Ramble On

I had a conversation the other day with another mom who told me that she loves to eat baked goodies for breakfast. As I thought about I realized that I use to do the same, there's something really comforting about having something you can eat with a fork along with your cup of morning tea. So I decided to make something that wasn't overly sweet but would satisfy that craving. This isn't as heavy as a coffee cake, will fill you up, and won't make you feel guilty about eating cake for breakfast.




Apple Raisin Breakfast Cake

4 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs cinnamon
1 cup chopped, peeled, apples
1/4 cup raisins


Grease an 8in square pan or line with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large bowl combine eggs, olive oil, vanilla, and honey.With an electric mixer blend the dry ingredients into the wet beating until there are no lumps. Fold in the chopped apples and raisins. Spread the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, allow to cool completely before eating!

The only thing I can liken these to is cheesecake. The texture is very light yet filling. The coconut flavor does come through on them, then lemon, and just a hint of ginger in the after taste. My husband ate half the batch (I ate the other half) they were gone within two days, just because we tried to pace ourselves.







 
Coconut Lemon-Ginger Cakes (gluten free, nut free, SCD legal) 
makes 12 regular-sized muffins


1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut oil melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup honey

Line a regular sized muffin tin with papers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the coconut flour, ginger, baking soda, and sea salt together in a small bowl, whisk together well. In a large bowl combine the eggs, lemon juice, honey, and coconut oil, blend together. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well with an electric hand mixer until all the lumps all gone. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins dividing evenly into each cup. Bake for 23 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for at least four hours before eating to allow the flavors to fully develop.

..and in the morning, I'm making waffles!

I'm so excited to share this recipe! For quite a while I've been experimenting with a waffle recipes. There were a lot of duds but this one, this one is pretty dang near perfect. Even my husband likes them and he's honest to a fault.These have no coconut flavor what-so-ever and use very little coconut flour, which is a great way to really stretch out the ingredients.







Cinnamon Ginger Waffles (scd legal, nut-free, gluten free)
makes 3 waffles


2 tbs coconut flour
1/2 tsp gigner
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbs honey
2 tbs olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat your waffle iron. Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl, whisk  together well. Combine the wet ingredients and with an electric mixer beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until all the lumps are gone. Pour into your prepared waffle iron being careful not to overflow. Sometimes these take a little longer than normal waffles, just keep an eye on them and remove them when they are well browned. While these are cooking go ahead and make your Vanilla Peach Topping.

Vanilla Peach Honey Topping (SCD legal, nut free, gluten free)

1/4 cup of honey
3 slices frozen peaches
1/4 tsp vanilla

Combine the honey and peach slices into a microwave safe dish with tall sides honey likes to climb out of the container so make sure the sides are tall enough to contain it (I usually use a 2 C glass measuring cup). Microwave on high for 1.5 minutes. Allow to cool for about two minutes and stir in vanilla. At this point I usually cut up the peaches with the edge of the spoon I'm stirring it with. Pour over your waffles and enjoy! It's very important to you allow it to cool slightly because honey retains heat and it will burn you if you try to eat it too quickly after it's taken out of the microwave.

I'm taking the weekend off from posting new recipes but I'll be back to that on Monday with something I'm really excited about: Cinnamon Ginger Waffles with Vanilla Peach Honey Topping. It's gluten free, nut free, and of course, SCD legal. Yum. I'm getting hungry thinking about them.

Now I'm going to bore you with some knitting. That's me and my cheese face with the scarf I knitted for my Mama. I sort of wanted to keep it for myself but since she bought the yarn specifically for me to make her this scarf, well I sorta have to give it to her. Very simple pattern. Cast on 30 stitches on size 8 needles and knit in K2 P2 ribbing switching colors every two rows, until it's long enough, cast off.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Lunch here has to be quick, especially on the weekdays when I'm trying to navigate house work, a 2 year old, and trying to steal a few moments each day to write. Maybe that doesn't sound like much but I don't want to get into the whole "what to stay-at-home moms actually do all day" just trust me when I say, I'm very busy. So back to lunch, I have to eat, and I have to make something quick that is hearty enough to get me through until dinner.





Tuna Burgers (makes 2 patties)

1 can tuna in water  (be sure there are no additives like vegetable brother, which contains soy)
approx 2oz rosemary garlic bread, crumbled
1 egg
pepper to taste

Open and drain the tuna. Combine tuna, bread, egg, and pepper in a bowl. With a fork mash it all together and shape into a patty with your hands.

Heat a pan over medium heat and cook the patties for about 2 mins per side until well browned. Serve them topped with cheese, lettuce, onion, anything you can tolerate.

covered in cheese!

My two year old's favorite food is chicken, she'll eat it for every single meal if we let her. We have it at least once a week and we use to just roast it with a bit of olive oil sprinkled with salt and pepper, which is delicious but gets bit boring week after week. So I've started marinating it and now my 9-year-old can not get enough. He loves the lemony flavor and the crispy skin. I usually double this and make 4lbs of chicken thighs since we like to have left overs. If you're going to double it go ahead and double everything except for the olive oil!


Lemon Marinated Oven Roasted Chicken

2lbs of bone-in chicken thighs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp honey
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Combine marinade in a large freezer bag, add the chicken and seal the bag. Mush it around a bit and place the sealed bag into a bowl just in case it leaks. Place the chicken it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, turning the bag over half way through.

When you're ready to cook the chicken preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Retrieve your chicken from the fridge, remove the chicken from the marinade and put it into a large baking dish skin side up. Discard the marinade. 

Bake the chicken uncovered at 425 degrees for 20 minutes then lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes until the internal temp reaches 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. I usually go ahead a serve it with pureed cauliflower, my rosemary & garlic bread, and another steamed veg.