Gluten Free Fruit Pizza

The dark days of winter will soon be over and we are eagerly anticipating spring with warm days and green grass!  During the long winter it is great to take time to get together with family and friends.  When it's cold outside visiting, playing games or celebrating important milestones helps the winter months pass a little more quickly. This week we are celebrating Four Weeks Till Spring Day!  This important day calls for a special dessert!  Fruit pizza is perfect, it's like sunshine on a plate!

  

 

 It starts off with a crust that is basically a big almond sugar cookie!

Followed by a layer of cream cheese and whipped cream, lightly sweetened with honey.

 

 

Top that with your choice of sliced fruit.  We like strawberries, bananas, peaches, mandarin oranges, grapes, or kiwi. 

 

Finally, and very important!  A citrus fruit glaze that keeps your fruit fresh and tastes amazing!

 

A beautiful and delicious dessert!

 

Gluten Free Fruit Pizza

Crust:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp. cane sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 1 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. xanthin gum
• 1 tsp. gluten free baking powder   

Combine butter, sugar and egg.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Mix in milk and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture.  Spread with buttered hands onto a 12 inch pizza pan.  Bake at 350 F. For 10 to 12 minutes.  Cool.

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 250 g (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. honey

Whip cream cheese until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form, add vanilla, honey and cream cheese.  Mix until combined.  Spread on cooled cookie base.

 

Fruit Layer:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 banana 
• 1 can peaches
• 1 1/2 cups grapes
• Other fruit of choice

Slice fruit and arrange on pizza.

 

Citrus Glaze:

• 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 Tbsp. corn starch
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• Juice of one orange (1/2 cup)

Bring all ingredients to a boil over medium heat.  Stir constantly until thick.  Cool and spoon over fruit. Best eaten the same day, store extra in fridge up to 24 hours.

 

Chicken Fajita Salad with Avocado Dressing

   

   There is always a cheer when my kids find out we are having Chicken Fajitas for supper.  They love them so much they would happily eat them once a week!  They are so fast and easy to make I usually save them for a day when I get home late and need a hot meal on the table quickly.  

  Not too long after I started eating gluten free I discovered that Chicken Fajitas are great even without the wraps.  I have also ordered Fajitas in restaurants had had them hold the wraps or replace them with corn tortillas if they were available .  In some restaurants they bring the chicken out sizzling on a small skillet and then all the veggies and extras on a side plate, it's fun to build your own meal right there.  

Another reason Fajitas are so great is that everyone gets to fix them up just the way they like.  Some of us like extra cheese, salsa, tomato, and they are very good with my Avocado Dressing. I shared this recipe earlier but I am including it again because I love it so much with Fajita Salad!

 

Chicken Fajita Salad

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 boneless chicken breasts, sliced in long thin strips
• 1 large onion, cut in thin rings
• 1 red pepper, cut in strips
• 2 tsp. cumin
• sea salt and pepper

Heat one Tbsp. olive oil in a frying pan, add onion and peppers.  Sauté until soft.  Turn onto a plate.  In the same pan add remaining oil, chicken, cumin and salt and pepper.  Stir fry until cooked.  Add cooked onions and pepper and heat through.  Serve over lettuce, top with grated cheese, tomato and Avocado Dressing

Avocado Dressing

• 1/2 cup olive oil 
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar 
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/8 tsp. chilli powder
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients together.  Store extra in an airtight container for up to one week.

 

Gluten Free Caramel Apple Cupcakes

           

    As I was making these cupcakes my thoughts turned to my Mom.  This is fairly common when I am in the kitchen because that is where I learned many lessons from my Mother, and not just about cooking!  My Mom did pass on her love of cooking and her appreciation for good food; but also her willingness to learn, to take chances, and to try new things. As a girl she lost her Mother when she was 12 and her Father when she was 16.  After that the five siblings, the oldest being around 18, were left to look after each other.  My Mom's two sisters took on the job of cooking for the family, my Mom was responsible for the cleaning.  For this reason when my parents got married in 1963 my mom didn't know how to cook.      

  She was a very practical woman and trained as a nurse and she believed that you could do anything you set your mind to.  She bought cookbooks, followed the directions, and accepted advice from her Mother-in-law.  My parents accomplished a lot during their lives,  raised two children, moved from the city to establish a successful dairy farm, opened a Bed & Breakfast and Farm Vacation Home.  On a regular basis my Mom would cater groups of 20 and sometimes up to 50.  She loved gourmet cooking and was using whole grains, beans and lentils even before they were trendy. In between all that they loved spending time with family and friends, dancing, and traveling the world. Unfortunately my Mom has been gone for almost 25 years.  

While she was here my Mom taught me that I will survive what ever life throws at me and it will make me stronger; to enjoy this beautiful earth that we have been given, and to live each day to the fullest!

   

    So what does that have to do with Caramel Apple Cupcakes?  Not much, but (full disclosure) I wanted to make some stylish cupcakes for February in honour of Valentine's Day so I decided to make Gluten Free Red Velvet.  My Mom would always make red velvet cake in the shape of a heart when I was young.  I remember the icing was so good and she would decorate it with cinnamon hearts.  Mine didn't turn out so great; they looked lovely but they were a little dry.  My family was polite though, they said "Mmm, this icing is great!"  These Caramel Apple Cupcakes however, are amazing!     

 

Gluten Free Caramel Apple Cupcakes

• 3 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend
• 1/2 cup flax, ground
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/3 cups unsweetened applesauce

In a large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add butter, eggs, vanilla, milk and apples. Stir until combined.  Fill muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.  Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.  Remove from tins and allow to cool completely.

 Caramel Sauce

Originally published on: Life, Love & Sugar   

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in sugar and cream until dissolved.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and boil for 3 minutes.  No more.  Store in fridge.  When cold this sauce is quite thick, for pouring warm to room temperature.  

Poke three holes in the top of each cupcake and drizzle some caramel sauce in.  Let soak in for about five minutes the top with whipped cream frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp. caramel sauce, chilled

Whip cream until stif peaks form, beat in cold caramel sauce.  Pipe onto cupcakes, drizzle with room temperature caramel sauce.