Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Homemade Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash, 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.
2 TBSP butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 TBSP pure maple syrup (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. Cut squash in half through the stem end (top to bottom), remove seeds. Place cut sides down on baking sheet. Bake until easily pierced with a knife, 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
3. Spoon the flesh into a bowl. Add butter and syrup. Puree in blender. Add milk a little at a time to thin out the squash.

Cranberry Sauce from a can!

Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce is gluten-free! Enjoy your cranberry this Thanksgiving!

Gluten-free Stuffing/Dressing

This is another recipe that I knew I HAD to make gluten-free. It's just not Thanksgiving without stuffing (or dressing, if that's what you call it). So, I found a great recipe for homemade stuffing and just subbed gluten-free bread for wheat bread.

Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 loaf of Ener-G brown rice bread, cubed up and dried in the oven
1 stick butter
3 medium onions, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
2 cups chicken broth (you can use 2 cups of water with 2 tsp. Herb Ox Chicken Bouillon mixed in)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Cube bread, spread on a cookie sheet, warm in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 250-degrees F.
2. Melt butter in large skillet and cook onions and celery until soft (10-15 minutes) then mix in the herbs, salt, and pepper. In a large bowl, toss the bread with the onion/celery mixture and chicken broth to coat. Put the bread mixture into a large greased baking pan and cover with foil.
3. Bake at 375-degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until warmed through. Remove foil and bake for about 5 minutes to brown up the top (you can even put it under the boiler for a couple minutes, if you prefer).

Pumpkin Pie and Pie Crust

Last year at Thanksgiving, I was very new at doing gluten-free and I needed to make Thanksgiving as "normal" as possible, especially since we were going to my In-law's to celebrate with them. Pie is a huge thing. We had to have pie! It wouldn't have been fair to have everyone else eating a delicious pumpkin pie, while my daughter sat and watched and ate some boring cookie or something. I was on a mission to make a gluten-free pie. Our store didn't have any gluten-free pie shells, so I made my own pie shell. I didn't really know how to make something other than pumpkin pie, since I could only make a cookie-based crust (kind of like a graham cracker crust).

If you can get your hands on some gluten-free graham crackers, you can substitute those for the cookies in the crust recipe. Jo-Sef makes some really good gluten-free graham crackers.

Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box of Pamela's Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies (or you can use the ginger cookies for a different flavor)
6 TBSP margarine, melted
2 tsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Crumb up cookies in food processor. Toss all ingredients together.
2. Press into 8 or 9 inch pie pan


Pumpkin Pie Recipe (from Libby's)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (Libby's is gluten-free)
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 gluten-free pie crust

Directions:
1. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in small bowl
2. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
3. Pour into pie shell
4. Bake in pre-heated 425-degree F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350-degrees F. Bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for two hours.
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Another recipe from Kraft's recipe magazine.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes (1 1/2 pound)
2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. package) Philadelphia light cream cheese, cubed
2 TBSP fat-free milk
1TBSP brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425 F. Cut potatoes length-wise in half; place cut sides down in foil-lined 15x10 baking pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until tender.

2. Scoop out centers of potatoes into bowl, leaving 1/4 inch thick shells. Add cream cheese, milk, sugar, and cinnamon to potatoes; mash until blended.

3. Spoon potato mixture into shells; top with nuts. Bake 8 minutes or until potatoes are heated through and nuts are toasted.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges.

3. Cover baking sheet with foil; cover foil with olive oil. Spread wedges onto foil; drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

4. Bake 20 minutes, flip wedges over and bake 20 more minutes. Let cool before eating.

Shrimp Pomodoro Pasta

This is a recipe snagged from a Kraft recipe magazine. It's easy to make gluten-free.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette (here's one that is gluten-free, but you can also check out Newman's Own and Kraft - check the labels)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups Tinkyada Penne Pasta, uncooked
1 pound cooked, cleaned shrimp
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Kraft is gluten-free)

Directions:
1. Heat large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add dressing, onions, and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes; cook 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package.

2. Add shrimp to sauce; cook 2 minutes or until heated through.

3. Drain pasta; toss with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.