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gluten free, dairy free gingerbread muffins

I haven't shared a recipe here in awhile, but these have been so popular around our house, that it seemed worth passing on.  These are not too sweet, but not bland either, since they have two kinds of ginger in them; both regular ground ginger and fresh grated ginger. If I was making these for adults I'd add chopped candied ginger too, but I think that'd be to intense for my little ones.

And the very best part of these muffins is the way that the kids eat 'em. Nom! And before you can blink two or three are gone. 

Nice and moist on the inside too. They have a lovely texture. And they taste like a gingerbread cookie crossed with a muffin. 

So, here's the recipe. 

Gingerbread Muffins

1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of sugar free applesauce

1/2 cup of molasses

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 tbsp of grated fresh ginger

1 and 3/4 of a cup of your favourite gluten free flour blend

1 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp of baking soda

a pinch of salt

Pre-heat over to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the first six ingredients (the wet ones) together with a hand mixed, till well blended. Sift together the last four ingredients (the dry ones) in a medium sized bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, and give it another little shot with the hand mixer, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated (but don't over mix it, or they get too tough). Line muffin tins with paper or re-useable silicone cupcake liners, and fill each one two thirds of the way full. You'll be able to fill about 18 cups. Put a little bit of warm water in the remaining empty cups to ensure even baking. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they cupcakes risen and brown and the tops bounce back to your touch. 

Allow to cool a bit, and then eat 'em with a nice cup of tea. Also, if you are not dairy free, these would be amazing with a cream cheese frosting. 

Anyhow, enjoy! I know we do!

mini waffles!

They say its the small things in life that give us real pleasure. And in this instance at least they are right.
Hubs brought us home this mini waffle maker the other day (it was on sale, we love waffles, reason enough in my book) and holy crap, it is the best. thing. ever!

We'd talked about it before, as our waffle maker (a wedding present from a miiiiilion years ago) is on its last legs. It takes a really long time to make a waffle, and by the end of a batch, the left two segments are only partially cooked, and not crispy the way we like them. Also, Hubs had to MacGyver the hinge, and the top sits sort of askew and you have to handle it really carefully or the whole thing will fall apart. So yeah, we need a new one. But when he told me he saw a mini waffle maker on sale, I had no idea how mini.  Yep, that's mini alright. Small enough to fit neatly in the palm of a two-year-old's hand.

Now I'll tell you what it truly exciting about these. They get eaten. Yeah. It appears that the Baby is on a hunger strike these days. He is not interested in food. He doesn't want to be at the table for dinner time. He has three bite of almost anything and declares himself "done". Also, he's gotten waaay pickier. Used to be my 'eat anything' baby, but now is on some sort of bizarre toddler diet that limits the eater to white carbs. Oh, and also carbs that are white. And of course, candy. He will always eat candy. Not that it gets offered to him on a regular basis, but he remembers those short lived halcyon days of Hallowe'en and at least once a day requests "caaaaaandeeeeeee!"

But these waffles? They go down the hatch without a hitch. No cajoling, no pouting, no pushing away the plate. They just get eaten, nom, as fast as I can make them. And this goes for the Little Dude to. He is my better eater these days, as he actually appears to get hungry and need to eat food. And he is old enough to reason/bargain with. So his diet is all right. Though of the two of them, it definitely annoys me more when he refuses to eat something. His diet is limited enough as it is, so he can't really afford to turn down food options. Also, he's better at whining than the Baby is, and I'm not a huge fan of whining. The Baby will just straight up refuse a food with a silently turned away head and a resolutely buttoned lip, whereas the Little Dude will attempt to whine an unpalatable dish away. Not my favourite thing. But the beautiful silence that ensues when a plate full of these cute little waffles are placed before a child is an amazing thing to behold.

Also these things are so fast! Ready in sixty seconds. So, like, almost no waiting between batches. I can't tell you how much I love this.  And since I am a sneaky mom, I found a way to pack as much nutrition into them as possible. Last night I just did our regular gluten free waffles, but today for lunch I found a paleo waffle recipe that has lots of protein and no grains, and they ate up every last one of them. They were quite good, had a nice light coconut-y flavour and a good texture. And then tonight for dinner, we were having pizza, and after the first round of regular pizza, it occurred to me that any kind of dough could go in our favourite new appliance, and so I sandwiched a dollop of pizza sauce and a round of pepperoni between two glops of pizza crust dough, and slammed them into the waffle maker and voila! Pizza Waffle Bites. Because I'm a genius. And yes, everybody loved them.And yes, we ate some form of waffle three times over the last 24 hours, and I don't feel bad about that at all. 

 

orchard fun

Its that time of year again - apple picking time.  I probably say this every year, but oh, how I love fall! Love, love, love it. Somehow everything feels new in the fall. The cool mornings followed by pleasantly warm afternoons, the way everything smells just a little different. The break from the humidity. And of course, the apples. Almost as soon as we were out of the car the boys were off like a shot towards the trees. 

And they got straight to picking. I mean they've done this before, though I wonder if the Baby can remember last year? Well, whether he does or not, he still knows what an apple is for.

Eating! He wasted no time at all getting his teeth in there and chomping away with gusto. 

And of course, he has a partner in snacking. Its funny, he looks slightly unimpressed in this picture, but really, thats just because his mouth is so full of apple and he is mid-chew. Not the most photogenic moment for anyone. 

The apples were gorgeous. We went for Courtlands, as that is my Mom's preference for sauces, crisps and just plain eating. And I agree. 

tea time

We have a new late morning ritual around here. Tea time! The Little Dude was digging around in the cutlery drawer the other day (don't ask, I don't know why) and he found a little tiny spoon. "Why is this spoon so little?" he asked. "Its from that tiny play set that came with the little tea set of cups and saucers and stuff." I told him. And he got all excited, as he always does when he remember stuff from his "past". "I REMEMBER that!" he crowed. "It had all those little cups and a teapot and stuff. We need to find that! And have tea!" And so we did.  We've had tea parties before. I mean, who doesn't like a nice warm sweet little cuppa and a biscuit? But what was fun about this particular tea party was this was the first time that I set it up so they could do all the 'steps' of preparing their cup of tea themselves. I put actual (decaf chai) tea in the little pot, and sugar in the sugar bowl and (almond) milk in the teeny little milk pitcher. 

So there was all the fun of scooping and pouring and stirring. Which of course is no challenge for the Little Dude, who is five and can scoop and pour like a boss.

But the Baby finds it a bit more challenging, as the scattering of spilled sugar and milk in this photo will attest to. But oh how he loves to do it all, just like his big brother does. And his concentration, as he holds the pitcher just so and pours so carefully is beautiful to behold. 

And though his actual drinking of the tea could be a bit more, erm, graceful in its execution, the gusto with which it is enjoyed is evident.

Gran dropped by at just the right time to join us, and very kindly modeled her much more refined tea drinking skills. 

And as with most activities you do with kids this age, we made pretty quick work of that tea. Even a half-dozen little cups of tea get downed pretty quickly and of course, the cookies last bit a moment. And then it was time to clean up. The Little Dude, who is not normally one to be very, um, helpful when it comes to chores, surprised me by getting into the washing up. He was just so enamoured with his re-discovered tea set, that when I cunningly filled the sink with warm soapy water and pulled up a chair and suggested that he was the dishes for me, he surprised himself even, by agreeing to it. 

And happy as a lark he chatted and scrubbed and messed about with the bubbles and just made himself generally useful. Which was nice for a change.

And the Baby helped too, by clearing the table and bringing the dishes over for his brother to wash.Oh, and also by chugging what was left of the now cold tea directly out of the tea pot. Yep, he's a real class act, that kid. 

the daily grind

Years ago, in our B.C. lives (that's Before Children, not British Colombia) Hubs and I went on a trip to Holland. While we were there, we went to a thrift shop (quelle surprise) and he bought himself and old fashioned crank handled coffee grinder. Its made of wood and has a charming little drawer that you pull out, full of freshly ground coffee. Neither of us are big coffee drinkers, so even though it takes a lot of effort, he still enjoys grinding his coffee this way. Sometimes he'll sit in front of the TV and grinding away in the evening while we watch a little crime drama or something light and funny. He calls it his knitting. 

(Speaking of TV, he and I just finished watching Broadchurch. I can't say it was "enjoyable" but it was absolutely compelling. If you like mystery, crime drama, and the fine quality programming coming form the UK these days, I'd recommend it. However, if you can't handle watching the secrets and lies of a quiet coastal town being revealed in the wake of the tragic murder of a child, this is not for you. It was very well done, but also very sad, so be warned. But man, those people acted their faces off! Some of the best performances I've seen in ages.)

Anyhow, I came home from work the other day to find that he'd kicked the whole grinding thing up a notch.  Its not quite the same rustic, old-timey experience that is was before, but it is a heck of a lot faster.

And much, much more intersting to five-year-olds. Not that it wasn't interesting before. The Little Dude always likes to help with the coffee grinder. Actually, both the boys love it. They want a chance to turn the handle, pull out the little drawer, and take a big, appreciative sniff at the freshly ground coffee. But add a power tool to that experience? Ah, pure heaven! Coffee ground in record time, and fun and exitement shared by all. Except for me maybe, who just wanted to eat my late dinner without the accompanying screech of the drill. Oh well. Better than the screeching of bored and fidgety toddlers, so I'll take it and gladly. 

campfire

Its the August long weekend. I only know that because traffic was terrible on Friday. We don't really take advantage fo the long weekends around here. I dunno, once you become a parent, and before your kids are in school full time, I find you don't really know notice the long weekends. Its not as though kids give you a day off, if you know what I mean. 

Also, as of yet, during my adult life, I've not really gone p. And this is what people usually do on a long weekend here in Ontario. We go camping, or we go up to a cottage. But since I live in the country anyhow, so I don't see the point of a cottage. And camping.... Its just waaaaay to much work with little kids. All the packing that's required, having to walk to a bathroom, no running water close by, having to plan all your meals before you leave, having to spend each day alternating slathering little people with sunscreen and bug spray. Just the thought of it exhausts me. But I know, I went camping when I was little and LOVED it then. Its just, as an adult I'm much more of an indoor girl. Anyhow, as it is at the moment, with this whole Farmer's Market thing there's no way I'd even have the time. 

But today I felt a wee bit guilty about not taking the boys camping yet. I'm sure they would love it. And of course, I will do it someday. But right now we're just busy and tired. I figured though I could find a way to get a little bit of the fun of camping into our life here at home. So we had a campfire! There are lots of nice things about a campfire; The beauty of the flickering flames, the smell of the wood and the smoke, the pleasing warmth. But for a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half year old, there is really only one thing that is important about campfires: Marshmallows. 
I mean, the idea of course is that you roast them over the fire and all. But the Baby didn't get that memo. The moment we handed him a stick with a marshmallow on it he pulled it off before I could even take a picture and stuffed it in his mouth. Haumph. Done. 
But we finally got him into the idea of warming up his marshmallow for, like, a second before he scarfed it down. 

When you think about it, roasting marshmallows is pretty much little kid heaven. Because first of all: marshmallows. Secondly, I have yet to meet a little kids who doesn't like a stick. So basic, and yet so fun. Then top it off by an allowable proximity to danger (aka: fire) and you have what is obviously the best time ever. 

As you can see, he eventually got fully on board with the whole roasting the marshamallow thing. He was so, so pleased with himself. 

But he eventually figured out that stealing Daddy's marshmallow is an easier and faster way to get one than burning his own. 

Not surprisingly, the Little Dude prefered his marshmallows raw, or "plain" as he called it, and had to be coaxed a little to try the roasted ones. He deemed them funny tasting or too hot, but eventually wamed to the idea if they were not too crispy or dark, and had a moment or two to cool.

In the end, a fun time was had by all, and it was a great lesson in how, with kids, simpler is often better. We didn't have to pack the car up and drive for a couple of hours to have fun. Nor did we have to pay a lot of money. Kids don't care that you did not make the marshmallows yourself from a Martha Steawar recipe, or that they were not vegan, artisan inspired, hand-made imported marshmallows flavoured with lavender and rosemary. Nope, just a big ole' bag of plain marshmallows from the No Frills and everyone was happy. And when a half hour had passed, we just walked back into the house, washed our sticky hands conveniently at the bathroom sink, thoroughly brushed our teeth and tucked them all into their beds. Done and done. No fuss, no muss, no problem.

Though I may have a bit of a stomach ache from having eaten too many roasted marshmallows myself. Ahem.

 

cookies

I just want to take a moment to thank you guys. Thanks for hanging in with me here while I've been so absent lately. This whole Gluten Free Baking business thing has been kicking my butt. Who knew that baking would be such hard work? I have yet to figure out how to make my supply meet the demand, but at least I'm starting to feel like I have a routine of sorts, so that's good. Though its only Sunday night and I already see next weekend swooping down towards me. I'm trying to do more prep earlier in the week so I don't get so overwhelmed at the last minute. Anyhow, I'm just generally tired and a little sore, but still making a go of it. Did I mention I got a second stove? The one we had in our apartment in Montreal has been kicking around it storage (for those of you not from Montreal, I should explain that very few apartments in Mtl come with appliances, so you have to buy your own and move them around with you. Therefore, when we relocated from la belle province to Ontari-ari-ari-o we now have an 'extra' one) which over the course of the week we got cleaned up and installed (or rather my mom cleaned it up, bless her, and my dad and Hubs and my uncle scratched their heads and tinkered about for a few days and finally got it working. Yay!) But of course, despite the fact that my kitchen is comfortable roomy, it is not huge, so we could not fit the stove up here. So we installed it in the basement in the laundry room. And now I'm basically doing something I call "The Home Bakery Workout". You see, a batch of cookies needs ten minutes to bake. But since you put one sheet of cookies on the top shelf and one on the bottom shelf, you need to rotate them half way through the baking time so you don't have the ones on the bottom getting too crispy while the ones on the top are overdone. So since I've got two ovens going (which is awesome, because you can do twice as many cookies) I have to stagger the two batches, so that I can run up and down the stairs EVERY FIVE MINUTES. And don't get all smart and suggest I just stay downstairs, becauser remember, there is another batch of cookies in the over upstairs. See how that works. Anyhow, cookie baking day is Thursday, and I felt ok and Friday (bread baking day) because I was too busy to think about anything else and likewise was fine on Saturday because it was Market Day (busy! customers! making change! math! adrenaline!) but today! Hoo boy! Today my legs are KILLING ME! Its like I did an all day Step class. (remember step aerobics? So nineties) Anyhow, if I manage to keep this up all Summer (without dropping dead either from the stress or the exhaustion) I am going to have the ass of a 21 year old.  

Oh, and also, this week was my first market week without the never ending support of my Mom and Dad. Because usually on Market day my Dad meets me at the Market (or should I say "beats me to the Market. Early birds. Sheesh) to help me set up my booth and table because he has a truck and I do not. Also he is very good with knots and such and common sense problem solving type things. And he likes to get up early and hang out and chat with the Farmers. So really, its a win/win for him. And my Mom of course, is busy being an amazing Grandma, driving over to my house at 8:30 in the morning, getting my kids dressed, packing them a bag and snacks and such and bringing them to the market later in the morning so they can hang out with me for an hour or so, and then taking them back to her house for lunch, and an ATV ride with Grandpa and other sundry fun times, and after it is all over, dropping them back off at my place so I can put them down for nap time/quiet time so that I can have nap time too. Basically, they both have facilitated this whole Farmer's Market experience for me SO MUCH. I don't know how I would do it without them.

Which brings me to this week, when I had to do it without them. Because they've gone camping. Which is only fair, as they need a break from me and my kids. 

Anyhow, this week I did it all by myself. And by all by myself, I mean that my kind Uncle John got up at the crack of dawn to drive over to my Parent's house and load my table/tent/weights/signage onto his truck and then follow me down to the market to help me set up. So, SO kind of him. He is also good with knots. Then Hubs arranged to go to work an hour later than usual, by working overtime earlier in the week. Then he woke, fed, brushed and dressed the Littles and brought them to the Market. Where we were met by Laura, a lovely teenager from our church, who spent the morning keeping track of my boys as they played and ran around the market and ate the sweet little lunches that Hubs had packed for them. They had a fantastic time with her, and juuust as they were starting to get bored, The Little Dude's school friend Michael and his mom Patti showed up to hang out with and encourage us. L.D. was thrilled to have the impromptu play date, and the Baby is in love with Patti, so he was very happy to see them both. And Patti kept me awake during the slow last hour of the market morning, and also encouraged me to eat lunch, which I often forget to do on Market day. So really, there is no such thing as 'doing it alone'. It takes a village, right? And I am so grateful for the kindness and support all around me. Community. 

Oh, and as I mentioned before the weekend, the Little Dude has his first experience with trying to make money this weekend.
He managed to cut out and decorate thirteen whole cookies (before he got 'tired' as he put it, or rather, 'got bored' as I would put it) and we broke one of them in transit, but managed to sell eleven of them at the market (and had one left over to eat, much to his delight). I sell cookies for 75 cents each, and about one third of that is raw materials cost, so I told him he could keep 50 cents per cookie sold. So at the end of the day, he made himself a whopping five dollars and fifty cents. He was pretty pleased about that, and wanted to go right out and buy some Lego with it. But we went online to look at Lego kits for a minute, and he was reminded of the fact that the one he wanted most of all actually costs about eighty dollars, so he decided to put his money in his WienerMobile bank and save it, and sell cookies again next week and hopefully make some more money. I'm hoping (in my dull parenting type way) that this will be a good way for him to learn about money etc. More on this at a later date when I'm not so tired. 

And out of the little dough scraps at the end of his batch of cookies, we cut some teeny tiny train cookies, which were very good as a garnish for our fruit salad dessert.

And they were tasty little morsels too.

first harvest

We've been picking spinach and lettuce and herbs from the garden for awhile now, but today we picked our first actual vegetables.  The zucchini was a nice surprise, the cucumbers were delicious and we are SO looking forward to more of those sweet little tomatoes. 

We ate the cukes and the tomatoes on their own, but I put the zucchini on our pizza. Also, I'm experimenting with a new pizza crust. The one I usually do is very, very thin, almost crispy. But one of my customers at the Farmer's Market has asked for a thicker more poufy, chewy crust, because that's what her son prefers. So I'm trying it out.

It was very well recieved. The Little Dude said "I LOVE this mom!" And then later, I was very nicely thanked for making dinner. I fricken' love that. Totally worth all the effort. Oh, and here's my little secret for making pizza extra special delicious - a layer of pureed basil in olive oil. I have SO MUCH basil in the garden (but not too much. There is no such thing as TOO much basil.) so I just pick a big bowl of it everytime I have a surplus, and then blend it up in the blender with just enough oil to make it just a little thinner than a paste. Then, I freeze it in ice cube trays and I can enjoy it all winter. I melt one cube per pizza and spread it on before I put on the tomato sauce. 

Anyhow, try it next time you make a pizza. You'll be sneaking a few extra greens into your kids and also, it'll taste awesome. 

 

bakingbakingbakingbaking.....

Do you know what this is: 
This is an empty flat of eggs. A flat (in case you can't count from the picture) contains thirty eggs. THIRTY EGGS PEOPLE! That is how much baking I've done! Enough to use up thirty eggs in two days! Though to be honest, its actually 29 as I broke one. In my groggy morning haste to start baking I fumbled one on its way from the fridge to my bowl, and dropped it. It was only a few inches to the floor, but that was enough to break that egg. The Baby was standing with me and was thrilled. "Dat Egg! Broken Dere!" he shreiked with joy. His brother had to run over and see what all the commotion was about. And then, with perfect comic timing the Baby reached out his little socked foot and delicately smushed the remaining intact half an eggshell. Oh the laughter! He killed, I'm telling you; deep throated belly laughs between them both. I tried to stay straight faced, but failed miserably. His timing was just so perfect and the ensuing laughter so cute.

Anyhow, my point is that I don't think I have ever baked so much over such a short period of time in my whole life. Over the last two days I have made:

Two batches of Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Three batches of cookies (one chocolate chip, two oatmeal raisin)

Two loaves of hearty brown bread

Two large loaves of pumpernickel, and two mini loaves of pumpernickel

and three large loaves of cinnamon-raisin-cranberry bread as well as two mini loaves of the same.

Phew. And my feet are killing me! Probably should get some good supportive shoes to wear in the kitchen if I am going to keep this up.  See them all! Aren't they gorgeous? And here's a close-up on the pumpernickel. oooh, aaaaaah....

Here are the Cranberry-Raisin Cinnamon Loaves, waiting in their ghostly shrouds to go into the riser box (or rather, the microwave full of hot towels, see yesterday's post if you want to know what I'm talking about).

Just a little peek! This one is partially risen and well on its way to lovely chewy holey bready goodness. 

And I'm still not done. Much more to do before tomorrow arrives. But I'm well on the way, and my little boys need me now, so I have to take a break. But if you are in Bradford tomorrow, and want to come and taste my wares, I'll be at the Bradford Farmer's Market from 8-12 am. I'll be in the booth at the end, with the red gingham tablecloth. Wish me luck!

baking gluten free bread

So I've been really, really into baking gluten free bread lately. Not just because I'm cheap, have a gluten free kid, and like to eat bread. Though those are the core reasons for most of my baking. No, this time its because I'm going to start selling my bread. I've rented a stall at our local farmer's market and I start this weekend. So I've been baking, baking, baking and have been really nailing it if I do say so myself. Mostly because I found this new blog Gluten Free on a Shoestring, and it is blowing. my. mind. Not just good recipes, but more importantly, great tips and how-to's. Sure a good recipe is helpful, but actually having someone explain the chemistry of gluten free bread making and also, giving some great pointers on how to get it to work out has been so, so helpful. Seriously, look at this. I know, I get excited about small things, but what's awesome about this loaf of bread is those lovely holes in it. Its really hard to get that sort of aeration in a gluten free bread. And that's why GF bread is often so dense or heavy, and has that really tight crumbly crumb that is so frustrating, and causes your bread to fall apart in the toaster. 

But this bread, nice and soft, much lighter than your average GF loaf. And very, very tasty I might add. And all thanks to the post on helping your GF bread dough to rise. I'm telling you, the microwave rising box method has changed my life. (see fourth paragraph of the above article) So brilliant and no expensive equipment needed. Except the microwave and you probably have that already.

Anyhow, if you are at all interested in baking Gluten Free Bread, you should totally check out the GF on a Shoestring blog, especially the Bread Index. And if you are only interested in eating gluten free bread, come on out to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and visit me. More details tomorrow.