GF/CF Chocolate Pie

Let me begin by saying I don't like Pumpkin Pie - sorry that's not a recipe I have. However, for some strange cultural reason, Thanksgiving must come with pie. Chocolate is always popular with my crew...especially the Mommy of the crew so I set my sights on creating the perfect pie for me. Therefore, this recipe was adapted and put together from a few related recipes I found on the web. It was truly spectacular - especially paired with a couple scoops of homemade peppermint stick ice cream (see Ice Cream! post for recipe)

Crust:
1 cup superfine brown rice flour (see tips)
1/2 cup arrowroot starch OR cornstarch
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
1 tablespoon cane sugar (OMIT sugar if making a savory filling)
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum OR guar gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ice water
1 large, lightly beaten egg
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 cups) very cold Earth's Balance Margarine

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in margarine and mix with a pastry cutter until mix is in course crumbs. Add egg and ice water and mix. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more water. If it's hot in your house when you're making this crust, it will be very sticky. Put it in the fridge until it's firmed up. I don't roll my pie crust, I just press it into place in an oiled pie plate. if you want to mess with rolling, put your crust between two sheets of parchment paper and have a go :) Pre bake this crust at 350 until golden - about 30 minutes.

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup arrowroot
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
1 cup Silk vanilla creamer

2 cups cashew cream**
1 1/2 teaspoons GF vanilla

Combine sugar, arrowroot, cocoa and salt in a heavy saucepan.
Whisk together egg yolks, coconut milk and cashew cream. Add to saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture has thickened and boils, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Let cook and pour into a precooked pie crust.
Refrigerate 4-5 hours or overnight.

**To make Cashew Cream: Blend 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews and 1 ½ cups of water in a food processor until completely smooth.

Topping: 1 cup of frozen Guittard or Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips (these are both non-dairy) pulsed in a food processor until crumbly. Sprinkle these on top of cold pie.

Chow down!!

Perfect Stuffing

This recipe was adapted from Living Without - it was super tasty in our Thanksgiving Turkey!

10 cups gluten-free bread cubes (I used Udi’s)
2 cups chopped onion
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups fresh arugula
1 lb turkey sausage
1 cup dried cranberries
1½ cups gluten-free chicken stock
4 eggs or appropriate replacement
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
½ tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread cubes on cookie sheets in a single layer and bake in oven until cubes are dry, about 15 minutes.

2. In a large skillet, brown sausage, set aside and sauté onion and celery in sausage grease until soft. Remove from heat.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine bread cubes, onion mixture and remaining ingredients. Mix until bread is thoroughly moistened.

4. Place stuffing into a lightly oiled baking dish. Bake covered in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking to let stuffing brown, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, place stuffing into turkey cavity, lightly packed, and cook according to weight of the bird.

Sneaky Lasagna - Cow's Milk Free

So, this is another chapter in the epic "How to get more protein in my kids without them knowing it" saga. You can use the sauce for any dish that calls for marinara sauce - it's tasty!

1 32 oz jar of organic spaghetti sauce (I get mine at Costco and love it)
1 can of red beans
1 10 oz container of frozen spinach - thawed and drained (not squeezed)
8 oz organic tomato sauce
Salt and/or pepper to taste
1 lb of firm tofu
2 eggs
2 tbsp rice flour
1 large onion
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
1 lb ground turkey or chicken sausage
1/2 lb haloumi cheese (made from sheep milk)
1/2 lb romano pecorino cheese (imported also made from sheep milk)
1 pkg gluten free lasagna noodles (I use DeBoles rice lasagna because it's readily available)

Sauce: Puree your beans and spinach with the tomato sauce, adding spaghetti sauce slowly. Once it's all smooth, you can set all the sauce aside. Add salt and pepper to taste if you like.

Tofu: Press tofu between 2 plates lined with paper towel. Put a heavy book on the top plate to get a good squeeze on the tofu. Let it sit there for about 20 minutes. In a large bowl, beat the two eggs and add the rice flour. Mash in the squeezed tofu and mix all together.

Meat: Dice onion. Add olive oil to a skillet and saute onions and garlic until onions get a little browned. Add sausage and cook thoroughly. Add your sauce mixture to the cooked meat mixture.

While Meat is cooking, bring a big pot of water to a boil, add a little salt to season pasta. Cook noodles about 5 minutes - they will still be firm but pliable. That's fine - they will cook more in the oven. Rinse with cold water in a colander so you can handle them.

Cheese: Shred your cheeses and set aside. A word about sheep cheese - yes, they do contain casein. However, I am allergic to cow's milk and these cheeses do not cause a reaction in my body. My children react behaviorally to cow's milk products and the sheep cheese does not cause a reaction in them either. You can try it as a delicious alternative to cow's cheese and/or non-dairy cheeses.

Assembly: Line your 9x12 inch lasagna pan with some sauce. Lay 1/3 of your noodles over top of sauce. Put more sauce over your noodles. Spread 1/2 of your tofu mixture over top of the sauce. Lay down another 1/3 of your noodles, more sauce, and the rest of the tofu mixture. Lay down the remaining 1/3 of the noodles, the rest of the sauce, and the cheese as the top layer. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.

This is super yummy and protein packed. My kids devour this every time I make it - even my picky guy who doesn't like his food touching loves this recipe. Happy eating!!

Great Tip for a Picky Eater!

Our fabulous dietitian, Elizabeth Strickland, gave us this tip for Maxwell, who has always been a very picky eater. It's called the "Paper Plate Method" and here's how it goes:

Prior to mealtime, give your child a paper plate and a pencil. Have him/her draw a circle on the plate indicating how much they are willing to try of a new food. No matter how small the circle, let it be OK. Maxwell's first go at this was a circle barely big enough to accommodate a grain of rice. Fill the circle with the food to be tasted. Since they drew it, they have to finish that amount. Then, let them decide if they would like to eat that with the family or some acceptable standby (peanut butter sandwich or whatever you agree on).

Let me tell you, this works! I watched my child eat a full bowl of chili last week and a full bowl of lentils and rice this week, thanks to that method. He is the child that needed every casserole deconstructed with no parts touching and no sauce! And, there he was wolfing down chili with a smile! Seriously!

I hope this little thing can help you get some more nutrients in your child! Happy eating!

Graham Crackers - Adapted from "Eating For Autism" by E. Strickland

This is a really good recipe that I use from the book, Eating For Autism by Elizabeth Strickland. I added a couple of ingredients to the original recipe and these are really, REALLY good! I make a bulk batch and, with homemade marshmallows, they make excellent s'mores. Spread them with peanut butter and it's a snack for school. I will not lie, these are kind of labor intensive. But, if you make a big batch, they store well so you only have to do it once a month.

2/3 cup Spectrum Shortening
1 cup honey or agave nectar
2 Tbsp. molasses
1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp xanthan gum

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients to form a thick, pasty dough. And...here comes the work. Cut parchment paper to fit your cookie sheets. Blop some dough on your parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap, roll over the plastic wrap until your dough is the size of your parchment paper. You will have to experiment with this process until it makes sense to you. Basically, the dough won't stick to the parchment paper, which makes baking easier. You can roll it better with the plastic wrap over top because the dough is really sticky and the plastic wrap makes a nice barrier, also it won't stick to the dough so you can take it off before you bake it :) Anyway, once your dough is spread to cover your parchment paper and the thickness is relatively uniform, transfer the parchment and the dough to your cookie sheet and remove plastic wrap. Then, using a butter knife, score your crackers to the size/shape you want. Poke holes in the middle of each cracker with your knife or a fork. Put in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Pull out a bit and re-cut the lines you scored before baking. Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Take out of the oven and put the next batch in. This recipe makes about 3 cookie sheets full. Let your crackers cool and test for desired crispness (they harden as they cool)- some might not be crisp - those you can return to the oven for a couple more minutes and let them cool again to see if they are done. It's not an exact science and I have made these a lot of times and am still working to perfect my technique. Obviously, since these are kind of a pain to make, they'd better be good - and they are. My kids love them!

Butter Pecan Frozen Custard

This stuff is incredibly rich and creamy - I made it for my dairy loving husband and can't wait to see his reaction!

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup raw chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons Earth’s Balance margarine
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 4 C Rice Dream
• 1 C powdered milk substitute (I like Better Than Milk – Rice or Vance’s DariFree)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ tsp xanthan gum

Directions

1. In a small skillet over medium heat, saute pecans in butter until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together brown sugar, eggs and half rice milk until smooth. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from heat pour into blender to blend with remaining rice milk and vanilla.
3. Pour into freezer safe bowl and refrigerate to cool
4. Once cool, put bowl in the freezer, stir every hour to two until custard is the consistency of pudding. Add pecans and stir to disperse evenly…freeze until done.