Cranberry cake ,anyone ?

One of the things I love about the holiday season is Cranberries.

There are so many ways that you can use them; salsas, drinks, cakes, relish, the list can go on and on, but it is sort of sad ( well to me it is ) that fresh ones are only available for, 60 or so days then they are gone till next year.

fresh cranberries

Now don't get me wrong, dried ones are great too, but there is just something about a fresh cranberry. The taste ,texture, they way it just explodes in your mouth , the hint of tang it can add to a dish , whether it is meat or a baked good. You just don't get that with dried ones.

screaming to be used :)

Now, the hard part for me is trying to find just the right recipe to use the cranberries in , one that will not be to difficult for me to convert to GF and that I already have all the ingredients for ( I hate having to run to the commissary for missing ingredients )

And today I was lucky, Shelly from Simple Abundance just happened to have just the recipe I was looking for , Cranberry Almond Pound Cake, not to hard and not to simple , but just right ! :0)
Plus, I had all the ingredients , too !!

the ingredients, minus the flour

The recipe for the cranberry almond pound cake was really simple and I did not have to alter it to much for it to be GF or to my taste buds :)

I used;

1 1/4 cup of Truvia
1 cup + 3 TBS of butter ( used Parkay)
1 1/2 tsp of almond extract
1/2 tsp of butter extract
6 eggs
1cup of Greek yogurt ( I used Chobani)
75 mL of water
1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of fine sea salt
3 cups of AP GF flour ( I used Better Batter flour)
2 cups of fresh cranberries

and for the glaze:

2 TBS of water
1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Other than having to adjust the ingredient list I followed her mixing instructions to a "T"

all ready for the pan

I did bake mine at 330F ( my oven is off by 5 degrees) for 1 hr and 5m.

and ready for the oven

Now waiting an hour plus for something to bake is really hard to do, okay, maybe it is just hard for ME to do.

before the icing

 The smell of this was heaven and I admit I was sort of salivating when I took it from the oven, but then it hit me I had to wait another 20m for it cool before I could put the icing on it :(.

with icing

But, this was SO worth the wait.

the first piece went to Gabriel

This was a very moist bundt cake , with just the right amount of sweetness and tart to it.
The only thing I would change for next time is to add either some almond or vanilla extract to the glaze, to give it a bit more flavor, other than the "powdered sugar " flavor, but over all everyone seemed to the enjoy it.

what was left of the cake

At least I think they did, what do you think ? :0)

New recipe day

I had to take the van to the dealership this morning to have the BCM, that was just replaced, looked at, my van has been acting funny again and not wanting to start like it should.

So since the kids and I were going to be stuck at the house most of the day, or at least till the dealership called , I decided that I would try out a new recipe for GF and DF banana chocolate chip bread  that I found a few weeks ago by glutenfreegoddess , one of the blogs I follow.

( it was either that or clean and do laundry, and well, I prefer baking over cleaning and laundry any day :)

Bananas are a staple fruit in our house. I buy them as often as I buy milk, which is once a week.
I like how versatile they are and how I can just pluck one from the bunch and toss it in my purse for a quick on the go snack for myself and the kids.

But, what I don't like is how they tend to turn brown so fast at certain times, if we don't eat then quick enough, especially during the summer months.
Which means during the summer I tend to do more baking with bananas, then I do during other times of the year.

my ripe bananas

The original recipe called for the bread to be corn and egg free as well, but since I did not have lite olive oil, nor do I like the taste of olive oil when I bake, I used canola oil and I also used cornstarch. I did not add any eggs , just because I did not want to, and I only had 2 bananas instead of the 3 that were called for.

all my ingredients

my helper

Normally when I bake GF I use my mixer, but since I did not need to use that much flour I was able to do it all by hand, well okay more like I used Sasha power :) ( that's what kids are for, right???)

my muscle

And it never fails every time I go to bake or cook Ian likes to take all my dirty measuring cups and play with them. I find it funny and cute, especially since he thinks he is being sly and that no one sees him take the stuff off the counter. ( I hope this is not his future profession, if so he is in for a long "stay" some place not so nice)

my thief

they make great teethers, too

my super cute bread pan my BFF Andrea gave me for Christmas

my bread dough ( tasted good too ;)

By the time it was ready to go into the pan and the oven Sasha was sore so I got to put it in the pan.
(I like how I go to bake and the all flock to the kitchen to help, at times it drives me insane, but I just have to remind myself, it is times like these that I will miss the most when they have all left the "nest". )

in the pan and the oven

Ian waiting for the bread to bake

fresh from the oven, and smelling so GOOD

want a slice???

I have to admit, to date, this has been the BEST tasting banana bread I have ever made, whether GF or not.
Even Gabriel asked for seconds and he normally is a one slice type of guy.

This I will be adding to my 'little green book" of recipes and will be making again for sure, with maybe just a few more chocolate chips added to the mix ( for Sasha of course ;0).

A change of flour

 So when I went GF, do to health reasons, in March I kept reading about all these different types of flour that other GF people were using to bake with. Like Tapioca flour, Almond flour, Garbanzo Bean flour, Rice flour and the list goes on and on.
It is really amazing how many types of GF flours are out there, mind boggling :)

I ended up spending almost a week searching for all the different types of flours that were being mentioned in the different blogs that I read .

In the end I chose to buy mine from Nuts.com , this is a great company that has been in busy for EVER and is family ran and owned. They have a really good selection of GF flours and other assortment of GF items too.
Along with candy, fruit, pasta and other gluten filled items too.

the flours I bought

I use these flours to make GF bread and other GF items that require flour and have not had any problems with the taste and texture once. My only complaint would be the fact that when baking it is a hassle to mess with different flours each time and it can be confusing at times when it comes to measuring or trying to substitute one flour for another if I happen to run out.

Then my eyes were opened to an all purpose GF flour that one of my favorite bloggers, Nicole, at glutenfreeonashoestring.com  talks about, in her blog and book, called betterbatter.
This is a pre-mixed all purpose GF that takes the place of all the flours that I have and it also includes xantham gum, the binding agent that GF flours needs to act like a gluten filled flour.
And the best part of this is, it's one bag instead of 3-4 bags. Talk about baking utopia!!

So I went ahead and bought 2 5lb bags of betterbatter and went to baking "town"
.

my pretty pink boxes

I made the sandwich bread using the recipe in Nicole's book with the betterbatter flour and WOW!! It was amazing. The smell,  taste and the texture were just like the gluten filled bread I was used to making.

bread made with better batter flour

yummy

Needless to say I am hooked. No more multiple bags of flour for the girl. No sir!!
I am officially a batterbatter converter :)


And I owe it all to Nicole :0).

Nicole's book 

Our "home room"

Today was a very dreary day outside. Which made for no motivation when it came time for sitting down to do school work. On days like these I really just want to stay in my bed with my Nook , all snug and warm with no cares in the world except what to choose to read. BUT, given that I am responsible for the education of my brood, I can not . So I had to take it to the next level and find ways to motivate the kids and myself today.
And this is what I came up with...

our home room today

Gabriel and Sasha

At first the kids wanted to work together, but after about 30 mins. Sasha decided she needed some space :) ( hmmm I wonder if she got the smothered feeling, which I know nothing about for course ; -)
.

Sasha and her Math

So while Sasha was busy with her book work, Gabriel got to work on his Math, Science and baking skills.
By making home made GF chocolate chip cookies.

Gabriel

licking the beaters is a necessity, of course !!

the finished product

Ian  after his cookies

After Gabriel was done making cookies and Sasha her book work, it was time for them to switch places.

My little scholar

always time to stop and smile for the camera

And when it was Gabriel's turn under the tent , it was Sasha's time to work on Science and her baking skills, and her choice was to make home made GF white bread.

My future baker

Sasha enjoying the fruits of her labor

Being home schoolers does not mean that we are always motivated to get our work done, it just means that some days we get to be more creative in how we go about getting our work completed for the day :)

Lazy Sunday

Saturday was a VERY busy day for us all. There was Tball, softball practice, lunch out as a family, playing family "softball ", naps, and a quick trip to the commissary to gather the items needed for dinner and FINALLY a family movie and then BED!!!

So on Sunday when I woke up at 6:15 a.m. I decided that it was going to be a lazy day for us all. Which was short lived.

Gabriel decided he wanted to have pancakes for breakfast to go along with the eggs and maple sausage that G.I. Joe was making. And this simple request sent me on a quest to locate a recipe for GF pancakes that would be edible, this time.  I have only made pancakes twice since going GF and I was not very impressed with the taste or texture of either, and so have sort of shied away from making them. After almost an hour spent searching on line I had a HUGE DUH moment and went to one of my favorite blogger sites, Gluten Free on a Shoestring, came across this recipe for, pancakes-neat, and decided to give it a try. And man where they GREAT! I did up the amount of sugar to 4 TBS and added 6 tbsp of Vanilla to the batter and if  I had put them side by side with the tradional pancakes I used to make no one would be the wiser about them being GF.

Sasha watching G.I.Joe cooking

My GF pancakes-neat batter

they cooked up so pretty, all nice and brown

and so fluffy

must be good from the looks of the empty plates

After everyone recovered from their food coma's and the kitchen was squared away ( lovely Army term), the kids and G.I.Joe decided to go outback and have batting and pitching practice, while I tackled the loveseat and the mound of clothes that had piled up .

Next time he can fold and i will play with kids

 

 

I confess me folding clothes lasted for about all of 10min. It was more fun to go and look up dinner recipes for the up coming two weeks, at least to me. :)
After batting and pitching practice was over we all sat around watching movies and hanging out till dinner time, which was grilled turkey burgers, grilled corn on the cob, fruit salad, potato salad and iced tea.
Great way to end a great day.

G.I.Joe, Sasha and Gabriel

Even Dad is a big kid

Got to hot for the boys