Strawberry Shortcake + Pancakes = HEAVENLY

The other day at the grocery store Lorelei wanted strawberries in the worst way.  I told her no at first because they aren't in season and more expensive, but once I saw the deal that if you bought 2 bags of lettuce you got free strawberries I gave in... plus I need green rabbit food anyways.  Then Lorelei wanted to make a dip for the berries, so I picked up some already whipped cream cheese.  Fast forward a few days to yesterday Lorelei ordered me to make strawberry cream cheese pancakes.  Ok, that sounded good too me.  And a great way to try to sneak in some berries to Annabelle (if it's not a banana or an apple she won't eat it fruit wise).

Well, lets put it this way, I was going to use Jeremy's phone to take a photo of the pancakes and... well... umm... they are allllll gone folks.  So trust me huge hit.  Lorelei also is very proud of herself.  She put the batter into the skillet and flipped the pancakes.  I also think she ate them as she cooked them lol.

2 eggs

1 stick of unsalted butter – melted

2 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp of gaur gum

4oz of whipped cream cheese (aka half a container) at room temperature

6 big strawberries- diced

½ cup of sugar + 1 tbsp of sugar

1 cup of my GF Flour Mix

¾ cup of milk

1.5 tsp of white vinegar

In a bowl placed place the diced strawberries and 1 tbsp of sugar.  Mix to make sure that all the berries are covered with the sugar.  Then microwave them for 20 seconds to help speed up the process.

In the measuring cup that is holding your milk add the vinegar.  We are making our own “buttermilk” because I never have the real stuff around.  You will see the milk change texture some while you are mixing the batter.  If you have buttermilk you can use it.

Beat the eggs in a different bowl once a creamy yellow color add in the vanilla and slowly drizzle in the melted butter while beating the eggs the entire time.  Once the butter has been completely incorporated in add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, gaur gum.  Then add in the cream cheese.  Make sure it is at room temperature and whipped.  Now you want little happy chunks of yummy cheesy goodness throughout the batter.  Then add in half of the milk mixture and half of the GF flour mixture.  Once that has been mixed in add in the rest of the milk and flour.  Once everything is combined let the mixture sit for a few minutes to get fluffy.

Cook, Eat, and Enjoy.

Btw- you won’t need any butter or syrup on top of these pancakes.

My Little Monkeys

My kids love all things bananas, but they do have times when they want nothing to do with them. When that happens this is the recipe I use to make THE BEST banana bread EVER!

1 cup of sugar (I use a sugar sub)
1/2 c butter
3 very ripe bananas
3 large eggs
1.5 tbsp buttermilk or sour cream
1.5 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of kosher salt
2 cups flour (or GF making mix)
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c mini chocolate chips

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.  Then add in one banana and one egg at a time until they are all blended in to the butter mixture.  Then add in all the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.  And yes I dump the nuts and chocolate in with all the other dry ingredients.  Dump into a greased and floured loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes.  Let it cool in the pan for about 10 mins and then remove to cool on a wire rack.

This is normally gone in a day in my house.

Apple-oius Creamy Dreamy Baked Oatmeal

My hubby grew up eating baked oatmeal.  I had never heard of it until after we were married.  And we would make from time to time.  But with now my oldest girl in school this makes for a great breakfast.  It is full of fruit, protein, and good grains. This also easy to make reduced sugar or even completely sugar free with sugar subs.

3 eggs

½ tsp Kosher salt

2.5 tsp Apple pie seasoning mix

½ cup of packed brown sugar- you can use a brown sugar sub for this- if Splenda Brown Sugar it will be ½ cup

¼ of a block of reduce fat cream cheese

3 cups of diced baking apples- I leave the skin on- use whatever is in season

½ a cup of chunky apple sauce- no sugar added if you can get it

¼ cup of diced craisens

2 cups of water

2 cups of skim milk

2.5 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish or if you want this a little deeper a 10x 10 baking dish.

In a mixing bowl beat add the eggs with the salt, seasoning mix, and brown sugar and beat until creamed.  In a small bowl or cup soften the cream cheese.  Once the cream cheese is softened turn the mixer on and slowly drop by the spoon full the cream cheese- doing this step will prevent the cooking of the eggs in the mixture.

Now once that is mixed together pull the bowl out and do the rest by hand.  Add the diced apples and apple sauce.  Then add in the oats, water and milk.  This is a sloppy mixture at this point.  Pour into the baking dish and bake for 40 to 50 mins.  The middle shouldn’t wiggle.

Now I do this the night before and then in the morning I pull it out of the fridge and cut out slices like it is a cake.  Then when I go to warm it up I put just a little milk in the bowl with a bit of sugar free maple syrup on top and heat it up.

-Now I know many of you love pumpkin so in place of the apple sauce you can add pumpkin puree to it.  This is not pumpkin pie puree mix but PURE pumpkin.  And if you do that switch out the apple pie seasoning mix to pumpkin pie seasoning mix.