healthy options

Review: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Posted on by prissymuskoka

Well it’s a different Good Friday this year…pandemic, everyone is to self isolate and home quarantine, so we decided to make homemade gluten free pizza!

I had a package of Bob’s Red Mill in the pantry. I followed the directions as per the bag. Simple ingredients needed: warm water, eggs and oil. It was easy to mix. * I did add a sprinkle of Italian seasoning to the dough just for added flavour. This is what it looked like just before covering to let rise:

After the 20 minutes (I left mine longer). As I was busy cooking bacon, chopping mushrooms; …prepping to top the pizza!

This is what it looked like after letting it rest:

I took my time with spreading out the dough and heavily greased my hands with butter. I decided to place a sheet of parchment paper over top of my pizza stone. I sprinkled corn meal over the paper.

I found the dough easily spread out over the stone/paper. I tried hard to make a thin crust.

I did not follow the recommendation to bake the crust for 7-9 minutes before putting on sauce and toppings.

I immediately just put sauce and toppings on. I preheated the oven to 425F. I baked for 25minutes and it came out lovely.

It’s a nice crust!

Easy to make!

The crust does have a very yeast flavour – so I do find adding a seasoning (such as Italian seasoning) to the dough helps.

But it is nice to make a homemade pizza every once in a while.

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Gluten Free Orange Almond Cake

Posted on by prissymuskoka

So when I’m feeling a bit stressed or anxious, I like to bake. It’s very relaxing.

Thankfully, everyone is posting lots of great ideas (recipes) to try. A lovely gluten free bakery in Toronto – The Almond Butterfly ( https://www.almondbutterfly.com/) posted and shared a recipe for everyone to try!

Hopefully I do it justice – and my family is in luck during this pandemic as we have all the ingredients.

Ingredients

2 medium size oranges

6 eggs

250g white sugar (1 cup)

275g almond flour (2 cups and just under 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1) Place whole oranges with peel in a medium saucepan. Cover with water & bring to a boil. Reduce to a medium to low heat for 1 hour.

Then drain and let cool completely.

2) preheat oven to 350. Line pan with parchment paper.

3) remove seeds from oranges. Cut into quarters.

Put into blender. Blend until smooth uniform consistency.

4) In a large bowl, add eggs and sugar. Whisk until sugar dissolves into eggs. * If you don’t whisk enough it will leave a weird texture*

5) Add orange purée and whisk again.

6) add almond flour, baking powder and mix until all combined. * Do not over mix

7) Pour into pan

8) Bake 1 hour or until nicely browned on top and springs back when pressed

I didn’t take a picture of the cooked top – here is a pic of my flipped cake

It was (the top) spongey and a uniform brown when I took it out of the oven.

Highly recommend to serve with ice cream.

Enjoy!

Easy Gluten Free dinner biscuits

Posted on by prissymuskoka

I’ve been seeing online and especially on Facebook lots of “easy peasy” simple based bread recipes – but all for gluten based breads.

I was curious, if this one I had found could easily transfer for gluten free!? And it does!! Even our young daughter enjoyed them.

This quick, simple recipe makes 5 biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup Gluten Free Flour (I used PC Gluten Free All Purpose)

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 cup Milk

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1) Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients. It will be very sticky.

I ended up using my hands at the end to mould the biscuits into balls

2) Place biscuits in buttered pan

3) cook for 15 minutes. I then broiled for a couple minutes to brown the tops.

They are perfect to be eaten immediately out of oven!

Enjoy with butter!

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!

Gluten free whipped shortbread

Posted on by prissymuskoka

Thanks to all purpose gluten free flours – no one will know this recipe is gluten free! Trust me!

This recipe is a family favourite and simple to whip together!

Ingredients

1/2 cup soften butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1tsp vanilla

1) Beat butter & icing sugar sugar until very smooth.

2) Add flour and cornstarch. Beat until light and fluffy.

3)Add vanilla.

4) Drop by teaspoon on to cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

5) Bake at 325 until edges are light brown.

These are melt in your mouth, pieces of heaven!

You are welcome!

Review: Epicure Shepherds Pie

Posted on by prissymuskoka

Shepherds pie is one of my favourites. But in a busy household, it rarely gets made. It’s talked about often; something that should be made. But isn’t. So when I saw Epicure selling a seasoning package – I thought I would try.

While it did take time (About 45 minutes) – not as long as if I made it from scratch!

first I put the seasoning pack into 1 1/4 cup water; set aside.

While the package recommends microwaving potatoes, I diced mine up and boiled them for 15 minutes.

While they were cooking I browned 1 lb of lean ground beef. I stirred in the reserved seasoning mixture, brought to a boil, reduced heat and simmered for 2 minutes.

Then I added in frozen corn.

While that was heating, I mashed the potatoes.

I stirred in 1/2 cup of milk with 1/4 cup of butter, while mashing the potatoes.

While the package said to just top meat mixture with potatoes and serve, I was going to make “Traditional” shepherds pie

I pulled out my casserole dish. Filled it with the meat mixture and topped with the mashed potatoes. Put in a preheated oven at 350. I then set it to broil to crisp up the potatoes.

Served hot to the family it was a hit

Review: The Spice Tailor Classic Butter Chicken

Posted on by prissymuskoka

My coworker raved about this grocery store versatile Indian sauce package.

I’m a huge butter chicken fan and couldn’t wait to try!

I started as directed by putting the seasoning pack first in the fry pan but instead of using oil, as requested, I put in a good heaping 1 table spoon of butter.

Then threw in my 2 diced chicken breasts. I added an extra 1 table spoon of butter while cooking the chicken.

I Stirred in the main sauce once the chicken was almost cooked and simmered until meat is cooked through

I added diced red peppers. I threw them in at the end

The flavour was delicious. I served with rice. With the left overs (enough for my lunch) I added some cilantro – which I have to say the next day- I’m glad I did! The next time I make it – I’ll be adding some cilantro

Highly recommend this butter chicken sauce – authentic flavour and easy & quick to make! The whole family will love!

**This review was not sponsored **

Review: Epicure Pad Thai

Posted on by prissymuskoka

Since I enjoyed the Greek Dressing Mix I decided to try the Pad Thai. Ofcourse, the night I decide to make it, I have no chicken or shrimp or peppers. Instead I substituted calamari and spiralled up some garden fresh zucchini. Guess what?!

It was delicious!

It was super simple too!!

Make up the Epicure Pad Thai seasoning pack and set aside.

I spiralled up some fresh zucchini and set aside.

I quickly sautéed up some frozen calamari while boiling up some broad rice noodles. I like to slightly undercook the rice noodles as I then throw them into my frying pan.

As the rice noodles are draining, heat up the frying pan with a tablespoon of sesame seed oil. Then drop in the zucchini noodles. Sauté them up a bit before adding the rice noodles.

Then pour in sauce.

Add 2 beaten eggs and stir-fry.

Just before serving add the juice of 1 lime. Top with the calamari and chopped nuts (if desired)

This is a family hit! Even without all the traditional ingredients!!

** if you really want to bring this recipe to the next level and have on hand- cook up some calamari & shrimp with fresh chopped garlic & butter. Then add to the pad Thai before serving! Such another flavour fusion

Review: Epicure Greek Dressing Mix

Posted on by prissymuskoka

I have heard a lot of great things about Epicure. Being a gluten free family, I was curious and excited when I heard their products were gluten free! We found their Greek Dressing Mix to be amazing and flavourful!

Creamy Greek Feta Pasta Salad

Ingredients

Epicure Greek Dressing Mix

2 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 basil olive oil

2/4 cups mayonnaise

1 chopped green bell pepper

2 diced green onions

10 garden tomatoes

1 1/2 cups gluten free Pasta

1) cook pasta al dente as per package. Let cool.

2) mix and whisk together vinegar, mayonnaise and oil to make the dressing

3) toss together ingredients with salad dressing

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Peach Pie

Posted on by prissymuskoka

I grew up eating traditional peach pie. Similar to a basic apple pie recipe. Then I meet my future husband and all he talks about is his love for peach pie. So I do what every new girlfriend would do. Bake a pie.

But my pie was not like his moms….. where was my cream filling?!?!

My pie was not what he was envisioning …so I had to learn how to make it.

The creamy filling compliments the peaches and has become a regular staple come peach season. Enjoy!

Ingredients

9inch unbaked gluten free pie shell

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup gluten free flour

1/2 tsp almond extract

4cups peaches, peeled and cut

1/4 cup brown sugar

1) Get your crust and pie shell ready. Set aside.

2) To start, it’s best to put peaches in hot water to help them peel easier.

Let them sit in the water while making the cream. Trust me! They will peel so nicely.

3) combine sour cream, sugar, flour and almond extract. Stir until smooth.

4) Alternate layers of peaches and cream mixture in pie shell ending with cream mixture.

5) Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20minutes then reduce to 350 degrees.

Bake until filling is thick and bubbly about 35minutes.

6) Sprinkle with the brown sugar and broil until gold brown. *beware it can burn quickly. Keep an eye on it*

Cool before cutting

Enjoy!!

Gluten Free Peach Cobbler Muffins

Posted on by prissymuskoka

It’s that time of year – heavenly Niagara On The Lake Peaches. There are so many ways to enjoy peaches! When I saw this Triple Tested Chatelaine recipe in the August 19, 2019 Hello Canada Weekly (No 674) Magazine, I just had to try to convert it to gluten free! It sounded too good not too!

*I did do some modifications – instead of plain yogurt (which I didn’t have, I subbed in the rich and creamy Liberte Mediterranee 9% yogurt; As this was originally a gluten recipe they called for all purpose flour – I created my own mixture of gluten free flours.

Ingredients

Cobbler mix

1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/3 cup cold unsalted butter cubed

Muffin mix

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

2/3 cup Liberte Mediterranee Coconut yogurt

2/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup hot water

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups diced peaches

Position rack in centre of oven. Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine cobbler mixture of flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add butter. Mix together until crumbly. Set aside.

In a large bowl, Whisk flour with sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, yogurt, oil, hot water and vanilla. Stir into large bowl flour mixture until combined. Stir in peaches.

Divide batter among muffin liners. I like silicon liners as they are reusable. Fill to the top.

Sprinkle the cobbler mixture generously amoung the muffins. Remember these are gluten free muffins. The mixture will be quite sticky. But don’t worry – it will taste amazing and mix within the muffin mix.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. 30-40 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack to cool.

Enjoy! These are full of flavour and super moist! You won’t believe that these are gluten free! Xo