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Archive for the ‘Fruit’ Category

Peach-Blackberry Dump Cake

Posted in Dessert, Fruit, Quick, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2012| 6 Comments »

I know, I know. Not the prettiest name. But it sure does taste wonderful!

And no, not the healthiest recipe, but quick and easy. Which sometimes is key!

This recipe came about this weekend because we had our monthly support group potluck and I decided at the last minute that I was going to attend. Thus I needed to make something quick, and preferably from pantry staples. I rummaged around in the cabinet and found a Betty Crocker GF yellow cake mix hiding, so I put the call out on Facebook to get some ideas of what I could make with it. An old high school friend of mine suggested a dump cake. I had heard of them, but had never actually made one. So I rummaged around again in the cupboards and found a random can of peach pie filling. (Not something I usually keep around. Why I bought it in the first place, I don’t know, but it sure came in handy this weekend!)

I did end up running to the little corner store near my house for a second can of pie filling in order to make a full pan. (Always make plenty for a potluck!) My friend said I could also use fresh or frozen fruit too, and later I realized that I have a bunch of berries in the freezer and should have just used those. Oh well.

Use whatever combination of pie filling sounds good to you. I had the peaches on hand and I love berries with peaches, as you’ve seen before in my Peach Cobbler, so this is what I ended up with. Apparently a classic combo is cherry pie filling with a can of crushed pineapple, neither of which I had on hand. So use whatever your heart desires!

I thought it turned out great. The ‘crisp’ topping was crispy and wonderfully buttery. I even had one of the long-time celiac bakers in the group come up to me and comment on how much she enjoyed it, that she loved how easy it was and how the topping stayed so crispy. We commiserated over how when we make Apple Crisp, the topping never gets (stays?) very crunchy. We may have found our solution!

Peach-Blackberry Dump Cake

1-21 oz. can peach pie filling, or whatever combination of flavors you desire

1-21 oz. can blackberry pie filling, or whatever combination of flavors you desire

1/2 – 1 tsp cinnamon, optional

1 box Betty Crocker GF yellow cake mix

1/2 – 3/4 cup butter

1/2 – 3/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

Dump pie filling into 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and mix into fruit until evenly combined. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the top of the filling. Spread nuts over top. Cut butter into thin pats and lay evenly over top of cake mix and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is golden. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

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Apple Crisp

Posted in Dessert, Fruit, Holiday, Vegan, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

On Friday evening I hosted a Gluten Free Gals get-together. I had suggested a theme of holiday dishes to help inspire everyone for the upcoming holidays and so I chose to make two of my standard Thanksgiving dishes. Wild Rice Stuffing and this Apple Crisp.

Our GF Gals group.

My grandma made this for me for my very first gluten free Thanksgiving sixteen years ago. And we’ve been making it ever since. It is easy, with few ingredients, and tasty. My kind of recipe.

Apple Crisp

Unknown source

2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced *

1/4 cup brown rice flour *

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firm *

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp melted butter * see notes for vegan option

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ square baking dish (with butter, oil, whatever you choose to use). Pour the lemon juice directly into the pan and add the apples as you slice them. Toss the apples periodically in the juice to prevent browning.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and spices. Stir in the melted butter and mix well. Then stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Bake for 35 minutes. Serve warm. It goes well with vanilla ice cream. (It’s also great for breakfast the next day!)

Notes:

* Use any baking apple. This time I used Gala. Slice your apples according to preference. I like my apples a bit thicker so that they still look like apple slices when they are done baking. If you slice them thinner, the apples will cook down and the individual slices will not be apparent, which is okay, just personal preference.

* I used brown rice flour this time. I’ve used white rice flour in the past. Other flours may work as well, perhaps even almond, for a grain-free version? Your standard flour mix will also most likely work. No xanthan gum needed.

* I reduced the sugar by two tablespoons this time around and I think it could be reduced even more. Play with it.

* I used grapeseed oil this time in place of the butter and it worked well. I would imagine that a dairy-free margarine will also work.

Enjoy!

This recipe is cross-posted over at Thanksgiving Favorites from Kim at Cook It Allergy Free. Be sure to check out all the links!

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Peach Cobbler

Posted in Dessert, Fruit, Quick, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2011| 11 Comments »

This week my eyes were bigger than my tummy while shopping and I picked up too many delicious peaches. Of course they all ripened at the same time and I needed to do something with them quick. That was when I remembered one of my wonderful, old standby recipes. One of the first gluten free recipes we ever made sixteen years ago when I was first diagnosed. And it is one that I find myself coming back to again and again because it is simple and requires no special ingredients. A perfect dessert for someone newly diagnosed and overwhelmed.

Now, I am not sure where this recipe ultimately originates so I apologize to whoever that might be. Over time I have changed the original recipe; this one has less sugar and more fruit. And I think I would like to try less butter the next time.

This is a quick, throw-it-together recipe – great for unexpected guests, if you happen to have ripe fruit on the counter. Or use frozen fruit, there is no reason why it wouldn’t work.

Peach Cobbler

1 stick of butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 cup gluten free flour mix

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

2+ cups fresh fruit, I used peaches and blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 9″ square pan. Mix sugar, milk, flour and baking powder together. Pour over melted butter. Do not stir. Place the fruit on top of the batter evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top begins to lightly brown.

Depending on the flour mix you use, sometimes the fruit sinks to the bottom and the cake portion is on top when done. As you can see in the photo above, my fruit stayed partially on top this time. So it goes!

Notes:

* I’ve never used dairy substitutes in this recipe but I think they would work fairly well. I would use a neutral tasting milk alternative.

* Use any of your favorite flour mixes. I often use the Gluten Free Pantry’s French Bread mix as my flour mix for a lot of cookie recipes and it works great. Yes, it is a highly refined flour mix but it is one that works for me. But it is easy to find and use and it was one of the only mix companies around for years. Old habits die hard. If you use another (more) whole-grain flour mix, let us know how it works!

This recipe is also posted over at Seasonal Sundays at Real Sustenance.

This recipe is also linked up to Book of Yum’s Cobbler Carnival.

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Blueberry Cobbler

Posted in Cake, Dessert, Fruit, tagged , , , , , , on July 11, 2010| 9 Comments »

I love cobbler. And just this week I noticed that they were selling the new Gluten Free Bisquick at my local Smith’s (a Kroger Co.). Of course I had to buy a box. You see, my mom made strawberry shortcakes from Bisquick and I had been thinking about that lately. The Strawberry Shortcakes I made recently were great but not quite what my mouth and mind remembers. So I was excited when I saw that the GF Bisquick had made it to my store shelf.

And while I wanted strawberry shortcake, I had an overabundance of blueberries that were picked too late for me. You know when they have started getting seedy? I can’t eat them raw that way. So I knew I needed to cook them down into some sort of yumminess. I looked around on the Live Gluten Freely website but couldn’t find any cobbler recipes there. So I went to the regular General Mills website and looked at Bisquick recipes and found one for a Peach Cobbler (another favorite) that I figured would work.

And work it did. The entire 8″ x 8″ pan was gone in less than 48 hours.

Blueberry Cobbler

Adapted from Betty Crocker

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp cinnamon

6 cups of blueberries *

2 Tbsp water

2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup gluten free Bisquick mix

1 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 Tbsp butter, melted

2 tsp turbinado or raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan, mix 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Break up any lumps of cornstarch. Add the blueberries, water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Boil and stir for one minute. Turn off heat.  Pour berries into an 8″ x 8″ (ungreased) baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix together the Bisquick mix, 1 Tbsp sugar, milk and melted butter. It will form a soft dough. Using a teaspoon, drop lumps of the dough over the top of the berries. Sprinkle with turbinado or raw sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until dough becomes golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes:

* Six cups of blueberries may have been too much. I think next time I will try 4-5 cups of berries. The berries bubbled up and over the pan in the oven. Be sure to place a cookie sheet or foil below your baking dish in the oven to catch any spills. I caught mine too late although I managed to catch the majority of the mess.

* In the photo above it doesn’t look like there is much of a “crust”. I was concerned initially. At least until I ate it and discovered that a lot of the dough pieces sank down into the blueberries. But I do think that there were too many berries and not enough dough so next time I will try less fruit. And I may also try to spread the dough into a more even crust over the top and see what happens.

I think next time it will be peaches or blackberries!

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Strawberry Shortcake

Posted in Cake, Dessert, Fruit, tagged , , , , , , on June 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

As I mentioned the other day, I had the opportunity to make some sweets for a couple of events over the past week. I have been loving the seasonal strawberries and so I decided to try Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free’s Shortcake. It turned out great! The shortcake was very subtly sweetened, allowing the fruit and cream to supply the sweetness.

I followed Amy’s recipe to the letter and even used her All Purpose Baking Blend consisting of sweet rice flour, sorghum, cornstarch and tapioca, for the flour mix. It worked well. The cornmeal also added a nice, rustic touch to the cakes that we liked.

Since I was baking for a large group (and my husband) I made a double-batch of the recipe and baked it in a 9×13″ glass baking dish. It was the right size dish and made the pieces of cake just the right thickness to cut in half horizontally and layer with berries as we did in the picture above. It looks a little like the Leaning Tower of Shortcake…a little too much whipped cream, perhaps?

All in all, a success. And my husband and I even liked eating pieces of the shortcake by itself – not too sweet, just right. Nice job and thanks for the recipe, Amy!

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Easy Gluten Free Sponge Cake

Posted in Dessert, Fruit, Quick, tagged , , , , , on June 27, 2010| 6 Comments »

Strawberry season. Love it! And there have been a lot of great strawberry recipes posted out there in the blogosphere lately. So of course I needed to try some. Luckily this week I had two excuses to make some special sweet treats.

For our monthly gluten free group potluck meeting, I decided to make Easy Sponge Cake from Kate over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked. Now I was taking a chance, waiting until the morning before the noon meeting to make this, but I managed, with only one small mishap (and I always have a back up plan!). You never know…

I followed Kate’s recipe exactly. Well, almost exactly. Her instructions don’t say to accidentally break your sixth (of eight) egg yolk into the egg whites. Eek!! As you may know, if you have slightest bit of yolk in your whites, they won’t whip. Unfortunately I only had nine eggs. And now six were contaminated. So I ran to the store at 10am for more eggs. And I hate buying eggs you see, because we have our own hens! But I had saved back these eggs knowing I was going to use them because we sell our extra eggs to friends. I should have had a back-up plan because unfortunately, hens do not lay on-demand.

Standing in front of the eggs at the store, I thought about only buying six eggs, since that was all I needed, but I was afraid I would screw it up again. So I bought a full dozen. But then in the two minutes driving home, I realized I could make things easier on myself.

So, I got the new eggs and sat them in a bowl of lukewarm water in order to bring them to room temp, fast. Then I pulled out another measuring cup and one-by-one, I broke my whites into the measuring cup and one-by-one, I put the white into the bigger mixing bowl. Just in case. And it worked. No more mishaps. Lesson learned. But now I have a lot of extra eggs.

Kate’s recipe was super easy, just like she says. I used my largest jelly roll pan and it was almost too much for the pan. And I should have let it cool longer – but I was on a deadline! It probably would have come off the parchment paper better if I could have waited longer. And the cake smelled wonderful while baking – all those yummy extracts were great!

I also chose to roll mine from the long side, as Kate suggests. I can’t imagine rolling it the other way – it would have been a huge roll! I filled mine with lightly macerated strawberries and whipped cream.

As I said, the roll was quite large, more than 3 inches in diameter. It was almost too large to cut – you’ll need your long bread knife. And I had to cut it in half in order to fit it on the largest platter I have – you’ll just have to excuse its tiki theme.

I think next time I may make half a recipe and try to get the cake slightly thinner so that it rolls more easily. And has more room for a filling.

So, in the end, I made it to the meeting on time and with a lovely dessert in hand. Of course it was gone instantly! Luckily for my husband, I left a slice at home for him before I left. (It’s the picture on top here.) He agreed, delicious! I WILL be making this again!

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Summer Grillin’

Posted in Fruit, Tofu, Vegetables, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2010| 6 Comments »

When most people think of grilling, they think of meat, poultry or fish. And I’ll admit that I do still like to eat grilled meat. Since I am the flexitarian and my husband is the vegetarian, we do periodically grill meat or poultry, for me. In fact, my vegetarian husband is quite good at grilling meat for me. And he has no problem making meat for me because we know that my body needs some meat from time to time and it is a good source of B12, which I have problems absorbing.

Over the years we have grilled many things. Some of our favorite things are grilled tofu, grilled mixed vegetables and corn on the cob. Recently we decided to break out the grill and start up the grilling season. Right now we are on a kick of grilled tofu, using Sea’s recipe for Yummy Grilled Tofu. I will also make this marinade and use on chicken, also yummy! The best way to make it is to slice the tofu into large slabs, typically 8 slabs per 1 pound hunk of extra-firm tofu. I then press the slabs between a large folded tea towel for 15 minutes or more. The less water, the better, the more marinade it soaks up. Then I marinade the tofu while I prep the other dishes.

We also like this marinade recipe from Cooking Light magazine for tofu and chicken. But if you are gluten free, just make sure you buy miso paste that is gluten free – some are made with barley.

As for grilling the tofu, it helps to either grease the grill a bit, as the tofu sticks, or to grill it on a piece of foil. We often use a piece of foil to ‘protect’ my husband from the meat cooties if we have also grilled meat on the grill that day.

We also like to make grilled mixed vegetables in a grill basket. Typically I chop up a lot of onion, slice baby carrots into thirds, chop up a red bell pepper and a head of broccoli and some of the stems and toss with some Italian salad dressing before it goes on the grill. We recently got a new grill basket from my mom, who sells Pampered Chef, and we like it a lot. We just wish it was bigger!

This particular time we also made potato packets – something from my Girl Scouting days. Slice some potatoes and maybe some onions, green bell peppers and/or carrots. Place one serving on a piece of foil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you’d like. Mrs. Dash, oregano, whatever. Put a small amount of butter on top and then wrap up the packets with an air-tight seal so that the potatoes will steam themselves. I also put about a tablespoon of water in the packet too, just before I fold up the last side.

Sometimes we will just grill an entire sweet onion. Be sure to make more than one though as these are tasty.  Clean and trim it and wrap it up in foil with some butter and stick it down in the coals. Delicious. Also great as part of a campfire meal.

It isn’t corn season here yet, although I have seen it in the grocery stores. Growing up in the Midwest with grandparents who grew sweet corn, I was spoiled. And it just doesn’t feel right to eat corn before the end of July. Plus it is grocery store corn and I am a bit of a sweet corn snob. So no corn here for us yet. But when we do make it, we typically soak the ears in the husks in some water for about 20 – 30 minutes and then just put them directly on the grill. Make sure you turn them a few times so that they cook evenly. Pull back the hot husks, carefully, with oven mitts, and top with butter and salt. Or you can try other toppings like this one I saw over at Snack Girl this week. I might have to try this soon!

We used to also grill Portobello mushrooms for my husband frequently – I am not a huge mushroom fan – but they have fallen out of favor lately, for no particular reason. He usually marinades them in garlic and balsamic vinegar.

This last time, we grilled pineapple for the first time. Pineapples were on sale and my husband loves pineapple, so I grabbed one. I did coat them in a ‘marinade’, though they don’t really need it. I made the sauce out of brown sugar, lime juice, butter, cinnamon and salt. It was very good but I think we could do without the extra sugar and fat and next time we will grill them plain or with just a bit of lime and cinnamon. We really did enjoy the cinnamon flavor with the pineapple.

What are your favorite vegetarian grill specials? We haven’t tried grilling gluten free pizza yet…have you?

This message is linked up to Gluten Free Wednesdays where this week’s theme was burgers. No burgers here this week but instead we have other fun stuff to put on the grill!

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