Mollie is 6 years old today.

Mollie, my oldest, turned 6 today.  What a BIG DEAL! I remember turning 6 ..  I remember what it was like being 6 ... i can't believe i have a 6 year old .. today we celebrated, by doing what Mollie wanted to do - We went to Jump Mania (bouncy-house-place), out to lunch at Bandana's BBQ (Mollie's choice for grilled cheese), then on to Orange leaf (self serve frozen yogurt place) and finally, big-girl bicycle shopping.  Mollie now has a 20" bike .. didn't even come with training wheels! (and she doesn't need them anyway!) Mother nature decided to celebrate with us with near record breaking temperatures, 25 degrees above average for this time of year!  (high around 80) .. it was a great day.  Jamie had a bit of  hard time with all the attention Mollie got today, but i'm hoping that will make his birthday in 2 months that much more fun for him.  Annie also enjoyed the festivities, she had her first temporary tattoo, she loved the balloons, and she learned the joy of eating just the frosting off a cupcake. 

Everyone stayed up a little late, but they're all in bed (just past 8) and its time for me to sit down and recover from birthday mania.. 

Also, I should mention that i got a ton done yesterday because I knew it wouldn't happen today.. I baked bread, chocolate chip muffins, granola bars and corn muffins.  I did 3 loads of laundry (2 of which i put away tonight).  So now, even though we played all day today I don't have 2 million things to do to catch up tomorrow.  I still have a lot to do, but at least its not catching up, just the usual stuff. 

Strawberry birthday cake!

All the baking i've been doing eventually had to lead to birthday cake! Mollie requested strawberry cupcakes this year for her 6th birthday ..  Last year i made Mollie and Jamie's birthday cakes - but they came from boxes...   I'm really excited to make mini-[gluten free dairy free]-brownies for Jamie for his birthday! (I hope he doesn't change his mind about what he wants!)  

I started with this recipe and made just a few changes to make it fit our needs.

1/2 cup millet flour

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons strawberry Jello mix

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

2/3 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pureed strawberries

3/4 cup rice milk  

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients including the Jello® . In your stand mixer, mix coconut oil, vanilla and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the strawberry mixture. Slowly pour in milk a little at a time until the cake reaches cake batter consistency- about 1/2 - 3/4 cup. Pour batter into paper lined muffin tins. Bake 20-25 mins.  Makes 24 cupcakes. Cool before frosting.  (I put them back in the pan for easy travel)

I made 2 different types of frosting, Mollie can have dairy so she is having cream cheese frosting and the rest of us are having dairy free frosting, basically its traditional frosting made with rice milk.   I must say, the cream cheese is the way to go if you can- and you can sub the coconut oil and rice milk for butter and milk if you don't need a dairy free cake!

 

My favorite whole wheat bread recipe..

Like i said in my last post, I'm using up gluten-y flours .. so here is my favorite whole wheat bread recipe.. adapted from this recipe. 

1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon milk (optional, can be replaced with water, or non-dairy milk)
2 tablespoons oil (olive, or coconut)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or coconut sugar, or can be replaced by adding 1 more tablespoon honey)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour & 3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten as part of the 3 cups..  (so in one of your cups put 3 table spoons vital wheat gluten, and then fill the rest with flour)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (proof yeast in the warm water while you gather other ingredients)

 

Instructions: 

1. In a stand mixer with a dough hook, Combine first 6 ingredients & mix/stir until combined 
2. Add flour and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 mins, if it is still sticky after a few mins add flour 1 tablespoon at a time - sometimes whole wheat flour takes a while to absorb water so don't add flour too quickly or it will be too dry.  scrape dough ball off the bowl to make sure it isn't too stuck and that it can hold its own - then cover the bowl with the dough ball inside, place in a warm place (oven with the light on, top of the fridge etc) and let rise until doubled (about 45-60 mins)
3. Remove the dough from the bowl and punch it down on a floured surface - make a rectangle and then roll it into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan. (mine is 9x5x2.5) Cover and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 30-45 mins.
4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 mins, if it starts to brown too much cover with foil and continue baking.
5. Slice and enjoy! Bread can be sliced warm, use a serrated or electric knife for best results.

This bread also freezes well, slice before freezing  :) 

Not the best Chocolate Muffins..

I'm in a mood, i guess. because this recipe is not gluten free! *GASP* 

Really, i was just cleaning out the pantry and I found all these flours that I can't use in gluten free baking (whole wheat, Kamut, Spelt) - After reading the recipe, be sure to read my comments below as you might want to make adjustments! To make this recipe gluten free, replace the flours with 2 cups rice flour, 1 cup millet flour and 1 cup tapioca starch + 2 teaspoons xanthan gum

3 cups Spelt flour

1 cup Kamut flour

1 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar & sucanant) 

2 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup almond milk
2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 cup chocolate chips 

hand full of slivered almond

Mix dry ingredients (except chocolate chips/nuts) and wet ingredients separately then combine & stir (but do not over stir) - fold in chocolate chips & nuts, then fill paper-lined (this is important, without oil they stick!!) muffin cups three-fourths full and bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.  I added some chocolate chips and almond slivers to the top to make them pretty.. 

So..  these look great, but they aren't very sweet or very chocolaty ..  I drizzled a bit of chocolate syrup on top and they taste fabulous!  they did stick to the muffin papers BAD, probably because of the lack of oil, if you sub back in oil instead of apple sauce they probably wouldn't stick, and they might need a 1/4 cup or so more milk..  

torture, i mean.. gardening.

top left corner, planted lettuce seeds...

My *organic* garden was overtaken by bermuda grass last year..  well, over the past 2 years.. and probably before the raised bed was even there. .. but this year, i decided it HAS to go.. it takes over everything..  right now it is dormant, and since we live at the northern edge of where it grows, its probably 80% dead.  I HAVE to get it out before it starts growing or we might as well give up.  So.. the past 2 days i've spent a couple of hours with a good old fashioned hoe, digging it up, and pulling all the roots and 'runners' out .. I have to go down to the bottom of our raised bed to get under it and then make sure i get all of the live-looking roots and runners OUT of there or they will regrow.  Yesterday the wind was blowing 30-40mph ... which made it easier to throw to clumps of roots far far away but made everything else a little bit more torturous.  I have to go back today and see what I can accomplish before a cold front comes through tomorrow and it [supposedly] starts raining.  For probably 4 hours work, you can see how far i got..   and how the rest of our garden looks like a lawn.. and how the other gardens don't look like that! Nearly all of them were abandoned last year during a particularly extreme mid summer heat wave..  Plus, last year we were the only organic garden.. no weed spray + super hot summer + water  = extra strong bermuda grass .. I'm also killing a bunch of grubs and overwintering pests as i dig up this mess.   The garden behind ours in the picture is also ours.. It doesn't look like a mess, but it is..  and I can't just dig it up, because it is full of strawberry plants and while they took a serious hit from the drought i think they will come back if i can get the weeds under control..  As soon as i'm done with the bermuda i'm going to move over there and do some good old fashioned hands & knees weed pulling.  The beginning of the season has never been this much work for me before.. it is sounding like a full time job and it better pay off with a bunch of organic produce this summer (and less work next year). Oh and in case you're wondering.. this mess of roots and runners and missouri rocks would be quite the challenge with a tiller too..  nothing i could handle so i'm stuck doing it by hand. 

before and after... sort of

AFTER :) 

I've been putting this off because I feel like the after pictures are a lie... We aren't done yet!!  

So now that i've adjusted my idea of "before and after"  here we go .

Before...

It may be a while, but here is the current choice for the counter and wood floors..   I can't wait to get it all done!  We are going to trim back the counter, where is sticks out on the bottom and right bottom of the "after" picture so when someone is sitting at the dining room table, we'll be able to walk behind them to get to the kitchen!!  Our "dining room" (really an eat in kitchen) is made for a tiny little 2-3 person table... not the table for 6 we've got ..  We're also planning to add some counter space where the garbage can is now (bottom right corner of before picture) so we won't be losing much work space by gaining a wider walkway.

so, it may not be done.. but.. YAY anyway :)

Cookies!

I have high hopes for these cookies,  i'm writing about them while they are in the oven.. so i hope i don't jinx anything..  The kids helped make these, so it was nice that they are also egg free (no issues with tasting a bit of the dough :) )

here is the recipe i started with...    below is the recipe from godairyfree.com with the changes i made ..

• 1 Cup Oats
• 1/2 cup millet flour
• 1/4 Cup Tapioca Starch
• 1/3 Cup Brown Rice Flour
• 1.5 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1.5 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• Rounded 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup coconut oil
• 1/4 Cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon sorghum molasses  
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup mini Chocolate Chips (which appears to be WAY TOO MUCH ..  i think they'll be good but less chocolate would work.. i know, i feel weird even saying that.. .)

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the millet flour, the 1 cup oats, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, and vanilla. Stir in the reserved flour mixture until it is all incorporated and you have a thick dough, i used my hand to accomplish this. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by the generous tablespoon-ful onto your prepared baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they just begin to brown. be very careful removing them from the pan, I had to reuse my pan for the next batch so I pulled them off a bit early and i could tell it was risky (and i just pulled the mat off the pan, onto a cooling wrack, pulling the cookies off the mat would have been tragic) They firm up once they cool, this made about 2 dozen cookies!

obviously they are out of the oven now..  Yum.