Fried Onion Dip—Cooking from The New Midwestern Table Cookbook

If you know me well, don’t die of shock when you see this post for Fried Onion Dip.  If you don’t know, I have a deep loathing for onions.  Always have.  Probably always will.  So you might be wondering why in the world I would make and post an onion dip.  I have joined with a group of fellow cooking, baking and cookbook lovers in making our way through Amy Thielen’s new book, The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes.  If you don’t know Amy, she also has a new show on the Food Network, Heartland Table.  Check it out on Saturday mornings. 

The first recipe that was chosen for the group to make from Amy’s book was Fried Onion Dip.  There is no requirement for making any of the recipes, it’s all just for fun and whenever we can or would like to make one of the chosen recipes that will be two times a month.  But I felt bad and was so torn to not participate on the first one.  So I talked myself in to frying some onions to make this dip.  I have never enjoyed any of the aspects of onions, the taste, the smell, cutting them, the lingering smell, what they do to your breath, all of it.  My mom has always teased me that someday when I grow up I’ll like them.  Well, I’m cough, cough—almost 44—and still no-likey.  I have tried.  I consider it an aversion much like one of my best friends HATING nuts (unfathomable to me), or one of my sons not liking chocolate (despicable!).

That said, I do put onions in salsa, but I only like the very non-chunky, super pulverized kind.  And I HAVE grown up somewhat from my youth, where I used to pick every little piece of onion out of everything I ate, you couldn’t hide them small enough—I’d find them and be able to taste them.  I don’t do that anymore, so give me some credit for that, Mom. ;)  While living in Kansas over three years ago, I had the pleasure of taking some wonderful cooking classes from Paige at For Love of the Table.  (She should have her own cooking show!)  There I chose to eat the things she cooked and I learned that I can handle shallots and that I’m not going to die eating onions.  Can I now say I like them?  No.  But I don’t go out of my way to pick them out of food I’m eating that has onions.  AND I can even be found chopping up a shallot to add to certain sauces I’m making.  Shallots ARE in the onion family.  Go me.

Kevin loves onions.  He has had to really sacrifice by not eating onions because I don’t cook with them hardly ever and because as he likes to tell people “he doesn’t want to sleep on the couch tonight”.  Poor guy.  I have always told him he can eat all the onions he wants when we go out to eat, but he will often give up those onions rings or whatever so he can sleep in our bed.  Aw!

This dip, which you can get the recipe for by buying Amy’s book, The New Midwestern Table, is first made by clarifying butter, which is one of the reasons I decided to make it as I’ve never clarified butter before.  Mmm, butta!  The onions are then fried in the butter until they brown and even start to crisp.  This is not the same as caramelizing onions, which is done at a lower temperature—low and slow.  I know many would say that is such a great aroma.  It is not one I enjoy.  My house smelled of onions for two days.  I lived.

Are they done yet?  Not quite.  At this point, some wine or vermouth would be added and thickened with a little honey.  Since I don’t use alcohol, I used a little chicken stock.  Works just fine!  I do that with most recipes that have alcohol.  Sometimes I use fruit juice, too.  There’s garlic added, too.  I don’t have a problem with garlic, but I do not enjoy the smell either one leaves on my fingers and have never really found a remedy for getting rid of it.

Ahh, the onions are done.  Cooled.  Chopped finely, then added to a cream cheese and sour cream mixture, which I used lite for both.  There you have it—Fried Onion Dip.

And I decided to make some homemade baked chips to serve with it.  I made some potato chips and sweet potato chips.  And yes, I tasted the dip—just making sure to not get any of the onion bits.  I even had more than one bite.  I served the dip to the boys for dinner with some sandwiches.  They all ate some of it except Sam, my youngest.  Kevin enjoyed it and ate most of it.

There you go, onion dip.  Get Amy’s book.  I’m excited to stretch myself and try some new recipes.  Yes, those chopped, green herbs on top should be chives, but I didn’t have any, so they are the last of my indoor, fresh parsley.  Next recipe—on my birthday, November 15—Corn Fritters with Green Chile Buttermilk Dip.

Paleo Breakfast Bread—It’s Cinnamon Goodness Is Not Just For Breakfast!

Hi!  Besides not feeling well lately, I’ve also had to deal with some family issues.  (Don’t worry, all is or at least will be fine.)  Just know that it’s nearly killing me to have ignored my blog for so long.  So I had a few minutes today and wanted to get a post up for you.  I sure do appreciate all my readers and hope you’re still around waiting patiently for me to post something.

You may have noticed I’ve been trying a lot of Paleo (grain free, dairy free, refined sugar free) recipes lately and posting some of them.  Here’s another.  I hadn’t realized I never blogged it, but it’s good and SO easy to make, so I wanted to share it with you.  I take no credit for it and didn’t even change anything in the recipe that Elana from Elana's Pantry came up with.  Love this lady and her blog.  We could be twins. (Ha!)  We do have a few things in common.  She has MS.  I have MS.  She has all boys (2) and I have all boys (4).  She’s got a great blog.  I’ve got a blog. ;)  But really, she is an inspiration to me and I have found many recipes on her blog that I enjoy.  She is a cookbook author and blogs great gluten free and Paleo recipes.

I first made this “breakfast bread” back in July and it was great.  I can be an easy thing to grab for breakfast as you and/or your kids are running out the door, but it also makes a great little snack when you just need something.  It is full of protein with almond butter and eggs and has just a few other ingredients, like honey, salt, baking soda and the star of the show—cinnamon.  This is packed with cinnamon.  You can add less if you’d like, but it’s pretty tasty.  Oh, it has a touch of Stevia drops, too.  Get some and keep it for recipes like the ones Elana shares and that I link.  It’s a great all natural sweetener and just a little dab will do ya.

Check out Elana's recipe for Paleo Breakfast Bread.  Better yet, make it.  I’m going to again right now.

It bakes in 12 minutes in an 8x8 square pan.  So easy. 

Just takes a couple minutes to mix up the ingredients in a bowl and stir them with a spoon.  Bake and done.  It can even be enjoyed warm.  Yep, see, ya gotta go make some right now.

Banana Bread Recipe—Secret Recipe Club

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I had the privilege and pleasure to fill-in for a blogger who wasn’t able to make their assignment at the last minute.   After volunteering and getting the blog information I would be filling in for, I was a little overwhelmed because I’ve been following this blog for years and have been so impressed with it that I almost felt I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.  That said, I certainly loved looking through all the wonderful posts and deciding what I could do with just a couple days left until the reveal.

Spinach Tiger is the blog I am posting for since our Group A leader, Jane, didn’t want her left out.  Angela’s blog, if you haven’t been there yet, is full of such great recipes.  But not only that, she has added a perfect balance of wit, humor and knowledge with her sharing.  She lives in Nashville with her husband and writes great posts for restaurants they visit in the area.  You should finish my post and go right to hers.  Read more about her on her About Page.  You’ll soon wish you were her BFF.  How I would love to be able to cook like she does.  My family is too picky.  If I was real life friends with Angela, I would eat everything she makes. ;)

In my haste to find something to make from her blog, as I only had two days to do it, I settled on this Banana Nut Bread.  I know, kind of lame of me—but with overripe bananas on the counter and everyone here loving banana cake, bread, muffins, I decided to try her recipe.  I’ve probably made too many banana bread recipes in the past to count them, but just like chocolate chip cookies, you can never try too many.

Angela got the recipe from a friend and it is quite similar to many others, though she cut the sugar, which is totally fine.  I agree with her, banana bread often has more sugar than necessary.  What I did like was that she said you can basically put whatever add ins on the top of the loaf or inside.  Her friend puts the nuts on top that are mixed with a little brown sugar.  That then reminded me of one of my favorite cakes, this Absolutely Delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake that has a swirl of brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon and chocolate in the middle and on top.  I decided I had to do that with this bread.  Had to. ;)  I only wish I could eat some of it.  It looks great.  Technically I could eat some, but since I’m not eating gluten or refined sugar right now, I haven’t eaten any of it.  The boys are eating it and Kevin even made a piece of French toast with some this morning while making breakfast for the boys.

Banana Nut Bread with Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl and Topping, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Angela at Spinach Tiger

1  1/2 cups all purpose flour

2  1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash nutmeg

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup mashed over ripe banana (3 medium)

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup canola/vegetable oil

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9x5 inch pan with cooking spray.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  Whisk together to combine.  Mash the bananas. (I also do this in the food processor, I like it more like a puree than a little chunky.)  Combine in a separate bowl the eggs, vanilla and oil.  Add the bananas and egg/oil mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine.  Don’t overmix.

Make the swirl/topping mix.  Combine in a small bowl the nuts, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, mini chocolate chips and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  Pour half the batter into the pan.  Sprinkle evenly half the swirl mix over the first layer.  Pour the rest of the batter into the pan and spread evenly.  Sprinkle the remaining topping mix over the batter.  Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Let cool completely in pan.  Remove from pan by carefully turning it to the side and letting the loaf fall into your hand.  (A few of the nuts and topping will fall off, but it’s okay, you can eat those.)

Definitely a test of wills here for me with this one as I love all things banana and adding nuts and chocolate are like heaven to me.  I suppose there comes a time when we choose our health over indulging in all the treats we’d like and I don’t feel like I’m suffering.

That reminds me, do you know how cool Angela from Spinach Tiger is?  Just because she wanted to see what it was like, try it out, be in the know and understand what being gluten free is like, she did just that for a month recently.  Check it out here.  She had a craving for a fresh tomato tart at that time and made a gluten free pie crust.  I SO wanted to get that done in time for this posting, but it was not to be—it WILL happen soon though.  I’ve been craving apple pie, so I do plan to try her Gluten Free Pie/Tart Crust here.  Her post is full of tips on making a gluten free crust work just right.  An apple tart or galette is calling my name. ;)

I, like Angela, don’t have dietary reasons for giving up gluten (or refined sugar for that matter), but after being diagnosed with MS recently, I decided to try going gluten free and sugar free.  I don’t really know if it is helping me, but I KNOW it certainly can’t be hurting me to not have white flour and refined sugars.  I am finding a world of good things that are still just as much a treat as the refined things out there.  And I know it will be okay to go for that splurge once in a while if I really want.  Check out my blog in recent months for those “healthier” treats I’ve been making. 

Thanks for picking me to fill-in this month, Jane.  My apologies to Angela for not being able to do her blog more justice that it deserves.  The best thing to do is CHECK OUT SPINACH TIGER for yourself, especially if you haven’t been there before.   Since I have two posts today, don’t miss my other post for my October secret assignment for Kate’s blog, Kitchen Trial and Error.  So many great blogs out there, so little time. 

Honey Nut Popcorn—Secret Recipe Club

In my new adventures of giving up gluten and refined sugar, I am sometimes finding it difficult to find treats that will cure certain cravings I have.  I’ve been using raw honey in many things.  When looking through my October blog assignment for the Secret Recipe Club, I found one of the things I’ve been wanting—something crunchy with a little sweetness!

This Honey Nut Popcorn hit the nail on the head!  I was assigned Kate’s blog, Kitchen Trial and Error.  There is definitely lots to see and try on her blog.  The cookies alone that she’s posted made me pine for those good ol’ days of making lots and lots of cookies.  You know, I haven’t given up on making goodies for other people, so I do still get to dapple in the good stuff when I want.  Kate lives in New York state, has a hubby and a cute baby boy (Boys rule!).

While we always have a full fruit basket here and plenty of other healthy choices for snacks, there is definitely a fair share of other treats available often.  As I mentioned, I’ve been craving popcorn.  My current favorite is white popped corn that I make with our Presto Stirring Popcorn Popper.  You put a little oil in the bottom of it, then add the popcorn and a little arm turns it around and around as it pops.  I’ve been loving using coconut oil and just putting salt on the popcorn.  You’ve got to try the white popcorn, the kernels are smaller and more tender.  You can get the white popcorn in most stores. 

Along came this honey nut popcorn and I was sold on trying it.  I did adapt Kate’s recipe that she got from Healthy Food For Living.  That recipe used some honey and some corn syrup.  I just used all honey.  Also instead of vegetable oil, I used coconut oil.  The honey nut popcorn is great!  Some peanut butter and peanuts are added to make it nutty.  It would be fun to try with almond butter and almonds.  That’s it, I’ve just decided, as soon as the honey nut popcorn I made is gone, I’ll have to try that.

Such simple ingredients and still a great treat.  Sure, it might not be just the same as a buttery caramel popcorn, but it works for me.  The boys tasted it and like it okay, but are leaving it alone and I’ve been enjoying it here and there throughout this week. 

Honey Nut Popcorn, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Kate at Kitchen Trial and Error

4 quarts popped popcorn (1/2 cup kernels) *I used white kernels

1/2 cup salted peanuts

2 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/2 cup raw honey

1/4 cup smooth, natural peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. 

Put the popped popcorn in a large bowl with the peanuts. 

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut oil, honey and peanut butter.  Stir constantly and cook for two minutes.  Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla and salt.  Pour the peanut butter/honey mixture over the popcorn and peanuts and stir to coat evenly using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula.  Spread the popcorn in an even layer on the baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Cool completely before eating and store in an airtight container.

Great sweet, crunchy treat for snitching a handful now and then!  Great blog, Kate!  Really enjoyed it and will be back.

Chippy Peanut Butter Cookies

(Sorry about the photos, I took them with my phone and it really doesn’t have a very good camera so they aren’t the best pictures.)

It’s about time I post again.  Sometimes I can’t believe how much time goes by when I realize I haven’t posted anything.  This might seem like a lame post, but these cookies NEED to be blogged.

I went home to Idaho to visit family this past weekend.  We had a Sunday dinner with people over at my parents’ house.  My mom and I made a dinner of taco soup, salsa with chips, jalapeno poppers and fruit.  I decided to make cookies—everyone had to have dessert. ;)  I whipped up these cookies in a matter of minutes the night before and put the dough in the fridge until the next day. 

Check out the recipe, I got it from Taste of Home.  You know what’s kind of funny, I saw the name Chippy and since I often call our doggy, Chip, Chippy, I wanted to make these.   I didn’t change anything.  Well, except since my mom doesn’t eat chocolate, I left some of the dough plain for peanut butter cookies.

I thought they looked like perfect peanut butter cookies.  With the rest of the dough, I added Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate chips.  (That is the only difference I made, so I won’t retype the recipe.)

I was even nice and “burned” a batch for my dad.  He prefers well done cookies.  I took a photo of those, but it looks horrible, (and not because they were burned) not worth adding to this post.

The cookies flew off the plate and some in my family told me they were seriously perfect peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with a perfect chewiness and crisp on the edges. 

I plan to make these again soon since my immediate family didn’t get to taste them (I went home to Idaho by myself).  Here’s the link to the recipe again.

Grain Free Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

I wasn’t planning to go all pumpkin crazy like all the food blogs are starting to do and I probably still won’t have like 30 days of all pumpkin posts or something like that, but I was actually just walking by the pantry one day recently and right there staring at me was a can of pumpkin.  It was a sign.  I needed to make something with it. 

After searching for just the thing I was craving, I found this cake.  It was everything I was looking for and craving.  It’s got those fall spices we all love and has healthy pumpkin in it, not to mention almond butter and raw honey to sweeten it.  Can hardly believe making a cake with no flour turned out so well.  You really wouldn’t know there is no flour.  It would be fun to have someone try it who didn’t know and see if they could tell what was different.  I’ve made a couple other things that are completely grain free, like brownies and they are really good.

I take no credit for the cake.  I found this at Mel’s blog, The Clothes Make the Girl.  Haven’t seen or heard of this blog before, but I love discovering new ones and will be back.  I didn’t change a whole lot of Mel’s recipe, but will retype it with my changes.  She also frosted her cake with a maple-vanilla frosting that is made with coconut butter.  This cake doesn’t even really need anything, it’s a great snack cake.  I certainly played around with toppings though.  Melted chocolate is my favorite way to top a slice of this cake.  I just love chocolate with fall spices like cinnamon and ginger.  I also topped some with some whipped coconut cream and while that’s good, too, I prefer the chocolate.  (Go figure.) ;)  Stock up on almonds and make your own almond butter, it’s much cheaper than buying almond butter.  Mel used Justin’s Maple Almond Butter and suggested if you didn’t use that to add some maple syrup, so that is what I did.  I’m tempted when I make this cake again to use maple syrup for the sweetener instead of honey to really bump up the maple flavor.

Grain Free Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Mel at The Clothes Make the Girl

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup almond butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/4 cup raw honey

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Topping (optional):

1-2 ounces Enjoy life mini chocolate chips, melted

coconut cream, whipped  (or heavy whipping cream)

maple syrup or honey to drizzle over slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line an 8 inch square baking pan with nonstick foil (foil is optional), coat the bottom and sides with a light coating of coconut oil. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup, honey and eggs and whisk together.  In a small bowl, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom and lemon zest.  Add to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 30 minutes.

When the cake is cooled, remove from the pan by lifting the foil edges.  Cut into desired sized pieces.  Drizzle with melted chocolate or top with whipped coconut cream (or heavy whipping cream).  A drizzle of maple syrup or honey is great on the whipped cream.

 You could also put all the toppings on the cake to really kick it up! ;)  I still like the melted chocolate the best though.  Heck, it’s a great snack cake with no toppings as well.  Try it.

No Bake Cherry Chocolate Chip Crumble Bars and No Bake Cashew Butter Oatmeal Cookies—Secret Recipe Club

Love, love, love these healthy, gluten free, no sugar, No Bake Cherry Chocolate Chip Crumble Bars I made for this month’s Secret Recipe Club.  These were easy to make, required no baking (hence the name ;)) and are tasty as can be, especially if you like cherries and chocolate.  Great combo!

I came up with this recipe after seeing (and taking most of the inspiration from) the No Bake Fruit Crumble Bars on my Secret Recipe Club blog, The Saturday Evening Pot, this blog is written by The Chef and The Lucky Wife—they have Two Well-Fed Kids they love cooking for.  My bars were made with gluten free oats and they just have unsweetened dried cherries, walnuts and a couple other essentials.  Then they are sandwiched with some homemade cherry jam I made that is delicious!  For kicks and because I just can’t seem to leave chocolate out of anything, I added a mere two tablespoons of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.  Mmmm!

No Bake Cherry Chocolate Chip Crumble Bars (Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from The Saturday Evening Pot

2 cups oats (I used gluten free)

1 cup walnuts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsweetened dried cherries

2 tablespoons organic coconut oil

2 tablespoons raw honey

2 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or any brand you’d like)

1/3 cup (or more) homemade cherry jam**see recipe below

Line an 8 inch square pan with nonstick foil.  Combine the oats, walnuts and salt in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add the cherries and blend until they are well combined with the oat mixture and are small bits of dried cherry.  Add the coconut oil and honey and pulse to combine and mixture just starts to clump together.  Add the chocolate chips and pulse again a few times.  Sprinkle half the crumbly mixture evenly in the bottom of the square pan.  Spread the jam over the crumb layer.  Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture evenly over the jam and press it down gently.  Cover the pan and refrigerator for an hour.  Remove bars from pan using the overhanging foil.  Cut into squares on a cutting board.  Keep bars in the refrigerator until serving.

**Homemade All Natural Cherry Jam

2 cups cherries, pitted (I used some that I had in the freezer)

2 tablespoons raw honey

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until pureed.  Leave it as chunky as you’d like.  Put the mixture in a small saucepan and boil for 15-20 minutes until thickened.  Cool.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Use within 2 weeks. 

If I only had more dried cherries right now……..

Before I made the crumble bars, I also made the No Bake Cashew Butter Oatmeal Cookies.  Again, I used gluten free oats and unrefined sugar.  I also used coconut oil instead of butter.  The cashew butter I used was homemade.  These are great.  I put most of them in the freezer to share with my mom when my parents come here next week, since she doesn’t eat chocolate and loves cashews, she will like them.  My son, Parker really liked them and I thought they were great.

I made the brown sugar with some organic natural pure cane sugar and added about 1/2 teaspoon of molasses to it and mixed it together until it was brown sugar.  Love doing this.  I’m still trying not to use too much pure cane sugar even though it is pretty unrefined, but these had quite a bit.  We must “splurge” sometimes, right and I still even consider these bars pretty healthy compared to many other treats.

No Bake Cashew Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Gluten Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from The Saturday Evening Pot

3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (I made it homemade with 3 tablespoons organic pure cane sugar and 1/2 teaspoon molasses mixed)

1/2 cup organic natural pure cane sugar

2 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/4 cup almond milk (or any milk you’d like)

1/3 cup cashew butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  3/4 cups rolled oats (gluten free)

1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

pinch of salt

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, cane sugar, coconut oil, milk and cashew butter.  Whisk together and let come to a boil.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt, oats and coconut.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.  Drop dough with a cookie scoop onto waxed paper lined baking sheet or plate.  Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes until set.  Store in refrigerator until serving and any left over. 

I always enjoy looking through my monthly assigned blogs for the Secret Recipe Club each month and The Saturday Evening Pot was no exception.  Lots of great recipes!

Chess Board Game Rice Krispies Treat “Cake”—Happy Birthday, Parker!

Here’s the “cake” I made for Parker’s 12th birthday yesterday.  It is actually Rice Krispies Treats.  Pretty much out of nowhere, Parker announced he wanted a chess board game cake.  I don’t think he’s even played the game much in his life.  I really wasn’t even going to try to do this.  Part of the reason is because I didn’t want to slave away making a cake when no one here really likes cake.  Then as I thought about it more, I decided to just go for it.  I’ve NEVER made or worked with fondant before.  (What was I thinking?)

I got on Amazon and ordered the chess pieces candy molds.  Parker sort of helped me make those.  It took three hours to make all the pieces.  As if you couldn’t tell, they are made in halves, then “glued” together with melted chocolate.  They are actually quite easy, but time consuming.  Mostly because there are a total of 16 pawns and we had two molds.  Each one had to set in the fridge for 10 minutes.  It was a melty mess, but we got it done the day before his birthday.

Yesterday, Parker’s birthday, while kids were at school, I made the “cake”.  After thinking how much I didn’t want to make cake and worry about it sinking and trying to cover it with fondant, I got the bright idea to make the cake out of Rice Krispies Treats.  Perfect.  Parker likes those.  Everyone does.  Love how easy it is to make Rice Krispies Treats!  Fondant—also really easy to make.

I used this recipes for Homemade Marshmallow Fondant found on About.com.  My blogging friend, Liz, does all the candy posts for them.  I knew it would be a good recipe, since it was from Liz.  Fondant really couldn’t be easier to make—it only has three ingredients and that’s if you count the water as one of them.  You melt marshmallows with a little water, then you add powdered sugar and stir until you can’t stir anymore, at which point you put it on a powder sugar covered counter and knead it until it is just right.  I didn’t taste it, but word is homemade tastes much better than the premade stuff.  I did taste some fondant on a baby shower cake years ago and did not care for it.  I made two batches of it and now have a lot leftover.  I wanted to make sure it was enough to cover a 12x12 inch surface.  I forgot to take pictures of the fondant alone, but go check out Liz’s post on About.com.  You’ll never have to buy the expensive, premade kind again.  Though I did buy a package of brown, chocolate fondant for the squares on the checker board and I now have more than half of it left.  I see more fondant covered treats in our future.  Any ideas?

I had the treats cake ready to cover, rolled out the fondant, kept making sure it wasn’t stuck to the counter (with enough sugar, but it’s not too much, it was totally doable) then carefully lifted it on to the cake.  That all went pretty smoothly.  Then I set out to make 32 chocolate squares.  I decided not to also make white ones and just checkered the brown ones over the board.  A little time consuming and making sure to cut them precisely each 1  1/2 inches, but I got it done.  Here they are just laying on the cake and are ready to “glue” on, which I did by just brushing each with a little water on the bottom.

No, it was not perfect and exact in the end.  The corners were not squared and a few were cut to fit the edges a bit, but all in all I was happy with how it turned out and even more importantly, Parker was happy, too!

Yes, I was schooled on the queen in the wrong place after I took pictures.  I now know she is always supposed to be on her own color.  Who knew?  I don’t know the slightest thing about chess.  But can now say I’ve made my first fondant covered cake and I’ve made a chess board game!  I have a new found love, admiration and appreciation for fondant cake decorators!  I have no patience and love for that much detail.  The “cake” took about 5 hours.  Eight hours for a cake is just not my thing.  Amazing to think of all the huge, wondrous, shaped cakes that are made on Food Network cake challenges and in bakeries all over the world!

Parker was a happy birthday kid!

We opened family gifts before his friends came to spend the night.  This lucky kids got a Batman fedora he wanted, a wooden sword with a video that teaches you how to use a sword, he got tons of candy and all wrapped individually he received a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, $1, $5, $10, $20, $50—$86.41!

Parker and his friends played game after game of chess.

Mmm, the fingers that were all over those chocolate chess pieces…..

After Parker sliced the first piece of cake, he decided to stab the knife into it.  Sure is much easier to cut and serve this kind of cake—and no forks are even needed for eating it!

Everyone ate the treats and all, including the fondant.

This post has been added to April’s Saturday Spotlight #33 at Angel's Homestead.  Check out all the other wonderful posts from crafts and decorating and DIY and recipes!

Saucepan M&M Cookies

Just thought I’d share these perfect M&M Cookies I made today to take to a family BBQ.

I won’t be eating them because of the new changes in my diet, but they look like a perfect cookie full of chocolate and candies.  I probably should have doubled the recipe.  I have a feeling I’ll be asked to make them again soon.  The boys are going crazy that I won’t let them have one until tonight.  So sad. ;)

These couldn’t have been easier to make either.  Got the recipe from the cookie expert herself, Anna, at Cookie Madness.  I followed her recipe exactly.  So check out the link to her blog for the recipe.  I suppose I did make a couple small changes, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the dark chocolate chips she used and regular plain M&M’s instead of the mini ones Anna used.  I also called my cookies done at 11 minutes, her recipe says 12-15. 

Anna got the original recipe for these cookies in the book, The Weekend Baker:  Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress Free Strategies for Busy People by Abigail Johnson Dodge.

Since I’ve been making healthier treats lately with unrefined sugar, it was fun to whip these up.  I sure like baking!  I also had some overripe bananas, so I made a banana sheet cake frosted with cream cheese frosting.  Sigh….some things I really miss…..I suppose it’s all for better health—right!  (I’ve been enjoying plenty of refined sugar free, gluten free treats anyway, I might have also whipped up some more of the Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies today, too.

You know how sometimes it’s kind of a pain to get out the mixer and have to cream everything together?  These are so simple and all made in one saucepan after melting the butter.  Easy!  Here’s the link for the recipe again at Cookie Madness.

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola

I have been craving crunchy things.  With eating gluten free, refined sugar free and even cutting back on lots of grains, I felt like I just needed to crunch something.  I used to eat homemade granola almost everyday and was really missing it.  (Know what else I miss, sometimes just taking a big chug of fat free milk…..I’ve cut back on dairy, too, and have heard fat free has all kinds of chemicals in it, so I don’t drink it anymore, but it’d sure be nice after one of these Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies that are so good you’d never know they are gluten free or refined sugar free.  They are SO good chilled in the fridge, too.  Must make more.

We’re talking about granola here though.  So I set out to make me a crunchy gluten free granola.  The only sweetener in this is raw honey.  You could use maple syrup or agave, too.  I decided to put a bunch of nuts and seeds in this.  I’m so happy with how it turned out—perfect, I must say. ;)  I wanted a clumpy granola and there is a perfect “trick” to that.  Once it comes out of the oven, don’t stir it.  When it is completely cooled, it will have stuck all together and you can break it in to any sized pieces you’d like.

This is the perfect kind of granola to just take a baggie full somewhere for a snack on hand.  But if you break up the pieces a little smaller, it’s also great on top of yogurt with some fresh berries.  One of my favorite things.

Look how clumpy that is!  Of course, you don’t have to make it gluten free, I just used gluten free oats—this is still a great granola with any kind of oats.

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola (Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups gluten-free oats

3 tablespoons ground flax meal

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup raw almonds

½ cup raw pecans

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup raw honey

3 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax, sesame seeds, coconut, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds and salt. Stir together.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the honey and coconut oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir together with a whisk until well combined. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything looks wet. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-22 minutes until fragrant and browned. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Do not touch the mix during this time as it is setting up and will be clumpy. Once it is completely cooled, you can break it in to clumps and store in an airtight container. *You can use any nuts and seeds you’d like or have on hand, just make it nutty!

I think I’ll go snitch a bit of the granola right now.

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

All the healthy treats I’ve been making have been great and I’m happy to be finding so many things out there that do the trick of curbing a little sweet attack.  That said, sometimes I’ve just been craving the good old days (2 months ago??) and want a good, decadent full fat, sugary treat. 

These brownies have done the trick!  Though they are still gluten free, refined sugar free and low in oil (coconut oil).  Win!  While it’s probably a bit more healthy to use raw honey or dates in goodies, which I have been doing a lot, these brownies almost seem like a bit of a cheat to me since I used organic natural pure cane sugar in them.  (I know, I should be arrested by the health freaks out there.) ;)  These ARE healthy since they are full of zucchin, right?  Hello?  Gluten free flours?  Coconut oil, dairy free, vegan, soy free, refined sugar free chocolate chips?  These are right there with the healthiest of treats, I’m calling it.

I found the base recipe for these at Karina’s blog, Gluten Free Goddess.  Then I proceeded to change the recipe quite a bit.  So check hers out after you check mine.  She’s got a great blog with tons of gluten free goodies as well as savory foods.

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup  almond flour

3/4 cup whole grain sweet sorghum flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 cup organic natural pure cane sugar plus 1 teaspoon molasses, mix with a fork or your fingers until it becomes brown sugar (I love doing this!)

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature

1/4 cup organic coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup packed shredded zucchini, set on a towel to absorb some of the liquid for 20 minutes

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9 inch square pan with non stick foil, grease lightly with coconut oil.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients—almond meal, sorghum flour, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Whisk together.

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients—eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract.  Whisk to combine.  Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry and fold together with a spatula or wooden spoon until all combined.  Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 

Bake for 23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges.  Cut into desired sized squares on a cutting board.

We had these with ice cream (well, I didn’t have ice cream, but the rest of the family did).  They are a perfect brownie texture and have a great chocolaty taste.  These will be my splurge for the week, until I tell you about the grain free chocolate zucchini cookies I also made that were just as delicious!