Never-Use-A-Box-Again Brownies

Please never go out and buy a brownie mix again! You don't need it! It doesn't matter your level of baking expertise, whether you are able to burn water as it boils, or even if you have a track record for screwing up the heating of a frozen dinner. You can make these! I have faith in you!

Now that you've had a little pep talk, I hope you are ready for a recipe that will revolutionize the way you make a meal. These brownies are so simple that they whip together with very little effort, and all you have to do is smell the deliciousness as they bake for 25 minutes. They are a perfect oh-shoot-I-didn't-plan-dessert-for-my-guests dessert. 5-10 minutes of active time, and you've got something in the oven for your dinner guests. My mom used to make brownies that tasted almost identical to these. She never needed to buy a box of brownie mix because this recipe uses things that most bakers have on hand. It wasn't until I recently asked for the recipe that I realized it was a recipe my Aunt B. learned when she was in 4-H.

The original recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of flour, which is the perfect amount for a one-flour, gluten-free substitution. The more flour a recipe calls for, the trickier it is to make a gluten-free substitution. When a recipe calls for 2-3 cups of flour or more, it is best to make a blend of flours to substitute. I will share my flour blend in another blog post in the not-too-distant future. Anyway, I'm digressing. I'm far too excited about this brownie recipe and it has me off-track. Back to the delicious matter at hand...

Never-Use-A-Box-Again Brownies (Adapted from Aunt B's 4-H recipe)

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/3-1/2 cup cocoa (depending on how chocolate-y you want your brownies)
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine (or oil if you are eliminating dairy)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten**
1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla (like McCormick brand)
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum**
1/2 cup broken nut meats (optional)

**for more cake-like brownies, use three eggs and omit xanthan gum. There is nothing "wrong" with xanthan gum, but it is a processed food, and I like to avoid it when I can.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 8-inch square baking pan, or line it with parchment paper. Mix brown rice flour, cocoa and sugar until mixed thoroughly. Stir in melted butter (or margarine, or oil), 2 eggs (3 for more cake-like), vanilla, xanthan gum (if using), and nuts, if desired. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes.

If you can (I know I don't have the will-power), wait to serve until brownies are mostly cooled. They taste better, and don't fall apart as easily.

Enjoy! And never buy a box again!

Wheat-less Wheat Thins

I was doing an internet search for homemade rice crackers, when I happened upon a recipe that looked wonderful. The picture looked delicious and I thought it would be great to have something for soups, or dips, or really anything else. I love crackers! They are truly one of the things I've missed the most since going gluten free. Here's the site I found: Easy Homemade Crackers

I whipped up the dough (I used oil instead of butter) and rolled it out on parchment paper like the recipe suggested. I topped the dough with wax paper (less sticky than another sheet of parchment), and rolled out the dough. The end result was both wonderful and a bit of a letdown. The taste was exactly like Wheat Thins! I couldn't believe it! But, I had made the crackers a little too thick and had cut them too big. So, I tried again. This time, I divided the dough in half and placed each half on its own piece of parchment. I rolled the dough with wax paper over the top. I tried to cut off uneven edges and roll them into the dough until I got a nice, even rectangle. Then I cut the dough into 1 inch by 1 inch squares. After cutting the crackers, I pierced them with a fork. I sprinkled on a little salt (recipe calls for kosher, but I didn't have any. Table salt was fine).

As the crackers baked, I noticed the ones on the edges were getting done faster. Rather than just let them burn, I removed them and put the rest back in. They taste best once the tops of the crackers have turned a deep brown color. I didn't realize how much I missed Wheat Thins until I tasted these! I will put this into my rotation of recipes that I make often.

These crackers are amazing! Now I'm busy plotting all the fun dips and spreads I can make to go with them! What is your favorite way to eat your crackers? I'd love to get some ideas going in the comments!

***Wheat-less Wheat Thins*** recipe modified from this one: Easy Homemade Crackers

3/4 sorghum flour

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons cold water
Salt,  for sprinkling on crackers (kosher or regular)

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flours, sugar, salt and baking powder in medium-size mixing bowl. Add in oil, and stir with fork until mixture gets clumpy and oil is well mixed in. Slowly add water, one Tablespoon at a time, until a crumbly dough forms.

Cut two sheets of parchment paper - each about 12 by 15 inches. Place half of the dough on each parchment piece. Place wax paper over the dough and roll into a thin rectangle. Dough should be about as thin as you can make it without causing it to tear. Trim edges and roll dough as necessary to achieve desired shape and thickness. Repeat with other half of the dough. Remove wax paper. Cut dough into 1 inch by 1 inch squares. Pierce eat cracker with a fork (I used a child-size fork, but a relish fork would work too). Transfer parchment and dough to cookie sheets. Bake for about 15 minutes. Watch the crackers and as the edges darken, remove them so that they do not burn. The crackers are done when both the bottoms and the tops have browned.

Mystery crocheting

A few months ago, a friend of mine had a baby. I wanted to make a crochet blanket animal, so I followed a wash cloth pattern and intended to stitch the finished product on to the bottom of a stuffed animal I had already created. After I finished the wash cloth, I decided the animal was cuter without having a blanket attached to it. That left me with a purple hexagon and no idea what to do with it.

It was big enough that I didn't want to toss it. One of my least favorite things to do when crocheting is tearing out work I started. So, that didn't seem like an option either. I decided I liked the hexagon shape, so I just started building on to it. I had no idea what it was going to become. I love projects like that!

If you've been watching the news at all, you know that the midwest is experiencing an extreme heat wave. I'm talking heat indices of close to 120 degrees every day this week. Add to that the fact that my youngest child turned on the heat on our thermostat (which, of course, we didn't know she had done!), and that led to it being about 87 degrees in our bedroom. We decided that was far too hot for sleeping in. My lovely husband inflated an air mattress for the kids, and we headed to the spare room.

I sat down to crochet a little before bed. I had two purple and orange hexagons to work with. What could they become? That's when I decided I should make an enormous, hexagon-shape pillow. What family is complete without that? The finished product is 25 inches x 22 inches. And so, here it is:

Who Am I?

I am feeling self-reflective this evening, and I hope you will stick with me even if I take a break from posting about food. Today has been one of those "up and down days." You know, the days that start out really great, only for something to bring it down right away. But it doesn't stay down,  something wonderful happens followed by something lousy. I feel a bit like I hitched a ride on a yo-yo. I'll be honest, I'd really like to get off this ride. I was pitting some cherries this evening in preparation for tomorrow's lunch, when I blurted something out to my husband before I had really thought it through.

I said, "With everything that has happened today, is it a good day or a bad day? Should I feel good about it, bad about it, or just go to sleep and start over tomorrow?"

He said, "I vote for go to sleep and have a new day tomorrow."

I said, "I kinda knew you would say that."

But he's right. Any of you who know my husband are free to let him know that at this moment, here in cyberspace, I'm admitting that he was right and I, well, wasn't. What I was looking for was whether or not I should consider today a failure. Maybe I even thought I was a failure because of a few of the things that happened. But, none of today's events define me. I am not the sum total of all  the good and bad things that have happened around me since that day thirty years ago when I took my first breath of real, honest-to-goodness air. It isn't about how successful I am at my job, or about how many people like me, or about how many wonderful things I create (food or otherwise). My self-worth is not defined by whether I move up in this world or whether I am stuck in the doldrums. There is something deeper - something intangible - something that is there when you strip everything else away. That something is me. The real me.

Who are you? What are you allowing yourself to be defined by, trapped in, or stuck under? What things are preventing you from being who you really are?

As you end this day (no matter when you read this), I hope that you are able to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and smile. Tomorrow is a new day to be you.

***Coming Soon: Recipes for wheat-less wheat thins and gluten-free brownies, and a look at what you can do with a large, crochet hexagon...

Oatmeal Cookies (gluten-free AND egg-free)!

Usually my husband leaves the cooking and baking to me. He is more than capable of doing both, but he knows I enjoy it, and he has no problem eating what I make! More recently, though, he has taken a liking to baking gluten-free treats so that I have home baked treats that I didn't have to work for. Very sweet of him! On this particular occasion, my darling husband decided to try his hand at gluten-free oatmeal cookies. He started out following a recipe, but quickly realized we were out of almost every ingredient he needed! He got online and started googling substitutions. Then he dumped what he could find into the bowl. I had serious doubts that the cookies would hold together, but we've made them twice now and they hold up great (and taste great, too)!

The first time he made them, it was a very hot day and they flattened more on the pan. Yesterday, it was a much cooler day and they stood up nicely. Either way, they were attractive and delicious. I took them to a meeting this morning and no one would have known they were gluten and egg free if I hadn't told them. And so, here it is:

The Husband's Gluten and Egg-Free Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed loosely
3 Tbsp. oil
5 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (McCormick brand is now certified gluten-free)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2-3/4 tsp. xanthan gum (I like to use as little as I can get away with, so I use the 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 375. To soften the butter, place the sticks of butter (in the package) on a microwave safe plate. Heat in the microwave for 15 seconds. Cream butter and sugars together. Beat in oil, water, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined. Add flours (pre-sift if desired, I often skip the sifting), baking soda, and salt. Stir in oats. Mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes, or until tops turn light golden brown. Makes about 3 dozen small cookies.

I hope you enjoy them! I know my kids keep sneaking them when I turn my head!