Rainy Days and Cinnamon Popcorn

We’ve had a lot of rain this summer, which is so nice. We need the moisture after a dry winter and nothing cools off a hot July day like fresh rain.

The boys played in the rain today. I sat and watched them and held my sleeping baby girl and felt peace in my little corner of the world. I wished that I could give that peace to others who need it.

I made cinnamon popcorn today. It was cheap and easy and so completely delicious! We will definitely add this one to our list of favorite treats!

Cinnamon Popcorn
Melt together 1 cup butter, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1 TBS cinnamon. Pour the melted mixture over popped popcorn and mix or toss to coat. Spread popcorn onto two greased cookie sheets. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes

I’ve always wanted to make pumpkin pancakes on Halloween morning, but never got around to actually doing it. This year I decided that perfect pumpkin pancakes were going to be a priority during Halloween celebrations.

I found a recipe online that looked promising and then I modified it to be gluten-free. I never know quite how my gluten-free modifications will turn out, so I was pleased when our pumpkin pancakes turned out just as perfectly as I hoped they would.

The pancakes were pretty thin, which could be seen as a drawback for those who like thick, fluffy pancakes. But they were moist and delicious and I loved the combination of pumpkin, spices, and chocolate chips. I served them with whipped cream alone and that was delicious, but you could also top them with butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, or syrup. These pancakes are perfect for Halloween, but they really are too good to only eat once a year! I’m sure we’ll make them during the rest of the year as well, and especially during the fall months.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

4 cups canned pumpkin (plain, no spices)
12 eggs (I know, a lot…)
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients. Cook in oil or butter, just as you would with regular pancakes. Serve and enjoy!

Gluten-Free Pancake Muffins

What’s better than a pancake? A pancake muffin, of course!

I found a recipe for “Mini Maple-Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins” in a Betty Crocker magazine. Intrigued by the idea of a pancake muffin, I decided to modify the recipe to make it gluten-free. 

I made these delicious gluten-free pancake muffins on Saturday morning before we headed out to a cheer performance, a football game, and a gymnastics meet. They took less time to prepare than the actual pancakes did, which was great because our day was busy enough already. They were very portable as well and the kids were able to eat them in the van. As we found out when we ate the rest of the muffins on Sunday morning, they are also delicious dipped in melted butter and/or warm maple syrup.

Gluten-Free Pancake Muffins

Ingredients:
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 Tbs real maple syrup (next time, I will experiment with adding more syrup)
2 Tbs melted butter
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins (either 12 regular or 24 mini) with cooking spray.

Beat buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, and butter. Stir in flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Reserve a few chocolate chips for the top of the muffins. Fold the remaining chocolate chips into the batter. Pour batter into muffin tin and sprinkle each one with the left over chocolate chips.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until very light brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 3 to 5 minutes, remove from pan.

Eat on the go, or serve with melted butter and warm maple syrup for dipping.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

One of my favorite things about fall is baking. There is just so much to be enjoyed this time of year! I love all the foods that come from harvest time, partly because they taste good and partly because they are so classically reminiscent of autumn.

Pumpkin is one of my fall favorites. There are so many great treats that are made with pumpkin. Pumpkin also lends itself very well to gluten-free baking. It really helps moisten GF recipes and helps things hold together as well. Plus, all the spices used in most pumpkin recipes easily mask the sometimes unusual flavors of gluten-free flours.

Now that I’ve rambled endlessly, here is the Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that I made on Friday. It was delicious! It was flavorful, moist, and reminiscent of autumn. It was also gone quickly. Next time, I will certain double, triple, or even quadruple this delicious recipe! I usually freeze gluten-free baked goods so I always like to know how well a GF recipe will freeze. I did not get a chance to experiment and freeze any of this bread though; it was gone too fast!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients for one loaf:
1/2 butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (plain)
1 cup rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
**You could also substitute 2 cups of any GF flours or a pre-made flour blend**

Directions:
Heat oven to 350*. Grease only the bottom of a 9×5 bread pan.

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin with a whisk. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Spread into bread pan.

Bake 55- 65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for 2 hours on a wire rack.

Mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 tsp of milk. Blend until smooth and thin. Drizzle over the loaf and allow about 30 minutes for the glaze to set up.

GF Sugar Cookies

This afternoon, after Joshua’s morning football game and after two hours spent playing at the park, the kids and I tried a new gluten-free sugar cookie recipe. I love my regular recipe because it can actually be cut with cookie cutters, but I was out of some of the flours I needed so I opted to try a brand new recipe instead.

The cookies have molasses and nutmeg in them, making them a sort of hybrid between sugar cookies and gingerbread. They rolled nicely and cut easily, but then they didn’t hold their shape in the oven. We ate those anyway and made the rest by spoonful drops (thankfully, we experimented with cutting out just a few cookies so we had plenty of dough left over to make cookies that weren’t paper thin). We frosted the cookies with homemade cream cheese frosting, and they were truly delicious.

Half the cookies are gone and the rest are being frozen for later. I love afternoons spent baking with the kids.

Gluten-Free Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

I love recipes that are EASY to prepare and Santa Fe Chicken is certainly easy! It’s made in the crock pot, I usually have all the ingredients on hand, and it’s naturally gluten-free. Win, win, win!

Gluten-Free Santa Fe Chicken

chicken, cut into pieces
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
salsa (several cups, according to how spicy you’d like it)
1 package of cream cheese

Place chicken, corn, beans, and salsa into a crock pot. You can cook it on medium or high, for however long you need to, depending on how big and how thawed/frozen your chicken pieces are.

When the chicken is cooked through, add cream cheese and allow it to melt.

Serve over rice, noodles, or potatoes (we prefer rice) and top with cheese, avacado, tomato, sour cream, etc. We also like wrapping it in tortillas.

This recipe is great for reheating for leftovers and feeds a large group easily (just double, triple, or quadruple the recipe). It’s a favorite at our house and at all family gatherings!

Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Pie

I am always on the look out for “regular” recipes that can easily be modified to be gluten-free. One example is pies. I always watch for naturally gluten-free pie fillings that require a one-crust pie. I love GF one-crust pies because I can simply press some butter and cookies crumbs into a pie tin and I suddenly have a delicious crust! So when I saw a recipe for Fresh Strawberry Pie on my friend Sally’s blog, I knew I had to try to it. It had a naturally GF filling, along with a single crust.

Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Pie

2 packages cream cheese
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Cream together until well-mixed and pour into two prepared pie crusts. (For my GF pie crusts, I usually mix cookie crumbs and butter together and press the mixture into pie crusts. You could use any other GF pie crust or any ”regular” pie crust, for that matter.)

1 package of Raspberry Junket (this is a Danish gelatin-like dessert that can usually be found near the Jell-O)
1/2 pound of fresh strawberries

Follow the Junket package directions for glaze, add the strawberries. Top the pies with the strawberry mixture and chill before serving.

These are delicious and were a huge hit with my family when I made three pies for the Fourth of July. They were cool and creamy and sweet without being too rich. Yum, yum, yum!!

Gluten-Free Popovers

I’ve never had popovers so I don’t know why they sounded good tonight. I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe and made gluten-free popovers for dinner. They had a truly delicious flavor, but they were hollow. I was disappointed at first, but then I googled popovers and discovered that popovers are supposed to be hollow (that just shows how little I actually knew about them to begin with). That meant that my gluten-free popovers turned out perfectly and I was happy!!

Gluten-Free German Pancakes

I love German Pancakes! We ate them frequently growing up and they were delicious every time. Those German Pancakes really stick out in my early childhood memories. I am glad that I have a great gluten-free version to share with my own children! Enjoy!

Gluten-Free German Pancakes

6 large eggs
1/2 cup GF flour (any flour will do, blends and store-bought are fine)
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk (this can be substituted with soy, rice, etc)
2 Tbs butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9×11 cake pan.

Beat eggs with a mixer or in a blender until they are thick and fluffy. Slowly add flour, salt, and milk until well mixed. Beat in butter.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until puffed and lightly browned.

Top with butter, syrup, powered sugar, fresh fruit, chocolate, or anything else you desire. They’re even good plain! This puffy pancake is light and fluffy and so delicious! It is a favorite at our house.

You could also easily cut this recipe in half and make it in a smaller pan, if you are feeding only a few people. I usually just feed everyone the GF version because it’s so, so good, because it’s a cheap recipe, and because life is easier that way. 9×11 isn’t a big enough pan for us anymore though so I might need to double the recipe again.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe ever, whether you are gluten-free or not! I don’t remember where I found it, but it was one of the very first things I ever baked when Joshua was diagnosed with Celiac Disease nearly 5 years ago. The recipe is quick and easy to make, the ingredients (just three of them) are always on hand, and the cookies are truly delicious! This recipe can be made with smooth or chunky peanut butter, and with powdered sugar or regular sugar. It is easy to double or triple or cut in half. These cookies are extra delicious with peanut butter chips or chocolate chips or both mixed in. Make a lot because they will get eaten quickly! Oh, and fair warning: you will be very tempted to eat half of these cookies yourself. They are so yummy that I highly recommend that you do!

Ingredients:
1 cup of peanut butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs

Directions:
Beat eggs, mix in peanut butter and sugar. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.