Archives for “Holiday Food Fest”
Coconut Meringues
Desserts for the holidays in our family tend to be pies and cookies. Cookies are a great way to have a sweet bite after a big meal without overindulging. I’ve shared a lot of my pie recipes and some of my cookie recipes, but not one that’s “recently” become a family favorite. I only started making this recipe two years ago. Mom and I went to one of our local church bazaars in mid-November. It’s an impressive bazaar. There’s always a beautiful assortment of handmade items from baby blankets to fun and colorful knit scarves. I purchase many gift items to hold me over for baby showers, birthdays, etc. It’s hard to call it quits because there are so many lovely well-made items. The church is dedicated to providing such an array of wares that they only hold the bazaar every 2 years, to allow their members to make enough to sell.
The bazaar’s most popular feature by far is their cookie walk. Buyers choose whatever size container they would like to fill (from about 2-cup size to gallon-size) and then walk along two tables of very appealing cookies—about 30 different kinds. The choices aren’t gluten free or if they are made of gluten-free ingredients, there is no guarantee they are free of cross contamination, so I never partake. However, Mom always enjoys making her selections and filling her container. One of the cookie varieties she chose two years ago was coconut meringue. She and Dad ended up really enjoying these cookies and she wondered about the recipe. I searched online and found several versions. We chose the one with the simplest ingredients and we’ve been making it ever since. It’s naturally gluten free—which means gluten free easily … gfe! And, bonus—these cookies are also naturally dairy free! They are not as sweet as macaroons (which, frankly, I often find too sweet) and they are just a bit more substantial than true meringue cookies (or meringue-“siblings” like another gfe family favorite—forgotten cookies).
I realized when I shared these cookies at our support group’s anniversary open house that the recipe wasn’t here on gfe yet … although I had included it in my guest post on celiac over at my friend’s, Anali’s, blog (Anali’s First Amendment). This post solves that problem, plus it’s also my entry for this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! carnival. The theme is Holiday Cookies and the lovely Stephanie of Gluten Free by Nature is hosting. Stephanie has a very down-to-earth approach to cooking gluten free. She believes in cooking seasonally, and is, also, dairy free and mostly sugar free. But, as many of our fellow bloggers who cook gluten free and “other-free” have shown, there doesn’t have to be deprivation or less taste with any of those labels. Quite the contrary … check out Stephanie’s almond thumbprint cookies and you’ll see what I mean! If you’d like to enter a cookie recipe, please read the rules here. Of course, Naomi Devlin is the delightful originator of this popular gluten-free blog carnival—thanks from all of us, Naomi!
This week is also the last week of the Holiday Food Fest. The theme is Holiday Desserts, the perfect ending to our six-week event, and Jessica, also known as Fish Mama, who blogs at Life As Mom, is our host. The Coconut Meringues are my holiday dessert entry. Be sure to head over to add your favorite holiday recipe and enter the terrific giveaway (there’s a Desperate Housewives connection!) at Jessica’s blog. (She’s also announcing the winner of the Tropical Traditions coconut oil giveaway that was held on my Out and About page last week.) The Holiday Food Fest has been an event filled with fun and friendship between bloggers (Amy, our host; Alta, Jessica, Liz, Phoebe, and myself; and all our many blogging buddies!) and, you, our beloved readers, but most of all, it’s featured many fabulous recipes that you’ll want to check out if you haven’t already. No time now? Then you might check back after the holidays when things tend to settle down a bit. Of course, if you are still looking for last-minute gift ideas, you’ll want to check out Phoebe’s roundup of Edible Gifts, including packaging suggestions. Many entries are also frugal and/or quick to assemble. Who doesn’t love those factors just a week before Christmas … when you might have already spent the bulk of your budget? There’s no reason they couldn’t be used as gifts for other occasions as well. Please remember that all of the entries might not be gluten free, so adapt if necessary.
Okay, here’s the recipe … a little miniature of my crustless coconut pie, if you will:
Coconut Meringues
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)
2 egg whites
dash of salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Beat egg whites and dash of salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add in sugar while beating until peaks are stiff and glossy. Fold in coconut and vanilla. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto greased baking sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees about 15 – 18 minutes until set and very slightly browned. Center will still be soft. Let cool. Makes about 20 cookies.
Shirley’s Notes: A Silpat liner (as shown) can be used instead of a greased baking sheet, but I actually think I prefer using a greased baking sheet for this particular recipe. The cookies seem a little easier to remove using a greased baking sheet. If cookies harden while removing (when using the greased baking sheet) and are difficult to remove, just pop back in the oven for a few seconds and try again.
Shirley
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- Catch up with me on Twitter.
- “Like” gfe—glutenfreeeasily on Facebook to see updates/more content.
- Get gfe posts (including recipes) by email.
- Looking for a gfe recipe?
- Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.
Holiday Food Fest Is Up!
Hi all! Holiday Food Fest is up on my Out and About page. Click here or on the Out and About tab above. See what I’ve made and link up with your holiday recipe for a chance for a great giveaway!
I’ll be back with more here on my main page later. 
Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!
- Catch up with me on Twitter.
- “Like” gfe—glutenfreeeasily on Facebook to see updates/more content.
- Get gfe posts (including recipes) by email.
- Looking for a gfe recipe?
- Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.
Holiday Food Fest: POM’d Pork and Tropical Traditions
This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix–Pomegranates and Crockpot Wednesday.
Full disclosure: In October, I attended the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival in California—all expenses paid. I was not paid to write this post, but the POM Wonderful product used was given to me.
It’s Holiday Food Fest time once again! Because I’m hosting this week and Holiday Food Fest always features a fabulous giveaway, we’re gathering here at my Out and About page (where I post reviews, giveaways, and the like). Our theme is Holiday Dishes: Mains, Sides, Soups … really any holiday dish.
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jessica Meyer, the winner of the Tropical Traditions coconut oil! Jessica blogs at ATX Gluten Free. Thanks to everyone else who entered the giveaway!
Oh, what’s the giveaway? It’s a 32-ounce jar of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil, just like the one that’s shown in the photo below. 
The giveaway is open to those in the continental U.S. and will be open until next Wednesday, December 16, at 9:00 pm Eastern. There are several ways to enter the giveaway:
- Link your holiday dish AND link back to this post. (Link as many relevant posts as you choose.)
- Leave a comment.
- Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me that you did.
- Post about this giveaway on your blog, link back to this post, and leave a comment telling me you did.
Congratulations to last week’s winners of the Honeyville products! They are:
Susie (Susie’s Homemade)—5-lb bag of blanched almond flour.
Katie (Kitchen Stewardship)—Gift assortment of flax meal, gourmet cocoa, and freeze dried apples.
This week’s entrants, remember when you link, please tell us who you are and what you’re making. For example, I’d enter:
Shirley @ gfe–gluten free easily (POM’d Pork)
And, please make sure to link back to this post so that your readers can find the other recipes here.
Now for my recipe … while many of us have another round of turkey and ham for our upcoming holiday dinners, some of us like to change things up a bit. We always spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family. We get together in the afternoon and rather than a sit-down meal, we have an informal buffet of appetizers and desserts.
For this gathering, I’m planning to make a variation of a dish I made about not that long ago—POM’d Pork. I tested it today. My starting point was the Pomegranate Beef recipe that Stephanie shared over at A Year of Slow Cooking, which actually originated as Grass Fed Beef in Pomegranate Sauce by Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess. As soon as I received Stephanie’s fabulous new slow cooker cookbook, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Slow Cooking, I zeroed in on this recipe. I made it using pork and made a few other adjustments based on my own personal tastes and what was in my pantry.
The first time around, I used pork tenderloin. It turned out very well. Frankly, the incredible aroma emanating from the crockpot at the end of the day just about had me convinced how good this dish was before I even took my first bite! The POM Wonderful juice along with the other ingredients gives the pork amazing flavor and tenderness. It’s somewhat sweet, but not too sweet. Mr. GFE raved over this POM’d Pork. He said I needed to go on the road selling the stuff. (Seriously, he did. I don’t make this stuff up folks. He really says these things and he’s sincere, so I can’t get too annoyed when he goes on and on.) The first night I served the pork in slices with basic, but appealing sides (baked potatoes and steamed broccoli). But, after that, I decided I wanted the pulled pork effect and I semi-shredded the meat, added a tad of Tasty Sauce (which we always enjoy on pork), and served it as barbecue. “Cole slaw” (in my case, that would be a little poppy seed dressing on cole slaw mix—cabbage and carrots) and a few chips completed the super easy meal. This evening I went for some Great Salad with my POM’d Pork. The two make a wonderful combination of flavors.
Pork tenderloin is wonderful, but it usually doesn’t feed a big crowd. Even if you buy a large tenderloin, you’re still unlikely to have lots of leftovers. I wanted leftovers this time. Specifically, I wanted some to stick in the freezer for a ready meal after we return from our trip to Key West as the holidays come to a close. Plus, in all honesty, I didn’t want to go out and buy pork tenderloin at full price. Pork butts can be a great bargain—if on sale—and are so flavorful and versatile for cooking.
POM’d Pork
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced thin
3 pounds (or larger) pork tenderloin or pork butt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 garlic cloves (whole or minced)
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Use a large slow cooker. (I used my large oval Crockpot.) Pour olive oil in slow cooker; tilt so olive oil is evenly coating the bottom of the stoneware. Place onion slices over olive oil.
Place meat in slow cooker. Rub the spices over the surface of the meat. Top meat with garlic and whole can of tomatoes with green chilies. Mix pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar, and maple syrup, and gently pour over the meat so that the diced tomatoes and green chilies remain on top.
Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for approximately 5. The meat is done when it has reached desired tenderness. For pork tenderloin, I like it sliceable. For pork butt, I like it to pull apart easily with a fork.
Serve on buns or with a complementary side. (I’ll share a side dish recipe next week that’s easy to make, but that also impresses with its looks and taste.)
Shirley’s Notes: The photo of all the ingredients shows two cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies; however, I decided one would be sufficient after I poured it over the pork butt. Feel free to vary ingredients to your liking. Look to the original recipe for more ideas.
Adapted from Karina Allrich, Gluten-Free Goddess and Stephanie O’Dea, A Year of Slow Cooking and Make It Fast, Cook It Slow!
If you haven’t been following Holiday Food Fest or need to catch up, you can find the hostesses and themes for the previous weeks here. Visit each blog to get wonderful recipe ideas from some of the best bloggers—Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten Free, Alta of Tasty Eats at Home, Liz of Hoosier Homemade, Phoebe of Cents to Go Debt Free, Jessica of Life as Mom—and all our amazing blogging friends! Next week is the last week of the Holiday Food Fest and the event will be held at the Life as Mom blog with Jessica, a.k.a. Fishmama. The theme is Holiday Desserts!
If you need a dessert idea before then or just love drooling over desserts 24/7 these days (hey, I’m with you on that!), please be sure to check out the Gluten-Free Desserts Progressive Dinner Party that’s going on this week. You can find all the links here.
Remember that the Holiday Food Fest is an all-inclusive event. Some recipes will be frugal, some gluten free, some sugar free, some raw, and so on. Use the gfe approach … go for recipes that are naturally gluten free, look at easy ways to convert others to be gluten free, or just look to recipes for inspiration. Add your holiday dish below!
Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!
- Catch up with me on Twitter.
- “Like” gfe—glutenfreeeasily on Facebook to see updates/more content.
- Get gfe posts (including recipes) by email.
- Looking for a gfe recipe?
- Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.
About Me
Gluten free since June 2003, I lead a celiac/gluten intolerance group in Virginia. My passion is educating folks on gluten issues and showing how eating gluten free can be easy if you focus on “real” foods versus processed and specialty foods.
GFE's Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, but rather a volunteer sharing my experiences. Consult your physician for medical guidance. To the best of my knowledge, all ingredients/products that I use are gluten-free (even if I do not indicate that each and every time I mention them; e.g., if I refer to "soy sauce," it's a gluten-free soy sauce). However, I take no responsibility for the accuracy of that information. Always read labels and verify the gluten-free status of any ingredients/products to your own comfort level.
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