Archive for Breakfast
Banana Coffee Cake
Posted by: | CommentsI also have a revised recipe for this coffee cake that is dairy-free and uses slightly less sugar.
This is not your typical coffee cake. Thanks to the banana in the recipe, it is very moist and stays that way even after a couple days. Great for breakfast, brunch, and snacking. I’m submitting it to The Gluten-Free Homemaker for a blog carnival of gluten-free breakfast foods. So, if you’re looking for more gluten-free breakfast ideas, check out this week’s edition of “What Can I Eat That’s Gluten-Free?”
Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
Filling Layer:
1/2 Cup brown sugar, packed
1 TBSP butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Cake Batter:
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 Cup brown rice flour
1/2 Cup cornstarch
1/4 Cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 or 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 Cup milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare a 9″ cake pan by spraying with oil.
- Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (brown rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt) and then mix into the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
- Add bananas and milk. Stir well.
- Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the cake pan.
- Spoon in the filling and gently spread it over the top. It doesn’t need to be smooth and even.
- Pour the remaining batter over the filling. It doesn’t need to cover the filling completely.
- Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes.
Additional Notes:
- This also works in a 8×8 baking pan.
- You can also add chopped nuts to the filling.
- This cake also freezes well. I have wrapped and frozen individual portions, so that we can take out one at a time and heat it in the microwave. Great morning treat to grab-and-go on the way to the office.
- You may also want to consider this gluten-free recipe for breakfast meetings, tea parties, baby showers, bridal showers, etc.
Kids Make Fruit Kabobs
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I love to get the kids in the kitchen and have them help prepare meals. Well… that’s what I like to say. But honestly, when dinnertime comes around, I’m often rushing around to get it done. Instead of finding something the kids can do, I’m often scooting them out the kitchen, out of my way. With our summer activities finally slowing down this week, we were able to take our time and make something together. We decided to make something that’s always a kid favorite: Fruit Kabobs!
Fruit kabobs are a great activity for kids. You can use almost any fruit, they are in bite-size pieces, and the kids can put it together themselves (or with minimal help, depending on their ages). Melon is a perfect fruit to use on the kabobs because it is so easy to cut. I did the big cuts, and removed the rind from the fruit with the big, sharp knife. But then the kids could use a butter knife to easily cut the melon into bite-size pieces. They thought it was great. We had a cantaloupe, but watermelon and honey dew would be good additions. You can see from the picture that we used strawberries and grapes, too. Go ahead and use up whatever you have in the house. Of course, some fruit turns brown quickly, so if you’re making them in advance you’d probably want to avoid those.
Cutting the fruit. If your kids are older, consider letting them cut the fruit themselves with Rachael Ray’s Young Cooks Cutting Set
The Sticks. You can use a variety of sticks for skewering the fruit: toothpicks, bamboo skewers, coffee stirs, small skinny straws, or even chopsticks. But my favorite is plastic swizzle sticks, or Drink Stirrers
Good for kids and the family. This activity encourages kids to help out in the kitchen. Kids feel good about what they created. They get to pick the fruit they want, and then eat it! With the kids going back to school soon, I’m also thinking this activity is great for helping kids build fine motor skills.
Now that I got the kids back in the kitchen, I’m hoping to continue it more often. So, when I sit down to plan our meals for next week, I’m going to include one or two items that the kids can help prepare. Planning in advance will allow me to schedule around after-school activities and give us plenty of time to get it done. If you’re looking for some kid-friendly recipes, or maybe a little more inspiration, check out these online posts and articles:
Gluten-Free Kids in the Kitchen
Happy Kitchen Jam Tarts (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free)
Kids in the Kitchen: Spaghetti and (Gluten-Free) Meatballs
Other Online articles about Kids in the Kitchen:
Cooking with Kids Teaches About Simple Snacks
Dads and Kids Cooking Together
Why Invite Your Kids Into The Kitchen?
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Cantaloupe is the theme ingredient this week for Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. So check it out for more gluten-free recipes with cantaloupe.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
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For this month’s edition of Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, I chose to try one of Maureen’s recipes at Hold The Gluten. She has a wonderful blogging website that includes podcasts she records with content about the gluten-free diet. She has a great sense of humor, and I enjoy tweeting with her on Twitter. When looking through her recipes, there were several that caught my attention, but in the end I chose the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. I’d like to say I chose it because zucchini is in season, and as such is fresh, abundant, and inexpensive. But, in truth, it was the chocolate chips that sold me on the recipe. 
Other than the zucchini, I had most of the ingredients in the kitchen. However, I did have to add millet flour and agave nectar
The recipe came together as expected. After shredding the zucchini, I thought I would only need two of the green squash to make three cups. However, after wringing out the excess moisture, it compacted down. So, I shredded a third zucchini to get three cups as needed for the recipe. I used disposable mini loaf pans, and sprayed them with oil before pouring in the batter. I baked them all together for 35 minutes and they turned out perfect.
Now for the taste test: The texture is soft and airy, and a little crumbly — just as you would hope for it to be! 
While making the batter, I was afraid it wasn’t going to have enough chocolate chips for my liking, but I was wrong. It has just enough chocolate chips to make this bread fabulous. I really enjoyed it. I probably sliced it a little too soon. The bread was a little soft for slicing, but the chocolate chips were warm and gooey, and I couldn’t resist. My kids were anxious to try it, too. Unfortunately, they were a little thrown off by the green bits in the bread. “Did you put spices in here?” is what they said and gave it one tiny bite. I personally like the green bits, and the color it adds to the bread. The zucchini pieces are soft and do not add any tough or gritty bits to the bread. Instead it just blends into the bread. Perfect.
The recipe does make four small loaves, so I’m going to put some in the freezer to have in another month or two. I’ll try to remember to update next month to let you know how it does defrosted.
Be sure to check out other recipes tried out this month for Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger. There’s still time to sign up and try something new for yourself, too.
And, if you’re looking for more zucchini recipes, go over to The W.H.O.L.E. Gang where it’s the secret ingredient for this week’s Friday Foodie Fix.
Berry Good Summertime Salad
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Another favorite, quick and easy recipe of mine is this one for a berry fruit salad. It’s perfect for summertime, when berries are in season. I got this recipe from my sister, though I reduced the amount of sugar because I just didn’t think it needed that much. The balsamic vinegar does a great job of bringing out the flavors of the berries.
And because it’s naturally gluten-free, it makes a great dish to have at parties with Celiacs and non-Celiacs. (No special gluten-free flours or ingredients needed. Just double check that the vinegar is gluten-free. I’ve never found a balsamic vinegar that has gluten, but it’s always good to check.)
Berry Fruit Salad
Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP sugar
Directions:
- Clean and dry all the berries and put into a medium bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and sugar. Then pour over the berries and gently toss to coat.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
Addtional Notes:
- Use any berries that are fresh and in season. You can see in the picture above, I didn’t have raspberries to add in, but it was still delicious.
- If you’re taking this to a party where you probably won’t eat right away, consider taking the vinegar/sugar mix in a separate container. Then pour it over the fruit and toss to coat when you get to the party. Put it into the refrigerator until time to eat.
- This also works great for a gluten-free dessert. Add fresh whipped cream or pour over vanilla ice cream.
For more recipes with blueberries, check out Friday’s Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.
Creamed Eggs
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Diane at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang has started a new weekly recipe challenge, Friday Foodie Fix. This week’s featured ingredient is eggs. Perfect! My kids colored and decorated two dozen hard-boiled eggs this week for Easter. So, I’ve been thinking about what we’re going to do with all of them. With my parents visiting for spring break, we decided to make one of my dad’s favorite meals for breakfast: Creamed Eggs.
Creamed Eggs
Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP rice flour (or other gluten-free flour)
salt & pepper to season
3/4 Cup milk
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into small cubes
2 slices toast or English muffin (gluten-free variety, of course)
paprika
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add in rice flour and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour milk into saucepan. Increase heat and stir frequently until the sauce thickens.
- Stir the eggs into the sauce.
- Pour the creamed eggs over toast or an English muffin. Sprinkle a dash of paprika on top.
Additional Note:
- For cheesy creamed eggs, stir in 1/3 cup shredded or processed cheese to the thickened sauce and let it melt before adding the eggs.
- Consider adding a minced clove of garlic to the melted butter and saute before adding the flour.
Notable Links:
- For more recipes with eggs check out Friday Foodie Fix.
- Need tips on cooking hard-boiled eggs? Check out Kalyn’s Kitchen.
- How to make “perfect easy-to-peel hard-cooked eggs”at Anastasia’s Table.
- I’ve also linked this recipe to The W.H.O.L.E. Gang’s collection of Father’s Day Favorites.
