Who Am I?

I am feeling self-reflective this evening, and I hope you will stick with me even if I take a break from posting about food. Today has been one of those "up and down days." You know, the days that start out really great, only for something to bring it down right away. But it doesn't stay down,  something wonderful happens followed by something lousy. I feel a bit like I hitched a ride on a yo-yo. I'll be honest, I'd really like to get off this ride. I was pitting some cherries this evening in preparation for tomorrow's lunch, when I blurted something out to my husband before I had really thought it through.

I said, "With everything that has happened today, is it a good day or a bad day? Should I feel good about it, bad about it, or just go to sleep and start over tomorrow?"

He said, "I vote for go to sleep and have a new day tomorrow."

I said, "I kinda knew you would say that."

But he's right. Any of you who know my husband are free to let him know that at this moment, here in cyberspace, I'm admitting that he was right and I, well, wasn't. What I was looking for was whether or not I should consider today a failure. Maybe I even thought I was a failure because of a few of the things that happened. But, none of today's events define me. I am not the sum total of all  the good and bad things that have happened around me since that day thirty years ago when I took my first breath of real, honest-to-goodness air. It isn't about how successful I am at my job, or about how many people like me, or about how many wonderful things I create (food or otherwise). My self-worth is not defined by whether I move up in this world or whether I am stuck in the doldrums. There is something deeper - something intangible - something that is there when you strip everything else away. That something is me. The real me.

Who are you? What are you allowing yourself to be defined by, trapped in, or stuck under? What things are preventing you from being who you really are?

As you end this day (no matter when you read this), I hope that you are able to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and smile. Tomorrow is a new day to be you.

***Coming Soon: Recipes for wheat-less wheat thins and gluten-free brownies, and a look at what you can do with a large, crochet hexagon...

Oatmeal Cookies (gluten-free AND egg-free)!

Usually my husband leaves the cooking and baking to me. He is more than capable of doing both, but he knows I enjoy it, and he has no problem eating what I make! More recently, though, he has taken a liking to baking gluten-free treats so that I have home baked treats that I didn't have to work for. Very sweet of him! On this particular occasion, my darling husband decided to try his hand at gluten-free oatmeal cookies. He started out following a recipe, but quickly realized we were out of almost every ingredient he needed! He got online and started googling substitutions. Then he dumped what he could find into the bowl. I had serious doubts that the cookies would hold together, but we've made them twice now and they hold up great (and taste great, too)!

The first time he made them, it was a very hot day and they flattened more on the pan. Yesterday, it was a much cooler day and they stood up nicely. Either way, they were attractive and delicious. I took them to a meeting this morning and no one would have known they were gluten and egg free if I hadn't told them. And so, here it is:

The Husband's Gluten and Egg-Free Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed loosely
3 Tbsp. oil
5 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (McCormick brand is now certified gluten-free)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2-3/4 tsp. xanthan gum (I like to use as little as I can get away with, so I use the 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 375. To soften the butter, place the sticks of butter (in the package) on a microwave safe plate. Heat in the microwave for 15 seconds. Cream butter and sugars together. Beat in oil, water, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined. Add flours (pre-sift if desired, I often skip the sifting), baking soda, and salt. Stir in oats. Mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes, or until tops turn light golden brown. Makes about 3 dozen small cookies.

I hope you enjoy them! I know my kids keep sneaking them when I turn my head!

Zucchini Crust Pizza

Giving up wheat was really hard for me. I have always craved bread. I remember going to the kitchen and eating bread right out of the bag during snack time. At Thanksgiving I would eat 10-12 of my grandma's Parkerhouse rolls. She made extra because she knew I would eat them. Pizza combined two of my favorite foods: bread and cheese. When I first discovered that wheat was the source of many of my health troubles, I was devastated. This could not be happening. I love food. I love bread. I love bread too much.

I'm sure some of you have had this conversation with yourself as you thought about the prospect of giving up wheat/gluten. It's hard. It is a lifestyle adjustment of huge proportions. The first two times I tried to give up wheat, I didn't stick with it. It was too overwhelming for me. And then, I realized I was only going to get through the change if I took it one day at a time. And so, I started with a favorite food. Pizza.

I gave myself the challenge of making a homemade gluten-free pizza. Fortunately, it did not take long for me to find something I loved. In fact, I preferred it to the previous pizza crusts I had baked before I quit eating wheat. I highly recommend the recipe for "Plain Pizza Crust" in 125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt. My all-time favorite for a long time was "Plain Pizza Crust" topped with the "Roasted Vegetable Pizza Topping" recommended by the same book. It felt so good to eat pizza again. I made it when I had company, baked it for my family when they were in town, and my kids would ask for it. If I could make and eat pizza, things were going to be OK.

I was totally happy with my homemade pizza. I never really thought about switching it up. But then, on an online forum I was browsing, someone recommended making a zucchini pizza crust as a way to cut carbs and add in veggies. Zucchini? Really? Zucchini is one of my favorite veggies, but in a pizza crust? I was unconvinced. Unconvinced, but still a little intrigued. Imagine my delight when my wonderful husband came home from the grocery store with FOUR zucchinis because they looked so fresh on the produce shelf!

I used this recipe from Your Lighter Side: Zucchini Pizza Crust . The only change I made was that I baked the crust longer than the recipe called for. In my oven, it ended up being close to 20 minutes, but you have to be careful not to burn the edges of the crust. I used one huge zucchini, and it yielded three cups of grated green goodness. I decided to split it in half and make two pizzas and that worked wonderfully! Should you choose to make this on a pizza pan that has holes in the bottom, be sure to stick a cookie sheet on the rack below it to catch anything that might drip from the pizza pan.

I highly recommend Dei Fratelli pizza sauce. No high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients, and it says "Gluten Free" right on the can. Best part? It is in with the regular ingredients, and is actually one of the more economical sauces I've seen in my grocery store. Top with some cheese (I used mozzarella, parmesan, and a tiny bit of cheddar for some color difference) and whatever toppings you desire. I just used a yellow bell pepper because that was all I had in my refrigerator.

The pizza was fantastic! And the best part was that I fooled my oldest child! He had NO IDEA that there was zucchini in this pizza and he ate two slices!

For one pizza you will need:

1.5-2 cups grated zucchini
2 eggs
2 cups mozzarella for the crust
Pizza sauce (one can of Dei Fratelli easily tops two pizzas)
Desired cheese and toppings

Once you've topped your pizza, increase the baking temperature to 425 and bake for about 15 minutes, or until cheese turns light golden or starts bubbling.

I hope you enjoy this pizza as much as we have!

Gluten-Free Birthday Cake - A Prehistoric Endeavor

I have two kids and their birthdays are only two days apart. They are two years apart in age, but their birthdays are so close together that we've had a combined birthday party for the past two years. As we were gearing up for "Birthday Land" at my house, I asked each child what theme they wanted for the party. My oldest requested dinosaurs. My youngest wanted zoo animals. I thought each theme was wonderful, but I had no idea how I could create one cake around both of those themes. Our birthday parties are small - just my husband, my kids, me and grandparents, so there would simply be no need for lots of cake. But, I also wanted each child to feel special at the birthday party and to enjoy the cake I made for them.

In addition to this challenge, I also wanted to make the cake gluten-free. I wanted to be able to enjoy the cake with my kids on their day, and my youngest child has shown some small indicators of food allergies as well. I wanted a cake that would be safe for all of us. I also wanted it to be something my gluten-eating relatives would enjoy.

First, I happened upon this recipe for gluten-free yellow cake. I decided to do a trial run about a month before the birthday just to make sure the cake would turn out well. I turned that cake into chocolate covered cake balls (oh, yum! Will definitely share this recipe in the future!). The cake was a success. My husband said the cake balls tasted as good as the Starbucks Cake Pops. What a compliment!

Then, the night before the birthday party, I baked the cake again. This time I lined the 9x13 cake pan with parchment paper. I followed the recipe I linked above, poured the batter into the cake pan, and then baked for about 25 minutes. It might take more or less time in your oven. Check the center of the cake with a toothpick, and it if comes out clean, it is done. My cake began to turn golden brown on top. Once the cake was cool, I gently lifted it out of the pan and placed it on one of my nicer-looking cookie sheets. Then I trimmed away the excess parchment paper. I left the paper on the bottom of the cake, but you could remove it if you were feeling adventurous.

When I decorate my cakes, I prefer to use pre-made frosting. I'm a busy mom, and what I care about is giving my kids a cake they will love and remember. I've never dabbled in fondant. Maybe sometime I will. But, for now, I'm able to do most everything I want with store bought frosting. I was pretty geeked to learn that Betty Crocker frosting is now certified gluten-free. Check the back of the can yourself. Let me know if you do a little jump right there in the store. I know I did, and it would be nice to know I'm not the only one! For this cake, I kept some of the frosting white (I used vanilla. Whipped white will also work.), made some of the frosting green, and made a small amount of it blue.

I started the decorating process by making a t-shaped path on the cake using white frosting. Next I iced the remaining quadrants with green frosting. I also made the sides of the cake green.

Once the basic design was iced onto the cake, I created a "cobblestone" path using Rice Chex. Can you tell I love that Rice Chex are a gluten-free food? I left a little bit of white frosting visible on either side of the path. This allowed me to add a "fence" later on in the decorating process. I'm not sure how much Chex I ended up using. Maybe a cup or so. We keep Chex at the house for making "bread crumbs" and as a breakfast option, so we had some in the house already.

Next, I "fenced" off each green rectangle with gluten-free, vanilla wafer cookies. I used Schär brand cookies, but I hear Glutino makes them as well. I had to cut a few of the wafer cookies with a knife so that they would fit properly on the cake.

The only other thing I had to make for decorating involved pink tootsie rolls. I took one pink tootsie roll, broke it into two pieces, flattened the pieces and put a little strip of white frosting down the center of each piece. These served as "T-bone steaks" for the cake. The rest of the cake was created using little plastic toys my kids already had. I washed the toys thoroughly first, of course, and then arranged them on the cake. When all was said and done, we had a PREHISTORIC ZOO! Both kids loved it (and it tasted great too)!

Prehistoric animals were paired up with their modern relatives in each zoo exhibit. The king of the dinosaurs (T-rex) was paired up with the king of the jungle (a mighty lion). A long-neck brachiosaurus was eating leaves from the treetops next to a giraffe. A rhino and a triceratops drank from a pond (blue icing outlined with gluten free Rice Krispies). An armored euoplocephalus was next to an armadillo. Give a few candy steaks to the meat-eating T-rex and lion, stick on a few trees with icing to the cookie sheet, and VOILA! A birthday cake that two kids can agree on. It tasted great, it was gluten-free, and no one felt like they were missing anything.

In addition to the ingredients for the yellow cake and the Betty Crocker frosting, you will need:

Around 1 cup of Rice Chex

A few Rice Krispies to outline the pond, and maybe a handful more to make a desert environment for the armored animal/dino

1 pink tootsie roll

1 pkg. Schär brand vanilla wafer cookies

Food coloring: green and blue

1 skewer cut in half and sanded until ends are smooth

Small piece of paper for creating a "Prehistoric Zoo" sign (personalize as is appropriate for you)

Desired dinosaur and animal plastic toys

Plastic trees, cactus, or other desired zoo decor

1 or 2 plastic people to visit the zoo

Total decorating time was not much more than an hour. Allow more time if you've never decorated your own cake before. And then, trust yourself! You can do this and your kids (or other family members/friends) will love it!

Please pardon my dust...

I'm in the process of updating my blog. If you get error messages, or if you find that my links are incomplete, please bear with me. I promise to get things up and running smoothly as soon as I can.

Coming this weekend...step-by-step construction of a gluten-free, prehistoric zoo cake. Perfect for a child's birthday - or in my case, a happy compromise for both of my kids' birthdays.