Shhhhh....I Got A Secret

I got a secret...Shhhh don't tell anyone.

You see last summer as I was peeling my kids apple after apple after apple, I would put the peels on the dehydrator. I would then take them off when done and grind them up. Me, in my qwest not to waste any food. I figure I will some day use all these grind up apple peels right?

Well that day has come. I am trying hard not to use guar gum when baking. So today well in the kitchen, whipping up yet another batch of Honey Bee Cupcakes, I thought I would use the grind up apple peels in place of guar gum. I have to say I was totally impressed. The cupcake came out really, really well.

So I will be using them in future recipes. Although I think they need a really cool name? Dehydrated grind up apple peels, is a mouthful. DGAP...Yeah, I can call them D-Gap. Lordy then no one will know what I'm talking about. I need something cool and hip, although I'm not cool and hip?

I will tell ya if you don't have a dehydrator, well what are you waiting for. I am so in love with all of mine. During the summer they are going non-stop, along with my canners. I love drying tomato peels and grinding them up for my rice dishes.

Hopefully as I go through this next year, I will have time to put more canning and drying recipes on the site.

So from this;

To this:

To this:

OH and the inside of the apples are sitting in the freezer so when I have the time I can juice those for real apple juice. OH I have a new juicer. Got it for Christmas. Hopefully those post will be here sooner then later.

Gluten Free Sun Butter Sandwich Cookies

Sandwich? Where is the sandwich part of these cookies. OK so I didn't get to the sandwich part of the cookies, but I will include the filling below. These are converted from my lovely Taste Of Home Cookbook-Cooks who care Edition. So loving this new cookbook. They got a four out of four here and I can't wait to make them again. Great way for me to get protein into my little guy, he doesn't eat enough different foods so these help. As of press time he has eaten 6.

Gluten Free Sun butter Sandwich Cookies
By Debbie Koles
Converted by Marcie Dingerson

1 cup shortening
1 cup sun butter
1 cup organic sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together then add:

3 cups gf flour mix, (I used Bob's all purpose)
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix, then shape into 1-inch balls and press down with a fork (I used my hands) Bake at 375 for 11 minutes, now the book says 8, but mine took 11. Watch yours after 8 minutes. You want golden brown. Remove to wire racks and cool.

Filling:

1/2 cup sun butter
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 to 6 tablespoons milk

Beat together, then spread on half of the cookies and top each with another cookie.

This made well over 4 dozen single cookies. I lost count as the boys were eating them as fast as I was pulling them out of the oven.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Blondies

So in the mail today was my newest cookbook The taste of home Cook Book-Cooks who care edition. I paid a whopping .69 cents for it. Yes, you read that right, for this awesome book I paid a whopping .69 cents. How? How you ask, well I swagbuck. http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Mousemoe  I search every morning and every evening and that is about it, I search until I hit points and then stop. If I have time I will go and look for videos or something. About once a month I realize I have earned enough to cash in the swag bucks and get an Amazon e-gift card. I cash in enough points to get two 5 dollar e-gift cards. After they arrive in my account I go book shopping on Amazon. I have probably gotten my last 6 cookbooks this way. I look for used and cheap and I buy.

Now we are watching every penny here, well working on goal number 1. So this allows me to get cookbooks without hurting our budget. And, yes, I will admit I am a cookbook freak!

So in opening the new cookbook today, Ethan went flipping through it and he landed on Blondies, Mom you have to make these, seems simple enough sure! I went into the kitchen and whipped them up. A very easy recipe I will say.

Also today is the first day we have had sun in a very long time. Hubby and I were out mucking goats all morning. What a mess, from months of rain the poor goats were so water logged. We cleaned out the feeding area, we got clear down to the mats we put down before rainy season hit. Tomorrow we are working around the feeding area, clearing out all the old yucky hay.

Below, if you notice the blue water container, Jelly loves this toy, she has since showed Jasper how to jump on and stay on. So as we were cleaning, the toddlers were out running and playing and hopping all over this toy. They love seeing the sun and worry it will leave us as quickly as it came. So Below, Jasper is on top, Jelly to the right, Trooper to the left.

Chocolate Chip Blondies

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Blondies
by Rhonda Knight
Converted by Marcie Dingerson

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup melted earth balance butter
1 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and add
1 1/2 cups flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup enjoy life chocolate chips

Mix all together and pour into a 13 x 9 inch pan. Back at 350 for 30-45 minutes. The recipe stated to bake at 20 minutes, I found 20 minutes is not enough. I ended up baking mine for 45 minutes before pulling them. They probably could have gone 5 more minutes.

Honey Bee Cupcakes

Can you believe it's a whole New Year all ready? Seriously where does the time go? Now I don't believe in New Years Resolutions. But I do believe in setting goals and sticking to them. Our Big goal last year was to pay off all our medical debt. Proud to say we hit it. YEAH. Sadly in the past four years we have paid over 40,000 in medical debt. I think it's really sad that one person has medical insurance and still we have to pay over 40k out of pocket.

So we have set some new goals for this year.

1. Pay down the van. Pay at least half if not all.

2. Save for a newer truck for Hubby, and hope duct tape sticks until we can afford something newer.

3. Couple dollars in savings. This will be the first time to have a few dollars in savings.

4. Work on paying down the house.

5. We have a major life changing event coming. I hope to survive it. No I'm not pregnant. I will blog more later on this. I need to get through the next two months. And then I'm ready to spill.

So with goal number 5 in mind I have decided to simplify my life a bit, now I LOVE to bake, but honestly to have 65 different flours in the pantry can weigh one down. So I went down to buy some starch because I was out of every starch and I saw Bob's Red Mill All Purpose. I decided to buy it. It will be my all purpose mix until further notice. So tired of getting time to play in the kitchen and I'm out of this flour or this one or that one. And have to think how do I sub? OK that works, OH wait I'm out of that flour too. Have also decided this is probably not the year to play with new flours. I wanted to get into arrowroot (too pricey) quinoa and such. But odds are with goal 5 in mind it will not be happening this year.

Now I LOVE doing my cupcake of the month. It makes me think outside of the box. Really get creative and play in the kitchen. I checked out this book from the library and I LOVE it. I saw her Honey Bee Cupcakes and I just HAD to do them. They came out sooooo good. So yesterday I whipped up a batch and they were sitting on the counter, and I went and got kids washed and dried. I then ran out to the van to get my camera and I'm fussing with the camera, when I finally get back into the kitchen all my cupcakes were GONE! I didn't even get to take a photo. Darn Kids!

So well they were at school today I whipped up another batch and took a photo and then I HID them. No one is touching my cupcakes before I get to frost them! This is hands down one of the best cupcakes I have done. They rose so nicely. They baked really well.

Honey Bee Cupcakes
From Wild About Cupcakes
Adapted by Marcie Dingerson

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk

Mix and add

1 Cup Bobs Red Mill All Purpose Mix (you can use yours)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder.
1 teaspoon guar gum

Mix and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Now her recipe made 12, mine made 7. I did double the recipe, it doubled fine and I made 14.

Honey Frosting

1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioners sugar
I did some natural yellow food coloring. I also added a drop of milk to make it flow together. You may or may not need milk.