Pumpkin Bread

Okay, another of my favorites at the holidays is that amazing smell of Pumkin Bread!  MMMMM I can smell it now! Oh that's cuz I just made some!!  :)
I took my original gluten FULL recipe and lowered the sugar and the oil and made it gluten free and even better than before!!  It is amazing! (if I do say so myself!)

Okay, I better tell you first, this batch I make is a jumbo because that is how I have to bake for my family!  So you can 1/2 it if you want, or just make extra for your friends and neighbors!

Pumpkin Bread
1 large Can pumpkin (stick to Libby's, it really has the most flavor!)
1/2 C ground flax seed (you can get it at Costco now! also called Flax meal)
3/4 C oil
1 C applesauce
2 1/2 C sugar
5 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (mexican vanilla is best!)
Mix that really well. Then add dry ingredients:
4 3/4 C gf flour mix.  (I usually use 1/2 brown rice mixture and 1/2 rice powder mixture, or use all brown rice mixture because the rice powder mix makes it too fine.)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbl each - ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves

This makes 3 large loaves or 6 medium. I got some disposable medium size pans at Walmart that I reuse. I also make muffins with them.

Bake @ 350 for about an hour.  The large loaves take an hour.  The smaller I start checking at 50 minutes, but remember it always takes things made with rice flour longer to cook than normal!  so don't worry!
muffins take about 15-20 minutes.  minis take about 12. ENJOY!

Holiday Baking!

It's the holidays!!  My favorite baking season!!  And let me tell you, you can make some AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS goodies for the holidays!  I've been looking for a minute or two to share some of my favorites with you!   But what to start with...hmmmm.  Well, at our house, when we went gluten free, we started in the month of April.  I was doing fine, learning to make some good treats and I really didn't miss very much.  But then, the holidays came! And with the holidays comes a tradition in our family....Dad's sugar cookies!  He makes them, bakes them, and decorates them.  Well, he lets the kids help, but he doesn't just frost them, he literally decorates them!  So not only are they delicious, but they are beautiful! And we aren't just talking at Christmas!  For the Super Bowl he makes helmets with both teams colors and names on them.  At Halloween, we get ghosts, cats, pumpkins.  At Thanksgiving we get Turkeys and Pilgrims.  And of course at Christmas we get everything Christmassy!!  Even stockings with our names on it!!  I thought I was going to die with the first batch!  So after feeling sorry for myself, I got to work!!  And now, Dad still makes his, but we also have Mom's sugar cookies!!  They may not be as beautiful (I'm not quite as patient as Scott!  That's why he decorates all the birthday cakes too!!) but they are delicious!!  So for nestagia's sake, I will start with sugar cookies! 

Here is a picture of Scott's that he just made to send to our son, Tyler, who is on a mission in Guatemala.

Mine are equally FANTASTICAL,  I believe!

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

3/4 C shortening (even tho I am NOT a fan of shortening, it makes a difference if you don't use it!)

3/4 C butter softened

2 C sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla (mexican vanilla being my favorite!!)

Mix well, then add dry ingredients

5 C gf baking flour made with the RICE POWDER!  very important!!  if you don't know what that is, refer to the post about the baking flours. 

1 Tbl xanthan gum

1 Tbl baking powder

2 tsp salt

Mix together well.  Dough should be sticky.  Refrigerate 1 hour then roll out and cut!

Bake @ 400,  6-8 min

We frost them with your basic powdered sugar frosting.

A little butter (like a tablespoon maybe), a little milk,  a swig of vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make it thick!   ENJOY!!



WHITE BREAD - making it a little healthier!

White Bread - a little healthier!!


Okay, this is my latest go with my white bread. I like to try new ways to make it more healthy but make sure it still works out well. This one is great! I've only changed 2 things. I'm using honey instead of sugar, and millet flour instead of extra tapioca flour. So here is the new recipe:

Gluten Free White Bread


In mixer put:

3 C GF flour mix

1/2 C millet flour

3 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt


Mix together quickly then add on top - DO NOT MIX IN

1 1/2 Tbs yeast

In a seperate bowl mix together

1 ¾ C warm water

¼ C oil

¼ C honey
1 tsp rice vinegar (i use white or apple cider vinegar)


Pour this mixture on top of yeast and let it sit for about 3 minutes or until the yeast gets bubbly

Then add 3 eggs and mix. Scrape the sides and mix on HIGH for 5 minutes.

You can make 2 smaller loaves (for this I use my glass loaf pans) or 1 larger loaf (for this I use my stone loaf pan). I just like to make the smaller loaves. I feel like my kids don't waste so much bread that way!!
Spray your pans with pam and divide the dough among the pans. Put in a warm oven (170) for 30 minutes to rise. Then don't touch the pans, but turn your oven to 375 and bake for 40 minutes. When its done take it from the pan immediately and cool on a rack. Rub the top with butter. Let it sit atleast 15 minutes before trying to cut into it!

If your bread sinks, then you aren't mixing it enough. My bosch is really powerful so it's getting mixed well! If you have another mixer you may just want to mix it a little longer.

Mexican Chicken over Rice

Oh my jeepers!  I made the BEST dinner!!  It's always a toss up when I try something new if anyone will eat it or not.  I never use a recipe, I usually just start throwing things together!  At my house I rarely venture from the mundane, everyday list of meals my family will eat!  But this day all started when my daughter wanted a can.  A can you say?  Yes, she was fixing up her locker (that we have out in the garage) for school and she needed this little can which happened to have green chilies in it.  So I told her to go ahead and open it and I would use it for dinner!!  PLUS - now this is the bonus - I have been putting zuchinni in EVERYMEAL for the last few weeks!!  No one knows and it's a great way to use it!!  I usually put it in my little food chopper and chop it up fine.  I stick it in hamburger, in my tuna noodle casserole (no joke!) and everything!! 
So this is what I did...(and EVERYONE loved it and ate every drop!!)

Start with a crock pot -
put in 4 or 5 chicken breasts (I have 9 kids at home eating plus Scott and I and that's what I use)
throw on the green chilies
chop up an onion, zuchinni, peppers (the last of the little sweet peppers I had in my bag) and throw that on top of the chicken.  Then I poured on a little salsa (homemade by my husband!!) and then put in enough water to almost cover it all.  I threw in 4 chicken bouillion cubes (gf ones I get at winco). 
I started it about 1:00 in the afternoon and it cooked all afternoon on high. 
Then right before dinner I made a roux.  I used about 1/2 a cube of butter.  But I accidentally burned it!  I was so bummed!!  But did you know that burnt butter doesn't taste burnt?  So guess what?  I actually used it!  I then put in about 1/2 cup of rice flour and stirred it for a couple of minutes.  Then you slowly add milk to make a roux as thick as you would like.  But then I added that to the sauce in the crock pot.  I took the chicken out to cut it up into little peices ( or shred it) and made the sauce then added it all together!  It was yummy!
I served it over rice with quinoa.  I put1 cup quinoa and 3 cups rice in my rice cooker.  I did just white rice.  It is so yummy with the quinoa.  cook it the same as you would regular rice!  It's great!!

It really was yummy (did I say that already?).  You can use it as the insides of chicken enchiladas too!  That was the plan but I ran out of time. 
Anyway, good stuff!  If you don't try it, atleast I now have it written down for posterity!!

Monster Cookies

These cookies are the greatest gluten free cookies ever!!  Because they aren't just gluten free...they are flour free!!!  Okay, I guess I better do a disclaimer.  Now remember, oats aren't technically "gluten free".  You can buy gluten free oats tho.  So this recipe is great if oats don't bother you!  They don't bother us and we eat WAY too many of these!!!!  Maybe someday I'll add a picture!!!
Another hint - you need a powerful mixer to make these.  You will burn up a regular mixer on these.  I use my bosch with the cookie paddles. 

Just add the ingredients in order and mix as you go.  This is a HUGE batch!  If you don't have 10 kids like me, and you are just making them for the fam, then I suggest you 1/2 this recipe!

MONSTER COOKIES

6 eggs
2 C brown sugar
2 C white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp karo syrup
4 tsp baking soda
2 cubes butter
3 C peanut butter (I sometimes use some Nutella- yum!)
9 C oatmeal
12 oz bag of M&Ms (you can use just choc chips too)

When I don't have M&M's I use choc chips, butterscotch chips and white choc chips together!!   That's my favorite!!

When it is mixed well, drop onto cookie sheets and Bake @350 for 9-11 min.   ENJOY!!

Some Healthy Information!

Not exactly sure where the article came from, but this is all stuff I have known.  Hope you not only take the time to read it, but take some thought as to whether or not you feel it is worth the little changes it takes to bring about big changes in your body!!

EATING FRUIT...

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think.. It's important to know how and when to eat.

What is the correct way of eating fruits?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so if you eat the bread.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil....
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining — every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc — actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyesall these will NOT happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.



WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene — the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.



GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content.. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.



Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can u believe this?? For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.



A serious note about heart attacks HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!) Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.

A Time to Heal

I believe that the first step to true happiness in this life is Healing.  Healing our bodies, our minds, and our Hearts.  Most of us know where we need to heal, but often don't know how or where to start.  I think that's why God gave us each other.  I know I wouldn't be here today without the special people in my life that have directed my path. 

I believe that first and foremost we must heal our hearts spiritually.  Maybe that means we need to forgive someone, or let go of something we've been carrying for a long time.  Maybe we need to draw closer to our Savior through prayer and scripture study.  Maybe we need to get outside of ourselves and serve.  Or maybe we need to learn to love ourselves for who we are and find more gratitude to God for the gifts He has given us. 

The Second step in healing is helping our mental self.  Eating right is not only physical but has mental benefits.
The third step is physical.  Exercise, eating healthy, and using the things that God has given us on the earth to heal our bodies and our minds.  What a blessing it is to have Health.