Gluten Free Almond Cranberry Apple Bread

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Chocolate and Roses . . . in June

Here's my favorite foodie Friday post -- featuring the flora of my backyard and . . . chocolate cake!

Cranberry Cinnamon Breakfast Rice Pudding

I. Love. Breakfast.

I do not love freezing cold mornings and eating cold cereal on cold mornings.

Thus, this recipe was born.

:)


Cranberry Cinnamon Breakfast Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1 c. uncooked rice (I use Jasmine)

1 c. frozen or fresh cranberries

1 c. water

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 c. white sugar

2 Tbsp. milk

My usual rice pick.

Instructions:

Place cranberries in a small sauce pan with 1 c. water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and strain liquid from berries. Set the berries aside. They should be tender, and slightly falling apart.

Cook rice according to package directions. My Jasmine rice cooks with 1 and 3/4 c. water for about five minutes.

When rice is soft and there is no excess water, add your cranberries. Stir gently with a rubber spatula. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and milk and stir again.

Serve hot with a cinnamon garnish. I think this would be divine with a little whipped cream on top, but alas, that was not on my menu this morning. Still, I could eat this for breakfast EVERY single day of winter. It's warm, sweet, and filling. **Plus, it's gluten and egg free! You could always substitute the milk for almond or rice milk too!**

Yep, princess dishware for the princesses that rule our roost.

Enjoy with life on these cold winter mornings. <3

Banana-Cranberry Quick Bread

Well, it's the end of the month again, which in our house means we can see the bottom of our pantry and fridge shelves! We still have a week to go though, since we shop strictly once a month due to distance and budget.

Our eggs, bread, and fresh fruit are almost gone, BUT I had a banana and some leftover cranberries in the freezer and just enough flour to get my brain thinking creatively. So this evening I made what I hope will be a delicious snack and breakfast loaf (that doesn't taste as cheap as it was!) to help us coast into our week before our next shopping trip.

This is adapted from my mom's original A - Z Loaf. This recipe is golden. I use it literally for every quick bread I make. 

Banana-Cranberry Quick Bread

Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) margarine, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 ripe or overripe banana
1 c. cranberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a regular bread loaf pan.

Simmer the cranberries on medium high heat with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. When they are tender to the touch, pull the pan off the heat. Set aside.

Cream the margarine and sugar with the vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, egg, and oil. Mix with a hand or stand mixer on high until well incorporated. Add the cinnamon, banana, lemon zest, lemon juice and cranberries.

Mix again on a low setting until the cranberries give just a tinge of color to the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for an hour and twenty minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

The berries bake up so sweet, the crust is slightly chewy, and the lemon zest gives the perfect complimentary flavor.

My view for the evening. 

Enjoy with life, even when the pantry's empty.

Chocolate Chip Shortcakes with Summer Berries and Dark Chocolate Sauce

This, my friends, is date night food. And by date night food, I mean staying-in-worthy, chocolaty, sinfully delicious date night dessert.

Hubby just came back last night from a three night stay at a kid's church camp where he counseled for third and fourth graders. It was a short time to be away from one another, but we were definitely overdue for some time together. On the brink of exhaustion and a tired toddler, we opted for a relaxing double-feature movie night in. Not making dessert was not an option.

While hubby was gone, of course, I spent a good couple of evenings "Pinteresting" (and watching episodes of Bones...I'm totally addicted) ... and stumbled across this AMAZING looking dessert. I knew immediately it'd be perfect for a decadent date night in.

I made several changes, mostly in the name of having more movie and cuddle time. It was worth it! This turned out both delicious, and way more impressive looking than it was!

Enjoy, with life.

Chocolate Chip Shortcakes with Berries and Dark Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

Shortcakes
2 cups baking mix (like Bisquick or Jiffy)
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. shortening or margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Berries
4 cups berries (any kind you like! I used strawberries and blueberries)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. finely shredded mint leaves

Dark Chocolate Sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 bag (6 oz.) dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla

*Whipped Topping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Using an electric mixer, beat the baking mix, sugar, shortening, and milk until well-combined. Mixture should be a little lumpy. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.

Batter pre-chocolate chips.

Batter post-chocolate chips.

Drop large spoonfuls of batter onto a greased baking tray and bake for ten to twelve minutes. They will become very fluffy, but shouldn't spread out into each other on the baking tray. They'll be golden colored when they're done.

While waiting for the shortcakes to bake, prepare the berries and dark chocolate sauce. For the berries, combine all the berries, sugar and mint leaves. Stir well. If you're using frozen berries, simply thaw on stove or microwave, but do not reduce to a liquid. The berries should be evenly coated with the sugar and mint.



For the chocolate sauce, combine the heavy whipping cream, dark chocolate chips and vanilla in a saucepan. Heat on a medium stove-top setting and stir constantly for about ten minutes. The sauce will melt into a thick, chocolaty topping.

I chose to set up a little shortcake bar, so we could assemble our own shortcakes how we like.

Dark chocolate sauce and whipped topping not pictured, but equally vital in the shortcake lineup.

Basically, cut a shortcake in half and top with berries, dark chocolate sauce and whipped topping, in any order desired. Then, eat!!

Hubby's was TOTALLY photo-finish worthy.

My shortcake concoction. 

It is rich and decadent, but the berries and mint add a summery freshness that evens it out. Our paired beverage of choice was Starbucks coffee. Perfection.

Enjoy with a well-deserved date night in, with yourself or your spouse, and Netflix.

<3

Gluten Free Double Berry Cobbler

Who knew that the best recipes could come from the back of baking mix boxes?? My husband and I recently decided to make cobbler with some frozen blackberries picked from an orchard near St. Joseph, MO. After a friend suggested using baking mix for cobbler recipes we decided to give it a shot. Awesomely enough, there was this perfect blueberry muffin recipe on the back of the baking mix box! Some might cringe at the thought of using a muffin recipe for cobbler, but I'm always one for experimenting. It turned out great! :)

I did tweak (as usual) a few things. The recipe on the box called for buttermilk. I used regular milk, and it worked just fine. I also made my own crumb topping rather than using the box's. It called for a lot of butter, and I love simple, crunchy crumb toppings rather than overly-gooey ones. And, of course, instead of using blueberries I used strawberries and blackberries. Delicious!

We're having a few friends over for dinner tomorrow, and I figured this would be the perfect crowd-pleasing, comfort-food dessert. I can't wait to dig in--it's been hard enough refraining since it came out of the oven!


 Ingredients:

1 3/4 c. Gluten Free Baking Mix
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk
3/4 c. sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. chopped frozen berries (I used blackberries and strawberries)

Crumb Topping

3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. oats
1 generous tsp. ground cinnamon


To start off, preheat the oven to 350 and melt your margarine. Whisk in the eggs, sugar and milk and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients and whisk again until just combined.

Grease a 9 X 13 in. cake pan.

Pour batter into the cake pan.

Combine all the crumb topping ingredients and set aside.

Sprinkle the berries on top of the prepared batter...

...and the crumb topping on top of that!

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden and a knife inserted into the center of the cobbler comes out clean.

Can't wait to eat it tomorrow! :)

Enjoy with life. <3