NourishingWhole

What We Did This Week: Halloween Edition

This week’s ‘What We Did’, will cover a little more than a week, because I can’t save Halloween for next week! Maybe I should change these to ‘What We Did This Weekend’, cause our week is pretty boring.

Wednesday we went to JoAnn’s and spent too much money on Christmas present stuff. And I started Mr. Z’s Halloween costume.

sewing-halloween-20161027 — Finshed Mr. Z’s costume with just the right amount of bobbin!

Friday, our MOMS Club had a little Fall/Halloween Party. The kids played and we all ate some yummy and fun halloween treats. Some of the kids also did a skeleton craft. We brought ‘Spiders’ on the Log (recipe at the end!).

moms-club-party

craft-time

a-ghost-and-his-alien-skeleton — Mr. Z made an alien skeleton with multiple heads.

Saturday, our church did a little community Truck or Treat in the parking lot and Mr. Z got to go and enjoyed himself. At the end, he was SWEATING!! It was 85 outside at 6 pm! Such a strange thing for us for Halloween.

trunk-or-treat

truck-ot-treat-2 — Hot and tired, “I just take a little rest right here.”

Sunday morning, Mr. Z and I loaded up and drove down to my mom’s parents to spend some time and to take Mr. Z trick or treating.

We had a great time, and even though the whole time Mr. Z kept asking to go home, he didn’t want to leave when it was time to come home. I am grateful that our move to Texas has brought us close to family. Mr. Z doesn’t get to grow up knowing my mom, but he gets to know her parents and a couple of her siblings that live close.

‘Spiders’ on a Log! This is really ants on a log, we just called them spiders because it was Halloween. I am always surprised when people tell me they never heard of this snack before. So now, world, enjoy a classic after school snack!

spiders-on-a-log-1

All you need to some celery, peanut butter, and raisins.

spiders-on-a-log-2

Wash and cut the celery stalks into “logs”, about 3 inches long.

spiders-on-a-log-3

Fill peanut butter.

spiders-on-a-log-4

Top with Ants! or Spiders! (or really with raisins!)

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ENJOY!

'Spiders' or Ants on a Log

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

A classic after school or afternoon snack that you or your kids can enjoy

Ashley Teare: Ashley Teare

Recipe type: Snack

Ingredients

Celery
Peanut Butter (or nut butter of choice)
Raisins

Directions

Wash and cut celery stalks into 3 inch "logs"
Fill with peanut butter.
Top with raisins (ants/spiders).
Enjoy!

Breakfast Favorite

I love food. I love to eat it. I love to make it. After years of saying I did not want to become a food blogger, I have given in and here I am. I want to make recipes that are easy, that do not require you to special order ingredients from Buddhist Monks in the high Himalayan Mountains. Finding a recipe that has a weird ingredient that you can’t find at your local grocery store is just annoying.

One of my favorite meals is breakfast. I do not understand how people can just have a cup of coffee for breakfast, even a bowl of cereal is too boring for me. Since going gluten free it has been harder to find decent breakfast pastry or baked goods, especially waffles and pancakes.

These waffles, I believe are so close to the real gluteny thing that you will never miss them. Add some real maple syrup and some butter, and it’s Saturday mornings as a kid all over again. We would have waffles on a regular basis a kid growing up. We always looked forward to dad making them.

Pure Maple syrup is a little strong, taste wise, for me, so I like to make Strawberry Syrup. We always have strawberries in the freezer, I use them a lot in smoothies (another breakfast favorite of mine!). If you start the syrup first they should finish about the same time, and you’ll have wonderfully warm syrup for your delicious waffles.

I am a syrup dipper, but Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Z are both “syrup must be in every square” people. I feel a little better about letting Mr. Z have a syrup soaked waffle went it is mostly fruit.

Quick note: You can just add all the egg in at one time, instead of separating and beating the whites, but it will make them a little denser. Be sure to gently fold in the whites, because they help to make the waffles light.

Enjoy these on you next lazy morning or start a new Saturday tradition with them! They are ours.

Perfect Gluten Free Waffles

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

These waffles will feel you with memories of soft glutenous waffles of your childhood.

Ashley Teare: Ashley Teare

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 9-6 inch round waffles

Ingredients

For Syrup:
1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2 T water
¼ cup Pure Maple syrup
For the Waffles:
2⅔ cup (432 g) Basic Gluten Free Flour Blend
¼ cup (57 g) sugar
1 t salt
4 t baking soda
½ cup butter (Shortening or Earth Balance makes a few great dairy free butters)
1½ cups milk of choice
2 eggs, separated
Dash of Cream of Tatar

Directions

For the Syrup:
Combine all the syrup ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes. (I like my syrup without chunks, so I pour it into the blender and puree it all together, and then let it simmer for a few more minutes.)
For the Waffles:
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Be sure to whisk the baking powder and soda in very well.
Next combine the yolks, milk, and cooled melted butter.
Add that to the flour mixture and stir until incorporated, but some lumps will still remain.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. You can add a dash of cream of tarter to help stiffen the whites. I do this by hand, its a great little mini workout 🙂
Gently FOLD the whites into the batter.
Cook according to your waffle iron manufactures directions.

What we did this week: October 16-22

This week we got to enjoy some wonderful time together as a family. The weather cooled down to a nice early fall temperature for the weekend.

Our week, Monday-Thursdays, involve normal life things. Things like laundry and cleaning, maybe a visit to a park, and school/work for Mr. Wonderful and online class work for me.

But our weekends we try to do something fun. Mr. Z and I have joined up with a local chapter of MOMS Club. They have weekly park play dates and field trips occasionally. This week, we were able to go to the TAMU Children’s Barn. They had a tractor, horses, a cow, a pig, goats and sheep. Mr. Z could have cared less about those. Actually, he told me, “I like Trevor’s barn better.” When I asked why, his response cracked me up, “Trevor’s barn doesn’t have dirt and I can drive the tractor. And his cows are black.”

Z and baby chicks Z and chick 1 z and chick 2

His favorite part was the baby chicks. It took him some time to warm up to petting one. When it was time to go, he didn’t want to leave the chicks.

Z and chick 3

Group shot — The group of kids from the club.

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After the barn Mr. Wonderful decided that the weather was too nice, so he came home early. We took out bikes out to check them after sitting and our move. My bike had not fared well. The casings for the shift cables had busted. So we went to a bike store and purchased all new cables and casings. Instead of biking that evening, we took a walk around a local park.

Afterwards, we came home and I started dinner, which was also recipe testing, and Mr. Wonderful worked on replacing all the cables on my bike. Recipe testing turned out to be a giant failure, and I was hangry and stormed off to bed. Thank goodness for Mr. Wonderful and his creative cooking skills, so no one actually went to bed hungry.

Saturday, we were able to go on our bike ride finally. We took off to explore the A&M campus.

Aggie Ring 2

Aggie Ring 1

We went to the giant Aggie Ring, and Mr. Z wasn’t that impressed with it.

my boys A & M

We also visited a couple of fountains and the Century Tree. We are enjoying our new home, especially now that the weather isn’t triple digits with high humidity.

Zucchini Bread

I can’t believe is has been a month! Life has been fairly crazy, but mostly my own doing taking on too much at one time. I am take 3 online classes working towards getting my lactation consultant things done. We still don’t quite understand how everything works here (Thank you GPS cause I would get lost 90% of the time I leave the house). We are on a crazy strict budget recovering from August. On top of all that, I decided to do a round of Whole30 in October.

As I was staring into the fridge for something for lunch on Day 18, it hit me. Why am I doing Whole30? Because I have been feeling crummy and was starting to have frequent flares because I wasn’t eating how I KNOW i should be.

So what if I stopped doing this round and just ate like I KNOW I am suppose to.

The stress level of my life dropped off the edge of a cliff. Why be so mean to myself by creating extra unneeded stress? Isn’t eating what is best for your own body what Whole30 is all about? It is!

Alright, I am sure what you really want is a yummy fall treat recipe. This recipe is one that I treasure. I might say that about a lot of my recipes, but food really is love, and sharing a recipe with someone is like the ultimate sign of love.

Back when I was newly married and actively participating and attending religion classes at my campus LDS institute building, we had these couples who would come in and provide daily snacks and a yummy lunch on Fridays. One of the couples was local and she would always bring in the most AMAZING zucchini bread I have ever had. It was my favorite when I saw that she brought her sweet breads to share.

For months, I would tell Mr. Wonderful about the bread and how I really wanted the recipe. But I was worried this Sister (in LDS culture, women are referred to at Sisters and men, Brother, it’s polite), might not be willing to share. Mr. Wonderful had grown up with her kids and told be that she was the last person who would not share a recipe, especially if she knew how much I liked her bread.

So, I finally got the courage to tell her that I like the bread and if possible could I get the recipe. The next day she had left me a handwritten card with the recipe. Her and her husband became friends of ours and when it was time for us to move, I was really sad to be leaving their strong example behind. They taught us much more than how to make really great zucchini bread.

This new version of the zucchini bread is now gluten free! And if you use good safe ingredients this is also corn, soy, dairy, and nut free.

Zucchini Bread

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

45 mins

Gluten, dairy, soy, and corn free zucchini bread perfect for a fall treat.

Ashley Teare: Ashley

Recipe type: Quick Bread

Serves: 18

Ingredients

3 eggs, beaten
2¾ c (300 g) grated Zucchini (For best results: Freeze grated zucchini, thaw over night, and squeeze as much juice as you can, you can also just use fresh zucchini, but be sure to get out as much juice as possible)
1 T vanilla extract
1 c oil (I like canola oil)
2 c (226 g) sugar
1 T Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
¾ c ( 145 g) Potato Starch
¾ c (98 g) Tapioca Flour
¾ c (125 g) White Rice Flour
1 T Xanthum Gum

Directions

Mix in a large bowl the eggs, grated Zucchini, vanilla extract, oil, and sugar. Set aside.
In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.
Add the flour mixture into the zucchini until well combined.
Pour equally, into two one-pound loaf pans. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until the tops spring when you touch them. You can also make muffins and they bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Peanut Noodles

I love Thai food.

Mr. Wonderful, not so much.

Years ago, I found this recipe that was so simple, Thai inspired, and Mr. Wonderful would eat! I have long since lost the recipe, but it is one we make regularly, and it an easy pantry stable dinner. We have changed the original recipe to fit my needs, gluten and soy free.

This is a good meal that is quick, a kid pleaser, and gets everyone to eat some vegetables. Mr. Z is a good vegetable eater, and this dish is one he loves. If you like the Thai spring rolls with the peanut sauce, you will love this recipe.

One thing to know about getting the rice noodles for this dish, if you want to just go to your local grocery store and get some in the Asian/Ethnic food aisle, you can. Or if you have one, go to an Asian market. You will have a wider selection and usually the price is much cheaper.

As written this recipe is not vegan, but that is simple, just use 2 TBSP soy sauce for Coconut aminos and Fish Sauce. If you are a soy free vegan (How? Tell me your secrets!) you can try using 3 TBSP of just Coconut Aminos.

Want to add a little more protein to it? Poached chicken is great, or if you are a shrimp fan toss some in too.

For the Peanut Butter, be sure to use a natural peanut butter, the sauce will not work with the “cheap” stuff. Make sure the ingredients are just dry roasted peanuts and salt.

For the Peanut Sauce:
130 g (½ cup) Creamy Natural Peanut Butter
1 ½ TBSP Coconut Aminos*
1 ½ TBSP Fish Sauce*
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
¼-½ tsp Chili Garlic Sauce
⅛ tsp ginger powder

Rice noodles, pad thai type, about half a 16 oz package
Frozen vegetables, 16 oz bag
Fresh Basil, optional
Cilantro, optional
Lime wedges, optional

In a large pot boil about 3 quarts of water. While waiting for the water to boil mix of the ingredients for the peanut sauce.

Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and set a timer for 3 MINUTES continue to keep the heat at high.

After the timer goes off add the bag of vegetables and continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove about ½-1 cup of the cooking water.

Slowly add this to thin the sauce, it should be thick, but not runny, think thick white school glue.

Drain the noodles and vegetables, and rinse under cold water. Rinsing the noodles stops the cooking so they don’t over cook and become brittle. Mix sauce noodles and vegetables, with desired amount of sauce.

Serve immediately, and if desired garnish with fresh basil, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Printable recipe link here.

Don’t Cry Over… Potato Salad

On Friday, our church had a “get to know you” activity for the congregation. We live in a congregation heavily populated by college students. We are new, and here for school, so it was fun evening, plus I didn’t have to cook!

We were asked to bring a side dish, salad, or a dessert for the BBQ provided by the church. I signed up to bring a potato salad: simple, cheap, easy, and my favorite BBQ side. The only problem, I couldn’t remember my mom’s recipe, and that is what I really wanted. My Mother’s potato salad.

When, I couldn’t remember the recipe, I picked up my phone and started to call my mom. That is when it hit me. It’s been just over 4 years, and it doesn’t get any easier. The last few months there has been many times I have want to call, but couldn’t. This time was different. Knowledge, I needed from her, was completely inaccessible.

After pulling myself back together, I texted my two sister’s. Surely, one of them would remember, or at least we could remember enough together to figure it out. My younger sister told me to just go to the store, cause she doesn’t know. The other, told me that I was just missing mayo and mustard.

But when I had it all made, it was just missing something.

It is moments like that, that just make me realize I need to be writing down my recipes and the other things that we do. I hope that for someone, it either helps them find a new food or helps them to grieve a loss too.

Egg Yolks

Last week I shared with you my basic gluten free bread recipe. If you got a chance to try it, you got left with 3 egg yolks! I hate having wasteful recipes. I know that eggs are not that expensive of an item, but 3 yolks is a lot just to toss.

One great use for egg yolks is homemade Mayo. I do not have some amazing recipe. But I have a few I love:

The Kitchn: Immersion Blender Mayo (uses 2 yolks)

Nom Nom Paleo: Mayo (uses 1 yolk)

Our Paleo Life: Lime Mayo (uses a whole egg, but I think next time I bake bread,I am going to try using all three with this technique.)

These three recipes, are similar, but use different processes. I haven’t made mayo in my vitamix, only because I don’t really want to clean it afterwards (I am lazy, and it doesn’t go in the dish washer.)

I know this isn’t my own recipe, but I think everyone should know, or at least attempt to make their own mayo! It just adds something extra to anything you us it for.

Tears and Joys

Moving to Texas has been H. A. R. D. Moving in general is not easy, it zaps just about every single resource. And then, just because life isn’t already hard enough a curl ball gets thrown right at your face.

Our first month was alright. We arrived at our new place and instantly wanted to demand our money back. Actually, I did. But they promised to fix the water, even though it was out of their control, and promised to replace the nasty disgusting, I wouldn’t even wash my pet dog in that tub, which they did.

We got our stuff on time and we only lost a few things from poor packing. Shipping our stuff was most definitely the BEST DECISION EVER! Then we spent the rest of the month getting used to the Texas heat and humidity (Still not used to it).

OD delivery

June turned into July and we thought life was going well. We visited our farmer friends, The Dragon’s! We celebrated Mr. Wonderful’s birthday and had a fun 4th setting off fireworks.

Dragons

August came, and we just pretend August 2016 didn’t happen. The domino of events last month were devastating and heart breaking. As I heal from the roller coaster, I will share all the bumps and pits of August.

Now, we are in September. The floods of August receded but left some pretty deep wounds. As we try to pick ourselves up, we have had some hiccups (Budget? What budget? You mean, crap what did we spend our grocery budget on…)

But moving to Texas, hasn’t been all “OMG WHAT DID WE DO?!?!” We have had some really wonderful moments.

Like taking Mr. Z to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Visiting my mom’s parents in San Antonio.

Grandparents

And frog catching in Dallas, at my cousin’s son’s birthday party.

Frog catching in Azle

Right now, we are holding on to the things that bring us Joy here in Texas. Like slowing down and making cookies with Mr. Z.

Basic Gluten Free Bread

Let’s start with some basics. Bread! If you are gluten free you know the struggle to find a good bread replacement. A lot of the time, you just go without, or you eat cardboard that has been artfully made to look like something edible.

Honestly, I would much rather go to the store and buy bread, but I do not like paying $6 plus for a loaf of bread shaped cardboard. I also really wanted a bread that was not only gluten free, but soy, dairy, and corn free. This is hard to do.

I started looking for recipes, and a lot of gluten free recipes use dairy to help them have more taste. But with a milk protein allergy, I really needed a dairy free recipe. That is when I found this recipe. It was amazing! But I can not bring myself to use 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar in a loaf of bread! So I started playing with the recipe and created this recipe.

A couple of notes, I have a stand mixer, so please don’t ask if you can make this by hand! I do not know. Plus the dough is NOT like a wheat dough, you are really going to want to use a mixer of some kind.

USE A KITCHEN SCALE!!! I have included the volumetric measurements, but please, please, please, use a kitchen scale. your bread will turn out so much nicer.

Start by separating 3 eggs, and setting aside the yolks. (Next week I will post a recipe where we will use them!) Add the whites to the mixer bowl and whisk to stiff peaks.

Next add together 3/4 C warm water, 2 Tablespoons Honey, and 1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast to proof.

Measure out 260 g (2 cups) Tapioca Flour/Starch, 74 g (1/2 c) Millet Flour, 95 g (1/2 c) Potato Starch, 2 teaspoon xanthum gum, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/2 tsp baking powder into a separate bowl and stir together.

When the yeast is bubbly and the whites have stiff peaks, slowly whisk in the yeast mixture and add 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar.

Now, switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment, and add in the flours mixture. Beat on medium (4 on a kitchen aid stand mixer) for 5 minutes. Be sure to scrap down the sides occasionally to make sure everything gets mixed together. The final “dough” will be more like a think quick bread batter.

Scrap the batter into a 2-pound loaf pan, BE SURE to spray it with a gluten free kitchen spay or grease before adding the batter!!! Carefully spread it out to fill in the bottom of the pan.

Cover and set in a warm place to raise for about an hour. I like to put it in the window and to cover it with a warm damp tea towel. I then set the timer for 45 minutes, so that I can pre-heat the oven for 15-minutes before baking.

Place the risen loaf into a 400 Fahrenheit degree oven to bake for 30-45 minutes.

Let cool before slicing, and then store in a freezer bag in the freezer if not planning on eating the whole loaf today!

NOTE: The flat top of this loaf is because I let it over raise. I should have placed it into bake after a 30 minute raising period, but my oven wasn’t ready. It doesn’t change the bread much, like it would with a wheat loaf. I just have some bigger holes.

Here is a link to a printable recipe.

Food is Love

I love food, and after a year of trying to figure out how to keep my SIBO away, I have come to learn that I love recipe testing. I mean, I love food, and eating, so it just comes naturally that creating and perfecting recipes is amazing.

My little notebook of recipes is quickly filling, and people are always surprised to hear my food is gluten, dairy, soy, and usually corn free. Maybe it is because we are in the south now, and finding good gluten free food is impossible, at least compared to Washington, but making my own is saving me.

My recipe notebook

A few weeks ago I was talking to some new friends and we were talking about gluten free cooking. I have always seen food blogging to be something that almost every stay at home mom does. I don’t want to be the next “mommy blogger”, but I do want to share my recipes.

I have been typing up and editing my recipes and am going to start sharing them with you! Look for a new recipe every Friday! I think you will enjoy them, I know we do.