GFCF Caramel Apples

It is caramel apple making time. Unfortunately for those of us GFCF, most caramels contain dairy. Here is a great recipe and then my own variation. Pictures below!

GFCF Caramel Apples
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup or brown rice syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water
5 or 6 tart apples (with sticks)
1. In medium saucepan, melt margarine.
2. Stir in sugar, syrup, vanilla and water.
3. Bring mixture to a boil and keep boiling for about several minutesuntil a candy thermometer reads 245 F.
4. Remove caramel from heat. Put a Popsicle stick in the center ofeach apple. When the mixture has stopped bubbling, swirl each applein the caramel syrup to coat. Place apples on a well greased cookiesheet to harden.


Melt the margarine


Add the rest of the ingredients (except the apples)


Use a candy thermometer

These make great caramel apples, but when Andy has had them in the past - he really didn't like biting the whole apple and the way the juice ran down out of the apple. So I thought I could just drizzle the caramel over cut up apples for him to eat.


Great idea - but it was pretty clumpy (is that a word?) and it hardened pretty quickly.


So I heated the caramel back up (it had hardened) and stirred in a little "fake milk" (I used dari free, but any milk sub will work) and it made a wonderful dipping sauce. My son is dipping apples as I type and very happy with this variation (I would take a picture, but well Andy doesn't want to be on the computer this morning).

Wild Rice Casserole

I don't believe I have posted this recipe yet - it is one of our family's favorite rice dishes.


Here it is in a 2 quart casserole dish so you can see how much it makes.


And here is a close up so you can see the whole grain goodness. I wouldn't expect a child new to the diet to accept this - but it is great for the adults and children who have adjusted to eating healthier - Andy loves it.

Wild Rice Casserole

1 cup wild rice
1 cup brown rice
1 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
½ cup pine nuts
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons juice - any juice you have on hand works - apple, cranberry or orange
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring 5 cups water to a boil in a medium-size heavy saucepan. Add the wild rice, stir and reduce the heat. Cover the pan, and simmer or 15 minutes.
3. Add the brown rice and simmer 20 minutes more. The rice should be tender.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.
5. Transfer the rice mixture to an ovenproof casserole, covering tightly and bake until the rices are soft but not mushy, and the casserole is heated through, 20 to 30 minutes.
6 to 8 portions

GFCF Apple Bars

It's apple season - and my apple tree is loaded. I made these yesterday and they are already gone. Yum, yum.

Apple Bars

½ cup melted cf margarine
1 cup sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 egg
1 cup gf flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Mix)
1 tsp. Xanthan Gum
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup apples – peeled, cored and finely chopped. You want to use firm cooking apples.
1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a square 8 inch by 8 inch pan.

In a large bowl, mix melted margarine with the sugar and egg. Mix in flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and cinnamon. Then stir in apples and nuts. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I frosted mine with an icing made from powdered sugar mixed with a little vanilla and fake milk (I used Dari Free).

Awful peanut butter cookies

I have seen this recipe floating around in many places and people talking about how it's a great and easy recipe so I decided to try it instead of my usual one. It is awful. It made very hard jaw breaker cookies.

The recipe uses no flour. It is 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 egg. I do not recommend this recipe at all!

GFCF Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

My husband says this pie is his new favorite - it sure didn't last long.

GFCF Apple Pie with crumb topping

Single Pie Crust (I made one using a mix from Miss Robens)
6 cups chopped and peeled tart apples
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 tablespoons Tofutti fake sour cream
4 teaspoons lemon juice
½ cup sugar
¼ cup minute tapioca
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Topping:
½ cup gf flour mixture (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Mix)
½ cup sugar (I used natural brown)

¼ cup cold margarine

Line a 9 inch pie pan with crust.

In a bowl, combine apples, margarine, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon into pie shell.

For topping, combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are tender.

Andy's bag lunch today

The sandwich is organic peanut butter with my own homemade rhubarb jam on Tom's Bread. The veggies are organic bell pepper slices and carrot slices (from my garden). The back tupperware container has cut up fruit and the front one has french dressing to dip the veggies in. And then organic grape juice.

Today's Bag Lunch

The thermos contains mini corn dogs and green beans. The bottom tupperware container is cut up fruit and the top one is catsup. And then organic grape juice. He took an organic peach for morning snack today.

Wellshire Kids Liverwurst

Andy's new favorite for sandwiches.

Back to School Time

School started yesterday, the day after labor day. Time to start packing those GFCF lunches and snacks. I do have an excel spreadsheet that I have developed that I will send to anyone who wants it. It has a rotating menu so you are not packing the same thing everyday, a shopping list, recipes and ideas for packing lunches. You will need to modify to suit your child, but it is a great starting place. I have made some changes since I started using it myself as I have found new products and my son's tastes have changed.


Andy's lunch for the first day of school. I knew it was too much food for him to eat - but he was so nervous over the first day of school that I just wanted him to be able to have choice. It included a Kidz Dream Smoothie drink, a liverwurst sandwich (he loves that stuff - I'm not sure all kids will) made on gfcf bread (Tom's bread), carrot sticks, a fruit cup and a rice bar. He brought back home the rice bar unopened and half of the sandwich.


Organic Cherry Applesauce for his morning snack at school


All ready for his first day of second grade. Even though he has a smile, his eyes are swollen from crying - he can't believe I am making him ride the bus this year (he did fine on it).


Second day lunch - The thermos contains organic french fries, Ian's fish sticks and a few green beans. The bottom tupperware container has cut up fruit and the top one has catsup for dipping his fish sticks and fries into. The pretzels are for his morning snack. And organic apple juice to drink.

The label on top of his thermos is from Mabel's Labels. It has his name and his allergies (gluten isn't an allergy, but school officials may not understand that). I have the same label on his lunch bag and on his communication notebook.