Aunt B's Peanut Butter Icing

It's New Years Eve and I've been busy today making a GFCF Chocolate Cake from a Betty Crocker cake mix along with a few other things, but I wanted to take a minute to share this icing recipe that I have worked out for Kevin.  I use to buy Vanilla icing at the store and add peanut better to it for the peanut butter icing, but the last couple of times I have done that he seemed to react to it just a little.  When I read the ingredients on the icing I have never found anything that he would react to such as casein or gluten, but there is that one mysterious ingredient called Natural Flavoring.  Hmm could there be a butter flavoring added to that Natural Flavoring, I wonder.  Did you know that some products that have Smoke Flavoring listed are smoked sometimes with Barley?   So with that thought I started on a new project.  A safe icing for my son.  With the recipe below I used it for cupcakes that were in cupcake liners, but today I had to double it to cover my chocolate cake.

Aunt B's Peanut Butter Icing

Fair warning don't try to whisk this by hand if you are doubling it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter (at room temperature)
1/2 cup Vegan Margarine softened (I use Earth Balance sticks)
2 cups 10X Powder Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 to 3 tbsp Almond Milk (I used unsweetened Vanilla)

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients; adding a tablespoon at a time of the Almond Milk for the desired consistency.

 ENJOY and Have a Happy New Year!

My Sad Garden

First I want to apologize to my friends and family on Facebook.  I injured my left shoulder and did a lot of whining about it on Facebook.  I very seldom let people know if I'm sick or if I've hurt myself, but this time around I had really done a number on my shoulder.  The bad part was I wouldn't stop and let it heal completely. So I paid for it in the end.  My chiropractor told me no more lifting, reaching out or up (and that included reaching for just a coffee cup) with my left arm.  Needless to say my garden suffered for it.

This morning I decided to take a walk around my garden and see how bad it really is out there.  From my office window it looks pretty depressing.  BUT! I had a few surprises.

Yes this Eggplant has seen better days, but right next to it I found this Broccoli plant.

A few of my Cabbages look like they will go straight to flowering, but I found a couple that may just form a head.  The Cauliflower out there I'm not sure yet what it's going to do. This is my first year trying Cauliflower, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.

The Peppers are done and need to be pulled out along with the Eggplant, but look at this Lettuce I found.

On the other side of the Lettuce I found that my Peas are still with me, too.  With all the weeds around them it's hard to see them in there.  Since we had a good rain yesterday I hope to pull some of these smaller weeds today.  I just need to be smart and not take on too much like those big things in the middle of my path.  The upside down barrel was for the sprinkler to sit on. Guess I can put that a way for now, too.  

At first it was depressing to see, but after finding that not all of my garden is a total loss I feel a whole lot better.

Aunt B's Skillet Fried Corn

I love corn and I thank god no one in my family has any issues with corn. I've learned over the years from some of my friends that if you are allergic to corn then you have some real problems. Did you know that corn is in paper towels? On top of that it's use in most household cleaners and these companies are not required to label the ingredients on their products. If you have a corn allergy then you have to be extra diligent in every shopping trip.  More so than any other allergy if you ask me. That's just my opinion. I know there are some bad allergies out there.  Anyway, back to the skillet corn.  I made this for the first time for my son Birthday Party/Cookout. We don't do big fancy birthday parties here, just a family get together.  LOL Okay, sometimes with my family that can be big, but for my son that is what he enjoys.  Having family around.

Yesterday at work I was telling Linda, my boss, about the skillet corn and she was saying she loves corn cooked that way. I have no idea why I haven't tried it before.  Is it because we are so use to picking up a can of corn and throwing it in a pan to cook?  I stopped buying can corn last year, because of the high salt/sodium content.  After my mother was having issues with salt I started looking at that on all of my can goods.  Holy Moly, Frozen here I come!  On top of that with frozen I decide how much I want to cook.  With can it's either a big can or a small can.  No, I don't grow corn in my garden.  I tried it once and it took up too much room.  My garden beds are raised beds done in the square foot style.  It can be done, but for me it wasn't worth the space.  Anyway, this is so easy to do and tastes so much better. No you don't need a cast iron skillet. Any skillet will work I just prefer my cast iron.

Aunt B's Skillet Fried Corn

16 oz Bag of Frozen Corn thawed
5 or 6 slices of GF Bacon chopped
1 med Onion chopped

Fry up the bacon in the skillet. I don't fry mine crispy, but if you prefer it that way go right ahead.  Once the bacon is cooked remove it to a paper towel and leave the drippings in the skillet.  Add the onion to the skillet and cooked until tender. I like mine to have a little bit of that golden brown look to it.  Add the corn and the bacon to the onion.  Cover and let it simmer for a few minutes.

A word about the frozen corn. I have added it frozen right to the skillet and I have allowed it to thaw out a little on the counter before adding it.  I think thawing it a little tastes better, but if you forget to take it out of the freezer before hand it will still taste fine. It can take 5 to 10 minutes for the corn depending on if it's frozen or thawed. Try it you might like it.

GFCF Marbled Almond Cinnamon Chip Muffins

Wet Ingredients:  
2 LG Eggs

1 cup Almond Milk
1/3 c Oil (I use Spectum Canola)

1 tsp Almond Extract

Dry Ingredients:

½ cup Brown Rice Flour 
(79 grams)

¼ cup Almond Flour 
(28 grams)

¾ cup Potato Starch 
(144 grams)

½ cup Tapioca Starch 
(60 grams)

1 tbls Baking Powder

1 ½ tsp Xanthan Gum

¾ cup Sugar

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Baking Soda

1/3 cup of GFCF Cinnamon Chips

http://auntbskitchenandgarden.blogspot.com/2013/09/gfcf-cinnamon-chips.html

Marble Effect:

2 tbls Almond Flour

¼ cup Light Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350⁰ and grease the muffin pan.  Blend together the Marble Effect Ingredients and set them aside. Blend together all of the Dry Ingredients in a separate bowl and set that aside. BUT not the Cinnamon Chips!

Add the eggs to a large mixing bowl and beat.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the eggs with the mixer on a slow speed.  Once the wet ingredients are well blended slowly add the dry ingredients blending in with the mixer, then mix for a few minutes on a medium speed or a little higher. I don’t like to over mix with a higher speed, but everything needs to be well blended together or you’ll have lumps.  Add in the Cinnamon Chips and give it a couple turns with the blender to mix them in.  Once that is done blend in the Marble Effect with only a couple of slow turns with the mixer or do it by hand. It's not going to be a true marble look, but it was the closest I could get it and the muffins didn't work without this step.

Bake at 350⁰ for about 25 minutes depending on your over. Check with a tooth pick for doneness.  Let them cool for a few minutes in the muffin pan, because frankly they are too hot to take out right away.

I turn mine upside down on the cooling rack to cool for a little while.  I've found that the muffins are so soft when they come out of the oven that they stand up better after cooling when I do this. I do this with bread I bake, too.

GFCF Cinnamon Chips

Yesterday I went on a quest online. I needed a safe cinnamon chip for the new muffins I'm working on for my son.  Kevin cannot have dairy products and so far the ones I've found have milk in them.  On top of that it's hard to find them in your stores all year round.  Fortunately I was able to find a couple of recipes online.  All of them seemed to have the same amounts required or close to it for each ingredient, but they just changed the ingredients or sub for something equal such as sugar or coconut sugar.  Given that thought I just used what I had in my pantry instead of worrying about getting something like coconut sugar. I would think that very few people have coconut sugar in their pantry as it is.  I made a half batch of what was called for in these recipes, so feel free to double it.

GFCF Cinnamon Chips

2 tbls Granulated Sugar
1 tbls Ground Cinnamon
1 tbls   1/2 tbls Coconut Oil
1 tbls Honey

Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees.  Combined all of the ingredients in a small bowl.

Spread it out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.  Don't make it too thin while spreading it out. You only need it about 1/4 inch thick.

As it bakes it will spread out and get bubbly.  Let it cool a little and then gently fold the paper over while pressing it to make thicker chips.

Let it cool all the way and cut them into strips.  I used a pizza cutter.  As I put them in my container I put a layer of parchment paper in between each layer.  This way they don't stick together in the container.  Refrigerate and when your ready to use them cut them into the size squares or chips that you want to use. 

FYI: they do melt in the muffins, so don't expect an actual cinnamon chip in whatever you are baking.  

Rubber Bands

Just a heads up. I have removed my Blueberry Cinnamon Muffins Recipe because I've been having problems with them coming out right ever since I posted it on here.  So, I'm re-working the recipe.  I think I found my mistake and I want to try it a few more times before I re-post it.  In the meantime I have a small tip.  Rubber Bands!  Most of you most likely do this or even something like it.

Have you ever had plastic wrap that just doesn't stick to anything. Today I had to cover the pizza dough made from Bob's Red Mill Mix to let it rise.  Luckily I had a rubber band that would fit around my mixing bowl.  I'm not sure if this will work on my glass bowls due to the shape of the bowls, but you can bet I will be trying it next time.  I save the rubber bands from the broccoli that I buy in the grocery store and those things come in handy let me tell you!  I keep one on my Coconut Oil as you can see and I keep one on my Relish that's in the Refrigerator.  Lets face it, as we get older our hands don't work the way they use to and I can't sit around waiting for Garrett to come home and open a jar for me.

Speaking of Garrett I'm sitting in my thinking spot watching the clock for when the boys get home.  This has been the first week of school and it's been going wonderful! I'll tell you more over on Kevin's page.

Weeds, Weeds, Weeds

After getting back from a short vacation trip to my sisters I spent this week pulling weeds out of the yard and the garden.  With all of this rain we've had the weeds have been hard to keep up with, but for the most part the garden is now weed free.  I also cleared out all the stuff that wasn't producing anything and added some fertilizer to help amend the soil.  Now it's raining again, which was part of my plan on the fertilizer being put in the other day.  This way it will give it a few days to soak into the soil real good before I add new seeds.

Angel watching me work

Hopefully this Sunday I'll have some cabbage, broccoli, beets and maybe brussel sprout seeds in the garden for this fall.  I have a list of some other seeds I want to get in, but off the top of my head that's all I can think of.  I do want to come up with a better idea on starting seeds indoors before next spring.  Best location is either the dining room or the office. I might be able to come up with a plan on the back porch. Might make for an interesting winter. LOL

As for baking, with school out I took a break from that myself.  But with school starting soon I'm back into baking again. Yesterday I made my Peanut Butter Banana Muffins, which my mother couldn't resist when she came over this morning.  That's always a good indication to me that I made something good.  She'll tell me if it's not quite right and help me to try to figure out what's missing.  I wouldn't want it any other way.

Aunt B's GFCF Apple Dump Cake

Every so often my boss Linda and I get to talking about cooking or baking and one day she was telling me about something her mother use to make when she was younger.  It's was simply called a Dump Cake.  What her mother would do is take 1 can of Pineapple (undrained) mixed with 1 can of cherry pie filling putting this in the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish, then a layer of 1 box cake mix and last a layer of butter on top.  Basically you're just dumping one thing on top of another and then she'd bake it.  I asked Linda "What does it look like when it's done?" and she found a recipe online that was as close to what her mother made for me to see.  Now, I am a fan of cobblers and this looked like a cobbler to me, so I thought lets give it try with a GF cake mix.

To make it gluten free and casein free I used Betty Crocker's GF Yellow Cake Mix, 2 sticks of Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, and today I used 2 cans of Apple Pie Filling.  I have done the Cherry & Pineapple.  I do believe that one is my favorite, but I'd just made that for the 4th of July.

Bake for 60 minutes

The only other thing I did different than what Linda does when she makes it is I dotted the Earth Balance across the top layer.  Linda melts her's and pours it over the top.  If you melt it first make sure you cut back on the baking time.  The last time I did it that way I think it took about 30 to 35 minutes. With the dots of Earth Balance shown above I baked it for 60 minutes.  Both ways seem to work out just fine.  Today I wanted to try the dots of Earth Balance only because I saw a few regular dump cakes (made with wheat base flour mix) on the internet made this way.  I just wanted to see if there was a difference when it's was all said and done.

As you can see the Earth Balance melts just the same either way

Let it bake to a golden brown on top

This is such a simple and easy thing to make when you don't have the time to fuss.  As I said earlier I threw one of these together the morning of the 4th of July with no fuss.  Oh and don't forget the scoop of ice cream on the side or in my son's case a scoop of Almond Dream Ice Cream.  Hey, it's not summer without ice cream of some kind now is it?

Zucchini

It looks like it's going to be a good year for my Zucchini.  Last year it rotted before I could even pick it.  I think the problem was the fact that the bed was new and the soil didn't have the right mix to it.  But that was last year and this year things are looking up.

First batch was cooked in my cast iron skillet on the grill.  I sliced the zucchini, chopped some fresh herbs (Basil, Oregano, Rosemary and Thyme).  Mixed them together in a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil, while the skillet heated up on the grill.  My skillet has a lid that I used while cooking and it also came in handy for sitting the finished Zucchini to the side while I finish cooking chicken on the grill.

Can't wait for more zucchini and summer squash to fry up in my skillet.  You know it's summer time when the summer squash and zucchini shows up in the farmers markets, so if you don't have your own garden be sure to hit the farmers markets in your area.

More Ideas for Beets

I said I'd pull out my Grandmother's cookbook to see what else there was for Beets.  Actually there are several ideas in here, but here are a few that stood out to me. The cookbook is called New American Cook Book dated 1942.

Beet Greens

Select young beet tops, Wash carefully in several waters to remove all grit.  Put entire plants, including roots, in pan.  Cover with boiling water and boil rapidly until tender, about 1/2 hour. Season with salt during cooking. Chop coarsely. Add butter (or CF Earth Balance) and serve hot.

Diced Beets and Bacon

2 1/2  cups diced boiled beets

4 slices bacon, chopped

Salt - Pepper

Fry bacon crisp. Add beets and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4 to 6. A teaspoon of vinegar may be added if desired.

Beet and Tomato En Casserole

2 1/2 cup diced boiled beets

2 1/2 cups stewed tomatoes

 1/2 cup grated cheese (sub with CF cheese I would think)

2 cups bread crumbs (GF)

2 tablespoons fat

Salt - Pepper

Put 1/2 beets into bottom of greased baking dish. Add half the tomatoes then half the cheese in layers. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 bread crumbs. Dot with 1 tablespoon fat.Repeat. Brown in moderate oven (350 degrees F) 20 minutes. Serves 6.

Note: it doesn't say what size baking dish to use.

Aunt B's Fresh Beets

For the first time I decided to try to grow beets in my garden.  I guess the reason I've never tried to grow them is because no one else in my house likes them.  Most of us seem to associate them to holidays, such as Easter.  We just don't think about eating them on a regular basis.  Did you know the tops are editable, too?  I've never given that a thought either.  I haven't done anything with the tops just yet, but I plan on pulling out my Grandmother old cookbook to see whats in there for the tops.  As it is you can google beet tops recipes and find several ideas there. I love Google! Don't you?  Anyway, here's basically what I did with my beets.

After washing them real good and cut off the tops. I peeled them just like a carrot and cut them into quarters. Oh by the way I added 1" cut carrots with my beets once, so don't just stop at beets.  I tossed them in a tablespoon of olive oil. Remember I only had about five beets here, so if you have more beets add more olive oil.  I added some fresh chopped herbs from my herbs.  This time I added Thyme and Sage.  Not too much, but enough to give it a wonderful smell. I also sprinkled a teaspoon of Kosher Salt on them.

After making sure they are coated real good I wrapped them in foil and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  The end results were heavenly and it was a quick & easy side dish.  Even if it's for just one.

Aunt B's Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

I admit it! I make a lot of muffins, but for a good reason. My oldest son eats breakfast at school everyday and he is Gluten & Casein Free.  So it can be a challenge coming up with different ideas that he can take to school with him.  Muffins have been a great breakfast item, because you can change up the flavors so easily. I've been told that quick breads can be very forgiving and so far they have been for me.  Here's my newest one, but not my last one.  I've been kicking around the idea of strawberries. Most likely because it's spring time and strawberries seem to be on everyone's ones mind right now.

Speaking of Spring I have to show you my Beets fresh out of the garden. That's coming up next!

Aunt B's Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

1 ½ Bananas (170 grams)

3 tbs Natural Peanut Butter (at room temperature;  I use Smucker’s Brand)

1 Lg Egg (at room temperature)

½ cup Almond Milk (at room temperature) 

3 tbs Oil

½ tsp Vanilla

Flour Mixture:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour (158 grams)

½ cup Tapioca Flour/Starch (60 grams)

½ cup Potato Starch (81 grams)

½ cup Light Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

¼ tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

Directions: 

• Grease the muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350⁰
• Mash the Bananas and set them aside.
• The Peanut Butter I use has to be kept in the refrigerator, because it is made of only peanuts.  This is the reason I said to use it at room temperature.
• In a separate bowl blend your flour mixture and set it aside.

In a large Mixing Bowl beat the egg; add the Oil, Almond Milk and Vanilla.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Once the flour is blended in with the wet ingredients start adding the mashed bananas and the peanut butter.  Mix only long enough to blend everything together.

Spoon the muffin dough into the muffins tins. Mine made about 10 muffins and this will depend on the size of your muffin tin.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. I let mine bake the full 20, but if you are using a small muffin tin cut back on the time. You can check them with a tooth pick to make sure they are done.  Let them cool for about 5 minutes in the muffin tin and then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.  BUT, if you’re like me its okay to steal one while it’s still warm.  I store mine in an air tight container on the counter for a day or so. They usually don’t last an longer than that, but if you want to make them last longer put them in the refrigerator.  Remember there are no preservatives in homemade baked goods, so if you’re planning to save them for a few days put them in the refrigerator.  You can always put them in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds to take the chill off of them.

I forgot to mention one thing yesterday. I topped the muffins with chopped peanuts. It didn't take many for the topping, so don't feel that you need a 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts for this.

Sesame Teriyaki Chicken Salad

"How does your garden grow?" is a question we often ask each other on our recipe group. That's a good question if you ask me.  I sent this weekend working in the yard and my garden.  I bought some seeds that I had run out of or replaced those that were out of date. If the date on the back of the seeds is 2 years old I toss them and buy new ones.  Over the years I've learned not to waste my time planting seed that have become old.  If they're a year old and nothing seems to work from that batch of seeds I toss those right then and there.

Beets & Carrots

Peas & Strawberries

Spinach in a Container

 Mostly the weekend was spend pulling weeds. My how the weeds can grow so fast.  As for my garden it's not real big, but it's big enough for us.  I don't need a huge garden, because I don't can my vegetables.  I'd love to, but I don't have the time.  As it is I need to make my Banana Bread today and start looking at ideas for hamburger buns.  Since going Gluten Free myself I've been able to actually taste a lot of the products that I buy for my oldest son.  The hamburger buns I buy are good, but they seems to have a lot of bread to them.  Most of the time I cut off part of the bun to reduce the width of the buns.  

Yesterday I made a wonderful Salad with Chicken on it for our lunch.  Years ago when I had more time one of my favorite shows on the Food Network channel was Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.  I love her idea of using products that we can buying in the grocery store and making something wonderful with them.  That's basically what I did yesterday.

GFCF Sesame Teriyaki  Chicken Salad

Chicken (I used tenderloins)
Organicville Sesame Teriyaki Sauce
Oil
Lettuce, Carrots and Tomatoes

It was easy to do and fast.  I cut up same chicken tenderloins and fried them up in my cast iron skillet with a couple of tablespoons of oil.  When they were a golden brown I added about a 1/4 cup (maybe more because a just poured it in) of the Sesame Teriyaki Sauce.  Organicville seems to be a favorite right now in my house and if you time I'm sure there's a lot of recipes out there for a Sesame Teriyaki Sauce, but I wanted to get back outside to enjoy the lovely weekend.  Once I added the sauce I turned down the heat on the chicken to let it simmer for about 5 minutes.  This gave me time to throw together the salad.  When the chicken is done just add it to the salad with your favorite salad dressing. I used a sun dried tomato dressing on my salad.  It was wonderful, it was fast and I was back out of my back porch in no time enjoying the beautiful day.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

I know I haven't posted anything in a while again, but I have my reasons. I've been busy in my garden getting it ready for the season. It's been beautiful here lately, until today. Today is cold and rainy.  We even saw a little sleet this morning.  Here's what I've been up to in the garden.  I bought rabbit wire to enclose the garden this year.  I had it on one of the beds last year, but that made for a lot of bending over the rabbit wire to work in the beds.  With the rabbit wire enclosing the area I can sit on the edge if I want to while pulling weeds.  Yes, weeds get in my beds, too. You know how it is when you mow.  It blows stuff everywhere else you have a bag on the mower or even better a mulching mower.

The old ladder is for the Peas to climb on with strawberries under it.

Why the picket fence? That so my dog, Angel, doesn't run into the rabbit wire in her enthusiasm while chasing the squirrels.  No, she doesn't chase the rabbits. We taught her not to chase them, but she does like to watch them along with the birds. Yeah I can hear her brain working, too.  Nuts! Why can't I chase the Rabbits, too!

On to cooking. Here's a quick and easy meal that Garrett often asks me to make for dinner.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

6 - boneless skinless chicken breast
Moore's Original Marinade or Italian Dressing
1 - can of peas or frozen peas
Brown Rice
Chicken Broth

I cut up the chicken into chunks and marinade it in either Moore's Marinade or the Italian Dressing. Whichever one Garrett picks that day or whichever I have on hand. I let it marinade for most of the day and then stir fry it in a large skillet. While I'm stir frying I cook the  peas and the brown rice. The brown rice I cook in chicken broth using the amounts on the brown rice packaging.  I very seldom use water when cooking any of my rices. The chicken broth helps to give it some sort of flavoring.  When it's all done lay a bed of rice in your bowl and pile on the chicken and peas. I add a little gf soy sauce to mine OR in my son's case.  Pile on the chicken, peas and hot sauce!

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

I know I've talked about my cast iron skillets in the past and I know I told you once about how rusty my very first dutch oven was. Well, here's a look of that dutch oven before I cleaned it up. Yap, that's a lot of rust. When I got this dutch oven I had no idea how to clean it or how to get the rust off of it. By the way it was giving to me by my sister that has Bargain Basement Antiques and that's where my last two skillets have come from. So anyway, I hit the internet and I discovered a few things along the way. Did you know that vinegar will remove rust?  No, well I didn't either until doing a lot of searching on the net.  I even bought a book called Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies. Yap, that is me!  You have to remember that I grew up in the age of Teflon.  Cooking with cast iron was something my grandmother did long before I was even born as far as I knew, but after reading several posts from some of the people with our gluten free recipe group that it isn't such an old idea after all. Several of them when asked by us newbies to gluten free cooking about what type of pans they used would always say cast iron and the more I read the more I was sure I wanted to go to cast iron myself.  One thing I was really concerned about was the gluten in the pores of the dutch oven. Yes I said that right.  As you cook in cast iron the pores open up and it will absorb what you're cooking in those pores.  So, how do you remove the gluten or casein for that matter. A lot of people use butter in their skillets. Well, some sites have you using Easy Off Oven cleaner and letting it sit in the plastic bag for a day or so outside.  I did this myself only because there was so much build up on this dutch oven and I was just starting out.  Let me tell you that is one messy method.  Not one I'll do again myself. After I did this it still wasn't showing a whole lot of improvement. Some, but not enough to finish the dutch oven off with seasoning. There's another method if you have a self cleaning oven and in the end this is the one I use for all of my cast iron. I put it in the oven on the rack and start my self cleaning with the oven. So far this has been the best method for my household. Cleaning the skillets after I cook in them is fairly easy with a little elbow grease and that's all. No soap. Soap will break down your seasoning.  If you want to use soap just use a very very small drop. The best thing about using my skillet or dutch ovens is they have to be cleaned right after dinner.  I can be one of the laziest ones about doing my dishes after dinner. Load the dish washer and let the pans soak over night. LOL I can't do that with the cast iron.  The cast iron gets cleaned right after dinner and sometimes while I'm cooking dinner.  You need to try your hamburgers in a cast iron skillet. When it's raining and I can't use my grill outside that is the only way I make my hamburgers, now.  They turn out just like the ones my Dad would make when I was little.  My Dad was great at making hamburgers and to this day I always try to make my patties the same way he did it.

Greasy but good

So how did the dutch oven turn out? It's the one in the back and yes that's the lid on it's side.  I will be honest if I knew how much work was in involved I might have been temped to give up on it, but I can get a little bull head at times, too.

Ok, so I mentioned a new adventure coming up for myself in the near future in my Gluten-Free with Kevin blog.  I will be leaving one of my part time jobs at the end of the month and moving on to something else.  I'm excited about the new project coming up and nope I'm not going to tell you what it is yet.  I want to wait and hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished project next month.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

One of my boys complained to me about eating the same vegetables for dinner. Well, heck I cooked something else for him if he'd eat it! I'm always trying stuff and he turns his nose up to it. I made these one night and had to make him put them on his plate. LOL This morning I asked him if he liked them and he said they were okay. Then I asked would you eat them if I made them again. His answer "I don't know, maybe." Thank goodness I don't just cook for him or we'd never have brussel sprouts or asparagus.  As for my oldest he ate them the first time, but couldn't bring himself to eat them the second time. No that's not really true. He was trying to eat them, but was gagging on the second bite. Now he has an excuse. He's autistic and some things just don't look appealing (green or white) or they don't feel right in his mouth (soft). He'll eat green beans right out of the garden, but not cooked.  He won't eat mashed potatoes, but prefers vanilla icing (who doesn't). When it comes to him I never know until he tries it, so I always put a small amount on his plate just to see if he can eat it. You notice I didn't say will eat it. When it comes to peas I have to mix them into his rice otherwise he gags. Here's how I made the Brussel Sprouts and yes I'll make them again just for me.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

2 tbls Olive Oil
1 med Onion chopped
4 slices of Bacon sliced
2 tbls Maple Syrup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the Olive Oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Chop the onion and add it to the skillet. Cut the Bacon into 1" slices and add that to the skillet. Cook until the onion is a golden brown. Remove the onion and bacon to a paper towel on a plate leaving the drippings in the skillet. I was using my cast iron skillet and had to add a little more oil to the drippings. If you are using a non-stick skillet you may not need to do that.  Add the brussel sprouts to the skillet and cover. Allow them to cook covered without turning for about 5 or 6 minutes. Add back the bacon and onion tossing it around and cover. Let them cook for about another five minutes stirring once in while. You want them tender not soggy. Once they are nice and tender drizzle the maple syrup stirring them to coat them real good. Salt and pepper to taste or leave it out.

Try them on your kids. If they still don't like brussel sprout then make them for yourself. I know they were good, because my brother had seconds.

Happy Belated New Year!

Yes, I know it's been several weeks since I've posted anything, but only because life has taken control of my life.  Hmmm Sounds crazy right? No? Well then you know what I'm talking about. The holidays were wonderful. My mother came over and spent Christmas with the boys and myself. My brother and sister that live here had gone to Florida to visit family, so it was a very quiet holiday for us. Because it was just the four of us for Christmas we decided to have Rib Roast. I have never cooked a Rib Roast because of the cost, but let me tell you it was wonderful. I also sauteed Asparagus in Olive Oil with just pepper for seasoning. Most of the time you see people using some form of salt to season roasted or sauteed vegetables, but I didn't want to use salt of any kind. My mother has had to cut out salt and I was doing my best to help her diet as well as my son's diet. Needless to say it turned out yummy. I think I liked it with the pepper more than salt.

Now during the Christmas holiday my car decided to give out and this is what I mean by life taking over. I had been hoping that I could get it to last a few more months until I got my tax return and had something for a down payment on another car. Brrr car payments... My car was paid off and I haven't had a car payment in 11 years, plus it had been my father-in-laws car before I had it.  It had more sentimental value than monetary value to say the least. Being without my car during the holiday break wasn't that big a deal until the boys went back to school. I take one to school and pick both up after school on a daily basis.  On top of that my oldest son is Autistic and it's nothing for his teachers to call me and say we need you here right away. Last week I was able to use my brother's truck because he was out of town. This week was a different story all together. He was back and he needed his truck for work himself. I did have to use my next door neighbors car once to get the boys from school, but mostly I just prayed that my oldest would make it through the day. Car shopping stinks when you HAVE to have a vehicle right a way. It took a day and half to find something that my brother felt was going to be a reliable car, so I'm no longer car less thanks to my brother. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without him.

Anyway back to cooking. Got a little side tracked didn't I. The other day I made these Brussel Sprouts that were so good even my oldest ate them. I plan to make them again and take a picture so you can see how they turned out. So keep an eye out for that to be posted soon.  I made my Cinnamon Blueberry muffins one day and they just didn't come out at all. That had me concerned, because I'd created that recipe before I had my scale to measure out my flours. So I wasn't sure if my flour amount was a little off or if the frozen blueberries had too much liquid. As it turns out it was the blueberries. I decided to make them again without the blueberries and they came out just fine. I had run into this problem once before while making banana bread with bananas that I froze, so I wanted to make them without the blueberries first to see if there was too much liquid and not a problem with the flour amount. If you remember I had been using my liquid measuring cup for everything and I would shake it back and forth to level it out. What I was really doing was leveling it out, but also compacting the flour thus using more flour than I thought I was using. I do love my scale and it has made life so much easier. Now that I know how many grams I need for lets say brown rice flour I just put a bowl on the scale and spoon it in until I get to whatever grams amount I need. No more measuring in a cup and leveling it out. Believe me it's a lot faster this way.

Christmas Day

My New Year Resolution was to get back to baking! My son likes my bake things a lot more than the store bought stuff and it really is less costly in my mind. On top of that I enjoy being in the kitchen. I do hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season no matter what holiday you celebrate.