GF Brownies ~ Snow Day Fun

A week of no school . . . a nice treat (until you think about the lost days of summer), but for now a nice treat.  So after grading the MOUND of papers that had been taunting me on the table, I decided to find a new recipe and make it gluten free.
I haven't posted in so long, but believe me the kitchen is always open and taking on new adventures.  But for this snow day, well actually week, I found my inspiration in the magazine "All You" January 16, 2015.
The recipe was ORANGE CHEESECAKE BROWNIES.

As always, I feel due to copyright issues I cannot post the recipe in full here on my blog.  But for my dear friends who have decided to take time out of their day to read this entry, if you would like the recipe I will send to you privately.

I made no major changes, except of course for the flour.  It called for 2/3 cups all-purpose flour and I substituted it with my new all favorite Gluten Free flour pictured below.  I love this flour for a few reasons.  First, it already has zanthum gum added so no trying to figure that measurement out.  Second, it is cup for cup replacement in recipes.  Third, it does not leave a grainy texture to the finished product.  Lastly, it is fairly affordable ($12 a bag) and found at my local Kroger store.  I know all you Gluten lovers out there are probably saying "Affordable at $12 a bag for only 4 lbs of flour".  I say, "YES...this is actually very good for a good GF flour".  Yes I can go out and buy cheaper, which I have done in the past.  And it is usually a terrible product.  See my reason Number 3 - NO grainy texture.  I have used cheaper GF flour and literally felt like the cake, cookie, or brownie had sand in it.  So gross really!  As for me, I really don't use flour at all unless I am on a baking spree.  I bought this bag back in November and I still have plenty do make a few more goodies with.  I store in freezer to maintain freshness and just have to remember to set out to bring to room temperature before using.

As for the finished product, not bad!  It was more like a fudge brownie, which I like.  But if you prefer more of a cake brownie this recipe would not be for you.  Changes I would make - add more orange zest and maybe even a splash of orange flavoring.  The title says Orange Cheesecake Brownies, but seriously I could not taste any orange.  The chocolate of the brownie is so powerful and really dominates covering all orange flavor provided by the 1 tsp. orange zest that was added to the cheesecake mixture.  So my  notes on the recipe have changed the 1tsp. to 2 tsp. orange zest.  I will start there and if that still isn't enough, then I may add 1/2 t. orange flavoring.
But who knows, there are so many amazing recipes out there this may be a one hit wonder at my house.  This is the down side to moving to Kentucky away from our daughter and at the time her college friends - no one around to eat the goodies I make.  Baking has slowed down for me because I truly do not need to eat all these sweets.  If we are blessed tomorrow to make it to school, I will have some happy co-workers as they get to enjoy these brownies.
I pray you are all warm and safe!  On snow days I truly do try to take the opportunity to use it as a gift from God to slow down and stay put.  In my week off school, I ventured out one time (Friday) and only because I was almost out of the basic staples of milk and orange juice.  In my house that could be the cause of a revolution.  Philippians 4:13 was my daily scripture sent and I absolutely love the reminder "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  Whatever your current battle is in your life, and we all have them, I pray this is a gentle reminder for you too.  God is so good and so amazing.  For me, I can easily get caught up in my own issues that I tend to forget His love for me.  Who would have thought 5 years ago I would have had the strength to cut flour out of my diet.  Believe me, it is not easy even after all these years.  A good slice of pizza and a doughnut are missed dearly.  Anyway, as you start this new week, open your heart to God and find strength in Him.  Happy Baking!

 Final Product

Seriously it has been a YEAR!

I just can't believe it has been almost a year since I wrote in  my blog.  What a crazy year of changes and living in limbo.  As posted previously we moved to Kentucky last year - HA - well poor housing market prevented our beautiful Oklahoma home from selling and a weak job market in Kentucky prevented us from finding work, so it was a quick last minute move back to Oklahoma where I was completely blessed to find a job teaching 4th grade.  I learned so much this past year and felt I grew so much as a teacher.  For that and many other reasons, I know God had this plan in motion the entire time.  So when it was time to decide if we should try to move again, it was a very hard decision.  But we gave a realtor a very short amount of time to sell our house and just left it up to God.  The house sold very quickly even though it was listed for $20,000 more than we asked last year and I quickly learned God wasn't quite done yet - a phone interview was done the day of our closing and half way through Missouri I received a call with a job offered teaching 5th grade.  Those of you who know me real well know my tough exterior is just a cover for my super mushy interior, so it took all I had to not just start crying.  So much anquish it seemed last year to sit back and have everything fall into place this year.  I just give all praise to God and a year long lesson for me that he really is the one in control of my life.

So back on the farm - our garden is double the size as last year and a lot of canning is underway as it produces so many amazing vegetables.  Today I will be canning zucchini/squash pickles.  So yummy!  I have continued to refine and gain confidence in gluten free baking, so although I find myself discussing many other things here, I will try to stay true to the title of the blog.  I will say I have a two flours that have just become a HUGE staple in my kitchen.  I used to make my own flour using Bob Mills, but discovered King Arthur Gluten Free Flour and fell in love with the delicious products it produced.  I can find it at Kroger and Meijer and cost about $8 per box.  The down side - you have to add xanthum gum to your recipes.  Then my second favorite flour - Olivia's Outstanding Flour Mix - it also produces great results and the benefit, the zanthum gum is in the flour already.  Also, on the inside of the box are directions to turn the flour into Self-Rising or Cake Flour if you have recipes that call for these flours.  I was so excited because I had a cake recipe calling for Cake Flour and had no idea how to make it, so never got to make the recipe. 
King Arthur has a wonderful website too with super great recipes and I have made several, one of which I will talk about here in a minute - go to: www.kingarthurflour.com 

So if you have been reading my blog you know my mastery of the GF pie crust has been a mission.  Many unsuccessful tries had left me feeling defeated, but thank you King Arthur!  On the website listed above is a GF pie crust recipe.  Well with all my previous pie crust disasters what harm could trying the recipe be?  So this past Christmas I went for it and let me tell you - light, crumbly, perfect pie crusts!  No one even realized it was gluten free.  So I am now confident in the baking of the pie crust, so you won't have to hear me ramble on in my posts about not being able to make one.  Next should be the bread - a good winter project since I am so busy canning and working the garden now. 

So here is the final result - my apply pie made for Christmas 2012.  I also made a pecan pie, but it was eaten so quickly that I didn't get a picture of it.  I had a lot of fun this past Christmas making some old favorite cookies into gluten free cookies.  I will share those soon.
So my concluding words today are to NEVER GIVE UP - this amazing pie would have never come to be had I just given up.  AND when things don't seem to be going the way you want - step back God's plan is always better!  Happy Baking!

Faithful Friend

16 Years ago our neighbor in Hawaii found a stray dog running the neighborhood.  She brought her over to ask if we may know the owner.  Of course we didn't, but Sadie and I fell instantly in love with her!  We offered to take her to the animal shelter later that day since our neighbor had plans.  As the day progressed she embedded herself into our hearts even more.  When we dropped her off we asked if we could adopt her if no one claimed her.  We had to wait 2 weeks and during that 2 weeks we went nearly everyday to visit her.  The call came from the shelter and she was unclaimed ~ do we still want to adopt her.  YES!!!!  We felt Lucky to have found her, so we gave her the name LUCKY!
We could never have found a better dog and she blessed us with with pure joy for 16 years.
She is a well traveled dog - found in Hawaii, moved to Italy, then to Oklahoma, and onto Kentucky. 

Sadly, exactly 1 week ago today she took her final breath of life.  My heart has a huge empty space where only she could fill it.  We found a beautiful place in the sun to bury her.  Perfect for her since she loved to sunbathe.  Her final days were so hard to watch as she gave up food and eventually water.  We watched her become bones and just spent every opportunity to hold her and love her.  She gave me and my family some amazing memories.  I will cherish those always!

I love you Lucky Girl!



Best Friends ALWAYS!



Goodies Galore

Ok, hold on to your seat because I am going to be true to my blog title and actually talk about some baking!  Tomorrow we head out for Pennsylvania to attend a Gun Raffle and camping is on the schedule.  So of course, you can't camp without some goodies to munch on, so bright and early this morning I cranked on the oven while the temps outside were still bearable.
First item up:  The ever faithful ~ RICE KRISPY TREAT~ Not to much explaining needed here, just be sure to purchase the gluten free rice krispy cereal (thank you Kellogs).  Also be sure to check those fluffy balls of deliciousness because some brands to contain gluten.  Other than that, it is as easy as one, two, three.
Second item up:  Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I normally don't share the actually recipe, but I am spoiling you all today with the recipe :)
You will need to first have a gluten free flour mix.  A couple of options here depending on the level of your adventure side.  You can buy King Arthur's Gluten Free All purpose flour.  Quick easy and done ~ but I find you get a little flour and it has a nice price tag.  So here is my GF flour mix I use for all recipes that call for flour:
2 cups brown rice flour (I buy Bob Mills and a small bag can range from $2.99 - $3.99 depending if
                                       on sale - one small bag can triple the flour mix recipe)
2/3 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour! ~ Bob Mills again on this one and it is about $2.99 a bag)
1/3 cup tapioca startch (Good ole Bob Mills)

I mix these ingredients in a nice snap lock lid container.  When I make it, I triple the recipe so it is always on hand.  Store in the fridge!  Now the serious trick is the ZANTHUM GUM!!  This is a little pricey, but lasts forever.  I am still on my original bag I bought 2 years ago (store in fridge or freezer).  When I make a recipe, for instance the chocolate chip cookies.  I add 1/2 tsp. of zanthum gum for a single recipe.  You could add 1 tsp too.  This is what keeps the cookie, cake, bread together.  Without it ~ you would have a crumbled up pile of messiness.

GF Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cup unsifted GF flour blend
1/2 tsp zanthum gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coconut oil (this is the most amazing oil and pretty much all I use)
      **If you don't want to buy coconut oil - you can use 1 cup butter (2 sticks), but I promise you
          the taste of the cookie with the coconut oil is AMAZING!
3/4 cup sugar (again I use rapunzel brand)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp gf vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips (splurge here and get the good stuff ~ I like organic, but use what you like)

Preheat the over to 375 F.  Stir flour, zanthum gum, baking soda, and salt; set aside.  Beat the coconut oil with the sugars at medium speed for 3-5 minutes.  Add vanilla and eggs (one egg at a time), mix on low speed until blended well.
Slowly add in the flour mixture.  Once it is well blended, stir in chocolate chips.  **I put in freezer for 10 minutes**.  Remove from freezer and drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Pour yourself a nice tall glass of organic milk or goat milk and enjoy!

Third on the cooking list today is to prepare the hamburgers and then freeze them for our ride to PA.  I use venison meat (thanks to my hunting hunk of a husband).  So here is what I like to do:
Dice one small onion - mix into venison meat.  Add 1-2 tsp. of garlic powder.  Then add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese.  Get those hands in there and mix all together.  Form into patties and cook em up.  Or well in my case today, freeze in patties and pack in cooler for a delicious meal on Saturday :)  If you don't like blue cheese, I don't see why you couldn't add a cheese you enjoyed, but they are delicious!

Ok, also this week I picked the beets from my garden.  I LOVE pickled beets, but didn't really know how to do it.  So what is a girl to do???? ~~ Call her Momma of course!  I found out I had already messed up.  When I boiled the beets, I drained the beet water. Mom said I needed the beet water.  So here was  mom's recipe:  equal amounts of beet water, vinegar, sugar.  Her equal amounts were 1 cup each.   I refuse to be defeated by beet water or really lack of beet water, so I just added water.  I cooked the water, vinegar, and sugar over low heat until the sugar had dissolved.  (I only used 1/4 each because I didn't make a lot of beets)  I sliced up my beets and poured the mixture over and stored in the fridge over night.  Well my dear folks who are gracious enough to spend your precious time reading my craziness here - It turned out PERFECT!   I only made 3 beets cut up for our dinner tonight, but I am going to pickle the rest of those beets today and take them camping with us.  I would can them, but I didn't plant enough this year to can.  But next year - look out garden you will get a long row of beets!

I am also including a picture of my wonderful sweet precious Sadie Girl and her grandma.  It was an amazing 4th of July surprise when she walked into the house!  I wish the visit could have been longer, but I am so glad we were able to drive up and surprise her grandma before heading on to the airport.  I must say ~ I LOVE being a mom!

Enjoy your cooking adventures!  Happy baking!

"Can" it be that easy?

I know you heard from me already today, but seriously I just had to make a quick post.  Today I had my first canning adventure all by myself and it was AMAZING!  I made butter pickles with the mounds of zucchini and squash my garden continues to produce.  Then I took a stab at rhubarb/strawberry jam.  Why did I convince myself all these years I could never can????  It is amazingly easy and I just love looking over at my canning corner I put together yesterday and seeing all the jars, empty and full!  If you want to can, but are unsure ~ buy the Ball Canning Book.  I have had mine a month now and I think I need to buy a backup because it is already looking well worn (Not a bad thing).  Well unless you have the most amazing sister-in-law like I do, you will just need to read read read that book (magazine look actually).  Get all your canning supplies ~ a HUGE THANK YOU here to my beautiful Grandma who gave me all her jars and water boiler.  I know she does not blog, but those of you reading this that know my grandma -- pass my comment along and tell her pickles and jam are coming her way!
Enjoy my canning pictures and thanks for allowing me to take up a precious 2 - 3 minutes of your day.  I will just sit here and enjoy the "popping" sound of the jars as they make their seal ~ it is a symphony of wonderful.

                                          My canning corner

                                         Look at those amazing canning pots ~ Grandma's are the BEST!

                                        The Zucchini/Squash Butter Pickles heating up!

                                         Beautiful jars full of pickles!

                                         Rhubarb/Strawberry Jam

July already?

Why does the summer seem to fly by so quickly?  It has been one month on the farm and I am still amazed at myself.  I swore I would never survive a country life and here I am living it and LOVING IT!  Last week I drove up to spend a night with my mom, which ended up being two nights because there was no way I was going to miss going to here last radiation treatment with her.  I figured I went to her surgery to remove the tumor ~ here first chemo ~ her first radiation ~ so I should just see the end of it all.  It was awesome!  We had a good laugh driving home reflecting on her first treatment.  So I told my mom I would share the story in my next blog, so here it goes.  Since her treatment was high on her neck, she had to have this CRAZY mask made to go over her face and then it clamped down to the table so she couldn't move.  The only cutouts were her eyes.  So panic set in when they first tried to get this thing on her for the "trial run" the week before the actual start of radiation.  A prescription of meds were needed.  Well they told her people react different so she will want someone to drive her the first time.  We leave her treatment and I am asking her how she feels, does she think she could drive after the medicine (we were in trouble if the answer would be no since she had to go everyday for 4 weeks).  She was telling me she felt fine etc.  In the process of this conversation I am stopped at a red light and the conversation proceeds as follows:
Mom:  "Is it red?"
Me: "Yes mom, it is red"
Mom:  "Really?"  (with a very surprised voice)
Me:  "Mom are you sure you would be ok to drive?  If you can't even tell the light is red, I don't think you need to be driving yourself"
Mom:  "Not the light....Is my neck red from the radiation."
Me:  A HUGE sigh of relief because I seriously thought she didn't think the light was red

                                          Mom's radiation Mask ~ She got to take it home with her

After we got back to her house, she packed up and came to the farm for the weekend with me.  What a joy to have her here!  So we decided to walk the first night.  We went over to see the horses and cows.  We walked the road front going, but coming back I wanted to take her the back way through a path in the woods.  Well, Duke ran along with us and he suddenly went on alert and darted into the woods just as I caught a glimpse of his prey ~ AHHHH  A SKUNK!  I told mom to get to moving up the hill because he was going to chase that skunk right out in the path in front of us.  Well months of chemo and radiation = little exercise time, so trying to get my mom to move it up that hill was not happening.  Luckily, Duke showed up with no skunk back on the path.  Whew - disaster adverted!  I need to start carrying a gun through the woods!!!

We also went to the Blueberry Festival in Augusta, Kentucky.  Ok...so it was about 5 tents of really nothing ~ only one had anything Blueberry.  But we did go down to the Ohio River and enjoyed the view, then we ate a wonderful lunch.  But later this month Augusta is hosting the Ohio River Regatta Festival and it is a weekend long event, so I figure this will be better than the Blueberry Festival.  But I did get an amazing picture of Jim and Me ~ one of my all time favorites.

Let me see, I am trying to think of a gluten free goodie to add here and well nothing is coming to me.  I am still up to my ears in zucchini and squash.  Today, I cut up 30 combined to make buttered pickles.  I am going to also make some zucchini bread tomorrow (gluten free of course).  Tomorrow I am also going to can my first batch of jam:  Strawberry/Rhubarb Jam.  I am so excited!  The cucumbers are coming in now too as are the beans.  I just love the garden!

I did want to share my amazing fly remedy for the cows and horses.  I didn't want to share to much till I knew if it would work.  We made a huge pump spray of it.  We used water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and eucalyptus essential oil.  We sprayed that right on the cows and the flies departed quickly.  I had to do a touch up spray today, but it had been a week, so that is pretty good!  We even sprayed the horses and the flies are much better.  I am hoping the sweet lick blocks will start doing there thing and killing the larve and we will be much better in the fly department.

                                          The much happier cows ~ fly free :)

Well my dear readers, I will end with a few pictures of my gluten free zucchini cookies I made last week, but couldn't get the picture to download.  I will get some pictures of my canning tomorrow and the gluten free bread I make.  Enjoy your 4th of July and happy baking!

Zucchini Overload

What a fun week!  My dear precious sister-in-law and my niece and nephew came down on Wednesday.  By the time they arrived my counter was overflowing with zucchini and squash from the garden.  It was complete madness.  I had been using them in every meal and not a dent was made and each day I was picking more.  So with her canning expertise and my abundance of veggies, we made zucchini/squash relish and zucchini/squash pickles.  I must say this really didn't sound like it would be a success - pickles not made from cucumbers REALLY?  But the final product was beyond amazing!  We used the relish that night on our hotdogs.  The next day we put some pickles on our deli sandwiches.  It is just beyond good.  After day one of canning, we made zucchini/squash GLUTEN FREE cookies.  They were so moist and delicious with a lemon frosting.  It was great!The best part of the entire process was doing it with Maria.  She was so fun and we had a good time talking and chopping. 
Owen and Ruby shadowed their Uncle Jim all day and he is always great with the kids.  The first day he took them fishing down at the pond.  Oh my ~ Ruby caught a 14 inch Catfish and reeled it in all by herself.  Owen did even bigger with his 17 inch catfish.  I was so excited Jim used his phone to video these amazing catches. 
Saturday night we had a big ole' pot of what I like to call "Ann's pot".  It has potato, corn on cob, keilbasa, shrimp, onion in a pot of water seasoned with Old Bay Seasoning.  MMMmmmm.  This came from my friend Ann S. out of Nashville, TN.  Of course she told me the real name and I just can't remember it, so I renamed it Ann's Pot.  Well we added to this delicious meal Rhubarb Margarita's posted on FB by Gillian - It was just a delicious night.
I must say it was a great week other than a few crazy moments.  Like our bright idea to try to shade the front porch using one of those canopy tents.  Let me just start by saying this thing held up in 40mph Oklahoma wind at Rocklahoma.  All was going GREAT - no wind in Kentucky it provided great shade to cut the heat off the front door and windows.  Then while cooking lunch I hear a loud bang.  I open the door to discover the canopy was over my car.  Ok, I try not to be materialistic, but my car is my baby!  All I saw was white paint from the canopy poles all over my nice black car and of course lets not forget the scratches and dents.   Many tears later and smart thinking from Jim (rubbing compound) the white was gone and we only have 2 scratches (barely visible) and one dent.  No more great ideas coming out of me ~ well for a few days at least :) 
Our other not so great moment was when Lucky (our grandma dog - 17 years old) went to get up out of her dog kennel and she was all leaning and kept falling.  Well we have found she had a stroke.  Ruby is such a caretaker, because she just has loved on Lucky and takes care of her.  I pray she recovers, but readers I will say she has gone 2 days no eating.  Yesterday she did eat a couple spoonfuls, but last night she was throwing it up.  Many tears, much  more than the car, have flowed daily.  The tears have been full of sadness, but also just pure joy of all the wonderful memories I have of Lucky in our family.  She is one super special dog!  I pray she recovers and continues to bring us many great memories, but if her time is more limited than I want it to be, I will hold her in my heart forever and thank God for us finding this stray dog in Hawaii and making her part of our family.  We were truly LUCKY to find her!
Focus for this week - learn to compost.  It seems like it would be easy, but when I google there just seems to be way more to this activity than I thought.  Of course dad said - just throw the food scraps in the garden.  So I did this, REALLY dad - have you met my dog Rufus?  I didn't even have the bag empty yet and he was eating it all up.  I think Rufus may be part pig.  So I will need to figure this compost thing out with a more contained system to keep the dog out.  Wish me luck!  Have a great week.