Gluten free, dairy free waffles

I have been experimenting with my gf/df waffle recipe for a LONG time.  Like a couple of years, but I think I finally got it right!  It makes a perfect belgian waffle.

2 cups brown rice flour
3 cups tapioca flour
2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 4 eggs
3 1/2 cups almond milk
1 cup cooking oil
1 tsp xanthan gum

Yummy!

Oatmeal cinnamon pancakes

I don't have a picture of these delicious pancakes, but I did some experimenting, and came up with this recipe.  Sometimes experimenting pays off and sometimes it REALLY doesn't.  This it did!  I like a nice thick, dense pancake, and the none of the recipes I was using quite added up to that.  So here's our new favorite pancakes, dubbed The Best Ever by the kids.

Gluten filled version:
2 cups flour
2 tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tspsalt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tbs cooking oil
1 cup oats (I used quick)
1 tsp cinnamon

Gluten/dairy free version:
2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups almond milk (or whatever other milk substitute you like)
2 tbs cooking oil

Usually I add xanthan gum to my gf recipes to help them stick together, but I'm pretty sure this one was fine without it.  I honestly don't remember adding it.

Flourless chocolate cake

I made this cake last night for our family dinner.  Oh. my. yumminess.  There is only one little piece left that I'm saving for Josh to have tomorrow after he eats lunch.  I altered the recipe a bit by using dairy free margarine in the cake.  For the salted caramel sauce I used margarine and Silk dairy free creamer.  I also used dark baking chocolate for half of what it called for, and I accidentally used 1 cup of brown sugar in the cake instead of the called for 1/4 cup.  Oops.  It worked though, probably because the chocolate was darker than what was called for.  The called for time for baking was 90 minutes, but I had to leave the house with about 10 minutes of baking left, so I turned off the oven and left it in to finish baking while the oven cooled down.  I turned it off at about 1:30 and came back to the house to get it at 5.  I was SO nervous that it would either be burnt or underdone, but it was actually perfect!  Now I just have to figure out if I do that again or try baking it the full 90 minutes.  I will definitely be making this again!

You put the lime in the coconut..

Tonight after dinner I made pina coladas, virgin, of course.  I looked online at recipes and didn't really find one I liked, so I came up with my own.  I didn't measure everything, so this is kind of an estimate.

I put half of a very ripe pineapple, chopped, into the blender.  Then added the juice from one lime.  After that I added about 3/4 cup of canned coconut milk, add just a bit more if it is too thick.  Then I added about a teaspoon of vanilla, followed by about a half cup of sugar.  I put a bunch of crushed ice on top, and blended until smooth.  I added ice a few times until it was nice and frosty.

The kids loved it, and even bummed some of mine after they finished theirs.  The next time I get another pineapple, I'm making more!

Rice pudding

We've been getting some super great goodies in our Bountiful Baskets lately.  One of my favorites was the vanilla beans in the tropical pack.  I looked through a ton of recipes that called for them, and decided on this rice pudding.  It was easy, and I was looking for a recipe that a lot of people might like, since it was for book club.  In fact it was so good that instead of making creme brulee with the other vanilla bean, I think I'm just going to make more pudding!  Here's the recipe.  Enjoy!  Oh, and if you're ever on Pinterest, check out my Good Eats and Yummy Treats board.  Super yummy recipes on there.  I feel slightly nerdy that I love looking up recipes online so much.

Valentine's Day

About 5 years ago, I got really sick of all of the candy the kids were getting for Valentine's Day, not to mention the fact that every holiday was turning into an event where my kids expected to get things.  We have enough "things" at our house, so I had a little brain storming session with myself.  I decided that we were going to pick a family or inidividual every year who we thought might like a loving surprise, or maybe needed cheering up, and we would do a heart attack for them.  After we would go home and eat heart shaped Jello jigglers.  The only reason for the jigglers is because I love them.  We've now being doing heart attacks for 5 Valentine's days, and the kids love them.  Most of the time we are able to stay anonymous, but this year they found out it was us.  They loved it, and took pictures, and they said their neighbors all loved it too.

This was Natalie's lunch.  Since Josh can't have bread or peanut butter, I warmed him up a corn tortilla, put some of his "butter" on it, and did the heart shaped sugar sprinkle.  It wasn't appetizing looking at all, but he loved it.

 The kids, with a friend, in front of the house we attacked.

Potato leek soup

We got small Yukon Gold potatoes and leeks in our Bountiful Basket this week, so of course, I had to try making some potato leek soup.  I have to say it was pretty simple, and super yummy!  I will definitely be making this again!  Even three out of my five kids loved it.  The other two don't count because they're super picky.  Here's where I got the recipe, but I'll type out what I did because I changed it a bit.

*two large leeks, cut in half lengthwise, then chopped
*a bunch of small potatoes
*dairy free margarine (so Josh could eat it) or oil, whichever you prefer
*salt and pepper
*2 cups water
*some chicken stock
*more water
*I made up these spices the other day (minus all the salt and brewer's yeast) and put in 3 tsp
It's very technical, I know.
I put the leeks and margarine into the pot on low/med heat with the salt and pepper, and let them get soft.  Once they were soft I removed it from the heat while I chopped the potatoes and put them in.  Then I added 2 cups of water, some frozen chicken stock I had, and then topped it off with some more water until it was just about 2 inches below the top of the pot.  Then I added the spices and brought it to a boil.  I lowered the heat and let it simmer for about an hour, until the potatoes were soft.  Then I took about half of it out, and pureed it with my Magic Bullet.  I didn't measure exactly half, I just kept taking more out and pureeing until it looked creamy enough for me.  Then I let it simmer some more until dinner time.  I like to let soup simmer a long time because it just gives the flavors more time to blend together.  And that's it!  Some recipes called for it to all be blended, but I like the chunks. They add some texture.  We ate it with Great Harvest Dakota bread (gluten free for Josh and me), and it was a perfect texture blend with the somewhat creamy soup, and seedy bread.  Yum!  I can't wait to eat more for lunch tomorrow!