Ruttan and Law Family Recipes—The Secret Recipe Club

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon

Guess what?  For this month’s Secret Recipe Club assignment, I FINALLY got one of my favorite blogs and one that I’ve been waiting for well over three years to be assigned.  It has been a party at our house as I have made a ton of recipes from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  Going out with a bang here, but I’ve made the decision to not be part of the Secret Recipe Club anymore.  I have been with it from the day Amanda created it more than three years ago.  I have never missed one month.  It has been so fun, such a great time, and I have made some great friends along the way.  I’ve been feeling for a number of  months now that it will be time to move on once I finally get Shelby’s blog.  That has been what has kept me going, the excitement of waiting and wondering when I’ll finally get THE assignment. 

Brownie Biscotti

Shelby, Shelby, Shelby—what a wonderful woman!  We’ve “known” each other (haven’t met in person yet) since way back in about 2008 when we were both involved with Tuesdays With Dorie and baked our way through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours in a huge weekly-posting group.  Those were the days, weren’t they?!

Throughout this last month, I have had the fun and pleasure of seeing how many of Shelby’s recipe from her blog I can make.  I have not been disappointed with a single one!  I loved the brownie biscotti and made it gluten free and used organic cane sugar to make myself a treat.  Can’t wait to make them again!

Way back when she posted these unique chocolate chip cookies, I made them.  I looked back through all my photos and my blog and never did put them on the blog.  But I did find where I wrote some notes after making them that Kevin really liked them.  This recipe, that Shelby posted back in 2009, was one she found on a handwritten recipe card that her family believes was from her Grandmother Lottie.  They have no butter and are made with cream instead, which is probably because cows’ milk/cream was more at hand back in those days than butter.  I made these to take to a get together we were having with some friends along with a couple other goodies and they were gobbled up.

 Grandmother Lottie's Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn’t want to only make treats or desserts from her blog, so I have turned to it for dinner inspiration over the last month.  I made a great chicken recipe weeks ago that was well liked here at my home.  I will not hesitate to make it again.  Just like when Shelby made it, I served it with rice (and for me quinoa).

Chipotle Chicken Skillet

My family LOVES cinnamon rolls, which Shelby has mentioned she can’t resist either.  It only seemed right to make the recipe she has pictured at the front and center of her blog.  These just might replace my cinnamon roll recipe, which I’ve used for years because the boys all really liked them.  How could you not like a giant cinnamon roll that is similar to Cinnabon?!  (Wish I could have had one!)  This recipe, which is similar in size of ingredients to mine, makes EIGHT rolls.  They are huge, and I think I rolled them the wrong way (from the long side of the dough instead of the short side, which would make each roll bigger).

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon

I really enjoyed looking all through Shelby’s blog and ended up having to make another recipe from her family file and settled on these date treats made by her Aunt Helga.  I changed up this recipe for candied date balls so I could eat them (no one else here will eat anything with dates!) and made the recipe with coconut sugar and raw honey instead of sugar and coconut oil instead of butter.  I also used some organic brown rice crisp cereal instead of Rice Krispies.  I enjoyed making some different with unsweetened coconut, chopped walnuts and even adding a little chocolate to some.

Aunt Helga's Candied Date Balls

Another awesome recipe I made were a quick-change version of Shelby’s Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies.  I had the brownies all ready to make and was getting out the ingredients for the peanut butter caramel, which called for smooth peanut butter and found that we were out.  Staring at me in the cupboard was some nice, smooth Nutella.  So I made the caramel sauce (which came from a Bobby Flay recipe) with Nutella!  After making the caramel and once it cooled, I will have to admit I tasted a little bit, for quality control purposes, you know.  It was good!  The caramel was swirled in to the brownies.  They made for a yummy dessert with ice cream on top.  It seemed necessary to take a bite of the one photographed here, so I can really attest to their deliciousness.  I’m a bad, bad girl, I know. ; ) 

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies adapted from Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies

The 9x13 inch pan of brownies lasted a few days around here.  One of Kevin’s 18 year old nephews was over and had one of the brownies and said they were SO good.  He asked for another.  Then he said I definitely had to make those for the next family get together. 

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies with ice cream

Wait, there’s more!  It has been strangely cool and quite rainy for an August in the Utah dessert here, so I was recently in the mood for chili.  Shelby to the rescue!  She has a great, simple White Chicken Chili on her blog!

White Chicken Chili

Another night for dinner, I had some more chicken I wanted to use.  Our dinner that night was Apricot Glazed Grilled Chicken from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch.  Mmm, it was good!

Apricot Glazed Grilled Chicken

I made the glaze with some apricot jam my friend gave me that was made with agave instead of sugar!  I’m so blessed to have friends that care about my dietary needs.  My dinner included some sauteed sweet potato and portabello mushroom hash and a caprese salad.  Delicious dinner!

I saw Shelby’s post for Spicy Mango Lime Salsa with Pears and just like she said she had to when she saw it posted somewhere and had to make it, I did, too!  I also made homemade tortilla chips.  I made some with flour tortillas (not pictured) and some with corn tortillas, which I loved!  The boys couldn’t eat the flour tortilla chips fast enough and want more soon!  The salsa was supposed to be made with finely chopped red onion, but since I knew I was the one who was going to eat most of it (Kevin doesn’t like fruit in salsa), I left out the onion and added chopped jalapeno instead.  Yum!

Spicy Mango Lime Salsa with Pears and Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips

Are we there yet?  You know, how when you’re on a long trip and the kids complain and ask if we’ve arrived at our destination yet?  I’m almost done.  But aren’t you starving now?  Yeah, get over to Shelby's blog for all these delicious recipes.  Finally, I ended the month recently with another biscotti, which is the same thing I made first when I got my assignment (the brownie biscotti).  Since Shelby is from upstate New York and they love their maple syrup there, I wanted to make something with maple syrup, so I settled on her Maple Walnut Biscotti.  I have simply loved having so many treats this month, a lot of them I have adapted to gluten free and refined sugar free when it was something I wanted to be able to eat, like the biscotti.  I will spend the next month or so sharing individual posts for my adaptations for all these recipes.  For now, all the links to the recipes I used from Shelby are under each photo. 

Maple Walnut Biscotti

Shelby dipped her biscotti in a white chocolate glaze, I added some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips to some of mine.  I’m not a coffee or tea drinker and don’t dip my biscotti in anything, but sure love it!

This Sunday night for dinner, I planned ahead and made one more recipe from Shelby’s blog—Pot Roast and Onions.  While I don’t like onions, my family does and I knew I’d be okay putting an onion in the slow cooker with a roast.  Loved this simple recipe and the gravy it made.  When it comes time to eat, my family is not happy to wait for pictures, so I got them all eating, then snapped this quick one of my dinner.  (They had mashed potatoes, but I don’t eat potatoes anymore, so I had a sweet potato.)

Shelby's Pot Roast

Is it over?  I mean this “era” in my blog life of being part of the Secret Recipe Club?  Let me just say that I’ve sure been torn from one day to the next, even one hour to the next throughout this last month.  I will still be checking in on reveal days as much as I can.  One of the reasons I feel like it’s time to let it go is because I just can’t seem to get around to as many blogs as I’d like and it doesn’t seem fair.  I’ll definitely still be here in food blog land, so never fear!  Peace out!  And we will meet someday, Shelby, my sista from another mista!

An InLinkz Link-up

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake (Gluten Free)—Secret Recipe Club

I really like this Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake that I made from my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month!  Even better, I love that I made it gluten free and with some other substitutions all on my own.  This may not seem like that big of a deal, but for me in my new adventures in to a gluten free life as well as refined sugar free, I was really happy with how this turned out (and scared it wouldn’t).  Win!

My assigned blog this month was Ilona's Kitchen.  Ilona’s blog is full of all kinds of yummy desserts (and some other things, too)!  It was, as usual with Secret Recipe Club, hard to pick what to make.  It seems that Ilona and her family really enjoy cakes of all kinds as there were many to choose from, but I wanted to pay tribute to that by making one of the cakes.  Lo and behold, since it is blueberry season, as soon as I saw her Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake, I decided that was the cake I needed to make.  Besides, I’ve been buying blueberries by the ton and lately always have some in my fridge.  I’ve decided, while I’m not sure I’ve ever met a fruit I don’t really like, berry season is my favorite—especially raspberries and blueberries!

My next task after deciding to make this cake, was to make it gluten free and use unrefined sugars, so that I could have some of it, too.  Though I don’t go without butter all the time, I also decided to swap the butter in this cake for coconut oil and at the last minute realized I didn’t have any more sour cream, so I used some plain whole fat yogurt in its place.  Lots of changes, but basically, Ilona’s bundt cake and mine could be twins, at least fraternal twins. ;  )

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake (Gluten Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2  1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I used Namaste GF Organic Perfect Flour Blend from Costco)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup unpacked (150 grams) organic light brown cane sugar

2/3 cup (227 grams) raw honey

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain yogurt (whole fat)

zest of one large lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice (save the rest of the juice for a glaze)

2 cups blueberries, washed and set on a towel  in single layer to dry

1/4-1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar

Glaze--

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Brush the insides of a bundt pan with coconut oil, making sure to get all the crevices.  Set aside.  Whisk together in a medium sized bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In an electric mixer, combine the coconut oil, brown sugar and honey.  Beat until combined.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.  Add the yogurt, lemon zest and juice and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix well just until combined.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Pour the batter into the bundt pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes.  Invert cake onto a wire rack (set the rack on top of the cake, then carefully turn it upside down until setting the rack on the counter, the cake should drop right out).  Cool completely.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Make the simple glaze.  Put the honey and lemon juice into a small microwave safe dish.  Microwave for 20 minutes, whisk until well combined.  Let cool.   Drizzle a little bit on servings of cake (I did this instead of drizzling the whole cake at once).

I really like the hit of lemon in this cake from the zest and juice in the cake and the simple honey lemon glaze.  You could glaze the whole cake before serving, and I splurged on 1/4 teaspoon of powdered sugar and dusted the cake, then just put glaze on individual pieces of the cake.  Kevin thinks it would be good with a sugar-laden glaze or whipped cream and I’m sure it probably would, but my way is yummy and better for you.  Even though the cake is gluten free and “different”, usually my family steers clear when I tell them that, but they have been eating the cake.  I love the almost crust-like edges of the cake. 

Check out Ilona’s blog, Ilona's Kitchen for more great recipes!  I actually made another recipe from her blog, it was a last minute salad I needed to take to a ladies church activity.  I loved it.  Again, I made a few changes, but you can find her Spinach and Edamame Salad here.  Ilona’s salad didn’t have blueberries and had pine nuts instead of pecans. 

Spinach Edamame Blueberry Pecan Salad, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 (10 ounce) bag of frozen edamame

1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1/3 cup dried cranberries (I used apple juice sweetened)

1 cup blueberries, washed and dried

1/2 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

1 (5 ounce) bag of baby spinach

juice of 2 lemons (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Cook edamame according to package directions.  Rinse under cold water until cool.  In a large bowl, combine the edamame, chickpeas, dried cranberries, pecans, blueberries and spinach.  In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Whisk until well combined.  Dress the salad just before serving with the lemon dressing a little at a time, tossing between each tablespoonful.  Don’t overdress it.  You could also dress individual servings as well.  (You won’t use all of the dressing, you could probably even halve the dressing recipe but it will be great on other salads.  Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator in a jar.)

Lots of delicious recipes to choose from  on Ilona’s blog!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Chewy Coconut Oil Granola Bars and Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake (Both Gluten Free)—The Secret Recipe Club

It’s time for my July Secret Recipe Club post and reveal!  I have a little thing to tell you—it “secretly” bugs me when the last (or one of the last few) post someone did on their blog is what someone picks for their reveal.  That said, here I am, posting one of the last things on my Secret Recipe assignment.  I AM happy to see that she has since posted a few more things, so it’s not the very last thing.  It just always makes me think that someone didn’t take the time to look throughout the blog to decide what to make.  Blah, blah, I know, silly me.  Then I saw Sarah at The Pajama Chef recently post these granola bars made with coconut oil (EASY to make gluten free) after I already made something else (the Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake) and decided I had to make them, too.  So you’re getting a twofer again, which I’m sure you don’t mind and I am SO happy to have found TWO recipes that I love!

I really don’t know which one I liked better, the granola bars or the cake.  I’m posting the granola bars first because I made them a little healthier (although both are gluten free) so I feel a little better about that. ;  )  I LOVE how chewy the granola bars are and that they are not baked—no turning on the oven in this hot, summer sun for these!  I used gluten free oats, organic brown rice crisp cereal, raw honey and coconut sugar instead of brown sugar.  Yep, these are health food.  I love the caramel-flavor from the honey and coconut sugar.  Actually, I love the chewy texture it gave to these bars as well!

Gluten Free Chewy Coconut Oil Granola Bars (Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (Adapted from Sarah at The Pajama Chef)

2  1/2 cups (75 grams) organic brown rice crisp cereal

1  3/4 cups (140 grams) gluten free rolled oats

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1/4 cups chopped pecans

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (168 grams) raw honey

1/2 cup (80 grams) organic coconut palm sugar

1/3 cup (80 grams) organic coconut oil

1/3 cup (96 grams) organic natural creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup (about 3 ounces) Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with nonstick foil.  Put the rice cereal, oats, flax, pecans, sunflower seeds and salt in a large bowl.  Put the honey and coconut sugar in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-low head.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and whisk in the coconut oil and peanut butter until well combined.  Whisk in the vanilla.  Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and stir to coat everything evenly.  Press into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, then put waxed paper or parchment paper over the top and press it down evenly.  Leave the paper on as a cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.  Remove from pan and cut into bars on a cutting board.  Store in an airtight container (for up to 3-5 days) or keep refrigerated or freeze some for later (individually wrapped in an airtight container).

These are so good!  But like I mentioned, I’d already made a cake from Sarah’s blog that I was going to  share.  So here you go.  Another delicious recipe.

Sarah’s recipe for the Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake is delicious, I’m sure, but so I could have some, I made it gluten free.  Since I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, I halved her recipe and made the cake in an 8x8 inch pan.  Delicious!  I wish I wouldn’t have halved it except that I would have eaten a whole cake (not all in one sitting, but still).  I didn’t feel nearly as guilty knowing I ate an 8x8 inch cake over a number of days rather than a 9x13, but this cake would be great for company.  Dare I say, it would even be a great breakfast/coffee cake.  I MIGHT have eaten some for breakfast one day.  It was great for on-the-go, which I was one day after I’d made it, instead of making my usual oatmeal or smoothie.   Check out Sarah’s recipe on the link above!  Here’s my gluten free, coconut oil version.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

3 tablespoons  coconut oil

1/2 an egg (2 tablespoons after whisking, 28 grams)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1  1/4 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Premium Gold ancient grains blend, found at Costco)

3/4 cup apples, peeled and chopped (1 small-medium apple), I used Red Delicious because that’s what I had

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

heaping 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Brush coconut oil in an 8x8 inch baking pan (I often just use my fingers).  In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla.  Whisk together well.  Stir in the baking soda, salt and gluten free flour.  Add the chopped apples and fold in with a spatula.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and coconut oil.  Mix together with a fork until all the mixture is like wet sand.  Stir in the chopped walnuts.  Sprinkle evenly over cake.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

I really loved this cake.  I will say, it was a little sweet for me.  I think it’s just because I’m not used to sugar being sprinkled on something anymore.  Next time, I think I’ll use only about half as much topping and I might even try coconut sugar, which has a lower glycemic index and is unrefined.  While I like to make myself think organic and cane sugar is unrefined, I know it’s not and is still basically refined.  So every now and then I use it, but not very often. 

I think this cake worked so well making it gluten free that I’m going to try it with blueberries instead of apple—ASAP!  Doesn’t that sound good?  Yeah, that will be happening by tomorrow!  Thanks for the great recipes and blog, Sarah!  Check out her blog, The Pajama Chef, for more deliciousness!

An InLinkz Link-up

Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam and Rhubarb Walnut Loaf—Secret Recipe Club

Betcha anyone coming over here from the Secret Recipe Club that knows me well is shocked that this is my pick for the month and it’s not dessert!  Here’s the deal—I made three recipes from my blog assignment this month and chose the one I liked the most to feature here first.  I liked all three recipes from Isabelle’s blog, Crumb.  I am so happy that I took the time to make these Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam.  I had them in mind the whole month and just kept not getting it done. 

In the meantime, after spending Mother’s Day weekend with my parents in Idaho, I brought home a bunch of rhubarb from their garden.

Mom and I were having loads of fun trying to take a selfie before I left.  Some of them were pretty funny.

My parents just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 16th!  Anyway, their yard and garden is beautiful and they have 3-4 big rhubarb plants.  I got to bring home a bunch.

How cool is this pvc pipe planter?  They made holes all along the top, filled them with dirt and planted things like lettuce and herbs.  They’ve done that all along fencing in their yard.  No weeding!

I could post more pictures, but I’ll spare you too many more.  I just wish I could be like my parents and have a yard and garden like they do!

Back to the rhubarb—I scoured Isabelle’s blog for any rhubarb recipes and found this Rhubarb Walnut Loaf.  I decided that it wouldn’t be too difficult to make gluten free and made it. 

Here’s how I changed it to be gluten free and with a few other changes.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Walnut Loaf, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2/3 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned coconut milk

zest of 1 lemon

1  1/2 cups diced rhubarb

2  1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Premium Gold ancient grains blend with xanthan gum)

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

juice of a lemon

1 tablespoon toasted unsweetened coconut.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together the brown sugar and coconut oil.  Add the egg and mix well.  Stir in the vanilla and coconut milk.  Zest and juice the lemon.  Stir the zest into the wet mixture.  Save the lemon juice for the glaze.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.  Fold in the rhubarb and nuts.    Pour the batter into a 9x5 loaf pan that his brushed with coconut oil.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Whisk together the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and lemon juice and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour the glaze over the loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Cool on a wire rack.

Stay tuned for the red lentil patties and tomato jam, I’ll get to it soon.  It might be the first time in my blog’s history that I didn’t blog for a whole month.  I need to make up for lost time.  A bit more of the month went by and I still kept thinking about the lentil patties with homemade “catsup”.  I looked through Isabelle’s blog again, just for the heck of it and found these Cherry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars and felt like making them.  I made a few changes, using gluten free oats, brown rice flour, cranberries, sunflower seeds, almond milk, etc.  If you want my version of the recipe, let me know.  They were a good snack throughout the last week. 

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I didn’t think I was going to get the lentil patties made.  I knew if I made them they would only be something I would eat and no one else around here, but a couple days ago, I just decided to get it done last Thursday, the boys’ last full day of school.  I started with the Spicy Tomato Jam.  Super easy and very tasty!

Spicy Tomato Jam, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 small shallot, finely minced

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

14 ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Saute the shallot and ginger in olive oil for a couple minutes.  Add the garlic and mustard and saute until fragrant.  Chop the tomatoes, or pulse them in a food processor.  Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat and cook uncovered for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened like jam.  Let the jam cool, then spoon into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. 

This really has great flavor and a nice, perfect kick.  You can add a little more or less red pepper to your taste.  Isabelle used red pepper flakes.  I prefer the ground kind.  This tomato jam would be good on so many things.  After the jam was done, I made the patties.  I had bought some garam masala, which I had never used before, just to make these.  I’m glad I did! 

Since I was the only one eating these, I made just a few of them and have done so a couple times with the patty mixture in the refrigerator ready to make more.   I think I’ll fry off the rest of them, which I’ve done in coconut oil, and freeze them.  I made them gluten free by using rice flour instead of all purpose flour.

Red Lentil Patties, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1  1/2 cups red lentils

3 cups water

1 small shallot, finely minced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 teaspoons garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

coconut oil, for frying

In a large saucepan, bring the lentils and water to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are soft, 15-20 minutes.  Drain lentils well.  In a skillet, saute the shallot in olive oil for a few minutes.  Add the garlic, cumin, and garam masala.  Cook and stir a few more minutes.  Remove from heat.  In a large bowl, combine the lentils, sauteed ingredients, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and cilantro.  Form into balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Lay them in a skillet that is heated with a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and flatten them to about 1/4 inch thick.  Fry the patties for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve them warm or at room temperature with the spicy tomato jam. 

These really were quite simple to make and I’m so glad I found the time to do so!  You know, a couple years ago, I got the pleasure of filling in for a missing Secret Recipe Club assignment and made some delicious marbled choco banana muffins and granola from Isabelle’s blog.  What I wouldn’t give for one of those muffins now!  I also just realized and had thought I had been assigned Isabelle’s blog before, but knew I’d filled in once, so I didn’t question it until now—I have also already had an actual assignment for Crumb and I made a couple more things--Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake and Sweet Potato Falafel!  I knew something seemed off, but didn’t question it.  Oh well, I am super glad I got to find more yummy things on Isabelle’s blog!  We need to have a talk with “the powers that be” who make these assignments. ;  )

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Canadian Honey Drop Cookies, Gluten Free—Secret Recipe Club

I am a big cheater.  Besides making these cookies gluten free and using unrefined sugar (no big deal), instead of sandwiching them with jam/jelly which was indicated in the recipe, I used chocolate and peanut butter.  I can’t help it.  I didn’t have any sugar free jam, so it’s not really my fault and these are then healthier than if I would have used a sugar-laden jam.  Am I right?  Instead I used a combination of all natural peanut butter, a touch of raw honey and some melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips.  Win---WIN!

These cookies were really good.  I found them on my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for May.   My blog assignment was Anna’s blog, Cheese With Noodles.  Anna lives in Alaska with her husband, bunnies and cat.  She’s crafty, likes gardening and cooking and baking.  I like her!

She got this Canadian Honey Drop Cookies recipe from the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book.  I would love to have a copy of that one!  I like that she pointed out that these cookies aren’t Canadian and they aren’t drop cookies, really.  But that doesn’t matter if you make them and like them, right?  When I saw that they are made with brown sugar and I had just recently bought some organic brown sugar, as well as with honey, I knew these were the cookies I had to make.  I’m happy I did.  I actually ate most of these cookies individually with no filling to sandwich them.  They are good by themselves!  I was thinking of drizzling them with melted chocolate, then I thought of what my favorite thing is with honey and knew I needed to put some peanut butter in them.  Man, I sure miss a good ol’ peanut butter and honey sandwich! 

Yes, I could have just eaten one cookie topped with the peanut butter-chocolaty goodness, but that would not have been very lady-like and would have been kind of a drippy mess.  So, a sandwich it was!  Check out the recipe Anna posted.  Here’s my gluten free version.  I also used coconut oil instead of shortening, though I might try them again with some organic Spectrum palm shortening.  Anna’s cookies were pretty thick and mine were soft and flat (still good!).  If I make them again and don’t plan to sandwich them, I will use shortening.  I have found that coconut oil really spreads with cookies.  I knew it would when I made them this way, so it is all good.

Canadian Honey Drop Cookies, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup coconut oil, 112 grams (or organic Spectrum palm shortening)

1/2 cup organic cane brown sugar, not packed (80 grams)

1 large egg

3 tablespoons raw honey (63 grams)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (196 grams) (I used Premium Gold ancient grains gluten free blend)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

*Optional filling

Jam/Jelly of your choice

Natural Peanut Butter

Combination of peanut butter, honey, melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Beat together well the oil/shortening with the brown sugar.  Add the egg and beat well.  Add the honey and vanilla a mix until fluffy.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.  Stir it into the sugar mixture until all combined.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate dough for a couple hours (be careful, refrigerating something with coconut oil, hardens it up quite a bit, but I was still able to form dough balls).  The chilling step may not be necessary if using shortening. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll dough into one inch balls.  Place on baking sheets about 3 inches apart.  You can flatten them slightly with your hand if you’d like them flat, which works well for a sandwich cookie.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.  Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.   Fill cookies with jam or optional peanut butter/chocolate mixture, if desired.  Makes 16 cookies

I filled one with just peanut butter and it was a bit runny/messy.  Still tasted great though!  The melted chocolate really helped hold the filling inside, especially after I refrigerated it for a short time.

My newest plan/goal with my Secret Recipe Club assignments is to also make a savory dish from the blog.  You might have noticed, I always go right for cookies or some other dessert.  That’s just who I am.  But I actually eat quite healthy as well, especially after being diagnosed with MS and going gluten free and off refined sugars and most processed foods.  It’s been an interesting road to go down.    I miss certain things, like a good old plate of pasta or some delicious homemade whole grain bread……….so looking through Anna’s blog, I wanted to find something to make for dinner one night.  My family seems to get tired of the same number of things we have often.  While I make spaghetti a lot and one other pasta dish that is made with an Alfredo sauce, I wanted to find something else.  I ran across the Dreamy Baked Ziti she posted in March of last year.  I decided we need to try a new pasta.  Anna spoke about how this was a new favorite with lots of creamy cheese and a flavorful tomato sauce.  I liked that it did not have ground beef in it.  I was a little skeptical that my family would not like it having no meat in it, so at the last minute, I tossed some chopped pepperoni into the sauce.

Besides that addition, I made just a few slight changes, so I’m not going to retype the recipe, that Anna got from Mel’s Kitchen Café, who got it from Cook’s Illustrated.  It’s like making a lasagna with an ample amount of a creamy cheese mixture full of lots of mozzarella and parmesan.  This mixture called for some dried parsley, but I used fresh chopped parsley. 

Just before I added the pepperoni to the sauce, I took a scoop of it and a scoop of the cheese mixture and made me a little portion of gluten free pasta.  I made a perfect one-serving ramekin of this Dreamy Baked Gluten Free Ziti for me.  I thought it was delicious!

I sure wish I would have made more of it for me for other meals!  This was a heavenly “splurge” meal for me and I would do it again in a heartbeat. ; )

I will for sure make the ziti again…..sometime….soon.  So many delicious recipes on Anna’s blog, Cheese With Noodles. 

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Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Gluten Free—Secret Recipe Club

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Granola BarsT

These are sure tasty!  I know they look kind of plain and boring, but I assure you, there is some great flavor there!  Do you like Snickerdoodles, those cinnamony, chewy cookies?  These taste like those cookies, but in no bake granola bar form.  And of course, I made them gluten free with gluten free oats and a glluten free flour blend and used raw honey and organic sugar.  I decided to splurge a little on the sugar, I consider organic cane sugar not to be a 100% natural, unrefined sugar, but sometimes I use it—so sue me. ;  )  I also don’t use butter much anymore as I’ve been using coconut oil for the most part, but these called for butter and I decided to splurge there, too, and use real butter.  Mmm, I thought the butter flavor came through nicely with these.

Hey, I found these bars over at my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for this month.  I really enjoyed Aimee’s blog, See Aimee Cook.  New to me, but I sure spent a lot of time there.  I had the hardest time deciding what to make.  Check out Aimee’s awesome Recipe Index.  I love that she posts weekly menus and browsing through some of those I wanted to make everything I saw.  Let me correct that, I wanted Aimee to cook everything I saw for me.  There is a lot of good stuff there.

These are making for a great little snack for me the last couple days.  I have this silly little trick—when my boys ask what certain things are, I tell them they are gluten free or sugar free and they cringe their noses and won’t even try most things.  Little do they know, they taste great and they’d never know if I didn’t tell them.  Makes them all for me that way and they last a lot longer, too.  Hehe

Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Aimee at See Aimee Cook

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup (168 grams) raw honey

1/4 cup (35 grams, not packed) organic light brown sugar

1/4 cup (45 grams) organic pure cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3  1/2 cups (315 grams) gluten free quick cooking oats

3/4 cup gluten free blend flour (I used Premium Gold Ancient Grains blend)

Line a 9 inch square pan with nonstick foil, enough to use the edges to remove the bars easily from the pan.  Spread a light coating of butter or coconut oil over the foil. 

In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, and sugar until melted and smooth.  Let it come to a boil for 3 minutes.  Don’t let it boil to fast and high, if it is, turn the heat down slightly.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla, cinnamon, salt and cream of tartar.  Stir to combine.  Add the oats and stir well.  Add the flour a little at a time until well combined.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.  Press it down firmly (I like to use a potato masher for even pressing.)  Refrigerate for about 2 hours until bars are set.  Lift them out of the pan using the foil edges.  Cut into desired sized bars on a cutting board.  Store in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature or for a month in the refrigerator.  They also freeze well.

These are perfectly soft and chewy at room temperature and obviously more firm out of the fridge.  They wouldn’t take long to come to room temperature, but after enjoying them room temperature for a few days, I have the rest stored in the fridge.  They have great cinnamon flavor and the butter really comes through.  I actually thought they’d be a little greasy, but they are not.  Great job on these Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Aimee.  I’m totally thinking I’ll trick the boys and make other flavors of these.  We buy a lot of granola bars around here and I’d love to make them instead!

The night I made these, I decided to make this Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa for dinner.  Course, I had to make it for the boys with rice and let them put it all in a flour tortilla like a burrito, blah, blah.  If I’d have just made quinoa with chicken, they probably would have all complained.  Whatever.  It worked just fine for me to make cilantro lime rice and some cilantro lime quinoa.  I followed Aimee’s recipe pretty much exactly.  I just didn’t make as much rice or quinoa so we wouldn’t have a huge abundance.  It worked perfectly.  I love quinoa and this was a great meal!

Check out Aimee’s blog, See Aimee Cook and all the other goodness from the Secret Recipe Club!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Banana Apple Bread (Gluten Free) and Rachel’s Chocolate Chip Cookies—Secret Recipe Club

I was SO happy to find this banana bread recipe on my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for this month.  I’ve been dying to find a banana bread recipe that looked like it would be easy to make gluten free and refined sugar free and decided this was it.  Thank you Chris and Rachel from The Keenan Cookbook (my secret blog).  This is perfect.  NO ONE would ever know this is gluten free.  I also made it with coconut sugar and you can’t tell.  Perfect for me.  My silly boys, who love banana bread, turned up their noses and wouldn’t even try it when I told them it was gluten free.  This is my way of hoarding the loaf for myself.  I savored it for days.  Because of the bananas and the apple and some applesauce, this bread is nice and moist and the walnuts I added were a perfect crunch. 

Banana Apple Bread (Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free), adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from The Keenan Cookbook (Check out the link for their “unadapted” recipe.)

1  3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Premium Gold ancient grains blend, found at Costco)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1  1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon unsulphured molasses

1/3 cup coconut oil

2 large eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 tablespoons almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large bananas, mashed

1 medium apple, peeled and finely grated

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spread some coconut oil evenly in a 9x5 bread pan (I also love putting nonstick foil in the pan first, but still usually coat it with coconut oil, you can spray with cooking spray, too).  You can also make this batter in to muffins, spread oil in each muffin cup.  Set aside.  In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Whisk together.  In another bowl, combine the sugar, molasses and coconut oil.  Stir together until well combined.  Add the eggs and applesauce and stir to combine.  Stir (or whisk) in the almond milk and vanilla.  In a another bowl with a fork, or small food processor, add the bananas and pulse until mashed into a puree.  Add the bananas to the wet ingredients and grate the apple into the bowl.  Stir to combine.  Fold in the walnuts.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.   Let bread sit on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn the bread out onto the wire rack to cool completely. 

I love banana anything.

Instead of bread, I usually make muffins because they bake so much faster, which means you can be eating banana bread sooner.  So I tried that with this recipe.  Great muffins!

I made the bread weeks ago and the muffins just last week.  I have more bananas on the counter, ready and waiting to make this bread again soon!

Mmmm!  THEN just because I like looking at cookies on blogs and because my family is “suffering” with my new health changes with my baking less (poor, poor family), I saw the Keenan’s also posted their favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe and I had to make that—for my family and because it was chocolate chip cookies.

I didn’t even taste them, but they were gone in a day or two.  They are definitely simple to make.  Rachel has taken the original Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe and added an extra cup of flour, which is think is brilliant because I’ve never cared for the Nestle recipe (still love the company and Ruth Wakefield and her invention of the chocolate chip cookie).  I’ve always thought the cookies turn out too flat and a bit greasy.  I know many like their chocolate chip cookies that way, and that’s fine.  But what a simple idea and an easy way to make a thicker, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie—just add a little more flour.

Thank you, Rachel, for that idea.  I didn’t change a thing from her adapted Nestle recipe, so get it at The Keenan Cookbook.  I really enjoyed their blog.  They both share in the cooking and baking, she photographs the recipes and he writes up the posts, sharing their yummy recipes and their thoughts about being parents to two little boys.  Hey, I know a thing or two about that times two.  ;  )

I love being a part of the Secret Recipe Club.  Check out all the yummy stuff below!

An InLinkz Link-up