Cheesecake Brownie Recipe - "Man Bait Brownies"

This is another one of favorite recipes. It's actually taken from the book called The Gluten Free Kitchen by Roben Ryberg. It's a great recipe book that contains dinners to desserts.

These brownies were always my "go-to" brownies whenever I had to make something. People generally couldn't tell they were GF and always enjoyed them. My dad actually dubbed them my "man bait" brownies, because everyone knows a way to man's heart is through his stomach. :) But, I do you hope enjoy these brownies. I've made them so many times the recipe page has brown stains from batter I have spilled on it and the book lays perfectly flat when opened to the recipe. :)

Ingredients:
1 1/3 C sugar
1/2 C shortening
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 C potato starch flour *See Further Down*
3/4 C cornstarch *See Further Down*
3 teaspoons guar gum (aka xantham gum) * See Further Down*
     (Flours and Xantham Gum can be replaced with 1 1/4 cups of gf flour mix (Domata or other brand)
                    
3/4 C cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 C milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Cheesecake:
1 8oz package cream cheese - I used Hy-Vee brand - double check cream cheese for modified food starch
1/3 C softened butter
2 C powdered sugar

Now let's put it all together!

In a large bowl cream sugar and shortening. Now I made the mistake of not looking at my recipe before making it - so I didn't have any shortening. Thankfully my brother-in-law is a wizard in the kitchen and told me I could use butter but to add 2 tbsp per cup of butter. So I added 1/2 C butter + 1 tbsp butter and creamed it with the sugar.

Next we will add the eggs and vanilla. Then mix everything together. 

Now we need to add the remaining ingredients. * I did something differently than what the recipes called for. This was the first time I used Domata flour instead of the potato starch, cornstarch & xantham gum. So added 1 1/4 C of the Domata flour and no extra xantham gum since it's already mixed into the Domata flour.*

 

Next, I decided to add some chocolate chips. The recipe doesn't call for them but I had remembered I had half a bag in the refrigerator and figured.....why not! :)

After mixing all these together, pour the brownie batter into a 9X13in greased pan

Next comes the cheesecake part. In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter & powdered sugar. Just make sure your cream cheese is softened otherwise you will spray powdered sugar all over like I did. :)

Once the cream cheese is mixed together, drop by tablespoonful onto the top of the brownie batter.

Next use a knife to swirl the cream cheese mixture into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a fork test comes out clean.

Then it's just time to enjoy!! :)

My 1st Gluten-Free Menu

I'm a planner.  Everyone knows that I plan everything that I can!  So, needless to say I plan a monthly menu.  It started a few years ago as an effort to save money.  It helps in so many ways!  First of all, we don't buy food we don't need so there is less waste, and it helps avoid the trap of "what do you want for dinner.... I don't know... ehhh.. lets just pick something up."

This is the first month I've made a menu gluten-free.  Some foods we already eat are naturally gluten free - like tacos.  Other foods are most definitely not gluten-free - like spaghetti.  Then there are the foods that are surprising NOT gluten-free.  Many recipes have "Cream of Chicken" soup as an ingredient - that is not gluten-free.  I've done some research and found there are gf versions, so the question is - can I find those in the store?  And if I can - how expensive is it and does it taste good?

For this month when I picked out foods for dinner I decreased the number of obviously glutenous foods, and tried to pick recipes that were naturally gluten-free or that could be converted easily.  As an experiment we're going to try to find gluten-free cream of chicken soup and try our favorite recipe - Chicken Chalupas with it.  More info on that experiment later!

Here are some examples from this month's menu:
     - BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs (no buns) (and yes... we BBQ in November)
     - Chicken Quesadillas  (corn tortillas)
     - Mexican Pumpkin Lasagna (corn tortillas)
     - Turkey Cornbread casserole (domata and cornmeal)
     - Broccoli, Ham & Cheese Quiche (hashbrowns for the crust)
     - Thai Shrimp Pasta (rice noodles)

When we go to the grocery store this week we'll be reading a ton of labels to check for hidden sources of gluten. I'm nervous about what I might find - I'm afraid some of my favorite foods are going to turn out to contain gluten.  I'll just have to wait and see what we find.

BBQ Chicken "Grandma Style"

This recipe is one of my favorite recipes. It is actually from my grandma and I LOVED it when she made it. I used to beg my mom to make "Grandma's Chicken" as I called it but it does take some prep the day before so she didn't make it very often. I love making it now. I love how it makes my house smell and always makes me think of my grandma. What could be better! :)

Ingredients:
1/2 C vinegar
1 C water
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mustard
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayan pepper
2 thick slices of lemon
2 slices of onion
1/2 cup margarine ( I use country crock "butter")
1 cup ketchup
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce ( I use the great value brand from walmart)
2-4 chicken breasts

Now the Fun Begins!

1. Mix together the first 10 ingredients in a sauce pan, simmer for 20 minutes uncovered.

2. Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce - bring to a boil.

3. Pour sauce over frozen chicken, cover and place in fridge to marinate overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees until done. I usually baste the chicken a couple times while still in the oven with the sauce from around the chicken. 

4. Now enjoy!!  I made corn bread and steamed potatoes/veges but rice, mashed potatoes, etc go great with it too.

My Top Six Important Tips

So I decided to compile a list of some quick tips my "Top Six" - some of these you might already know but for someone just starting out these are ones I thought would be most helpful.

1. Find Domata Flour (Domata is the brand). Before I started using Domata I had to mix different types of flour together such as potato starch, rice and then add xanthum gum. I could never remember how much xanthan gum to add to my flour mix so I was always calling my mom to find out. When Domata came out it made my life SO much easier. It is a cup for cup substitution, the flour is already mixed together. I can take basically ANY recipe I already have and use the Domata instead of the regular flour and the taste isn't that much different. There are now other brands of ready-to-use flours but Domata is the one I have tried and I like it so much I don't feel like trying any of the others.

2. Stay away from modified food starch. This is a tricky one. I have read things that say it may contain wheat and I have read things that have said if it does contain wheat the company has to declare it. Personally I have never seen it declared on a product that says it contains modified food starch. I personally recommend staying away from it because of experiences I have had with it. I had been drinking Sobe Life Water and I kept getting sick and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Finally I decided to check my water and I noticed it had modified food starch in it. So I stopped drinking it and got better. Who would've thought water would have modified food starch?! There have been a couple of other instances where I found a product I had been eating had modified food starch in it and I was getting sick, so this is why I basically stay away from anything that has it in it.

3. Watch out for malt flavoring. There are many different types of cereals that contain malt and malt flavoring. It can be discouraging to go up and down the cereal aisle reading each and every box hoping to find one that you can have. Thankfully there is now a GF Rice Krispies (it is labeled as GF) and all the Chex are GF (except the wheat one obviously) but there are a few other "mainstream" cereals that are ok. Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles and Trix are generally good.

4. Watch out for Soy Sauce. The brand of soy sauce that I have found to be good is La Choy. I use their soy sauce and their teriyaki sauce when I make fajitas or anything else that might require soy sauce.

5. Rice Noodles Vs. Corn Noodles. Rice noodles can be gritty and mushy after cooking. I prefer the corn noodles. I just cook them like regular noodles and they turn out fine. The brands I like are DeBoles and Quinona. They make everything from penne noodles, elbow macaroni, spaghetti noodles to even lasagna noodles.

6. www.glutenfreeregistry.com is a great resource. I just found this website before going on a trip over Labor Day. I wish I had found it sooner. I put in the city I was going to and it gave me a list of grocery stores, restaurants and even bakeries that have gluten free options! They even include links to where you can look at their menu before heading there. It's a great place to start to find places to go where you live or if you are getting ready to travel. They even have an app you can download for your iPhone.

I hope you have found these tips to be helpful. Most importantly though, don't be afraid to ask questions!

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Team Moist: 
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar 
- 1 cup pumpkin purée 

- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon almond extract

Team not so Moist:
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp all spice
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream Team Moist and sift Team not so Moist. Now mix both teams together with 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips.

Chill dough for an hour.

Oven at 350, scoop normal amount on to parchment paper, and bake for 15 minutes.

HARDEST PART! You will do best to wait till the next day until eating. Gluten free flours are a bit gritty, but all the natural oils in the pumpkin will balance that out in about 12 hours and they will become quite smooth and soft.

I can't take credit for this recipe - my awesome husband Matthew created these for me.  Delicious!!!

My Gluten-Free Beginnings - Courtney

I can remember when I first heard about gluten free diets. I was in the 4th grade, about 1994, and my grandma had just been diagnosed as celiac. The next few months were a challenge for my mom trying to figure everything out. Celiac was not as known about back then. As I got older and we learned more about being celiac my mom suggested getting the genetic test done. I really did not want to know if I could possibly come down with it later in life, yet we went ahead. I can remember when the results came back showing I had the genetic markers. Let's just say I was less than thrilled. I can remember saying "As long as I am old when it happens, I'll be ok." Well, unfortunately for me my worst nightmare came true a few years later. I was 17, it was the end of my junior year in high school when suddenly I was sick - very sick. I couldn't keep anything down and when I did eat something I ate bread, because that's what used to settle my stomach. After being sick for two weeks straight and knowing my genetic markers, my mom got more testing done on me, which showed I needed to go gluten free. I was never actually diagnosed with being Celiac - more of a gluten intolerance. After I went on the diet I got better but of course being 17 I was less than thrilled to be giving up donuts, cookies, cake and all those other delicious glutenous foods. I struggled with "cheating", eating half a cookie or just a few chicken nuggets here or there. It took many years for me to finally stop cheating. Help from those close to me to realize what I was doing to my body and help from my body by negatively reacting to even a small amount of gluten finally got me to stop "cheating".
Through my college years there were other things I struggled with as well. I became overwhelmed with having to explain to every new person I met why I couldn't eat bread. Then there were those who didn't quite understand what I had to do or what it meant to eat gluten free and still offered me cookies and brownies and there was the boyfriend that broke up with me because he wasn't sure he could handle the thought of having future children that might have to eat gluten free one day. I did have the few close friends that were supportive and tried to understand. One of them was going through nursing school and was excited one day because she was able to answer a question on a quiz about Celiac because she knew me. I was happy that I was able to help her but even though my friends were supportive, I was still very sensitive about the gluten free topic. I hated talking about it and felt like I was somewhat of an inconvenience with people because we always had to be careful about where we went to eat or what was at someone's house to eat. I still struggle with some of those feelings today - that same insecure teenage / early 20's girl is still in there.

Now, 10 years later, even with my insecurities I have found it exciting and yet aggravating how gluten free is now the "fad" diet. I am excited because there are now so many GOOD choices of products and restaurants are working to create GF menus. I also don't get that crazy look from people when I say I have to eat GF and they are like "huh?" The "fad" aggravates me because I feel that some people don't understand why we HAVE to eat this way. We aren't giving up donuts, pizza, pasta & cookies because we want to be thin. We have to or we wouldn't be here.
Lately I have had a lot of people close to me find out they have to go GF. It can be such a confusing and overwhelming process that I've tried to help as much as I can but I don't really want to leave a novel on someones facebook page explaining things to them - so they get the abridged version. Then my sister had a brilliant idea - to blog about it! My ultimate goal with this is to help others who might be struggling with GF. Struggling with finding good recipes, products or even struggling personally with the idea. I want to be able to help - to provide recipes I've tried, tips I might know, products I love, different restaurants I've been to through out the country but I also want people to know that struggles are normal - we all have struggled with it at some point but going GF is not the end of the world. It doesn't have to be a scary thing and I want to help make the process a little less scary.

My Gluten-Free Journey - Lara

My gluten-free journey begins many years ago.  My grandmother was diagnosed with celiac disease in the early 90's before anyone knew what that was.  She spent weeks in the hospital before finally being diagnosed.  What I remember most about that time is how Thanksgiving was forever changed.  Grandma's stuffing was legen... wait for it...dary.  Every year she'd get a little better at making it gluten-free, but it wasn't the same.

In college my mom thought my sister Courtney was celiac and Courtney didn't want to take the test to find out.  So, being the good big sister I took to the test too.  Except, mine came back positive too!  I was not planning for that!  For about 6 months I ate gluten-free.  I never had the stomach or intestinal symptoms so slowly over time I started eating more and more breads, cookies, cakes, etc until the words 'gluten-free' never crossed my mind again.

Fast forward to today - I still don't the intestinal symptoms - but I have a lot of other symptoms that have popped up through the years.  Chronic kidney stones, hormone struggles, thyroid issues, and infertility.  All of which can be caused by an underlying auto-immune disorder - or gluten-intolerance.  I've had 3 different professionals recommend that I go gluten-free.

So, I'm working on making the shift.  I know it will be easier than it was for my Grandma over 15 years ago - but it will still be hard.  I'm a foodie - I love to eat and try new foods.  I don't like to give up control or be limited.

That's why I wanted to start this blog - to share my experiences with others who I know are going through the same struggles as me.  I've enlisted my sister Courtney - she has been gluten-free for 10 years now and is full of great knowledge and experience.  Together we want to learn more about how to live gluten-free and help others out there.

Gluten-free doesn't have to mean "gritty, dry, and tasteless" - it can be delicious and wonderful too.