GF Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter/margarine
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 ¼ cup white rice flour
1 tsp GF baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream butter and sugars together. Add vanilla and eggs; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 8 – 9 minutes or until done.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2 boxes chocolate cake mix (Use GF mixes to make GF version)
½ cup butter
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. With an electric mixer beat cake mixes, butter, and eggs together. Spoon dough onto ungreased cookie sheet (keep in mind, not too big). Bake for 9 – 12 minutes. When cool, ice bottom of one cookie with cream cheese icing then press another cookie to it making a sandwich. (With the Kinnikinnick Gluten-free cake mix you will want to use 1-2 extra eggs for best results—you’ll know it’s enough when the mixture is moist and can form balls)

Cream Cheese Icing

1-250g package of cream cheese
½ cup butter
3-4 cups icing sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter together using an electric mixer. Add icing sugar gradually until desired consistency is achieved.

GF Cinnamon Rolls

2 tbsp shortening or butter
¼ cup sugar
2/3 cup of milk
1tbsp yeast
1 egg
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch
¼ tsp baking soda
2 ½ tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp GF baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F. In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar, mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve.

Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft.

Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 ½” X 13 ½” square. Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp extra sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Then pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and then reposition it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Occasionally you’ll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets “stuck” under the edges. You might have to occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you’re done you’ve got ABOUT a 13 ½” X 13 ½” square of dough.

Remove top piece of wrap and spread melted margarine across the top of the dough with a pastry brush. Sprinkle on a mixture of 1/3 cup brown sugar and ¾ tsp cinnamon. Spread evenly across dough’s surface. (*Optional* spread on chocolate chips or raisins.) Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. Start with the sugary edge, which will be the center of your roll and roll toward the sugarless edge. Cut off or trim up the irregular ends of your “log.” Then cut into 8 or 9 slices of similar size, about 1 ½” wide. Place rolls into a greased round pie pan. Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned.

GF Apple Crisp

4 cups sliced/chopped apples
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup rice flour
½ cup, partially cooked, millet or quinoa (strained of excess moisture)
1/3 cup soft margarine
¾ tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 8 inch square pan. Spread apples in greased pan. In a bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; sprinkle/spread over apples. Bake about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with ice cream or whip cream to top.

(The cooked millet makes this apple crisp more moist then traditional apple crisps but without cooking the millet becomes crunchy and doesn’t fully absorb the moisture from the apples and margarine.)

Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies #1

1 cup shortening
¼ cup margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cup rice flour
2 tbsp tapioca starch
2 ½ tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder


Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream shortening, margarine, and sugar together. Add eggs then vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours (this is an essential step for rolling gluten-free dough). Knead until pliable before rolling dough on floured surface until ¼ inch thick (for best results roll on mixture of 3 parts flour to 1 part sugar). Bake for 10-12 minutes (time will vary based on thickness of rolled dough).

Pea Soup

This is the best split pea soup recipe I have. It is so delicious!

Split pea is a hearty soup and makes a great lunch or light dinner with just a piece of good bread or a salad.

2 cups split peas, rinsed

6 cups cold water
5 cups chicken broth
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk with leaves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste
dash each of parsley, thyme, marjoram and cayenne pepper

1. In a large pot add peas with 6 cups of cold water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until the split peas are tender.
2. Add chicken broth, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, sugar, lemon juice, bay leaf and all spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for another 1/2 hour or until carrots are soft.
3. Remove the bay leaf. Cool slightly. Puree in a blender for a smooth soup or leave as is.

*I often will add cubed leftover ham, or bacon bits to the soup before serving.

*Omit the chicken stock and simmer the soup with a ham bone, for a traditional split pea and ham soup.


*While peas are simmering, in another pot, cook 1/2 cup of barley with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until most of the water has been absorbed. Drain and rinse barley with cold water. Add barley to pureed pea mixture. Heat soup and serve.

*Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock for a hearty and healthy vegetarian soup recipe.

This soup freezes well. Put individual servings in the freezer for quick meals on cold days.

Serves 8