Tasty Gluten-Free Pancakes Packed With Nutrition

This recipe is from my friend Amber. She tells me her son loves these pancakes.

Gluten-Free Casein-Free Yummy Pancakes

When we first went GFCF, my little guy lost weight. I created a recipe for these "pancakes" that are a powerhouse of nutrition and calories. I make a bunch and freeze them so we can have them on the go if we need to. Delish!

•  1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup of sweet sorghum flour
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw almond or hazelnut flour
• 1 tbsp of chia seeds and/or flax seeds
• 1 tbsp of honey, sugar, or agave (all optional)
• dash of grey sea salt
• 1/4 cup leftover smoothie, or chopped kale, Pom juice, or mashed banana...etc. you get he idea
• 1 to 2 tbsp of coconut shreds
• optional is 1 tbsp of rice flour if you need to thicken it up
• 1 tbsp of ghee (clarified butter)
• dash of cinnamon

dash of gluten free vanilla extract

Melt the ghee over medium heat in a small fry pan. Mix everything else together. Fry it in 2 batches. Makes 2 pancakes the size of your hand. I cut into little squares with the spatula and pop them into a wax paper bag for his lunch. You can sweeten with honey or maple syrup as a treat. Also, you can cook them in coconut oil, but do it over low heat and be patient.

This is worth the trouble and they get easier to make once you have all the ingredients on hand.

Shhh...Don't Tell Them It's Healthy

I'm a single mom and have no social life anymore. Since it was Sasturday night and I didn't have anything else better to do, I decided to break out a bottle of Pear wine that I bought at the Nashoba Valley Wineries a few weeks ago and bake some tasty foods to enjoy over the next few days. What I didn't tell my little kiddo was that I made the dishes extra healthy adding purreed vegetables, chock full of vitamins and minerals. He didn't know the difference. Chock one up for mom!

The first dish I made was a pepperoni pizza bake. Instead of using normal pie crust, I substituted a cauliflower puree that was ahhh-maazing. The pepperoni and cream that went into that recipe weren't all that healthy but the cauliflower was and hey it's Saturday night and we've got to live a little bit right?

The next dish I made was a gluten-free red velvet cake that had two pureed beets baked into the batter. Once again, the kiddo loved it and it was a lot healthier than the average slice of chocolate cake. I felt just a smidge less guilty feeding him the sugar if it came infused with healthy beets.

I think it's important to give my son lots of tasty options for meals and desserts, since he's not allowed to have so many of the things he used to eat because of the ADHD diet. He used to cry when I'd tell him, no you can't have something and I'd feel terrible. But now with all the research I've done on gluten free and dye-free diets, he really does eat quite well. All in all, there's really no reason to miss out on anything.

The only thing I haven't been able to replace is bread. Christopher does not like GF bread at all and just won't eat it. I don't sweat it though. Bread really isn't all that healthy for you anyway.

If you're interested in either of these recipes, feel free to check them out on Pinterest here.

Easy Crock Pot Gluten Free Short Ribs

Diets high in protein and no gluten are perfect for kids with ADHD. Even better is the ability to throw everything in the crock pot, turn it on and leave for the day. When you come home, dinner is served!

You'll need:
2 lb container of short ribs
12 ounce container of salsa - I used Gunther's Gourmet Crab Salsa . It provides great flavor
Beef stock

Add short ribs to slow cooker
Pour container of Gunther's Gourmet Salsa over the ribs
Pour in just enough beef stock to cover the ribs
Stir mixture
Turn slow cooker on high
Cook for 5 hours

When your ribs come out, they will be fall off the bone good!

Gluten Free Coconut Granola

This is from a mom, Christine, on one of the mail lists to which I subscribe:

Dry Ingredients
4 cups gluten free old fashioned rolled oats (I order Bob’s Red Mill in bulk from Amazon)
¼ cup coconut flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup shredded coconut
¼ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
½ cup water
¼ cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (Yes, this is a lot – I buy the large bottles of vanilla at Penzeys)

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl.
Combine wet ingredients in small bowl, pour over dry ingredients. Toss to coat. (Break up any clumps of coconut.)
Bake at 300 on lightly greased (or covered with parchment paper) sheet pan with sides for 45 to 55 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it.
The only tricky part is that you need to stir it every 15 minutes or so or it won’t cook evenly.
If your child will eat nuts, you can add those before baking. If your child will eat Craisins or other dried berries, add those after it cools.

Gluten-Free Chicken Noodle Soup

At least once a month, I will pick up a rotisserie chicken from the local Stop 'n Shop and find a variety of ways to enjoy quick and easy meals all week long.

I love telling my son that when I make homemade chicken noodle soup for him using a rotisserie chicken, that I'm making it with love (as opposed to additives and preservatives from Campbell's).

To make:

My son loves Ancient Harvest Quinoa spaghetti. 

Please note that quinoa spaghetti does need to be cooked for at least 15 minutes to have the same consistency as regular spaghetti. 

While heating the spaghetti, on a separate burner you’ll heat up three cups of organic chicken broth. 

When cooked, add the quinoa spaghetti to the broth along with some mixed vegetables from your freezer and your left-over chicken. You can season with salt, pepper and some Italian seasoning then let the pot simmer for five minutes. Soon you will have a tasty, hearty soup.

Barbara's Classic Gluten Free Cheesecake

Another recipe courtesy of my friend Janine:

Gluten Free Nut Crust Supreme
2 cups Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix
½ cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Spray cheesecake pan lightly with vegetable oil spray. In a medium bowl stir together the flour mix and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until fine crumbs form. Stir in the nuts and pat into your pan. The crust will be “crumbly” but will hold together once pressed into the pan. This will be more than enough for one large cheesecake and perhaps for a second smaller pie. Though it tastes so good on it’s own you may just end up eating it!

Barbara’s Classic Gluten Free Cheesecake
4 – 8 oz bars of gluten free cream cheese, softened
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix all of the ingredients with a beater until smooth and pour into the unbaked crust. Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
While that is baking, prepare the topping.
2 cups gluten free sour cream
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon of gluten free almond extract
Juice from ½ a lemon


Mix the topping ingredients in a bowl. After the first 30 minutes of baking, remove the cheesecake and spoon the topping onto the cheesecake. Be careful not to overfill the pan. Return the cheesecake to the oven and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes. You may want to place a piece of foil under the cheesecake just to catch any drippings. Cooking times can vary dramatically depending upon the amount of topping you choose to use. Watch to see when it starts to solidify but don’t let it stay in so long that the crust begins to burn.

Gluten-Free Thin Mint Cookies

This recipe is courtesy of my friend Janine:

Gluten-Free Thin Mints

•1 cup almond flour

•1/4 cup coconut flour

•1/2 cup sugar

•1/4 cup cocoa powder

•1/4 teaspoon salt

•1 egg

•1 stick(4oz) butter, melted

•1 bag(12oz) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

•1 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided

1. Sift together the almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, salt, and sugar until it’s all mixed.

2. Add in the egg, butter, and 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract and mix until it forms a dough.

3. Roll the dough into a log on some parchment paper and put in the refrigerator or freezer to chill.

4. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

5. When the dough is solid, using a sharp knife, cut out cookies that are roughly 3/8-inch thick. Lay the cookies out on a baking tray(don’t worry if they’re close together since they don’t really really spread)

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven. Let them cool until they’ve hardened.

7. Make the coating by melting the chocolate chips and mixing in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of extract.

8. Lay the cookies onto parchment paper and refrigerate to fully harden. These will keep 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Gluten Free Apple Pie With a Crumb Topping

We went apple picking today at Brooksby Farm in Peabody, MA and came back with a peck of sweet, ripe Cortland apples. Now that we have all these apples though, what are we going to do with them? Make an apple pie of course.


Pie Crust
Okay, I'm not going to lie. I bought the pie crust pre-made. I just don't have the skills to bake a GF pie crust so I went with Whole Foods gluten-free pie crust, found in the freezer section

Filling

I know there are quite a few bakers who mix their own custom GF flour but I'm just not that accomplished of a baker. So I bought the GF flour from Whole Foods as well.

6 medium thinly sliced peeled apples

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup Gluten Free baking mix (I used Arrowhead)

½ cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup gluten free baking mix (once again I used Arrowhead)

¼ cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 375ºF. Use butter or cooking spray to coat a 9-inch pie plate. In a medium bowl, mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, sugar and milk; add the butter and stir, ensuring the entire bowl's contents are coated; add in the Cortland apples and mix; then place mixture in pie plate.

Next, mix the baking mix, and brown sugar streusel ingredients in a small bowl. Melt butter in the microwave; add to mixture and stir until crumbly; sprinkle over filling.

The reason I say to make sure that the butter coats the entire contents of the crumb topping is because I didn't do that and so some of my topping retained it's powdery consistency even after baking. Much better to coat the entire topping mixture with butter and get that nice golden brown across the whole top of the pie.

Most recipes tell you to cook 45-50 minutes but I found I needed 55 minutes for this pie. You might want to check on your pie after 45 minutes as perhaps oven temperatures do vary.

Serving Suggestion

I put a scoop of Breyer's All Natural Vanilla ice cream on top and the pairing was divine. I highly recommend!

Healthy Eating Can Be Fun!

Now that I have my kid on a healthy gluten-free, artificial dye-diet, I couldn't be happier. He is so calm and fun to be around. And the diet really is easy to maintain too. You just have to be a little creative.

For example, Christopher loves slushies but the ones from the local ice cream shop are full of nasty dyes that make my kid act like an insane lunatic. So now we make them at home instead using pureed fruit and my son loves them!

I went to Target and bought the Squeezy Freezy Instant Slushy Maker and now we enjoy tasty, healthy slushies that are actually fun to make together. You can find them on amazon.com as well.

If your child likes slushies the way my son does, you'll want to invest in the Squeezy Freezy and in some recipes as well. My kiddo loves watermelon, so I'll attach a watermelon slushy recipe here. Hope you enjoy!

Watermemelon Squeezy Freezy Recipe:

1 Freezy Squeezy

1/2 watermelon, chopped in pieces

2 cups of chopped strawberries, quartered

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups ice

Freeze the Squeezy Freezy cup for at least three hours (overnight works best)

In a blender combine watermelon pieces (ensuring that you removed the seeds), strawberies and sugar

Puree until drink is soupy

Add contents to Freezy Squeezy cup

Let sit for a few minutes then squeeze. Voila! Your fruit drink has been transformed into a tasty, healthy slushy.

Unless you bought several Freezy Squeezy cups, you will have lots of slushy mixture left over. You could now add the ice to the blender and chop the juicy contents until it has a slushy consistency. Add the slushy to glasses, garnish with fruit and enjoy!