Peanut Butter Spice Cookies

I am not a fan of those recipe posts that babble on and on until finally giving you the recipe you're there for. So I am going to say just a few quick things before sharing the glory that is these cookies.

I took a recipe for peanut butter cookies that was supposed to be amazing. Like, 700+ reviews on allrecipes.com amazing. But I wasn't entirely in the mood for plain old peanut butter cookies so I spiced them up. Literally! They turned out amazing and I don't have exact amounts of what I added but it's a very forgiving recipe and more or less than I added, they'll still be wonderful! They're gluten free, dairy free, and yet they are still thick, chewy, and moist.They also don't require any strange or hard-to-find flours or any painfully expensive homemade blends. Are they good for you? Not exactly. But they're yummy enough, you won't care.

Here's your make-you-want-to-make-them photo:

And the original recipe:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C). Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, all all ingredients and stir together until smooth. Roll into 1 inch balls (use a small disher like mine if you have one -- I LOVE them!) and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Then, because I can never leave a recipe alone I added:

1 tbsp more or less molasses 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

and I rolled the dough balls in cinnamon sugar, and then slightly flattened them before baking. But no criss-cross pattern, okay?!

I also didn't have any vanilla (whaaaat?!?) but I'm sure that would have made them even more tasty! Then I melted some vanilla almond bark (though I think real white chocolate would be even better, but this is all I had leftover from last Christmas! HA!) and dipped some of the cookies, and dolloped it on to others. A few I left plain. Then I sprinkled the almond bark with cinnamon sugar. And then I ate them.

THE END

Except for more photos to make you drool! 

Easy Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls

Guys. Guys. Guys! And by "guys" I mean everybody. I have something to tell you today that is very exciting to me and probably will be to a lot of you, too! But first I'm going to entice you to read on with a photo:

You know you want that. Read on to find out how easy it is to get it! It really is easy. Like... probably easy enough to be dangerous.

But let's back up slightly, first!

Have I mentioned at all on my blog how much I love Aldi? They're an excellent little grocery store if you're unfamiliar with them. They keep their prices low by staying small, minimizing the need for dozens of employees at each location, get fewer shipments than other stores, etc., etc., I don't know all the details of how they do it, but they do. Recently they introduced an organic line, after trying out organic stuff from time to time in the past. The prices are good, and I guess it was a popular addition because they always have at least a few organic choices these days! Another specialty line they have toyed with is gluten-free products. Personally I have never seen any in the store until yesterday, but I don't get to go very often because we don't have an Aldi in town and we rarely go anywhere else to shop! Anyway, Aldi decided that they were going to try out a whole line of gluten-free products recently and as of yesterday, May 7, 2014 had the line available at all Aldi locations. I saw the kind of prices they were going to be offering this line at and knew we had to go! So go we did, in the middle of the week and for no other reason at all we went up to Belton to try stuff out. We brought a little cash and got a whole stash of goodies! Brownie mix, pizza crust mix, yellow cake mix, baking mix, soft baked cookies, baked chewy bars, mac & cheese, and chocolate chip cookie mix. We spent a grand total of $22.93 for all of this you see in the photo below, plus the brownie and pizza crust mix we already gave away and used. Way more than I would usually spend on "splurge" foods, but a very worthwhile experiment and FAR cheaper than buying similar items at any other store. Seriously, we spent $6 at HyVee recently on a 10oz box of gluten-free cornflakes for casserole topping for Easter! Compare and awe.

We gave the brownie mix to my mother-in-law, and she made it up into cupcakes that very night for a church event. She gave us one to try out and it was delicious! It didn't taste weird or "gluten-free" like some of these things do. It just tasted like authentic brownie goodness! The taste, texture, and appearance was all great!

Then we decided that we just had to try the pizza crust mix that night rather than wait for the weekend! Once I saw that the mix would make 2, 12 in pizzas I knew I had to experiment. I made one half of the dough into pizza and with the other half I made up some cinnamon rolls! I've been craving cinnamon rolls for my entire pregnancy, but never found a recipe to make them that looked remotely easy and also had good reviews, so I have done without until last night! The few recipes out there that promise to be truly amazing were always complicated, often featured on blog posts longer than I could stand to even read once, detailing how tricky it was and how everything had to be done "just so" for them to turn out right! Well no more. I am here to rescue you from that problem, thanks to Aldi!

But first, a quick, poor quality photo of my pizza. It, too, was amazing. The crust was one of the best gf crusts I've had, though I think I like the mix best for cinnamon rolls, rather than pizza! But I would definitely eat the pizza again with no hesitation. Over and over if it were offered. Ha.

This pizza was topped with Italian chicken, onion, and deli-sliced Mezzetta peperoncini peppers. DELICIOUS! Side note: I've been obsessed with these peppers through most of my pregnancy so far. I want them all the time, and would probably eat them plain if I wasn't so tight with our grocery budget!

 Now for the really important part of this post though. The easy peasy, delicious gluten-free cinnamon rolls! It's so easy you don't even need any actual measurements. Really! Rough measures are all fine here. As I mentioned, I used half the dough, but if you need or want more cinnamon rolls, go ahead and use it all! We definitely did not need 16 cinnamon rolls between the two of us though, especially considering it wasn't our official "cheat" day and therefore the fact of having them (and PIZZA) at all was a big treat!


Easy Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 8, 2 1/2 inch cinnamon rolls

1/2 liveGfree pizza crust mix, prepared (not baked!)
Butter (I used a little over half a stick for the entire process)
Powdered sugar
Cinnamon

Frosting:

Milk
Butter
Powdered sugar
Vanilla
Cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl (like the type for condiments, small) combine 1 1/2 tsp-1tbsp melted butter with a tablespoon or so of powdered sugar. Stir until combined. Pour into the bottom of your pan (I used a glass loaf pan and fit my 8 rolls perfectly so adjust according to how much you're making).

Roll out your dough until it is approximately 10-12 inches long, 5-6 inches wide, and about 1/2 inch thick (remember, this is a rough guess so adjust as you feel fit!). Slather the dough in butter, and sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/4-1/3 cup powdered sugar over top, and carefully roll dough up. I rolled my dough out on a silicon pad, so I was able to use the pad to help me roll the dough nice and tight.

Now take a piece of non-waxed, non-flavored floss (thread will work too if you don't have floss. Wait... why don't you have floss?) and cut dough into 8 equal portions. If you're not familiar with this method, watch this YouTube video: How to Cut Cinnamon Roll Dough

Arrange rolls in pan -- it should be a fairly tight fit but go ahead and cram them in if you have to. Now spread a little more softened butter over the tops, and sprinkle again with just a bit of powdered sugar (the amount of sugar you use throughout this recipe can really be dependent on how sweet you want your rolls!). Bake 10-15 minutes or until rolls just begin to turn slightly golden and feel fairly firm to the touch.

Once they are done baking pull them out of the oven and set them aside while you make up your frosting! You want them to cool slightly before you frost them so the frosting doesn't all melt off.

For the frosting, I again have no actual measurements. Sorry about that, but it really is very easy! I took a spoonful of cream cheese (probably somewhere around 2 tablespoons) and warmed it in the microwave until it was very soft. Then added about 1 tsp melted butter (because butter!), a small splash of milk, about 1/4 tsp of vanilla, and then started adding powdered sugar in small portions until the texture and flavor was what I wanted (yes, keep tasting as you add it -- you'll know when it's right!). You will know you have the ratios correct when the frosting is smooth, and begins to lose it's translucent appearance. If it's still really thin looking, add more sugar! Pour generously over warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!

These were amazing hot, but probably almost equally good cold the next morning with a cup of hot coffee!

See how easy that was?! No need for a video to demonstrate anything because it is simple, quick, and very much like any other gluteny cinnamon roll recipe you've ever made! YAY!

Soup, Summer, Surprise!

Okay, several topics for today.

First off, SOUP. For Christmas my in-laws gave us a Vitamix blender. The funny thing is, my parents did, too. I guess it was just in the air! But we are returning the one from my folks and got a super fun replacement gift already! I'm getting a tad bit distracted though. The point is we got a Vitamix blender. So now we can BLEND ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

The thing I was most excited about was making broccoli soup like my mom makes with her Vitamix. I tried with my regular blender once. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SOUP WITH A REGULAR BLENDER. Trust me, I thought it could work but you simply must have a very high quality blender like the Vitamix in order to really puree the soup. Otherwise you end up with chunky, watery soup with a horrific texture. Just don't even try. Don't.

So the first thing I did with the blender (after David made a protein shake) was make the beloved broccoli soup! This is the only picture I took of it though before we ate it all up. Yum, yum! This is definitely something I will be making over and over and over again.

Then today I tried cauliflower soup, and it too was amazing. I am in love. With soup. Sprinkled with a bit of cayenne it was amazing. I wouldn't want to put any meat or anything into it because it seems gross to puree the meat, but it also seems to me that it would be gross to have such a nice smooth, creamy soup, with random chunks of meat in it. No, this soup should be left entirely alone. It is food perfection.
 

I'm sure now you'd like to try this amazing soup with all this talk of perfection. It makes getting your veggies in really easy, too, as a serving is about 1/4lb of either broccoli or cauliflower. Talk about healthy! So without further adieu, I give you

Broccoli or Cauliflower Soup

 Yield: 4 servings

1 lb broccoli or cauliflower, frozen or fresh (I find frozen easier just because it's pre-chopped but still very inexpensive! I get 1lb frozen broccoli for $0.98)

1 tablespoon butter

Water

Salt

Pepper

Garlic (optional)

Notice the overall lack of measurements? Don't let it scare you if you're a strict recipe follower. I promise this is easy enough without exact measures! 

In a medium saucepan steam, or boil veggies until tender. If boiled, drain (but retain!) the water. Dump your broccoli/cauliflower into the blender, add 1 tablespoon of butter, salt, and pepper, with enough water for the veggies to blend. Add more water as desired until you achieve the thickness (or thinness) you prefer! I like mine thick and add as little water as possible. Add more salt and pepper to taste (I'd guess I add around a teaspoon of salt to mine). 

For the garlic I peeled 4 large cloves and tossed them in the pot with the cauliflower to boil. Easy peasy. But if you don't like garlic (sadness!) you can leave it out. But that will make me sad if you do, so don't tell me you did that. 

See? That's literally all there is to it! My mom has tried it with chicken broth instead of water, and adding some heavy cream to it, but I really like it simple like this. It's easy and cheap! I like the butter for flavor, but also because the fat helps your body to absorb the nutrients in the veggies better! So you really don't want to omit the butter. If you don't have butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or other healthy oils can be substituted just fine! 

Now SUMMER and SURPRISE! 

Am I the only one already excited for summer to hurry up and come? I want the blue skies, the green grass, the hours spent in my garden with my hands in the dirt and the sun on my back! The shorts and the tank tops. I am already working on plans for the garden this year and can hardly contain the excitement! I'm going to be adding a fence this year, because my free-range chickens have discovered tomatoes. That would be not good. So it will cost a bit more this year, but it will be worth it -- it will give me plenty of space for cucumbers and other climbing things! Now I have to admit, I have an extra special reason for wanting summer this year. The best reason! That is that I'm going to have a baby this summer! WAHOO!

I have never really mentioned it specifically on my blog partially since it is a public blog I never really felt like being that open, but we've had fertility problems since we got married. In the first 12 months of our marriage I got pregnant 3 times (possibly more) only to miscarry every time. After trying to improve my health for over a year after that, we started trying again and for over 2 years, nothing. Then we started seeing a specialist in June and still nothing. But after a total of 5 1/2  really difficult years, we were overwhelmed with the wonderful (and totally unexpected!) blessing of a positive pregnancy test a few days before Christmas! It was the most awesome gift of all, to be sure. Thrilled doesn't begin to describe my feelings. But it's a scary time, too, because of my history. So we're trying hard to take it all one day at a time, and just be thankful for every moment that we have with this precious little baby. Things seem to be going well though, and for that I am so, so very thankful. I am 6 weeks along now, so it's my 2nd longest pregnancy to date thus far. We're praying fervently of course that it ends up the longest of all, with a healthy, happy baby at the end of it! Oh and for the record (because I know some of you will think it!) we were on break from the specialist for Nov/Dec, so no higher-than-average chance of multiples. ;)  

Fish Soup

Fish soup. It's something I have meant to make for a long time. I am not a huge fan of soup unless I can have it with a giant hunk of warm, crusty sourdough bread (waaah! Sometimes I miss the days when I thought wheat was a health food!), but I loooooove, love, love me some fish! Plus I am always on the lookout for ways to up the ante on nutrient density since our grocery budget is small. Anything that packs a big nutritional punch is worth trying at least once in my mind as long as it's also pretty inexpensive! Enter fish soup! I  used a pre-packaged fish stock, but if you can get your hands on some fish bones and skins and make your own then all the better! The one I found (50% off at Walmart) was high quality though with no unnecessary additives or colors or anything like that. Just fish and veggies went into making that stock! It was very mildly fishy, too, which I appreciated. I'm a huge seafood freak but I  still don't like for fish to taste super fishy.

Sorry I have turned into a phone-photographer. It's a horribly hard habit to break!

Fish has been getting a bad rap lately due to the continuing problem with radiation leaking from Fukushima. But it's really being overblown by the media and scaring people away from something that is still safe and healthy to eat. Here is a good article explaining why it's nothing to be afraid of Fukushima Radiation: Is It Still Safe To Eat Fish?

Like most of the food I make, I didn't use a recipe. I looked at a few to get some ideas but mostly just went with what "felt" right to me. 'Cuz that's how I roll. 

Also you can thicken more "traditionally" with flour if you like, but I wanted this soup to be only moderately creamy, hence the small amount of sour cream and potato starch (plus the whole no-grain thing, you know).

Fish Soup

Makes 4 servings

1 quart fish stock (vegetable or chicken stock would probably be a fine substitute)

1 cup milk*

2 tablespoons sour cream

Lemon juice

Approximately 1 lb mild, white fish (I used 4 whiting fillets) 

2 small-med potatoes, peeled and diced

1 stalk of celery, chopped (I chopped mine into large pieces but it would have been better with small ones)

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

2-4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp potato starch

garlic salt

sea salt

pepper

cayenne pepper

Combine stock, milk, sour cream, and a splash of lemon juice in a small soup pot. Heat to medium-high heat. Meanwhile, add butter to a skillet with potatoes and cook until lightly golden. Add carrots and continue to cook until they are also lightly golden. Add celery and onion and cook until onion is clear. Add cooked veggies to your soup pot then return the skillet to the burner and toss in the garlic, sauteeing just a moment or two. Add to soup. Add garlic salt, salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste (I like to taste the spiciness of the cayenne without it being really obvious). In a small bowl or cup add potato starch and a little water. Add to the soup and bring to a slow boil. Dice fish into 1-2 inch pieces, add to soup pot and boil approximately 10 minutes. Remove from burner and enjoy! 

P.S. I think a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top would be the bees knees! 

*almond milk, half & half, or whatever your preferred "milk" is (heavy cream would be delicious, too, I'm just too tight with my budget to use an entire cup for anything outside of special occasions!)

Soap Recipes Reviewed

So this week was the week for soap. I ran out of both laundry soap and dish soap at almost the same time. I'm always interested in trying new, cheaper options for such things, and I thought it high time I actually attempt the laundry and dish soap deal, since everybody seems to rave about it so much!

Sadly, I have no pictures of either soap being made. You'll just have to use your little imaginations this time!

Dish Soap
Pros and Cons?

Yes, the soap gets sudsy.

Yes, it smells fabulous (lemon & eucalyptus, people!).

No, it doesn't leave any streaky, sticky, or smelly residue like I've read so many people complain about with homemade dish soap.

No, it doesn't dry out my hands, which is important when you hand wash all of your dishes!

Sounds great, right? Well, so far so good but I do have a few issues with it.

First off I used most of a bar of castile soap, and the whole batch didn't even fill my little built in soap dispenser bottle. In fact, I think it was just below the halfway mark. So that was a little lame, considering I can get 25oz of natural dish soap by EarthFriendly for about $3. And I'm pretty sure I fill that little bottle twice with the 25oz? The worst part was how firmly it set up though. I knew it would gel, but this was ridiculous. It clogged my dispenser so badly I thought it was broken. Incidentally, the same amount of castile soap can be used to make 5 full gallons of laundry soap. So... wasteful? Big yes. I don't think dish soap needs to be that concentrated.

However, if you're in a pinch like I was and are out of dish soap, and would have to wait for days to have the kind you like shipped to you (because you live in a small town and nobody carries a good, natural dish soap), this is a life-saver. So here is the recipe I used, in case you need your life saved like I did. Maybe try adding more water than the original recipe called for and you'll partially ameliorate the problems I had with it (too thick, and didn't make enough for the quantity of soap used).

Homemade Dish Soap

1/2 cup lightly packed grated castile soap
1 1/4 cups water (I would try adding another 1/2-1 cup)
1 tbsp glycerine
1 tbsp washing soda
10-30 drops essential oils of choice, optional

Grate castile soap while you bring the water to a boil on the stove. Add soap to water and continue to lightly boil, stirring, until soap disolves. Remove from stove. Add washing soda, stir well. Add desired essential oils. Pour into repurposed containers and allow it to cool completely. Check consistency; if too thick add hot water and shake vigorously. If too thin, try reheating and adding some more washing soda.

Laundry Soap
My intent with the laundry soap was to make the 5 gallons of liquid soap I kept reading about. A friend from church even gave me the borax and washing soda I would need, so I wouldn't have to buy two full boxes for a measly little cupful! Sweetness! But when I went to make said soap, I discovered that I did not, in fact, have a 5 gallon bucket with a lid to store it in. PROBLEMATIC! Where else could I store 5 gallons of soap? Um...? Nowhere, really. So I decided to try powdered laundry soap this time round! It requires most of the same ingredients, and instead of using a cup per load like with the liquid, you use a tablespoon per load. So far I have to say I'm very pleased with the results. Our clothes are coming out fresh and clean and soft. I used Dr. Bronner's Lavender Castile soap bar, and I love the very mild scent it leaves on our clothes. It's so mild in fact, you really have to stick your face in the warm laundry to smell it.

As the laundry cools down, the scent fades -- this is a good thing as I doubt David would be excited to go around smelling very strongly of lavender all the time! So yes, mildly scented. So much better than a lot of store brands that smell so strong you're sure your brain is being deprived of oxygen just wearing the clothes washed in the junk! The recipe I used makes enough for 32-64 loads depending on how much you use each load, which for us will last us anywhere from 3-6 months. The liquid version would yield around 80 loads, so it is more cost effective and I will be trying it next time. But since I don't have the container/space to store 5 gallons of detergent right now, this seemed like a good alternative! I only wonder, if it contains the same quantity of all the same ingredients except for water, couldn't I probably use less than a tablespoon of the powder, and get the same results I would see with the liquid, without having to store 5 gallons? What do you think? 

The recipe I used follows:

Powdered Laundry Soap

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 bar fels-naptha or castile soap, grated

Grate soap. Combine borax and washing soda. Mix all three ingredients together and store in a quart jar or other container.

Enjoy!

The Goodness of Liver

I love liver. Love it. What's that you say? I'm crazy? Well. Maybe. Crazy or not, I love it. I like it prepared all sorts of ways. Chicken liver pâté is one of the best foods ever, especially with rice crackers. There are a lot of health benefits to eating liver, too, so if you can find a way to enjoy (or at least not dislike) it, do! It's inexpensive, to boot, due to American's general distaste for it, so you can have one of the most nutrient dense foods around for an average of less than $3/lb (here it's around $2.75/lb or so unless we're talking chicken liver, then it's around $1.50/lb). Most cultures actually prize liver for its great health benefits. I even read about one culture that views it so highly humans cannot touch it with their hands! They have special sticks that they move it about with. That may be taking it way too far, but the cultures that prize liver above steak really know their stuff. Liver contains more nutrients gram for gram than any other food in the world. See why it's so special? In cultures where food is more scarce than America, the most nutrient dense foods are rightly the most sought after. Liver is high in:

Protein
Vitamin A
Vitamin K
B Vitamins
Iron
CoQ10

And more! And all of these nutrients are highly bio-available in liver, too, truly making it the best natural source of these nutrients.

The Weston A Price foundation writes, "Liver’s as-yet-unidentified anti-fatigue factor makes it a favorite with athletes and bodybuilders. The factor was described by Benjamin K. Ershoff, PhD, in a July 1951 article published in the Proceedings for the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.

Ershoff divided laboratory rats into three groups. The first ate a basic diet, fortified with 11 vitamins. The second ate the same diet, along with an additional supply of vitamin B complex. The third ate the original diet, but instead of vitamin B complex received 10 percent of rations as powdered liver.

A 1975 article published in Prevention magazine described the experiment as follows: "After several weeks, the animals were placed one by one into a drum of cold water from which they could not climb out. They literally were forced to sink or swim. Rats in the first group swam for an average 13.3 minutes before giving up. The second group, which had the added fortifications of B vitamins, swam for an average of 13.4 minutes. Of the last group of rats, the ones receiving liver, three swam for 63, 83 and 87 minutes. The other nine rats in this group were still swimming vigorously at the end of two hours when the test was terminated. Something in the liver had prevented them from becoming exhausted. To this day scientists have not been able to pin a label on this anti-fatigue factor."

Isn't that fascinating? I think so. Eating 4 oz of liver twice weekly is ideal. David and I try to make that goal and recently I came up with a new method for preparing liver that even he loves, whereas before he ate it because he knew it was healthy, not because he thoroughly enjoyed it. The "recipe" is a little vague, because that's just the way I cook, but I'll share it anyway and whatever slight variations you may make, I'm sure it will still be delicious as well as nutritious! 

Spicy Liver & Onions
Serves 2

Two slices beef liver, approximately 4oz each
around 1/4 cup rice flour
Seasoned Salt
1 med/lrg onion, sliced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
2-3 tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of brown sugar

Preheat a skillet with coconut oil in it to medium heat; combine rice flour with a few shakes of Seasoned Salt (I envision myself sprinkling the Seasoned Salt on either side of each slice of liver, to get the appropriate amount; this has worked great for me so I never bother to measure). Dredge both sides of the liver in flour/salt mixture. When pan is hot, add liver. Allow to cook, undisturbed around 3-4 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove. Lift a side and check for dark/golden brown color. Once it's dark/golden flip it and cook it another 2-3 minutes or until the same color on that side. Remove from pan to a cooling rack. Add sliced onion to the pan, along with the pinch of brown sugar. Allow to cook until they begin to soften, then add jalapenos and continue to cook a few more minutes or until jalapenos begin to lose their bright green color. Top liver with onion/jalapenos and serve immediately. Delish!

Apple-Pear Spice Muffins

This time of year it is impossible not to want to enjoy those warm, nostalgic fall foods like apple pies, muffins, chicken and dumplings! But what are you to do if you're now eating grain-free? You can call it a fad-diet if you want to (and many do), but what anyone who has suffered themselves to go grain-free knows is that it is worth it, and while it may in fact be the current fad, for those of us who are serious about our health, we'll likely be avoiding grains to varying degrees for the rest of our lives!

But. As healthy as I believe going grain-free is I still want those comfort foods from my childhood that we'd bake in the fall; those things that filled the entire house with their intoxicating scent, and warmed the very cockles of our hearts (seriously, my cockles are warming and fuzzy just thinking about the autumn delights of days gone by!). All the lovelies filled with the sweet warmth of cinnamon and ginger, the apples and pears baked to perfection in golden flaky crusts; so soft and tender (never mushy), the pumpkins and even the savory stews slow cooked in the crock pot until the meat was so tender you could cut it with a spoon, and served with a huge homemade biscuit, so fluffy and buttery you could eat it plain. Ah, those were the days! Ignorant bliss! When I thought that eating a whole wheat cracker was one of the healthiest things I could do for myself! *sigh*

Yesterday was rather chilly (though nothing compared to today! 2PM and 45 degrees!) and put me in such a mood for all things autumnal. I lit pie scented candles, I brewed spiced pumpkin coffee, and then when those things were not enough to satisfy, I threw together a recipe for grain-free muffins that were certain to assuage my need for sweet spiced perfection! I based it on my chocolate muffin recipe but omitted the chocolate and replaced it with a variety of spices. I also left out the flax because I'm running low and have two orders to fulfill for my Etsy shop on Monday morning. So really there is very little about it that is the same as my chocolate muffin recipe, but I digress! Back to the yummies at hand:  By the time I was halfway through and had all the dry ingredients combined I was ready to sit down and eat it just as it was, so sweet and spicy was the dry mixture! Yes I did taste it. This is how one must bake when they bake without a recipe in hand, you see? So without further blatherings, here is the thing that you desire:

Apple-Pear Spice Muffins

Dry Ingredients:
6 tbsp almond flour (I like Honeyville Grains blanched almond flour best)
1 tbsp coconut flour
3 tbsp stevia powder (I use Stevia in the Raw)
2 tbsp Ideal Brown (Ideal brand is the only one I know of that makes "brown sugar" xylitol)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch of allspice

Combine dry ingredients together, set aside.

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
2 tbsp chunky applesauce
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp molasses*
1/2 -1 tsp vanilla
2 slices of pear, cut into small chunks (I had small homegrown pears on hand from a friend and used the half that didn't have bug holes in it, but I think that half of a pear would work out to about 2 slices of a regular sized/store bought pear)

Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl, including pear. Combine with dry ingredients and spoon into prepared mini muffin cups. I didn't grease my liners and perhaps should have; the muffins did stick just a bit to them, though not terribly.

Also, I realize that the Ideal Brown is not a common household product, even for those who try to keep their sugar intake low. I have it because of my etsy shop, but if you don't have it as I suspect, you could use regular xylitol, or other sweetener of choice and add just a tad more molasses and it ought to turn out well.

Yield: 12-14 mini muffins

*I am aware that I called these sugar free and then added molasses, but 1 tsp only has about 3 1/2g sugar in it, so divided between 12-14 muffins, I think that still qualifies.

On The Subject of Kale

Yes, that is what our "grass" looks like right now (sorry I've fallen victim to the demon Instagram; I'm trying hard not to over-use the filters and such -- but they're awful fun!). Pretty sad, I know (and no, it has nothing to do with kale, but I just had to mention it because it makes my plant loving heart so sad to see it looking like this!). And a dramatic difference from last year when it looked like this at the end of summer (and we thought the little drought we went through last year was tough):

So lush and green! And my herbs (behind my in-laws cat that yes, is about to attack my sweet little puppy) looked lush and wonderful, too, whereas this year they're barely hanging on and constantly wilted and pathetic. It all makes me sad. We desperately need rain. And lots of it. There are cracks in the ground outside big enough to lose our dog in, just about. I've nearly twisted my ankle in them a couple times, too. Gotta be careful out there! 

Anyway, that's not really the point of this post. This post is about kale! I love kale. It's so pretty and dark green and leafy. It's packed full of nutrients, too. Did you know that one serving of kale is a good source of dietary fiber, protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, and Phosphorus, and is also a good source of  vitamin A, C, K, B6, Calcium, Potassium, Copper, and Manganese, according to NutritionData.com? If you can get your hands on organic kale, then all the better, as it graces the EWG's list of produce most heavily sprayed with pesticides, and is potentially even more dangerous than the items on the main list -- the leafy greens, kale, collards, and also green beans have gotten special mention this year as they "did not meet traditional Dirty Dozen ^™criteria but were commonly contaminated with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides. These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the past decade. But they are not banned and still show up on some food crops.". So if you're going to avoid anything conventionally grown, it looks like green beans and leafy greens are it! But one thing I love so much about the EWG's list is that they make the distinction that eating even conventionally grown produce is better for your health than avoiding it entirely just because you can't afford to go all organic. EAT YOU FRUITS AND VEGGIES! If you can't afford anything organic, eat them anyway! The risks of not doing so outweigh the risk of consuming things sprayed with pesticides. Their list is helpful though; they offer the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean 15" -- the former simply being the produce you would do best to buy organic if you can and the latter being the produce you can most safely consume non-organic. But back to kale! It makes me really, really happy to see it growing in my garden, even if I am having to water a lot more often than I'd like just to keep it alive. I don't buy organic seed, but it is organically grown. I use DE and other natural methods (like squishing!) when I have a pest problem, and fertilize with things like decomposed manure, coffee grounds, and epsom salts. I love gardening 100% safely, naturally, the way God intended! Companion planting is another great way to reduce pest problems, though I've only lightly dabbled in that yet, as there is much to learn and I'm still in the early stages of learning.

My favorite thing to do with kale is make it into kale chips! They are so good they're practically like junk food, except that it's not! I love foods like that. It is addictive and I easily sit down and eat an entire batch by myself if I'm not careful to set some aside for David. Here is some I made this morning (yes, kale in the morning! Kale in the noontime! Kale at suppertime! Kale, kale, kale, all the time!).

There are all kinds of ways to make kale chips; if you look online you'll find many methods from high heat for a short time, to low heat for a long time, and all kinds of seasons and oils and the list goes on. I've experimented a lot with making kale chips though, and have pinned down my favorite method. Here it is for you, so you can avoid some of the trial and error I experienced trying to perfect the kale chip!

Kale Chips

One bunch of kale

salt

pepper (optional)

olive oil

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Cut or tear the kale off the stems into bite small sized pieces (but keep in mind they will shrink considerably while baking, so don't make them too small, unless you want kale crumbs). Small stems can be left (such as tips of leaves and very small leaves), but if they're very big they'll be very hard and difficult to chew. Toss kale in just enough olive oil to evenly coat both sides of the leaves. Work it with your hands for a minute or two until it all looks glossy -- add more olive oil if necessary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and work the leaves again to make sure they're evenly coated. Spread out onto a cookie sheet or in the bottom of a baking dish, being careful that you don't layer them thickly, or you'll have some leaves stay soggy! Bake at 250° until crisp to the touch. Remove from oven and allow them to cool briefly before you eat them; they'll crisp up even more as they cool! Be careful too, not to let them overcook; if they start to turn brown they're getting overdone and will taste bitter. I bake mine for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size of the bunch) in my convection oven, so if you have a traditional oven adjust your time accordingly!

And now you know how to make one of the yummiest and healthiest snacks EVAR! Go you!

  

Spicy Peach Salsa

You must try this. Must! I got it into my head tonight that our kielbasa could use a little somethin' and this is what I came up with:

Spicy Peach Salsa

A lot of people make peach salsa without cooking it down. I'm sure that's delicious but I love the texture of cooked peaches, so I chose to cook mine down. Here is what I used to make this amazing condiment (it's so good I want to eat it like it's the main course!):

6-8 small peaches (they were very small - but oh so delicious - picked from a friends tree), diced
1 med/lrg garden fresh tomato
Jalapeno pepper
Cilantro
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Water

My peaches were sweet enough and bursting with flavor, so I didn't add any sweetener. You might want to if your peaches aren't as ripe as mine were (mine were actually over-ripe). Nothing is as good as sweet and spicy! I also left the peach skins on, but that's optional. I put the cut peaches in my saucepan and added around 3/4 cup water and let them simmer until soft and easy to mash. As they cooked I sliced up my jalapeno pepper (I only had one since I used all the others for dinner last night but if you are buying yours from the store or have more in your garden than I did, use them! They're delicious with the sweet peaches), tomato (again, I only had one from the garden today), and some cilantro. All of this is just to taste, so keep tasting as you make this salsa and add stuff until it tastes how you want! After I slightly mashed the peaches I added the pepper, tomato, and a pinch of salt and a LOT of cayenne (I wanted it speecy spicy), and let it simmer for just a couple more minutes. Took it off the heat, added a little more cilantro, and let it sit to cool. Now I just have practice great self-control as I wait for dinner to be ready before I can devour it.

Cookie, cookie

We are not always "good". Shocking, isn't it? Many of David's clients and  most of our friends seem to expect that because David is a naturopath, and because we advocate a grain-free, refined sugar-free diet, we always, without exception, stick to said grain-free, sugar-free diet. Well let me tell you right now, that is not the case! Friends and clients alike both seem extremely pleased when they discover that "even" we choose to eat sugar or grains from time to time. Sometimes both at once! *gasp* Unfortunately some people take our occasional, intentional splurge as permission to do the same, and to do it often and without much thought. I wish I could convey to everyone how important it is not to do that very often, and most especially when you have significant health problems you are trying to control or reverse. David and I are both very healthy individuals, for the most part. And we stay that way because we rarely stray from our healthy diet! But, as I said, we do occasionally choose to have something that is most assuredly not beneficial for our health. For Valentine's Day, that something was chocolate chip cookies.

Now these are not just any chocolate chip cookies. Oh no. We try to never "waste" a splurge with anything less than fantastic. These are some of the biggest, fattest, yummiest chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. The recipe itself is pretty basic, but it is the method of preparation that is unique and supposedly makes the difference between these being ordinary cookies and the extraordinary cookies that they are. I got the recipe from a friend years ago, and haven't made any other chocolate chip cookie recipe since (well, I mean, I have my grain-free recipe, but as for "real" chocolate chip cookies, I don't feel the need to ever try another recipe after this one). Sadly I've fallen out of touch with this friend, but I'll always remember her for many, many reasons, and this is only one of them. This recipe was sent to me nameless, so in memory of our friendship, I will call them: Little Tong's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Little Tong's Chocolate Chip Cookies


2 cups + 2 tbsp unsifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tbsp *butter, melted and cooled (original recipe called for unsalted; as a rule I prefer salted butter)
1 cup **brown sugar (dark or light, doesn't make a big difference)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips/chunks

Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda together; set aside.

By hand, or with an electric mixer, combine butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in chocolate to taste.

And here is where we come to the unusual method of preparation I mentioned! In the eloquent words of my friend (who, at the time was maybe 15?), "it's amazing, it's what makes the cookies sooo much better and not so smushed and brown looking like they normally do." She says, "Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal parts. Turn smooth rounded edges towards floor with jagged surfaces towards the ceiling, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough's uneven surface." Place dough onto cookie sheets (she says 9 dough balls per 20X14 sheet, lined with parchment paper -- I'm too lazy to do that, and don't actually own a cookie sheet, so I just put as many as I think I can fit without them touching, onto whatever baking dish I'm going to bake them on. I've been using my Pampered Chef casserole dish and it works just fine). Bake for 15-18 minutes, reversing the cookie sheet half-way through baking. Cookies are done when the cookies are very lightly golden brown on the edges but the centers are still soft and puffy.

Serve warm with a glass of cold raw milk (ok, so any milk will do, but I cannot abide the gross aftertaste of pasteurized milk, whether it's organic or not), or store in an airtight container (and good luck trying to make them last long enough to store!).

Dough can be frozen for up to one month, or stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. I stored mine for three days and now have really dry dough to try to roll into balls. No fun. Heed my warning. Eat them faster than I did. ;)

*The original recipe called for butter, I didn't have that much butter this time, so I used 1 stick of butter and then 4 tbsp coconut oil, and I couldn't tell a difference compared to when I've made them in the past, so if you need or want to substitute some, that's fine!
**I had no brown sugar so I used all white sugar and added 2 tsp molasses. This gave the cookies more of a molassesy smell and flavor than I intended, but was still good. To more closely replicate brown sugar, I would suggest 1 tsp molasses.

Mini Lemon Loaf

Yesterday on a private journaling community I've been a part of for a decade now (yeah, if that doesn't make you feel old!), a friend posted a recipe for a Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf. It sounded amazing! It looked amazing! And I felt in my heart that I absolutely had to have some for myself. Ha! I was even prepared to give in and use some of those unhealthy ingredients I had leftover from my holiday baking, all purpose flour and sugar.

But my conscience got the better of me yet again, and I had to instead create a healthier version! I was also missing several ingredients for the original recipe and I replaced the all purpose flour with almond flour, ground flaxseed, and coconut flour. I did use some real sugar, which I almost never do, but I am running low on my sugar-alternatives and felt it wisest to save those for my Etsy orders. So I used a combination of honey and refined sugar in this. It's sitting on the stovetop cooling as I type and I cannot wait to give it a try! The center sank in a bit, so apparently I need to do some tweaking to the recipe, but it smells fantastic and I can't wait to taste!

Lemon Loaf

3 tbsp almond flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 ½ tbsp flaxseed, ground
1 tbsp coconut flour
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda

2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp honey
3 capfuls lemon extract (yes, I am nearly always too lazy to measure extracts with spoons!)
1 capfuls vanilla extract

Glaze
⅛ cup (2 tbsp) sugar
⅛ lemon juice (I didn’t have any lemons so I combined lemon extract with water)

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease mini loaf pan (I don't have a real mini loaf pan, so I used a glass pyrex storage container I have that is similar in size and oven safe!). Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Mix together, pour into greased pan and bake 30-35 until golden on top, firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out of the center mostly clean. Remove from oven, drizzle glaze over the loaf, being sure to get all the edges so the glaze can really soak in and add to the major yum factor! Allow to cool 15 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling (or, if you're impatient like I am, you can place your wire rack in the fridge to speed the process up!).

Alright, so I got impatient and stuck it in the fridge to finish cooling so I could taste it. The center did sink in quite a lot, but that did not affect the flavor, or the doneness at all! I have to say that it tastes pretty amazing. Pretty authentic. It's definitely not as pretty as it's ancestor, the Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf. Mine would have been prettier (prettier, not pretty) if I at least had the poppy seeds, but alas!

Yes, it is dark but no, it does not taste burnt. No, it doesn't look like it would be lemony. But it is. And it satisfied my craving perfectly. Now to wait for my company to arrive and share another slice with a cup of hot coffee!

And for those of you interested in the nutrition breakdown, here it is, in all of its refined sugar 8-serving glory (though really, not bad for CAKE!):

Cookies

So over a week ago I received an email from Google AdSense informing me that my account had been shut down. I hadn't noticed any changes in my earnings, no suspicious trends upward, nothing. But what can you do? Appeal the decision! So I filled out their appeal form and sent it in, confident that they would give me another chance since I'd never had any infractions in the rules prior. Sadly, I was wrong, and a small (yet at once significant) source of income has disappeared for good. They will not reconsider once you appeal their decision once, nor will they ever allow you to set up a new account. This has put an end to my writing for Natural News, and really dampened my enthusiasm for blogging (which I know is sad and pathetic because I'm not blogging to make money, that was just a nice little aside). We are allowed to use David's code on my sites, but I'm hesitant to do so in case the "click-attack" that ended my account was malicious and somebody, somewhere has it out for me.

This isn't all bad news though. As much as I will miss writing for Natural News, it has forced me to reconsider other options for bringing in a little extra income each month. Right now my focus is on Etsy.com. I have had a shop there in the past but had little success. I made jewelry at first. It was fun, but not a passion, and not really good enough. Etsy.com is just packed with unique, amazing items, and my jewelry was mediocre at best. I was careful to make everything to the highest standard of quality I could, but it was nothing special or  unique. Anybody could make what I made with a trip to Hobby Lobby or Walmart. I also tried to sell prints of some of my photography, and even had one of my drawings up for a while (incidentally it never sold, and a good thing too; during the move from Texas to Missouri it got left in a storage pocket in my in-laws car after they picked us up from the car rental location and somehow it was torn before I got it back). I also made felt ninjas, which were fun, and I actually sold enough of those to cover a fair portion of our Christmas gifts we purchased last year. But that died off after the holidays and it was back to never making sales. So now my focus is on setting up a new shop, which will be devoted to low-carb, sugar-free, grain-free treats! My older sister has had amazing success with her shop Softly Sweetly, and while I have no expectations of enjoying the same level of success, I do think I could be moderately successful since the sort of healthy diet David and I follow and promote is growing in popularity. And if there's one thing people on this sort of diet miss, it's the sweet treats! Cookies and cakes and candies. I'm not sure how extensive my shop will end up, but time will tell. I've already tried a fantastic peanut butter cookie recipe and sent half a dozen off to a friend for her to critique them for me.

And they do taste as good as they look, so the challenge is going to be whether or not they ship well and still taste good and fresh after a couple days in the mail! They have never survived around here long enough to know what they're like after 3-4 days.

I also spent all day yesterday in the kitchen, making up a new grain-free, sugar-free bread recipe. I can't wait to try it again once I get to the store for more yeast though. I did a similar recipe with yeast a few days ago and it gave it a nicer crust, though this one did turn out quite yummy, especially toasted and with a bit of cinnamon-xylitol sprinkled on top. I'm running low on my healthy baking ingredients though, so I may have to postpone further experimentation for a while. I also made a chocolate cake yesterday, but that was nearly a disaster it came out so strange (though the icing was GREAT!). Perhaps I need to just stick with my usual method of not using other peoples recipes. Apparently I have a very unique style in the kitchen as I seem to have much better success when I "wing it", versus using someones written out recipe. This is even true for baking more often than not, which is unusual, considering baking really is a science, and easy to mess up!

My husband is currently putting up shelving in our furnace room/closet. Organization, here I come! I'm also planning on reorganizing one of our bookshelves today, and there may be pictures to prove it if my method is successful. We shall see.

NaturalNews.com: Mini Minty Chocolate Chip Muffins

NaturalNews.com has published another one of my articles. This one was mint (get it? get it?) to come out around the holidays, but I guess they had too much to publish at the time and it got stuck in a long line of articles waiting to see the sunshiney day of publishing. Check it out, try it out, and you won't be disappointed!

Mini Minty Chocolate Chip Muffins