Gluten-Free Strawberry Cake Recipe

Summer screams strawberries to me! The early summer strawberries are now available in eastern nc... and normally I have to make a pie. My great-grandma P's best strawberry pie, as a matter of fact. And really, you should make that too.

But if you're not up to making a pie, you can make this cake. This soft, light, white cake filled with fresh strawberries!

We served this cake on Sunday for my awesome mom-in-law Carol. To make things easy, and to have a less-heavy dessert after a cookout, I simply frosted the cake with Cool Whip. But I know many MANY of you are not "fake" whipped topping fans, and that's A-Ok, because you can have your frosting too! For the "real food" folks, you could easily make a light, dairy-free coconut milk frosting, like this one: Elana's Vegan Coconut Cream Frosting. Or you could simply use real whipped cream with a little sugar added. So pick your favorite way to frost it.

However, no matter what type of whipped topping you decide to use, make SURE not to frost the cake until it's completely cool, otherwise, it will melt and be a soggy mess! Then store the cake in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight) before serving. This is definitely a cake that improves with a little time, so feel free to make it a day ahead of time for the yummiest results!

Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Cake
free of gluten and soy (and easily dairy-free)
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or tapioca starch/flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 tablespoons TEASPOONS baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup - 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 cup almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup light-tasting olive oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of each pan. Spritz each pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with light-tasting olive oil and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a large bowl mix together sugar and fresh strawberries until they are fully coated in the sugar (this will help keep the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Add the egg whites, almond milk, olive oil, and almond extract. Whisk wet ingredients together thoroughly. Slowly stir in dry mixture a little at a time, until it's thoroughly mixed into the wet ingredients. Pour cake batter evenly between the two greased cake pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. Frost with cool whip, coconut cream frosting (see recipe suggestions in above text), or your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting. (Pillsbury vanilla frosting and cream cheese frosting are both gluten-free and dairy-free). Top cake with additional fresh strawberries if desired.

**Cake is best when refrigerated for several hours before serving. Store cake in the refrigerator as it is quite moist and will not keep well on the counter. 

Arugula Sprouts Garden Burger

(Let's try this again spelling "ArUgula" correctly! lol) 

My husband loves sandwiches. Seriously, he could eat them every day for every meal. Squeeze in a bowl of cheerios and he'd say he's had a "well-rounded" day of meals!

When the weather gets warmer I really love sandwiches too... along with more veggie-based meals. Salads, raw veggies, and veggie sandwiches.

My favorite gluten-free veggie burgers are Sunshine Burgers. They are gluten-free, vegan, and soy-free as well. They are based from brown rice and carrots with different herbs and seasonings. My favorite is the Garden burger.

Another favorite sandwich ingredient lately has been Rudi's Gluten-Free Multigrain Bread. It's a newly formulated recipe which is softer than their previous frozen breads. It's delicious and truly tastes like the "whole wheat" bread I remember! It was perfect for these sandwiches...

So here's how we made them: 

• Bread: 2 slices Rudi's gluten-free multigrain bread, toasted
• Dressing: Spread with mayo & mustard
• Main Component:  Sunshine Burgers Garden Burger, pan-grilled
• "Cheese": Daiya mozzarella, melted 
• Additional Fillings: Arugula, broccoli sprouts, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado

What would you add to your veggie burger? 

Product Review: Smart Ones Cheesy Scramble with Hash Browns

I'm always hesitant to post reviews of processed meals... I know people tend to love 'em or hate 'em and many in the gluten-free, whole foods, paleo-ish communities wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole. I get that and I applaud those who are able to make all of their meals from scratch!

But in my life.. time is often short. I'm trying to work on my time management skills so that we can eventually eat most of our meals from scratch. However, I don't have a problem with shortcuts when you can find them and they work for you! 

And (in MY opinion) this "Smart Ones" meal is a good gluten-free option for breakfast at work. It's definitely a better choice than McDonald's. (And trust me, I'm a HUGE fan of McDonald's... when you're gluten-free and you need fast choices and options, I applaud any company who can make them available, healthy or not!)

SO let's look at the pros and cons of this product by Weight Watchers:

CONS: 

• Make sure you are an expert label reader to figure out if a product is gluten-free, especially if it's not a certified GF product. Also, you need to be comfortable emailing or calling companies to ask for details if you're not sure. Many of the Smart Ones products are absolutely NOT gluten-free, so READ THE LABEL! Then read it again! This product does have a lot of preservatives, so you do have to wade through the list of ingredients. However, this company is helpful by highlighting any ingredient that is part of the top 8 allergens. This product in particular highlights: eggs, milk, and soy. 

• This product contains a cheese sauce, so it's not dairy-free. (While I generally avoid dairy due to a sensitivity, I can tolerate it in small amounts.) This product also uses soy oil for preparing the potatoes, green and red peppers, and onions. However the product does not contain soy protein or hydrolyzed soy protein. If you avoid all soy, (due to the oil) this still won't be a good choice for you. 

• The breakfast meal isn't officially on the Heinz gluten-free food list, and this website claims that one of the ingredients: "corn maltodextrin" could be questionable for containing gluten... however, from other sources I've found, corn maltodextrin is a safe ingredient that does NOT contain gluten. So if you are concerned about this ingredient, it may not be a good option for you. 

PROS: 

• It's a super fast and easy gluten-free breakfast. 

• It's healthier and faster than "fast food."

• It has 210 calories, 9 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber, and 15 grams of protein (and will keep you full much longer than having a bowl of gluten-free cereal.) 

• If you are using weight watchers or another version of calorie counting, this product has already configured the "points" value for you. This can be tricky with other gluten-free meals. 

• This product does use REAL russet potatoes, real green and red peppers, real onions, and real eggs. While there are many processed ingredients in the list, it also contains ingredients you would use in your own kitchen. As far as "processed" goes, this could be a lot worse! 

SO... there you go! Weigh your options and if it would be a good fit for you check it out! Do you buy other gluten-free frozen meals? What do you use? How do you judge if it's a safe product? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Gluten-Free (Paleo-ish) Carrot Cake Bread

Sometimes it's amazing what you can come up with in the spur of the moment! We needed some additional pictures for my upcoming baking cookbook and we needed something colorful... an editor suggested a bread with carrot flecks. Carrot flecks? Who makes bread with carrot flecks??

So I strummed my fingers for a while... what can I make? What can I make? And then it came to me... why not make a very lightly sweetened version of a carrot cake... put it in a loaf and make it a bread! Why not?

One of my favorite aspects of this new book is that it will include a chapter of lower glycemic gluten-free baked goods. This means the primary ingredients will be almond flour and coconut flour. There's also going to be a vegan chapter as well (although not a low glycemic, vegan chapter!) so this cookbook will have a LOT of different options for people on all kinds of gluten-free diets.

While this bread isn't anywhere NEAR as sweet as a carrot cake would be, it definitely has hints of carrot cake and a lovely sweet flavor accented by ground cinnamon. It's a snap to make and has a great texture. Try it out and tell me what you think! If you're not a fan of banana bread, this is a perfect alternative! It's also really tasty spread lightly with sunbutter or almond butter!

AutiMom asked what the green flecks were in the bread... and strangely enough they are a magic (ie... chemical) reaction of the baking soda, almond flour, and carrots! I have no idea why this happens, but I'm sure we could google it! :-)

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Bread
This moist, slightly sweet loaf is perfect for breakfast. If you can tolerate dairy it is delicious with a smear of cream cheese. It's also a fun and tasty base for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Free of gluten, dairy/casein, soy, and corn
Yields 2 (7 1/2" x 3 1/2") loaves of bread
Recipe created by Carrie of Gingerlemongirl.com

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
3/4 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar (or brown sugar)
3 large eggs
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heavily grease 2 (7 1/2" x 3 1/2") loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or coconut oil. In a medium bowl whisk together blanched almond flour, arrowroot starch, ground cinnamon, sea salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl mix together olive oil, coconut sugar, eggs, carrots, almond milk, and apple cider vinegar Stir the whisked dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the raisins, if desired. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for 350-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the tops of the loaves are golden brown. Allow loaves to cool on a wire rack for one hour before slicing and serving.

OR You can make donuts instead:

My friend Diane decided to make Carrot Cake Bread DONUTS instead!! (Pure Genius Diane!) Simply pour the batter evenly into well-greased donut pans and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean!

A Weekend for Gluten-Free Expos!

Like free stuff? Like GLUTEN-FREE free stuff? 

Want to know more about how to live a healthy gluten-free lifestyle? 

Want to try different gluten-free foods and meet companies who are helping the gluten-free community? 

Well you have a really awesome chance THIS weekend at two Gluten-Free Expos: one in Charlotte NC and one in Roanoke VA! 

I WILL be at the event in Roanoke, so if you are in the SW VA area, I'd love for you to stop by and say hello! 

The Charlotte NC Gluten & Allergen Free Wellness Event: 

April 13, 2013

10 am - 4 pm

The Blake Hotel

555 South McDowell Street 

 Charlotte, NC 28204

REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!

SIMPLY GLUTEN FREE Featured Speaker:

Carol Kicinski 

America's Gluten Free Voice

Featured Speaker from SIMPLY GLUTEN FREE Magazine

 "Embracing the Gluten Free Lifestyle" 

Gluten Free TV Chef - Daytime TV - Nationally syndicated (NBC) in 3rd season, 

Founder & Editor in Chief of SIMPLY GLUTEN FREE magazine, 

Cookbook Author, GF Blogger since 2007, food writer published in over 100 newspapers in America

Lisa Stimmer

"Eating for Vitality Gluten Free"

 Gluten Practitioner, Natural Gourmet Chef & Healthy Lifestyle Coach

Just because you're Eating Gluten-Free,Doesn't mean you're Eating Healthy!

Eating the Right Balance of high quality foods creates more

Energy, Mental clarity, Fat loss, Hormonal balance and Optimal health!

Roben Ryberg

Roben is a food writer, specializing in cutting-edge food science developments. Major breakthroughs include: how to make gluten-free food taste great, how to bake with single gluten-free flours, how to retain moisture in gluten-free baking, how to achieve great texture and moisture using just whole grain flours, and, most recently, developing fabulous recipes for the microwave.

Chef Peter Pollay

Posana Café’s Executive Chef and co-owner, Peter Pollay, is an honors graduate of The Culinary Institute of America. Posana Cafe is the only dedicated gluten free restaurant in N.C. and has passed the taste test of some of the food industry's hardest critics as being the place "Where Gluten Free Goes Unnoticed"

Chef Peter Reinhart

Chef on Assignment at Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute, Cookbook Author, James Beard Award Winner, and expert on baking. His newest book was co-written with Denene Wallace and is now available "The Joy Of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking"

Dr Akiba Green

Dr. Akiba Green is a chiropractic physician who concentrates his practice to the treatment of chronic neurological and metabolic conditions.  He is widely recognized as a leader in the non-drug treatment of thyroid conditions, autoimmune disease, alternative and integrative cancer care, fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathy, diabetes and other chronic neurological and chronic metabolic conditions. 

____________________________________________________________

Stay tuned to our page for announcements on Speakers & Presentations

Please contact our Event Coordinators,
Nikki Everett & Jennifer Harris,
for more information on being a Vendor/Sponsor or Attendee
irresistiblyglutenfree@gmail.com
or 704-804-4090

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Southwest Virginia’s 2nd Annual Gluten-Free Expo

April 13, 2013

10.00 am – 2.00 pm

Free admission for all

Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke, VA (inside entrance by A.C. Moore)

Join us at the Expo where we will have local restaurants, grocery stores, and health stores showing gluten-free products they offer. We will also have educational booths if you have questions about the gluten-free diet, Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance, and anything else you can think of! There will be games for children as well.

I will have a booth here and will be available for any questions and help that you may need with gluten-free cooking and baking! 

Bring your family and friends!

Event Sponsors:

         

AND

South West Virginia Dietetic Association

All Things Healthy – Daleville, Va

For More Information about the SW Virginia Gluten-Free Expo: 

Please contact us at swvaglutenfreeexpo@gmail.com