our Silly Yak adventure. Adults have it easy (relatively speaking). They just don't eat what they know they can't eat. They might complain about it a little or be sad, but they find alternatives and live with it. Babies don't know why mom tells them no to all these tasty treats everyone else gets to eat. I feel like I have to be super prepared all the time because if Ryan sees something another kid has and he wants some, they most of the time can't just share. I try to have acceptable alternatives on hand at all times. Ryan starts nursery at church in 2 weeks. They have snacks. Usually animal crackers and cheese crackers. I have a plan to bring GF animal crackers and GF pretzels for his snacks. But that's just the beginning of the "away from mom eating food" adventures. School will be it's own adventure with class parties, pizza parties, etc. But I've got time to figure it out. And for manufacturers to come up with more GF products. I am encouraged when I think of all the GF products that have been developed in just the 3 years since Jacob was diagnosed. In 3 more years there'll be TONS of stuff.

And now I am back to blogging here. At least occasionally. It's nice to have a place to refer friends or new celiac friends when they wonder what we eat. So I'll try to do a little better now that I have the parenting 3 children kind of under control (it only took me a year and a half).

Tortilla soup

I uploaded this picture months ago and forgot to finish the post. And I can't believe I forgot it because it's one of my favorite meals! Borrowed from a friend, this recipe is great because it is really easy to leave out the dairy until the end, and let my hubby enjoy it as is, then add some cheese for the little ones who really enjoy the stringy yumminess of melted cheese. We sometimes leave out the chicken for a meatless meal.















Chicken Tortilla Soup
½ c chopped onion

2 C. cooked chicken, torn or cut into small pieces (I use canned chicken)

1 pressed garlic clove

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies, undrained

1 c frozen corn

1 c zucchini, thinly sliced

4 tsp snipped fresh cilantro

½ c (2 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

¼ tsp each: chili powder, ground cumin

2 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth

1 (5.5oz) can of Spicy Hot V8 juice

4 thick slices each: fresh lime, avocado

Cook chicken, onion, garlic, chili powder, and cumin for 2 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, chilies, corn, zucchini and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

In individual soup bowls, add cilantro, tortilla strips, ladle full of soup,  top with cheese and garnish with lime & avocado. Serve warm. Enjoy!

Freezer meals

We have a new baby joining our family next month. As everyone knows, babies take a lot of planning. But even more so in a gluten-free house. I have a hard enough time getting dinner on the table these days with my 15-month-old under foot doing her best to thwart my cooking plans. With a nursing newborn on top of that I have no hope of cooking dinner without a lot of screaming and stress for a while. And while other people might rely on friends to bring meals over, or a call to the pizza guy or other takeout, that's not a luxury we have. The only "safe" restaurant close to our house that we know of and trust is a Thai restaurant that has delicious food, but it gets a little old (not to mention expensive) to rely on that too often. So I've got a plan I'm beginning to implement: freezer meals.

At this point I've just started, but just making a few meals makes me think I might begin to regularly rely on freezer cooking in the future. Just things like having cooked ground beef, cooked chicken, or cooked taco meat ready to defrost and use in throwing together a meal at the last minute seems like a big time-saver.

Thus far this is what I have in the freezer (I'm working on posting the recipes I haven't yet):
Chicken enchiladas (since Jake is off dairy for now, we're going with the dairy-free version, but this one also freezes well)
Tortilla Soup
Taco Chicken
Taco meat
Ground beef (for spaghetti)
Meatloaf

I have plans to make many more meals between now and next month whenever the baby gets here.
Some of my plans:
bread (I now use the recipe from Gluten-free on a Shoestring rather than my old one)
muffins
Salsa chicken
Shepherds' Pie
Chicken Pot Pie (from GF on a Shoestring)
Chili
Cafe Rio Chicken
BBQ pork
biscuits (from GF on a Shoestring)
pizza dough (again, from GF on a Shoestring--can you tell I like that book?)

I've also looked at a few websites that do GF freezer meals for some ideas, and I'll probably end up trying some of those. Like this one or this one.

EASY Apple/Pear Crisp

This is a real quick recipe for a delicious dessert. It uses canned pears and apple pie filling so there's no peeling and slicing which makes it quicker than quick. I think I got this recipe originally from A Soft Place to Land several years ago.

Recipe:

4 15 oz. cans sliced pears, drained

1 20 oz. can apple pie filling

1 1/2 C. gluten-free oats

3/4 C. GF flour

3/4 C. brown sugar

3/4 t. ground cinnamon

3/4 C. butter (or we use Smart Balance Light since it's dairy-free), cut up

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Pour the pears and apple pie filling into a 9"x12" pan.

Mix the dry ingredients together, then mix in the butter using your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs. Crumble the topping on top of the fruit.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the fruit is hot and bubbly and the topping is crisp and browned.

Enjoy. With some vanilla ice cream if you've got it on hand.

I've made this in an 8x8 pan, too with half the fruit, but the same amount of topping, which I like better because then the topping is a bit thicker and covers it better. Have some for dessert, then eat the leftovers for breakfast, because really, it's just fruit and oatmeal. And sugar. :) Enjoy!!

Pancakes

For a while, every time I wanted to make pancakes I would do a google search for gluten-free pancakes and pick a new pancake to try. Until last summer when my Grandpa's wife made us some pancakes using her regular recipe, just substituting rice flour in and they turned out just right. No xanthan gum or anything. So now I use my former whole-wheat pancake recipe as my new gluten-free pancake recipe.

Pancakes

1 ½ C. GF flour mix

2 T. sugar

2 T. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 C. soy milk

1 egg (optional)

Mix it all together. I really don't measure the milk, or if I do, I usually end up adding more water after until it reaches the consistency I like.

These behave just like any other pancake: pour them out thin-ish, then wait until the bubbles on top have popped, flip and cook the other side, and enjoy.

I can't tell any difference between these and "real" pancakes.

Happy breakfasting!

Food storage-week 2

This week all I did was evaluate my long-term food storage, and make plans for what I need to get for that. I added two sheets to my spreadsheet. The first one has a list of all the stuff I have or need and how much I have and need. I included a list of non-food items I use regularly that I would like to have as part of my long-term storage, as well. Ideally I'll have a year supply of the long-term stuff, but realistically at this point I'm just working on getting what I think I might be able to accomplish this year. Baby steps to start.

The second sheet I added (the last sheet at this point) is a list of all the long-term items I need, and where I typically buy those items. My church runs canneries all over the country, including one here in my town, where you can go and work with others to pack up a bunch of long-term food storage, then buy it pretty much at cost, so I stick to that for anything that they have there. You can also order some pre-packaged stuff online if you want. For the other items, I get a lot at the grocery store or Sunflower Market. I also enjoy the fruit, especially, from Shelf Reliance (they have a GF list if you ask for it), and get some other items, including long-term gluten-free storage stuff from Augason Farms.

So the plan at this point is to spend either $10 or $20 each week (I haven't quite decided how much yet) on accumulating short-term storage items, and each month spend up to $100 on a few long-term items, rotating through the different places that I buy my long-term storage each month. If I have extra money in my grocery budget at the end of the month (according to my trusty mint.com budget tracker), that'll go for a few extra items as well. I'll probably base my short-term purchases on what is on sale that week, and if nothing is on sale that I need, I'll just go down the list.

Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a healthy store of food we can all eat and enjoy. :)

Food storage

One of my new year's goals (really my only one) is to get my food storage in order. I had my short-term food storage pretty well under control until Jake went dairy-free a few months ago, but never really had a good long-term plan in place. One of my friends shared her plan a while back and I decided that doing a similar format would help me. So my goal was to have a plan in place by the end of the first week, then each week I can add to my food storage, hopefully having it well under control by the end of the year. I'm almost there. I have my list of what I need short-term, which was a bigger under-taking than I thought. So I guess my goal for week 2 will be to get my long-term needs listed, and a weekly plan outlined.

If you're interested in some gluten-free food storage ideas, feel free to check out my spreadsheet and use it as you see fit. This is planning for 2 adults and 2 kids. The dinners are completely gluten-free, and able to be dairy-free (we just leave the cheese off until it's dished out then add it to the plates that are okay for dairy). Not all breakfast, lunches, and snacks are gluten-free because we go for quick and easy (and cheaper) when Jake's not around. These are all shelf-stable ingredients, or able to be frozen for longer-term storage, though not for over a year.

Probably a little explanation of each sheet is in order:
3 month meal plan: This sheet has all the meals and ingredients needed for each one. There are 18 meals, I think, which would mean you would need to rotate through the list about 3 1/2 times for a 3-month food storage, which is what I was going for. I multiplied the amounts by 4 to get a nice round number, so this plan is actually good for longer than 3 months.

ingredient amounts: This is where I compiled how much of each ingredient is needed. I also have random calculations and measurements off to the side, which may not make sense to people other than me, but the important part is the first 3 columns.

grocery list: I made a list of what I normally/occasionally get at the grocery store by aisle to make my grocery list making easier. I also put in parenthesis how many of the storage items I should have in my pantry. Useful for anyone who shops at the Rita Ranch Fry's but other than those few people, not much help to you.

Breakfast-lunch-snacks: This is basically my plan for the rest of the food besides dinners.

If you have questions or want any recipes that I haven't shared, let me know.

Skillet enchiladas

Tonight was one of those "the kids are starving now and I don't know what we're having for dinner" kind of nights. And I was supposed to go grocery shopping this morning, but didn't, so our choices were rather limited, so I improvised, and it turned out surprisingly tasty. It only took about 5 minutes which was a bonus. We are totally having this meal again.

I didn't measure anything, just scooped/poured until it looked good. 

Skillet Enchiladas

Canned chicken (large can)

mayonnaise-probably a cup-ish--several large spoonfuls

salsa

green chilies (small can)

cumin-a couple shakes sprinkled on

I just put everything in the skillet and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Serve on tortilla chips and enjoy!

Or add some cheese if you're not my husband (who is doing the dairy-free thing now), and enjoy!

Caramels

If you're looking for more tasty candy recipes, here's another REALLY easy one. Just don't think about how much fat and sugar you're putting in. Or give away most of them, and the ones you eat get cancelled out by your generosity. :)

Caramels:
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (use the can for measuring the other ingredients)
2 sticks of butter
1 can Karo syrup
1 can sugar
1 can brown sugar
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan that's big enough for the liquid to more than double when it's boiling and cook on high heat, stirring constantly until it reaches soft ball stage. That means stir for a long time. Pull out your favorite Christmas book to read while you stir. To test for soft ball stage, fill a cup about halfway with cold water and put a little of the caramel into the cup. When you can pull it out in a nice soft ball that is as soft or hard as you like your caramels, turn off the stove. Pour the mixture into an ungreased cake pan and let cool. Cut into pieces and wrap with wax paper. I've found that a pizza cutter can work pretty well.

One batch can make 150+ caramels. It goes a long way. Enjoy!

Candied Pecans

'Tis the season to be baking. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

But as you will hear from many sources, if you're giving away food to non GF-ers, GF cookies or cake probably aren't the best options because the will taste "weird" to untrained taste buds. So stick with candy and other junk food that is naturally gluten-free. :)

This is the tastiest treat EVER! Candied pecans. And so easy to make.

Recipe:
2 lbs pecans
Whisk together 2 egg whites, 6 tsp (good) vanilla, 2 tsp water.
Put nuts in a BIG Ziploc and add the liquid, smoosh around. (Yes, that's the technical term)
Mix together in a bowl: 2 cups sugar, 4 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp salt.
Dump this in the bag and smoosh around some more until they look coated. Put on a sheet cake pan and bake at 300 for an hour stirring every 15 minutes or so.

It will fill your home with a delicious aroma, and tastes just as good. I packaged them into little baggies to give to some friends and neighbors on goody plates along with some fudge and caramels.

Hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!!

Santa Fe Chicken

Santa Fe Chicken is one of my all time favorite meals because 1. it's so easy, and 2. it's SO delicious.

In a crockpot combine:
2ish pounds of chicken (cut into bite-size pieces or not)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
a 16 oz can of salsa (Herdez is our favorite)
1 or 2 cups of frozen corn

Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. The longer you cook, the less you need bite-size pieces to begin with. I like to just let it cook until the chicken is so tender you can shred it real easy with a fork.

Add 1 cup shredded cheese and half up to a whole package of cream cheese depending on taste. Cook for another 1/2 hour up to an hour, then serve over rice, or in a tortilla.

 

Frito Pie

This is so ridiculously easy it doesn't deserve to be on a recipe blog, since I actually didn't make anything, but hey, if someone's looking for a quick and easy dinner, here you go!

Frito Pie:

Fritos 

Canned chili (regular Hormel chili is GF--I know Hormel turkey chili is NOT. I'm sure there're others to choose from)

Sour cream

Cheese

Pile it up, and enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

I'm not real big on baking goodies. Mostly because I'm not all that big on eating them. I'll eat them and enjoy them when they're available, but I tire quickly and can't handle too much sugar, and usually half the batch will end up going stale before our family finishes eating it. That, or my 3-year-old will throw a fit every time I tell her she can only have one and it's not really worth it to have treats that inspire tantrums.

But twice a year for General Conference I make cinnamon rolls. Sweet treats to enjoy the sweet messages from the prophet and apostles. :) And this gluten-free version is pretty much the tastiest, fluffiest batch of cinnamon rolls I've ever had, with or without gluten. I originally found the recipe here, but the process I've simplified a little.

CINNAMON ROLLS
2 tablespoons shortening

1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup of milk, room temperature
1 packet yeast
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
TO SPRINKLE ON BOARD COVERED WITH PLASTIC WRAP OR PARCHMENT PAPER
1 - 2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft--so soft it almost looks like liquid, still, but if you keep mixing it'll get a little more solid, though still really soft (soft enough that it doesn't really look like dough and you'll think that you messed up).

Lay out either a 15 inch square of parchment paper or plastic wrap. I like parchment paper better. Squish it out into a roughly square shape, then put plastic wrap on top and roll out until it's about 13-15 inches square.

FILLING (I actually use about half this much)
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped nuts - optional

Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a little room at the edge as it spreads when you roll it up.

Roll the dough into a nice long roll.

Cut into pieces about 1 1/2 inches wide. I use dental floss to cut it without squishing it like a knife does. You can get about 8 or 9 rolls out of this.

Put in a round cake pan and either cook it or stick it in the fridge to cook in the morning.

Cook at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.  If you keep it in the fridge over night take it out and let it warm up closer to room temperature before cooking it. After cooking spread the glaze over the top.

GLAZE
¾ cup powdered or confectionery sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk to thicken

These are the fluffiest cinnamon rolls, probably because they are made only of starch. Not so big on nutrition, but they sure taste good!

Cowboy pasta

This one is always pretty quick and easy and is a nice spin on the traditional pasta dish. 

Cowboy Pasta

GF Pasta

chopped onion

green pepper

chili powder

black beans

corn

salsa

tomato sauce

Saute onion, pepper and chili powder. Add equal parts salsa and tomato sauce, beans, and corn. Simmer.

Toss with pasta and top with shredded cheese.

Sometimes I'll throw in a little cooked chicken, too, but most of the time we leave it as a meatless meal, since it's pretty hearty as is.

It's always a hit here! Enjoy!

Pumpkin treat

My husband's birthday was last month, so instead of just a regular cake, I decided to whip up this delicious pumpkiny dessert that my friend, Charissa, shared with me and quickly became a family favorite.

Pumpkin Treat

1 29 oz. can pumpkin

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
2 eggs

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 C. sugar

Blend together above ingredients. Line a 9x13 cake pan with waxed paper and pour mixture in. Layer evenly over mixture:

1 dry yellow cake mix (Betty Crocker's GF mix works great)

1 C. chopped walnuts

2 sticks butter/margerine melted (drizzle over top of nuts)

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool completely. Invert cake onto serving tray and remove waxed paper.

Frost with:
3/4 C. powdered sugar
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 or 2 8 oz. tubs of Cool Whip (depending on your tastes)
Blend cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Gently fold in desired amount of Cool Whip.

This is really heavenly. We are not normally walnut fans here, but all the flavors here mix so perfectly for the perfect fall cake.

There are tons of GF squash/pumpkin recipes here to check out!