Adopt a GF Blogger - Ellen from I Am Gluten Free

For this month's Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger hosted by Seamaiden at the Book of Yum, I chose a blogger whose blog I have visited from the early days of going gluten free. I often visited the post about wontons however I have never made them. I visited the posts about bagels and breadsticks and wraps, oh my.
Then I saw this recipe for cookies.

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Cookies.

I'm not a huge chocolate chip cookie fan. I can take them or leave them.

What I can't resist, is White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. When people used to go to Subway for lunch and they would bring back a pile of cookies, I chose that one. When we would bake cookies at a bakery I used to work at, those were the ones I would sneak or buy a package to take home.

So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them. Unfortunately, I don't have macadamias in my pantry nor do I live on the macadamia-carrying-grocery-store side of town. What I did have was almonds: whole, sliced or slivered. I chose sliced.

This is my new cookie recipe. I'm sure I can make anything with this. Cranberry orange, dried cherry/pistachio, butterscotch pecan, double chocolate etc.
I haven't made a lot of gluten free cookies. I have made my  Rolled Sugar Cookies and some oatmeal butterscotch pecan cookies, peanut butter chocolate and I think that's it.
It just seemed like a lot of people weren't having any luck with GF cookies - they would spread or not hold their shape etc. So I didn't really work on them.

However, cookies are back!

White Chocolate Almond Cookies

Hello........



I love white chocolate.

 I can't wait to try more of Ellen's recipes. They are so organized. Mexican, Indian, Pasta, Vegetarian, she's got it all. She's also got a fantastic blog roll on the side which leads you to some absolutely fantastic blogs plus a bunch of links to celiac info. I Am Gluten Free is a fantastic resource for someone just starting out like I was a couple years ago. I hope you take a look.

Sweet Honey Glazed Ham

Sometimes you want a nice meal that doesn't take a ton of bowls and pots and pans. Ham, glaze, sides. Done. This is a recipe I've used for years. It's simple and really compliments the ham.  If you aren't looking for a turkey for Thanksgiving or Easter, ham is always an excellent choice.

Sweet Honey Glazed Ham
adapted from All Recipes

• 1 (10 pound) fully-cooked, bone-in ham
• 1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 large orange, juiced and zested
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place ham in a roasting pan.
2. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, pineapple juice, honey, orange juice, orange zest, Dijon mustard, and ground cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. Bake ham in preheated oven uncovered for 2 hours. Remove ham from oven, and brush with glaze. Bake for an additional 30 to 45 minutes, brushing ham with glaze every 10 minutes. 

Chicken Stock, Red Onion, Green Pepper, Carrots. Toss all in rice cooker. Simple.

Steamed fresh green and yellow beans, tossed with butter and dill. 

Buns. Gorgeous. Delicious. Part of my Adopt-a GF blogger post soon.

All in all, a simple classic dinner. Tons of leftovers. Lucky me. 

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays .  



xo

Kathleen

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Adopt A GF Blogger - Jeanine of the Baking Beauties

This post is linked to GlutenFreeEasily's August Adopt a GF Blogger

 When I lived out west, our office always celebrated birthdays every month. There was a large cake for the 5 or 6 people that were having a birthday. After I went gluten-free, I knew that I wouldn't be able to take part. There was another girl in the office who was also gluten-free and it was her birthday that month. No one should go without cake on their birthday! So I thought that I would make some brownies and we could have brownie sundaes.

I used a brownie mix and well, it was interesting. Extremely fudgy and seemingly undercooked, yet super crunchy and definitely overbaked. Very strange.

I saw a post by Jeanine of http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/  last year for  her Turtle Brownies. Let me just say, I went out right away and bought caramels. Life intervened and I didn't end up making them.  Can I show you them? 

Jeanine's Turtle Brownies

Around rolled March and I saw some Mint Brownies which interested me. I made a nanaimo type version  and used Jeanine's recipe for brownies.That's why I decided to adopt Jeanine for the Gluten Free Easily's August Adopt-A-Gluten-Free Blogger Event

My Nanaimo Style Brownies

Last night I returned home from work and it's a coworkers birthday today. At this job, we usually have what the birthday girl wants. She wanted pizza. There are delivery places that do gluten free but if you are looking for a 24-slice pizza, there is only 1 place for that and they don't do GF. So I came home and grabbed a GF Patisserie pizza crust that I um....... well... it's a whole 'nother blog post but essentially I had a backpack full of their baked goods on my 4 hour flight home from a western vacation.

Anyways, I made a pizza and decided to make some brownies while the oven was on. So of course I went back to Jeanine's recipe. I didn't make the Turtle Brownies but again I did use the main brownie recipe with a couple changes mainly butter instead of margarine and my flour mix.

Ingredients:

Brownies

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 large eggs

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp Gluten Free Flour Mix (*see note)

1/2 tsp Xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt( I added about 1 cup of white chocolate chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper (makes for easy removal later).

Brownies:

Melt the chopped chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and set aside while you make the brownie batter. ( I melted slowly in the microwave stirring intermittently.)

Meanwhile, in the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugars until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract and then the melted chocolate mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and, on low speed, beat in the flour, xanthan gum & salt and the chocolate chips. ( I don't have a mixer so I stirred it on up until it was blended together. )

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or just until the brownies are barely firm to the touch. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.

Store, covered, in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days, or in the freezer for longer storage.

Note: My flour mix is 2 parts brown rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch and 1/3 part tapioca starch.

I made a quick icing using butter, icing sugar, a little milk and some almond extract and piped it onto the cooled brownies.


I took the brownies into work and they were so fudgey, it was incredible.  In my world, I would assume that anything you suggest I eat is wheat-filled. In everyone else's world, well, everything is wheat filled and they don't assume anything different. So although people know I eat gluten-free, they also don't immediately think I'm giving them something that is GF. These are a brownie that everyone can enjoy and not even think they are GF.

See that classic shiny crispy top and the white chocolate?

 Jeanine's blog is one that I visit quite frequently because she's the same sort of baker/cook that I seem to be. Family favourites made gluten free.

If I wrote about all her recipes that I've tried, we'd be here for a while.

 Her Recipes

We made her Chinese Chicken Balls for our Chinese food Christmas dinner. These are a must try!! Gluten Free Chicken Balls


Do yourself a favour and check her out!