Pre-Thanksgiving dinner rolls

So Thanksgiving is coming up, and I don't know about ya'all, but finding enough oven space for everything is hard. Dinner rolls are a crucial (in my mind) aspect of the Thanksgiving meal. But the oven needs to be used for the the turkey, for the sweet potato casserole, for the stuffing, for the green bean casserole....

But I have a crock pot!

So I was wondering if I could somehow make dinner rolls in my crock pot, and by golly, it worked! Now, I've only done this once, and it worked beautifully for me. I'd love it if anyone else wants this recipe, that they try it once before Thanksgiving in their own crock pot! I don't want my head on a spike the day after Thanksgiving because a recipe didn't work in another crock pot on turkey day...

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup GF all purpose flour (I used Pamela's today. Make sure it already has xanthen gum and salt in it. If your flour does NOT have xanthen gum and salt, add 1 tsp xanthen gum and 1/2 tsp salt)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP yeast
1 cup warm water
2 TBSP melted butter/margarine
1 egg

Directions:
Mix the flour, almond meal, sugar and yeast, then add the wet ingredients. The batter will be thick.
Spray your crock pot with non-stick spray, or grease it as preferred.
Divide the dough evenly and roll into balls (I made 12), distribute them evenly in the crock pot. I got 10 around in a ring, and then 2 in the middle with a quarter inch of space between each ball.
Set your crock pot to 'keep warm' for about 30 minutes.
Switch it to low for the next 45 minutes.
Switch it to high for the last 45 minutes.
Pop those babies out and enjoy!

My apologies over the very hastily written directions and horrid format. I'm receiving an influx of choir dresses that need to be hemmed soon and I know I should work on one tonight while I still have a teensy bit of motivation.

...tonight's motivation being dark chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's. >_>

huzzah for the baker!

So much going on! We're preparing for an event our church is having this weekend for the neighbors in celebration of Easter, we have Easter with our families, and then Renaissance Faire. All in a week's time. Oi. So much to do, so little time!

The recipe I'm going to share is one that I specifically tried in preparation of Ren Faire, so I'm going to focus this post on the Faire.

I'm working on making a cotehardie for the Faire. I wanted something new to wear this year, and a dress sounded fun. (ie, flowy) I found this gorgeous pattern and decided to give it a try. My Mom and I found a whole bunch of light green linen at Salvation Army for an absurdly cheap price, so that's what it'll be made of. The gal who wrote out the pattern and blogged it called one part of the 'never ending eyelets of doom'. Yep, aptly named! That's where I am right now and I'm only 4 in! Ahh, but it'll look good when it's done... If you want to know what it looks like and how to make one yourself, here's the blog that I'm stalking following. ^_^ http://romantichistory.blogspot.com/search/label/cotehardie

We always brought our own lunch instead of buying food at the Faire. Mostly just because it's cheaper, and it's rather fun to walk back to the car, pull out our ice chest and find a picnic table with a group of friends and break bread together in the shade. It's just a lovely experience. Since I've been gluten free, it's more of a necessity than anything else. Get a rotisserie chicken (or roast one the night before), get some cheeses and some bread, some grapes...modern day Renaissance feast! Each year I've looked for a Renaissance-esque bread that I could bake and bring. And today, I've found it!

The original recipe is your normal bread. (ie, glutened) But I've tried making it now gluten free style, and it worked! Huzzah!

First, here's the link to the original recipe, and then I'll tell you what I did: http://www.simplysogood.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html

Crusty Bread

3 cups TG's All purpose floud

1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 1/2 cups water

I followed the directions as she listed, mixing the dry ingredients together, adding the water, setting aside with plastic wrap to rise for at least 12 hours. (I waited 16 hours, as I had to wait for my little guy to go down for his nap) I used my Deep Covered Baker (from Pampered Chef) as the tool for baking. I heated the oven to 450 and let it heat in there for 30 minutes as instructed. I deviated from the instructions here. GF will not handle well in the sense of rolling into a ball and being all dandy like glutened stuff is. So I left it in the bowl it had been in, sprinkled flour over it while there, and waited. After 30 minutes of the DCB being in the oven, I took it out, took off the lid, dumped a good spoonful or two of flour on my dough, lifted it and dropped it into the hot DCB. Covered with the lid and put in to bake for 30 minutes. Just shy of 30 minutes into it (27 minutes, to be exact) I took the lid off and let it bake for 15 minutes un-lidded. Took it out of the oven, flopped it onto my cooling sheet, debated for a minute, then tore the bread in half and started taste testing. 

For having only 4 ingredients, it was really good! Wow! It was great with some Earth Balance butter on it. We're going to make some again (after Easter, methinks) and try adding some Daiya or other cheese-like stuff in it to see how it'd be with cheese. So exited for such a simple bread that I can make! Super simple for every day life AND for Ren Faire! Huzzah! Huzzah for the Baker! 

Seriously, you've gotta try it. I'm seriously impressed! If I remember to try it with the cheese sub and it turns out good, I'll do my best to post a note here!

Coffecake experiment!

Wow, it's only been, forever...since I last updated. Pregnancy apparently makes me very lazy when it comes to blogging!

I was craving a spice coffee cake, so I just mixed one up and tossed it in the oven. Here's to hoping it actually works! I used to make this as a "normal" person, before the days of gluten free, so I'm basically experimenting in general right now. I just subbed the cake mix with a GF cake mix. *crosses fingers* Here's to hoping!

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch (or vanilla) pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray the 9x13 pan. 
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, and pudding mixes. Add the eggs, oil and water, mix until well blended.  Pour into greased baking dish.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Sprinkle lovingly over the goodness in the pan.
4. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn the oven down to 325 degrees F and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.  

Hoping it works...

We have 5 weeks until my due date! It's hard to believe how fast time has flown by. I vacillate between feeling ready and not feeling anywhere near ready. From talking to other friends, apparently that's pretty normal. *chuckles* I think that's good?...

We've had one baby shower thus far, three to go! (homeschoolers have no friends, thus so many events!) We've been blessed up to this point with many second hand baby items and furniture. TBG and I have only had to buy a chest of drawers! (and that was on clearance!) Everything else we have has been given to us. God is so good! We're really hoping that we can get all the other smaller essentials through the baby showers. We'll take whatever we can get, of course, but it's been a real blessing to not have to worry about buying big ticket items! 

 My personal hope is that in a week or two, TBG will be done stripping and refurnishing the sliding rocker we were given. (I have a vendetta against white painted wood. It's too fake!) Once that has been finished, if we haven't already, we'll be putting the car seat and stroller into my car, splitting up the other baby furniture pieces to the grandparents (my parents will be getting a carseat and stroller for babysitting purposes), and then I can park in the garage again! Huzzah! I have to admit though, it has been nice to park on the street-it requires that I get my daily exercise in. And now that I'm starting to show a bit more, I don't know how easy it would be to get in and out of the car in the garage...

 We're toying with a construction idea. No idea if it's possible or not, but we like the idea. Our condo has vaulted ceilings in the dining room and TV room. We want to make a loft over the dining room. It would allow more space for my sewing and his crafting. And then if we're still living here when we have #2, if #2 is a girl, we can move our office stuff out of the closed office and give her that room. (if #2 is a boy, then they can learn to share! We'll just move all the bookshelves out of that room and into the office then) It's all ideas that we're playing with, but they're fun ideas to us. ^_^

 In the meantime, there's a decorative/useless ledge that's around our kitchen area, overlooking the TV room and dining room. We made a catwalk from the top of the stain banister to the ledge so our kitties can have a safe place to perch and watch the baby when he comes. They have a horrible fear of small children, so we figure it's the nicest thing we can do for them, all things considered.  In the meantime, they've been getting nervous by all the new furniture and changes. Coping well, but still clearly a bit nervous. (don't really blame them though...)

 Well, if the coffeecake is a success, I'll post a photo. For now, I should be productive and clean up a bit. *sighs* 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a success! Woot! It tastes so good! I think my only change for next time will be to add 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter itself. But that's just cause I like my coffeecake full of spice! 

An experiment....gone well!

It actually feels like Autumn! There's clouds in the sky, the temperature is in the 60's, and it's wonderful! (for those of us in southern California, this is an amazing phenomenon) I'm loving it. I really do think that Autumn is my favorite season. It's a messenger of all the good to come. The cooler nights, the season that windows can be left open for fresh air, time to pull out a sweater or two in anticipation of winter. Holidays, family, food, friends, RAIN, clouds, no more sunshine! Love it!

Yesterday I wanted to celebrate the cooler weather, so I cooked up a hearty beef stew for dinner. Nothing like tender chunks of beef, carrot, celery and onion to announce the wonders of the season. I also wanted to experiment. I recently bought a box of King Arthur Flour GF bread mix. I was curious-and feeling kinda lazy when I bought it. So yesterday I figured I'd try it. This is a box mix that's actually worth my money and time. I made it as the directions said, and it tasted so good with some butter and honey! I'm tempted to add some garlic seasoning next time I make this mix and see what that'd be like. (then add a bit of butter and cheese, and voila! garlic bread loaf!) TBG and I were very pleasantly surprised.

If you want to see what the box and such look like, here's their website: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/

Now that I've tried the bread and found that to be a keeper for my cupboard, I'm interested in trying a few of their other mixes. I'm usually not a person who likes mixes-I really do prefer baking from scratch-but it's always a good idea to have a few emergency back-up's. And the bread definitely qualifies for my back-up!

Yay for pleasant surprises! I may experiment with that bread later and see if it can be converted into rolls also. If it can, that'd be a handy thing to remember for Thanksgiving this year! ^_^

Update and Pumpkin Coffeecake

Well, it's been quite awhile, hasn't it? In my defense, I have a perfectly good excuse as to why computers and food and me haven't been happening for the last three(ish) months.

Morning sickness.

I think it should be really called "preggo sickness". As for me, it's a morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night sickness. But that's just a small little detail, right? Whatever. Preggo sickness means that food is the last thing I want to think about, talk about, type about or contemplate on any degree or level. So yeah, I'm pregnant. ^_^ 14 weeks along, to be exact, and it's only in the last couple days that I've felt well enough to consider food again. And seeing as how autumn just technically rolled around (southern california weather always gets that memo late), I really wanted to do something autumny. And because I've been feeling a little bit better, and because I was in charge of snacks today for growth group, I had some fun. Pumpkin coffeecake! Tis a bit of a breakfast food, tis a forkful of autumn, and tis a delicious forkful at that!

I found the recipe at this site, http://www.lifeglutenfree.com/mama_baby_gluten_free/ and I made a few small alterations to it. The first time I made it was really good-but I felt like something was missing. TBG suggested I add some struesal, and I think it was lacking a bit of salt, so when I made my changes, it turned out much more like what we wanted. Moist. Delectable. Pumpkiny. Autumny. All those important things, ya know? ^_^


Ingredients:
1 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup potato starch (I ran out of this, so I just subbed arrowroot)
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice


Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh!)
1/2 cup of honey (or agave nectar)
1/2 cup organic cane sugar (although not wet, you will combine it with these)
2 tablespoons organic molasses
1/3 cup of grapeseed oil / coconut oil (or you can sub for salted butter and reduce your salt)
2 eggs

Struesal :
1 cup brown sugar
dash of cinnamon
3 TBSP butter


1.) Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 by 8 pan.

2.) Combine pumpkin, honey, sugar, molasses, oil, and egg. Combine.

3.) Add remaining ingredients to the wet mixture. Mix well. Combine struesel ingredients in a separate bowl, and add more sugar as you deem fit. ^_^

4.) Transfer batter to the greased baking pan and sprinkle struesel over it.

5.) Bake 40 minutes or until a tooth pick is inserted and comes out clean. Cool before slicing. Important to let it cool! Do not let impatience overwhelm you! It will not cut pretty. >_< Trust me on this.

TBG and I love a tall glass of milk with this. And we also love to add chocolate chips to the batter. Oooh, chocolate and pumpkin? Happy tummy time! I'll get a picture of it to post here soon, promise!

Honey Nut Bread

Oh my has it been forever!

Thankfully this week will end job number five, and I'll have a bit more free time! Of course, that free time is going straight to job number four, but still, it's something. *chuckles* I feel bad when friends complain that they can't find a job anywhere, and here I am, with five different jobs in five different places!

It has been interesting though, working at the bookstore again. First, I didn't realize how much I've missed hanging out and watching and listening to the interactions of my friends/co-workers. That was enjoyable. And I also didn't realize how many other gluten-free people I'd meet! A couple co-workers, several customers that came through my line, and even a person or two who came in specifically to talk to me because they'd heard of me via word-of-mouth. ...it's almost creepy. But it's also thrilling-to be able to share all that I've discovered and learned over the last couple months, to help relieve some of the what-can-I-eat stress and to give some hope...it's priceless. I'm thrilled the Lord put me in such a position to minister in that way. It's food related, and it's people oriented. I love it!

For tonight I'll just post a quick recipe for bread. If I get chance later this week I'll post tonight's dinner: Tomato garlic pesto chicken with noodles and foccacia bread and veggies...Mmmm...

But on to the bread!

Honey Pecan Bread! Of insane goodness! Perfect quick bread, pefect consistancy, taste, texture, oh was it heavenly! TBG and I practically inhaled it. It was a lovely side to our scrambled egg breakfast-and equally lovely as a snack. And you can totally omit the nuts if you want. It originally called for walnuts, but I didn't have any on hand, so I used the pecans instead. Soo good!

1 cup honey
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 unbeaten egg
2 1/2 cup TG's all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup+ pecans or walnuts (or both!)

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. Combine honey, milk, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Slowly heat it until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted-not too hot, just enough for those two things to happen. Take it off the heat and cool it down.
3. Add egg and beat smooth. (this is why step two with the cool is important)
4. Sift dry ingredients together and add to the milk and egg mixture. Blend. Add nuts!
5. Grease your loaf pan(s) and pour batter into it/them. (I used three smaller pans instead of one large pan)
6. Bake for 75-90 minutes. Or bake 30-50 minutes if using smaller pans. When an inserted toothpick comes out clean, it's time to take it out!
7. Cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan. It'll be a lovely rich brown color when fully baked.
8. Enjoy as it is, or slather some butter on it. TBG loves to add crystalized honey to his.

This has become one of our favorite breads ever. I found the recipe in a cookbook from my Grandma from years ago. It's no longer in print, and can't be found anywhere that I've looked. It's basically a cookbook that all the recipes have honey as a major componant. I love it! It covers breads, sauces, dinners, desserts, everything. And they taste amazing. It's just a bit more challenging when converting some of the flours because the honey moisture content will react differently to different GF flours. (for example, coconut flour wicks up moisture ALOT, and I would need to compensate that in my ingredients) But all in all, it's a great cookbook to have. There's a couple recipes that are absolute keepers-and this is one of those recipes!

Well, I'm off! Time to be HOME for a bit. Yay!

A week of yummy!

On Monday, I weighed myself. I then decided to start a little purge and avoid as many carbs as possible and eat healthy for the next couple weeks. My only exceptions to making and eating anything would be for special occasions, ministry events or if someone asked me to make something specific. I figured those would be safe exceptions, because nothing was on the calendar. So I could do my best to lose the holidays that are sticking with me, ya know? Sounds great, right?

It could have worked. It really could have.

But then, to our great surprise and joy, my little sister in law got released from the hospital and was free to return to home! Huzzah! The two catches-she is now gluten free, and no one would be home to stay with her from Thurs-Sun, because they were going on a pre-planned vacation. (planned since last Summer, and we all agreed they should take a brief break) Sooo...TBG and I came over to hang out with her and make yummy foods she could eat. Which constitutes as a special occasion-she's out of the hospital- it's a ministry-helping take care as needed- and she's asked me to make a few specific gluten free foods.

Even when I try to eat healthy and do what I can, I fail. I'm stuck in a house with my hubby and my awesome sister in law, making delicious foods for several days. Oh darn.

^_^

Thursday night we had pizza. For a post-lunch snack yesterday we made brownies. Last night we had soup. This morning we made and inhaled caramel nut rolls and cinnamon rolls. Tomorrow we're having lasagna. What a hard couple of days! I think I've gained about 3 pounds already. Gonna be hitting up the gym every day for the next couple weeks! *laughs*

The pizza and the rolls are amazing. Plain and simple. The pizza was superb-we didn't know what to expect, and we three ended up finishing the two pizza's ourselves! And the beautiful thing? We could eat all of it without getting sick. Life is grand!

It has been such a lovely time, all of us together, hanging out, enjoying each others company and eating good food. We've sat around and chatted, watched movies, played video games, we've made foods together and eaten together. Gluten free in the kitchen has never tasted so sweet!

The pizza crust recipe I used is from a new cookbook that I recieved for Christmas. A great cookbook! Dairy free and gluten free! I highly recommend this book-it is so great! It's called 'Cooking for Isaiah' by Silvana Nardone, the ISBN is 978-1-60652-165-6. I used her pizza crust recipe and her all-purpose flour mix, so I'll list her flour mix and her crust recipe for those who don't have it yet. ^_^

Silvana's all-purpose flour mix
6 cups white rice flour
3 cups tapioca starch
1 1/2 cups potato starch
1 TBSP salt
2 TBSP xanthum gum

Pizza Crust
2 cups Silvana's all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large egg whites, room temp, beaten
2 TBSP EVOO
3/4 cup warm water

1.  Whisk together flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add egg whites, olive oil and water. Combine well.
2. Divide the dough into two equal-ish pieces. Roll both into rough balls, and place on two lightly floured parchment papers. Cover with plastic wrap, and roll the dough to about 1/4" of thickness, keep the plastic wrap on and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
3. If you have a round baking stone, put in the oven and preheat both to 450. Choose one of the rolled out doughs. Remove the plastic wrap carefully and slide it into the oven. Bake for about 8 minutes-when the crust gets puffy and crisp, it's ready. Repeat with the other crust.
4. These can be made and frozen for later if desired-good for about 1 month in the freezer.

Now there's an alteration to this original recipe. This is what I used, the alteration. And it was GOOD.

Replace the water with 3/4 cup rice/coconut/almond milk, room temperature and with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. Use 1 3/4 cups plus 2 TBSP all purpose flour mixed with 1/2 cup cornmeal instead of the 2 cups flour, and mix as before.

For the pizza itself, I used a generic pizza sauce, added some red pepper flakes to the sauce and then grated goat mozz. cheese and grated cheddar almond cheese. Top it with pepperoni's and bake it at 450 for 8 minutes. The second pizza I added pepperoni's and flakes on the sauce directly and sprinkled the cheese on top. Both turned out great! We'll be having this recipe again soon.

We had two breakfasts-the first breakfast was the healthiest. Scrambled eggs, bacon and a fruit smoothie. (Lizzie had a great idea for the smoothie's, we add a handful of spinach to the fruits and juice in the blender, then add whey protein. You can't taste the spinach, but it helps make it a more balanced and healthy. And it tastes so good!) So that was our first breakfast. Second breakfast was MorMor's caramel nut rolls and Shauna's cinnamon rolls.

1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
4 ounces almond flour (1 1/4 cup)
4 ounces corn flour (3/4 cup)
4 ounces sweet rice flour (3/4 cup)
4 ounces potato starch (2/3 cup)
4 ounces tapioca flour (1 cup)
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk powder
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 tabelspoons cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

MorMor's Carmel Glaze
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP corn syrup (or brown rice syrup)
2 TBSP coconut milk

1. Prep the yeast in 1 cup of warm water. It will take awhile, roughly 15 minutes-ish.
2. Mix all the flours, salt and xanthem gum together, and if you have a blender, food processor or stand mixer, whisk them in that. You want them to be light and airy. Add the sugar and milk powder.
3. Warm the last of the water to about 110 degrees.
4. Add the yeasty water, and add the eggs one at a time. If the dough seems dry, then add more water as needed. Let it rise.
5. It's best to roll the dough in two batches, and try to shape and roll it into a rectangular shape. Before you roll it, place it on a silpat or or wax paper. Put plastic wrap on the top and then roll it out to about 1/2" thick or so. Take off the wrap.
6. For MorMor's caramel rolls, sprinkle on cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar. Roll into a log and cut into rolls.
7. For cinnamon rolls, add butter chunks, cinnamon and sugar. Roll into a log, cut into rolls and place in a baking dish that has a lightly buttered bottom. Cover with a warm tea cloth and let rise for an hour or so.
8. Make the caramel sauce! Melt the butter, sugar and corn syrup. Stir together and after it's boiled, stir in the coconut milk. Pour into a 9x12 and sprinkle in chopped nuts if desired. Lay the rolls in. Cover with a warm tea cloth and let rise for about an hour.
9. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.
10. Make the cinnamon icing. Cream the butter and cream cheese in a food processor or blender. Add the vanilla slowly. Bit by bit, add in the powdered sugar. It will most likely take all 2 cups of sugar, but bit by bit is best for the consistency. Frost the cinnamon rolls once they've cooled suffiently.
11. ENJOY!

Thoughts. And corn bread.

"For such a time as this"

That phrase, that's used in Esther 4:14, has been a phrase echoing through my head and my life for the last few weeks. The fuller verse (but not the whole verse) is "And who knows but that you have come to royal position...for such a time as this." Esther 4:14b. It speaks of her becoming Queen-despite her lack of desire for the crown-that perhaps God had placed her into that position to save the Jewish people from murderous plotters that wanted and planned for them to die. And in fact, that is what God had in mind, to use Esther in her role as Queen to protect His people.

 Somehow, that phrase has popped up almost every day for us in the last couple weeks.

...for such a time as this, I'm not working anywhere but the few Pampered Chef shows I have in January.
...for such a time as this, it's the uber slow season where TBG is working.
...for such a time as this, we've been on a nutritional program that will help aid our sister with her new diet needs.

 Our little sister who's in UCLA with chemo treatments just got put on a gluten-free diet. They think that her life-long stomach aches and head aches may be food allergies. They deduced this just now, as for the last 2 years she's been living with her older sister and family-and they eat more fresh fruits and veggies and less processed foods. Now that she's stuck in a hospital with no fresh anything and only processed foods, she's been dealing with horrible stomach aches and head aches. It makes my whole body twinge for her. So, as an experiment, she's going to be going off gluten and such for the next month or so. I hope it helps for her.

 And if it does help? And she needs to live gluten-free from now on? I have a new-found knowledge of where she can eat out, what she can buy in a store and snack on, what she can make at home, and just how possible it is. And fun! Oh the new appreciation for foods!

 I just found a gluten free cereal that is the GREATEST snack food for when I'm dealing with a semi-sweet tooth at the same time. I bought it today in Wholefoods on a splurge...had to really exercise self-restraint to not the whole box on the drive home. I offered some to TBG when he got home from work..had to wrestle the box away from him so he wouldn't completely spoil his appetite for dinner. SO GOOD! And it's one of those cereals that you really don't need milk to eat it, you can just pop it in your mouth and crunch away. *happiness*

Today for dinner, we had an amazing beef stew from scratch, and I decided to experiment now that I can have corn, and made some cornbread muffins. They were good! I will admit, they'd probably be better if I had made them with corn meal and not corn flour. But I used what I had on hand, and we were very excited with the results. Woot for more breads to have with soup! I got the recipe from The Baking Beauties, and I altered it a bit. It called for sugar and unnecessary things that I edited down or out. Soo good though!

1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar

Wet Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp light olive oil
1 cup water

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl
4. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, oil and water and beat for 1 minute or so
5. Slowly add the dry to the wet and beat until batter is smooth. You may need to add more water.
6. Pour/spoon batter into muffin cups.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

   Makes 12 muffins, 182 calories and 17 carbs. Woo!
     Enjoy! These are great hot with butter and honey!

Lessons learned and pumpkin bread

I really should post more about dinners and such, instead of cookies and carbs and whatnot... Hmmm... *shrugs* Oh well! ^_^

 This morning I woke up randomly craving pumpkin bread. Ok, maybe it wasn't all that random-I think the pumpkin bread I saw at a store recently just lodged itself into my brain. I could've had a slice they were offering right then and there, as I'm allowed to have wheat, dairy, sugar, corn and oats again. However, I'm not having wheat/gluten at all ever again. (at least, not in a baked good kind of way. If the french fries I want from Jack in the Box are cross-contaminated, I won't sweat it) See, I've discovered something. I really am allergic to wheat/gluten.

 A few weeks ago I enjoyed some Christmas cookies and trail mix that my friend made-tasted soo good! (it was sugar, of COURSE it tasted good!) But I realized something halfway through that first cookie-I could feel land and settle in the pit of my stomach. After two cookies, I could feel a headache starting slowly. After four cookies I definitely had a headache. ...I'd love to say I stopped there, but three cookies after that was when I stopped. I was dizzy, had a headache, they were just sitting in my stomach and I figured I'd blown the "small amounts of wheat" idea out of the water well enough. When I woke up the next morning, I had joint aches, my dry skin exzema issue was back in full, and I had four cold sores on my lips. Oh yes, I am avoiding wheat!

 Dairy isn't as bad a reaction. My skin had cleared up beautifully over the last 3 months or so, but once I started having my yogurt and kefir again?...my face has horrible breakouts all over again. >_< So once I finish off that kefir and yogurt, I'm done with dairy! I won't sweat the small stuff, like, if my friend makes cookies and they used milk. Whatever. I have no shame in enjoying a piece of dark chocolate every now and then. But once this dairy is out of the house, I'm not going back to kefir with breakfast and yogurt for a snack! That Girls' skin has spoken!

 All that to say, I will stay as gluten free and dairy free. I may have a recipe every now and then with corn or oats. And maybe a bit of cane sugar every now and again. But celiac's and lactose-intolerants will continue to find welcome recipes here!

 That was a rather long winded explanation for why I didn't have a pumpkin bread sample in the store and why I woke up craving pumpkin bread. Wow. Sorry!

Cut it 

Cut me. Ladies and gentlemen, using knives before the brain is awake is no easy thing!

 The other reason I wanted to make pumpkin bread was because I realized I still had a sugar pumpkin from before Thanksgiving that had to be used. So this morning I cut open that pumpkin,  sliced the skin off it, cubed it, steamed it, pureed it and was ready to make me some pumpkin bread! Woohoo!
 It tasted so good.

 Super easy to make, and soo worth it! I made 3 small loaves, froze 2 and cut one up for breakfast bread. Life is good, as far as our taste buds are concerned!

3/4 cup coconut sugar
4 TBSP pure maple syrup
1/4 cup EVOO
2 eggs
1 TBSP vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin is fine)
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup teff flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I had whole cloves of nutmeg, so I just used freshly ground half a nutmeg)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together
2. Mix all the wet ingredients together
3. Add dry to wet. Blend well.
4. Spray chosen loaf pan(s) with non-stick cooking spray.
5. Bake in oven that's been preheated to 350. If you're making three small loaves, 35 minutes is good. If it's one large loaf, aim for an hour, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean

See how easy that is?! I'm thinking that next time I make this bread, I may make two regular loaves, and add cocoa chips to the other. Or try making them into muffins. Next time I'm going to try subbing applesauce for the oil-make it a bit healthier. Either way, it's sooo good! If you like pumpkin bread, even a bit, you'll enjoy this! For those three loaves, I got about 10 slices from each. So the tally is 70 calories and 12 carbs a slice of pumpkin pleasure. ^_^

Cranberry Bread and Peanut Butter Blossoms

How has so much time passed?! It's already December and I haven't yet blogged once this month! *bows head in shame* I blame my schedule...

Another shameful thing: my cooking. I've been baking so much amazing stuff that I've gained weight. >_< At least 5 pounds...after how good I'd been, counting carbs, eating healthy, losing weight..holidays come around and the kitchen always smells good and food is amazing and I need to confirm that everything I make tastes good! I'm kinda looking forward to January now, as then I won't feel the need to bake cookies or bread or brownies or sweets every day.

Oh well. At least everything I'm making, I can eat! ^_^

I've had a couple requests for this recipe, so I'm blogging it before I forget to write it down! Cranberry nut bread. Back in the day, I did NOT like cranberry bread. I did NOT like fruit in bread or baked goods. I did NOT like nuts in anything baked. My oh my, has that changed!

This is a lovely, moist bread with juicy bites of cranberry, the crunch of pecans, and the lovely sweetness of Christmas. Perfect as a dessert bread with coffee, or as a breakfast bread on the side of some scrambled eggs. It's healthy-and has just enough sweetness to be versatile. I'm astounded with how much TBG and I like it, as we didn't used to be people who'd enjoy such a thing. But now we are. Amazing how our taste buds have adapted and learned to prefer such things. (but don't worry, our chocolate addiction is still going strong!)

Cranberry Nut Bread

1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup TG's all purpose flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 TBSP orange zest
3/4 cup orange juice (it does taste better when it's fresh, hand squeezed orange)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 TBSP mayo
2 eggs
1 cup cranberries (I prefer half the cranberries whole, and half the cranberries quartered)
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Sift all the dry ingredients together. Zest counts as a dry ingredient today. 
3.  Mix all the liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl.
4.  Add the two (wet and dry) together. Mix well.
5. Now for the fun part-add the cranberries! I'd say add about 3/4 of the nuts, so you can sprinkle some on the top of the bread. Or, if you're a nut dork like me, add ALL the nuts to the bread, and chop up more nuts for the top. ^_^
6.  Pour the batter into your pans. If it's one large loaf pan-45 minutes of bake time. If it's 4 smaller loaf pans, then about 25 minutes.
7.  When an inserted toothpick comes out clean, bring out of the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Then cool for a bit longer out of the bread pan.

I will say-the flavors are even better the next day! All the times I've made it to bring to people I've made the same day, so it hasn't had time to set to the even richer flavors-but that's because if I made the day before, there wouldn't be any bread to share! Enjoy the bread straight up with some coffee or tea. Enjoy it warm with some butter melted into it. Drizzle on some honey. No matter how you eat it, it tastes good. 70 calories and 10 carbs a slice. Roughly 35 small slices from mini loaf pans.



And the other new recipe is my personal favorite. But that's because I've always loved my peanut butter and chocolate. Peanut butter blossoms. *ooohh* Soo good! I am going to play with the recipe a tiny bit, see if I can infuse a teensy bit more moisture into the cookie. As it is, it's good. But I want to make it better. Not that I'm a baking perfectionist. ...but I kinda am.

The great part with this recipe is you can make two ways. One way, the traditional way, is with hershey's chocolate kisses.

The other way, the new way, is for those of us who can't have the dairy and sugar in the kisses-use unsweetned carob chips and lightly drizzle a tiny amount of honey on the chips. Mmmm...does it work well!

Either way, they taste great! I'm also thinking I may try melting down the carob chips, adding some maple syrup to make it smooth and sweet, and then pouring a bit into each well of the cookie. That could be really good too! (guess what I plan to try next Tuesday?..) ^_^

But, before I forget, let me give you the recipe, so you can try it at home too, and let me know what you made!


1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup solid shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
1 cup coconut sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter (the original recipe called for smooth pb. But I like mine crunchy. You can use whatever you prefer)
Chocolate kisses, unwrapped OR carob chips and honey

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grab your cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients-flour through to baking soda.
3. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat sugar and shortening into one cohesive lump of yummy. Add the egg, coconut milk and vanilla. Once that's blended in, add the peanut butter. (and don't start drooling over the mixer. I KNOW the peanut butter smells amazing, but resist!)
4. Slowly add in the dry mix. Once it's all mixed together, roll the dough into small balls and place onto the cookie sheet. (I made my balls into a bouncy ball size)
5. Either press the unwrapped kiss into the cookie dough, or use a knuckle to create a well in the dough. Sprinkle in some carob chips, and drizzle with honey.
6. Once all your cookies are on the sheets and ready to go, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie get ever so slightly golden.
7. Cool. And enjoy. ^_^

Makes about 36 cookies. 95 calories and 11 carbs a cookie of peanut butter goodness. If I do indeed change the recipe and make it better, then I'll re-post it.

Well, TBG's fresh loaf of sandwich bread just came out of the oven. Going to let it cool a bit, then slice it and freeze it for this week and next week. Then I'm going to change the sheets on our bed, do a load or two of laundry, eat some lunch, and run out the door for work! Busy busy. It's a good season. We are so blessed, are we not? Enjoy what the Lord has blessed you with-it is abundant!

13 days until Thanksgiving!

So, with this being my first ever round of holidays with major food adventures, I'm preparing now! Trying out new recipes, confirming old recipes, bustling through the kitchen and dreaming about food when I sleep. I love the holidays!

One of the things I was concerned about was dinner rolls. What Thanksgiving or Christmas is complete without dinner rolls? Almost every dinner table has some type of roll, bisquit, bread or other tasty carb. And I didn't want to be sitting at the table watching every one else enjoying their butter and/or honey laden carbs, while I sit there without. That just wouldn't do. (it would really take the "Thanks" out of Thanksiving for me!)

Well. I am going to very Thankful this Thanksgiving. For the tastebuds the Lord has blessed me with. For the miracle of recipes without the "normal" ingredients. For the family that can congregate around the table and enjoy foods of gastronomical delight. For salvation and the peace of mind in knowing where my eternity is-and where our loved ones are that won't be with us these holidays. God is good.

And another thing to be thankful for-these dinner rolls! TBG and I tried them out a few days ago. We told ourselves we would limit ourselves to 2 each if they were good. ...after we each had more than 4, I had to put away the leftovers in the freezer so we wouldn't finish off the whole batch in one night. Sooo good! With just butter. With butter and honey. With just honey. By themselves. These are dinner rolls!

Happiness in my hand!

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup coconut  milk
3 ounces almond flour
3 ounces millet flour
2.25 ounces potato starch
2.25 ounces tapioca flour
2.25 ounces sweet rice flour
2 ounces arrowroot
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons coconut sugar
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
handful of sesame seeds

1. Proof the yeast with the coconut milk and a pinch of sugar. What I did with the milk was to nuke in the microwave for about 2 minutes (do it on a lower power level) until the milk is body temperature. Then add the yeast and sugar, stirring gently. Let sit for 15 minutes until its doubled.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients. It's best to sift the flours together first, just so they're well blended and one coherent flour..
3. Add 6 TBSP of the butter, the egg, and the yeast/milk mixture. Beat for about 3 minutes. The dough will be soft-do not add flour to compensate! Think soft cookie dough. That's what you want.
4. Cover the dough and allow it to rise until double. If you need to, turn the oven to warm and put the bowl in there so it has a low, gentle heat to activate the yeast.
5. Grease your cookie sheet pan or pie pan or muffin pan. Use whatever you prefer to make bisquit size/shape. Roll the dough into balls-think golf ball on steroids. Allow to rise again.
6. Preheat oven to 375. Melt the remaining butter and lightly brush the roll tops with it. Sprinkle sesame seeds onto rolls. Bake for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, and then eat that yummy goodness!

I made mine in the larger of my mini-muffin tins. So they were smaller-which was a really good thing considering how many we ate in the end! I got 24 smaller rolls out of one batch. Huzzah!
            Roughly 138 calories and 14 carbs each.

Oh yeah babe!

Someday I'll have time to blog a bit on Thursdays too...

Argh! Once again, the week gets away from me, and then suddenly I have a whole bunch of recipes to share, and so little time to type it all! The one saving grace for me writing all this on Saturday's, is that TBG will play through Final Fantasy 13 while I sit on the couch typing. And whenever we get to a story scene, we'll watch it together, and then I'll go back to blogging. Good times. ^_^

I may break this into chunks, all the recipes I want to list..but we'll start with the risotto for now. I'll decide if I'm breaking this up more later.

Butternut squash risotto. So lovely. I know I was a bit intimidated with the idea of making risotto. Risotto. Somehow, it just sounds intimidating. (at least, it does to me!) I can't really explain it. It doesn't have a title that clicks in my head with "easy". So I just naturally assume it's going to be hard and difficult and it will somehow turn out horribly. Such a little pessimist! How wrong I was!

This was a recipe a girlfriend gave me to try, and it really, truly was easy. And tasted great! We served it with a pork chop and some broccoli. Bacon and green beans would be lovely too.

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed butternut squash (peeled)
2 TBSP butter
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 cups hot chicken stock

1. Steam your squash cubes until fork tender. Mash them up in a bowl
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat; add onion. Stir onion until it softens, and then add the rice. Stir it until the rice is glossy with the butter, and the onion browns slightly.
3. Pour in the white wine. Stirring until it evaporates.
4. Stir in the mashed squash, and 1/3 of the chicken broth, reduce heat slightly, and keep stirring until the broth soaks in. Add 1/3 more stock, and again, stir until it evaporates. (your arm should be feeling a little sore by this point. Did I mention its also great for working up your appetite?) Add the last of the stock once what is in the pot has evaporated. Risotto should be looking creamy and yummy.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add parmesan cheese if you so desire and can have dairy.

My lovely cubed butternut squash...and yeah, I didn't
measure how much squash I had...I know I have more
than 2 cups though...details... >_>

With my first bit of liquid added

See how it's absorbing it all? Mmmm..getting close!

Save the seeds, and you can toast them like you would
pumpkin seeds! Tasty, and a healthy little snack.

Serves 4- 283 calories and 48 carbs


So I used to make TBG sandwiches that he would take to work for lunch. It's been rather torturous for me, to smell such bread, and not be able to have even the tiniest crumb from it. And now that he's dairy free, it adds a small layer of difficulty to find bread that he can have.

Well. No more. I discovered one of the most amazing recipes EVER earlier this week on one of the blogs I stalk. http://glutenfreemommy.com/ Natalie is amazing. She has some great recipes for desserts and foods, but the recipe that has our temporal, earthly gratitude is for her Millet Oatmeal Bread. Now, I can't have oatmeal, so I had to make a few small alterations, but my, oh my, is it worth it! TBG raves about this being the best sandwich bread he's ever had. (and that's saying something there!) I love adding butter and honey with it. Mmm.. When I made the bread, I had a tiny bit more dough than bread pan, so I made two muffins of it. O_O I will be making muffins of this for breakfast later this week. We love it.

So, all credit goes to her! But I will be renaming it for my purposes here, as it is not an oatmeal bread that I make. I hereby name it Millet Quinoa Bread. (of awesome, amazing, gastronomical delight!)

If you make it how it's written, you will not be disappointed. And if you're too skeptical to try it, let me know, I'll bake you some muffins to try out!

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
3/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup arrowroot starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup flax seed meal (sift, and save the chaf-like part)
1 TBSP xanthan gum
3 eggs
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 packet active dry yeast + 1 TBSP coconut sugar (for proofing yeast)
1 TBSP maple syrup
3 TBSP coconut sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup heated water
1 cup heated water

1. Pull out all your dry ingredients and eggs a bit early, and let them all sit out until room temperature. Preheat oven to 200 if its too cold in your house for the dough to rise later-you'll be using that lightly heated oven to make it rise later.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients. (I sifted the flax seed separately first, and then added it to the other dry ingredients)
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, syrup, vinegar and butter together.
4. In yet another bowl, mix yeast and sugar. Add 1/4 cup warm water. If it isn't bubbling and proofed in 10 minutes, THROW IT OUT and start again. You need it proofed!
5. Once that yeast is ready, add the wet to dry. Add the yeast. Slowly add the remaining water until you reach the proper dough consistency. (thick cake batter) Beat the dough on high for 10-15 minutes.
6. If you accidently added too much water, add some more rice flour until you get it to where it should be. (if you really, really added too much water, add a bit from each flour as you go)
7. Put the dough in your pre-sprayed pan, and allow it to rise for 1-1/2 hours. Once it crests over the pan, its ready. If you had it in the oven to rise, pull it out to preheat the oven to 350. Once the oven is preheated, you're almost ready. Take that bit of flax that was leftover from sifting, and sprinke over the wet dough top. Now you can pop that baby in for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick draws out clean.
8. Cool for as long as you can before cutting into it. If you HAVE to cut into it while it's still hot, spray your bread knife with pam each time you slice.

Serves about 18-depending on your slices-and is about 111 calories and 18 carbs each slice

Most delicious bread EVER!!

The great snack dessert experiments

Graham crackers. Great for pie crusts, snacking on the road, frosting sandwichs and of course, S'mores...they are simply delightful. And also full of wheat, sugar and sometimes even dairy. I wanted to have a frosting covered graham cracker...but I couldn't. And that annoyed me.

So I searched around for a bit, and of course, ended up at Gluten Free Girl and the Chef's blog. I love her posts. And what did I find? An amazing recipe for graham crackers. Hallelujah! I tried it. And it's good. I'll post how to make it here, but you should also check her blog sometime, she's amazing. http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2010/01/gluten-free-graham-crackers.html

2.5 ounces sorghum flour
2.5 ounces brown rice flour, ground super fine, if possible
2.5 ounces tapioca flour
2.5 ounces sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3.5 ounces unsalted butter, just out of the refrigerator
3 ounces honey
3 to 6 tablespoons cold water
 

1. Measure out the flours and combine in a food processor. Yes, flours in a food processor. It's a good thing. Add the remaining dry ingredients and whirl it around until combined.
2. Cut the butter in. Keep processing until it's fine and gritty. Similar to cornmeal.
3. Combine the honey and 3 TBSP water in a separate bowl. Add the honey water to the food processor, and blend thoroughly. If it's not a soft and slightly wet dough, slowly add more water until you reach that consistency.
4. Fridge the dough for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325.
5. Get two pieces of parchment paper, and place one on the cookie sheet of choice. Grab that dough from the fridge, and lump it onto the paper'd pan. Place the other paper over it, and roll the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Use a knife to lightly cut the dough into actual pieces. Save the scraps as they are-great for snacking or pie crusts!
6. If you want to add cinnamon sugar to the graham crackers, now it the time to do it. If not, fridge the pan and dough for another 15 minutes or so.
7. Bring out that baby and use the tines of a fork to add a little pattern to them. Bake for about 18 minutes or until they reach a lovely golden brown color, and are ever so slightly getting hard to the touch.
8. Cool them for about 30 minutes or until they harden a bit more.

My lovely sis-in-law is letting me borrow her food processor-
she's so sweet!

That's the way you want the dough to look. If you want
cinnamon sugar graham crackers, I'd recommend adding some spice here

You can see I cut them to be s'more sized...Add the little hole decorations
at this point. And if you want them to be cinnamon sugar, add it here too
before you do the final fridging.

When I made them, with the sizes I cut, I made 26 servings, and they were 70 calories and 10 carbs each.

Now for the next step onward for my goal of s'mores. Sugar free marshmallows. I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, right? Well, it's actually quite simple to make, and they are so amazingly sweet! TBG and I were both very pleasantly surprised. And they melt very easily, so I'll be making rice krispy treats soon too. ^_^ I  may as well run with my fun! http://www.ehow.com/how_4735818_sugar-marshmallows-home-recipe.html This is the website I got it from-props to them!

What you need:
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 cup agave nectar or maple syrup (I used maple syrup this time)
1 tsp vanilla
6 TBSP cold water
1/4 tsp salt

Pam spray
Sweet rice flour (or cornstarch)

1. Mix gelatin and water in small bowl, microwave on high for 30 seconds.
2. Add syrup, vanilla and salt. Using a handmixer or a standmixer, beat for 12 minutes, until it's tripled in size and became very thick.
3. Spray 9x12 pan with PAM and lightly flour it. Pour the marshmallow mix into the dish, and cool in fridge (or counter top) for at least 3 hours.
4. Cut the marshmallows into whatever size you want, using a wet knife.

I used a stand mixer, it's so much easier!

Use a wet spatula to smooth the top of the marshmallow before it hardens

I cut mine large, for the purpose of S'mores, and so I made 18 large marshmallows, at 48 calories and 12 carbs apiece. These are great for cocoa drinks, rice krispy treats, s'mores, whatever you'd use marshmallow sweetness for!

 We can't even begin to describe the joy our tastebuds experienced. We used carob chips for tonight's S'mores, and my oh my, were these the ultimate treat! Melt the chips on the graham cracker BEFORE adding the marshmallow. The heat alone from the cracker will melt the marshmallow-as you can see at the top of it. Oh man, were these good.

And using the graham cracker small tidbits with carob frosting on them! Oh! What humble delights of gastronomical goodness! What simple joys we are blessed with.

Banana Pecan Muffins

Breakfast. Best time for baked goods. Some scrambled eggs, a bite of toast or pancakes or coffeecake or scones, or muffins, some fruit on the side...morning is an excellent time for the culinary delights. In case you couldn't tell, I like baked goods. And I like breakfast. (only thanks to my hubby on that-he's taught me to enjoy breakfast!) And I like baked goods with breakfast.

But what I don't like, is banana. Ick. Too soft and mushy. (and I'm allergic to it raw) I know it's really good for me, high in potassium and stuffs, but I can't get over the texture of it. (and the lack of air once my allergy kicks in) Despite my intense dislike of that yellow fruit, I felt like being inovative, and stepping outside my comfort zone. I got some frozen banana's from my dear Mom's freezer, and decided it's time to try something. If I don't like it, then at least my parents enjoy banana, and they can have it.

Well, no one is going to try this batch, because I'm gonna eat it all by myself. (TBG can have only one or two, I suppose...) These are amazing. Moist. Flavorful. Lovely texture. Amazing with a small bit of butter and scrambled eggs. Good without butter and scrambled eggs. Delicious. I can't believe I've fallen in love with something banana. Even TBG has agreed they are good-despite the fact they're banana. I'm thrilled. I have a new breakfast bread! Well, muffin. I think I'll try playing with it more later and try making it a bread too. ^_^

Here's the recipe I used:

Banana Pecan Muffins of Gatronomic Delight

4 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 TBSP coconut milk
3 TBSP coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe banana's
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp clove
dash of mace
dash of ginger
dash of allspice

1 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 TBSP maple chunks

The low-down:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Blend maple syrup and eggs until smooth. Add banana, milk, oil, vanilla and spices, blend for about a minute.
3. Sift dry ingredients together. (I didn't do that...and I forgot coconut flour can have lumps...so make sure you sift first!!) Add in dry ingredients and blend fully. Once blended, gently stir in pecans and maple chunks.
4. Pour into greased muffin pans and bake for about 20 minutes. Makes 10-12 muffins.

About 130 calories and 14 carbs per muffin

Busy Days

I am rather relieved to be home and typing this right now. It means I got off work early. It means I can take off my shoes and relax. It means I can update my blog, play with the kitties, finish the laundry, work on my sewing projects, and get dinner going in a timely manner. Yay for relaxing at home!

Last night was a lovely night, we had dinner at a friend's house and she was prepared for my food allergies! We had brown rice pasta, a delicious pasta sauce that she had added veggies to, (that sauce was SOO good!) and green beans. She felt bad because they had a cheesy garlic bread that I couldn't eat. But I was prepared. I had been really wanting to try out a new french bread recipe. Oh. My. Goodness. I don't care how good everyone thought their bread was last night, mine was better. Best french bread EVER! (esp for a gluten free and sugar free!) It flaked and crunched on the outside. It was fresh and chewy on the inside. With a bit of butter and some seasoning, it was amazing garlic bread. Simply divine.

I am beside myself in pride. I never thought it'd be possible to have french bread this good.

Granted, if I had an actual french bread pan, it would have looked a tad bit better, but considering the taste, who cares how it looks? Divine. Simply divine.

And then, today, I needed something for lunch while at work. But I was prepared once again! TWO nights ago we were at another friend's house hanging out, and I spent most the evening pouring over her cookbooks, copying recipes that could maybe work for me with alterations. So today, I tried one of those recipes. Finally, another spinach salad that's yummy-but different than my same ol, same ol! Roasted sweet potato's, fresh orange chunks, an orange/garlic dressing...again, very good. Healthy, refreshing, and delicious. 

It's been a good couple days. Very busy, but very gastronomically satisfying. Thank the Lord for taste buds and good food! It's wonderful being able to eat food that is so delicious and fresh, and knowing that this food was back from the garden-not from some processed plant. No corn syrups or chemically foods that I can't pronounce. Granted, some of the flours I use nowadays are from all around the world, but that just means my breads are well cultured. ^_^

Ooh-and something else exciting? I had to buy new jeans. Because my old jeans weren't staying on me very well, even with a belt. Yay for losing weight! Despite my sudden increase in baking, I'm still losing weight! God is so good to me. I don't need wheat, dairy or sugar to be blessed. There's so many other foods to enjoy.

And time to share some of that food to be enjoyed! Recipe time!

French Bread

First, you need to make the flour mix for french bread/pizza. This is a flour combination that you can dip into and use for several different recipes. I have a mix of it in a ziploc on my pantry shelf. It doesn't need to be refridgerated, so it's pretty handy. I do however need to get an actual storage container from it. I'm scared I'm gonna rip through that ziploc!

Flour Mix             6 cups of mix     or       12 cups of mix

White rice flour           3 1/2 cups     or        7 cups
Tapioca flour              2 1/2 cups     or        5 cups
Xanthan gum                2 TBSP       or        1/4 cup
Unflavored gelatin        2 packets     or        4 packets
Egg replacer                  2 TBSP      or        1/4 cup
Sugar (white)                 1/4 cup      or         1/2 cup

(I omitted the sugar completely from this mix, nothing is missing or seems off, to follow what I did exactly, omit the sugar.) Stir all the ingredients together and store until needed.

The Bread
(small loaf-large loaf, just double it. For the eggs, 3 large)

Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cup French bread/pizza mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP yeast

Wet ingredients:
3 TBSP coconut milk
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 small egg whites
1 1/2 TBSP coconut oil
2/3 cup warm water

1. Prepare a french bread pan or cookie sheet by greasing. (spray with Pam) (and if you so desire to, you can dust it with cornmeal)
2. In your mixer bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (including yeast). In a small side bowl, beat all the wet ingredients but all the water. Add some water, just not all of it. Add wet to dry, and then add more warm water as necessary. The dough shouldn't be dry or forming ball. Thick, and a good bit sticky.
3. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheet of choice, and you may want to smooth it down with wet fingers to form a more french bread look.I actually buttered my hands to smooth it down, and then I scored the top lightly to give it the nice look.
4. Cover and let rise. About 35 minutes for rapid rise yeast, and a bit over an hour for regular yeast. Preheat your oven while it's rising. 425 is the temperature you want, and once that bread is fully risen, pop it in for 25-30 minutes, or until that golden brown color comes, and it sounds hollow when thumped. (or you can also cheat and use a toothpick like I did)

  About 70 calories and 13 carbs a slice. Many thanks to "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread" book by Bette Hagman!

See how it's stiff-ish? It's not a dough ball? That's what your dough should look like.

The dough after it finished rising and before I scored it.
I am ashamed to admit I don't have an after-baking picture, because I grabbed
it and ran out the door to be on time for our friend's dinner...and then
I ate it all. >_> Next time, we'll have a picture!

And now for that salad recipe! I don't know the name of the cookbook I got it from unfortunately. But once I figure out the name of that book, I'll credit this recipe to it. So good!

Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad

Salad:

1 TBSP rosemary

2 tsp EVOO

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed

1 huge sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

1-2 large oranges

1/4 sliced and diced onion

3 TBSP roasted pine nuts

3 TBSP almond slivers

a whole bunch of spinach.

Dressing:

3 TBSP fresh orange juice

2 TBSP EVOO

1 TBSP rice vinegar

1 TBSP honey

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

two dashes garlic powder

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 400.
2. 
   
   Combine first 4 salad ingredients, and the onion, put on pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool.
3. 
   
   Discard garlic and combine the potato mixture with the rest of the salad ingredient list.
4. 
   
   Make the dressing! Combine OJ and other ingredients, mixing well. Drizzle over salad and toss. Enjoy!

 Serving size is about 1 cup. 160 calories and 27 carbs

Lunch! It's in a tupperware for work purposes,
even though I ended up eating at home.