Pumpkin Seeds

Fall is definitely my favorite season. The leaves turning, crisp air, good food, and football - what more could you ask for?! Ah yes pumpkins.. I love them. I love to paint them, look at them, and cook with them - pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cake.. the list goes on.. but what I haven't done for so long is carve a pumpkin. This year I tried again!

Tony and I decided to carve pumpkins on a beautiful fall afternoon. He is such an artist and SO detail oriented, his pumpkin turned out AMAZING! Mine... is simple.. and took about half the time of his.

Gutting the pumpkin was definitely the worst part of the endeavor. It was extremely slimy, stringy, and overall rather revolting. For some reason, I decided it would be a good idea to separate the seeds and try roasting them. That changed my slimy hands and arms to slimy hands, arms, and fingernails.... gross. The seeds did turn out well though.

Pumpkin Seeds:

Begin by rinsing some of the slime off the seeds - keep some for flavor. Preeheat oven to 375.

Melt 2 tbs butter in large saucepan

Add seeds

Pour 1/4C Maple Syrup over seeds and sauté for several minutes

Add spices to taste: Cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and ginger

Stir to evenly distribute

Spread seeds evenly on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, rotating every so often. They should be light brown and crispy.

Enjoy! Happy Harvest :)

G-Free Thanksgiving! That's something to be thankful for.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I know I did.. until I encountered gluten.

I'm not sure how, probably through cross-contamination, but I was down for a few hours with a post-turkey & potatoes stomach pain. After that time I returned to the kitchen to scope out what went wrong. Going through all my recipes and which serving spoons ended up where, I came across my mom's old cook book.

I found a recipe for apple crisp that is EASY and simply delicious!

You can use any kind of apple you prefer. I use Honey Crisp and Granny Smith for a nice combo.

Slice your apples (2ish -depending on how much you want) and place them directly into the baking pan.

For the topping:

Combine softened butter, g-free oats, brown sugar, a dash of vanilla, a dash of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a few spoon-fulls of apple sauce.

Topping should be crumbly.

Bless my sweet mother's heart, she never measures anything! However, it does make each recipe a bit of an adventure. Pour topping over apples and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. (Apple crisp is always good warm with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream!)

Enjoy! And remember what they say: an apple a day keeps the doctor away!! I'll take 2.

My new favorite...

My new favorite side dish to any meal (lunch or dinner) is a delicious fall/summer grilled sweet potato. How to do it:
Wash and peel two - three sweet potatoes (or yams).
Slice potatoes vertically and place them in a gallon-size zip-lock bag.
pour ~3 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil into bag.
Seal and Shake.
Place each slice directly onto preheated grill.
immediately salt with kosher salt or fresh-ground salt.
Close grill and leave alone for 3-5 minutes.
Flip potatoes and salt again.
Cover grill and leave for 3 minutes, or until potatoes are tender with golden grill marks on both sides.

Serve hot and enjoy!

I love these!

A healthy sweet treat

I just returned from Swazliand, Africa - not a very gluten-free friendly place.

One snack I lived off of the entire trip was a sweet little thing I made each and every day. Almond Butter Rice Cakes.

Spread almond butter over any type of rice cake (lightly salted or carmel flavored is preferred). Stick slivered almonds, mini chocolate chips and craisins to the butter and dig in! The treat is sweet.

Morning Puffin!

It's important to start your day off right! While eating gluten free, you are allowed to eat eggs and orange juice. I, however, have always loved cereal. I love it. I could eat it for a snack, for dinner, or any old time. Ridding myself of my favorites (including, but not limited to Frosted Mini Wheats, Honey Bunches of Oats, Oh's!, and Kashi Go Lean.. just to name a few) hasn't been easy. However, I discovered Barbara's Bakery Puffins! Though I have only tried Original and Honey Rice flavored, I'm hooked. These are great! I'd never guess they are wheat free and made with gluten-free ingredients. Throw some blueberries in there and it's simply a masterpiece!

Sweet Dreams

Last night I made my first batch of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. I must say it was nice to be able to sick my finger in the dough and steal a bite! I had made chocolate cakes the day before and couldn't even lick the spoon... 

My first batch of cookies was from a box. Shocking, I know! But I have to start somewhere! 

I did add extra vanilla and brown sugar to hide that grainy/tree bark taste gluten free deserts tend to have. I'm just not used to it yet. My next cookie project? Starting from scratch. (maybe!)

Gluten-free cooking class!

This just in!

Tonight at 6 p.m. there will be a gluten-free cooking class held at Whole Foods, in Park City, UT. The best part.. it's free!

Eating and cooking gluten-free can be the most difficult part of the process. If you are a veteran at gluten-free life, or just beginning this could be a great class for you!