Gluten Free Recipes

I've been doing a lot of experimental gluten free baking lately. I've had lots of recipes turn out just ok, but a few successes. Enough success that I've considered starting a GF Blog. To me, a success is a recipe that would be something I would enjoy even if I wasn't eating gluten free. Or something my non-gluten intolerant Husband and Son would enjoy with me.

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Good heavens this recipe turned out awesome! I've tried a few different recipes from other sources that turned out ok, but this one ended up heavenly. For the first time I wasn't jealous of my husband's fabulous pizza crust. 

The only difference in this one is it's thinner than the one I make for him, and the dough isn't made in the bread maker, so it's not as "easy". But it will change your gluten free eating! I'm not going to lie and say this is a healthy recipe, there's too much oil involved, but it's good!

1 c brown rice flour blend

1/2 c millet flour

1 t xanthan gum

1/2 t salt

2 t sugar

1/4 t basil

1/4 t thyme

1/4 t oregano

2 1/4 t quick rise yeast

1 t olive oil

3/4 c + 1 T water (110 degrees)

Olive oil for pan

Cornmeal

Drizzle olive oil over two 9 inch spring-form pans (or cake pans). Make sure there is a thin layer of oil covering the whole pan. Generously sprinkle with Cornmeal.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour oil and water into bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes. You may want to scrape down the pan half way through mixing. 

Spoon dough into two pans. Using a wide spatula, spread the dough out until it touches the edges of the pan. This will take some time and work, because it's a runny & sticky dough, but be patient!

Once you have it evenly spread out, let the dough raise for 30 to 40 minutes. The dough should double in height. Preheat the oven to 425. Bake in the lower half of the oven for 16 minutes. 

Remove the dough from the oven, take the crust out of the pan, and top with pepperoni, sausage, etc. Place the pizza back in the oven, directly on the rack. Cook for 10 more minutes (until cheese is melted). Enjoy!

You can also make extra and freeze the crust (to save time and dishes). When you pull the crust out of the oven (after the 16 minute cook), place the crust on a cooling rack until it's room temperature. Then place back in the dirty pan you took it out of and place in the freezer. Once it's frozen, wrap in Saran Wrap. 

To bake it, remove from the freezer and set on the counter for 4 hours. Bake like above, but add 5 minutes to the bake time.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies (GF)

I've been  making these since before I was eating Gluten Free. That should tell you how awesome they are! They're moist, and delicious. The peanut butter flavor is subtle and tasty. The chocolate chips add just the right sweetness to it.

1/4 c butter

1 1/4 t baking soda
3/4 c sugar
3 c rolled oats
3/4 c brown sugar
6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1 t vanilla
1 c creamy peanut butter


Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and butter and beat until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking soda and mix well.  Add peanut butter and until well incorporated.
Stir in oats, chocolate chips and nuts. Place teaspoon full of dough onto a lightly greased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly brown around the edges. (makes approximately 40 to 48 cookies depending on size).
You can substitute any nut butter in this recipe. Like Nutella, or almond butter, or sunflower butter... what ever makes you happy!

Also, let me qualify the "gluten free" of this. Those that have a highly adverse reaction to gluten (like those with Celiac Disease) are usually encouraged to remove oats from their diet because of cross contamination from the wheat fields that are grown in. So if you are highly adverse, either make sure you are using oats that are certified gluten free.

Brazilian Cheese Buns

Sigh... these are awesome too! I have to force myself not make a batch a week. Logan and Dave just love these and gobble them up if I make them when they're home/awake. This recipe is akin to the cheese buns you can get at Brazilian restaurants (like Tucanos or Rodigios). I got the recipe strait from King Arthur's website. I eat these with everything!

My Sick Boys

I've been running a doctor's office around here lately! Logan's been sick for the past week and a half. Just a cold, but he still required most of my attention. Today he's looking a lot better, and I think he's over it. Wednesday Dave came home with a deep lung cough and informed me one of his co-workers has Bronchitis. "But there's nothing they can do to fix it, so he's still coming to work." Dave's sounding better, so I don't think he had Bronchitis. But still! Don't go to work if you're that sick!

Dave's picked up a new hobby, wood working. Over Christmas he started working on this table for Logan. The top comes off so you can get into a storage area inside. Dave still needs to stain it (but it's just been too cold outside), but Logan has been loving it already! He puts his puzzles on it and puts them together, he plays with his blocks on it. He just has tons of fun!

So we've pretty much been hanging in there for the past week and a half. I'm just happy the house is pretty clean, there's food on the table, and the laundry is getting done. When you're running a Doctor's office, that's really the best to be hoped for.

Logan Updates

Logan had his first trip to the Dentist! I got a free coupon in the mail for a visit for kids under 2, so we took Logan in for his first visit. We have dental insurance starting next month, but none of our covered dentists are kids dentists, so I thought this would be a good introduction.

He did pretty good. He loved playing in the pirate ship that was the waiting room. He enjoyed going back and getting to sit on the big boy chair and play with his new tooth brush. He let the dental hygienist paint fluoride on his teeth. He even let the dentist check out his teeth. But he didn't want the spin brush put in his mouth to do the cleaning. So we skipped that part, but it was a good first introduction to the dentist.

Dave and I have also been shocked on how many words Logan's picked up lately. He knows all the food words he eats regularly, even some two syllable ones like water and cracker. He's also been surprising us with other words like pants, Jesus, and Grandma/pa.

The twin size mattress we bought Logan last weekend has been a big success! About a month ago Logan was waking up several time a night because he crawls in his sleep and had been getting caught in the bars of his crib. So we put his crib mattress on the ground and he slept a little better, but would crawl off the mattress and wake up crying. Now he's crawling around his big mattress, but not waking us up!

The only problem is he's realized he can get out of his bed! A few naps this week I've heard him playing by himself (I come in to fine toys and books strewn across the floor). One day I heard knocking on his bedroom door because he decided after 15 minutes he was "done" napping. But he's doing well over all with this bed.

Big Boy Bed!

Logan got a big boy mattress this weekend! A month ago Logan was waking up several times through out the night because he crawls in his sleep and would get caught up in the bars of his crib. This weekend we finally bought him a big boy bed.

We took Logan with us to pick out the mattress and he had so much fun jumping on the 4 different ones we were trying to choose from. We then took him to Ross to pick out some sheets. We held up three sets to choose from (Spider Man, Cars, and just red sheets). He kept pointing at the Spider Man ones saying "MAN" again and again (much to Dave's pleasure).

We got home, rearranged his room, and set up his mattress. He immediately jumped on the bed and kept yelling "BED" and "MAN"! He loves his new bed and his new sheets. When we have him lay down he points to Spider Man and says "MAN". Logan's been using Dave's old blanket (from his mission), because I haven't found a blanket that matches yet.

We have a bunk bed set we bought off a friend of mine before Logan was born. When we're sure Logan's not going to fall off the bed, we'll put him in that. I'm excited to get him in the bunk beds, because that's the kind of bed I remember having growing up!

It's been so cold here lately! Sunday we decided we needed some sun so we packed up our winter gear and spent a half hour sledding at the golf course down the street! It's kinda Logan and Dave's thing though. When I try to take Logan down, he pushes me away, tells me no, and reaches for Dave. It's nice that they can have a fun activity that's just theirs!

Monday we pulled the cover off the Luv Sac (time for it's yearly cleaning), and Logan had so much fun jumping on the massive bean bag again and again. His pj's also matched the inner lining, which made Logan just blend in the big squishy sack.

New Years Resolution

So I've decided this year our family resolution should to not get sick... Too bad we've already failed at that! Logan got sick the week before Christmas with a cold, and was sick for 3 weeks! At the beginning of this week he was finally better, then yesterday he had a fever again! Sigh... I'm so sick of a sick little guy! I feel so sorry for him, but I can't just cuddle and play with him all day, we've got to get some cleaning/cooking/house work done too!

Due to illness we've been stuck in the house a lot and I've been going a little stir crazy. We did go through all Logan's toys and donate 2 Walmart bags of toys to Savers. We also switched him from 12 month clothes to 18 months. So some organizing and cleaning was involved there. I also sewed a few more bags for Logan to store his toys in. So his closet (and the house in general) are looking a lot better.  His bags are all different colors and he knows which toys are in each and will point to:

Red - Train Tracks & Trains
Orange - Dinosaur & Jungle Animals
Yellow - Cars
Green - Little People and Farm animals

And there's a Turquoise one in the office filled with blocks. I'll make him some more as he needs more.

January 2nd I started eating Gluten Free and have been trying out new recipes. One of my goals is to try one new GF recipe each week. I'm sure this won't last all year, but until I build up a nice cook book, I'd like to keep this up. So far I've found a FABULOUS Cheese Roll recipe, a good Pizza Crust recipe, a good Pie Crust recipe, and an ok Sandwich Bread recipe (I want to find a better one).

It's going well, but it's totally different baking than I'm used to. I need to comprehend the Chemestry behind it all better before I'm more confident in just whipping out a new recipe. Right now I have to get Dave to watch Logan so I can concentrate or do my baking after Logan's in bed.

I did pick up this Pepper shaker while shopping for antiques with my Mom and Grandma over New Years and vowed to make it into a soap dispenser. I LOVE how it turned out! It's just so cute! I made it for the bath room, but now want to make another for the kitchen. I just have to find another cool jar to make it out of.

It took me 15 minutes to cut a hole in the top with a utility knife, cut the top off of an old soap dispenser, hot glue the top into the inside of the lid, screw in the top part of the dispenser (I wanted to be able to easily remove it if the top dispenser breaks), and cut the straw to the right size. Now every time I wash my hands I'm so proud of our little soap dispenser!