Chocolate chip cookies with dried cherries (GF and DF)

Having a few friends whose kids have issues with dairy and heading over to one of their homes to watch curling this evening. I decided to give cooking with coconut oil another try. I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Picky Palate and modified it to be gluten and nut free.


GF DF Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup softened Virgin Coconut Oil
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 3/4 Cup gf flour with xanthan gum
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag (12 oz) chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries, raisins or craisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 375
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, flax seed, baking soda and salt
Using a mixer cream together the oil and sugars
Add the eggs and vanilla one at a time and beat until fluffy
Slowly add the flour mixture to the batter then add the chocolate chips and dried fruit
Using a cookie scoop, or a couple of teaspoons scoop dough onto a parchment lined sheet and back for 9 minutes (or so) until edges are golden and cookies are puffed.

Enjoy! And let me know what you think as I'm continuously modifying and (hopefully) improving my recipes.

Now I'm off to watch some Olympic curling! It is about as close as I can get to being on the ice in GA.

Mr. T says, "Happy Balentine's Day"

Yes, as children of the 80's Mr T. still holds great influence over M and me. So, in our house we celebrate Balentine's Day, and spend a good portion of the day saying "Happy Balentine's Day" in bad imitations of Mr T.

In honor of the holiday, I made M a dinner of amber jack, sweet potatoes, and broccoli with apple pie for dessert. Here is my recipe for dried apple pie. ( I was too lazy to run to the store for apples and had orange juice to use up)

Mmm...Apple Pie
(if you actually let it cool before slicing into it, it cuts quite nicely into pieces, if you can't wait that long, it is a little crumbly)

Dried Apple Pie
a recipe developed from a mishmash of cookbooks (Cookwise, 1001 Best Recipes, and Bette Hagman)

mix together and put on stove over low heat:
1 cup (170g) of dried apples
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 1/2 cups water (next time I think I'll reduce that to 1 cup)
let simmer until apples are puffy and softened and the liquid has reduced and thickened

Puffy apples

take off heat and add:
1/2 cup brown sugar (may increase slightly next time)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs butter
1/2 tsp salt
mix and allow to cool

What, don't you put cheese in your pie?
I'm a 'sconi girl, everything is better with cheese

I added about 1 1/2 tbs of cornstarch mixed with a little water to the filling after it cooled

While the apples are cooking away, make your favorite pie crust. I used Bette Hagman's featherlight vinegar pie crust. It is by far the best GF pie crust that I have made to date.

Sweets for my sweets
It is also the only day of the year I would put hearts into a pie crust

Heat oven to 500F, with a cookie sheet placed on the bottom rack.

roll out pie crust, fill, top with top crust, put in generous vents (more generous than mine)

Place pie on cookie sheet and turn oven down to 425F. Bake for 25 minutes. Rotate half way and reduce temp to 375. bake until bubbling and golden, another 30-40 minutes.

In actuality, after that first 25 minutes, I'm no sure how long I baked the pie. I was skyping with my brother and forgot to hit start on the timer, suddenly my house was smelling pretty darn good and I realized that it was probably time to take out the pie. It was also at that point that I realized I had not vented the pie enough. Luckily, I'm not so into looks!

The pie, didn't like the hearts so it popped its top.

It still tasted great.

SNOW!!!

Hi!
Yup I'm still here.
I'm so far behind in my blog updates that I'm not going to give an excuse. Just know that I am still here.

Anyway it SNOWED!!! today, not the crappy icy kind or just a sprinkle, but those fat fluffy flakes that make you want to bundle up and play outside all day. So Amos and I took advantage of it:

Here he is playing as it is just starting to fall.

After I finished working for the day, we took a walk ran in the play field by the house and took a few pictures of the house. I think the snow sets it off nicely (and obviously some other people do too, as I caught a lady taking a picture from her car)

view from the school yard

view from the street

Well, if the snow sticks around i might just get caught up on my blogging!! Happy Valentines Day and Happy Snowpocalypse 2010!

How to give a cat a shot

So, November has been an interesting month.

After having some "issues" with the litter box. We come to find out that my sweet lovable Rover has diabetes. Yes, for those of you that don't know, cats, and dogs, can get diabetes.

How could I have diabetes?

Now, I know some of you are thinking, duh Zilla, you have a 22lb cat, of course he can get diabetes! While this is true, he is now under 20 lbs (19.8 lbs thank you very much!). We still have to deal with the fact that he has diabetes.

So, how do you deal with a diabetic cat?
1) monitor his food intake. For us this means trying to determine what Rover eats vs what Fido eats. Ummm...that's not going to happen, so we are monitoring what both cats are eating. We split 2/3 of a cup of food between them morning and night.

2) watch his behavior. Watch for more litter "issues"

3) give him shots! Now, if I wanted to pick which of my "kids" I'd want to give a shot to, it would be Rover, he is the easiest going of the bunch. But, it doesn't really mean that I want to have to give him shots.

the necessary equipment

So, for all those who have ever wondered "How do you give a cat a shot?" Here is your tutorial:
(And it is easier then you think)

1) distract the dog, food usually works. you can skip this step if you don't have a dog

and he looks so innocent here

2) get the insulin out of the fridge and roll it gently on the counter to mix.

3) measure out 2 units. This is accomplished by sticking the needle into the top of the vial of insulin. Turning the whole contraption upside down. Pulling the plunger past 2 units and the moving the plunger up to 2 units and forcing out all of the air. uff-da, say that all in one breath

2 units

4) Give the shot to the cat. We do this by putting the cat and his food on the counter, food is a good distraction for cats too. And then while he is distracted, slide the needle under his skin on the outside of his hip. Here is the demo:

Putting the cat on the counter also prevents the dog from nosing you in the eye, because by now he has finished his food and really thinks he want a shot too!

5) reward the cat for behaving well by giving him a pinch of fish flakes. yummy!

And that is all there is to it! Any questions?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
Originally uploaded by frannylue

Happy Halloween all!

I hope you enjoy good times tonight and stuff yourselves sick with candy!

I had to post a pic of the first pumpkin I have carved in years, unfortunately it didn't quite make it to Halloween. The booger on its nose turned out to be mold :( So, the Amos and I went an buried it in the community garden compost pile yesterday.

Next year...carve the pumpkin 1 week before Halloween instead of two!

May there be much merriment tonight and few belly-aches tomorrow!

Gluten-free going mainstream

I saw the Betty Crocker mixes in the store this summer. Tried the brownies and they were pretty awesome.

While searching on line this morning, for a good sugar cookie recipe, I found that Land O' Lakes has a GF website too.

It's nice to see that there is more awareness about gluten issues in the mainstream. Oh, and now everyone can make me brownies...no more excuses!

A weekend to myself

M has been crazy busy at work, and with a deadline approaching has gotten even busier. So, this weekend besides going to a stellar concert with M and friends on Friday, and church followed by Ria's of course, I basically had the house and weekend to myself...

Did I clean? nah.

Did I paint the walls that needed touch ups? no.

How about finish my counter tops? nope.

Did I cook?
Of course.

I started Saturday morning off with a great breakfast of homemade biscuits and eggs. Yum! Kate from Gluten Free Gobsmacked has a great biscuit recipe. I also made a huge batch of chili and some corn muffins, since the weather is starting to get cooler, at least cooler for GA.

After that great breakfast, which occurred at about noon or so, I pulled out my trusty 1960's era Kenmore sewing machine, handed down to me from my Grandma H, and got to work.

My mom had given me this great felted bag for my birthday. I had just one issue with it, stuff. I stuff all my purses full of necessary "stuff", especially when I travel. I had taken that bag with me out west, only to have it hanging around my knees when I finished the trip.

Knowing that it would happen again, I decided to line it. (you can see the lining in the handle)

I then decided what good is a lined bag without pockets. So, I added some of them too.

It now fits all my necessary stuff.

Doesn't hang down to my knees

And has a handy cell phone pocket to boot!

And my sewing escapades didn't end there. Today I attempted my first slip cover. While, I am still deciding if I like the slipcover. It will no longer fall off from various animals taking naps on the couch.

I thought the pillow was a nice little add

Lastly, as soon as I finish hiding the ends, some cold little boy in MN will be getting a blanket.

It took a little while to work out the "knitting on the bias" but I think the end result made it totally worth the effort.

Oh, and for those inquiring minds, the stellar concert was Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers and Abigail Washburn opening. A great banjo playing night was had by all. We followed this up with a trip to the local for chicken and hushpuppies. Unfortunately, I think the hushpuppies may be off my list from now on, as I suspect there was a little wheat mixed in with the cornmeal. Either that or in my old age I have become a supreme lightweight, ugh.