Ocean Skater

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

2012-01-25T08:15:00.000-05:00

Why don't I ever remember to take the picture before I eat some?

I'm always looking for uses for the almond pulp that occurs after straining my almond milk. Almond milk is super easy to make. Soak 1/2 cup of truly raw almonds overnight. Drain and rinse. Put them in a blender with about 3 1/2 cups of water. Blend on the highest speed for close to 1 minute. Strain (I use a metal mesh strainer that I got at IKEA. You can also use cheese cloth). You'll have about 1 cup of wet almond pulp afterwards.

I discovered after soaking some almonds that my dehydrator is not working! So I needed to use this pulp pronto. I had a pumpkin sitting around, so I decided to roast it and make pumpkin bread.

This bread is a combination of this recipe & this recipe. I meant to half both, but didn't do it correctly! So this is what I came up with.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
1 1/4 cup roasted pumpkin (or canned)
5 eggs
1 cup wet almond pulp
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup coconut sugar or honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin spice*
1/4 cup coconut oil

Blend the roasted pumpkin with the eggs and the almond pulp. If you are using canned pumpkin, beating it would likely suffice. Dump the blended mixture into a bowl and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Melt the honey and/or oil if it's solid.

Dump into an oiled round cake pan. Bake at 350°F for about 35-40 minutes until you stick a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. Yum!

*If you have pumpkin pie spice or pumpkin spice from the store, check to see if it has sulfites in it. They use sulfites to keep the ground ginger a pretty color. I mix my own pumpkin pie spice using several recipes from the internet.

Turkey Meatloaf, Gluten free

2012-01-23T12:09:00.004-05:00

Last week, I did an experiment and made a turkey meatloaf. I really enjoyed it.

Turkey Meatloaf
1 lb ground turkey breast
1/4 cup ground quinoa
1/4 cup gluten-free oats
3 tablespoons ketchup (optional)
3 tablespoons mustard
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash ground pepper
Chopped parsley and celery leaves (optional)
1 carrot
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery

I sent the veggies through the food processor for ease. I added the parsley and celery leaves simply because I had them from this summer's farmshare. The quinoa had been ground in my blender in an attempt to make flour.

Mix everything together in a bowl, and put it in a greased loaf pan. Bake this at 350°F for about 45 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, it should reach about 170°F in the middle.

I might cover it with foil next time, as I cooked it a bit too long! This is 8 servings and 3 PointsPlus per serving if you're a Weight Watchers person :)

Race Recap: All Women & One Lucky Guy Half Marathon

2011-11-06T17:47:00.010-05:00

Today, I ran the All Women & One Lucky Guy Half Marathon. This was my first half marathon, so my goal was to run the whole thing and (hopefully) finish in under 2:15. Also, yesterday during a short 2 mile run in the dark, I tripped over an uneven sidewalk and was all out of whack. My neck & back hurt, as did my legs. My neck is hurt bad enough that I can't turn my head. So my goal was to finish, not kill myself, learn about racing, and have fun :)

Stretching, because that's what people say you should do before you race.

Now I'm ready to run!

The course for the All Women & One Lucky Guy Half is really beautiful. It takes you around the towns of Newburyport and West Newbury, MA. At around mile 3.5, I ran by these:

Llamas or alpacas? You decide.

I was not running particularly fast. At the end of mile 2, I was running a 9:50 pace. I was happy with that and hoped to maintain it. Then at mile 3.5, I stopped to take pictures of the llama/alpacas. At mile 4, my toes started hurting. At mile 5, I realized I should have had some water in the past 2 hours (and past 2 water stations!). Mile 6 came, and my stomach was cramping. Around mile 8, I thought maybe I should have trained in the direct sunlight. 53 degrees is much warmer at 11:15 AM with the sun high in the sky than it is at 8:15 AM (the latest I usually run). I moved my number off my jacket and on to my tank top around mile 10. That involved walking as well. I took my jacket off at mile 12, and picked up my pace for the last mile. I passed a bunch of people and was quite proud of myself for that :) I would have been a couple seconds faster but I practically tripped over a little girl who came onto the course to "finish" with her mom. Good thing she was cute :)

Me with my medal:

Sorry, ladies! Didn't mean to include you in my moment :) OK, less random people in this one.

My official time was 2:12:33.50. Here are the results. Honestly, I was hoping I could do 10 minute miles, but a 10:08 pace is pretty good. I learned a lot.

Things I need to work on/think about/learn from:
1. Food. I have no idea what to eat before a race/long run. Generally, I do not eat at all prior to my long runs because I wake up and go. On my last long run (17.3 miles 2 weeks ago), I had 2 bites of banana beforehand because I woke up hungry. Then I had 1 bite of a Larabar halfway through. For my pre-race meal, I had a small egg and egg white omelette with spinach and non-dairy cheese, along with celery and almond butter at 6:45 (race was at 10). I had a rice cake at 7:30. My stomach was OK for the race, but not great.

2. Water. I generally don't drink much on my long runs because I drink a large cup of water before I leave. I also run in the dark for at least an hour. I only take water on runs over 100 minutes long, and I have to force myself to drink 16 ounces. At mile 5, I started getting the weird feeling that I get in my head when I'm dehydrated. I do not have a fuel belt, so I had to wait until mile 6.8 to get a drink. I had 2 cups. Then I had a cup at the last 2 stations, along with some of the free gel they were handing out. Post-race today, I am very dehydrated.

3. Clothing. I wore too much of it :) I wore the same tank top I always run in, with running tights and shorts, and a windbreaker. The first issue is my tights are too big, so I have to hike them up. The high waist of the tights contributed to my stomach pain. Then the direct sunlight made me very warm. So I'll have to research better clothing solutions.

But I finished!

And one of my favorite part of races?

Coupons!

Legacy 5K: Race Re-cap

2011-10-06T13:49:00.000-04:00

Hello, friends!

I know I've not been super-active, but I have some exciting stuff in the works. A few hints: an update on my Weight Watchers journey, a series on meal-planning, where I share my monthly GFDFSF meal plan with you, low maintenance guide to fermenting, and some running updates as well.

On a whim, I signed up 2 Thursdays for the Legacy 5K, which was on 2 Sundays ago. Believe it or not, this was only my 4th race of my adult life. When I ran my first 5K in 2003, I ran it in 29:46 (9:36 pace). I ran for about 6 more months, and then I stopped running for 4.5 years due to many factors, including major hip and back issues. I ran a 5K in 2008 in 32:05 (10:20 pace, but it was a huge race and I lost a lot of time trying to gain speed). Soon after I got pregnant and stopped running again.

I ran a little last summer (2010), stopped for the winter, and started again in May when I re-joined Weight Watchers. Then I ran a 10K in July in 58:10 (9:22 pace). I had a goal in mind for the Legacy 5K of 28 minutes or under, but I didn't tell anyone. At the very least, I was hoping for a new 5K personal record.

Here's a race recap for you :)

Starting out, my legs felt a little heavy, so I wasn't running super fast. I figured I'd assess my pace at the first mile marker. I looked at my pedometer at 5 mins, and then again at 10, and thought, "I'm either running at a super-leisurely pace, or there are no mile markers." Soon after that, I saw that people had started running by me, going the other direction, and could see the last turn in site.

I got to the halfway point at just around 13:33 or so and thought, "I could do this in 27 or under!" I also figured my legs felt heavy because I was running at a sub-9 minute pace and didn't know it! Of course, having no mile markers, I didn't exactly have anything to gauge my pace on, so I just ran a little faster. The homecoming stretch was short, so I sprinted and inadvertently passed a guy The crowd was yelling, "You can take him! You can catch him!" I wasn't trying to catch him, just trying to finish fast :)

My official time was 26:08, over 3.5 minutes faster than my previous PR and almost 2 minutes faster than I hoped to run it! I came in 66th place out of 258 people.

A couple cool things:
When I walked into the registration area and was looking at the sponsors, thinking, "It'd be great if I could get some free running gear!" Not 10 minutes later, a woman was going around, asking people to test out running socks! So I got free running socks :)

The race took place at a plaza, sort of an open air mall. Whole Foods was one of the sponsors; that's how I heard about the race because I get emails from them. They had a deal that if you register in the store between 5-7 PM on Thursday, you get entered into a $25 gift card drawing for the plaza. Well, when I registered at 6:30, the race organizer said, "As of right now, you have a 100% chance of winning the gift card. No one else has registered so far." I found him at the race, and I did win the card! So I paid $20 to run, and I'll get a $25 GC!

My next race will be the Chilly Half Marathon.

Hamilton Beach Donut Maker and Gluten Free Donuts!

2011-10-04T05:29:00.000-04:00

Sunday night, I found quite the gem at a local thrift store:

A donut maker!!! I had JUST been thinking THAT day how awesome it would be if I could find an easy way to make donuts for my kids. I printed out 3 recipes for gluten free donuts and tried 2 of them on Sunday morning after running 14 miles.

First I made Lemon Donuts (I didn't have any poppyseeds) from the Spunky Coconut blog (a go-to GF blog). I stuck to the recipe, except I added lemon extract and some lemon pulp. I should have doubled the recipe because this made 4 donuts. They were very good, but (in my opinion) the batter was too thick and difficult to use in the donut maker. I did not frost them.

So we decided to try this recipe, a random gluten-free donut recipe I found by working the Google on the internet machine.

OK, first of all, the image for the recipe is clearly cut & paste from Krispy Kreme's website or something. Your donut will not look that that. Anyway, I mostly followed the recipe, but I added cinnamon & about 10 drops of Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia.

Here are some of the cinnamon donuts cooking:

And here are some lemon and cinnamon donuts all done:

I love this little machine! The only drawback of the Hamilton Beach Donut Maker is, ok, 2 drawbacks: 1) it only makes 2 donuts at a time and 2) the bottom of the donut is more well-done than the top. Once we realized this, we simply flipped the donuts about 3 minutes in (they need to cook about 5-6 minutes).

If you ever see one of these beauties at a yard sale or thrift store, definitely pick one up!

Banana Oat Scones, Gluten & Dairy-free

2011-09-28T11:12:00.004-04:00

Bananas.

It always seems to be feast or famine around here with bananas. Mostly feast. Especially since bananas have been on sale a lot this month.

Thus, I'm always looking for ways to use up overripe bananas. I de-glutenized this recipe recently, and yum! It's a winner.

Banana Oat Scones

Ingredients:
1 cup non-dairy milk (I use rice or coconut milk)
1 tsp vinegar

2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup honey (use maple syrup or coconut sugar to make vegan)

1 cup baking mix
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp flax meal (optional)
2 cups rolled oats (make sure they are GF!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Measure out the milk & add the vinegar to it. Let that sit.

Mashed the bananas in a large bowl. Melt the coconut oil & honey, if solid, and add to the bananas.

Mix together baking mix, flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt (flax seed meal optional). Add the mixed dry ingredients and the milk to banana mixture. Stir, then roll in most of the oats. Save about 1/4 cup to sprinkle on scones.

Rather than make round, individual scones, I split the batter in 2 and made 2 pie plate mountains of scones. Make sure the pie plates are greased. Sprinkle the remaining oats on top of the 2 mountains.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until a knife stuck in the scones comes out clean.

Have a bunch of friends over so you don't eat them all at once.

Don't forget to check out Gluten-free Wednesdays over at my friends' blog!

Gluten-free Lemon Cake with Creamy Coconut Frosting

2011-08-15T15:18:00.006-04:00

We had a birthday in our home this week! I was given several cake and muffin mixes and decided to spruce one up for the party. Very simple, but very good! Of course I don't have a picture because we ate it up too fast!

If you don't have a cake mix handy, an easy one to find is the GF Betty Crocker mix found at regular grocery stores. This is actually one of our favorite cake mixes.

Gluten-free Lemon Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
Zest from 2 lemons
2 teaspoons lemon extract (or extra zest)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of one lemon

Whatever the box calls for, which in my case was:
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil (I used coconut)
1 cup non-dairy milk (minus the lemon juice)

Preheat the oven according to the box of cake mix.

Zest the lemon. You do this by washing them well and then grating them on the smallest setting of your grater.

Juice one of the lemons into a measuring cup. Add milk (I used rice) to bring it to the 1 cup mark (or how ever much liquid your recipe calls for).

Beat the oil, milk, extracts, eggs and zest together. Slowly add cake mix and beat until well-mixed.

Pour into a 8 or 9-inch round cake pan, or a square one. Bake according to the directions on the box.

Creamy Coconut Frosting
I cannot for the life of me find the recipe I used. It was on the internet.

It went something like this :)

1/2 cup coconut oil, cold
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup canned coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used an alcohol-free one)
3/4 cup shredded coconut

Since it's hot right now, I measured out the coconut oil and put it in the fridge for a while.

Put it in a bowl and beat it until creamy. Add powdered sugar and milk.

If it's cold, you will need to heat the coconut milk just a tiny bit to get it liquid.

Add the vanilla to 1/4 cup cooled coconut milk. Slowly add to mixing bowl. Add more milk if the consistency is too thick.

Fold in shredded coconut.

Frost the cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator until it's time to eat.

*If you have trouble finding lemon extract, it's super-easy to make your own. All you need is 7-8 ounces of vodka or rum, 1 lemon (preferably organic because the alcohol will be extracting all that is one the peel) and an 8 ounce glass jar.

Peel the lemon using a veggie peeler, focusing on getting just the yellow part (the white makes it bitter). Put the peel in the jar, and cover with alcohol. Put it a dark places and let it sit for at least a week (I think I did 2 weeks). Remove the peel and store the extract.

Garlic Scape Pesto, Dairy-free

2011-07-28T17:57:00.005-04:00

Today, I modified this recipe to make a new & improved garlic scape pesto.

Garlic Scape Pesto
3/4 cup water
15-20 garlic scapes
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 large kale leaves
Juice of one lemon

Soak the pine nuts in water for about an hour or more. Drain the water and rinse. Trim the garlic scapes of the stringy end (but leave the flower/bud thing) and the hard end on the other side.

Throw all ingredients into the blender. Blend it really well. This makes 2 cups of pesto, and is only 12 points plus for the whole recipe in the Weight Watchers system. That means you can add just over 2 tablespoons to your pasta and it's only 1 point.

I boiled brown rice fusilli and steamed some chicken breast, green beans & summer squash with a side of corn. All veggies were from our farmshare!

Poor Man's Pancakes

2011-05-12T11:56:00.000-04:00

I made this up because I had nothing planned for dinner and I have a ton of overripe bananas in the fridge. I am desperate to find uses for them.

So I made up a pancake.

I'm not sure why I chose the name for the pancakes. Forgive me.

Poor Man's Pancakes
1 overripe banana
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Blend the banana & egg in your blender. Pour into a bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder & baking soda.

I quadrupled the recipe, used peanut flour, buckwheat flour, almond flour & brown rice protein powder for "flour" to give them a protein boost.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto a hot griddle or pan. Flip when bubble. Eat with or without syrup (I put almond butter on mine).

This made 16 pancakes. We ate them all.

Chocolate Date Balls

2011-05-06T08:32:00.003-04:00

This recipe is adapted from Elana's Pantry. I wanted to try and make them without any sugar. Success!

Chocolate Date Balls
‎1 cup medjool dates
1/2 cup unsweetened baking chocolate discs (from Trader Joe's)
1 cup pumpkin seeds (I also used sunflower seeds)
Pinch sea salt
Water (teaspoon or more if you need it)

Process in food processor. Roll into balls.

If you use raw cacao or baker's powder, use less. I think it'd be good with more pumpkin seeds as well.

Banana Bread: Dairy-free, Grain-free

2011-04-05T12:14:00.004-04:00

And Weight Watchers-friendly :)

I joined Weight Watchers again as I have a little bit of weight to lose and I wanted to try their new program. More on that in another post :)

Meanwhile, I'm still eating a low-grain diet and am working on making some of my favorites Weight Watchers-friendly. This is a variation on a Spunky Coconut recipe.

Banana Bread: Dairy-free, Grain-free

Add to blender:
2 bananas
4 eggs
1/8 tsp Vanilla Creme liquid stevia
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp grain-free baking powder

Blend.

Melt in a pan:
1/4 cup honey (I use solid raw honey - if your honey is liquid, no need to melt)
2 tbs coconut oil

Add melted stuff to:
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted

This makes sure the melted stuff doesn't cook your eggs.

Dump flours & melted stuff into your blender. Blend again.

Dump into a loaf pan or round cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes for round pan & 55 for loaf pan.

Cut into 12 pieces. 3 points each.

Not the best picture, but hey :) You get the idea :)

Fried Bananas: Gluten & Dairy free

2011-03-29T20:40:00.004-04:00

If you have some overripe bananas, why not fry them?

Fried Bananas
Several overripe bananas
Equal parts almond & coconut flour
Coconut oil

Heat some coconut oil in a skiller or wok.

Mix the flours in a bowl. Chop the bananas into big pieces, and roll them in the flour mix.

Fry then in the pan just lightly until browned. Eat!

Great with maple syrup, homemade jam, or "as is".

Grain-free Dairy-free Biscuits

2011-01-27T09:12:00.002-05:00

Hi, friends! My blog may not be super-active, but I find myself here often, refering to my own recipes :) I often send people here as well.

Lately, I'm experimenting with eating a low-grain diet, and have been searching for a good biscuit recipe. I found a bunch of options on the internet and came up with this.

Grain-free Dairy-free Biscuits
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, butter, or grain-free margarine, melted
1/3 cup coconut flour
2/3 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
1 teaspoon grain-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey or agave, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients. You may need a little more flour. The batter will not be quite as sticky as normal biscuit batter, but it shouldn't be soupy either. Drop biscuits onto a cookie sheet - no need to grease.

Bakes for about 17 minutes. Makes about 9 biscuits.

I didn't use sweetener in mine, but I think I should have. I've been topping them with honey or a no-pectin, lemony plum sauce my sister made.

Monkey Bear's Miraculous VBAC: A Homebirth, Part 2

2010-11-16T05:00:00.006-05:00

This is part 2 of my birth story of Monkey Bear, my homebirth after a c-section, from one year ago today! Here is part 1.

I hated the birth tub, which was really disappointing because at this point I was in a lot of pain & was looking forward to the relief I thought the tub would bring. I got so upset that I threw a loud fit, saying I couldn't do this anymore. My fit woke my sweet son who was sleeping in the adjacent room. He ran out of the bedroom, really scared, and kept saying "Nighty! Nighty!!" while pointing to the bedroom, as if to say, "Mom & Dad, why are you in that big pool of water? It's the middle of the night, and we're supposed to be in bed, sleeping!" Roy got out of the tub, went into the bedroom with Bear, and got him resettled. My midwife gave me a pep talk at this point (Roy says she took my face in her hands to focus me). But honestly, I wasn't at all thinking, "Take me to the hospital for pain relief/c-section." I was fairly positive that hospital/epidural would equal pushing on back/stuck baby/c-section (as it did with Bear), and I wasn't remotely interested in a repeat performance; I wanted a VBAC. I was thinking, "I am so tired, I barely slept last night, it's 1 AM. Can we make this stop for a second so I can take a nap?" My midwife checked my progress and I was "thinned out & very open". She didn't share centimeters dilated, and I didn't want to know. During Bear's birth, hearing my "progress" every few hours, or lack thereof in the case of his labor, was very discouraging, so I had decided ahead of time I didn't want to know centimeters. I decided to move to the bathroom for some reason, I think because it was further away from the bedroom. This is kind of amusing because my bathroom is really, really small, especially for 3 people!

I kept at it, with Roy & my midwife cheering me on. My friend Jess arrived around 2:30 or so. My midwife broke my water around 3 or a little before (during a contraction, not the most comfortable feeling!), and I pushed for about 2 hours. I was started to feel a bit discouraged because I really wanted to get this baby out before Bear woke up, which he typically did at 7 or 7:30. I spent the last few contractions pushing in a sitting position (though at the time I didn't know they were the last ones), which seemed to really open me up. The head was partially out, so the midwife had her hand on it, and said, "Brenna, if you want to stay where you are, you're going to have to listen to me during the next contraction, or you will deliver the baby right here." (I was in a rather awkward position.) I knew I would be vocalizing and not able to listen, so I stood up. Roy had gotten into the shower at this point because the bathroom is so small, there was nowhere else for him to stand. The midwife was in front of me, and on the next contraction, as I screamed due to the ring of fire, Monkey Bear made his appearance! He was born at 4:58 AM.

I sat down and looked at him in disbelief. I did it! I pushed a baby the old-fashioned way! At some point, I looked down to see if he was really a boy :) I was bleeding a lot. The midwife said she thought the placenta was already detached, that she needed to get it out of me, and I needed to go lie down so she could see what was going on down there. So the placenta came out painlessly, and I was moved to the other room. I tore (between a 2nd & 3rd degree), and the midwife stitched me up while Jess went to get me some food (I hadn't eaten in a long, long time). Bear woke up around 5:30 or 6, and Jess went in to resettle him. I took a couple bites of the eggs Jess made me, put the plate down, and the dog ate them :) I did something to my arms during labor and I had little control over them. I lifted my arm at the midwife's request, and it dropped and fell on my face! My arm pain lasted for close to 3 months (next time, if I do this again, I'm lifting weights!). I eventually turned over on my side to try & nurse the baby and rest. When we weighed Monkey Bear, he was 8 lbs 2 oz. He seemed so tiny compared to Bear, who was 10 lbs 7 oz at birth!

Happy birthday miracle Monkey Bear!

Monkey Bear's Miraculous VBAC: A Homebirth, Part 1

2010-11-15T18:43:00.003-05:00

10 days before launch

I've been wanting to post Monkey Bear's birth story for quite some time. Since tomorrow is his birthday, I figured: why not now? I tried not to make it too graphic, but hey. It's childbirth. I hope it encourages some of you. This is part 1.

I went to bed on Saturday, Nov. 14th 2009, but was kept awake most of the whole night by horrible acid reflux. I slept maybe 2 hours that night. I started having timeable contractions at 6 AM. I had 3 about 9-10 minutes apart; I could lay down through them. I continued to snooze on & off until around 8, at which point I had a few more contractions. I got up, took a bath/shower. Bear & Roy got up at 9. We hung out, had oatmeal, and went for walk. We went to the store to get some Zantac for the reflux, which was still really bad, and grabbed some lunch while we were out.

I called the midwife around 2 PM, just to keep her informed. The contractions were still 5-20 minutes apart, and not too intense. She said second-time moms could have pockets of labor like this for days before "the real thing", but I felt like this was going to be it. Roy & I put Bear down for nap at around 3. I started having more regular contractions, every 10 minutes, around then, so I called the midwife again. The contractions picked up to every 4-6 minutes, and I had blood show around 6, so I called the midwife at 6:15. Based on numerous factors, she too thought this was it. I called her again around 9 (the poor woman!) when contractions were 2-4 minutes apart. She headed over. I got in the shower, and the water helped a little. The midwife arrived at 10.

I tried different positions for laboring, but only really liked standing. Every time I tried a different position, the contractions got even more intense and scary. I felt out of control in other positions. I did take Benadryl around 10 & was able to lay down for 45 minutes after my midwife arrived. Then I labored outside on porch for a while. The only way to get through contractions was to vocalize and push down on back of hips. I got too loud outside and was disturbing the neighbors (I'm not kidding - the one across the street ran out of her house at one point to see what was going on), so I eventually went upstairs & tried the birthing tub.

Part 2 :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

2010-10-19T15:55:00.004-04:00

I had a strange craving last week after skipping lunch and waking from a brief nap with my boys.

Yes, it was as good as it looks. Here's what I did for 2 servings.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cup water (or milk if you want)
2 T sugar (sucanat, in my case - brown sugar would be great!).
1 cup old fashioned oats (make sure they are GF if you're GF)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Possible add ins: chocolate chips, peanut butter, flax seed meal, coconut oil, rice protein, hemp protein, etc.

Boil water & pumpkin and then add 1 cup old-fashioned oats, cinnamon and sugar. It said to cook 5 minutes, but it was ready before that. I stirred in some coconut oil, flax meal and rice protein just because. I also added a little cold rice milk in order to cool it off for Bear. Put it in a bowl and sprinkle some chocolate chips on there with a glob of PB.

Acorn Squash Potato Pancakes

2010-10-03T19:01:00.003-04:00

I had some leftovers boiled potatoes from the CSA (I think they were russet), half a roasted acorn squash (roasting instructions here) and only a small appetite for dinner. So I decided these sounded good :)

Acorn Squash Potato Pancakes
1/2 a roasted acorn squash
about 1 cup boiled potatoes
2 eggs
Salt, pepper and onion flakes to taste
Olive oil for frying

Mix squash and potatoes, mashed them well, then mix in eggs and spices. Fry on a flat skillet in a little bit of olive oil, cooking both sides. Serve plain or with honey (above picture), maple syrup or ketchup (below!). Yum :)

Wheat-free Acorn Squash Sourdough Pancakes

2010-10-02T07:45:00.007-04:00

It's a beautiful morning, 52 degrees, and fall is in the air.

This week, I received an acorn squash with my CSA, so I decided to roast it for dinner last night - not realized it would take an hour and a half to cook! I also had a sourdough starter discard (or whatever you call it) that I needed to use. So I decided to make these pancakes. The starter was originally just dark rye flour and water. It was given to me by a friend. After a week in the fridge, I split the starter into 2 containers, continuing to add dark rye flour to one and buckwheat to the other.

Wheat-free Acorn Squash Sourdough Pancakes
1/2 an acorn squash, roasted and peeled
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup water
2 eggs or egg replacer
1/2 tablespoon oil (I used coconut) plus oil for frying)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Liquid for thinning (water or milk)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

The night before you want to make these, mix 1/2 cup sourdough starter with 1/2 cup buckwheat flour and 1/2 cup water. Cover with a towel (my mom always did this, so I did too) and leave on the counter overnight.

Also, cut an acorn squash in half, scooping out the seeds, and put it in a roasting pan. Roast it at 400 degrees for an hour to hour & a half; then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, peel half a squash. Mix the peeled squash & the sourdough starter, mashing the squash as you mix. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 tablespoon oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus any liquid for thinning, depending on the consistency of your sourdough and how thick or thin you like your pancakes. My sourdough was pretty thick, so I added a tiny bit of water. Mix lightly, and spoon onto on oiled frying pan. I covered them while they cooked for more thorough cooking. Flip to cook over side, and voila! Sourdough pancakes. Serve with maple syrup.

I had absolutely no idea how these would come out, but they were good! The fermented flavor was not strong, and the spice was light. I am not a fan of winter squash, but the flavor was not strong, which for me is good :)

New Ministry Blog

2010-09-11T17:57:00.002-04:00

I have separated out all my ministry posts and started a new blog: Living With Unveiled Faces. I'll be posting food, recipe and healthy living stuff here at this blog and ministry stuff at my other blog :)

Gluten Free Chocolate Beet Cake

2010-08-22T20:18:00.005-04:00

I had some beets from the CSA that I desperately needed to use up, so I decided to modify Green Smoothie Girl's recipe for a Chocolate Beet Cake.

Gluten Free Chocolate Beet Cake
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia (or another 1/2 cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon vanilla)
1/4 cup coconut oil
about 1 1/2 large ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups steamed beets (about 2 large beets, chopped - she says to peel them, I did not)
4 Tbsp. raw cacao (best) or nonalkalized baking cocoa
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 sorghum flour

Mix all the ingredients in your blender except for the flours. Dump the blended purple mess into a bowl and take a picture. Really, it is such a beautiful, rich color! Then mix in the flours and take another picture.

Bake in 9”x13” oiled pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It's a lot less purple once it's cooked.

So good. I didn't frost it. It was good as is. It probably would have been fine with all buckwheat flour, so I'll likely do that next time.

A Farmshare Update

2010-08-22T20:05:00.004-04:00

I wanted to bring you an update on our CSA. We just finished week #11, which means we are more than halfway through our 20 week farmshare. That makes me kind of sad!

You may ask: what is a Farmshare, also called Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

From the Local Harvest website:

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

It goes on to list advantages for farmers and consumers. Here's an example from our CSA. Every week at Allandale, we get a CSA newsletter called "The Pick List". In the 6th week, the newsletter mentioned how the weather, which was super hot and humid for that time of year, basically liquefied 1000 heads of lettuce, and mentioned how the support derived from the CSA helps the farm recover from that "crop-tastrophy".

A CSA is basically a shared risk. If the growing season goes well, the proof is in your box every week. If the growing season doesn't go well, again - the proof is in the box.

That said, I've been nothing but thrilled with our CSA. This week, we received a beautiful bag full of ripe tomatoes. We got 10 tomatoes that had to have weighed at least 4 lbs total. If I walked into the farmer's market to buy 4 lbs of tomatoes, the cost would be at least $3/lb. In addition to that beautiful bag of tomatoes, I also got a pint of cherry tomatoes, a pint of potatoes, a small container of shallots, and peppers, eggplant, arugula, summer squash, garlic, carrots, beets, leeks and corn! And all for $18/week.

A fun challenge with the CSA is to use up veggies that might not regularly be part of your diet. I realized this week I had collected 4 bunches of beets from the last 4 weeks! So I steamed them up, put them into 2 jars (one of which, I froze), and used the other jar to make a chocolate beet cake. Oh, wow, is it good. Recipe to follow!

Eating Fresh, Locally & Seasonally

2010-07-31T14:22:00.002-04:00

I'm pouting.

It's hard to eat local; it's hard to eat seasonal.

I find my body is craving all the greens from the beginning of the season, and because of all the unseasonably hot weather we've been having here, all the greens look wilted and sad. I did manage to pick up one bag of mixed greens at the farmers market today, but when I go to the supermarket, I look at those perfect looking heads of lettuce and think, "what did they spray those with to make them look so perfect?" Now that we have a farmshare, I'm used to my vegetables having holes in them, and even sometimes having worms or snails. Yes, that's normal and healthy.

Frankly, it now grosses me out to look at much of the conventional produce at the grocery. Even the bagged spinach I use for my smoothies is unappealing.

I'm ruined!

It makes me wonder how people in cold weather climates eat seasonally. How do you make it work?

How to Make Simple Sauerkraut

2010-07-27T18:53:00.007-04:00

Finally - the post so many have asked about and have been waiting for.

Homemade Raw Sauerkraut!

Sauerkraut is super easy, and I'm so glad I took the time to try it.

Sauerkraut
1-2 medium heads of green or purple cabbage
1 tablespoon sea salt per head of cabbage (don't use table salt!)
Whatever else you want to add: carrots, beets (golden are great), ginger, dill, horseradish, whatever!
Quart-sized Ball/canning jars or
A food grade bucket with a ceramic plate that fits inside perfectly and a heavy weight (a jug of water, boiled rock, etc.)

Start with cabbage, the fresher, the better. If you have a food processor, grate it on the slice setting, not the shred setting. My processor has 2 settings. The first time I tried to grate it on the shred/fine setting, and it was too...well, fine. So use the slice setting. Put the cabbage in a bowl, add the salt, and let it weep for a few minutes. If using fresh cabbage, you will notice a difference; freshly picked cabbage lets off a ton of water! If you are going to add other items (carrots are a great and easy addition), shred those up, too, and mix in with the weeping cabbage.

The easiest way to start is to stuff it into jars. I have done this 2 ways. First way: Don't screw the lid on all the way because liquid will leak out of the jar for a few days - basically, leave it loose by like one quarter of an unscrew. Make sure you put the jars in a bowl or a big tupperware to catch the liquid. This is done so they don't expand and explode. Second way: Tighten the lid all the way. This is what I did last time. They still leaked liquid, and they didn't explode. So who knows :) Add extra water if the liquid doesn't cover the kraut, and then add a little more salt. With fresh cabbage, I had so much extra liquid I saved it in a jar in the fridge and added it to the jars when they looked a little low.

If you'd rather use a bucket (I did the first time), just shove the cabbage in there (you will need to use at least 3 heads), again making sure there is enough liquid. Cover with a plate (the edges of which must touch the sides of the bucket), and weigh down the plate. Then cover this with a towel to keep out bugs and dust.

Then put it in a closet or dark place. I check it after 4-5 days and screw the lid on the jars the rest of the way if there's enough liquid in there. Leave for 4 weeks, or a little less if hot.

That's it! When it's done fermenting, store it in the fridge. It is a living food, after all! Right now, I have some new flavors fermenting, including a Mexican-themed jar with jalapeno and cilantro, a jar with beets, and I don't remember what else!

Find out more information here at Wild Fermentation.

And I'll leave you with some pictures:
Below, you see 2 jars of Colorful Caraway Kraut with carrots and caraway seeds, and 1 jar of Hot Pink Horsey Kraut with green & purple cabbage & some fresh horseradish. This is the before shot :)

Colorful Caraway Kraut after fermenting (and after me eating half the jar before I stopped to take a picture!)

Hot Pink Horsey Kraut

And a bucket shot before putting the plate and weight in it:

Next up: fermented pickles! I'll let you know how they come out.

Gluten-free Pasta with Garlic Scape Pesto

2010-07-15T18:57:00.006-04:00

I don't know if it's because I walked 3.6 miles in hilly terrain, or I was really hungry - but this dinner was so good! Gluten free, dairy free and fresh from the farm.

Garlic Scape Pesto
4-5 ounces water
15-20 garlic scapes
30-40 fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Soak the pine nuts in water for about an hour or more. Drain the water and rinse. Trim the garlic scapes of the stringy end (but leave the flower/bud thing) and the hard end on the other side.

Throw all ingredients into the blender. Start with 4 ounces of water and add another ounce if the blender is struggling. Blend it really well. This makes almost 2 cups of pesto, and is only 12 points for the whole recipe in the Weight Watchers system. That means you can add just over 2 tablespoons to your pasta and it's only 1 point.

I boiled brown rice penne and steamed some chicken breast (yes, I know that's weird - but I'm on a diet & the chicken was still frozen). In the last 3 minutes of the chicken cooking, I added big cubes of zucchini and lightly steamed that.

I tossed together 1 1/2 cups of pasta with a few cubes of chicken, 2 tablespoons pesto and threw some zucchini on top. You have to try this. My goodness! Could dinner get any better?