Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I enlisted the help of a pre-made pie crust and a can of Pumpkin Pie Mix. I planned to make the pie filling part from scratch, then my super awesome sister gave me a few cans of Pumpkin Pie Mix. Easy! Have I mentioned recently how much I like easy? This pie is gluten free AND dairy free! Score!

Here's what you will need:

Place the pie mix, 3/4 cup canned coconut milk and 2 slightly beaten eggs in a bowl and stir until combined. Pour in to a prebaked gluten free pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 35-40 minutes. 

Here's what your final product should look like!

Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes

I like easy recipes. You know, the kind which require minimal ingredients yet always have an amazing flavor.

I also like almost anything when it's roasted. There's something magical that happens when you coat foods in raw butter or oil and roast them in the oven. Magical, I tell ya!  

I used to LOVE sweet potatoes with plenty of butter and brown sugar. I still enjoy those, however, I've come to adore plain ol' roasted sweet potatoes even more.

Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes

6 Carrots

6 Parsnips

4 Sweet Potatoes

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/8 cup melted raw butter (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Peel everything, cut in to bite sized pieces and place in a bowl. Pour the melted coconut oil and butter over the veggies, add salt and pepper then mix until everything is evenly coated. Pour on to a metal baking pan and roast in a 425 degree preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until the veggies are fork tender. Enjoy! 

Chicken AND Mashed Potatoes

Do you remember when I told you all I would post a recipe a day leading up to Thanksgiving? Yeah, me too. Epic blogger fail! I'm making up for it today by giving you TWO recipes! 

I'm not a huge fan of turkey. As a matter of fact, I could go a whole holiday season just eating all the side items. I do, however, like chicken. We've been eating more of it lately since I discovered it can be made whole in a Crock Pot. It's super easy and totally delicious!

Whole Roasted Crock Pot Chicken

1 Free Range Pasture Raised Chicken (local if possible) 

1 onion thickly sliced

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground cayenne

Combine all the dry spices in a small dish. Place the sliced onions in the bottom of the Crock Pot. Coat the chicken with your spice mixture all over the outside and on the inside. Place the chicken on top of the onions and cook on high for 4 hours. Do not add any liquid, it isn't necessary. Don't forget to save those bones to make home made, gut healthy stock!  

Red Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds of red potatoes

1 cup salted butter

1/2-3/4 cups of heavy cream or half and half

salt and pepper to taste

Cut potatoes in quarters and steam them until a fork will easily go through, usually about 25 minutes. Place butter in a large bowl and add hot potatoes. Add cream, salt and pepper and mash. That's it! Easy peasy! 

Feel Good Friday

We had a bit of a restless night over in these parts. Landon is congested and woke up crying saying "I'm just so 'snuffy' Mommy!" We had a 30 minute ordeal trying to get him to blow his nose, using saline and the snot sucker bulb thing because he didn't want to blow. This started around 10 p.m. We got him all fixed up and back to bed. At precisely 1:00 a.m., we hear a loud thud followed by crying. Yep, it's what you're thinking, he had fallen out of his bed. I picked him up and took him to the recliner to rock for a few minutes, then tucked him back in to bed with extra kisses. 

He was good to go this morning so I took him to school. We were a little bit late, which creates stress for both of us, but we got there! Needless to say, I was a tired after all the chaos and not sleeping well. So, what does a tired Mama do? Hits Starbucks, of course!

There I am, in a line of cars wrapping around the parking lot. A vehicle approaches from the other direction. We get to that moment of "OK, who will go first" and we both wave each other on. She smiles. I smile. We wave each other on again. We both smile wider and I wave her on to go in front of me. She smiled, put both hands to her mouth and blew me kisses. How totally awesome is that? 

Day = Made. I felt her gratitude.  

That isn't where this story ends. I got up to the speaker and ordered my drink then proceeded forward, finding my cash. I was thinking about all the things I needed to accomplish today, how crazy cold it is, how good my coffee is going to taste, how sweet that lady in front of me was to blow me those kisses and show me love. I approached the window and the friendly barista tells me, "The woman in front of you really appreciated you letting her go in front of you and she paid for your drink". Wow. 

I was deeply moved. Deeply. I smiled and thanked the barista. As I drove away I sent thanks and love to the woman in front of me. Then I felt tears begin to sting my eyes. I was crying over coffee! No, no I wasn't. I was brought to tears because of a simple act of kindness from another human being.

In those few moments my heart opened further as I was reminded of the good in this world. I believe people are inherently kind. Sure, there are some who aren't, however, as a whole, the people I find myself surrounded by are lovely. This morning, I was in a fine mood, I thought. Now, I'm in reflection. I am inspired. I want to go out and pay it forward. I want to make someone else feel the same love and appreciation I was blessed with this morning. It truly is that simple. You see, I was affected after that kind woman at Starbucks blew me kisses. It was the extra mile she went which was the icing on the cake.

Go the extra mile. Change a life. Be kind. Make a difference.

I challenge every one reading this to go out and do one nice thing for someone else in the coming days. 

Goodness, I'm full of love right now. I hope you're feeling it because I'm sending a whole bunch of that out to YOU! Yes, you. 

Happy Feel Good Friday, my Friends!  

Deviled Eggs

We cannot have a holiday with out Deviled Eggs. Seriously. If I don't make these, my 6'8" brother-by-love will go berzerk. You do not want to see him go nuts over some eggs. It isn't pretty. Okay, that may be a slight eggzageration. Ha! You see what I did there?! Anywhoo, here's my tried and true recipe!

Mama's (I'm referring to myself there) Deviled Eggs 

~  1 dozen boiled eggs
~  1/2 C real mayonnaise
~ 1 Tbsp yellow mustard
~ 1-2 tsp vinegar
~ 1/8 tsp ground cayenne
~ Salt and pepper to taste
~ Paprika or cayenne for garnish

Cut your peeled eggs in half lengthwise and place the yolks in a mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until well blended. Transfer the yolk mixture to a Ziploc bag. Snip the corner and fill your eggs. Top them with a sprinkling of paprika or cayenne, if you like it spicy! Refrigerate until ready to serve.  

Thanksgiving Food.

Next week is Thanksgiving, Y'all! Can you even believe it?

This photo of Landon from 2010 always makes me giggle. He's all like, "gimme that turkey leg!". :-)

I've been working incessantly on coming up with a gluten free menu to share with all of you. I've seriously been thinking about this and developing new recipes for weeks. It's been a ton of fun!

We stay away from dairy as much as possible on a daily basis, with the exception of raw butter, which I use a lot. The foods we will be eating on Thanksgiving are mostly dairy free but not totally.  

Take a peek at what will be on our table next week.

Starters

~ Deviled Eggs ~ GF

~ Relish Tray ~ GF, DF

The Feast

~ Turkey AND Chicken ~ GF, DF

~ Ham ~ GF, DF

~ Mashed Red Potatoes ~ GF

~ Creamed Corn ~ GF

~ Cornbread Stuffing ~ GF, DF

~ Cranberries ~ GF, DF

~ Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Parsnips ~ GF, DF

~ Green Beans Amandine with Bacon ~ GF

~ Dinner rolls ~ GF, DF

Finishers

~ Pumpkin Pie ~ GF, DF

~ Cheesecake ~ GF

~ Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins ~ GF

*GF = Gluten Free

*DF - Dairy Free

Every single one of these items are completely gluten free yet still flavorful and satisfying! 

I will post recipes very soon. As a matter of fact, I will be posting at least one recipe a day from now until Thanksgiving. 

Stay tuned! 

Bone Broth, Chicken and Overcoming Intimidation.

This is actually considered a stock, due to the addition of veggies and spices. You could leave those out to make a traditional bone broth, however, I don't because I love the added flavor.

I've been doing some (by some, I mean tons of) reading and researching about bone broth. Turns out, it has some pretty spectacular health benefits and is amazing for gut healing. It's no wonder chicken soup is seen as a cure all for illness. When made properly, it actually does wonders for our bodies!

I'm weird about bones in my food. I don't like them and have a hard time eating anything off of a bone. I know, it's not normal. Whatevs. I also get grossed out when I have to handle raw meat. I'm working through it! Kind of.  

I decided to suck it up and get over it. I made a whole chicken in the crock pot, had Scott pull all the meat from it when it was done, then threw the bones back in the pot to make broth. 

Here's the basic process I used. 

First of all, I purchased one free range pasture raised chicken. This is very important in my opinion, especially when you will be making broth from the bones. I spiced it up with paprika, crushed rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic powder and bit of cayenne. I rubbed that all over the outside and inside of the chicken. I also thickly sliced one onion and put everything in the crock pot on high for 4 hours. It was amazing!

For the broth, I left all the drippings and onions in the pot then I tossed the bones back in, added 3 whole carrots, 4 whole pieces of celery including the leafy parts, 2 bay leaves, a bit more salt, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (this helps break down the bones and pull all of the good nutrition out) and filled it to the top with filtered water. I then let it go on low for approximately 48 hours, adding water as needed. I poured it through a strainer in to jars which I will freeze until I'm ready to use. 

I'm pretty sure I just saved myself at least $20 or more AND made something way more nutritious. This cannot be purchased in a grocery store! I can't believe I was intimidated by the process for so long. It's SUPER easy and totally fool proof!

Have you ever made your own bone broth or stock? Does the idea of doing so seem like too much work? I want to hear from you!