Strawberry Angel Dessert

While on the topic of great summery foods, of course a few favorites of my family include dessert recipes! This one combines the delectable flavor of fresh strawberries, cool whip, Junket strawberry dessert, and MMMMM angel food cake! It is of course a must-have and is so popular with friends/family that we have actually gotten requests for this to be substituted instead of buying people gifts/money for graduation presents. (of course then it is not set out at the open house, but savored later). Of course, the best way is to make it with Dunken Hines Angel Food Cake Mix, but due to the dang gluten, we have had to experiment with our own cake recipe. This actually makes the dessert even more fun to make and gives it a bit more homeley of a feel. (however, does take a bit longer to make, but not bad!)
Gluten Free Angel Food Cake
1/4 cup Rice Flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp xanthan
12 egg whites, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
2 T vanilla
1 T almond extract
1 1/2 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 325. Separate egg whites from yolks and place in steel bowl of your mixer. In another bowl, sift the flours, salt, xanthan, and 3/4 cup sugar, set aside. Beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in other 3/4 c sugar, 1/8 cup at a time and continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold in the flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time. Then, fold in the vanilla and almond extract. Pour batter into pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until the top is golden. Remove from oven, flip cake pan upside-down (we balance it on three upside-down cereal bowls) and let cool.

While the cake is baking, prepare the Junket Dessert. We use 2 of the boxes of Junket Strawberry Danish Dessert Mix and prepare them according to directions on the box:

Stir contents of both packages into 3 1/2 cups of cold water in a medium-large saucepan. Bring to a full boil and let boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from stove-top and let cool.

Strawberry Angel Dessert Recipe:

1 GF Angel Food Cake
Junket Strawberry Dessert Mix
1 container light cool whip
1 quart fresh strawberries

Once the cake has cooled, slice it into thin slices (about 1/2 inch thick). Mix the sliced strawberries into the cooled (can still be warm) Junket mix.

Place about 1/3 of the cake on the bottom of a 9 in round dish or 9x9 pan. Next, cover the cake with a layer of about 1/3 of the strawberry mixture. Cover this with about 1/3 of the cool whip. Repeat for two more layers. If you have extra strawberries (or even blueberries for a special RedWhiteBlue treat), arrange them in a decorative manner on top of the final layer of cool whip.
Dig in and enjoy! (to keep, refrigerate it or it may get a bit soupy)

**Also, in the pictures shown, we decided to experiment and use frozen raspberries instead of strawberries. For this, just use Raspberry Junket and about 5 cups of frozen berries. We were a bit skeptical as we love the strawberry version so much, but it was very good as well, and a big hit with non GF friends as well!

Rice Medley

Finally weather up here in Michigan is beginning to warm up, and the farmers markets/grocery stores are beginning to bring in the oh-so-good fresh local fruits and veggies. I love Michigan winters and the diverse seasons (I know, I'm ones of "those" crazy people who absolutely LOVE snow and cold!), but one of my favorite things about northern Michigan is the produce that comes out in the summer. My family is addicted to fruits and veggies as it is and when they are locally grown and fresh....ahh you just can't stop us!

This light and summery dish therefore speaks right to us and it becomes no surprise that it has long been a family favorite. My mom and dad had something like it when they lived in Iowa and did not stop experimenting until they created their own spectacular version of what we now call "Rice Medley." It is great anytime, but especially spectacular with fresh summer tomatoes!!! MMM! It is naturally gluten free (with the exception of having to use gluten free soy sauce) and is also a great dish for vegetarians.


1 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice (about 4 1/2 cups cooked)
3-4 large carrots, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 large green pepper
1 container fresh mushrooms, sliced
3-5 tomatoes, sliced
2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Gluten Free Soy Sauce

Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Cook the rice until chewy (we steam it, but any way works). Dump the cooked rice into the pan and add the shredded carrots. Mix these together, sprinkle with soy sauce, and spread out evenly into the pan. Slice the green peppers and lay out on the rice/carrot mixture. Cover this completely with the sliced mushrooms and then cover with sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle the cheese over the top to completely cover everything (you may need more than 2 cups, we just dump and sprinkle)
Place in the oven at 350 F and bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown on the edges.
Enjoy!!



We often just have this dish by itself, but when serving men or if we want to incorporate a bit more protein into the meal, we will often serve it with chicken on the side. We simply cut up chicken breast into strips or stir fry size pieces and saute it in a small amount of soy sauce. Great as well!

GF Challah Bread (Jewish Egg Bread)

As classes end and we suddenly find ourselves faced with summer break, all those little jobs and activities that we had no time for during the semester are suddenly topping the 'to-do' list. I tend to happily immerse myself in every possible physical, outdoor, dirty chore or project I can find, while my sister tends to get into more indoor activities. This year I think she is already missing note-taking as she just graduated from SVSU and is already cranking out notecards of information. However, it is this time and info that I can now thank her for some great new recipes. She has been lately in to researching interesting gluten free recipes and writing them all down to get a collection of recipes together before she heads to the UK in august.

Regardless, I was trying to come up with a 'different' bread to make for breakfasts the other day and decided to dive into Elayna's collection. Here, I found the interesting base to this Challah bread recipe. I made a few alterations and still might consider a few more, but this was probably the closest thing to real bread texture that Ive tasted in a long time! When it says to only fill 2/3 full, it means it as it truly does rise that much! The taste is great, slightly less sweet than traditional challah bread, but is awesome when you toast it and add a light layer of natural jam or even peanut butter. I assume if would also make great sandwhich bread, but have yet to try it. Also, as rolls, these are great!!

(This smelled so good, I forgot to take pictures of it before I dug in!)

2 c white rice flour
1 3/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c + 2 tsp sugar
3 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c lukewarm water, + 1 cup
1 1/2 T yeast
4 T melted butter
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 eggs
sesame seeds (opt)

In mixer, combine the flours, 1/4 c sugar, xantham gum, and salt.
Dissolve the 2 tsp sugar in the 2/3 cup of water and mix in the yeast. In a separate bowl combine the butter with the additional 1 cup water and vinegar.
With mixer on low speed, blend the dry ingredients. Slowly add the butter/water mixture. Blend in the eggs, 1 at a time. The dough should feel slightly warm. Pour the yeast mixture into the ingredients in the bowl and beat the highest speed for 2 minutes.
Place the bowl in a warm spot, cover with greased plastic wrap and a towel, and let rise approximately 1 hour.

Return the dough to the mixer and beat on high for 3 minutes. Spoon the dough into a greased, floured loaf pan. Fill 2/3 full, you may bake the remainder in greased muffin tins, etc. (or make all rolls~about 18). Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds. Let the dough rise until it is slightly above the tops of the pans, about 45-60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake the large loaf for approximately 1 hour. Bake the rolls 25 minutes.