What She Ate: By The Campfire

 

I am going to let you in on a little secret here, okay well maybe even a couple of secrets. Ready?  Number 1) the week just got away from me and I kind of forgot about yesterdays post (which is why I am doing it now , and number 2) is that we haven’t been camping since I was pregnant with monkey number 2…yikes…to put that in perspective monkey number 3 turns three next week. We keep saying we are going to go and something just comes up…we really need to go and soon. Some of my best memories from growing up are while camping…like the day my mean older brother told me where bacon came from…that was a sad day in my world, but bacon tastes so good that I got over it (though a video I watched the other day thanks to Netflix almost changed my mind again).

Anyway, put those two secrets together and you really have nothing to make for a blog link up called by the campfire right?! Not so…I made S’mores cupcakes 😀 Okay so I am stretching the theme a bit but I hope I will be forgiven.

 

and I really, really , really want to share the recipe with you but I can’t….I can’t find it…I adapted a non-gluten-free one and turned it into the most AH-MAH-ZING gluten free cupcake, but I DIDN’T WRITE IT DOWN (my very pregnant sister is going to be SO PISSED…so pardon me while I find a good hiding spot from which to continue the search…if I can find the original I can re-create the gluten-free, please be patient with me).

I know I used sweet rice flour and gf graham crackers LOL. I stuffed it with marshmallow frosting, put chocolate ganache on it and some meringue  on it and then broiled it to get the toasty to. 

Looks toasty doesn’t it? (I am looking for it I swear)

and then (please don’t hate me)…I cut it open to show you the inside.

While I am looking for the recipe, check out the other fabulous bloggers that took part in this weeks link up Stars in Jars and Let it Unravel.

I will post the recipe as soon as I re-create it for you I PROMISE!

 

Swimming in Strawberries

 

 

 I don’t know about you but I LOVE this time of year…okay well I could do without this week’s humidity and the weatherman’s five day forecast that involves a lot of tiny pictures of angry clouds and flashing lightning bolts, but it could be worse (my heart goes out to everyone affected by flooding this year and I hope very much that all your loved ones are safe).  But this is the time of year when those beautiful red berries start appearing in farm stands and market stalls all over. Most of all I love that the pick-your-own fields are also open. I look at them with aniticpation and dread…they bring back many memories of one-for-me-one-for-the-basket” picking with my family while growing up and I love the so many possibilities that they provide me. The dread part comes in when I think about the four children under 6 that will be going with us this year, and the inevitable “doneness” they will have before we are done, but I am putting that aside so that they too can play “one-for-me-one-for-the-basket” and so that my sister and I can see their pink stained hands and faces and the sense of accomplishment they have when their baskets are full.  My sister is also very pregnant this year which, as it did three years ago when we were both eight months pregnant and picking, will cause the lady at the farm a great deal of alarm (thankfully I think that time we only brought my oldest with us and she was 4).

We haven’t hit the fields yet but I did pick up a basket at the Kemptville Kinsmen Farmer’s Market. 

The basket of strawberries was way more full before we left the market but then this happened:

This week’s challenge for the “What She Ate” linkup is “In Season” and I of course am going to pick strawberries (pun kind of intended…what can I say, I am my father’s daughter and he was a puny kind of guy). There are so many things I could make, but my absolute favourite (okay well next to lemon meringue pie) dessert pre-celiac was Strawberry Shortcake! Not the most original, but there are a reason classics are classics, right?!?!

So I hit the internet to look up a gf version that I had all the ingredients for…in fact I hit the internet so long I almost ran out of time before dinner to make it. In the end I cheated…instead of a completely from scratch recipe I used a gf biscuit mix that I picked up at Price Choppers for emergencies the last time we crossed the border. We decided to add some chocolate chips because who doesn’t love chocolate…

I would hang my head in shame, but I feel none…they turned out DELICIOUS!!! My older two kiddos even took a biscuit each to school the next day as a treat.

 Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake

strawberries

2 1/3 cups gluten free biscuit mix (I used the Price Chopper store brand box)

¼ cup sugar (I used organic cane sugar)

3 eggs beaten,

5 TBSP butter

¾ cup milk of choice

½ tsp of vanilla

2 handfuls Chocolate chips (optional)

Whipping cream

Slice strawberries and set aside (you can sprinkle with sugar but I thought ours were sweet enough without). Mix together the biscuit mix and sugar.  Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter, or two knives or even your fingers (that is what I did. We aren’t fancy around here).  Next, mix in the eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix in chocolate chips if you are using.  Drop by large spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I used about 1/3 cup for each and it made 8).  Bake in a 425 oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. While cooling, whip your cream until peaks form (you can add powdered sugar but we went without). Top with the strawberries and whipped cream. 

This would also be delicious with coconut whipped cream.

Enjoy!!! We sure did!

For other in season treats, be sure to check out the rest of our link-up Sondra at Abhaya and Stacy at Let It Unravel.

What She Ate (Spice It Up)

It has been super busy around here lately. With the brief spots of nice weather in the midst of the rain we have been trying to make every moment of being outside happen, but boy it has been chilly and wet. The garden is both loving and hating the weather…we have spinach ready for picking so I am making a garlicy chicken pizza ASAP (maybe friday because tonight is soccer, tomorrow my pizza partner in crime won’t be here and Thursday is also soccer). The Kemptville Kinsmen Farmer’s Market also started this past weekend and went pretty well. It was windy but thankfully the rain held off for the afternoon (and my sister ate her poutine happily while I had a delicious muffin and homemade chips from some other booths 🙂 ) I let her eat her yummy fries happily because I have heard rumours   of places “nearby” that have gluten-free gravy so I will be able to indulge every once in a while too, but the thought of driving 40 minutes into the city will make sure I don’t do it too often. Most of the yummy yummy things we are selling at the market (and everything that comes out of my kitchen is going to be gluten-free and delicious. Speaking of indulgences, here is my entry for the What She Ate Link up . This week’s challenge was Spice it up. I was excited and had a plan…of course in the true vein of me-being-me (remember how I said part of my brain fell out with each kid, and then the add to that the Gluten-fog that is only just lifting, but still appears on occasion as I figure things out), I thought the link up was tomorrow…not today…I was going shopping tonight to get all the stuff I needed to re-make and de-glutenize a favourite spicy chocolate cake, with yummy cinnamon whipped icing. Then I rechecked the date, and raced to see what I had in the kitchen that I could make while still keeping an eye of the trouble twosome (my youngest and my youngest nephew).

And ta-da:

Five Minute Spicy Chocolate Mug Cake 4Tbsp gluten-free flour mix (without xantham gum) 3Tbsp sugar 3Tbsp cocoa powder 3/4 tsp cayenne powder (I found this a bit spicy but my husband did not) 1 egg 3 Tbsp coconut oil (liquid form) 3 Tbsp milk (I think I might add more next time) splash of pure vanilla handful of chocolate chips sprinkle of icing sugar to top Mix all the ingredients in a coffee mug until well blended. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar or top with whipped cream (which I forgot to pick up…whoops). Not the healthiest of snacks, but because you make just one portion you won’t be tempted to eat the whole cake when your kids are in bed or distracted in the other room. I annot wait to try this in a few weeks with the addition of some fresh zucchini!

Enjoy!!!

Don’t forget to check out the other participating blogs.

Visit Stacey at Let It Unravel http://letitunravel.com/ and Sondra at Abhaya http://abhayayoga.blogspot.ca/

P.S. Please keep bearing with me as I learn how to put all the links and such in the blog…it is a slow process for me, but I am sure my 4 year-old-will be able to tell me soon 😀