Dinner & Dessert!

As I promised to recommend great Gluten Free restaurants, here they are!  I have been living in Philadelphia for over 6 years and searched the Internet for Gluten Free restaurants and I found a few good ones! The restaurant that is one of my favorites is called Giorgio OnPine. The restaurant’s appetizers, entrees and pizzas can be made Gluten Free by substituting Gluten Free pasta or dough and they even have Gluten Free bread! I have been to Giorgio’s a hand full of times and tried at least one dish from their selection of appetizers, entrées, pastas, pizzas and even desserts. I have never been disappointed! Another great thing about Giorgio’s is that it is a BYOB! So bring your favorite bottle of wine and enjoy your Gluten Free meal. I give this restaurant 5 stars out of 5 stars for having countless Gluten Free options and those options are outstanding!

               After a great dinner everyone needs to eat dessert. So this week I decided to bake something for you because I love to bake. My love of baking comes from my wonderful mom (picture of her on the left with me). She has been baking ever since I can remember; I have always been her little helper! But now when I visit her I let her do all the work, but this time I did all the work by myself! =) I decided to make clean banana muffins. When I bake, I try to stay away from diary and use natural sugars, so here is the recipe:

• 1 large egg
•  1 ½ cup (3 large) very ripe bananas
•   ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
•   ¼ cup of maple syrup or raw honey
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking power
• ½ tsp baking soda
•  ¼ tsp salt
•  1 1/2 cup gluten free Cup for Cup flour (you might need a little more)
• Cooking spray for pan (I use Trader Joe’s coconut stray)

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray non-stick muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl lightly beat egg. Add bananas and mash well.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients except the flour and whisk to combine.
4. Now add flour and gently stir until well incorporated. Do not over mix because muffins will be tough.
5. Fill each tin almost full with batter and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
6.  Let muffins cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

 I get some of my recipes from the Internet, friends, and my mom or try myself. I have to experiment with substituting flours, sugars and fats so not all of my recipes come out like I want them to. When using Gluten Free flour instead of regular flour, you always need to add a little more or the mixture might be too wet and not bake thoroughly.  Practice makes perfect so stick with it! Please enjoy and pass along my Gluten Free recipes and continue to follow my Gluten Free Path!!