Pumpkin Bread for Everyone

Jan here, finally completely moved in to the new house.

We loved our old house, but it had one downside. Like most split-level floor plans, it had almost no storage space. There was a closet under the stairs and a little bit of room along the walls of the garage.

The closet under the stairs after we emptied it.
And no one named Harry ever lived here!

So before we put the house on the market, we downsized (a lot - two garage sales' worth) and then seriously decluttered every room. The stuff we wanted to keep (several book shelves and multiple boxes of books along with too many other items) ended up in a storage unit. That's the stuff we finally moved home this weekend!

Our church does this a lot. We call our team The Black Hills Community Church Moving Company, and we move folks from apartment to apartment, or from house to house, and sometimes (sadly) in a U-Haul truck as we say goodbye.

We showed up bright and early to pick up our U-Haul. We could have made the move in a few trips using various pick-up trucks and vans, but the distance and a desire to finish before noon made the decision for us. One truck. One trip.

I had hoped to take more pictures of the crew and
the moving process, but things got busy after I
took this picture!

A tradition is to provide donuts for the moving crew in the morning. I bought ours from Jerry's Cakes and Donuts, the best donut place in town.

But what about the members of the crew who are watching their carbs or are gluten-free?

I decided to dust off my baking skills after the long hiatus from my kitchen over the summer and bake something special.

My view while I cook. This makes me
want to spend more time in the kitchen!

I found a recipe for Pumpkin bread that fit what I wanted on Erin's Well-Plated blog. I don't know Erin, but I'll be visiting her blog for recipes in the future!

Go to her blog for the recipe: Paleo Pumpkin Bread from Well Plated, but come back here for my method and review!

Pumpkin Bread for Everyone

The first thing I have to say about this recipe is that it was so easy! And it turned out so well that you're going to want to try it, whether you eat gluten free/low-carb or not.

First, I gathered my ingredients.

Then I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.

Next, I put the wet ingredients in with the dry and stirred. Then I poured the batter into my prepared baking pan.

I have to say that I love using baking parchment for quick breads and brownies! You spray your baking pan, line it with parchment (folding in the corners to make it fit,) and then spray the paper. It comes out perfect every time!

I was impressed with the way this bread turned out! Moist and delicious, with a perfect blend of pumpkin and spices.

Even my son-in-law approved. :-)

And that truck-load of stuff? Now we have a bunch of boxes that need to be unpacked and a ton of stuff to put away, But it's all under one roof for the first time since this moving process began at the end of April. And THAT feels wonderful!

Jack isn't quite sure, though...

Jan Drexler spent her childhood dreaming of living in the Wild West and is now thrilled to call the Black Hills of South Dakota her home. When she isn’t writing she spends much of her time satisfying her cross-stitch addiction or hiking and enjoying the Black Hills with her husband of more than thirty-seven years.

Carrie's Dreamy Bars

This is one of those all-purpose, make everybody happy recipes!

The original recipe is called “Uncle Bubba Bars.” My daughter found this gluten-free, nut-free, sugar-free recipe on Briana Thomas’s blog. 

Since she wanted to make gluten-free bars, but not nut-free, she made some substitutions and came up with her own version of these delicious, dreamy, cream cheese/chocolate chip bars.

At the end of the recipe, I’ll give you the ingredients to make these bars with no special ingredients.

A win for everyone, right?

Carrie’s Dreamy Bars

(this version uses special ingredients available on-line at www.trimhealthymama.com or your favorite on-line retailer)

Cookie Layer Ingredients:

1 ½ cups THM baking blend

1 Tablespoon THM Super Sweet Blend

1/8 teaspoon THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (can substitute 5 packets Truvia for the Super Sweet Blend and the Stevia)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon Gluccomannon

½ teaspoon salt

12 Tablespoons (3/4 cup) butter, softened/melted

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon Molasses

¼ cup water

½ cup chocolate chips (use Lily’s sugar free chocolate chips to keep the recipe at zero sugar)

As you can see, we used regular chocolate chips - no Lily's
brand chips in the house!

Cream Cheese Layer Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoons THM Super Sweet Blend

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

additional chocolate chips for topping

For the cookie layer, whisk the dry ingredients together (this works best in a food processor), then add the wet ingredients. 

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread just over half of the dough in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan, reserving the rest of the dough for the top layer.

Make the cream cheese layer. Beat all of the ingredients together until smooth.

Yes, this is my funny looking mixer. It's a Bosch - a
real work horse in the kitchen!

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cookie layer in the pan.

Drop small blobs of the remaining cookie dough mixture on top of the cream cheese layer. Distribute them as evenly as you can. The cream cheese layer is a bit "soupy," so it's hard to spread the cookie dough on top.

No worries about how it looks - the cookie dough rises as the bars bake, and ours turned out beautifully.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.

Bake at 350° for 20-23 minutes, or until the cream cheese layer is set in the middle. We did the jiggle test (no movement) and the finger-touch test (touch lightly with the tip of your finger - if a depression stays, it needs to bake longer).  Don't over bake these bars!

Refrigerate to chill completely before cutting.

And I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product, but these were delicious!!!

If you go to Briana Thomas's blog (link here), you can see what they're supposed to look like.

Hey, I hear you non-gluten-free, non-special-ingredients people out there! I told you this recipe was for everyone, didn't I?

Here is the "no special ingredients" list - 

Cookie Layer Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 up sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 Tablespoons (3/4 cup) butter, softened or melted

4 eggs

1 Tablespoon molasses

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Layer Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

additional chocolate chips for topping

The mixing and baking directions are the same!

Meanwhile, it's that time of year when our friends from the south and east are sharing pictures of daffodils, snowdrops, and crocuses.

We're still in the midst of winter...but do you see that sunshine? Spring will be here before we know it!

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

On Retreat: Writing and Pinterest

Until June 10th, I'm on a writing retreat. Unfortunately, I am not in my favorite hermitage on monastery property in New Mexico.

Even though I'm at home there's no cooking, barely any cleaning, no tv, no Facebook, occasionally Twitter. 

Mostly I'm back in time, using a hand-me-down typewriter and working on my WIP:

If I'm in the present I'm working on the new butterfly garden to replace that bare spot where a diseased maple used to be. A stepping stone path, transplanting and dividing perennials, adding containers because there are a LOT of roots we just can't remove because they are wrapped around our, gulp, gas line! 

Yep, not much time on social media.  One exception: Pinterest. It's helped me plan out my garden, figure out how to stack a wall around a french drain, attract butterflies. I had to start a Front Yard Makeover board just to handle all the ideas. 

I also check out my own boards when I need a break from looking at all my WWII boards. Living in the mindset of a second WWII means keeping the homefront going and contributing to the war far away. Or it means dealing with the war in your own backyard, the one with the vegetable garden you need to survive. A mental break of the best kind.

You can see what I'm up to here.  I would love for you to follow the boards you like or just follow me. I'm always added a new prayer or inspirational saying, a vintage dress or a recipe.


Here are some of my favorite boards:

Gluten Free and Adaptable Goodies Board.


Fashion of a Different Era


Mad about Plaid


Porches, Patios and Garden Spots


All Things Book


Inspiration-and-mantras

Until next time, Julie

Passing the Torch, By-passing the Cans

It was an action packed weekend at the Steele house. Not only was Easter celebrated but a certain young lady turned two. When you are two you get to sit at the big kids table and hunt for your own eggs full of chocolate and quarters alongside your brother and sister.

If you are in your late twenties and early thirties, you get to hunt for harder-to-find eggs full of cash money and Cadbury eggs. Grandma Juju even lets you sit at the adult table but you have to bring part of the meal. It's been kind of hard to let go of making everything, but I'm learning to trust these kids. 

Dear Daughter's boyfriend brought a most excellent green bean casserole. Now remember, we don't do canned soup in our house. Everything has to be made from scratch. But Photog Boy was up to the challenge. The guy is a chef par excellence as well as great photographer and student.

I miss the tradition of canned soup green bean casserole but when you taste something like it was served in a French restaurant, well, tradition takes a backseat to gourmet dining.

Photog Boy respects the right of folks not to like caramelized onions but oh what a topping.

Here's the recipe. It takes a few pans and concentration but oh, it's so worth it.

Haricot Vertes a la Photog Boy

16 oz heavy cream
1 shallot diced or a teaspoon dried shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion sliced
2 boxes fresh Bella mushrooms
6 cups fresh green beans, stems removed (each bean pod cut in half or thirds)
salt and pepper to taste
butter

Step 1: In a large saucepan, melt one tablespoon butter on medium heat, add shallot and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add sliced mushrooms and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 4 dashes black pepper. Cook until liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms about 5-8 minutes.When the liquid is almost evaporated, add the heavy cream. Bring mixture to a boil and lower heat to simmer. Simmer until reduced by half. Remember to stir occasionally throughout. 

Step 2: While mushrooms cook, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons butter in a small saucepan (enough to coat bottom of pan) and melt on low heat. Add sliced onion with pinch salt and pepper. Cook onion until caramelized. (This will take a bit of time but don't be tempted to rush by turning up heat.) Set aside.

Step 3: In a medium pot, bring 3 cups salted water to a bowl. Add green beans and cook until crisp tender (You can also steam) and drain. Set aside.

Step 4: Combine drained green beans and mushroom sauce. Put in 9x13 glass dish. Top with caramelized onions and cook at 350 degrees for thirty minutes or until bubbly. 

So, what dish responsibility have you given over to folks for family dinners or celebrations? Do  you find family saying even though they follow Grandma's directions the {fill in the blank} doesn't taste quite the same? Have you found healthier ways of making a traditional entree, side dish or dessert?
     

It's Tradition: Breakfast Casseroles and Food History - Gluten Free!

It's Holy Week here in North Carolina, a time of traditions like Palm Sunday pageants, egg hunts, and Easter brunches. So I was thrilled when Amazon delivered this book about food traditions in the South on Sunday (yes, a Sunday, apparently our area is full of people who can't wait til Monday).

I heard about The Edible South on The State of Things on a program which discussed the history of food in our state as well as the growth and changes over time in our cuisine -click here to take a listen.    

Marcie Cohen Ferris does an excellent job of covering everything from early basic ingredients to the place of food in the Civil Rights movement to the cuisine influence of New South immigrants
and the challenge of hunger in the region. 

I LOVE reading about food in books. Southern girl I am, when I read a food description, I always circle back to the foods I loved growing up visiting my Nanny's farm in the hollers of Southwest Virginia or Grandmother Hilton's home in small town Bristol, Tennessee. Canned goods, recipes, and stories about relatives always made it back to our home in Washington DC, a town folks don't realize is a Southern town! Food, family and history just seem to go together in my mind.  If you are an author and put food descriptions in your book or make a dish a centerpiece of a scene, I'm your fan for life.


I'm also a big fan of make-ahead breakfast casseroles especially around Easter because I'm Southern. Again, tradition, tradition, tradition but a relatively new one. I can remember Mom making them but not further back. Were they a 1970s invention? Or earlier? Googled. Nothing. Hmm. That rabbit hole took me to the history of eggs. When did folks start eating them? Why are they in a dozen? I knew about their symbolism for Easter (New Life) but I wanted to know more. Tah dah! I found a great article here on foodtimeline.org

Important announcement: For anyone who wants to know the history of a certain food for a certain time period, Foodtimeline.org is one great research site that even includes recipes. 

This year Dear Daughter requested one for her birthday celebration that fell on Palm Sunday.  DD was actually born on Easter so if her birthday doesn't fall on it, it falls near it. A busy time.Thanks, DD, for making it easy for me. Sort of. The ingredient list sure didn't.

Most breakfast casseroles have bread cubes or processed hashed browns as the carb ingredient.  Sausage is an add-in.  But bread's out for me because of the allergies and the texture of gluten free bread just doesn't work for this recipe. Most gluten-free recipes used pre-made hash browns and regular sausage. So we're good, right? Nope, still a problem. With cornstarch to prevent sticking, MSG, and other preservatives, I can't tolerate those ingredients either. So I decided I'd make my own sausage and use roasted potatoes instead of frozen hash browns. I always use small farm or imported cheese. Adaptation here I come.  

Gluten-free, preservative free Breakfast Casserole

The Night Before:


1) Roast three to four pounds of Yukon potatoes cut into one inch cubes (coated in two tablespoons olive oil and dashed with sea salt) at 425 for 40 minutes in a 9X13 pan, stirring midway. After cooling for 15 minutes, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

2) Combine 1.5 pounds of ground pork,  2 tablespoons of Penzey's Breakfast Sausage Seasoning and 1 tablespoon salt (optional) in a medium saucepan or skillet. Cook over medium heat. Drain when fully cooked and refrigerate overnight.  You can also add a bit more sage if you like.

Morning of:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Pour cooked sausage mixture over roasted potatoes in their 9x13 pan. Mix sausage and potato cubes until evenly combined and level in the pan.

3) Mix the following with a whisk in  a large mixing bowl until fully combined: 

8 eggs
16 ounces sour cream
8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar

4) Pour over potato/sausage mixture. Shake until egg mixture fills around the sausage and potatoes. Then stir to make sure fully coated.

5) Cover with aluminum  foil and cook for one hour at 350 degrees.

6) Uncover and cook fifteen more minutes until lightly browned.

7) Top individual squares with roasted red peppers or other garnish.

Folks went back for seconds. I was lucky to get the shot above!  I have a feeling we have a new tradition that will go down in Steele history.

 Have you thought about the place of food in history? Do you have a breakfast casserole you love? Or a special food tradition for Spring or Easter?

Banana Bread Two Ways

Just over a year ago, I shared the beginning of my Trim Healthy Mama journey with you here: Muffin in a Mug

Mindy jumped on board with me, and since then we've both shared a few THM recipes here at the cafe. Mindy has epitomized the TRIM part of THM with the healthy weight she has lost, but today it's time to give an update on my own THM journey.

In my post last January, I talked about how I've been dissatisfied with other diet plans because I wanted to concentrate on HEALTHY - if TRIM happened, that would be fine. But at this point in my life (the other side of that famous "hill" we're supposed to dread being "over"), health matters.

So, the update? I have not lost vast amounts of weight, quickly or otherwise. I do weigh less than I did, but not a lot.

But I can talk forever about the health benefits I'm enjoying! I won't list them all here, but we've all heard about (or experienced) the downsides of an aging body. What I'm thrilled about is that I've been saying goodbye to most of those achy, energy-zapping, discouraging downsides. And my doctor is happy, too :)

I could say it's all because of THM, but really, it's because THM helped me educate myself about the nutrition I need to regain the health I had lost and to keep myself healthy.

There's the update! Perhaps someday I'll put "Trim" back in my eating plan, but I'm happy with "Healthy" for now!

So to celebrate, I'm sharing two banana bread recipes with you. The first one is our family's tried and true favorite, and the second is a low-fat, no added sugar THM banana bread. You could try making both and see which one you like best!

This recipe is from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook I received as a wedding shower gift back in the dark ages...okay, only thirty-three years ago :) It's my family's favorite, hands down. I've changed it a bit, but that's what happens over the course of thirty-plus years, isn't it?

Banana Nut Bread

ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
1 cup mashed, ripe bananas (about 2 medium)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup chopped nuts

In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and milk, and beat until smooth. Add the bananas and mix until well blended. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients are wet, and then on high speed for about 30 seconds. Fold in the chopped nuts.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350° for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely (if you can keep away from it that long!)

That recipe is delicious, and tastes just like banana bread should taste - sweet with a hint of banana.

This next recipe is a Trim Healthy Mama E recipe - which means that it is not only low fat and has a reasonable amount of complex carbohydrates, but it also has no added sugar and no white flour.

It's also a gluten-free recipe, if you're looking for that.

But - don't expect this banana bread to taste like the earlier recipe. That's the thing about using different ingredients. Yes, I call this banana bread, but it's different. Like grilled chicken breast is different from the rotisserie chicken you pick up at the grocery store - they're the same, but different, and both are good!

Oat Flour Banana Bread
original recipe by Fay Cadwallader

ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/4 cup 0% fat plain Greek yogurt
3 egg whites (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups oat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mash the bananas, then mix the wet ingredients together in an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients, mix on low until combined, and then on high for 30 second.

Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

A couple things to notice about these two recipes - 

The first one has no salt added. That isn't a typo! If I use unsalted butter, though, I throw in a pinch of salt.

The second one has no added sweetener. That isn't a typo, either! The applesauce and bananas are sweet enough for this bread.

Oat Flour -

I bought a bag of oat flour at E&S Sales the last time we were in Shipshewana, Indiana, but you don't need to buy it. Just whirl rolled oats in your blender until they turn into fine powder. Oat flour!

Oat flour is so different from wheat flour when you use it for baking. It's much heavier than wheat flour, so your baked goods come out much denser. Chewier. And if you take your loaf out of the oven too soon, the center is the consistency of oatmeal. (Ask me how I know!)

The final word - 

I like both of these recipes, but because I'm eating fewer carbs and less sugar with Trim Healthy Mama, I make the oat flour recipe for me and the Better Homes and Garden recipe for family and friends.

Are you brave enough to try both? Let me know what you think!

And if you're interested in more information about Trim Healthy Mama, you can visit their website.

Oh, Christmas Cheese, Oh, Christmas Cheese!

If you asked me to pick one ingredient I always go to for holiday goodies, it's not sugar. Nope, I'd pick cheese! Full of protein and calcium, it keeps me going this holiday season.

I was raised with the tradition of cheese plates at every one of Mom's open house parties. Pimento cheese spread, corned beef and cheese balls, sausage balls, those little ham sliders with swiss cheese and honey mustard. Cheesecake always for my birthday!

That knowledge came in pretty handy when I took one more look at the invite for a party I was attending this past Saturday.  Directions. Check. Donations of paper goods and hygeine products for the local domestic violence shelter. Check. Appetizer to share. Ch---------. Noooooooo! Did I mention I looked at the invite mid-morning on Saturday????

I could have just done something like this brie and cranberry chutney tree:

Brie and cranberry chutney tiny tree! No I didn't eat the star!

But my mother would haunt me if I didn't make a bit of effort, no matter how small.

That's when I thought of Christmas Cheese! So simple. Low carb. Like playdough in my hands so I could be creative and make a Christmas Cheese Tree! Most importantly, I had time to make sure it chilled.

Waiting for the gluten free crackers and carrot sticks.

I know you are wondering, why did that woman make a tree and not just stick with a ball? Well, I have a thing for Christmas trees.  In fact, I have quite a few but they don't get decorated until December 12th. Why? Because my children offered long ago to spare me from decorating the tree so every birthday, they descend on the house and put out the trees and the Fontanini nativity dear daughter and I have collected for almost thirty years.

But here is one of my favorite trees, the one with my childhood ornaments, Christmas bells made the year I was born and a little clown on top. Why a clown? Because when I was born prematurely all the other babies in the critical care nursery got Christmas angels hung over their isolettes but I got a clown. Mom told me it was because of my red curls but I don't know...

My baby blanket makes the Christmas tree skirt for my childhood memory tree.

  
Hence my love of all things Christmas tree.
 
 Christmas Cheese Tree

1  8 oz package organic cream cheese

5-7 oz shredded medium white cheddar

two dashes worchestershire sauce

Chopped herbs such as parsley and pepper cut outs for decoration.

1) Combine the cheeses and worchestershire sauce in a food processor and pulse til blended.

2) Shape into a tree. You can do this as  a flat tree using a large cookie cutter or roll it in wax or parchment paper to form a tree shape.

3) Chill at least one hour.

4) Decorating your tree:  
- If using a flat tree shape, sprinkle chopped herbs on top in an even layer before serving.

- If using the formed tree shape, sprinkle chopped herbs on another piece of waxed paper and roll before standing up on a plate. Press any remaining herbs in bare spots.    

5) Serve with crackers or sturdy veggies like carrot or celery sticks.

Options:

Christmas Snow Man: Roll cheese into two round balls, one larger than the other. Roll chilled balls in shredded white cheese. Place small ball on top of larger one and decorate as a snow man with raisins or olives.

Mexican style cheese mixture: Add a 1/2 teaspoon of taco seasoning. Serve with Christmas corn chips

French style cheese mixture: Add a quarter cup blue cheese.  Serve with baguette slices.

Swiss style cheese mixture: Substitute 1/2 cup guyere  for that amount of cheddar.  Serve with roasted potato wedges or apple slices.      


So what is your go to last minute appetizer or dessert during the holidays? Do you settle for one Christmas tree or have more than one?

Keeping the memories: Adapting the Baking and Candy Making Season

The first week of December is a biggie for a lot of folks. Now that Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are past, we can focus on what's really important: Christmas cookie and candy making.

My sister made the same candy as Mindy!

My sister Ann already sent out her Christmas cards and she's gotten a head start on the sweet treats too. She's the one who inherited our grandmother's knack for all things sweet. Nanny used to send us a big box of homemade cookies and candy that would arrive right before Thanksgiving. The goodies were stored in the cold garage until Mom's Open House. But we'd sneak a piece now and then.

Now, me?  I hang up Mom's Christmas apron:

Mom loved poinsettias.

Pull out Mom's recipe box:

And revisit all the old memories with Mom's and Nanny's original recipe cards.

But every year recreating those memories is a challenge because of my allergies to wheat and corn. This year I added financial concerns. Baking and candy making are not cheap ventures. I know so many other families who are in the same situation. This year I know folks who have gone vegan or vegetarian, have discovered their child has celiac disease or other allergies, who developed diabetes, or are unemployed. Whew!

I'm all about keeping stress low this holiday season.  So what to do when you are trying to recreate Christmas memories for family members with allergy, sugar or vegan concerns without breaking the bank?

1) Give thanks for that one recipe that you can eat or afford to make.  I looked at the picture of the recipe cards and, wow, there was one that didn't have wheat or corn and wasn't overly expensive, Forgotten Cookies. What a find! Bonus? It's a star on the Pinterest gluten free Christmas cookie lists. So a recipe that's been around for decades before folks talked gluten and celiac stays on my list. (Recipe at the end of this post.)

2) Think flavors, not recreating the exact recipe.  My other favorite recipes featured in the above picture are fruit cake cookies (expensive ingredients and allergy issues), Date Nut Roll cookies (wheat), and peanut butter roll candy (corn syrup). Cane syrup does not work the same way as corn syrup does. I don't like xanthan gums that lots of GF baking recipes use and it's not cheap. So I focused on the flavors: fruit and nut, dates and short bread, and peanut butter. Then I did what I do when I'm desperately in need of help and low on creativity, I headed to....

3) Pinterest, go to Pinterest! The mecca of all things helpful with food challenges. Thanks to www.finecooking.com, I could savor that date and shortbread combo. It wasn't a pinwheel cookie recipe but I found a date nut cookie substitute  .

Now for a corn syrup free substitute for Nanny's peanut butter candy roll . Thanks to Pinterest, I found the recipe on www.justapinch.com. I'll use confectioners sugar with tapioca rather than cornstarch.
   
Fruit cake cookies? I started looking, got distracted by Christmas decor pins, and then...

I GOT LOST ON PINTEREST FOR HOURS!  

Ah, hem. Back to the blog. Here's the recipe I promised you:

Forgotten Cookies

2 egg whites (large eggs)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts

Beat egg whites, sugar and salt til stiff peaks form. Add chips and nuts. Line cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper, drop meringues by teaspoonful.  Put cookies in the oven preheated to 350 degrees. TURN OFF HEAT IMMEDIATELY and leave in overnight. DO NOT OPEN DOOR.

Makes about 2 plus dozen.

PS. No pictures of the making due to the weather. I don't make these on high humidity or rainy days.

So what challenges are you facing this year in your baking or candy making? Have you been able to adapt family recipes to preserve the memories while sticking to food restrictions or your budget?    

The Great Eat All The Candy You Want Experiment

When I was little, I used to tell my mom I wished candy was good for us so we could eat all we wanted and steak or green beans or beets, whatever I did NOT want to eat for dinner, were bad. I think I was this age when I said it.

Gotta love the dress, huh? I think the rubber band in my hairdo was too tight.

I grew up and got to control what I ate. Did I choose all the candy I wanted? Nope, for me it was bread. Give me bread and butter over chocolate any day.

Fast forward to 2003/4.  A bad bout of the flu a year earlier left me with bruises all over my body, pretty close to bedridden. Every time I ate a bagel I would almost collapse and be unable to move. Doctors wondered if I had leukemia or severe diabetes. Yikes!

Fortunately, in the loosest form of the word, blood tests and biopsies revealed my body wasn't processing vitamin B-12 and I was allergic to wheat and corn.  A celiac disease blood test turned up negative.  Trips to the nutritionist got me on the road to "clean" living with no bread (whaaaaa!) and no processed food since most contain corn.

For ten years I've done pretty well, but still deal with osteoporosis, anemia and other absorption issues.  With our medical fun this year, turns out it's a good year to have anything done that I've been putting off (nothing like reaching your out of pocket medical expenses by April). My doc and I decided it would be best for to re-visit my wheat allergies since those celiac tests of a decade ago and even allergy panels were notoriously inaccurate.

Guess what? For a month, I got to relive my modified childhood dream. I got to eat things like this every day:

I didn't go overboard. After all, it wasn't just celiac we were looking at but how allergic I was. A cracker one day, a roll in San Antonio, a pancake at the local breakfast place. Why, you ask?  Well, gluten in wheat affects the small intestine villi that absorb nutrients. Doing a biopsy is the only way to tell if you have celiac since the blood test can go false negative. As much as I eat carefully, if I do have celiac, then I need to go extreme on the clean eating, the whole separate pans for cooking, no cheating on eating route. 

I didn't notice much, except bloating, when I started. By the end of the month, I couldn't move. Deja vu all over again! Did you know a sign of a food allergy can be extreme fatigue? I was never so happy to have my last meal of a croissant and bacon scone from the local french bakery.   An aside: One of the employees told me they discovered he had a gluten sensitivity after he developed pneumonia from working in the back with the flour.

I'm still waiting for the biopsy results but whether I turn out to have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity in addition to a wheat allergy, I'm sticking with my diet of extremely "clean," no-processed foods unless they are wheat and gluten free. So I will eat things like this:

And this:

  
And this:

As you see, living wheat, corn and gluten-free could be a lot worse. Looking forward to exploring  gluten-free fall recipes with you in the coming weeks.

So, if you could eat anything you wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what would it be? Have you ever had to give up one of your favorite foods for health reasons?             

When Summer Gets Delayed

Right now it is 50 degrees outside, 67 inside. The weather guys promise it will be up to the high 80s by Memorial Day weekend. That's cold comfort, pardon the pun, when the house temp keeps going down and more quilts keep going on the bed.

  Memorial Weekend. Did you catch that? It is almost the end of  May. My flags are out.

My precious Thumbelina zinnias are in bloom. The size of a thumbnail, they live up to their name.

 It's too cold to eat on the screened porch so I've been trying to think of recipes that help us live through this weird spell of weather. When it is cold, we turn to comfort food. This week I discovered a better-for-you alternative to rice flour. Oat flour. I found it is perfect for pancakes, one of the best comfort foods around. We don't eat pancakes much in the spring and summer but it's cold so we're going there!

First, I played with the winterized version of Bob's Red Mill Pancakes. The recipe makes pancakes with both gluten-free oats and oat flour. Plenty of plant protein and fiber, the texture comes out similar to scones. Heavy but in a good way. Perfect for maple syrup, cinnamon and butter.  

   
 But we needed something lighter. We don't want to go back into hibernation or not fit in our bathing suits! So I ditched the oats and milk, making a version that is the perfect base for strawberries (and whipped cream, just pretend it's there).  Perfect. Except for the way those strawberries are arranged. They look like a face.

 Two way Oat Flour pancakes, adapted from Bob's Red Mill Oat Pancake recipe:

Winter version:

3/4 cup oat flour
3/4 oats
1 cup milk or almond milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
dash sea salt
3 eggs, beaten
water to thin to a pourable batter

-Heat milk in a glass bowl in microwave for two to three minutes.
-Stir in oats. Let stand five minutes.
-In a mixing bowl, combine oat flour, baking powder and salt. Add oat-milk mixture.
-Beat eggs then add to flour/oat mixture, stirring until combined. (Add a bit of water to thin if too stiff.) Do not over stir.
-Heat a lightly greased griddle or skillet.
-Pour 1/4 cup on griddle and cook until bubbly and edges are set. Turn and cook until other side is lightly browned.

Serve with maple sugar or syrup, clotted cream, preserves. 

Summer version:

1 1/2 cup oat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Dash salt
1 cup water
2 eggs, beaten

Mix dry ingredients together.
Whisk eggs and water together. Stir into dry ingredients until just combined.
Let sit five minutes.
Cook in 1/4 c portions until top is bubbly and edges are set. Turn and cook until other side is lightly browned.

Serve with fresh fruit, lemon curd, cream cheese.

What about you? Have you every adapted a winter dish for summer or visa versa? What about this weather? Have you had snow in May or is it hotter than normal where you live?