Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and it just so happens to be in my favorite time of year too - Fall! I have heard lots of people refer to Thanksgiving as Turkey Day and they are just happy about seeing family and eating lots of food. I am so thankful that I was raised in a Christian home and taught to be thankful! "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15

What are you thankful for this year?

Rejoice evermore.

Pray without ceasing.

In everything give thanks:

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Frosted Cranberry Salad

Are you looking for a new last minute dish to serve your guests this Thanksgiving? This is one of my favorite Shamburger family Thanksgiving traditions. It is a very "fancified" version of the traditional cranberry sauce (which is also very good). *smile*

Frosted Cranberry Salad 

1 13 1/2 oz. can crushed pineapple

2 3 oz. packages lemon jello

7 oz. ginger ale

1 can jellied cranberry sauce

6 oz. whipped topping

6 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Drain pineapple reserving juice. Add water to make 1 cup. Heat to boiling; add jello and stir until dissolved. Cool. Stir in ginger ale. Chill in an 11"x7" dish until partially set. Blend pineapple and cranberry sauce and add to jello mixture; mix well. Chill until firmly set. Mix whipped topping and cream cheese; spread over top. Toast nuts in a little butter and sprinkle over top. Chill.

*The topping *does* contain dairy. The jello would be good without it too!

Apple-Date Oat Chews

Apple-Date Oat Chews

1/2 cup water

1 cup grated apple (with peel)

1/4 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup oat bran cereal OR milled oats*

1 cup chopped dried dates

2 cups regular rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, simmer dates in water for 5 minutes. Mash with a fork into a puree'. Add grated apple and oil and beat well with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Let stand 10 minutes to thicken. Mix again; drop by teaspoonfuls onto dry cookie sheet. (Batter does not spread in cooking, so chews can be placed close together.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Makes 24 chews.

Variation: Substitute 3/4 cup pumpkin puree for the dates. 

Add about 3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar.

 *Milled oats can be made by running in blender for a minute. They will be coarse, but that's what I used and these turned out great!

Gluten-Free Baking Mixes

Basic Gluten-Free Flour Mix

4 cups superfine brown rice flour

1 1/3 cups potato starch

2/3 cup tapioca flour

Combine all flours in a large bowl. Mix well, and store in a ziploc bag or container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Makes 6 cups.

Gluten-Free Bread Flour Mix

1 1/2 cups millet flour

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour

2 cups tapioca flour

1 cup potato starch

Combine all flours in a large bowl. Mix well, and store in a ziploc bag or container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Makes 6 cups.

 Recipes from Cybele Pascal 's "The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook". My sister and friend just bought this book for me and it is the BEST cookbook I have ever seen! *grin* I have so enjoyed looking through it and trying the recipes!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

   My very favorite season of the year is Fall! I like the cool, crisp weather, the changing leaves on the trees, and the foods that people start baking and serving when Fall rolls around again. :) Last night I made a new sweet potato recipe that my family and I loved! My sweet potato skins burned before the insides were soft, so I didn't get to stuff them, but it was still quite tasty! I think I will try turning the oven temperature down to 400* next time. 

Apple-Pecan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

4 medium size sweet potatoes (a/b 3 1/2 lbs.)

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/4 cup butter

1 large apple, chopped

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

a small dash of allspice

1. Place sweet potatoes on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 425* F for 1 hour or until tender.
2. Heat nuts in a skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often, 5-10 minutes or until toasted. Remove from skillet.
3. Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple; saute' about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Remove from heat. 
4. When potatoes are cooked, cut in half lengthwise; scoop pulp into bowl, being careful to leave shells intact. Add apple mixture to sweet potato pulp in bowl; stir until blended. Spoon mixture into shells. Place on baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350* F for 15-20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Top with pecans.

   This was so delicious - I think it's our new family favorite! Enjoy!

Dairy Free

  There are many alternatives to cow's milk for those that are allergic or lactose intolerant. I have tried soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk and rice milk. Since Rice Dream Rice Drink is my favorite, that is what my recipes will call for. You can substitute 1:1 with any of these other drinks that I listed. These are quite a bit more expensive than cow's milk, so I have come up with a recipe to make my own rice milk. I use homemade rice milk in all my baking and mix it about half and half with Rice Dream for drinking or on cereal. You can use brown rice, (it's more healthy) but I don't care for the taste other than in baking. 
  Here is my recipe:

Rice Milk

1 cup cooked white rice

6 cups water

about 2 tablespoons honey, sugar, or other sweetener 

Mix the rice and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil, watching carefully, (mine always either tries to boil over or stop boiling altogether) for 20 minutes. Stir in honey until dissolved; cool. 

 Blend in blender on "liquify" setting for about a minute and a half or until blended.  Add 2 cups water and blend again. At this point, if there is any grainy sludge, strain through a fine sieve. (Brown rice will have a lot of this, but white rice shouldn't.) Add 2 more cups water, stir and pour into glass quart jars. Store in refrigerator.   

Makes 2 quarts and keeps for about 2 weeks. 

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free - There's Still "Something to Eat!"

   I have been developing and diagnosing allergies over the past few years. I have been allergic to dairy since I was a baby, but didn't know it throughout my growing up years. Just since I was about 16, I have also become allergic to wheat, eggs, and pinto beans. Cooking has become a whole different story for me! I am the only one in my family that has these allergies, so I mainly cook for myself alongside my Mom cooking for the rest of the family. 

   With food allergies come lots of experiments... First, I had to figure out what I was allergic to. 
I have actually tried two very similar ways:
1. Eat only raw foods for one week and see if you feel any better. At the end of that week, eat your suspected food and see if your symptoms reoccur.
2. Eat everything except for your suspected food for at least one week and see if you feel any better.
If so, add that certain food back into your diet and see how it goes!
I would like to have allergy tests done someday, but since we can't afford it right now this is what works best for me. 

    Lots of recipes that I find may not have one of these ingredients, but will still include the others such as a gluten-free recipe still including eggs. I am in the process of adapting these recipes so that they taste good without any of those allergy causing  ingredients. I hope that if you are allergic to wheat/gluten, eggs, dairy, or pinto beans my blog will be helpful to you. I am trying lots of new experiments, and plan to share them (at least the successful ones;) here.