Cize Challenge Week 5

I have had a rough couple of weeks. I don't share publicly often, but I suffer from severe PMS fatigue for about a week every month. Takes every ounce of energy I have to just make it through a normal day. Working out helps, but sometimes there just isn't that energy there. Add to that some sort of creeping crud/cold/allergy thing going around our house, and somehow I have been very out of it.

That said, week 5 went pretty well. I got in three work outs with Go for it, and two with Livin' in the 8's. That latter is dang hard. Gah!!

Go for it

 

Livin' in the 8's

Cize Challenge Week 4

Week 4 was hard for me. I had just injured myself, and the first time through it got worse. I ended up taking off four days to recover, and by Saturday I was able to make this video. I felt better.

I had another issue though. Getting enough calories became an issue, and I had slightly less than 1000 most days. It is feeing like high school all over again. I am not hungry, and feel guilty for not eating. Week five in this area wasn't much better. This journey is frustrating.

 

Week 2 ad 3 Cize Challenge

So week 2 was an interesting one. I ended up doing four You Got This routines. Then I added in the Jericho McMatthews work out in Beachody on Demand, and some country line dancing with my Wii to round out my workouts. Can I tell you that I loved the Jericho workout? Made me love yoga again. It was a good week. I didn't have any sweets so that is a win!

Week 3 didn't go as well unless you count the fact that I started actually hopping during trips, and then jumping on the other moves. It was exciting! Then I hurt my knee. Again, I got in four of the Full Out workouts. I added in an ab rouitne from Hip Hop Abs and a 20 minute TurboFire workout to round out my week. I ended up doing over 23, 000 steps on Saturday, which is just over 9 miles. Didn't help my knee much. Rest day on Sunday ended up with meeting my step goal, and I thought m kee was better. Wrong. I am now sporting a fantastic knee brace. Go me!

Day 13 Cize Challenge

 

 

Day 13 here, and I am feeling pretty good. By the end of today, I will be 11/12 in workouts, and doing better than I thought I would be in food. I say this as I sit here with a bag of chips to accompany my turkey, spinach, pepper and Havarti sandwich. It is all about the 80/20 rule, and I have been all over that.

 

That said, I am struggling with getting enough calories some days, and not feeling like I am going to fall apart on others. When I would normally turn to sweets, I am standing strong on my Lenten challenge to forgo sweets until Easter. It is super hard. Guess that is why the call it a fast, right?

 

 

February Cize Challenge

Today marks day seven of the Cize challenge group I am in with Shaun T. I have worked out five times, and am so far doing alright with my food intake. This video explains my why for this challenge, which was one of our first assignments.

 

 

Ratio Rally Bundt Cake

Have you noticed that I have been gone for awhile? I have become a crazy person in the last month or so by deciding to take on a third part-time job in addition to helping my mom with home-schooling and running my home business. Yes, I am insane. What precious little time I have had has been spent with the Monkey or sleeping. However, this past Sunday I got off at noon and was actually able to bake! I nearly swooned I was so excited!

Then disaster struck. Okay, not disaster. Just normal life stuff, and really the Monkey and Boo were pretty well behaved. The prep of the sweet potato and the apple-cranberry sauce took more time than I would have liked, and then....it came out half raw. Sigh. I took pretty pictures of the cake though. It looked fabulous!

Decided I should try again, still using the ratio for a cake using puree from one of the other ralliers, and just cook it longer. More like my granny's carrot cake. The ratio incidentally is 1:2:2:2:3 (fat:sugar:puree:egg:flour). So here I sit waiting for the second cake to come out of the oven while I type and prep to send the Monkey off to Sturbridge Village tomorrow for home school day. The way it smells I am betting it turns out fine. If you are interested in how others cakes turned out, head on over to our host's,  Adina of Gluten Free Travelette, post for her take on bundt cakes and the full list of participants.

Spiced Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Apple-Cranberry Sauce

100 grams sorghum
60 grams teff
20 grams potato starch
110 grams brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons all-spice
110 grams brown sugar
2 ounces melted coconut oil
4 ounces mashed sweet potato
2 flax eggs
6 ounces apple cider

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine sorghum, teff, potato starch, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and all-spice. Add melted coconut oil, mashed sweet potato, and flax eggs. Mix until combined. Add apple cider and ounce or two at a time mixing as you go. The batter will be fairly thick. Scoop out a 1/3 of the batter into your pan and spread evenly along the bottom. Spoon apple-cranberry sauce into the center of the batter all the way around. Reserve a little of the sauce for plate decoration. Scoop small amounts of the remaining batter on top and spread carefully. Don't want any sauce poking out. :) Smooth and pop into the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes. Let cool completely in pan before turning out onto plate. Drizzle glaze over the top and fill center with remaining sauce.

Apple-Cranberry Sauce

1 Cup fresh cranberries
1 small apple, cored, peeled & diced
1/4 Cup apple cider
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 cinnamon stick

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until a thick pie-filling like consistency is reached. Set aside.

Glaze

1/2 Cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons apple cider

Mix together. Spoon or brush over the top of the cake.

Ratio Rally: Bread

It is time again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally hosted by Karen of Cooking Gluten Free. This month was bread, my arch-nemesis. Those of you who have been around awhile will recall that I had horrible results when we first went gluten free trying to make bread and/or find a store bought that the Monkey would eat. When we finally found a frozen bread he would eat, I stopped trying to make a sandwich bread, and concentrated my efforts on less frustrating endeavors.

In walks this months challenge with a big grin on its face. I was so not taking that, and dove right in after contemplating what I was going to do. It was obvious after I remembered the big, ol' bag of buckwheat flour I had bought for another project. Everything seemed to be going well until I went to cut into it. My ratio was pretty near the 5:1 (flour:liquid) that is recommended. It came out a bit dry and a little crumbly. Stood up okay to the sandwich test. I think it needs a bit more liquid even though it looked alright. Sadly, the Monkey thought it tasted yucky. Brat! I think I will be trying a potato bread variation next.

200 grams oat flour

200 grams buckwheat flour

80 grams tapioca starch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 Cup honey or agave

1 egg

1 Cup vanilla non-dairy milk

1 1/2 teaspoon yeast

This is what it looked like before raising.

After raising

Out of the oven

End result: It looked good, tasted good, and made a good sandwich. It just isn't quite right so you aren't getting a "real" recipe. Sorry!

Ratio Rally Bagels

This post nearly didn't happen, and I am not sure that it really is happening. My idea was a long time in coming, and motivation was waylaid by the allergy monster. Incidentally, the allergy monster did a number on my workouts as well. It's been a rough month.

So why did it almost not happen? Ummm, the first batch came out like hockey pucks. Seriously. The batter was gorgeous, and tasted good. Then we got to the rising (not really), shaping (ha!), boiling (they were boiled), and then baking. It just wasn't pretty. Given the way the second batch has turned out my money is on the yeast being out of date. Even though I kept it in the fridge I just think it wasn't meant to be. So new yeast yields a new result. Crossing my fingers. Did you cross yours?

....and they aren't what I wanted. Sigh. Now I think I don't have enough flour. The idea behind these came from my sister who remembers having peanut butter bagels when we were younger. I did a little searching, and found this recipe at Have Cake, Will Travel that I based mine off of. I played with the ratio, and think I came close to the 1.9 flour:1 liquid. However, I can't honestly say what's a liquid or a flour or a bagel at this point. For a more coherent explanation of this month's rally, you should check out our host Morri at Meals with Morri where the complete list of yummy, gluten free bagels is ready for you to enjoy.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bagels

150 grams oat flour
100 grams brown rice flour
50 grams arrowroot starch
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 Cup water (heated to 100 degrees F)
1 package active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons agave nectar
4 ounces peanut butter (or whatever you can use)
2-4 heaping Tablespoons jam (in this case Blueberry Butter made by Hundred Acre Farm)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a large cookie sheet and set aside. In large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt. Set aside. (I like that phrase!) In a 2 cup glass measuring cup, warm your water. I microwaved for about 2 minutes, and then had to let it cool back down to 100-ish degrees.  Pour in agave and yeast. Stir to combine, and....set aside to do its frothy thing. Add peanut butter to flour, and mix well. Once the yeast mixture is ready pour into mixer, and beat well.

The next instructions were for kneading, and maybe I should have done it. I prefer to let the mixer do it for me. Either way the dough should be worked in some way for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl coated with oil/spray that will allow the dough to double in size. Cover with plastic wrap, and set your timer for about an hour. Go do the dishes or exercise while waiting. Punch down the dough, divide into 4 pieces, and shape into balls. Let rest for about 10 minutes. While you are waiting this time you will want to bring your sauce pot of water to a boil. Divide the dough again and roll into balls that are fairly smooth in texture. Flatten and then make a hole in the middle. These babies should rest again. It is really tiring being a bagel.

Put each bagel in gently for 30 seconds before turning for another 30 seconds. Remove from boiling water to the prepared pan with a slotted spoon. When all have been boiled, place the baking sheet(s) in the oven for 30 minute or until golden brown and they sound hollow on the bottom when tapped.

Maybe they need to rise a second time?

Blonde Bean Bunny Brownies

So, the idea popped into my head to do a more grown up non-chocolatey brownie, because I am not overly fond of the brownie. Sue me! I do the chocolate for my boy. With some research on black bean brownies, I decided to do a pseudo-blondie. They were kind of thrown together last minute as my plans for baking last week kept getting thwarted by work. I will say that I am pleased with them, and would only add some white chips and/or dried cranberries to them. Hmmm. I still have a can of beans in the pantry........

Blonde Bean Brownies

70 grams coconut flour

4 ounces melted coconut oil

4 ounces agave nectar

4 ounces white chocolate

2 flax "eggs"

1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed

splash of vanilla

1/8 chopped pistachios

Melt coconut oil in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Add white chocolate and microwave for an additional 90 seconds. Remove and stir until chocolate and oil are mostly combined. Add agave to this mix and then pour into the bowl with the beans. Using a hand held blender, puree the beans and liquid until smooth. Add flax eggs and vanilla, and blend some more. Stir in by hand the flour (my alternate to cocoa) and chopped pistachios. Bake in a greased whoopie pie pan at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or in a 9 x 11 greased pan for about 35 minutes. Cool completely.

Ratio Rally Brownies

This is the first of two posts. Yes, two! I had three great ideas, but only two fully worked out. :) This is the first as it established my ratio, and it was kid tested and approved. Not just by my Monkey, but by several kids at Awanas as we were in charge of snack that week.

So my ratio turned out pretty simple, which is something I like. 1 flour:2 fat:2 eggs (2 oz:4 oz:4 oz). For more fabulous recipes go and check out our host for this month, Mary Fran from FrannyCakes!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

4 ounces butter

4 ounces chocolate (chips, baking chocolate)

140 grams granulated sugar

70 grams teff

30 grams cocoa powder

2 eggs

50 grams chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate, butter and sugar together in a microwave safe bowl for about 90 seconds. Stir to determine meltiness. Return to microwave for another 30-60 seconds as necessary. Add whisked eggs, and stir. Add teff and cocoa until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips, and pour into a greased 9 x 11 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Cool before cutting.

Ratio Rally Popovers

So, I had a brilliant idea for something I had never made before let alone eaten. Never had popovers you say? Don't really know what they are?!

Yeah, I was clueless. Does this make me a bad, Anglophile? I don't know. I know that waiting until the weekend before the rally was probably not the wisest move on my part. In my defense the first two weeks were spent in Florida with the family, and I have been working like a fiend or having migraines/vertigo since getting back. I don't think my motivation was helped by the reported results of other ralliers who were having issues with this month's ratio.

So despite my best plans. I didn't start until Saturday. And no I didn't start with plain ones. I went all out with my wild idea, which didn't really work out flavor wise. I did find a great starting place for my recipe though at Spectacularly Delicious. It wasn't to far off Rhulman's ratio either of 1:1:2 (egg:flour:liquid). With my puree, the ratio came out to 1:1:1.5 with a smidge of fat.

I don't know if these are "proper" popovers, but I know one little Monkey who will love them as much as I do. So without further ado, I give you the Ratio Rally's take on Popover's.

Chocolate-Sweet Potato Popovers

4 eggs

8 ounces chocolate almond milk

4 ounces sweet potato puree*

130 grams teff flour

80 grams brown rice flour

50 grams arrowroot starch

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

*Sweet potato puree:
1/2 boiled, peeled sweet potato

1/4 Cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon brown sugar

8 drops vanilla stevia

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place eggs, milk and butter into the blender. Blend. :) In your now empty glass measuring cup, place the ingredients for the puree. Microwave on high for one minute. Remove and mash with a fork until well combined. Add to blender. Mix. Add the flours, and blend until smooth. Place your muffin tin/popover pan/whatever you are using in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Remove and liberally coat with cooking spray. Fill cups about 2/3 full and bake for 40 minutes. Poke small holes in the tops, and bake another five minutes. Remove to a plate and consume immediately. I mean it! Do it before anybody notices there are chocolatey goodies in the house!

P.S. There is enough batter left over that you could might make 4 more popovers to share bringing the total to 16 servings.

from the original batch. just love this photo.

Ratio Rally Cookies

A few weeks ago, my mother and I were discussing what cookies I could make for the cookie walk at our church's Snowflake Jubilee. I have made cookies for this event every year (this is the fourth year), and they rarely sell. Mom suggested a festive shortbread of some sort as she didn't have any shortbread yet. I do love shortbread, and needed something to play with for the ratio rally so I dove in.

The first batch was a by the book (Ratios) ratio of 3:2:1 (flour:fat:sugar) for a chocolate shortbread that was good, but not quite the flakiness that I look for in a shortbread cookie. Mom suggested increasing the butter/fat, and she was right. The new ratio was 3:3:1, and it makes the most heavenly cookie. So heavenly it shouldn't be in my house as I can't resist.

For more recipes from this month's Gluten Free Ratio Rally please go check out Caroline of The G-Spot.

Candy Cane Shortbread

60 grams coconut flour

60 grams white rice flour

30 grams arrowroot starch

60 grams powdered sugar

6 ounces butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a 8x8 or 9x9 with cooking spray. Set aside. In your large mixing bowl (I used a stand mixer), combine flours and sugar. Keep the beater running on low while adding the butter a bit at a time. This is similar to how I make scones. Your batter should look like this....

Pat the batter down in the pan with your hands. It should be as even a thickness as you can manage. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The edges should be starting to turn brown. Don't worry that the dough feels a bit soft to the touch. It will be okay.

Candy Cane "Frosting"

3/4 Cup Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips

Dump on top of the warm shortbread, and let sit for about 5 minutes. Taking a knife or spatula spread the chips out until they make a lovely variegated frosting.

Let cool for another 15 minutes. Cut into 16 pieces of roughly the same size. Don't eat them all at once!

Parsnip Applesauce Muffins

I was very excited about this month's SOS Kitchen Challenge ingredient of parsnips as I have never worked with them. I had ideas swirling in my head, and couldn't wait to get started. Plans went awry on November 10th when I was in a car accident. I am alright (my car is not), but I haven't really been up to a lot of baking.

I finally got to the first item this past holiday weekend, and have to say that I was very pleased with the results. These muffins are moist, and just exactly right for tossing in your lunch as a snack. The Monkey gave them a 10, and even my mother agreed that they were good (high praise). So without further ado, mostly as I am running out of time, here are these wonderful muffins.

Parsnip Applesauce Muffins

60 grams sorghum flour

30 grams brown rice flour

30 grams arrowroot starch

60 grams coconut palm sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

4 ounces applesauce

4 ounces non-dairy milk

2 ounces melted coconut oil

1 egg (or equivalent)

6 ounces grated parsnips

2 ounces raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger. Combine milk and egg (substitute) together in a glass measuring cup. Add applesauce and coconut oil, and mix well. Stir in parsnips and raisins until combined. Pour into a greased 12 muffin pan, and bake for 30-40 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! Makes one dozen.

Spicy Pumpkin Pasta

So I didn't quite make it into October with the last of the challenge ingredients. Nor did we do November. However, that is all changing now.The last of the ingredients for the October challenge were very challenging. What does one do with oatmeal, jalapeno, and curry powder? You make pasta of course!

So maybe there is no of course about it, but it is what I came up with. I have to say that noses were wrinkled at me, but in the end this was fabulous. Really found myself wishing that there was more.

Spicy Pumpkin Pasta with Parmesan Butter Sauce

100 grams oat flour

40 grams potato starch

60 grams brown rice flour

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1 jalapeno, seeded & diced

4 ounces of pumpkin puree

2 eggs

Note: I grind my own oat flour using old-fashioned rolled oats (use gluten free if you need to) and my cheap-o mini food processor.

First, steam the jalapeno until it is very tender. I did this in a small bowl with a bit of water in the microwave. Let cool while mixing the flours, starch and curry powder in a medium bowl. Set aside. Make your pumpkin/jalapeno puree in the food processor. Blend well. Add eggs one at a time to the puree, and then stir into the flour mixture until combined. Place dough on a piece of parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray. Wrap and place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. When ready, divide dough in half and roll out between two pieces of parchment paper coated with a bit of flour (your choice). Cut into fairly wide strips. Cook in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and serve with sauce. Makes 2 servings.

Parmesan Butter Sauce

4 Tablespoons butter

1/2 Cup grated Parmesan

splash of non-dairy milk

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add Parmesan while continuously stirring. Add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring to a creamy finish. Pour over one serving of pasta.

Ratio Rally Pot Pie

It is time again for the gluten free ratio rally. This month's theme was pie, and I can tell you that I was not overly excited about it. Mostly due to the fact that I have never made a successful pie that didn't include a pre-made graham cracker crust or was simply a dump cake sort of thing. I dithered. I will admit it. I wasn't sure what to do until just a week or so ago when the Monkey asked if we could have pot pie (his very favorite food in the whole world) for his birthday dinner. My ah-ha moment hit about 10 minutes later. I had been trying to come up with something sweet when I should have focused on the savory.

It was a good thing the idea hit me or I wouldn't have been able to participate in the rally this month. What is the rally? A group of gluten free bloggers who are baking/cooking by ratio's around a central theme each month with a new host. This month our host is Lisa of the Gluten Free Canteen. Head on over and check out her post and the links to all the other luscious pies!

Chicken Pot Pie

Note: The ratio is 3:2:1 (flour:fat:water)

Crust:

240 grams potato flour

90 grams potato starch

120 grams brown rice flour

1 Cup salted butter, softened

4 ounces ice water (or so)

Preface: I was a doofus and only did a 1/2 Cup of butter to start with as my math brain wasn't working properly. When I realized my mistake, I softened another cube of butter and retrieved my rounds from the fridge. I did have to add a bit more water. You shouldn't have to. :)

Stir together all the flours in a mixer. Add butter and continue mixing on low speed. Add ice water an ounce at a time until a nice ball forms. Divide into four (yes four) equal parts, wrap in plastic wrap, and store in the fridge for a minimum of one hour. Preferably longer.

Filling:

4 Cups water

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

1/4 Cup potato starch

6 ounces non-dairy milk

1 1/2 Cups sweet potato, peeled & diced

2 Cups potato, peeled & diced

1 1/2 Cups frozen peas & carrots

4 chicken tenders, boiled & shredded

season to taste

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add bouillon cubes and boil until dissolved. Set aside. Might as well put your potatoes on to boil at the same time as the water. Probably boil them for 10 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Drain and set aside. This is when I did the chicken, as well. :)

Remove a 1/2 Cup of broth to a small bowl. Add potato starch and stir until dissolved. This will be added back in a little bit. You will want to spray a 9 inch pie plate, and either pat in one crust or roll it out and flip it in. I opted for patting. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

While it is baking bring your broth back to a boil, and slowly add in the broth/starch mixture stirring constantly. Add in the milk continuing to stir. Retrieve the potatoes, chicken, and frozen vegetables to add to the pan. Add any spices you might like. We kept it simple with a bit of basil, a good deal of black pepper and some sea salt. Reduce heat to medium stirring occasionally.

Your bottom crust should be done. Remove it from the oven and set it to the side. Time to roll out the top crust. I actually managed this using wax paper and potato flour. Just place it in between the wax paper and roll carefully. Don't want paper sticking to your dough. Measure out two cups of filling into your pie plate. Carefully flip your top crust onto the top and seal as best you can. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes. The top should be a darker brown than it went in as. Serves 4.

Note: Did you notice that there were four crusts and extra filling? Make yourself another pie why don't you!!