When I married Jon (wow...2 years ago?) I married knowing that I was saying good-bye to "everyday American food". The food I grew up with. The packages and boxes I grew up with. Goodbye Betty Crocker, goodbye Stouffers, goodbye entire isles in Wal-Mart. Can I cook a meat and some rice? Sure. But it gets dang boring after the 30th meal. So I started doing a little research into gluten free cooking and was IMMEDIATELY in over my head. I mean seriously how many kinds of non-wheat flour are there? (the answer - don't ask)

Then I found Karina's Kitchen a blog of a painter and cookbook author who was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Not only has this blog allowed me to find new and creative (and tasty!) dishes, but it also introduced me to the wild world of gluten free baking mixes.

So without further ado, I present two great munchable dishes off of this really really great blog.

Chocolate-Chip Coconut Cake - absolutely the BEST cake for special occasions (way too many calories otherwise)

Stuff to have: 3 large eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil or Spectrum shortening 1/3 cup coconut milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon coconut extract 1 cup golden brown sugar 1/2 cup organic light brown sugar 2 cups Pamela's Ultimate Baking Mix 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Line a 9-inch cake pan with buttered parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add in the oil; beat to combine. Add the coconut milk and flavor extracts. Beat in the sugars till smooth. Add the flour mix a little at a time and beat until the batter is smooth.

Stir in the coconut and chocolate chips by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the center of a pre-heated oven, until the cake is set in the center [cake should spring back to light touch].

Makes one 9-inch cake [round or square].

Pumpkin Cornbread - If you like slightly sweet cornbread then this is for you. I decided to use Pumpkin puree rather than Karina's (it was what I had in the cupboard)

Stuff to Have: 3 large eggs 1/2 cup canola oil 3/4 cup pumpkin puree 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 teaspoon vanilla extract a good shake or two of Pumpkin Pie Spice 1 cup ground cornmeal 1 cup Pamela's Ultimate Baking Mix - [or your own flour mix with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and a good pinch of sea salt added] 1/2 teaspoon baking powder A good pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a 7 or 8-inch cake pan and dust it with cornmeal. I used a Springform pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs till frothy, and add the oil; whisk to combine. Add the sweet potato puree and whisk well. Add the brown sugar, vanilla extract and pie spice and whisk to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour mix, baking powder, and sea salt.

Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, add the dry ingredients into the wet; and stir by hand just enough to make a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake on a center rack in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or so, until the cornbread is firm to the touch and golden. Check with a toothpick

Cool the cornbread in the pan, on a wire rack, for ten minutes. Remove from the pan and cool. Very tasty warm.