GF Pumpkin Corn Muffins

I was searching for a corn muffin recipe to go along with our soup last night...the flavor on these were amazing, but they did end up a little dry.  I adjusted the pumpkin and milk *hopefully* next time they will be just right.  (recipe adapted from www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com) Oh, and don't forget the xanthan gum....a mistake made once upon a time, I'm not naming names, 

it just may have happened...a crumbly mess will be the result.

1 C sorghum flour

3/4 C GF cornmeal

1/2 C potato starch (not flour)

1/2 C light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp chili powder (surprise!) or pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon 

Combine above ingredients and whisk well.  

In a separate bowl place:

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C grapeseed or coconut oil (melted)

3/4 C warm milk, or non-dairy milk 

3/4 C pumpkin puree or winter squash puree (a little grated carrot would be grate, too--haha)

 Mix well with whisk and add to dry ingredients.  The best part about gluten free baking is you can't over mix the batter...there's no gluten to ruin your muffins or pancakes by making them hard and stiff.

Line or oil muffin tins and pour batter on in.  

Bake at 375 for 18-20 min.  

Slather on the butter or coconut oil.  

My two littles ate all their borscht so they could dive into these.   

A Muffin Morning

 We woke up to some wet ground this morning....so of course, in order to celebrate what could potentially be the onset of fall, I lit some candles and made some muffins...after searching long and hard online (and on Pinterest), I finally found a recipe that looked worth converting to gluten free.   

(revised from Joy the Baker)

Brown Butter Maple Raspberry GF Muffins

7 Tbsp butter

1/3 C milk 

1 large egg

1 egg yolk 

1 tsp Mapleine (I was out of vanilla)

3/4 C sugar (I used a bit less)

1 C GF Flour blend **

1/4 C Flax meal

1/4 Sorghum flour*

1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

3/4 tsp sea salt

2 C berries (recipe called for blueberries which I love with browned butter but when I opened the freezer the blues were almost gone and all I had was raspberries...they still tasted amazing in here!)

Brown the butter in a small skillet by melting then after it foams it turns nutty and brown very quickly...don't walk away!  Remove skillet from heat and let cool while you mix the other ingredients. 

Whisk together the milk, eggs, maple or vanilla, and sugar in a bowl.  

In a seperate bowl whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, and sea salt.  

Slowly pour the browned butter into the liquid ingredients, whisking all the while.  

Add the wet to the dry ingredients, then stir in the berries.  

Spoon into greased muffin pans and bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes.  

*Sorghum is a sweeter GF flour and works well in baked goods.  If you don't have it, just sub in a GF flour blend.  The original recipe did not call for the sorghum, but I think it makes a lighter crumb on a GF muffin to add it in.  Neither did the original recipe call for flax meal...I just like it.

**I use a very easy and inexpensive GF flour blend.  Here is the recipe:

3 C brown rice flour

1 C potato or corn starch 

1/2 C tapioca flour 

Blend well with a whisk then a spoon to make sure it incorporates fully.  Store in an airtight container (some people store in the fridge, and I probably should, but don't...)

Beach Vacay 2013

 We gather at Cannon each summer for some good times with family from B.C. 

 Ava blowing some bubbles at Arcadia State Beach

 Jonah with Auntie Heather

 This was the second time it landed on Abram's birthday.  He turned 4!

 Helping Batman cross the street

 Sweet sisters

 Abram tells Jon "Hey Bubble MAN!  Blow! Your! Bubbles!"

 These little cousins had an instant connection.  Princess games will do that for you!

 Photo by Jonah (12)

 Astoria, Oregon...and this is how our family photos go these days

 Poppops burying Ava in the sand on a hot day at Arcadia Beach

 Uncle Greg & Auntie Dawn with Nana & Poppop

 Erin sharing her salt water taffy

 After everyone left Cannon our little (big) family headed 20 minutes north to Astoria...this is before the wooden airplane debacle...you don't want to know.

 The next day we went south to Tillamook and visited the cheese factory for the first time ever!  Yum!

 Okay, so these photos got mixed up...but here we are waiting for the trolley in Astoria.  It was about an hour guided tour and only cost $1 each.  So fun & time for everyone to veg out for a bit.

 Bathroom break made fun at a fort somewhere in Washington...check out Ava in this photo!

Vacation wears you out...and sometimes you sleep with one eye open.

Kitchen Dreamin'...

Loving these kitchen images today and dreaming about incorporating different 

aspects into our redesign  hopefully taking place in 2013...

These are just two of a million images I've pinned....

Ah, Pinterest, what did we do without you?  

I love kitchens that are clean and bright but warm and have a sense of history.  

Dark countertops and a farm sink combined with subway tile and some open cabinets...

Wood floors and white cabinets with dark latches...

His 38th Year

 So thankful for this incredible man...

He is patient and generous, hard-working and funny. 

I feel so blessed to call him mine! 

Happy (late) Birthday Jon!

Blog Guilt

Well, my friends....It's been a while.  A year?  Nearly?  I'd say that's long enough, wouldn't you?
I thought I'd break my silence with these cute things Abram (3) has been doing/saying lately:

-I've been singing songs to the two little kids to help them learn to spell their names (Boo already knows but won't be left out).  Here's Gooey's:  "A-B-R-A-M that spells Aaaaaabram with no ham."  But I caught him singing "B-R-Y-N-N-E that spells Boo-Boo with no ham."

-Mom, I'm big...and you're cute (that one's my fav)

Here's a pic of the little guy to get your heart good and melty.  

A Little Jam

With your toast...?

A Hike

A little family outing on an urban hike. It was fun and the kids did great. We got to the top then Jonah, Ava, and I (Elisabeth) ran 2.5 miles back to the car to drive up and get the other three. The big kids were troopers and I was thinking the entire time as we ran about how fun it is to have older kids as well as young ones. How fun it is to laugh with and raise kids I enjoy being around. How I, like Mary, will treasure up all these things in my heart. How it's days like this one that make the hard ones worth having.
It's true: children are a blessing.

Supr Spellerer

Jonah made it to the School Spelling Bee this year!

Each class grades 3-8 sends two students to compete against each other, for a total of 14 competitors.

The winner of this round goes to the Regional Spelling Bee somewhere in Portland.

Does he look nervous...?

His first round...I think he's looking at me for support...and for letters?

Just kidding, I would never do that...

He did so well.

Made it to the last 3, with two 8th grade girls...

Got "schooner" but alas, missed on "romaine"

We think he's one heck of a guy...and so smart.

I asked him if he was pleased with his performance, to which he said,"Yup."

By the way, every kid in his class was pulling for him, and after he got out he had to give

24 high-fives :)

Great job, Jonah!

He Makes All Things New

This morning I am thankful for

Camellias

Budding

Returning from death to

Life

Newness

Constant

Bringing forth hope.

Children

Giggling

Running in sunshiney rays of happiness

Bubbles

Reflecting light

Not darkness

Shadows poured forth from a soul

Into newness of light and morning.

What It Means

These babies (and a few more!) have been in our lives for 13 years now...

each one special...

each one different...

each one a love...

each one dear to me as their mother's are...

We said good-bye to our dear friends nearly a month ago now.

Their absence is sorely felt and while they go to a new home and a new place and to new friends, we go with them...we pray for them...we send them off with love and hope.

Hope that while they grow and change and while we grow and change,

we will not grow and change separately.

My friend.

Her heart remains in my heart.

Fellowship.

Fall=Apple Tasting Time!

While we got a surprise visit from Gammie and Papa Mel this week we figured it's a good time to visit Portland nursery's Apple Tasting! It's was fun to try all 50 types of apples and about 7 types of pears. The girls had their faces painted, we got free popcorn and apple cider (pressed right there) and the hit of the day was the scavenger hunt the kids ran around to, deserting us elderly folk...Overall it was a great morning!!

Someone's Watching You...!

Looking back...

You might think this would be a post about how I've been flipping through photos on the blog, flipping through photos in our home, watching home video of our wedding (hey, we were on a budget)...and you would be correct. I have been reminiscing lately and am loving it! This Mama needed a reminder of the basics in life and love. We got rid of a ton of stuff and are consolidating. I'm branching out and even tried a Zumba class at the gym. You would have died to have seen me. I am coordinated but have NO rhythm in any bone in my body. Anywho...this post was going to be about how I should get a good camera, so there. I rambled.

Family Times

We bought an old house. 100 years old, in fact. No, this post is not about our house but about the fact that it seems like every Monday we (Jon) end up workin on the old old house. Replacing windows, painting, fixing dry rot, fixing the porch...the list is a mile long. So, finally this momma had enough of the every Monday is another work day routine and suggested that the last Monday of the month be family day. This Monday we ran into a few problems in the form of a needed chiropractor appt and a parking lot where the freeway used to be, but we FINALLY got downtown and were ready to use our friends' tram passes then we were going to head home for pancakes. Well, it was kinda late and if you know the Brawley's you know we eat at 5. So we hit up the very first Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown which also happens to be like 5 blocks from the tram station and filled up our bellies first. Then we rode the silver bullet that is the OHSU sky tram. The kids loved it and were so surprised! Yay for some family fun!