Apple Pie!

As it was Thanksgiving I felt the need to make my good 'ole apple pie. This pie is sugar-free and this year I made it with a gluten-free crust(Spunky Coconut). Let me just say this: it was so good! Everyone else agreed that it was really good too-even dad! Yeah! I do want to try it so it has more of a sauce because it was kind of just apples on a crust. The recipe is this:

Apple Pie

6 or 7 apples

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 cup cooking liquid (water from steaming apples. i use a lot less than that, otherwise the pie is really watery.)

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

butter

agave

Peel and slice apples. Steam apples for 6-7 minutes. Combine dry ingredients. Spread 1/2 of dry ingredients in pie crust. Add apple on top. Sprinkle with cooking liquid and rest of dry ingredients. Sprinkle lemon juice. Drizzle agave (you don't need very much). Dot with butter. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes with foil around the edges until last 10 minutes.

Pie Crust:

Add to bowl:

3 tbsp flax seed meal OR 1.5 tbsp Chia Seed meal

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp applesauce

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

8 drops vanilla liquid stevia

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified OR grapeseed oil

Mix with electric mixer.

Add:

1 cup almond meal flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder (Grain-free Baking Powder Recipe)

Mix again.

Roll out the dough.

Flatten the dough out slightly, so it's about 6 inches wide, then put it in the dish, and press it the rest of the way out with your hands.

(I also lightly grease and flour my pie dish first, so the crust doesn't stick.)

Bake the crust at 350 degrees for about 12 to 14 minutes.

Allow the crust to cool.

I would only bake the crust for 5 minutes or not at all.

Also, yesterday I found my extreme love for real whipped cream. I've never done it before but it's delicious! I just whipped up a carton and drizzled a little bit of agave in it!

The masterpiece!

A Cabbage Patch Christmas!

Yesterday, after getting back from a wonderful weekend at the cabin, we set up Christmas decorations! We are continually getting less and less space for decorations due to no piano, little hands, and such, but we still have lots of nativities up. I found the cabbage patch doll nativity and really wanted to put it up somewhere so we (Shea, Chantelle, and I) put it up downstairs. I must say we did a pretty good job! :)

My idea to put the wise man in the window. They are "traveling to the baby".


We had a fun time doing it, and were laughing as we made up stories and families for each of the little dolls!

Cookies!

So, I've been craving chocolate chip cookies and some delicious cookie dough. I finally found a recipe that looked like it would be good (it's from the Spunky Coconut). I was right! It was delicious! The cookie dough was actually soft and had a smooth texture. That was the best part!

The cookies also turned out very good. No, they are not Momma's cookies, but they were close! I added cinnamon to make them even more like mom's! (According to Nic, an attempt at making sugar-free and gluten-free cookies be as good as mom's was a joke! :)) I have now challenged myself to make something sugar-free without him knowing and I bet he will like it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Add to bowl:

1/2 cup applesauce

3 tbsp flax seed meal or 1.5 tbsp Chia Seed meal

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

12 drops Vanilla Creme liquid stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup honey or coconut sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil or ghee (which is casein-free), liquified

Mix with electric mixer.

Add:

1 cup almond meal flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder (Grain-free Baking Powder Recipe)

1/3 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)

Mix again.

Roll into balls and flatten the balls in your hands. (they don't really change shape in the oven)

Or roll out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters =)

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.