Celebrating Valentine's Day

Yesterday we started to prepare for Valentine's Day by making homemade cards for each other and for my son's classmates. Ehric made us each a mailbox to put our Valentine's cards into, which you can see above. We had fun stuffing them full of our homemade cards and a few candies, which were eaten on the spot!

Last night I baked these Chewy Ginger Snap Cookies for Ehric's Valentine's Day class party. Even though they were not heart shaped they were well received. My son's teacher emailed me this afternoon asking for the recipe for "the-most-delicious-ever ginger cookies." I would have to agree. These are some of the best ginger cookies I have ever had. I wish I could claim the recipe!

I was inspired by this recipe for Snicker Bears and decided to make some for the boys as a special Valentine treat. I made a few substitutions (all-purpose flour instead of gluten free flour and white sugar instead of cane sugar) so my bears didn't come out exactly like the original recipe, but they still tasted yummy and were still cute in their own way. If I made these again I would either follow the original recipe or find a good Snickerdoodle recipe.

For breakfast this morning I decided to make a heart shaped pancake. I mixed up my regular pancake batter then poured it into the pan which I greased with Wilton Cake Release. I sprinkled on some Rainbow Sprinkles on top and then baked it at around 400 degrees for maybe 20-25 minutes or so. I played around with the temps and time so don't quote me on this. We split this four ways and ate it with maple syrup. It was delicious!

While we were waiting for breakfast to cook Ehric and Aiden checked out their Valentine's mailboxes. They discovered that they also each had a little gift waiting for them as well. Here they are checking out their presents. Love must have been in the air today...the boys each decided that they liked each other's present better than their own and swapped gifts with one another with no bickering involved!

For lunch Aiden had a heart shaped grilled cheese sandwich. This made him very happy!

All-in-all our Valentine's was low-cost and low-key, but still special! I hope everyone had a great day with their families as well and didn't spend a fortune to show your love. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

GF Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie but don't eat it very often because it is a little time consuming to make the traditional way (with a full pie crust). I found this recipe the other day for a Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie that looked really easy to make and only has a top crust. So yesterday, I cooked up some chicken and today I made my version of the recipe since I didn't have some of the ingredients in the original recipe. I've included my notes and prep instructions below.

This recipe was not as quick to make as I hoped, but it was worth the time to make. I enjoyed the filling tremendously and the topping was kind of like corn bread. I would make this dish again. It was so good on this cold Winter day!

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

**Precook 1 lb of Chicken ahead of time.

For the Chicken-Vegetable Filling

First I prepped my vegetables.

2 cups of Broccoli florets (chopped)

25 Baby Carrots (thinly sliced)

1 small yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

In a Dutch Oven I added 2 tblsp of Olive Oil and cooked the onions over medium heat until they were soft. Then I poured the onions into a bowl.

I combined the dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisked well:

2 tblsp rice flour, 1/2 tsp dried mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper

In the Dutch oven I add 2-3 tblsp of Olive Oil then poured in the dry ingredients. I cooked the mixture over medium heat for a few minutes.

I slowly added a 14.5 oz can of Chicken stock to the dutch oven and whisked well. Once the mixture was boiling I added in dried basil (a few shakes) and my prepped vegetables. I turned the heat down to low and cooked the ingredients covered for 12 minutes.

While the mixture was cooking I shredded my 1 lb of previously cooked of chicken. Since I didn't have sour cream I whipped up some cream (from our raw milk) with some lemon juice. I made about 3 tblsp of sour cream. I also preheated my oven to 425 degrees.

When the vegetables were done cooking I turned off the stove top. I added the chicken and sour cream to the dutch oven and stirred up the ingredients. Then I poured the vegetable mixture into a 9 x 13.

For the topping

In a small bowl I combined :

1/2 cup of cornmeal, 1/4 cup rice flour plus 2 tblsp, 2 tblsp tapioca flour, 3/4 tsp xanthan gum,

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt,

In another small bowl I combined:

1 tblsp honey, 3/4 cup raw milk, 2 tblsp olive oil

Then I combined the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I poured the batter onto the Chicken -Vegetable Mixture in the 9 X 13 and then carefully spread the mixture across the top.

I baked the dish for 30 minutes. Then let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Serves about 6.

Notes: I accidentally set my temp to 450* so my topping was a little darker than it should have been. Oops! So I pulled my Pot Pie out of the oven about five minutes sooner. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Poutine

For lunch today I am enjoying Poutine, which is French Fries with Gravy & Cheese Curds. It is something that I like to eat every once and a while or when I can get my hands on some fresh cheese curds. I first tried this dish near the Maine-Canadian border when I was in my early 20s and fell in love with the combination of ingredients. What is strange to me is that I was raised in a French-Canadian family but do not recall us ever eating this dish. I do remember how much I loved it when my parent's would bring home Cheese curds after a trip to Canada though.

In my dish above I used a beef based gravy, baked fries and a fresh cheese curds. It is so good!