New Years Eve!

So, I have two recipes in the works for first recipe posts, but thought I would share our new years eve with you. Traditionally we have a two course meal of cheese fondue and empanadas followed by chocolate fondue. The cheese for the monkey this year was made with Daiya shreds, Mimic Creme and almond milk. He quite enjoyed it with his turkey sausages! I did not get photos unfortunately. I did get them of the dessert course! We ended our evening playing a round of Scooby Doo Monopoly. I love this night for its food and family traditions.

The monkey's plate included Coconut Apple Cake and GF Peanut Butter Cookies made by Auma

Yeah, he loved it! :)

What is your family tradition for New Year's Eve?

Family Birthday Dinner and a Cake recipe

Yesterday was the final celebration of the monkey's sixth birthday. Our family gathers to celebrate birthday's with a meal chosen by the birthday person. I would say that is generally the only time during the year that we have that meal. I tend to choose meatloaf and mashed while my youngest sister chooses Hungarian chicken and mashed. Last year the monkey wanted chocolate chip pancakes. This year he talked about pot pie right up until Friday night when he decided that he wanted chicken and fries. Not a problem! Final menu: Home made chicken (made by his Mimi), crinkle fries and sweet potato fries (recipe tomorrow), ants on a log and fresh fruit.


This was followed of course by presents and cake! He got a lot of great stuff, including an Easy Bake Oven and special mixes from Gluten Free Essentials from his momma (he's going to carry on the family baking tradition :)). The cake was peanut butter chocolate chip with butter cream icing. The conversion this time was a bit dry, and I don't know if it was because I did a full batch rather than half or if it is because it sat around in the fridge or maybe I overcooked it by 5 minutes. A bit more liquid may be necessary, and definitely keep an eye on it.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake (Origins unknown)

1/2 Cup peanut butter
1/3 Cup butter or shortening
1 1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 Cups King Arthur Gluten Free Multipurpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon xanthan gum
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Cup dairy free milk
1 Cup chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream together butter, and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time mixing until fully incorporated. Add vanilla and peanut butter. Add flour, baking powder and xanthan gum a bit at a time (specific, yes? I tend to add the baking powder & xanthan gum all at once, and then the flour a 1/2 Cup at a time). Add milk; mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Place in greased 9 x 13 inch pan or in cupcake pan (makes approx. 24). Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Best plain or with a coating of powdered sugar.What is your favorite meal? Or cake for that matter? Do you get it more than once a year or is it super special and only happens once?

Holiday Gift Giving

Every year as I was growing up my mom would whip out her angel food cake pan and her mini loaf pans to make carrot cakes. We took them to parties, we gave them away as gifts, and if we were lucky there might be some for us on Christmas morning. The recipe was my granny's, and if I remember correctly after she passed mom found the recipe written into the back of almost every single one of granny's cookbooks. This tradition was the first one I thought of when I read of the theme for the third week of A Gluten Free Holiday. The theme is Gifts of Good Taste, and is being hosted over at Tasty Eats at Home. I knew just how to dress it up, too. Mom always did red and green curling ribbon wrapped around the saran wrapped loaves, and I didn't stray to far from that tradition.


I even did a modification to the recipe so that my monkey could have it. Why make something he can't have, right? The modifications went swimmingly and it popped out of the oven tasting exactly right. The consistency is a bit different, but we have been finding that to be true of most things that are gluten free. Unfortunately, I can't share the recipe with you. We, my mom and I, decided awhile ago that we would keep granny's recipe in the family.

Carrot cake gift to give after a cuppa and a small snack of cake & pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Since I couldn't share those I decided to share a couple of other recipes/gift ideas that I have done through the years. The first is the hot chocolate recipe my family has made for eons. So long that I don't remember every seeing those little packet things in my mother's home. I haven't been able to find rice milk powder, which is the first of the ingredients (maybe the only?) that I would need to substitute for the monkey. If you use it and decide to modify to dairy free let me know. I would love to hear if it is just as creamy and yummy as the original. I will note now that you will need a pretty large bowl to whip this up.

Instant Hot Chocolate Mix (origins unknown)

12 quart Carnation Instant Milk
1 pound jar Cremora
2 pounds Nestle Quick
1 1/2 Cups sugar
7 Teaspoons cocoa powder (heaping-don't level these off)

Dump all ingredients into a large bowl or the lid for your electric skillet, and mix thoroughly. Store in airtight containers for several months.

To make a cup of cocoa: Fill your mug just under 1/2 full of cocoa mix. Fill with boiling water, stirring constantly. Add more cocoa to taste. Serve with marshmallows or just drink plain.

Note: For gift giving I would tuck it into the stocking with a copy of the recipe or pretty it up in a holiday cello bag then tuck it into a mug again with the recipe.


My mom came to be with me six years ago when I had the monkey. One of the things we did while she was there was go antiquing, and general sight seeing that you can do with a new born in Central Arkansas. We found a little shop selling pretty bags of snack mix they called "White Trash." We bought it simply for the name. I ate the whole bag with barely a pause, and decided to try and figure out what exactly they had done. I found this recipe for White Chocolate Snack Mix that nearly mimicked it. This current version used crisp rice squares, apple-cinnamon o's (365 brand from Whole Foods), dried cranberries and cashews. Oh, and a bit of dark chocolate as I didn't quite have enough white chocolate. I wonder if it ought not to be called "Dirty Blonde."



Note: I would tuck the cocoa (or my own cocoa) into the little gift bag with the mix and recipe. I really enjoy receiving recipes, and think that makes things just a bit sweeter for the gift recipient.

Pizza night

We try to have pizza night once a week in our house. Generally a Friday night treat. I have been cheating on this since the monkey was diagnosed. I have been letting him have the regular English muffin for his pizza. Yes, for the most part he gets allergen free sauce and vegan rice cheese, but he was still getting the wheat. I was just tired of trying to find something he liked and bombing. So, I just dealt with it by caving. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at a gluten free pizza crust. I followed the recipe to the letter (to much for our pan), added the special sauce (not enough for the crust), then added a layer of crushed pineapple and a new cheese (not enough for the size of the pizza). It went over like a lead balloon. Sigh. I had once again failed him. He didn't like the sauce, the cheese or the bread. He did like the canned pineapple. Then I had a piece. Yes, it needed more sauce and cheese, but overall it was extremely tasty. I added some extra sauce and cheese before microwaving, and it was exquisite. The monkey has just decided to be stubborn about everything, and has decided to not like anything that doesn't taste like it did before. So, take my word for it. This was a great crust!

Pizza Crust Recipe

I will say that I didn't use corn meal and we subbed coconut milk. Oh, and the cheese we used was by Daiya. It says it melts well, but as with the cheeses we have tried so far I don't really find that to be true. However, it has a great flavor to it, and that is really what is important.