A Gluten-Free Halloween

Fall is in the air, my due date is in a week! And if there is one thing I am dreading this year it is Halloween. It was bad enough when we were just allergic to chocolate! Now, with our gluten and soy allergies, sorting through the Halloween loot is even more challenging. Here are some tips for a Gluten-Free Halloween from the Delight Magazine Fall ’09 issue.

1. Scope out candy before The Big Day. Read ingredient labels and make phone calls to the manufactures if needed. They are not always listed on those tiny bite-sized candy in the goody bag.
2. Buy only Gluten-Free candy for your house. You don’t want gluten-laden candy sitting around your house when the night is over.
3. No eating until inspection.
4. Inspect all candy. Go through it with your children. Have them make a pile of ‘yes’s, no’s and maybe’s’. The maybe’s can either be further identified via the internet or manufacturers, or thrown out if it is still unclear.
5. Not all candy is created equal. Oftentimes, the same candy may have different ingredients based on size and shape.
6. When in doubt, throw it out!
7. Be Positive.

Here is a list of some of the Gluten Free candy available. If your child did not get the selection of candy they wanted….I have mine ‘trade it in’ and buy something they can eat so they do not feel bad.

Gum drops, Lemonheads, Jujus, Jelly beans, Boston baked beans, Atomic fireballs, Jawbreakers, Red Hots, Mike and Ikes’, Hot Tamales, Pop Rocks, Peeps, Yogos, M&Ms, Snickers, Nips, Raisinets, Baby Ruth, Nestle Milk Chocolate, Sno-caps, Dum dum pops, Junior Mints, Peppermint Patties, Razzles, Sugar Daddy, Charms Blow pops, Skittles, Starbursts, Necco Wafers, Smarties, Spree, Tootsie rolls, Nips, Laffy Taffy, Bottle caps, Nerds, Pixie Sticks, Runts, Fun-Dip, Lifesavers, Wrigley gums, Double Bubble gum, Sweetarts, all Yummy Earth candy products, and many more.

With pumpkins in the air, there is no better time for pumpkin bread. When I was little, my mom used to make homemade pumpkin bread at this time of year. The yummy smell of pumpkin and nutmeg, with the sweetness of the powdered sugar frosting has such fond memories for me. I was so grateful to find a recipe that I was able to convert into a gluten free version with amazing results. I think it might even taste better than my mom’s, but don’t tell!

Pumpkin Loaves with Carob Chips

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup Brown rice flour
½ cup Sweet rice flour
½ cup Tapioca Flour
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 ½ tsp xantham gum
1 cup raw unfiltered honey
1/2 cup olive oil
¼ cup grapeseed oil
2 eggs
1-8 oz can pumpkin
1/2 bag carob chips or 1/2 cup homemade carob chips.

Directions:
Lightly grease either two 9-by-5-by-3 loaf pans or two muffin pans or one of each.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix flour, salt, baking powder, soda and spices; set aside.
In large bowl of electric mixer, at medium speed, beat honey with oil until blended. Add
eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin. At low speed, beat
in flour mixture until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Turn batter into prepared pans.
Bake loaves approximately 1 hour.
Bake muffins approximately 26-30 minutes.