Gluten Free Zucchini Fritters

I wasn't sure when I threw these together, but the family liked them. Especially my (almost) 14 year old, who had 3!

I randomly made these together using ingredients I had on hand. This made 12 4" fritters. 

2 lbs zucchini grated 

4 eggs

1 cup GF general purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

3 tablespoons diced garlic

1 tablespoon dehydrated onion

1 tbsp lemon pepper (with salt)

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 jalapeño seeded & diced

Olive oil

Grate zucchini with the bigger side of the grater. 

Place zucchini in bowl, add lemon pepper, garlic, onion, parsley & jalapeño and mix well. 

Beat 4 eggs & add to mixture. Slowly mix in flour. 

Turn on electric skillet to 350 and add enough oil to brown fritters. When hot, drop 4 tablespoons of the mixture to the pan for each fritter. Use a spatula to flatten them. The salt makes the zucchini "sweat" for the lack of a better term.  I left the watery part in the bowl. Brown on both sides approx 7 minutes each side. I did a couple of batches & kept them in a warm oven. 

If I had the ingredients on hand, I would have subbed the lemon pepper for fresh lemon zest, salt & pepper. Feel free to shake these up and make them your own. Maybe top with fresh Parmesan cheese or serve with lemon wedges. You could add cilantro, red pepper...whatever you want to flavor it. 

Normally in the morning I eat a fried egg sandwich.  The day after making these, I used these in place of my eggs.  Very good!

Gluten free 4th of July birthday party!

My youngest son was born on the 4th of July, 14 years ago (1999). Every year we have a big family celebration.

This was the first year that  I was gluten free. I totally could have made desserts that had gluten, but my son is very thoughtful & wanted things GF so I could eat whatever I wanted. 

Red, White & Blue Deviled Eggs

We did some fun stuff this year. I made red, white & blue deviled eggs. Make hard boiled eggs the normal way. For best results peeling, buy your eggs 1 week before you boil them. Also add white vinegar to the water. 

After you peel the eggs, cut them in half lengthwise. Pop out the yolk into a bowl. Put food coloring in 1 cup of water. I used half a bottle of red coloring & a few squirts of blue. Place 1 half of egg whites in the dye. I know it is tempting to put in more than one, but if you do, they won't dye evenly. I only dyed the blue eggs for about 2 minutes & the red for 5. Don't forget to leave some white eggs!! Lay dyed eggs on paper towels, yolk side down to dry. Do not rub or pat dry. 

After they are dried, fill as normal. I took the time to use a pastry bag to make them pretty-ish!!

American Flag Chocolate Chip Cookie

Next we made a yummy flag cookie! I used Bob's Red Mill GF chocolate chip cookie mix. The mix ends up crumbly, which worked out well to form it into a rectangle on a cookie sheet. I didn't want to bake it all the way to the edge of the cookie sheet, because I thought it would be difficult to get out.

Bake it for 20-25 minutes at 350º

After cooled completely, the birthday boy & my older son's girlfriend set to decorating it. 

They frosted it with GF whipped cream cheese frosting. We had found bags of red, white & blue M&Ms. Buy 2 bags, because there weren't as many white ones!! 

It was very very tasty too! I may or may not have had a piece with breakfast the next day. 

GF Firecracker Cake Batter Cookies

Then I set about making "firecracker" cookies. Put GF vanilla cake mix into bowl, add 3 beaten eggs and 1/2 cup oil. (I used safflower) Blend with hand blender. Mixture will be thick. I added red, blue & silver sprinkles. On 1/2 the cookies I placed a few red & blue M&Ms leftover from previous project on top before baking. Use a tablespoon to drop dough on a oiled cookies sheet. They spread out a lot, so space them out. Bake at 350º for 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet right away. I found if I let them cool, they were hard to remove from the cookie sheet. 

Watermelon 4th of July Birthday Cake

My next project was a birthday cake. Isn't it beautiful??

This cake has a bit of a secret. It's a watermelon cake. No, not a watermelon flavored cake, it is actually a watermelon!

I had so much going on, I didn't have time to take photos of my steps. Next time I make this, I will update with photos. 

You will need:

1 seedless watermelon

2 bags flaked coconut

Fresh berries

Whipped cream topping

Food coloring 

1) Place 1 cup (each) flaked coconut into two zip sandwich bags. Fill shot glass (2 ounces) with water & add food coloring. I added about 1/2 a bottle of red & 1/4 of blue. A little bit at a time, pour the red food coloring into 1 of the bags, shaking & mixing as you go. Repeat with the blue. Zip the bags and shake to mix it completely. 

2) Cut the watermelon into cake shape. Cut ends off watermelon. Take a long, sharp knife & carefully cut the red part of the watermelon into a round shape, cutting off the rind. Our round "cake" was very tall, so we cut it in half & made 2 cakes. Take a knife and carefully trim up the melon to look nice and even. 

3) Let melon sit for 30 minutes so it is less juicy. Then pat dry with paper towels. Don't skip this step. It's tough to get wet whip cream to stick to wet melon! 

4) You will need your whipped cream soft. I put it on the counter for about an hour to thaw. Use a rubber spatula to cover the cake with whip cream. You will more pat it on than spread it on. I put it on fairly thick.

5) Mix together red, white & blue coconut. Using small handfuls, press coconut into sides of cake. 

6) Decorate top of cake with berries. We used strawberries & blueberries. Sprinkle with a little coconut on top. Either serve right away, or refrigerate.

We made a lot of BBQ style food. Homemade potato salad, coleslaw, burgers, sausage dogs, fruit platters. I got buns for everyone else, but I lettuce wrapped my burger. The dark lettuce holds my guacamole bacon cheeseburger. Yum!

The birthday boy helped out making a fruit platter and these fruit kabobs!

Happy happy 14th birthday Nolan! I hope you had a great day!!

Gluten free-licious Mother's Day

I hope everyone had an awesome Mother's Day!! My family has a tradition of my husband & kids making me a big breakfast AND dinner. Love love love when people cook for me!!

I was in the living room while my husband, 13 yr old son & 21 year old son cooked me breakfast. My husband is an amazing cook & knows his way around a kitchen. However, like me, he is new at cooking gluten free. 

They decided to make me gluten free waffles from a Bob's Red Mill mix. Since they are gluten free, the consistency just isn't quite the same, so I was giggling while I listened to them trying to figure it out. They don't puff up as much as traditional waffles & took longer to cook. I am not sure how many they ended up throwing away before they got them right. Lol. However, once they figured it out, the waffles were quite delicious! Even my gluten loving family ate them and gave them 2 thumbs up. (well, so I guess that is 6 thumbs up)

For the waffles we had strawberries & whipped cream. On the side was bacon & eggs. I certainly don't eat like that every day, but it was yummy! 

For dinner, my husband seasoned (GF of course) a pork roast & smoked it on our Traeger. In case you don't know, a Traeger is a smoker and everything that touches it is delicious! 

He also made sautéed garlic green beans, pan fried baby red potatoes and fruit salad. 

I had lots of family time with my husband, 2 sons, daughter, daughter's bf & our German exchange student. Nothing makes me happier than bringing all my kids together at once. Not easy to do when they are adults! 

Heavenly Chocolate Treat

This recipe was floating around FB & I believe originated from a Pampered Chef website. It looked pretty delicious and I was sure I could make it GF. The recipe calls for a brownie pan (individual squares) which I bought at Walmart for $11.

For the recipe you need
GF non-stick spray (not all are GF)
Bob's Red Mill GF chocolate chip cookie mix
Bob's Red Mill GF brownie mix
2 sticks butter
GF vanilla
2 eggs
Water
And the secret ingredient... Reece's Peanutbutter cups. You could use regular size big ones or minis. For this recipe we used the dark chocolate minis.

Preheat oven to 350 & generously spray pan with non-stick spray.

Mix the chocolate chip cookie mix according to package directions. It seems really dry & crumbly. I took a tablespoon from our silverware set & scooped 3 generous tablespoons into each section of the tray. Then I pressed it down with the spoon into the tray. It looked more like regular cookie dough after I did that.

Next we placed 3 peanutbutter cups upside down into each section on top of the cookie dough.

Then make the brownie mix according to package instructions. Use a another tablespoon (or two) to place brownie mix in top of peanutbutter cups. Try to spread it around and squish it in between the peanutbutter cups.

Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. Getting them out in one piece is a challenge. I ran a butter knife along the edges of the squares. Then I used 2 forks to carefully scoop & lift the brownies into a plate. About 1/2 came out in one piece. My family didn't complain about the ones that came apart. They were still delicious. After everyone chowed down there was only 5 left. I am planning on freezing those so I have a dessert to eat on occasion.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Score at Big Lots!

Big Lots had a display of Bob's Red Mill items and there was actually quite a few gluten-free items at huge discounts. My favorite was the GF cornbread mix. At BRM it is $5.95 each. At Big Lots I paid $2.90! I also bought shortbread cookie mix & brownie mix (they were $3 something)

It was a display with a giant cardboard Bob, so I assume it will be there a while. I stocked up just in case.

Not to brag, but I live in Oregon about 3 minutes away from Bob's Red Mill & I have met him. He is a lovely man who treats his employees very well. :-)