GF pancakes and yum

I love to cook. I love to bake. I love to can. I love to sew. I love my family. I love to know.

I also love to eat. You could say I am addicted, but can you really be addicted to something you have to do to survive? Yes, you can be addicted to the wrong foods, like sugar. And it is in EVERYTHING!

So this morning I was hungry. I of course needed to eat. But I have to make everything from scratch. I did a quick search and found a recipe for GF banana oat pancakes. Then I had a craving for something my dad made once.. so here goes. These have a strong banana flavor, you HAVE to use a very ripe banana.

Also the topping you see is something my dad made when I was young. He ALWAYS made a big breakfast on Sundays, pancakes or french toast or waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs. It was too much, and he would get upset that everyone didn't eat enough. But I LOVED this topping he made.

Banana Oat Pancakes

1 very ripe banana

1 cup GF oats (quick or regular)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup milk (any kind you can use) plus maybe a little more if needed

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBS honey, agave, maple syrup, etc

1 TBS ACV (apple cider vinegar)

Blend all in blender or blender cup until smooth. May need to add a little more milk if it gets too thick. Let stand a few minutes to let the oats soften after the blend.

Heat cast iron pan over med-low heat, you can use non-stick if you prefer. Grease your cast iron with grease of choice (bacon grease, coconut oil, butter). Pour or scoop 1/4 cup of batter and put onto hot pan, spread out. Cook until golden brown, flip pancakes, again cook until golden brown.

Serve with  your preferred topping. This made six 4-inch pancakes that were thick, and a bit dense. Three filled me up!

The topping my dad made he did with I think Mrs. Buttersworth maple syrup, but I just use whatever maple syrup I have, real or fake. He also used Jif Peanut butter, but I can't use that kind it has soy in it.

PB YUM

1/4 cup soft butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup maple syrup

Put all in a bowl, mix with whisk, hand mixer or wooden spoon until everything is mixed together and there are no lumps. Put into a jar or other storage container, store in fridge. No worries it softens on hot toast, hot pancakes and hot waffles no problem. 

I have a couple kids that will get a spoon and eat this that way as well. I think one even made a sandwich with it, no jelly, just this PB yum on bread. 

I hope you like it, let me know.

Part of the September Challenge

I am finally getting to my chicken broth. This is the broth I mentioned the other day. I am not canning it until tomorrow morning. BUT, I got the chicken backs baked! Our favorite seasonings on baked chicken are salt, pepper and paprika. Super easy, and super yummy!

Yes, I ate some of the cooked skins, delicious!

Then I through some mire poix (carrots, onions and celery), bay leaves, turmeric, garlic, salt and kale into my crock pots; today I used curly, dinosaur and purple kales.

I used 2 crock pots, that is why you get 2 pictures.

 

 Really pretty right? What next? I tossed 14 backs on to the pile of veg. 

This almost looks like some kind of fancy salad. Now I added water to cover everything.

My goodness, my mouth is watering just looking at that deliciousness. Now we have to wait about 24 hours cooking this on low. Sometime in the morning tomorrow or the next day I will strain the liquid, then can it in my pressure canner. My next batch will be smaller and will be for working on my recovery.

Now if I needed this because I was sick, or using this as a medicine during recovery, I would NOT can this. I would strain it, then put it in the fridge. The collagen (gelatin) and minerals in this broth are amazing for helping one to heal, and the canning process kinda kills them.

UPDATE: Ok, just pulled these out of the canner.

What to do today? Grind up some flour!

So I went to make some rolls for the family, and discovered I was out of flour. No worries, I usually grind my own grains to make my flour. So today I combined white hard wheat, kamut and barley. What grain mill am I using today? My FGM, aka Family Grain Mill. I got it from Pleasant Hill Grains, and it comes with some very neat attachments, but right now, I am making flour, so using the normal head.

 Because kamut is such a large grain, I decided to crack everything first.

After this I dial the setting to finest, and grind away.

As you can see this grinder is not as loud as my kitchen tec, and so I let the little one help me.

 

Next I will be putting this through my sieve and then grinding the germ again. Anything too big will be tossed to the worm bin, because those sharp edges break my gluten strands when making bread.

Crock Pot or Instant Pot Challenge WEEK #4 !!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving was the first day of this week. Can you believe it? Wow, almost done with this challenge. We used the instant pot for potatoes on Thanksgiving. And the ham was in the crock pot.
The Ham: This was a carvemaster ham from costco, and I just sliced it thin, and put the whole thing into the crock pot, with the juices in the package. Set it on low early in the morning so it was ready at 2pm. Because of little kids, I put it in a dish for serving so they could reach.

 The Spuds..  were fabulous! All we did was peel some russett potatoes, cut them into chunks and put them in the instant pot with 2 cups of water. Then we set it to steam for 8 minutes. Yes, some stuck to the bottom, but they were cooked and we mashed them, then my kiddo added half and half, garlic and parmesan.. The flavor was great!

This was my 8-qt instant pot. We only cooked up 15 potatoes. Creamy deliciousness

Drew's World Famous Garlic Mash
3 1/2 pounds of russet or Idaho Gold's potatoes, peeled and chunked evenly
Sauce: 2 TBS kosher salt
2 cups half and half
8 - 10 cloves of minced garlic
6 ounces of fresh grated parmesan cheese

Boil spuds in salted water until soft. While those cook, gently bring salt, half and half, garlic to low simmer. When spuds are done cooking and soft. DRAIN. Mash, then add sauce. Stir well. Then stir in parmesan cheese.
Serve with or with out gravy. Serve with a great side like filet mignon, lobster tail, or meat. Best with friends and family.

November 25.. I made a butternut squash soup in my crock pot. I didn't really follow a recipe. I roasted diced butternut squash, and one russett potato, an onion, and some garlic. AFter I roasted it in the oven for some more flavor, I put all that into the crock pot with chicken bone broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Set on low for about 6 hours. Then just before serving, I pulled out the bayleaf and used my stick blender to make it smooth. This soup was yummy and comforting. We had this with Thanksgiving leftovers.. I put the turkey in a glass casserole, poured the gravy over than, then the potatoes on top of that. I also rewarmed the leftover ham.   Nothing left, and everyone was full.

November 29th, I made up more hard eggs. Yes, I think I do this atleast weekly. We eat a lot of eggs, they are a complete protein and good for you. Again, did these in the instant pot. That was the end of Week 4.

I hope everyone was able to use their crock pots and instant pots this month. We use them often, but I think once life slows down a little, we will change our menu.. I am getting bored. It's hard when you are gluten free, soy free, corn free, and sugar free. I try but don't always succeed. 

Crock pot OR Instant Pot Challenge Week #1

Today is the first of the month, and this week's challenge runs from November 1 - 7. Let the sharing begin, and the eating, and getting those dusty recipes out you wanted to try but haven't. You don't have to do it everyday, but try to get one done at least once a week. I will post my pictures and recipes for this week here, after I make them. I kind of have a menu plan, but it doesn't mean I stick to it.

November 1st: Spaghetti Sauce

2 TBS of olive oil, bacon grease or butter
2 bay leaves
1medium onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 - 16 oz. cans tomato sauce
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 to 2 palmfuls of sugar

Caramelize onions in fat over med-low heat. Then stir in garlic to cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. . Add everything to crock pot, stir and cook on high 3 hours or low 6 hours. Or simmer on low for 1.5 hours in stock pot on stove.

I will brown up some hamburger or other ground meat and add a palmful of italian seasoning to it while it browns in a little water. When meat is cooked through I add a few ladles of finished sauce to desired consistency for spaghetti and sauce, or lasagna in a bun or pizza.

***I usually double the recipe and use a #10 can of tomato sauce instead of the other tomato products. Regular recipe uses 66 oz of tomato product, a #10 can is 105 to 110 oz. of tomato sauce. Still comes out good.

November 3rd: APPLESAUCE

The one on the right has cinnamon on it, the other one is plain, for now. I did applesauce back in 2012 too. Hubby bought a bushel of apples last week, and they were not crisp or juicy. So I decided to make applesauce with them. I peeled, quartered, cored, and then put the apples through the vidalia chop wizard, the BIG dice. And filled two 5-qt crock pots. Added a few splashes of lemon juice, then added cinnamon. I love the flavor of cinnamon in my applesauce. These will cook on low all night, and I will Water Bath Can (WBC) them in the morning, most likely in pints.
If you click on the title for this date, it will take you to my post about applesauce.

November 4th: EGGS, Carne Asada and "Mud" ! !

I LOVE how hard boiled eggs come out in the instant pot. They peel easily, and so simple. I prefer using large eggs, and I just put 1 cup of cold water into the inner pot, put in a flying saucer.

This is a flying saucer, aka steamer.

So put this shiny flying saucer into the inner liner of the instant pot.Add at least 1 cup of water.

Now it is ready for your eggs. I put in 18 large eggs today. These are not farm fresh eggs, although we all prefer those. Put the lid on, seal, and set to STEAM for 3 minutes. Then let natural pressure release for 10 minutes. I then take off the lid and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking.

My little guy likes to help in the kitchen, he was making sure all the eggs were under the ice.

They were, and once they were cold, we dried them, placed them in a plastic bag and put into the fridge.. I did snitch a hot egg, so yummy with a touch of salt.
If you do FRESH farm eggs from heavy breeds, then steam for 4 minutes. If they are bantam eggs, then steam for 2 or 3 minutes. I am not really sure, as I didn't have any bantam eggs when I had the instant pot. Duck eggs are a minimum of 4 minutes, possible 5 it really depends on how large they are. 

Next I had put some Carne Asada into my other instant pot. I am not sure which recipe I used, I found it in a google search, but it used juice from one orange, one lime and one lemon, and some chili powders, onion, garlic... It was not well received. We so wanted it to be yummy, but instead it just tasted like beef that was acid cooked, and the texture was just off. We still ate it as beef is $$$, but not a recipe we will be keeping.This is what was left.

After the eggs were done, I quickly used that instant pot again to make a "mud" cake. Again, not impressed, so not sharing the recipe. It was tough, too sweet yet bland, and blah. Nobody really liked it, and we all love a true mud cake.

Here it is, the "mud" in the instant pot before I put the lid on.  Next I put the lid on and cooked it for the 25 minutes on manual.

When it was fresh out it was softer, but looked rubbery. We let it sit a few minutes as it was so very hot.

We served the "mud" with some ice cream, as it needed it, but what I think it really needed was just some half and half. Again, NOT IMPRESSED. We will stick with the crock pot mud, that we love.
All in all this Sunday dinner was... not to be repeated. EVER.

November 6th: Loaded Southwestern Roasted Cauliflower Bisque

Honestly, when this was done I did not like the smell. But I took that first bite, and WOW, YUMMY.
If you click on the name, it is a link to the recipe. I am so glad I found this, it was good.
My changes. I used my Saratoga Jack Thermal Cooker, and made this at lunch time. Then at dinner time, heated up a little more, and pureed, then stirred in sour cream as I did not have half and half or heavy cream.

My girls and my little man did not love this. But they ate it. Everyone older than 18 had more than one bowl. It was yummy. And I am having the leftovers for lunches..

November 7th: More hard boiled eggs in the instant pot.
Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week!!

The GLUTEN FREE dilemna

Going gluten free is not the easiest thing to do. It is just unimaginable where you will find wheat and gluten! We are also corn free here, so we have already been avoiding that (and that is also unreal!).

At first when you have to eliminate something from your diet, all you can think of is that which you can no longer have. With corn you think of all those "wonderful" processed foods like cookies, chips, frozen junk etc.. Well with gluten/wheat it's bread. Candy. Cookies. Gravy. Some sausages. Donuts. Muffins. Bread. Buns. Croissants. Spaghetti. Mac and cheese. Bread. Gravy. Pizza. Sauces. Bread. Vanilla extract. Gravy. Some alcohols like beer, some rum, some vodka, some whiskey (IF you drink or make your own tinctures, medicines, or Vanilla).

Do you see what I mean? Do you see what you are missing? I used to make bread almost everyday. But since our last blessing was born I have had to be very dutiful in being GF. Why? Because not only do I react to it, but so does the baby. What am I missing? Nausea, stomach cramps, debilitating migraines, vomiting, acid reflux, itchy skin, abdominal pain that made me double over. Am I really missing anything? I think not.

I am learning to make things GF. Muffins come out reasonably good. Cookies, no problem. pizza..um.. not quite yet. Which is a bummer because Christmas 2013 I perfected my pizza crust recipe and it was AMAZING! So now I am working on perfecting a GF pizza dough recipe.

As for pasta, well, I am not really missing it. I use rice pasta. We tried buckwheat pasta, but it has a very strong distinct flavor. Quinoa pasta is hard to find not mixed with corn or soy. But to replace pasta, I just use rice pasta. Peaches likes hers with quite a bit of chew to it, so we don't cook it as long as directed. But really, I only miss lasagna and spaghetti.. but not really because I can use rice pasta or spaghetti squash.

If you look for what you CAN eat when on a special diet, the whole food world opens up. Here in Washington, so many people are gluten free it is awesome! Restaurants are being more and more accommodating. One of our favorite places to go will wrap your burger in lettuce or use a GF bun. They also inform you that their fries are NOT GF, AND neither is their guacamole :(  Which means their guacamole comes premade (yuck), honestly it isn't that hard to make!

So what can a GF person eat? Well for starters pretty much all of the produce department is GF. Same with most of the meat department, minus some sausages and seasoned meats. Some of the dairy department is also GF.

A great way to have organic free produce is to grow it yourself. Lettuce grows easily, so do snap peas, zucchini, cucumber, strawberries, onions, garlic, tomatoes (if you have a very sunny warm place), pumpkins, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, beets, spinach, kale, chard, collards... really you pay a little for some seed or starts and you have a plethora of veg and fruit for summer.. and you can freeze the extras! Or can them. Or dehydrate them..

So going with out.. You aren't really going with out. Feeling better is so worth it!

Chocolate Pots De Creme

Yes it is a dessert. But do you know how hard it is to find a dessert that is CF, GF, DF,  & SF that isn't just cut up fruit????? Super difficult! You can use any milk, any sweetener, and any extract you desire. Sorry, no picture, I have made this twice this week, and it just disappears too quickly!

Chocolate Pots De Creme
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips*
1 cup half and half **
2 eggs***
3 tablespoons sugar ****
2 tablespoons rum*****
dash of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat chocolate chips and half and half, stir until melted and combined. Take off heat. Cool slightly. Beat remaining ingredients. Gradually stir into chocolate mixture. Pour through a fine strainer into four 6-ounce custard cups or a corning ware dish.
Place cups or corning ware dish in pan on oven rack. Pour boiling water into pan to with in 1/2-inch of tops of cups. Bake 20 minutes for cups and 25 to 30 minutes for corning ware dish. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serves 4

*we used GF, CF, SF, DF semisweet chocolate, or dark baking chocolate (we prefer dark chocolate, for flavor and health benefits)
**I have used half and half, whole cow milk, coconut milk, almond coconut milk..
***we used organic farm fresh eggs (our own)
****I have used sugar, honey, and agave nectar.  I prefer honey. If using honey or agave nectar only use half as much as called for in recipe
*****NO rum here. But I have used a tablespoon of GF, CF REAL vanilla extract, GF/CF almond extract (1/2 tsp and then the rest vanilla)

This recipes is super easy to make, super easy to make dietary restrictions work in. ALL my kids love it. NO I do not refrigerate it for 4 hours. I let it cool 20 minutes, then stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes, and whalaa, yumminess.. if I can keep the kids out of it that long.  Yes I do strain it so there are no chewy egg chunks, which happens when the eggs curdle.. yuck.. But it still tastes good.