JCnaturals

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Anna — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:20:42 +0000

Birthday Cake

Anna — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:40:29 +0000

This year I decided to make myself a birthday cake, which I usually don’t do. My wonderful husband used to have a cake for me every year, but nowadays there are too many food allergies for him to juggle. I’m used to working with recipes and adapting them. He is not. No corn syrup, dyes or artificial flavorings for Jaden. No gluten for me and Jonah. It’s not quite as easy as ordering a cake at Safeway or picking up a boxed cake and tub of icing. Anyhow, I always make the rest of my family a super yummy cake on their birthdays so I decided to do the same thing for myself! After doing lots of research on different gluten-free recipes and figuring out what I wanted, I came up with this cake, based on my favorite cake from when I was a little girl. (I always requested a boxed bundt cake that had a gooey center of some sort. Can’t remember the brand – don’t think they make it anymore?) I used this recipe for the caramel sauce – make sure to make and cool it ahead of time.

Anna’s Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

1.5 cups of Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix

1 cup of butter

8 oz Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate squares

5 eggs

3 cups raw sugar

1 T vanilla extract

12 Ghirardelli Hazelnut Luxe milk chocolate squares

Caramel sauce, made prior to baking cake

Set 1.5 cups of the Pamela’s Baking Mix aside. Mix the sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in a stand mixer. Mix on medium-low speed for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes

In the meantime, preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the inside of an angel food pan (or bundt pan if that’s what you have) with cooking spray. Melt the butter and Baker’s baking squares in a saucepan on the stove over low heat. Gently mix so it doesn’t burn and once melted together, set it to the side.

After 15 minutes and once the egg mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, slowly alternate adding the flour and chocolate mixture while mixing on low speed. Do not over mix. Pour about half of the cake batter into the angel food pan. Top with the hazelnut chocolates, all the way around, overlapping as you go. Now carefully drizzle a little caramel sauce over the chocolates.

I want to eat it now...

Gently top it all off with the remaining cake batter and spread it evenly around to seal the caramel and chocolate within the center of the cake. Next, pop the cake into the preheated oven for about 45 minutes.

Before popping it into the oven

Take it out and let it cool for 15 minutes before taking the sides off of the pan and transferring to a serving plate. Before serving, drizzle the top with lots more of the caramel sauce.

Just out of the oven

Cross section of the finished cake

The caramel sauce wasn't very thick, but it was yummy!

Happy Birthday to me! :) This yummy cake is free of gluten, artificial dyes and flavorings, and corn syrup so that our whole family can enjoy. And we did enjoy it very much!

#39 = wow!

MFW – CTG Week 18-19

Anna — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:52:51 +0000

These past two weeks in our home school, we studied Judges, Ruth and 1 Samuel. We continued learning about the life of Bach and listening to some of his famous works. We finished our latest chapter book, Treasures of the Snow. One highlight this past week was a super easy science experiment we did involving vinegar and an egg to show what a cell looks like. The vinegar slowly dissolved the outer shell, leaving the clear membrane intact. It resulted in a wiggly, giggly egg with a yellow nucleus inside.

I’m excited to start studying Greek mythology with Jaden next week!

Italian Spaghetti with Meatballs

Anna — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:50:59 +0000

Tonight I decided to try a new spaghetti recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. Jaden is not a fan of my usual homemade spaghetti sauce anymore thanks to a stomach bug that he caught 2 years ago after eating dinner. And I don’t blame him one bit! Anyhow, tonight he ate this new sauce and liked it so much that he even went for seconds.

We all loved it, especially the meatballs. They were super yummy. I followed the recipe almost exactly… except I added some oregano, a little extra garlic and used both whole tomatoes and diced since that is what I had in the pantry. And I made the meatballs with gluten free breadcrumbs.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/italian-spaghetti-sauce-with-meatballs/

Quick and Easy Gluten Free Pizza

Anna — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:53:47 +0000

Jonah hasn’t felt good for the past few days – headache, tummy ache and a congested cough. He hasn’t been eating much and has been craving more water (which has been great since he usually prefers anything but water!). Yesterday after lunch, his school called for me to come pick him up… and he is staying home, with a fever, today. He is getting plenty of rest on the couch while listening to Jaden and I do schoolwork. And he is getting schooled whether he realizes it or not. :)

A few minutes ago, he said that he was hungry and asked me to make him some pizza. I know. Not the best food when one is sick. But he’s actually hungry and wanting to eat. And it’s homemade… so I’m making it for him. It will be just as healing as chicken soup… right?

Anyhow, I dug out an old recipe card that I had from back when Scott and I were first married. It is a quick and easy pizza that I used to occasionally make. I have no idea where I got the recipe from, and as I always seem to do, I’m sure that I adapted it in some way from the original. Today I adapted it further in that I made it gluten-free. And it turned out well so I thought I’d share the recipe.

Quick and Easy Gluten-Free Pizza

1 c. gf flour mix (I used a mixture of amarath, tapioca and rice flours)

1/4 t. guar gum or xanthan gum

1/2 t oregano

1/2 t. basil

1/4 t. garlic powder

dash of ground pepper

2 beaten eggs

2/3 c. milk (cow, rice, almond, or coconut)

tomato or pizza sauce – about 1/2 cup

2 c. shredded cheese – I used a 4 cheese italian blend and added some cheddar, too!

Pizza toppings – if desired.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium to large bowl, mix the flours, spices, beaten eggs, and milk until smooth. Pour into a greased pie plate. Spoon the tomato sauce on top and try to spread it around a bit. Top with the cheese and whatever toppings you desire. Then sprinkle with a little oregano. Pop it into the oven for about 25 minutes and it’s done!

Jonah ate 3 pieces. :) And now he’s back on the couch, reading.