Ingredients
1 ½ cups WW gluten free flour mix
¼ tsp salt
3 bananas preferably ripe
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
8 Tbs (1 stick) butter melted
1/8 tsp nutmeg
¼ cup milk
1 egg
¼ tsp xanthan gum
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup walnut pieces
Additional sugar to sprinkle on top of muffins

Preheat oven to 350

Grease 12 cup muffin tin. Using a potato masher mash up the bananas until fairly smooth. Add melted butter, both sugars, milk, and eggs to the mashed bananas and stir to combine. Sift flour, xanthan gum, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Combine flour into wet ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add walnut pieces and fold in to combine. Divide batter among muffin tins and sprinkle each muffin with a touch of sugar. Bake until muffins are golden brown in color and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 30 minutes. Let cool and then go nuts or bananas.

Ingredients
½ large red onion coarsely chopped
5 Tbs BBQ sauce (I love Trader Joes Bold & Smoky Kansas City Style Barbeque Sauce)
2 Tbs fresh cilantro chopped
¾ cup shredded smoked gouda
1 fresh smoked mozzarella ball sliced into ¼ inch thick slices (*If you are the proud owner of a Cameron Stovetop Smoker then I suggest that you smoke your own mozzarella cheese using hickory chips. I also like to smoke my chicken a bit too before I grill it up.)
2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 batch of your favorite Pizza Crust my preference is Karen Robertson’s Recipe

Grill chicken on barbeque using medium heat. Cook until almost cooked through (about 8-10 minutes). Remove chicken from grill and cut into ¼ inch slices. Chop up red onion and cilantro and set aside. Shred smoked gouda and slice mozzarella into ¼ inch slices.

Prepare pizza crust per instructions

Preheat oven to 400

Lightly bake pizza crust for about 10 minutes. Spread BBQ sauce evenly in the middle of the pizza crust. Sprinkle smoked gouda to cover BBQ sauce. Randomly place slices of smoked mozzarella on top of gouda. Scatter chicken slices evenly around the pizza. Add chopped onion and a generous dose of cilantro. Bake in oven for another 15-20 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted. Let stand for 5 minutes, use a pizza cutter to slice and enjoy.

Ingredients

1 Tomato
1 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
1 finely chopped Jalapeño (seeds and center removed)
1/4 large red onion chopped medium to fine (for salsa)
1/4 large red onion chopped fine (for beans)
½ tsp. chopped from garlic
Lime juice
Kosher Salt
Cumin
1 Tbs. Canola oil
Hearts of romaine
Lighthouse Brand Salsa Ranch Dressing (in refrigerator section of store)
Tortilla chips

For Salsa

Chop tomato, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Combine all in a bowel. Add salt and lime juice to taste.

For Beans

Heat 1 Tbs. of canola oil in a skillet. Add the ½ tsp. fresh garlic and the onions. Sauté for 1 minute. Add black beans and cumin to taste (2 tsp.) and sauté for 2 minutes. Add ¼ cup of water and 1 Tbs. lime juice. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.

For Salad

Chop up lettuce and combine with salad dressing to taste. Sprinkle beans and salsa over salad and crumble 2-3 tortilla chips over salad and serve.

Basic Torta Recipe

Ingredients
4 egg whites
2 deciliters sugar
175g finely ground raw almonds

Equipment
8” (round or square) nonstick pan
Deciliter measuring cup
Food Scale
Stand mixer or Handheld mixer
Spatula

Preheat oven to 350

Butter baking pan thoroughly and then dust with corn starch. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold in sugar a little bit at a time (roughly 5 additions). Fold in ground almonds a little bit at time (roughly 4 additions). Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Top the Torta with whatever your heart desires. Some suggestions are below.

Fresh fruit and barely sweetened fresh whipped cream
Butter cream frosting and almond slivers
Dark chocolate ganache

I came across this recipe by Karen Robertson over the weekend and decided to make it for Sunday dinner. It was absolutely delicious. I used teff flour, rubbed it down with olive oil, garlic, and sprinkled it with shallots and fresh rosemary. This is the best focaccia bread I have made. It is fabulous when served with a side of olive oil. Enjoy !

http://www.celiac.com/articles/862/1/Gluten-Free-Pizza-Crust–Focaccia-Bread-by-Karen-Robertson/Page1.html

Basic Crepes

Ingredients
1 scant cup WW gluten free flour mix
¼ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
Half of vanilla bean
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 ¾ cups milk
3 eggs

Equipment
Sifter
Crepe Maker
Hand Mixer
Mixing Bowl
Shallow bowl that crepe maker will fit in

Sift flour, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar into mixing bowl. Using the hand mixer on low speed add eggs one at a time only adding the next egg when the previous one is well incorporated (batter will stick and twist slightly around the beaters). Scrape inside of vanilla bean and add scrapings to the mixture. Add the melted butter. Add milk slowly until it is well combined with the flour mixture and has a creamy consistency. If batter is too thick add a touch more milk to thin it out.

Allow mixture to sit at room temperature for about an hour.

Warm up the crepe maker. Pour batter into shallow dish. When crepe maker is warm dip it into the batter lift and then dip again (this will ensure a slighter thicker crepe). When the edges look slightly brown (about 45 seconds), carefully lift and turn over the crepe (this will take some practice) to cook on the other side (about 20 seconds). Remove and place on a cool plate.

Serve with whatever you want! I fancy bananas and caramel sauce with mine.

Crisp on the outside warm and chewy on the inside. Anyone who knows me well knows that it is the bagel that I grieved most over upon my diagnosis of celiac disease. In fact a year ago I literally broke into tears when my father arrived Christmas morning with a big piping hot bag of bagels. I stood on the sidelines with my sad bowl of Gorilla Munch while the rest of the family devoured the luscious gluten laden bundles of joy. Over the past three years I have been plagued by nightmares where I can not resist a salty bagel schmeared with vegetable cream cheese. Perhaps it is not so much a nightmare as a fantasy but it always ends the same way…with me waking up and realizing that, sadly, it was only a dream. After having about three of these dreams in one week I decided enough was enough and that it was time for me to try and conquer the making of the bagel.

With Google and a creative array of keywords by my side, I set out on my quest to find the perfect bagel recipe. Fearlessly I hunted through a plethora of recipes claiming to be for bagels when really they were just recipes for doughnuts or bread in the disguise of the highly regarded bagel. To be avoided at all costs were recipes containing blasphemous ingredients such as butter, oil or worse yet the dreaded shortening. After several tiresome runs I was on the brink of throwing in the towel…when all of the sudden there it was! The most magnificent bagel recipe I had ever seen. I could barely believe what my eyes were blessed with reading. It was a recipe for “Real Honest Jewish Purist’s Bagels”. It was as though I had unlocked a secret trove in the sacred heart of Israel.

This recipe is absolutely fantastic but I must warn you that it is rather complex and will require a good amount of patience and probably a few attempts before you will be able to claim total victory. Don’t get me wrong, your first batch will taste just fine but they may lack in the department of bagel aesthetics. The dough itself will not be as smooth as gluten based dough so these bagels will have a slightly lumpy appearance. The key really is learning how to form the bagels…which I am afraid only practice will perfect. I wish you luck and hope that your path to gluten free bagels is paved with golden lox and cream cheese.

Real Honest Gluten Free Bagels
*This recipe with yield 7 bagels

Bagel Ingredients
3 ¼ cups WW gluten free flour mix
2 tablespoons yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum

Cooking Items
1 gallon water
4 tablespoons sugar
Cornmeal
Tea Kettle of water
Vegetable oil for greasing a bowl
Kitchen towels
Cookie Sheet (I recommend aluminum)
Large stock pot
Slotted spoon

Dissolve the 3 tablespoons of sugar in the 1 ½ cups of warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir to combine. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes to proof the yeast (the mixture should get foamy in appearance).

Lightly oil a mixing bowl with vegetable oil and set aside
Set the tea kettle on the stove to get it boiling

To the yeast mixture add the salt, xanathan gum and 1 ½ cups of the flour mix. Use your hand to mix the ingredients together. The mixture will be lumpy so do not fret. Continue to add the remaining flour a ½ cup at a time. When you have about a ½ cup remaining of the flour it is time to turn the dough mixture out onto a work surface. You will really need to knead the dough well to get all the flour to combine. The texture of the dough will be slightly sticky (remember this is not wheat we are dealing with). If you feel the dough is too dry keep kneading it and it should become tacky around the same time that your arms get tired. Form the dough into a nice neat ball and place into the lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel.

Place dough into the oven on the middle rack. DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON. Place a baking pan on the lowest rack in the oven and fill it with the boiling water. Close the oven door and let the dough rise for about an hour. Adding the water into the oven really helps this dough rise. I have tired other methods but this seems to work best.

After 1 hour remove all items from the oven and preheat the oven to 400 F.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface and gently punch it down. Divide the dough into 7 equal sections and begin forming the bagels. I like to roll the dough into a ball using a good amount of pressure (for smoothing purposes) and then I gently flatten it and use my index finger to punch the whole in the middle. Let the bagels sit and rise again for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime set a large stock pot with the gallon of water on the stove and bring the water to a boil. When the water boils add the 4 tablespoons of sugar and bring the water down to a simmer. Sprinkle the cookie sheet with a thin layer of cornmeal.

After the bagels have sat for 15 minutes drop 3-4 bagels into the simmering water and allow them to cook for about 4 minutes. After 4 minutes turn them over in the water and let them cook for about 4 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon remove the bagels from the water and place on a kitchen towel. After all bagels have taken a dip in the water arrange them on the cookie sheet.

You can also put a topping on the bagels such as poppy or sesame seeds. To do this you will want to whisk together 3 tablespoons of water with 1 egg white. Before you put the bagels in the oven brush a thin layer of the egg wash on the top of the bagels and sprinkle them with your topping of choice.

Cook the bagels in the oven for 25 minutes and then turn them over and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Let them cool for about a half hour before you try and cut them. If you try cutting them when they are still hot you run the risk of turning them into a glob of dough.

Enjoy!