Creamy Pumpkin Smoothie

Another day, another smoothie. I can’t help myself. I’ve made this pumpkin smoothie several times and it’s delicious. Creamy, healthy, filling, and well, pumpkin-y.

The other day my husband politely inquired if all baked goods from here until spring would be pumpkin flavored. Not entirely fair since I made this AMAZING apple cinnamon oatmeal bread the other day (I subbed Cup 4 Cup flour for the gluten kind), but understandable since pumpkin is my favorite, not his. Luckily the kids are on my side.

You can make this smoothie in a high powered blender or a Cuisinart. I adapted this from a Whole Foods recipe, but mostly this came straight out of my pumpkin flavored brain.

Creamy Pumpkin Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cold water or milk
• 1/2 heaping cup yogurt (full fat will make a thicker shake, fyi)
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree (more puree = thicker + more pumpkin flavor)
• 1 ripe banana (frozen or not)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, or a dash of nutmeg
• a glug of maple syrup or honey, if you like things sweeter (I’ve enjoyed it both ways)
• a handful of ice IF you have a high powered blender (please don’t put ice in your Cuisinart, at least it never worked for me)

Some of the players.

Directions:

Dump everything in, and whirl away! Taste test and adjust seasonings/sweetenings until you’re satisfied, and then enjoy. Whipped topping optional. Can you imagine it, though? YUM.

* Update on the popularity of Smoothies in my home, the green kind in particular…

Green Smoothie POPS!

I froze some extra smoothie I made from a delightful blending of kale (yes, I said kale! for a children’s ice pop!), yogurt, pineapple, banana, and honey. Recipe coming soon.

Below is one satisfied customer. Bunky ate TWO for breakfast the other day and then asked for more after school.

I call this, “smoothie face.”

What are your favorite kinds of smoothies? I’m always on the look out for MORE.

 

Tropical Blueberry Smoothie

Ah, Vitamix, you Christian Louboutin of blenders…

I heard the rumors. I read the blog posts. But I ignored them. I avoided recipes that required liquifying kale. Instead I worked my decade old Cuisinart into the ground and dreamt about making smoothies that didn’t have green bits floating inside of them. Then one day something arrived at my doorstep…

No, not Little Guy.

It all started when I left my kids with their dad and mine to attend a day long writer’s conference at Rosemont College. While I spent the day luxuriating in writerly stuff, my family spent the afternoon in Target where they were wooed by a Vitamix demonstration. Frozen desserts, green smoothies, ice cream, hot soup. Apparently it was quite the exhibition because they couldn’t stop talking about it.

Then my dad came to visit a few days later with one in the back of his car. WOW. I was totally shocked, in no way expecting such a generous gift.

So, of course I made him a smoothie right away. A green one.

The best part was that Little Guy loved it. In fact, he insisted on drinking the rest of ours.

Life with the Vitamix has been pretty fab. Especially the clean up. Not even kidding. It’s so easy! You may remember me complaining about the torture of having to scrub out the Cuisinart crevices, which made me less likely to use it. The awesome thing about the Vitamix is that it cleans itself (sort of). You add warm water and a dash of soap, give it a crazy whirl, and bam, done. (Unless you make something very sticky or oily, but still, you get a head start with the self cleaning.)

Not a big deal to clean. Srsly.

What we’ve learned so far: As a Vitamix novice, it’s best to follow a recipe. At least until you get the hang of it. Now I’m able to play more, but in the beginning, every time we (as in my husband, a notorious rule breaker) tried to wing it, disaster ensued. It was too watery, too thick, weird texture (pear issues), or just plain gross (carrot + pear + cinnamon + ice = yuck).

Luckily, Vitamix gives you a huge binder filled with recipes, plus there’s a recipe finder on the website.

Two weeks in, we’re practically experts. Here is my debut recipe, which you absolutely do NOT need a Vitamix to make. Use your blender or Cuisinart. You may need to slightly thaw your fruit first since less powerful machines can’t pulverize frozen stuff without busting up. I know this from experience, unfortunately.

Final thought/warning: the Vitamix is crazy loud. Like, terrifyingly loud. The first time I put mine on the Smoothie cycle I literally thought it was going to launch itself into space. Luckily, it didn’t.

Tropical Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/2 heaping cup yogurt (full fat will make a thicker shake, fyi)
• 1 ripe banana (frozen or not)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen or fresh pineapple

This recipe is kid approved. And super healthy. Bunky drank hers down in seconds. She was unfazed by the fact that there is NO added sugar. Not even a drop of honey. And that’s a pretty big deal considering she has a serious sweet tooth.

*If you have a high powered blender, you may need to add ice if most of your fruit is room temperature. Nothing less exciting than a lukewarm smoothie. But that could just be me.

If using a Vitamix, add liquids first, then soft fruit, and frozen stuff last. I put mine on Smoothie cycle. If you need to tweak it, feel free to add more fruit/yogurt/water/ice as needed and hit the cycle again.

Then drink it up quick before your kid tries to steal the rest of yours.

Do you have any favorite Vitamix/blender smoothie recipes? If so, please share! I’m seriously addicted. Next up: homemade chocolate almond butter, YUM.

Gluten Free Product Review Round-up

Earlier this month we spent our anniversary family-style at our country house upstate, and unlike the last trip (Easter weekend began with sun AND ended with snow!) this was summery without a spec of precipitation. It was filled with fun outdoor activities like lake swimming, sand castle building, marshmallow roasting, salamander catching (and releasing), and of course eating.

Red salamanders at the house and lots of green ones at the lake.

The eating part is surprisingly easy since the gluten free section at the local Peck’s grocery store is AWESOME! Seriously, it’s better than our grocery in Brooklyn. This makes our trips a lot easier knowing we can pick up a complete stash of Udi’s products, plus cookies, crackers, cake mixes, and more instead of packing our usual fridge/freezer/pantry arsenal.

I found a couple of new items that my family loved and I want to share here. I rarely do product reviews, but I should do more because there’s nothing worse than spending a zillion dollars on a dry meh GF cookie or a weird rubbery wrap.

Am I right?! (Gotta love Photo Booth.)

Have I mentioned how sad I am about gluten free bread lately? [sidebar alert] As much as I love Udi’s and am eternally grateful for their brand, I can’t handle how crumbly and hole-y the bread can be. It’s gotten to the point where I feel bad about giving it to my kids, especially Little Guy who is particularly sensitive to stale tasting bread. Maybe poor Bunky is used to it after all these years. Sigh.

Recently we tried Glutino White Bread, and it is SOFT, seriously insanely soft. You don’t even have to toast it! Less healthy than the whole grain Udi’s, sure, but you know, sometimes you need to be able to chew your sandwich without gagging.

So, that was sort of an unofficial review, and now for the rest from our upstate stash…

Udi’s Gluten Free Flour Tortilla Wraps 

After years of eating quesadillas (practically a food group around here) on stiff yellow circles also known as store bought corn tortillas, I discovered these beauties.

They are enormous and soft GF flour tortillas (they also sell smaller ones). Oh, Udi’s, I know I just bad talked your bread, but you nailed these. I used them for our regular shredded cheddar quesadillas, but also for a sweet breakfast tortilla (!) which tasted like a thick crepe, using our new favorite White Chocolate Peanut Butter and sliced banana. OMG! Unfortunately, I haven’t found these in Brooklyn yet (!) but the next time we go upstate, I’m stocking up.

Even a paper plate can’t cheapen the experience.

Next up…

Maple Grove Farms Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle Mix

Speaking of breakfast, have you tried this mix? If not, you should give it a try because it’s awesome. Plus, there’s NO added sugar, which is not necessarily true for other mixes (Bisquick, I’m talking to you). It’s super easy to make either pancakes or waffles and both have been successful for us. I used to like making my own homemade pancakes, and still do on occasion, but it’s also nice to have the convenience of a mix, especially when your kids wake you up before dawn.

Now, no trip to the country would be complete without copious amounts of Haagen Dazs ice cream. A moment of props to HD – want to know how many ingredients are in their traditional vanilla? FIVE. Cream, sugar, skim milk, egg yolks, and vanilla extract. Nothing fake, no “natural flavor” scams, nothing. Just real food.

Normally we eat it in a bowl because GF cones are not always easy to come by… except upstate where they sell these awesome ones:

Joy Gluten Free Sugar Cones

Isn’t my cone model adorable?!

These GF sugar cones are really tasty! They also make gluten free cake cones, by the way. One day we’ll give those a try. In the meantime, the sugar cones are rad. We all really enjoyed eating them all filled up with drippy vanilla and chocolate ice cream. The only caveat is that they leak at the bottom, but you can use your finger as a stopper, ha, or better yet melt some chocolate down there. Oh, yeah.

Eating outside makes ice cream taste even better, don’t you think?

Everything outside is better in the summer. Salamander catching included.

Have you had any fantastic gluten free finds lately? If so, bring it on in comments. I can always use some new ideas. And let me know if you try any of my suggestions. We GFers have to stick together, you know?

 

Gluten Free Overnight Oats

You know you have no life when the first thing you say to people – as in, any person, your friends, babysitter, your dad’s girlfriend, strangers on the street: “Do you like oatmeal?” And when they stare at your sort of blankly and nod or shake their heads, you blurt out the entire recipe for overnight oats with an excitement that is not infectious.

At least I don’t show them a picture.

But this is my platform, ha, in which to spout my love and devotion to whatever I want, and right now that thing is OVERNIGHT OATS because seriously, they are that good.

Now, don’t judge this fab breakfast by my feeble photography. The best thing about this is that you don’t have to cook it. Seriously! This is especially convenient on school mornings when I’m rushing to make Bunky lunch and Little Guy breakfast, while chugging my coffee so my eyeballs don’t fall out of my head. All I have to do is take it out of the fridge and warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds (optional step), and then bam, breakfast is served.

Despite the rawness of this recipe, the oats are soft and chewy, not raw-tasting at all (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I used whole milk the first few times because that’s what we had and they were SUPER creamy and delightful. Then I tried them with a lower fat and the difference was obvious. Still good, though.

I was inspired by these fantastic recipes, my absolute favorite being the almond butter one, sans cocoa powder (I know, weird) and I’ve since made my own version. It’s a mouthful (no pun intended) but I couldn’t figure out how to shorten it, so…

Gluten Free Vanilla Maple Almond Butter Oats

*Adapted from My Whole Food Life’s, Almond Butter Chocolate Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten free oats (I use regular but you can use steel cut for more texture)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of almond butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tsps maple syrup
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use 2% cow’s milk)*
• 1 tsp flax meal (optional)

Isn’t the lighting just lovely?

Instructions:

1. Throw everything in a jar or thermos. Shake and put in fridge overnight.

2. Take out in morning and warm up if you want, and enjoy!

* add more milk or a splash of water for a slightly thinner oatmeal

Overnight oats beside an odd looking bonsai tree from Ikea.

This breakfast has really saved me because I haven’t been eating much of anything in the mornings, besides scraps from Bunky’s lunch. It’s sad because I used to love breakfast, and well, I still do, but I have no time or energy to make myself something healthy and filling. I used to be a hearty cereal girl, but I feel like the gluten free cereal options are super lame. Sure, there are organic circles and flakes, and a bunch of great mainstream sugary kinds (hello, Cinnamon Chex, which is like crack to my kids), but where is my hearty crunchy, granola-y, clustery cereal?! No where that I can find. Sigh. I don’t mind making regular oatmeal, but it takes time and messes up a pot.

But this overnight business? Genius! I don’t have to cook, it takes about 2 minutes at night which is key during crazy chaotic pre-bedtime lunacy, and it’s ready to go in the morning. It fills me up, it’s healthy, and YUM.

All I need is for these two to get a bit older and they can make it and serve it to me. Score.

P.S. This is my 101st post! I didn’t do any fancy shenanigans for the 100th because, um, I forgot, but I’m pretty pleased with myself to have hit this milestone even though most bloggers seem to do it in one year (or less) rather than three, but whatev. I have two kids and half a brain. So, I consider this quite a feat.

Thank you to all my readers, new and old, sporadic and regular, for tuning in to my rantings, ravings, and recipes.

Shared on the fabulous Vegetarian Mamma’s Gluten Free Friday link up. Click the badge below for more awesome GF recipes and tidbits.

Lemon Chicken with Garlicky Green Beans

Not my photography, obviously.
Credit, Real Simple magazine.

I’ll get to that lovely chicken dish in a moment, but first, some words about my photography skills, or lack thereof. See Exhibit A.

Exhibit A

Sorry gnocchi. You’re better than this.

Farabella is a fantastic brand of pasta that comes from Italy (bonus) and has many gluten free options, including the sadly photographed gnocchi above (recipe for the sauce coming soon). It’s unfortunate that I have yet to capture it  properly. Sigh. Maybe one day I’ll make it for lunch on a sunny day and you can see it in all its glory.

Until then, there’s this utilitarian but super tasty one pot dinner…

Lemon Chicken with Garlicky Green Beans and Red Potatoes

Looks can be deceiving. Don’t judge. Please.

This is an old standby that I’ve been using ever since I cut out the recipe from Real Simple magazine more than a decade ago. It’s a keeper, clearly. Chicken breasts rest atop lemon slices, all tucked in with green beans and red potatoes, swirled with olive oil and lots of garlic. All it takes is a cutting board, one big bowl for tossing, a serving dish, and voila! I am a sucker for a good one pot (or dish) meal.

The original recipe uses bone-in chicken breasts, but lately I’ve been making it with boneless breasts, which cooks up faster, and is still very juicy. Something magical happens to the lemon slices on the bottom when they get all caramelized and sticky. Yum.

Lemon Chicken with Garlicky Green Beans, slightly adapted from Real Simple, whose food photography is just a hair better than mine (ha)

Yes, using 2x because it’s that pretty.

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3/4 pound trimmed green beans
• about 8 small red potatoes, quartered
• 4 chicken breasts (boneless, or bone-in with skin, about 3 1/4 lbs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F for boneless, 450°F for bone-in. Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the edges of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up (if bone-in), in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.

My husband begged me not to post raw chicken pics, but this may help you with arrangement.

3. Roast for about 40 minutes for boneless breasts, 50 minutes for bone-in. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet, after checking first that it is cooked through. Then place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender.

4. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally.

Enjoy! We do. And then make someone else do the dishes. Even one pot meals add up.

Do you have any fabulous one pot meals? If so, please share! I could use a few more. 

Gluten Free Buckwheat Noodle Stir Fry + a Slice of Country

It’s November, already. I know I’m not the only one caught totally off guard by the insanely fast passage of time this autumn. I’ve heard the rumbling on other blogs. I know it’s super boring and redundant to talk about how fast time goes by, but seriously, it feels like Bunky started kindergarten about three seconds ago, and now Halloween is over, Little Guy’s 2nd birthday was over a week ago (!) and Thanksgiving is a stone’s throw away. I’m behind on posts and pretty much everything else.

I can relate to how this guy feels.

But, instead of throwing up my hands and giving up (my usual m.o.), I am going to take some deep cleansing breaths (trying) and go one post at a time. First up, our awesome pre-Halloween trip to the country and a super yum buckwheat noodle stir fry recipe.

Important note from the author: I totally understand if you feel the need to scroll past the ridiculous amount of pictures of my kids and the photogenic country background and get right to the recipe. All I ask is that you look at this one before you go.

I mean, really. How does nature make this stuff up?

Okay, so here we go. A few weeks ago we drove up to the country for what might be my favorite time of the year (well, besides summer at the lake, of course). Besides everything looking so golden hued and gorgeous with all the fall foliage, there is THIS:

Cunningham Farms is a lovely little farm in Bethel, NY. (Bethel is the location for the original Woodstock concert, btw, with a trippy museum to boot.) We stumbled upon their pumpkin patch and corn maze last year and loved it. This is a picture of Bunky in October 2012 giving her famous double thumbs up (highest level of praise).

And now, one year older. (Same fleece, ha.)

They added some cool new features like an obstacle course, giant chess board, and Bunky’s absolute favorite, panning for gems. The kid is super into crystals and rocks. I mean, who isn’t?

Bunky finding “gems” with her dad.

I loved the corn maze, which I skipped last year because I didn’t feel like carrying Leo.

Of course, I still ended up lugging him around most of the way, but with a face like this, how could I resist?

Look at the sky. It was a perfect fall mix of clouds and sun.

There was a tractor, because of course.

The Indian corn was a huge hit all around.

Little Guy loved his so much he fell asleep holding it later that day. No joke. He also used it as a “phone” on the ride home.

A real life nap. Not staged.

I feel like the corn was more colorful than I remember, each kernel so shiny and vibrant. Or maybe I just never really saw it before. My mom used to love Indian corn and every autumn we’d have some hanging on our door. I used to think she was a little silly for getting so excited about it, and now here I am. There are so many things I wish I could tell her she was right about. Corn is the least of it, you know?

She would’ve loved these guys, obvs.

She also would have loved this blog. I think she would have been surprised about the recipes since I had never been much of a cook. My claim to fame as a post college graduate was that I made edible scrambled eggs and rocking rice krispie treats. No joke. It wasn’t until I met my husband at the ripe old age of 26 (yes, I thought I was old then – HILARIOUS, right?!) that I began to learn. Looking back, I’m pretty sure it was his master plan to teach me how to cook and then conveniently hand over the tongs.

Well. I’ve come along way from those early days. For years I relied on recipes, strictly. I felt like if I strayed from a recipe even in the most minor of ways, it would end in disaster and chaos. Not unlike how I live my life, ha. Oh, the metaphors one can come up with on such little sleep. Anyway. It’s only very recently that I feel brave enough to go out on my own, to combine recipes, to leave out (seemingly!) key ingredients, to swap things out, to PLAY. I still keep it safe, as I don’t have any free time to experiment for whimsy’s sake. I’ve got a picky family to feed, you know?

So, the recipe I came up with works in several key ways for me and my people:

1. It’s HEALTHY, but covertly so (6-8 grams of protein per noodle serving!)

2. I can switch up the veggies depending on what I’ve got hanging around.

3. It is super flavorful (which is saying a lot given my spice averse family).

4. (Perhaps most importantly) It’s FAST and EASY.

Here’s the secret: awesome gluten free soba noodles.

I used King Soba Sweet Potato Buckwheat for this recipe, but their Pumpkin Ginger Brown Rice noodles are great, too. They are organic, gluten free, and super healthy. You can cook them up and add them to soup (which we did for Bunky who is anti-stir fry for some strange reason) or make this…

Please don’t judge a book by its cover. Or my recipe by this photo.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Noodle Stir Fry (with chicken or all veggie)

Adapted from this recipe and this one, too.

Ingredients (for the sauce):

For the sauce:

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger minced or thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of rice vinegar

For the rest:

• 1 complete package of gluten free King Soba noodles (comes in batches of 3 but each is about one serving, according to my family)*
• 2 teaspoons of canola oil
• 1 broccoli crown, separated into bite sized pieces
• carrots (we used pre-shredded from the store, or 2-3 carrots shredded or sliced)
• 2-3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips or thinly sliced (omit and use cubed tofu if you’d like)
• 1/2 bunch of kale, deveined and chopped

* We also cooked up a package of plain rice noodles and used both cause we are noodle people.

Directions:

1. Mix all sauce ingredients into a small bowl. Set aside

2. Boil water for noodles. Cook as directed on the package. Set aside when done.

Gray noodles look gross, but they taste good.

3. Meanwhile, heat oil in the pan on medium. Add broccoli, cook for a few minutes and then add carrots. After a minute or two add the chicken and cook until almost cooked through.

(Sidebar: I had taken a picture of the raw chicken happily nestled inside a circle of veggies, but my husband nearly threw up when he saw it and told me to delete it. So I did. Thanks, honey. Probably a good call.)

Add kale. Cook for a few minutes until wilted down.

4. Now add sauce. Stir everything together and cook for a few minutes more on low heat.

5. Finally, add noodles and stir to combine or serve over noodles. Your call.

It looks like I served this version over rice, ha! Works just as well, but with less protein power than buckwheat soba.

Some day I’ll manage to take pictures during daylight hours and not seconds before starving people are waiting to eat. Until then, they’ll look like the one above. Sorry.

I leave you with this final photo from Cunningham Farms. Yup, this guy was back.

See you next year, suckers.

Gluten Free Honey Corn Muffins (Strawberry Optional)

The idea for this recipe has been hanging around in my brain for a while now. Which is saying a lot for my (short) attention span. It all starts, though, with a sweet (though not short, ha) story about Wednesdays with Little Guy.

I love Wednesdays with my boy. We have a little ritual that starts with a music class. To say Little Guy loves music class would be putting it mildly. But don’t be fooled. He’s not one of those kids who runs into the room, dances up a storm and practically vibrates with joy. I see kids like that and I’m kind of in awe. Little Guy sits on my lap. He watches. He smiles. He grabs one of the balls rolling around the room and holds it tightly to his little body. His joy is subtle. On the sly. Blink and you might miss it. But I know it’s there, and so does his teacher.

LG loves taking a bath, but you wouldn’t know it from this picture.

He is not shy. Bunky is not shy either. But people often mistake my kids for shy because they are slow to warm. They won’t offer up immediate smiles or high fives. This makes some people uncomfortable. I can’t tell you the number of people who have said to me, “Oh, (s)he doesn’t like me!” and “What, no smile?” I liken it to a dog versus cat analogy. Most dogs, especially puppies, love attention. They will wag their tails and pant delightedly when you approach them with kindness. Try that with a cat and they will probably hide under a couch, or even let out a defensive hiss. But if you have a little patience and wait for that cat to come to you, the purr will soon follow. You have to work harder with cats, I think. And same goes for my kids.

And isn’t it worth it? Check out that smile.

Anyhow, back to music class. Poor Bunky couldn’t handle it when she was around LG’s age. It was too loud, too crowded, simply too MUCH for her sensory sensitive disposition. (Then again, it was also very close to her diagnosis.) We’d go to class and end up sitting in the waiting area until I finally accepted defeat and left. Little Guy hops out of his stroller and grabs my hand and in we go. He says his name out loud (to my utter astonishment and delight) when it’s his turn. While he often stays on my lap and in my arms, I know he’s having fun. I feel his joy. He cries when it’s time to leave.

But Little Guy being very un-Bunky-like, is able to be distracted and cheered up by the next thing. Which is the farmer’s market. The first thing we do is buy a bag of crunchy apples and then stroll over to watch the blue grass trio pluck their guitars and breathe magic into their harmonicas. I love this trio of gray-haired musicians. They are sweet with the crowd of children who are their audience, but it is clear that they are mainly doing this for themselves. They can’t not play these instruments and sing these songs.

Little Guys senses this, I think, and he wiggles his legs while he nibbles on his apple. Up above the canopy of the stroller, however, I am not eating an apple. I am eating a honey corn raspberry muffin with a crumble topping. The GLUTEN kind.

You had to wait a long ass time for the recipe tie-in, didn’t you? Sorry, but you know how I tend to ramble. Which is maybe why I’m not on Twitter. One reason, anyhow.

So, I’ve been wanting to duplicate these in a GF way for a a long time, and now, finally, I have succeeded. I opted to skip the raspberries because I just couldn’t rationalize the crazy price so I went with strawberries instead. Since strawberries have an extremely high water content you have to be frugal with how many slivers you put in, otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy (but sweet) mess. I experimented with one batch by doing some with strawberries, some without. Some with a delicious crumble topping, some without.

The result? I liked the strawberry with crumble topping the best. My husband preferred the straight up crumble ones. Bunky had none of it because there was no chocolate inside. But my friend and her sons loved them all. Success!

Gluten Free Honey Corn Muffins + Strawberries (optional) + Crumble Topping 

(based on this recipe from The Fountain Avenue Kitchen blog)

Bringing the cold ingredients to room temperature before mixing will prevent the melted butter or coconut oil from re-hardening once added. Removing the muffins from the oven as soon as they are cooked through is the key to keeping them moist.

Muffin recipe:

• 1 cup sifted stone ground gluten free cornmeal (145 grams sifted)
• 1 cup gluten-free flour blend*
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend contains it)
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (one 6-ounce cup) 2% or nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk (any kind works)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sugar (can omit this for less sweetness)
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or butter**
• 3-4 strawberries sliced into thin slivers (optional)

For the crumble topping (I halved this Food.com recipe):

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chilled diced butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. (You can use liners, but I find the muffins can stick to the papers.)
3. In a large bowl, sift the cornmeal. (This is not totally mandatory, but I found that that NOT sifting made for a grittier texture and slightly bitter flavor.) Add gluten-free flour blend, baking soda, baking powder, xantham gum and salt. Whisk to blend.
4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add the yogurt, milk, honey, and melted coconut oil or butter and whisk to combine well.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well, to activate xantham gum.
6. I like to use my ice cream scoop to fill the 12 muffin cups easily and without (too much) mess.
7. If desired, now is the time to add the strawberries. Take three thin slivers and place on top of each to each muffin. Press down gently. They don’t have to be submerged, they will sink while cooking.
8. Bake for 5 minutes. While baking, made crumble topping by placing the ingredients in a small bowl

    and mixing together with a fork until crumbly.

9. After 5 minutes of baking, take the muffins out and add crumble topping.

   Continue baking until cooked through, 5-8 more minutes or until a knife runs through clean.

*My (current) GF Flour Mix is 60% whole grains (millet and sorghum) and 40% starches (sweet rice and potato starch), all certified gluten free from Bob’s Red Mill that I mix myself using my kitchen scale and giant plastic canister. See here for details, or use what you have.

**Using coconut oil (particularly the healthier unrefined version) will give a slight yet distinct coconut flavor to the muffins. I love coconut, so this was a bonus, but my daughter doesn’t and she noticed it right away. If you don’t like coconut, then just use melted butter instead.

Below, a muffin pictorial and a bonus picture of my Bunky, who has a new hairstyle!

Strawberry with no crumble topping.

Strawberries add a nice moistness to the muffin.

The crumble topping rocks. Unclear what’s inside.

I’m about to dork myself out, but look at that interior crumb. Gorgeous, right? Ha. No, but seriously.

And finally, may I present, the Bunky’s new look…

BANGS!!

I’m happy to have shared this post at the Gluten-Free Friday’s link up party hosted by Vegetarian Mamma. Click the link to find more great GF recipes!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

In my home, it’s hard to bake anything without chocolate. I see recipes on Pinterest for lovely looking lemon vanilla sugar cookies and gorgeously frosted banana maple donuts, but I don’t make them. My family demands chocolate. Even Little Guy, who is not yet two, bites the chocolate chip off the top of his mini pumpkin muffin first and then goes rooting around for more. 

So when it comes to pumpkin season, which everyone knows is now (unless you live under a rock) I automatically add chocolate to my recipes, with the exception of pumpkin pie, which incidentally no one in my family enjoys but me. I thought this pumpkin + chocolate thing was universal, but after doing some reading on foodie blogs, it seems not everyone agrees.

They go so naturally together, don’t you think?

This recipe could go either way, but since my family demands chocolate that’s the route I take. You could skip it and frost with some decadent cream cheese frosting, or squirt some inside like the recipe I adapted mine from does, but that goes against one of my daughter’s very strict food rules, which I learned about the hard way a few years back after an unfortunate vomiting episode: cream cheese should never be sweet. Hence, the chocolate. 

No matter how you swing it, this recipe is a keeper. I made these a few weeks ago while trying to stock up on healthy school breakfasts before Bunky started kindergarten. They were so popular I made them twice that first week, and now again. It’s a great way to use a 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree, since each batch uses about a half a can. (Reason enough to double the recipe, which I haven’t actually done yet so if you do let me know how it goes.)

Final thing before I get down to business: don’t be concerned about the seemingly long ingredient list. The spices make it appear busy, but in fact this recipe comes together very fast and easily. You know I have no time for any fussiness in recipes. Not with a kid crawling up my leg.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Yield: 9 regular size + 12 minis (or 12 regulars and a handful of minis)

[Measurements are in weight and volume because I am kind of a dork about my kitchen scale.]

1 + 1/2 cups GF Flour Mix* (200 grams)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 + 1/2 tsps cinnamon
sprinkle of ginger (or up to 1/4 tsp)
sprinkle of nutmeg (or up to 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup coconut palm sugar** or sugar of your choice (about 140 grams)
1/2 cup canola oil (90 grams)
1/4 cup milk, any kind is fine (60 grams)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (approx half of a 15 oz can is about 220 grams)
1 cup chocolate chips

* I sifted my coconut palm sugar because it’s kind of grainy and that seemed to do the trick. It made me use a bit more to get the measurement right, but I tossed the harder crunchy pieces back in the bag cause it’s great in my coffee (not to mention rather pricey).

Notice the price tag is scraped off because I can’t stand to look at how much I paid for it.

Speaking of the bag, look at the back! It’s the gluten free world’s very own Carol Kicinski, of the great recipe blog Simply Gluten Free and it even features a GF recipe. Score!

Ok, finally (!) The Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin tins with cupcake liners, or spray.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together GF flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, spices, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, oil, milk, vanilla extract, and pumpkin until smooth. Slowly add in dry ingredients, mixing well.

4. Now would be the time to fold in the chocolate chips. But I often leave some minis plain so Little Guy can eat some before his nap without me stressing about him having a chocolate high. I was feeling rather generous, however, so I plopped one chip in the center of his minis.

A very un-photogenic pic of my unbaked goods.

5. Fill each prepared liner about 3/4 full with pumpkin batter. Bake the regular sized muffins for about 15-18 minutes and the minis for 8-10, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let muffins cool about 2 minutes in pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in air proof container or freeze.

**My (current) GF Flour Mix is 60% whole grains (millet and sorghum) and 40% starches (sweet rice and potato starch), all certified gluten free from Bob’s Red Mill that I mix myself using my kitchen scale and giant plastic canister. See here for details. But you can probably use most kinds of ready made all purpose GF mixes, including your own. If your mix already includes xanthan gum, then please – for the love of your stomach – don’t add any more.

And finally, having nothing to do with baking whatsoever, please enjoy this hilarious and adorable pic (in my humble and totally biased opinion) of my kids playing dress up, big sister style.

On the Cusp: One Last Summer Recipe

First, let me just update you about Bunky and kindergarten. If you’ve been following my insanity here, you know I’ve been kind of a mess leading up to the big day. Well, you’ll be happy to know all my worrying was a waste of time (as worrying pretty much always is). Day 1 went well, and though there have been some minor bumps and adjustments, things are pretty awesome. Fingers crossed it continues to be.

First day of school dress.

Fall is nearly upon us, at least here in New York. And so is apple picking season, yay!

The air is all crispy and so are the leaves. Little Guy is loving how they crunch under his feet. The look on his face when he saw the playground covered with fallen leaves was priceless. And don’t even get me started on what he thinks about pumpkins. I think I have another fall fan here.

Fall is about pumpkins, apples, and let’s not forget about pie. Fall is savory stews and soups and maybe, just maybe, using my five year old crockpot for the first time. Fall is the time for hunkering down, cuddling up, and wearing thick socks inside (especially when you live above your apartment’s parking garage). Fall is about tucking in for winter.

But first, while we hover on the cusp of the seasons, let’s squeeze in one last summer recipe before the pumpkin recipes start rolling in. Let’s be honest, they already are rolling in, because pumpkin recipes rock, but so do ones with tomatoes. Am I right?

This recipe is an old standby for us, and was in our gluten days. The first time I made this GF it was a disaster. The rice pasta was slimy and disgusting. I remember shoveling it into my mouth with a forced smile. No one was fooled. I don’t think I made it again for a year. But that was way back when I didn’t know how to cook GF pasta. Or which kinds to buy. But I do now. We either use Bionaturae or Farabella penne, but pick your own fave.

I don’t have exact measurements because this is the kind of recipe you taste along the way. Some people may like more or less balsamic vinegar, for example, so start with less and add if necessary. The less liquid-y this meal is, the better.

You can also add a couple of cooked chicken breasts cubed, for some animal protein, which my husband likes, but I prefer it without. Your call.

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Pasta

This was made with rigatoni out of necessity, but I think penne is better.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of GF pasta, we like penne
• vine ripened tomatoes, 4-6 depending on the size – or whatever tomatoes you find at your local farmer’s market
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella, the tastiest you can find
• fresh basil, roughly chopped
• balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta NOT according to the directions (ha) but the way you KNOW works. I often cook ours significantly less than the package says. When it doubt, test it after about 6-8 minutes. You don’t want it overcooked. Blecch. Drain water using a colander and run the pasta under cool water to stop it from cooking, and then add a glug or two of olive oil so it doesn’t stick inside the colander. Check out this link and this one for some advice on cooking GF pasta successfully. It is NOT necessarily intuitive.

2. Chop tomatoes into small-ish cubes. You may want to get ride of some if not most of the juicy seeds and innards so your final dish isn’t too soupy. Put into a large bowl.

3. Cube up fresh mozzarella. Try not to eat too much of it while doing so. Add to the bowl.

4. Make sure pasta is cooled (so as not to melt the cheese) and add to bowl as well.

5. Now it’s time to make the magic happen. Carefully add a glug or two of balsamic vinegar. Then the olive oil. Mix and taste. Add more of one or both if necessary. The balance of acid and oil is key and particular to your own palate. Trust yourself, here. You can’t go too wrong. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Finally, toss the chopped basil and mix gently.

Dinner is served. Easy and delicious. (As long as you’re not me two years ago gagging down squishy overcooked GF pasta. I shiver just thinking about it.)

Now, before we say farewell to summer, please enjoy my children as sand creatures.

My little mermaid.

And her mostly companion. (That’s from Eloise, if you don’t know.)

My mini merman.

Oh, I will miss summer.

But here’s hoping fall will be pretty great, too.

Gluten Free Breakfast Goodies and a Dose of Nostalgia

Bunky starts kindergarten on Monday. I’m coming out of denial, finally. Celiac letters have been written, teachers have been contacted (and they got back to me pronto, which is promising). Her outfit – three quarter sleeve purple dress with black stars – has been selected (by her, pretty much the second she saw it at Target). She is ready.

Me, not so much. But that’s okay. I’m kind of realizing that’s how it goes. Times passes, kids grow up, leaving us parents gasping for air. How did time go by so fast? Wasn’t my girl just a baby in my arms (screaming her brains out)? Oh, I hate when cliches are true. It’s annoying.

When Bunky was a baby we took her to the local elementary school for an evening screening of the movie, “Yellow Submarine.” At the time the song was a huge part of our lives since we played it about seventeen (or more) times a day, often on high volume, as it was one of the only things that could stop our colicky infant from shrieking. It didn’t always work, and when it did, it was a temporary fix, but it kept us from going completely insane. I remember sitting in an audience and watching all the children skittering across the wooden floor, dancing, laughing, and talking with their friends. They looked so big. My husband and I glanced at each other over our baby’s downy head and smiled. Our girl would be going to school here, someday. But in the moment that had felt very far away.

Now, here we are.

Since B has celiac, I’m on lunch and snack and holiday and birthday duty all year long. That’s a lot of food planning for a person who is not such an awesome planner. On top of all that, there’s breakfast to consider. I’ve talked about B’s addiction to Cocoa Pebbles (thanks to her dad, also an addict). Not only is it like eating a bowl full of sugar, she’s starving an hour later. Not ideal for any day, but worse for school. She does love chocolate yogurt pops, which are healthy, but not very filling. So what to do? I found two winners that are now in my freezer waiting for launch.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins, modified from this awesome recipe on Cakes n’ Bakes.

Here are my adjustments:

• I skipped the cream cheese filling and added chocolate chips instead.
• My flour blend is about 60/40 whole grains (millet and sorghum) to starch (potato and sweet rice) and I added a teaspoon of xanthan gum.
• I went light on the ginger and nutmeg and added extra cinnamon.
• Instead of 1 cup of white sugar, I went with 1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar.

I plan on posting my modified version soon, once I completely eliminate the white sugar. I may sub all coconut sugar or try some maple syrup. Ideally, I’d like these breakfast muffins to be as healthy as possible, but with enough sweetness so my kid will eat them. It is a waste of time for me to make them uber healthy if she chokes on them. You realize I’m competing with Cocoa Pebbles here. Not easy. But possible, because she LOVES these muffins! I had to hide them in the freezer so they wouldn’t disappear by Monday.

My other breakfast success, a Nicole Hunn recipe for Gluten Free Oatmeal Bars. She calls them an after school boost, but I’m going with before school.

They taste way better than they look.

My changes:

• Almond butter instead of peanut butter, cause that’s the way I roll
• Just chocolate chips, no raisins or other healthy dried fruit
• 6 tablespoons of honey seemed like a lot to me, so I used 4 – plenty sweet

Bunky said she liked them, but we’ll see what happens when I slide one in front of her at breakfast. I also plan on packing small squares of them in her lunch. They are delicious and full of protein and oats, yum.

See these ladies?

Very popular summer craft project around here. Felt pieces glued on cardboard dolls. I draw the hair and dress patterns and Bunky cuts and glues. I will miss making these with B during Little Guy’s nap. But time marches on and school is fast approaching.

Yesterday was the first day it really felt like September. The sky was a crisp blue and the breeze was a perfect blend of cool-warm. We walked to the playground marveling at the perfect temperature while newly fallen leaves crunched beneath our feet. My girl was thrilled to wear one of her new school sweaters and pants.

The kid loves summer, but she is ready for autumn, for apple picking and gluten free donuts, for Halloween and Little Guy’s birthday. She reminds me of my mom, whose favorite season was fall, who lived for the cooler temperatures, fall foliage, and country drives, who loved pumpkin picking and Thanksgiving.

It makes sense that my mind is heavy thinking about my mom right now. It often is, but more so with this kindergarten milestone approaching. If she were alive I would be able to talk to her about releasing my girl into big kid school, we would be able to commiserate as mothers together. I could tell her that I get it now. I could thank her.

But since I can’t, I will hold her close in my heart, thinking of her, imagining her doing the same thing over three decades ago, as I wave goodbye to my daughter on Monday.