Yummy Soup!!!!!

We had the best soup ever a couple days ago so I thought I would share the recipe!!!!

Hamburger Soup
1lb cooked ground beef (or you can use stewing beef)
1 28oz can tomatoes (ground up in your food processor)
1 16oz can tomato sauce
2 litres beef broth
1 tsp paprika
4 tbsp coconut sugar
1 onion chopped
2 potatoes chopped and cubed
celery (how much you want)
carrots (how much you want)

Basically put it all in a pot and cook!!!!

Honestly it is sooooo yummy and so easy to make!!!!!

Bread MMMMMmmmmmm......

So I have officially found my favorite gluten free bread recipe, it is from Elanas Pantry and made with blanched almond flour. I have tried a lot of them but this one is our family favorite! I always make a double batch!!!

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¾ cup arrowroot powder
¼ cup flax seed meal
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, arrowroot, flax meal, salt and baking soda
2. In a larger bowl, blend eggs 3-5 minutes until frothy
3. Stir agave and vinegar into eggs
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet
5. Pour batter into a well greased 7.5" x 3.5" loaf pan
6. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean
7. Cool and serve

Makes 1 medium sized loaf of gluten-free bread

http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-bread-20/

Salmon the easy way!!!

Ok so I know the health benefits of salmon and all that but I HATE seafood. I recently made salmon patties and actually could eat them!!!!! Not that I absolutely love them but for me being able to eat fish of any kind is huge. So here is the recipe!

1LB Salmon (I cook it in the oven at 350 till it's cooked through)
1 egg
1 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup chopped celery or onion
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together until combined. Form into patties and fry them in a cast iron (that's what I use) pan using coconut oil.

They really are that easy to make!!!!

Amazing Gluten Free Website!!!

One of the websites I have found to be extremely helpful with gluten free baking and cooking is www.elanaspantry.com. This has amazing resources and amazing recipes that I have tried and we all LOVE. I also purchased her book the almond flour cookbook and there are way more recipes in there that are great. Here is a link to one of my favorite snack http://www.elanaspantry.com/breakfast-bars/. The only thing I do differently is we use coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil.

Gluten Free Breakfast Bars
1 ¼ cup blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup shredded coconut
½ cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup almond slivers
¼ cup raisins

1. In a small bowl, combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a large bowl, combine grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Stir dry ingredients into wet
4. Mix in coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almond slivers and raisins
5. Grease an 8x8 baking dish with grapeseed oil
6. Press the dough into the baking dish, wetting your hands with water to help pat the dough down evenly
7. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes
8. Serve

Makes 12-16 bars

Another recipe that I have made quite a bit lately is lazy cabbage roll casserole, it freezes well and you can make a whole bunch so there is lots of leftovers for lunch!!!!

4lbs ground beef (cooked and browned)

1 28oz can crushed or diced tomatoes

1 14oz can tomato sauce

1 large head of cabbage chopped finely

1 cup brown rice

2 tsp salt

1 - 2 tsp pepper

28oz of water

Garlic to taste (if you like garlic)

Basically all I do is get my roasting pan, blend the diced tomatoes in my magic bullet then put them in the roaster. Fill the empty can with water and add to the tomatoes, pour in the rice, the tomato sauce, the salt, pepper, cabbage and ground beef. Stir it all up and cook it at 350 for about 1.5 hours. That is it, so easy and it makes a ton!!!!

Here we go again!!!!

Wow I looked at my blog and thought hmmmm I am a horrible blogger!!!!! I love to write and share my thoughts and ideas but actually taking the time to sit down and do so is another story. I have been reading a lot of other blogs and decided I am going to try this again. A lot has changed since I last wrote, first of all we had our 5th child John!!!! He is such a joy and an absolute blessing. We have also gone completely gluten free!!!! We recently took a trip to Chicago to Dr. Mercola's natural health institute and found out that all of our children are intolerant to gluten. We thought we were eating close to gluten free but once you go through the process you find that there are a lot of hidden glutens out there. It has been quite the journey but everyday gets easier and easier and we are noticing huge changes in our children since we removed gluten from their diets. I will post recipes and links to websites and blogs that have helped us along the way! I am really excited about this so I will try to make it last this time lol, although I am not even sure if anyone will read this. I love to write so this is as much for me as for anyone else that may find this useful. So here is to another try!!!!!

Getting back to reality!

Well it has been a long go but I think we are maybe starting to get back into normal time. We got back from Japan on August 12th and it was a major shock to the system ha ha. I found out I was pregnant just before we left so I knew I was in for it. The people there are soooo amazing, they make you feel so welcomed and were just so nice. Sapporro is beautiful, we went up the mountain to see the view of the city and it was amazing. The food was the only thing I did not like. I am not an adventerous eater and don't eat seafood so it was pretty hard. Other than the food I would definately go back. It was a great life changing experience. Well i am getting paged but will write more about it when I have a second.

Keep in Touch????

I have realized that I am not so good at keeping in touch with people. Maybe it is just the stage I am at in life but if I check my facebook I quickly look then shut it down. When I get an email I quickly check and maybe send a quick hi but thats it. I don't seem to have or make the time I probably need to to get in contact or stay in contact with people. Life with 4 kids is great but it really doesn't leave that much time for spare moments in the day ha ha. Even when I am on the phone it seems like that is when my kiddos want my attention the most. I should probably get better at keeping in touch but I guess my friends and family know where I am at and will forgive me for my lack of contact ha ha.