Red Velvet Cake

My Grandma always made a red velvet cake for special occasions. It is one of those things that always make me think of her and Grandpa. I haven't made one in a looooong time and had a 'hankerin' to make one today. I googled it and found this recipe.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe, except I used Authentic Foods GF Classic Blend in place of her flours......and I put it in a Bundt pan, instead of making cupcakes! I can not wait to slice into it later. It looked fabulous coming out of the oven, I had to pinch a pc off the bottom to try......

Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Merry Christmas!!!!

I am baking today, and one of my all time favorite Christmas cookies are cut out cookies. They are an absolute must for Christmas. I had a recipe that I followed faithfully every year because I didn't have to refrigerate the dough before rolling, so I dug it out and modified it for gluten free cookies!

YUMMM!!!!

***note*** melted butter is NOT softened butter. Melted butter is melted. Softened butter is soft but not liquid.....makes a huge difference.....just ask Paula...haha!

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cups Authentic Foods Multi Blend flour mix (this mix has xanthum gum in it already)

Preheat oven to 400 Line cookie sheets with parchement paper, set aside.

In stand mixer bowl, whip butter until smooth, add sugar, mix till smooth again, add egg and vanilla....mix......... In seperate bowl mix flour and baking powder...... add 1/2 cup flour at a time, till you reach 2 cups.....mix well after each addition, and also scrape sides of bowl after each. You may need to use the dough attachment to mix.

on clean surface (counter top) scrape dough out of bowl. Knead a little bit if needed to form into large ball, and use a bit of the last 1/2 cup flour on surface and hands if needed to help with sticking. Break into 2 balls, set one aside.

Begin rolling one ball into a 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick circle, about 12" diameter. (I like a thicker cookie, and I use the Pampered Chef baker's roller to roll). Cut with cookie cutters, placing the cookies on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake in oven for 7-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of your cookie and the size/shape. And start on the other ballof dough...... Remove from oven when edges start to brown and cool on rack. Decorate as desired......

***I had to do some research, but did find that CakeMate decorations (colored sugars, nonpareils, etc) are gluten free, along with McCormick food dyes. For about 1/3 of the dough I used some green food coloring and added a little more of that last 1/2 cup flour to make the green Christmas trees.

The glaze I used was this one..... only I used some fruit juice for flavoring and didn't add any food coloring until the end, and then I added some more sugar and corn syrup with the food coloring.

I LOVE the way these turned out!

I hope you all have a blessed and merry Christmas!!!!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup GF flour mix (used Grandma Ferndon's mix this time)

1 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups GF rolled oats (Bob's Red Mill)

1 bag (11 oz) Hershey's Butterscotch Chips

Heat oven to 375.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (found near the foil, saran wrap, etc!).

Beat butter and sugars in large bowl until blended. Add egss, and vanilla....beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips by hand.

Drop by spoonful onto baking sheets. Cook 10ish minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to cool on cookie racks.

Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies

Topping:

3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Mix together and set aside.

2 cups Authentic Foods GF Flour mix (add a tsp of xantham gum if mix doesn't already have it)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 325.

In large bowl mix sugars with the butter till smooth (will be grainy, just get out any lumps of sugar). Add eggs and vanilla, blend.

mix the rest of the dry ingredients together and add to butter sugar mix. Blend at low speed until smooth.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in topping mix. place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, flatten slightly. Place about 2 inches apart. Bake 15-18 minutes until slightly browned. Remove to wire rack and cool.

**this is an old favorite recipe that was easy to adapt to GF. I only had to decrease the flour a bit and add the xantham gum**

**also, just a little hint, I was out of eggs, so I used a meringue powder as a substitute....the instructions were on the label ......I used enough for 3 egg whites to replace the 2 whole eggs I didn't have!***

Sinfully delicious, better than youknowwhat pie!

Browned Butter Pecan Pie

1/2 cup butter, browned
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pecans

9 in unbaked pie shell

whipped cream

In small saucepan cook butter over low to medium heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pour into bowl to cool.

Mix eggs, sugar, corn syrup, honey, vanilla and salt, blend in browned butter. Add pecans, pour into pie shell.

Bake 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 325 and bake an additional 40 minutes. Center will be slightly soft but will set up as it cools.

Cool completely, serve with whipped cream.

Paula and I made this for Thanksgiving...... it was so incredibly good.......we used a Grandma Ferndon's frozen pie crust......soooo sooooo sooooo yummy....so!

Tag, I'm it!!!!

Ok, so Mikki tagged me like forever and ever ago and I have been beeeesy.....and forgot and then remembered and yadda yadda and so here we are.......

The Tag Rules be....
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up. (I don't know what this means??)

My six random things....
1. My nickname has been Fred since forever. I really do answer to it.
2. I think rocks are really cool.....always have......
3. When I was in high school I thought I had fat knees.....(don't ask, I was a teenage girl)
4. I hate HATE worms and snakes and anything slimy.
5. I do NOT like celery. ever. I have never cooked anything with celery and I doubt I ever will. I really do not like any part of it, smells bad, tastes bad, texture's bad....all bad.
6. I love to read. I love to re-read and re-re-read my favorites. I can have 3 or 4 books going at the same time.

The six people I have tagged are...
Paula.....
Chris.....
Diana.....
Janice.....
and the other 2 readers of my blog that I am not related to besides Mikki and Janice, I know technically we are not related Diana, but seriously.......you guys are honorary members and you know it!! HA!

Popcorn snack mix

1 bowl air popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup unpopped)
half a bag of Glutino pretzels partially broken
1 1/2 cupsish cocktail peanuts
1 (11oz) bag of mini M&M's
1-2 cups Gorilla Munch Envirokids cereal
1 cup chow mein noodles (we used Grandma Ferndon's) (could substitute any GF cereal or etc)

Mix all that in a large bowl, make sure all unpopped popcorn kernel's are out.

Melt 1 stick butter, 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/3 cup light corn syrup in microwaveable bowl. Stir and cook another couple minutes in microwave until bubbly. Pour over popcorn mixture.

Toss/stir gently to coat everything. Pour onto waxed paper or parchment paper lined baking pans (we needed 2 large pans). Let dry and break into chunks and EAT! Store in airtight container.

I think we gained about 80lbs today...... we made oatmeal butterscotch cookies, recipe to come later......fudge......thin mints(recipe coming later).....mini cheesecakes....and we tested every single batch.

Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
16 oz powdered sugar
3 cups crisp rice cereal (we used Envirokids Koala Crisp)

Melt pb, butter in saucepan, stir smooth. In large bowl combine powdered sugar, cereal, pour peanut butter mixture over. Stir to blend. Form 1/2 inch balls, chill til firm, then dip in melted chocolate. Makes 100 balls (if you don't eat them while making them anyway!)

Angi and I had a baking day today and made a ton of goodies. I will post more recipes later. But this one was her recipe and I had to type it out before she left......I have to make more tomorrow as the boys ate at least half before we were done........

Brownies and more cheesecake

so I made brownies the other day without oil.

I used a Namaste mix, added 1/2 cup low fat sour cream, 1 cup water and 4 eggs.














Baked it in mini muffin tins, made about 36 of those, then I had about a cup or so of mix left, and so I poured it into a greased spring form pan, then layered it with cheesecake mix (one brick of cream cheese, softened, 1 egg, 1/3 cup sugar and a splash vanilla, beat it 'till smooth)

Pour the cheesecake mix on top of brownie mix, use knife to swirl a little bit and bake in 350 oven until set.....of course I didn't use a timer, so I am thinking it was about 20-30 minutes, but watch it, just in case I am way off.

I grated some more fresh chocolate on top and served it with some whipped cream. WAY yummy.........

Orange cheesecake with Raspberry sauce pics

here's a pic of my orange cheesecake with raspberry sauce. I made it for a friend for her birthday and it turned out beautiful, so I had to take pics to share!

PBBOCC

Peanut

Butter

Banana

Oatmeal

Chocolate

Chip

Got a little carried away experimenting. Had some banana's that needed to be used, so I decided to try them in a Namaste Blondie mix. And then I added peanut butter chips and chocolate chips and at the very end I added oats.

1 Namaste Blondi mix

3 eggs

3 small ripe banana's

handful of chocolate chips

handful of peanut butter chips

mix first 3 ingredients together, then stir in chips. At this point I spooned most of the mix into mini muffin tins, sprayed with canola oil. There was about 1 1/2 cups mix left so then I added 2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill rolled oats and more chips, I spooned that onto a cookie sheet.

Bake in 325 preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes for the muffins and 10-15 minutes for the cookies.

the muffins are very dense (since I didn't add oil), but tasty.....a little on the sweet side for me, the blondies are sweet anyway, and then add the natural sweetness of the ripe banana's.

Haven't tried the cookies yet, but I imagine they will be tasty too!

I think next time I will add a little oil (1/4 cup maybe) and one less egg.

***FYI**** the boys (from age 4 to 40) loved 'em.......

trying new things.....

Went shopping today and found some new yummy gluten free goodies. The following are WAY yummy!!! Another Pamela's product.....haven't been dissapointed yet!

These chicken nuggets from Ian's....not so yummy. The texture was off. Kinda grainy, sort of, or I don't know, taste was okay, but the texture just turned me off.....so try at your own risk!

And these were ok. Had a packaged taste to them....if you know what I mean. Their granola I LOVE, especially the one I pictured, but the bars were just so-so.

"Beanless" white Chicken Chili

SO.....I've got several boys who will not eat beans, in any thing. And I really wanted to make a big pot of soup with beans.....and somehow or other I got the great idea to puree the beans.....then they won't know they are in the soup!!!

I'm a genius!

And modest too!!! HA!



1 rotisserie chicken, deboned, skinned and cut into small pcs
3 cans white beans, pureed with chicken broth if needed
3 cans water
3-4 tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken flavor
3-4 cans diced green chili's

about 1 cup chopped white onion, 3-4 cloves garlic, sauteed in olive oil until soft and transparent.

1 Tbsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all that up in a crockpot and set on low for several hours until heated through. Serve with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, and/or sour cream.

Enjoy!!!

pickles!

pickling cucumbers, or seedless cucumbers, sliced or quartered (aka English cukes)
Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
2 cups vinegar
6 cups water
garlic, minced 3-7 cloves, minced
salt and pepper, lots of each
one jalapeno, seeded and sliced

dill weed (I actually did not add this to mine, didn't have it on hand, but doesn't seem to have mattered)


Ok, so slice or quarter the cukes. Thinly slice the onion. Throw everything in a big covered container and refridgerate for several hours before serving. My kids LOVE this. Landon even loves the onions! YEAH!

David says to me....."so mom, are pickles really like cucumbers?....

Yes, dear....pickles are exactly like cucumbers. Go figure!""

by the way....this is Kim's recipe, sort of......I altered it.....I know, hold onto your hat.......enjoy!

Unless you like Robitussin Cough Syrup.....

I do not recommend mixing the last few drops of Green Apple Bacardi, a splash of Capt Morgan and cranberry juice.

It went down the kitchen sink.

Sundried tomato and chicken pasta

1 can diced mild green chilis
2-3 cloves garlic
1 cup re-hydrated sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 cup 4 cheese Italian blend cheese
1/2 -1 cup grated Parmesan
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mayo
2-3 cups leftover diced chicken breasts

pkg of noodles, cooked and drained. ( I used Tinkyada spaghetti noodles)

Mix all ingredients (except noodles) in crock pot, turn on low and let it cook for the afternoon, stir it once or twice. Serve over noodles.

**I didn't salt/pepper it because the chicken had a LOT of seasoning on it from being grilled the day before, so you may want to season your sauce more based on what kind of leftover chicken you use.**

**(I used 2 cans evaporated milk because I have lots of boys to feed, but I tried to cut the recipe down to a more manageable size for the "general public" so it may need to be tweaked a little when you start playing with it)**

mini cheescakes

I've been playing with cheesecakes and discovered how simple it is to make minis!

Here is the basic recipe for about 6 mini cheescakes.

1 brick cream cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

dash vanilla or 1/2 tsp any flavoring

For one batch I added 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips and used only 1/4 cup sugar...so it was easy to play with.

Anyway, I ran some gluten free animal cookies through the food processor. Used one stick of butter to one box of cookies ( I used Envirokids). Press about 1-2 heaping Tbsp of crushed cookie mixture in bottom of silicon cupcake thingy......I used the silicone so it was easy to pop them out, if you use a regular tin then I would suggest using paper (or even better foil) liners.

Anyway, so press the crumbs into the bottom of the cupcake rounds. Add cheesecake mixture....sprinkle with whatever yummy you have on hand.....I used crushed Heath bits for one batch.......chocolate and peanut butter chips for another batch, butterscotch chips for yet another and then left the chocolate ones alone and made my raspberry sauce to serve with those.

So bake that in a 350 oven...I forgot to look at the time, but I think it was somewhere around 20 minutes or so. I just watched to see when they were set. and then let them cool overnight before popping them out of the silicone pan.

They are so yummy and actually pretty easy and quick. And it is EASY to double, triple, whatever you want.....this is my basic recipe that I've always used for big cakes, I just pared it down for smaller batches.

Sloppy Joe's

So a friend of mine was making sloppy joes a while back for her kids and I've been craving them ever since. I wanted to try making my own sauce and leave it in the crockpot so the boys can eat when they have a chance.....soccer season.....Anyway, here is the recipe I used.

1 lb ground sirloin
1 lb ground turkey breast

Saute that in a pan until cooked through and crumbly.

Meanwhile in a crockpot mix together the following:

1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup bbq sauce
3-4 tablespoons water
3 tablespoon brown sugar
3 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt

stir all that together and add cooked meat, leave on lowest setting with lid on crockpot to let the sauce get all yummy and enjoy!

BTW.....I called French's to inquire about their Worcestershire sauce and was told that the sauce and all their mustards are gluten free. Just so ya know!

Personally I would have liked to add onion and peppers to the meat while saute-ing BUT then certain boys wouldn't eat it if there were chunks in it....so plain it is. I think I will cook up some veggies on the side and stir it into mine and whichever boys decide they want some too.

Chicken thingy's

I used to make a version of this recipe all the time with leftover chicken and a can of crescent rolls. BUT for obvious reason's I haven't made it in a loooooong time. Anywhoo...I had some leftover rotisseried chicken and so I used a Chebe mix for the crust and apparently it was pretty good. My 9 year old nephew told me I HAD to give the recipe to his mom.

2-3 cups cut up cooked chicken
a cup or so of cream cheese, plain or chive and onion ( I used both)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
garlic

mash that all together in a big bowl, set aside.

Prepare Chebe mix according to the instructions on the package and preheat oven to 375.

***I have a shallow muffin tin that I used but they are a little hard to find, so I'm sure a regular muffin tin will work fine.***

Separate dough into balls, I made 16 out of mine, but that could vary depending on the size of muffin tin you use. Flatten each ball into the muffin tin and up the sides, place a scoop of the chicken mixture inside and sprinkle with fresh parmesan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until browned.

Serve with a salad and veggies and you've got yourself a winner!

Steak Fajita's

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1-2 pounds flank steak

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and place flank steak in either a ziploc baggie or a covered dish, making sure that all sides are coated with marinade. If you put it in a covered dish make sure to rotate the steak at least once. Marinate for at least 5 hours in fridge.

Grill on med to med high heat for 8-10 minutes per side of steak, depending on how thick it is and how done you want it. Slice with electric knife in very thin slices against the grain.

Chow down!!!

This was so good. I can't even begin to tell you how yummy this was, you just have to make it yourself to taste. I made a salad out of it, the boys used tortillas and made fajita's. I will use 2+ lbs of meat next time. The boys were practically licking the plate.

Sweet and sour sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tsp vegetable oil
2/3 cup unsweetened pineapple juice, 1 of those little cans
2 tablespoons ketchup
2-3 tbsp brown sugar

Wisk the corn starch into the vinegar and pineapple juice, add oil, ketchup and sugar. Heat over med high in small saucepan wisking continuously until thickened. Serve with egg rolls.....or craB rangoon, which is my next experiment.....

Bwahahahaaaa....thanks Mikki!

Egg Rolls

I've been wanting to make these for days and finally had some time to do so. It wasn't that hard and they turned out pretty good. Grant loved them! I thought they were a little bland without the sweet and sour sauce, but with the sweet and sour sauce they were awesome. Since David didn't like them anyway, I will spice them up some more next time.

1 pkg finely grated coleslaw mix (just cabbage and carrots)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 roasted chicken, deboned, skinned and chopped
4-5 green onions sliced thin
2 scrambled eggs, finely chopped
2 tbsp San-J soy sauce
a sprinkling of onion powder
black pepper
ginger
I wanted to add garlic powder, but I was out!

16 spring roll skins

mix all the ingredients, except the wrappers in large bowl and set aside. Preheat oven to 400, line a baking pan with foil and spray with cooking oil. Get a large pie plate, large enough for a skin to be completely submerged, and fill with hot water.

YOu have to do one skin at a time or else they get too mushy. Submerge a skin in water and hold for about 20 seconds, pat it on a towel until it starts to get sticky, then add a heaping 2-3 tbsp of cabbage mixture, tuck skin over top, then do sides and roll up tightly. (Basically the same way you would roll a burrito, only do both ends)

Place on baking sheet, and go to the next one. After they are all done, spray lightly with some more oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes, take out of oven and serve with sweet and sour sauce and enjoy!

I did broil mine the last few minutes, to brown them up, but they ended up splitting, so I'm not sure I will do this next time. They still tasted great, just were split down the sides.

Brisket

This is something I've always been afraid to try, but my brother made one when we were visiting and I figured if he can do it and make it yummy, then so can I!!! (the reason I've never tried it is my fear of it coming out like shoe leather and making a quick stop in the trash can).

I used a small brisket, about 2 lbs. Seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, cajun spices, and who know what else.

Heated the grill, and then turned off the inner heating elements, leaving the ones on the outer part of the grill on low. Put the brisket in the center of the grill, fat side UP, all indidrect heat on low and left it alone for about 3 hours. Then let it sit for a few minutes before slicing. Slice off the layer of fat first and throw away......blech!

Used an electric knife to slice it very thin against the grain and served with BBQ sauce. I don't think there were any leftovers.

My brother says the trick is to make sure you cut against the grain of the meat and to make the cuts super thin. Good luck!!!

Mare

Sorry, I changed the settings, so you should be able to save it on a feed thingy. I've never been asked and don't really spend too much time checking out all the doodads I could tweak.

Hot Wings!

It's summer, which means I am at the grill again.

Franks hot sauce
butter

Chicken wing pieces

I grill the wing pcs first, when almost done I mix the hot sauce and melted butter and start to brush it on as I rotate the wings. I use about 2 cups Franks with 1/2 stick butter, other people will say to use the whole stick, I just don't see the difference and could probably leave the butter off all together.

Tonight I put them in the oven, on warm, as the boys were working at the firework stand and it was one of those nights that everyone would be eating as they came and went. The wings stayed yummy, and they were in there for about 5 hours.

Serve with salad and ranch dressing and the boys are happy.

Chex!!!

http://www.chex.com/Recipes/CategoryView.aspx?CategoryId=447&t=5

I haven't been this excited since I found gluten free oats by Bob's Red Mill.

On the prowl......

I am on the lookout for a fabulous Sweet Dijon Vinaigrette dressing. I have tried no fewer than 18 from the grocery and none have the right taste. So now I am searching for recipes to bastardize. I've got a few from Google....but if anyone has a good one already, please pass it on!!

When I was recovering from surgery my darling friend Susan brought over a fabulous salad....it had spinach, feta cheese, toasted almonds, mandarin oranges and of course, the sweet dijon vinaigrette dressing. I found it in one of those prepackaged salad mixes at the grocery.....I believe it is made by Fresh Express. I've taken my GI issues in my own hands because I am not 100% certain it is gluten free, but it is soooo darn good. I probably make this salad for myself about 8 times a week!

Anyway, that is why I am in search of a recipe.....I can make my own and be certain it is safe.

Mother's Day weekend, I did a baaad thing. Charles' team handed out these fantabulous chocolate bars for all the moms. I "glanced" at the ingredients and proceded to eat the bar and throw away the wrapper.....yeah.

Well, within a day or so I was icky......went searching for the chocolate bar in the grocery and couldn't find it....finally did about a week later at a different store and it had barley malt in it. So, I thoroughly enjoyed my chocolate, but am still deciding if it was worth it. I swear I am still getting over the effects of it

Anywhoooo, sweet dijon vinaigrette recipes........and READ the labels before you put it in your MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!

Lemonade

Grant made himself lemonade yesterday.

Oy veh!!! We had a mess in the kitchen.

So today when he asked about it, I took over and showed him the right way to make lemonade.

4 lemons
2 limes

1 cup sugar
1 cup water

ice and water to finish making about a half gallon of lemonade

First run hot water and put the lemons and limes in it to soak while making the sugar water.

Second mix the sugar and 1 cup water in bowl and microwave 3 minutes or so....stir to dissolve.

Juice the lemons and limes, strain off seeds.

Pour sugar water over ice in pitcher, add juice and fill with water, stir and serve.

I like mine a little more tart, so I squeeze a bit more lemon in my glass, Grant likes his a bit sweeter, so he adds more sugar......easy to adjust to your tastes!!!

Happy summering!

Peaches and Cream Pie

At my Bible study a couple weeks ago one of the ladies made this and it smelled soooo good I had to find a recipe I could butcher. I searched several on Allrecipes and found this one. All I substituted was the flour. I used Authentic Foods flour mix the first time and then Pamela's Baking mix today at the grandparents. It smells yummy, can't wait to eat!!!


1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp Pamela's Baking Mix or other GF flour mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (3 ounce) package non-instant vanilla pudding mix
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 (29 ounce) can sliced peaches (cut into bite sized pcs), drained and syrup reserved
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease sides and bottom of a 10 inch deep-dish pie pan or square baking dish.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and pudding mix. Mix in butter, egg and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour mixture into pie pan. Arrange the peach slices on top of the pudding mixture.

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons reserved peach syrup. Beat for 2 minutes. Spoon mixture over peaches to within 1 inch of pan edge. Mix together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and sprinkle over top.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Chill before serving.

***UPDATE*** for some reason the next time I made it the batter was too runny and I had to add some more Pamela's. I'm guessing it had something to do with the humidity (??). Anyway, I've made this several times and used various amounts of "flour", ranging from 2/3 cup to 1 cup. Just add a little at a time, by the tbsp until the batter feels thick enough and isn't runny.

Banana's Foster

Been meaning to try this since the summer, when Grant and I discovered the Banana's Foster Sundae's at Culvers......

4-6 bananas peeled and sliced thick

1/4 cup Rum (I used Capt. Morgan)
4 tbsp butter melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

slice banana's in crock pot. Mix rest of ingredients in bowl, pour over banana's. Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours. I just put this in, so I will have to get back to you on how it turns out. I can not imagine it will be anything but YUM, tho!

I plan on serving it with vanilla ice cream.

ok, not as good as Culvers......thinking it needs less rum, more butter ......I added some jarred butterscotch ice cream sauce and that made it better. Sean ate his without complaints tho!!

Pizza tip....

haven;t been doing much cooking, recovering and all....but wanted to let you all in on a little tidbit I discovered a while back.

I love the Chebe mixes for my pizza crusts, but I wanted them a bit crispier, so I had a 'doh moment while shopping one day. Bought a pizza pan with the holes in it. Baked a crust with it, and fabulous!!!

I didn't flip the crust this time, used a little olive oil on the pan before putting crust on, prebaked it about 10 minutes, added the toppings, and finished baking until cheese was all melty.

Highly recommend this next time you make a Chebe pizza!!!

Sweet potato pie

Personally I think the secret to fabulous sweet potato anything is to bake the potatoes in the oven. The microwave works ok too, but I do NOT recommend boiling or etc.

2-3 sweet potatoes (about 2 cups), baked and cooled
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar (I am going to try brown sugar next time)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp good quality dark rum
4 tbsp melted butter

one pie crust (I used a Gluten Free Pantry mix, but I prebaked it and let it cool, I just have better luck when I prebake those)

Preheat oven to 425. Skin the potatoes and cube, place in food processor. Run processor until smooth. Add eggs, milk, sugar, seasonings, rum and butter, run processor until well blended and no lumps or chunks.

Pour into prepared pie crust. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes, reduce heat to 300, bake an additional 40-50 minutes or until center is set. Add some mashmallows if desired and bake an additional 10 minutes or until marshmallows are browned and puffy (they will set as they cool)...enjoy!!!

Salmon Patties, II

I made this for my family and a friends mom and sister (the mom is sick and the sister is staying with her right now).....anywhoooo, so this recipe made a lot of patties. Just so ya know....

4 cups flaked cooked salmon (mine was seasoned with Lawry's)
1 stick butter, melted
1 box of Glutino(5.3 oz) crackers, crushed (Ritz for you "normal" people)
4 eggs
2 tbsp minced garlic

And I **think** that was it.....

Mix that all up real good, form into patties, place on a baking sheet (with a lipso the butter doesn't drip all over your oven) and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, flip and bake another 10 minutes until nicely browned....enjoy with the lemon caper sauce I posted yesterday!!! yum!!!

Lemon caper sauce

1 cup mayo,
2 tbsp shallot
2 tsp lemon juice,
2 tbsp capers
2 tbsp chopped chives
2 tbsp parsley

throw the mayo, shallot, lemon juice and capers in small food processor, blend till all chopped good, add chives and parsely, blend a bit more, chill in fridge and serve with salmon cakes.

Jen's Brandy Slush Experiment

1 can frozen pink lemonade thawed
1 ltr ginger ale
1 1/2 cans brandy

mix it all in a bucket, freeze and serve with additional soda.

I couldn't find an easy recipe that did not involve boiling water and dissolving sugar and steeping tea, so I am playing with this. Here is where I start.......tell ya how it is in a day or two....

Pizza Dip

This was from bowling last week, one of hte girls brought it, was waaaayyyyyy yummy!!!

2 cups shredded mozzerella
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 cup mayo
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1 sm. can muchrooms, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 6 oz can drained and chopped black olives
1 cup chopped stuffed green olives

mix it all up good, dump it in an 11x7 baking dish, bake in preheated 350 oven for 25-30 minutes, serve with chips.

Non gluten-free people could use pita crisps, bread slices, etc.

Warm blueberries and apples

2 cups frozen blueberries
3-5 large apples, I used Macintosh, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats (added another cup at the end)
3-4 tbsp melted butter
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tbsp gf flour blend

Place the apples and blueberries in crock pot, add 1-2 tbsp lemon juice, half the brown sugar and cinnamon, stir together. Pour water over mixture.
Mix half the brown sugar and oats with half the cinnamon in bowl, stir in melted butter. Stir this into crock. Cook on high....it's just now cooking, so I will have to update this when it's done.

*****Ok, so it was too watery, I added another cup of oats at the end and let it sit. We did eat it over vanilla ice cream, and it was good, not great, but not tossed either. Needs something else, just not sure what it is.*****

cranberry orange smoothie

I have lots of boys home from school and work today and several cans of Ocean Spray cranberry stuff......and they love smoothies.....so thought I'd give it a try.

1 can Ocean Spray Cranberry jelly stuff
1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
16 oz orange juice

Blend it until smooth, serve in cups and drink.

I actually didn't have straight orange juice, only a blend, so I used that, but would have prefered straight orange juice, either way it was pretty good.

Cappuncino

Does cappuncino have gluten in it???? Or does it make everyone have gas????

FYI

WHEN you have soup with any dairy product, milk, cheese, etc. DO NOT let it simmer on the stove indefinetly......bad thing.

Second son decided to "help out" by reheating the potato soup by turning it on low and leaving it. We now have something else.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know.

Jalepeno Corn Dip

...but I didn't use jalapenos, so should I change the title????

1 can corn, drained
1 cup mayo
2 cups mexi cheese, with the spices, finely shredded
2 cups co-jack cheese blend, finely shredded
1 can diced green chilis

mix it all up and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until browned and bubbly....eat with corn tortilla chips.

Now.....for the Jen version.......add a rotisserie chicken, skinned and shredded, and another can of green chilies...bake and then wrap in tortillas and eat with a salad.......is yummy.....all good reviews!! And with my family....well......that doesn't happen too often!!!!

Tomato soup and grilled cheese bread

Grant LOVES tomato soup, but I don't buy the Campbells anymore, since I can't use it in my regular cooking. So last night I tried something......and just so you know, I did not try this as I don't care for plain old tomato soup, but Grant loved it.

8 oz tomato sauce (small can)
5.5 oz V8 (low sodium, small can)
1 cup water
1 tsp Better Than Boullion chicken flavor

heat that on stove and serve. Made 2 bowls full.

for this I used a Kinnikinik pizza crust, both sides buttered and place in oven about 350 until browned, I had to flip it once, to get both sides browned.

Then a slice of American cheese and a slice of Muester cheese, back in oven until cheese melts. Slice into 1/4's and serve with soup.

That I did eat, and it was yummy. I generally don't care for the "K" pizza crusts, they are too thick and sweet for me, but this use was good for them. I usually only use them in a pinch.

Brie stuffed 'shrooms

Ok, so I had this Brie that i've been working on and decided it was high time I finished it off. AND I had some leftover crab meat from New Years that needed to be used NOW and I had about 20 minutes to make dinner.....so I made this up.....

*a half a thing of Brie, rind removed
*about a cup or so (whatever was leftover that I spent a half hour digging out of the damn claws) shredded crab meat,
*about a half cup of shredded Italian cheeses ( mine was a blend I got from Sam's, but whatever you ahve would work)

take off your rings and use your hands to mash it all together.

Rinse off 2 ginormous portabello'shrooms. salt and pepper and garlic them, place them top side down on a pan, I always cover my pans with foil, so you might want to use a bit of olive oil if you don't cover yours, just to make sure it doesn't stick. Then smash half of the crab cheese mixture into each of the mushrooms tops, bake in preheated 350 or 400 oven for 10-20 minutes until 'shroom is soft and cheese is melty....let cool and chow down......tres yummy with a salad and beverage......and EASY!!!! WAY!!!