Flourless Chocolate Cake and Poor Man's Dulce de Leche

We hosted Christmas Day dinner again this year and were in charge of cooking the turkey (which was our first year of doing a local free range bird... so freakin' good. We'll never go back to factory farmed turkey again) as well as the dessert. Being that Parker is avoiding gluten (although we've slipped up on that quite a bit lately and have noticed the effects) I wanted to create a dessert that he could have and one that everyone would enjoy.

I've seen lots of flourless chocolate cakes before but it just didn't sound that good to me so I've never made them. But I was so wrong, this cake was so good that I'm wondering why anyone would ever put flour in cake again! It's creamy... almost like a mousse/brownie combo. Then top it off with a homemade caramel sauce and you've got one kick-ass dessert that any celiac or anyone else would love!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
18 squares of semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup butter
3 whole eggs
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 300F and line a springform pan with parchment. Butter up the sides and parchment. Cover the whole outside with two layers of foil and set aside.
In a saucepan, combine sugar and water together until dissolved. Set aside.
Melt chocolate squares and mix in butter. Beat in sugar water, add vanilla and add eggs one at a time.
Pour batter into pan and place cake pan into a larger pan (I used a roasting pan). Fill larger pan with boiling water until it comes halfway up the side of the springform pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes and then chill overnight.
You'll need to use a wet knife to loosen the edges of the cake before inverting it over a plate to serve.

Poor Man's Dulce de Leche

1 can sweetened condensed milk, label removed.

Bring a full pot of water to boil (make sure this pot is big enough so that when the can of condensed milk is placed in it, the entire can will be submerged). Turn down heat to medium and place in can of condensed milk. Allow to simmer for 3 hours, checking on it regularly to be sure that the can is fully submerged, adding water as needed. After the 3 hours, turn off heat but leave the pot on the element and the milk in the pot. When the water is cool, remove can. Open the can and voila: a yummy dessert topper!
*****Please be aware that this isn't the safest thing to make. Cans have been known to explode causing damage to cooks and to kitchens. I think the trick is to make sure the can is always FULLY submerged but use caution when making this!!!******

Homemade Vanilla Extract and Peppermint Extract

This year as part of everyone's Christmas gift I made extracts. Before this I never really put thought into the commercially bought extracts and was never concerned with using them. Ummm... yeah, that's totally changed since then. The commercially bought crap from your local stores are filled with artificial everything: colour and flavour. Not only is that not good for you (hello petroleum products!) but making the real stuff is a trillion times tastier and it's super easy to boot. AND most extracts are not gluten free... making your own with wheat free vodka ensures this is safe for the celiac in your life! Here's what I did:

For the peppermint extract I grabbed a big handful of peppermint I had growing in the backyard. Muddle it a bit to release some of the yummy peppermint oil then put in a large canning jar (or clean peanut butter jar, etc). Fill to the top with a high grade vodka making sure all the peppermint leaves are covered. Not covering the leaves can cause them to spoil, ruining your whole batch! Place in a cool dark place (my pantry) and give it a gentle shake when you remember, I tried to do it everyday. After about 8 weeks or so, strain the leaves out and put in smaller bottles or leave in the original jar. That's it!

For the vanilla extract, I used 6 vanilla beans and opened them up to expose the delicious seeds. Try to buy as high quality as you can afford and make sure they're fresh, they shouldn't snap! They should be bendy and a bit moist. Put in a large canning jar (or again reuse a pb jar) and cover with alcohol. I used two cups of vodka and an ounce or two of bourbon. Same thing with the peppermint extract, store in a cool dark place and give it a gentle shake daily for 8 weeks or so. When I poured the vanilla extract into smaller bottles, I also added half a vanilla bean to each jar. That way they can add vodka to it as they use it to keep it going for a while.

Upside down Caramel Apple Muffins

Yummy, right? I made these last night after the little ones went to bed. They were gone by 9am this morning, that's how good they were!

A friend on facebook linked me to this recipe from The New York Times. I changed the recipe a bit to make them gluten free. Here's what I did:

Upside-down Caramel Apple Muffins

Apple topping:
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt

Muffin batter:
2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix (you could use your own blend of gf flours, I just happened to have this mix in my cupboard.)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

~Preheat oven to 350C
~Cook the apple topping ingredients in a skillet until apples are tender, about 15 minutes. Divide evenly among 12 greased muffin tins.
~In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
~In a seperate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.
~Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Spoon over apple mixture.
~Bake in oven for about 20-22 minutes.
~Let cool 5 minutes in muffin tin, then turn over onto plate.
~Serve warm or room temperature.

NOTES: If you're using a mix like Pamela's as I did, then there's no need for xantham gum, salt or baking powder as those ingredients are already in the mix. If you use your own blend of flour as I usually do, be sure to add 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbls baking powder and 1/2 tsp xantham gum.

Foccacia Bread

I made mushroom soup from the Rebar cookbook (so good!) and along with it, I also made up two batches of Foccacia bread. I really had no idea how easy and delicious it would be to make it myself. This will definitely be something I make more often.

I used a recipe from the Rebar cookbook but changed it just a wee bit. Apparently it's what they use for pizza crust as well, will have to try that one time. :)

Rosemary Garlic Foccacia Bread

1 3/4 c warm water

1 tbls. traditional baking yeast
1/2 tsp maple syrup
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
Toppings:
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbls. olive oil
2 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp rosemary, chopped
cracked black pepper

In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast and maple syrup. Let sit 10 minutes or so until it foams. Stir in salt and oil, then add flour, one cup at a time.
Turn mixture out onto floured surface and knead until stretchy.
Form into ball and place into oiled bowl. Cover with damp tea towel and leave to double in size, about 1.5 hours. Punch down then let rise again to double in size.
Preheat oven to 350C.

Stretch dough onto oiled cookie sheet. Sprinkle toppings on and let rise again until oven is preheated.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotating pan half way through.

Serve warm.

Gluten Free Foccacia Bread
 I used the glutenfree goddesses' recipe but modified it to fit my needs. Here's what I did:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 1/4 warm water 1 cup sorghum flour

1/2 tsp maple syrup

1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/ 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 egg

In large bowl combine flours, potato starch, xanthan gum, salt, garlic powder and dried rosemary.
Combine yeast, water and 1/2 tsp maple syrup in bowl. Let sit about 10 minutes until foamy.
Pour yeast mixture into flour mix. Add in olive oil, maple syrup apple cider vinegar and egg.
Stir to combine. The dough will be sticky, not like the wheat foccacia. Pour out onto cookie sheet.
Preheat oven to 350F and bake for 20 minutes, rotating half way.

Yippee!

I've always loved mac and cheese. Yes, the boxed noodles with the orange "cheese" powder. Annie's mac and cheese has always been a favourite of mine for those nights when I was too exhausted to cook or was feeling nostalgic for food from my youth.

When we discovered Parker's intolerance to gluten, we said goodbye to Annie's. No more boxed mac and cheese for us. I've experimented with all sorts of macaroni and cheese casseroles. And all of them have been delicious and worth the effort but still, I missed the boxed variety.

This afternoon I was shopping at the health food store down the road when I found this:

Annie's comes in a GF variety! I've never seen this before and I can't tell you how thrilled I am. Hello, quick lunch for tomorrow!!

Barber Pole cakes Take 2!

One of my first blog posts written was about my attempt to make my husband (who's a barber) a barberpole birthday cake. It didn't quite turn out, to say the least... I chose a difficult recipe while I had no baking skills. It's been a year and a half since then and I've been baking alot more so I thought I'd give it a go!

My husband owns a barbershop downtown called "That 50s Barbershop" and this past July was his three year anniversary of being open. This was a big deal for us as we started the barbershop with nothing and three years was how long we were willing to keep trying to make this little dream of his go. Well, since opening we've never had to worry about making this a successful shop as it's done so well. At three years, the shop is very successful and I couldn't be prouder of my husband. :)

So.. I wanted to celebrate with some yummy cupcakes! I didn't want to have a big fancy barber pole shaped cake because it was soooo hot out that week and well, I have two very small children at home who need alot of my attention. So cupcakes it was and they were delish!

Since Parker is gluten intolerant, I decided to turn our favourite chocolate cake into a gf cake and it was good! I followed her recipe exactly but cut out the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. I replaced those with Pamela's Ultimate Baking mix (equal to the amounts removed from original recipe, just over 1 3/4 c). Then after icing it with chocolate buttercream icing, I piped on some barber poles! I think it turned out great!

Here's a picture of my husband and Parker having a cupcake in the barbershop. What a silly boy Parky is, whenever I said "look at the camera" he would look up at the ceiling so Dave decided to follow suit. :)

Gluten Free Playdough

It's no secret that I love playdough but when we discovered that Parker doesn't tolerate gluten, I was saddened to learn that his wheat playdough days were over.
But then I saw GF playdough being sold on etsy and then I realized "of course!", I can make my own! The texture isn't the same, it's bouncier if that makes any sense and it was lots of fun to play with. We've been experimenting with scents such as apple pie and chai tea.

No-Cook GF Playdough
2-3 cups all-purpose GF flour
1/2 c salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbls vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water

Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl, adding in more flour if sticky. You can add food colouring or extracts/spices etc for scents.

To make the Chai Playdough, follow recipe as above but substitute 1 cup of boiling water with 1 cup of strongly brewed chai tea (minus the milk and sugar of course). You can also add in some chai spices such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom,, etc. if you prefer a stromger scent.

To make the Apple Pie Playdough, substitute 1 cup boiling watwe with 1 cup hot apple juice. Add in 1 tsp apple or pumpkin pie spice.

Enjoy!

The Best Carrot Cake Ever (and it's gf too!)!

I made my first ever gluten-free cake. After spending what felt like hours looking for the perfect cake, I decided on a carrot cake by Glutenfreegoddess. It was honestly the BEST carrot cake I've ever had. You know how carrot cakes are often either too dry or way too oily? Well, this was perfect: moist but not oily. And the cream cheese icing was so yummy on top! You'll notice in the recipe it calls for Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix which at first disappointed me because I wanted to stay away from mixes. But check out the ingredients, it's a really nice blend of flours and leaveners. I found a recipe online duplicated Pamela's Mix so I'll give that a try next to see if it compares as Pamela's is a bit pricey ($10 for small bag).

Carrot Cake Recipe with Coconut
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup demerara sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbls honey or agave
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 cups Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix
3/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (about 4)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. (I used a bundt cake pan)
In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, oil and demerara sugar and beat till smooth. Beat in the yogurt, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and spice, then add baking mix. Add in the coconut, carrots, raisins and nuts; stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
Pour batter into pan and bake at 350F for 40-45 mintues. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Icing:

4 oz. softened cream cheese
2 tbls softened unsalted butter
1-2 tsp vanilla extract, to taste
3 cups powdered sugar
juice from a lime (or she suggests any citrus)

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese, then add vanilla. Add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time. Add lime juice and beat till smooth. Ice cake and enjoy!

GF Minestrone Soup

Parker was feeling pretty sick this past week with a high fever. And along with his high fevers were febrile seizures which I just hate. Even though they're harmless, they're still not pleasant to see in your 2 year old. He spent 3 days not eating very much at all (he ate a buckwheat waffle and half a pair one day) until the late afternoon of Day 4 when he was asking for soup. I decided on Minestrone Soup but the kind I always used to make had wheat pasta in it. So I decided to a veggie and bean only minestrone and serve it over brown rice. Topped with some parmesan cheese and it was good!

GF Minestone Soup

• 1 can diced organic tomatoes
• 1 large leek, sliced white and light green parts only
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrotrs, chopped
• 2 celery, chopped
• 1 potato, cubed
• 1 small zuchinni, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup green beans, chopped
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 bunch of spinach, chopped (I use frozen spinach patties by Europe's Best when I don't have fresh on hand)
• salt and pepper to taste
• oregano
• 8 cups water

Add all veggies and seasonings to pot and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes. Add in beans and let simmer 10 more minutes. Ladle over a bowl of hot cooked brown rice and top with some parmesan cheese.

What we've been eating lately...

So with starting a GF diet for Parker, cooking and baking around here has changed big time. You don't realize just how many things have wheat in them until you really look for it.

I've never been one for using mixes or convenience foods but I admit that I've used them more than once this past week or so. I don't know why but I feel intimidated at the thought of doing my own GF friendly baking. There's all sorts of flours that I've never used. I started to branch out last year and tried spelt, aramanth and several others but wheat was still the predominant flour in my recipes. And then there's adding xanthan to breads and muffins that I just have no clue about. Plus it doesn't help that building up a GF friendly pantry for baking from scratch is pricey. So until I have a decent array of flours and I'm less intimidated by it all, yes I will be using mixes!

One mix I quite like is Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix. The pancakes when piping hot are delicious. Like way better than plain boring wheat flour and they're more filling. Parker loved them, he ate 2 1/2 to himself which is 1/2 more than I ate! I bought the mix at Save-on-Foods here in town which actually has a decent GF foods section.

For breakfasts we've been having:

Breakfast Smoothie:

Blend together 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tlbs cocoa powder, 1 tsp honey, 1 tlbs hemp hearts, several ice cubes, 1 tbls peanut butter, 1 tsp probiotic powder, either some spinach or a half scoop of greens plus.

Poached Eggs on a bed of Spinach:

Wilt some spinach in a tsp of olive oil with a crushed garlic clove and some red pepper flakes. Top with a poached egg and serve with GF bread.

Parker's 2 year Check-up

Parker had his two year doctor's appointment yesterday and I was eager to discuss my suspected gluten intolerance with our family doctor. I worried all week how I was going to word it just right so my doctor wouldn't just shake his head at me like he tends to do. He's not the most supportive doctor, or at least he hasn't been when I switched my maternity care to a midwife when I was pregnant with Sophie. Methinks he was a tand offended.

I wrote all of my concerns for Parker so I could bring it with me. I tend to get flustered and forget everything I want to discuss. My concerns and possible symptoms were:
~ reflux up until around 1 year
~ delayed in speech development
~ Mucousy, acidic BMs up to 6 times per day
~ Often undigested foods in BMs
~ VERY fussy, cries a lot
~ Poor sleeping
~ Gassy
~ Horrid, open sores and welts kind of diaper rashes.
~ seems to have an intolerance to citrus as it will worsen his symptoms after eating.

Now imagine my surprise when my doctor agreed with me that it was most likely an inolerance to gluten!! He offered to have him tested for Celiac but I decided not to as it's a blood test and I don't want to put him through that. Instead we agreed to stick with a GF diet and check back with the doctor in 6 months. He said that sometimes it could also be an allergy to dairy but since our GF diet seems to be showing improvments already to stick with this. He also said that often a child will outgrow a sensitivity so we'll see.

So  YAY that all went well... until my doctor started talking about his poor sleeping and crying. I wasn't so much looking for solutions to his nightime wakings as it doesn't really bother me, I just thought it was important for him to know and I've heard that it can sometiems be related to Celiac disease. He offered suggestons but then about the crying, he threw his hands up and said that Parker looked happy and healthy so he didn't know what to say. I was starting to get frustrated because this is what he said when I brought him in at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, etc etc about his constant crying. Seriously my poor little man has spent the first year of his life crying and while it's not as often as before it's still abnormal, imo. All my doctor kept saying all those months was that he's healthy and maybe I was just overwhelmed and that caring for a baby was harder than I expected. Ummm.... I have been working with children and babies for 10 years and Parker is my second child. I think I knew exactly what to expect from caring for a newborn and baby. And yesterday he was starting to say the same thing, that because he looked healthy and happy (in the 10 minutes we were in his office he determined that since Parker wasn't crying then that he was a happy child who doesn't cry anymore than other toddlers!!) he didn't know what to say. I could feel myself getting angry and wasn't ready to argue with my doctor so I got up and told him I was leaving. I was at the door when I turned around, crying at this point, and just let all my frustrations with the care my family has been recieving from him in the past two years and how insulted I was by how he handled my concerns over my child's crying.
He apologized and gave me a referral to see Parker's old paediatrician again whom I really like. So hopefully he can give us some answers.
In the meantime, we're sticking with our GF diet and looking for a new family doctor!