Sweet Potato Mash and Casserole

6 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
1/2 cup of butter
2 squirts of honey
1 tsp of nutmeg

Boil the sweet potatoes in water until tender. Drain and mash them with the butter, honey and nutmeg. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Casserole which is so easy I almost never serve them mashed. Preheat the oven to 350. Use the mash above but add:

1/2 Cup of brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1/2 cup of almond milk (or another vegan milk choice)

Mix all the ingredients above to the mashed sweet potatoes. Cook for 25-30 minutes until fluffy and golden. Delicious!

You can add 1/2 cup of pecans if you like but it doesn't really need if you don't have it handy.

DC Gluten Free Vendor Expo

I just bought my ticket for the DC Gluten free Vendor Expo at Embassy Suites at the Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. I can't wait! Go buy tickets here. I can't wait to try all the sweet treats.

Gluten free deals!

This week's gluten free deal is Pay $12 for a sampler pack of 6 flavors of amaZing gluten-free bars - shipping included! (70% off the cost of the bars!)


This deal includes one bar of each Zing flavor: all gluten free, all taste amaZing:
Almond Blueberry
Chocolate Coconut
Chocolate Peanut Butter
Cashew Cranberry Orange (also dairy free)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (also dairy free)


The fine print: 
Online orders only, offer expires on December 4, 2011. All offers will be shipping UPS Ground. 

Amazon deal!

Amazon is celebrating Celiac Awareness month by offering 30% off of gluten free products. Go here to see what they are offering!

Gluten Free Houston

Last week I was sent a box of Gluten free goodies from Gluten Free Houston. 

I was sent the Burger/Sandwich buns the Coffee Cake muffin and the Carrott Cake muffin.

The burger buns were VERY exciting for me. I was sent 4 buns to review. I made a burger, a BLT (which is very hard to eat on a lettuce wrap), turkey sandwich and a good ole' PB & J on the buns.  The buns were sweet and savory but were strong enough to last to the very last bite. They were a bit crumbly when I sliced them open but they stayed together well. I really enjoyed them.

The coffee cake muffin was delicious. It was firm (consist of a GF muffin) but delicious. The cinnamon/coffee flavor was spot on. The texture was crumbly and spongy like a cake. I really enjoyed them with my coffee.

The carrott cake I had my husband review as they had butter in them. (Gluten free but not dairy free) The muffin was soft, sweet and spongy. My husband said that it was cakey without all the sweetness. (whatever that means)

Overall I would recommend both the coffee cake muffins (I have to order some more of those) and the burger buns. They were yummy. Thanks for the samples Gluten Free Houston!

Meat Pies part II

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

I will only tell you how to fill the Gluten free pizza crusts and how to cook them.

Place the sticky gluten free pizza crust on a cookie sheet with corn meal liberally coating the bottom of the pan. Cook for 7-8 minutes. Just long enough to smell the dough cooking. You want it to be soft and pliable enough to shape into a meat pie. Take out of the oven and cute dough into quarters or halves depending on how big you want the meat pie to be. (as a side note you will not need to pre-cook the gluten crust).

Place a 1/4 cup (or more depending on how big you want the meat pie to be) in the middle of the crust. Shape the meat pie so that all sides of the dough are covering the meat. If you wanted to add soy or vegan cheese now would be a good time. Fill all the remaining dough and shape, you may have some left over meat.

Seal the edges by pressing a fork to all edges of the pie. Pressing hard enough to seal them. You might also want to shape them with your fingers. Make an egg wash with one egg and a teaspoon of water. Scramble the egg and add the water, mix to blend. Take a brush to coat the outside of the meat pie. This will give the crust that crusty feel and give it a beautiful golden brown color.

Cook the meat pie in your oven at 425 for 10-20 minutes. You want the crust to be golden brown and you want the dough to sound hollow when you 'knock' on the dough. The inside will be soft and doughy while the outside is crusty and golden brown.

My kids loved this meal and so did I. I'll be trying this again with mushrooms, tomato sauce and sausage inside.

Enjoy!

The Gluten pizza crust directions are shape, fill, egg wash, cook. Generally speaking cook the gluten free crust cooks 10-15 minutes more than the gluten crust. 

Meat pies part I

I don't make pizza crust except crust that is not gluten free, dairy free. Since I can not enjoy the cheesy goodness of pizza I choose not to make it for myself. I have however been craving meat pies. Crusty, doughy sandwiches filled with meat.

Here are my recipes for gluten and gluten free crusts.

Pizza crust for my kids (not GF)

2 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast
1/2 tsp of brown sugar
1 1/2 Cup of warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp of olive oil (+ a little more to coat the bowl)
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

In a large bowl dissolve yeast and brown sugar in water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution and mix in 2.5 cups of the flour.

Turn dough out onto a clean well floured surface and start to knead. Knead in more flour a 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl and cover with a cloth. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down after an hour and form a tight ball. Let relax a minute or two before rolling out to make meat pies.

Gluten free all purpose flour mixture:

1 Cup of white rice flour

1 Cup of potato starch

1 Cup of sorghum flour

1/2 Cup of corn starch

1/2 Cup of tapioca flour

4 tsp of xanthan gum

I triple this recipe each time I make it. I keep it in a big over sized tupperware container in my basement. I make it about once a week. 

Gluten free Dairy free Pizza crust:

1 1/2 Cups of all purpose gluten free flour

3 tbsp of coconut milk powder (or vegan milk powder, soy milk powder)

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp of salt

2 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast

2 egg whites

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 tsp of vinegar (I use red wine but you can use white, cidar, champagne, etc)

3/4 Cup of warm water

Mix wet ingredients together in a mixer slowly adding dry ingredients. Combine. Turn the mixer on high for 4-5 minutes to combine ingredients. This crust will be very sticky and may need to add more all purpose flour to bring the dough together. 

Meat Pie filling

1 lb of ground beef

1 Carrot

1/4 of a yellow onion

1/2 tsp of all spice

1 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp of garlic salt

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp of corn starch

Cook ground beef until it is no longer pink. Shred the carrot and the onion into the mixture. (I shred the vegetables as my kids will not eat something with vegetables integrated into the mixture) If you want to you could add cut up carrots, peas, onions, peppers to this mixture. Add the all spice, garlic powder, garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until you can smell the seasonings blended. Add the corn starch when you've finished cooking to thicken the sauce. You will want 1/4 cup of meat mixture for each meat pie. 

I will form the meat pies, cook them and finish with my results. Stay tuned for part II.

Edible Arrangements deal

Randy and I love Edible Arrangements. He love, love, loves the chocolate covered strawberries. I love the smell of fresh fruit in my house in a pretty little arrangement. This fruit smells and tastes delicious.

I received a coupon code for 5 dollars off each arrangement for Valentine's day. A box of chocolate covered strawberries (Randy's V-Day gift shhhh!) is 25 dollars. If you pick up in the store your total is 21.20 dollars with the coupon. Use coupon code: LOVE0211 for 5 dollars off. The chocolate on the Edible arrangements is not considered gluten free but some stores Nationally do carry Gluten free chocolate ask your store if it is gluten free (the Olney, MD store is not) The all fruit arrangements are of course gluten and dairy free.