Peanut-butter Bars

As a wheat free newbie I'm constantly drooling over the cookies and treats that are brought to work functions. Well I whipped these up and brought them in and did they disappear fast! In fact this is the last one and I ate all the crumbs!

A gluten free-treat. I suppose you could make these as drop cookies, but I'm lazy and do them in a 9 x 9 greased pan.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1 c peanut butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 c. gluten-free baking mix
1 c.gluten-free oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
optional
1/2 c chopped peanuts
1/2 c chopped apricots

Heat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 9 pan.
Mix butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs beat well.
Add flour and oats. Mix.
Fold in peanuts and apricots (or whatever you choose)
Spread in pan. Batter will be thick.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.


Enjoy!

Raspberry-nectarine pie

They just came out of the oven - two juicy pies, deep garnet and golden with a crumble topping. Frost came last night so the last of the fresh local fruits will be disappearing from the farmers market. I used a mix of fresh raspberries and nectarines for this luscious treat. Here's how I did it
Ingredients: makes 2 pies, freeze one for later
Pie Crust:
1 c. brown rice flour
1 c. gluten-free baking mix
6 T butter
6 T margarine
dash salt
1 t. xanthan gum
1 T sugar
1/3 c. cold water

Mix dry ingredients well. Cut in butter and margarine with a pastry cutter or fork. Add water a bit at a time and knead together until the mixture makes a ball. Chill briefly before rolling or patting out into a greased pie tin. Divide into two balls. I just mushed the crust out with my hands and saved the hassle of getting out the rolling pin and cloth. Makes two bottom crusts.

Filling
1 qt raspberries
3 or 4 good-sized ripe nectarines
1/2 c sugar or to taste
4 T. cornstarch

Put raspberries into a bowl sprinkle with 1/4 c sugar and dust with 2 T. cornstarch, do the same to the cut-up nectarines. Let stand for at least a 1/2 hour to macerate the fruit and develop their juices. Evenly divide the two fruits into each pie crust.

Topping:
1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. sugar
6 T. butter
1/2 c. walnuts

Mix butter in with rest of ingredients until good and crumbly. Divide and sprinkle over pies.

Put pies in a preheated 350F oven and bake until fruit starts to bubble and set - 35-45 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing or it will run all over the place! Enjoy!

A new lifestyle

Arrgh - after 2 years of unrelenting pain, 13 doctors who misdiagnosed me, thousands of dollars in tests.....I found out it was the gluten in my life that was the cause. I started on a gluten-free diet this April and am still learning what I can and can't eat --- and finding out I have to abandon my habits of consuming processed food and change my lifestyle. It's getting easier.
Today my first gluten-free cookbooks came and I am inspired to get into the kitchen. I'm not a chef and I really didn't learn to cook until a few years ago. Watching the food channel, I would say to myself - well, yeah, I can do that! and I began experimenting in the kitchen. However my recipes are not usually written down, so I am endeavoring to - on this site to capture my successes and share my failures.