Amaretto Pear Cobbler (Gluten Free)

You can use just about any fruit with this recipe but I was feeling like the winter weather meant I needed to go with the something like apple or pear... in the summertime I could see it as a cobbler with nectarines, peaches or berries...

Amaretto Pear Cobbler

• 1 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato flour
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cane sugar 
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 6 Tablespoons soft butter
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg

For filling: 

• 3 cups fruit (in this case I used pears)
• 1 tablespoon amaretto liquor
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 cup cane sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease casserole dish.

2. In a large bowl mix brown rice flour, potato flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder, cane sugar, and sea salt.

3. Add soft butter and mix. 

4. In a small bowl beat buttermilk with egg and then add to batter mix. Mix till combined.

5. Mix cornstarch with sugar and then toss sliced up fruit till coated. You can prepare the fruit to your own preference. I used peeled and sliced pears in this instance. 

6. Drizzle mix with amaretto liquor and toss. 

7. Spoon batter into greased casserole dish until bottom is covered. Gently add fruit filling. 

8. Spoon remaining filling on top of fruit. Sprinkle top with 1-2 tablespoons of cane sugar, this will give the top a sugary sparkle. 

9. Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

10. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. Excellent with a side of home whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 

xoxo- Iris

Triple Chocolate Gluten Free Flourless Brownies

You will never need another brownie recipe again. This is easy. This is delicious. This is gluten free.

You're welcome!

Triple Chocolate Gluten Free Flourless Brownies

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Melt 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter in a pan. Add unsweetened chocolate and stir on low heat till melted. 

2. Turn off heat and stir in cane sugar.

3. Beat in 2 eggs and vanilla. 

4. In a small bowl mix together dry ingredients. 

5. Mix dry ingredients into pan. 

6. Grease 9x9 or 8x8 pan. Pour in batter. Top with chocolate chips.

7. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. 

8. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into... resist the temptation!

Enjoy! xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Banana Cheesecake

I first envisioned this cake on my friend Erika's birthday. I adore cheesecake in general but have been seeking out new flavor profiles. I am a huge lover of citrus so of course I gravitate toward flavors like key lime. I had no idea how wonderfully banana cheesecake would be and its immediately become a favorite of many of my friends.

This is not your typical dense cheesecake and I learned a wonderful trick from a cashier at the Smart and Final that with solve that horrid problem of cracking cheesecake. The use of condensed milk in the recipe makes it a nearly fool proof recipe as well as needing little additional sugar.

Gluten Free Banana Cheesecake

• 2 eggs
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 oz) package full fat cream cheese
• 1/8 cup cane sugar
• 4 ripe bananas
• 4 Tablespoons corn starch
• 2 cups gluten free Trader Joes' Ginger Snaps
• 3 Tablespoons soft butter
• 1 cup almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Prepare gluten free cheesecake crust by dumping 2 cups of gluten free Trader Joes' Ginger Snap cookies in your food processor and blending till crumb texture has been met. Add 1 cup of whole raw almonds. Pulse till almonds are ground into cookie crumble and add 3 tablespoons soft butter. Alternately if you can not get to a Trader Joes easily you can make a plain almond crust with ground almonds, cane sugar, butter and a few tablespoons of water till a moist crumb texture has been found. You can season the almonds as well with various spices like ground dry ginger or cinnamon.

3. Place crust crumble into the bottum of spring form pan. Press gently into place. 

4. Clean food processor and combine cream cheese, ripe peels bananas, sugar, cream cheese, corn starch and condensed sweetened milk. Blend till completely smooth and combined. 

5. Pour cheesecake filling on top of crust and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until just set across the entirety of the cake.

6. Cool on counter top for an hour, loosen with a knife and then pop off spring form ring.

7. Chill in the fridge. Serve with homemade sweetened whipped cream. I like to use whiskey in my whipped cream in place of vanilla extract for this particular recipe. 

Of course once chilled this dessert can be served the same day but I have found that waiting one allows the banana flavor to fully ripen in the cake. Its also important that you use fully ripe bananas as they will provide for the sweetest and strongest flavor. 

Enjoy! xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake Recipe!

I have a policy at work that when someone who works in the same department as me has a birthday they can request what kind of cake they want and I'll make it. A few years ago one of the assistants in the office, who is from Mexico, requested a tres leches cake. My knowledge of tres leches cake up until this time was limited to the sighting of single slices of questionable yellow cake sitting in a puddle of milk in the bakery section of Food For Less. Needless to say I hadn't actually eaten any of the stuff myself.

wheat containing Tres Leches Cake

Not one to balk at a challenge I googled a recipe for Tres Leches Cake. At this time I was still naively poisoning myself with wheat products. The next day I brought in my homemade cake after following the recipe, which essentially is a sponge cake soaked in a sweet cream mix topped with whipped cream.  We all had a good laugh once it was actually explained to me that in fact this a cake that should remain in a dish... this seems obvious now as the milk seeped out from under the cake... Also the "traditional" cake is topped with maraschino cherries which are on my "are you sure thats edible?" list so I used fresh strawberries.  It was delicious, I still think a cake better eaten fresh homemade rather than store bought.

Flash forward...

When making a recipe "gluten freed" its important to consider texture as the key factor in replacing one flour for another. Sponge cake is actually excellent adapted to gluten free because of the egg base and the light texture.  I've been making this with a lot of success and so here is my recipe from Easter that was enjoyed by all.

Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake

• 1 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 1/8 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 pint whipping cream
• fresh berries of your choosing

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour using brown rice flour your cake pan... as long as it will fit that batter use whatever you prefer. I kind of like a casserole dish as you can serve it in the pan you bake the cake in.

2. Beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar until light in color and doubled in volume. Stir in milk, 1 tsp vanilla, combines flours and baking powder.

3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until firm but not dry. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture. Pour into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool.

5. Mix together condensed milk, evaporated milk and 1/4 cup of the whipping cream. Pour mixture over cake and allow to absorb. Whip the remaining whipping cream with a 1/4 cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla until it thickens and reaches spreading consistency. Frost cake with whipped cream and garnish with fresh berries.

Set aside in the fridge, serve after an hour... it will instantly disappear, I kid you not people were going back for seconds and licking their plates clean. 

xoxo - Iris

Eating 5 Days a Week!

Lately I've been posting a lot of things for those of you who are just becoming gluten free. As much as I love sharing my recipes I also know that for the other 5 days a week you just want to stay full, fed and healthy. So today's entry is an example of food planning for the week.

These are just some basic suggestions, I'm vegetarian so I've also made recommendations for proteins to accompany the dishes for those of who are not. Also I don't address desserts or sweets really here but its always good to have some chocolate, sorbet, gluten free cookies on hand during the week for when a craving hits.

MONDAY

BREAKFAST: Warm gluten free oatmeal with butter and brown sugar. 

LUNCH: Egg salad or tuna salad scoop on top of leafy green salad with vegetables of your selection.

SNACK:  cheese cubes, apple slices, almonds

DINNER: Steamed rice with stir fry of mixed vegetables seasoned with garlic, olive oil and italian spices, or go asian with it and add sesame oil, sriracha sauce, garlic and tamari sauce. Add tofu, chicken or other protein of your choice.

TUESDAY

BREAKFAST: scrambled eggs with salsa on a warmed corn tortilla with cheese and avocado. 

LUNCH: left over stir fry from prior night's dinner.

SNACK: hummus with vegetables and corn chips 

DINNER: Sauteed pre-cooked polenta topped with marina sauce and parmesan cheese. Add vegetables to your sauce or meat to make it just a bit heartier. Side salad.

WEDNESDAY

BREAKFAST: fresh fruit, berries, sliced bananas, or other seasonal fruit on top of greek yogurt with honey drizzled on top. 

LUNCH: Crustless quiche, side salad with vinaigrette.

SNACK: Olive topenade and feta mixed with olive oil, chopped garlic and paprika or pepper flakes, spread onto corn chips. Slices of cucumbers. 

DINNER: Smashed Potatoes, stuffed zucchini. Can be served with a protein for those of you who are meat eaters, like a piece of steak or something like that. Side of veggies, think green beans, corn, whatever is seasonal. 

THURSDAY

BREAKFAST: Scrambled eggs, with spinach and onions and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Side of sliced tomatoes. 

LUNCH: Shepherd pie, use the left over potatoes and meat from the night's prior meal. Place diced meat and veggies in bottum of tupperware and top with potatoes. Can be reheated at work in microwave. 

SNACK: fresh fruit, celery sticks with peanut butter or cream cheese. 

DINNER: Enchilada casserole with beans and rice on the side. Enchilada casserole is essential corn tortillas layered with cheese, onions and beans. Pour premade enchilada sauce, store bought or made ahead and frozen. Cook plain rice seasoned with salsa and heat up a can of beans. Serve with sour cream and avocado slices. 

FRIDAY

BREAKFAST: Fried eggs, pre-made hash browns, topped with katsup and side of fresh sliced avocado. 

LUNCH: Left over enchiladas. Top with fried egg or boiled egg sliced up. 

SNACK: Mixed nuts, dried fruit, fresh juices like carrot or a green mix.

DINNER: Cauliflower Mac and cheese with side salad. Also for the meat eaters add baked chicken.

Hope these suggestions help, of course there is always a can of soup and a salad if you are in a bind... healthy, happy eating to all!

xoxo- Iris

How to grocery shop gluten free...

I was chatting a bit ago with a friend who has recently gone gluten free, she has been struggling, as I hear a lot of people do, when adjusting to a gluten free lifestyle. I say lifestyle because there is a huge adjustment one must make when becoming gluten free, so much of our socialization centers around going out to eat and consuming food with family and friends. When you suddenly find that your diet is restricted you need to make accommodations in a lot of places in your life. Many restaurants are becoming more sensitive to the needs of the gluten free consumer so luckily while eating out there may now be a few more options available. But lets talk now about  a basic trip to the grocery store, how do you feed yourself throughout the week? especially if you have a busy schedule and can't always spend a whole night preparing a gourmet meal from a gluten free cookbook or blog...

Vegetables: The good news here is when you are in the produce section you can go crazy! Think salads, stir fry, carrot sticks and other sliced veggies for munching on throughout the day. Fruit, lots of fruit! Apples, oranges, whatever is seasonally available.

There are also vegetables that make excellent substitutes, for example thinly sliced zucchini is wonderful quickly boiled and used as a pasta for any marina or cream sauce that you would typically toss a wheat pasta in. I have also heard of spaghetti squash being used for this purpose too but have not done it myself.

Starches: Potatoes, which can be prepared a ton of ways, boiled, mashed, fried, baked, potato salad... don't forget potatoes aren't just russets either. There are baby potatoes and fingerling potatoes, red and white potatoes, even purple potatoes and each is excellent. I love boiled potatoes (any variety except the russet) tossed with boiled green beans dressed in pesto sauce. Serve warm or cold its awesome.

Rice... white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, wild rice. This is the time to become a fan of risotto. Saute garlic, onions, carrots and other vegetables in a pan, toss in a little white wine, simmer down, throw in your rice, arborio is the rice of preference as it become creamy but you can use short grain regular rice, now add vegetable stock (I'm vegetarian, this would work with chicken or meat stock too I assume.) Once the rice is cooked stir in a ton of Parmesan cheese. Salt, pepper... herbs, anything to taste.

Other excellent and easy uses for rice, make it like mac and cheese, use it as a base under a stir fry, rice pudding, or brown rice cooked up and served like a warm porridge.

Alternative grains like quinoa are great but are not always available at all stores.

Breading: right now my favorite way to bread things for frying or baking is corn. It is fairly easy to find Masa Harina and the grocery store. You'll find it in the Spanish section, it is a corn flour used for tamales or homemade corn tortillas. If you wish to make breaded mushrooms, zucchini or perhaps fried chicken I suggest salting and herbing some buttermilk and tossing the vegetable or chicken into the buttermilk and then rolling till covered in seasoned masa harina. By seasoned I mean salt, pepper, whatever you like. You can fancy it up by adding some garlic powder or paprika, personally I like adding this to the buttermilk and keeping with just a little salt added to the masa, I find it seasons the food but the spices have a tendency to burn. Fry your food in corn or canola oil till crispy and cooked through.

Baking: For basics it helps to have a few things around like butter, eggs, sugar but in place of wheat flour I always keep corn starch, brown rice flour and potato flour on hand, which I use as a blend as a flour substitute  I have an earlier post where I sing the praises of Bob's Red Mill products, if you are not able to find these at your local grocery store you can purchase them online (amazon.com) and also you can use gluten free instant potatoes ground finer as a replacement for potato flour.

If you are not a baker and want something instant I will confess its readily available and not bad, check out the Betty Crocker line of box mixes. http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/gluten-free-baking-mixes The cool part is Betty Crocker's gluten free line is actually way nicer than their other products with none of the weird unpronounceable ingredients. How ironic, eh?

Condiments: be wary of salad dressings and mustards, they can contain wheat... look for soy sauce, wheat germ things like that, do not buy those products. The good news is some very basic brands now clearly label themselves as gluten free. Hidden Valley ranch dressing, gluten free. :) My personal preference is to stick to things like oil and vinegar, toss a salad in a basic herb mixture and then some nice quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar, its very lovely.

Remember soy sauce comes from wheat but Tamari does not and is exactly the same thing. Some folks are using Braggs amino acids, which is a brown sauce, I've never used it but it is popular. I also like things like sriracha and sesame oil for seasoning my Asian style dishes.

You are pretty much safe with all pickles, olives and things of that sort. Heinz Ketsup... yup, its gluten free. http://www.heinz.com/glutenfree/products.html

Salsa, this is always safe, keep a jar in your fridge at all times, can't go wrong with some chips salsa and guacamole, but it is also great scrambled in eggs and topped with cheese in a corn tortilla (breakfast tacos.)

Cheese: Buy blocks of cheese, do not buy grated Parmesan cheese or shredded cheese, there are starches and powders and "cellulose" added that are not gluten free and questionable at best. This is used to prevent the cheese from sticking together, grate your own cheese fresh, it will taste better and be safe. Other than that you are pretty safe, there is some debate on blue cheese so I personally avoid it and don't eat cheeses with beer added, that goes with out saying.

Eggs: Of course eggs are safe... you can make omelettes with veggies and meats or scrambbled eggs to eat with potatoes. Or even breakfast tacos...

which leads me to...

Breads, etc.: I personally like Udi's gluten free white sandwich bread, its also reasonably priced at trader joes. Always keep some corn tortillas on hand. Easy to make a corn quesadillas for lunch or breakfast tacos for, well, breakfast. Also a warmed up corn tortilla makes a lovely side with any breakfast that you otherwise would have had toast with.

Beverages: You should be pretty safe to drink nearly anything. No beer though. Also none of those fancy wine cooler malt beverages. Stick to things like tequila, wine, vodka(potato vodka only, Absolut vodka is made with wheat)... non alcoholic things like juice are safe and all Hansen sodas are gluten free. Beware of carmel color in sodas.

Candies: Watch out for wheat hidden in candy, that means no more jelly beans. There is wheat syrup and gums used in a lot of candies, chocolate are pretty safe but also keep an eye out for things that contain malt. Skittles are gluten free though and you can see that they label clearly which always makes me happy.

Other snacks: potato chips, NOT BBQ, all pretty safe, just check the ingredients if you are getting the seasoned ones. Corn chips, cheetos, SOME but not all Doritos.

Things to avoid, if you see any of this listed in ingredients it either means the product does or could contain wheat or wheat products:

• Cellulose
• Glucose Syrup (can be made from wheat or potatoes, barley or rice, no real way to know if its "safe")
• Soy Sauce (in the US its made from fermented wheat, so if you see it listed as an ingredient its not "soy." Look for this in marinades, salad dressing, etc.)
• Triticum vulgare (wheat)

• Triticale (cross between wheat and rye)

• Hordeum vulgare (barley)

• Secale cereale (rye)

• Triticum spelta (spelt, a form of wheat)

• Wheat protein/hydrolyzed wheat protein

• Wheat starch/hydrolyzed wheat starch

• Wheat flour/bread flour/bleached flour

• Bulgur (a form of wheat)

• Malt (made from barley)

• Couscous (made from wheat)

• Farina (made from wheat)

• Pasta (made from wheat unless otherwise indicated)

• Seitan (made from wheat gluten and commonly used in vegetarian meals)

• Wheat or barley grass (will be cross contaminated)

• Wheat germ oil or extract (will be cross contaminated)

• Vegetable protein/hydrolyzed vegetable protein (can come from wheat, corn or soy)

• Modified starch/modified food starch (can come from several sources, including wheat)

• Natural flavor/natural flavoring (can come from barley)

• Artificial flavor/artificial flavoring (can come from barley)

• Caramel color (now considered a safe ingredient, but if you're in doubt, check with the manufacturer)

• Modified food starch

• Hydrolyzed plant protein/HPP

• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein/HVP

• Seasonings

• Flavorings

• Vegetable starch

• Dextrin and Maltodextrin (both sometimes made from wheat)

Also please be aware that the FDA does not presently monitor what food or standards a product must meet to be considered "gluten free." That means don't trust labeling because that can just be marketing. The industry accepted standard is that the food must fall below 20PPM (20 parts per million.) This means your "gluten free" food product may contain wheat ingredients, so check the nutritional list anyways, if you are like me you will avoid food with wheat in them at all not just 20PPM, that is a personal choice and depends on your sensitivity.

If you ever are not sure call the number listed on the container, most companies will be fairly educated and transparent when you say that you want to know if the product is gluten free. If they can not or will not give you the information don't eat it... companies should be proud of what they are putting in their food and if they don't know or won't tell you then to me that raises a red flag anyways. 

I may think of more things but this is it for now... safe eating, safe shopping and safe consumption. 

xoxo- Iris

Key Lime Coconut Sorbet & Orange Sparkling Wine Sorbet

Coconut key lime sorbet, pictured
with orange sparkling wine sorbet,
a strawberry sweet wine syrup and
a white chocolate peanut butter heart cup.

Its easy to assume that something like ice cream, sorbet and sherbet would be gluten free, but sadly due to stabilizers with odd scientific names and sweeteners derived from wheat its not so easy to know exactly what you are consuming.

Lately I've been on a mission to not consume anything purchase from a store or restaurant that contains multiple ingedients. I'm hoping this will give wheat less places to hide in my food.





KEY LIME COCONUT SORBET

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup or more cane sugar (you can add more and determine when the mixture reaches the sweetness level you prefer. 

1. I put all the ingredients into a container and shook it to mix and then dumped the mixture into my ice cream maker. This way when it was done processing I returned it to the container for storage and I had no dirty dishes. 

2. I recommend using the Trader Joes canned light coconut milk for this. When I checked at the store all the other coconut milks had stabilizers and thickeners, including the TJ brand of thick coconut milk. The light coconut milk only had coconut and water as the ingredients so I feel safe eating it. 

This is hands down the best sorbet ever! And also will make for a great popsicle if you do not have an ice cream maker. 

ORANGE SPARKLING WINE SORBET

• 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate (be sure its only ingredients are orange juice)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sparkling white white or champagne (if I had used champagne I would have called this a mimosa sorbet but I just had some sparkling wine left around the house.)

1. Mix together all ingredients and pour into ice cream maker. This mix would not make for a good popsicle because the fizz of the sparkling wine or champagne expands as it freezes. This makes for a great light textured sorbet but would make for a mess in your freezer. If you would like to modify this to make a popsicle I recommend using a sweet white wine with no sparkles. 

I know, its easy and hardly seems like a recipe at all, but I think the best things in life shouldn't be hard.

xoxo- Iris