No Bake Apple Crumble Bars

I found this neat recipe here, http://byebyegluten.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-apple-crumble-bars-gluten-free.html, and had to try it. Hubby liked it! Ate most of it. I made some more today and I don't think he has found it yet. LOL He will, though! 

I did not add any sweetening of any kind to the apples, although it calls for a small amount maple syrup. I did add the honey to the crust and topping. It is very tasty. 

No Bake Apple Crumble Bars

Apple Filling

3 organic apples (I used granny smith- a tarter flavor)
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp water (add more if you like it more gooey)
1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Crust/Topping
1 cup Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour

3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp coconut oil1 tsp Alcohol-Free Vanilla
1/8 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

Slice and peel apples. Place them in a pan with the rest of the filling ingredients and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook until fork tender. If you want a more gooey or sweet apple, you can add more maple syrup (or honey) or water.

While your apples are cooking, put your almond and coconut flour and salt together in a small bowl and stir with a fork, breaking up any clumps. Add the oil, honey, and vanilla and stir well.

Press a little over half of the mix into your 8 x 8 pan and top with the apples. Take the rest of the topping and sprinkle it evenly on top of the apples and press lightly.  

Happy eating!!  :)

Grain Free Butter Cookies

I have not tried this recipe yet, but I will get around to it someday. It does sound pretty good, though.

Butter Cookies

3/4 C almond flour
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 TBS Splenda (sweetener of choice)
2 TBS butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 egg white

Mix all ingredients well in small bowl. It should be moist and dough stick together. Freeze about 15-20 minutes to firm up the dough. Drop by teaspoons onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Roll into little balls, cover the bottom of your baking powder can with plastic wrap and flatten the balls of cookie dough. Prick the cookies with a fork.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 20 cookies and they can be frozen.

They do sound good. I would post where I got this recipe but have no clue.

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Hamburger Buns

I just found this recipe the other day and have not tried it yet, but I sure am gonna.

You have noticed that I may not be the most talkative/type-a-tive  person who's blogged around, right? LOL  That's ok. I know when I am looking for recipes or something and I end up at a blog where the recipe lives, I sometimes have to scroll through endless text and photos and text and talk and photos to get to the recipe and it drives me a little nuts. I just want the recipe, please. OK, sometimes a little chat here and there is cool, but let's get to the recipe. And on that note, here's the recipe.  :)

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Hamburger Buns

1/2 C almond flour         1 1/2 C Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/4 C golden flax meal     1 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 C plain whey protein   1 TBS heavy cream
1 tsp baking powder        1 TBS water
3 TBS cream cheese         1 tsp dry yeast
2 large eggs               Poppy or Sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar, both cheeses and dissolved yeast (if using).  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Grease your metal molds well with oil.  I actually baked my buns in empty 13-oz cans that cooked chicken breast meat comes in.  Those cans are the perfect diameter and I have saved 8 of these over the past year so I would have them for this purpose.  They don’t appear to be lined, so I think it’s OK to bake in them.  Hopefully I can locate a more suitable hamburger bun baking pan or some large round metal cookie molds.  You could also use mini cake or mini pie pans to bake these.  Muffin-top pans would be OK I suppose, but may make smaller buns.  You can even free-hand shape them on a silicone or parchment lined cookie sheet.  But be warned, they will likely spread out as they cook and you may be unhappy with their final shape.  Using a ½-cup measuring cup, scoop up 1/2 c. batter and fill your mold slots, spreading it evenly with the back of a spoon.  Batter will be about ½” thick in the mold slots and there will be enough batter for 7 buns. Sprinkle on sesame or poppy seeds if using.  Pop buns into a 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until done to the touch in the center and lightly browned around the edges.  Cool a few minutes.  Slide knife around edges of buns to loosen and carefully remove them to a cooling rack or cutting board. When totally cool, slice them laterally and they are ready to use for your grilled burgers or other sandwiches.  Store any leftover in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.

And.... here is the link where I got this recipe from, can hardly wait to try it. Buttoni's Low Carb Recipes

Coconut-Cinnamon Coffee Cake

This recipe looks good,  except for the coconut. I don't like it. But, maybe since I've been using coconu oil and coconut flour now and can manage those, I might find coconut ok now, too. I always liked coconut when I dug it out of the shell, but flaked coconut no matter how fixed, no.

Coconut-Cinnamon Coffee Cake

1 C plus 2 TBS almond flour
1 TBS tapioca flour
1 TBS potato flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/4 C coconut oil, melted
2 TBS honey
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:
1/2 date sugar
1 1/2 TBS cinnamon
2 TBS coconut oil
1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Stir togethr the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Mix at medium speed with mixer until combined. Now mix on high until batter is very smooth, about 2 minutes.

Mix the topping ingredients until it looks like sand.

Pour batter into well-greased 8" x 8" baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over the top. Bake for 30 minutes or until a knive inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve.

OK, I'm getting hungry typing this out.

I found this lovely at Jan's Sushi Bar

Grain Free and Sugar Free

I've gone grain free and sugar free. I don't know how long this will last, but for the long haul would be good. Since my blood pressure and cholestereol seem to be higher than what is standard, I have been taking hydrochlorothyazide for that. I will not take the statins for the cholesterol. I did try the niacin in nicotinic acid form, which is the real niacin and I tried starting out at 100 mg. Not doing that, either. LOL WHEW!

I'd been reading this and that and those things over here and those other things over there and have read that the usual underlying cause of the cholesterol and high blood pressure, amonng many othere things, is that the body is inflamed, and that usually caused by sugars and grains, so instead of treating the symptoms with chemical pills, I am working on treating the cause.

I started this sometime in July of this year. I dearly love breads and pastas and didn't know how I was going to fair, but I find now that I've STOPPED the grains and sugars, I don't miss them at all. The last few times I've taken my blood pressure, yes, I'm still taking the meds until it is totally better and I see my doctor, it has been in the normal range. It HAD been in the not too high but still higher than it should be range, even with the meds. I was thrilled!

And an extra bonus! I've lost about 14 pounds since I started this. I think that is pretty cool. :)

I've been to many sites and found many new recipes. I am not doing Paleo, I use dairy and I use Quioa, Amaranth, Buckwheat, or I will when I get some come pay day. LOL But I DO have Almond Flour and Coconut Flour. Some of the new recipes for breads and desserts/snacks I've tried are pretty good, and some are not quite as good as others. I won't use "ose" sweeteners, nor sugar. I will use a little honey from time to time. I do have Stevia and I have found that Xylitol is ok to use, but not so much the other "tols". After I bought the Stevia I now have I found that it is mixed with detrose, (one of the OSE products I don't want), but there you have it. I will either use it or give it to someone who wants it and buy other that is not mixed with an "ose". I'm not REAL fond of the taste of stevia and I don't know what xylitol tastes like yet, but, will find out soon, I'm sure. Hey, I've even quit sweetening my coffee!!! I do put cream or milk in it, but no sweet. After a month of non-sweet coffee I thought I would treat myself with a little honey in it, as that is how I would sweeten it, and I nearly gagged.

Not Paleo, not Low Carb, not Callorie Counting, not Low Fat, just grain free and sugar free.

And now, the first cookie recipe I tried.

Georges's Cinnamon Crisps
1 C almond flour
1/4 C granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda (I used stevia)
1 egg white
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping:
1 tsp granular Splenda (again, I used the stevia)
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients except the topping in a small bowl. All should be moist and the dough stick together. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll into balls. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, cover the bottom of a baking powder can with plastic wrap and flatten each circle of dough. Prick them with a fork, sprinkle tops with topping. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before storing in an air tight container.  Can be frozen.

These were pretty good, but I did not like the topping on them and I think a little more cinnamon in the dough would have been better.But I ate them ALL. No, not all at one time. LOL

Today's Breakfast

Fresh garden veggies.... great stuff!

So, this morning I fixed veggies sauteed in butter and a hard fried egg fried in the same butter, doctored up after frying, of course.

Sauteed Veggies and Doctored up Fried Egg

1 small to medium sized green tomato
1 small onion
1 medium button mushroom

1 egg
Tomato-Basil Feta Cheese
Sprouts
Salsa  (spicy hot or any type you like) heated in micro-wave until hot.

Salt
Pepper

Slice all the veggies to bite size pieces and saute in melted butter in a skillet. Push over to the side and break an egg into the skillet, break the yolk, and cook until it's done.

Transfer the cooked goodies to your plate making sure the egg lies flat. Now....to doctor up the egg. Sprinkle some of the Feta cheese on one half the egg, add some sprouts, and fold the bare half of the egg to cover. I kinda pressed it down a little bit so it would stay and not flop back open. (STAY egg, STAY! Good egg.) Now, pour the heated salsa over the egg. Salt and pepper all to taste and enjoy!

Hubby pretty much turned up his nose at my breakfast, but then he likes toast for breakfast or waffles or pancakes.

Don't forget the cup of coffee or tea!!  :)

Fresh from the Garden Summertime Cucumber Salad

We tried a garden again down here in the hard clay. It turned out not too badly this time. Although the weeds and grass are slowly taking over now and the deer in the area have now found it. They seem to like the squash leaves, the pepper leaves and the canteloup really well. One of them must not like the actual peppers, found a big bite out of one and the chunck taken out was on the ground along with the pepper. So I cleaned the pepper and our dog, Jackson, got that one. He loves peppers.

So, anyway, we had lotsa cucumbers. They do like to hide beneath those leaves. Salad time...

1 medium cucumber, peeled, sliced lengthwise in quarters, then the quarters sliced.
1/2 onion chopped
1 medium red tomato chopped to small bite size pieces
salt and pepper to taste
dill weed
pomegranite infused red wine vinegar

Mix them all together and taste. Don't make your salad swim in the vinegar, just use enough to coat everything after you stir it all up and then maybe add a little more for good measure. If you need more salt, add it, etc. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before eating. Overnight would be good. Stir to re-mix it all before serving. Hubby liked this pretty well. Happy Chowing Down!!  :)

Garlic Sweet Potato Chips

I tried this really neat recipe I found online, I may have pinned it to Pinterest, too. I will try it again. One statement here, do NOT walk away from the kitchen when these are in the oven. The instructions say 400 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. I walked away with the timer set at 25 minutes so I could cook them longer if I needed to. There were a few that were still soft and the others were .... I'll call them blackened. Yeah, that's what they were, blackened. Unplanned blackened. LOL Though I had my doubts to begin with for these, the ones that weren't too bad really did tasted good.

Garlic Sweet Potato Chips
by Amie Valpone in Healthy Recipes, 2 Feb 2013  Serves 4

2 large sweet potatoes sliced 1/16 of an inch thick
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

In a large bowl combine all ingredients: gently toss to combine. Transfer chips to baking sheet.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until crisp. Cool for 20 minutes. Serve.

I put my chips on 2 cookie sheets. I think my next batch will turn out much better, not blackened. I will try it again.

Mush Buns!!!

I have SOOOOO been looking for this recipe on the internet... have not found it. It may be out there someplace, but I haven't found it. My  grandmother would make these when she drove up to visit us in Illinois from Florida when I was a little girl and I could hardly wait for her to make them. I LOVED them. In the 1977 she told me the recipe and I wrote it down and when I made it, it just didn't seem like it was going to turn our correctly, what with the 1 cup of water and 1 cup of corn meal, and maybe other things that weren't quite right. LOL Mind you, I didn't try making them right away, it was YEARS until I was brave enough to do that and by then she was no longer here to where I could ask her what I did wrong.

My sister-in-law found the recipe in her cook book, written in my grandma's hand, and gave it to me today and I HAD to post it here, AFTER I typed it and saved it into my computer in case I lost the paper. :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I was a kid. I am gonna have to buy me some white corn meal now. YES!!! :)

Mush Buns

1 qt boiling water 1 scant C white corn meal

1 tsp salt ½ C sugar

1 C shortening 1 pk yeast dissolved in warm water

1 C flour

Add corn meal to boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add salt, sugar, and shortening. Let cool and add the dissolved yeast and flour. Let rise then add more flour to make dough stiff enough to knead, but not too stiff. Knead until it does not stick to hands using more flour when necessary. Let rise in greased mixing bowl, covered and placed in warm area until doubled.

Punch down, roll dough out to ¼ inch thickness, cut with large cutter and let rise on greased cookie sheet. Making sure the buns do not touch, bake in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until nice and brown.

Cheater's Guide to Italian Cream Soda

Any of you like cream soda? I do. Go to the store and get a can/carton of cream soda and it is just plain good. One day at a restaurant I tried Italian cream soda. WOA! Now that stuff is GOODER than good!

When I got home I looked up recipes for making it. It isn't hard, but unless you have different flavored syrups and keep cream handy in the fridge, like me, you aren't going to make it too often.

The other day I got to thinkin', which doesn't always turn out well, but this time I think it did. I've been buying seltzer water: it doesn't have any sugar, no fake sugar, no salt, no flavor, just carbonated water. And I have been buying the flavored creamers for my coffee, not the fake creamers, the ones with cream and milk in them. What if..... so I tried it. I put some of my flavored creamer, I think it was the cinnamon one, in a glass and added the seltzer water, stirred gently till well mixed, and it was ... good. A cheat, maybe, but hey! It worked!

So... grab some of your favorite flavored coffee creamers with the real cream and milk in it, add it to some seltzer water to taste, and you're got a fairly decent cream soda!