Pumpkin Pie (w/Spelt or Gluten Free Crust)

I picked up a magazine at my local Stop n Shop entitled "Living Without"- The magazine for people with allergies and food sensitivities.
There are some good recipes, it's a good magazine if you are a meat eater but are gluten free. I am not gluten free as many of you know and I'm a vegetarian but I can substitute spelt in these recipes since most gluten free flour mixes contain potato starch to which I have a sensitivity to.....(white potatoes).
Soon I'll start experimenting with my own flour mixes like garbanzo bean, guar gum, quinoa...etc

Now back to the recipe....I made this Pumpkin Pie that makes it's own crust when it bakes....I tried it with spelt flour instead of gluten free flour Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, 22-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4).
The self forming crust came out OK....next time I will try it with the gluten free flour to see if it comes out better. The pie tastes fantastic and is great to make for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

Here is the recipe that I used:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (next time I will use fresh pumpkin)
1 Cup of Vanilla Almond Milk(You can use any sort of milk really) Almond Breeze, Vanilla, 32 oz.
2 tablespoons of melted earth balance buttery spread
3 tablespoons of spiced apple cider(Or bourbon)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed lemon)
2 tablespoons of Spelt flour (The original recipe calls for gluten free all-purpose flour blend)
Or make your own flour blend ( 1/2 cup of rice flour, 1/4 cup of tapioca starch/flour, 1/4 cup of cornstarch or potato starch)
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Dark Brown Sugar, 
1/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs or flax gel
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

Preheat oven to 450
Grease a 10 inch or 9 inch pie pan
- Mix together liquid ingredients in one bowl and in a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients.
-Slowly pour dry ingredients into liquid and beat until completely combined.
-pour batter into prepared pie pan, leaving about a 1/2 inch between batter and rim of pan.
-Place pie in preheated oven for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for 30 minutes more.

Each slice contains 169 calories for you counters out there.

Here are my pics....I added aluminum foil to the pie pan as my pans are used to actually bake crust and I didn't want the batter to fall through the perforations in the pan. Cut a slice and add a scoop of Coconut ice cream and some rice whip.

The taste is out of this world....I will try the same recipe with sweet potatoes and see how that comes out.

Mmmmm Mmmmmm Good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMJtLP8jMWQ
Sing it Campbell's!!!

Spelt Banana Bread

Went to Trader Joe's recently for well...none other than Food Shopping. :-)
Decided to pick up some bananas so that I can put that 2lb bag of spelt flour to use.

My mom and little bro decided to come over for the weekend for R&R consisting of Dexter re-runs and apple picking so I wanted to make them this special treat.

Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup of Earth Balance Soy Free melted butter spread
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 Egg (Beaten or Flaxseed gel if you are vegan and/or allergic to eggs)
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of aluminum free backing soda Bob's Red Mill Aluminum Free Baking Soda 16 oz Pkg
Pinch of salt
 1 1/2 cups of white spelt flour (whole spelt is fine as well or do a mixture of quinoa flour and gluten free flour if you are gluten sensitive) Bob's Red Mill Organic Quinoa Flour, 22-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix earth balance into the mashed bananas with a wooden spoon. Mix the sugar, egg (or flax gel) and vanilla extract. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and fold in. Add the flour and mix. Pour the mixture into a "buttered" 4x8 inch loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack and serve plain or with a smat of earth balance for more buttery flavor.

This was an absolute hit with my family. It's a versatile loaf of bread you can have for Breakfast, Snack or a Dessert with some coconut non-dairy ice cream or rice whip! Go wild and have both!