I don't think I took any pictures of these but I've made this recipe twice now and I love it! Unfortunately they are best right out of the oven and get crumbly once they have sat for a few hours. But when you take them out of the oven they are so moist and just like a whole wheat dinner roll, minus the gluten! If you would like to keep them I freeze them and then put them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to warm them up. And guess what? No Xanathan or Guar gum in these!!

Dinner Rolls

This recipe is adapted from the Gluten Free Goddess

1 cup sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca starch
1/2 cup brown or white rice flour
1/4 cup GF millet flour
1/4 cup teff flour
2 tablespoons flax seed meal (plus about 1/2 cup water)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 packet (or 7g) rapid rise yeast
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup light olive oil
2 eggs or egg re-placer
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice


Instructions:

Turn your oven on and off briefly to warm it. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. I use a second pan as well.

Prepare your flax seed by boiling the water and adding about 1/2 a cup of water to your flax seed meal. Set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours and dry ingredients.

Add in the wet ingredients (including flax seed and ONLY 1/2 cup of the water) and beat until a thick batter forms. This bread dough is not puffy and stretchy like wheat-based dough, it is more akin to a sturdy muffin batter. Beat until smooth. If it looks too dry add more water but I usually only use about 3/4 of a cup.

Spoon the bread dough into the twelve greased muffin cups. I only fill them 3/4 full so I use about 16-18 cups total. Place the pan in the center of the warmed oven to let the dough rise.

Set your timer for 50 minutes.

At 50 minutes, turn your oven to 350ºF.

Bake until the rolls are golden and firm- about 22 minutes. Thump them with a fingertip- they should sound hollow. Note: If your oven is slow to heat, you may have to bake the rolls longer to cook all the way through.

When the rolls are done baking, remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool a bit. Using a thin knife, loosen the edges of the rolls from the pan and ease the rolls out. They are tender when warm.

MMMMMMM Chocolate!! These brownies are so light and fluffy and fudge-y all at once! I have tried a few gluten free recipes for brownies and this by far is the best!

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over low heat until smooth.

Take one cup of brown sugar...

and whisk together with flours, salt and baking soda.

Make a well in the center and pour in the smooth chocolate mixture.

Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract on low until the batter comes together. The recipe says until it thickens but mine was quite thick.

Transfer into a pan (8x8 or 9x9) and bake!

Waiting....

Done!

Delicious and Fudge-y!

Fudge Brownies

5 ounces high quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla*


Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray the pan with cooking/baking spray.

Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat, gently stirring. (Or melt in a microwave safe measuring cup and stir together to combine.)

In a mixing bowl whisk together the brown sugar, almond meal, brown rice flour, fine sea salt and baking soda. Make a well in the center and add the beaten eggs, vanilla extract and melted dark chocolate mixture. Beat on low-medium for two minutes, until the batter begins to come together. At first it will seem thin, like cake batter, but keep beating until it thickens and becomes smooth and glossy.

If you are adding nuts, stir in the nuts by hand and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Even out the batter with a silicone spatula.

Sprinkle the top with some dark chocolate chips and press in slightly.

Bake in the center of a preheated 350 degree oven for 32 to 35 minutes, or until the brownies are set.

Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before treating yourself to a warm delicious gluten free brownie!

Yield: 12-16 servings

*For chocolate-mint brownies use 1 teaspoon peppermint extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

These are so addicting it's not even funny. Matt ate five the first day I made them. I ate three. Today I've had two so far. I'm working out double time to make up for it. Ha! Thankfully they have a bit of a health benefit as they are filled with Teff flour!! Teff is filled with minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium and essential amino acids like protein. It's also high in fiber!

thanks again to the Pioneer Woman!

Pecan Sticky Buns

INGREDIENTS
1 recipe of the Maple Cinnamon Buns (I used 2 cups teff, 1/2 cup white rice, 1/2 cup sorughm, and 1 cup tapioca for the flour)
1 stick of butter (DF)
Pecans, chopped into small bits
1 cup karo syrup

Make the dough with the Maple Cinnamon Buns Recipe.

In a separate pan, melt 1 stick of butter and add chopped pecans, corn syrup, and vanilla. Stir to combine, then remove from heat and set aside.

To make the rolls, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough into a 30 x 8-inch rectangle. Pour on some melted butter, then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface. Sprinkle some of the chopped pecans on there as well. Starting at the far end, roll the dough into a long roll, rolling toward you. You'll end up with a 30-inch-long roll of dough. With a sharp knife, cut into thin slices, about 1/2-inch thick.

Spoon 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the pecan/butter/syrup mixture into mini-muffin tins. Set sliced rolls into each muffin tin, pressing slightly to secure them to the pecans below.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove pans from oven and invert carefully so that rolls turn out and pecans stay stuck to the bottoms (which are now the tops!) If a little pecans stick in the tins, just dig them out with a spoon and reapply them to the rolls.

man's best friend....

Saw this article on the TODAY show and was absolutely disgusted. Want to be sure you get your money's worth? ADOPT. Just freaking ADOPT. Don't feel bad for the dog's in the puppy mills and think you are 'rescuing' a puppy by paying a thousand dollars to your local pet store. Those puppies almost always have extreme health issues and are inbred. And guess what? RESCUEs and the HUMANE SOCIETY go in and shut the puppy mills down, take the dogs in, get them well vaccinated and in better health, and then adopt them out for about $150.

There are too many PUREBRED dogs in rescues and even purebred rescues. And guess what? A MUTT is one of the best dogs you will ever own. I don't know the breed of my dog, so what? Do you honestly know your entire heritage? Not everyone does.


(From my old 1977 Minolta. The weird colored section to the left of her head? Bad light leak. Fixed by duct tape.)

My first dog, Maggie, was a one and a half year old mutt we adopted from a rescue group outside of a pet store. I searched through books and figured out she was probably a Belgian Malinois. I didn't realize how special she was until I got older but she was amazing. She didn't fetch, or chase balls but she listened so well. She was so obedient. She loved to run and we played chase around my backyard. She also loved to jump and I made many obstacle courses for her. We had an electric fence for a good part of her life but she probably would have stayed in our yard regardless. Every once in a while she would get out and go on an adventure but she always ended up back in her dog house or asleep by the front porch the next day. She was so good. My parents never spent too much on her, just got her the necessary shots and food that she liked. She lived outside, except during thunderstorms and cold weather when we brought her into the basement. She lived such a long healthy life. And she was ADOPTED.

Moral of the story - Before you get a dog, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Google dogs (especially cesar millan!) and learn some extremely simple tips for being a responsible dog owner. If you have a breed in mind, RESEARCH it. Every dog is different but breeds do have certain characteristics. Go see the dog before you decide you will take them home. Don't make a spontaneous decision especially if you are a first time dog owner. If the dog has a problem, google it. If you can't seem to figure it out, take some dog training classes. A lot of the time the trainer can show you how to solve it in the first class. And most of all, ADOPT.

Tips to being a succesful dog owner, by Sarah.

• Feed the best food you can afford. Always look for meat (NO meals) as the first ingredient. A meal is okay but you don't want it as the FIRST ingredient. Try to avoid corn in the first 5 ingredients. This website http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ is awesome. I currently feed a 4 star food that I can afford. Perfect.


• Exercise your dog at least 30 min a day. 30 min twice a day is preferred especially for larger dogs.


• Socialize your dog. READ carefully - not every dog enjoys social interaction. Some dogs prefer people. Some dogs just prefer you. But if your dog likes other dogs, go to the dog park or have play dates!


• Love your dog. Every day, as much as possible. That is what they live for :)

absolute GENIUS!

Um best thing ever. Especially if you are gluten free you know that baked goods don't last long. So why waste a pan of brownies or gain 15 pounds because you try to eat all of them before they go bad?

BROWNIE IN A MUG!

4 tablespoons Flour (GF or normal all-purpose)
4 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Cocoa
Dash of salt
-Mix all of these in a mug. Then add:
1 tablespoon oil
2-3 tablespoons water (I used 2 and a half)
Drop of Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Chips (Optional)
-Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Microwave for 1 min 30 seconds. Let it sit in the microwave for a minute or two. BEWARE it is very hot but SO delicious!!

baked chocolate donuts - for those of us with a chocolate obsession

These donuts were so easy and absolutely delicious! If you are in desperate need of a chocolate fix these are perfect. If not, I would suggest glazing them with the usual powder sugar/milk glaze. I converted this recipe to GF so it works with your normal flour as well! (You will only need 3/4 cup of flour) I'm so excited to have a donut pan now too :)

Baked Chocolate Donuts

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup tapioca
1/4 cup white rice
1/4 cup millet
1/4 cup almond
1/4 cup dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and coat a donut pan liberally with cooking spray. Stir together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk and stir together for 1 minute. Add the oil and continue to whisk until just combined. Transfer the batter to a large measuring cup (or a bowl with a spout) for easy pouring. Fill each cavity in the pan 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the donuts spring back when lightly touched. Cool completely before icing. Yields 10 to 12 donuts.

Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the glaze: combine the chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup and vanilla extract in a double boiler (or in a stainless steel or glass bowl over some simmering water). Stir until the chocolate is melted and everything is incorporated. Use immediately.

hello, my name is sarah, i love to bake, and i'm a pintrest addict.

Seriously addicted to Pintrest. It's almost bordering on obsession. The best part about Pintrest? Everything. Ha. Actually I love that I have a place to pin recipes that makes it so easy when I go to find a new one to try. Genius. Whoever created this site is just genius. I hope it sticks around for a while because I have so many dream home ideas stored on there. Ah so much easier then flipping through magazines, cutting out pictures and gluing them to poster board or pages in an album. Thank the Lord for the digital age (minus digital cameras. there is something too magical about developing your own photos and watching a picture come to life in front of your eyes).

Any who, I have tried many recipes from Pintrest, so please check out my pin boards. I've just created one for all of the recipes that I have tried that worked, or not. Just last night I made one Matt had been CRAVING for days. They were quite yummy. I think we ate about 15 right after they came out of the oven. Bahaha.

picture and recipe courtesy of oh my! SUGAR HIGH

Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites

1-1/3 cups all-purpose GF flour (I just used one from Namaste Foods)
1 cup crisp GF rice cereal, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup DF butter
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

**Make sure that you add a flax seed slurry if your flour does not have xanathan or guar gum!**Mix flour, crisp rice, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter just like you would shortening. (You can use shortening but I've found that the DF butter I use works just as well). Stir in the milk until moistened and then form dough into small balls. Dip the balls in the melted butter then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place onto a cookie sheet, or for softer bites place into a round cake pan like you would cinnamon rolls. Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees (or 14-17 if in a cake pan). Let cool, and enjoy! Or just pop them into your mouth while hot :) Ahaha

**Side note - I bought (and Matt bought me some :) I have such an amazing guy who shares my passion for good, healthy, all natural food. He bought a living social deal for whole foods and then went and bought me really expensive flours. *sigh*) a number of different flours: Millet, Almond, Teff, plus I already had Sorghum, White Rice, Tapioca Starch, Cornmeal, and Potato Starch (hmm i'm pretty sure i'm missing one). So I've been experimenting with different blends. Expect posts on this in the near future!