{Mini} Puff Pancakes - Gluten, Soy, Dairy Free

I love a good puff pancake. My go-to recipe uses a 9-inch pie pan. And a host of non-The Boy-Friendly ingredients.

With my niece and nephew around during Spring Break, I wanted to make mini-versions. Kids always seem to eat better if their food is miniature. I hopped over to one of my favorite blogs to see what they had. Sure enough, I found a Mini Puff Pancake recipe. 

I have adapted the recipe below to be gluten free, dairy free (and soy free). Give them a try!

Mini Puffed Oven Pancakes with Berry Sauce
recipe by ourbestbites.com - adapted by Tree of Life Creative

Ingredients
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 tapioca starch
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
powdered sugar

Berry Sauce
6 large frozen or fresh strawberries or mixed berries
3 tablespoons berry jam

InstructionsPlace mini muffin pan in oven and heat to 400 degrees.  While oven is heating, place flour, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.  

Carefully remove the pan from the oven (don’t forget it’s hot!) and brush with melted butter. 

Fill muffin wells 3/4 full with batter.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden on top.  

Remove puffs and place on plate or platter.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  

Drizzle with berry sauce and top with cool whip or whipped cream, or serve with sauce and/or maple syrup for dipping.

Quick and Easy Berry Sauce

Place berries and into small saucepan. Heat on medium until mixture is bubbly. Mash large pieces if needed. Drizzle over puff pancakes!

Yields about 24 mini muffin pancake puffs

Easter Egg Lunches

Three dozen...Easter Egg Lunches!

I celebrated Good Friday with my niece (9) and nephew (4) and The Boy (can you believe he's almost 2?!). I surprised them with an Easter Egg Lunch. An idea inspired by Pinterest. Of course. Pretty much all of my ideas from from Pinterest these day. 

I spent a few weeks purchasing eggs in these cool plastic containers. We go through a ridiculous amount of eggs each week so it didn't take long. The kids went crazy over the lunch. Next time I'll look for slightly larger eggs. I filled the eggs with strawberries, carrots, grapes, cheese (for the dairy eaters!), turkey, jelly beans, hard boiled eggs, and a tiny cookie. I did double up on a few. I would have loved to fit their sandwiches inside - cut into cute shapes - but the plastic eggs weren't remotely close enough to fit sandwich pieces. Maybe I'll try wraps next time!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free Cornbread

• 
  
• The Boy loves to eat. At his last check up he was in the 85 percentile for his weight and height. Not too shabby for a strapping Midwestern boy. I have an inclining that he might be a chef, or at least enjoy cooking when he's older. He plays in his toy kitchen every day. Plus since he has been able to stand on his own he has helped me out in the kitchen. 
• 
  
• We do a lot of cooking around here because The Boy has allergies to dairy, soy and lately some sort of wheat or gluten intolerance that we are doing food trials on right now. 
• 
  
• The dairy wasn't much of a challenge for me - I often substitute dairy alternatives. Soy was challenging. Turns out soy appears in many forms in the majority of store bought products. Over the last year and a half I have gotten my cooking down pat. Then the gluten issue came into play and I've had to reinvent my recipes and get a even more creative and bold in the kitchen. 
• 
  
• And even more so when I start a recipe thinking that I have the key ingredients on hand...like in this recipe! It's very forgiving when you realize that you're out of cornmeal. Oops. Feel free to substitute cornmeal for the grits and polenta if you happen to have them on hand!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free Homestyle Cornbread

• (heavily adapted from MyRecipes.com)

Ingredients

1/3 cup tapioca starch

2/3 cup rice flour

1/2 cup grits

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 cup prepared polenta (I used Trader Joe's fully cooked brand) OR Cornmeal

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

1 cup (just under) coconut milk (or milk of your choice)

1 tablespoon vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 to 1 cup corn kernels (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8x8 inch square pan.
2. In a bowl, mix tapioca starch, rice flour, grits, corn starch, polenta (or cornmeal), sugar, salt, and baking powder. If using polenta be sure to mix very well - mixture will be very crumbly. 
3. In a measuring cup mix coconut milk and vinegar to form "buttermilk". Let rest until slightly thickened.
4. Once milk has thickened, add eggs and oil and mix until blended. In another bowl, beat eggs to blend with buttermilk and 1/4 cup butter; pour into flour mixture. Add corn (or green chilies, or bacon pieces...) if using. Stir batter until evenly moistened.
5. Pour into a well-greased 8x8 inch square pan. 
6. Bake until bread is browned and springs back when gently pressed in the center about 20-25 minutes.

Extra Green Guacamole

I used to be known for spending hours in the kitchen. If you had a time-consuming, pain-in-the-neck-inducing recipe - I was the girl for the job! Complicated instructions. Detail oriented. Particular.

But it was worth every overly nerotic nuance almost every time!

Then, along came The Boy. Now, I spend countless hours each week cooking for him. He is allergic to dairy and soy and we suspect something is going on with wheat and his digestive system. My cooking has gone from dream hobby to complete necessity. My child wouldn't eat much if I didn't spend time in the kitchen.

I also watch my nephew after school for a few hours and he likes to eat. So when you add it all up, I'm generally in the kitchen for about half of the day either cooking or cleaning up (which has been dramatically reduced since my awesome husband jumped on my bandwagon to install a dishwasher in our very old pre-dishwasher home just a few short weeks ago! Maybe I'll write a post on that one too one of these days. Dishwasher: Best. Invention. EVER.).

Back to the story. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

I haven't been particularly creative with my own food much in part to the fact that I have to be creative with The Boy's food. Today, however, I wanted something fresh and spring-like for lunch even if the weather outside wasn't exactly screaming "SPRING IS HERE!" (unless 15 degrees is spring-like for you - then you should probably go. I whine a lot about the cold.). As I was dishing up plates of food for the boys, I was trying to figure out what I could make for lunch that wasn't a straight-up salad but was still healthy and incorporated some green.

As I plated my not-so-fancy child lunch of their but favorite scrambled eggs, carrots and dip, and sliced avocado I realized that I wanted an avocado too. I noticed a few cherry tomatoes withering away on my counter. I was thrilled! I could make guacamole! Yes! Noooo. Noooooooo. No. I can't eat straight up guac for lunch. Yes it's green, but I needed more. Plus I'm out of tortilla chips.

I had a vague memory of a kale-guac recipe my family made a year or two ago and decided to replicate it. I was out of kale, but did have spinach.

The results were pretty awesome. Filling. And not too guilt-inducing. Considering that I'd rather eat a bag of jelly beans this time of year to try and keep up my winter layers (pudge) to stay warm during our incredible "spring". Did I mention that I dislike the cold? Whatever. This was better than jelly beans.


Give it a try. Simple. Green. Hurry-Up-Spring in a bowl.

Here is the recipe for my Extra Green Guacamole:

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach - chopped well
1/2 avocado
1/4-1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (to taste)
Up to 1 TB lime juice (I like lime)
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Garlic - to taste
Fresh jalapeno - to taste (if not allergic like me)

Using a fork or potato masher combine ingredients. Add lime, salt, pepper, garlic and jalapeno to suit your taste preferences. Eat straight up using a fork like a salad or more sophisticated scooping with broken pieces of tostada. Like me. Or wrap in white corn tortillas.

Enjoy!

Community Gardening

We've had quite a month. I can't believe I haven't posted. I don't know where the time went.

Well, I do know where it went, but it went fast!

We planted our garden at the beginning of the month and it is growing strong! We wanted to start with a manageable size so as not to overwelm our small congregation so we planted some staples: tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, cucumbers and basil (my favorite!).

Despite drought conditions, our garden looks healthy. We have a soaker hose embedded and we topped the garden with mulch to help hold the moisture in and block weeds. It's working nicely and it's a hot topic on Sunday mornings.

Dig it up, lay down weed blocking material, cut some holes, set the plants in, roll out the soaker hose and toss a little mulch on and we're good to go!

The Man thinking hard in the background :)

The Boy lending a hand...

Finished!