Content
This Minnesota weather has been quite different than what is normal this time of year. A delayed spring just does something to the body, that junk food seems to alleviate. I have made three kinds of cookies, a brownie, a breakfast cracker and mini muffins over the past two weeks! At least, I am working on the cookbook again. Usually Spring is warm with fresh berries and birds singing.
I have been ‘working’ on my returns for about two months, but stopped because of the tax software glitch. Minnesota stopped accepting returns prepared with the software I was using until it was fixed. So I set mine aside and ‘sort of’ forgot that I still needed to finish it. Thursday night, I realized that I only had a few days to get it done. So, quickly downloaded the updates, crosse
This is one good coffee cake! Thanks to Cathy at The Dutch Bakers Daughter. The coffee cake was made using a gluten free cake mix, a sugar-free pudding mix and reduced the amount of filling and glaze. Basically follow the instructions on the cake mix box for mixing and baking, but include the additional ingredient list for the recipe. This is a large loaf cake, so it will take f
These scones are easy to make and do not require any special instructions. If you’ve made biscuits, simply follow the same method. I do not make biscuits often, although I do love biscuits! I try to make them for special occasions or with variations. I wanted to try the Original Bakewell Cream that I recently purchased. There is also Bakewell Cream Baking
Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I started out with a little green! Spinach, that is… These biscuit cups use a DIY biscuit bottom with your choice of ingredients plus egg. Gluten-free dough works a bit different from the gluten-filled kind. One must beat it, to get it smooth and pliable. I find that a wooden spoon works well for biscuits. This is not a meal I would eat everyday, b
Sometimes I think I am the only one with little bits of chopped nuts, chocolate chips or snacks lying around with no idea of what to do with them. A really good counter top kitchen appliance to have is a food processor! Oh the bits and pieces that can be thrown in and pulsed a few times and voila out comes something tasty! After having to go gluten-free, I could not find the type of granola
I love peanut butter, but never made peanut butter cookies very often. After seeing a fellow blogger The Dutch Baker’s Daughter’s post of her Million Dollar Peanut Butter Cookies, I decided it was time! These are easy to convert, but read the instructions in the original recipe when making. For the recipe, go to Million Dollar Peanut Butter Cookies My substitutions were Pamela’s Artisan Flour blen
Some manufacturers include full recipe books with purchases on occasions. Some simply provide additional advertisements I tend to just store all warranties and ‘instructions for use’ in one file cabinet, so they can at least follow the appliance, if donated. Usually when first buying a small cooking appliance, I will look at any recipes and decide if I would like to try any. Since reti
KAF has a way of making me want to try to make one of their recipes even when they aren’t gluten-free. Most of their dessert recipes can be easily converted simply by substituting the flour. A minor tweaking of the amount of liquid is usually needed because GF flours tend to hold more water, based on my experience. After seeing King Arthur Flour’s Original Cake-Pan Cake on Facebook, de
There is just something about a smoothie that satisfies the taste buds, regardless of the weather! Grab the sunscreen or the snuggle duds or ‘long johns’ or even snuggle up to the fireplace and enjoy a smoothie! Think Smoothies after the holidays when all of that food is being digested! Rather than skip breakfast as so many of want to, just try a smoothie! Not
There have been several questions on what to do with the pulp left after making DIY almond milk. In the past, I have added it to smoothies and muffins. Today, I decided to go even further and convert my Chocolate Condensed Milk Cake to flourless using some of the ground almonds. This may not work for all because the almond meal left could be drier than my version . It’s a bit of trial
On past Saturday, I was planning to make pizza, but didn’t have many ingredients. Hot yeast bread is more appetizing to me than pizza, so I decided to combine both.Before I share the method and ingredients, I will show the different forms into which the dough can be shaped.This is a project for those who enjoy baking and willing to try a new experiment in making gluten-free bread. It d
House cleaning and laundry wasn’t keeping me busy on Saturday, so I decided to make some chocolate treats.I was just tired of flipping channels each time a political ad came on, so I turned the TV off and started some house cleaning. After an hour or two, that got boring, so on to looking for something else to do. I have made these balls before, but used all dried plums(prunes). The ta
Since it’s pumpkin season, I am trying out different ‘pumpkin’ goodies!Yesterday, I read a post on Appetite for Health and noticed a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Muffins that were gluten-free! It was pumpkin and the rest is ‘history’!Of course I always use part non-calorie sweetener when baking for myself, so I substituted part granulated stevia for some of the honey. That makes a drier ba
There were carrots in the refrigerator that were supposed to be juiced. Well good intentions….The day before trash day is the day to see what remains in the fridge, so… often I will think of a dish to use something rather than throw it out, if I don’t think I will be using it within a week.I bought creamed coconut about a year ago and just couldn’t decide what to do with it.
This is a quick easy way to get your chocolate and pumpkin all in one bite!This brownie mix has additional chocolate chips in the package, so other brownie mixes may not taste as good without adding about a half cup of chips.My friend Cathy over at The Dutch Baker’s Daughter has whipped up some good looking Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes, I had to go it alone in using a brownie mix. Since I have a cou
No matter how much I try to eat other foods for breakfast, I eventually revert back to making a smoothie after a few days of omelets or oatmeal or breakfast casseroles. Actually, I would rather put the oatmeal in a smoothie!One of the reasons I try to make other breakfast items is the amount of sugar in the smoothie from the fruit. So I get my daily allowance of fruit in one sump
I love pizza, only if it could be lower in calories and carbs!Earlier I made a focaccia bread that is quite suitable for a pizza crust. My original intent was to use that as the crust and spread it thinner. I am testing a mix1 for a cookbook, so I decided to use that mix instead. The total flour used is 1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons. The mix used has xanthan gum included, so if your mix do
Dirty rice is supposed to be good, but I have never eaten it! I think it was about the little bits of stuff in it that I did not know where it came from… I am a picky eater from way back!I really love the ‘Golden’ or ‘Gold’ potatoes because they seem to not get mushy as quick as the other yellow or white fleshed potatoes. Since I shouldn’t eat potatoes every day, I look for ways
I have seen several posts about making ‘nut’ milks, but never thought about making one until I read a post by Healthy Blender Recipes .I do not have one of those higher-priced blenders or food processors, so It probably took me longer to make it. I used a Ninja 1100. I did not want a large quantity, just wanted to see how easy and how it tasted compared to the grocery store version.I s
I love vegetables of all kinds and prefer vegetarian meals. We were accustomed to making meals based on what we had on hand. There was no meal planning! If it was during the growing season, we had fresh vegetables, if the Winter months, it was dried beans and peas. My mom canned lots of vegetables and fruits, so we had those thru a portion of the Winter months. When you wer
For those of us who were fortunate enough to have medical insurance coverage under COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act), so many of us have found it very beneficial.Originally, my coverage as a retirement benefit was to be provided ‘free of charge’ when I retired from a company at 51 years of age with years of service. Yes, I had to work thru college to pay the tuiti
I remember my mother making peach pies, as we called them. There was always lots of crust and with fresh peaches! And she loved adding nutmeg….Either my mother bought peaches or there was a nearby peach tree at the edge of the ‘woods’ that everyone nearby took turns getting peaches. Most of my earlier years were in farm country, so wild fruit trees were far and near that did not really
Having to be careful when preparing gluten free meals, makes it difficult to make easy or quick meals. Finally, I am confortable in doing both. I can always check the fridge, freezer or pantry and put together a meal!The issue that arises most for me is the calories and carbs! The metabolism takes a nap once one is over 50, so I plan when even buying food! It was so easy to lose as qui
It has been really hot the past two weeks or raining. Of course when it’s hot, all I think about is something COLD! So it’s been frozen smoothies each morning. I’ve even thought about making one for lunch or dinner, but decided I needed to eat some food.Today I was seriously thinking of making ice cream, but just didn’t want to spend lots of time making too much. So I pulle
First, I must say I buy blueberries and strawberries in warehouse sizes, freeze them during ‘in season’ times. Costco sells the very large container of the Driscoll’s berries, so I am stocked when fall and winter rolls around.I enjoy lots of frozen smoothies during the warm months. No matter the season, my smoothie is always frozen!I have done several recipe and blog posts on the many ways of inco
Easy, quick, reduced carbs/sodium/sugar and gluten-free are the requirements I work with when planning meals. Not saying I want it to taste like cardboard either!I like to cook, but I don’t really like to cook. How I like to cook is have somewhat of a plan of making a meal with ingredients I have decided to eat.I am always craving pizza, but just can’t see myself eating lots of carb loaded pizza c
Muffins aka cupcakes(sometimes) fall into that category of ‘good feeling’ food. Of course, I love muffins, but don’t need all of the sugar and carbs.I had been looking at this muffin mix and never actually read the ingredients, just assuming that it meant artificial sweetener added. NO, it means no sweetener added. This is great for those who want to use a sweetener o
I love hummus, but usually only buy roasted red pepper. This recipe is an easy one-shot method to make your favorite treat!I really do not like the taste of chickpeas, but I figured if I spiced them enough I could mask the taste. So one day, I decided to ‘roast’ some chickpeas. I mixed up Cajun spices, a little cayenne, garlic-infused olive oil and some salt-fre
There isn’t really a recipe for smoothies….. Decide what you want to add and whirr away!There are often smoothies presented by different food companies and even recipes posted on blogs or in cookbooks. Most ‘recipes’ are simply suggestions as to what great taste combinations can be made to satisfy the need for ‘frozen’ and ‘delicious’.It doesn’t matter which season, I
I have always been and will forever be a “baker from scratch”. But I did use some really good Duncan Hines cake mixes! Since DH hasn’t gotten on the gluten-free bandwagon, I can mimic their chocolate mix until or when and if they do….As it has been said before, I am a chocoholic, preferring to use cocoa, rather than prepared chocolate. I have even gone as far to use cacao n
I got started late on deciding what to make because after going shopping, needed to take a breather a bit….Noticed a post on blackdoctor.org! about chocolate chip cookiesfor Guilt-Free Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies….decided to use their recipe. Of course, I had to convert it to gluten-free, so by the time they came out of the oven, they were the same cookies I have been making f
Fresh Veggies are everywhere now, yet I bought a bag of pre-shredded slaw. The convenience bag is so easy to use and just the right size needed.Today there wasn’t anything in the fridge for left-overs, so I had to think of something to cook besides an omelet or make a smoothie.There are usually frozen vegetables in the freezer and canned beans and tomatoes in the pantry. But sometimes,
This dessert is a cross between a coffee cake and a cobbler, so I will call it “Apple Cobbler Cake“I have been a bit slow on baking lately. There are just times when I do not want to cook anything, so I either make a veggie omelet or smoothie with added veggies.As spring has arrived, we also have to watch the weather when planning to bake as anything in the oven when a storm arrives is on it
I will be participating with other Minnesota Bloggers by baking something gluten-free. Come out and help with this worthy cause by purchasing some of the donated baked goodies!The bake sale will take place on Saturday, April 28th from 12-3:00 pm at Midtown Global Market in stall #158, right by Mapps Coffee. It was a bit difficult to decide what to bake that I thought would sell. I fina
Instead of a food post, today I am writing about retirement as I see it. I think I was always planning for retirement financially, but had no serious thoughts about what I would be doing after I retired.The business models used by the company where I spent most of my employment years were 10-year, 5-year and 1-year plans. Well, I never quite had a 10-year plan until I left that company durin
After being gluten-free a few years, I discovered that so many gluten-free packaged items are quite lacking in fiber. This is not to say that the ‘regular’ ones are any better, it is that since the gluten-free ones require a bit more time to make, more attention to nutrition should also be made.My method of mixing my own flour blends comes from two influences; my history of loving cooking from scr
Talk about “Green Smoothies”! This Green-Colored Smoothie is a meal in a glass! Pineapple is the dominant flavor in this version. Just think St. Patrick’s Day!This is very filling and delicious. There is so much fiber in it, I was still feeling full after 6 hours. Don’t get me wrong, it does not make you feel stuffed, it just keeps you from being hungry. The broccoli
As the fish was baking in the oven, I had to quickly think of something to go with it.Of course, I just love corn muffins, so I thought; why not make corn muffins and add more flax than I had in the past?Until I was forced to go gluten-free, I had never bought flax anything! Well, I now buy flax meal by the 48-ounce bag! That means a little flax goes in everything ‘flour’ that gets baked. At
I remember making a pancake with oatmeal and banana back in the mid 90’s but don’t have the recipe anymore. So I am ‘winging it based on what I have and know works for me.Being that I am not supposed to have a load of calcium first am, I now have to improvise for breakfast.This pancake is delicious and nutritious. It is suitable for gluten-free and dairy-free options.I chose to eat mine with
An easy creamy soup that satisfies and tastes good!Normally, I add a little ‘pepper’ in my bean soups, but decided to leave this one mild. I didn’t want to over power the other flavors.The Pacific Foods Tomato Soup is very good, but is really high in sodium. Bean soup sounded really good, but I just hate spending lots of time making meals. Most of the time, I walk to the pantry,
Baked sweet potatoes make the best desserts versus boiled, but shredded makes them even better!I am using the method used in the Brown Sugar Pecan Sweet Potato Bread and mix from Creating the “Muffin Mix”.These are not too sweet and great for breakfast or brunch. I actually ate one for dinner as I just haven’t cooked much this week.These muffins came about because I had shredded sweet potatoes and
For someone who knew how to bake and had to go gluten-free, it was very difficult at first to bake anything.Now I am really enjoying playing with my food! The only problem, I came from a very large family. Even when I baked for neighbors or took goodies to work, I did not have to worry about making too much.Finally, I am making smaller amounts of food. I am basically not a person
My preference is gingered carrot juice over carrots. There is something nice about getting all of the flavor at once instead of chewing all of those carrots only to not get much flavor.A better name for this soup would be Carrot Sweet Potato Mirage Soup, because there is a subtle hint of all of the flavors. It as a slight spicy hint of carrots, sweet potatoes and coconut. There is an e
Another quick meal and a bit healthy too! There is enough fiber to satisfy your hunger without feeling stuffed. This wasn’t really a recipe, but since it appeared on the Facebook Fan page, just thought I would give the ingredients.This makes a very pretty dish with all of the yellow, red and green color!I just can not get enough sweet peppers, carrots and those microwave mixed vegetables pac
First off, these are not your grandma’s corn muffins. I can’t even remember my grand mother’s corn bread. Just taking a phrase a` Lagasse.Plain corn muffins are just so “back in the day”! My corn muffins were plain until I had to re-learn baking about 6 years ago.When I first started out trying to bake gluten-free, there were flops, disasters and some garbage can fills.Once I got a goo
It was time to bake bread again, so this time I decided it was time to use the pre-packaged mixes rather than individual flours.I prefer mixing flours, because so many mixes are too starchy for me. But, there are some good ones out there too.As I have said in the past, baking a good loaf of gluten-free bread is a crap shoot. There are some good odds, but sometimes it fails.Dried fruit helps
Again, I changed directions mid-stream. It was supposed to be biscuits today. Then I remembered some rolls that my good friend Cathy over at The Dutch Bakers Daughter made. Of course, my rolls will never look as good as hers. AND it’s Super Bowl Sunday!I have made different flavors or cheese rolls and thought it was time to step it up a bit. Unfortunately, my dough was a bit soft
I needed to make a heart shaped cake in a hurry yesterday and did not want to dig through the cabinets to find the heart-shaped pan. If you own a heart-shaped pan, it is probably the pan least used .I remember years ago dabbling in cake decorating. I made several cakes using just plain pans instead of the pre-shaped ones. I wasn’t sure how this actual cake came out as it was a ‘scratch
Crock Pots, slow cookers and even cast iron Dutch ovens work for making soups or stews.When I was growing up, we just had a big old enameled pot that held lots of soup, beans or even ‘macaroni’. We had macaroni noodles with tomatoes and sometimes beef stew meat. That was one dish, I really liked then. I will probably never make it now. I remember when one of my sisters coul
