Last year's birthdays were something to "survive." We tried to "get through" the day, trying our best to minimize the kids' inevitable disappointment. We were on the run, de-toxing, and unable to offer much more than a present and maybe a dinner out.
These two birthdays felt almost normal. Well, normal in light of our "new normal." We decorated and baked. Played hide and seek. Laughed. Shannon and I took Ryan to Best Buy to look at movies. Chris took Colin and a few of the kids to Build-a-Bear. Even Erin came home with a bear.
I think we'll title this picture "Re-Build a Life" Bears.
LOVE this!!!!!! happy birthday to your blessings!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the retitle. I want to be able to celebrate my oldest daughters birthday without her getting sick with a migraine so I am in search of a cake mix. Let me know if you find one.
ReplyDeleteTonya,
ReplyDeleteI got this recipe from a friend. She uses barley and whole wheat flour. I'm going to try it with coconut flour so that it will be gluten-free.So here it is with coconut flour inserted.
2 1/2 cups coconut flour
2 tsp.baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. Earth Balance
1/2 c. maple syrup ( I'll use agave)
1/2 c. date sugar (I think we'll leave it out)
4 tbls flax powder
1 medium chopped apple in food processor
3 large carrots in food processor
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. crushed walnuts (we can't use them)
1/2 c. raisins (we can't use them either)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9 X 13 inch pan.
Mix together dry ingredients.
Make a slurry with 1 c. water and 4 tbls flax powder. Add in the slurry mixture. IN a separate bowl add in applie, butter, vanilla, agave. Add wet incredients to dry and mix throroughly. Place apple and carrots in a food processor and pulse until fine. Add carrots, stir and pour into pan. Bake for 75 minutes or until done.
Cool and serve.
( I like this because of the problem we had with the whipping cream with Reagan).
What a wonderful Birthday celebration!!! I know we will have to get new build a bears when we move out of our house. (the kids don't know yet they can't take those with them). Maybe we will make it a big celebration as well.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how much you have baked with coconut flour, but very often substituting for reg. flour like you can with a regular gluten free flour mix doesn't work quite as well. Coconut flour requires A LOT of eggs for binding and the texture is so different - I made a cake once that used 10 eggs I think and a batch of muffins would use 6. So you might have to play around with the recipe a bit. Hopefully it will turn out great though - I would love to know!
You are probably trying to avoid all grains, thus the coconut flour, but if not, you can use equal parts rice flour, tapioca flour and sorghum flour along with a tsp of xanthan gum as a direct substitution. This works well for me. My family can tolerate the grains just not the gluten, whereas I use coconut flour for stuff for me since I avoid the grains and starch.
Hope this helps!!
What a wonderfully, happy photo of the kids! Reminded me of when my dtr and I took Sarah, my grand dtr to Build A Bear a year ago. She just loved it. Do your kids tolerate the materials pretty well?
ReplyDeleteSarah did, but I didn't do well with the dye in it. She could and that was important.
Build-a-Bear offers an allergy-free bear. We got that for Kaitlyn since she is so highly reactive. All bears are thriving with their new owners :)
ReplyDeleteThe article is pretty nice. My penpal told me about the bears he just got.
ReplyDeleteAnders