Check this out!

A new discovery I made today: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring...a great blog with tons of GF recipes! Awesome!

I have been a slacker blogger lately....it seems that, as usual, I tend to overcommitt myself and in the midst of finishing our basement, training for a marathon, starting a beginning runners' group at work for some of my coworkers, getting ready to take on a student intern at work, catching up on paperwork at work that I let pile up during the month of July when I was finishing up more classes....I just haven't had that much time for blogging!

SORRY!!! I hope to share more recipes and tips, soon! For now, though....enjoy the blog listed above! It looks to be fantastic and I will spend more time perusing it later when I have more time. :)

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

~Rachel

DESSERT!

So, as I previously mentioned, I slaved away ;) for the past 13 months in some classes. Some of the students enrolled in this program traveled from hours away to participate in these classes. During the past 2 Julys, when classes were the most frequent and intense, the students who traveled from far-away-places to be a part of the program "lived" in hotels here in Bloomington (the class also had members up in the Chicago area; students attended whichever location was more convenient for them and we had class via Polycomm, which was kinda annoying). Tuesday night this week was the last night that these students would be staying overnight, so the 8 of us here in Bloomington went out for dinner/drinks together. Amelia, a fun girl I have become friends with, ordered "Gooey Butter Cake" at Baxter's Grill here in town...and they all analyzed it (I couldn't try it, of course) and decided it wasn't gooey at all and wasn't even really that good. So, I googled a recipe for Gooey Butter Cake and adapted it to be GF and made some to bring to class on Wednesday! It appeared to be a hit!
Here's the recipe:

1pkg yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker's gluten free yellow cake mix)
1 stick of butter
1 egg
-Mix the dry cake mix with the 1 stick of butter (melted) and 1 egg; press into an ungreased 9x13 pan

Then Cream Together:
1 brick cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
-Pour over cake mixture, spreading to the edges. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

I served it plain...but classmates (who are from the St. Louis area, where apparently this dessert originated) suggested sprinkling powdered sugar on top of the cooled cake, or serving with fruit or a variety of dessert sauces. YUM! Another classmate said that she wondered if brown sugar sprinkled on top would be good...I think that sounds great! Maybe I'll try that next time :)

Breakfasts on-the-go

My favorite easy gluten-free grab-and-go breakfast items:

~A small bag of dry GF cereal; particularly CHEX...which now has many officially gluten-free options and is available at "normal" grocery stores: the rice, corn, honey-nut, chocolate, cinnamon, and strawberry varieties are ALL GF! My favorite is the cinnamon. I have tried them all, aside from chocolate and strawberry. I could eat the cinnamon all day, really! It is fantastic...sort of Cinnamon Toast Crunch-esq which brings me back to my childhood (that was, for some reason, the ONLY sugary cereal we were EVER allowed to have in our house). I LOVE it!

~Hard boiled eggs...these are so notable (and a wonderful HEALTHY option!) that I've blogged about them multiple times! Once a week or so I will prepare a bunch of hard-boiled eggs so that Jeremy and I both have an easy breakfast option for those rushed work-day mornings. We love 'em! I always buy organic eggs...not sure if it REALLY matters ;), but I figure if we eat the quantity of eggs that we do (one a day for each of us) they should definitely be the healthiest, most natural variety

~String cheese sticks....not necessarily the healthiest option (if you are in the dairy-is-bad camp), but still easy and delicious. Works for us in our house! :)

~Larabars...I've blogged about them before, too, but they are DEFINITELY notable. These are delicious...and, in the company's own words "simple. pure. delicious". These bars are made from minimal ingredients...for example, the "Peanut Butter Cookie" bar (which is the first one I tried!) is made from only peanuts, dates, and salt. YUM! My personal favorites are Peanut Butter Cookie and Key Lime Pie. Jeremy prefers Cherry Pie. YUMMY!

~Kind fruit and nut bars...my favorite varieties are Mango Macadamia, and Almond& Apricot...I will be visiting Naturally Yours here in Bloomington TODAY to stock up on more of these. These also make a great lunch...I've gotten in the somewhat bad habit of working through lunch and not eating much (I've been swamped at work!) and these are so easy to grab, delicious, and really do fill you up for a few hours

Weekends when I have a bit more time (when is THAT?!), I like to prepare smoothies (that's what we had this morning!) with a variety of frozen fruit and orange juice (That's it!) dumped in a blender and blended to frothy perfection....or scrambled eggs with feta and spinach...or GF pancakes...

Carol Fenster's Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes:
1 Cup Carol’s Sorghum Blend...this is the best GF flour blend I've found, recipe below...I keep a stash in my freezer at all times (well, except right now because I ran out! ;))
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp xanthan gum
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Butter for frying
1. In a mixing bowl or large measuring cup, sift together the sorghum blend, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum.
2. Gradually whisk in the buttermilk, butter, egg, and vanilla until very smooth. Let the batter stand 5 minutes and then adjust the consistency, if needed.
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Pour ¼ cup batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on top of the pancake, about 2-3 minutes. Turn and cook until browned on other side. Serve immediately.

I've made these when we have overnight out-of-town guests over (and double the recipe to serve 4)...I get rave reviews! I LOVE these pancakes!

And now, Carol Fenster's Sorghum Blend:
1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch or corn starch (I use potato)
1 cup tapioca flour
Mix it all together in a large container and keep on hand for all of your baking needs!

It works great in a variety of recipes! She has tips in her 1000 Gluten Free Recipes book for adapting the blend to be more suitable for specific baking/recipes, but honestly I typically just use it straight-up...

Well....

It's been over a month since I've posted! It has been a wild and crazy month, though...I definitely haven't fallen off of the face of the earth, I've just been focusing my energy elsewhere :). Wednesday was the last day of classes in a 13-month series of courses/practicum work I was enrolled in through Illinois State University completing graduate work that earned me certification as an Auditory/Oral Specialist....but this isn't the time nor the place to discuss the ins and outs of that! On to the food!

I am going to post a bunch of shorter posts now, instead of one super-long post with everything I have to say...so bear with me!

A peek of what's to come....fast food options, Mexican (=LOVE!), breakfast and lunch on-the-go, a new yummy dessert recipe....and MORE!

See you soon!