Chocolate Ganache with Coconut Milk - Dairy Free

Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake with Dairy Free Ganache

I recently had a birthday, but my 3 year old had the flu so we didn't end up making the cake, so today was the 10 year anniversary of my first date with my hubby so we finally made the cake.  We used the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix we found at Walmart and then made a dairy free Ganache frosting.  I LOVE chocolate Ganache so I was hoping I would be able to make a dairy free version.  It was SUPER good!  None of us felt like we were missing out on anything, the ganache with coconut milk was equally as good as the traditional ganache but probably a lot healthier considering coconut milk is very low calorie and you normally make it with whipping cream! The cake mix was great too, I used a Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks to substitute a stick of butter called for on the mix directions. You would never know this cake was gluten free or dairy free, texture and taste was like the real thing!  

Dairy Free Chocolate Ganache with Coconut Milk (Low Fat Ganache)

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips they are dairy free)

Use a double boiler, or makeshift one by filling a medium size pot with water and bringing to a boil.  Place a medium size glass or metal bowl over the water and add coconut milk and chocolate chips and stir with a spatula as the chocolate chips melt.  Once the chocolate is mostly melted, stir smooth with a wire wisk.  Remove bowl from boiling water and let cool and begin to set a little so it is not TOO runny.  Once the ganache starts to cool and thicken, pour over your cake.

Now, I think I need to go sneak another slice!!!

Gluten Free Diet 3 days in...

Gluten Free (and Milk Free) Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Alright, it's been crazy around here with sleep issues, then sick kids, but here's the update!  :)  My sister has Celiac Disease which is genetic and has been Gluten Free for about 5 years or so.  My younger brother, a Freshman in college was starting to have some issues and after going to specialists who couldn't figure out what was wrong with him gave up and said, you are fine you are just weird...basically.  But then my mom took him to her doc who has an integrative practice and is great at getting to the root of the problem.  He discovered B vitamin deficiencies and irregular thyroid and advised him to get some testing done by Entero Labs.  It came back he also has a genetic gluten intolerance, however it does not show up as celiac in the typical blood tests.  I've wondered if my daughter had gluten sensitivity for a while and even had her do a blood test for celiac a while back which came back negative.  But with the new info from my younger brother's lab work, it indicated that he has genetic gluten sensitivity inherited from both parents and the lab work said any siblings probably have it as well.  Then I started coming across all this info on gluten intolerance and Hashimotos and am learning that a lot of thyroid problems are caused by gluten intolerance!  I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in highschool, which is pretty young to get diagnosed for that.  I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when I was trying to get pregnant with my second and it wasn't working.  Once I switched from levothyroxine to Synthroid and got my dosage up a lot higher, I finally got pregnant.  ANYWAYS.....So we are trying a gluten free diet, my daughter and I.  She sometimes wakes up with horrible stomach pains, screaming like a woman in labour at night and I've started to notice the correlation between those episodes and a dense gluten dinner, such as pasta.  Dietary changes aren't super easy but we're going to give this a try.  Thankfully I have my sister to refer to to know good alternatives!
Here are a couple of our gluten free things we had this week so far.  The plan is to test by elimination and then have some in a few weeks and see if there is a reaction.  It's a lot cheaper test to start out with than the lab testing.

Gluten Free Pizza

 Mini gluten free pizzas!  A corn tortilla topped with some pasta sauce and shredded mozarella cheese.  Baked in oven at 400 until cheese was bubbly.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies....smothered in chocolate!

 This is the easiest cookie recipe I've ever seen.
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup sugar
bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes!  That's it.
Then I melted some dark chocolate in the microwave (dairy free) and dipped the cookies in covering both sides.  Placed on parchment paper and let set in the refridgerator till set.  Oh my goodness this was some good stuff!!! I haven't had a reese peanut butter cup in forever and this was awesome!!!

Awesome dairy free chocolate you can find anywhere!