Chewy Snack Bars

This recipe oringally came from Kraft's Rainforest Chewy bars. I modify it almost every time I make it depending on what nuts and dried fruit I have in the house. They make for great snacks and are easy to take on the go.

Ingredients

1 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
3/4 package (10 oz.) marshmallows
4 cups gluten free rice cereal flakes
2 cups gluten free granola
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped almonds (or your nut of preference)
1/2 cup sunflower kernels

Directions

Microwave honey and Earth Balance in large microwaveable
bowl on HIGH until melted (30 seconds - 1 min). Stir until well blended. Add
marshmallows; toss to coat. Microwave 1-1/2 min or
until marshmallows are puffed; stir until well blended.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Press cereal mixture firmly into greased 13x9-inch
pan. Grease your hands/spoons if it gets too sticky when pressing. Cool and cut into bars.

Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad

My sister served this salad at my baby shower and everyone instantly fell in love with it. She found it on Foodnetwork.com and I hardly had to adapt it to be gluten free. This recipe is great as a side or you can make it into a main dish by adding chicken.

Ingredients

1 pound GF spaghetti (I used a mix of rice and corn pasta)
4 tablespoons peanut oil
4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons freshly minced ginger
2+ pinches crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup julienned cucumbers
1/4 cup green onion tops, sliced diagonally
1/4 cup chopped unsalted peanuts
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Rotisserie chicken, broken into pieces [optional]

Directions

Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and boil according to the package directions allowing the pasta to be al dente. Drain the spaghetti in a colander, then transfer noodles to a large mixing bowl. Using tongs, toss with 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil to keep the pasta from sticking. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining peanut oil, peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes. Whisk until smooth.

Pour 1/2 of the peanut mixture onto the spaghetti and, using tongs, toss to coat the pasta. Cover the spaghetti with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

When ready to serve, pour the remaining peanut mixture onto the spaghetti and toss to coat. Sprinkle with julienned cucumbers, sliced green onions, chicken, chopped peanuts and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

This recipe also lasts a few days in the fridge as it great served as leftovers. It's best to sprinkle the cucumbers and onions right before serving or they will get soggy.

Note: When I added the chicken I one and a halved the sauce recipe. I tossed the chicken in a little bit of sauce before adding it so it also had a lot of the peanut flavor and stayed moist.

Quinoa Taco Salad

I found this recipe on a blog from an old friend: Eat Drink Pretty. It's delicious as it looks. There wasn't much I had to change to make it gluten and dairy free.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 orange/yellow pepper, chopped
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a red onion, chopped
Can of black beans, drained
1/4 cup cilantro
1 avocado, chunked
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon cumin
Salsa
Optional - Queso fresco for those that can eat dairy or any DF crumby cheese

Directions

Prepare 1 cup of quinoa as instructed on the package.

Pour the lime juice into a large bowl and mix in the cumin. Add the avocados and toss to coat. Stir in the peppers, onion, tomatoes, and black beans.

Spoon desired amount on quinoa onto a plate and top with the vegetables mix. Top with cilantro, cheese and salsa. Makes about 4-6 a servings.

Note: Quinoa can be served hot or cold with this dish. The first night I ate it hot and the second day I took it as a cold salad for lunch. Both were great!

Dairy Free Fruit Dip

Creamy, sweet, cool, and super easy. This dairy free dip is a must try for your next summer BBQ.

Ingredients

1 8 ounce package of Toffuti cream cheese, softened
1 7 ounce jar of marshmallow cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Directions

Using an electric mixer, blend together the cream cheese and marshmallow cream.  Once blended and smooth, add in the vanilla and lemon juice.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Two desserts that I cannot stay away from are cookies and any peanut butter/chocolate combination. Combine all three of those together and I am in heaven. I adapted this recipe from a blog but I have no idea where it was, so sorry my credit is lacking.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cup GF flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks of Earth Balance, softened

2 cups of light brown sugar
3 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla
 extract
1 1/2 cup of DF chocolate chips
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 big spoonfuls of peanut butter

Directions

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 degrees.

Using a mixer cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time until mixture becomes creamy. Mix in vanilla extract. Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combine. Stir in chocolate chips, oatmeal, and peanut butter.

Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown. With my oven, after 40 minutes the cookie is a little under baked which is perfect to me. If the top starts to brown too quickly cover with foil and continue to bake.

Soft Pretzel Sticks

I would be a liar if I said I didn’t miss a mall pretzel drizzled with ooey gooey cheese, so when I stumbled on this recipe for soft pretzel sticks from Valley Natural Foods and I could not wait a single day to make them.  Armed with a friend who is also restricted with her diet due to Lyme Disease, we strapped the kids into the van and headed to our local Natural Food store to buy the necessary ingredients.  An hour and a half later we were devouring these warm bites of pretzel-breadstick deliciousness. 


As you will see the recipe calls for powdered milk.  Adapting this recipe to make it dairy free came with much thought as the natural food store we were at did not carry a non-dairy powdered milk substitute.  Amanda came up with the great idea to warm almond milk and substitute milk for the 2/3 C water to activate the yeast.  By sheer trial and error we tried it and it worked!  I will leave the recipe as is, as it should be fairly easy to find a non-dairy powdered milk.  However I have added an “optional” list if you are unable to find a substitute for powdered milk.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. yeast, active dry
2/3 C. water, warm
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 C. sorghum flour
1/2 C. tapioca flour
1 Tbsp. milk powder (non-fat dry)
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 egg white
2 Tbsp. milk
2-3 Tbsp. Kosher or coarse salt
OPTIONAL
Substitute the 2/3 C warm water with warm almond milk
while omitting the milk powder.

DIRECTIONS

Combine yeast, warm water, and sugar in a small bowl, set aside for 5 minutes or until yeast is foamy. In medium mixer bowl, blend flours, dry milk powder, xanthan gum, salt, onion powder, and gelatin powder on low speed. Add yeast mixture, olive oil and vinegar; beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

Place dough in a large, heavy-duty plastic resealable bag that has 1/4” opening cut into one corner (makes 1/2” circle). Squeeze dough through opening onto baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray. It works best to hold the bag upright as you squeeze the dough out. You may make traditional pretzel shapes, but straight 3” sticks are easiest. Brush lightly with beaten egg white, then sprinkle with coarse salt.

Place pretzels in warm place to rise for 10-15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake until pretzels are dry and golden brown, about 10-13 minutes. When cool, store in airtight container. Makes 2-1/2 dozen pretzel sticks.  These are best devoured the day you bake them as they got more and more chewy as the days went on.  We agreed that next time we would try to freeze them and only take out and thaw as we needed them.

Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Flour

I'm not going to put too many bad reviews on here but Kristie and I felt it was necessary. Back when we were first trying the whole GF life, I bought this flour and tried to use it as a substitute for all purpose flour. Every recipe left me with an after taste that I couldn't handle. I find this flavor in many GF mixes. Justin, being so used to eating GF, doesn't notice it but as soon as I taste a recipe that has it, I instantly know. It took me a couple years to finally figure out what it is: bean flours! I read that bean flours are often added to mixes to add protein. This mix contains garbanzo flour and fava flour. Doublely bad in my mind.

I know this mix is convenient, and it can be hard to find other pre-made GF flour mixes. I can't say you should never ever use this. If you have a recipe that only calls for a very small amount of flour, it should be fine. But I would never make a cake or anything that is flour based.

If you have a GF flour mix that you like and works well, I'd love to hear about it!