via Instagram @whitneynewby

Is it a crime to post a recipe without a close-up photo of the finished product? Perhaps. But it seems like every time I bake this pumpkin cake, it's gone before I have a chance to take a real photo. This picture of Liam gobbling up his third piece straight out of the oven will have to suffice, at least for now.

This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free recipe that I can feel good about feeding my toddler (and the rest of us). For the past five years, I've used Pamela's Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix for nearly all of my gluten free baking. But when a friend recently gave me a bag of Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend to try, I was hooked. While Pamela's contains a small amount of dairy, sugar, and tree nuts (almond meal), Namaste does not. I actually like the final product more, and it's less expensive. Score and score.

This recipe was adapted from Namaste's website, where I replaced the canola oil with coconut oil and the sugar with coconut sugar, which I also purchase in bulk from Amazon. The end result is a super moist, not overly sweet pumpkin-flavored quickbread that can easily be made into muffins or a bundt cake. You could also add chopped apples, chocolate chips, or a pecan topping to dress it up a bit.

GF Pumpkin Bread - adapted from NamasteFoods.com

1 cup Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend
1 cup Coconut sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. Coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 cup Canned pumpkin
2 Eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 8" x 8" baking pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine sugar and melted coconut oil. With a wire whisk blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
4. Spread batter into prepared 8" x 8" pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Friday Five.

1. Happy Friday! It's been a full, productive week at home, despite a painful tailbone injury that hardly seems to be healing. (The doctor reassured me that within 2 months it would heal. 2 months?!) Anyway, I've had to stand 80% of the time to avoid pain, which has meant a cleaner-than-normal house, preparing freezer meals for when baby arrives, and an extraordinary amount of nesting. Like... a third of our Christmas gifts are already purchased and wrapped.

Speaking of gifts, Liam turns two this month! For one of his gifts, I sewed him his first backpack. I figured it would be helpful for him to carry to "school" (Bible study) and church with his snack and sippy cup and diapers when the new baby arrives, so that the diaper bag is freed up for her things. I used Made By Rae's Toddler Backpack pattern, which was easy to follow and makes a really adorable bag. The exterior fabric is a new Nate Berkus home decor print I found at Joann's that's apparently "soil and stain resistant." Yes, please.  I can't wait to see him wearing it.

2. This recipe for Old Fashioned Apple Crisp by Ina Garten is our family's favorite. It's full of sugar and butter, which is probably why it's so delicious. (You can easily make it gluten free like we do by substituting gluten free oats and gluten free flour. No one will be able to tell the difference.)

3. As someone who loves the city and misses it daily (specifically Chicago and New York), this article by Kathy Keller on why the city is a wonderful place to raise children is so enlightening and encouraging. We don't have plans to move from Raleigh, but if we did, a large city would be our top choice. And we'd re-visit this article a dozen times. I love her insight.

4. Did you know you can freeze fresh spinach to use for smoothies? We always buy spinach or kale from Costco and rarely get through an entire carton, so this is budget life changing. I especially love the idea of making spinach cubes to put straight into a green smoothie. Exactly what we'll be doing.

5. Have you stumbled on this article: If My Child Marries Yours? If you're in a similar season of motherhood, brace yourself for the tears. Just beautiful.

Anything you've learned around the web this week that you want to share? Comment away. And have a wonderful weekend!

Muffin man.

Dear Husband,

Soccer player.
Artist.
Business man.
Photographer.
Singer.
These are all things I knew about you.

But baker?
I had no idea.

I came home from work tonight and opened the door to the scent of warm cinnamon that enveloped our house. There were empty bowls and dustings of flour covering the counter. And there were muffins in the oven - and you made them! Completely from scratch. And gluten-free, at that! (Oh, and there was one excited boy with a huge smile across his face. Can't forget that.)

I am so impressed. 

One day, if we're lucky enough to have a son, I hope I remember to tell him about this night. The night you taught yourself to bake morning glory muffins from scratch for the first time to bless your wife. I'll tell him that doing that is a really good way to a girl's heart.

Loves,
Your wife

Spring cookies. Yum.

I set out to make some Spring cookies in light of the changing seasons. They ended up looking a lot more like St. Patrick's Day cookies, which was not what I was going for, but still tasted so good.

If you have to eat gluten-free like me, I can't recommend Pamela's baking mix highly enough! I buy mine from Whole Foods in a big 5-lb. sack. It's a little pricey, but for all the use I get out of it (pancakes, waffles, quick breads, muffins, cookies) and the fact that I don't waste lots of time mixing my own flours, it's so worth it to me. I used it to make these cookies, using her super easy sugar cookie recipe. The fact that a gluten free cookie dough could be the same consistency as a normal cookie dough and roll out is, in fact, amazing. (You who have tried other gluten free baking recipes probably know what I'm talking about.) I even love how the flecks of almond add a rustic flair to these rich, yummy cookies.



Once they were baked and cooled, I set them on a cooling rack to ice them with a simple mixture of some powdered sugar, almond milk, and food coloring. I just added a little milk to the powdered sugar until it was the consistency I wanted.




Happy St. Patri... I mean... Happy Spring! :)

To my dear gluten-intolerant friends,

This bread...

is life changing.
I mean it.

For this gluten-free dairy-free girl, a good (and easy) homemade bread recipe is so hard to find. But this lady has done it:

I can't recommend her book highly enough. (She has a blog, too!)

This bread takes less than an hour from start to finish, is crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside, and just perfect. Shawn even said it was the best bread I've ever made - gluten-free or not. That's saying a lot if you've ever tasted gluten-free bread. I added rosemary, minced garlic, and a little sea salt and it tasted just like focaccia from Macaroni Grill. I've also made a delicious chicken tetrazzini casserole and black bean lime soup from Silvana's book.



So to all my gluten-intolerant friends, this cookbook has two thumbs up from me! Just thought you should know. :)

Love,
Whitney

GFCF cranberry muffins.

It's November 1.

In my mind, November 1 brings permission - and even invitation - to use spices like nutmeg and cloves and fruits like cranberries in baking... spices and fruits that are normally reserved for the holiday season.

So to celebrate November, I whipped up some gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free cranberry muffins that are tart and sweet and so delicious! Of course, if your diet doesn't demand a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free recipe, feel free to substitute regular flour and real buttermilk and butter.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup gluten-free flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup almond or coconut milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup butter (or dairy-free alternative), melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coconut oil (for preparing pan)



1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. To make dairy-free buttermilk, pour just under 2/3 cup almond milk into a measuring cup, then add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Let it sit while you prepare the dry ingredients.
3. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add chopped cranberries, gently tossing to coat. (I used a food processor to quickly, roughly chop them.)
4. Combine buttermilk, melted butter, egg, vanilla, and honey in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter evenly into 12 muffin cups coated with coconut oil.
5. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Yum!

*I use Pamela's gluten-free baking mix, which I highly recommend if you need to eat gluten-free. It already contains baking soda, so there's no need to add it if a recipe calls for it.

For Betty.

I feel indebted to Betty Crocker.

When I found out about my gluten intolerance, I was mostly relieved to begin recovering from what had been an 8-month health battle. But I also felt about 2% sad that baking would never be easy again. Before going gluten-free, I baked almost every day. After going gluten-free, however, I was lucky to bake once a week.

The bottom line - if you've ever tried baking gluten-free from scratch, you know it's not easy. A recipe for chocolate chip cookies may call for up to 15 ingredients. At any given time, I could be storing 6 different types of flours in my freezer. It takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of money.

Then Betty entered the scene.

Betty, with her new gluten-free baking mixes for chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, and brownies.

Betty, who doesn't call for strange ingredients like xanthan gum or arrowroot starch - only butter and eggs.

Betty, who allows me to strap on my apron, turn on some jazz music, light a candle, and bake away. 

Betty, who encourages me to pull out my wooden spoon and whip that mix into a thick, rich batter.

Betty, whose brownies taste so good fresh out of the oven that I can't even tell they're gluten-free (and I forget to take a picture of the final product).

Betty, who makes gluten-free baking feel less like a science experiment and more like the best kind of Saturday afternoon.

Gluten-Free Apple Cake.

So I'm on Day 12 of being completely gluten-free and it has been a challenge, but not as challenging as I expected. Sure, I miss bread - especially ciabatta - but there are yummy replacements for almost everything.

My first adventure in gluten-free baking was a complete failure. I even cried. I was already feeling emotionally fragile about having unexplainable symptoms for 6 months, then when I tried to make scones (which I was craving) they ended up tasting like sprouts. Sick.

So tonight, I attempted more gluten-free baking, but this time I tried to adapt a recipe that's been a family staple for years. It's an apple bundt cake that's to die for. I experimented by substituting Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour and an appropriate amount of xanthan gum to hold it all together, and it came out like a dream! We honestly could not tell a difference. That, in my book, is sweet victory! We even had company over and they asked for seconds. Seconds! Trust me, had it been those scones, they wouldn't have asked for any more. :)

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill GF Flour*

1 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum*

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups chopped, raw, peeled apples

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar together. Mix flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix well. Batter will be thick. Add apples and mix. Nuts may also be added. Spoon batter into greased bundt pan. Bake approximately 1 hour at 350°F. Cool 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

*If you don't care about it being gluten-free, just use 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and no xanthan gum.

My new toy.

We spent our Saturday morning at a flea market in the suburbs. While it wasn't as grand as I had hoped, we did find a couple fun things.

First was a $3 watercolor painting of Rockefeller Center from 1959. I knew it had to be ours - Rockefeller Center is, as you know, one of the most special places on the planet to us.

The second fun find was an old (probably 1950's) cake decorating set with an icing pump and 12 different tips. For $5. I took it home, cleaned it up, and made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to try it out. They were soo yummy and I'm loving learning how to decorate cupcakes!

Julie and Julia.

Have you seen this movie? If not, you need to! Shawn and I had not been to a movie theater since we got married, but we saw Julie and Julia on our date night a week or so ago. It was hilarious, endearing, and inspiring.

So inspiring, in fact, that I've been cooking up a storm for the past week and a half. After seeing Julia Child's passion for food, I was motivated to try some new recipes. And it has really helped with my meat-eating transition!

Here are a few samples from the week:

Strawberry cake by Martha Stewart. I made mine with almond extract (instead of vanilla) and almond whipped cream and it was soo good. We even ate some for breakfast the next day.

Chicken Marsala from The New Best Recipe. A little sweet for my taste, but Shawn loved it.

Chicken Piccata by Ina Garten. I loved this recipe! And I love Ina Garten. Anything she touches turns to gold. We'll do this one again (and I cooked the green beans in the same sauce... gotta love one pot meals).

Also, I was inspired to make my first apron! I love that Julia Child always wore an apron, and so I set out to create my own. I didn't follow a pattern, but learned a lot along the way. And it's reversible! Thank you, Grandma, for fixing my sewing machine over the phone. You are amazing and helped me so much, even from miles away.

Lastly, these just make me happy. :)