Smoky Bacon and Chicken Tostadas

I love recipes I don't have to convert and this is one of them!  It is from the Pampered Chef Season's Best 2013 Collection if you're looking for the recipe.  With a little searching on the internet you can find the recipe although technically it should not be reprinted.

The recipe makes 6 Tostadas and my family of 5 devoured them all.

Gluten Free Crepes

Crepes are by far one of our favorite breakfasts.  They take a bit longer to make but they are so worth it!  I've tried a variety of gluten free recipes but keep going back to Pamela's mix and the recipe they have on their bag.  We usually fill our crepes with spiced peaches (I can them each summer) and then top with cool whip.  

Ingredients:
1 cup Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
1-1/3 cup water
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil

Instructions:
Mix ingredients in a bowl using a wire whisk.  Batter will be very thin.  Pre-heat a 12 inch pan on low to medium-low heat.  Pre-grease the pan before cooking each crepe.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter into skillet and quickly rotate pan in circular motion to disperse the batter into a thin, even coat. Air holes will appear, do not try to fill them in. When edges start to brown, lift edges of crepe with spatula, then flip. Remove crepe and place flat on parchment or wax paper. Use a paper liner in between crepes when stacking while continuing to cook additional crepes. Keep crepes covered to prevent drying out. Fill with favorite fillings, roll and serve.

Notes:  We double this recipe for our family of 5.  If you're not gluten-free I imagine you could substitute your normal pancake mix for Pamela's mix.

Recipe from: http://pamelasproducts.com/crepes/

Gluten Free Almost Nutri-Grain Bars

I've been wanting cereal bars for awhile now but can't stomach the ridiculous cost of either the gluten-free or the gluten-full ones.  These bars last us for at least two breakfasts and sometimes three.  They aren't the exact texture of Nutri-Grain Bars but they disappear a whole lot faster!  :-)

One "Almost Nutri-Grain Bar"  because I can never get
a picture of the whole pan before it's devoured.  :-)

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
1-1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
10 ounces jam
1 tablespoon water

Combine oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl combine oil, eggs, vanilla, and milk.  Stir wet ingredients into dry.

Press 1/2 the mixture evenly into a well greased 9x13 pan.

Mix the jam and water and spread evenly over the mix.

Spread the remaining oat mixture over the jam and bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting.

For a gluten-full recipe reduce the baking soda to 1 teaspoon.

Gluten Free Bacon Cheddar Puffs

I saw this recipe for Bacon Cheddar Puffs on Facebook and thought "there's no way to get gluten-free to puff like that."  I'm happy to say I was wrong!  I used the blender to mix the eggs into the batter and I think that helped to aerate the dough.  Here is the recipe straight from the Sargento website other than a few changes I made in the directions.

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (for gluten-free use Sylvana's All Purpose Flour Blend)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup (4 oz.) Sargento® Fine Cut Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese or Sargento® Fine Cut Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese
• 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp, crumbled
• 1/2 tsp. onion salt or powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Combine milk and butter in medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture is simmering. Add flour all at once; continue to cook, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon, until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat.
• Here I strayed from the recipe... I found the mixture too lumpy so I put everything in my blender and set it to mix.  
• Beat in 1 egg (using your blender on mix) until mixture is smooth. Repeat with remaining eggs, adding just 1 egg at a time, mixing with blender until thoroughly combined. 
• Transfer mixture into bowl and stir in remaining ingredients.
• Drop heaping teaspoons of mixture onto greased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

http://www.sargento.com/recipes/1289/bacon-cheddar-puffs/

Gluten Free Perogies

We have not had perogies in over four years and I miss perogies!  So, I remedied that situation last week by attempting (and succeeding!) in making roughly three dozen perogies.  They were heavenly!  Now before you go getting all excited these are probably not "authentic" perogies but I did my best and they were so well received that we ate them twice.  They do take about an hour to make but they are well worth the effort.

Dough Recipe:
3-1/2 c gluten free all-purpose flour (I make the mix from Silvana's Kitchen)
3 large eggs
2 tbsp sour cream
3/4 to 1 c water

Filling:
2 c mashed potatoes
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c melted butter (you might not need this if your potatoes are already very moist but ours were dry and needed more moisture)

For the dough:
In a mixer combine flour, eggs, and sour cream.  Slowly add water until the mixture is combined.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest 20-30 minutes while you prepare the filling.  DO NOT knead the dough, gluten free does not do well with kneading.

For the filling:
Combine mashed potatoes, shredded cheese, and melted butter in a bowl.

Assemble and cook:
Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove.  Scoop dough out by the rounded tablespoonful onto a floured surface.  Roll each tablespoon to about 1/8 inch thick.  Transfer rolled discs to a sheet of wax paper covered with a damp towel.

Once the dough is rolled out, place each disc one at a time in your hand and fill with a tablespoon of filling.  Fold the round in half and firmly pinch the edges together.  Place the assembled perogies on a sheet of wax paper and cover them with plastic wrap until you are ready to cook them.

Drop 4-6 perogies at a time into the boiling water.  Once they float back to the surface, cook them 2-4 minutes, remove and place on a towel to cool.

Saute and cook:
Heat a tablespoon of butter in a skillet and briefly saute the perogies in batches until they are brown and crispy on the outside.  Drain on towels.

Portions of this recipe adapted from: My Gourmet Connection

Breakfast Cobbler

I have a few lingering jars of pie filling left and was digging around this week trying to figure out what to do with it and came up with breakfast cobbler.  I made this the night before to save time but it resulted in cries of "Are you sure this is breakfast?" and "Can we eat it now?"   Thankfully the cobbler made it until the next morning when I reheated it in the oven.  You've never seen children get out of bed so fast!  This cobbler was a huge hit!

If you want the full recipe, I found it here.  Since I make my own pie filling I skipped the section for the pie filling and just mixed up the ingredients from the oats to the melted butter.  I greased the pan, dumped in peach pie filling, and covered it with the oatmeal like topping.  It seemed rather soupy but it baked up very well as you can see from the picture.

Here's the recipe I used:

3 cups quick cooking oats (I used Old Fashioned)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter

1 quart jar pie filling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your 9 x 9 pan with cooking spray.

Mix together the oatmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, salt. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and butter, and then stir into the oatmeal mixture.

Pour your pie filling into the pan.  Spread oatmeal mixture on top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until lightly browned. Serve warm, with milk or cream poured over top if desired.
Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Banana Cake

I have been trying to get a picture of the elusive banana cake for months now and I finally have one for you!

Gluten-Free Banana Cake

I discovered this recipe from Taste of Home in January.  With a few tweaks I made it gluten-free and turned it into a cake worthy of breakfast.  As the first sentence hinted at this cake does not hang around our house long.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 medium)
1 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (be sure there is xantham gum in the mix)
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add bananas and milk; mix just until combined.  Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the cream mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold into batter.  Pour into a greased 13" X 19" baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth.  Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you achieve the appropriate frosting consistency.  Spread over cake.  I only use half of the frosting on this cake since we eat it for breakfast and I store the rest in the freezer or refrigerator for later use.

Store the frosted cake in the refrigerator.  I make my cake the night before, then in the morning I slice it, put the slices on a plate and heat them briefly in the microwave (about 45 seconds for 6-8 slices).  This supposedly yields 15 servings.  In our house the cake lasts maybe two days at the most.  :-)