Wacky Chocolate Cake - Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free!

When I was recently visiting my parents, we made an old favorite: Wacky Chocolate Cake. My mom's recipe card has my childhood printing listing out the ingredients and instructions. It's so good and so easy. My daughter had a lot of fun making the cake almost all by herself.

I was struck by how simple the ingredients are and how there are no eggs and no milk. The only thing I need to substitute for my allergic husband (wheat, milk, eggs) is the flour. Well, that's easy!

Here is how I made it:

1 1/2 cup gluten-free flour mix

1 tsp ground chia seeds

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp vinegar

6 Tbsp oil

1 cup water

Mix all the dry ingredients with a fork in an 8 x 8 inch cake pan (no need to grease it).

Make two small wells and one large well in the flour mixture.

Put the vanilla, vinegar and oil each in their own wells.

Pour the water over top and mix well with the fork.

(If you prefer, you can do the mixing in a bowl and then transfer to the cake pan.)

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Check with a toothpick.

You can ice it if you like, but I like it just as it is to snack on.

It disappears very quickly. You've been warned!

Spring

This was taken last week. Look, pretty spring flowers in the sunshine!

A test post from my phone

I took this picture last month when we were having lots of fog and
freezing temps and everything was covered in frost.

Wheat-free, Egg-free, Dairy-free Pastry

I don't want to forget this recipe, so I'm posting it here. :)

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
(I use 1/2 Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour and 1/2 rice flour)
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup lard
1/3 cup cold water (approx)

Blend dry ingredients. Cut in lard with pastry blender.
Add just enough cold water for the dough to hold together, stirring with a fork.
Refrigerate a couple of hours, then use as you would regular pastry.

Kids are weird

Yes, I knew that, but it's still a valid point.

Monkey-boy is a bit of a picky eater. He loves fruit and veggies (raw) but isn't that keen on meat. He'll eat a chicken strip and he'll eat hamburgers (with ketchup and pickles). That's just about it. Monkey-girl on the other hand likes fruit and some veggies (no celery mom!) and likes solid meat (not ground beef) although she does like her cheeseburgers.

Our supper rule is that they have to have a bite of everything I make for supper; I'm hoping their taste buds will learn to accept a larger variety of foods.

A week or so ago, I made "hamburger soup" - pretty simple, just saute some onions, add the veggies, browned ground beef, beef stock and simmer until done. I didn't expect either of the kids to eat more than their required one bite. When they looked skeptically at the pot and asked what it was, I said, "Um, well, I guess it's kind of a hamburger soup. And if you put cheese in it, then it would be a cheeseburger soup."

Monkey-girl had three bowls, Monkey-boy had two (although he did pick out most of the ground beef).

I was shocked. I honestly thought they would look at the soup, reluctantly eat their bite and quickly wash it down with milk.

Today, I made a slightly different version in my crock pot. Again, three bowls for Monkey-girl, two bowls for Monkey-boy.

Could getting them to eat supper really be as simple as giving it the right name?

Podcasts

Discussing how I like podcasts because I don't have time in big chunks and I like to listen to something short:

TKHubband says, "When I want to listen to something short, I just talk to you."

ba-dum-dum

Chicken/Turkey Broth

This is how I make my broth.

1. Get out my big (6L) crock pot with the removable crock
2. Turn the oven on to 375F.
3. Put poultry carcasses into the crock. (After I roast a chicken or turkey and get all the meat off, I stick the bones in a ziploc bag and throw it in the freezer. Once I have 2 or 3, I'll make a batch of stock.)
4. Add the following to the crock
- an onion or two, quartered
- a couple of carrots, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
- a couple of celery stalks, cut into 2-3 inches pieces
- a couple cloves of garlic, peeled, whole
5. Put the crock into the oven (No lid! Just the ceramic crock part.) for 45 minutes or so.
6. Take the crock out of the oven (using oven mitts of course) and stick it into the base of your crock pot. Turn the crock pot on LOW.
7. Fill up your kettle and turn it on.
8. When the water boils, carefully pour it over the stuff in the crock.
Repeat 7 and 8 until the liquid is about 1 1/2 inches from the top of the crock.
9. Put the lid on and leave it alone for 3-10 hours.

Note that I don't add any salt. I'm never sure how I will end up using the broth and I can always add salt later to whatever I'm making with the broth..

This makes the most wonderful stock. The oven roasts the bones and veggies a bit to enhance their flavour and the final colour of the stock. The crock pot cooks everything so gently that you don't get any foaming or clouding or yucky stuff happening. When you're done and the broth is strained and chilled, it will gel because of the protein.

I usually ladle the broth through a mesh strainer into a 4 cup glass measuring cup in batches, then I can take the fat off and pour the broth into appropriate containers for freezing without making a huge mess. I dump the last bit into a colander over a bowl and let it drip for a bit before straining it.

I have 2 Tupperware covered ice cube trays that I use for food only. I got these when the kids were babies for freezing baby food. Whenever I make broth, I fill them up so that I have "broth cubes". Whenever the kids have soup, I can use a broth cube to cool it down and it won't dilute the soup.

I'll try to remember to take pictures next time I make broth and add them to this post.

I'm just a crazy, updating lady!

I've uploaded some pictures to my flickr account, so you can look at those. They're all craft projects at this point.

I've also updated my projects in Ravelry. Sorry, if you aren't a member, you can't see that yet.

Next, I've got another post planned (as long as the kids play together nicely so I can get it done).