Archives for “Friday Foodie Fix”

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding (Gluten Free, Dairy Free–If You Wish)

March 12, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, bread, breakfast, dessert, easy, gluten free, recipe, treats ·18 Comments

Along with pound cake, bread pudding is a dessert I grew up eating. One of my grandmothers made great bread pudding. It was one of the few things she was still making “from scratch” when I was growing up. My mom’s bread pudding was very similar to that made by my dad’s mother—both in taste and quality. Of course, I learned from both of them and made bread pudding the same way—using stale bread and saved ends of bread and throwing it all together with a few eggs, spices, and milk. There was never a recipe. You sort of eyeballed how much bread you had once you crumbled it in a bowl, covered it with milk, added some eggs, and went on from there. This method actually worked pretty well, but you were never 100% sure your bread pudding would be a success until you had your first bite. Then one day a good friend of mine, Denise, brought her bread pudding into work for a luncheon. It was wonderful! It had a rich custard flavor, but wasn’t heavy in any way, and the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla made both the smell and taste lovely. Best of all, Denise had an actual recipe … with measurements. What a concept! LOL With her recipe, one could re-create delicious bread pudding over and over—with no moments of uncertainty. I passed the recipe on to my mom and she’s been enjoying using it for many years now. Denise’s recipe guarantees success every time. Incidentally, Denise also made a scumptious pound cake. That recipe she would not share. Instead, she made pound cakes for everyone during the holidays. As you can imagine, nobody complained about the lack of the actual recipe.

Of course, going gluten free made me push the bread pudding recipe card to the back of the box. But, when I had some leftover gluten-free challah bread from a vendor’s donation to our support group, I thought it was time to pull out the recipe again. I’m happy to report that it worked beautifully! So start saving your stale bread and look forward to a delightful dessert. It makes a very nice breakfast, too. Bread pudding is often served with distinctive sauces like lemon, vanilla, caramel, and even whiskey, but I grew up enjoying it with a little milk poured over it. (We actually did that for any type of pudding.) This time, I enjoyed it with a drizzle of honey mixed with some vanilla.

Oh, Mr. GFE is not a big fan of bread pudding … unless I add some raisins, then he’ll enjoy a bowl or two. I added a small amount of raisins to part of the bread pudding mix left in the bowl to allow one section of the pan just for him. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos that really show the raisins. But, if you love raisins, be sure to head over to Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang where you’ll find lots of recipes that feature raisins.

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding (Gluten Free, Dairy Free–If You Wish)
(Click here for a printable version of this recipe.)

6 eggs
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
12-ounce can evaporated milk (see coconut milk substitution in notes below)
½ can (¾ cup) of water
1 cup raisins, optional
4 cups of gluten-free bread, crumbled (I like chunky pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease 9 x 11 baking pan.

In large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract.

Add bread and raisins (if used) to mixture.

Pour milk into saucepan. Fill milk can halfway with water; add to saucepan with water. Heat milk and water over medium heat until warm, not hot.

Add milk and water mix to other ingredients in bowl. Let sit 5 minutes.

Pour into baking pan and bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold, topped with milk or any sauce of your choice.

Shirley’s Notes: Any leftover bread, muffins, waffles, and such, should work. Even the results of failed recipes for such “bread” products could potentially be used. If you only have a small amount at any given time, just stockpile them in a container in the freezer until you have 4 cups worth. If using coconut milk, you can use the full can, which is generally 14 ounces, but be sure to use only ½ cup of water in that case.

Adapted from my friend, Denise

The bowl in the photos is from my grandmother’s china. Even with cracks and chips, it gives me such joy to use it. Spooning my bread pudding out of this bowl, I can almost imagine myself back at Grandma’s table.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: bread, breakfast, dairy free, easy, GFE, gluten free, go ahead honey, pudding, raisins, recipe

Maple-Nut Sundae and Xagave

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, Out and About, dairy free, dessert, easy, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan, vegetarian ·51 Comments

Full disclosure: The nice folks at Xagave sent me some of their Xagave nectar to use at the beginning of the year. They also provided a cookbook, Where Nutritious Meets Delicious, of recipes using Xagave. The Xagave and cookbook for this giveaway were complimentary as well. However, I was not paid to write this post. I am writing the post because I like the taste of the Xagave over other agave nectar products that I have used.

This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix—Agave (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang).

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner of this gfe giveaway—Lauren of Celiac Teen! Thanks to all who entered and special thanks to the Xagave folks for sponsoring the giveaway!

One of the most popular spots in our area is Carl’s Frozen Custard. Carl’s is a family-owned ice cream “mecca.“ Carl’s has been in business since 1947 and still uses its original 1940s Electro-Freeze ice cream machine. Housed in an Art Deco-style building, Carl’s has colorful neon illumination, including a giant cone. As far back as I can remember, we’d go to Carl’s. It’s been on my mind lately because it opened for the season a week ago. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t go to Carl’s as a special treat. We lived a half-hour away so we didn’t visit frequently. Now I still live a half-hour away—just in the other direction—so we still do not visit frequently. That makes any visit to Carl’s a special occasion. However, there was a period of time (part of college and a few years afterwards) when I lived just a mile or two away from Carl’s. In college, I even devised a Carl’s diet. Yes, I’ll admit it. I’d go to Carl’s when it opened at 11:00 am, get a small chocolate shake, inhale it, and then not ingest anything until I ate a small dinner. Oh, I did lose weight, but it was one of several foolhardy dieting strategies of youth and was soon abandoned. (Melissa’s recent post on her fabulous Montana Cookies mentioned The Hollywood Cookie Diet, which reminded me of my short-lived Carl’s Diet.) Because Carl’s is not open year round, we tend to go immediately when it opens for the season, stop a few times during the summer, and then stop by right before it closes in November. There’s always a line of folks waiting (except when it’s closed as shown in my photo). Often it’s a very long line, but the staff is the picture of efficiency, taking no time to exchange pleasantries. Non-locals are often amazed at how short the wait can be.

My favorites at Carl’s have changed over time. There was a period of time where I went for a simple vanilla or chocolate sugar cone. Then, I became somewhat addicted to the maple-nut sundaes. Imagine vanilla frozen custard covered with a gooey mixture of maple syrup and walnuts. Their sundae was way too sweet, but hard to resist at the time. When I became a teenager, hot fudge sundaes with nuts were my order. However, as I became more mobile, sitting to eat a sundae did not seem practical, so I moved on to chocolate shakes. Then one day, Mr. GFE and I were both in line and we heard the person in front of us order a hot fudge shake. Hot fudge shake? We both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and when the cashier/server looked at me for my order, the words, “hot fudge shake” came out. Mr. GFE ordered the same and we’ve never looked back. There’s nothing mysterious about this treat. They simply add a squirt or two of hot fudge to the chocolate milkshake before completing the mechanical stirring action. The flavor is fabulous. We both agree that we could never go back to a regular chocolate shake again. Yes, the hot fudge shake is definitely our choice these days. But, when I saw Diane’s secret ingredient was agave, Carl’s maple-nut sundae came to mind.

I found a maple-walnut syrup recipe at Recipezaar.com that sounded similar to what I wanted. However, it contained corn syrup, maple syrup, and granulated sugar. I omitted the corn syrup, omitted the granulated sugar, and added a small amount of Xagave—all of which increased the ratio of walnuts to syrup. Per the Xagave site, “Xagave is a premium blend of agave nectar derived from organic agave salmiana (white agave) and organic inulin from agave tequilana (blue agave). This combination results in the highest quality nectar with the best taste, best cooking qualities and the most heealth benefits of any nectar on the market; making our nectar the perfect sweetener for all of your cooking, canning, and baking needs.” I actually do like the taste better than any other agave nectar I’ve tasted.

In the end, the taste and consistency of the maple-nut syrup I made using Xagave, maple syrup, and water was just right—plenty sweet, but not too sweet, with softened walnuts hunks, and, of course, no refined sugar. When the maple-nut syrup was finished cooking, the vanilla ice cream was also ready. I waited for the maple-nut syrup to cool just a tad before ladling some over the ice cream. The resulting maple-nut sundae was incredibly good. Then my immediate concern became the fact that I was home alone with enough ice cream and maple-nut syrup to make several sundaes. Miraculously, Son and a buddy of his showed up … whewww, that was close! I fed them lunch and then served their sundaes. Son raved over his sundae, especially how good the walnuts tasted. That’s saying a lot because he typically does not like nuts in his dishes.

This sundae is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, egg free, soy free, and probably “more free,” but it still tastes of indulgence.

Maple-Nut Sundae
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

Vanilla Ice Cream

1/3 cup Xagave (or honey)
3 cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled (2 cans)
1 ½ – 2 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
some scraping from inside one vanilla bean (optional, to taste)

Mix all together in bowl with mixer or in blender. Add to ice cream maker and churn 20 to 30 minutes. Chill in freezer after churning if needed. Scoop and top with maple-nut syrup (recipe below).

Maple-Nut Syrup

1/2 cup Xagave
1 cup maple syrup
½ cup water
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or walnut halves)

Combine Xagave, maple syrup, and water in sauce pan.

Bring to a boil slowly, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat and simmer until syrup thickens, about 15 minutes.

Stir in walnuts; simmer about 5 minutes more. Mixture will thicken upon standing.

Cool enough to serve warm (but not hot) over ice cream or refrigerate and serve later.

Shirley’s Notes: I used a very heavy pan that was much larger than needed so I would not have to worry about stirring constantly to keep the mixture from burning. I loved the process. As the mixture simmered and bubbled, it put on quite a show as you can see from the photo above. The syrup will “harden” quite a bit in the refrigerator. Therefore, reheating or at least allowing syrup to return to room temperature may be necessary if it has been chilled for a long period of time.

It might be Friday, but it’s Sundae time … enjoy!

UPDATE: The Xagave folks are sponsoring a giveaway of a 25-ounce bottle of Xagave and their cookbook, Where Delicious Meets Nutritious. While the cookbook is not exclusively gluten free, most of the recipes are naturally gluten free (e.g., flan) or easily made gluten free (teriyaki sauce).

The deadline for the giveaway is Friday, February 26, 9:00 pm, Eastern.

Here are the many ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Subscribe to my feed via email or RSS and leave a comment saying that you did.
3. Tweet about the giveaway sharing the link and leave a comment saying that you did.
4. Post a message on your Facebook page about the giveaway and leave a comment saying that you did.
5. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying that you did with your link.
6. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment saying that you did.
7. Become a fan of my new gfe-gluten free easily page on Facebook and leave a comment saying that you did.
8. Read and comment on any of the posts in the Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. You can find all the links here. Then leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

All entries will be tracked by the individual comments, so you must enter a separate comment to get an additional entry. One comment showing you did all these things will only be counted as one entry, so please remember to note each by separate entries.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: agave, coconut, cookbook giveaway, dairy free, easy, GFE, giveaway, go ahead honey, honey, maple, nuts, slow cooker

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

January 27, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, GAHIGF, Slightly Indulgent, What can I eat ..., easy, flourless, gluten free, recipe, treats ·33 Comments

I’ve been waiting to make oatmeal cookies for a while now. I use a Washington Post recipe that I found online a few years back. I’ve adapted the directions to meet my needs for gfe and added a few ingredients from time to time. Finally, my certified gluten-free oats arrived! (I buy my Gifts of Nature certified gluten-free rolled oats through the large Gluten Intolerance Group I belong to. The large group order means a discount price with free shipping.) Let’s talk about certified gluten-free oats, and what that means exactly, for a moment.

You’ll see lots of discussions on oats and their safety for those on a gluten-free diet on the web, with, of course, some wonderful recipes. In fact, Ellen, of I Am Gluten Free, recently had a great post (including a video) on making gluten-free granola. She talked about using gluten-free oats and the discussion continued in her comments section.

Here are the facts as I see them. There are six companies whose oats are certified gluten free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO). (In gathering data for this post, I found two more that I didn’t know about.) They are Gifts of Nature, Only Oats, Gluten-Free Oats, Cream Hill Estates, Montana Gluten-Free Processors, and Montana Monster Munchies (Legacy Valley Oats). The GFCO, which is a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group, has rigorous testing and standards, certifying to less than 10 ppm gluten. You can read more here in their FAQs. You might be wondering about the 10 ppm requirement. Isn’t that less than 20 ppm, the accepted level? you might ask. Well, less than 20 ppm is the level that the FDA has talked about establishing as the threshold for a “gluten-free” label, but this requirement has not actually been established. In fact, the FDA announced a few months ago that they are gathering more data through a survey before making this decision. You can read more about the basis for their additional fact gathering in a post by Amy Ratner at the Gluten-Free Living blog, if you are interested. It’s the best write-up I’ve seen about what seems to be going on regarding establishing the definition of ”gluten free” at the moment.

I am extremely sensitive to gluten. The mainstream cereal and baking mix products that have recently entered the market as gluten free have made me sick. Repeatedly. I do not plan to try them again. Apparently, less than 20 ppm is not a safe level for me. (I’ve heard the same reported by many others on blogs and forums. Some who are eating these products, with no noticeable issues, have stated that folks may be reacting to preservatives versus in these products. However, I don’t see how a dermatitis herpetiformis reaction—that many have experienced—can be tied to a preservative. However, that’s a discussion worthy of another post.) Therefore, personally, the very few gluten-free specialty products that I do consume will contain less than 10 ppm of gluten; i.e, those certified by the GFCO.

If you eat gluten free, but have continued to eat mainstream oats like Quaker or McCann’s and say “they don’t bother me,” please seriously consider the following.

Tricia Thompson, MS RD (who is also known as The Gluten-Free Dietitian), did a study on the amount of gluten in oats in 2004. Not only have the results of Tricia’s study been widely reported on numerous sites and in Gluten-Free Living magazine, but she spoke to my support group last year about a safe, healthy gluten-free diet. Therefore, we had an opportunity to hear her speak on her study at length. Specifically, her study, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed high amounts of gluten in Quaker, McCann’s, and Country Choice oats. Sure, there were some samples that contained less than 20 ppm, but, and this is a big BUT, others contained varying levels from 23 ppm to 1807 ppm. If you continue to eat these mainstream oats, one might say that you are playing the oats version of Russian Roulette with your health. Remember … not all reactions and symptoms of gluten exposure and damage are readily apparent. In fact, there was a Q & A in this month’s issue of Gluten-Free Living that applies directly here. The reader inquired about the impact of cheating occasionally. Ivor Hill, MD, responded as follows:

“Continued or repeated cheating on the diet will lead to progressive damage, and we know that in some cases, this can be fairly extensive for some years before clinical signs develop.”

Whatever the threshold that you have decided not to surpass in your own gluten-free eating, less than 10 ppm or less than 20 ppm, anything over that amount would be cheating. So, again please consider Tricia Thompson’s study and Dr. Hill’s warning. You don’t want the first sign of a problem with mainstream oats to be the development of a much more serious condition (caused by continued gluten ingestion) a few years down the road.

To further confuse things, not everyone who eats gluten free can tolerate even GFCO-certified gluten-free oats. While studies have shown that certified gluten-free oats are largely safe for those with celiac disease, a small percentage of those with celiac cannot tolerate the gluten-free oats. These issues almost certainly extend to those who have non-celiac gluten issues as well, but apparently no studies on the effects of gluten-free oats on these individuals have been conducted. In our support group, there are a handful of us (myself included) that either cannot eat gluten-free oats at all or can only tolerate small amounts from time to time. For me, that means a few cookies occasionally. I cannot eat oats on a daily basis, even the 1/4- to 3/4-cup that is often considered safe for adults who have been gluten free for some time, and introduced gradually. Gluten-Free Living has a comprehensive article, All About Oats, in this month’s issue if you’d like to read more.

Okay, let’s get to the fun part—the cookies! I was on Twitter the other night and I decided to get some baking input from my friends there. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation (reprinted with permission from the participants):

@Shirleygfe–My #gfree oats are in. Making flourless oatmeal cookies. Plain? With raisins? or with chocolate chips? What’s your vote?
@jenniferGFinGA–I vote for plain; I don’t care for added stuff in my cookies; mucks up the process
@celiacteen–Everything. Whatever strikes your fancy. I just open my cupboards and hope for the best!
@pilateschik–I prefer oatmeal raisin!! Please & thank you!
@PoeticDreams–why not both, Raisins & Chocolate Chips?
@cook4seasons–How ’bout dried cranberries? btw – is there any texture/flavor difference with #GF oats? (Shirley’s Note: Certified gluten-free oats are grown in dedicated fields and processed on dedicated equipment. Both are constantly inspected and tested to ensure no gluten. Otherwise, these are oats like any other oats, so there are not taste differences between gluten-free rolled oats and mainstream rolled oats.)
@celiacteen–What about all of those together? I would eat it =D
@ErinElberson–I think I have eaten them all together…without waiting to cook!
@Shirleygfe to @celiacteen–Hey that sounds like a cookie version of ur date truffles … sort of. The everything cookie … similar 2 the everything bagel.
@celiacteen–Didn’t think of that, but I like it. I really like it =D.

Finally, Amy weighed in.

@Amys_SSGF–I think you should bring those cookies to my house.

The girl knows how to get to the point, doesn’t she?

In the end, I went with Jennifer’s advice—plain–—for several reasons. First, I discovered that I didn’t have any mini-chocolate chips on hand after all. Second, Mr. GFE is not particularly fond of cranberries. Third, my package of raisins yielded raisins that were too dried up, even though it had not been opened previously. (The package of raisins from which I give our pet chinchilla his daily treat yielded much juicier raisins. However, too many little “feeding” hands had been in that package of late for me to feel comfortable using any of them for my own consumption. I should have just soaked my “new” raisins a bit, but I didn’t think of that until later.)

These cookies are so easy to make and, of course, are gfe worthy because they are also flourless. The middles are delightfully chewy, but the outer edges and bottoms are caramelized and, therefore, crispier. Note that the cookie batter must be chilled for about 30 minutes. That’s not a big deal if you know that ahead of time. I took the opportunity to get a fire going in the wood stove and catch up with my good friend, Rodney Yee. Rodney promises a “smooth transition from sleep to activity.” He and his A.M. Yoga routine always deliver.

By the way, if you’re finding flourless and crustless baking to be your thing, please check out the many flourless recipes here on gfe, like Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (even a variation with Nutella), Coconut Meringues, flourless chocolate cakes (the classic, 3-minute wonders, chocolate banana honey walnut, double-chocolate Clementine), and even Flourless Pizza. Looking for more ideas? My friend, Chaya, of Chaya’s Comfy Cook Blog, is posting a whole month of flourless recipes. Chaya is a cooking and baking fanatic … and I mean that in the very best way! She posted a flourless cashew butter cookies recipe not too long ago that I really want to try soon.

Flourless Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

1/3 cup unsalted butter (I believe coconut oil will work, but I haven’t tried it yet)
1 1/2 cups certified gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips; finely chopped raisins; finely chopped dried cranberries; 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts; or, combination of all these ingredients that equals no more than 2/3 cup total (optional)

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. Place oats in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in both sugars and the salt and blend to break up any lumps.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the melted butter, vanilla extract, and egg. Stir this egg mixture into the oat mixture and add chocolate chips or raisins (if used), mixing with your hands or a large wooden spoon to work in the ingredients. Form into a large ball of dough.

Chill the dough about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Meanwhile, prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper.

Chilled dough will still be somewhat soft. Form the dough into 1-inch balls (or lumps; don’t stress) and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball down very slightly.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned (but not too brown; mine actually are too brown in these photos) and the tops of the cookies are medium golden in color.

Cool well on the baking sheet (about 10 minutes) before attempting to remove, using a spatula. (I placed mine on my cold screened porch for 10 minutes as they were already sufficiently cooked and I didn’t want them to bake any further on the cookie sheet.)

Recipe makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies.

Shirley’s Notes: If you add any of the optional ingredients, it’s very important that the pieces be finely chopped or already small, like mini chocolate chips (which, of course, also melt and hold things together). These cookies come out pretty flat and the dough is not substantial enough to include whole raisins, whole dried cranberries, etc. The original recipe states that the dough can also be brought to room temperature and flattened more when placed on the baking sheet to make a large, crisp and lace-like cookie. I haven’t tried this method yet, but you do get the lace-cookie look and taste from the edges of the cookies made as shown above. I love lace cookies though, so I do plan to try that version, too. Last, if you are not eating gluten free, you can use any brand of rolled oats.

Adapted from The Washington Post

What else is happening?

Today, Wednesday, January 27 (9:00 PM Eastern), is the last day to enter the giveaway of Stephanie O’Dea’s Make It Fast, Cook It Slow cookbook. Visit my Out and About page.

Kim Bouldin at Gluten Free is Life is doing an iHerb giveaway. Be quick; it ends today as well—Wednesday, January 27, at midnight! Kim is a new writer for Celiac-Disease.com. Congrats, Kim! She still writes for The Examiner, as well. She’s running these days for sure, but not just for her gluten-free pursuits. She’s training for a marathon. Do any of us who blog gluten free just mope around? I don’t think so. LOL Kim—You go, girl!

By the way, I won the iHerb giveaway that Amy held this past week at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free and am tickled pink that I’ll get to do some free shopping for products that fit the gfe approach. Thanks to Amy and iHerb! This post is linked to Amy’s weekly roundup, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Amy is super busy these days … she’s going to culinary school! Woohoo, Amy! She’ll be teaching us more than ever folks.

Speaking of The Examiner, Heather Collins of life, gluten free is also now one of their writers. She is the Boulder Natural Health Examiner. You can check out her first article here. Congratulations on the new gig, Heather. We’ll be looking forward to your articles!

This post is linked to Linda’s weekly Wednesday roundup, What Can I Eat That’s Gluten Free? Next week, the theme will be casseroles. Be sure to note that on your calendar and join in or gather some great new gluten-free casserole recipes.

Tomorrow, Thursday, January 28, is the last day to enter The Gluten-Free Lifestyle blog carnival originated by Kim Hopkins (The Food Allergy Coach). I’m hosting this month. You can submit your entry here. You don’t have to include a new post; an old one that fits the definition of “tips, recipes, health information, and support for people adjusting to life with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or gluten sensitivity.” will work just fine. Just update your post to include a link to the carnival once it’s up (around February 1).

Tomorrow (Thursday, January 28) is also the final day to enter the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free (GAHIGF) carnival. You know how fond I am of that fun, monthly event, started by one of my favorites, Naomi (Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried). Laura at Mouthgasmic is this month’s host. Her theme is Stews from Around the World. Many of us have been in stew and soup mode that last month (as demonstrated in the Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party held last week), so I’m sure we can find a post that works for GAHIGF. Again, if you use an older post, please remember to update your post to include a link to the carnival. You can submit your entry per Laura’s guidelines shown here. Snow is in our forecast, so I actually have more stews and soups planned for this week … maybe one of each!

Friday is Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix (FFF) over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. The “secret” ingredient is beans. If you have a stew that calls for beans, perhaps you can link it up to both GAHIGF and the FFF. For the trifecta, submit your entry to The Gluten-Free Lifestyle carnival, too. Back to the beans, I think this FFF might get as many entries as the previous one featuring chocolate, and of course, there are always cacao beans. I wonder if Diane thought of that!

Next Friday, is Flipping Fast Fridays over at Chelsey’s—The Crazy Kitchen. This event is always held the first Friday of each month. Your entry should be for a recipe that can be made in 30 minutes or less. We all need those types of recipes, right? Incidentally, Chelsey very graciously featured me on her blog this week. If you want to read more about me and the gfe approach, please check it out here.

Please support your wonderful fellow bloggers and readers by sharing great recipes and info via these carnivals/roundups; it’s easy enough to do. Now, once you’re caught up with those events, you’ll want to bake these Flourless Oatmeal Cookies. Okay, maybe you’ll want to make the cookies and enjoy them while you catch up. I had two of these great cookies and some raw almonds as my breakfast. Hey, spread some peanut butter between two and you’ll have your own gluten-free version of the Girl Scout Do-Si-Do cookie—just soooo much better.

Mr. GFE was so happy to see these cookies in the snowman tin when he got home yesterday. Please report back on any variations you make. I’m definitely going to be making that Everything version soon … and the lace cookie version … and one with coconut oil and honey, and another with …

Enjoy!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!