Gluten-free Peanut Chili Dip, Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms and Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates

[Join my final webinar installment: October 29th 8 pm Eastern time, when we'll talk about eating out safely, getting ready for Thanksgiving and the secret to happiness:
http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E950DE85854738

October 22 replay featuring office parties, unsupportive family, and more ideas for food: http://www.anymeeting.com/clairebakerok/EC52DD858648

September 22nd replay featuring the basics for who should go gluten-free and how to shop for gluten-free foods, stay safe in your own kitchen and eat out.  http://www.anymeeting.com/WebConference/RecordingDefault.aspx?c_psrid=EC50DF898547]


In my gluten-free webinar series, we have been discussing getting ready for the holidays. One technique to guarantee that you have gluten-free food to eat at parties is to host it yourself or take some excellent dishes to the party at someone else's house. I created a You Tube video featuring three great party foods: Peanut Chili Dip, Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms, and Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates.

Peanut Chili Dip

Peanut Chili Dip  has been a favorite of ours for a long time. I modified our family favorite to be gluten free.

1/3 cup peanut butter
3 T. water
1 T. Gluten-free tamari
1 T. honey
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T. chili powder
Dash of cayenne

Mix all the ingredients together. At first it looks like it won't mix together well, but don't worry and keep stirring. Before long it will get a creamy consistency. Serve with baby carrots. You can eat it right away, or chill it for a few hours and let the flavors mingle.

Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

You definitely CAN make stuffed mushrooms with your favorite gluten-free bread crumbs, but these quinoa-stuffed babies combine an interesting texture with superior nutrition.

24-32 mushrooms, depending on size
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 T. olive oil
1 clove chopped garlic
3 T. chopped kale
1 T. chopped pecans
1 T. Herbs de Provence (or basil or parsley or whatever you are in the mood for)
3 T. cream cheese
2 T. pecorino romano cheese or parmesan cheees
3-4 drops of gluten-free liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare the quinoa according to the package instructions.

Brush/wash the mushrooms and remove stems.

Saute the garlic, kale, pecans and herbs in olive oil until the kale softens, about 5 minutes. Combine with quinoa, cheeses and liquid smoke in a bowl, stirring until well combined. Stuff the mushroom caps with the quinoa cheese mixture. Arrange on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Delicious warm or served room temperature.

Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates

This is hardly a recipe. It's more of a reminder that you can create easy party food with two ingredients.

24 dates
enough peanut butter to fill the dates

Depending on the size of your dates, you may want to pit them and stuff the peanut butter inside. For the ones I did for the video, I cut the dates in half, removed the pits, and filled the date "boats" with peanut butter. They were a little sticky, but delicious. I know there are people out there who roll peanut butter stuffed dates in powdered sugar, and the guy at the health food store also recommended using Nutella. And in keeping with the bacon wrapping theme of my October 15, 2012 webinar, I've also seen bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate on-line. Experiment and have fun!

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