Friday: What's Cooking In The Kitchen...

I am torn between baking and being outside today. It is the second half of November AND 60 degrees! I love Colorado and today is a great reminder, not that we needed it, as to why we love where we live!

I did make some awesome Granola this week though that I wanted to post. This recipe is adapted from a cookbook called Skinny Bitch In The Kitch.

Gunn Family Granola:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

2 cups oats - heat in oven till lightly toasted (about 10 mins)

mix together - 1 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup shred coconut, 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt, 1/3 cup flax seed

wisk together - 1/4 cup maple syrup, 3 TBS agave, 2 TBS grape seed oil

Stir all together and bake on a cookie sheet for 20 mins. Add dried fruit (apples, cranberries, raisins, etc) and let cool.

I ate this with yogurt on Thursday morning and it was Fantastic!

Ok seriously headed outside with my puppy! Enjoy your weekend!

Vegan.

I know there have been some questions about whether Kevin and I are going Vegan. AND after my last post there were even more questions.

Kevin answered "NO"

Heidi answered "kinda, but not really"

So not to confuse any of you more I will get straight to the point. For the past year of my life every time I ate I was miserable. I would have horrible stomach pains for at least two hours after every meal. We were really frustrated and decided to try an elimination diet to figure out if it was gluten, dairy, sugar, salt, etc. After 6 months of elimination diets we narrowed it down to dairy. In October I spent the entire month to the best of my ability staying completely off dairy/lactose. I felt amazing for the first time in 8 months!

I began to pick the brains of some educated friends and do some of my own extensive research. I spent hours on the internet, in the library, and with the dairy department at our local Whole Foods! They were great, by the way. :)

Our goal for 2010 was to figure out my stomach issues. We had a lot of success. I am un-officially lactose intolerant and we know my body does not break down the sugar when I consume any dairy products. Taking a dairy enzyme helps but the best solution we have found is to cut it completely out. This is where the term "vegan" plays a large key. Dairy is such a huge substance in our culture that it is contained in so many products. When an item is marked "vegan" it means that the product does not contain any animal by product. This is a safe and healthy way for us to determine if I can have it or not. So in our household we use the term "vegan" often, but not fully by the definition.

Our goal for 2011 is to visit a holistic doctor and become officially diagnosed. One of the women at our church who just moved here from IL with our church plant happens to be a holistic doctor who will be working Boulder. We know we found a perfect fit for me to see her and we are excited about the testing and information she can provide for us in our research.

As we come upon our almost one year mark of this journey I have LEARNED so much and am GRATEFUL for my health and knowledge regarding lactose intolerance and vegan diets.

So don't get scared away by our recipes that we post just because it says Vegan BECAUSE

... you HAVE to try that Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe... It is A M A Z I N G!

Friday: What's Cooking In The Kitchen...

Finally back again! I have taken a bit of a break... not from the cooking and being in the kitchen

but rather just from blogging.

Since I last posted Kevin and I have enjoyed a trip to New Mexico to see some of our best friends and enjoy the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (hot air balloons). Turns out our trip to Snowmass to see the balloons was just a small taste; because in New Mexico we saw over 200!!! It was magical and beautiful and overall a wonderful trip.

My parents came to visit in mid October. Dad was here just for a weekend and mom stayed with us for two and half weeks. We made lots of great food and had fun at the Molly Brown House, Coors Tour, Painted Platter and lots of other adventures. She worked hard in our kitchen too; making cinnamon rolls and cooking down and freezing three giant pumpkins!

Thanks Mom!

Speaking of pumpkin... I tried a new recipe today. In our house we LOVE hummus so here is my recipe for an attempt to make pumpkin hummus.

Pumpkin Hummus

• 1 3/4 cups dry garbanzo beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 1/3 cup tahini paste
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt to taste
• • 
    
• • I just throw it all in the food processor and then add a little water to get the right consistency. I was hoping that it wouldn't be too overpowered with the pumpkin and tahini paste always makes me nervous but...
  • • It turned out perfect!

We are also meeting up with friends tomorrow (saturday) for a double date at the Painted Platter (paint your own pottery place). When we are done we are planning to eat dinner and play some games here at the house. I'll be placing Vegan Chili in the crockpot before we leave in the morning and for dessert making Vegan Chocolate Cake.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup sugar or other sweetener
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 cup cold water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl and stir with a fork until mixed. Make a well in the center and add the vanilla, oil, vinegar, and water. Stir with a fork until well mixed. Pour into a 9x9-inch baking dish (or cupcake pan), and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely, then frost with Chocolate Cream Frosting

Chocolate Cream Frosting

Makes enough for one 9-inch cake or 8 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoon softened margarine (Earth Balance)
• 1-1/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-4 tablespoons water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cream the margarine in a small bowl then add the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and enough water to make a thick but spreadable frosting.

YUM! Can't wait to try this... the batter was good :) So now you might be wondering why everything is vegan... NO, we did not go Vegan but close. I will post more on this later this week because this is already overly long! Watch for that post!

Enjoy your weekend!