not vegan, but...

One of our favorite GF companies is Kinnikinick foods,a company with dairy free,nut free,gluten free products. They make outstanding doughnuts, bread, English muffins, bagels, and the pizza crust is amazing! There are eggs in it, though, so mommy has to resist the temptation...The wonderful animal crackers are vegan, anyway!

Gluten free vegan apple crumble

Another fall favorite...surprisingly easy to make GF and vegan! This recipe came from a kids' cookbook and was surprisingly easy to adapt. Note, it's not a crispy apple crisp, but more of a crumbly/crumby one that does quite well with a bit of soy ice cream to hold things together.

Peel and chop 3 or 4 large apples
Toss in a baking pan with 6 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp sugar, and ground cinnamon to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups GF flour: we used a blend of sorghum, brown rice, and teff. No xanthan gum needed. Add 3/4 cup vegan margarine (we used Earth Balance buttery sticks), 2/3 cup brown sugar, and blend with an electric beater until mixture is soft and crumbly.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the apples and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Enjoy with soy ice cream!

Gluten free vegan pumpkin pie!

Yummmm, pumpkin pie...as the air gets cooler and the trees start to drop their leaves, I start thinking of pumpkin pie. I erase the thought from my head, thinking of the flour, butter, eggs, and milk that went into my pies of yesteryear. But then I get to thinking that maybe it is doable. I still have frozen pumpkin puree from last year's Halloween pumpkins, and so I strike out on a mission. Success, and I didn't have to do much innovation of my own--just combining a GF crust with a vegan filling!!!

The crust: http://www.glutenfreehomemaker.com/2009/10/gluten-free-pie-crust.html. We used sorghum instead of millet, flax instead of egg, and Earth Balance vegetable shortening instead of butter.

Pumpkin pie filling: http://veganconnection.com/recipes//pumpkin_pie.htm. We used soymilk, brown sugar, and potato starch instead of cornstarch. The note about it needing to set overnight is true, but we ignored it and enjoyed mushy pie the first night, and then well-set pie for breakfast in the morning! (My daughter explained that pumpkin is a vegetable, rich in vitamin A and beta carotene, so why NOT enjoy it for breakfast?)

Gluten free, egg-free scallion pancakes

One of the things we've been missing the most since going gluten-free is scallion pancakes, you know, the delicious Chinese appetizers that taste great dipped in soy sauce. Fortunately, it is very easy to make your own at home with a blend of GF flours, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that they turn out perfectly delicious without eggs.

1 cup GF flour blend: I used about 1/3 each of potato starch, corn flour (not cornstarch), and sorghum flour, but anything would work well

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

add water until the batter is fairly thin, probably 1 to 1.5 cups water (you can put some egg in as well if you like, but it's not necessary)

add a handful of chopped scallions, then fry on a hot pan in vegetable oil. They are great dipped in gluten free tamari soy sauce!

We mixed up several cups of the dry ingredients, for a truly "just add water and scallions" mix.