Chocolate Granola - Gluten Free

Getting ready for a trip takes planning and lots of preparations. We are moving into our motorhome indefinitely -- at least 6 months -- with someone living in our house, so the moving and packing is more extensive. As I've recently discovered that gluten doesn't agree with me, I'm including a lot of gluten free foods in our move. I love Kashi Crunch, but it contains gluten, so I decided to make my own crunchy cereal. I looked up some GF granola recipes online, then tweaked them, as usual. I just can't leave a recipe alone. I've never been a fan of chocolate cereal. Just doesn't seem like breakfast. But this turned out amazing. I will make another batch, only without the chocolate this time. This recipe can be adjusted in so many yummy ways. Next time, I will use vanilla protein powder, leave out the chocolate, and add dried fruits. For a snack mix, I'll add some yogurt and chocolate covered fruits and nuts.

Chocolate Granola (Gluten Free)*

·      3 cups old-fashioned oats*

·      2-4 scoops protein powder*

·      1-2 TBSP fiber powder

·      2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

·      2 TBSP flax seed meal

Place in large mixing bowl. Add desired spices.

Spices:

·      1 TBSP cinnamon

·      1 tsp nutmeg

·      1 tsp each of other spices (ginger, allspice, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom or other)

·      1/2 tsp sea salt

Add optional ingredients:

·      1/4 cup each chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios or other nuts)

·      1/8 cup each seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia, hemp or other)

·      1/2 cup flaked raw, unsweetened coconut

Mix together well. Then add liquid ingredients and stir well until moist and crumbly.

·      1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk

·      1/3 cup syrup (agave nectar or maple syrup)*

·      1/3 cup almond butter (or any nut butter or peanut butter)

·      2 tsp vanilla

·      3 TBSP coconut oil

Warm in microwave on low power until oil is melted. Stir together, then stir into dry ingredients, mixing well.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put parchment paper in bottom of  large, flat baking pan. Spread granola mixture on parchment paper and bake 45-60 minutes, stirring once or twice, until dry. Let cool. Add any dried fruit desired.

Optional dried fruit:

1/2 cup each (chopped from whole dates, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried banana chips (broken into small pieces), dried apples, etc)

*For gluten free, make sure all ingredients are gluten free. Store in airtight container for up to two weeks, or refrigerate or freeze for longer storage.

Serve as 1/2 cup granola with milk for breakfast or as a dry snack mix.

Can be made with vanilla or plain protein powder, leave out the cocoa, and use apple juice in place of milk.

For snack mix, add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, yogurt or chocolate covered dried fruit, etc.

Hearty Summer Squash Soup. It's what's for lunch.

Generally, lunch is whatever is leftover in the fridge. We were out of town last week on a family emergency, so I had a bunch of yellow summer squash and yellow crookneck squash a friend had given to me. They were starting to look wilted. Our weather has turned chilly and the trees are turning, so I'm thinking fall. The squash looked like the makings for some great soup.

My experiments aren't always hits, so I was thrilled when Jim went back for seconds.

I started with my 4 quart stainless pan and sautéed diced onions and diced squash in several tablespoons of butter.

I love the yellow squash, as it's flesh is naturally very buttery, but zucchini would work well, too.

Summer Squash Soup

1/2 sweet onion, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced (I used a red one)
4 TBSP butter

2 medium yellow summer squash plus 4 small yellow crook-neck squash (could be any summer squash). Diced into bite-sized pieces, it made about 5-6 cups of raw diced squash.

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 Tbsp dried parsley or 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp Fine Herbs (any favorite herb mix. I love Penzeys spices - http://www.penzeys.com)
2 tsp sea salt (I use French grey sea salt from Penzeys)
Fresh ground pepper

10 pieces of pepperoni, diced

3 crisp cooked thick bacon slices, diced

1/2 - 1 cup grated cheese (Mexican blend or sharp white cheddar or parmesan would be amazing)

1 quart (32 oz) chicken broth

Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Add first four ingredients and sauté until onion is translucent. Add diced squash and 1 cup of broth. Stir together, then cover and cook on low until squash is tender enough to mash with a potato masher. Leave chunky. Add chopped spinach, spices and rest of broth. Stir, then simmer until spinach is cooked. Add diced pepperoni and cooked, diced bacon. Stir together. At last minute, add grated cheese and stir until melted. Serve.

Optional garnish with a dab of sour cream and bacon bits or more grated cheese. Makes 5-6 servings.

Pick Up Your Socks

I've been contemplating a lot of things lately. How life throws us curveballs when we aren't looking. How things are constantly changing. How problems can become all-consuming, interrupting our lives and making the important suddenly seem trivial.

Last week, on Friday, Jim and I were talking about the things we need to get done around the house and yard before we can head south for the winter. We have quite a list. And then the phone rang. And life, and priorities changed in an instant. Our son-in-law, Gary, learned that he had a tumor in his bladder and a non-invasive surgical procedure was scheduled for Monday. Monday, we spent the morning praying and texting to follow Gary's progress. He went in to surgery around noon. At 2:17 pm we got the text from our granddaughter. Cancer. We knew we needed to be there, so we threw a change of clothes in a bag and were on the road in a half hour. Several texts came in as we drove the 375 miles to be with our family. The tumor was large and blocking one kidney. A second procedure the next day put a stent into the kidney and bladder. Gary is a trooper. We walked with him, pushing along his wheeled stand with IV and carrying other paraphernalia ten loops of the halls, twice a day. On Wednesday, we took him home. On Thursday he talked to the doctor. The news wasn't good. The cancer was deeper than they'd hoped and there were numerous small tumors. They would have to remove his bladder and prostate and lymph nodes. Then probably chemotherapy and possibly radiation treatments.

Gary is healthy, and he'll get the best of care in Seattle through UW. With God's help, and a million prayers from family and friends and friends of friends, he will beat this thing.

A devotion shared by a friend at a writers retreat this summer made an impact on me. I was reminded of it again today. She was talking about grief. The grief of losing her husband. But this fits any tough situation that we face. *See Sandy's entire post here: http://graceforagrievingheart.com/pick-up-your-socks/

Years ago, Sandy heard Gloria Gaither tell this story.

“When I was a little girl,” Gloria said, “I used to ask my mom, ‘what is God’s will for my life?’” She wanted a lofty answer, full of wisdom.

Her mother would invari­ably reply, “Pick up your socks.” Not expecting such a mundane answer, she would restate the question. “No, mom, what is God’s will for my future?”

“If you don’t know His will for your future, you need to find His will for your life a day at a time. Pick up your socks.”

That's great advice. Jesus told us not to worry about the future. Take care of the present. Put one foot in front of the other and do what needs doing. Pick up your socks.

Adventurous? Maybe so.

I've never thought of myself as adventurous. I'd never have the nerve to descend into the Grand Canyon or climb a pyramid. I hate swinging bridges. Have found excuses not to go parasailing every summer. Refuse to watch horror movies or read horror stories. I'm just not adventurous. Or am I?

I have hunted rattlesnakes in Montana, gone white-water river rafting in Colorado, and traveled over the Top of the World Highway, the Dempster Highway, and the Dalton Highway in Alaska and The Yukon. I'm sure those all qualify as adventures. But most of my adventures are more sedentary. In the kitchen, I'm willing to try anything - well, almost anything. Pickled pigs feet are fine, but I'm not interested in eating bugs or chicken heads.

This year I've had great fun finding recipes for a bounty of vegetables from my friend's garden. Thanks, Merry Ann! After canning pickled beets and dining on roast beets with orange butter and tarragon this week, I had left-over roasted beets. I wanted something different. Something gluten free, as I've discovered gluten makes the aches of my aging joints worse these days. I found a Chocolate Beet Coconut Cake online at The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen. Sounded interesting. I used the leftover roasted beets and pureed them in my Magic Mill.

Just in case it flopped, I balanced it with a fresh Peaches and Cream Pie - a favorite at our house.

The cake turned out rich and moist. I expected it to be more red, like a red velvet cake, but it's the color of dark fudge. Best served with a dab of hot fudge sauce, a handful of raspberries and a generous dollop of whipped cream. It was such a hit, we had it for breakfast this morning.

Here is a link to the recipe. I made the gluten free option, but left out the coconut. My hubby can't stand coconut. Silly man. http://www.levanacooks.com/chocolate-beet-coconut-cake/ I will definitely make it again. The peaches and cream pie is my dessert choice for my birthday, in place of cake. The original recipe came from a Colorado Cache cookbook, but we've tweaked it a bit.

Peaches and Cream Deep Dish Pie           

(Laura Merrill and Sunni Jeffers, adapted from Colorado Cache Cookbook) 

¾ cup sugar plus 2 tsp sugar (I use half sugar, half xylitol for low sugar recipe)

¼ cup flour (or 1 TBSP arrowroot powder or corn starch for Gluten Free)

1 cup heavy cream (I use half and half)

¼ tsp. salt

2 TBSP tapioca (increase to 3 TBSP for Gluten Free)

2 quarts peaches, peeled and sliced (fresh, 6-7 peaches and 2 tsp lemon juice, or home canned are best. If canned in heavy syrup, decrease sugar to ½ cup) 

2 TBSP butter 

2 tsp. cinnamon

Pastry for a 9” two crust pie

Reserve small amount of peach juice from fruit drippings. Add 2 tsp milk to the drippings and brush over top crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking.

Prepare pie crust and form bottom of crust in a 9 inch deep dish pie pan. Sprinkle 2 tsp sugar evenly over bottom crust. This prevents it from getting soggy.

Mix together sugar, flour, cream, tapioca and salt. 

Slice peaches and place in unbaked (or *slightly prebaked) pie shell.  Pour other ingredients over peaches, dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Cover and seal with top crust. 

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower oven to 300 degrees and bake 40-45 minutes longer. Cover edges of crust with pie shield or foil last 15-20 minutes to keep from getting too browned.

For Gluten Free crust, I used Mama’s Pie Crust mix. It makes a two crust pie. I altered the recipe, using 1 whole egg, instead of 1 egg white and increased the water by 1-2 TBSP. I roll out the dough between large square pieces cut from a kitchen trash bag. It’s large enough to do the whole crust. I lightly greased the pie pan, then put my crust in, trimming the edges. Then I *sprinkled about a tsp of sugar on the bottom crust and prebaked for 10 minutes, then let cool and added the peaches, filling and top crust. That way the bottom crust doesn’t get soggy. It was much more manageable and came out beautiful.

*For any unbaked pie crust, before filling, sprinkle 1-2 tsp sugar on bottom crust before filling to keep crust from getting soggy.

Bon Appetite!
~Sunni

On Pend Oreille Lake

A perfect Sunday. Great time at church. The weather was perfect, so we took a little trip over to Sandpoint, Idaho with my hubby Jim, brother Dave, sister-in-law Joan and granddaughter Madie, for a lake cruise aboard the Shawnodese -   http://www.lakependoreillecruises.com/schedule.html -

 The water was calm. A few puffy clouds drifted in the bright summer sky. 

The temperature hit about 90, but a slight breeze kept us cool. 

Jim, Dave, Madie and Joan enjoyed themselves, as did I. Dave and Joan will soon leave us to spend winter with their daughter Chanelle and granddaughter in Hawaii. Madie is heading off to the coast to join her family and attend college. We'll be alone again. <sigh> But for now, we're cherishing our time together. 

After an hour and a half, viewing the lake, the river, osprey families still nesting, a model plane buzzing around the river, skiers, tubers, kayakers, boarders and fishermen, empty coal trains headed north and full coal trains headed south, a float plane coming in - a typical Sunday afternoon at the lake - we headed back into port at Sandpoint Beach.

And stopped at Dub's on the way home, for a cheeseburger, fries, and a SMALL ice cream cone. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Fun in the Rain

Eventful day. That’s not always true. And that’s probably a good thing. So here we are in South Florida. We stayed in Homestead, Florida for two weeks. It was lovely. Great weather. And oh, the Mango Milkshakes with key lime or passion fruit! Toured Key West and Everglades National Park. And I worked.

Last night I made Jim pancakes for Valentine's Day dinner. Batter was ready. I tried to light the stove. Nothing happened. Out of propane. We’d packed up the barbecue, getting ready to pull out. It was dark. Jim got the BBQ out and I cooked pancakes and eggs on the griddle, on the portable barbecue - in the rain.

Fast forward to this morning. Ready to go. Hooked up the Jeep to the back of the motor home. Drove to a U-Haul Store that carries propane. No luck. Our propane tank is permanently attached, so they couldn’t fill it. Reconnect Jeep. Drive to next U-haul Store. Disconnect Jeep to back into lot. Got propane, then reconnected Jeep. Now it’s POURING rain as we take the toll road around Miami. A lady passes us and waves and points. Something is wrong. Oops. A door is open on a cubby under the motor home. Pulled off toll road and found a side road to stop and shut the cubby door. Then Jim made a U-turn and we pulled up to a stoplight. All of a sudden, we are stuck behind a dead Penske truck and we’re blocked. And we can’t pull around him. No room. Jim tries to turn on our flashers. The handle comes off in his hand.

Ever try to back up with a tow vehicle behind you? You can’t steer it. And there was a car right behind us and a big semi trying to get behind and around us all. I jumped out of the motor home, in the rain, ran back and waved the car around us. The truck started coming at me. I stuck out my hand and motioned for him to stop, then I start waving for Jim to back up, while I’m holding my hand up for the truck to stop. He’s gesturing at me, but he stopped when he saw this motor home with a Jeep coming back at him. Then I run up and jump into the motor home and away we go. It’s funny now. I’m thinking that trucker was calculating how many points I was worth and decided against running me down. He’s looking at this lady, probably old enough to be his mother, standing in the middle of the road, waving her hands around like a crazy woman. I wish I had a picture. But unfortunately, I broke Jim's camera, and it happened too fast to get out my iPhone. I think he would have run me down if I'd done that.

Things got better after that. The park we’re in is lovely. http://sunnshade.com/photos-of-the-park/ The sun came out and we took a walk before I fixed spaghetti with meat sauce and salad for dinner.

Finished one deadline for my next book – Coast to Coast, for Guideposts series, Miracles of Marble Cove. Revisions are in. Yay! Now I’m working on the expanded outline for my next book, All Sewn Up, from a brand new Guideposts cozy mystery series, Secrets of Blue Hill Library. And I’m making great progress.

Now it’s time to get back to work.

The Next Big Thing

Last week author Jill Eileen Smith http://www.jilleileensmith.com/blog/ was kind enough to tag me in a blog hop, called The Next Big Thing. As part of the “hop” I am supposed to answer ten questions about my current book project. So here goes.

1. What is the working title of your book?

My current book, due out soon, is With Grateful Hearts, from Guideposts Books’  Miracles of Marble Cove. That is the final title.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

My editors.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

With Grateful Hearts is part of a cozy mystery series centered on coincidences too amazing to be anything but God in the lives of four friends, and their quests to solve secrets from the past in a small Maine seaside town steeped in history.

The series features the daily dilemmas and relationships of four women—neighbors drawn together by the shared experiences of life-saving miracles—whose ages span five decades.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

That took some thought. If this book were made into a movie, I would cast the four main characters as:

Novelist Diane Spencer would be played by Jamie Lee Curtis.

Artist and gallery owner Margaret Hoskins would be played by Kathy Bates.

Mayor, entrepreneur Beverly Wheeland would be played by Rachel Weisz.

Professional baker, SAHM would be played by Jennifer Lawrence.

5. What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

When four friends set out to discover what happened to the Railway Station Master who disappeared 61 years ago, and save the historic, abandoned train station, life throws each of them a curve that they must overcome before they can solve their mystery and accomplish their goal.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

This book and the Miracles of Marble Cove series are available through Guideposts Books.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote With Grateful Hearts in three months, while on the road, traveling in an RV from Washington State to Alaska and back along the ALCAN Highway.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

This book is like a cross between the Mitford books and Murder She Wrote, without the murder.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I am one of a team of authors writing for this series. The series and mysteries are a collaborative effort with Guideposts Books and our wonderful editors and a team of great authors, each writing individual books. The stories are fun, but the characters face real life challenges. It may sound crazy, but as I write about them, they inspire me.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

With Grateful Hearts and all of the Miracles of Marble Cove books are perfect for curling up in a comfy chair and taking a mini-vacation to visit this charming seaside town. The friends experience challenges most of us face, fear or dream about in our lives. Their heartwarming stories and relationships hold insights and inspiration for all of us.

With Grateful Hearts finds the four friends supporting each other through their individual challenges. Young mother Shelley is building a bakery business out of her home and has an opportunity to take over management of the town’s coffee shop. Can she balance business and a young family? Diane is battling breast cancer and realizes how much she needs her friends. Beverly is elected mayor of Marble Cove and planning a wedding, but her fiancé lives in the city and they must decide where they will live after the wedding. And Margaret, a retired accountant who has started a second career in art, discovers her bucket list from college and is dismayed by the dreams she never accomplished.

Next week, hop to three great authors and read about their Next Big Thing.

Robin Lee Hatcher: http://blog.robinleehatcher.com/i_was_just_thinking_/

Christa Allen: http://www.christaallan.com/

Patricia Hickman: http://villagewriter.blogspot.com