bundt cake!

We survived the plague. I made more than three huge batches of chicken soup and bone broth, forced tons of fluids on the boys, and used lots of lavender and peppermint essential oils. But they're both better!

...and now I'm getting sick. *sighs*

It strikes me as amusing, how masochistic I must be. I take on assignments and odd jobs and projects with no problem, and then panic when I realize how little time I have to accomplish it all. I have two sewing projects to accomplish sooner rather than later, an event that my hubby and I are in charge of some of the activities and we need to plan for, and we're working on slowly remodeling/organizing our garage and laundry room. (laundry room being the fancy term for the guest bathroom that has a washer and dryer behind the broken door) And with all these projects going on, our little one has learned how to crawl and pull himself up to standing.

Somehow I feel like I have no time in the world to get everything done. And that's silly, as I have a full 24 hours EACH DAY to get stuff done! I have horrendous self control these days. And then I complain that I haven't got enough time to get everything done. Today at church we had a guest speaker who was talking about time and how we use it or don't use it. It definitely struck a cord in me. How often do I complain to my hubby that I haven't got enough time-but I got halfway through the book I was reading, had time to peruse Target with my Mom, and aimlessly play with the baby? I could've used that time so much better! Get some laundry started, play with the baby while it's running, work on sewing while he's napping, get dinner started (woot woot for crock pots!), run the dishwasher while running errands... Ugh. Now you now what you can pray for me about!

we took time to really play with our little guy before his bedtime. love that smile!

Yesterday was a busy day. TG had band practice in the morning, we had a wedding reception right after, and then when we got home I had a bunch of cooking and baking to do for today's All Church Lunch. I made a bunch of meatballs and made the most amazing bundt cake. The normals were getting a rare treat of baklava for dessert today, and I wanted cake, so I made cake for us specials. And I've got to share the recipe. It's delicious! (and if I don't share it, I'll likely lose it, and that'd be positively depressing!)

Chocolate chip bundt cake of YUM

• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 3/4 cup potato starch
• 3/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup coconut milk (buttermilk style)
• 1 package dairy free mini chocolate chips

How to make this YUM:
1.) Preheat oven to 325° and spray bundt pan with non-stick spray
2.) Sift all the dry ingredients together
3.) Pour the cup of milk into a bowl, and add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to it. Set aside.
4.) Blend remaining wet ingredients together. (eggs, vanilla and oil- and yes, if the coconut oil is room temperature, the wet ingredients AND batter will be slightly lumpy. No worries)
5.) Slowly start adding the dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with the (buttermilk-esque) coconut milk. Blend thoroughly.
6.) Add the entire package of chocolate chips. Yes, the whole package. Stir in gently.
7.) Pour the batter into the pre-sprayed bundt cake pan, and slid into the oven to bake for 50ish minutes.
8.) Once the toothpick test declares it's done, pull that baby out of the oven and let her cool for a few minutes before flipping onto whatever tray or cake carrier you have.
9.) Cool the cake for awhile longer, and then lightly dust it with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

My hubby confessed to eating more than 3 slices today. ...I had more, so I can't really be too perturbed. This is a recipe that if you want to make it chocolatey, it wouldn't be too hard to reduce some of the flours and use cocoa powder to make it chocolatey. Or, if you want it lemony, grate some lemon rind into the batter, and use a bit of lemon juice straight into the batter as well. (and top with a lemon glaze!) This is a yummy cake that is rather simple-and has so many possibilities! If you want a rainbow funfetti type cake, sub out the chocolate chips with a tube of sprinkles. Play with it. Own it. Eat it and don't weigh yourself on your bathroom scale then following morning.

Any creative ideas out there on what else can be done to this cake?

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. ^_^