Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Mom's No Bakes...A Christmas Tradition!


Hi all. I know its been awhile but so much has happened over the past few months I don't know where to begin. Loosing several of our loved ones over the past months has seriously taken a toll on our family, myself included. After loosing my mom the stress has just seemed to pile up like a ton of bricks. Not only have I become mentally fatigued but it has wreaked havoc on my body physically as well. I have now had a cold since before Thanksgiving and am trying just about everything I can think of to get rid of it as I am scheduled for surgery on the 11th...You know the old saying, "It never rains but that it pours"...Speaking of rain, I can hear it hitting the roof above as I type.

Christmas is now exactly 25 days away and since I wont be able to do much of anything after my surgery and Christmas will then be only two weeks away at that point, I need to have my house decorated, cookies baked, presents bought and wrapped, fudge made....well you get the picture. The inside is already decorated and the tree is up so I can cross that off my list, although the outside this year is going to look rather dreary. Just too much to do and so little time!

The Buckeyes are made. This is the first time ever that I have made them and if I do say so myself they came out rather good looking, and rather tasty...YUM! Okay, so I have to give some credit to my daughter Jammie as she did help to shape them.

Christmas is not Christmas here without my mom's no bakes, and I am extremely pleased that these will freeze well so I can get them make ahead of time along with my other Christmas cookie assortment. I have my work cut out for me over the next week for my cookie trays to become a reality for the Holiday feast..

Daily chores, baking, shopping, its overwhelming when you are not feeling up to par. These cookies are on every ones favorite list and are definitely a must have. Although they are not fancy, colored, or decorative, they are loved by everyone, and a remembrance of mom.

We hope that you will enjoy them as much as we do and include them in your Christmas family tradition.

Sharon (Lee)

Mom's No Bakes:

2 cups granulated sugar
4 T cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
3 cup Quick Oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teas vanilla

Over LOW heat  (mom said this is the trick) heat the sugar, cocoa, and milk, constantly stirring until sugar is dissolved.. Once you are sure the sugar is dissolved you can turn the heat to medium and bring to a boil, Do not boil for more than 1 minute! It should have reached a soft ball stage when dropped into cold water at this point.

Remove from the heat and add the rest of ingredient at this stage. Mix until thoroughly combined. Drop by tablespoons onto waxed or parchment paper, I use a cookie scoop to make them more uniform, let set until firm and completely cooled. The cookies can be stored in freezer at this time to await the Holiday festivities!!!
                                                                                

 

Monday, October 26, 2015

Pumpkin season....and Pie in the sky!!!




Wow...where did this icky weather come from? It seems like yesterday fall had just begun, and now Halloween is less than a week away. Next thing you know Thanksgiving will be here, and then Christmas. Well I myself am at least going to try and be ready for Thanksgiving this year before it comes, so therefore I am trying out a few new recipes ahead of time. One being Pumpkin pie cupcakes.

Although this recipe turns out to be more pie like in texture than a real cupcake that's fine with me, because then I don't have to roll out pie dough and clean up the mess that comes with it on a already busy holiday. As the saying goes....I can have my cake, and eat it too. Or in this case PIE! Another nice thing is that the servings are smaller so your guests can always go back for seconds, that is after they have sampled all the other goodies we tend to busy ourselves making in the kitchen to celebrate this special holiday.

I use my own flour mixture here which makes a full cup of 140 grams, so for this recipe you will only use 93 grams of the mix or 2/3 cup. I like to weigh my flours for better accuracy.

Flour mix:

45 gr white rice flour
35 gr brown rice flour
18 gr sorghum flour
25 gr tapioca starch
17 gr potato STARCH not flour

*140 grams total = 1 cup

                                                         Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

15 ounces canned pumpkin  (not pie filling)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk ( makes creamier)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teas vanilla
93 grams flour mix from above
1/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
1/4 teas baking powder
1/4 teas baking soda
2 teas pumpkin pie spice ( recipe to follow below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cupcake pan with spray. Using liners will make cakes stick...
Sift together all dry ingredients except the sugar.
Mix together the pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and evaporated milk..
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly combined. A mixer on low speed works well for this.
Using a little over 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup  fill each tin in the pan.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack. Let the cupcake/pies cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely on rack. Store in the refrigerator covered when cool. These are quick, easy and delish. Why not give them a trial run before the Holidays.....they won't last long, I promise!


                                                Homemade Pumpkin pie spice mix:
(makes about  31/4  teas but you only need 2 teas for above recipe)

2 teas ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teas ground ginger
1/4 teas ground cloves

Mix and store in small airtight container.



Friday, October 16, 2015

If at first you don't succeed....fallen leaves, oops.....loaves that is.

                                                                             

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, months, where nothing seemed to go right, or was just a little off ? Well this is one of them for me. I have been faithfully searching the web for a place for my sister to rent to no avail. It seems that even if you are aloud to have pets, they must be small or weigh less than 20 pounds....Since she has a large German Shepard it is virtually impossible to find anything at all for her. She has till the end of this month to be moved and I have no idea how this job fell onto my shoulders to find her a place, but it has.

Since loosing my mom in July I have had this overwhelming pressure of responsibility that sometimes takes my breath away. Since we have no parents, or grandparents left, I now have the role of "Top Dog" as my husband puts it, in the role of this family. Its funny how being only 3 years older than my sister that I feel such pressure to make sure she is safe. She's not a child anymore by any means, she's a grown woman, yet I feel responsible now.

I have an allergy to dogs, and since we live in a restricted pet community, a dog of that stature is not aloud. Also I have a 19 year old cat that would not withstand the pressure of such a massive creature being in the home.

I understand her dilemma, and being a pet owner myself would hate to see her have to give up her two year old pet, but life is sometimes about survival, is it not? Its kind of like baking bread, if at first you don't succeed, then try and try again.

Well thank God I am not under pressure about baking that perfect loaf of bread...Or am I? I set the bar pretty high for myself. Seems the older I get the more I expect from myself. I have a tendency to attempt the best from myself and when I don't reach that goal I can get pretty down on myself. Therefore I am still seeking that perfect loaf of bread that may never happen, but I strive on. I guess anything is better than most of those store bought frozen loaves, right?

I made a loaf yesterday that fit every criteria. Soft and spongy, excellent taste and mouth feel, perfectly browned, flexible.. Wow I thought I was on the right track, that is until the top sank after cooling. So I cut out some water from the recipe for the second loaf I made, and although the top did not rise very high, it at least didn't sink.

I have to say that the recipe is getting pretty darn close to being posted for you also to also enjoy. Be patient and give me just a little bit more time, and I promise to post the recipe soon!

Until then, enjoy your gluten free week.
Sharon

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