can I buy this by the case?

If you have not made your own marshmallows yet,  you are seriously missing out.  I haven’t bought marshmallows since I made our first batch.

We added chocolate chips as eyes (and eyes and eyes) for our spooky little treats. Fast and easy.  Enjoy.   Martha Stewart Marshmallow Recipe.

So, my dear, sweet family has been eating less wheat too.  They are awesome.  We’ve found some excellent rice noodles, and they still taste great with pesto and spaghetti sauce.  I’ve got a small stash of flours for baking and I’ve been experimenting (insert mad scientist laugh here) on friends and family.  So far so good, ok well there was that one pie crust that was DISGUSTING, and I made brownies from the Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix (I thought they were horrible, but I know a few who have tried and LOVE them), but some things have really turned out well.

Then, the big challenge. Rob’s birthday.  And Rob feeling a little put out by the no-wheat food in the house.  You know, it’s just not the same (that’s right honey, it’s BETTER!).  So I researched for a while, I read a LOT of recipes.  Rob wanted something with chocolate and coconut.

I found Lauren’s recipe for Devil’s Food Cake.  I have to tell you this cake is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Not only does it taste great, the texture alone will have everyone convinced this is a cake made with regular wheat flour.  Guess what, there’s not a drop of wheat in it.

What started out as this:

Ended with this:

Rob had asked me, “Is it?”  again, “Is it?”.  He saw me eating it and I smiled. “It is.”

Enjoy.  Get the full experience on CeliacTeen.com with the original recipe here. I made a coconut cream cheese frosting (oh my).  Recipe follows below.

Lauren’s (CeliacTeen.com) Gluten-Free Devil’s Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup millet flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
5 tsp brown rice flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature *separated see my note
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup very warm water

Directions

*About 30 minutes before you start, get the eggs out of the fridge and separate them.  Cover them either with a lid or clear plastic wrap so they don’t get filmy.  They are easier to separate when they are cold.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease the bottom and 1/2 the sides of each pan.  Put a parchment circle in the bottom, grease the parchment.  (This is worth the time for success.  The parchment ensures no cake will be left behind, ugh hate that, and greasing up only 1/2 the pan, let’s the cake rise to it’s fullest.  Some will suggest only greasing the bottom, but I’ve had success with greasing 1/2 way.)

Combine all flours, xantham gum, cocoa, baking soda, baking power, salt and sugar.  Sift together in a large bowl. (I did it 2x, sifting adds air to the mix, helping to keep the cake light and helps in preventing the dreaded cake falling in the middle.)

Combine egg yolks, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and very warm water in another bowl.  Once thoroughly mixed, mix into the dry mix bowl, until combined, do not over mix, you want to keep as much air in the mix as possible.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.  (also helps to keep cake light and airy and prevent the dreaded fall) Gently fold these into the mixture.  Again, don’t over mix, the air in the mix is crucial, and over mixing eliminates the air in the mix.

Pour 1/2 the batter in each pan, bake for 30-35 minutes (mine was done at 30,), until the toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let the cake cool completely on a rack (if you have one).  While cooling you can prepare the frosting.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (for sprinkling on the cake)

Directions
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the sides and bottom to make sure it is mixed thoroughly. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream. Continue scraping the bowl to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed. Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable. Add additional confectioners’ sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin. Stir in the coconut. Sprinkle coconut over the cake.

Assembling the Cake
After your cake is completely, totally and wholly cool you may remove it from the pan.  Run a knife along the edge, remove cake from pan and place on cake plate.  Spread the frosting over the first layer, sprinkle a bit of coconut on top.  Place second layer on top of first layer.  Spread frosting over top and sides.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Put in fridge to set if you have time, don’t leave out in the heat, butter and cream cheese will run if too warm.

Enjoy.  This has to be one of the best cakes I’ve made so far. And the best part, it doesn’t taste like one of those gluten-free bricks.

I had a few zucchinis in the fridge and have been wanting to try to make some crispy zucchini fries.  These were so fun to eat.  Super crispy on the outside (probably thanks to the panko) and super smushy soft on the inside.  AND, Izzy, the 5yo who-used-to-eat-everything-and-now-doesn’t child, LOVED them.

“EW”, she said when they came out of the oven, “I am NOT eating that.  What is it?”

The rule at our house is you have to taste it.  If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it, after all we should enjoy what we eat, mother nature worked hard to grow it and we take special care to make it, it should be yum to eat, right?

Well after the first one, there was the second one, third, fourth, fifth….she ate these before the raviolis.  We’ll be making these again, and the best part?  These are so easy a 5 year old could totally make them too.  It’s fun, all the dredging and rolling and sprinkling, it’s total tea party time.

Enjoy!

Crispy Yummy Zucchini Sticks

• 4 Medium Size Zucchinis
• 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
• a couple sprinkles of your fave seasoning, I used cajun spices, but Italian or anything you fancy would be nice.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 cup of plain breadcrumbs
• Olive Oil (spray if you have it)

Preheat oven to 475F -500F depending on your crisp factor (I did 500F)

Prepare a cookie sheet, brush or spray with olive oil, set aside.

Cut the zucchinis lengthwise in quarters, then into 3rds or quarters again.

Mix the flour, seasoning and salt together in a bowl.

Whip the egg whites until they are really frothy, almost until they form soft peaks, almost, in another bowl.

Put the breadcrumbs in another bowl.

Dredge the zucchini sticks in the flour mixture, dip in the egg whites, dredge in the breadcrumbs.

Place on prepped cookie sheet. Repeat until finished. Spray or drizzle sticks with olive oil.

Put in oven for about 20 minutes, turning half way through.

My Notes:

I used cajun seasoning and they were good, I think cumin would be AWESOME, and of course, the old stand by – Italian seasoning.

I used panko, the Japanese breadcrumbs. LOVED them, super crispy.

We really liked the super crispy outside and super soft inside, we cooked them for probably 25 minutes until the breadcrumbs started to turn super dark brown.

I think you could totally make a batch and freeze them after they’ve been coated with the breadcrumbs.  I’m going to add this to my “What to do with all the zucchini” part of the year and freeze a bunch for later.

We were watching a cartoon on some channel, not one that we normally watch, and there were commercials, and one came on for Pop Tarts.  I remember eating Pop Tarts.  We’d occasionally have them in the house growing up, but it wasn’t a normal breakfast for us.  It was a treat.   I know in some cultures or houses, cake or pastry for breakfast is the norm, but not at our house.  That being said, there is nothing more wonderful than the occasional delicious treat.

However, I never thought Pop Tarts were delicious.  I thought they tasted like sugar coated card board.  And, have you read the label?  Totally too many ingredients that I can’t pronounce, or have to look up to figure out what it is.  So here I have to follow some of Michael Pollan’s Food Rules like:

#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

Amen to that.  Have you made your own junk food?  WAY better than the commercial stuff. And I think you burn all the calories while making it and cleaning up afterwords.

#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

This I learned from my mother, ANYTHING advertised on TV is off limits.  (except the stuff I do for my job, it’s on TV, and well, I’d buy it).

So, literally, I’ve been thinking about it this week.  Totally, sort of obsessing over it, thinking about these big convenience food makers and their role in our lives.  (Ok, that’s for another post, later).  Anyway, catching up on my food blogs, I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and well the rest is history.  We made them right away.

We rolled the dough into rectangles.  Don’t you love my perfect rectangle?  Isn’t it AWESOME.  Tip #1, I used my large rectangle cutting board as a template.  I felt so clever.

We made smaller treats (portion control is important, you don’t need big ones to enjoy them and they are treats), and cut the rectangles down to 12 pieces.  I think next time I would cut them into 16 pieces, even the 12 pieces were too big at around 3×4″.

We brushed our squares with egg, then poured our cinnamon filling on top.  There are more ideas at Smitten Kitchen, but I really liked the nutella suggestion.  For Izzy, since she’s not so into sweets, I need to come up with some savory ideas.

We cut up the 2nd rectangle and put them ontop of the first rectangle and pressed down the edges to make little pillows.

Using forks, we sealed the edges.

Izzy added her designs to each one.

I cooked 4 of them, and put the rest in the freezer.

Sorry, when they came out of the oven, they were gone right away, no photo of the finished product.  Next time.

This was so easy peasy.  Seriously an awesome project.  SO EASY A 5 YO COULD MAKE THEM!!  We now have a bunch in the freezer for treats and I think if I can find a savory filling, these would be an even bigger success at our house.

Recipe at Smitten Kitchen, Enjoy!

It was so stinkin’ easy.

Fluffy pillows of lemony goodness…

Boiled….

Then pan fried….

Gone in 60 seconds.

Recipe is from EveryDay Food (and of course, I’ve been carrying this issue around with me I LOVE IT and can’t find the magazine to share the recipe, I’ll post it when I can find the link or the magazine.

Izzy hand picked a big pile for our tart.  She carefully checked each one, turning it around and around, making sure they were the right ones, red and delicious.

We poured our cut strawberries onto the rolled out dough.  She folded the edges of the dough over the strawberries. And we popped it in the oven.

This was totally delicious, and so easy a 4 year old could make it (with a little help from mom).

Rustic Strawberry Tart

Tart Crust

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg separated
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• Lots of fresh strawberries, sliced

Preeat oven to 400F.

Put flour, butter, egg yolk and sugar into the food processor and pulse until the mixture turns into little balls, like course meal.  Slowly add the cold water until the mixture forms one big ball.  (Watch the amount of water you put in, too much and the dough gets too wet).  Remove ball, wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this by hand too! Make a mound of flour on a work surface, then make a well in the center of the mound and put the butter, egg yolk, sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the cold water into it.  Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips, then begin incorporating the flour in until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Add 1 tablespoon water and continue to blend, adding water 1/2 tablespoon at a time as needed to form a workable dough, gathering it into a ball. Add a little flour to the work surface and knead the dough two or three times with the heels of your hands. Take care not to over knead. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Remove the chilled dough and place on a floured work surface.  Roll out to desired thickness and size.  Brush egg white over entire dough surface.  Pour cut strawberries onto the center of the dough.  Fold edges up over strawberry hill.  Brush egg whites over the dough edges. *Optional, sprinkle entire tart with sugar (we did not and it was just fine!)

Place tart on flat sheet.  I lined mine with parchment paper.  Cook for 30 mins until crust is a golden color.  Let cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.

We used just plain fruit for the filling, nothing else, and it was perfect for us, not too sweet.  We’ll be making these tarts with the fruit we get each week from our Farmer’s Market, and it’s something Izzy can do a lot of by herself, pick the fruit, pour the ingredients, pulse the food processor, roll the dough, brush the egg whites, fold over the dough, and of course, eat it.

I really can’t remember the first time I ate gazpacho.  But I feel like I’ve loved it for a long time, and when I see lovely ripe tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market and it’s so stinkin’ hot, I have to make gazpacho.

I love it for a bunch of reasons.  I love being able to taste every single vegetable in each bite.  I love how it chills me right to the core.  And I love when it’s so spicy my eyes water.

After looking through a bunch of recipes, I made my own.  Mind you, this is not traditional, so you won’t find bread in this soup, but you will find seasonal ripe veggies.  If they aren’t ripe or local, they just aren’t worth eating.

Enjoy!

4-6 large tomato chopped  – 1 cup put aside

1 large cucumber – peeled and chopped – 1 cup put aside

1 large red onion – chopped

3 large stalks of celery – chopped – 1 cup put aside

1 yellow pepper – chopped – 1 cup put aside

Cilantro (amount to your liking) – chopped

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup Lemon Jiuce

4 cups Tomato Juice (I use V-8, seems to have the most real food ingredients)

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

Hot Sauce

Makes about 8 servings.

Put chopped veggies and cilantro in a blender or food processor and pulse to desired consistency.  I do it just a wee bit of processing, I like to chew this soup and taste each vegetable in each bite.

Pour into a non-reactive bowl, add the Red Wine Vinegar, Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Tomato Juice, salt and pepper / hot sauce to taste and mix together.  My blender and food processor aren’t big enough to hold it all, but if they are, you can put it all in and blend away.

I’m thinking about other gazpachos.  I’ve had a beet gazpacho that was so amazing I just can’t forget about, and it might be my next gazpacho….

I don’t know about you, but whenever we have friends over for a meal, I experiment.  I have big ideas about food, and I see these special visits as the perfect opportunity to try something new.

I love tomato soup.  I love tomatoes.  I love fennel.  When I found this recipe, it was just perfect.  I made a big batch in the slow cooker.

Now, I did use store-bought canned tomatoes.  I know.  But the “fresh” tomatoes in the store have not been kissed by the sun.  But this had Rob and I both talking, we figured if we canned enough tomatoes this summer for the year, that would be a good thing.  Since we use tomatoes and tomato sauce in almost EVERYTHING, we figure 100 servings would get us through the year.  Ok Mom, how many tomatoes is that?

I started the day before, and roasted the fennel, then poured the fennel into the slow cooker with the tomatoes, broth and lemon juice, cooked is slowly for 4 hours, then let it sit over night.  When I tasted it this morning, I was so disappointed.  I tasted canned tomatoes.  OF COURSE!!!  ugh. I didn’t taste the roasted fennel that smelled so good the night before! I pureed the soup, added white beans and salt and pepper.  Still tasted like canned tomatoes.

Then, I made the Gremolata.  HOLY MOLY!  Such a bite!  Amazing.  This would surely save my soup.  And it did.  So delish.  I served the soup hot, but it could certainly be served chilled.  A total keeper, and it will be incredible at the height of tomato season.

Enjoy.  From Epicurious.com

I added white beans.  Served it with an asparagus and roasted garlic quiche and a lovely salad.  Brownies with salted caramel ice cream for desert.  YUM!

Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups finely chopped fennel bulb
• 1 28-ounce can Italian-style tomatoes, drained, juices reserved
• 2 2/3 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Gremolata

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

For soup:
Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped fennel bulb; sauté until tender but not brown, about 6 minutes. Add drained tomatoes; sauté 5 minutes. Add reserved tomato juices, stock and lemon juice. Cover; simmer 15 minutes. Puree soup in blender in batches until smooth. Return to pan. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

For Gremolata:
Mix all ingredients in small bowl.

Bring soup to simmer. Ladle into bowls. Stir spoonful of gremolata into each bowl and serve.

I made a batch, and we only take off what we can roll thin with the rolling pin, and save the rest in the fridge for the next day.  Iz loves it (she’s not too into the sweet things).  I have a set of cookie cutters, yes, they are all Christmas shapes, but they are tiny, perfect for her hands and portion control, so we eat a lot of Christmas cookies.  Today, we rolled the dough into balls and stuck dark chocolate chips into the center.  DELISH!

Here’s the recipe.  Enjoy! from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.