Hello all! It’s Naomi! I’m so excited to sponsor this month’s blogger event: Harvest Hijinks. Each Tuesday, Better Batter and our friends in the blogosphere will be sharing a new recipe based around a harvest or Halloween theme. This week’s theme: Stick a Pitchfork in It.

This week is all about harvest – haystacks, and scarecrows, and seasonal food. And what better way to celebrate harvest than to combine three foods just coming into season – sweet onions, sweet potatoes, and sweet apples. Combine them and you’ve got sweet, sweet, love.

You can find the recipe Here and in our recipe archive 🙂 Happy Harvest!

Au Gratin potatoes were certainly all the rage in the eighties and early nineties – perhaps because of all the instant dried potato versions that were hitting the market. If you think of au gratin as fake-onion-yet-bland, cardboard-flavored sludge, this recipe will make you change your mind – layers of super sweet onion, fresh sweet potato, and crisp harvest apple are nestled into a delicate cream sauce and topped with crumbs made of our famous gingerbread men dough. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect fall side dish. This one will please adventurous eaters and picky folks alike. Although au-gratin usually means that the topping has cheese, we’ve omitted it in this version. you can also eliminate the onion, if you have an allium allergy (or just can’t stand onion) without any issues.

1/4 c butter or nondairy margarine
1 vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced into 1/8 inch thick slices, optional
1/4 c Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/8 tsp white pepper or to taste
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 c chicken broth
1 c heavy cream, milk, or non dairy substitute
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch thick slices
1 pound crisp, tart apples, such as Granny Smith or Pink Lady, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/8 inch thick slices
1 recipe Better Batter Gingerbread people, baked, then crumbled into crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 2 quart casserole or baking dish.

In a large, heavy skillet, melt butter or margarine. Add onions, and cook over medium heat, until wilted, about 5-10 minutes. Remove onions from skillet and reserve.

Add flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to butter in saucepan and whisk thoroughly, until smooth and bubbly.

Blend together chicken broth and cream/milk/nondairy sub. Pour into flour/butter mixture, whisking constantly, until all liquid is added and mixture thickens.

Beginning with apples, layer apples, onions (if desired), sweet potatoes, and cream sauce. Continue to make layers until dish is nearly filled.

Cover tightly and bake for 45 minutes, or until tender all the way through. Sprinkle with a generous topping of gingersnaps. Bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot.

WANT MORE IDEAS?

Melissa at Gluten Freedom and Loving It made Caramel Apple Donuts and Salted Caramel Donuts!!

Jamie at A Family’s Love joins in with a ton of cool fall/autumn ideas and presents a new, beautiful, baked stuffed apple recipe

WANT TO JOIN US?

Next week’s theme is K.O the Candyman- we’re looking for your healthiest Halloween and Reformation Day themed recipes. You can join our blog roll (and earn free product) by contacting us via email at sales@betterbatter.org. We’ll get you set up with our Google drive document, so you can see what everyone else is making.

Here are the themes for the next 6 weeks:

10/21 K.O the Candyman (no sweets allowed! Entrees and side dishes welcome!!)

10/28 Trick or Thesis (Trick’r’Treat or Reformation Day themed goodies – sweets welcomed!!)

11/4 Classic Doctor Who (anything goes, as long as it’s inspired by Doctor Who)

11/11 Fish Fingers and Custard, of Course!

11/18 Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Party Edition (let’s see your best Who themed party menu, just in time for the big event)

11/25 Be thankful! Show off your most creative Thanksgiving recipes