Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Pancakes For One

I'm really liking Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix. As I'm just cooking gluten free for myself, it seemed prudent to downsize the recipe on the package, and so I have. One serving size (37g of dry mix) is 1/6 of the package's pancake recipe. This gluten free pancake has become a breakfast, lunch and, in a pinch, a supper staple for me. When I'm going to be away from home for the day, I've made the two pancakes into a peanut butter and jam sandwich in case I need a snack or an option at lunch. The pancake sandwich travels well. I've also forgotten to add the oil to the batter on occasion, and the pancakes were no less delicious or light and fluffy.(you can subtract 120 calories and 14 g of fat if you leave out the oil) Enjoy.

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix
1 egg
1 Tablespoon vegetable/Canola oil
1/4 cup water

Whisk all ingredients together until just mixed. Cook on lightly greased hot griddle or frying pan until bubbles form and surface puffs up. Flip to cook other side until lightly golden brown.

Makes 1 large pancake, or two 4 1/2 inch pancakes.

Nutritional Analysis: (pancakes alone, without butter, syrup, or other toppings)

Calories: 320
Total fat: 20 g
Cholesterol: 190 mg
Sodium: 455 mg
Carbohydrates: 25 g
Fibre: 4 g
Sugars: 2 g
Protein: 10 g

Trifle

I had some loaves left over after an event a few months ago, so I froze them for later. With another event looming at the beginning of next week, "Trifles" came up, and so I'm going to convert the leftover loaves into a couple of trifles.  I think the beauty of "trifle" is that, with a little imagination, you have limitless possibilities.  Kraft Canada has a great Trifle "formula" style recipe; they've made a chart and the 3 main components have been broken down, giving you ideas for mixing and matching what you have on hand. It's a good place to start if you're a first time Trifle maker.

To make a Basic Trifle, you need:
A clear/glass bowl
A cake/cookie layer
A fruit/jam layer
A pudding/custard layer
Whipped topping
A garnish

Start with a layer of cake on the bottom of the bowl.Traditional English Trifles have liqueur or sherry sprinkled over the cake. The older and drier the cake, the more liquid (whether alcohol or fruit juice) it will soak up. If you are using frozen or tinned fruit, you could drain the juice and sprinkle it over the cake. If you're using fresh fruit, you might spread the cake with a complimentary jam. Layer the fruit over the cake, followed by a layer of pudding or custard. A few inches of whipped cream is next.

I like at least 2 layers of everything, so I would try to use half of each item, and then layer it all again. If you have a tall trifle bowl, you might like to do 3 or 4 layers of everything. Top off the last layer of whipped cream with your garnish.

Trifle Ideas:

Tropical Trifle- banana bread/cake with crushed pineapple and coconut custard (Bird's Custard made with coconut milk), whipped cream with a toasted coconut garnish.

Banana Split Trifle- banana bread/cake with strawberries on one layer and crushed pineapple on another, chocolate pudding and whipped cream, garnished with fresh sliced strawberries & shaved chocolate, or chocolate sundae sauce drizzled over the whipped cream.

Leftover Waffle Trifle- Breakfast waffles, any kind of frozen fruit or jam, vanilla custard or pudding, and whipped cream with coloured candy sprinkles on top.

Leftover Loaf Trifle- how about Orange-Cranberry loaf with tinned mandarin orange segments, vanilla custard or pudding, whipped cream and orange sugar sprinkles, grated orange rind or maraschino cherries on top? 
Lemon-Poppyseed loaf or muffins with peaches or mandarin orange segments, lemon pudding, whipped cream and grated lemon peel on top.

Chocolate Trifle- chocolate cake, cherry pie filling, raspberries or strawberries, chocolate pudding, whipped cream with crushed Oreo cookies for a garnish.

Vanilla Trifle- white cake, strawberries or raspberries, vanilla pudding or custard, whipped cream with fruit to garnish.

*Use your imagination and share your trifle ideas in the comments.

Nutty Fruit Crisp Topping

Crisps are crisps- rhubarb, apple, peach, plum... basically whatever fruit you have on hand or in the freezer makes a nice crisp. (1/3-1/2 cup sugar or sweetener and 1/8 cup of flour or cornstarch per 2 cups of fruit) When I make fruit crisp I rarely look it up; I usually just "wing it". Tonight I made a rhubarb/apple crisp, and I caught myself remembering the ingredients that I used for the topping. Good thing, as I did something a little different and it was really good. I give you "Nutty Fruit Crisp Topping"


1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 cashews, fairly finely chopped
1/4 cup hard margarine

Mix flour, oatmeal, salt, brown sugar and cashews together in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers, cut/blend the margarine into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbled together. Spoon/spread over fruit in greased casserole dish and bake at 350*F for 45-60 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and topping is crisp and toasted golden brown.

This made a substantial topping for a rhubarb-apple crisp in an 8 inch, round casserole pot. The chopped nuts added a nice texture and flavour.

Adding Fibre

To add some fibre to quick breads and muffins, try substituting wheat germ for some of the all-purpose white flour.

1/4 cup wheat germ has the same amount of fibre as 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, and twice as much fibre as the same amount of white flour. While it has 3x as much fat (1.5 g compared to .5 g) it has less than half the calories, a third fewer carbohydrates, and as much protein.

Consider that 1/4 wheat germ weighs about half as much as 1/4 cup of all-purpose white or whole wheat flour. This means that you can effectively take out 1/4 cup of flour and add 1/2 cup of wheat germ, giving you 4x as much fibre as white flour alone without altering the texture of your quick breads or making them too heavy.

If you have a kitchen scale, you can substitute wheat germ by weight: simply measure the flour and weigh it, then remove 1/4 or 1/2 cup of flour and add wheat germ to make up the weight. I recommend starting with 1/2 cup wheat germ for 1/4 cup flour. I've had good results with that amount.

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend

From the February/March 2009 issue of Living Without magazine, I give you the all-purpose flour blend. Intended to be used "for all your gluten-free baking", I've only tried it with my chocolate chip cookie recipe so far. It worked pretty well, (the second time!), but I lowered the baking time by 25*F, and the ratio of flour blend to regular all-purpose flour was more like 1 cup flour blend = 3/4 cup all- purpose flour. All the ingredients were available at Safeway and/or Nutter's Bulk & Natural Foods. It is recommended in the magazine, that you add 1/2 teaspoon Guar Gum or Xanthan Gum to each cup of flour blend. "It provides the binding needed to give the baked product proper elasticity, keeping it from crumbling." Both guar and xanthan gum were available at Nutter's. (I bought guar gum, as it was 1/3 the price of the xanthan, at @ $5/250 g compared to @ $15/250 g)

If you try this, please let us know how it worked. Share your recipes via email, and I'll be sure to give you full credits. Wouldn't you like to be the guest blogger of the day? Sure you would! : )

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend:

1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapicoa starch/flour
1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

Coverting Yeast

The last time I went looking for a large tin of Active Dry Yeast, my supplier didn't have any. Instead of the big blue and white tins that I've been buying for a couple of years, they had little square packages of Instant Active Dry Yeast. As I was almost out of yeast altogether, I bought the instant. Now. How to measure it? God bless Google. I found good information at "The Artisan".

And as a quick reference for myself:

2 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast = 2 teaspoons Instant Active Dry Yeast
1 7/8 teaspoons A.D.Y. (let's say 2) = 1 1/2 teaspoons I.A.D.Y.
1 1/4 teaspoons A.D.Y. = 1 teaspoon I.A.D.Y.

Using the first conversion as a base, 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast would equal 2.4 teaspoons Instant Active Dry Yeast; so, when making cinnamon buns or bread recipes calling for 1 package, (which is a scant Tablespoon) Active Dry Yeast, I'll use 2 1/2 teaspoons Instant Active Dry Yeast.

And Glory, Hallelujah! The Yeast is Converted.

A Great Grain Pancake Idea

If you have a mixed marriage as I do, (1 Diabetic- me, + a bunch of regular people), and you have Anti-Grainites in the bunch, you might give this a try:

Mix up a batch of Basic Pancakes, then add 2 or 3 Tablespoons of multi-grain cereal (like Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain cereal) to the last bit of batter. I've found that with the Basic Pancake batter, I can make 8 x 4-5 inch pancakes for "them" add the cereal and get 2 or 3 pancakes for me.

I've used this trick when making waffles as well. Try it with whatever pancake or waffle mix you use- just make enough for the family, then add the cereal for yourself.

I've found E.D. Smith No Sugar Added Syrup to be not bad, (it was better when I added half a teaspoon of maple flavouring to it...) but I often have pancakes with no sugar added jam or peanut butter and jam (for the extra protein).

Butter to Olive Oil Conversion

I found this in the Winter 2007 "homebasics" magazine that came in the mail. It can also be found online (when I couldn't find the magazine the other day). I decided to post it here for future reference.

1 teaspoon butter = 3/4 teaspoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter = 1 1/4 teaspoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter = 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup butter = 3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup butter = 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Bake Sale Butter Icing

Do you have a ton of cupcakes to frost? Several cakes to decorate? Say no more! This mega-batch of icing easily decorated 8 dozen cupcakes, with a bit to spare. It stores well in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or you could freeze the leftovers (thaw in the fridge) for next time.

1 cup hard margarine, softened
1 bag (kg) confectioner's (icing) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Store in an airtight container.

Easter Egg Coloring

Having an Easter Egg emergency? Can't find a Coloring Kit? Don't sweat it. Make your own egg dyes with liquid food coloring and vinegar. Let the kids help, and turn it into a lesson on primary and secondary colors! Much more fun than a silly old box with tablets!


In coffee mugs, combine:

1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup boiling water
20 drops of food coloring

To make blended colors, start with the lighter color, and add the darker color one drop at a time until you achieve the desired shade.

For Orange, start with 20 drops of yellow, add red one drop at a time.
For Purple, start with 20 drops of red, add blue one drop at a time.
For bright, vibrantly colored eggs, leave eggs in dye for a long time.
To make pastel eggs, leave eggs in dye for a short amount of time.

Dried color should not rub off.

Cinnamon "Salt" Dough

This is a craft dough recipe that might have come home from school with one of the children. This oven- bake dough makes very cool Christmas tree ornaments, gift tags or "car fresheners" that the kids can roll and shape themselves. Does Grandma have a miniature tree? Make her a set of tiny gingerbread tree ornaments! They'll look great and smell good too. Specialty kitchen stores like "Nutters" often have cookie cutters in many sizes.

1/3 cup cinnamon (75 ml)
1/3 cup all purpose flour (75 ml)
2/3 cup applesauce (150 ml)

Mix cinnamon and flour together. Gradually mix applesauce into cinnamon/ flour mixture to make a stiff dough. Use cinnamon/ flour mixture (equal parts) to knead into dough if it's very sticky or gooey.

Roll dough out on an un-floured board (or waxed paper) 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Make a hole with a straw to hang. Decorate with whole cloves or allspice (to make eyes or buttons on gingerbread men), or wait until your shapes are baked, and then decorate with craft supplies and glue.

Bake at 225 * F for 2 hours.

You can give them a quick spray with a sealant, if you like, and they'll have a shiny appearance.

Tie with a ribbon pushed through the hole in the top.

Sparkle Paints

A very cool crafting recipe that I picked up somewhere. Make some Sparkle Paints together with your children, and then let them go to town with it, creating amazing Sparkle pictures, signs or designs.


Empty squeezable bottles (old school glue bottles are perfect)
Flour
Salt
Water
Tempera Paint Powder
Paper

Mix equal amounts of flour, salt and water.

Divide mixture into the empty bottles.

Add a different color of tempera paint to each bottle, and shake them well.

To use:
Squeeze the paint onto paper, creating a design, word or picture. Let dry. When the paint is dry, the salt makes the picture sparkle.

Alternatively, you can brush the paints on instead of squeezing them.

Breakfast Muffins For Non-Morning People

Tired of cold cereal for breakfast? Desirous of lovely, hot muffins to go with your orange juice or coffee? Not a morning person? Not a problem.

Before you go to bed:
1. Choose your muffin recipe.

2. Mix up all the dry ingredients and cover the bowl.

3. Mix up all the wet ingredients, cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. Take out your muffin pan and paper liners, and get the muffin tin ready with the liners.

5. If your oven has "Oven start/ stop" timer capabilities, set the oven to go on half an hour before you normally get up in the morning. Set it to stop an hour after it starts. Don't forget to set the temperature specified in the recipe.

6. Go to bed.

7. Get up 10 minutes early. If you didn't set the oven to come on, get up 15 minutes early, and turn the oven on before you go to the bathroom.

8. Take the wet ingredients out of the fridge. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened. Fill the prepared muffin tin. Put the muffin tin in the oven.

9. Go have a shower. While you shower the muffins will bake. Check the time; either get dressed and then take the muffins out of the oven, or take them out before they burn and then get dressed.

10. Et Voila. Muffins for breakfast.