I'll Be Back Soon

     I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post!  Although, in a way, I can.  I have been so extremely busy with my children's schedules, as well as my husband's and my own.  I am rarely home long enough to cook, so I haven't been coming up with any new recipes.  "What have you been eating?" you may ask!  Well, we haven't been eating very healthy, that's for sure!
     Our staple stand by foods over the past few months have largely been rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas, Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas with various fillings, fresh fruit, baby carrots, rice with veggies, beans, and meats.  We have also been eating a lot of Bob's Red Mill's new GF Quick Oats with brown sugar and cinnamon, as well as GF Chex cereals with Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.  I have also been making my own trail mix with varieties of raw nuts, dried fruits, and GF/DF chocolate chips.  On the down side, we have been eating a lot of tortilla chips with salsa, potato chips, GF packaged cookies, GF packaged doughnuts, GF packaged rice bars, etc.--in other words, lots of processed, packaged junk foods that have little nutritional value!  That just goes to show you that we are human and revert back to what is easiest in times of great busy-ness.
     During this time, my husband and I have been trying to carve out special "together moments."  It is so important to make time for your spouse, even if it's just an hour or two per week during the busiest months.  Since he has many physical limitations, we have a harder time figuring out what to do together and usually end up going to a local restaurant for lunch (it's so much cheaper going then).  Because of my dietary restrictions, restaurants are difficult for me, even those that try to offer gluten free meals.  I have found that over the last four months, my health has suffered.  I have had a return of symptoms that had completely gone, leaving me feeling "down in the dumps."  Since we are eating completely gluten free at home, the only explanation I have for the return of symptoms is that there is cross contamination at the restaurants I am eating at, which makes me frustrated because it is about the only thing hubby and I can think of to do together that gives us an opportunity to talk about the things that are important for us to talk about and give each other our undivided attention.  What to do in this situation?  I honestly don't have a solution, yet, but I'm trying.  So far, I am continuing to go out with my husband because that is so important to our relationship right now.  I have purchased some digestive enzymes specifically geared to digesting gluten, so I am just starting to try those out, not for the purpose of eating gluten, but to try to avoid symptoms in situations of cross-contamination.  I'll let you know if they help.
     On top of everything else, I am starting an entertainment business.  Cassie and I paint faces, Chuck makes balloon animals and sculptures and is teaching our kids to do the same, and Elijah is learning to juggle and do magic tricks.  I have been very busy with all of that, but I am starting to have a little more time to think about cooking again, now that the slower months are upon us.
     So, I should be back very soon.  Be watching for new recipes that I will be sharing in the next month.  I will also start doing book, food, restaurant, and equipment reviews as I have been trying new things.  I will try to post something more by next week.  We have a big party to do tonight, and Elijah's birthday tomorrow, which will keep us busy all weekend since we usually have more than one celebration with various grandparents when it is someone's birthday.
     I hope you all have a great weekend, and God bless you!
 

Cashew Coconut Fruit Dip

In the last couple of weeks I have had several parties--a Pampered Chef party, a graduation party for my dear husband, and a Memorial Day picnic.  I have been trying a ton of new recipes, including this one of a Raw Vegan Ranch Dressing Dip that my friends have all loved.  I tweaked it, of course, and am not completely ready to share it, yet, but the recipe is very good just as it is from Sunny Raw Kitchen.  If any of you would like to try it before I blog my own version, please click on the link and give it a try.

Between testing new recipes, cooking for parties, and getting my garden ready to plant, I haven't had any time for blogging.  My garden is still not done (Is it ever?!?), but I figured I would take a little break to blog about a new recipe I have developed.  I made this dip for all of the recent parties I have been at, and it has been a consistent favorite, with many asking for my recipe.  With all of the busyness, I haven't gotten a picture taken, yet, however I will try to get one soon and will post it when I do.

Cashew Coconut Fruit Dip
1/2 c. cashews, soaked and rinsed
1 can Thai Kitchens coconut milk (regular, not light)
2 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. lemon juice
20 drops NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Vanilla Stevia
1 1/2 Tbs. chia seeds*

Blend the cashews, coconut milk, honey, lemon juice, and stevia until smooth.  Keep the blender running, and add the chia seeds.  Continue to blend until the chia seeds are blended up and the mixture is thickened.  If you don't have vanilla stevia, you could add some vanilla extract and may want to add an extra tablespoon or so of honey.  If you add vanilla and more honey, you may decide that you need to add a touch more chia seeds if your mixture doesn't thicken as much as desired.  I try to keep this dip as thick as I possibly can and still be able to blend up the chia seeds.  If it's too thick to blend up the chia seeds, you can add just a little touch of water, just enough to blend the chia seeds.  I'm sure that a VitaMix blender would be able to make it a little thicker, but my blender is not quite as powerful as that.

This dip will thicken more in the fridge as it chills.  It's a good idea to make it the day before your party, or at least several hours before.  After taking it out of the fridge, it will thin out a little as it gets to room temperature, so if it seems too thick to you (I like it really thick), let it sit out for a little while before serving.  I like to eat this with fruit for breakfast sometimes since I can't have yogurt.  It's healthy and delicious.

*You can also grind your chia seeds in a coffee grinder and then add the chia flour instead of the whole seeds.

Beautiful Luncheon Today

Some lovely friends of mine put on a beautiful ladies' luncheon at the house for all the ladies in our church, today.  It was so wonderful.  They did so much work, and everyone had a great time.  What really impressed me, though, was that these two ladies made all the food themselves.  Not only that, but they made some gluten-free foods with me in mind!  They had never made anything gluten-free before, but they ventured out of their comfort zone just to make me feel comfortable.  I offered to bring something, but they insisted on doing it all themselves.  I so appreciate that!  It was such a lovely day! 

I should have taken pictures, but I forgot to take my camera.  Otherwise, I could show you the gluten-free pasta salad made with Tinkyada pasta, the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Brownies, a lovely chicken salad, gluten-free crackers, and a delicious salad made with broccoli, onions, bacon, raisins, and vinegar.  Everything was so delicious.  Not only was all of this gluten-free, but they took care to keep it dairy-free as well, knowing that I have trouble with both dairy and gluten.  Thank you so much! :-)

Chocolate Coconut Freezer Bites

I have been so busy this week trying to get all my housework caught up from the last several weeks of history play chaos!  I haven't had much time to be creative in the kitchen, though I have had a lot of ideas playing around in my head.  Also, my sister, Sarah, and her children came up to visit from New Jersey this week, so that has been another draw on my time.  We have actually had a lot of fun this week.  We had a birthday dinner at my mom's house to celebrate my birthday which was last weekend on the same day as the history play.

Going to my mom's or my sister's is so much easier for us than for many with dietary restrictions because my mom and sister have similar restrictions, with various other differences.  I don't have to worry about whether or not we can eat the food or whether we are going to have to deal with strange looks or frustrating conversations regarding our diet.  My mom and stepdad made a delicious lentil stew while my sister baked a wonderful birthday cake for me.  It was all very nice.  The cake was an orange creme cake based on this recipe by Gluten-Free Goddess.  I think she may have doubled it in order to make it into a 9x13 cake.  It was delicious.  Since Nathan can't have oranges, and I have been really in the mood for cheesecake which I can no longer have being dairy free, I decided to try a recipe for a dairy-free cheezecake that I found in an awesome book called Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.  It was soooo good.  Everyone loved it, and my nephew who has recently had to go dairy-free as well as gluten-free asked for seconds!  I did modify Ani's recipe a little and have a couple more changes I want to make for the future, so I am not quite ready to share it yet.  I will post it soon.

Elijah had his first baseball game yesterday.  My sister and her kids decided to meet us at the game.  Having everyone around us eating all the food from the snack shop is like torture when you can't eat or drink anything they have to offer.  I decided to bring our own snacks and drinks.  I made my own version of sports drink (It was very hot outside.) and my Dairy Free Cheeze Dip to go with organic corn tortilla chips.  My sister and her family had not had a chance to try my cheeze dip recipe yet, so I took extra for them.  They absolutely loved it and can't wait to make some once they get home from their visit up here.

For dinner last night, Chuck wanted MEAT!  The rest of us just felt like it was too hot to eat anything cooked, but he really felt like he wanted burgers or something.  I threw on a couple of burgers for him.  When they were done, I used my Cheeze Dip as a condiment in place of a slice of cheese.  I heated up a couple of Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas, put some lettuce on them, added the burger with Cheeze Dip, ketchup, and mustard.  Voila!  Dinner was served!  He absolutely raved about the Cheeze Dip.  I think it's not going to be so hard to transition the family to dairy-free.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of any of these great things, but I will try to make some of this stuff again some time and add pictures.  I just really wanted to get an update on my blog since some of you might be wondering what's been up with us.

One thing I do want to add, though, is a great recipe that was inspired by Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga.  She makes these lovely Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs.  I have really been so impressed by her raw vegan recipes.  She makes such lovely, simple desserts that require no baking and minimal dishes and appliances, and with a heat wave upon us I was looking for something that would fit that description.  I decided to try her snowball recipe tonight but with a few small changes.  This is what I came up with.  They are delicious, and they sort of remind me of the Girl Scout Samoas minus the caramel (I'll be working on that).  Chuck absolutely loved them.  He said they remind him of the German Chocolates he used to get.  This was his "the kids are in bed, now, treat!"  Of course, I saved plenty for the kids to try tomorrow.  I'm sure there will be no complaints.

Chocolate Coconut Freezer Bites

3/4 c. agave (I was out of maple syrup and honey, but you could certainly use them instead)
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
15 drops NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Vanilla Stevia
a dash of pure GF vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1/2 c. blanched almond flour
1/4 c. + 2 Tbs. cocoa powder
2 t. chia seeds

Mix the liquid ingredients together.  Stir in the dry ingredients.  Spread in a freezer-safe container to cut into "bites" or shape into balls.  Freeze.  If you froze it in a container, you may have to allow it to thaw a couple of minutes before cutting into bars, or take it out of the freezer after 15-20 minutes to cut into pieces before it completely freezes. Enjoy!

Store these in the freezer.