Gluten Free Orange Glazed Blueberry Loaf Cake

When you find yourself craving something sweet but not too rich this gluten free orange glazed blueberry loaf cake is the perfect go to recipe.  The citrusy glaze and slight tartness in the blueberries gives this cake a lighter more refreshing feel.  Now as August has just melted into September, this cake seems like my last hoorah for the summer as we wave goodbye and welcome in the autumn air.  As we wake to cooler mornings and our kids return to school, it won’t be long before fresh berries become a distant memory.  But don't feel glum. Soon we will be welcoming in the apple cobblers and pumpkin pie spice.  Now won't that be nice.  

Ingredients:

2 cups Gluten Free Bisquick

1 cup Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup of apple sauce (I used blueberry applesauce but any variety works well)

2 Eggs

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1 cup fresh Blueberries 

2/3 cup Confectioners’ Sugar

1 Orange 

The orange, juice as well as one half the zest will go into making the glaze and the other half of the zest will go into the cake batter itself.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 Celsius

Video Tutorial:

To make the batter, in a medium bowl, add the GFBisquick, sugar and cinnamon then stir with a wire whisk to get it well combined.  In a separate bowl gently toss about a tablespoon of this dry mixture with the blueberries and set both bowls aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, applesauce, eggs, vanilla, and ½ of the orange zest until well combined.  Using a rubber spatula, stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the mixture is well mixed but don’t over mix. 

Gently fold in about 2/3 of the blueberries leaving the rest to top the cake.  The batter should be pretty thick and might be hard to pour so just spoon it into your prepared 9x5 inch loaf pan and smooth it out on top with your spatula or the back of a spoon.  Now evenly arrange the remaining berries over the top of the cake and gently push them down into the batter a little.

Bake at 350 for between 60 and 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (mine baked for 65 minutes)

When the cake comes out of the oven let it cool for about 15 minutes before removing it from the pan onto a wire rack.  Let it cool down completely before drizzling on the orange glaze.  This will help insure that the glaze won’t melt into the cake and disappear.

The cake is perfectly fantastic just as it is.  But if you’re splurging you could drizzle on some extra glaze top it with a few more fresh berries and dollop whipped cream.  Now you’ve got an indulgent dessert almost anyone would love whether they are living a  gluten free lifeor not.

Vegetable Frittata or Crustless Quiche

What came first the chicken or the egg? Perhaps the question should have been, “What came first the chick or the egg?”  You see, a chick will readily whip up a frittata to serve to their friends without batting an eye.   Most dudes, on the other hand, have a natural aversion to dishes called Quiche or Frittata.  Yet, these very same men have no problem scarfing down a huge breakfast of bacon, eggs, home fries and toast with lots of butter.  Why then do they flee from the frittata?  It has to be an aversion to the name.  Without analyzing it too much, perhaps they’ve heard far too many of us coming home from someone’s baby shower raving about the quiche.  In any event, I’ve tried to make this frittata as dude friendly as possible by employing some visual trickery.  With the use of an oval shaped baking dish and clever slicing of the finished product we have now mimicked a football.  Alright back to reality.  If we really want to get the guys interested in eating a dish called frittata you may have to add some crumbled cooked sausage or bacon to my recipe.  Then you could change the name to “Pigskin Scramble Bake” or something dude friendly like that. 

Ingredients:

8 Eggs

½ cup Sour Cream

½ cup Ricotta Cheese

4 oz Grated Cheddar 4 oz

2 tbs Chopped Fresh Parsley

1Onion (diced into small pieces)

1 Bell Pepper (diced into small pieces)

6-8 Mushrooms (diced into small pieces)

2 Small Jalapenos (deseeded & finely diced) 

Salt and Pepper to taste

Paprika (to sprinkle on top)

Video Tutorial:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

Sauté the peppers and onions with a tablespoon or so of olive oil for 3 minutes or so.  Add the mushrooms and continue sautéing for 3-5 minutes until the vegetables soften and get a bit of color on them.  Set aside.   

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, sour cream, ricotta salt, and pepper until very smooth.  Stir in the sautéed vegetables, add the grated cheddar and chopped parsley and stir before pouring the mixture into a heavily greased baking dish and sprinkle with paprika.  I usually use a 10” deep dish pie plate but today used a 10x8 oval baking dish.     

Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.  This is also fantastic served room temperature or cold. 

The leftovers made an awesome last resort dinner.  Straight from the fridge I was able to grill a quick sandwich in five minutes.  First I sliced a piece of the frittata in half, then added 1 slice of cheese to each slice of gluten free bread, before sticking the frittata in the middle and grilling it like it was a grilled cheese sandwich.  We all know that dudes love sandwiches.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Muffins

As I tested the recipe for these chocolate chip muffins, I envisioned just how exquisite they might be at my next brunch.  

These little beauties would take their place amid the other offerings like brave soldiers lined up in formation.  Undoubtedly these chocolaty delights would catch the eye of nearby onlookers and be picked off one by one until the whole platoon was finished off.  

Unfortunately, there was no actual brunch to write about in this blog.  And I had made eighteen muffins.  What was I going to do with all those muffins?  

Finding them exceptionally good with a dollop of peanut butter, I polished off more than I’d care to admit.  My daughter ate a few before she moved onto other snacks.   Luckily, my sister rescued us with an impromptu invite so I was able to share.  

Nonetheless, I was left with two lingering muffins which I decided to freeze.  I’m not quite sure how they might survive.  If they do make it through the freezing process, their victory would be short lived as they would undoubtedly fall victim to my appetite.  To be continued upon defrosting…     

Ingredients:

2 cups of Gluten Free Bisquick
1/4 tsp of  Cinnamon
8 oz Mini Chocolate Chips (2/3 of a 12 oz bag, make sure they’re gluten free)
2/3 cup Milk
1/2 cup of Butter (melted)
1/4 cup of Sour Cream
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1/3 cup of Sugar
1/3 cup of Brown Sugar

Snow sugar to sprinkle onto the muffin tops

Video Tutorial:

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place 18 paper liners into standard sized cupcake tins.  .
3. In a small bowl mix the GF Bisquick with the cinnamon. 
4. In another small bowl add a few tablespoons of the Bisquick-cinnamon mixture to the chocolate chips and stir to make sure all of the chocolate chips are well coated.  This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. 
5. In a large bowl add the milk, butter, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar then whisk until everything well combined.  Now add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir until just combined but don’t over mix.  Add the chocolate chips and stir only until they are evenly dispersed throughout the batter which will have a pretty thick consistency. 
6. Divide the batter evenly into the 18 paper liners.  Now sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a bit of the snow sugar which is a coarse decorating sugar found in most supermarkets with the colored sugars. 
7. Bake the muffins for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Let them cool for a few minutes then the chocolate chip muffins are ready to serve.    

Banana Walnut Pancakes

These gluten free banana walnut pancakes are perfect for breakfast lunch or dinner.  Bananas seem to get ripe so quickly in the summertime. Lately it seems like every time I turn around I find myself with a few bananas that look like they’re ready for the trash.  Sometimes I wish I could just toss them out but I wasn’t raised like that.  My parents always stressed the value of food.  They wouldn’t dream of throwing away something that was a few days past its prime when it could easily be transformed into something extraordinarily good.  These banana walnut pancakes are a wonderful example of that frugal philosophy in action.  So the next time that you've got a couple of bananas that look like they’re ready for the trash just give them a mash and make a quick batch of these delicious pancakes.  Your family will be appreciate this sweet treat as much as your wallet appreciates the savings.  And if you get bored with the pancakes, there's always banana bread, coffee cake or muffins to change things up.  Feel free to use the search bar for some other great ideas.   

Ingredients:

• 2  Bananas (overripe & mashed)
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1/8 cup Heavy Cream (you could replace this with oil or melted butter)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 2/3 cup GF Bisquick (*see below for substitution)
• 1/3 cup Walnuts (finely chopped)

* If you don’t have gluten free pancake mix in the pantry you could replace it with:  1/3 c rice flour, 1/3 cup potato starch, 1/4 tsp Gluten free baking powder & 1/4 tsp xanthan gum

Video Tutorial:

Instructions:

1. Whisk the milk, heavy cream, egg, banana, and cinnamon together until the mixture is well combined.   
2. Add the GF Bisquick and walnuts then stir to combine, but don’t over-mix. 
3. To cook the pancakes, grease a nonstick skillet or griddle with butter, then over a medium-low heat add about ¼ cup measures of the batter to the pan. I find that cooking them slowly allows them plenty of time to rise and become fluffy before getting too dark on the surface.  
4. Allow them to cook for a few minutes until you see the tops of the pancakes begin to look dry and large bubbles begin to rise to the surface.  Use a spatula to flip the pancakes.  They won’t need much time on the second side maybe a minute or so. 
5. To serve them, add some butter, a drizzle of maple syrup and a few extra walnuts.  

Notes:  This recipe made 6 fairly large pancakes but you can easily double or triple the recipe as needed. 

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pancakes

These gluten free sweet potato pancakes are perfect for breakfast lunch or dinner.  It’s the middle of July and the temperatures here in the northeast are hovering in the mid 90’s so it might seem absurd that I’m blogging about a holiday spiced pancakes.  Alright, maybe this wouldn’t be my first choice for lunch in July but I had some roasted sweet potatoes leftover in the fridge and I wanted to put them to good use.  So, like any self respecting budget wise cook might do, I decided to mash them and whip up a small batch of holiday spiced pancakes.  This recipe is like Christmas in July recipe.        

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/8 cup heavy cream (you could replace this with oil or melted butter)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3  cup gluten free Bisquick *

* If you don’t have gluten free pancake mix in the pantry you could replace it with:  

1/3 c rice flour, 1/3 cup potato starch, 1/4 tsp Gluten free baking powder & 1/4 tsp xanthan gum

Video Tutorial:

Instructions:

1. Whisk the milk, egg, heavy cream, sweet potato, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl until the mixture is well combined.   
2. Add the Bisquick and stir until it is well incorporated with the liquid ingredients but don’t over-mix. 
3. Add some butter to a nonstick skillet or griddle and heat to medium-low.  
4. Drop about ¼ cup measures into the pan.  Cook the pancakes fairly slowly to allow them plenty of time to rise and become fluffy before getting too dark on the surface.  Let them cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side or until the pancakes begin to look dry and large bubbles begin to rise to the surface then flip and cook on the second side for a minute or two before they are ready to serve. 

I like to add butter and a drizzle of maple syrup or honey.  Or you could serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you really want to cool things down on a hot summer day.  Give this one a try and call it Christmas in July. 

This recipe will make about a half dozen 3-4 inch pancakes but you can easily double or triple this as needed.   

  

Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread

Chocolate Banana Bread with walnuts

Banana Bread is perfect for breakfast or a snack any time of the day.  Alright so maybe you did buy a few too many bananas earlier in the week and now you find them lingering in the fruit basket with one peel in the grave.  

This is not the time for despair.  

This is the time for action!  

It's time to give those half dead looking bananas a new lease on life.  Those over ripe bananas will ultimately make the best banana bread.  The only thing that can make this sweet treat even better is the addition of rich dark chocolate.  Now go forth and rescue those bananas.  

The Ingredients:

• 3 Ripe Bananas (smashed with a fork)
• 2 Eggs
• ½ cup Butter 
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 ¾ cup G F Bisquick Baking Mix ** (see below for substitutions)
• ¼ cup Cocoa
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ½ cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips 
• ½ cup Walnuts

**If you don’t have GF  Bisquick I’d substitute the ingredients below:

(1 ¼  cups rice flour ,  ½ cup cornstarch,  1 tsp xanthan gum, 2 tsp GF baking powder)


Video Tutorial:

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large bowl whisk the GFBisquick and Cocoa powder together then stir in the sugar and cinnamon then set this bowl aside.   
3. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, and vanilla, melted butter and mashed bananas. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is well combined but don’t over mix.  
4. Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips then pour the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.   
5. Bake at 350 for between 60 and 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the banana bread for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. cool completely and serve.

Bacon Maple Glazed Apple Fritters ... Surely the Most Decadent Way to Get Your Apple a Day.

Bacon Maple Glazed Apple Fritters

This recipe was inspired by an Episode of  Unique Eats where they featured an incredible looking Maple Glazed Brioche Doughnut topped  with Crispy Applewood Bacon.  The awesome looking confection was the brilliant creation of the Nickel Diner in LA. 

All I could do was sigh since two huge obstacles were standing in my way from ever putting their heavenly looking treat in my mouth.  One,  I live on the east coast and two, the elephant in the room ...THE GLUTEN FREE LIFESTYLE I'M FOLLOWING. 

Needless to say I've created something here to vanquish any feelings of deprivation I might have sustained when the episode ended.  Today my friends, I bring you the most indulgent way to have your apple a day… Bacon Maple Glazed Apple Fritters   Honestly, what could be better than than a warm apple fritter bathed in a sweet maple glaze then punctuated with the salty finish of crispy smoked bacon.  I assure you folks, this one takes the cake in the category of decadence. 

Fritter Ingredients:

• 1 Apple (peeled and diced)
• 2/3 cup Gluten Free Bisquick* 1egg
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1tsp Sugar
• ¼ tsp Cinnamon
• A pinch of Salt

* If you don’t have any GF Bisquick you can substitute :
   1/3 cup of Corn Starch  & 1/3 cup Rice Flour  &  1/2 tsp GF Baking Powder & 1/4 tsp Xanthan gum 



Glaze Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup Maple Syrup   
• 1/2 cup Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Slices of Bacon (fried, drained, crumbled & set aside)

The Video Tutorial:

1. In a medium bowl whisk the egg, milk, sugar cinnamon and salt together then stir in the GF Bisquick then the apples.  Now set the batter aside while you make the maple glaze. 
2. Stir the syrup and vanilla into the powdered sugar until smooth and set aside while you fry the fritters.
3. You’ll need enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of your skillet with about 1/4 inch of oil.  Once the skillet is heated to a medium heat, drop heaping tablespoons into the pan and use the back of your spoon to press down any apples that seem to be sticking up too high above the rest of the fritter. 
4. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on the first side then turn them over and cook for 2-3 minutes on the second side.
5. Remove them from the pan and place them on paper towels to drain off any excess oil.
6. Drizzle the glaze oven each fritter. You could even dunk them directly into the bowl if you’d prefer. Sprinkle with crispy bacon and serve.