Strawberry Pineapple Muffins

Delicious strawberry, pineapple, and coconut filled muffins.  A yummy summer muffin.  A tip for these (and any) muffins - transport them in a backpack with water bottles while in a tupperware instead of a ziploc bag.  Otherwise, they're great for all occasions.  (Everyone still loved them even after the water bottles wreaked havoc on them when we went hiking).

Delicious, fresh strawberry, pineapple and coconut muffins! Yum! 

Strawberry Pineapple Muffins (Gluten Free)

Makes ~12 muffins

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line muffin tins with liners.

In a large bowl, mix together:
1/2 cup crushed canned pineapple - in fresh pineapple juice (use the fruit & a little juice)
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Gently fold in:
1 cup fresh strawberries, washed & diced (I like to dice them into small pieces)

Ready to fold in the fresh strawberries

Divide into muffin tins lined with paper liners and bake at 375 F for 20-22 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Remove from pan to cool on a wire cooling rack.

Batter divided between muffin tins and ready to bake. 

Fresh from the oven! 

I prefer to let these muffins cool completely before eating, but they are nice warm, too.  You can freeze leftover muffins as well.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Strawberry Pineapple Muffins Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Flavorful Homemade Seafood Chowder

Packed with flavor, this wonderful, easy, homemade seafood chowder continues to be a favorite around here.   The nice thing about this seafood chowder is that it's usually easy to find a nice white fish, some salmon, and some fresh shrimp to cook into the chowder.  Although, when in season, I do love my seafood chowder packed with fresh lobster, too!  I made this flavorful homemade seafood chowder for a book club luncheon one day, and we had ladies going back to get another bowl!  Enjoy! 

Delicious bowl of fresh seafood chowder, half eaten because it's too delicious to wait! 

Flavorful Homemade Seafood Chowder (Gluten Free)

Serves 8

Saute in a large pot over medium heat for 4-5 minutes:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 onion, diced
2-3 carrots, sliced
dash salt and pepper

Add, and saute, stirring regularly for 5-7 minutes: (lower the heat a bit, if you're finding it's browning/sticking to the bottom of your pan too much)
1.5 lbs potatoes, diced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 - 3/4 cup diced fennel bulb (I LOVE the flavor this adds)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced OR 1/4 - 1/3 cup garlic scapes, sliced (if in season)

Add and cook an additional 1-2 minutes:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2-3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (adds spiciness, so use less if you prefer less bite)
3-5 dashes Tabasco sauce (can add extra, if you want more of a kick)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp dried oregano

I like to saute the vegetables for a longer period in the pan, then they can simmer for less time in order to really bring out the flavors and taste.  

Add, then simmer vegetable soup for ~7-8 minutes:
~3 cups water (just until top of veggies)
1 tsp lobster bouillon paste (this really adds a wonderful flavor to your chowder, but you can use a GF chicken bouillon or Asian mushroom seasoning, if needed)

Add to the pot, letting it start to simmer/bubble again while you mix the small bowl of cornstarch and liquids to thicken:
1 cup 10% cream OR whole milk (lactose-free works great)

Mix in a small bowl:
1/4 cup 10% cream OR whole milk
1/4 cup water
2-3 Tbsp cornstarch OR 1/4 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix

Once you've mixed the cornstarch together, you want to add it a little at a time to the bubbling soup.  Stirring and returning soup to a low boil to adjust thickness after you add each 1-2 Tbsp.  I prefer a less thick chowder, but cook and adjust, as you prefer.

Here's the chowder after being thickened a bit.  I prefer a just barely thickened creamy soup to the thick chowders sometimes served.  In this picture the soup is ready for seafood to be added. 

Once you've achieved the desire chowder thickness and returned your soup to a boil over medium-low to medium heat, add the following and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally:
2 fillets white fish (cod, haddock, or tilapia), cut in large bite-sized pieces
1-2 fillets salmon, cut in large bite-sized pieces
1-2 large handfuls of fresh shrimp (peeled, deveined, tails off), cut in half, if they're large

You can vary up the fish you use, as you prefer - scallops are great, too.  I like to use more mild-tasting fish, or they can overpower the other ones.

Taste test the soup at this point to adjust with salt and pepper, as desired.  The Old Bay Seasoning has quite a bit of salt, so I usually just add a dash of pepper.

This flavorful seafood chowder is wonderful served alongside garlic bread.  A few breads we enjoy eating as garlic bread are: a tasty Gluten Free French Bread-Style Bread, GF white bread, GF naan bread, and homemade GF sourdough bread. 

Gluten Free Homemade Seafood Chowder Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Delicious Chocolate-Packed Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies!

A new favorite chocolate chip cookie, even for my dad who usually doesn't like desserts with coconut in them.  These just have the most delicious flavor - and the extra crunch of coconut is delicious with the massive amount of chocolate chips.  I love using a variety of different sorts of dark chocolate chips in these.  Yum! I feel like these look a little darker in the pictures than they do in real life, but really you can make them lighter or darker depending on how crispy or soft you prefer your cookies.  Enjoy!  

Fresh out of the oven - these ones were maybe a little darker than I typically aim for, but you can get an idea of how they end up.  They generally don't spread as much as normal cookies because they're so full of chocolate chips.  If you want them to spread a little more, add an extra dash of vanilla extract or water.   

Fresh out of the oven! These ones had a little less chips and extra dash of vanilla. 

Delicious Chocolate-Packed Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes ~36 small cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the following:

½ cup butter

¾ cup light brown sugar

Then add and mix lightly:

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs (I recommend 2 small eggs, or 1 egg and 1 egg yolk)

In a separate bowl, mix together:  (you want to mix gluten-free flours with xanthan gum before adding it to the wet ingredients, so you don’t get clumping)

¾ cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 Tbsp potato starch

½ tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix just until combined.

Fold in:

1 - 2 cup chocolate chips (mixture of milk, semi-sweet, dark, and extra-dark chips - the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned when we're talking chocolate chip cookies!)

½ cup unsweetened flaked coconut (you can use sweetened flaked coconut, but it's not needed)

Drop 1 Tbsp-sized scoops of cookie dough onto parchment-lined baking pans.

My five year old LOVES helping me bake.  She scooped about half the cookies herself!

Ready to bake!

Bake cookies 7-9 minutes at 350 F, until nicely browned.  For a crispier cookie, you can cook them a minute or two longer. 

Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes on pan before removing to wire rack to cool. 

Enjoy!

Literally 15 minute after we filled the cooling rack with cookies.  Everyone keeps searching for the cookies with the most chocolate chips.  Ha! 

Packed with so many extra chocolate chips they were basically chocolate held together with a little cookie.  They were yummy!

Gluten Free Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!