GF Low GI Peanut Butter Cookies

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago but my focus has just not been there to sit down and blog the recipe.  I took our good and faithful Peanut Butter cookies recipe which is naturally gluten free and made it low Glycemic Index using coconut sugar.  The GI is 35 which is considered low.  Of course, if you eat a ton of them it still counts up.  I am giving the recipe that I always use first then the new low GI recipe.   This recipe came years ago from Dottie Hoyman who has passed on now.  My sister sometimes uses 1/2 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  The kids love these and love to help make them.

GF Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar and a little more for rolling the cookies in
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking pans with parchment papr or silicone baking liners.  (I don't always do this.  Sometimes I just cook them on my cookie sheet.  They turn out fine.
In a large bowl, mix peanut butter with sugar.  Add egg, baking powder and vanilla.  Stir well.  Pour the extra sugar into another bowl.  Take 1 Tablespoon dough and roll into ball.  Now roll ball into sugar and place on baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Take a fork and dip into sugar and gently press into top of each ball of dough.  Turn fork 90 degrees and gently press again making a hatch marking on the peanut butter cookie.

Bake for 10 minut4es.  Take out of oven and cool 10 minutes and transfer to cooling rack.  Makes 24 cookies.

Now for the GF /Low GI Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup coconut sugar (I used the one that comes in a jar with water added)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 to 1/4 cup coconut flour (may substitue with almond flour or any G/F flour)  You will not need this if you use the coconut sugar that does not have water added. 

Follow the Directions above except add the flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you can roll the dough into small balls.  Instead of dipping fork into sugar, dip it into coconut flour before chris crossing the cookies.

These cookies are worth the effort.  Enjoy

GF Low GI Lentil Soup

It was cool this morning.  In the South we feel the cold so much more than in the North.  I lived up North for some time in Illinois.  I remember coming home and it was so warm here and everyone was carrying on about how cold it was.  I remember thinking that it wasn't cold at all.  In fact it felt very warm.  I was going around without a coat on and do you know that I caught a chill and ended up with a cold.  So much for it being warm I decided that a pot full of soup was called for.  I had a bag of Lentils that were ready to be made into soup.

Lentil Soup is very good as a vegan meal but today I decided I needed a little meat.  I had a half pound of sausage that seemed to fit the bill.  However, if you prefer vegan just leave out the meat and substitute vege broth for some of the water.  Still delicious.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
3 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. Hot Sausage (Use anything you have)
1 cup onions (I use sweet vadalia's and keep them chopped up and frozen in my freezer)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2cup chopped carrots
1 Tsp. garlic power (or fresh garlic or minced garlic - whatever you have on hand)
1 tsp sea salt or to taste
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper  - or to taste
1 14-15 oz can of diced tomatoes (I usually use my organic frozen tomatoes)
1 bag lentils - washed and cleaned
5 to 8 cups of water

In a large size soup pot put in olive oil and bring to a simmer.  Add in sausage, onions, celery, carrots and brown until sausage is done - Add in seasonings and tomatoes - Continue to saute on low until vegetables are beginning to get tenderize - Add in washed and cleaned lentils along with 5 to 8 cups of water.  Bring to a boil reduce heat and cook for about 30 go 45 minutes.  I usually use 8 cups of water and let it cook for 45 minutes to make sure the lentils are nice and tender. 

I served this with a fresh salad and my GF/Low GI corn fritters.  Big hit with the family today.  Enjoy.

Potatoe Soup

This is one of my family's favorites.  It is so easy too.  Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

5 lb. bag of white potatoes (peeled and cut into cubes - medium size)

1 small vidalia onion

1/2 cup celery chopped

1 can cream of  celery soup (G/F)

Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:  Place potatoes, onions, celery, cream of celery soup, salt/pepper  in a slow cooker.  Cover with water.  Cook until done.  About 7 hours in my slow cooker.    Delicious and easy. 

I served this with my G/F Cornbread and a salad.  Hope you enjoy. 

Freezing Apples and Pears

I have been freezing fruits and vegetables all Summer. Freezing or Canning is a great way of preserving foods and having wonderful organic foods without all the additives you have in bought goods. I prefer freezing to canning for a number of reasons. First, it is easier and takes less time than cleaning jars and maintaining the proper lids and canning equipment. Of course, I have all of the necessary equipment to can but presently have my jars stored in an out building. My Mother was a great homemaker and canned much more than I do. My health issues have forced me to find the easy way in doing everything.

Another reason I prefer freezing is foods are not as likely to spoil. In canning bacteria may continue to grow. With freezing the bacteria will not grow until thawed out. The downside of freezing is that foods may not be stored as long as they can if you can. Foods may become icy or freezer burned and start turning colors. While the food may still be safe to eat the taste may be affected. Today, I put up 5 quarts of pears and 5 quarts of apples. It was very simple.

Food Preparation: - Pears and Apples

Many people put their apples and pears up in different ways for different purposes. I do not do this. I like to be able to go to the freezer and take out apples and then turn them into whatever I want to use them for whether it is applesauce, apples for pies or cakes. Also, some people use anti-darkening agents and/or sugar. Again I do not. This is the process I follow.

1. Wash the fruit
2. Peel and core the fruit
3. Wash the fruit again
4. Slice the fruit
5. Blanche the fruit (By putting a small amount of water in a large cooker and cooking until it begins to get soft. You will need to keep an eye on it to keep it from scorching. Keep the fruit turned as needed.)
6. Cool completely
7. Get your containers ready -
I use freezer bags because I can lay the bags flat when they are freezing and can get more food into my freezers. Use thick ones that are made for freezing or double them if you don't have good thick bags. I can also label them with the food item (i.e., pears, apples, etc) and the date so I know when the food was put into the freezer. That way I can use the items that have been in the freezer the longest. I also try to keep the various items together on the same shelf so that it is easy for me to find what I am looking for.
If you do not want to use freezer bags you may use any type of container that you have. Some people even use canning jars but I rarely do this as I am afraid that a jar might break and mess my freezer up. I have never had this happen but I am very cautious using them. My Mom always used plastic freezer containers because they were reusable from year to year. I personally do not like them because I can't see into them. She put labels on them but she had to move things around a lot to find what she was looking for. I like to recycle plastic jars as long as I am not planning on heating them in the microwave. I make my own chicken, beef, and vegetable broth to season foods and they are very handy for that.
So literally, almost any container will do.

8. Fill your container leaving room for the food to expand. WORD OF CAUTION: Do not overfill your container. The food will expand on you and then you will have a busted bag to deal with. I have a special method I use to make this simple. I recycle Ice Cream Containers and put my bag down in it to fill. Any food spillage will go into the container and I have found that my bag stands up better as it helps hold the sides up. .
9. Dry bags and Label with Food item name and the date.
10. Place in freezer so that it will freeze flat then they can be placed on other shelves and will stack neatly.

We have three freezers. We have two upright freezers which is my favorite and one chest type freezer. The chest freezer is difficult because food items will get down in the bottom and never seem to come to the top. This Summer one of our children unplugged the chest type freezer and we had a terrible mess when it was discovered. The good thing is that we cleaned it out completely. I try to keep things organized by putting certain items in there. I may put large turkeys in there. Currently I have my onions that I put up this summer in there. I plan to put my sweet potatoes in there as well. I use one of my uprights for meats and things I want to get into more frequently. So that is the process that I used today.


You may also want to check out my other blog by looking at sharpshooter77.wordpress.com .

Have a great day and Be Blessed.

Coconut Salmon Patties G/F - Low GI

The recipe is so easy.  It is an adaptation from my standard salmon patties that I have always cooked which were made with crackers.  I have reworked it to make it Gluten Free and also wanted to add the coconut.

Ingredients

1 can salmon - boneless/skinless
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut meal
1/4 cup chopped celery and onions

Combine ingredients and form into patties.  Fry in olive oil until golden brown on each side. Makes 4-5 patties.

Comments:

Delicious and yes it did taste like coconut.  Took away the fishy taste completely. 

Sweet Potato and Coconut Cornbread/ Gluten Free/ Low GI

I am spending my days trying to cook meals that are in keeping with the UltraMind Solution Diet and incorporate coconut which many people are claiming helps or improves dementia in alzheimer's patients.  This  recipe is healthy, uses whole foods, adds fiber to the diet, incorporates coconut and abides with the UltraMind Solution Diet and the blood type diet my sister feels she should be on. It is also Gluten Free and Low GI.   I took my standard G/F cornbread recipe and tampered with it and came up with a big hit.  The idea came from another website but my ingredients are fewer and easier to make.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Cornbread  Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup G/F Cornmeal
1/2 Cup Coconut Meal
1/2 Cup Sorghum Flour (Sweet White)
1 tsp. cinnamon (Ceylon variety - avoid cassia which is the most common cinnamon)
1 tsp. vanilla (G/F)
1 medium sweet potato cut up/boiled/mashed
1 to 1 1/2 cup almond milk (This may vary)
1 large egg - Free Range
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Optional:
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together.  (Coconut meal, Sorghum flour and Cornmeal)

Add egg, vanilla,  coconut oil, mashed sweet potato to the mixture.    Mix together.

Add in almond milk gradually until the mixture is  the consistency of a regular cornbread cake mixture.  Not like biscuit dough which is too thick and not like cake mix which is too thin.  So the batter should be of  medium consistency.

Grease the Muffin pan with olive oil before putting in the batter.

Pour into Muffin pans.   Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes dependent on your oven.

Discussion of Ingredients:

G/F Cornmeal - Any brand is OK with me.  You can buy regular cornmeal (no cornmeal mix) from the grocery store dependant on whether you are gluten intolerant or celiac.  The best way is to bite the bullet and buy G/F.  I will say that I am going to use less and less of cornmeal because it is higher GI than other flours.  I have begun using Coconut meal for more and more things that I used cornmeal to make.  Coconut meal has a much lower GI value.

Coconut Meal - This is naturally G/F.  I bought this at our local Indian market and it was relatively inexpensive.  I wish that I had a grinder that would turn it into Coconut flour but nothing I have will do the job for me.

Sorghum flour - This is just one of the flours that I keep on hand but you could easily use blanched almond flour which is also low GI and Gluten Free.

Cinnamon - There has been so much controversy over the type of cinnamon that we use.  Cassia is the type of cinnamon that we find most often in the United States and is cheap and readily available. Ceylon cinnamon uses only the thin inner bark, has a finer, less dense, and more crumbly texture, and is considered to be less strong than cassia. Cassia has a much stronger (somewhat harsher) flavor than Ceylon cinnamon.  Cassia cinnamon contains a moderately toxic component called coumarin  and has been  known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. Ceylon cinnamon has negligible amounts of coumarin.  For that reason, I recommend using Ceylon cinnamon which may result in a slightly different taste in your cooking.  Cinnamon is also known to help lower blood sugar.

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - I am trying to incorporate more coconut into our diet because my Mom has dementia.  I also have focus issues as well.

Sweet Potato - I keep these cut up and frozen.  I just took a few out and popped them in a boiler.  When they were done, I just mashed them up and they were ready.  You can also use a fresh one - Peel,  cut up and boil until done. 

Raisins:  I didn't use these today as we were eating this bread with butter peas and I didn't think we needed the sugar in them.

Family Comments:

My family loved this recipe.  I plan to try it again using organic apples or organic pears that  I have in my freezer that I put up this summer.

Sothern Style Goulash - Gluten Free

This is my sister's recipe that she has made for years but I have recently updated this to make it Gluten Free and as low GI as possible.  It is very tasty and we all love it.

Recipe Ingredients:

This makes a large slow cooker very full.  So you can cut back on the ingredients to make it feed fewer people.
Feeds about 10 to 15 people

1 to  1 1/2 lbs hamburger
2 quarts of tomatoes
1 large bag frozen baby Lima's (about 32oz.)
1 large vidalia onion (chopped)
1/2 cup bell pepper chopped
1 16 oz package G/F noodles
1 TBLS sea salt
1/2 TBLS black pepper
1 TBLS garlic powder
3 bay leaves

Directions:

1.  Scramble hamburger meat with onions and bell peppers. 
2.  Put into slow cooker  the remaining ingredients except noodles and hamburger mixture
3.  Cook on  high for about 4 hours.
4.  Add noodles and continue to cook for 2 to 3 hours or until noodles are al dente. 
5.  Add Hamburger mixture and it is finished.
6.  Remove bay leaves before serving.

Discussion of Ingredients.
I keep frozen scrambled  hamburger mixture in my freezer  because I use it in so many of my recipes. 
I also use frozen organic tomatoes from my freezer.  I let them unthaw in slow cooker.
You may use any type of gluten free noodles - I try to select a low GI variety.  In the past we used Egg Noodles.
Hamburger can really be added in at any point.  I add it in last because we have vegetarians in our family and I take out some of the goulash before I add in the meat for them.
I keep the Vidalia onions in my freezer already chopped and ready to go.

Comments:
I think it was a big hit.  I cooked this on Sunday afternoon and there were 12 of us eating and it was wiped out before the day was gone.  I also made G/F corn muffins to go along with it.  Everyone seemed happy to eat it.