GF Pumpkin Muffins

This is one of the best recipes I have ever made that is gluten free.  These muffins are light and have the texture of real (wheat) muffins.  I make a double batch of these at least once a month.  Eat a bunch, then freeze the rest.  They are just the same after defrosting.  These pumpkin muffins are amazing just baked as a muffin or as bars with cream cheese frosting on them.  Everyone of my friends who has tried them, loves them.

The Original Recipe

4      Eggs
1 2/3 Cups of Sugar
1 Cup Oil
15 oz Canned Pumpkin
2 Cups Maninis Gluten Free Flour or Pamela's Pancake and Baking Mix
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
 (I always add a small amount of nutmeg and cloves, plus a cup of chocolate chips)

Icing
Cream Cheese Frosting  from Dessert Now, Dinner Later

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together: Eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin
3. In a separate bowl, mix together: Flour, Baking powder, Cinnamon, Salt and Baking Soda.
4. Combine both mixtures together.  Then add the chocolate chips.
5. Spray 24 mini muffin tins OR 12 regular muffin tins OR a 9x11 cake pan.
6. Bake the mini muffins for 20 minutes or the big muffins/cake pan for 30 minutes.
7. Cool on a rack and then place in a sealed container or ice.

A Healthier Version of Pumpkin Muffins

4      Eggs
1 Cups of  Coconut Sugar
1 Tablespoon Stevia or Sugar Substitute
3/4 Cup Oil
1/4 Cup Apple Sauce
15 oz Canned Pumpkin
2 Cups Maninis Gluten Free Flour or Pamelas
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
 (I always add a small amount of nutmeg and cloves.  1 Cup Unsweetened Carob Chips)

Mix up and bake the same as the original version.

GF Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie is one of my all time favorite things to eat.  It has a beautiful flaky crust and a creamy delicious chicken fiddle.  It is my all time favorite comfort food.   I found an amazing recipe for this pie a few years ago and made it faithfully for my family. 

 Then I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and my life changed.  I felt like all my favorite food was now poison to me.  It was a sad day for me.  But then I moved on and decided that I will find a way to enjoy all the foods that I did before.  If I can find the recipe, then I can find a way to modify it to taste delicious. I don't hold with all this nasty Gluten Free "food" that is out there.  Most of it is extremely hard to swallow and tastes pretty bad as well as costing a fortune.

So I set out to find a way to make my favorite chicken pot pie.  I use an amazing flour called Maninis Gluten Free.  I threw away my rice flour, potato flour, guar gum, xanthan gum and all the rest of it.  Maninis flour is made from ancient grains and is so similar to wheat flour.  I substitute it cup for cup in all my baking and cooking.  Just about everything turns out amazing and delicious.  So I tried the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pie Crust with the Maninis GF flour.  It is flaky, golden and about as good as you'll ever get with out wheat in it.

I got my dough mixed up and threw it in the refrigerator  waiting to be rolled out.

Then I tried to make the filling for my pot pie.  This was much harder to do GF.  My original recipe calls for condensed cream of chicken soup.  Well, just about all soup has wheat in it.  All of it.  If you look hard enough, you can find it GF-but it is not the same consistency or taste.  I bought it once and won't ever buy it again.  So I tried making cream of chicken soup from scratch.  It was good, but didn't have the same consistency and was a lot of work (on top of making the whole pie).  I tried different recipes using chicken broth and fresh veggies.  But couldn't find the right taste or consistency for me.  After lots of attempts that were close, I finally came up with a recipe that was simple and tasted great.

 It was a hit with my whole family (except for my littlest one and she doesn't like any food that has vegetables and meat in it-sorry kiddo, this is what we are having).  My sister in law even came down the next night to see if she could have the last piece.  Enjoy this creamy and easy GF Chicken Pot Pie.

Chicken Pot Pie

Makes 2 full pies.

Make Pie Crust: 4- 9 inch rounds  Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pie Crust

Pie Filling:  3 T Butter, 3-4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, 2 1/2 cups sour cream, 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups shredded (or little cut up cubes) sharp cheddar, 2 cups cooked chicken-cut into bite sized pieces, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning.

You can substitute 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup for the heavy cream.  That’s for those of you that can have wheat.

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Melt butter in sauce pan.  Add the veggies and cook until soft and no longer frozen.

3.  Mix sour cream and heavy cream in a large bowl.

4.Take veggies off heat and add all ingredients.  Mix well.

5.  Spoon into unbaked pie shell.

6.  Cover with top crust and fold top edge under bottom crust.  Flute with fingers or fork.  Cut slits in pie.

7.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and bubbly. 

8.  After baking, let sit for 5 minutes then serve.

I make 2 pies out of this recipe.  Then I bake one for 20 minutes, cool it, wrap it in saran wrap and tin foil and freeze it for later.  The second I bake for dinner and enjoy it.

GF Cinnamon Rolls

I love spending time with my little girl.  After dropping Bekah off at school, we decided to have a snack and make some cinnamon rolls.  She was so cute as she tried to spread the cream cheese all by herself. 

Hot cocoa is always a part of our snack too.  

Now off to start the cinnamon rolls.  Hannah loves to help.  She is always the first to jump in and help with anything.  Hannah is so good at stirring ingredients together, turning on the mixer, measuring and pouring ingredients and licking anything she can get in her mouth.

I made these Cinnamon Rolls for my family.  I added a step that my mom always did when making her cinnamon rolls. She would put the pans on the stove and heat them on low with 2 Tablespoons butter and a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Once the butter melts, turn off the burner and prep the cinnamon rolls. Then place the rolls in the pan. The bottom caramelizes and is amazing.

Hannah helped stir the butter while it was melting.  This is definitely the best part of the whole sweet roll.

The dough took a long time to rise.  However, once it was risen, it rolled out very nicely.  I was surprised since GF dough is normally really fragile.  It held together well and made great cinnamon rolls.  Hannah had a blast learning how to roll out the dough.  She did a pretty good job too!

The butter was really hard since it had just come out of the freeze a few hours before.  I did a trick that I saw on Pinterest for getting butter soft.  They said to grate the butter into a bowl and then use it.  It totally worked.  Here Hannah is spreading the grated butter on the dough.  I found out later that she thought it was grated cheese we were putting in the cinnamon rolls.  She sure makes me laugh.

Hannah put the sugar on all by herself.  She also tried to sprinkle on the cinnamon.  She kind of dumped a bunch in one spot, so I helped spread it out evenly.  I love having helpers.

I split this recipe in half and made two pans of eight.  It was perfect.

Love this girl.

  All ready to let the rolls rise.

We had these for dinner!  They were delicious and were all gone within a short period of time.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I grew up eating Cottage Cheese Pancakes.   I loved them!  They were always good and buttery and filling.  Now as a mom, I still love them.  When I have nothing defrosted and no other ideas for dinner, I turn to this quick, easy and delicious dish.  My kids love them and normally will eat the whole batch.  We normally serve them with apple sauce and hot cocoa.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

From the kitchen of Rhonda  Trevethick.
Prep time: a few minutes

Mix together:
      3 eggs
      1 cup cottage cheese
      1/4 cup flour (whole wheat, white or GF)
      2 Tablespoons melted butter
      Dash of salt

Cook large dollar size cakes in frying pan with butter.   I have found that in certain pans, they will stick.  I used my well seasoned cast iron griddle with some butter on it and they had no problem.   Enjoy them hot!

Brazillian BBQ Bobby Crocker Style

Auntie Shonna and Hannah played in the bounce house before everyone came over.  I love how Shonna can be so involved in the girls lives.  They just adore her.  Bekah had a great time swinging on the rope swing inside the bounce house.

 Many years ago a bunch of us came up with a fun idea for a get together.  We (all the wives) thought it would be great fun to have our husbands cook for us and compete for prizes.  We set up some ground rules and invited everyone. 

 The rules: The guy has to choose the recipe. 

 He has to shop for the ingredients.  

He has to make the dish and present it to the girls.  

Then the wives would taste everything and vote on the best appetizer, main dish and dessert. 

 We decided to call this fun evert the Bobby Crocker Cook-Off.  We just had fun hanging out and enjoying each others fellowship.  We have been doing it for years.  Some times the girls cook sometimes the guys cook.  We don't care as long as we get to enjoy fantastic food.

On another note, the guys in our group like to go to San Fransisco and eat at the Brazillian BBQ restaurant.   This place serves every kind of meat cooked in amazing, yummy ways.  The guys always came back talking about all the amazing meat that they were able to enjoy.  It is expensive and most of the girls could never eat enough to make it worth while.  

SO I decided to combine the two events.  We had a Bobby Crocker Cookoff, Brazillian BBQ style.  The rules were slightly different this time.  You had to make some kind of a meat dish, plus bring a salad or dessert.   I guessed that we should have something to eat besides just meat.   I made a bunch of batches of Brazillian Cheese Puffs to enjoy too.

We had amazing food: Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon, Tri-tip, Smoked Ribs, Citris Roasted Chicken, Grilled Tuna, Pizza and more.  

 This was so much fun!  We'll definitly have to do this again.

Sue, Morris, Chris and Jared hang out waiting for dessert.  I was so busy eating that I didn't take any pictures until after the main course was finished. 

Can you believe that this is gluten free.  I made a GF version of Caffe Latte's Turtle Cake.  Yummy!

Our friends Karoly,  Alexandra and Madeline enjoyed the food and fellowship.

Peek-a-boo!

Byron and Toy

Sue and Morris

Kelly and Wendy

Love this sweet picture!

Our new friends came to the BBQ.  

Love the cute boots!

Adorable Madeline wants to say "Cheese" for the camera.