It's a Baby Shower!

Here's me the day of the Baby Shower!

Hey everyone!

Something interesting happened this past weekend. J. a friend of mine is pregnant and some of her friends threw her a baby shower. J. has  lot of dietary problems, one of which is being allergic to wheat. Not gluten, but wheat. Unfortunately the people throwing her baby shower did not plan anything for the mother-to-be to eat. They figured she could just eat the salads. They didn't even have a cake for her. They had cake for everyone else, and some ice cream for her. When my mom and I heard this our hearts broke! This poor pregnant woman who had gone without any wheat her whole pregnancy, was now not going to be able to eat anything but salad at her own shower. We decided to make her something she hadn't had for 8 1/2 months.

My mom made a beautiful 5 inch deep gluten-free, corn-free Beef Lasagna. Then we used "Healthy Bread in Five minutes-a-day" recipe for Gluten-free Crusty Boule Bread for the garlic bread. For dessert I made gluten-free, corn-free "baby" lime tarts, quinoa raspberry bars, and flax brownies. Everything was a huge hit!

The only problem  was that we only made enough for the mom-to-be, us, and those we knew who had allergies. We had no idea that non-allergic people would be chowing down on the food too! Thank goodness we pushed J. to get in line before it was all gone! 

I think these recipes would come in handy for either a baby shower or a wedding shower, just change the color scheme!

Hope you enjoy them as much as the party guests did!

This is a regular sized tart. The mini ones disappeared too quickly for me to take a picture!

Gluten-free, Corn-free, Soy-free "Baby" Lime Tarts

Makes 30 mini tarts

For the crust:

1/2 C. Spectrum Organic Shortening

1/2 C. Corn-free Powdered Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

Pinch of Salt

1 C. Brown Rice Flour

1/2 C. Amaranth Flour

1/4 C. Potato Starch Flour

For the filling:

3 Egg Yolks

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 C. Lime Juice

2 tsps Grated Lime Zest

Prepare crust:

1 In a mixer, whip together the shortening and sugar, until light and fluffy.

2. Add egg yolks and salt and mix.

3. Add the flours and mix briefly.

4. Put the mixture into a large zip-lock and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5. Line a mini-muffin pan with color coordinating liners. I used blue and green. Michael's carries the liners in several color combinations in their cake decorating department.

6. Press a tablespoon of the crust mixture into each muffin cup. You want it to fill the bottom, but not climb the sides.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 3 minutes.

Prepare filling:

1. Whisk egg yolks with lime zest.

2. Add the sweetened condensed milk. Whisk.

3. Add the lime juice.

4. Fill the par baked crusts with the filling, leave a little space between the filling and the top of the cup.

5. Bake for 9 minutes or until a butter knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

6. Refrigerate before serving.

Dark Chocolate Flax Brownies

Makes 15 brownies.

8 oz Bakers Chocolate

2 oz Semi-sweet Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

1 C. Spectrum Organic Vegan Shortening

4 Eggs

2 C. Brown Sugar

1 rounded cup, Flax Meal

1/2 C Brown Rice Flour

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

4 tsp Vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 11x13 inch pan with parchment paper.

2. Using the microwave, melt both chocolates and shortening in a small bowl. Stir. Set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs till frothy. Add the brown sugar and beat until the mixture is smooth. Add the chocolate a little at a time - incorporate it slowly - and beat until shiny and thick.

4.In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry mix to the chocolate mixture, beat well. Add the vanilla, and mix for 30 seconds.

5. Pour into pan and bake for 33 minutes.

Quinoa Raspberry Bars

Makes 15 bars.

1 C. Sorghum Flour

1/2 C. Buckwheat Flour

1/2 C. Tapioca Starch Flour

1 C. Quinoa Flakes

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 2/3 C. Light Brown Sugar
2/3 C. Olive Oil
2 Tbs Molasses
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Enjoy Life Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 C. Freeze Dried Raspberries (broken up)

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients.

2. Whisk together the wet ingredients.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a sturdy spoon until you get a sticky batter. This will take some time, but keep at it!

4. Add in the eggs. Mix until combined.

5. Mix in chocolate chips and Raspberries.

6. Line an 11x13 pan with parchment paper. Press batter evenly into pan.

7. Bake for about 23 minutes.

Gluten-Free, Corn-free Strawberry Lemon Tarts

Some of you may remember my post on Key Lime Pies. Some of you may not. However, since posting that recipe I have come across some . . . difficulties. I tried changing the flavor to make strawberry cream pies, orangesicle cream pie, and chocolate cream pies. I have been successful with all of them, but boy was it difficult! So I thought I would share my misfortunes with you all so you can learn from my mistakes.

1. This is not a dairy free recipe. Sorry! However this recipe needs citrus juice to react with the sweetened condensed milk, otherwise the filling is too thin and runs out of the English muffin ring.This ends up in the filling burning, the sugar caramelizing, and the pie tasting like carcinogens. Yuck.
2. Don't bake the pies too long. Bake only until the filling is set (or doesn't jiggle when shaken), and when a butter knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
3. Don't press too much of the tart crust into the rings, if you do you won't have enough filling.

I am having some lighting/camera issues, so I will post pictures of this recipe sometime in the next couple of days.

Strawberry Lemon Tarts
For the crust recipe, refer back to my post on Gluten-free Lime Tarts.
For the strawberry Lemon tart filling:

1/4 C. Strawberry Puree
1/4 C. Lemon Juice
3 Organic Free Range Egg Yolks
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1. Whip egg yolks until light. Add puree and lemon juice, whip together.
2. Pour in sweetened condensed milk, and mix until thick.
3. Pour into pre-baked tart rings.