In celebration of weddings!

This morning I snuggled in bed with my own Prince Charming and watched the Royal Wedding take place. It was a magical event and I loved watching every single minute of it. The love between the Prince and his bride was more than apparent and brought back such sweet memories of my own wedding... so if your heart is still fluttering from the lovely wedding this morning, I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of my (much less extravagant, but just as beautiful) wedding nearly 7 years ago! (Wow!) And I indeed married a Prince! Love this guy!

On a sandy beach in eastern NC, October 2004

barefoot on the beach

the kiss!

the embarrassing giggle afterwards! :-) 

one of my favorite shots... 

this was actually my high-school prom dress:  re-purposed! 

Isn't he handsome? He hasn't changed one bit in 7 years!

Loved this (gluten-FILLED) cake! It was beautiful! I still have a few of those starfish lingering in my freezer, I don't have the heart to throw them out! And  you have to love the Hardees cup in the background... 

Michael -- the night before the big day... I love this!



Happy Royal Wedding Day everyone!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Gluten Free Vegan German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Gluten Free, Vegan German Chocolate Cake anyone? Anyone? I've made this cake twice during the past two weeks, first for a gluten free cookout with some dear friends & then for Easter Sunday. 

It was a hit. I had completely forgotten how much I LOVE German Chocolate Cake. I haven't had it in YEARS. It was memorable for me to make this cake because it was a favorite of my great-grandmother's. I miss her so much! I know she would have been proud of this cake. (Well she wouldn't have understood the point of the whole vegan thing, but that's okay! lol) 

This cake is actually quite simple to make! I simply took my favorite gluten free chocolate cake recipe and then added Susan of FatFreeVegan's German Chocolate Cake filling. I chose Susan's filling because it didn't use any artificial ingredients and I wanted a recipe that was casein free/ dairy free.

That's it! 

I did make some changes, but they were slight: 

• For a completely vegan cake, use my gluten free vegan chocolate cake recipe. 
• I used my regular gluten free chocolate cake and doubled the recipe so I would have two large layers. BUT I reduced the sugar to 1 cup total (or 1/2 cup per recipe). The german chocolate filling has so much sugar, I thought it was appropriate to lessen the amount in the cake. It worked just fine!
• For Susan's Vegan German Chocolate Cake Filling, I simply used almond milk in place of the soy milk and I cut the sugar back to 1 cup. I also used Bob's Red Mill unsweetened coconut flakes in place of sweetened coconut flakes. So I reduced the sugar in both recipes a good bit. Could anyone tell? Nope. 

That's all I changed. Everything else was the same and you can better believe I'll be making this dessert for YEARS to come! I loved making it. It was cathartic to me and very meaningful to know that I had learned how to make a gluten free version of one of the cakes my great-grandmother made when I was growing up!

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have!

Thoughtfully,
Carrie

PS... I will be attending the Charlotte NC GF/AF Expo this weekend. If you're in the area, please stop by! Tickets are still available for $10 at the door -- a serious STEAL for the amount of programs being presented and the incredible number of vendors that will be there!!  I hope to meet you there!

GIVEAWAY: Elana Amsterdam's Almond Flour Cookbooks

I've been a fan of Elana Amsterdam of Elana's Pantry pretty much since her blog first started. She's genuine, kind, down-to-earth, and a darn good cook. 

As soon as Elana's first cookbook went on sale, I pre-ordered! I couldn't wait to get a copy of Elana's book in my hands. 

You see almond flour is good to me. It's nice to my body. When gluten, sugars, carbohydrates ("good" & bad), soy protein, artificial flavorings & colorings, caffeine, pork... when all those things (and others) affect my body negatively it's nice to know there is a safe & delicious alternative such as almond flour.

Elana gets this. She not only believes in eating mostly healthy, whole, real foods...  but she gets that carbohydrates can play a major role in overall health... especially for people on a gluten free diet. 

Elana's first book, "The Almond Flour Cookbook" is one of the most well used cookbooks in my kitchen. I can't tell you how many pages are dog-eared, splatter-stained, and written all over with my favorite blue pen, sharing my own notes along the way. 

Some of my favorite recipes from Elana's "The Almond Flour Cookbook" 

• Savory Vegetable Quiche, pg. 61
• Herbed Turkey Loaf (seriously the BEST "meatloaf" ever!!) pg. 47
• Chocolate Chip Scones, pg. 18
• Chicken Fingers, pg. 41
• Salmon Dill Burgers, pg. 51
• Pear Crisp - pg. 75
• Chocolate Cake, pg. 84
• Pizza Crust - pg. 82

And this is only a handful of the recipes I've tried! Seriously... Elana I cannot tell you how much I love you!

I could write paragraphs singing the praises of almond flour and why I think it's such a wonderful gluten free choice for baking... but if you just try a few of Elana's recipes you'll completely understand this too!

And here's how you can! I have two BRAND NEW copies of BOTH of Elana's cookbooks to give away! Her first cookbook, and her BRAND NEW 2nd cookbook, "Gluten Free Cupcakes."  Today (April 26th) is actually the release date for Elana's new book! (Congrats Elana!!) When her publisher contacted me to send me a review copy, I instead asked for a copy of each book so I could give them away. Because, as with Elana's first book -- I already pre-ordered my copy of Gluten Free Cupcakes! 

PLUS, as an added bonus, I'm including 4 cups of Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour in this giveaway so that you can ALSO try some of Elana's recipes with the almond flour she prefers! 

THE GIVEAWAY: THIS giveaway is now CLOSED. 

This giveaway includes a brand new copy of Elana Amsterdam's, "The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook" AND a copy of her newly released cookbook, "Gluten Free Cupcakes" AND 4 cups of Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour.

**********

GLG Review & Giveaway Disclosure:

These books were provided for me free of charge (as review copies) from Ten Speed Press. 

I was not paid to do this review any opinions expressed are my own. 

This Week's Menu - Quickly using up Fresh Veggies

It's kind of funny how this week worked out! We have lots of fresh produce, but a SUPER busy week & upcoming weekend... so it's gonna be kind of a crazy week to try and use up all the produce that could spoil before we leave! Our meal proteins this week are ground beef & ground chicken... both from a local farm! I'll be using them basically for one-pot-meals.. that hopefully I can throw together in about 20 minutes when I get home from the gym!

Also my prep work is going to be split up this week because I didn't have enough time to get everything done on Sunday. Last week was a rough week for my meal plan. We didn't follow it well and accordingly the week  was harried and rather stressful! I'm determined not to let that happen again this week!

What are you having this week?

*******************

Breakfasts: Eco-Planet Hot Cereal + 1 oz. almonds, berry hemp shakes, greek yogurt + 1/4 c. Udi's Original Granola

Snacks: Babybell cheese and/or cheese sticks + fruit (this week strawberries & bananas), 1/4 c. Udi's Granola with almond milk, 1 oz. almonds + fruit, Mary's Sticks & Twigs + 2 tbsp. hummus

Lunches: Leftovers -or- Gluten Freeda Burritos + romaine salad

Dinners: 

• Monday: Baked sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, fresh romaine salad
• Tuesday: Fresh green beans cooked with red potatoes, served with sauteed ground chicken & spinach
• Wednesday: One Pot Meal made using ground beef/ fresh zucchini/ sweet onion/ grape tomatoes
• Thursday: My favorite tuna melts + fresh fruit
• Friday: TRAVELING: so I'm going to make sandwiches to take with us since it will be a late trip along with cheese sticks/ packages of raw almonds/ fresh strawberries/ apple slices
• Saturday: Going to the Charlotte Gluten Free/ Allergen Free Expo!! SO Excited!

Meal Prep Work This Week:

• Sunday: Wash sweet potatoes & place them on foil lined baking sheet, so that hubs can just stick them in the oven when he gets home. Pull out ground chicken & ground beef to defrost in fridge. 
• Monday: Make One Pot Meal for Tuesday - Tuesday we'll be running errands & have a gf support group meeting! 
• Wednesday: Ask hubs to make double batch of tuna salad for tuna melts on Thursday & sandwiches for our trip on Friday. 
• Thursday: Prep all snacks/foods to take on trip Friday evening. 

****************

For more gluten free weekly menus, please visit Cheryl Harris at Gluten Free Goodness, this week's theme is "Borrowing Inspiration." 

And as always, for literally HUNDREDS of meal plans of ALL sorts, please visit "I'm an Organizing Junkie." 

{Gluten Free One Pot Meals} Hobo Dinners Recipe Template

Photo courtesy of Christy Jordon, cookbook author and founder of the popular food blog:  Southern Plate. 

I had completely forgotten about Hobo Dinners until this week. My wonderful friend Clara mentioned them during one of our chats last year and I filed it in the back of my endless "to try" cooking files somewhere in a dusty corner of my brain.

I remember making them as a child once or twice on camping trips with my youth group... a quick dinner you could toss into the campfire and it would HOPEFULLY be cooked through in an hour if you cut the potatoes small enough (I think mine were never fully cooked! lol)...

One hectic night this week I was frantically trying to come up with something quick for dinner. I had ground beef defrosted in the fridge and I knew I needed to use it. This cookbook was lying on my kitchen table. I flipped through to the ground beef recipes and the Hallelulah/lightbulb moment happened when I saw the recipe for Hobos.

So here you go... there is absolutely NOTHING fancy about this recipe. Throw together the ingredients you have on hand, fold it up in a cute foil package, stick it in the oven for an hour and eat... simple, but so delicious and my husband LOVED them!

Hobo Dinner Recipe Template
Naturally free of gluten, casein/dairy, soy, grains
Credit: Probably your grandmamma or scout leader has a very similar recipe... make it yours!
Printer-Friendly Recipe

1 pound ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork
Baby Carrots
4 potatoes (1 per person) or a bag of fingerling potatoes
4 slices of onion, (1 per person)
salt & pepper
Optional: A1 sauce or your favorite gluten free barbecue or steak sauce

Directions: 
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Divide 1 lb. ground beef (or turkey, chicken, pork, etc..) into 4 patties. Get 4 large sheets of foil. Place an onion slice in the middle of each sheet of foil. Place ground beef patty on top of each onion slice. On top of each meat patty add 1 diced potato (or 4-5 fingerling potatoes) and a handful of baby carrots. Add salt, pepper, and your favorite seasonings (we added garlic powder too!). Wrap up foil packages so they are tightly sealed. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes - an hour until veggies are tender and meat is cooked through.

Variations:

• Add more veggies! Fresh green beans or zucchini would be awesome!
• Cook this on your grill, in a firepit, or in your campfire! Great camping meal!!
• Use fun vegetables like purple potatoes for really cool color! Your kids will love it!
• For a seriously fast dinner prepare the meal in the foil packets a day before you need them, so all you have to do once you get home is stick them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven! Easy peasy!