Peppermint "brownies" or balls

I adapted this recipe to what we had on hand and to our tastes.  Andrew liked it.  Try it and see what you think.

Peppermint "brownies" or balls

1 c raw almonds

1 c raw cashews

20 dates, pitted (Note: I don't have the nice juicy medjool dates, we get ones in bulk from Winco so if you have the medjool they are probably about half the size)

1/2 tsp peppermint extract...I used some concentrated stuff from Market Spice in WA so they were extra minty!

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 T cocoa powder (Note: No fancy stuff here, just the Hershey or whatever brand is in bulk at Winco again)
couple pinches of salt

Grind the nuts to a powder in your food processor or Vitamix in our case.  Dump most of them out into a bowl.*  Add the rest of the ingredients and grind into a paste.  Dump into the bowl with the rest of the nuts and mix together by hand.  Press into an 8x8 pan and enjoy or roll into bite sized balls!  Chill in the fridge or freezer.

* One more note: I tried to do all of this in the Vitamix at once...basically, grind the nuts and then add the other ingredients.  It bound the machine up.  I had to dump everything out and then grind in about 3 batches and dump in another bowl and mix with my hand.  So, that's why I suggest dumping most of the nuts out.  Just a thought.  Some other way might work for you or if you have a food processor you might not need to dump stuff out ;)

Cream of Broccoli Soup (GF, Can be Dairy-free)

This paired quite well with the flax seed "bran" bread and barbecued lamb chops.  If you don't have to keep it dairy-free, it also is pretty tasty with a bit of shredded cheddar on top!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

2 T butter, coconut oil, or olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 small shallot

1/2 c or so potato diced (small to medium potato)*

~ 4 c broccoli chopped up*

6 c. broth

1/2 c full-fat coconut milk

2 T lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp chipotle sauce (Tabasco brand is tasty; so are others)

Melt butter in medium pot. Add diced garlic and shallot.  Saute on low for 2-5 minutes until it starts to carmelize.  Add potatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add broccoli and broth.  Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cover with a lid.  Cook for 20 minutes or so until the potato and broccoli is soft.  Puree in batches (REMEMBER IT'S HOT) in a good blender.  Pour back into pot.  Add coconut milk, lemon juice, salt and chipotle sauce.  Stir to combine and serve.  Tastes especially yummy with shredded cheddar melted on top!

* I am fond of potato skins.  I don't peel the darn things.  It takes too much time and you lose good vitamins and such.  In addition, go ahead and eat the leaves and such on the broccoli.  You're going to puree the hell out of everything anyway!

Pumpkin Ginger Snaps

Um, yeah, anything with pumpkin (except pumpkin pie but that's a texture issue) usually tastes pretty darn good to me.  Andrew actually liked these because he couldn't taste the pumpkin...go figure!

Pumpkin Ginger Snaps

2 T butter, softened

2 T pumpkin, or pureed squash

1 egg

1/3 c brown sugar

1/4 c molasses

1/2 tsp baking soda + 2 tsp water

1 tsp each cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, salt

2 c gluten-free flour blend

1. Combine the butter, pumpkin, egg, brown sugar, and molasses in your mixer.  Mix until smooth and creamy.

2. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and then add to the butter mixture.

3. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  

4. Roll out as thin as possible.  I divide the dough up into about thirds and roll out between gallon Ziplocs.  Transfer to greased cookie sheet.  Use a pizza cutter to cut to the desired size.  

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Be sure to do them thin and they will crisp up quite nicely when you remove them from the oven.

Almond "Graham" Crackers

Okay, so in no way are these graham crackers...but they are easy and pretty tasty. That's just what Andrew asked if I was trying to copy, so to speak.  And they are, heaven forbid, relatively healthy!

Almond "Graham" Crackers

1 1/2 c almond flour*

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2-3 T water

Mix dry ingredients together.  Add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together but is not sticky.  Form into a flat disk and roll out to cracker thickness between two gallon sized Ziplocs.  Carefully peel off one Ziploc and then lay (not pressing) it back down.  Flip over and peel of the other Ziploc.  Flip the rolled out dough onto a greased cookie sheet and cut into smallish cracker shapes with a knife or pizza cutter.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Take the crackers out and turn them over.  Continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until you reach desired crispiness.  Don't eat all at once!

*Note:  I haven't purchased almond flour.  I used my dedicated spice (coffee) grinder and ground whole almonds and then put them through a sifter.  It took about 3 batches in the grinder with a couple redoes on the stuff that didn't get ground all of the way.  Don't let the blades get hot or you'll likely end up with almond butter (also tasty but not exactly what we're going for here).

This year's Christmas card...It's kind of fun!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

There's more inside and on the back.  Andrew and I had fun creating this together and love what we get from Shutterbug! But now he wants a leg lamp instead of a Christmas tree...what have I started?