Gluten-Free Pumpkin Heaven

,

Fall is in full force here in Boulder, CO. The trees have taken on their fall colors, jack-o-lanterns are appearing on all the doorsteps, and the grocery stores are overflowing with treats for Halloween and of course, pumpkin is now the main ingredient in everything from pie and bread to coffee and ice cream.

Pumpkin is an incredibly versatile ingredient. Here are a few of our favorite gluten-free recipes to calm the pumpkin craving. And don’t forget to grab a six pack of New Planet Tread Lightly Ale to go along with all of your fall festivities!


Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup agave nectar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup blanched almond flour
  • ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon cloves

Directions

  1. In a food processor, combine pumpkin, agave and eggs and pulse for 2 minutes
  2. Pulse dry ingredients into wet for a full minute, until well combined
  3. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 baking dish
  4. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes
  5. Serve naked or with whipped cream

by Elanas Pantry

Super Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Pecans

Ingredients

  • 2 cup All Purpose Guten-Free Flour
  • 1- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
1 can of canned pumpkin puree
  • (15oz)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 3/4 chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets with butter or oil.
  2. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a mixing bowl and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer or using a standing mixer, beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla and mix on low speed until blended. Mix the flour mixture to incorporate it into the wet mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts by hand.
  4. Scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 inches apart. About 1/4-cup per scoop.
  5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.
  6. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. If you want some added decadence, make the brown-sugar glaze.
  7. Glaze (optional)
  8. Boil 1.5 tbs butter, 2 tbs milk, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Cool slightly then add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 cup powdered sugar and whisk together. Drizzle on pumpkin cookies.

by The Gluten Free Bistro

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 (14 or 15-oz) can pumpkin
  • 1- 1/2 cups plain hemp milk or vanilla almond milk, or coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons light olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer
  • 3/4 cup organic light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup Arrowhead Mills buckwheat flour (or see tips below)
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca starch/flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon or pie spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch glass pie plate.
  2. I made the pie in a food processor. It helps to thoroughly process the ingredients. If you don’t have a food processor, a macho stand mixer will work
  3. Cover and process until smooth and creamy. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl, if necessary to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.
  4. Pour into the prepared pie plate and smooth evenly. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about an hour until done. The pie should be firm- but still give a little when lightly touched. The center should not be wet.

by Gluten Free Goddess


Beer Update: Off Grid Pale Ale

,

New Planet Beer fans have been reaching out and asking, “when will we get to try the new Off Grid Pale Ale?” So, here is an update to keep you in the loop.

Our effort to develop a great tasting Pale Ale is still ongoing, but we’re getting close! We have been running test batches since June and we’ve been sourcing our ingredients to get ready for production. We’re running a few more test batches in October and we sincerely hope to launch before the year ends. Off Grid Pale Ale is an American style pale ale with about 35 IBU’s and 3-4 varieties of hops. We have not finalized the hops recipe, but we’re confident that with a few more tweaks we’ll have it just right. One thing I can tell you is that if you like bitter and aromatic hops, this beer is for you. It may not have the malty quality of most traditional pales, but for a 100% gluten-free beer, it will be close to the real deal. The hardest part of making a fuller bodied gluten-free beer is increasing the body in a natural way – no artificial foam and creamy  producing chemicals in our beer! The color is mid-range and is achieved by bringing in molasses and caramel color. The aroma is Cascade hops and the ABV is north of 5%. Please stay tuned and soon we can cheer the New Year with an Off Grid Pale Ale. A portion of the proceeds from this beer will go to a non-profit organization that promotes alternative energy in Colorado.

Guest Blog from Erin Smith of Gluten-Free Fun

,

How to find informative gluten-free information online

The buzz words “gluten-free” seem to be everywhere these days; but nowhere is gluten-free more prevalent than on the Internet. When I was first diagnosed with Celiac Disease in the 1980s, there was no Internet. The research my family did was mostly with  doctors, by word-of-mouth, or from the rare book we found in bookstores and libraries. Today, you can type “gluten-free” into any search engine and literally get millions of results for your search. This explosion of information about gluten-free diets, Celiac Disease, and more is amazing but you should explore these online resources wisely.

A newbie to gluten-free living might be a overwhelmed with all of the gluten-free information coming at them through the Internet so there are a few key places you could focus your search.

National Organizations. Organizations such as the Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Disease Foundation, Celiac Sprue Association, and National Foundation of Celiac Awareness all have websites with a wide variety of information. These websites include information about Celiac Disease, the gluten-free diet, local chapters, and how to join their support groups. This is a good starting place for those brand new to Celiac Disease.

Support Groups. Many people with gluten-free needs often look to others for support. Try typing in your city name and “gluten-free support” or “celiac support” into your favorite search engine. Another amazing resource for finding groups near you is Meetup.com. As of today, there are 50 worldwide groups of people who all have interests in gluten-free living and Celiac Disease. All of these Meetup groups usually meet on a regular basis in person, as well as having very active online message boards.

Online Social Networks. The most popular of online social networks is obviously Facebook. Users can “like” groups that focus on gluten-free products, national organizations, and even find new friends that also list Celiac Disease as one of their interests. Two other online social networks that focuses on connecting people include Gluten-Free Faces, Gluten-Free Friends, and Gling.

Blogs. Gluten-free and Celiac Disease blogs are great sources of personal experience and information. Many of these blogs were started by people such as yourself looking for information about gluten-free living. The variety of blogs are endless. There are blogs written by gluten-free parents, athletes, foodies, newbies, health care professionals, and so on.  Even now, you are on the gluten-free blog written by New Planet Beer! Blogs are really great first-hand accounts of living with Celiac Disease and being on a gluten-free diet. You can also find tons of recipes on gluten-free blogs. With the number of blogs out there, I recommend subscribing to blogs using an RSS reader which will consolidate your favorite blogs into one comprehensive list.

Twitter. Twitter seems to be an endless source of gluten-free mentions. If you search #glutenfree, #gf, or #celiac, you will come up with hundreds of tweets each day. The tweets will usually have a URL that will bring you to a blog or articles online about the tagged information. You can get lost clicking from link to link and person to person in Twitter but you can also find tons of great information you might otherwise not find.

The above list is really just a starting place for anyone looking to explore more about Celiac Disease and gluten-free living online. Search engines alone can lead you down a long path of gluten-free reading topics.

Please remember to use caution when following any advice you find online. Always check with your doctor before introducing new foods into your diet. In addition, although the internet can be a great resource for those who suspect they might have Celiac Disease it is ALWAYS important for you to discuss your questions with a medical professional before declaring yourself gluten-free.

Erin Smith, Gluten-Free Blogger

Gluten-Free Fun blog: http://glutenfreefun.blogspot.com/

Gluten-Free Fun on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gfreefun

Gluten-Free Fun on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GlutenFreeFun

NYC Celiac Disease Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/celiac/


A Day on the Trails with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers

,

I am still sore and tired. It’s been several days since the New Planet Beer team restored about 700 feet of open space trail in the Bettasso Preserve in western Boulder County. The one day event was orchestrated by the Wildlands Restoration Volunteers with the help of Boulder County Open Space. The New Planet Beer team was one of four teams restoring social trails which had been overused and eroded by mountain bikers. Our goal was to reclaim and to set it back into wild lands. A new more sustainable mountain bike trail was built last summer with the help of the Bikers Alliance to replace the restored trails. Everybody wins on these partnerships including the animals that got displaced from the adjacent lands burned by the Four Mile Creek fire. Bringing restoration helps the ecosystem blossom and participating in this effort was very rewarding.

The team hiked in about 30 minutes to the beginning restoration point and we worked back towards the trailhead. Restoring trails is a four-step process: 1) tilling the land 2) seeding 3) mulching and branching, and 4) creating water retention and diversion. We had a team of six folks with two tilling, one seeding, two mulching and branching, and one developing water rock dams. Every so often we had to team up to tackle a bigger project like placing erosion protection carpets in steep areas. But overall each person picked the tasks they enjoyed most. We were joined by Boulder County Open Space rangers who worked side-by-side with us. We took a couple of breaks throughout the day but for the most part we were restoring. Hiking out was very rewarding and celebrating at dinner with all the volunteers was very rewarding. Everyone enjoyed cold New Planet Beers. I am looking forward to next year’s project. Stay tuned as we select a project near you.

Pedro Gonzalez, New Planet Beer CEO

Nov 12th: Taste of the Holidays at Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market – Tamarac is hosting their annual Taste of the Holidays event inside their store on November 12th, from 5-8 pm. This is a charity event that benefits the Adoption Alliance. Come enjoy many food vendors and tastings from New Planet Beer. We look forward to seeing you there.

What: Taste of the Holidays

Where: Whole Foods Market – Tamarac

When: November 12th / 5-8 pm