Gluten Free Sugar Free Gingerbread Cookies

These little lovelies are proof that you dont have to give up amazing flavor to eat gluten free and sugar free.  I took them to two different parties this weekend and everyone loved them.  Total sugar and wheat addicts were passing over sinful store bought chocolate covered treats in favor of these simple little cookies.  Now that is saying something when sugar eaters go for your cookies instead of Peeps.  I was even able to provide a vegan party goer with a tasty treat since these cookies happen to be egg less as well.

I first made these for Christmas, using half the dough.  The rest of the dough I discovered recently and it was just as great as it was when it was first made.  So yes the recipe makes a huge number of cookies but its worth it to save half of them for latter.  I love leaving surprising myself by hiding random things in the freezer that will make me happy when I find it later.  Its one of the small pleasures of life.

The frosting issue is still a problem however.  Ive tried twice now to make sugar free frosting without some unwelcome ingredient like cream cheese or boxed pudding mix and neither worked out well at all.  I tried this recipe on Saturday and ended up with a pot of sticky brown goo, Im still not sure what I did wrong but it didnt work out for me.  So I will keep trying.  If you have a good sugar free frosting recipe please do send it my way.

Really these cookies are so good they dont need frosting though.  They are just spicy enough from the cinnamon and amaranth flour that the agave and molasses even it out for a perfect gingerbread flavor.  They are totally addictive so beware.

Gluten Free Sugar Free Gingerbread Cookies

2 1/3 cups brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups amaranth flour
1 1/2 cups arrowroot powder
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 unsweetened applesauce
1/3 canola oil
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the rice flour, amaranth flour, arrowroot powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. 

In a separate bowl, combine the agave nectar, molasses, applesauce, canola oil, vanilla.  Mix well and pour over the dry ingredients.  Stir until the 2 mixtures are thoroughly combined.  Cover and chill the dough 2 hours or more.

Sprinkle your work surface with arrowroot powder.  Divide the chilled dough into 4 equal parts.  Return 3 parts to the refrigerator to keep chilled.  Roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick.  Cut out gingerbread with cookie cutters and place them on the prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 6 to 7 minutes.

The cookies will be slightly soft when they are removed from the oven.  Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes then move to cooling racks to cool completely.  These freeze very well in plastic freezer bags.  Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.

From Baking with Agave Nectar  by Ania Catalano.

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A Whole Lot of Sauvignon Blanc and Puy Lentil Salad

Im really blessed to know a lot of great people who love wine almost as much as I do. I few of them even love wine more than I could ever hope to and put me to shame with their knowledge. Once a month for a little over a year now weve been getting together to taste wine and get Wasted. Well we do tend to get tipsy but thats also the name of the group. Its all Lindsays fault she started it.

This month the fella and I hosted a Sauvignon Blanc tasting, the perfect wine to ring in summer in our backyard. Unfortunately the weather didnt cooperate and we ended up packed into our tiny living room enjoying ourselves immensely until the rain ended. We tried some good and no so good stuff. Ill leave it up to Lindsay to do the hard core reviewing and Ill stick to taking ridiculous pictures of the wine and posting a recipe for the lentil salad that had everyone making yummy noises.

The 2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand was the winner of the tasting as far as I was concerned. It was light with just the right amount of citrus and sweetness. At about $22 it is well worth investing in especially if you dont think you like Sauv Blancs this one will prove the varietal has redeeming qualities.

There is this weird thing with Sauv Blancs where in the $15 or under range buying them is a bit of a crap shoot. There are a few good ones like the Riesling-esque $9 a bottle Quarry Hills Sauv Blanc that just came in to the wine store and we cant keep on the shelves for all the people buying it by the case. Aside from getting lucky and finding the rare keeper a lot of them make you wonder if youve accidentally poured yourself a glass of lawn clippings or cat urine (sorry for that image.) And four of our wines that day definitely fit in the overly green and grassy category.

I chose the 2008 Vicars Choice Sauvignon Blanc once again from the Marlborough region of New Zealand and the 2008 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from the same region. Both grass monsters. The Vicars Choice Reserve Sauv Blanc is actually complex and has a slightly sweet grapefruit kick, I should have spent the extra couple of bucks and got that. The Kim Crawford was just disappointing, its been so good in past years and tasted like the lawn this time around.

The 2008 Starborough Sauv Blanc from the Marlborough region was the best of the grassy wines since it wasnt over poweringly green but still not something I would buy. The 2008 Beau Joubert Oak Lake Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc blend from Stellenbosch South Africa was interesting but also packed too much green-ness to really fall in love with. I was just glad to have a South African wine that had none of the artificial banana flavor that so many of the whites in that area seem to be ruined by.

In the midst of the young Sauv Blancs that were making us all feel like we were chewing on field of clovers there were a couple really nice bottles that shook things up and surprised us all. The 2008 Boogle Vineyards Sauv Blanc from Clarksburg California was a delight. It was a bit sweet and light, something I would find and buy. The 2007 Luna Vineyards Freakout White Blend from Napa Valley was just a good departure from all the New Zealand wines and gave us a chance to rest our palates on something super easy to drink.

And then sadly there were the two wines that just didnt quite work out in the scheme of things. Im almost positive the bottle of 2006 Ceago Sauv Blanc from Clear Lake California was a bad bottle. Supposedly it doesnt happen much in screw tops but Ive heard really good things from customers and my wine genius boss about this wine. I refuse to believe all these people are drinking vinegar and enjoying it so I will give this one another try and get back to you.

The 2007 Domaine Sauvete Sauvignon de Touraine Oneiros from the Loire Valley might just have been too different from everything else to be enjoyable. We probably should have drank it first with clear palates because it was very French and very typical of the traditional Sauv Blanc with a heavy cat pee nose. It wasnt my favorite but I can see someone who enjoys French whites really getting into it.

Blah, blah, blah. Wine, wine, wine. I know you all just came for the lentil salad so here it goes.

Nigella is amazing and I want to cook everything from her book Forever Summer and am very happy I started out with this lentil and goat cheese divinity. Its simple and oh so delicious. Just make sure to use the Puy lentils as they have the structure to hold up to this salad. My other advise is to use the oil from sun dried tomatoes for the olive oil in the recipe, it added an extra layer of yummy go the recipe and it made sure that oil didnt go to waste which I always feel guilty about. Now I will always know what to do with it.

The hard part is resisting the urge to eat all the marinated goat cheese before you serve this. Not that it would be too much of an issue considering this recipe makes enough to serve a hungry houseful of winos and have enough left over for three people to eat for lunch. It is the gift that keeps giving.

As you can see the fella was a big fan. Or maybe it was just the wine. Who knows.

Puy Lentil and Goat Cheese Salad

1 10-ounce log goats cheese
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried mint (I omitted this)

3 cups Puy lentils
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chili oil

4 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces jarred sweet peppers in oil
bunch fresh mint, chopped (also omitted this)

Crumble the goats cheese and marinate in half the juice and zest of the lemon, 4 tablespoons olive oil (I used excess oil from a jar of sun dried tomato) and dried mint. Seal in a container and reserve until just before serving.

Put lentils in a large saucepan of water and add onion, garlic cloves and chili oil. Cook for about 25 minutes or until tender then drain. Keep an eye on the lentils so they dont get too soft and dont think of substituting the Puys for another lentil with less character and structural integrity.

Pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil over the warm lentils in a large serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add the remaining half of the lemon juice and zest. Drain the sweet peppers, chop them coarsely and mix them into the lentils. Mix with your hands or very carefully with a wooden spoon making sure not the crush and mangle the lentils.

When the lentils have reached room temperature add the marinated goats cheese and sprinkle over them with the fresh chopped mint and serve immediately.

Original recipe from Nigella Lawsons Forever Summer cookbook.

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Masters of Science in Gerontology

It took me pretty much six years to do it, but Im so proud of myself and can finally say I completed my Masters in Gerontology Degree!!! And it feels so good!

And even though it has been over a month since I did any kind of school work I still find myself panicking at times about what assignment I have due next! 

Truly though, its a great feeling to having nothing to worry about except planning for a new member of our family.

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Whole Baked Trout with Fennel

This is a great meal to use should you need to impress someone without having the time to put tons of effort in to it.  Because nothing says "fancy" like serving someone a whole fish.  It seems complicated and complex but in actuality couldnt be easier.  Of course if youre squeamish about whole fish or know someone who is this probably isnt for you.

The fella surprised me by making this for dinner one night when we were having a friend over.  We were both quiet impressed and blown away by the presentation.  And this is a great way to prepare fish, it comes out at a perfect level of doneness so that is is flaky but very moist and flavorful.  The next time we made this dish I helped prepare it and realized just how easy it is to make and became an even bigger fan of this meal.

You can use any whole white fish, herbs and veggies you like.  This is just what weve come up with.  If you have any other combinations you find that you like let me know.

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel

3 tablespoons oil

2 whole trout, gutted

1 bulb fennel

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 lemon, sliced

salt and pepper, to taste

Grease the bottom of a baking dish large enough to fit the fish using the oil.  Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the fish and place into dish.

Cut the fronds off of the fennel bulb and put half of the fronds into the cavity of each fish.  Cut the fennel bulb into 1/2 inch thick chunks and scatter around the bottom of the dish around the trout.  Salt and pepper the fennel.  Place 2 sprigs of thyme inside each fish.  Divide the slices of lemon between the fish and place in the cavities.

Place in over for 15 minutes.  Check for doneness by poking thickest part of fish with a knife, if the knife goes easily through the flesh the fish is done and ready to eat.  If the fish isnt cooked through put in for another 5 to 10 minutes at a time until it is cooked to your preferred level of doneness.

Remove fennel fronds, thyme, and lemon from inside fish and serve with roasted fennel bulb.

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The chicken the whole chicken nothing but the chicken

Last week when I went grocery shopping I bought a Perdue Oven Stuffer Roaster (a large whole chicken, for the culinarily-challenged).  These are normally a bit large for our usual "dinner for two" but I figured wed most likely have dinner guests over the weekend.  I started defrosting it on Wednesday and by Friday night it was almost completely thawed, so as we prepared Friday night for waking up at 5am Saturday morning for the opening day of fishing season I had the novel idea to put that whole chicken in the crock pot Saturday morning and prep it Friday night so that itd be easy to just turn on the crock pot before leaving to fish. 

Ive only put whole chickens in my crock pot a couple of times so I couldnt remember whether to put liquid in with it or not.  I went online to see if I could find a recipe that would tell me one way or the other and ran into this INCREDIBLE recipe that made the most flavorful chicken I think Ive ever eaten.  Heres a link to the Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe.  I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, using the reduced salt amount (per reviews), and substituting some of the chopped onions with halved button mushrooms because its what I had in the house.  I also added the 2 halved lemons to the chicken cavity and let the lemons & seasoning sit on/in the chicken overnight.  I cooked mine for a full 8 hours but thats because I wasnt home to check the pop-up timer.  It was still incredibly moist and flavorful.  Kudos to the author of that recipe!

And because we had this HUGE chicken and only 3 people to eat it Saturday afternoon, the leftovers got taken off the bone, skin was removed, and it was thrown in the fridge.  Then I had the idea to use it in a soup because I hadnt made soup in a while and I had just watched The Tale of Despereaux on Netflix. 

I remembered that I had saved a vegetable soup recipe in my cookbook from a short stint on Weight Watchers in 2011.  The following recipe is an adaptation of the Weight Watches 0 point Garden Vegetable Soup recipe using that leftover crock pot chicken and some beans thrown in for added protein to support the Medi-Weightloss plan.  I think the results are incredible... I had to stop myself from eating it because my stomach felt like it was starting to stretch midway through a second serving! 

Missys Medi-Friendly Chicken Soup


2 cups chopped leftover crock pot chicken (white/dark meat)
1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
8 cups fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/3 cups carrots, peeled & sliced
1 cup yellow onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups green cabbage, diced
1 cup fresh green beans, chopped
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt


Spray a large saucepan or dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray and heat on medium.  Saute the carrot, onion, and garlic until softened (about 5 mins).  Add broth, chicken, cannellini, cabbage, green beans, tomato paste, basil, oregano and salt.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 mins or until green beans are tender.  Stir in the zucchini and simmer covered again for 4-5 minutes.  Note:  Makes 8-10 servings.  Each 1/8 serving is approx. 150 calories, 1g fat, 34mg cholesterol, 824mg sodium, 434mg potassium, 18g carbohydrates (6g fiber, 2.5g sugar), 18g protein

Heres a photo I just took of how two servings of this soup looks (in my leftover container)... probably should work on a picture of it in a nice bowl or something for the next time I decide to share!

And the sad part about all of this?  There was still MORE chicken left over!  I was thinking of making my own chicken salad but I think the hubby snuck in the fridge while I wasnt looking and attacked the last of it.  Its okay though, he caught 2 trout for us yesterday and Ill get to figure out a new recipe for that soon.  The old way of topping it in buttery Ritz cracker crumbs probably isnt going to work well for my Medi plan! 

And for those who are curious, we caught a total of 4 trout yesterday between 3 of us.  That will definitely make for some nice fresh summer meals this month.

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