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Strawberry Shortcake with Stevia Extract In The Raw

With strawberries being in season, I have been blessed with a weekly abundance of bright, red, plump and juicy organic strawberries in my CSA box.  I decided to make some strawberry shortcake this weekend to take to a Memorial Day BBQ.  To quote one gluten-eater, they would not have known the biscuit was gluten-free had I not told them!  I don’t know why, after all this time, that comments like those still makes me feel good and “normal.”  This food IS normal to me and my family, so why do I still care about that validation? 

I grew up on Bisquick Shortcakes, and I am definitely a biscuit-style shortcake person.  I used the Bisquick recipe and subbed Better Batter Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix for the Bisquick.

(If your memories of strawberry shortcake involved those little cake “cups” that are found in grocery stores, I found a neat little pan a few weeks ago that you might be interested in, it is called a Dessert Shell Pan and is made by Wilton.  I had to buy the pan for a cupcake decorating class I took, and there are some cute little themed cupcakes that you can also make with it.  I will be sharing those ideas soon).

Shortcakes

2 1/3 cups Bisquick (I used Better Batter GF Pancake and Baking Mix for this batch, but I have also used Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix in the past and it works great too.  If you do not have either of those products, here is the link to a Homemade GF Bisquick Mix Recipe.)

1/2 cup Milk (I used Rice Milk)

3 Tbs. Sugar

3 Tbs. Butter (I used Earth Balance)

• Heat oven to 425° F.

• In a medium bowl, stir gluten-free baking mix, milk, sugar and melted butter until soft dough forms.

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.

• Bake 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown. (Note: start watching carefully at about 9 minutes, the tops began to brown rather quickly, so I covered the shortcakes with a sheet of foil for the last few minutes).

I found a great new stevia product the other day, Stevia Extract In The Raw.  I was very excited to find this, as it reminded me of the cup-for-cup Splenda I used to buy.  I have only recently started to use stevia products and I am definitely not a big fan of opening a bunch of little packets, nor can I seem to gauge the proper amount of the liquid stevia to use (I have a tendency to add a drop or two too much).  The Stevia Extract in the Raw is a simple cup-for cup replacement, thus eliminating a lot of the math.  I haven’t baked with it yet as there are some slight adjustments that need to be made when converting your own recipes, but so far, it has been a great way to sweeten fruit and iced tea without risk of overdoing it.

Strawberry Mixture

For the strawberry topping, I combined sliced, fresh strawberries with Stevia Extract In The Raw (taste as you go, I used 1/4 cup for 2 pints of strawberries).  The Stevia Extract In The Raw will turn a milky white color at first, but this will go away as the strawberries macerate.  I like to poke holes in the strawberries with a fork, which helps to further release the juices and makes for a wonderful syrup.

The whipped topping in this picture is Cool Whip.  I just bought a new cookbook by Cybele Pascal called The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook.  On page 113, there is a recipe for vegan whipped topping that looks very simple to make.  I plan on making it today, along with some dairy-free chocolate pudding.  I will let you know how it turns out!

Homemade Gluten Free Bagels

Gluten Free bagels that are naturally dairy-free and can easily be made egg-free!

This is one of those things that most people probably don’t think they will ever have to make in their lives, and why would you?  Bagels are are very easy to obtain.  Well, unless you are gluten-free or suffer from food allergies.

Joan’s Great Bakes makes a really good gluten-free bagel, but they are expensive because of shipping costs (if you live in the mountain time zone like I do, shipping is about $45).  A local Albuquerque store used to carry them but they were $14.99 for a 5-pack of bagels.  That can be a hard price to swallow, regardless of your financial situation.  We would buy them as a special treat but they were never a staple simply because of the price.

A few weeks ago, Sam’s Friday Fun Snack at school was making “Bear Bagels.”  The kiddos were using 2 bagels of different sizes, a large bagel and a mini bagel, to assemble a bear face.  I got the recipe with only a 3 day notice, so I did not have time to order any more bagels from Joan’s Great Bakes without paying an overnight shipping charge, and even I have to draw the line somewhere!   So, I had 2 whole days to figure out how to make homemade GF bagels and GF “Nilla” wafers!

Here is the recipe for Bear Bagels (in case you are interested):

I lucked out and happened to have one Joan’s Great Bakes bagel left in my freezer (from who knows when), but I was desperate, so I used it anyway!  I don’t know if you have ever had one, but they are not all that big. They fall somewhere between a gluten-containing “mini” bagel and a gluten-containing “regular” bagel (but no where near the size of a gluten-containing “large” bagel). Which is totally fine by me, because I am very big on “true” portion sizes in our house. It only poses a problem when making said “Bear Bagels!” I thought about using a cookie cutter to cut out a smaller sized bagel from one of the halves, but that was clearly not going to work.  I tried making a batch of bagels from a recipe I found online, but they tasted horrible and looked even worse, so they promptly went into the trash.  I did learn one thing from that experiment though, how to shape a bagel the easy way (I’ll show you that in a minute)!

After my first batch of homemade bagels were a bust, I realized I had to admit defeat and figure something else out to replace the mini bagel, I just didn’t have enough time.  You have no idea how difficult giving up was for me (even if it was only temporary).  Right or wrong, I still feel very guilty for having passed on the celiac gene to my son.  Because of this, I am admittedly OCD about making Sam’s “public” GF foods look the same as his friends, although I have never actually hit the mark for one reason or another!

Anyway, I had made some Better Batter biscuits for dinner that evening and had a few left over, so I went with a mini biscuit “bagel” instead for Sam to use as the bear nose.  Needing to make the biscuit smaller than the Joan’s Great Bakes Bagel, meant I also had to cut down the GF “Nilla” Wafers I had made.  Here is the bear we ultimately ended up with:

It worked, but had much room for improvement!

I have since been researching different homemade bagel recipes to try and I made a second attempt yesterday using this recipe from the Baking Bites website (with gluten-free substitutions of course). Baking Bites is a great website, and once one feels comfortable making gluten-free substitutions, an entire world of possibilities opens up!  Check out Nicole’s recipe for homemade Girl Scout Samoas (always and forever Caramel Delites in my book ).  I cannot wait to experiment with that recipe!

Homemade Gluten-Free Bagels

(Nicole Weston’s original recipe is in black, my additions/changes are in red).

1 Tbs. Active Dried Yeast (I used Red Star Yeast which is gluten-free)

1 Tbs. Sugar

1 3/4 cup Warm Water (110° – 115° F. is the optimal temperature to activate the yeast, according to the Red Star website.  Although, I have also read that 100° – 110° F. is the optimal range, so I guess anywhere from 100° – 115° F. is the area to shoot for.   If the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast.  I like to use a thermometer to make sure the water is “in the proper zone”).

4 cups Bread Flour (for this recipe I just used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour.  I am trying to figure out a good gluten-free substitute for bread flour to see if that changes the outcome of the final product, I will keep you posted).

1 Tbs. Salt

1 Egg for Egg Wash (not sure if this is necessary, but I have always added 1 Tbs. of water to each egg in my egg wash. If you cannot have egg, this step can just be omitted.)

• First, you want to “proof” your yeast.  I ALWAYS proof my yeast (to make sure the yeast is “active”) in my gluten-free baked goods, because not only do I want to save time and frustration from a potential flop, but gluten-free ingredients are too expensive to risk throwing it all away because of something as inexpensive as yeast!  So:

• In a bowl, add the yeast, sugar and warm water (100° – 115° F).  Stir to incorporate the ingredients, then set the yeast aside to do it’s work, about 10 minutes. (Click here for more information on the different types of yeast and the best way to use them for optimal results.  If you are interested, see below for a video I found on YouTube on “How to proof yeast”).

• Meanwhile, in a large bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) add the flour and salt.

• Once the yeast has “proofed,” add it to the flour/salt mixture.

• Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl.  Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed.  If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.  If using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed (this is what I did).  Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.  (Make sure you put the dough in a warm place. click here for some rising tips from baking911.com, I reference this website all the time, because I have zero formal training in baking! I highly recommend bookmarking it for future use).

• Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil (I used a roasting pan over two burners), and preheat the oven to 400° F.

• When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces (first quarters, then thirds).  Shape each piece into a tight ball as illustrated below (click here to see Nicole’s illustrations), pinching the corners together at the bottom of the piece of dough (I didn’t really do this step as written, I just rolled out a ball).  When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.

• Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed.  Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball (I cheated and used my apple corer to make the hole).  Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process.  Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.

• Working four at a time (I put all of mine in at the same time since I was using a pan with a large surface area), drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water.  Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute (I used chop sticks for this).  Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Repeat process with remaining bagels.

• Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (I added 1 tbs. of water to my beaten egg) (a pastry or bbq brush is a good tool for this) and bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown.

• Cool completely on a wire rack.

YouTube video on “proofing” yeast:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9eP1VLTL3A&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

The temperature of my water was 113° F. :

My “proofed” yeast:

I mixed all the ingredients using my dough hook attachment, on low for 8 minutes.

This is what the dough looked like after rising for 1 hour.  It does not look exactly like a risen gluten-dough.

Instead of using the method in the Baking Bites recipe, I just rolled the dough pieces around on the counter (to make it smooth).

Final bagel dough ball.

Using my apple corer to make the hole in the bagel.

My apple corer has a plunger on it which made extracting the dough uber simple.

I then stretched the hole out a little bit.

Tip: Keep your bagels covered with a damp cloth while you are shaping your bagels, so the dough is less likely to dry out and crack.

Pre-boiled bagels of various sizes (this is what is so cool about making your own bagels).

Some of my bagels were lumpy and bumpy, so using warm water, I tried to smooth them out before adding them to the boiling water.

Boiling water in a roasting pan over 2 stove top burners.

Boiling the bagels.

I used chop sticks to flip the bagels.

Even after smoothing them out, some of the bagels looked like this.  I wonder what causes this?

One bagel that stayed relatively smooth.

Remove the bagels and let drain on a towel for a minute.

Brush with egg wash.

Fresh from the oven, GF bagels: Crunchy on the outside with a chewy inside, just like “real” bagels!  Without cream cheese, there is a slight “sourdough” taste to these.

This is one of the bagels the day after I made them.

I stored them unsliced, in an airtight container. They did need to be softened up a bit, so before slicing, I nuked them in the microwave for 20 seconds and it was as if they were fresh!

We even made some Gluten-Free “Bagel Bites,” yummy!

Mike and I tried to cost these out, using the Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour. After shipping, a 25-lb. bag of Better Batter is $86.00. There is roughly 3 cups in 1-lb. of Better Better, so a 25-lb bag is roughly 75 cups of flour. That comes to roughly $1.15/cup. This recipe uses 4 cups of flour, so that’s about $4.60. The other ingredients are too inexpensive to worry about, but for argument’s sake, let’s round it up to $5.00.

$5.00 for 10 homemade GF bagels versus roughly $30.00 for 10 store-bought GF bagels.

Now that my friends, is some food for thought!

Better Batter Gluten-Free Biscuits

I did not set out after college with the intent of settling down into my own version of “Betty Crocker.”  I cooked some, but we ate out more. When I did cook, it pretty much consisted of opening a package of a pre-made mix, following the directions on the package and wa-la! Dinner served.

Celiac Disease threw a major wrench into my lifestyle. I spent the first 6 months of my diagnosis kinda dazed and confused. I was actually “excited” to go gluten-free in the beginning because I thought it was going to be some kind of life transforming event. Like some “gluten-free fairy godmother” would raise her wand and I would suddenly lose all that the weight I had gained after my thyroid was ablated due to Graves Disease (but because that sneaky celiac disease was lurking around in there, my body could not absorb my thyroid hormone, which is definitely NOT a good thing!).

After many ups, downs and every-which-ways, this is where I am today. I like to cook, especially when I feel that what I can create at home, far surpasses the quality of most gluten-free processed convenience foods. The gluten-free diet can get very expensive if you do not change they way you look at meal-time. I think this can be one of the most difficult transitions to going gluten-free; learning to “not eat out of a box.”

Our meals are 90% naturally gluten-free. Lean meats, and fresh or frozen organic fruits and vegetables. Naturally gluten-free foods cost significantly less than the typical $14.oo gluten-free frozen mini pizza that still tastes like cardboard; (which only makes you feel worse for spending so much money!). That same $14.00 can buy me almost 3 pounds of organic, grass-fed beef that I can use in 3 separate meals that feed 4 people each, with leftovers for lunch. The money for one yucky gluten-free pizza, that barely feeds 2 people can translate into 12+ meals using higher quality ingredients that actually taste good.

I do however, VERY MUCH appreciate when a company discovers a revolutionary new way of making a GF product that not only makes my life easier in the kitchen, but brings super excited faces to my kitchen table! I would rather eat mostly naturally gluten-free foods that I cook so I can afford to spend more money on products of exceptional quality (and I STILL save money!). One of those products, I believe, is Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour (which I am currently out of and my new shipment has yet to arrive… I think I am in a baking “depression” without my Better Batter, which is why I have gone on a baking strike and have not been posting many new recipes! ) Baked goods are what I think a lot of us miss most from our gluten days, which brings me to the point of this post!

I don’t know about you, but I grew up on Bisquick Biscuits. My mom is from Alabama so you would think homemade Southern style biscuits would have been more up her alley but because she grew up during a time when everything was homemade, the idea of going through all that work was just NOT that appealing to her! I don’t blame her, I probably would have done the same! Especially considering the fact that today’s “common” kitchen gadgets weren’t so common back in the 70′s and 80′s, when my sisters and I were growing up. Without my kitchen gadgets, I would probably be on a rice and banana diet!

Because I grew up on Bisquick Biscuits, that is what I like, and I really miss having them!!

So I pulled out my Better Batter GF Pancake/Baking Mix the other night and used it to make some biscuits.

As I sunk my teeth into that first flaky, buttery bite; all I could think of (as my eyes were filling with tears!), was my mom’s Bisquick Biscuits.

Better Batter Gluten-Free Biscuits (recipe is from the package of Better Batter gluten-free Pancake and Biscuit Mix)

2 1/4 cup Better Batter Pancake and Biscuit Mix

2/3 – 1 cup Milk, Buttermilk OR Water (I used Skim Milk)

Preheat oven to 450° F. (I baked mine at 425° F. in a convection oven).

Lightly grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Stir together milk (or liquid of your choice) and mix, adding more milk if necessary to form a soft, sticky dough.

Drop by 1/2 cupfuls onto the prepared baking sheet (I did not do drop biscuits. I used a heavily floured surface (Better Batter) to pat out the dough to a 3/4″ – 1″ thickness. Using biscuit and cookie cutters, I cut out my biscuits).

Bake 8 – 10 minutes.

As soon as my Better Batter arrives, we are going to try out this recipe from Better Batter to make our own “Beef Sausage Patties” using grass-fed beef! My boys are carb junkies and I need to get more healthy proteins into their breakfast in order to help keep them alert at school and not dealing with a sugar crash from having had just a bowl of cereal!

I am starting my new cake decorating class tonight so you will be seeing more cake posts over the coming weeks! Speaking of which, I wanted to share with you a new product coming out soon. If you are into scrapbooking or other paper arts, you have probably already heard of the Cricut personal cutting machine. Well, Cricut is getting ready to launch their newest product, Cricut Cake! WOO-HOO!! I am so excited!!

I am off to make heart shaped cut-out sugar cookies for Sam and Luke’s Valentine’s Day parties at school tomorrow. If you are looking for a good cut-out sugar cookie dough recipe, check out this one. I posted it back in December and it is AWESOME!

If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to enter my current giveaway for a 4-pack of Cerealvit Gluten-Free Cereal!

Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Review and Giveaway

I am so excited about this! Back in December I received a complimentary sample of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour to review on my blog. It arrived on Christmas Eve, just in time to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning! I made the Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Clone recipe that I found on the Better Batter Website. As I was rolling out the dough for the cinnamon rolls, I had to stop and just enjoy rolling the “real” dough between my fingers. I never thought I would ever experience that feeling again after my celiac diagnosis 5 years ago.

When the boys came down to see what “Santa” had brought the most amazing thing happened. They could smell the cinnamon aroma coming from the kitchen and they pitter-pattered right past all the loot and asked me what I was making. As I pulled the tray of hot gooey cinnamon rolls out of the oven, their eyes grew about an inch. We took a pause from the impending chaos of opening presents and just sat at the kitchen table and enjoyed our fluffy pillows of warm cinnamon goodness. The only sound that could be heard was of little lips smacking with delight. Our gluten-free life is now complete, there is nothing that we cannot have if we want it bad enough (Better Batter even has a recipe for GF Filo (or phyllo) Dough and GF Pizza Rolls… like the Totino’s Pizza Rolls!). This is a very powerful thing for me (and hopefully for Sam) because knowing we can have something if we want it, makes sticking to a permanent dietary regimen a lot easier to accept and embrace. I don’t know about you, but for me, if I know I cannot have something… it just makes me want it all the more (even if it is something I didn’t normally eat pre-gluten free, like Twinkies!). We were so into the cinnamon rolls that I forgot to take a picture!

I have also made the Cinnabon Clone Cinnamon Rolls (click here for the vegan version of the recipe), and I do have a picture to show you:

I was so impressed with Better Batter’s Gluten Free Flour, that I ordered a 25 lb. bag of flour before I was even finished with my sample package! That 25 lbs. is now gone too… it “left the building” a week after I got it! Mike just ordered me another 25 lbs. today!

I also made Pigs in a Blanket using Better Batter’s Super Versatile Bread Dough recipe.

Then there was the Better Batter Flour Tortillas! Oh my gosh, these are the best! I wholeheartedly believe they taste better that the store-bought glutinous flour tortillas. Not a doubt in my mind. They are super easy to make and by making your own, you can easily sub out the lard or fully and partially hydrogenated oil that is in Crisco. I used Spectrum Shortening which is non-hydrogenated.

We have also made GF Breakfast Burritos, Huevos Rancheros and Burritos! Yum.

The dinner rolls I made came from a recipe I found on Recipezaar, I wanted to try out the Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour in other recipes to see if it worked just as well. So far, so good!

Check out the Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies I made yesterday:

And the Gluten-Free “Nutter Butter” Cookies:

And this has been this biggest seller of all to me: Gluten-Free Puff Pastry! Yes, you heard me right, GF Puff Pastry…

Now, please keep in mind that I have never made Puff Pastry in my life, gluten-free or otherwise! Another thing to keep in mind is that this was not well thought out by me in advance. I am quite often driven by impulse, a sidekick companion to my ADD. There are positive sides to this trait of mine and some not-so positive sides. One positive? I can watch the movie Julie and Julia (GREAT movie by the way!!) on a Sunday night and wake up on Monday morning ready to tackle GF Puff Pastry, having not taken the time to think it through and risk talking myself out of it! The downside? I can get so involved in a project like this that I completely miss an appointment! I am currently working on some tactics to overcome this issue of mine and I think I will start by taking some wardrobe advice from Flava Flav (I might even do the hat!). Just call me Flava GF Mom! :

See what I mean? ADD tangent! Back to the GF Puff Pastry…

I watched an online video of Michele Richard and Julia Child making the gluten version of puff pastry and followed another blogger’s (Irina at Pastry Pal) tutorial for making glutenous puff pastry. Okay, so as I am sitting here writing this post, and copying links from the Pastry Pal’s blog to show you where I got my inspiration, I just happened to go to Irina’s home page and guess what I found? A recipe for Nanimo Bars that are gluten-free! The Nanimo Bars recipe was part of a 2010 Daring Baker’s Challenge hosted by Lauren of The Celiac Teen! Apparently, Irina has a wheat sensitivity and is going to be making more gluten-free recipes! That is either total dumb luck on my part or we really do live in a small world!

For comparison purposes, here is Irina’s gluten puff pastry from the Pastry Pal Website:

My Gluten-Free Puff Pastry is not quite as “poofy,” as the wheat based puff pastry but I am not willing to chalk that up to it not having any gluten, not yet anyway. Right now I would say the “poof-lite” outcome is due to operator error. I am going to keep practicing to see if I can’t make the GF puff pastry equally as puffy as the gluten version. Outside of the puffy factor, the taste was AMAZING! I used it last night to make Chicken Pot Pies (using a Rachael Ray Recipe), check it out:

I made a bunch of these and put them in individual foil pie plates and froze them! Homemade Gluten-Free “Fast Food!”

One last example. I really miss Shrimp Gumbo. Pappadeaux’s Shrimp Gumbo to be specific. I cannot find a “copycat” recipe anywhere to do a “GF recycling.” I know it has a really dark base but every time I have tried to make a dark roux using different GF flour blends, it always comes out a light beige, at best. I found a recipe for Dark Roux on the Better Batter website:

I also use Better Batter GF Flour in my Gluten-Free Magic Mix, which I use in my gluten-free condensed soup recipes.

But don’t just take my word for it, check out Kim Bouldin’s Review of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour on her blog, “Gluten-Free Is Life.”

I will eventually get all of these recipes posted but until then, you have a chance to win a free sampling of Better Batter’s products!

Better Batter Complete Product Sampler Giveaway

The winner of this contest/giveaway will receive a fabulous prize package consisting of: (1) 2.5 lb. package of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, (1) 2.5 Lb. package of Better Batter Gluten-Free Pancake and Biscuit Mix, and (2) 20 oz. packages of Better Batter Gluten-Free Fudge Brownie Mix!! A prize package worth $24.25!! Woo-Hoo!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment to this post about which Better Batter recipe you would want to try first should you win. Click here to look through Better Batter’s recipe archive.

In addition to leaving a comment, you need to do one of the following things:

• Sign up to follow @BetterBatter on Twitter and “tweet” about this contest, including a link to this post. Please include @adventuresgfmom in your tweet so I have a record.

OR

• Become a fan of Better Batter on Facebook.

If you are a blogger:

You will need to mention this contest in a blog post (thank you!) and include a link to this post in order to enter.

I will use a Random Number Generator to pick the winner on Friday, February, 5, 2010.

Good luck!

blue dominoes Safe Art Finger Paint Winner

I used the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winner of a free 4-pack of blue dominoes gluten-free finger paint.

And the winner is… #3! Karla, if you will please email me at heidikelly13@gmail.com with your mailing address, I will get the fingerpaints out to you!

Thank you all for participating! Check back on Monday for a new giveaway of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour! Click on Better Batter’s link and start looking through their recipe archive, the question for the contest will be: “What recipe would you make first with Better Batter Gluten Free Flour if you win?”

Gluten-Free “Magic Mix”

I am re-posting this recipe in a “cleaner” format. I use this recipe in my GF condensed soups. If you are new to my blog and are looking for a good condensed soup recipe to use in your favorite casserole recipes, you have really got to try this! I found the recipe a few months ago on a website called “Everyday Food Storage.” This is not a gluten-free website, but there are some really neat recipes than can be easily converted to gluten-free and dairy-free. The basic principle behind the website is how to cook with long-term food storage stuff like powdered milk, canned goods, dried foods, etc. While I have only tried the Magic Mix recipe thus far, there are some other recipes that might be worth looking at if you have had trouble finding commercial food products to fit your particular dietary restrictions. Crystal Godfrey (author of Everyday Food Storage) also offers some great tips on how to prep foods in advance to make cooking faster and easier for working parents or those that are new to cooking at home in general and don’t exactly “love” it like I do. Just remember, it is not a gluten-free website, so you will have to make the appropriate substitutions if you are gluten-free.

Gluten Free Magic Mix

2 1/3 cups Dry Non-Instant Powdered Milk (I have been using the instant non-fat powdered milk available in grocery stores. I am going to try the Organic Valley Non-Instant Powdered Milk after I finish digging my way out of the instant powdered milk I bought from Costco! Click here for a list of Organic Valley’s Gluten-Free Products.)

1 cup Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (I have been using my Better Batter GF Flour recently, I have also used Tom Sawyer’s GF All Purpose Flour. I do not know if the xanthan gum and pectin/gelatin in those mixes makes a difference or not).

1 cup Butter, at room temperature (I use Smart Balance in the tub).

• Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

• Using a whisk attachment, mix ingredients together slowly at first, then gradually increase speed until incorporated.

• Keep mix tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
  

Next up… recipes for:

GF Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

GF Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

GF Condensed Cream of Tomato Soup

GF Condensed Cream of Celery Soup

I recently made the Magic Mix using Vance’s DariFree Non-Dairy Milk Powder and Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, but totally forgot to take pictures! It worked very well in the Condensed Soup Recipes but added a slight sweetness to the overall taste of the soups.

If you happen to try this recipe using other non-dairy milk powders, please come back an leave a comment on what you used and how it worked out! .

Gluten Free Pigs in a Blanket

This is so cool. Personally, I was most amazed with the “Super Versatile Bread Dough” from a recipe I made with my new BFF, Better Batter Gluten Free Flour! This is the first time in years that I have felt “real” dough in my hands. I could not stop playing with it!

Super Versatile Bread Dough

1 1/2 cup Milk (I used Skim Milk, but I am sure a dairy-free substitute would work just as well)

1/3 cup Sugar

2 tsp. Salt

4 Tbs. Butter (I used Earth Balance, which is dairy free and made my the same company as Smart Balance, which is not dairy-free)

1 package Active Dry Yeast (I used 2 1/2 tsp. bulk packaged Yeast, which is VERY INEXPENSIVE at Sam’s Club and Costco)

1 Egg

3-4 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour

• Heat the milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a sauce pan until warmed (not too hot).

• In a large bowl mix together, yeast and egg. Slowly add the warm liquid and whisk together.

• Add enough Better Batter Gluten Free Flour to be like play dough and beat together well for 3 minutes.

• Divide dough into two parts. Roll out each part of dough using flour for a heavy floured surface.

For the “Pigs in a Blanket” Portion:

• Roll the dough out into a large circle, about 1/8″ thick.

• Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut it like you would a pizza or pie. The size of the triangles will depend on the size of the frank you are going to roll up.

• Take your cocktail frank (do your homework to make sure it is gluten-free) or take your favorite hot dog/hot dog substitute/breakfast sausage link and cut into smaller pieces, and starting at the outside (widest end), lay the frank on top of the dough and roll it up!

• Once you are finished, you can either bake right away or freeze to use later! Your very own GF homemade quick freezer food!

• I have baked these right away and have baked them from the frozen state and both ways work great.

• Before baking, I brushed mine with an egg wash: 1 egg mixed with 1 Tbs. water.

• I baked mine at 350° F. for 15 minutes. This will vary depending on your oven and the type of frank you use. I would recommend to set the timer for 10 minutes, then keep checking every few minutes thereafter.