Why am I doing this?????

My youngest daughter, Carlie, has been telling me for a couple of years now that I should have a blog to share all my recipes and cooking tips on and I've been telling her for the same amount of time that nobody would want to read my stuff!  But, after selling a pretty large number (everything's relative, right?) of cookbooks and having people ask me all the time about my food, I decided that Carlie just might be right. So, here I am....writing my first post on my new blog.  I love to cook!! I love to bake!! I love to eat!!! And all of that became super-difficult when I was diagnosed with celiac disease 13 years ago.  Gluten-free food tasted like cardboard and I was desperate!  So, I started experimenting through converting family favorite recipes to GF.  I was NOT immediately successful---ask my family :)  But, perseverance paid off and food began to taste good again.  Then, I began inventing lots of new recipes and, as I served my food to non-GF eaters, they were amazed and always said, "This food CAN'T be gluten-free!"  But, it is.  So, after 10 years of this, I decided to publish a cookbook.  My main motivation was to preserve our family favorites for my daughters, Amanda and Carlie.  But, I also really wanted to help people who were dealing with that same struggle that I had dealt with.


To honor my daughter Carlie's nagging for me to start this blog, I thought I'd share some fun that we had a couple of weeks ago when my girls were both here visiting.


The first day was a lot of chaos in getting everyone from the airport, so I pre-made a curried chicken salad to have for dinner.  I wanted a great dessert ---who doesn't?--so I came up with a GF version of a recipe I'd seen in a magazine and made Brownie Ice Cream Bars---YUM does not even begin to describe them!!

As you can see, they have raspberries in the filling.  I happen to LOVE raspberries and thought it was a perfect addition.  The girls thought that strawberries might be better and my husband, Kevin, who really doesn't like fruit with chocolate, suggested that we skip the fruit altogether and try chocolate chips instead!! (Now, there's a man who knows how to eat :)  Whatever you decide to add to the filling, you're going to love them!  Here's the recipe:

1 stick butter
5 oz. dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free baking mix
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
6 oz fresh raspberries (or strawberries, or chocolate chips or whatever your heart desires :)
splash of Mexican vanilla
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup cream of coconut (NOT coconut milk)


Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 2 8X8 square pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving 2-3 inches of overhang on the sides.  In a double boiler (or a metal bowl over a pan of boiling water), melt butter and dark chocolate chips.  Stir till smooth and remove from heat.  Add sugar and blend; add eggs and blend.  Add GF mix, coconut flour, and xanthan gum and mix by hand until smooth.
Divide batter in half and place in prepared pans--smooth until level.
Bake about 15 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely in the pan.
While brownies are baking, place raspberries, 2 T. sugar and vanilla in a bowl and toss.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.  When brownies are cool, beat cream and coconut cream until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold in berries and juices.  Spread carefully over one pan of brownies.
Gently lift other brownie out of pan, using overhang to lift. Place on top of cream mixture.  Cover and freeze overnight.
Use overhang to lift out of pan and transfer to cutting board.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then, cut into bars.  Makes 6 or 9, depending on who is cutting :)