These meatballs are so yummy, I had them for my birthday last year. That is, before I found out I was intolerant to a whole list of tasty foods. Thankfully, the recipe was easy to change so that it was gluten-free, dairy, free, corn free...blah blah blah. We have already made these twice for gluten-free, dairy-free friends. The recipe is really easy, so they're perfect for company.
Lamb and golden raisins are both absolutely heavenly, and just the thought of both together is making my mouth water...

Lamb Meatballs:
1# ground lamb
1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (you can use ground gf oats, orgran's all-purpose gf rice crumbs, or just crushed gf rice cakes)
1 large beaten egg (or egg substitute)
1 bunch scallions (white and green parts), sliced
Mix all ingredients together and shape into golf ball sized meatballs. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil, turning halfway, until cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes total. Serves 4.









adapted from RealSimple magazine

Last weekend my family went apple picking.  As always, we bought fresh apple cider at the orchard.   Nothing in the store can compare to that cider.  The only problem with it is that it never lasts long enough.  When we were little, my mom would buy a box of donuts for us to enjoy with the cider.  I definitely missed donuts.

Notice how I wrote that last sentence in past tense?  That night I found a recipe on Manifest Vegan's blog for a giant donut.  Oh my!  It only needed a slight amount of tweaking for us to make them.  I dreamt of donuts all night and got up early enough - on a Saturday morning, no less! - to make them for breakfast.

I decided to make them into donut "holes".  And then my mom suggested making an apple-cider glaze.  The result a nice sweet outside with a cakey inside.

Apple Cider Glazed Donut Holes:


Cake:

3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 tapioca flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (or guar gum)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup original or vanilla almond milk
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2-3 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:

3 c. powdered sugar (organic powdered sugar is corn-free)
4-6 T. apple cider


Preheat oven to 325 °F.  Lightly grease two mini muffin tins.

In a bowl, mix together sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, vanilla and sugar.

Add flour mixture to sugar and oil gradually, alternating with the almond milk until all ingredients have been used. Your batter will be sticky.  Add vinegar, one tablespoon at a time. Fold in cinnamon.

Scoop batter into mini muffin tins, trying to keep batter in a round lump (a scoop for cookies works very well), filling half way.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (we averaged twelve minutes), until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While the donuts are cooling, mix powdered sugar and apple cider together to form glaze.   Make sure glaze it not too runny.

Roll each donut hole in the icing, covering it completely.  After glaze has dried a bit, drizzle a little more on the top.

Eat and enjoy, preferably with some hot apple cider.

This was one of the first things I made after I found out about my allergies. They were super easy to make, and I think they definitely scored a five-star rating with me. Another bonus is that the non-allergy people (I think that's how I am going to refer to them) in our family enjoyed them too! Special thanks to our friend Mrs. Malone and the Living Without magazine for these addicting (and I mean addicting), delicous chocolate cookies that are "chewy like a brownie with a delightful fudgy center." Seriously, the fact that it is so chocolate-y and fudgy should be enough to make you hurry to start whipping up a batch.

Mix the flours, baking powder and kosher salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl stir together the cooked oats and milk.
Combine the eggs/egg replacer and oatmeal-milk mixture with the flour. Add in vanilla, mashed banana, and brown sugar. If you think it needs to be sweeter add more vanilla or brown sugar. I suppose you could even add cinnamon for some spice if you want.
Using a 1/2 cup measurer pour pancake batter onto a griddle or pan on the stove. If your going to do a pan, you might want to spray it with cooking spray. I dropped a couple of chocolate chips on the top of some of them and even added some chopped dates. Let them sit until the top starts to bubble, then flip them. Make sure they are completely done before serving them.
Enjoy!