The gang!
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| Mariah, Robbie and Alyssa |
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| Robbie's Zombie make up |
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| Breanna grossed out by pumpkin guts |
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| One of the pumpkins |
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| the other pumpkin |
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| Our newest member of the family! Chelsea our Chesapeake Retriever! |
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween/Samhain!!!
Hope everyone enjoyed themselves! We had a fairly quiet one here, at least there was no snow and the temperature wasn't all that bad either. All the kids went trick-or-treating except for Alex. Here's some pics of the evening including pumpkin carving from the night before. Enjoy!!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Autumn Has Arrived!
Brrrrrr, today certainly has had a chill to it. No snow (it's definitely not uncommon for us to have a bit of snow this time year), but it sure is brisk out there. The perfect day to whip up a batch of Pumpkin Spice muffins for dessert tonight. Oh how I love Pumpkin, and it's so super good for you!
Pumpkin has loads of vitamin A and is a great source of your B vitamins. Pumpkin is low in fat and low in calories. It is super easy to throw a scoop of raw pumpkin into almost any kind of muffin mix. We toss scoops of raw pumpkin into our oatmeal and add clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger with some maple syrup, for a awesome tasting breakfast. Pumpkins are also an antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory!! You can also toss a scoop into your smoothie! I would use 1 cup of almond/soy/rice/hemp milk, a scoop of raw pumpkin, a good sprinkle of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and some crushed clove to make a warming Autumn evening snack
You can even use it in cookies! I have used it as a substitute for oil/butter in some recipes.
Hurray for the Pumpkin, a member of the Gourd family who's name means Large Melon in Greek.
Of course, let's not forget the pumpkin's other important job: serving as a Jack-o-Lantern at Halloween!!
That will be for a later post though.........
Onwards! I thought I would share the recipe I will be using for our DF/GF pumpkin pie. I just buy pre-made GF pie crusts from our local GF bakery. It is one time saver I don't hesitate to use, although I have successfully made GF pies from scratch.
Here ya go:
GF/DF/SF Pumpkin Pie
Speaking of GF, I learned the hard way that Kraft Marshmallows are NOT GF. I checked the ingredients and nothing looks Gluten so there must be cross contamination. However, Walmart (cough, choke) does in fact have GF marshmallows (which is why I wrongfully assumed that Kraft's would be fine too, even though nowhere on the package does it say that) which set me up for a week of agony. Ugh, I cannot believe I spent so much time like that and thought it was normal. YUCK! Thankfully, I am on the healing road now and I won't be making that mistake again! I also have every intention on mastering the art of marshmallow making, the bonfires just don't seem the same without!
Tonight for dinner is Cream of Tomato soup (thank goodness for my Vitamix!!) with grilled cheese sandwiches (we use raw, lactose free cheese, so far it has not negatively affected anyone) and fresh cut veggie sticks, the perfect meal for this cool Fall day! Yum!
I most likely won't be on until after the weekend since Bill has the next few days off, but I will be back mid-week next week and hopefully might even have some pics of our new dog!!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!
Pumpkin has loads of vitamin A and is a great source of your B vitamins. Pumpkin is low in fat and low in calories. It is super easy to throw a scoop of raw pumpkin into almost any kind of muffin mix. We toss scoops of raw pumpkin into our oatmeal and add clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger with some maple syrup, for a awesome tasting breakfast. Pumpkins are also an antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory!! You can also toss a scoop into your smoothie! I would use 1 cup of almond/soy/rice/hemp milk, a scoop of raw pumpkin, a good sprinkle of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and some crushed clove to make a warming Autumn evening snack
You can even use it in cookies! I have used it as a substitute for oil/butter in some recipes.
Hurray for the Pumpkin, a member of the Gourd family who's name means Large Melon in Greek.
Of course, let's not forget the pumpkin's other important job: serving as a Jack-o-Lantern at Halloween!!
That will be for a later post though.........
Onwards! I thought I would share the recipe I will be using for our DF/GF pumpkin pie. I just buy pre-made GF pie crusts from our local GF bakery. It is one time saver I don't hesitate to use, although I have successfully made GF pies from scratch.
Here ya go:
GF/DF/SF Pumpkin Pie
Speaking of GF, I learned the hard way that Kraft Marshmallows are NOT GF. I checked the ingredients and nothing looks Gluten so there must be cross contamination. However, Walmart (cough, choke) does in fact have GF marshmallows (which is why I wrongfully assumed that Kraft's would be fine too, even though nowhere on the package does it say that) which set me up for a week of agony. Ugh, I cannot believe I spent so much time like that and thought it was normal. YUCK! Thankfully, I am on the healing road now and I won't be making that mistake again! I also have every intention on mastering the art of marshmallow making, the bonfires just don't seem the same without!
Tonight for dinner is Cream of Tomato soup (thank goodness for my Vitamix!!) with grilled cheese sandwiches (we use raw, lactose free cheese, so far it has not negatively affected anyone) and fresh cut veggie sticks, the perfect meal for this cool Fall day! Yum!
I most likely won't be on until after the weekend since Bill has the next few days off, but I will be back mid-week next week and hopefully might even have some pics of our new dog!!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Preserving the Harvest and Other Chatter
So the last couple of weeks we have been busy as bees preserving our Harvest. I have canned peaches, pears, pickles, tomatoes, jams and jellies, and applesauce. We have frozen all types of beans and corn and some more peaches and berries. We have dried tomatoes, bananas, apples, and herbs. WHEW!
Still on the list is some more tomato sauce, applesauce and strawberry jam. I would also like to do some more pears and peaches. I have to say that preserving has a lot of hard work involved, but it is worth it tenfold. Everything tastes amazing and it is so awesome to just send the one of the kids down to the storage area and grab a jar of yummy strawberry jam. I also have stored over 100lbs of potatoes in there as well, which I plan on dehydrating some as well for instant mashed potatoes. As finances allow and we can perhaps find a second freezer, I want to start stocking up on meat and *hopefully* be able to buy half a cow (or through hunting some Elk or Moose) and store that. Go and check this out for more great tips! http://simpleorganic.net/preparing-for-seasonal-fall-and-winter-eating/
In other news, this coming weekend is Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods. We have a wonderful feast planned of Turkey, mashed potatoes, brussles sprouts, corn/peas, and of course PIES!!! Yum, the best part (okay, well almost....the turkey with mashed potatoes is pretty good too!) we are having apple pie, pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue pie. All dairy free and gluten free!! I remember my first big meal after being gluten/dairy free and how daunting it was. I was so filled with all the things I *couldn't* have since I was just learning the ropes, so to speak. Now, I feel so confident and happy that I can cook almost everything and have it be GF/DF AND taste so delicious. No more missing out on yummy food!!
In even more other news, we are expanding our family by one!! No, not another baby *sniff* but by a beautiful 7yo girl named Chelsea. She is of the four legged and fur variety, lol, but is coming to join our family this weekend. Her original family is moving to Australia and cannot take her with them and we are tremendouslyy blessed to have been chosen by them to adopt Chelsea. She is absolutely gorgeous and extremely well behaved and trained. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Of course the family is super excited!
Blessed be!!!
Still on the list is some more tomato sauce, applesauce and strawberry jam. I would also like to do some more pears and peaches. I have to say that preserving has a lot of hard work involved, but it is worth it tenfold. Everything tastes amazing and it is so awesome to just send the one of the kids down to the storage area and grab a jar of yummy strawberry jam. I also have stored over 100lbs of potatoes in there as well, which I plan on dehydrating some as well for instant mashed potatoes. As finances allow and we can perhaps find a second freezer, I want to start stocking up on meat and *hopefully* be able to buy half a cow (or through hunting some Elk or Moose) and store that. Go and check this out for more great tips! http://simpleorganic.net/preparing-for-seasonal-fall-and-winter-eating/
In other news, this coming weekend is Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods. We have a wonderful feast planned of Turkey, mashed potatoes, brussles sprouts, corn/peas, and of course PIES!!! Yum, the best part (okay, well almost....the turkey with mashed potatoes is pretty good too!) we are having apple pie, pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue pie. All dairy free and gluten free!! I remember my first big meal after being gluten/dairy free and how daunting it was. I was so filled with all the things I *couldn't* have since I was just learning the ropes, so to speak. Now, I feel so confident and happy that I can cook almost everything and have it be GF/DF AND taste so delicious. No more missing out on yummy food!!
In even more other news, we are expanding our family by one!! No, not another baby *sniff* but by a beautiful 7yo girl named Chelsea. She is of the four legged and fur variety, lol, but is coming to join our family this weekend. Her original family is moving to Australia and cannot take her with them and we are tremendouslyy blessed to have been chosen by them to adopt Chelsea. She is absolutely gorgeous and extremely well behaved and trained. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Of course the family is super excited!
Blessed be!!!
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