Here is a tasty way to use up that left-over pumpkin you may have from Thanksgiving. This is my recipe from Muffins From the Heart pg. 53 , with a new twist.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups flour of your choice

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/2 -1  cup dried cranberries

1/2 -1 cup pecans (optional)

1/4 cup good quality oil

1/4 cup applesauce

2/3 cup honey

4 eggs

3/4 cup low-fat milk or alternative

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl cover cranberries with warm water.

Mix together flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon.

Beat together pumpkin, oil, applesauce, honey eggs and milk.

Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture half at a time, mixing only until blended.

Stir in nuts and well drained cranberries.

Fill prepared muffin tins ( greased or sprayed). If using muffin liners, spray as well due to the small amount of fat in the recipe.)  Fill 2/3   full unless using a gluten-free flour in which case fill to level the top of the muffin cup.

Bake 15-20 minutes depending on size of muffin cup.

Enjoy.

Ever worry that there may be gluten hidden in foods you may have considered safe? Did you know that now you can  be sure  that what you are about to eat is gluten-free? EZ Gluten* test stripes are 99% accurate and detect as low as 10 PPM (parts /million). The maximum limit recommended for people with celiac disease is 20 PPM.These strips can be used to test most foods and beverages and the results are ready in 10 minutes. They are easy to use and can can be taken anywhere you go.  These might be handy to have with you on your next vacation.

In the revised edition of No Grain No Pain, I have included a gluten-free version of  what we called  Rice Crispy Squares when we were kids.  The new version is made with a gluten-free rice cereal and a marshmallow substitute in the form of a creme. The one I used was Suzanne’s Ricemellow Creme which is GF, vegan and non-dairy. It sells for $5.25 for a 10 oz. container so like most  GF products is quite costly. Both it and the rice cereal is available at most health food stores. A marshmallow creme is also available at some Wal Marts that carry other gluten-free products. The creme works well and makes a tasty end product just like we enjoyed as kids!

Have you heard about the new vegan cheese that shreds, melts, stretches and tastes like dairy-based cheese? Available in cheddar, mozzarella and pepperjack styles, this product uses only the best plant ingredients, and  is free of ingredients that are often associated with allergies including dairy (is free of casein and lactose) as well as soy. has no gluten, egg, peanuts or tree nuts (excluding coconut) ans is OU Kosher certified. It is free of trans fats, cholesterol and animal products (vegan). To find out where you can locate it in your neighbourhood, go to www.daiyafoods.com

CRANBERRY SAUCE

I made this recipe last week and announced it a keeper.  Hope you like it too.

2   1/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. grated orange zest

1/2 cup orange juice

Mix all ingredients together. Bring to a boil,  stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 4-6 minutes or until berries pop. You can puree this mixture but I found stirring did much the same.

Enjoy

Ingredients:

4  cups oriental flour (less gritty than regular rice flour).  Sometimes hard to find. I get mine at an Oriental market.

1/3 cup potato starch

2/3 cup tapioca flour

1  1/2 teaspoons G.F. baking powder

1 teaspoons salt ( I often omit)

2  1/2 tablespoons sugar

2  1/2 teaspoons xanthan or guar gum

1 pound shortening

2 eggs

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 cup + 1 tablespoon cold water (may need more depending on weather the day you are making the pastry)

Method:

1. Mix dry ingredients together. Stir thoroughly.

2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until fat is size of peas

3. In a  measuring cup, whisk eggs. Add vinegar, then enough water to make one cup + 1 tablespoon water. Stir with a fork until well blended.

4. Add liquids to dry ingredients stirring continuously with a fork.  *Add more water if necessary.

5. Finish mixing with hands being sure to incorporate all the flour.

The dough should stick together well and be the texture of play dough.

6.  Chill  dough at least one hour. ( I make 2 balls of dough if making whole recipe, and freeze one of them for future use.

7.  Roll dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper but first spread a tablespoon of rice flour 0n the bottom sheet , then rub top and bottom sheets together. Cut dough  in half, ( a quarter if making the full recipe) place a portion at a time  between sheets of waxed paper and roll out with rolling pin.  *If sticks too much  start again with new waxed paper, this time using more flour on waxed paper. If it is just sticking a little, just work with it a bit and it usually will come loose.

8. To transfer pastry to pie plate, loosen  top sheet 0f waxed paper, then replace it  lightly back on top of pastry and flip so bottom sheet is now on top. Loosen it, carefully remove and place inverted pie plate over pastry. Flip plate, pastry and waxed paper over. Remove remaining waxed paper. This may sound complicated but really works well once you have the hang of it.

To make repairs, dip fingers in water or rice flour and patch. Trim and flute edges. Bake pie at 350 degrees for one hour.

Note: Since I was using a canned filling, I baked the crust dough, half an hour, then filled the shell with canned cherry pie filling.  If making a pie shell, remember to prick the bottom and sides a little with the tines of a fork to prevent the shell from puffing up and shrinking.

Check fruit fillings. All I checked used cornstarch as a thickener, so unless you have a problem with corn starch, there are a number of canned fruit fillings that can be used if in a hurry.

I made this recipe for Christmas Day and it turned out beautifully. * I did have to add a fair bit of extra water the day I made my pastry.  I also did half the recipe and from that got enough pastry for two single crusts and a little.

* Since there is no gluten in rice flour, you don’t have to worry about the pastry becoming tough from over working it.

BLUEBERRY CREAM MUFFINS:

With the availability of  blueberries at a reasonable price this year, you might want to try this recipe especially if you stocked away some extra blueberries in the freezer as I did.

I made some changes using newer products on the market  eg. 95% lower fat cream cheese. See other tips as well.

Ingredients

1  1/2 c. oatmeal ( Use Creme Hill Pure Oats for gluten-free)

1 c. buttermilk

2   1/2 c. flour  of your choice (gluten-free if needed)

4 tsp. baking powder (gluten-free for celiac version)

1 – 1  1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries ( do not thaw if frozen)

grated peel of one orange

1/2 c. softened cream cheese (I used the the 95% lower fat version)

1 c. unsweetened pure orange juice

1/2 c. liquid honey (add a little extra if you don’t normally use a sweet spread on your muffin)

3 large eggs

Mehod: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak oatmeal in buttermilk. Mix together flour and baking powder. Lightly stir in peel and blueberries. Tip: If bluebnerries are frozen and are extra large, cut in half )

Beat together cream cheese, juice, honey and eggs.  Add to oatmeal mixture and mix so well combined.

Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir only until blended.

Scoop into prepared muffin tins using an ample 1/4 cup batter /muffin.* If using muffin liners, be sure to spray them first before filling.

Bake 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  *(Remember since gluten-free baked goods dry out so quickly you have to package gluten-free muffins the moment they are cool. In fact, I often put them in a container when they are still warm, but put a paper towel over top before putting on the lid. The paper towel  takes in the moisture that would otherwise make your muffin soggy.

Yield- 25 regular size muffins

Note- If you want to half this recipe, the only issue is the eggs.  One way of overcoming this issue is  you can beat up a couple of eggs and measure out the amount you need, and add any leftover to a meal of scrabbled eggs.  Note: 1 large egg is = 1/4 cup  so in this recipe you need half of 3/4 .

Tip- If you don’t have buttermilk, use vanilla  or  plain unflavoured  yogurt and thin it a little with sour milk. If using the unflavoured yogurt, use regular not soured milk as the unflavoured yogurt has a sharpness of its own. If you can’t tolerate  milk, just use the milk substitute you ordinarily use. You may sour it or leave as is  as you prefer.

Recently I was reading again about the benefits  of eating avocado. This is a sightly different take on the pudding recipe I posted a number of weeks ago. I love the  avocado chocolate pudding. My husband who loves chocolate pie or pudding was shocked when he found out it had avocado in it.   Hope you enjoy this intriguing  recipe incorporating lime with the avpcaado.

3 avocado

juice of 2-3 limes

pinch of salt

maple syrup to taste

1 tsp. vanilla

Don’t forget to check out my website  at www.edible-options.com for more interesting recipes eg.  Mandarin Date Mango Muffins pg. 69  in Muffins From the Heart

If you visit the Plowing Match in St Thomas Sept. 21-25th, look for me in the Artisan tent. Hope to see you there!

Enjoy

Shirley Hartung

Edible Options

Tonight on the Dr. Oz show, pizza was listed as one of the worst foods we eat.  That particular one was loaded with pepperoni, meat balls , and of course cheese. Here is a healthier version we really enjoy at our house.

1 T. olive oil

3/4 lb. chicken breast

1 medium onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 medium red pepper

1 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms

1 tsp. rosemary leaves

2 c. (or less) mozarella cheese

1- 12 inch Italiano style flat bread

Method:

Heat oil. Cook and stir chicken 2 minutes.  Stir in onion, garlic, red pepper, mushrooms, and rosemary. Cook 3 more minutes.

Drain off excess liquid if needed.

Sprinkle cheese on flatbread. Top with chicken mixture.

Bake at 425 degrees 10-12 minutes.

Serves 4

Yum!

You’ll be surprise by the secret ingredient and pleased with the yummy flavour.   Give it a try, you’ll never buy boxed pudding again!

Ingredients

3 avocados mashed

2-3  Tablespoons cocoa

a pinch sea salt

1 tablespoon pure vanilla

honey or agave syrup to sweeten

Method: Blend in food processor until smooth.