New Year New Food Choices

Well the New Year for us entered on a bittersweet note, my husband fell on November 11, 2011 while we were walking our dog and shattered is Tibia/Fibula this is his worst fracture to date (he has Osteogenesis Imperfecta). I have been struggling with my digestive issues since September 23, 2011 when we had our most recent pregnancy followed shortly after by another miscarriage. Unfortunately on January 4th things took a turn for the worse for me and ended up taking steroids again to clear things up. We just had another colonoscopy which again showed no issues but we are still waiting on the biopsies to come back. They are now thinking some form of IBD but our having trouble finding evidence other than symptoms and blood work. I am now making some more dietary changes in order to try and control these symptoms, I drink a cup of hot water with fresh lemon and ginger prior to eating anything in the morning I follow this by 1/4 of Gluten free oats with 3Tbs Hemp hearts with a little agave nectar and a 4oz glass of Kefir. This seems to be making a difference as of yesterday I am off all meds and doing ok! I am also trying to focus on eating more whole foods and excluding flours and sugars. I recently picked up this book from the library Simple Food for Busy Families I am finding it very informative.

http://www.amazon.ca/Simple-Food-Busy-Families-Nutrition/dp/1587613352

Last Friday night I  made a treat for my Husband, he used to love Wendy's Bacon Mushroom Melt which they no longer have here but I found a Gluten Free Cheese Recipe and made this for him. It was extremely yummy and unfortunately I forgot to take a picture for you.

Gluten Free Cheese Sauce
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Gluten Free Flour (I used Bob's Redmill All Purpose Flour)
3/4 Rice Milk (personal preference)
1.5 C Sharp Cheddar

1. Melt 2Tbsp butter in a saucepan. 
2. Whisk in the flour and cook until fragrant and light brown in color.
3. Slowly whisk in the rice milk and bring to a boil. Cook while whisking until smooth and thickened to the consistency of gravy.
4. Remove from heat and blend in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted.

I added some mushrooms and kept it on low while the burgers cooked. After which I topped the burgers with bacon and the cheese mushroom sauce, so yummy!

Today I made a Banana Snack Cake for the daycare  for afternoon snack, I have been reading of the importance of kids having protein throughout the day to fuel their growing bodies and minds. So altered the recipe which I found here to be Gluten Free and contain a source of protein.

Gluten Free Banana Snack Cake
1 Large Egg
1/3 C Loosely packed Whole Brown Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 ripe Bananas, mashed
3/4 C Fava/Garbonzo Bean Flour
1/4 C Brown Rice Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick spray
2. In the mixing  bowl, whisk egg and brown sugar until smooth. 
3. Add in the vanilla and mashed bananas, mixing until combined.
4. Add in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, mixing until the batter comes together.
5. Add in the melted coconut oil and mix until evenly distributed.
6. Pour batter into pan and bake for 20mins or until the center no longer jiggles and the edges are golden.
7. Serve warm.

To finish off our day we did some yoga including several rounds of Om's what a wonderful sound coming from children!

In my opinon the best Yoga Studio in Saskatoon!

I just wanted to share the summer special being offered by my favorite Yoga studio here in Saskatoon for all my local readers. Their teachers are wonderful very knowledgeable about the poses and also how your body needs to move in order to obtain said pose. The classes are wonderful too the students are non-intimidating and supportive. I highly recommend this studio, it has a wonderful community environment!


If you buy one summer special membership (July and August membership)
for the price of $155 (gst included) and bring a friend, you can buy the
second summer special membership for half price! This offer is valid
from July 1st to Aug 29, 2011.

Please note that the studio will be closed from Aug 29 until Sept 6
during which time we will clean equipment and prepare for fall classes.

Please check website for our summer schedule, which will be posted soon.

Namaste,
Sharie

A Chance to bake!

We have been just so busy, with soccer, yoga, gardening, and household duties there just isn't enough time to get to baking. Our days have been so filled with the enjoying the outside! But today has been a bit of a quiet day around here and we needed some cookies for the week so instead of making my usual chocolate chip recipe I decided to try and make one of my old favorites Gluten Free instead! This recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson she has some really fabulous recipes! This one we had made last year before I became ill and we loved it but haven't made it again since. A week or two ago I decided I was going to try and make it Gluten Free but needed to put some thought into the flour blend I wanted to use. Today however I decided to keep it simple and see how it turned, Yummy is the word used to describe these cookies by my Son. The recipe is called Animal Cracker Cookie and they are just so cute and fun. I found my little cookie cutters at bulk barn they have quite a selection of them. I also found some at a local kitchen store called Peppers. You can go to the above link to see the original recipe and below I will post my Gluten Free version of Animal Cracker Cookie.

Animal Cracker Cookie

Ingredients
1/2 C Brown Rice Flour
1/2 C Sweet White Sorghum Flour
1/2 tsp Xantham Gum
1/4 C Almond Meal
1/2 C Unsweetened Finely Shredded Coconut, very finely minced
1/4 C Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil, softened
1/3 C Fine Grain Natural Cane Sugar
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1 Lrg Brown Egg, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp Organic Unsweetened Apple Sauce
A few Tbsp Organic Demerara Sugar

1. Whisk together your flours, almond meal, xantham gum, and coconut in separate bowl and set aside.
2. Combine your coconut oil, sugar and salt into your mixing bowl and mix until forms a brown sugar frosting consistancy then add in your egg and beat until uniform.
3. Add your flour mixture and stir until just incorporated and add your apple sauce one Tbsp at a time until the dough sticks together in a ball.
4. Split into 2 balls and place a parchment paper and flatten each one.
5. Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
6. Roll out dough on your parchment paper until it is about 1/4" to 1/8" thick depending on how you like them. Cut out your shapes laying them on a parchment lined cookie tray about an inch apart.
7. Sprinkle with your demerara sugar and bake for 7-9 mins just until the edges turn brown.

I'm back with much to share!

So sorry for being away so long I have been working hard on my health and family this last while but I am back. I have also been working on many recipes to share with you all! So today's recipe to share is what we think is the best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe! With out further delay here it is!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Amanda

3/4 c Gluten Free Oats
1/2 c White Rice Flour
1/2 c Sweet White Sorghum Flour
1 tsp Xantham Gum
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 Large Brown Egg
1/3 c Agave Nectar
1/3 c Organic Cane Sugar
1/4 c Coconut Oil
1/4 c Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
3/4 c Organic Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Grind oats in a food processor till they are just a little chunky. Transfer to a bowl and add the other dry ingredients and mix with a whisk, set aside.
3. Put in your stand mixers bowl your egg, agave, and sugar cream together. Then add your coconut oil and butter then vanilla. Mix till well blended.
4. Add your dry ingredients and chocolate chips and blend again just until they are combined well.
   
5. Bake your cookies for 12-14 mins and then allow to cool for 5 mins before enjoying!
   

Facebook Group to Join

I have created a Facebook group as way to share more of my ideas and links that I enjoy!

Eco Family Life Facebook Group

Crafty Tuesday - New Month

Well it's a new month her and I have been anticipating this months activities for a while. This month we are learning about rainbows and other children around the world. We have finally gotten our calendar board up but I still haven't found a frame for it I am looking for an old painting frame at a second hand store so I can repaint it. Also my husband has made some headway on our play house too now we just need to paint and add the trim. Our sensory tub this month is rainbow rice and all things sparkly. We are going to be doing some matching exercises and counting activities with our tub. This morning I made up a little sheet for 1-5 counting activities with the tub. Then life was interrupted by illness my stomach condition has resurfaced and I have been away to focus on healing but I will be returning soon with new posts!

Crafty Tuesday - Birthday Follow Up

Well Saturday was our much anticipated 5th Birthday Party and it was a huge success! Everyone had a great time and all the activities were so much fun for all of us! As a last minute addition/swap I switched the create a robot paper craft for Rice Crispy Cake Robots instead and that was a big hit! All we did was mix up a box of Christmas Rice Crispy we had on hand and made shapes with it circles, squares, and rectangles then we had mini colored marshmallows and gummi bears plus some leftover icing in a can. We made them a demo one and them let them create their own and it was so much fun! Upon waking in the morning my Son let me know he wanted some birthday cupcakes and they should be chocolate with blue icing well off I went to find recipes for such a thing I found an amazing Devils Food Cake recipe and used it to make chocolate cupcakes and then a fabulous vanilla butter cream frosting recipe and viola wonderful birthday cupcakes! I wanted to also post a picture of some of my finished projects the birthday crown and fairy play set both of which my Son is very happy with! I also wanted to show you some of the beautiful handmade gifts my Son received one of his little friends made him this amazing painting and on canvas no less I can't wait to hang it up in his room! Also my good friend made him a Thomas the Train Tie and gave him a playdough dentist (her husband is in dentistry college and she originally bought the gift for him and well the kids loved it too!)














Well after all of that birthday fun I also have a little recipe for you all to enjoy, it's called Rock'n Banana Bread and was so yummy! A good friend gave me this amazing recipe she makes for her family and we had the opportunity to enjoy the last time we visited with them. Anyways of course hers is a non-gluten free recipe so I had to change it but I really wanted to keep the graininess of hers so I had to get really creative with the flour blend but I completely rocked it! Sorry no pictures I thought I had photographed it but can not find the pics?

Rock'n Gluten Free Banana Bread

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white sorghum flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp xantham gum
4 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped with the food processor
1 cup bananas, mashed
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup raisins ( recipe called for dates soaked for 5mins and then chopped but I didn't have any on hand)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a loaf pan.
   
2. Combine all your flours and whisk then add the xantham gum, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
3. Put your raisins and walnuts in your food processor and chop til fine.
4. Combine your mashed banana, maple syrup, apple sauce, coconut oil and vanilla together until well mixed.
   
5. Then add to your dry mixture and combine till mixed and add your walnut and raisin mixture.
6. Mix all ingredients together until well blended.
7. Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean.