Gluten Free Mini Dutch Apple Pies

It is so cool to see all the new gluten free products that are becoming available lately.  A new one I tried recently was this Pillsbury Pie Crust.  It comes in a tub like butter and after a little kneading, is ready to roll out and use.  It makes two crusts or 1 muffin pan full of mini crusts.  Since I was short on time and had friends coming over, I decided to avoid the flour mess and just press them into the muffin tin.  Amazingly, the proportions were perfect for 12 little mini pies!  Using a quart of my pie filling and some gluten free flour to make a crumb topping, it made these perfect little pies. We decided not to tell Michael and see if he noticed a difference.  Impressively, he said he's have never known it was gluten free.  Here's how Mama makes it:

Gluten Free Mini Dutch Apple Pies 

Ingredients:

- 1 tub Pillsbury gluten free pie dough

- 1 quart apple pie filling (or about two cans of filling)
- 1 c. gluten free flour mix
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 1/2 t. cinnamon
- 1/2 t. salt
- 6 T. chilled butter cut into chunks

Gluten Free Tapioca Cheese Rolls

The Gluten-Free Goddess strikes again!  My friends Brittany & Jen came over for a dinner feast last week and made these AMAZING gluten free rolls.  They were beautifully light, fluffy, cheesy, garlicky, and super simple.  Plus, they're made in a mini-muffin tin so you feel less guilty about eating, oh, say 8 of them.  I can never believe how delicious gluten free can be, but this girl is making me a believer.  I snapped some action shots while she was cooking, because I just do that sort of thing.  Here's how we made it:

Gluten Free Tapioca Cheese Rolls

Ingredients:
(makes about 36 mini-rolls, 1 WW point each)
- 1/3 c. olive oil
- 2/3 c. skim milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
- 1 t. salt
- 1 1/4 c. tapioca flour
- 1/4 c. cornstarch
Serving suggestions:  garlic butter/spread, tomato jam

Spinach Pesto Polenta

Here is my version of this Savory Polenta recipe by Alton Brown.  By adding pesto and a little spinach, you can incorporate some beautiful color, great taste, and a few important nutrients.  The best way I can describe polenta is cornmeal risotto.  Like risotto, it requires lots of stirring to make this grain into a beautiful creamy dish.  Here's how Mama makes it:

Spinach Pesto Polenta

Ingredients:
- 2 T. olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 c. chicken or vegetable stock
- 1.5 c. coarse ground cornmeal
- 5 T. unsalted butter
- 1/3 c. basil pesto
- 3 t. kosher salt
- 1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
- 3 oz. parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 c. chopped spinach

Fun with Crepes

Although she gave me the recipe months ago, I just now learned how to make Brittany's crepes.  Something about them scared me, and I felt awful for not trying them before now (especially considering how much I love crepes).  Basically, she marched over here and made me learn how to make them, then laughed as I hogged the fun of cooking/flipping them.  It wasn't super quick, but it was a whole lot of fun!  Plus you can always make them ahead - they keep very well in the refrigerator.  Here's how the Gluten-Free Goddess makes 'em:

Basic Dessert Crepes



Ingredients:

- 4 eggs
- 2 and 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups flour (ours was gluten free!)
- 1/4 cup butter (melted)
- 1 t. salt
- cooking spray for the pan
- toppings:  whatever you choose!  We tried jam/chocolate chips, bananas foster (bananas, brown sugar, butter), peanut butter/chocolate, and cinnamon roll (brown sugar, cinnamon, cream cheese icing), but the possibilities are endless!  I also really like savory crepes with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese.  Be creative and have fun!

ingredients + some toppings

Gluten Free Naan

One of my favorite parts of Indian cuisine is naan, an oven baked flatbread.  It has this amazing texture, is cooked until slightly blackened, and seasoned just the right amount.  Honestly, I had never even dreamed of attempting to make it, but when I invited my friend, Brittany, over for tikka masala, I decided to try my hand at it.  Not all naan is gluten free, and in fact this recipe can be made either way, but I must say, it's delicious!  The most surprising part of the whole experience was how incredibly easy it was to make.  The ingredients and directions are taken from Aarti Sequiera's recipe on foodnetwork.com.  Here's how Mama makes it:

Gluten Free Naan



Ingredients:

- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast

- 2 teaspoons sugar

- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

(for gluten free naan, use 2 1/4 c. gluten free all purpose flour mix plus 1 1/4 t. xanthum gum in place of flour)

- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt

- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

- Melted butter for slathering on the finished naans

- Coarse sea salt and or seasonings for sprinkling (I used salt and garlic powder)