Tasty Tuesday: Valentines' Day Treats

Today I wanted to share some really sweet Valentine's Day recipes I've found in hopes that y'all can help me narrow them down!! First up is a treat that would be for my husband. He is the ultimate baconholic and I love to incorporate bacon into gifts for him. For example, I get him a bar of this bacon chocolate every year for his stocking.  So imagine my delight when I saw this bacon bouquet on Our Best Bites!!

Really, what man wouldn't love this??

 I've also always wanted to attempt these conversation heart cookies:

So cute!  Just a little worried that the effect might be lost on a two year old who has never even seen a conversation heart!

Finally, we've started a bit of a tradition of fun holiday breakfasts around here, so I've been searching for the perfect Cupid meal!  I'm considering these red velvet pancakes, heart shaped cinnamon rolls and bacon,  or just using my pancake pen to make heart-shaped pancakes.  Thoughts??

What's on your menu for Valentine's Day?

Tasty Tuesday: Cinnamon Roll Cake Gluten Free

My little baby girl is sick today, y'all, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet... just like me ;)

{image via cookin' up north}

This is the recipe for the delicious cinnamon roll cake I made for breakfast on Christmas morning.  I adapted it to be gluten free of course and made a couple of other small tweaks, but the amazing original recipe is from here.


Cake recipes like this are really ideal for converting to gluten free.  I love regular cinnamon rolls, but yeast doughs just don't get the proper rise without gluten.  This cake also has the distinct advantage of being ready from start to finish in about an hour!


I recently had a reader email me asking for some tips about feeding her toddler who is about to start a gluten free diet.  I am, of course, going to email her personally, but her questions made me wonder if I should do a little series with tips on feeding kids with gluten and other food intolerances.  Let me know if you have any interest or any specific questions!

Here's my version!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cake
*One cake easily fed our very hungry group of 7 with a piece left over

Ingredients
Cake:
3 cups all purpose gluten free flour (if you don't have an AP flour you like, I recommend trying Better Batter.  Otherwise, substitute 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch)
1 tsp xantham gum (omit if using an AP that already has it, such as Better Batter)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

Topping:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour (more of your AP or you could also just use brown rice flour)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Icing:
2 c. powdered sugar
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (heated in the microwave for about 20 seconds to melt slightly)
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt

Directions 

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Beat the melted cream cheese, powdered sugar together in a bowl.  In a small ramekin, combine the milk, vanilla and salt.  Mix until salt is dissolved.  Add the milk mixture to the cream cheese mixture and beat until combined.  Spread over cake out of the oven.  You should have some extra, which I like to offer on the side for those who like even more decadence!  This is awesome enjoyed warm out of the oven but pretty delicious room temp too.

Linking up to Savvy Southern Style

Tasty Tuesday: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year y'all!I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve. I spent mine doing exactly what I wanted: chilling on the couch with my sweetie. I made a fun cheese plate and some champagne jello shots and we watched an old movie. It was perfect. We toasted, kissed at midnight and we were in bed by one!

I'm not really big on New Year's Resolutions, but I have been trying out a new system for establishing habits and I hope it continues to be successful this year.  I am full of hope and optimism about 2013 for our family.  It's a far cry from how I felt last New Year but I really am happy and I can't wait to see what the year brings.

For those of you hoping to start the year cooking more or eating healthy, here is a delicious recipe I made up for gluten free banana avocado muffins.  They are very moist and rich, but full of healthy things like banana (obviously), avocado, flax, and pecans.  Phillip and I are eating a couple of them for breakfast every day right now. 

Gluten Free Banana Avocado Muffins
Makes 36 mini muffins


Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I use Better Batter, but any blend with xantham gum will do.  If you don't have a blend, I recommend 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch, and 1/4 cup potato starch, plus 1/2 teaspoon of xantham gum)
• 1 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 ripe avocado, mashed
• 2/3 cup honey
• 3 tbl cooking oil (any but olive!)
• 1 tbl vanilla
• 1 egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 and grease two mini muffin pans
• Whisk flour, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat mashed bananas, avocado, hoeny, oil, vanilla, and egg until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three additions, mixing until combined.
• Stir in nuts
• Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake about 15-17 minutes until top springs back when lightly touched.



Update and a Recipe

Well, there's nothing like parenthood to humble you just a bit.  I read a pretty hilarious quote the other day, and it really resonated with me: "My child is standing in the way of me being the parent I always dreamed I would be."

I love my son to death, but he challenges me in ways I never knew I could or would be challenged.  Let's be honest, I was probably a bit naive, but I just assumed that if I did all the "right" things, then he would basically turn out a certain way.  I'm certainly not downplaying my importance, or the important role of parents in general, but I think maybe parents (read ME) would be a lot less stressed if they accepted that there are so many things you can't control.

For example, I was always told that if I ate a varied diet while pregnant and breasted that my son would have a natural taste for lots of varied foods, including vegetables, which I love!  Sounds great right?  I was also led to believe that if I made my son healthy baby food, held back grains, did baby led weaning, etc. that he would naturally learn to explore and love a variety of foods.  But, Phillip had his own special plan. 

Needless to say, my tough love two days just did not work.  He basically didn't eat at all.  And it made us both incredibly stressed.  One thing I have learned about parenting (at least when it comes to me as that parent!), is that if something doesn't feel natural to me, it can be the best idea in the world, but it just won't work.

So, at least for now, until he's capable of a bit more reasoning, I'm going back to my old methods of feeding him.  I homemake 90% of what he eats and try to make the healthiest options I can out of what he will eat, throwing in some rejected and new foods a few times a week.

And, we're back to baking together :)  This is a recipe from the kid's cooking site "Weelicious."  I have her cookbook and have had success with many of her recipes.  This is just one example of the types of recipes that I convert to gluten free and make for Phillip for breakfast.

  Oatmeal On the Go Bars
From Weelicious with a few changes!

Ingredients

• 2 cups old fashioned oats (Bob's Redmill Gluten Free Oats)
• 1 cup gluten free flour (I use Better Batter, which is a rice, potato, tapioca blend with the xantham gum mixed in - highly recommend!)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup milk (any kind of milk — rice, almond, soy, cow’s — will work)
• 3 tablespoons agave
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries, and/or cherries)
• 1/2 cup nuts (walnuts, sunflower seeds, and/or pepitas)
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. Mix the milk, applesauce, egg, agave, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, stir to combine and then stir in the dried fruits, nuts, and chocolate chips.
5. Pour the oatmeal mixture into a buttered or greased 7 x 11 inch baking dish.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until thickened and golden.
7. Cool, cut into squares and serve.

*Allow to cool, cut into squares and place in a ziploc bag to freeze up to 4 months. When ready, allow to defrost in fridge for 24-48 hours.

*Refrigerating the bars will make them last up to 5 days.

What I'm Making... For Breakfast!

I like to start the Peanut off each day with a hot breakfast.  I'm not a huge breakfast person and I guess he takes after me, but I have a few delicious breakfast tricks up my sleeve to entice him to eat a little something!  One of his absolute favorite
breakfasts is pancakes.  It may sound like a lot of work for a weekday morning, but the great thing about pancakes is that I can make a batch and he'll eat a couple and then I'll freeze the rest.  Then on another morning I can pop a couple in the microwave for about 30 seconds and they are hot and ready to go!  I do the same thing with muffins too.


I usually keep it simple with plain pancakes topped with butter, but today I made a fun variation:  Nutella Swirl Pancakes!

Nutella Swirl Pancakes
*Makes 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bisquick (I use the gluten free version of course!)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• nutella
• butter

Directions:  Mix the bisquick, milk, egg, oil, and vanilla in a bowl until just blended.  Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  For this next step you can use a few different techniques.  One is to use a pastry bag.  Another is to use a ziplock bag and cut off a corner.  The last one is to simply plop on the nutella with a spoon!  I usually do the ziplock bag.  Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and drop batter in to the pan using about 1/4 cup for each pancake.  If you have the nutella in a pastry bag or ziplock, simply pipe thin vertical lines down each pancake.  Then use a tooth pick to swirl the nutella in a marbled pattern.  If you prefer the spoon method your nutella will just be dropped on and will be more concentrated in clumps.  Cook pancakes until sides are dry and then flip.  Cook until golden and devour!!