Gardening

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread – Cake

September 30, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

A fun potluck party idea is to have a zucchini fest. People can be so creative; you’ll discover zucchini dishes you never dreamed of. I’ll never forget going to one several years ago and someone had thought ahead and brought a gluten free chocolate zucchini bread. Too many times, we forget the many who don’t eat gluten (wheat products).

My busy gluten free neighbor Vanessa shares this recipe – gluten free chocolate zucchini bread. It is so yummy and rich, it can be treated as cake. This is a proven winner recipe; it won’t last long in the pan! Enjoy the zucchini season while it lasts…and lasts…..and lasts!

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread/Cake

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut milk plus 1 tbsp white vinegar (this makes a dairy free buttermilk version)
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup oat flour
1 Tsp xanthum gum
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp cacao
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan with non stick spray
In a large bowl cream together the applesauce, coconut oil and sugar. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown rice and pat flours, cocoa powder, cacao, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix, then add the coconut milk (with the vinegar) mix, and add the remaining flour mixture. Mix until well combined.
This is a good time to teach patience to little ones while the batter mixes. Good things come to those who wait!
Stir in the shredded zucchini.
With supervision and a little help, young children can take pride in helping make this delicious zucchini treat!
Pour the batter in the pan.
Be sure to smell it as you examine your batter.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. In my convection oven it takes about 34 minutes.

This can be served with whipped topping or your favorite ice cream or ice cream alternative.

If you have already pulled up your garden, don’t worry. I’m sure someone has excess in their garden. Just put out the word that you will make some gluten free chocolate zucchini bread for them if they will give you some of their zucchinis. If you find this too late, make plans for various zucchini plants next spring. There are many varieties to choose from at your local garden center.

Try out some other ZUCCHINI RECIPES:

Baked Zucchini Fries

Banana Zucchini Bread w/Chocolate Chips

Zucchini Chips

Delicious Roasted Zucchini

Oven Fried Zucchini

Prepare for April 25th – National Zucchini Bread Day

Prepare for August 8th – Sneak Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day

Preparing Your Garden for Winter

September 27, 2017 by Vanessa Myers

As the gardening season slowly draws to a close, it’s time to think about closing down and preparing your Garden for winter and the following spring. Taking the time to do these steps will help you have greater garden success during the following year.

There are steps you should take when you are preparing your garden for winter

Leaf Image by Mark Turnauckas under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

Perform a Garden Assessment

Now is a great time to look over the gardening successes and failures that you had during this gardening season. Did you fruit trees get attacked by certain insects? Did a certain new kind of vegetable perform especially well? Documenting the events in your garden (perhaps in a garden journal) will help you recognize trends and remember what worked.

Water Your Trees Less

As winter approaches, you want to make sure that your trees will be ready for their slumber. At the beginning of fall, stop watering them. You shouldn’t have to worry too much about them having problems, as there is usually sufficient rain during this period. Wait until all of the leaves have fallen off, then give it a good long watering session. This will help make sure that they don’t start too much new growth.

Leaf mulch is a great way to add nutrients back into your garden

Leaf Mulch Image by Bobby McKay under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution – NoDerivatives License

Save Your Leaves for Mulch

As your trees start to drop their leaves, why not add them to a compost pile to enrich next year’s soil? If you run over them with a mower, they will break down faster, though you can still put them in whole if desired. Add a nitrogen source like urea to your leaf mulch to help it decompose. It should be ready for use by spring.

Get Ready to Prune

You can prune out at any time the parts of your trees and shrubs that have become dead, diseased or damaged. Otherwise, wait until they have gone dormant before you do any work. If you do it too early, the plant can start producing new shoots that could be harmed by frost. It’s also easier to see where you want to prune when the leaves are gone and you can see the skeleton of the tree.

Pick up spoiling fruit as part of your fall cleanup

Spoiling Fruit Image by Groume under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution – ShareAlike License

Remove All Dead Annuals, Weeds, and Spoiled Fruit/Vegetables

As your vegetables and other annuals start to wither away, pull them out of your garden plot. If they are left there over the winter, the dead plants can serve as insect and disease shelters during the winter. Your annuals can go into a compost pile or you can turn into the soil if you like. The same is true for any spoiled fruits or vegetables. You do want to make sure that the weeds are taken out and properly disposed of or else they will add more weeds to next year’s chore list.

What do you do as part of preparing your garden for winter?

Apple Varieties and How to Use Them

September 21, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

Photo: Pixabay

Not all apples are the same. With over 7000 varieties of apples, it is wise to learn which types are best for what you want the apple. Some apples are more soft, some more crunchy and crispy, some mealy, some tart, some sweet, and so on. Of course, which apple you use can be all subjective, but in the world of apple connoisseurs, there are some apples more suitable for different needs.

Here is a list of some of the more popular apple varieties and how to best use them.

Take a bite of a crisp apple from the apple tree

Photo: Pixabay

Fresh Eating Apple Varieties

There are so many different tastes for different people’s likings. Here are some of the most popular.

Braeburn
Fuji
Gala
Cameo
Golden Delicious
Granny Smith (for a tart taste)
Honeycrisp
Empire
Pink Lady or Cripps Pink

Baked whole apples with cinnamon and raisins

Photo: Pixabay

Baking Apple Varieties

Popular apples for pies, apple sauce, apple butter, and baking whole.

Granny Smith (in our opinion the BEST pie apple)
Braeburn
Golden Delicious
McIntosh
Rome Beauty
Cortland
Jonagold
Jonathan
Gala
Melrose
Honeycrisp
Winesap
Cameo
Avoid these apples in pie because they become mealy with baking: Cortland, Gala, and Red Delicious

Hot apple cider tastes good on a cold fall day.

Photo: Pixabay

Cider Apple Varieties

It is proven that the best tasting cider comes from using a variety of all types of apples. One neighbor who owns a press once told me “The more varieties, the better!”

Gala
Rome Beauty
Golden Delicious
Grimes Golden
Jonathan
Red Delicious
McIntosh
Fuji
Braeburn
Jonagold
Cortland

Realize that these lists are not complete by any stretch of the imagination. Remember the 7000 plus varieties? Our shorter more concise list will be a good place to start!

As you decide what apple you want to have on your own lot, for a great harvest, be sure to check your local garden center for what apple trees do well in your area. Not all apple trees like to be planted just anywhere. Temperature plays an important role in producing a worthwhile crop. Read How to Choose an Apple Tree to learn more.

How to Choose an Apple Tree in Utah

September 21, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

Learn 3 important criteria to choose the right apple tree for your yard

Photo by Pixabay

Fall is a wonderful time to plant trees and the apple tree is one of the easiest fruit trees to grow. Surprisingly, how to choose an apple tree is easy to learn as well. Learn these three basic criteria as you prepare for this investment. Nearly all apple trees require a second variety close by in order to pollinate. So as you are considering, be sure to have a first and second choice.

How to Choose an Apple Tree – 3 Criteria:

Right SIZE – Choose the right size of tree for your space. You need to look at your space and maybe even measure the space so you know what you are purchasing.
Right VARIETY – Type of fruit desired. Do you want fresh eating apples, or just cooking apples? You will be investing time and effort into you tree, so they may as well be apples that will please you and serve your purpose.
Right TIME – When does it flower and when is harvest time. Apples require a second variety to cross-pollinate, therefore you want 2 apples trees that will bloom about the same time.

Tree size for the right space is important when you choose an apple tree

Photo by Pixabay

SIZES of Trees:

Standard size tree – can grow to 25-30 feet tall along Wasatch Front with a spread of 25-30 feet. You need a large area for the standard size tree. Standard trees take 4-8 years to produce mature fruit. These trees are very good in cold-climates, but be ready to prune every year.
Semi-dwarf (sometimes called half-standard) – can grow 12-15 feet tall along the Wasatch Front and same width if not pruned. This tree will have mature fruit in 3-5 years.
Dwarf or Genetic Dwarf tree or Bush trees – Can grow 6-10 feet tall along the Wasatch Front and just as wide. These trees produce mature fruit in 3-4 years.
Others: There are several other types of fruit trees. These would include espalier and columnar. See your local experts at the neighborhood nursery for what will grow in your area and for availability.

Nearly all semi-dwarf and dwarf or bush trees are grafted. Growers graft or attach the desired fruiting branch to a “rootstock” trunk. The rootstock determines how big your tree will get. Shopping your reputable local garden nursery will ensure that you are buying a quality product – good grafting onto a quality rootstock. There are different rootstocks for different areas. Your local nursery experts will only sell what will work here along the Wasatch Front, versus a big company back east somewhere that orders for their stores throughout the country.

How to choose an apple tree with the right variety of apple for your needs.

Photo by Pixabay

VARIETY of Fruit:

There are literally over 7000 apple varieties. Obviously many more than what you find at the local grocery market. Visiting a good local farmers market can expose you to other varieties you can taste before you make an investment into your own tree.

Click HERE to see a basic break down of the more popular varieties and their best uses.

Remember that your tree is your investment, so you want to produce something you will use and enjoy for years and years to come. Apples trees can live as long as 60 years or more.

The blooming time of apple trees is important to pollinate the blossoms.

Photo by Pixabay

TIMES for Blooming:

As mentioned above, nearly all apples need a pollinator apple tree in the general area. If you have neighbors that have apples trees, planting one in your yard should still give you plenty of harvest. But if you are the only one, then you may need to plant two different varieties of apples. For example, in commercial orchards, farmers often plant some golden delicious apple trees along with their main crop. Golden Delicious trees are known to be good pollinators. Be sure to choose two varieties that overlap their flowering time.

Midseason bloomers:

Crimson Beauty
Gala
Jonamac
Jonathan
McIntosh
Golden Delicious
Jonagold
and others

Late bloomers:

Fuji
Granny Smith
Rome Beauty
Winesap
and others

Poor pollinators: Jonagold and Winsesap (plus a few more), are considered poor pollinators. Don’t plan on them being your pollinating tree.

Hardiness and Cold Requirements: Be sure to check at your local garden center for those varieties that are actually hardy for your area. You need to choose an apple tree that will survive your climate year round. And on the other hand, realize that apples require a certain amount of cold temperatures to have the sugars set and the fruit to ripen properly. If the fruit doesn’t get the required coldness, the fruit will be a disappointment for all the time and effort you’ve put into your harvest.

For example, my parents planted a Red Delicious apple down south in the area of St. George, Utah. The fruit grew but never turned red and always had a mealy texture and flavor. The fruit never was like their Red Delicious apples from their trees up in northern Utah. The tree eventually was cut out.

Conclusion:

Now you know the basic criteria for how to choose an apple tree. You need to consider the right size of tree, the right type of apple, and the right blooming time for good pollination. What a great investment for your yard, yourself, and your family!

In future posts, we will go through proper planting procedures, learn about any pest control needed, and how and when to properly prune your tree. Soon you will be enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Check out these recipes for apple goodies (submitted by Western Garden patrons):

Simple Apple Chips and Apple Pie Filling

Simple Applesauce and Apple Butter

Apples for Applesauce and Apple Butter

September 14, 2017 by Marjorie Carter

I use different apples for applesauce and apple butter. Here are ways to use a variety of apples or just Jonagold and Golden Delicious.

Applesauce

Photo by Taken at Pixabay

The best tasting applesauce is made using a variety of different apples. This is a good opportunity to do some apple swapping with neighbors! If only one apple is used for applesauce, then a sweet-tart variety is best, such as a Jonagold.

Use jonagold apples for applesauce and apple butter

Photo by Marco Roosink at Pixabay

Apples have enough natural sweetness that I avoid adding sugar. It’s really not necessary. The sauce maker is a big help if you’re trying to process lots of apples.

Photo: Canology/Norpro Click photo for link

Making applesauce is not difficult, especially if you have a sauce maker, but it can be sticky work. I know there are lots of instructions on the internet. I like this recipe by PickYourOwn because the writer explains all the steps and equipment needed.

Photo: Amazon/Cuisinart Click Photo for Link

If you don’t own a sauce maker, you can peel the apples, remove stems and seeds, then use a stick blender or transfer to a blender jar to puree. Be careful because the apples and the resulting sauce will be hot.

That’s it. Gobble it up fresh or preserve in bottles using proper canning procedures.

Apple Butter

Photo by Jeffry W at Flickr license CC 2.0

golden delicious apples for applesauce and/or apple butter

Photo: Pixabay

My golden delicious apples, when used alone, make a bland tasting sauce that I don’t really enjoy eating. However, they make great apple butter. So, if you make any applesauce that does not taste as good as you hoped it might, consider using it for apple butter. Basically, you will use about 9 quarts of applesauce, slowly cook it down in your crock pot, add a spice blend part way through the process, and end up with about 9 pints of delicious, dark brown apple butter that you’ll want to eat by the spoonful straight out of the jar. It’s also delicious on toast, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, etc., etc. The only difference is I do not add any sugar. Again, apples are sweet enough that they simply don’t need any help.

I also like to use my stick blender to puree the final product a bit more so it is as smooth as I can get it. This is purely optional but it makes for a very nice texture.

FALL is a great time to plant your own fruit trees. Your local nursery may still have some. Otherwise, wait until spring for a great selection.

Click BACK to read my CHILDHOOD MEMORIES of APPLES

Click NEXT for APPLE CHIPS and APPLE PIE FILLING

Apple Chips and Apple Pie Filling

September 14, 2017 by Marjorie Carter

We’ve eaten fresh long apple skin peels, made delicious applesauce, and rich apple butter. Here are two other ways that I use to preserve my apples – apple chips and apple pie filling. The tips I give are from my own personal experience.

Apple chips

Photo by Cook Your Life at Pixabay

I love my food dehydrator. The first time I needed one, I borrowed my Mom’s dehydrator that she bought back in the early 70s. It worked very well but it was pretty loud. I finally bought a newer dehydrator and I love how quiet it is. It also has a larger capacity than the older one, so I can process more produce per batch.

If you don’t have a food dehydrator, you can use your oven but you’ll need to be a bit more vigilant about checking on the apples so they don’t burn. The dehydrator allows you to use lower temperatures than most ovens will permit so you can ignore them for a few hours before checking to see if they’re done.

apple slices for drying into apple chips

Photo by Wolffsfa at Pixabay

There’s nothing fancy when it comes to apple chips.

The biggest trick, in my opinion, for the best apple chip is to cut the slices as thin as you can manage. That is why I like using a food processor. It allows for a consistent thickness of all the slices and it also allows you to quickly slice a lot of apples. If you have boxes of fruit to go through, speed is something that cannot be underrated. You can also use a sharp knife to cut slices as thin as you can manage.

Spread the slices out on a tray from your food dehydrator and follow your dehydrator instructions for the right setting. If using your oven, place apple slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Heat oven to 200 degrees and allow the apples to heat for 1.5 – 2 hours. Or, for a little faster time, heat oven to 225 and cook apples for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Optional: Before baking or placing in the dehydrator, you can sprinkle the slices with cinnamon or another mixture of spices to give them extra flavor.

Pumpkin spice mix is yummy:

2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 ½ tsp. ground cloves

Apple Pie Filling

Photo by Dusty Toes at Pixabay

I don’t really have a recipe for apple pie filling. I’m sure there are wonderful recipes around but my approach is to simply place as many sliced apples in a bowl as I plan to put in my pie, sprinkle with as much cinnamon as I think would be a good amount for a pie (a couple of teaspoons?), add a couple of teaspoons of sugar (have you noticed I don’t like adding much sugar to my apple products?), add a couple of tablespoons of flour, and then mix and place in pie crust.

Photo by Snapwire Snaps at Pixabay

If I’m planning to preserve and bottle pie filling, I only add the cinnamon before packing and processing. I save the sugar and flour to add later when I open the jars to use the apples. That way I can use the apples for a variety of baked goods. If I use them for apple crisp, I don’t add any sugar at all since the topping has enough sugar to make for a sweet dessert.

I love the fall for many reasons. The cool weather, the falling leaves… and the delicious, fresh apples!

Click BACK for how I make

APPLESAUCE and APPLE BUTTER

Favorite Apple Varieties and How To Preserve Them

September 14, 2017 by Marjorie Carter

Welcome Apple Lovers! Glad you dropped in.

I love apples! There is such a wide variety of apple trees to plant and they are all delicious in their own right. As a mother, I now used different apple varieties for different occasions. I have several favorite apple varieties, but let me first share where my first love of apples began. Maybe you had similar experiences.

Photo by Sladkovskaivka at Pixabay

Photo by ChrisWoehri at Pixabay

My memories are vivid of sitting at my mom’s feet as she sat on the porch and peeled apples for apple pie. I loved to pick out and eat the longest pieces of apple peel from her scrap bowl.

We moved to Virginia when I was in 4th grade and we would go apple picking as a family in the crisp fall weather. We’d then have boxes and boxes of apples sitting in the garage and I loved picking out the biggest apple from each variety and eating it plain or with peanut butter.

One time I ate so many apples in one sitting that I made myself sick. In fact, I did this more than once. For some people, that would result in an aversion to the food that made them sick, but I love apples so much that this was not a deterrent for me.

The mature fruit trees, including Golden Delicious Apples and a Jonagold type of apple, were one of the reasons we purchased the home.

Photo by Kapa65 at Pixabay

The first year there, both trees produced around a bazillion apples each. We basically made apple sauce and pie filling from so many apples. We not only used the fresh picked apples, but also the still usable windfall apples. In the years since, we’ve managed to expand the variety of things we do with our apples.

Our favorite preserving methods are: apple sauce, apple butter, dried apple rings (apple chips), and apple pie filling.

Some useful tools for different apple recipes:

hand powered food strainer/sauce maker
food processor with slicing blade
food dehydrator
crock pot
stick blender.

Of course, if all you have is a knife and a large pot, you can make it work!

Photo by JackMac34 at Pixabay

Read further for a few tips for success and a couple of the recipes we use for enjoying this amazing fruit well after the last one has been plucked from the tree. I include the tools we use for making them.

Click NEXT for my favorite apples and methods for

APPLESAUCE and APPLE BUTTER and APPLE CHIPS and APPLE PIE FILLING

Celebrate the Potato in September

September 2, 2017 by Heather Leister

September is the special month of the year that is set aside to celebrate the wonderfully dependable, always reliable potato. This solid side dish performer works with almost any meal and if you planted potato starters in the spring then you should have a harvest ready to be served up this the fall. Mashed potatoes are always a solid side dish but if you’re looking for something different here are six ideas for side dishes this month as you celebrate the potato!

Hashbrowns – Who says that hashbrowns have to stay put on the breakfast menu? Try serving them at dinner and adding in bell peppers, onions, and your favorite spices for flavor. Serve the hash browns with a traditional dinner menu or make it an evening of breakfast. It’s always a good time for pancakes and bacon!

Funeral Potatoes – A Utah classic, funeral potatoes are a satisfying comfort dish for any occasion, even a weeknight family dinner. Potatoes can be diced, sliced, or shredded before you add them to the recipe. This potato dish can be as simple or as elaborate as you want to make it, the varieties are endless. Here’s a basic funeral potato recipe from Lil’ Luna to get you started if you’ve never baked this comfort food before!

Baked – You can’t deny the simple, great taste of a baked potato. Toss the potatoes in olive oil and kosher salt before baking and they’ll come out of the oven crisp on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside. The beauty of the baked potato is that each family member can create their own. Whether it’s with simple butter and salt or fully loaded with sour cream, bacon, cheese, and green onions, everyone will have a say in how this potato dish is made.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Grilled – While the weather is still warm outside you may not be in the mood to use your oven to cook potatoes. If that’s the case you can always grill them. Grilled potatoes are an excellent choice when you’re already planning on grilling meat for dinner. Slice or dice the potatoes and then put them in a foil packet. Don’t forget to spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the sides. Add in bell peppers and onions or cheese and bacon, depending on your taste preference. Seal up the foil packets and place them on the grill earlier than your meat as the potatoes will take longer to cook.

Photo Credit: Food Network

Potato Salad – Potato salad isn’t only a dish for summer potlucks! If you find yourself in the mood for a potato side dish but want something a little lighter, try a potato salad. You can stick with the traditional recipes or try one that’s eggless, or a version that uses red potatoes and vinegar.

Potato Wedges – Celebrate the potato with homemade potato wedges. They are about as family friendly as you can get. Wedges can be served with simple, kid friendly main dishes or fancier adult fare. While cutting the potatoes can seem like a chore, in the end the homemade taste will be worth it! Try this recipe from Our Best Bites for oven fries and experiment with the different seasoning.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Enjoy the month with your homegrown potatoes, but if you didn’t grow any, plan ahead for next spring. Western Gardens carries in the spring a variety of only the best potatoes to grow in your own garden. You will be able to celebrate the potato even more next September.

Other Delicious Potato Recipes and Information:

Ranch Roasted Potatoes

Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Smashed Potatoes

Planting Potatoes

Garden To-Do List for September

August 31, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

Welcome friend, thanks for stopping by!

Aw! It’s September and you may be feeling excited to work in your yard or garden. We’ve put together a garden to-do list for this cooler month along the Wasatch Front in Utah.

You may not need to do everything on this list. For example, if you don’t have roses, then you won’t need to worry about letting the hips form. Just pick what applies to your yard and plan out when you will do it all throughout the month!

Garden To-Do List for September

➺Spend Labor Day Enjoying your garden. You’ve put in a lot of effort and now enjoy!

➺Plant Trees & Shrubs – Fall is a great time to plant container nursery stock. Plus take advantage of fall sales.

➺Watch Reports For Frost Warnings and cover tender crops if necessary.

➺Work Mulch & Organic Matter into your garden and flower beds. Grass clippings or shredded leaves by the lawn mower work well.

➺Stop Dead-Heading roses and let hips form.

➺Purchase and Plant Spring Bulbs from your local nursery. Ex: Tulips, daffodils, crocus, etc. Remember quality makes a huge difference. Bigger bulb means bigger bloom. Be sure to plant at proper depth with a complete fertilizer.

➺Plant Pansies & Primrose along with your spring bulbs for earlier spring color!

➺Launch a Final Battle Against Snails and Slugs – Fall is the best time to take care of them before they lay eggs and they go into hibernation for the winter. {check out THIS article for 3 simple ways to control snails!}

➺Last Treatment for peach twig borer

➺Treat Lawn Weeds with weed spray.

➺Lay Seed for a new lawn, or lay sod.

➺Divide & Transplant Spring and Summer Blooming Perennials – if necessary. May divide fall blooming perennials once they are done blooming.

➺Visit State Fair for some true inspiration from fellow citizens and gardeners.

➺Start Feeding Wild Birds, if you stopped in the spring.

➺Don’t let Fallen Leaves Accumulate on your Lawn – Rake them up, pile them elsewhere and use them as mulch in your next year’s garden. Leaves left on the lawn can invite disease if not kill your grass.

Be sure to check out October’s Gardening To-Do List too!

Gluten and Dairy Free Peach Cobbler

August 26, 2017 by Vanessa Roush

Having someone over for dessert but you have no idea what to feed them because they’re Gluten Free, Dairy Free, or Vegan? Here’s a recipe for gluten and dairy free peach cobbler that will be sure to impress those with or without food allergies. And this recipe is just in time for the ripening of your Red Haven peaches from your tree.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sliced fresh, frozen, or canned peaches
1-2 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
dash of cinnamon (optional, but highly recommended)
3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup almond flour or brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp xanthum gum (you can omit this if you don’t have it, it just makes the flours stick together since they don’t have gluten in them)

DIRECTIONS

Peach preparation:

First, peel and slice your fresh peaches and place fruit in 2 1/2 quart dish and drip lemon juice over them. If you use canned peaches, drain and dump in dish.

Batter:

Cream together melted coconut oil and sugar, then add almond extract.
Add in coconut milk, then rice/almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, xanthum gum and dash of salt.
Mix well and spread over fruit. This will be thick and a tad lumpy.
After this, I like to lightly sprinkle the top with a little sugar and a little freshly ground salt.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25-30 minutes. I bake the cobbler until it starts to look caramelized on top, which gives a bit of a crunch to go with the chewy middle.

Serve warm plain or with frozen ice cream of choice. I personally like it served up with a little bit of coconut milk if I don’t have any dairy free ice cream on hand. My husband tells me it’s delicious with vanilla ice cream.

This recipe works great with using brown rice flour, or almond flour. After trying both, our favorite is the almond flour version.

Careful, it’s addicting and you might want to eat this entire dish of gluten and dairy free peach cobbler.

NOTE: Cobbler can be made with canned peaches, but it is always best made with fresh picked peaches from your peach trees from Western Gardens. Fall is a good time to plant trees.