Birthday happenings

Our birthday celebration this year was to have a bunch of friends over just to play on a Monday morning. It was a little too crowded (too cold to go outside), but it was nice. I did get balloons, but all the food was pretty natural/low-processed -- fruit, kale chips (baked kale), rice pasta with veggies, a few bags of Terra and veggie chips, hummus & veggies and my friend's homemade dosas -- soaked rice & lentil pancakes (she added shredded coconut this time, and they were a big hit!). The spread was almost all gluten-free and dairy-free (just some pita for the hummus). I'll share about the cake another time, but the images I like best were from the Waldorf-y aspects.

We only gave my son three gifts (which I don't think he would have missed after all the gifts from grandparents and the playdate, balloons and dinner out at the Afghan restaurant he requested to go to). The gifts were just two Melissa & Doug puzzles and an outfit for his Waldorf doll, a gift last year, from Joy's Waldorf Dolls. I wrapped them in plain paper and painted watercolors on them -- numbers, his name, balloons. And I placed them on a rainbow silk I got a long time ago from A Toy Garden. His response upon coming in the door after dinner was wide eyes and "ooh, look at that!" I was so excited that he responded to the natural looking stuff with as much or more wonder as he respond to the UPS truck and the stuff it brings!

I also liked the birthday ring I got for him at Nova Naturals. I just learned that Wooden Wagon has a lot more choices, but I like what we did this year, and he seemed to, too. Thanks to my friend Paula for the lovely centerpiece!

Gluten-Free Rolls (low-sugar muffins with nut flour)

At our Waldorf school's Parent-Child class, the daily snack kids make is whole wheat rolls, which are eaten with freshly churned (shaken in a jar with marbles) butter. When the rolls come out of the oven and we sit down to give "blessings on the meal," fresh organic apples are cut as well. The teacher was open to us substituting a gluten-free recipe until we came to the realization that you don't knead GF flour, which defeats the pedagogical purpose of children getting involved in the tactile experience of moving their hands in the dough.

So we decided that we'd just bring our own GF rolls. At first I brought in yeasted rolls like those at school, but they looked nothing like the nice, round wheat rolls. I decided that for a mama (and maybe her son) with Candida issues, I might as well avoid the yeast and instead make more of a mini-muffin. Since we don't have anyone with a nut allergy in class, I've started using almond flour to make these less carby, empty calories. Here is the recipe I've hit on that I think works.

Dry mixture

• 2 cups flour -- I used almost a cup of almond flour and the rest a mixture of brown rice, millet and arrrowroot
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet mixture

• 1/2 cup coconut oil and olive oil mixture per your preferences (or go with butter if you can tolerate it)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (not low-fat)
• 2 eggs beaten (organic, preferably pastured from a farm)
• 1 T sucanat (or rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar)
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp ground flax

Mix the wet ingredients together with a mixer and then add to the dry mixture

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes
Makes 30 or so mini muffins

I didn't try using cup liners and allowed my food to touch the evil Teflon, so I don't know about the sticking factor with cup liners.

Addendum:
My son wanted to make "heart cookies" again. Although this was not cookie dough, we did have some success after I froze the dough. They weren't exactly pretty, but they made the kid happy. Cooked them 6-8 min.

Gluten-Free (Low)Sugar Cookies

My camera battery died before the cookies came out of the oven, but here are a few of our successful baking experience making cookies to take to our Waldorf school tomorrow, where the class will be be baking Valentine cookies with whole wheat. We always bring our own gluten-free alternative to our Parent-Child class.

I always like to add almond or another nut flour in recipes to add to the protein and fat content so that the cookies don't cause a crazy sugar reaction. They are also quite low in sugar compared to some other recipes, but I'd still rather have something good with my something not-so-good.

These recipes have been adapted from The Gluten-Free Gourmet and Gluten-Free Baking Classics (via adaptation by Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well)

Dry ingredients to mix together first:
- 2 1/4-1/2 cups of GF flour
I used maybe 1/3 almond flour, 1/3 arrowroot, 1/3 tapioca and the rest brown rice flour
If you use only dry sugar/sucanat/rapadura (or date sugar or maple sugar), use closer to 2 or 2 1/4 cups of flour
If you want to substitute some molasses or maple syrup (or honey) for sweetener, add in a little more flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt

optional
up to 3/4 or 1 teaspoon cinnamon
a shake (1/8 teaspoon) nutmeg

Set this dry mixture aside

Gooey mixture
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup oil -- I used half coconut oil and half butter. We can tolerate a little dairy, and I do think butter makes for better cookies. Use a little more oil if using less wet ingredients (i.e. no liquid sugar)
- 1/3 cup sucanat, rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar -- sugar that still retains some of its food quality and hasn't been stripped of everything
- a small glob (maybe 1 teaspoon) of black strap molasses

Mix these together with a hand mixer. You might want to heat the oil/butter some first to encourage the chunkier natural sugar to melt/mix well.

Add to the gooey mixture:
- 1 egg (could try a few tsp. flax meal in hot water set aside for a few minutes as egg replacer, but I didn't)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (Frontier GF/no alcohol)
optional:
- 1/2 teaspoon almond flavor or another flavoring (Frontier GF/no alcohol)

Add dry to gooey and mix with mixer until it looks like dough you could roll into a log to chill in the freezer for a bit

Put some rice flour on your rolling pin and parchment paper and roll out the chilled dough to cut into shapes

Place on cookie sheet (grease first with coconut oil if it's a sticky one, or put on parchment paper if you want to avoid Teflon)

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-14 minutes. I made my cookies quite thin (so I'd have plenty of them) and baked for 7-8 minutes. I also did a few trials in small balls and they cooked well in 8-9 minutes.

These cookies were light and had a shortbread quality -- not particularly chewy or soft. And of course with the natural sugar, they are on the brown side (and uneven in color since I didn't warm my oil and also added the egg at the same time as the oil and sugar instead of after). But they were perfect for cutting into shapes, and they sure were tasty and satisfying!