Pasta fail and chicken strips

A friend of my mom's, Jolie , gave me a pasta roller because she thought I would like to learn to make pasta, and I do.

My mom looked up a recipe online and we decided to try it. I also wanted to try to make chicken strips from my book Make-Ahead Paleo: Healthy Gluten-, Grain- & Dairy-Free Recipes Ready When & Where You Are.

We got all the ingredients from the store and read over recipes so we knew exactly what to do.

We started the pasta first in the food processor. It was very gooey, so we added more flour. We kept adding more flour until it looked like dough.

Then it had to sit for 30 minutes. 

 While we waited, we started on the chicken strips. 

First, I made a flour castle:

There's a little door and a moat. 

Then I crashed it with fork. 

We had to make three pans of ingredients to dip the chicken in- flour, eggs, flour. I really liked the dipping part, but it was really sticky because of the egg. And the flour, and the other flour, and I got it all over my hands and then I had chicken fingers! 

Then we put those in the pan in coconut oil and cooked them. 

Meanwhile, back to the pasta... 

I tried to roll it out. 

And it turned to mush. 

We just couldn't make it work. 

So then, we turned them into little balls, mom said they would be like gnocci, and we boiled them.

Our chicken was done. That part was easy! And they were really tasty, my mom and I kept eating them instead of waiting for dinner. 

The chicken strips were DELICIOUS! The gnocci tasted a little doughy, so I put more salt on it and it tasted all very good. 

Maybe we will try a different pasta recipe next time. Or maybe someone else can help me because my mom is out of patience with trying to make the gluten free pasta. 

Swirl Cookies

I was looking through my cookbook,Make-Ahead Paleo: Healthy Gluten-, Grain- & Dairy-Free Recipes Ready When & Where You Are, and I found these Almond Butter Swirl cookies and I knew I had to make them!

Well, we had to go grocery shopping to get all of the ingredients. I wanted to set them all up and take a picture like people do on Pinterest. We had to buy a lot of stuff for these cookies!

Mom said put the ingredients in the bowl, but she wasn't being very descriptive, so, I put the ingredients in the bowl. Then she told me to take it back out and crack the egg. I was just trying to follow instructions! 

The almond flour looked really good like crumbs, but it does NOT taste good plain! Don't eat it until they are actually cookies. 

After all the ingredients were together, I had to swirl them. So I took one chocolate and one vanilla and had to roll it in a ball. It was so sticky! 

My swirly cookies on the cookie sheet. I thought they were going to turn out into big blobs. 

But they didn't! They turned out beautiful! 

COOKIES!!!! 

These cookies were so delicious. They lasted a very short time because they were so delicious. 

Buy the book from my Amazon page below to get the recipe and make them for yourself! 

Carrot Pancakes

Carrot Pancakes

Once upon a time, my mom made carrot muffins. Then on the weekend she started making pancakes that Angelena can have, which she uses flax seed instead of eggs, which is gross. 

Then I said "Mommy mommy! Can we use the same ingredients we used for the muffins to make the pancakes?" 

Mom said "Use the carrot instead of flax seed for the eggs?" 

I replied "yes! and some cinnamon!" 

And so we did. 

First, we had to cook the carrots and blend them in the Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) . 

We had to blend it really well until it became soft. Then added 1/2 cup of carrot to the pancake batter. 

And I sprinkled some cinnamon in it. 

And then I made pancakes for my whole family! 

So we didn't have any syrup or sugar or jam or peanut butter in the house so my mom invented a carrot sauce to put on the pancakes with the leftover carrot puree. She poured in the rest of the molasses and it made this cool design. 

So basically it was the leftover carrot puree, the rest of the molasses in the jar and some water and she cooked it. 

Here are the finished pancakes and carrot sauce! 

It was so good! My ideas always work! I even liked the carrot sauce too. We sprinkled more cinnamon on them and they were delicious! 

Here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Carrot Pancakes:

1 1/2 Cup of All Purpose flour (we use Bob's Red Mill because it doesn't have rice or corn in it for Angelena)

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 Teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup of water

3 Tablespoons oil

1/2 cup of carrot puree instead of eggs. (to use flax, mom grinds up flax seeds in the coffee grinder: two tablespoons of ground flax seeds and 6 tablespoons of water, let it set up). 

Mix it all together and make pancakes on the stove or griddle! 

Enjoy! 

Bob's Red Mill

We had the day off of school on Friday and my mom decided we would take a tour of Bob's Red Mill, which is about twelve miles south of us in Milwaukie, Oregon. I was really excited to go and see where our grains come from, because we buy lots of Bob's Red Mill stuff.

They have a place just for gluten free flours and they even test it in a lab to always make sure it's safe for gluten free. 

I didn't really believe Bob was even real, but we were sitting there listening to the tour lady, and unexpectedly, Bob walked through the door! I was so excited that I got to see Bob! He was 84 and I was pretty surprised he walked through his 15 acre factory every day.

Then we took the tour and saw how they grind the grains and put it into bags. I learned they have over 400 products, and they work 24 hours a day.

here we learned what wheat looks like, how to get the wheat berries out and grind it. 

Bob's Red Mill is in all different countries around the world! 

I want to win gluten free awards one day! 

On June 15, 1988, Bob's Red Mill was burned down in a fire by an arsonist. And Bob said to the firemen "save my two stones!" and they were saved. But Bob didn't quit!  They rebuilt the mill and the barn.  Now it's a huge business and he gave his business to his employees.

At the end of the tour, they gave out free samples and a chip to buy a cookie at the store.

After the tour, we went to the Bob's Red Mill red barn store and restaurant. I ordered the plate of three gluten free French Toast.

I was excited about all the dairy free butter and jelly I put all over my toast! 

There was eggs on the French Toast and I thought that was strange but it was so delicious and eggy. I thought three pieces of toast it wasn't going to be enough. But after having half a piece I was already beginning to be full. I had also had my free little gluten free donut too. It was a lot of food. 

Bob came down to the restaurant and he played the piano and I thought it was kind of funny, so I took some pictures but I also took a video! Here he is playing "When You're Smiling".  I was so excited and amazed I could be there that day.