EggNog Cookies

I wish I could have gotten this post up before the holidays had ended, things around here became quite busy once all our kids got into town, then my desktop died. . . Don't know what happened, but it won't turn on, it's like the button itself is broke. My super nice mommy took me out to get a laptop, I am eternally grateful!

Hopefully you still have some leftover eggnog, if not, I am sure the stores still have some. These cookies are a must try. We all really enjoyed them!!!

EggNog Cookies 

Ingredients

• 2 cups of your favorite gf flour blend. I used 1 cup sorghum flour and 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. xanthum gum
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup coconut butter 
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 eggnog (we used ricenog to keep it dairy free, I am sure coconut nog would be just as good too)

Directions

Mix dry ingredients together, while continuing to mix add in applesauce, then add in oil, last add in eggnog, slowly, until desired consistency is reached. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Be careful, it is very easy to over cook these, they still taste yummy, but crumble very easily!

Enjoy! We did!! :) 

Spiced Maple Banana Bread

It has been an awesome weekend of baking in our home.We've made Pumpkin Muffins, Everything Cookies and my personal favorite Spiced Maple Banana Bread.

I got some fantastic organic black bananas from our local grocery store for a great price, and I set out to make an amazing, allergy friendly, spiced banana bread. After a little trial and error I believe I have succeed in making the perfect loaf of gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, egg free, soy free banana bread!!

I have a some mini loaves, and muffins in the oven now. The muffins I added carob chips to, you could easily use chocolate chips if you prefer, just make sure they are Fair Trade Certified. Also, if using carob or chocolate chips, make sure to read the label as a lot of carob and chocolate use both dairy and soy.

Spiced Maple Banana Bread

 

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Pecan Meal*
• 1.5 cups Almond Meal*
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Xanthum Gum or 1 tsp Guar Gum
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice 
• 1/4 cup Maple Agave or Pure Maple Syrup
• 3 very ripe, mashed organic bananas
• 1/2 cup almond milk*

Directions 

Mix together dry ingredients in a big bowl or mixer, add in wet ingredients one at a time adding the milk last to achieve the best consistency.
Pour batter into a oiled loaf pan, or muffin cups. Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before eating or the center will be a bit mushy.

The crust will be a bit of a darker brown than you might be used to, it's from the pecans, don't worry it isn't burnt. :) 

Enjoy!!!




* Side note, if your nut free you may substitute 3 cups of your favorite gf flour, You might have to add more or less milk depending on your flour. Rice milk and Hemp milk would be a great substitute for the almond milk. 

GF/DF Lasagna with Butternut Squash Sauce

Cold weather brings on the cravings for comfort food, having a strong love of Italian foods has been one of our biggest challenges with our allergies. A few weeks ago Angela Liddon at Oh She Glows put up a post for her Vegan Lasagna with Basil Cashew Cheeze and I just had to try it and since we're not vegan, I went ahead and added in some ground beef, and I omitted the lemon juice.
We haven't had lasagna in over.four.years, it took a little experimenting to get a good pasta sauce down since none of us can have tomatoes, but I did it, and my family LOVES it. They've begged me quite a few times to make it, and it always disappears very quickly. The first batch I made with gold beets, the second was made with red beets. I think the red gave it more of a tomato sauce feel, either way it was YUMMY!

So thank you Angela for the inspiration and without further adieu. . .

Gluten Free Lasagna with Basil Cashew Cheese and Butternut Squash Meat Sauce.

Ingredients

1 package rice noodles. (We use Tinkyada Rice Pasta)
2-3 lb butternut squash
1.5 lb grassfed ground beef
7 generous sized garlic cloves
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 c. raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes 
1 T. dijon mustard
1/2 c. dried basil or 1.5c fresh basil
1/2 c. nutritional yeast
1/4 c. dried parsley or 3/4c fresh parsley
1/2 c. olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Diced veggies- of any kind.
Zucchini slices

Directions

Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise, clean out seeds and put the two halves with the rind up in a casserole dish with about an inch of water. Sprinkle 5 of the garlic cloves around the squash, cover with foil and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees.Chop or shred your veggies (we used carrots and beets this time) Brown the ground beef, mix in with the veggies and set aside.

While your waiting you can prepare the Basil Cashew Cheese sauce.

Put the cashews in a blender along with about 1/4-1/2 cup of the water they soaked in, add in the remaining two garlic cloves, dijon mustard, basil, yeast and salt and pepper. Blend until you get a nice thick consistency, about like ricotta cheese. If your sauce is too runny, add a bit more yeast until desired consistency is reached. Put into a bowl and set aside.

Begin to boil the noodles.

When the squash is soft, scoop it out of the rind and place into the blender, add the five garlic cloves from the pan, the chopped onion, parsley, and olive oil. Blend until creamy, and water if necessary to reach desired consistency.

Mix the butternut squash sauce in with the ground beef and veggies.

Drain the noodles and rinse in cold water, this keeps the rice noodles from sticking together.

Put a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of a deep casserole dish, then place in noodles and begin to layer noodles, meat and cheese sauce. Continue until your out or you reach the top of the pan. For the last layer I place the zucchini slices on top and spray a bit of olive oil on them. Cover with foil and bake 350 degrees for an hour or until warm and bubbly.

Pumpkin Stuffed Meatloaf

This year Autumn has been absolutely beautiful in Colorado, we got to enjoy a full show of colors followed by the crunching of leaves and now in blows our snow. Winter in the Denver area is usually pretty nice, we'll get a big snowstorm that will leave us with 6-20 inches of beautiful white, sparkly powder all over creating a magical wonderland, only to have the next few days be sunny and warm enough to melt most of the snow, then the process will start all over again. Snowy days are beautiful, and one of my very favorite things along with pumpkins, and pumpkins are in abundance right now, they are great for snuggling with a hot pumpkin latte, baking pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, or our newest venture. . .Pumpkin stuffed meatloaf.

This was really quite easy and quick to throw together, it made the whole house smell so yummy!

Ingredients:
1 two to three pound organic pie pumpkin
2 pounds of grassfed ground beef  (or meat of your choice)
1 cup shredded organic carrots
1/2 cup shredded organic zucchini
1 chopped organic yellow beet*
Season to taste

Directions:
Cut your pumpkin in half, lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and the strings. You can save your seeds to roast.
In a separate bowl mix together the meat, veggies and seasoning with about 1/4 of water (depending on your altitude and the weather). Stuff the pumpkin with the mix, rub the top with a bit of olive oil. Cover with foil and bake 350 degrees for about an hour.

The grease softens the pumpkin and it scoops right out of the rind when you serve up your meatloaf. Not only makes for a yummy addition to normal meatloaf, but it also saves you a pan. My husband and kids LOVED this meal, even my picky boy ate (most of) his pumpkin!

Serve with a side of quinoa.

*Side note, Sam found organic yellow beets 
at the store and couldn't wait to bring them home to try. They tasted almost the same as a normal, red beet, but a little more mild. You could use a red beet in this and it would be just as good, and add in some fun color as well.