Finding Pinspiration

Have you discovered Pinterest yet?

"No, not yet. I just haven't gotten around to checking it out." STOP RIGHT THERE. Go. Now. Your life will never be the same again. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration... but your closets will never be more organized, your preschooler will be wide-eyed at the fun ABC manipulatives his/her mommy has, you'll know how to get any stain out of any fabric and you'll finally learn the right exercises to get rid of those saddlebags. Do not proceed any further in this blog entry until you do! You'll thank me. (But - after you've spent hours and hours scouring Pinterest, please do come back and finish reading. I'll miss you.)

"Why yes, Katie, I have!" Don't you just LOVE it? It's like a world of inspiration right at your finger tips! How did we ever get on without it?? I'll follow you if you follow me! We could be Pinterest BFFs!!

I'm getting a wee bit out of control, aren't I. I apologize. It has that affect on me.

(But don't forget to find me on Pinterest.)

Now where was I? Ah, yes. September. As far as I'm concerned, September 1st is the beginning of Autumn. It marks the journey towards my favorite time of year.... cold weather. I'm happiest during the months of October to March, with times of giddiness in November, December and January. It's almost as though I get a new lease of life. The crisp air fills my lungs, the trees change colors and paint the landscape or better yet, the world is blanketed in snow... and I'm compelled to start baking.

Enter Pinterest.

I found today's recipe there... but in a glutenous, fattening version. I set to work last night, seeing how I could change it to gluten free and low fat. I put the pan in the oven and, about 1/2 hour later, decided it didn't matter if the recipe turned out right or not... because my house smelled AMAZING. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger... can you just imagine? I pictured pulling my sunken, mushy concoction out of the oven and just placing it on the stove for an hour or so... like an asthetically ugly version of potpourri.

When the hour of baking was up, I flicked on the oven light and was thrilled to see a loaf of bread! Risen in the middle, deep orange color... by jing, it worked!

And friends, it tastes good. Really, really good. Autumn-in-your-mouth good. We chose to top if off with a small swipe of low fat cream cheese... leaving the hubby to declare it as "blog worthy".

So, here you go. My gluten free, lower fat version of my Pinterest find, Pumpkin Gingerbread. If you are looking to transition your mind from summer to autumn, may I suggest baking this bread? You'll find yourself back on Pinterest, searching for new ideas in autumn decorating.

I'll probably being doing the same. See you there, Pinterest BFF!

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw, Splenda or whatever sugar substitute you use
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/3 cup milk
1/2 (15- oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I used Pamela's Baking Mix)
*1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
*1/2 teaspoon baking powder

*If you use Pamela's Baking Mix, omit baking powder and use 1/2 tsp baking soda. If you use another gf flour that does not have baking soda or baking powder in it, add the amounts in the ingredients list.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.

In large bowl, combine sugars, applesauce and eggs; beat until smooth. Add milk and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend with a whisk until all ingredients are mixed. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool.

The Dessert That Almost Wasn't

Yesterday was one of those days. My daughter is part of a performance of The Nutcracker with her ballet school and she had a long practice in the evening. My aunt was arriving from Ohio for a visit right around dinner time, so I was in the middle of preparing dinner when it occurred to me that a dessert might be nice to have after dinner, to celebrate my aunt’s arrival.

So with my brain churning away, listing everything I needed to get done before leaving for the ballet rehearsal, I embarked upon an experimental recipe. In the middle of making dinner.

In hindsight, not a good combination.

Things started off well. I took a moment to look over the recipe again, making sure I had my gluten free measurements correct. I smiled, feeling pretty confident that I had things right.

I measured out my dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another. I then added the wet to the dry and began to stir. It was then I realized something wasn’t quite right. The batter was rather… thick. Goopy, really. I thought I would be pouring my batter into the bundt pan, but the way things were looking at the moment, I was going to have to scoop large blobs of it in there.

‘Ah well’, I thought to myself, ‘I’m sure it will be fine. Perhaps being GF makes it… goopy.’ I also vowed NOT to use the word "goopy" in my recipe directions.

I prepared my bundt pan and… plopped… the batter into it. I was just about to place it in the oven when something told me to take another look at the recipe.

Uh-oh.

Sugar. I totally forgot the 2 CUPS of sugar. In my hurry to get things done amidst my tickertape list going around and around in my brain, I just totally left it out.

Sooooo… the batter went back into the bowl, the sugar was added (thus making the batter pourable!), back into the pan and into the oven it went.

And can I tell you…. this recipe ROCKS! My family all agreed it doesn’t taste like gluten free, it doesn’t have the texture of gluten free… it’s really good!

My dessert that almost wasn’t… was a hit! *whew*

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

3 cups Pamela’s Baking Mix

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

4 eggs

1 cup oil (veggie or canola)

1 15oz can solid packed pumpkin puree

Optional: 1 cup of chopped pecans, chocolate chips or raisins

Glaze:

4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the baking mix, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ground ginger.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and pumpkin. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until completely combined. Add optional pecans, chips or raisins and stir to incorporate.

Pour into the prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cook in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze: Beat the cream cheese until very creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Add 3 Tbsp of milk and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake or individual slices.

Taste Buds of Happiness

Ah yes, the changing of the seasons. It brings such joy to my heart to watch the leaves change into the bright colors of fall, knowing that my favorite season, winter, is right around the corner. Autumn and Winter bring with them wonderful smells, sights and tastes.

When you think of Autumn, you can almost smell the cinnamon and cloves of your favorite goodie baking in the oven. Your mind’s eye remembers the bright reds, golds and oranges of the trees. Remember Christmases past and you’ll drift through the taste of your Grandma’s renowned cookies and smell the rich scent of the fresh Christmas tree in your home.

We really do experience the seasons will all our senses.

Today, I had all of autumn in my mouth. Yep. Right there, lying on my tongue. It was pumpkin, it was cinnamon, it was allspice, it was nutmeg. It was happiness! I had autumn in my kitchen. You should have smelled the aroma coming from my oven!

If you are like a lot of my friends who suffer from a lack of appreciation for the colder months (you know who you are!), then this cookie is for you. It takes all that is comforting and endearing about autumn and plops it into one little package. OK, I might be exaggerating… just a hair… but still, you get the point. A cup of tea and this sweet little confection and you, too, will experience the smells and tastes of autumn that bring joy to my heart!

Happy Autumn, my friends! Enjoy all the smells, sights and tastes that makes this season so amazing!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter, softened

1½ cups sugar

1 egg

¾ cup pumpkin puree

2¼ cups GF all-purpose flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

Sugar Mixture:

⅓ cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Roll into balls size of a large walnut and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes.

Mix sugar mixture ingredients in a small bowl. Remove cookies from the fridge and roll cookie dough balls in sugar mixture.

Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes at 400˚ until slightly brown and still soft.

Makes 48-60 cookies.

Role Reversal

Once in a while, when all other forms of dinner have been exhausted and the thought of another forkful of chicken, beef, pork or even pasta just cannot be entertained… we go for breakfast foods. There is something quite comforting about having breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs and toast… pancakes… heck, even cereal every now and then! (Don’t think badly of me after that last part.)

Pancakes are extremely diverse little guys. You can throw basically anything into them and make yummy goodness. We will often grab a couple of ripe bananas and some vanilla extract to make Banana Pancakes. My dear friend shared her secret love of Chocolate Chip Pancakes with peanut butter spread on them rather than syrup. (By the way – FABULOUS.)

For the fall, it seems only fitting to celebrate the season with the flavors that capture it. Pumpkin Bread Pancakes smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice… and, of course, pumpkin. Just the process of making them immediately makes your house smell incredible.

There is brown sugar already in these, so no syrup needed. Maybe a little butter on top, but that’s about it. They are seriously that good.

But…

If one DID want to have some sort of syrup to put on top, one COULD - hypothetically, of course - heat up about 1 cup of apple cider and about ¼ cup of real maple syrup in a small saucepan until the cider reduces and becomes thick. One MIGHT enjoy the parade of autumn flavors that march on your palette as a tiny little band plays “Autumn Leaves”.

Just sayin’. Hypothetically.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread Pancakes

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

¼ cup canola or veggie oil

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp allspice or cloves

2 cups Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix

1 cup milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Add Pamela’s Mix and whisk to completely combine. Add milk ¼ cup at a time, until smooth and completely incorporated.

Let batter sit for 5-10 minutes to thicken and to let flavors blend.

If using an electric griddle, set temperature between 300 and 325 degrees. Pour ¼ cup of batter on the griddle and spread to about 4” round circles. Watch pancakes carefully, as they don’t bubble as much as “regular” pancakes. Flip when golden brown on the bottom.

Makes about 15-18 pancakes.

The End Is Almost Here...

Autumn is right around the corner. Soon the leaves will change, pumpkins and dried corn stalks will adorn neighbor’s porches and the air will turn crisp. I can almost imagine the cool breeze coming through the window, quickening my step and making the house smell wonderful.

And oh… the tastes of Autumn! Stews and pies, apples and pumpkin! I can almost taste the spices of the season… cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger. I can smell the aroma of them drifting in the air…

Oh, wait. Maybe that’s just this pumpkin muffin I’m munching on.

There are times I need an “Autumn Fix” in the middle of miserable summer. The air is so thick you can cut it with a knife, the grass is dead and crunchy and the bugs are in full force. Ugh. It’s then I take myself on an imaginary journey into October. As these muffins bake, I’m suddenly on a hayride through cornfields or picking apples at the orchard.

Inevitably the timer goes off and I’m reminded that it was only a dream. Sure, I’m still in the throes of summer, but there is still hope. We are well past the halfway point to a more glorious season! To those of you longing for that crisp, clean air… take heart! Autumn is right around the corner!

Go now. Bake these. Enjoy the imaginary journey.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

3 eggs

2 cups light brown sugar

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 15-oz can pure pumpkin

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups Pamela’s Baking Mix (or 2 cups GF all-purpose flour blend, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two muffin tins with non-stick spray (24 muffins).

Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add applesauce, pumpkin and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add Pamela’s (or GF all-purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder), cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Stir to completely incorporate.

Pour batter into muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins from the pan to finish cooling.

PS – for a little something more, add 1 cup mini chocolate chips as a last ingredient!

Time to Make the Doughnuts...

There is an orchard near our house that makes the most amazing apple cider doughnuts. These are not the fluffy, airy puffs of dough covered in glaze that you get at a doughnut chain. These are dense, moist, cakey doughnuts, rolled in sugar. They are unreal. They are also completely off limits for this gluten free girl!

So when I stumbled upon a recipe for a doughnut that was quite similar in texture, I knew I had to tweak it! Hence… below you will find a recipe that will forever change your life. Ok, it won’t really, unless of course you eat more than one and your cholesterol levels go sky high. Then it actually WILL change your life.

My doughnuts are made with pumpkin puree… but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the leaves start changing colors to make them. Make these bad boys for guests, a loved one’s birthday breakfast or to serve a friend with a cup of tea.

Be aware… the dough will be very fragile, so handle carefully when putting them into the hot oil. Once in, they become hearty! I suggest sliding each one on a spatula and then sliding it into the oil. To try and just pick them up will result in torn or oddly shaped doughnuts.

WARNING: The picture below reeks of sheer deliciousness. Please use caution and a paper towel to catch the drool.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Doughnuts

· 2 eggs

· 1 cup sugar

· 2 tablespoons butter, softened

· 1 cup canned pumpkin

· 1 tablespoon lemon juice

· 4 1/2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix (may need an extra ¼, if too sticky)

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

· 1 cup evaporated milk

· Oil for Deep Frying (I use canola oil)

· 1 cup sugar

· 2 tsp cinnamon

In a mixing bowl. beat eggs, 1 cup sugar, and butter. Add pumpkin and lemon juice; mix well.

Combine Pamela's, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; add to pumpkin mixture alternately with milk.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of Pamela's baking mix onto a clean work area. Use an ice cream scoop to measure dough for each doughnut (dough will be sticky). Drop each dough portion onto the prepared work surface. Gently turn until all sides are coated in Pamela's Baking Mix and dough is no longer sticky. Use your hands to gently shape each dough portion into a circle. Press your finger through the center of each dough portion all the way through to the work surface below; move your finger around so that you create a whole in the center of the dough, about 1'' in diameter. Gently transfer shaped dough to a floured cutting board.

In a cast iron dutch oven or deep fat fryer, heat oil to 350 degrees. Fry doughnuts, a few at a time, until golden, about 3 minutes (turn halfway through frying time with a slotted spoon). Drain on paper towel lined plates.

Combine 1 cup sugar and cinnamon; toss warm doughnut in mixture to coat. Makes at least 2 dozen, depending on size of doughnuts.