Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa

Winter came early this year in the midwest. With over 6" of snow last week, we had to do the sad work of pulling the late bloomers out of the garden. We leave our tomatillos, carrots and beets until the very end. Despite a peculiar growing season, the tomatillos did not disappoint! 

Tomatillos need a long grow season, 75 to 100 days, and they need friends. Unlike tomatoes, tomatillos are not self-pollinating, so plan to plant them in multiples. Hardy in zones 8-10, this means starting your seeds inside if you want your plants to produce before the snow flies. The tomatillo is ready to pick and eat when it's filled out its husk - the husk begins to turn yellow and dry out. 

We plant tomatillos for one reason - green hell salsa (a.k.a. chipotle tomatillo salsa!) Green hell is the type of salsa that allows you to turn up the heat or keep it cooler. We were first introduced to this salsa on a trip to California ten years ago -- it took a few days to get used to the peppers. We modify it slightly depending on who will be eating it! 

This salsa keeps great in the fridge or canned. Tomatillos are a little sweeter than tomatoes and can be used in a number of dishes to provide an acidic balance. We also freeze it to use in white chicken chili throughout the winter (YUM!) 

The key ingredients - fresh veggies and great cumin. We love Penzey's ground cumin. Good spices make a huge difference in recipes! Feel free to hold back a chipotle pepper or add just a little habanero pepper at a time, to perfect your fire level! The adobe sauce balances the salsa with a hint of bbq, but don't let it fool you - those chipotle peppers pack a punch. If cumin isn't your thing, substitute it for your favorite salsa spices. 

INGREDIENTS

1 pound tomatillos, cut into quarters

1 habanero pepper, sliced into two (use the seeds and all!) 

1 onion (white or yellow), chopped

3 garlic cloves 

1 or 2 chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce 

the juice of one lime (or a little more if you like the kick!)

1/2 cup parsley

1/2 cup cilantro (if you do not like cilantro, replace with basil or use only parsley)

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1 T cumin (use cumin to taste, you may like a little more or a little less) 

DIRECTIONS

Add ingredients to food processor. Chop, then blend. Your salsa should not be chunky, but will have seeds. 

Enjoy with corn chips, on tacos, or anything else that needs a kick!

XO

Gingersnap Cookies - Gluten Free Style

There may not be a better food season! Those delicious, spicy fall baked goods capture my heart. 

I have a couple of recipes that have been converted to gluten free versions that get gobbled up as quickly as their gluten filled counter parts. But, we all need a new adventure now and again! 

INGREDIENTS
-2 large eggs
-3/4 cup softened (not melted) butter
-1 cup granulated sugar (divided into two 1/2 cups) 
-1/2 cup light brown sugar
-1/3 cup molasses
-2 1/4 cups gluten free flour (see flour notes below) 
-2 teaspoons ground ginger
-2 teaspoons cinnamon 
-1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-parchment baking paper 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter, 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and brown sugar using a mixer. Add eggs and molasses until well combined. 

In a small bowl, mix together the ginger, cinnamon, cloves, sea salt, and baking soda. Add this to the sugar, eggs, and molasses mixture and mix well.

Add the gluten free flour and mix well until all of the ingredients are combined. The dough will be slightly wet. Cover the dough in the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes, until the dough is just a bit stiffer.

Roll the cookie dough into 1" balls. Roll each cookie dough ball in the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Place the cookie dough ball on baking sheet lined with parchment baking paper. (No stick and easy clean up!) 

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies crackle and begin to flatten out. Allow your cookies to cool on the baking sheet, then enjoy! (We can hardly wait this long!!) 

Gluten free flour notes: Flour matters! Your flour mixture should also have xanthan gum. If it doesn't, add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to your flour mixture. If your flour mixture tends to create recipes that run a bit on the dry side, use 2 Tablespoons less flour mixture in the recipe or add 1/4 cup sour cream. Sour cream is a great binder that will bring many of your gluten free baked goods together! 

We love this gluten free flour and didn't change a thing in this recipe.

 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars

It's fall and we're ready for pumpkins!

We've tried quiet a few gluten free pumpkin spice bar recipes, but couldn't find one that was as good as our old trusty recipe. That's the struggle with reimagining life without gluten -- it's similar, but not quite the same. Isn't that the theme of 2020? 

We finally have a gluten free pumpkin bar recipe that everyone in the house loves!

To get started: set the cream cheese, butter and eggs out ahead of time to bring them to room temperature. 

INGREDIENTS

BARS

-4 large eggs

-1 cup brown sugar, packed

-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

-1 cup vegetable oil

-1 15oz can pumpkin puree

-2 cups gluten free flour blend (see notes below)

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

-1/4 teaspoon ground clove 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

-1 8oz package softened cream cheese 

-1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (salted butter also works if that's what you have!) 

-2 to 3 tablespoons milk

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-4 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9" x 13" baking pan.

BARS

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together: 

-Eggs

-Sugars

-Oil

-Pumpkin

In a small mixing bowl, stir the dry ingredients together: 

-Gluten free flour blend

-Baking powder

-Baking soda

-Salt

-Spices

Stir the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture. Pour the batter into your prepared
9" x 13" pan & spread the batter out evenly.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle of the pumpkin bars comes out clean. Allow the bars to cool completely before frosting. 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Cream cheese frosting is our favorite part!  

Place the room temperature butter and cream cheese into a medium mixing bowl and beat the mixture with a mixer until combined.  

Add milk and vanilla to the butter and cream cheese mixture. Beat until combined. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time and beat until combined. The cream cheese frosting will be creamy and delish! Use a spatula to spread the frosting over the cooled pumpkin bars. 

A couple of notes: this recipe does not turn out as well with a straight almond flour. Almond flour is heavy and the center sinks. Flour matters! Your flour mixture should also have xanthan gum. If it doesn't, add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to your flour mixture. If your flour mixture tends to create recipes that run a bit on the dry side, use 2 Tablespoons less flour mixture in the recipe or add 1/8 cup sour cream. Sour cream is a great binder that will bring many of your gluten free baked goods together! 

We love this gluten free flour and suggest using 2 Tablespoons less flour in the bars recipe for this flour.

You're Enough

These last couple of months have really forced me to think about enough. When is enough, enough? What is enough? I am enough? Are we doing enough?  Do we have enough?

One word. It's SO big.

There's so much brilliance and trauma wrapped up in that word. A cup overflowing as a child tries to pour himself milk for the first time. A full heart, enjoying the love of a favorite person. A humble being, happy with what is. A parent who has done all that can be done and is at her wits end. A human who is perfect in their imperfection, just as they are. The one who gives everything, but has nothing, so others can find joy. Enough.

Enough has two camps. We don't always get to live in one. I really wish I could take up permanent residence in the enough = minimalist in regard to stuff camp, so I could show up big and great in other ways. Minimalist mindset, damn that's hard to do. I keep reminding myself, live simple. Yep - this is a work in progress.

The other camp, well that one is harder to adjust because it's heart work. These last few months at home, being the everything to everyone has been draining. You may have hit this trench recently too. It's hard to get out when you are tired and everyone needs something. Is a shiny new project going to be too much or just enough? How does my enough stack up to yours? When do I just have to let go and let others support. If I do let go, will I still be enough? Yes, you will. Even if it's the same old enough. You are enough. You are exactly as you were meant to be.

Here's an example: you have a drawer of great socks. They do their job. They show up for you. Some are fancy, some are work horses, some are terrible and you only wear them at Christmas time for aunt Bess, others are just there because well, you can't part with them because they haven't really done anything wrong. You have your most favorite pair and you love those socks, they are the BEST socks. You have enough. You have a favorite, go to, ugly pair of socks...until later that day when you see something shiny. Even though there was nothing wrong with the best socks, they are no longer enough. You don't need new socks, but you get some, and then the new socks become the best socks with a hole in your pocket where the money once was.

Although it's my heart that's struggling with being enough as a person, I swear I'm like a sock. I actually don't really like socks, but I like what they stand for. Dependable (usually, until I am not). Part of a pair, but don't mind going solo for a while. Adaptable - can be paired with other unlike socks and still be functional. Flexible - can be sewn back together if needed or turned in to something entirely different, fabulous, and unique. Cozy, yet full of expression and grounding. If it's not enough, add another layer to support. The sock is what it is. It's enough.

That last piece - that support, being enough. Oh that's tough. The socks that don't seem like enough anymore, they get tossed to the back of the drawer.

We do this to ourselves, too.

When we try to get it all done. When we deny support. When we compare ourselves to other people. When we let other people define our brilliance. When we forget that just as we are, that's enough.

Today, start just where you are standing. Close your eyes. Take in a deep breathe. Do it again. Listen to the world around you. Allow those sounds, the ones that right now may be pushing you over the edge, to bring you joy. Let your heart smile. Absorb the greatness in the sunshine, the peace in the breeze blowing, or the rhythm of the rain fall. Just as you are, reading this right now, know that you are enough. Especially if you have mismatched holey socks on.

XO

Managing the Distance - Learning, Work, Family

What's worse than every media and social media moment being spent on COVID-19? The reality of working from home, supporting education from home, and finding your new norm as a family.

It is not easy redefining roles, space, and schedules. We are having to let go of just a little bit of what we knew, to create space for what we now know. And you know what? Letting go is a process. A grieving process. So, if you're struggling, that's normal and absolutely okay. 

I'm held hostage, I'm struggling, now what? 

Good question.

Reflection

Take a step back. You might be two weeks in to distance learning, or a month into working from home. It's never too late to take a step back and assess. Ask your tribe - what's working and what isn't working? Sans tribe, reflect on what is stressful in your life right now, what you have control over, and what little changes you could make to increase the tolerability of our situations.

Do what Elsa does - let it go, let it go! 

If you're like us, your schedule runs pretty tight. It's been difficult to leave that routine behind. Letting go is our place to start.

Let go of what used to be, at least for a little while. The path, pace, time and place for learning, work and family time has changed. Trying to hang on to the way you used to do things will make you crazy. Allow a different schedule unfold, one that is do-able. 

Schedules are not permanent. If something isn't working, change it. There is no harm in taking care of yourself mentally, spiritually and physically. Trying to do it all and be as great as the next person takes its toll. Grieve, reflect, renew a little every day, until you find yourself in a place that works.

Set up your space

One of the hardest parts of staying at home during this time is finding space. Space for new routines. Space for school at home. Space to work. Space to breathe. 

Work together to carve out a work space for each person based on what they need to do. A blanket fort is a great way to have a reading nook that each child gets some time in. A standing work station will help to keep your busy child engaged. A brain break station will provide for some non-academic time...a list of high impact exercises (jumping jacks, push ups) or a yoga YouTube video will help your wiggly one refocus. Keep it simple. Keep it scheduled. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. 

Put your people to work 

You are not the only person who knows how to do the things. You might like to do the things a certain way at a certain time, but to survive the new norm, engage your tribe. If nothing else, they will come away with some incredible new life skills! I promise you, if our teenager can do the laundry, refill prescriptions, and make dinner, your teenager can add some value to your routine as well. It's not about comparison, do what works for your family. 

Create a jobs list. Each person chooses one that they want to do. You assign one that you need them to do. Continue the process until the jobs are divided. Then conquer! This might even include homework. 

If your tribe isn't in your house, collaborate with friends, family, co-workers, to support each other with the tasks we have. It's amazing the talents we possess collectively and how much we can get done when we bring those talents to the table to share. (P.S. This includes distance learning - find a pal who can support your people in a particular subject and support theirs back in another...relief for everyone!) 

The "master" schedule

Start over. Scaffold the schedule to support only when needed. Assign meals. Keep it simple. 

Divvy out jobs that children can do independently. Assign buddies for jobs that are more difficult so they can support each other to get it done.  Embrace the lack of perfection that's going to happen as they start to blaze their own trails - it's coming. You know it is! 

Assign activities in chunks of time. Empowering the littles to be independent gives you time for your own thing. It's hard to let some of what we have always done go, but I promise you, you'll thank yourself. When the struggle is real, know that you are not alone. Lean on a friend or family member to support your people virtually - help with homework, read a bedtime story, just connect for belly laughs. 

Include tech free down time. One of the most incredible opportunities we have right now is to revisit our creativity. You know, that thing you had when you were young that kept you busy outside, in the neighborhood until dark. It's okay not to be the entertainment for your people all day long. Let them struggle a bit to find their creative space. Encourage discovery and exploration in a book, with crayons, dressing up, building legos, putting together a puzzle, writing a play, singing a song, doing the things that make our hearts happy. 

Some of us need a to do list. This is a great way to support our children with a self guided list of expectations for the day. It removes the struggle and creates space for independence. Include times only for those things that are time bound, such as a school attendance check in. Remember that you may need to operate outside the norm in order for each person to contribute and get their jobs done for the day. Use pictures for those who are emerging readers. Above all - do what works for your family. 

Celebrate the Wins

In all of this chaos, celebrate the wins. If you're struggling to see these, set small goals that you know are attainable. Acknowledge when you're there - you survived the day! Talk about the highs and lows for the day over dinner or at bed time. Share what was fabulous and what you're going to work on the next day. EAT THE CHOCOLATE if you need to! This is hard, we all deserve a little extra love. 

Grace

Acknowledge this new adventure, one you've never taken before, and give imperfection permission to exist. We aren't going to get this right the first time...maybe not even the second time. Stop the train when it's not working and change the path. (Are you feeling like this is a crazy train? I'm feeling like this is a crazy train!) If you don't get it all in today, let it go and move on to tomorrow anew. Be gracious to yourself. To others. You will get there. We will get there. Together. 

XO

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Spending a little more time at home and having to cook EVERY. SINGLE. MEAL. has stretched my imagination and quite honestly, my behavior skills, too.

I've been making the same banana chocolate chip muffins for quite a few years, because the peeps love them. Since the middle age body gluten free revolt began, I haven't been able to enjoy them. I have a thing for breakfast. What I really want are recipes that everyone will eat. It's definitely too much work to duplicate everything gluten into a gluten free option as well (not to mention the cost).

I have tried quite a few recipes and they still come out grainy and gross. Until yesterday!

Last summer, my mom found PremiumGoldFlax products at a market in ND. You know how we love to share simple products that work! I have tried quiet a few of their products and have had great success. Free delivery when you order online and stock up, too!

One of my discoveries during my baking experiments has been that these gluten free flours are heavy. Many of them tend to be a little more gritty. And, they need some help to be all that they can be.

For this recipe, I replaced my regular (wheat) flour with the Baking & Pizza Flour. I also added a little Zanthan gum and sour cream. Why? Binding. Wheat flour tends to have a smoother consistency. Gluten is also a binder. It traps the beautiful gases that make our baked goods rise. It gives our goodies their togetherness, but with a soft, fluffy, chewy texture. Let me tell you how much I miss gluten!

I've also found that if your recipe calls for baking soda or baking powder, you need a little bit more. Not a LOT more (poof!), but just enough to get that heavier dough rising.

I've also found that adding sour cream or room temperature cream cheese can help to bind the ingredients together if your dough is grainy (you'll know - your baked goods will be grainy, too). It's all about the proteins friends, that bind us together.


GLUTEN FREE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons regular cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (not needed if your flour mix already has this in it)
2 cups gluten free flour mix (Baking & Pizza Flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup mini chocolate chips (regular also work) - add last

Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix. Add the chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins almost to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

(Depending on the flour you use, you may need to bake a little longer - watch for brown tops that are fluffed up with no soft spots).


BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS (with gluten)
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup mini chocolate chips (regular also work) - add last

Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix. Add the chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins almost to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.


Make mouths happy and serve them warm.

Enjoy! XO

Self Care in Chaos

Staying healthy is on all of our minds lately. Self care is one of those things we forget to do when life gets chaotic. Yet, it's one of the best ways you can keep your mind, body and spirit healthy every day.

If you've got your toilet paper and sanitizer situation under control, then you're ready for self care!
Seriously, you need the self care even if you don't have three years of supplies in storage. The goal is to bring your stress down a few notches and take some time for you.

Why now? We just don't do enough self care. It's hard to make healthy changes and stick with them. Life is stressful. We are busy. And, many of us are caregivers...we just forget about ourselves.

Start simple: 
1. Take a nature walk.
2. Do something crafty.
3. Watch a funny movie or video - laughter is fabulous for the soul! Get those endorphins movin'.
4. Read something that's been on your read pile for a while.
5. Do yoga. (Sub yoga for any exercise that lifts your mood and brings you calm).
6. Spend 5 minutes stretching at the beginning and end of your day.
7. Make a big pot of soup and freeze some, to take a load off of yourself for dinner later.
8. Take a snooze.
9. Use a salve infused with calming essential oils to give a massage and get a massage.
10. Color. Yes, color.
11. Take an virtual tour of an art museum.
12. Burn your fave candle or diffuse your favorite essential oil - aromatherapy has so many benefits!
13. Take a hot, relaxing bath.
14. Add some bright and beautiful flowers to your kitchen table.
15. Fix something broken that you've had stashed in a closet that needs your TLC.
16. Declutter and donate the things that would bless someone else's life to your favorite charity (such as Epilepsy Foundation - they pick up donations in most places).
17.  Have a dance party!
18. Connect with someone you haven't talked to in a while.
19. Pay it forward.
20. Crank the tunes - music you love will bring joy to your soul, a smile to your face, and a it gets your body moving.

So what's happening at our house today? Chicken soup, elderberry syrup, salves, loud music, an extra cup of coffee while the rest of the house sleeps in, and a good book. Self care really isn't about the list. It's about making time to allow yourself to restore and renew.

 Slow it down and keep it simple. You're worth it!

XO