I posted this link on facebook and I got a lot of positive feedback. It sounded so intriguing, that I had to give it a go. 

Promises, promises. 

I really like garlic, and I really like ginger. So far, I love this recipe. I tried it out yesterday. I probably should have done it another day. TC and I had spent all day working in the yard, and I was exhausted by the time I realized that this was going to take a couple hours to make. I was plumb tuckered by the end of all this, and a nice hot cup of soup sounded so good. 

Ingredients:
26 cloves Garlic, raw and unpeeled
2 tbsp Butter or Olive Oil for sauteing 
1/2 tsp Cayenne Powder
1/2 c. Fresh Ginger
2 1/4 c. Onion, Chopped or Sliced
1 1/2 tsp Fresh Thyme
26 cloves Garlic, raw and peeled
1/2 c. Coconut Milk
3 1/2 c. Vegetable Broth

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Toss unpeeled garlic in olive oil and salt and wrap in tinfoil. Place in baking dish and roast for about 35 minutes (or until garlic is browned and tender)
• While waiting for the garlic to bake, I would spend that time peeling the rest of the garlic and grating the ginger.
• When the roasted garlic is done, take it out of the oven and wait for it to cool. When it has cooled, squeeze the garlic out of it's shells. 
• Melt butter, or use olive oil, to saute the onions, ginger, thyme, and cayenne pepper
• When the onions are fully sauteed, add the garlic... all of it. Cook for 3 minutes. 
• Add broth, cover, and simmer until the raw garlic is tender (about 20 minutes)
• In batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor (be aware to use something that can handle the heat)
• Return the soup to the saucepan and add coconut milk. 
• Simmer. 
• Season to taste.

Notes:
I got the recipe from Real Farmacy
I doubled the recipe so I could freeze some for later when one of us gets sick. 

The ginger is stringy. I don't know if it's just my blender, but even after I blended it all together, I found little stringy bits as we were eating it. 

This, surprisingly, didn't taste too garlicky. 

When TC wants soup, he wants stew. When I want soup, I want broth. So, this wasn't exactly his type of soup. 

Review:
All in all, this took a couple hours to make. If you have the time (or the extra hands to help you peel garlic), I say go for it!

As a brothy soup, I really loved it. It also would be good with potatoes or tofu. I give it a 4.5 

As a stew, TC found it completely lacking. Without chunky delicious bits, TC gave it a 3. Sad day.

Assuming you use olive oil instead of butter, this recipe is totally vegan, gluten free, paleo, and vegetarian. 

Total Score:
4

I had some leftover french fries from Ruggles (if you can't have certain foods like dairy, wheat, meat, etc, and you're in Houston, check this place out. They have three locations.)  So, I poured the soup over the fries. It was quite tasty!

I had a bunch of bananas that were overripe. What do you do with a bunch of overripe bananas? I could make Baked Bananas: Part 2, but at most, for two people, you would only need 4 bananas. I had about 8. So, I figured, Crepes are super easy to make, I bet I could do something similar. So, my idea was to mash up the bananas and then kinda coat them in rice flour (like you would the baked bananas) and then put them in a pan with some coconut oil. Flip after the first side is browned. Doesn't sound too difficult, eh? 

Ingredients:
6-8 Bananas, overripe
1-2 c. Rice Flour
Lemon Juice (optional)
Honey (optional)
Cinnamon (optional

Directions:

• Mash up the bananas in a bowl
• Add about a cup of rice flour to the bananas as they are being mixed (prepare for little floury explosions)
• Preheat the coconut oil in a pan
• Put some rice flour in your hand and scoop some banana on top of it. 
• Cover the banana in your hand in rice flour
• Brush off any extra rice flour and make sure the banana is covered enough to make a non sticky to the touch glob
• Put glob (which should resemble a pancake) in the pan and let it brown. 
• When the bottom side has browned, flip it. 
• When it has browned on both sides, it is done. 
• Serve with lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon if it pleases you. 

Notes:
As you can see from the first picture, the banana was way too sloppy to just coat in rice flour. So, I added a bunch of flour in with the banana, and then coated it as well. 

These took forever to make. I made 6 and got bored with making them, so I made a "banana cake"... which is where I basically put the ricey banana flour in a cast iron pan with some coconut oil to keep it from sticking. It wasn't nearly as good as these pancakes. I don't recommend doing it that way. 

Also, this is gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and most other dietary restrictions-an.

Review:
The taste was good on the individual pancakes, but they were really quite time consuming. I mean, it wasn't too terrible, pancakes take a while as it is, and I rarely have the patience for them. But, if you have the patience and the leftover bananas, give it a go! I'm sure regular flour would work too, but I can't have wheat flour, so I used the rice flour. 

These were super tasty. TC gave them a 5 with the lemon juice. He said the honey might be overkill. 

I gave them a 4.5 with the lemon juice, but I liked the honey and cinnamon. 

Total Score:
5

I'm not even going to build the suspense. SUCCESS!!

I got this recipe from a friend, and I gave it a go. Super easy, gluten free, and totally tasty!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Butter
2 c. Corn Meal
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 tbsp. Honey
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 Egg
1 c. Buttermilk or Sour Cream

Directions:

• Preheat your shortening in your pan (I use cast iron so I do this in the oven). 
• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Mix ingredients together well.
• Take the preheated shortening and add it to the mix. Stir. 
  
• Pour the batter in the pan (if you're using cast iron, it should sizzle as the batter hits the pan)
• Bake for 25-35 minutes. 

Notes:
I let it go too long. I always manage to burn the bottom, and even the top looks a little too dark. The cornbread was dry, and I think it's because it baked too long. It didn't really affect the flavor, and no I know better for next time. This turned out so much better than Cornbread and Cornbread: Part 2. 

Review:
I will most definitely be using this recipe again. It turned out really well. I would give this attempt a 4 but the recipe a 5. TC says the same. So, to take that all into account, I'm going to give it a...

Total Score:
4.5

I tried this again only I made a few changes this time. I used my tried-and-true gluten free flour blend and I used less sugar. 

Let's start off with my original post. 

I'm just going to jump into my review. 
Review:
Because I used more almond flour than before, it was grainier and dryer. The gummy problem is not totally solved. The muffins were definitely fluffier this time, but still a little gummy. After taking out some of the sugar, I don't recommend doing that. It alters the balance. 

Okay, now let's get into the real reason I'm writing this post. The first batch TC had a problem with them. His stomach would rebel each time he ate one. I had no issues. The second batch and I are not friends. I had some stomach reactions that are wholly unpleasant. So, I don't honestly think we'll be making these again. They are super tasty, but something about them doesn't sit right with us. 

Total Score:
2 (flavor was good, sickness was not)

This is a strange title. I'm not really sure what else to call it. When I first read that that this recipe is for a spinach muffin, I scoffed. One of my friends had posted the link on Facebook and she said it was delicious. So, I figured, sure, why not?

Ingredients:
1 c. All Purpose Flour
1 c. Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 c. Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
1½ tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
¼ c. Canola Oil
¾ c. Milk
6 oz Fresh Baby Spinach
½ cup Mashed Banana (from about 2 bananas)
2 tsp Vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425°F
• Whisk all the dry ingredients together. 
• Put the spinach, milk, vanilla, bananas and oil into a blender and puree
• Pour spinach mix into the dry ingredients and fold until completely mixed. 
• On a greased baking sheet, put 6 globs of batter. (I know "glob" isn't a precise unit of measurement but the pictures will give you a better idea. 
• Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the edges and top are slightly browned. 

Notes:
The original recipe is from The Green Forks

The original recipe calls for Canola Oil. I used coconut oil, which you may know has a low melting point. Basically if the liquid coconut oil touches something cold, it turns back into a solid. So, I had to heat up the milk and spinach before I mixed the oil in, but it still didn't mix fully. 

The original recipe also calls for milk. I used coconut milk. 

So, instead of using the all purpose flour and the wheat flour, I used the gluten free flour blend that I had made for the cornbread (1 c. of that), and one cup of almond flour. I have an issue with almond flour. Mostly my issue is in the serving size. A handful of almonds is a serving. So, about 1/4 c. of almond flour is a serving. That's why I didn't use 2 cups of almond flour. It would have been almost a serving per muffin top. If I had also used almond milk, it would have been so much almond! I used coconut milk and almond flour to balance it out. 

The original recipe also had me using an ungreased baking sheet. That didn't work for me, so I used a greased pan for the second go. 

I also added a dash of lemon. Didn't hurt anything, but I don't know that it helped. 

Review:
This tastes amazing and you can totally eat it raw, and it is vegan! Delicious! TC says, "They're green and sweet!" and he gives them a 4. I would also give them a 4 and I look forward to making them without the xanthan gum next time... it will be less gummy. :)

Total Score:
4

I would love to say that if I totally botch something the first time, I can make up for it the second time. I wish that was the case with this cornbread. Okay, let me start out with the truth. I have never really been overly fond of cornbread. I don't like cornbread without modifiers. I need something extra. I need jalapenos or honey. I need something. So, I made the cornbread using the same recipe I did last time, except I actually read it correctly this time. I'm not going to go over the directions with you, but I will give you a piece of advice after the pictures. 

I was so excited when it came out of the oven because it looked fluffy and delicious. My word of advice is to evenly distribute the batter. Mine was thicker on one side than the other, so it didn't cook evenly. So it goes...

Well, my dreams and hopes deflated with this cornbread. It sank. It was a sad day. It also still had that pudding like texture. There flavor wasn't as strong either. 

Review:
TC gave this a 4.5 and really liked it. He went back for seconds. It was less sweet than last time (I think maybe I should cut back on the sugar if I am using coconut milk). I would give this a 2.5. This cornbread was meh. I still have a ton of cornmeal, so I will try again... maybe with a different recipe this time. 

Total Score:
3.5

On a whim, I decided to make cornbread. 

Okay, it wasn't a whim. It snowed here, in Houston, today. For those of you unfamiliar with Texas weather, let me tell you: it's cold. The northerns are reading this and scoffing, I can hear it, "Cold? It's -40°F... or C, it doesn't matter, it's the same for both Farenheit and Celsius!" 

To them, I must reply: When you have weeks of 100°+ with the humidity in the eightieth percentile, you kinda adapt to those temperatures. Also, when it gets cold here, it is still humid. It's the kind of cold that seeps into your bones, no big deal. 

The point of this story is that it was cold out today and I wanted some supplemental heat, so I made a fire. The fire does not disperse heat well, so I decided to bake. I have been baking all day. Mostly dehydrating apple chips, but I decided cornbread needed to happen. 

I found this recipe because I googled (still not sure that is a word) and this was on the list. The picture on their site is of a lovely, fluffy piece of cornbread. The recipe contained sour cream, so I imagined it would be moist like a delicious scone. Yeah... about that...

Ingredients: 
1/4 c. Butter, Softened
3 tbsp Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 c. Sour Cream
1/2 c. Milk
1 c. Gluten Free Flour Blend (different from the one I normally use)
2/3 c. Yellow Cornmeal
2 tsp. Gluten Free Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425°F
• Soften butter and cream with the sugar (to cream butter and sugar is to mix it really well so that the sugar and butter form a nice cream)
• Add eggs and mix well.
• Add sour cream and milk
• Slow down the mixer and add the remaining ingredients
• This is the part where cast iron wins life. So, preheat the pan in the oven. When the pan was nice and hot, pour the batter into the pan and stick it in the oven. 
• Bake for 18-22 minutes until cornbread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Notes:
The Gluten Free Flour Blend that was recommended for this recipe goes as follows:
2 c. Rice Flour
2/3 c. Potato Starch
1/3 c. Tapioca Starch
1 tsp. Xanthan Gum (used as a thickening agent)
I think this would be a good blend for things that you don't want to be too sweet. 

Okay, I know you've been waiting for how I screwed this recipe up. Well, I used coconut milk instead of regular milk. "That shouldn't cause a problem like that!" I know. The problem was that I used a whole can of coconut milk. For some reason, I thought the recipe called for 1.5+ cups of milk. This is the part where you find out that I am actually illiterate and have trained a monkey to transcribe. The person I sought advice from told me that I used too much liquid, but I thought I had read the directions properly. So, she was right. I used too much liquid and I look forward to trying this recipe again... and getting it right this time. 

TC prefers his cornbread to be a little spicy, with some jalapenos or something similar. I like my cornbread sweet. Mmm... sweet. He doesn't. Fortunately, I like the combination of spicy and sweet. It's a good compromise. 

Review:
This is not a good attempt to review. What we did end up making was tasty, but nowhere near what it should have been. I think the next go will be better. As it stands, I will give it a 2.5 because the consistency was pretty terrible. It was so unlike cornbread that I can't give this a better score. TC is asleep so I can't ask him. He liked it, but it was too sweet for him. I won't guess for him, so you're stuck with my rating. Hopefully, this will end up like Baked Bananas where the second one, Baked Bananas: Part 2 was so much better. 

Total Score:
2.5

I have been on a quest to find the easiest way to prepare sweet potatoes. For some reason, they always take forever when I cook them or bake them. I used to cook them in the microwave, but I am trying to move away from microwave usage.

Once upon a time, a friend of mine was eating a Paleo diet. For those of you that aren't familiar with the Paleo diet: 

"The Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils"

There is a lot that I appreciate about the Paleo way of eating. I like the emphasis on eating more raw foods. There are a few things I don't agree with, but for the most part, I think it's a great place to start for finding out what works for your body. 

Anyway, my friend who had changed her way of eating to the Paleolithic diet turned me on to this recipe blog for people who eat Paleo diets. It's called PaleOMG (pronounced pay-lee-O-M-G). I've found a lot of good recipes on there. For me, that is the hardest part, finding recipes that work for us or that I can change to work for us. Example, the woman who writes the cooking blog doesn't eat potatoes. So, anywhere you would find potatoes, you see sweet potatoes. TC does not enjoy sweet potatoes, so I intend to substitute some of the sweet potatoes out for baby reds or yukon golds. 

Back to the sweet potatoes. I had some sweet potatoes lying around and I needed to use them, so I tried this recipe. I didn't take pictures because I just didn't feel like it. I'm sorry if that makes it more difficult. 

Ingredients:
3 Sweet Potatoes
1/4 c. Duck Fat (or other oil, like coconut or olive)
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Paprika
3-4 tbsp Fresh Minced Dill

Directions:

• Cut potatoes in half, lengthwise. 
• Cut each half into 4-5 wedges
• Put the wedges in a bowl
• Cover with water and add ice (about 2 cups)
• Let sit for 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 450°F
• Remove from water and pat dry
• Put wedges into a large, dry bowl
• Add melted fat (or oil), garlic powder, salt, and paprika
• Toss to coat
• Place wedges on a cooling rack and place cooling rack on a baking sheet. 
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked through and browned
• Let cool for 5 minutes
• Toss with dill in the same bowl you tossed the wedges in the oil.

Notes:
I would have loved to make these with duck fat. Mmmm... I love duck. Anyway, I used olive oil instead. 

The amount of spices in this recipe is not much. You really can't taste them at all. I have no idea why the paprika is in the recipe. For color?

I laid a few of the wedges on a piece of parchment paper and baked those for half the time and flipped them (they were burned after 20 minutes), and just took them out. They were the best ones. The other I put in my roasting rack and they ended up all soggy. Maybe they weren't in long enough, but I had mine in for about 45 minutes. 

When you cut the wedges, they will be huge. You will look at them and say "No way will that be edible like a fry". They bake down and end up smaller, but yes, they will be huge. 

The ice bath for the potatoes is to make them crispier. Didn't work for me. 

Review:
With duck fat, I imagine I would give these a 12. Thank goodness I started with olive oil. So, the recipe is sound. I ate at least a whole potato last night... if not more. Like I said, the ones on the pan got crispier and I liked those best. I would give those a 5 even though I burned them. The ones in the roasting pan get a 3. But the recipe is not at fault here. They could have cooked longer (I don't have the patience for recipes that take 2 hours longer than they say they will). So, overall, I think I would give them a 4. I choose this number because they still require a lot of prep, and only some of them worked out. The taste was excellent. The dill was optional.

Total Score:
4

TC likes to have egg whites in the morning, and I like to have eggs. So, to spice things up a bit today, we made eggs in an onion ring. I've tried this in the past and the egg never stayed in the onion ring. So, here I chronicle the attempts at making the eggs look pretty:

Just goes to show you, It's not always perfect and pretty. In fact, with this particular food, it has a 75% chance of being pretty... Assuming that you cut your onions as thick as mine. I was advised to cut them thicker next time, and I think that's great advice. 

Also, TC uses Egg Beaters, which are already beaten eggs. Those leaked way more than just a regular egg. I think it has to do with how well a raw egg stays together. Either way, next time, thicker rings!

I love salty foods. Salt and I are good friends. I consume more salt than most people, but I also need more salt than the average person. Anyway, I like salty foods. So, I was looking for a better way to snack than chips or popcorn. I tried kale chips, and then I tried spinach chips. Then I also tried sweet potato chips and yellow squash chips. 

Let me just tell you now:
Spinach and kale = success
Sweet potato and yellow squash = fail

The yellow squash chips were inedible. The sweet potato chips wouldn't dry out enough and they took forever. Not worth the time invested. 

So, here is how I bake kale to make chips:

Ingredients:
Kale
Olive Oil
Parchment Paper
Baking Sheets
Salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Remove the spines from the kale (the thick green parts. They don't bake well. You just want the leafy bits)
• Place parchment paper over baking sheets (this step is definitely worth doing, it will save a lot of the cleaning hassle)
• Lightly oil the parchment paper (I use a paper towel to smear the oil around.
• Sprinkle the leafy kale onto the parchment paper and try to make sure they aren't all sitting on top of each other. 
• Spray lightly with olive oil. If you don't have the means to spray olive oil, you can pour a little olive oil over the kale and then toss it lightly to spread the olive oil as much as possible. I use a Misto, and it has worked so far, so no complaints. 
• Lightly sprinkle with salt. 
• Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Take the crisp pieces off the pan. If there are any flexible pieces, but them back in the oven for another 3-4 minutes.
• Repeat the last step as needed. 
• Enjoy!

This is what baked kale looks like when it isn't burned. Lovely, isn't it? 

Notes:
For the first batch at least, as soon as you start to smell the kale, let it bake for about 45 more seconds to a minute and then check to see if it is crispy. It is usually done at this point. This doesn't work for the subsequent batches because the house already smells like kale. 

I can't make enough of these to have a surplus. They get eaten so quickly, I don't know how to do this in bulk, but I want to know. 

TC likes them with less oil. He will eat them with no oil at all, but I like the oil, so we compromised and I only use a little. 

Review:
Love.

We love this so much. I want to make it all the time. We both give it a 5. 

Warning: this may be an addictive food, so be careful. 

Total Score:
5