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?

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.