Lemon Yogurt Quick Bread (cake, but it sounds healthier if you say quick bread)

     I am a huge lemon fan. I will give just about any recipe a try if it is lemon flavored. I'm pretty sure that is a gene that came from my Dad.  I ran across this recipe on Pinterest a couple of months ago, but just hadn't taken the time to make it. However, I had some yogurt in my fridge that I needed to use, so this was the perfect opportunity (excuse).
     As always I didn't follow the exact recipe. The original recipe called for Greek Yogurt, but I just had regular yogurt. It also called for fresh lemon juice, I didn't have that I just had the kind that comes in the bottle.  Without real lemons you have no zest...so didn't have that either. I DID have lemon extract so I figured what I lacked in lemoneyness I could make up for with my extract. 
     I would have to say that my recipe turned out pretty yummy and I will be making this again.

Lemon Yogurt Quick Bread

1 1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix
1 tsp Xantham Gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yogurt
1 cup sugar
3  eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon juice, and extracts (lemon and vanilla). Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Cake can be glazed if you wish:
I used this recipe
1/4 C. Evaporated Milk
2 C. Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon extract

Pour over mostly cooled cake.

Enjoy!!

-Jessica

If a jelly doughnut and a snack pie had a baby....gluten free Sufganiyot

     The other day Udi's sent out a link with some recipes for Hanukkah. In their list was this recipe for Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts). I do not celebrate Hanukkah, but I DO love jelly doughnuts. I knew I would have to give this recipe a try for sure!!  The original recipe comes from a blog called Gluten Free Bay.
      I looked over the recipe and decided that I couldn't shell out 5 cups of my expensive gluten free flour for a first try on a recipe. So I cut the recipe in half. Boy I am glad that I did. The 1/2 recipe made 30 little jelly doughnut pies!! I would have been frying pies all day with a full recipe! OY! I also made a couple other little tweaks (as always ha).
     After trying a couple of the Sufganiyot I decided they are not really a jelly doughnut. They are sort of like a snack pie, but not exactly. I decided that Sufganiyot are the result of if a snack pie and a jelly doughnut had a baby. They are yummy!
      The original recipe called for them to be rolled in sugar. However, I thought they needed a glaze, so I found a glaze recipe by Alton Brown and gave it a whirl.
     Here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Sufganiyot (the baby of a jelly doughnut and a snack pie)

1egg, beaten

1cup buttermilk

2 T. Butter, melted

2 1/2 C. Gluten Free Flour Mix

1/2 C. Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

3/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Xantham Gum

1/2 tsp. Pie Spice

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

1 beaten egg (set aside in a bowl)

Raspberry or strawberry jelly (seedless)

Glaze:

1/4 cup whole milk (or evaporated milk if you don't have whole)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat egg, buttermilk, and melted butter in a large bowl with a whisk.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold slowly into the wet ingredients, mixing by hand with a wooden spoon. When the ingredients are mostly combined, use your hands to knead a few times to make sure the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Sprinkle extra rice flour mix on your countertop or a large cutting board. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. If dough is sticky, work in more rice flour blend.

Heat 2 inches of canola oil until very hot (375 degrees F).

Use a glass, biscuit cutter or jar with approximately 3-inch diameter to cut disks out of the dough. Place 1/2 teaspoon of jelly in the center of one disk. Brush the beaten egg you've set aside around the outer edge of the dough. Place a second disk of dough on top, and use your fingers to crimp the edges until they are sealed. Repeat until you've used up all the dough. Remaining dough scraps can be rolled into balls ("donut holes") and fried.

Carefully place sufganiyot in hot oil with a slotted spatula. Cook until very brown on one side. If necessary, turn the donut over and brown on the second side. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with two layers of paper towel or brown paper. While warm, roll sufganiyot in the bowl of sugar to coat or prepare glaze and dip warm doughnuts into the glaze. Let dry slightly on wax paper. Best served warm.

Glaze Instructions:
Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Sift confectioners' sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a waxed paper for 5 minutes before serving

If you are like me, you don't keep buttermilk in the fridge. However you can make it by adding about 1T of lemon juice to a cup of regular milk. Wait a few min. for it to "work" and you have buttermilk.

Using your wooden spoon, work the wet and dry ingredients together. I had to add probably about 1/2 cup of extra flour to my mixture. It was VERY sticky when I added the 2 1/2 cups.

When working with gf dough I always lay down plastic wrap. I cover the dough with plastic wrap too. GF dough is always so sticky and sticks to EVERYTHING! :) It will save you alot of headache if you use plastic wrap.

I used a drinking glass to cut my circles.

Drop your jam/jelly onto the middle of the dough circle. Brush with beaten egg and top with a second circle.

Use your fingers to press the edges and seal in the jelly filling.

Very carefully slide the doughnut into the hot oil.

Flip the doughnut over after it is golden brown.

I may have possibly eaten a doughnut before it was glazed....shhh ;)

I hope you enjoy the Sufganiyot. Even if you don't celebrate Hanukkah, these are still a yummy treat.

-Jessica

Loaded Potato Soup (crockpot recipe)

    I think the weatherman hates me. It is supposed to ice/snow. I'm not a big fan of snow, and I am even less of a fan of ice. Especially when there are so many people who have to travel to see loved ones this week for the holidays. However the stinkin' weatherman did not let me have a vote on the weather this week.
    I'll show him........I'll cope with his cruddy weather by making soup, in my shiny new crock pot!! HA! Take that weatherdude!!
     I worked VERY hard for this new crock pot. My Mom's side of the family had our annual Christmas gathering this weekend. We always bring a gift for a gift exchange. We have played the Dirty Santa game the last several years. It is pretty fun.
   The first gift I picked was this shiny crock pot and I was excited about that. However it was soon ripped from my grasp and replaced by a cooking scale, which was ripped from my grasp. The third gift I opened was a nice cookbook and some very nice knives. My own little brother stold that from me!!! (I'm pretty sure he is now on Santa's naughty list for that move). After loosing the knives, I decided to seek revenge and go take my crock pot back. So I stole the crock pot back. Which resulted in a long drawn out battle between about 5 of our family members. The hot items that went round and round were a set of nice scissors, lottery tickets, MY crock pot, a light that you wore on your head and something else that I can't even remember right now. I think I had the crock pot stolen from my hands about 20 times. It was a fun game and I actually ended up with the shiny crock pot in the end! We were all laughing so hard trying to track down the gift we wanted.
    I decided to put the new cooking beast to good use today on this cold-gross-rainy-soon-to-be ice/snow day. That's what we were talking about before I got off on my tangent about the wild dirty santa game. I made some loaded potato soup, which is like an amazing loaded potato in a bowl! I even added some ham to the recipe tonight (I didn't put it in the recipe below though).

My beautiful shiny new beast of a crock pot.

Loaded Potato Soup

4 pounds new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 small onion, chopped
2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pint half-and-half
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, green onion slices

Layer sliced potatoes in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker; top with chopped onion.
Stir together chicken broth, salt, & pepper; pour over potatoes and onion. (Broth will not completely cover potatoes and onion.) Cover and cook on HIGH 3 to 5 hours or until potatoes are tender. Mash mixture with a potato masher; stir in half-and-half. Cover and cook on HIGH 20 more minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Ladle into bowls, and serve with desired toppings

Place potatoes and onions in the crock pot. Pour the broth over them and put on the lid. If you want to make it even easier you can use hashbrowns!

Don't forget your favorite toppings. Mine happen to be some cheese and bacon Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

Gorilla Bread...individual sized and gluten free!!!

     I'm super excited to share this recipe with you guys. I think you just may love it. I guess even if you don't love it, I still love it.
     I was Pinteresting (I may or may not have just made up that word) the other day and ran across this recipe for Paula Deen's Gorilla Bread. Well my gal Paula uses canned biscuits in her recipe and unfortunately those are SO not gluten free. However, she has this genius idea of using cream cheese. I'm a fan of cream cheese. I had run across a gluten free monkey bread recipe a while back (also on pinterest). SO I meshed these two ideas, added my own twists and I have come up with individual sized gluten free gorilla bread. GET EXCITED!!

Individual Size Gluten Free Gorilla Bread

3 egg whites
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2  teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
4 Tablespoons Butter OR margarine (melted)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream Cheese (6 teaspoon size pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Generously spray a 6 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.  In a small bowl beat egg whites until frothy and semi stiff. Add in the remaining dough ingredients and mix until thick. This will take a few minutes to get the dough thick. Keep that electric mixer going for a while. You will notice a change in the texture of the mixture.

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl. Using a spoon, put a small amount of the filling mixture into the bottom of the muffin tin holes. Layer about 3 drops of dough ontop of the mixture. Spoon a little more of the filling mixture ontop of the dough balls. Top with the small slice of cream cheese. Top the cream cheese with a couple more spoons of dough.Try to completely cover the cream cheese and make a "seal" with the dough.  Put the remaining filling mixture ontop of the last layer of dough.

Bake at 350 deg. for 20-25 min. You may want to place a cookie sheet or foil under the muffin tin. It may bubble over. Cook until browned.

Remove from the oven and serve warm. Pop the gorilla breads out of the muffin cups and drizzle the syrup that is in the bottom of the muffin cups ontop of the warm bread.

This recipe makes 6 gorilla breads, you could double or triple the recipe for a larger family.

This recipe moves pretty quick, it is easiest to just have everything you need out and ready to go.

Beat the egg whites until they are almost stiff (think meringue)

Put a little filing mixture in the bottom of the muffin cup and top with about 3 teaspoons of dough.

Add a little of the filling and top with the slice of cream cheese

Top the cream cheese with another layer of dough. Drizzle the remaining topping over the last layer and into the oven it goes!

Enjoy!!!

-Jessica

Christmas has come early.....I found something amazing.

     I found something amazing. However we are keeping this a secret between you and I. OK? OK! I don't want the world buying up all of these limited edition cinnamon and sugar chips. So keep it hush hush!!
    I had heard a little rumor that Mission had a cinnamon and sugar chip out for the holidays. So while at the store today I had to see if my store had them. YES!!! I bought two bags without even tasting them. However now after tasting them I am contemplating going back and clearing the rack! ha

    I am a huge Mission fan to begin with. Their tortilla chips are my fave! This new flavor is amazingariffic!! I am in hopes that it sticks around long after the holidays have passed. I would buy them year round and I'm sure I'm not the only person out there that would. So Mission Company if you are listening, KEEP THESE CHIPS YEAR ROUND!! OK? OK!
    One more great thing.....Mission has this bag clearly labeled gluten free. I LOVE companies that take the time to label things clearly. I will promote companies like that until the cows come home.

I love companies that clearly label!

     Now I just need to think of an amazing dip to go with these. Apple pie dip??? However, they are quite yummy on their own.

     So remember that you promised to keep quiet about this amazing find. And if you live in my town....save some for me!!

Enjoy!!!

-Jessica

Hot Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

      I had a vision of making rice krispie treats and then dipping them in a hot chocolate flavored chocolate. However, I just couldn't decide how I was going to get the hot chocolate taste into the chocolate without ending up with nasty hot chocolate powder lumps in the chocolate. ICK! I suppose if I would have worked on it and experimented I could have figured it out, but I decided to try this experiment out instead. I'd have to say I think it came out well and there are NO nasty lumps of hot chocolate powder ha!
      So I put up a little guessing game on the USASillyYaks Facebook page today. Your clue was a package of hot chocolate mix. Did any of you guess Hot Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats?? NO? Well that's the snack of the day today!!

Here is your clue picture. Look familiar? Ok....now on to the recipe

Hot Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

1 Stick  (8 T) of Butter Or Margarine

1 Package of Mini Marshmallows (10.5 oz)

7 C. Gluten Free Rice Krispies Cereal

2 envelopes hot chocolate mix (about 6-7 T)

Topping:

Handful of mini marshmallows

Melted Milk Chocolate Chips (1/2 Cup approximately)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan on low heat. Stir in the hot chocolate mix. Allow the granules to dissolve completely. Add in the marshmallows and cook until mixture is completely melted and well blended. Stir constantly!!  Turn off the heat and add the cereal. Mix well making sure to coat all of the cereal.

Press into a 9x13 pan, coated well with cooking spray. Top with the handful of mini marshmallows and let cool completely.

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe container. Heat them in the microwave until melted. (cook for about 30 sec. stir, cook another 30 and stir...repeat until they are melted). Spoon the melted chocolate into a snack baggie (Ziploc baggie). Snip the tip of the baggie off with scissors and pipe the chocolate onto the rice krispie treats. Swirl it back and forth...making a pretty chocolate drizzle. Allow the chocolate to set up and then cut the bars into squares. Store in an airtight container.

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the hot chocolate mix and stir until the mix is completely dissolved.

Add the marshmallows and stir constantly until melted.

Keep stirring, I saw you take a break there......

Remove from heat and stir in the Rice Krispies Cereal

Press into a 9x13 pan and sprinkle the handful of mini marshmallows on top.

let the mixture cool

Using your mock pastry bag (Ziploc with the corner cut) drizzle chocolate over the pan of treats.

Enjoy!!

-Jessica