Birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, Wednesdays... there are so many good reasons to eat chocolate cake. In fact, this recipe came to be this week as we were celebrating my birthday. Earlier this week I had hastily jotted down a recipe for chocolate cake to bring for me and my sister's double birthday party happening later that evening. I love it when it turns out alright on the first try, but love it even more that my family is so patient with my cooking experiments. It still needed a little tweaking.

A quick and simple breakfast muffin that's perfect for any busy morning. This Thursday, however, I'll be serving them as a light breakfast before Thanksgiving appetizers and dinner (gotta save room for pie!) They're simple to make the night before and ready to eat by morning. I have to tweak the recipe for Miah who has to be grain free, but otherwise these muffins get devoured quick. It's fun how you can make memories last with food.

  The kids are home for the summer (sigh of relief and dread). Now the fun begins with playing outside all day, staying up late, sleeping in, playing in water wherever you can find it, camping, barbecues, vacations....and everyone's always hungry!

Want to know how long it's been since I made crepes? Years!!! My oldest son had to be reminded what a crepe was. Shameful, I know. Since our family started eating gluten free the idea of crepes was just a distant happy memory. I mean seriously, how do you make soft, pliable, delicate, delicious crepes with gritty gluten free flour blends or nut flours?

I have to say I find it funny when people say things like, "oh, I'm not a good cook", not because I don't believe them, but because I used to say the exact same thing. 

 These dinner rolls are pretty simple to make, great with some drizzled honey, and fits into a grain free or paleo diet. It took a while to wrap my head around the idea that I could use ground nuts to make "breads". Now that I'm getting the hang of it, all kinds of possibilities and variety have opened up.These dinner rolls are filling because they are packed with protein instead of refined carbohydrates. You can serve them warm from the oven or freeze them for later.

I am forever in pursuit of easy, tasty, and healthy gluten free baked goods. My obsession is partly because I love bread, but mostly it's because of my daughter with an autoimmune disease. Following a gluten free diet may suddenly make enjoying baked goods seem like a long lost dream, or at the very least, way too complicated to bother with. Instead of using a cup of one kind of flour, now it takes a handful of different "flours" ranging from rice, to tapioca, to beans!

Fall is on it's way, apples are coming into season, and everyone is craving some warm comfort food that reminds them of home. At least I am. It can be frustrating though, attempting to indulge in some reminiscent baked goods when more recent food allergies have kind of put a halt on "bread". Well this bread is gluten free with no refined sugar. Instead I made my own bean flour blend and used coconut sugar, no sugar added apple sauce, and real maple syrup to make this delicious treat. Yummy!

  I made these last night in celebration of the last week before the kids go back to school! Maybe it's a little more of a celebration for me and just sympathy sweets for the kids. Either way, they are chewy and yummy and so easy to make. Years ago Alex's grandma showed me how to take a couple eggs, a cup of peanut butter and a cup of sugar and make it into simple little peanut butter cookies. They are so good, but you have to make them really little so they don't fall apart and there's a lot of sugar. So I decided to take her classic recipe and alter it just enough to make it healthier, yet just as simple and good. The trick is replacing the whole eggs with whipped egg whites and the refined white sugar with a less refined sweetener like coconut sugar or honey.   * Okay, so actually there are 4 ingredients if you count the chocolate chips, but you get the idea. 

  Okay I have to admit this "bread" may be more closely related to a brownie, but it's a gluten free, dairy free, grain free, refined sugar free, delicious bread/brownie something!

  I got a message from one of my very best friends that she would be in town in the morning. It's been almost 2 years since the last time I'd seen her and I was excited to catch up and let's face it, anytime I can have an adult conversation it's like Christmas. So last night before bed I made these sweet gluten free applesauce muffins with buckwheat, brown rice, and oatmeal flour. Hardy enough to fill my kiddos up before school and less mess for me to clean up on an already busy morning. They turned out so yummy and were all eaten in less than 10 minutes! 

    These peanut butter cookies are simple, healthy, gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, and packed with protein! 

  Busy days with sports, science fair projects, springtime to-dos, and everyday must-dos call for chowder in a crockpot. Tonight I made my savory (and according to my friend Nicole, even better the next day) Chickpea Chowder. The problem, was that I had nothing to dunk and soak up all that yumminess. I used to make THE best focaccia bread from scratch that was perfect with a dish like this. So I had to come up with something dunk-worthy that was equally as savory on it's own.

Okay, this may be revealing some of my secrets, but if you've recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, have a gluten intolerance, or just want to change up the grains in your life, then knowledge and know-how are your best friends. When my daughter was first diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder I was so worried about messing up that I just didn't make anything unless I used a gluten free mix. It didn't take me long to realize that more often than not this method was way too expensive, the ingredients were crazy fattening and unhealthy (despite being gluten free), and a lot of the time it just didn't taste good...at all! So I started experimenting and yes, messing up. The result, however, has been that now I can make up my own recipes that are gluten free, healthy, and taste super yummy! 

So I've been doing a lot of experimenting with gluten free flour blends and trying to come up with one that doesn't require any xanthan gum. So far I've experienced fail and epic fail! But, out of those failures I've learned what doesn't work and have come up with this very yummy gluten free flour blend that I used to make this hardy flaxseed bread. I think there's a life lesson hidden in there somewhere. This bread's nice and sturdy and may even replace my old gluten free sandwich bread as my new sandwich bread recipe!

With the warmer weather, we've been having more and more get-together's with family and friends lately. My parents were in town and instead of trying to come up with an entire dinner for my family, my parents, and my sister's family we decided to eat separately and join up after for dessert, a mean game of backyard badminton, and card games. Needless to say, my kids were so excited about dessert they didn't "feel very hungry for dinner". I needed to make something that was not only going to be gluten free, but wasn't going to give my kiddos a sugar rush and crash. Oh, one other requirement...it had to be chocolate (per the hubby's request). What does this look like a specialty bakery!? Well, chocolate does sound pretty good right now....so I gave in and made these yummy, refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free Double Chocolate Brownies!