Pinterest Goes Gluten Free

As I am sure many of you are, I too am obsessed with Pinterest lately. However, many of the foods that I have been drooling over are not gluten free, meaning my son nor I can eat them.  So, I set about finding some of Pinterests best gluten free recipes.  The problem with many gluten free recipes is they require many, many ingredients and much more time than I seem to have.  This week was a rare week for me because I actually had time to try several of the Pinterest recipes I found.  These were my requirements for trying recipes:
1) It was gluten free, or,
2) could easily be made gluten free (with small alterations),
3) required few ingredients (I don't have the time or patience),
4) used ingredients I would normally use or have on hand, and
5) was good enough that my non-gluten free husband would also enjoy them.

Here's the recap...

One of my favorite foods is a nice, fresh caprese salad, so when I saw this recipe for a Hot Caprese Dip I definitely added it to my "to-try" list.  At only three ingredients (mozzerella, tomato, and basil), this dip was super easy to make.  I followed the directions exactly but found the dip was watery and almost inedible without a knife and fork.  I served the dip with gluten free lentil chips.  Even though the dip was runny and required a fork to eat, I managed to eat the entire thing by myself, in one sitting.

Before baking

My recommendations for the future:  I used fresh mozzarella (still in the water) to make my dip.  I think in the future I would use bag shredded mozzarella as it would have much less moisture.  Some of the reviews for the dip suggested using some cream cheese to help create a creamier texture and that may also be a direction I try in the future.  

After baking

Next recipe was for Mama's Meatloaf. I LOVE a good southern meal and meatloaf is one thing I can never order in a restaurant due to use of breadcrumbs.  I have tried to adapt several meatloaf recipes in the past and had decent success.  This one was no different, it was a decent meatloaf, but the sauce and the presentation made it fabulous.

Mama's Meatloaf Cupcakes-Post Production

How I made this recipe gluten free: I used Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Panko-Style Breadcrumbs.  I used Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce in the recipe because it is already gluten free.

Mashed potatoes: To save time I used OreIda's Steam n' Mash.  Microwave for ten minutes and then add butter and milk.  I used my icing piper to pipe mashed potatoes onto my mini meatloaves.
 
What I would change for the future?  Nothing.  I really liked this recipe, however the time invested into making meatloaves mini was probably a bit excessive for a normal dinner (to me, at least).  I will use this recipe again, but probably as a normal sized meatloaf unless it's a special occasion.


The same night we had the meatloaf cupcakes I made this Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole (try saying that three times fast).  It is actually a breakfast recipe, but it seemed sweet enough to make for a dessert.  A mix of bread, cream cheese and berries made this breakfast look sweet and decedent.

Before Baking

How I made it gluten free:  Used Udi's Gluten Free Sandwich Bread cut into pieces for the base.  Gluten free frozen organic berries in the casserole and used gluten free blueberry pie filling as the topping.
What I would do differently?  When the dish was done it looked so rich and sweet, but I found instead some "chunks" of cream cheese that I expected to taste more like a cheesecake just tasted like cream cheese.  For breakfast I would keep the recipe as written and if made as a dessert I would add a little bit of powdered sugar to the cream cheese to up the sweetness factor.  None-the-less, it was a success with the entire family.  The pictures aren't so pretty, but it was yummy!

After Baking & Eating :)

Tonight's dinner was Mini Mexican Pizzas.  As posted the recipe is not gluten free, but it was an easy fix.  It was yet another recipe that required a muffin pan, so it's gotten good use this week.   Following the recipe as posted I found the mini pizzas did not come out of the pan very easily.  I had three mini pizzas where I left out the salsa step (as per husband's request) and they came out quite nicely. I also added a can of mexicorn, just to give a little more substance and variety. I guess the salsa gave the pizzas too much moisture so the shell never got crunchy.  I thought these were easy and a nice change from our normal food rotation.  Baby, husband and I all ate happily.

Prior to baking--Not too pretty, but yummy!

How I made it gluten free:  Besides making sure your refried beans, taco seasoning and salsa are gluten free, the only substitution I had to make was using corn tortillas instead of flour ones.  Since corn tortillas are less pliable, I put the tortillas in the mircrowave between two wet paper towels for 45 seconds to give them a little moisture and increase the pliability.
Changes for future?  I think the only thing I might try is using ground beef instead of turkey.  Although it was good, the ground turkey kinda got lost in the mix.

Again, not too pretty, but the yummy post-production Mexi-pizzas

And last, but not least, I wanted a late night snack. Craving something fried and cheesy I remembered the Pinterest gluten free mozzarella sticks I pinned recently. The recipe as posted is gluten free, and I used Southern Homestyle Tortilla Crumbs and seasoned as directed.  They were fabulous!  Husband and I both thought they were just as good as "normal" mozzarella sticks.  This will be a permanent fixture in the gluten-free recipe book.

The process of making the gluten-free mozz sticks

Finished mozz sticks--fried cheesy deliciousness!

Changes for the future?  Not a darn thing except to make these more often!!

All in all, a good successful week of new ideas and new recipes.  Most were successes, but I learned some things that will help if I indeed make these recipes again in the future.

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