Sharing the Love

photo from 52 Kitchen Adventures

When I really enjoy a post I want to be able to share them with you, so I have been making a point to save my faves for easy sharing. Hopefully you'll like these as much as I have.

Sometimes the posts will challenge, sometimes they will encourage. They might make you angry or really happy. There are so many great, encouraging, intellegent people online, writing what they are passionate about, that it feels like a shame not to share.

These are a few of my favorite reads from the past week.

When It's Hard to be Happy for Her and Four Ways to Make the Most of Your Season

The inconvenient truth about Halloween chocolate and forced child labor

Again, my friends are inspiring me: Lesley, talking about God's direction in our lives and Ashlee with a snail mail challenge. It's so ON!

And last, but definitely not least, Stephanie came up with these awesome Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting. She had me at Pumpkin.

Recipe Box - Vegan Spiced Rum Coffee Creamer

It may have been 90 degrees in the shade today, but I have fall on my mind. I blame my friend, Nikki. She posted some delicious pumpkin treats she made this week on her blog. I knew had to make my own pumpkin treats seeing as there are a bazillion miles between us (she lives in this little town called Manila.) and she cannot easily share. I also was convinced I had a rouge can of pumpkin in my pantry, so when I went to the store I picked up what I needed to make flavored creamer with the idea that I would make pumpkin spice creamer. I got home busted everything out and then realized the can of pumpkin I was picturing to be in my pantry was very likely the one in Nikki was holding in her photo.

Oops.

I wanted creamer more than I wanted to go to the store, so a cupboard scrounge led me to decide to try a Spiced Rum variety. I also wanted to make it vegan becuase I like to limit my dairy and coffee creamer just isn't worth it to me.  I am happy with the results, though I would like it to be a bit creamier. All the online recipes I found called for adding a thickener like xanthan gum or even cornstarch. Both options are icky, so I went with a soy creamer instead of straight soy milk and coconut cream instead of coconut milk.

If you make it I would love to know what you think of it! 

Vegan Spiced Rum Coffee Creamer

1 cup soy milk creamer (or whole milk)
1/2 cup coconut cream (or half and half)
4 T maple syrup
1 t rum extract
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves

Pour all ingredients into a glass jar and shake well. It's great on iced coffee and hot coffee.

Waffles {Recipe Box}

 Did you ever have breakfast for dinner as a kid? I have fond memories of my mom making a bacon and egg scramble for us some nights. We always thought it was so special and fun, when in reality it was probably less  for the novelty if it as much as because it was time to go to the grocery store. 

I can relate. 

Sort of, anyway. It's because we went to the grocery store that we had all the ingredients on hand for waffles. The pantry got slim when swim season started thus making Saturday morning waffles an impossibility. I'm not one to wait when an idea strikes me, so waffles for dinner it was. Aaron is usually on waffle and pancake duty due to my tendency to burn them, but he was busy tonight so I risked it and made them myself. We usually use the good old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook version, but being the rules breaker I am, I modified it quite a bit and luckily it yielded good results - everyone had seconds, even the kids.

Whole Grain Waffles

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
• 2tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, seperated
•  2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup cooking oil
•  
•  directions 1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, oat bran, flax meal, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
  2. In another medium bowl beat egg yolks slightly; stir in milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).  In a small bowl whip eggs whites until stiff peaks form, fold into batter. Do not over mix, you want to see some of the egg whites throughout.
  3. Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups batter onto grids of a preheated, lightly greased waffle baker (use a regular or Belgian waffle baker). Close lid quickly; do not open until done. Bake according to manufacturer's directions. When done, use a fork to lift waffle off grid. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm.
  4. Makes 12 to 16 (4-inch) waffles

We ate our waffles with strawberry and blueberry compote, Nutella and a little dollop of plain yogurt sweetened with honey.  Pretty fabulous dinner, if I say so myself. The waffles have a nice crispy outside, which is how we like them. The compote was perfect on top; I think without it the waffles may have been too dry.

Chocolate ‘n’ peanut butter belong together. Fact.

It’s becoming a joke around here that I always add peanut butter to everything. I blame Amanda for this because she brought over brownies one night for dessert and before throwing them into the oven to bake swirled a heaping spoonful of peanut butter into the brownie batter. I was hooked from then on, especially now that most of my baking is gluten free. 


My favorite gluten-free cupcake mix is (so far) the Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake mix. I have never really been one for following rules which is probably why I like baking mixes so much. They lend themselves well to rule breaking – even the gluten free variety. It’s not like I break a ton of rules (How’s that for justification?) just one or two substitutions and an add-in here and there.  No one around here is complaining, that’s for sure.
This would also translate pretty well to a regular baking mix, no doubt. Most cake mixes call for eggs, oil or butter (fat), and water, so what I do is replace the fat in cake mixes or brownies with peanut butter. I figure that if I have to have a fat it might as well be peanut butter, right? That’s healthy…there’s protein, too.  (Wait. Is peanut butter even a fat?)


It’s ok. You don’t have to agree with me. I have it all justified just fine in my world. In case you do agree with me or are just curious here’s my method of making cupcakes.


Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Banana Cupcakes with Marshmallow “Frosting”
You’ll need 1 Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix (Makes one 8 in round or 12 cupcakes).
Follow package directions except substitute peanut butter for oil/butter.
Add 1 ripe mashed banana.
Mix and pour into cupcake tin; bake according to package directions.
When the cupcakes are done kick on your broiler to high, but don’t adjust your racks on the oven.
Take a marshmallow and place it on top of each cupcake and broil them till they are toasty.
Take the cupcakes out of the oven and smoosh down the marshmallows before they cool so that they cover the cupcakes like frosting.
Try not to eat them all in one day.