If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know that I love scones. In fact, one of the benefits of being gluten-free is that I have to bake scones to have breakfast food available.

Last week, my two grandchildren were coming for their first joint sleepover. I asked one of my grandsons whether he’d prefer cereal or scones for breakfast. “Chocolate scones!” he replied immediately. Chocolate chip scones had always been my son’s favorites, back when I could purchase wheat flour scones. My daughter and I had preferred the blueberries ones baked by our favorite coffee shop.

Generally, I am not in favor of chocolate for breakfast, so I had not created any gluten-free chocolate scones. But I was confident that using my basic scone recipe, this variation would turn out well. And I was correct!
 
Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds
1 and 1/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup arrowroot starch
rounded 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer Enjoy Life brand)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
 
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
 
Whisk sorghum flour, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a small bowl, mix egg, cream, and vanilla.
 
Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender. Add egg mixture, stirring with a fork until just mixed. Add chocolate chips and almonds, and knead in the bowl about 10 to 15 times.
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On a large greased cookie sheet (or use a silicon nonstick baking mat without grease on your cookie sheet), place all of the dough in the center, patting it to 1” thickness. Then cut into wedges with a butter knife or plastic spatula (if using a nonstick baking sheet), sliding them into place on the cookie sheet. Don’t worry if they break—just push them back into shape with your fingers.
 
Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes. (Convection oven: 400 degrees for 8 minutes, and then turn the oven off for 5 minutes.)
 
Yield: 8 scones (or make 16 smaller scones). Freezes well.

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I decided to make 16 scones rather than the usual eight because they are rich and filling, and one of my grandsons is only two years old. These Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds were a big hit. Both my grandsons loved them, with one of them eating two, the equivalent of a typical scone. A week later, when asked about his favorite part of our overnight, my older grandson said, “The chocolate scones.” The scones might be gone before our next sleepover. I’ve found that a little chocolate in the morning is a welcome change.
 

This is another recipe that I never would have created if I could eat nightshade vegetables. Those ubiquitous tomatoes and peppers impart great flavors, but we actually limit ourselves when we rely on them for so many recipes. Once you have to live without the nightshades, other vegetables come to the foreground. This simple but elegant recipe is a marvelous example of how you sometimes can do more with less.
 
While recently visiting my mom and cousin, I cooked this dish, which has become one of my favorites since I created it about six years ago. I was sure I had blogged about it, so I referred my cousin to the website for the recipe. After checking, I found that although I have cooked this dish at least 50 times, it did not appear on my website. And then, I remembered the reason it had not.
 
This is a recipe that I created (but never consulted) because it is very forgiving. It doesn’t matter if you use more or less olive oil (as long as you have enough to create the “sauce”), nor does it matter if you add more or less mushrooms or spinach. If you don’t have Portobellos, you can substitute typical white mushrooms. And even though the Asiago makes this dish especially tasty, in a pinch, you could use Parmesan. You can even add meatballs (I have cheated by buying some amazing gluten-free ones at my local Sam’s Club*) if you choose. So, one reason this recipe has not been posted is that I hadn’t measured carefully to find out exactly how much of each ingredient I normally use.
 
Over the past few months, my boyfriend and I have invited friends for dinner. Each time, we have made this dish, and everyone has raved! My cousin took the recipe home with her and prepared it for her rather picky family. She was afraid that if she said it was gluten-free, they might not eat it. But even they loved it.
 
Mushroom and Spinach Pasta
1/2 cup olive oil (more as needed)
4 cloves garlic, minced or chopped fine
1 1b. Portobello mushrooms (large or baby Bellas), sliced
5 ounces fresh baby spinach
8 ounces quinoa spaghetti (I prefer Andrean Dream)
8 ounces Asiago cheese, grated fine
 
While mushrooms and spinach cook, boil quinoa pasta. (I cook it for 13 minutes even though it say to cook less.) 
 
In a large (12-inch) skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, and sauté lightly. Then, add sliced mushrooms (either baby Bellas or large ones). Sauté, stirring often until mushrooms are almost done, about 6-7 minutes. Add salt and pepper.
 
Add spinach to the mushrooms, stirring to coat with oil. Add more olive oil if needed as it functions as the “sauce.” Cook until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.
 
Serve mushroom/spinach mixture over pasta. Top liberally with grated Asiago cheese.
Yield: 3-4 servings. Freezes well (combine and freeze; omit cheese and add after food is hot).
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Besides the taste (which is good even if you can’t eat cheese—my boyfriend adds hot sauce instead), this recipe is so simple to prepare. You’ll be eating a restaurant-quality pasta dish in less than half and hour.
 
*Note: This is an unsolicited comment for which no commercial reimbursement was made.