SNAP............Those are some Delicious Vegan Gluten Free Ginger Snap Cookies

Yummy, yummy, yummy I've got Ginger Snaps in my tummy!!!!!

These are so GOOD. And clean. And lowish crab (relatively).

I made them vegan so my daughter could enjoy them with me...........and she did. She LOVES them.

They are so soft. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Can't you tell I like them.

I generally try to stay away from grains but I did use a bit of gluten-free flour blend in these. Choose your battles. The coconut and arrowroot help to keep them low grain and lowish carb so there are a lot worse things you can eat. And no refined sugar of course.

Snap.....Vegan Gluten Free Ginger Snap Cookies

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 Minutes

Keywords: bake dessert gluten-free vegan almond flour coconut flour gluten-free flour ginger cookie

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Ingredients (15 cookies)

• Ingredients
• 1/3 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used almond)
• 1 Tbsp ground golden flax
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• +1/2 cup organic palm coconut sugar
• 1 Tbsp black-strap molasses
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance (vegan margarine - or replace with more coconut oil)+
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp applesauce
• Dry Ingredients
• 1/2 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend
• 1/2 cup almond flour (or almond meal)
• 1/4 cup organic coconut flour
• 2 Tbsp arrowroot flour
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch fine sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together first 3 ingredients. Let stand for a couple of minutes.

In a second bowl, whip together oil/butter and sugar. Mix until fully combined and slightly fluffy. Add molasses, applesauce and vanilla.

Mix together two separate bowls of wet ingredients.

Add dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Scoop out a heaping Tbsp at a time. Form into balls and then flatten out slightly with the back of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool before eating.

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MamaGetsFit - Forearms and Fun.......with a little anxiety on the side

Up, Up and AWAY! I can do them. If very briefly. Next time I'll wear my hair back so you can see that my head is not touching the ground.

Hey Folks.

Happy May Long Weekend.

The sun is finally shining in Winnipeg. We are FINALLY getting spring.

That makes me happy.

And the fact that the ANXIETY that was gripping me for the past week or two seems to have left the building also makes me happy. Very happy. So happy I could do handstands.

Actually, my cousin sent me a pin (and a challenge) that she wanted to see me do forearm handstands.

So I have been working on them. My daughter had to take this picture when we were at the park. Poor kid..............I am really embarrassing to go places with.

Easy. No. Do-able. Barely. Fun. Hell yeah!

So far the longest one I have been able to hold was about 5 seconds. The falling out of a forearm handstand part is not really that fun............

So just a little progress update for my cuz! Thanks for the challenge.............always good to get some new goals and a little muscle confusion.

I will give another update on my anxiety when I feel confident I have licked it. Day 2 of being anxiety free so I don't want to shout my solutions from the rooftops and jinx myself.

So if all goes well I will do a post soon on how I licked my anxiety. And my kids have been busy licking lots of spoons -  so I've got some really great new recipes coming too!

Hope you all have a tasty, up-side-down, anxiety-free long weekend!

Yeah - that hurts.............I like it much better when I fall back down the other way.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs with Candied Walnuts and Balsamic Glaze - Dairy-Free & Gluten Free

Ha, ha, ha. I could barely type the name of this recipe (or say it for that matter) without cracking up. I'm such a redneck under it all that it just seems way too sophisticated for me. I'm such a fraud.

But I have to say that this was a delicious appetizer and I felt like such a grown up serving these (I know I'm 37 but I still feel like I should sit at the kids table).

I bought the figs at Costco. And then started experimenting because I have never cooked or baked with a fig in my life.

Success.

The combination of sweet figs, nutty walnuts, creamy goat cheese and balsamic vinegar is just to die for. And you can prepare it and then refrigerate it so you can relax when guests arrive to play the part of super sophisticated, calm and cool hostess. Or maybe you can - I'm frazzled most of the time no matter how prepared I think I am. If only I still had a shot of home-brew at parties I'd be a bit more zen......until I got crazy. That's why I don't drink anymore. That and it was poisoning me.

But I still like a good party. And a good appetizer. So here's a new one for the rotation. Hope you enjoy! Serve it with some red wine if you want to really endear your girlfriends..............or some home brew if you want to impress your redneck friends.............or some rooibos tea if you want to keep it clean like me!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs with Candied Walnuts and Balsamic Glaze

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Keywords: bake appetizer snack vegetarian Dried figs Goat cheese Walnuts

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Ingredients (20 stuffed figs)

• 20 dried figs (I used Golden Delicious Calimyrna figs from Costco)
• 20 tsp soft unripened Goat cheese
• 20 walnuts (full pieces)
• 1 Tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter replacement)
• 1 Tbsp organic palm coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Glaze

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp organic EVOO
• 1/2 Tbsp organic palm coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Instructions

To prepare figs

The figs may be quite flattened when they come out of the bag. I formed/plumped them up with my fingers so they were full. Then I cut off the top stem and make a small incision (butter knife width) at the top of the fig. I put the top of the knife in the fig and wiggled it around to make a cavity for the goat cheese to go in. I used a knife to stuff the goat cheese into the fig.

To prepare the candied Walnuts

In a saucepan, melt Earth balance and then add walnuts and sugar. Fry over medium heat for about 3 minutes until the walnuts are cooked through and a bit crunchy.

To prepare the Balsamic glaze

Bring the balsamic vinegar to a low boil over medium high heat and then reduce heat to a low simmer. Using a whisk, stir the vinegar frequently until it starts to thicken (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add EVOO and sugar and continue mixing until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Assemble and Bake

I put the stuffed figs into a small glass casserole dish and topped each one with a candied walnut. I then drizzled with the balsamic glaze. When you are ready to serve, bake the figs at 325 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until warned through. Serve and enjoy!

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Anxiety my old Friend.........

Digestion is good. Sleeps okay. Moods are stable. Stress is low. I was feeling great. Happy. Blessed. Joyful.

And then a couple of days ago my old friend anxiety decided to pay me a visit.  WTF.  Not impressed. Not happy to see you. Not welcome here.

Very confusing. I have three theories on what might have triggered this episode: I ate wheat three days in a row (nothing major but maybe?), I am due for my monthly B12 shot this week and/or I missed taking my iron and B12 a couple days in a row. But I'm skeptical. None of those seem serious enough to cause may anxiety to move back in.

And lets clarify here. I don't mean anxiety in the sense of "oh - I'm feeling stressed out". I used to bandy about the term "I'm having a panic attack" all the time (feel really bad about that now). Until having a real panic attack I thought it was just feeling really stressed out and being on that adrenal rush. NOPE. WRONG.

If you've had a real panic attack you will know it and it will shake you to your core. The scariest feeling you will ever go through. And if you've had anxiety. Real anxiety. You will also know that its not just feeling stressed. Its FEAR. You feel extremely scared. Or I do. My brain tends to latch onto something (usually some end of the world scenario - my current fascination is extreme weather and climate change) and I can not stop thinking, worrying, stressing about it. I feel like someone took a syringe full of fear and injected me. Like something has moved into my body (unwelcome guest I might add) and my brain.

And for the record anxiety and depression are not the same thing. I feel scared not sad.

Why am I sharing this. So you will all think I"m crazy? No. Because something got off balance in my body and for a couple of days I have been fixated on worrying about our lack of plant biodiversity, food shortages, floods, pollution, clean water, the poor bee population - ya da, ya da, ya da.  Or I WAS fixated on it.

And I decided to try something different this time. Instead of spending 50% of my time fixating on my worries (reading online blogs, websites, comments on climate change and weather patters) and the other 50% of the time trying to wrack my brain (and search the internet) on what physically triggered this episode (wheat, B12.......or maybe over training last week or maybe the chemicals in our water system or maybe ____) I decided to try something different. I know there is a trigger, and I know I need to figure it out and correct it, but what I need to do more is figure out how to mentally work my way through and out of my current anxiety so I can enjoy my life - because things are great right now. And frankly, if our future is doomed, shouldn't I be enjoying the present instead of worrying about it.

I have a friend who has often coached me to "stay in the present and don't give power to your fear". I can be a bit smug so I thought, oh I don't need to do that, my anxiety stems from my digestive problems not my mental state (sorry - I'm often wrong or misguided). But I finally decided maybe I should listen: when the student is ready the teacher will come.

So I was finally ready.

I spend all my energy last night just focusing on staying in the moment. Not letting my mind go to a dark place. I read inspiration quotes and watched Brene Brown video's instead of stories about disappearing bees. Every time my mind tried to go back to that place of fear I said NO and focused on the now.

And instead of letting myself feel the fear of uncertainty that comes with faith I just let my faith be a comfort.

And I felt better. I fell asleep like a baby (I hate that saying but you all know what I mean). And I woke up feeling better.

And I took the bus this morning and packed a vegan lunch (with no wheat)........because I might be a spec of a spec on this planet but I can take action to help slow climate change rather than just worrying about it! 

So maybe you think I'm crazy. Or maybe you will be inspired to be in the moment or maybe to pray. At the very least try to recycle today!!! Please.