Ingredients: 
(For Cake)
1 (18oz) box gluten free white cake mix
1 (3oz) box strawberry gelatin
1 (15oz) package frozen strawberries (thawed and pureed)
4 large eggs
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup water
(For Frosting)
¼ cup softened butter 
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
½ tsp strawberry extract
7 cups powdered sugar

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350. 

Butter the bottom and sides of two round (9in) cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl, add cake mix and gelatin. Add all but ¼ cup of pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with a mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

While cake is baking, beat butter and cream cheese with an mixer until creamy. Add reserved strawberry puree and strawberry extract. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until consistency is how you like your frosting. 

Let cake cool completely before frosting. If you’re feeling EXTRA sweet, cut a hole in the middle and fill the cake with m&m’s. Don’t tell anyone. Just let them cut into a delicious m&m avalanche. ;-)


​

Ingredients
- 3.5 cups corn Chex
- 3.5 cups rice Chex
- 1 cup gluten free pretzel sticks
- 1 cup gluten free cheese crackers
- 1 cup peanuts
- 1 packet of ranch seasoning
- 4.5 tablespoons melted butter
​- parsley

Directions
Preheat oven to 300.
​Place parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
Add cereal, pretzels, crackers, and peanuts to a large mixing bowl and combine. Add ranch mix to melted butter, stir, and pour over cereal mixture. Stir gently to coat. Put cereal mixture on lined baking sheet and sprinkle with parsley. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

As my husband and I have been trying to cut out processed carbs (even that amazing Gluten Free flour I've enjoyed for so long), I've had to find new recipes for some of my old favorites. Here's an updated pizza crust that we LOVE: 
I do make this pizza as written (and it is DELISH - I'll post some substitutions I make in a later post), I've been using the crust portion of the recipe in our Friday Night Pizza. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 ½ cups plus ¾ cup of shredded mozzarella cheese divided
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup almond flour

• Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
• Pour 1 ½ cups of the shredded mozzarella cheese into a large microwave safe bowl along with the cream cheese. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir well, then continue to microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between each interval, until the cheeses are completely melted. Stir until smooth.
• Quickly stir in the egg and almond flour. Work the dough in the bowl with clean hands until it forms a ball. It will be very sticky, so you may want to oil your hands first.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the dough in the center and use your hands to press it into a rectangle, approximately 9x13 inches.
• Bake the pizza crust at 400F for 8-10 minutes, or until it just begins to brown slightly around the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

Thank you to Michelle at Crafty Morning

Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/2 - 3 cups Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp quick rising yeast
• 1/2 salt
• 1 cup very warm water
• 2 tbs oil

Instructions: 

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5 mintues.
2. Using a dough hook attachment, add oil and begin adding flour, one cup at a time to the yeast mixture while mixing on medium speed. Continue mixting until dough forms a ball, about 2 minutes. 
3. Turn dough out onto floured countertop, cover with a tea towel, and let rise while oven preheats to 450 degrees F. 
4. Press onto a parchment-lined pan and/or roll gently. Brush with a bit of olive oil (I sometimes sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan!), then bake for 5 minutes. 
5. Remove from oven, add toppings, and bake again. 

(Adapted from Gluten-Free Baking)

​Must-Haves: 
- Candy Thermometer (oil temperature is critical, so don't try to guess)
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour (this is the only brand of gluten free flour that really tastes and feels like non-gluten-free baked goods)
- Parchment paper  

Ingredients: 

• 1 bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free one-to-one Baking Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons liquid egg whites
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• extra flour for dusting
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Add yeast, warm water, and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Whisk and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In a seperate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. Add flour mixture, egg whites, apple juice, applesauce, and vinegar to the yeast mixture. Using the dough hook attachment, mix until smooth, about three minutes. 
4. Dust countertop with flour and turn dough out onto counter. Knead a few times, then flatten it out and cut in half. Dust a piece of parchment paper with flour and place dough in the center. Dust the top of dough with flour and roll out until 1/4 inch thick. Cover with parchment paper. Repeat with second piece of dough.
5. Heat 2 inches of oil in a big pot to 350 degrees F (a deep pot will help prevent oil splatter as you're frying). Place a lined baking sheet or cooling rack near the fryer and line with paper towels. 
6. Remove the top piece of parchment paper from one piece of dough. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 2x3 inch pieces. Clean edges are crucial for making sure the beignets puff!
7. Gently place 3-4 beignets into the fryer. Once you see the beignet puff, it is ready to gently turn. Once beignet is golden brown, remove from oil and place on lined pan to drain/cool. Repeat with remaining dough. 
8. Toss in powdered sugar (the traditional way!) or in cinnamon sugar (my family's favorite!) Serve hot. 

Full disclosure: this is a complicated process that takes practice! I've messed them up several times, but they are always tasty. Enjoy!

Check out the how-to with Geoffrey and me here!

It's been several weeks now since grocery store shelves around Chattanooga started looking empty and I had to adjust how I feed my family. I'll admit that the first couple of weeks caused me a bit - ok A LOT - of anxiety. As someone who is used to feeding a large family in a particular way, having that system shut down was stressful to say the least. Dietary restrictions make matters even more difficult, but I think we are finally settling in to a routine. 

Since I'm starting to get a handle on "cooking during the apocalypse," I thought I'd share what's been working. 

Online grocery ordering is no longer the simple process it used to be. For years I sat down on a particular afternoon, with my meal plan in hand, searched for the ingredients I wanted, added them to my cart, and picked them up within a few hours. Ah, the good old days. I now grab a pickup time days in advance and add items to my cart a little at a time as they become available, knowing that what I order may not be available on the day I pick up. I order simple things as much as possible - meat, veggies, fruit, and pantry staples - so that I have options when I pick up the groceries and only get half of what I ordered. Think: chicken, broccoli, gluten free flour; not chorizo, fresh garlic, and cassava. 

Once I pick up my groceries I look at what I have and plan our meals from there - the opposite of what I've done most of my adult life. Yeesh. 

This week, I created a Google doc and added a table, listing proteins, veggies/sides, etc. Then I simply combined a protein with a couple of sides to come up with meals for the week. Here's what I came up with!

Dinners: 

• Spaghetti
• Bbq chicken with baked beans and mashed potatoes
• Roasted turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans
• Hawaiian chicken (with pineapple), steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, baked potatoes
• Pizza
• Ground beef nachos
• Buffalo chicken stuffed potatoes
• Chicken parmesan, steamed veggies
• Buffalo chicken sandwiches with chips and fruit
  
  
  It's not exactly what I would've planned if I'd been able to do all this the other way around, but it's certainly better than I was doing when this all started! How are you doing with menu planning? Grocery shopping? Life in general? Give me your best tips (or just vent about how hard things are!!) in the comments. 

Gluten and Dairy Free!

I figure if I'm going to stress-bake, I might as well share my recipes! This is an old favorite that I've adapted to our food intolerances. With practice, I've made the altered version taste even better than the original!

Ingredients: 
- 1 stick of plant butter (I just tried Country Crock Plant Butter and the consistency is amazing!)
- 1 1/4 cup sugar divided (sorry, but real, unhealthy sugar is the best for this recipe. It's a treat. Just go for it.)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup gf all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6oz vanilla Greek yogurt (even with our dairy sensitivities, we do ok with Greek yogurt, but a soy or coconut milk yogurt would work just as well)
- 2 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen - thaw first if using frozen, slice if using fresh)

Directions
Add sugar and plant butter to a large mixing bowl. Mix with electric mixer until fluffy. My Kitchenaid mixer with the whisk attachment is perfection. Add eggs in one at a time and continue to mix until incorporated. Add vanilla. 
In a separate mixing bowl mix together dry ingredients. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. Add 1/2 the Greek yogurt and mix. Repeat. 
Add strawberries to batter and gently fold in with a spatula. 
Spray a large glass rectangular baking dish with cooking spray and add batter. Top with extra strawberries and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and set. It will continue to cook once removed from the oven, so don't worry if it isn't completely done in the middle!
Let sit in warm baking dish for 30 minutes. Serve warm. Or cold. Its good either way. 

I've got a fairly simple week (two weeks, actually) planned because of a busy schedule and zero desire to go grocery shopping! Some of these dinners aren't even recipe-worthy - just simple meals I've cooked since I was newly married. 

Monday

• Breakfast: Easy Banana Bread
  
• Lunch: Macaroni and fruit for the kids; Korean Steak Fry for me. 
  
• Dinner: Spaghetti, salad, green beans
  

Tuesday​

• Breakfast: Blueberry Muffins
• Lunch: Bentgo Boxes for the kids; Enchilada Bowl for me
• Dinner: Ground Turkey Nachos

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Easy Banana Bread
• Lunch: Macaroni and fruit for the kids; Buffalo Shred Bowl for me
• Dinner: My Mama's Chili

Thursday

• Breakfast: Blueberry Muffins
• Lunch: Bentgo Boxes for the kids; Spaghetti Squash Meatballs for me
• Dinner: BBQ Chicken and my Mama's Baked Beans

Friday

• Breakfast: Banana Bread
• Lunch: BBQ Chicken and fruit for the kids; Keto Barbacoa Brisket for me
• Dinner: Oliver Pizza Pie (I swear I will post this recipe eventually! It's a tough one!)

Saturday

• Breakfast: Blueberry Muffins
• Lunch: Leftover Pizza Pie
• Dinner: Burgers (on gf bread) with tater tots and salad

Snacks this week are parfaits (greek yogurt, Kind Granola, and fruit) and homemade Lara Bars. I'm trying a new concoction, so I'll post when I make them!

Gluten Free and Dairy Free

Ingredients: 

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 cup granulated sweetener (I usually use 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup stevia)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour (I like Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Flour)

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan. Place bananas in mixing bowl and beat until bananas are mushy. Add melted coconut oil, sweetener, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt and mix to combine. Add flour and mix until just combined - don't overmix or bread will be tough. 

Bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack, slice, and serve!