Dairy Free Sugar Cookies

Baby R is getting baptized this weekend!  We have been wanting to do this for a while, but we are just getting around to it! We are so thrilled to share this special event with our family and friends.  Our WHOLE family is going to be able to be there, and we couldn't be more excited.  After the baptism, we are having brunch at a place near our church called "Hamilton's Kitchen." Mr. R and I have never been there for brunch, but the menu looks amazing, and we are actually shocked that we have not ventured to this Winter Park hot spot.  I have decided to make little cross shaped sugar cookies to add a little something to this special event.  Even though Baby R will not get to eat these yet, he will one day! And since he is currently allergic to milk, I have to start finding dairy-free cookie recipes for Santa, so I better start now! Mr. R didn't even miss the milk... you can't even tell!

Dairy Free Sugar Cookies and Frosting

Ingredients:

Cookies

-3 cups flour (I used all purpose)

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 cup Earth Balance vegan sticks (or you could use real butter here)

-1 cup sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Icing:

-1 cup powered sugar

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-2 tablespoons almond milk (or regular milk if you choose)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix the dry ingredients together.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

4. To the sugar mixture, add the eggs and vanilla extract.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

6. Refrigerate in cling wrap for about an hour.  (or more if you have time)

7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch.

8. Cut in desired cookie shapes.

9. Bake for 8 minutes.

10. Remove the cookies and let them cool before icing.

For the icing:

Combine the ingredients.  I also added a little food coloring to make the icing blue. You can add more milk, or powered sugar to get to the consistency that you want.

Ice the cookies and enjoy!

 Until Next Time...

Mrs. R

Oops...

Well I lied... I guess it was too good to be true to say that I was going to post more! Oh well.. I have more important things going on I guess and I'm loving every minute of it! I did recently make some teething biscuits for my ever-teething little nugget.  I keep trying to find the recipe again, so I am posting it on here... for me... and for others that maybe want to try it! My little one has some serious allergies, sorry dude (takes after me), so I had to figure out an allergy-free biscuit.  And boy... was it easy!  They actually entertain him for a while, and when it gets too gooey and I have to take it away, he gets a little upset.  Therefore, I think that he likes them and we have a winner!

Allergy-Free Teething Biscuits

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup rice flour (or you can use whatever you have)

-1/2 cup infant oatmeal cereal (or you could use rice or whatever you have)

-1/2 cup fruit or veggie puree (I used a mixture of apples and pears...you decide)

-2 tablespoons oil (I used olive... again you decide!)

-several tablespoons of water (do not do this until you mix the rest of the ingredients first)

**This was actually half of the recipe, and it made about 10 biscuits.  You can double it, or triple it for that matter. :)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  

2. Stir wet ingredients together.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

4. Mix well.

5. Drizzle a little bit of water into the dough as you knead it.  You are looking for a non-sticky consistency.  If you add too much water, add more flour.  If it is too dry, add more water. (Get the idea?)

6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface.  Cut into desired shapes.

7. Bake for 45 minutes (or longer) until they are really hard, but not burnt.

Yummy Yummy!

 Until Next Time...

Mrs. R

Dairy Free Banana Apple Walnut Muffins

I actually read a magazine today... and I made some delicious muffins! Its the little things that count these days! Snuggles with Baby R will always take precedence over anything!  I have had to go Dairy-Free for Baby R... long story short... he has allergies, just like his momma! I feel terrible that I have passed this trait to him... and I pray that he can grow out of them.  That being said, in the area of starting solid foods, we have started verrrrry slow.  He currently likes carrots, apples, squash, and pears.  I think that some peas are on the menu for our next experiment.  I have had to watch EVERYTHING that I eat.  It is crazy how many 'hidden' dairy ingredients are in different foods.  I can only trust a few brands, and I know that any Asian food is more than likely pretty safe.  It has been hard at times, when I just want a little cheese, or most importantly a cupcake.... but I took on the challenge, and I honestly feel so much better not eating the dairy! I am trying different dairy-free recipes, some are a hit... some are most definitely not.  But, this one is actually VERY delicious, and you don't even miss the butter! I am not claiming that these are healthy... just dairy-free! :)

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

-3/4 cup white granulated sugar

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-2 mashed bananas

-1 small apple (thinly chopped)

-1 egg

-1/3 cup canola oil

-1/4 cup almond milk

-1/2 cup crushed walnuts

For the crumble:

-1/3 cup dairy-free butter (I use earth balance)

-4 tablespoons flour

-3 tablespoons sugas

-2 teaspoons cinnamon

(Mix together with your hands)

Before

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly oil, or line with paper liners, a muffin tin.  I used the small muffin tin which makes about 24 small muffins.

2. Combine the banana, apple, egg, oil, milk, and sugar.  Whisk well.

3. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Whisk well.  

4. Add the flour and make sure to mix well.

5. Lastly, add the walnuts and mix well.

6. Pour the muffin mix into the muffin tin. 

7. Lightly sprinkle the crumble onto the muffin mix before putting them into the oven.

8. Bake for 12-14 minutes. (You will have to cook for about 20-24 minutes if you choose to make these into larger muffins.

 After

 Until Next Time...

Mrs. R

Hello Old Friend!

It has been a VERY long time since I have blogged (I even moved to a new site over a year ago... and now that doesn't even work....tells you something!)... many many things have happened in our lives. And while I don't want to bore you with every last detail... it has been an amazing adventure so far.  Mr. R is now Dr. R. And we are now a family of 3! So much has changed, and we are so very blessed! Our little nugget is 6 months old! And as you can imagine, I haven't really had the chance to cook my extravagant meals that I am accustom to... and obviously, I haven't had the chance to write a single thing down.   Well... I am now on summer break, I have halfway figured out how to juggle that thing called motherhood... and I have a LONG list of things that I want to do... blogging is on there... it may not be at the top of my list of things that really need to get done... but this seems to be more interesting to me than reorganizing the baby's room, going through my clothes, cleaning the house, or trying to find spots for all the books that I brought home from school! That being said...Our travels have since quieted down... as you can imagine... and I am thinking that this blog would now be a great way to show our little boy the things that we did together as he grows up.  I am not going to challenge myself to post everyday, nor am I even going to commit to posting once a week, but I am going to make a conscious effort to try my best and document the most amazing adventure I have been on... being a mom, a wife, and trying to juggle everything else in sight.

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary... and while we have many things to celebrate, I thought that it would also be a great day to have a fresh start in the blogosphere.  I am currently researching foods that we ate on our honeymoon and hopefully I can repost a few recipes this week! I have enjoyed every second about being a mom so far... but I do need to make time to do the thing that I also love... which is cooking.  And I know I am certain that Mr. R is sick of rotisserie chickens, with frozen vegetables, and rice.  But hey... sometimes that is the best meal I can get on the table!

At our cooking class in Ravello, Italy

Until Next Time...

Mrs. R

New Site

Hi guys! I have created a new official Mr. and Mrs. R site! Check it out to get more cooking and recipe ideas!

mrandmrsr.com

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Once again, I have been on a blog hiatus.  With Thanksgiving on its way, I have been preoccupied with getting out the Christmas decorations, making our Christmas card, addressing them, planning Thanksgiving meals, finishing up last minute projects at school, and tossing back and forth as to where we were actually going to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  This Thanksgiving is a little different from years past.  My brother is off to Colorado and left this Thanksgiving morning at 4:30am.  My husband has to work at the hospital, helping others on this thankful holiday.  I am blessed with the fact that I get to eat 2 Thanksgiving dinners this week.  However, none of them will actually be on Thanksgiving Thursday.  Yesterday (Wednesday), we had our first Thanksgiving dinner, with my brother.  We cooked all of our favorites from sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, and turkey, to cornbread stuffing, gravy, and homemade apple pie.  We popped a can of cream corn in a saucepan for my dad, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.  We tried a few new recipes, and stuck with a few old favorites.  We are celebrating our next Thanksgiving on Saturday so that my husband can enjoy one of his favorite holidays.  Today, we are not stressed to get everything done in time, we are in our pajamas, the house does not have to be cleaned, and I couldn't be more thankful for this relaxing day.  However, since our first dinner was a success, I am very much looking forward to our second big meal this weekend! I don't think that I will want to eat a turkey dinner for a few weeks!

I am sharing a simple recipe for the sweet potato casserole that we made.  We tried to not make it too sugary, too sweet, or too unhealthy.  We stuck to simple ingredients and allowed the natural sweet flavor of the sweet potato to shine.  It turned out to be easy and delicious and even got the stamp of approval from the men at the table.  We did make one side with pecans and one side with marshmallows   Both were equally delicious. This recipe makes about 4 servings, however, we actually had a little bit leftover!

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
a handful of pecans
a handful of marshmallows
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

(I don't have pictures... I guess that I have used up all of the space for pictures.  I am working on getting more space!)

 1. In a 400 degree F oven, make the sweet potatoes for about 40 minutes, or until soft and cooked all the way through.

2.  Allow the sweet potatoes to cool a little bit.  Cut them in half and scoop out the inside of the sweet potato and place in a mixing bowl.

3.  Add the orange juice, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.  Mix well.

4.  Place the sweet potato mixture in a small glass baking dish.

5. You choose: On one side of the casserole, we added pecans to the top and then drizzled the maple syrup.  On the other side, we added the marshmallows.  

6. Turn the broiler on in the oven and cook until nice and toasted.  This will only take about 5 minutes.

Until next time...

-A

Oatmeal Brown Sugar Cookies

T is back... and you know what that means (or well... I know what that means)... he HAS to have his dessert.  When I am here by myself, I do not buy snacks, I do not buy cookies or ice cream.  But, having known him for almost 8 years, I should have planned to have a few sweet treats in our freezer.  After we finished eating dinner, all he could think about was what he was having for dessert.  He frantically searched the whole kitchen, knowing that I would not have bought anything for myself.  "Oatmeal Cookies!" he said. (Knowing that I always have oatmeal in the pantry.)  Too bad we did not have raisins and who wants an oatmeal cookie without rasins? Well, I searched the internet, clicked around on pinterest, and I stumbled upon a similar recipe to this one. They are chewy and delicious.  And, I am sure that you have all of the ingredients right at home.  If you ever are in dire need of a quick sweet treat, this one is a definite winner! Mission accomplished! And... husband approved!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Add the softened butter and brown sugar to a standing mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix until it is light and fluffy.

2.  Add the vanilla extract and egg. Mix well.

3.  Before adding, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

4.  When everything is evenly mixed together, add the oatmeal.  Mix for only 30 seconds.  

5.  Remove the bowl from the standing mixer.

6.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.  This will make it easier to scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet. 

7. After the dough is chilled, roll it into 1 inch balls, and at least 2 inches away from one another.

8. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes. You can set them on a wire rack to cool and then place in a container to store until later.

When you bite into them, they will be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  They are delicious when they are served warm, but that is up to you as to when you want to eat them!

We had a lot of leftover dough.  Perfect for when T gets his next sweet tooth craving! We wrapped it up and placed it in the freezer for another desperate day! Enjoy!

Until next time...

-A