Falling into Fall!

Nathan and I agree that Fall is by far our favorite season.  There is something about the crisp weather that screams bonfires and get-togethers.  Fall seemed to appear out of nowhere this year, one day we are sweltering in the hot sun, then BAM 70 degrees *ahhhh if only it could be like this all year!

We have quite a few projects going on, finishing the porch, painting of the house, and parties galore!  We just celebrated Nathans birthday with a big bash, outdoor movie for the kiddos and fun conversations for the adults.  We had a hotdog bar, which of course I didn't take any pictures of, but everyone seemed to love!

Pretty Dark, but our make-shift outdoor movie was a hit with the kids!

The day after Nathans birthday we visited Curtis Orchard, got lost in the corn maze, practice our sling shots, and Nate rode his first pony ever...He says he is now ready to ride a big horse, I am so excited about the prospect of this!

Of course I had to try!

Dad showing Nate how to sling!

In the following weeks we will be having an "Old Fashion" birthday party for Nate, complete with fall games and fun *think bobbing for apples, and relay races!  We also have a fairly large pumpkim patch in our backyard that we will be harvesting soon.  I think a pumpkin carving party is in order!  And, of course Halloween, no parties here, but I cannot wait to go trick or treating!
I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the upcoming events, Nathan will be posting soon, as he promised to start painting the house this week!
Til Next Time,
XO

Foodie

Lately Nathan and I have been trying some new recipes.  Nathan is on a health kick and has been dropping weight like no ones business...On the other hand I have gained a few pounds.  I am certain my snack of choice *walnuts* surely has NOTHING to do with that!  I wanted to share some of the recipes that I have made this week, all of them Gluten Free. Most of them have zero or very little dairy..except for one which has dairy overload!

My favorite recipe that I made this week, was also the easiest and had the least amount of ingredients.  Stuffed Portobello Mushroom caps.  Of course I found the recipe on Pinterest, the link to the original recipe is here..Stuffed Caps

It was simple I was quite worried about the taste, but seriously it was DELICIOUS!  I bought 2 Portobella caps, scraped out the insides, added spinach and arugula leaves, topped with some homemade salsa (that Nathan made), a little feta cheese * I normally would have used goat cheese, but they were all out when I went to the market* , steamed everything together and viola, a filling, nutritious, delicious dinner!

 Of course I had no steamer bags like the original recipe suggests, so I used my trusty steamer.  I steamed each cap for roughly 20 minutes.

and yum!  My easiest, cheapest dinner this week!

Like I said Nathan has been working out and eating healthy for the last 2 weeks or so.  He is obsessed with Greg Plitt and has gotten several recipes off of Gregs website for us to try.  One was chicken pot pie, which was delicious however not gluten free, and oops I made it with some wrong ingredients and took zero pictures....So we will try that one again at a later date!  The second recipe we tried from his website is called Muscle Loaf, essentially Turkey meat loaf!  I was a little apprehensive about making this with so few ingredients but it really wasn't bad.  I followed the recipe to a T except I used Gluten free bread to make my breadcrumbs.

Eggs, small onion, ground turkey, bread, horsey sauce, ketchup, and a head of garlic....yes folks an entire head of garlic!  Needless to say the house smelled like garlic for 2 days after making this!  Nathan raved about this dish, I thought it could have used a tad more flavor, but it was good none-the-less!

I love love love Italian food, one of the crappiest *pun intended* things about Crohns Disease is for the most part Italian food is off limits to me, unless I make it at home with belly friendly ingredients.  So when I found this GF Ravioli recipe I was ecstatic!   I was much less ecstatic when I realized that not a single store around here sells the Well and Good pastry flour.  So I improvised... but not well.  I tried following the recipe but had to use double the Namaste brand flour in order for the dough not to be sticky

Once I finally got it to the right consistency I rolled it out and used a drinking glass to cut the rounds.

annnd for some reason this picture is crooked!

For the filling I followed the directions, egg, ricotta, spinach, salt, pepper, basil, and I added some extra spice.  A teaspoon of filling in each round and a little brushed egg to pinch and seal the rounds closed.  Dropped in boiling water and wahla! They were good, but a little 'doughy'.  The problem with the flour that I used was if I rolled the rounds too thin they would crack, too fat and it seemed like dough overload.  After I removed them from the boiling water I brushed them with Olive Oil, sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on and threw them in the oven to bake for roughly 10 minutes.

We ate them as a finger food dipped in sauce and stuck the rest in the freezer.  I think when I pull those out in a couple of weeks I will lightly coat them with homemade pasta sauce and bake them * I will post about that if it turns out well!  Since I had so much filling left over I also made the quiche-like breakfast casserole, which Nathan LOVED.  I mixed 5 more eggs in the ricotta mixture, added some herbs de provence and covered with garden tomatoes.* Note to you and self* Next time I make this casserole (Nathan has already requested a next time) I will be adding onion and garlic. Then it will be perfection!  

So while all of these recipes are definitely worth a try and I will be making all of them again, with a few tweaks for some, my all time favorite thing to eat is this.  Polenta with a little vegetable better than bouillon.

YUM.

XO