Garlic-y grilled cheese - a perfect birthday lunch when my brother visited (he's a huge fan of both cheese and garlic).  Homemade bread with a homemade mix of garlic butter.  Yum! 

Birthday Garlic-y Grilled Cheese!

Garlic-y Grilled Cheese!

Garlic butter makes ~8 sandwiches, so you can make more, as needed. 

Make in advance, so it can cool an hour or two before slicing: 

Delicious French Bread-Style Family Loaves  I used all eggs instead of only egg whites for these grilled cheese sandwiches when making the bread and make a 4 loaf batch of bread for taller sandwiches.   

Mix together garlic butter:

1/2 cup softened butter

~1 Tbsp minced garlic

1-2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp parsley

Slice cheese for your grilled cheese, some nice options are: 

old cheddar, gouda, swiss, marbled

Heat a cast-iron or similar pan over medium-low heat.  You want these grilled cheese to cook slow enough for the cheese to melt in the center, while nicely toasting the exteriors.  

Layer in your pan a slice of garlic-buttered bread, 2 layers of cheese, topped with another layer of garlic-buttered bread.  

Buttered bread, ready to make the sandwiches!

Cooking on the cast iron.

Cook until nicely browned on both sides.  You can flip these a few times to make sure they're evenly cooked and the cheese is nicely melted.  Serve immediately! Enjoy! 

Yummmmm.! 

Garlic Grilled Cheese Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 My youngest loves planning baking experiments with me.  We saw GF lemon loaf in the freezer at the grocery store, and decided to grab ourselves two fresh lemons and whip up our own loaves!  Then we loved it so much, we made it again... then again.  You can make them as two large loaves or 6 mini loaves. Personally, I love the mini loaves, but both are great. Yum! Absolutely delicious! And we added a little lemon glaze to the top which is just lovely. Enjoy!

A tasty slice of GF lemon loaf

Large lemon loaves, glazed and ready to eat!

My mini-me -  mixing together the glaze on top.

Lemon Loaf (mini or large size GF lemon bread loaves)

Makes 2 large or 6 mini loaves

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line bread pans with parchment paper. 

In a mixer, combine: 

1 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup white rice flour

1/3 cup arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup potato starch

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Add and beat slowly, then increase speed to medium/medium-fast for 3 minutes: 

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

zest 1 lemon

3 drops lemon essential oil (or extra Tbsp of lemon zest)

Batter is ready to fill the pans!  She was so excited to help make this yummy bread.

Divide between 2 large bread loaf pans or 6 mini loaf pans lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes for mini loaves and 45 minutes for large loaves.   Remove from oven and mix together glaze while your loaves sit 3-5 minutes in pan. 

I usually fill the pans ~2/3 full.  Here are the large loaf pans before baking.

And the large loaves after baking! They smell delicious!

Mini loaves after baking.

Mix together glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

zest 1 lemon 

Remove parchment paper and loaves from pan, *keeping parchment paper underneath each loaf to help catch excess glaze.  Spoon and spared glaze over each loaf.  Enjoy warm or cooled.  Cool loaves can be sliced and either refrigerated or sliced and frozen for later!

Large loaves, glazed and parchment paper under to catch any excess glaze.

Mini loaves, being glazed - I like to leave the parchment to help catch excess glaze.

A large loaf sliced.

We served the mini loaf slices with fresh strawberries. Yum!

Lemon Loaf (mini or large size GF lemon bread loaves) recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 My husband's favorite fruit is blueberry, so every summer we make something blueberry-filled to celebrate.  One of the favorites has been the little blueberry-banana cakes - or sometimes we go for lemon-blueberry or just straight blueberry flavors, but this summer I got to thinking that chocolate covered blueberries are tasty - so why not make a chocolate blueberry birthday cake!  This uses the blueberry filling from our favorite blueberry cream cheese pie, then has layers of a light spongy chocolate cake and chocolate ganache.  Yum!  It was absolutely delicious! And it slices up beautifully, too! Enjoy!

Blueberry & Chocolate Birthday Cake, ready for the ganache writing on the top!

Fancy ganache writing on top - if you time it right, the ganache just barely melts into the top layer, creating a beautiful look.

A slice of blueberry chocolate cake! 

Blueberry & Chocolate Birthday Cake!

Blueberry Filling:

In a medium saucepan, combine and heat over medium heat: 
300 g (11 oz) frozen wild blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
pinch of salt
Let cook, stirring occasionally, until boiling.

Whisk together in a small bowl:

2 1/2 Tbsp water

2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Add cornstarch mixture to boiling blueberries, stirring constantly.  Bring mixture back to a boil and let boil a few minutes until mixture has thickened (keep stirring).  Remove from heat and add: 
1 1/2 - 2 tsp butter

Scoop into a wide, low bowl and cover with plastic wrap on surface.  Set aside to cool.  

Chocolate Sponge Cakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Butter the edges and line 2 quarter sheet baking pans with parchment paper (quarter sheet baking pans are approx 8x12 inner dimension or 9x13outer dimension metal cookie sheets - I LOVE this size.  Perfect for the toaster oven, and perfect when you have multiple things you want to roast separately in the regular oven, and of course, opera-style cakes!)

Melt together, then set aside:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

In a small measuring cup, combine to make a "buttermilk": 

2 Tbsp white vinegar

milk to equal 1 cup (lactose-free or milk substitutes work)

In a large bowl, whisk together: 

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder (extra dark works nicely in this recipe)

1/4 cup white rice flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Add and whisk in until smooth: 

1 cup buttermilk, from above

melted butter & dark chocolate, from above

1/4 cup oil

6 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Batter whisked and ready to put into the prepared pans.

Divide between the two parchment-lined pans.  Bake at 350 F for approximately 15-18 minutes.  These are nice and thin, so they cook quickly.  They should look nicely dried, but not burned or too dark on the edges. They should look no longer wet in the center.  Depending on your oven, they may need an extra minute or two.

Batter divided and ready for baking.

Out of the oven.  You can see how it's nicely dried out. Chocolate cake always smells so good. 

Remove from oven.  Let rest 5 minutes before flipping onto cooling racks to cool.  Once cool, carefully slice each cake in half so you'll have four even layers for your cake. 

When the cakes and blueberry filling are just about cooled, prepare the ganache. 

Chocolate Ganache

In a small frying pan, heat over medium heat until just starting to bubble nicely: 

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

Remove from heat and pour over (in a bowl): 

5 oz high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Stir until ganache is smooth.  Let cool ~5 minutes before assembling cake.  

Assembling Cake

Layer cake in the following order:

1. Cake

2. 1/3 blueberry filling, gently spread over cake layer

3. Drizzle of chocolate ganache

4. Repeat 2 times (cake, blueberry, ganache drizzle)

5. Top with 4th layer of cake

6. Spread most of the remaining ganache gently over the top, reserving some for decoration

Chocolate cake, a layer of blueberry filling, and a drizzle of chocolate ganache. 

Repeated for each layer.

Finally, topped with the final layer of cake and drizzled with "most" of the remaining ganache - saving a bit for the final writing on top!

Let remaining ganache cool an additional few minutes, then put it in a ziploc bag.  Snip the corner and pipe desired decoration on top of your cake.  Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve.  Let rest at room temperature 20-30 minutes before slicing to let the ganache warm a bit before slicing.

Ganache decoration on top!

Once it's chilled, it looks like this. 

Yum yum yum!

Blueberry & Chocolate Birthday Cake Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 These cookies are what we like to call 'chocolate & mint chips being held together by a little dough.'  If you don't like a lot of chips in your cookies, these aren't for you - but if you do like chocolate chip cookies packed with chips, these will be some of your favorites. Enjoy!

Mint & Chocolate Chip Cookies - yum! 

Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies

Makes ~48 cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon liner. 

Whisk together in a bowl, then set aside: 

1 1/2 cup white rice flour

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Cream together: 

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

Add: 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add flour mix from above, and mix in, just until combined. 

Add and mix in gently: 

1 1/2 cup semi or dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup mint chips

A pile of chips, held together by some batter.

Scoop heaping 1 Tbsp scoops onto the prepared pans.  I aim for 12 per pan.  Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.  Let rest a few minutes on pan before removing to cooling racks.  Leftover cooled cookies can be frozen for later.  Enjoy!!! 

Scooped and ready to bake!

Fresh from the oven!

Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 Oh my goodness, I love bagels.  I've shared many of my favorite bagels, but I'm always interested in trying new things and coming up with fun new twists.  While these may look like pumpernickel and rye, these are, in fact, chocolate and vanilla swirl bagels.  Absolutely delicious toasted with cream cheese.  They're a bit tricky to pipe, but not too difficult.  And you end up with such cute bagels at the end of it! Yum!  Enjoy!

Swirled GF chocolate-vanilla bagels.  

These are so fun and delicious - and they only use honey plus the little bit of sugar in the mini chocolate chips to sweeten. Bonus! 

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl Bagels

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Mix together gently, and set aside to rise until puffy:

1 1/4 cup warm water

6 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp rapid-rise/quick yeast

In a large bowl, whisk together: (It's important to mix dry ingredients separately in GF baking to avoid clumping)

2 cups tapioca starch

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour

6 Tbsp potato starch

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt

In a mixer combine: 

3 eggs

6 Tbsp oil

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

yeast mixture, from above

flour mixture, from above

Beat on low, just to combine, then beat on medium to medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until nice and smooth.  

Remove half the batter, and put it in a large freezer ziploc.  (If you feel confident, you can try to place the dough along one half of the ziploc, and then you'd add the chocolate dough along the other side.  You want to end up with half and half batter in a large freezer ziploc.  The method I describe here uses extra freezer ziplocs to more confidently ensure you have the batter half and half in the final bag before piping your swirled bagels.) 

In the remaining batter, add and mix 45-60 seconds, scraping down the mixer a few times: 

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1 Tbsp milk or water, to help thin the batter a bit since you're adding cocoa powder

Place the chocolate batter in another freezer ziploc.  

Snip the corners ~1" off each of the bags.  Place them side by side into corner of a new large freezer ziploc.  As evenly as you can, squeeze the batters into the new freezer ziploc so you have a half and half bag of dough.  Cut 1/2" - 1" from the corner of your new bag.  

Half and half batter, ready to pipe swirl bagels.

Pipe the swirl bagels onto the prepared parchment paper, twist/turn your ziploc bag as you pipe each circle, to help get add more swirl into your half and half bagels.   The batter is thick to pipe, so be patient.  You may find it's helpful to double bag your batter if your bags aren't strong.  

Piped onto two trays.You can see some messy piping, but that's okay, because you can smooth it out with warm water. 

You can use warm water to help shape and smooth the tops and sides of your bagels. I usually stretch them out a bit.

Use hands to brush/wipe warm water onto the bagels.  You can also help reshape them or smooth them, as needed.   Let the bagels rise ~30 - 40 minutes in a warm location, until puffed, but not quite doubled.  I find I usually end up piping 2 trays of bagels with approx 10 per tray.  It's not an exact science and making GF bagels is definitely a bit more finicky than when you can roll and shape by hand.  

Risen bagels!

Ready to bake!

Bake bagels at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes, until the vanilla part of your bagel is a nice golden brown.   Remove to cooling racks.  Enjoy with cream cheese for a yummy treat!

Bagels once cooked - the vanilla sides will be nicely browned. 

Tray number 2, ready to move to wire racks.

Once they're out of the oven, remove to a wire rack to cool.

They slice open neatly once cooled - and toast up nicely.

Topped with cream cheese. Yum!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Vanilla Swirl Bagels Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 You can make this dish using fresh or frozen vegetables, which makes it nice and versatile.  The main thing you'll need fresh is the lemon, garlic and basil.  It's a nice, light dish that can be whipped up quickly.  Enjoy! 

 You can use the GF noodles of your choice, in this case a penne worked great with broccoli & spinach.

Summer Pasta Dish with Lemon, Garlic & Basil

*You'll prepare the vegetables and noodles at the same time, then use the noodle pot to made the light sauce and mix everything together.*

Steam Vegetables

*While you're boiling water and cooking pasta, below, prepare your steamed vegetables.*  

Add to a pot with a tight fitting lid:

3 cups fresh or frozen vegetables - mix and match broccoli, peas, and/or diced zucchini

Add ~1/2" water, and put on high heat, with lid on, until steam is visibly coming out.  Turn off the heat and leave the pot where-is until I'm ready to use.  

If you want use fresh or frozen diced spinach, you'll add this after the vegetables have cooked and sat ~5 minutes.  Just add:

 ~1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen diced spinach or 1 - 2 cups diced fresh spinach on top of the steamed vegetables and put the lid back on.  Let sit 2-3 minutes, then mix.  Put lid back on and leave until ready to drain and add to the pasta later.  *Make sure you drain this before adding to your pasta!*

Steamed, then rested a few minutes before adding some frozen diced spinach on top, then replaced the lid.  Once removing and draining, it's ready to add to the sauce and pasta at the end. 

Cook Pasta

Cook one package gluten-free pasta as directed on the package.  Make sure to taste, so it's to the softness you desire.  I find GF pasta typically needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  Drain and rinse in cold water and set aside.  There are many kinds of GF pasta - personally, my favorite types are ones that include a mix of brown rice, white rice, corn, and quinoa.  I find these noodles give me the best texture and flavor.  But go with your favorite!

A couple tips that I find helpful when cooking GF pasta

1. Salt the water. I usually add about 1 Tbsp salt to my pot.

2. Taste before draining, since often it needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  

3. Drain and rinse in cold water.  

Light Garlic, Lemon & Basil Sauce

Once you've drained and rinsed your pasta and set it aside, add to your large pot over medium heat: 

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

Add and cook until fragrant (~1-2 minutes):

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt & Pepper, a few dashes of both

Add and stir in quickly: 

2 - 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Mix together, then add and mix in: 

1 cup cold chicken broth (you can use 1 cup water + 1 tsp GF bouillon paste)

2-3 tsp cornstarch

*If you don't have cold chicken broth, then mix your 2-3 tsp cornstarch with 1/8 - 1/4 cup cold water before adding.  

Whisk/stir sauce over medium heat until bubbling and the mixture has thickened slightly.  

Thickening the sauce - ready to toss it all together.  The lemon-garlic smell is fabulous.

Add the following and toss together: 

cooked, rinsed and drained pasta

steamed vegetables, drained

1/2 - 1 cup grated parmesan

3 Tbsp roughly sliced fresh basil

salt & pepper, to taste  - I just usually serve some on the side in case anyone wants to add some

In this case, I'd added and mixed in the vegetables and basil, then added the noodles and cheese.  The recipe is very forgiving - so just go with what works for you!

Tossed and ready to serve.

Another days version - peas and broccoli with spaghetti pasta. 

Summer Pasta Dish with Lemon, Garlic & Basil Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 Banana Bread is a great thing to whip up when you have extra old bananas lying around.  However, I find it's often really sweet - making it more of a dessert.  I'm always on the lookout for ways to lower the sugar in my recipes, which retaining a delicious flavor.  This recipe does still have sugar, but it has half the sugar of my original banana bread recipe, which I think is a step in the right direction. :)  Enjoy! 

Fresh from the oven - GF lower sugar banana bread! Just letting it cool a bit before removing from pans and parchment paper. 

Banana Bread - lower sugar version

Makes 5 mini loaves

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line 5 mini bread pans with parchment paper.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: (It's important to do this in GF baking to avoid clumps)

3 cups Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix

1 cup sugar

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

In a bowl or mixer, mix together: 

5 mashed overripe bananas

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil 

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla bean paste OR vanilla extract

Add in, and mix just until well combined (i.e. you don't need to beat this batter): 

dry ingredients, from above

1/2 cup mini or dark chocolate chips

Divide between mini bread pans.  I like to use a large cookie scoop to pop it neatly into pans, then flatten a bit with a spatula.  Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest in pans 5-10 minutes, before removing from pan and parchment paper onto cooling racks.  Great warm or cooled.  Fully cooled banana bread can be sliced and stored in a tupperware on the counter for a couple days, or sliced and frozen to enjoy later.   Enjoy!

Just out of the oven!

We can never wait until things cool - especially for banana bread.  Yum!

Banana Bread - Lower Sugar Version Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!