I'm Alive!

Wow, it's been over 5 months since I've last blogged!  I am alive!  Not a whole lot to catch you up on. 

The biggest changes (and more coming) are my kids diets and attempting to subdue my daughters ADHD symptoms.  We hope to do this by starting GAPs with her in the coming weeks.  She is already doing a gluten and dairy free diet as well as trying to keep the sugars to a minimum.  It's practically a job in and of itself.  I will write more later as to what we are doing and how things progress.  I picked up my beef bones today from the amazing Tina Sawtelle of Pinewoods Yankee Farm.  Broth is one of the cornerstones of the healing process.

We're also headed out soon to an awesome Christmas event I will review for your later this week.  I can't promise how frequently I'll be blogging, but I'll do my best to keep up this winter!

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Review: Little Bay Baking Company

You can have your cake and eat it too...especially if you lead a gluten-free lifestyle!

Little Bay Baking Company of Dover, NH is one of the few locally prepared gluten free/casein free baking mix companies. Little Bay Baking Company was started with one simple idea - to produce a gluten free/casein free line of products that provide celiacs and others with a gluten or wheat intolerance with foods that "taste like you remember".

My family is not dedicated to gluten free, but I definitely like feeding my family gluten-free meals and treats every once and awhile as I think we get enough gluten in our diet already. What better way to entice them than with Little Bay Baking Companies amazing mixes!

I was excited to try the Cookie Bar Mix and Yellow Cake Mix. There are fantastic recipes on their website that show you a few different ways of using the different mixes. I chose to bake the Apple and Spice Bars with the Cookie Bar Mix. It was such a simple recipe to put together and the end result was so delicious. The entire family couldn't get enough of this sweet treat! Definitely two thumbs up!

Next up I morphed the Yellow Cake Mix into a scrumptious Chocolate Cake.  To keep the recipe casein free, I used coconut oil as my oil of choice.  This added a nice mellow coconut flavor which we all loved.  We left it un-frosted, but you could definitely do it up right for a birthday party or what have you!  Another two thumbs up!

The other mixes available include: Pumpkin Bread Mix, Waffle & Donut Hole Mix, Gingerbread Cookie Mix, Corn Bread Mix, and an All Purpose Breakfast Mix.  What's not to love?

You can find Little Bay Baking Company in many of the New England Whole Food's markets, as well as in other health and specialty shops around NH.  You can order online where there is free shipping on orders over $30.  Lastly, Portsmouth Tea Company in Somersworth, NH Is carrying pre-made goodies using the Little Bay Baking Co. mixes.  Stop by for a lovely cup of tea and a gluten-free goodie!

Enjoy!

Product was provided free of charge in exchange for a review from Little Bay Baking Company and doesn’t affect my views or feedback of the product. This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.

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Gluten-Free Goes Local

There's now a gluten-free option at a few seacoast farmers' markets! I'd like to introduce you to founder Steven Scaturro and his two endeavors, Buzz Bomb World Spice Blends (at the markets) and Buzz's Bakery and Take-Out Cafe located in N. Hampton, NH.

You can find the Buzz Bomb booth at these farmers' markets:

• Durham
• Exeter
• Rye
• Hampton
• Portsmouth

At the markets there will be a selection of 100% gluten free baked goods (and a few items are gluten free and dairy free) and a wide selection of spice blends from mild to spice-y. From what I hear, the gluten-free brownies and whoopie pies go very fast, so get there early to get these sweet treats! Whether you eat gluten-free or not, I hear you'll want to try these! (I've yet to get my hands on some myself, they've been sold out!) Or you may just have to stop by their bakery....

Buzz's Bakery and Take-Out Cafe is the other way to get this gluten-free goodness! Buzz's Bakery is located at 77 Lafayette Road in N. Hampton, NH. I stopped by the bakery today and had a wonderful talk with Steven and picked up a few cookies for my kiddos. These items are also featured at the store:

• Baked Goods
• Coffee/Tea
• Prepared Foods
• Gluten-Free Pizza Crust
• Gluten-Free Breads, Pastries and More!

Buzz's Bakery and Take-Out Cafe can also be reached by phone at 603-379-6512.

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Around Here Somewhere

I swear, I'm around here somewhere. This rain has totally gotten to me. I haven't been able to be in my garden and I've been cooped up inside with two preschoolers! That alone is enough to drive anyone bonkers!

So my apologies for the posts being sparse. I haven't even been able to pull together any fully local meals...I've lost my groove! Sun come out, please!

My eldest celebrated her 4th birthday this week, so we've been busy running around with family. Also, we've been dealing with behavioral issues etc, so my plan as of now, is to go on a gluten and casein free diet for a period of time to see what results we get. I would love any support, tips, recipes, websites etc that you may know of. It's a bit of a daunting task, but if it will help her thrive, then I'm willing to put in the effort!

I have been doing a few things pertaining to living locally though! I have canned 12 jars of strawberry jam with berries I picked from Butternut Farms. I've blanched and froze a few pounds of broccoli for future use. I've also make a few jars (now in the freezer) of garlic scape pesto. I've been stocking up on popcorn kernels. I harvested the first snow peas from my garden today, and I have tomatos and peppers on their way!

It also looks as though we may be the new parents of 6 Ancona pullets in the next few weeks. Time to whip the chicken run together and tweak the shed into a home for the hens! I can't wait for fresh eggs from my own backyard! The pullets will come from from Yellow House Farm.

So hopefully July will yield more local living and definitely more sunshine. Keep those fingers crossed!

How is everyone else hanging in there? How are you surviving the dreary weather?

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Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

I baked up a loaf of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread in my bread machine yesterday. I was craving some raisin toast! I decided to make a French Toast meal for a nice Sunday breakfast. The loaf didn't mound up as I thought it would in the machine, but it made nice square slices at least!

I found this recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

French Toast
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 4 minutes per slice
Makes: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
4 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS
1. In a shallow bowl beat together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Dip bread slices into egg mixture, coating both sides.
2. In a skillet or on a griddle melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat; add half of the bread slices and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining butter and bread slices. Serve warm. If desired, serve with maple syrup.
So it's a fairly straightforward recipe. I really enjoyed the raisin toast mixed with the French toast mix, but Lucy and Steve didn't care for it too much. I guess they're French toast purists and prefer regular thick non-raisin Texas style toast. Which totally contradicts "French" toast!

And I must mention I had my first flop in the bread machine tonight. The bread basically just stayed a ball and baked up a little resulting in an awkward football shaped loaf. I'm going to have to make some more since I didn't buy any bread for the store tonight and my kids can't go a week without PB&J! I'll probably make another loaf of the Light Oat Bread since that was a success and very tasty.

Up for tomorrow is slow cooked pinto chicken with corn and quinoa from GreenLittleBites. I picked up some avocados too so I can make some guacamole (Steve's favorite, yet totally not local!) I realize it's not a local meal, but the chicken is organic from Hannaford's and the quinoa is an up and coming grain you should definitely try cooking.

Have a great Monday everyone!

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