Weeds in the Garden

Spring is here finally.  We've had a very wintry winter to say the least. It's been a while since we've had so much snow and I personally enjoyed it.  Well, once I got back into town.  The boys and I were in Florida the day it snowed and I wondered how soon we could get back due to the road conditions in South Carolina.  Thankfully the roads were passable the day we planned to head back. One of the first things I did in late February was cover my garden beds with black plastic.  The idea was to heat and cook the seeds that laid in them over the winter.  This way they wouldn't sprout into seedlings later.  For the most part it seemed to work in the beds.

But as you can see my mulch areas are full of weeds and the beds seem to be clear for the most part.  I think maybe next spring I should just cover the whole thing. You never know it might save a lot of back breaking work pulling weeds.  Oh true I'd rather pull weeds than do the dishes any day, but when you have so many it seems never ending.

This year I took out the pole beans and I'm trying Pumpkins instead.  Oh don't worry I have beans in there. I always do bush beans in my garden, long before I started doing pole beans.  Anyway I thought I'd let the pumpkins trail over the edge of the bed onto the mulch area.  Can't wait to see how they turn out.  Who knows maybe the boys will be craving our own pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns this year.

Aunt B's Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Happy New Year Everyone.  I know it's late for that, but I've been so busy with the holiday break with the boys that I haven't had much time to think about creating anything new.  Then on top of that they no sooner get back to school and we have school delayed 2 days in a roll due to the usually cold arctic air we had here.  Thankfully today was an uneventful day with it only in the 20's this morning, so everyone went to school time.

This is a recipe I was working on right around Halloween and I wasn't able to test it one more time until now.  The first time I made it there seemed to be something missing.  It just wasn't spicy enough, so I turned to my Facebook family and I had several suggestions that were really great ideas. One was from my oldest sons elementary teacher he had years ago. She said Apple Butter and I thought now that's a good idea.  Thanks Laura!

Aunt B's Pumpkin Spice Muffins

WET INGREDIENTS :

                      

1/2 c Light brown Sugar

2 Lg Eggs at room temperature

1/2 c Almond Milk

2 tbls Oil

1 tsp Vanilla

1/3 c Pumpkin

2 tbls Apple Butter

DRY INGREDIENTS :

3/4 c Brown Rice Flour (119 grams)

3/4 c Potato Starch (144 grams)

1/2 c Tapioca Starch (60 grams)

1 tbls Baking Powder

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Pumpkin Spice

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 c Chopped Walnuts (plus extra walnuts chopped fine for topping)

Directions:

Preheated the oven to 350° and grease the muffin tin. In a separate bowl blend together all of the dry ingredients and set that to the side. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs, then add the rest of the wet ingredients one at a time. Once the wet ingredients are all mixed together slowly add the dry ingredient that you blended together earlier. Last add the walnuts. Scoop the muffin mix into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes. Allow it to cool just enough for you to remove them from the muffin tin. Don't let them sit too long in the tin, because the longer they do the more moisture builds up on the bottom of the muffins.

Remember all wet ingredients should be at room temperature when baking. 

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.