Recipes ~ Like I Promised :)

Okay so the recipes used in the past weeks I have not had to make major adaptions so I will give the links to the blogs. I found the snickers and the peanut butter bars through pinterest and I basically fell in love. I don't have any pictures to share because really I was lazy today and didn't take pictures. I have to be up early tomorrow so I am hoping I will be more productive in the kitchen. I will keep you all posted if I have any adventures to share.

So this is the link to the snickers  http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/01/homemade-snickers-bars/

And this is to the peanut butter chocolate bars http://www.thewickednoodle.com/reeses-peanut-butter-bars/  She says that she was planning to use rice krispies next time she made them. I did use rice krispies since they are naturally gluten free and they turned out fabulous. I actually had complements because of the rice krispies in the bars. I had them mostly crushed but I didn't turn them into powder. I actually had a hard time deciding how crushed they should actually be. A slight problem I ran into was cutting and taking them out of them pan. You kind of have to achieve a perfect temperature to get them out perfectly but I haven't figured out what that is yet. When I do I will let everyone know. 

This one is for the pizza yumminess I made yesterday. http://www.easyeats.com/recipes/1109-pizza-cups. I was surprised at how well these turned out. I made several changes. I had to find nitrate/nitrite free pepperoni because they give me migraines so I have been waiting to make these for quite awhile. The recipe does not say to cut the pepperoni up but I saw no reason to leave them whole. In place of gluten free Bisquick mix I used Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix. We buy it from Amazon in bulk. It worked beautifully. I also used mild cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella because I didn't have any on hand and I had no desire to go to the store. I think it actually worked out better because of the cheddar. Pamela's has baking powder and salt in the mix so I reduced the amount that I used. I used a little more than a pinch of salt and I used in between 1/2 a teaspoon and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. I can't give you an exact amount because honestly I don't remember and unfortunately I didn't write it down soon enough. I have also decided that I could use cut up turkey instead of pepperoni and have it turn out pretty similar. The texture would still be amazing it will just taste a little less like pizza. When I try it again I will post the results. 

I am thinking about making honey rolls tomorrow and so hopefully I will be in a picture taking mood. Or maybe I will have my best friend Tay from www.iheartyou5elephants.blogspot.com come over and take pictures for me :) The two of us had yummy adventures last summer that you can read about here.

I started a puzzle today and have completely neglected the dishes so I think I am going to make a little dent in the pile :) I hope everyone has had a fabulous day. I will talk to you all soon!

Lack of Blogging + Re-commitment

So I graduated last week! And through all the craziness and life being hard I began to miss my blog. And I also realized that I never really got a good start with the said blog. So I am going to try again. It is the start of a new summer. This is a time of major adjustment in my life as I get ready to go off to college. I am going to Brigham Young University Idaho in September. I am sooooo excited. 

Last week I was making peanut butter chocolate bars (recipe to follow, I promise!) getting ready for a graduation party and I had this realization that I belong in the kitchen. I am the happiest when I have my cupcake apron on (another story for another time) and I am dancing to upbeat music creating something delicious. I have also discovered that I enjoy cooking/baking more when I can share what I make! I love making people happy through food. That is really the reason why I am going to open up a gluten free bakery.

Anyways back to the food. Because it is now summer I have begun making yummy things again. It started with the previously mentioned peanut butter chocolate bars. Then I made homemade snickers bars with my wonderful best friend Megy from http://www.ldsplushighschool.blogspot.com. She came to visit our little town for a couple of weeks after moving to Hawaii several months ago. I missed her soooooooo much! I am so glad that I have been able to see her again. I really love the snickers bars but I am going to work on the caramel layer because like my mother told me it is really hard and chewy.

I also remembered a recipe my mom found awhile ago. They are pizza muffin things. I know that isn't a glorious and descriptive title like they deserve. However. I made them today and they are delicious!!!! I am planning on creating other recipes from this one and I am definitely going to make them while at college. They are so easy and good. I was full after eating one and some carrots but they were so good that I ate a second one. I think the grand total that I have consumed today was five. It made twelve. I think I am going to be making them again tomorrow or on Friday :)

I am not babysitting tomorrow so hopefully I will get pictures of the snickers and the pizza yummies done. The peanut butter bars are long gone so another batch will have to be made in order for pictures to be taken. Some how I don't see that as a problem. I will also post recipes. Hmm don't believe me? You will just have to wait and see if I prove you wrong ;)

It feels good to be back. Check back tomorrow or Friday for the post mentioned above but in the mean time I hope everyone is enjoying their first days of summer!

Pictures.... Maybe

YES! I finally got the pictures up :) The other day when I was doing it and I mentioned how I had no patience for uploading pictures. Tonight I beat it by bringing a book to the computer :) I am glad they are up! So now I will post pictures as I bake things since I have the hang of it. But for now this is just a bunch of pictures I have taken over the last couple of months of things I have made. Enjoy!

Update on Pumpkin Pie

So I made pumpkin pie. Vegan pumpkin pie. I have to say I was disappointed. It didn't taste as pumpkinish as it should have. I will be remaking that recipe and trying it again. I don't even have any pictures. It was that unpicture worthy. Wanna hear the story of the pumpkin pie? Stop now if you aren't so inclined because guess what. I'm telling it :) So after making the pie and waiting for it to cool it was late at night. We needed whipped cream or ice cream to go on top of the pie so I had sent my loving mother out for either heavy cream or ice cream. She came back with heavy cream, ice cream was too expensive. So the pie was finally cool enough to cut around midnight. That being said.... I don't like to stay up late. What can I say? I am a morning person. Anyways I was excited to try my first homemade pumpkin pie. I took a bite and decided it needed whipped cream. So its past midnight (which I am not very happy about but I needed my whipped cream!) and I am beating a cup of heavy cream to death. Or at least that's what it felt like. I got my whipped cream, added a 1/4 cup of sugar and some vanilla and mixed some more. The pie + whipped cream made it OK to eat. I guess I am just not used to vegan. I think there is still a piece of pie left, waiting for me. Unfortunately there is no more whipped cream. I ate it..... We have tons of raspberry bushes and my mom has been picking tons lately so I decided that my whipped cream + the raspberries would be yummy. It was :) It just means I need to make up more whipped cream if I want it with my pie..... Ehhh the pie can wait for another day or two. See it wasn't mouth watering otherwise it would be gone by now. Ok moving on from pie talk. My best friend has been wanting to make ice cream for about a week now. So we decided she is going to come over and we will make homemade vanilla ice cream and eat it with a freshly made raspberry cobbler made by me. She isn't too big on cooking or baking but that's ok, I love her anyways :D I have more to say but honestly I am getting tired of typing so I will save my thoughts for tomorrow. I hope summer is going well for you :)

Pictures

My lack of blogging shouldn't be an indicator of a lack of baking. Definitely not. The baking definitely happens. Often. So instead of going backwards and trying to explain each time I baked something I am just going to post the pictures. Especially since I will probably be making the treats again. Most of the things I have baked lately are favorites that I have found from my multiple gluten free resources. Ok the pictures are going to take forever to load. BOO. I am getting impatient with uploading pictures so I will try again in the near future. While I have something else to do. I think I will bake a pumpkin or sweet potato pie tomorrow.
And maybe I will blog about it. We will see. My blogging habits are about as sparse as my journaling. Hmmm new goal perhaps?

Mother's Day

Yes I am horrible at updating my blog. And I am even worse about putting stuff that actually belongs on my blog. Oh well, after all, it is my blog...

Anyways.

It is Mothers Day. I think that mothers need to be celebrated more than just once a year. It really should be an every day thing. Even if you just voice your appreciation for all your mom does. That is enough.

So moving on to baking... I must confess I have an obsession with baking. But I have been neglecting it lately. School has basically taken over my life. But that is another post for another time. My obsession with baking unfortunately does not include cooking. However I went out on a tiny limb today (and I say tiny because I do occasionally cook) and helped my mom make dinner. And now our dessert is in the crock pot. (which I made by myself). Does that sound weird? Dessert in the crock pot? Apparently you can do all sort of desserts in the crock pot and I am just starting to discover how amazing a crock pot actually is! Even though crock pots are amazing I must say that I was a bit confused at the prospect of dessert in a crock pot. But the title made it irresistible. The title is, wait for it, Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Cake. That got your attention didn't it? This recipe is from my newly purchased Simply Sugar and Gluten Free: 180 Easy and Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 min. or Less by Amy Green. She is the author of her own website that is the host to many many delicious and fairly easy gluten free recipes.

A link to her website is here: http://www.simplysugarandglutenfree.com/
She uses alternative methods of sugar such as stevia that make things a bit healthier for you.
I like her website but I like her book even more. :) She put a lot of things in the crock pot which is why it takes 20 min. or less to throw something together. One of the many nice things about crock pots is that you don't have to babysit them.

Ok so I know you probably won't believe me when I say that I will post pictures and a recipe since I still haven't given you the secret to delicious apple pancakes but I promise I will this time. It just might take a bit....

Oh speaking of not posting. I made the most interesting dessert a couple of weeks ago! It was french apple pie and I have pictures of the deliciousness waiting on my camera for me to download and share with you! I think I will do that once I take pictures of my fudge cake and I will post them all. Including the apple pancake pictures as promised. Although their picture does not do them justice...

I am going to go check on my cake now.

I'll post more later. Or maybe I will be too busy eating the cake. We will see.

Bye for now!

Apple Pancakes

This morning I made apple cinnamon pancakes. Do they sound good? Well I thought so the first time I saw the recipe. Then I made a batch and I fell in love. I have never tasted a better gluten free pancake before and they are fairly easy to make. I got the recipe off of a culinary school's website. I was amazed at how nicely they cooked up. I made them at 8 this morning and my house still smells delicious. This recipe is definitely a keeper. And I didn't even have to adapt it. They just worked! A picture and a recipe will be posted soon.

Calista