Amazing Gluten Free Angel Food cake

Last week i made ice-cream. Twice! Both recipes were from my favorite book on the subject, Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. I made coffee ice-cream to pair with the my banana chocolate chip cake for my dad's 60th birthday. and then classic chocolate to have with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a dinner with my brothers. If you are familiar with David's ice-cream, many of his recipes are custard based or the French-style method which yields such a rich and creamy ice cream i had my family promising to be faithful regulars as soon as i open up my own ice cream shop! (not happening anytime soon!) The other result from all the churning around here is that i had a fridge with quite a few eggs whites that needed to be used or i'd be tossing them out soon.

Several times recently as i've served ice-cream or cake or cookies, those around me have joked about the irony that i of all people who love to cook and bake am married to a man with wheat and dairy allergies. And true, maybe one of reasons why Daryl has stayed so slim all these years is that he can't eat all the temptations i make. But i have not let his food issues get in the way of attempting to put before him sweet surprises! i've had my fair share of bloopers in the kitchen with gluten free / dairy free this and that. It takes a while (i'm talking years) to get fairly comfortable and even now after several years, when i experiment with something new, sometimes it turns out great, like the cake i made a couple nights ago, and some of my attempts turn out best suited for the garbage (unfortunately the waffles i made last weekend fell into that category... one little change to my fool-proof recipe was all it took to ruin it! which really sucked because i always triple the batter to make enough for the whole week, so it was a lot of wasted rice/oatmeal/tapoica/etc / etc flours!)

So a couple nights ago when i opened the fridge to see what veggies were on their last leg and needed to be consumed for dinner i saw those eggs whites looking at me. Asking to be put to good use! I sat down to look through my recipes and came across Angel Food cake... do you know Angel Food cake calls for 12 eggs whites?! no problem! The nice thing about Angel food cake and what makes it such a great recipe if you avoid wheat and dairy is that it doesn't call for any fat, no butter to replace with various oils. and it only needs 1 cup of flour which is quite small for a cake.

It was my first time to try making Angel food cake and i'm excited at how it came out; Daryl thought it was great. I served it the next day to someone else and they couldn't even tell it was GF/Dairy free! if you are not familiar with GF /Dairy free food then you may not be able to appreciate just how exciting it is when you make something and it actually tastes, looks, and has the same texture as the original. This cake gets a 5 starts in all those categories!

without further ado:

Angel Food Cake (with my changes/instructions)

• 12 eggs (enough for 1 1/2cups)
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup flour (i used 1/2 white rice (asian brand), 1/4 tapioca starch, 1/4 sweet sorghum)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, i left this out and it was still great)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1. Bring 1 1/2 cup egg whites to room temp. Place bowl in a sink of warm water (careful not to get any water in the egg whites) to speed up the process if you don't have 30 mins to let it sit on your counter.
  
• 2. Meanwhile, mix confectioners' sugar and flours together (sift for even fluffier results). Add cream of tartar, to egg whites; beat on high speed. (make sure mixing bowl is very clean and dry... any water will hinder your egg whites from rising.) Towards the end, slowly add sugar, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Add extracts and salt. Fold in flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan or bundt pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately turn pan upside down and place on a bottle so it sits inverted to cool. Let it cool completely before removing cake from pan.

Is your church free too?

“Mom, do we go to a free church?” Claire asked me as we were walking from our car to church this past Sunday. I started quickly thinking through what valuable lesson I could teach her… yes we don’t pay, God’s love is free! … but I decided I’d see first what she was thinking. Side note: my girls ask a lot of questions and I’ve learned that rather than jumping into lengthy explanations- to ask what they think first. That way I can find out how much they already know or if maybe their question wasn’t so serious as I thought it was. So I said, “What do you think Claire? Do we go to a free church” and she said that yes, she thought it was free because that’s what the sign says!

Back from england

We have been back now for 3 weeks. Can it already have been that long? Sometimes I think that England was a dream… we didn’t really spend our summer in the English countryside did we? But I just have to scroll down a bit to see Claire’s smiling face in the midst of those wheat fields that we watched grow steadily each week to remember well our British summer.

Coming back has been so good in many ways, the comfort of your own bed and pillow is incredible! Having a stocked kitchen and counter space! … I will never complain of lack of counter space again! Hearing English in our own accent, yes the English accent is romantic and wonderful, but it can also be tiring to hear it all day long. You have to concentrate harder and I don’t think I realized this until I heard an American speaking on TV one evening after being in England several weeks. It felt so soothing to hear that American … ok ... it was Tom Hanks being interviewed… of course it’s enjoyable listening to him! But it was his accent first that I found so refreshing and then his humor!

We are trying to settle into a routine which has been harder than I expected. I’m still adjusting to my alarm going off at 5:15am again (this summer I didn’t start work until 9am). Although I do enjoy having my afternoons at home now. Working all day this summer, I would long for afternoons off to play with the girls, bake, run errands, it all sounded so wonderful. And now that I have it back I find it hard to be as productive as I’d like to be. I’ve been napping more than usual, I feel behind with the house chores and I haven’t sat down to play pretend with my girls recently.

Life. Why must it always take so much work to run smoothly?

Oxford!

We have a co-workers car this week to use and Saturday we drove to Oxford! we walked around the town a bit; it's busy right now in the summer season with tourists. Then we drove over to The Kilns, where C.S. Lewis lived. we almost didn't find it because our directions were not adequate, which would have been very disapointing as this was one of the main places I really wanted to see. We hadn't made an appointment in advance to see the inside of the house so we viewed it from the road and then walked around the nature reserve / pond next door, thinking about woodland creatures and St. Annes and Belbury (from That Hideous Strength) As we were returning to our car to leave, we met a local resident and started talking to him. He told us we should knock on the door since we'd come from far away. We knew it was by appointment only so we said it was ok, we didn't want to bother the permanent residents. In the end, the neighbor (who as out walking his dog) ended up seeing Stan, who turned out to be none other than the director of the C.S. Lewis foundation (who owns the Kilns)! He was there in Oxford finishing up a three week summer institute program they hold triennially. The C.S. Lewis foundation is based in Redlands, California! (where my grandmother lives) We had a nice conversation and he let us see more of the grounds. What a pleasure!

Ten Surprises from our time in England

1. Friendly glances on the street are very rare. We thought this was particular to Eastern Europe. We miss the pleasantness of a smile when you pass a stranger.

2. That we love bike rides as a family. South Whittier is not conducive to pleasant bike rides, while our small town surrounded by farmland is very conducive. We plan on bringing this new love home with us and try to overcome the obstacles of South Whittier to continue our family bike rides.

3. The grocery stores are stocked with gluten-free and dairy-free products. It puts the United States grocery stores to shame. I have been thinking of packing an extra suitcase with Daryl’s favorite GF bread! (just kidding… we don’t have a big enough freezer for it at home)

4. Blackberries ripening in late July and early August were a surprise to us and to all of the locals. I made 4 pies in one week!

5. How Daryl’s health has been relatively good.

6. How much we would miss our community even though we were only away for the summer.

7. How you really can get by with less kitchen gadgets (ok I do miss my food processer, my sharp chef’s knife, and my digital scale to name a few!)

8. That your kids can get by with less toys! I know this is a no brainer… but they simply don’t need too much. We have had a lot of fun making our own “paperdolls” (ie. They draw pictures and then cut them out.) We borrow lots of books from the library. And we play a lot of pretend. Today they excitedly invited me up to their room to visit “Disneyland” I had to pay a 2 pence entrance fee (they said it could be anything up to a pound… what a deal!) and then they gave me a grand tour of the park. Play area on the bottom bunk with castle toys (Sleeping Beauty’s castle maybe?) Natania had a food shop at the back of the room with real fruit and veggies nicked from the kitchen. There was even a resting area with nice pillows and blankets after you were tired from playing in the park. Seeing this Disneyland you might think my girls had never been to the real thing the similarities were so slim, but Daryl and I told them we like their Disneyland better because in theirs you got to use your imagination, while Disneyland does it all for you.

9. How different our English is. We may speak the same language but sometimes it doesn’t feel that way!

10. That Daryl likes milk chocolate! Yes, usually he avoids dairy, but the big Cadburys Milk chocolate and hazelnut bars doesn’t seem to bother him! I guess I didn’t realize that his strong remarks in the past about how chocolate was like eating batteries, was actually only about Dark chocolate!

Fresh Blackberry Pie

This has been a busy week with work and also spending good time with Daryl's parents before they head back to the states in a few days, so i'm a little delayed in posting this. We had a great weekend, finishing our visit with our good friend Philip and then having a family day in the park on Sunday.

Setting out on our adventure, picnic packed in the back pack, sun is shinning... it's going to be a good day.

We return to our fort that Dad has been building only to find that Alas! it needs repair! Daryl spends the next hour putting it up again while the girls and i hunt for dear, make mud ... i mean "chocolate" bread pudding and clear smooth paths outside our house for natania to ride her bike.

Daryl is finally done with the house and can help us cook the meat over the fire.

we start our ride home and find... a huge patch of blackberries! we start picking the sweet juicy berries and suddenly instead of picking a few to snack on, we are filling our large tupperware and are set on getting enough to make pie!

With plenty of berries and scratches on our arms, we head home to put together our pie! I used the recipe for the blackberry pie filling from Epicurious here (we did a crumb topping)...it was wonderful. Even though i didn't have many tools that might seem important for making pie (rolling pin, pie dish, etc) with a little creativity and hands on approach it worked out just fine. We liked it so much that the next day, Daryl and the girls went back and picked enough berries to make two more pies!

One reason I am happy to be in England this summer: three words- Fresh blackberry pie.

Dear Great Grandma...

We put these in the mail last week to my grandma.

Claire is packed and ready for a sleepover at Grandma's. Her bag carries a variety of useful things: dolls and clothes. Our "16 seater" van (if you think you see eight seats, it's because each is two seats!) is ready to take her.

Natania drew the Spradley house in England "on a sunny day." you can see that we have the best house on the block... just look at our fancy door.

The Americans stand out ... in Pink!

If you asked Natania and Claire what has been the highlight so far of their time in England, they would undoubtedly tell you... "Ballet!!!" We were fortunate to be able to join a class of 5/6 year olds for the last 4 weeks of their ballet class before it let out for the summer holiday. So last Wednesday the mums got to stay and watch the last class and it gave me a chance to snap some shots of the girls "first ballet class" that we will all enjoy looking back on when they are Prima ballerinas! We may have to find them a dancing class when we return to the US, but i'm kidding about them being professional dancers... we're too committed to the violin! You can call me Tiger mom!... again... totally kidding!

This week it was a small class as many students are already on holiday. Usually it is double the size and so you can see that it would be easy for Natania and Claire to get lost among the many girls. I took care of that, as you'll be able to see from the pictures.

roll call... to which the girls learned to reply "Good afternoon Miss Anna" when their name was called

Claire is one of the first ready: feet together, standing tall, holding skirt out!

Skipping!

Reach, reach!

End of term, teacher hands out "dancing star" ribbons. the girls are very proud.

(Random foot in photo belongs to the squirmy younger brother sitting in front of me- parents were seated on the stage)

side note:

Actually the real reason my girls are wearing bright pink while all the others are in baby blue is that we had brought our own leotards with us from the US, (for playing dress up) and when we signed up for ballet, they said we didn't need to buy the whole costume kit since we were only committing to 4 weeks of classes! i'm sure it helped their teacher out... "let's see, where are those new girls..."

The Pier House Cafe - Isle of Anglesey

(Lunch)

(I want a some tier trays like this for my counter top at home... "Becky's Homemade scones coming right up!")

For a restaurant, it is a great compliment when you return the same day to eat again at their establishment. If you return a third time in one day like we did during our anniversary trip, well, it felt a little embarrassing. But honestly the Pier House Cafe in Beaumaris was a lovely restaurant! Great variety in their menu (we should know by now!) friendly wait staff, clean bathrooms, and a great location by the waterfront. The spot overlooking the water is what sold me on wanting to return the second time. We'd already had a nice lunch there and had been to the local castle when it was time for a coffee break. Sitting watching families stroll by with their dogs, and kids lick their ice cream cones, the boats stuck up on the shore because the tide was low... so much to see sitting outside the cafe. Later on we did end up getting our dinner here as well, although we did "take away" so that we could have a picnic back in the gardens of our estate.

(accompanying "tea cake" not pictured)

(this is where we sat outside)

Our new favorite holiday!

Plas Cadnant on the Isle of Anglesey is now officially at the top of our list when Daryl and I think back to the wonderful places we've stayed at. If we lived closer to the area, i would be tempted not to even mention the actual name of our holiday cottage because there is always a temptation when you find a gem to keep it to yourself. (why do we do that???)

Anglesey itself is a beautiful area. Everyone who we've talked to says Northern Wales (and Scotland) are the most beautiful areas of the UK. The country estate that we stayed at is surrounded by soft green hills of bleating sheep. The whole gardens and estate are in the process of being restored. Originally built in the 1600s, the cottages combine old classic style with modern comfort and convenience.

I don't know if we'll ever be able to return to Wales, but if we do, we'll definetly be coming back to Plas Cadnant.

Save the Bears!

Natania and Claire were pretending to shot bears and lions the other day. (I decided that if I had boys I wouldn’t be surprised that they wanted to pretend to hunt and shoot so I don’t want to have a double standard! Although I really don’t know where that idea came from, not me!) Anyhow, after they had brought us their 4th or so pretend dead bear, Daryl and told them they shouldn’t shot too many bears, only what Natania and Claire could eat themselves so that they didn’t waste. Claire then told me that they were having a big dinner and needed enough for Natania, Claire, mommy and daddy. We then said that they needed to make sure they didn’t shot all the bears because other people needed to see them too. Natania called down, (she was hunting upstairs) that other people could always look at pictures to see bears and lions!

They are quick! Maybe it was too early to be teaching them about conservation!

Visiting Cousins

My sister Liz was in town in February. The girls had so much fun playing together.

check this link out:

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909

this video is really cool. I am now an official supporter of Dove Products.

On the Menu

"On the Menu" is a new series dedicated to my favorite recipes that I have recently made and photographed. This is one of my favorite cookie recipes! Hope you enjoy.

Henry and Maudie's Oatmeal Cookies
INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sifted whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 egg 1/4 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups rolled oats

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2.	In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg,

	water and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture, then stir in the oats. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.
3.	Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2007 Allrecipes.com

Date Night

Tonight Natania, Claire and I went out on a little outing. We didn’t get out yesterday or today and so I decided to go get ice-cream. Macedonians have this idea that eating something cold like ice-cream in the winter is bad for your health, so most restaurants and stores don’t stock it or serve it during these “chilly” months. There is however an ice cream parlor at the big mall in the center of town and so, feeling a little adventurous and stir crazy, I decided not to take a taxi but to find it myself with my co-worker/neighbor’s car. I’ve of course been there before but never behind the wheel myself!

After a few wrong turns that adjusted our 15-20 minute jaunt into a 25-30 minute trip, we pulled into a tight spot (parallel parked!) on the curb. If I had parked in this same spot in the states, I would have received dirty looks and probably a ticket for my audacity to leave my vehicle where I did, but thank goodness, those rules don’t apply here! Otherwise I would have spent another 10 minutes driving around the squished “parking lot” looking for a legitimate spot!

I slid Claire into the sling and gave Natania strict warnings about needing to hold my hand and obey Mommy while we were out. We stepped in the mall and I realized at once what a novelty I was. To paint the picture for you: Young single woman, two “babies,” a sling… most women here don’t have children until their 30’s and if they have more than one child they definitely don’t have them close together, 6 years is the desirable distance between siblings. As for the sling, let’s just say I think mine is the sole representative of its kind here in this country! It’s been a while since I’ve attracted so much attention. It took me back to my days in Asia where there was no hiding the fact that I wasn’t a national, and everyone stares openly at foreigners. Here, with my light skin, dark hair and brown eyes, I can blend in quite well as a Macedonian (as long as I keep my mouth shut!).

At “Palma’s” we sat in the “non-smoking” section, which I don’t think really exists, everyone here smokes and so if there is a non-smoking section, it’s just one or two tables in the middle or off to the side of all the smoking tables! I ordered two scoops of ice-cream for us to share and a cappuccino as a treat for me. Natania wanted to try mommy’s coffee but I didn’t want to risk her not being able to sleep due to the caffeine boost. (I’m sure the sugar in the ice-cream was already taking care of that!) Natania enjoyed her ice-cream and … so did Claire (yes, it’s true I guess I have relaxed my standards a little). After ice-cream we rode the escalator up and down four times because Natania was having so much fun. Then Natania helped me pick out a pair of earrings at a little silver jewelry stall. Lastly we got one of those big shopping carts that has a little car for your toddler to sit in the front and “drive” (another fun treat for Natania) and I picked up a few items at Ram Store; the largest grocery store here and more importantly; the only one with little cars!

We had a lot of fun tonight and mostly I think it was because I took great joy in my daughter’s joy. It’s hard to put into words, but Natania was so happy to be out with her mommy. On the way home, I told her that we had gone on a “date” and tried to explain the concept to her in toddler vocabulary. She told me that she wanted “do date again mommy?” And she also got very excited when I told her that she could go on a date with Daddy too.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently with my two daughters and it can be a temptation to lose sight of the bigger picture. These are two precious little girls that God has entrusted to me for a time. Tonight I was blessed with a beautiful little occasion that has helped me to reflect on God’s goodness to me. I thank the Lord for the delight that I am experiencing being Natania and Claire’s mother. It truly is a privilege to raise these little girls.

Our trip to Stobi