Gluten Free Fruit & Nut Breakfast Bread

All I can say is, "Yum!" This one is for all my nut loving homies out there. Pour yourself a cup of coffee or hot chai and get ready to be tempted to bake.



I found this recipe on The View from Great Island while hunting for low sugar recipes using almond flour. Before our lower carb diet I used to regularly bake a banana nut bread for Matthew to eat with his second cup of coffee at work. I switched it up sometimes with a pumpkin loaf in the fall or a zucchini bread in the summer. It's been so long since I've baked a quick bread that even Mateo noticed. He also loves Mama's banana bread. 

When I came upon this recipe the skies cleared, the sun shown brightly, and birds everywhere began singing a new song. Just kidding, but I knew I had stumbled onto something wonderful. I can just tell with recipes now. This bread did not disappoint.

What Matthew and I love about this bread is that the batter is basically in existence to hold together a whole bunch of nuts and dried fruit. Thank you Sue from The View from Great Island. You have totally made our year.





I toasted my nuts to get the best flavor out of them.





I chopped up some cranberries, golden raisins, figs, and prunes.





I mixed up my almond flour batter,





... added my nuts and fruit,





... poured the batter into a parchment lined tin, and baked for 40 minutes.

My baked beauty.

Wrap the bread in foil and keep it in an airtight container or ziplock bag in the fridge overnight.

Look at all those nuts and fruit.

Slice it the next morning to set yourself up for a spectacular day. I store all my quick breads in the fridge wrapped in foil and in a ziplock bag and usually slice as I go each day. They just stay fresher that way.

My morning slice always gets toasted and buttered. Sooooooooooooooo good!! I wanna try a version with pistachios, dried cherries, and dark chocolate chips.

Visit The View from Great Island for this recipe.

What's for Dinner? Buffalo Chicken Sheet Pan Nachos

Chant with me, "Na-chos! Na-chos! Na-chos!" 

Some of us are addicted to nachos. Some of us think that nachos are one of the best dishes in the whole wide world. Some of us could eat nachos every night - BBQ pulled pork and pineapple nachos, pizza nachos, roasted vegetable nachos... . There is no end to what you can do with a bag of corn chips and some cheese.




I started with a pan full of chips. Here's your blank canvas nacho artists. I lined my baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up and to protect my chips from getting too toasty.



I topped these babies with cheddar and grilled chicken and popped them into a really hot oven for 10 minutes or so. The oven toasts the chips enhancing their corny and chipy flavor. Oh yeah!



Then I drizzled on the buffalo sauce and some sour cream, topped them with celery, green onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, and crumbled blue cheese, and tried not to dive in before they made it to the dinner table.

We kicked our diet's butt with these buffalo chicken nachos. Matthew and I took down almost the whole pan. I also made a small tray of plain nachos for the boys.

Buffalo Chicken

Sheet Pan Nachos

INGREDIENTS

1 bag corn tortilla chips

About 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 ½ cups grilled chicken, diced

½ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped green onions

1/3 cup sliced tomatoes

1/3 cup sliced jalapeños

1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup buffalo chili sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. Layer desired amount of chips onto pan. Top with cheese and chicken. Bake about 10 minutes until cheese is melted and chips are a little toasty.

3. Drizzle on buffalo sauce and sour cream.

4. Top with chopped veggies and crumbled blue cheese.
5. Serve with additional buffalo sauce.

6. Dive in!

Living with a Highly Creative Child

Mateo is one of a kind. He's got creativity oozing out of his pores. Ezra enjoys drawing and creating as well, so I have to keep supplies at the ready whenever their creative juices start to flow.



These days I have to buy 2 to 4 drawing pads a week. I keep certain supplies out on our supply cart at all times: stickers, glue sticks, scissors, a hole punch, markers, crayons, color pencils, and drawing pencils. Messier supplies only come out when we are doing special projects and I'm there to monitor their usage. I also have to make the boys ask for tape now as we have spent many an evening peeling tape off of furniture, walls, carpet, etc.

Keeping supplies handy allows the kids to grab what they need and create things like these...

Ezra wants to be a police man if the whole race car driver thing doesn't work out.

Lego Superman

Minion mayhem.

Teo is in the process of making a Frankenstein piñata for Ezra's birthday in four months.

Homemade race tracks.

... without this busy mama needing to stop what I'm doing to pull out supplies for them.

While they really enjoy planned art projects and following instructions to make a special craft, they also need space to themselves to put onto paper or boxes, or wherever (just not on the walls), what is in their minds and hearts.

As the boys grow older I'd like to hone some of their artistic abilities in personalized ways. Giving them some freedom to creatively explore is also important to me. We art together and we art apart. That's just how we do it around here.

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Sandwich Cookies

I can't stop with the lemon and poppy seed combo.

Here's another treat made from a doctored gluten free cake mix.

I came across a recipe on the Betty Crocker website for making cookies using their gluten free cake mix. I had to try it.

I added a nice punch of lemon zest and a sprinkling of poppy seeds.

The cookies turned out light and crisp and bursting with lemon flavor.

I turned these little cookies into sandwich cookies with a dollop of vanilla frosting in between. They're almost like lemon poppy seed Oreos.

GF Lemon Poppy Seed Sandwich Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 2 large lemons

1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
For Frosting:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets (as many as you have) with parchment paper.

2. Beat 1/2 cup butter with a hand or stand mixer for 30 seconds.

3. Add cake mix and mix until combined.

4. Beat in egg, vanilla, lemon zest, and poppy seeds until well combined.

5. Scoop cookie dough by the teaspoon full and roll into a ball.

6. Place balls about an inch apart on cookie sheets and flatten a little with the back of your teaspoon measuring spoon.

7. Bake 7 or 8 minutes.

8. Cool on pan for 2 minutes. Then transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.

9. For frosting, beat 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup shortening with hand or stand mixer for 30 seconds.

10. Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar.

11. Beat in vanilla.

12. Beat in second cup of powdered sugar.

13. Beat in teaspoon of milk and scrape down bowl.

14. Beat for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

15. Place a small dollop (about a teaspoon and a half) onto one cookie. Put another cookie on top and gently push together so frosting spreads evenly.

What's for Dinner? Frozen Pizza and Cocktails

Some nights I am just done. Sunday nights are usually that way. We often go grocery shopping that day - with all three kids - after church - and after lunch at a restaurant - with all three kids. We must be crazy.

When we get home, I put Nora down for her nap while Matthew unloads the groceries and the boys wander around aimlessly. We are all tired at that point and making dinner is the last thing I want to do.

Soda for the boys, cocktails for Mama and Daddy.

Enter in my beloved Freschetta gluten free frozen pizza. We can easily take down two of these babies now that the boys eat 2 to 3 slices each. Nora can take down a piece as well. It's one of her favorite foods. 

I doctor one pizza for Matthew and I by adding sliced onions and jalapeños, sometimes pepperoncinis - whatever I have on hand. We also love to throw them on the grill. The pizza tastes like you cooked it in a pizza oven. Just set your grill to about the same temp you would cook your frozen pizza in the oven and cook it for about the same time, maybe a little longer. Keep an eye on it.



This past Sunday the hubster and I needed a little "encouragement" after a really long day so I juiced the last of my pink grapefruit and whipped up one of my favorite cocktails to go with our easy pizza dinner. Ordinarily I would use spiced rum for this recipe, but since I was out, I subbed white rum and a few dashes of some lovely cardamom bitters that my neighbor made.

We enjoyed this no fuss meal out on our deck. The weather is so fine in the evenings. Fresh air, a cool breeze, dinner on a picnic table without any frills or napkins, and a charming fresh little cocktail to help us let go of the cares of the day. Sayonara stress. See you on Monday.

Pink Grapefruit & Honey Cocktail

INGREDIENTS
the juice of 3 large pink grapefruit, strained
3 oz honey simple syrup, maybe more (recipe follows)
3 oz spiced rum, maybe more (or 3 oz white rum and a couple of dashes bitters)

DIRECTIONS
1. Shake with ice or stir together and refrigerate until cold.
2. Taste and add additional rum or simple syrup according to your liking.
3. Serve over ice.
* Makes about 4 cocktails.

Honey Simple Syrup

INGREDIENTS
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup honey
2 cups water

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium pot and heat on low until sugar is dissolved, stirring frequently.
2. Cool completely and store in fridge.

The Dinner Table

Have you ever envied one of those pretty dinner tables in a magazine or home boutique or on your favorite show where everything looks just beautiful? The table is set with gorgeous dinnerware and brand new linens, shiny serving spoons, and spot free glasses. The food is bright and colorful and fresh. The family is smiling and wearing clean shirts, and their hair looks nice. I like that. That's nice.

That's not my dinner table. My little boys sit down with dirty hands, dirty shirts, and hair set in all kinds of sweaty directions. My hubby is usually still wearing his work uniform with stress all over his face. Me? A mama whose hair looks like a whole bunch of matted carpet trying to keep baby girl from throwing her food overboard. Our table is set with mismatched dishes on a surface that's half covered with school stuff. Paper napkins are balled up in the middle of the table from the last time one of the kids grabbed a napkin and got too many and put them back in a kid kinda way (sigh).

Sometimes all I can get on the table is a brown colored casserole of some sort sans a veggie, side dish, or any other accompaniments. At least it's usually delish and easy for all of us to shovel into our mouths while catching up on each other's tough days.

Ezra set the table on this particular day. He insists on pulling out the candles every time he does.

There we are. That's us. I sit there exhausted with my exhausted husband and my hyper kids that can't stay in their seats and my over-tired baby girl who missed her afternoon nap... again. Those cute dirty faces staring back at the tired ones barking orders at them. The little faces that won't be little for very long. My husband's gentle hand on my back as I voice my frustrations about which kid did what that day. "Me and you," he says. "Me and you," I say back. One of the boys asking for more casserole and complimenting his mama. "This is good. You make the best casseroles Mom." The knowledge that we'll all be back at that table again, God willing, the next evening - still dirty, still tired and stressed, hungry all over again. Dirty faces and tired faces all there together at the dinner table. I like that. That's nice.

What's for Dinner? Oven Fried Tofu

Any tofu lovers out there? I first fell in love with this stuff after eating fried tofu in authentic Chinese restaurants. I used to fry it at home until I saw a recipe for an oven roasted version. It pretty much fries in the oven without all the splatter. Splatter me no likey.

I prep my tofu by wrapping it in multiple layers of paper towels, setting on a cutting board, and placing my cast iron skillet on top of it for at least 30 minutes. You want to press out a lot of that extra moisture.




I cube my tofu into bite size pieces when I'm tossing it into a stir-fry. The little cubes get generously sprayed with oil spray and generously sprinkled with salt and pepper on both sides.




Roast your perfect little cubes at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. You can turn yours over half way through for even browning and crispiness. I find that way too much work, so I just let it get really crispy on one side. It tastes just as good.




For this particular dinner I put my tofu into a simple cabbage stir-fry. I didn't have stir-fry sauce on hand and have been trying to cut down on sugar anyway so I used toasted sesame seed oil, red pepper flakes, fresh ginger, garlic, onions, and soy sauce for flavor.




If you've read my post on stir-frying you'll remember that you barely want to cook your veggies. You want them to retain a good amount of crunch. This cabbage is perfectomundo right here.




Toss in your "fried" tofu and you're good to go. You can serve as is for a low carb dinner or over a small bed of rice or noodles. For extra deliciousness, stir fry cooked noodles in a little bit of toasted sesame oil with red pepper flakes and garlic.

Oven Fried Tofu & 

Stir-fried Cabbage

INGREDIENTS
1 lb firm or extra firm tofu (use 2 lbs for a big family)
olive oil spray
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 Tbsp soy sauce

DIRECTIONS
1. Wrap tofu in several layers of paper towels, place on a cutting board, and put a heavy skillet on top. Leave for at least 30 minutes to get some of the moisture out.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray generously with oil spray.
4. Cube tofu and lay cubes on your sheet pan. Spray generously with oil spray and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Turn cubes over and repeat.
5. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes until desired color and crispiness. Check after 20 minutes. You can turn your cubes over at the half way point for even browning and crispiness, if you desire.
6. Heat sesame oil on high heat in a large skillet or wok until screaming hot.
7. Add red pepper flakes and cook for a few seconds. Then dump in the rest of your ingredients and cook for a few minutes. You want the veggies to remain fairly crisp.
8. Sprinkle in soy sauce and toss in tofu, stirring to combine.
9. Serve with extra soy sauce and sriracha sauce.