Adventures in TaG-land

It has been a whirlwind of a year.  My daughter has worked so hard and today is her last day for the year.  Her last two finals are today and we are planning to splurge and have a lunch date.  She deserves it.  I didn't have the kind of work load she has had until I was in college.

  Amazing what our kids can do when they are motivated and supported.  They have risen to the expectations set for them and the staff at TaG expect a lot.  They strive for excellence and fully expect the student body to be excellent.  Even when a kid has a weakness in a certain subject area, we as parents and teachers fully believe that the student will master it.  Oh, you need a little extra help?  No Biggie!  We'll help you because we know you have it in you.  Unfortunately for us, our beloved Principal is retiring this year.  We will miss him greatly, but hope he thoroughly enjoys his retirement.  He deserves it.

Because of this TaG was deemed the #1 Best Public High School in the Nation. 

Bountiful Baskets

I have been on a journey to eating healthier and find that foods that are really good for you can be very expensive.  So, my new niece (married my nephew) told me about a coop she participates with. It's called Bountiful Baskets.   So, on Mondays I sign up and on Saturday I pick up a couple of small laundry baskets full of fruits and vegetables.  I added on a small extra veggie pack that included a large handful of fresh herbs.  Below is the haul I brought in this week. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcake

I've had some successful cupcakes lately and a friend asked if I'd come and teach a baking lesson to her 3 girls.  They are also gluten free and homeschool, so I thought, "How Fun!"  Turns out her middle daughter is the one who is into baking and she favors anything chocolate.  (Girl after my own heart!)  I hadn't attempted chocolate cupcakes yet, so had to test a recipe.  I went to a general recipe website and found one that looked fairly simple and easy to adjust.  Since my "students" range in age from 6-12, I wanted simple so they could do this on their own later.

So I started with my favorite GF flour mix. 
1 heaping tsp xantham gum
6 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs (room temp)
1 cup-ish milk (room temp)

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins


sift together all the dry ingredients (except sugar) and stir to make sure fully incorporated.
mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
Add vanilla ext, and eggs one at a time mixing well in between
Add the flour mix and the milk alternating, starting with flour ending with milk. 

Put about 1/3 cup into each cupcake liner.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until done. When toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Once cooled, Frost with your favorite icing and enjoy!

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes.....

I was totally jonesing for a really good cupcake!  I saw a picture online of a red velvet cake and thought!  " I must do this!"  So I searched online for good recipes.  I didn't limit myself to Gluten Free recipes, but found this one that I had to modify. 

I found the original Gluten-full recipe on Simply Scratch.  It's a blog I found last night and the recipe worked so well and her photos are so pretty!  Click Here for the link to her recipe.

So, I made them today, and Mmmm!  You should totally try these!  My pictures aren't anywhere near the quality of others, but here they are



I first sifted the flour, sugar, xantham gum, baking soda, salt and coco powder into the bowl of my stand mixer.  (btw my kitchenaid mixer is from the Lord! It is such a beautiful thing! ) 

Then I added the coco powder.  ( Look Ma, left handed!)

 

Mixed all the dry ingredients with a fork and set it in the mixer with the whisk attachment.

 

Crack 2 eggs in a large measuring cup with a pour spout.   

 

 

 Give them a light whisk!

Add in the buttermilk and vinegar
 



Then add the vanilla extract and the food color.  I used 1-1oz bottle of red. 
 

I then pour all the wet ingredients into the mixer bowl with all the dry and mix well.

I put the batter into the cupcake tin, lined with the snazzy black and white cups (that were on sale for $.99!) 

 While they were baking the frosting debate began.  Cream Cheese or Buttercream?  Buttercream always wins out, because I don't particularly care for cream cheese icing.

So the finished product turned out really great!



 

 

 Then this!

 

 

Let the Nomming begin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix

1 tsp xantham gum

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs (room temp)

1 tbl vinegar

1 cup vegetable oil (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cup grapeseed oil, but I didn't have that and I just couldn't get myself to put that last 1/2 cup oil in)

1 cup butter milk (room temp)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla ext.

1 oz red food color (original recipe called for 2 oz but I only had 1)

 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin pan with cupcake papers.  

 

In mixer bowl combine all dry ingredients sifting well and stirring to evenly distribute all the cocoa powder and xantham gum.

 

In another bowl or large glass measuring cup, combine wet ingredients mixing well.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well on medium speed. 

 

distribute to cupcake papers, and shake and shimmy to pan to release any bubbles in the batter.

 

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

 

Let cool completely then top with your favorite frosting. 

 

and last but not least, Enjoy! 



A few things I am obsessed with...

I don't have all that many obsessions and one of them will be pretty obvious.  But here are some of the things, I find myself addicted to just now.  It will change periodically as obsessions do. 

1.  Solitaire
I play it on my kindle and now have my daughter addicted.  I'll expect to play a couple of hands then find I've stayed up way too late. 

2.  Call the Midwife on PBS. I did some doula training and really support midwifery.  This series isn't about preaching midwifery vs. hospital birth.  It is really about a blue collar area of London and the relationships and families formed there.  Love!!

 3. Most obviously to all my readers...Gluten Free Baking.  (Especially cupcakes)  I have been having some victories and a lot of failures trying to find the best GF cupcakes.  I found a recipe or two that work ok for a basic vanilla and now want to start "tweaking" that to make some more flavorful cupcakes.  My next mission is a chocolate!  Mmm!

 

 

 

 

Friday catch up and weigh in.

Last weekend, my youngest carpool princess had her school play.  Her first play and it was a take on General Hospital.  Fun and fast.  The entire play lasted about 30 minutes.  We had the early show (6:00) and a later show (7:15).  Daddy and big sister (who was in plays at the same school last year) missed the first showing due to obscene traffic. 

It is a family tradition started by my folks, that after plays, concerts, etc we go to get ice cream after.  So Friday night after a weigh in, I had ice cream.  Yea...but so good. 

Then that night, she and I take a 2 hour drive to go to my mom's house.  She's been a widow for just over a year, and had put the childhood home on the market.  At the beginning of April, she got an offer, and they closed this week.  So we went out there to help her pack,  As it turns out, packing and loading boxes into storage rooms and eating "on the go" do NOT lead to eating healthy.  I gained about 4 pounds over the 2-3 days we were doing all that.  Then I came home and ended up with a mild tummy flu-thing.  So it all worked out to get me back to right where I was last Friday.

This weeks weigh in results are 0.  No loss/no gain. 

But this is a new week, and I intend to make a dent in this weight. 

I keep telling myself that I am strong, and healthy and capable!  I am able able to do this.  I try to come back to the scripture.  "I can do all things, through Christ who gives me strength."

Cakes for Hubby's work

My hubby's workplace had a potluck for all the April birthdays.  It's the south, we must "potluck".  He came home and asked me to make a cake or two for the potluck.  Wait?  I baked them, and delivered them, and he didn't have to do any work for His potluck.  Ah!  Ok, I see how it is. 

Anyway, I didn't have to bake Gluten Free so it was really easy.  Then I decided to try the rose technique on the purple cake. 

Turned out pretty good.

I then made the chocolate basket weave (which is one of my favorites). 

They loved them and they tasted good.