Chile Rellenos Casserole

I made this a couple weeks ago for dinner...and I ate the whole pan, by myself.  I didn't do it in one sitting at least, but still, this is good and I ate it all! It is not a quiche, like some of the other chile rellenos casseroles you'll find.  I added flour to the egg mix and it changes it entirely.  The consistency of the egg, I think, is so much better this way.  You can make it with or without meat, I did half and half in my pan...both ways are excellent.  You could even try it without the dairy-free cheese, or decrease the cheese, if you want to.

This post is featured on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Allergy Free Wednesdays.

Chile Rellenos Casserole
6 large fresh Anaheim peppers
2 cups Daiya Pepper Jack Cheese shreds (the whole package)
Optional: 1 pound sausage of choice, cooked and crumbled (chorizo, Italian, etc., I used leftover breakfast sausage that needed to be used up)
6 eggs
1/2 cup So Delicious coconut milk
2/3 cup all purpose gf flour blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Place peppers under a hot broiler and cook, rotating every few minutes, until skin is blistered and blackened. Place the peppers into a large brown paper bag and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes. Wearing gloves (I use the yellow rubber kitchen gloves) peel the skin off of the peppers, and make a slit in the side of each one, open, and flatten the chile. Remove the seeds and the membranes from each, then set aside.

Preheat oven to 450F and grease a 9X13 pan.  Place three of the opened, flattened chiles unto the bottom of the baking pan.  Top with half of the cheese and half of the sausage (if using). Place the remaining chiles on top and add the remainder of the cheese and sausage on top of that.

In a medium bowl combine the eggs and milk.  Whisk in the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and salt until smooth.  Pour the egg mixture over the peppers, cheese, and sausage.

Bake, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes or until a knife come out clean.  You can eat this as is or serve it with salsa or hot sauce.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Sunday I woke up and wanted Banana Cream Pie, but I didn't have any ripe bananas.  I thought of maybe making a coconut cream pie, but I knew I would probably be the only one that would eat it (I use coconut in everything, but for some reason my family won't eat coconut itself). So, it was definitely time to make a new cream pie.  I used semi-sweet chips for my chocolate, because that's what I had in my cupboard.  You could definitely use unsweetened chocolate instead.

Chocolate Cream Pie
1 8-9" pie shell, baked (instructions are below, for baking the pie shell, also the recipe for the pie crusts makes 3 single crust pies...I make a full batch and freeze what I don't need)
2 1/2 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup agave nectar, maple syrup or honey
1/3 cup GF flour blend
1/4 teaspoon salt
2oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (~1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chips)
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons coconut oil, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Have the baked pie shell ready. To bake my pie crust, prep it as outline here. Once prepped and in the pie tin, prick the bottom ~8 times with a fork. Cover it with a double layer of aluminum foil and bake at 450F for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-6 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack.

In a saucepan, scald the milk and agave. In another saucepan, combine the flour and salt. Gradually whisk in the scalded milk.

Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cover and cook for two more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chocolate chips until smooth.

Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the beaten yolks, to temper them, then add the yolks into the hot mixture. Cook for another minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add in the coconut oil and vanilla. Let the mixture sit until lukewarm.

When the mixture has cooled, pour the mixture into the pie shell. Allow to chill in the fridge before serving with your non-dairy whipped cream or coconut whipped cream.

This post is featured on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergy Free Wednesday.

Adopt a Blogger: Megan from Allergy Free Alaska

I'm taking part in Adopt A Gluten-Free Blogger again. If you’re not familiar, Adopt A Gluten-Free Blogger is a monthly event created by Sea at Book of Yum to help us gluten-free bloggers get to know each other and recreate each others recipes. This month it is hosted by Sunny from And Love It, Too!. This month, I adopted Megan from Allergy Free Alaska (formerly MAID in Alaska).

I love finding bloggers that are in the same point in their lives that I'm in...We are both 31 year old moms of two kids that are about the same age (she has girls, I have boys).  We have very different health issues, but both our families thrive on living gluten and dairy-free.  And on top of that she has some pretty fantastic recipes.

So, to finish off July (National Ice Cream Month), I'm sharing two of her recipes.  First up is her Orange Creamsicle Popsicles.  The first two times I made this, it never made it to the freezer. And I have to say, it tastes just like an Orange Julius that way.  But, I had to make it again, because my little one requested that I make an orange ice cream. Yeah, I really didn't even get to take pictures before he started devouring his...

Second up, is her Fudgesicles, if you have creamsicles, you have to have fudgesicles, right? My older son loves chocolate, and I mean loves chocolate.  Just today he told me that he wish the world was all chocolate...so, yeah, I didn't get many pictures on the fudgesicles, before he started devouring them, either.

They are both delicious and the perfect replacement to the dairy ones that I grew up with...and definitely a lot healthier.  Both of these recipes have either no sugar or very low sugar in the form of agave or honey.  So, there is no guilt with these treats!

Here's one last photo of the kiddos enjoying their treats....and don't ask me why my older son is wearing a jacket in 95 degree weather--I have no idea! 

Thank you, Megan, for such fantastic recipes, my boys love them!

Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

I was going to post this back around Valentine's Day, in fact, I made it for my hubby on Valentine's Day...but I misplaced my recipe that I had worked weeks on perfecting.  So, I had try to remember and recreate it again.  It was little bit frustrating, but it was totally worth it.  This is the easiest decadent dessert you can make.  Really, it's incredibly easy.  Most molten lava cakes call for melted chocolate, I opted for cocoa, because it's cheaper and always in my cupboard, and it turned out just as well. I added in cinnamon, because I love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon...and my word, molten lava cakes should have a bit of kick to them, shouldn't they?

 

  
I'm adding this as part of the "Go Ahead Honey...It's Gluten Free" event for February.  Gluten-Free Cat is hosting this month and the theme is Hot, Spicy, and/or Heart Shaped.

 

Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

1/2 cup Coconut Oil (solid)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup applesauce

1/3 cup GF flour blend

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup cocoa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease 4-6 ramekins (I used 1/2 cup sized ones) with dairy-free margarine. 

With a mixer, beat together the coconut oil and the sugar.  Add in the eggs and applesauce. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour blend, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa.  Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix to combine.  

Fill the ramekins ~3/4 full or a little more, in 1/2 cup sized ones it fills 4 ramekins perfectly. 

Bake at 400F for 14-18 minutes for the 1/2 cup sized ramekins, depending on how done you like it.  I cooked mine for 15 1/2 minutes.  You want the outside done, but the middle a sauce. 

Remove from oven and allow to sit for about 10 minutes.  Eat it straight out of the ramekin or flip it over onto a plate to serve.  Top with powdered sugar, ice cream, or anything else your heart desires.

This post is also featured on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergy Friendly Friday.

Hot Cocoa Mix Take Two (just add water)

A few months back I made a hot cocoa mix that was pretty dang good.  I have since modified it to be more like regular hot cocoa mixes, meaning that instead of adding in hot milk, all you need to add is water.  So, it's the same basic hot cocoa mix, but with Vance's Darifree Non-Dairy Milk Powder added to make it even faster and easier to make a hot cup of cocoa. Enjoy!

Dairy-Free Hot Cocoa Mix
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups cocoa
1 tablespoon table salt
3 cups Darifree Milk Powder

Directions
In a large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, salt, and Darifree, and whisk to combine well.  Store the mixture in an airtight container.

For individual servings, heat 1 cup of water.  Place 3 tablespoons of the cocoa mix into a mug, and slowly stir in the hot water, mixing as you're stirring (I find you have less lumps if you do it this way, then adding the mix to the milk).