Cranberry Orange Muffins

This is my second post in two days about food~I’m not sure what that says, except I’ve been really hungry this weekend!

I found this yummy recipe at Rita’s Recipes and tweaked it, of course, to make it gluten free.

I started with my favorite mixing bowl. It’s melamine and looks a lot like Texas Ware, but it’s not. It did come from my husband’s great-aunt, but I’m not sure how old it is. Anytime something needs mixing, out this comes.

Next, I pulled out my Pampered Chef muffin tin. Love it!

Recipe as tweaked:

• 2 1/2 c. gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 7/8 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1/2 c. olive oil (or melted butter, if you prefer)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. orange juice
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1 c. cranberries

Mix all dry ingredients together, stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir in the cranberries (I gave mine a whirl through my little chopper to minimize their size.) Top with some cinnamon sugar if you’d like. Bake in a 350 oven till toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

KISS~Saturday Night Supper

Ok, so I was talking blogging about starting a Saturday Linky Party, ‘cause I think they are way too much fun. I’ve decided that once I reach 100 followers, I will choose a date to start the party. And….I will host my first giveaway. Not sure yet what it will be, but I’m sure I can come up with something fabulous and fun!

My theme will be KISS~Keep It Simple Saturday. You will be able to hook up whatever crafts, home décor, recipes or lifestyle changes you have made that are basically just simple in nature. Pretty simple, huh?

I’m going to try to continue the pattern of posting my own KISS project each Saturday until I officially start the party.

I don’t know about the lot of you, but I don’t like to cook dinner on the weekends. Whether it’s been a work day around the house, a play day out and about or just a lazy Saturday, I don’t look forward to 5:00 when I usually start cooking.

My solution?

Pancakes.

For the last few weeks, I have declared Saturday Night as pancake night. They are quick and simple, and if the kiddos aren’t too hungry there’s leftovers for breakfast the next day. Brilliant, isn’t it?

This is what I use. It’s gluten free and absolutely yummy. When I first made them for the family, they declared the result better than the standard mix I had been using. The secret is the almond flour in the mix. The pancakes have a slight nutty flavor and great texture. And they don’t soak up the syrup like flour pancakes. This is also more economical than buying all the assorted flours and mixing a batch from scratch.

The recipe calls for 1 cup of mix, 3/4 cup of water, 1tbsp. oil and 1 egg.

So there’s my KISS. If you have anything to share, please leave me a comment until I’m up and running! I’d love to hear about your simplifying ideas.

A is for Apple…

…crisp, that is.

Here is a really simple recipe for a really yummy apple crisp. I think it originally came from Pampered Chef, but I’ve tweaked it a little to suit our family’s needs.

• 6 medium size Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. gluten free flour mix (such as Pamela’s or Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil (I use Sciabica’s Mission Variety Spring Harvest-great from baking & close to my old hometown!)
• 1/4 c. apple juice

Lightly coat a pie dish with the oil of your choice. Peel and slice apples, place in dish and drizzle with apple juice. Mix sugars, oats, flour & cinnamon together and  cut in the oil until it resembles crumbs. Sprinkle over apples and bake at 350 degrees until top is crispy. Serve warm with ice cream!

I usually drizzle a little more oil over the top so it will brown better.

You can use regular flour instead of gluten free and butter instead of the oil. Just substitute the same amounts.

Thinking about that linky party I mentioned. I’m pretty sure I’m going to call it K.I.S.S.~Keep It Simple Saturday. So this is my kind of kick off post. No link ups this week, but I will let you know when I’m ready! Please leave me a comment letting me know if you’d participate & what your favorite simple thing this week was.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Had I really been on my game I would have planned some fun stuff for us to do in honor of St. Patrick's Day. However, with the whole idea of simplifying our school routine, instead of cutting out a bunch of shamrocks & pots of gold to glue together, I stuck with our regularly scheduled program.



Every Wednesday we read a short bio from Trial and Triumph. We had read about St. Patrick a few months ago, so in order to elaborate more on him, I downloaded and printed off a free biography of him from Living Books Curriculum through the currclick site and read that to the kiddos. It was very interesting. Did you know that St. Patrick wasn't Irish? I didn't! Did you know he used a 3-leaf clover to demonstrate the tie between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? I didn't! When you were in school were you taught the Christian background behind St. Patrick's Day? I wasn't! Who says you're too old to learn something new! I had the kids follow up with some sharing & narrating at dinner tonight with Dad and Grandma. They did not know these little tid-bits either.



I also took the plunge & made (for the very first time) Corned Beef & Cabbage for dinner. As I was scrolling through the net this morning I came upon a recipe that was linked from an email I received to this site. Here's the recipe:

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned beef is brisket, topside or silverside which has been pickled in brine. It is especially popular around Dublin. It is best to soak a

joint overnight to remove excess salt.



5 lb/ 2 kg joint of corned beef

1 large cabbage

bay leaf

2 large

onions

cold water to cover

2 large carrots

ground black pepper

4 potatoes (I used red)



(serves four to six)



Quarter the cabbage and put aside. Peel and slice the other vegetables. Cover the meat with the water and bring to the boil.

Skim the surface, add the vegetables (except the cabbage), the bay leaf and the pepper and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for a further 30 minutes. Serve the meat surrounded by the vegetables with additional mashed potatoes.

I'm going to admit I did not eat it. It smelled really good, but I've never cared for the look of corned beef. My family seemed to enjoy it, and they said it tasted delicious. I'll just have to take their word for it!