Gluten Free Recipes Perfect for St Patrick's Day Fun!

There's something fun about turning food "green" on St. Patrick's Day.  The kids love it. The adults get a good chuckle.  Everyone loves things like homemade fruit & spinach green smoothies and naturally green foods (cucumbers, celery, green peppers, etc.), but there's something fun about turning a meal "green" that makes little kids so happy.   Here's a list of some of the recipes we've enjoyed turning "green" for St. Patrick's Day.  And, some that are just naturally green in color.  Happy cooking!

Green crepes - a surprise from a tricky leprechaun. 

Crepes filled with spinach, ham & cheese. Yum! 

St. Patrick's Day Recipes:

Sweets:
Zucchini Muffins
Crepes (these are great with savory fillings, too!)
Pancakes
Waffles
Blueberry Muffins
Frosted Sugar Cookies
Chocolate & Vanilla Parfaits
Lemon Muffins
Key Lime Cookies
Marshmallow Creme Popcorn Balls

Savories:
Zucchini Fritters
Buckwheat Waffles
Bagels
Chicken Saag
Shallot, Kale & Bacon Quiche
Leek & Zucchini Quiche
Spinach & Basil Pesto
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Navajo Tacos

Delicious Gluten Free Oatmeal Whoopie Pies

These gluten free whoopie pies are so fun and delicious!  Easy to whip together, and loved by young and old around here.  They even seem like the sort of dessert a leprechaun could play a trick on and turn the filling green for St. Patrick's Day!   You can make these with puffy cookies, or flatten for a more "Little Debbie's" oatmeal pie sort of taste.  I love that these last well, too, so you can easily make them up to a couple days in advance of serving them and they'll still be delicious!  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Oatmeal Whoopie Pies, ready to be enjoyed by all! 

Delicious Oatmeal Whoopie Pies
Makes ~15-20 sandwiched cookies, with a 1 Tbsp size scoop (you can definitely double the recipe! I have many times!

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

In a large bowl, whisk together (it's important to mix dry ingredients separately before mixing with wet ingredients in gluten-free cooking to avoid clumping):
1 cup oats (make sure they're gluten-free if Celiac or senstive)
1 1/4 cup Kristin's Gluten Free Flour Mix
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Cream in a mixer:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Add and mix in thoroughly:
2 XL eggs (or 3 smaller ones - I found the recipe does better with just a bit more egg than 2 large eggs provide)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste OR vanilla extract

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Scoop 1 Tbsp scoops of batter onto parchment paper.  You can flatten these slightly before baking if you want flatter cookies.

 

Leave rounded or flatten slightly depending on how large/small/puffy/flat you want your whoopie pies! (Or make a variety, like I tend to do!) 

Bake cookies at 350 F for 7-10 minutes, more/less depending on how soft you want them.

Cool on a cooling rack.  Sandwich cookies together with my favorite marshmallow frosting to make whoopie pie sandwiches!

You can serve on the day you make them, or store in a Tupperware in the refrigerator for a day or two before serving. (I've stored them on the counter for a couple days, and that worked, too! Wonderfully versatile!)  I've also made the cookies in advanced, frozen them (without filling) and then filled on the day I needed to serve them, too.  Worked perfectly! Enjoy!

Yummy filled GF oatmeal whoopie pies, ready to eat! 

Delicious GF Cream-filled Cupcakes w/ Ganache topping

These gluten-free cream-filled cupcakes are delicious.  You can make your own homemade cupcakes or use any recipe or GF box mix you enjoy and make them your own with the easy filling and chocolate glaze topping.  They are reminiscent of the little Hostess cupcakes with a cream filling and chocolate topping. These yummy cupcakes are ready for some St. Patrick's Day fun! Enjoy!

Festive green cupcakes made St. Patrick's Day! 

Delicious Cream-filled, Ganache-topped cupcakes!
The following will fill and top ~15-18 cupcakes

You can use the filling and topping on either GF vanilla cupcakes or GF chocolate cupcakes, or use the cupcake recipe/mix of your choice.  Make cupcakes and allow to cool completely.  The following amounts will fill and top about 15- 18 cupcakes.  You can easily double the recipe to make more!

Beat together the following to use as cream filling.  Refrigerate until ready to use:
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup marshmallow creme

Make cupcakes ready for cream filling by doing the following: cut small cones out of the tops of each cupcake.  Slice off the extra cake so you just have the top of the cupcake left.  Fill the cupcake with cream filling and replace the top slice.  Repeat with all cupcakes.

Green cupcakes for St. Patrick's day - with insides cut out and filled with the cream filling.

So delicious in chocolate cupcakes - reminiscent of the Hostess cupcake filling.

After filling cupcakes with cream filling, the tops can be placed back on top, making them ready for the chocolate glaze frosting to be added. 

Prepare the ganache topping as follows:
Bring to a boil in a small frying pan:
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Remove from heat.  Then add and mix until smooth:
5 oz high quality semi-sweet chocolate

While ganache is still warm, spoon and spread on top of each cupcake.  Sprinkle tops of cupcakes with decorations, if desired.  They will harden into the ganache as it cools.

Cupcakes ready to eat! 

Best served at room temperature, but store in refrigerator until ready to serve.  Enjoy!!! 

Salmon topped with Feta & Red Onion

This recipe is a perfect accompaniment to delicious homemade Greek salad.  Salmon topped with herbs, feta and red onion is a healthy, delicious dinner that is easy to put together for a quick mid-week meal.  To top it off, it looks lovely when being served.  Use even slices of salmon for the best, most even cooking.  Enjoy!

Freshly baked salmon topped with herbs, feta & red onion, then drizzled in olive oil before baking.

Salmon topped with Feta & Red Onion

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Line cookie sheet with foil.

On foil-lined pan, place 3-4 salmon pieces skin side down.

Sprinkle the tops of each salmon slice with:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
oregano
basil

Drizzle the top with olive oil.

Top with:
thinly sliced red onion
crumbled feta

Drizzle tops again with a little extra olive oil.

Salmon prior to cooking.  If desired, you can use even more herbs sprinkled on top - as in the salmon shown below. 

Bake salmon pieces at 425 F for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.  I find thinner pieces cook in ~20 minutes and thicker pieces take more like 25 minutes.  Check the thickest point with a fork to make sure it flakes nicely and is cooked through. Salmon turns from a darker pink to a lighter pink when cooked.

Delicious served with a homemade Greek Salad on the side.

Enjoy!!!

Salmon fresh out of the oven, with a bit thicker layer of herbs.  Both methods are delicious. Enjoy! 

Delicious Greek Salad with Homemade Dressing

A delicious, and incredibly easy to whip together Greek salad with homemade dressing.  We've made it many times, and I've even had others whip it together with my notes, and it turned out just perfectly.   You can adjust the vegetables around to have more/less of the ones that are your favorite.  The great thing about this Greek salad is the there are no large olives floating around, rather a few are chopped finely and incorporated into the dressing. Yum! It's a perfect accompaniment to salmon (to be posted soon.) Enjoy!

Our new favorite Greek salad, ready to serve! 

Delicious Greek Salad

In a large bowl, mix:
1/2 - 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced & diced
5-10 cherry tomatoes (or 2 romas) diced into bite-size pieces
large handful romaine lettuce, sliced
large handful spinach, sliced

Mix together the following dressing in a small bowl:
3 Tbsp olive oil 
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
3/4 - 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
dash salt & pepper
5-6 Calamata olives, diced
3 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese

Toss dressing with vegetables. Serve!  It's my favorite fresh, but still tastes great the next day, too, when all the flavors have melded together a bit more.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Cookies!

I'm always looking for tasty, easy cookies that can be whipped up for special occasions.  These are a perfect hit - the chocolate version of my favorite frosted sugar cookies. These are a perfect, easy treat to whip up for Valentine's day!  Enjoy!!!

Chocolate frosted sugar cookies, ready for Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Cookies!
Makes ~20 cookies (fewer for larger cookies, more for smaller cookies)

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon liner.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
1 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/2 cup cocoa powder (a lighter one is best)
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Beat in a mixer until fluffy:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Add, mixing until evenly combined:
1 egg 
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until smooth.  Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap until ~1/4" - 3/8" thick.  Cut shapes as desired with cookie cutters.

3" cookies ready for baking.

Place cookies 1-2" apart on parchment paper-lined pan.  Bake at 375 F for ~6-8 minutes.  These cook very quickly and are nice and soft.  If you want them crispier, you can cook them an additional 1-2 minutes.

Cookies after 7 minutes of cooking.

Let cool on cooling rack and then top with the Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff Frosting.  Top with sprinkles, if desired.  Enjoy!!!

Chocolate frosted cookies with Valentine sprinkles.

Delicious Roasted Tomato Soup

While the most delicious tomato soup is best with fresh from the vine tomatoes in the fall, the ever-increasing varieties available year-round allow for some delicious roasted tomato soup to be whipped up in the winter, too!  This creamy (dairy-free) tomato soup is a favorite with all my kids and extended family, too!  Thanks to wonderful PEI chef Morgan Palmer for sharing her wonderful recipe with the Heartbeet Organics Veggie CSA.  Delicious!  Enjoy!

Oven-roasted tomato soup with toasted cheese-topped bread

My youngest enjoying her fresh roasted tomato soup.

Delicious Roasted Tomato Soup
based on a recipe by PEI chef Morgan Palmer

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Arrange on a large baking pan:
3 - 3.5 lbs fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I like to use a variety of types, including heirlooms, for flavor)
2 onions, coarsely chopped
6-10 cloves garlic (depending on the size of the cloves)

Drizzle the tomatoes, onions and garlic with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.   Bake at 400 F for 45 minutes, until tomatoes are caramelizing. (Keep everything on one pan, unlike what I did in the picture below, to avoid any burning of the liquids - the tomatoes were so pretty, though, I had to include the picture).

I separated the tomatoes out onto two pans, but I'd recommend using just one, even if it seems like they're packed closely together.  It helps avoid the burning of juice on the pans. Yes, I've made it roasted all on one pan, I just forgot to take pictures. 

In a large pot, bring to a boil:
4 cups chicken broth (or water + Asian mushroom seasoning)
2 Tbsp butter, optional, but adds a wonderful depth to the flavor
tomatoes, onions & garlic from the baking pan, including the liquid

Reduce the heat and simmer for ~20 minutes.  Remove from heat and use a stick blender to puree the soup.

Stir in:
1/2 cup canned coconut milk, thick part only

Return to low heat and cook for a few minutes, seasoning with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.

You can also add dash of maple syrup to your bowl for a little sweetness.

Absolutely wonderful served with homemade GF grilled cheese sandwiches! Enjoy!