I am a complete sucker for a cheesecake. It has got to be one of my favorite things in the whole world! That being said, when I came across a recipe for a Vanilla bean cheesecake with chocolate crust and salted caramel, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Can you imagine? Well our friends over at Former Chef have sure figured it out!
My up-do for the day! I can’t tell you how hard it is to get all this hair to stay up! If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!! Changed around the kitchen the other day and now there is a whole different “work” area! I am completely stoked about working in the next couple weeks… Next I have to paint the walls and finish the cabinets on the other side. Might have to have a painting party to get it done!
I am a foodie, through and through… When faced with this whole idea of what to make my 8 y/o son for snack free from gluten, I wanted to cry. “Seriously, that leaves like nothing to eat?!” That’s all I kept thinking. There is absolutely NO way I can do this! We are on a limited budget and just don’t have the money to do something like that! No lie, I would find almost any excuse not to face the fact that we ALL had to start eating better, but even I was convinced that just maybe this was the first step of it all? Deep down I know that it is better for him and that all that processed crap only makes it harder for his brain and body to work correctly. Deep down I know that he is going to fight me about the change in the types of food. I honestly don’t think that he is going to fight me too much. I started the switch last night and he seemed to like what I made him for dinner. The only problem was, I liked it so much I had three small helpings of it before I forced myself to put it away!
I love to cook and would love your input on a recipe or an idea of yours! Please feel free to leave me something! Until then, I found this AMAZING website, by the gluten free Mommy, that I am going to snag a few ideas off of! Just click on that shiny Granny Smith above and let’s all give a big shout out to her!!! Much love and happy snacking…
Day 39 of my 365 Days of Dreads. Almost done for the night… it’s been a very long night. About to crash. One more coat to the nails and I am done! Need to be up early and see if school is closed for the day with this snow that is coming down! Went to Spyder’s Cub Scouts meeting at Lightning Speedway in Livonia tonight. I got frustrated for Spyder, being put into another situation where color is of the importance. It was totally awesome! Slot car racing!!! The only issue was that they were color coded tracks and cars. For those boys not racing, they were “in charge” of standing on the outside of the track, catching the cars when they flipped and putting them back on their appropriate lane. The “dude”, yes, he was just that, some old dude, almost caught my foot “accidentally” up his… Oh, I mean, there was this surly gentleman working there that kept spouting unkind remarks at my son, who stood jumping with excitement at the end of the track, yet with his hands in his pockets the whole time. “You aren’t going to catch any of them with your hands in your pockets,” he would bark at my frustrated son. I tried to do my best at standing by Spyder’s side to direct him to the correct lane and such. I have to remember that people can’t see what makes things so darn difficult for him…
I was the only female there, other than the younger sister of one of the Scouts. It was kind of cool for one of the dads to hold the Lemur King so I could race a couple laps. The Lemur King was not having it. He was ready to go home and go to bed. I have to say… that is exactly where I am at.
So, this evening Spyder had asked for hot dogs for dinner. We very rarely have hot dogs, so there were no buns in the house. I had decided to spruce up our dogs by wrapping them in Pillsbury Biscuits. As much as I hate to admit it, serve with a side of ketchup and spicy mustard, they turned out pretty good! There is a forever mental struggle whenever I am dealing with hot dogs, but these were darn tasty! That being said, we only used a couple biscuits for dinner so I had to think of something on the fly…
I decided on Monkey Bread. This recipe is so simple and I honestly change it up each time I make it. Being that I was not working with a full can of biscuits, I decided to skip using a pan to cook it in and decided on a 2 c Mason jar instead.
First I cut the biscuits into bite-size pieces and tossed them into a bowl of cinnamon and sugar to coat.
Next, toss all yummy coated pieces into greased jar. I cheated and used cooking spray.
Once almost to the top (they need room to grow), you could probably skip this step, but I added a big spoonful of butter and a dash of organic Vanilla Extract. mmmm
Then into the pre-heated oven at 325 degrees…
until it looks like this….
I want to say that it took close to 20 mins., but honestly, my oven is extremely funky and I kind of guesstimate everything. Please feel free to ask any questions!
So, I almost panicked when Spyder said he wanted hot dogs! I remained calm and chose to spice them up a little bit so that I could stomach the thought. We decided to wrap them in Pillsbury Biscuits! I added a half slice of “cheese” to mine. My oven bakes quite high, so I was baking them at 325 degrees until golden brown. I didn’t want to run the risk of the outside burning and the biscuit dough not being done, or the hot dog being cold, on the inside. We serve our’s up with a side of ketchup and spicy mustard around here. Perfect snack for a cold afternoon!
I am missing my trip to Mexico more and more these days. Maybe it’s the changes going on that my brain feels like I just need some time away… Whenever I have a funk like this going on, I try my best to incorporate little things into my day, just as little reminders of those times that I long for. This morning, it was part of my breakfast…
For this quick fix, you will need…
A couple sliced mushrooms, eggs, some spinach, fresh avocado or quacamole, EVOO, salsa, hot sauce, shredded cheese, sour cream, onion, garlic and bread of your choice (or a tortilla)
First wash and chop onion, mushroom, avocado and garlic. Throw a bit of mushroom and onion in hot pan with a dash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and saute till almost tender. Throw in a handful of spinach and some chopped garlic, to your liking. When almost cooked, break 2-3 eggs in pan making sure to break the yolks! I like to cover the pan and cook over medium heat until eggs are no longer runny. I then sprinkle with cheese and recover. Make a couple pieces of toast to eat as a sandwich or one to use for an open-faced sandwich. Finally, when eggs are cooked, cut to size of bread, top with sour cream, avocado, salsa, hot sauce, etc.
Avo-dilla
vegan, makes 4 triangles
1 wrap or tortilla (if using extra large lavash bread, you may need to slice in half – and have a more square shape rather than a half-circle)
1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
1-2 tsp vegan butter (Earth Balance)
1-2 tsp maple or agave syrup
pinch of seasoned salt
additional spices for inside or outside of the wrap – optional
Directions:
1. Melt the vegan butter in a very hot skillet.
2. Add the tortilla. Toss it around in the melted butter a bit to wet all sides.
3. Lay “butter-tossed” tortilla flat in the pan and quickly add the avocado. Mash the avocado a bit into the tortilla and fold over one side – just as you would a quesadilla. Note: you can also sear the avocado a bit in the hot pan if you’d like a warmer – softer avocado filling texture.
4. Drizzle the maple syrup over top the hot tortilla and wait for the sizzling to begin. The maple syrup will caramelize with the butter to brown the edges of the wrap.
5. Carefully flip the tortilla so that both sides brown. If a few ago slices spill out, just open the wrap and slide them back in. And if you really want, you can add some Daiya cheese to make the tortilla stick together (not needed for flavor though!) The heating process is pretty fast – just a few minutes from start to finish.
6. Remove skillet from heat or transfer avo-dilla to plate to cool.
7. Slice and serve warm! Yummy with hot sauce. You can also add more spices over top the warm ago-dilla to flavor a bit.
Enjoy!
(source)
There is something going on lately, another change. I feel solidly depleted, yet not scared. Call it faith, call it stupidity, call it what you will, but it continues to remind me how strong I can be. I need to be reminded. With the oldest moving out, I have been faced with this crazy abundance of work to do around here. My mind and my heart are all in. They are designing rooms, picking out colors for the floors and walls, drawing up floor plans, doing the laundry, making the next batch of baby food, etc. My mind is spinning with ideas of what I want to improve around here to make it a better living space for all of us. The boys need their rooms specially adapted for their visual impairment, so the timing couldn’t be better. I’m a “glass half-full” kinda girl. My heart wants to get it all done quickly, for everyone’s sake. My body though…
I hate when my body disagrees with those two. I know there are many things to be done around here, yet no matter how much my spirit has it’s arms around the other three today, my body is not letting me out of this bed for very long today. I have tried giving it a pep talk, but it is just not happening. I was able to get up to load the dishwasher and clean the kitchen a bit, but then the legs called out the protestors. How does little ole me fight the protestors? I pushed myself way too hard these past couple of weeks. I know it and my Mama would say how in denial and stubborn I am. I am okay with that. Who wants to live their life never pushing themselves for fear that they will physically be down for sometime afterwards? I say it only makes me stronger. Unfortunately that strength comes from trying to live my life as if I don’t have this condition. I am blessed to have some time to myself to recoup while the kids are gone for the weekend! Because tomorrow… I begin to deconstruct the room in the front to make room for Spyder’s bed. Resting up now…
As soon as the house is “back in order”, from the abrupt move-out of my oldest, I am taking over the kitchen and tackling SO many natural body products! THIS is definitely going to be one of them!
ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil
instructions:
mix the cocoa powder and sugar thoroughly. add the coconut oil and peppermint oil. combine well.
put the mix in containers of your choice and enjoy yourself, or give as gifts!
drenredfox 