Visiting our to get our photo taken with Santa is 1,000,000 times better than going to the mall. The $15 we donated for the photos (coming later this week) was then donated to .
Meanwhile, Izzy has been practicing her list for Santa, it’s just a few things, which he kindly repeated loudly for us to hear (although we’ve known all along what she’d like). After we left, she gasped, realizing she left something really, really important off her list, the bath beads. Don’t worry, Santa knows exactly what you’d like without even saying it.
Ikea has launched a . I’m excited for Christmas Prep this year. Our house might look like this for Christmas Dinner. Love the stack of books with pillow for seating option.
Ok, wheat’s not bad, it’s an amazing grain for sure, but lately, has not been agreeing with me. After being pretty sick in May, I stopped eating wheat gluten. I stopped for a few days, then had a slice of pizza and was sick for days. That’s it. Truth be told, I feel so much better. My allergies are 100 times better, I’m not bloated and my blood sugar isn’t dropping out the bottom. Crazy right? Maybe not.
So, my dear, sweet family has been eating less wheat too. They are awesome. We’ve found some excellent rice noodles, and they still taste great with pesto and spaghetti sauce. I’ve got a small stash of flours for baking and I’ve been experimenting (insert mad scientist laugh here) on friends and family. So far so good, ok well there was that one pie crust that was DISGUSTING, and I made brownies from the Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix (I thought they were horrible, but I know a few who have tried and LOVE them), but some things have really turned out well.
Then, the big challenge. Rob’s birthday. And Rob feeling a little put out by the no-wheat food in the house. You know, it’s just not the same (that’s right honey, it’s BETTER!). So I researched for a while, I read a LOT of recipes. Rob wanted something with chocolate and coconut.
I found recipe for . I have to tell you this cake is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Not only does it taste great, the texture alone will have everyone convinced this is a cake made with regular wheat flour. Guess what, there’s not a drop of wheat in it.
What started out as this:
Ended with this:
Rob had asked me, “Is it?” again, “Is it?”. He saw me eating it and I smiled. “It is.”
Enjoy. Get the full experience on with the original recipe . I made a coconut cream cheese frosting (oh my). Recipe follows below.
Lauren’s (CeliacTeen.com)
Ingredients
1/2 cup millet flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
5 tsp brown rice flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature *separated see my note
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup very warm water
Directions
*About 30 minutes before you start, get the eggs out of the fridge and separate them. Cover them either with a lid or clear plastic wrap so they don’t get filmy. They are easier to separate when they are cold.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 the sides of each pan. Put a parchment circle in the bottom, grease the parchment. (This is worth the time for success. The parchment ensures no cake will be left behind, ugh hate that, and greasing up only 1/2 the pan, let’s the cake rise to it’s fullest. Some will suggest only greasing the bottom, but I’ve had success with greasing 1/2 way.)
Combine all flours, xantham gum, cocoa, baking soda, baking power, salt and sugar. Sift together in a large bowl. (I did it 2x, sifting adds air to the mix, helping to keep the cake light and helps in preventing the dreaded cake falling in the middle.)
Combine egg yolks, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and very warm water in another bowl. Once thoroughly mixed, mix into the dry mix bowl, until combined, do not over mix, you want to keep as much air in the mix as possible.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. (also helps to keep cake light and airy and prevent the dreaded fall) Gently fold these into the mixture. Again, don’t over mix, the air in the mix is crucial, and over mixing eliminates the air in the mix.
Pour 1/2 the batter in each pan, bake for 30-35 minutes (mine was done at 30,), until the toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cake cool completely on a rack (if you have one). While cooling you can prepare the frosting.
Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (for sprinkling on the cake)
Directions
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the sides and bottom to make sure it is mixed thoroughly. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream. Continue scraping the bowl to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed. Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable. Add additional confectioners’ sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin. Stir in the coconut. Sprinkle coconut over the cake.
Assembling the Cake
After your cake is completely, totally and wholly cool you may remove it from the pan. Run a knife along the edge, remove cake from pan and place on cake plate. Spread the frosting over the first layer, sprinkle a bit of coconut on top. Place second layer on top of first layer. Spread frosting over top and sides. Sprinkle with coconut. Put in fridge to set if you have time, don’t leave out in the heat, butter and cream cheese will run if too warm.
Enjoy. This has to be one of the best cakes I’ve made so far. And the best part, it doesn’t taste like one of those gluten-free bricks.
I had a few zucchinis in the fridge and have been wanting to try to make some crispy zucchini fries. These were so fun to eat. Super crispy on the outside (probably thanks to the panko) and super smushy soft on the inside. AND, Izzy, the 5yo who-used-to-eat-everything-and-now-doesn’t child, LOVED them.
“EW”, she said when they came out of the oven, “I am NOT eating that. What is it?”
The rule at our house is you have to taste it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it, after all we should enjoy what we eat, mother nature worked hard to grow it and we take special care to make it, it should be yum to eat, right?
Well after the first one, there was the second one, third, fourth, fifth….she ate these before the raviolis. We’ll be making these again, and the best part? These are so easy a 5 year old could totally make them too. It’s fun, all the dredging and rolling and sprinkling, it’s total tea party time.
Enjoy!
Crispy Yummy Zucchini Sticks
4 Medium Size Zucchinis
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
a couple sprinkles of your fave seasoning, I used cajun spices, but Italian or anything you fancy would be nice.
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 cup of plain breadcrumbs
Olive Oil (spray if you have it)
Preheat oven to 475F -500F depending on your crisp factor (I did 500F)
Prepare a cookie sheet, brush or spray with olive oil, set aside.
Cut the zucchinis lengthwise in quarters, then into 3rds or quarters again.
Mix the flour, seasoning and salt together in a bowl.
Whip the egg whites until they are really frothy, almost until they form soft peaks, almost, in another bowl.
Put the breadcrumbs in another bowl.
Dredge the zucchini sticks in the flour mixture, dip in the egg whites, dredge in the breadcrumbs.
Place on prepped cookie sheet. Repeat until finished. Spray or drizzle sticks with olive oil.
Put in oven for about 20 minutes, turning half way through.
My Notes:
I used cajun seasoning and they were good, I think cumin would be AWESOME, and of course, the old stand by – Italian seasoning.
I used panko, the Japanese breadcrumbs. LOVED them, super crispy.
We really liked the super crispy outside and super soft inside, we cooked them for probably 25 minutes until the breadcrumbs started to turn super dark brown.
I think you could totally make a batch and freeze them after they’ve been coated with the breadcrumbs. I’m going to add this to my “What to do with all the zucchini” part of the year and freeze a bunch for later.
Or this post could also be titled “Pop Tarts: So Easy To Make A 5 Year Old Could Do It”.
We were watching a cartoon on some channel, not one that we normally watch, and there were commercials, and one came on for Pop Tarts. I remember eating Pop Tarts. We’d occasionally have them in the house growing up, but it wasn’t a normal breakfast for us. It was a treat. I know in some cultures or houses, cake or pastry for breakfast is the norm, but not at our house. That being said, there is nothing more wonderful than the occasional delicious treat.
However, I never thought Pop Tarts were delicious. I thought they tasted like sugar coated card board. And, have you read the label? Totally too many ingredients that I can’t pronounce, or have to look up to figure out what it is. So here I have to follow some of like:
#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
Amen to that. Have you made your own junk food? WAY better than the commercial stuff. And I think you burn all the calories while making it and cleaning up afterwords.
#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
This I learned from my mother, ANYTHING advertised on TV is off limits. (except the stuff I do for my job, it’s on TV, and well, I’d buy it).
So, literally, I’ve been thinking about it this week. Totally, sort of obsessing over it, thinking about these big convenience food makers and their role in our lives. (Ok, that’s for another post, later). Anyway, catching up on my food blogs, I found this recipe on , and well the rest is history. We made them right away.
We rolled the dough into rectangles. Don’t you love my perfect rectangle? Isn’t it AWESOME. Tip #1, I used my large rectangle cutting board as a template. I felt so clever.
We made smaller treats (portion control is important, you don’t need big ones to enjoy them and they are treats), and cut the rectangles down to 12 pieces. I think next time I would cut them into 16 pieces, even the 12 pieces were too big at around 3×4″.
We brushed our squares with egg, then poured our cinnamon filling on top. There are more ideas at , but I really liked the nutella suggestion. For Izzy, since she’s not so into sweets, I need to come up with some savory ideas.
We cut up the 2nd rectangle and put them ontop of the first rectangle and pressed down the edges to make little pillows.
Using forks, we sealed the edges.
Izzy added her designs to each one.
I cooked 4 of them, and put the rest in the freezer.
Sorry, when they came out of the oven, they were gone right away, no photo of the finished product. Next time.
This was so easy peasy. Seriously an awesome project. SO EASY A 5 YO COULD MAKE THEM!! We now have a bunch in the freezer for treats and I think if I can find a savory filling, these would be an even bigger success at our house.
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