Zucchini Bread

Last week there was a party at work and someone had made zucchini bread. It looked and smelled so good but sadly I couldn't taste it. I've been looking for fall recipes that include pumpkin, apples, breads, muffins, pies etc. I want warm, tasty comfort fall treats. I plan to make a pumpkin cheesecake soon, but I really wanted to make a bread or muffin this time to have an alternate thing to eat for breakfast.

So I did some searching online today for zucchini bread. I came across this recipe. I didn't follow it exactly (go figure!). Below is my adaptation

Gluten Free Zucchini Bread with walnuts


Moist Ingredients:
1 cup diced zucchini (washed but not peeled)
2 egg
1⁄2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
1⁄2 cup white rice flour
1⁄2 cup sweet rice flour
1⁄4 cup corn starch
2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
1⁄2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped walnuts*
Zest from one small lemon*

Glaze Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Combine moist ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients by mixing together well in a large bowl.

Add moist ingredient mix to dry ingredient mix. Stir until blended well. Grease a loaf pan and put mixture in pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 °. Check center for doneness with a toothpick. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Prepare glaze, which should be runny. Remove bread from pan and drizzle with glaze. Let cool.

*The original recipe says combine moist ingredients in a blender and mix until it resembles a milkshake. I don’t own a blender so I finely chopped the zucchini. The original recipe also did not call for any chopped nuts or lemon zest.

Apple Pie

Today is almost the perfect Fall day....almost. If only my leaves would change colors... The wind is blowing, its nice and chilly, I bought a perfect little pumpkin and made my first gluten free apple pie!! I usually LOVE and only make apple crisps but I didn't have any gluten free oats so I thought I would try my hand a a pie.

I found the recipe below online and made a few adjustments when making it. My adjustments will be marked with an *

Awesome Gluten Free Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

Pastry Crust Makes Two Crusts

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mills All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, Avail at Kroger & online)


• 1/3 cup cornstarch


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (Bob's Red Mills)


• 8 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces


• 1 large egg


• 1 tablespoon gluten-free vanilla extract (Available online at the Gluten Free Pantry)

Apple Filling

• 7 medium apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced. Use mildly sweet to tart very crisp apple (such as Granny Smith, Braeburn, Cortlands)


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 1/4 teaspoon salt

*I used 4 medium/large Granny Smith Apples*

Crumble Topping

• 3/4 cup light brown suga


• 3/4 cup gluten-free flour (See above)


• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 1/3 cup butter, chilled & cut into small piece

*I used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup gluten free flour and cut the butter and nutmeg down a bit also*

Directions

1. ***Pastry Crust Instructions***.


2. In a mixing bowl stir together the flour, xanthan gum and cornstarch.


3. Then add the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla and mix until combined.


4. Remove dough from bowl and knead and fold on a surface dusted with GF flour until well well combined.


5. Divide into two pieces and wrap in plastic wrap, place one in the refrigerator to chill and place the other in the freezer for later use.


6. --Go ahead and make Apple Filling while the Pastry Crust is chilling.


7. After approx 20 minutes, remove dough from refrigerator and roll into a ball.


8. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a lightly GF floured surface until it is the thickness of a normal pie crust.


9. Place crust in a 9 inch glass pie dish that is lightly sprayed with non stick spray.


10. Using a fork poke a bunch of holes in the sides and bottom of the crust.


11. ***Apple Filling Instructions***.


12. In a large bowl mix apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.


13. Set aside and let the juices mix.


14. ***Crumble Topping Instructions***.


15. In small bowl mix together brown sugar, GF flour and nutmeg.


16. Next mix in the chilled butter and cut it in with a fork or other tool until you have a course crumbly mixture.


17. ***Assembling your Pie***.


18. Preheat oven to 400°F.


19. Spoon apples into your pie crust, mounding in the middle and pouring the sugary juices over top. (*I didn't use all the liquid, about half and it came out a bit soupy*)


20. Sprinkle your Crumble Topping all over the top (use it all).


21. Use tin foil to cover edges of crust as it will burn easily.


22. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, topping will be lightly browned and filling will be bubbly.


23. Let cool for at least an hour before serving.

The perfect desert for a tasty fall dinner (boneless pork chops, with fresh chunky apple sauce and mashed potatoes-yummmm)

Hearty Chicken Soup

Cold season has hit!  Thankfully its just a cold and not the flu.  So the past few days have been spent drinking many cups of tea with honey and eating plenty of soup.  I'm not good at being sick...I have a hard time taking it easy and resting.  I always feel like I need to be doing something, and that usually means cooking/baking.  So the other day I had made a potato and corn chowder  but when I'm sick I want a clear broth...so tonight I made a hearty chicken soup.

Hearty Chicken Soup

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

1 large shallot (or onion, I didn't have an onion so I used shallot)

3 celery stalks, diced

2 large carrots, diced

3 medium potatoes, diced

1 cup each firmly packed green and red chard roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 table spoon dried oregano

1 table spoon rosemary chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cups gluten free chicken broth

1 cup water

1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts diced

salt and pepper to taste (shouldn't need to much with the chicken stock)

*try to dice the veggies all about the same time for even cooking.  I tend to dice mine bigger but I like the chunkiness of the soup.  I also don't peel my potatoes first, I like to leave the skin on, it adds a slightly different texture to the soup.

In a large pot heat one table spoon of grapeseed oil over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook for two minutes.  Add the celery and carrots and cook for an additional five minutes until softened.  Add potatoes, garlic, rosemary, oregano, and red pepper flakes.  turn heat to medium high and add one cup of water and four cups of chicken stock.  Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes, add chicken and stir.  Once chicken has cooked through add the green and red chard, stir well.  Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.  Enjoy with a little grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Cranberry Nut Scones

I adapted this recipe that I found on the Four Chickens Blog.  I had been searching for something to bake today and went back to her blog to see if I could find a recipe to use with her Gluten Free Flour Mix (see recipe below) and sure enough I found one.

I took her basic recipe and added a few things to it: some dried cranberries, chopped pecans and lemon zest.

Cranberry Nut Scones

ngredients:
3 C. gluten-free flour mix (see below)

1/3 C. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 C. copped pecans

The zest of two small lemons or one large lemon

1/4 C. (or 1/2 C.) dried cranberries

6 oz cold butter (or dairy-free butter substitute--I used Earth Balance)

1 C. milk (or gluten-free soy milk) mixed with 4 T. vinegar--I used apple cider vinegar

Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (mix together and store in fridge):
1 1/4 C. brown rice flour
1 1/4 C. white rice flour
1 C. tapioca flour
1 C. sweet rice flour (also known at Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with a Silpat sheet.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.



Add the cold butter pieces and using your fingers, (a pastry blender, or two knives), work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Don't worry about the larger nubs of butter--these add to the scones' flakiness.  Add in the cranberries, pecans and lemon zest.  Mix well.



Slowly pour in the milk mixture--do this carefully, because you might not need it all. I used about 7/8s of the milk. The dough should be just barely wet. Use your hands to carefully mix in the last bits of flour. The dough should be extremely light and fluffy. Handle carefully.



Turn out only a floured board.  I use tapioca flour to lightly flour a large cutting board and lightly press out the ball of dough until it is about 1/2 in thickness (you can also follow the original recipe and use a rolling pin and cut the scones according to Jeanne's instructions).  Cut in half and depending on how many scones you want to make cut each half in third or quarters.  Place the scones on the baking sheet lined with the Silpat sheet.  Lightly sprinkle each scone with sugar (if you have raw sugar use that, if not, regular white sugar will work just fine)







Bake the scones for 17-20 minutes. They are done when they are lightly golden on the top. Cool briefly (or as long as you can stand it before devouring them).



Thanks Jeanne for another awesome recipe!