glazed pumpkin spice cookies {gluten and dairy free!}

so when it's late at night and you're making those yummy and super easy gluten free and dairy free pumpkin spice cookies at the last minute {and forget to put the spice part in} here's how to fix it:

spiced glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice or:
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

mix it all together in a small bowl and drizzle over your cooled cookies. on it's own, the glaze is pretty strong {it bites back!}, but once it melds into the cookies, it's just the right combo of sweet and spiced.

the lazy girls way to perfect brown rice

its been a long running joke that with having a gluten allergy all i can eat is rice and veggies. seriously, we eat a lot of rice and veggies. so much, that i make it one giant pan at a time, with no special equipment. here's the super easy way to make perfectly fluffy brown rice:

what you need:

• 3 cups of rice
• 5 cups of water
• oil or cooking spray
• spices (optional)
• 9x18 glass pan
• aluminum foil 
• large pot or tea kettle

preheat your oven to 350* and get your 5 cups of water boiling. make sure the oven is up to temp before your water is bubbling; it needs to be nice and toasty and ready to go.

run some oil or spray around the edges and across the bottom of the pan, to keep the rice from sticking to the sides.

pour your 3 cups of rice into the pan and sprinkle with the seasonings.  we're a huge fan of garlic and adobo seasoning or old bay. yummmmm. keep in mind though, no seasonings if you want to make rice milk with it.

get your foil and oven mitts ready.

very, very, very carefully pour your 5 cups of boiling water into the pan and cover tightly with foil right away. then very, very, very carefully move it all to the oven.

set the timer for 1 hour.

when time's up, take off the foil and fluff! tada!

nope, its not quinoa or oats for breakfast....

after even more trial and error, i've discovered my tummy doesn't like oats {even gf ones} and quinoa is pretty blah {ugh}. so i dug though my magical cupboard of random weird foods, and i figured i'd give millet a go. which turned out to be an excellent decision {yay me!} i have stumbled upon my new fave gluten-free, dairy-free, quick and easy breakfast.

just boil 2C of water in a medium sauce pan, add 1C millet, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. fluff with a fork, and you've got yourself four servings, super easy. i whip up a batch weekly and store it in the fridge, that way its ready to go in the am, no fuss.

you can dress it up just like oatmeal, whatever tickles your fancy. no shame in the tradtional brown sugar or cinnamon apple.  i'm a huge fan of blueberries, walnuts and brown sugar, or if i'm feeling froggy, i'll do peanut butter, jelly and bananas. if i'm feeling extra froggy, i'll add a scoop of Trader (Joe)Darwin's vanilla soy protein powder. i always add some rice milk to make it creamy.

greg, on the other hand prefers savory over sweet. so he gets spinach, chopped turkey sausage, sriracha, a fried egg, salt, pepper, and some cheese {lucky jerk}.

you can usually find millet with the hippy{health} food, gluten-free baking stuff, or somewhere in the rice/quinoa/grain aisle. it's a great alternative to oats, way more hearty than quinoa, and pretty inexpensive too.

gluten-free, dairy-free dark chocolate cherry chip cupcakes

bake some of these scrumptious cupcakes for your sweetheart, you'd never know there's no gluten or dairy involved! {even the guys at work loved them}

for the cupcakes you need:

• dark chocolate chips
• 16 oz maraschino cherries
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c (1 stick) margarine
• devil's food gluten free cake mix

step 1: mix the dark chocolate chips in with the dry mix. according to my grammy, this will help keep the chips from sinking to the bottom. then mix in the eggs and margarine according to the directions on the box, and pour into your cups.

step 2: pull the stems off of your cherries and add them to your cups.  i'm sure the yield on this box is for more than a dozen, but i used giant liners and may have eaten raw batter too..... :/ so i had enough cherries to add 2 inside and 1 on the top.

step 3: bake according to the box, and cool on a wire rack.

for the frosting you need:

• 1/8 c of the cherry juice
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 c (1 stick) margarine softened

step 1: cream 1/4 c powdered sugar, margarine, almond extract, and cherry juice together on medium.

step 2: slowly mix in remaining powdered sugar, 1/4 c at a time. keep mixing until it's nice and fluffy.

step 3: frost and add a cherry to the top.

step 4: peel the wrapper off, tear off the bottom of the cake, put it on the top of the frosting, and enjoy your cuppie cake sandwich! yummmmm

make your own rice milk, like the other cool kids do

besides being allergic to dairy, i'm weird-ed out by even the thought of it. that's not to say i don't daydream about gooey melty cheese sometimes, but it's another mammals breast milk. groooosssss

anyways, now that you're weird-ed out too....you should totally make your own rice milk, it's sooooo super easy. and making it yourself is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the cost of buying it at the store. i've never tried to drink a glass of it, but i like it in cooking/baking/bowls of cereal/coffee/etc.

step 1: cooked rice and water in the blender
all you need is 1 cup of cooked plain rice. white, brown, jasmine, whatever you have handy. we usually use whats left from dinner the night before. then add 4 cups of water.

step 2: put the lid on
make sure your lid is on snug and everything's sealed up. seriously though, make sure everything's tight, you don't want a rice milk geyser....... :/

step 3: blend
and blend and blend. and blend and blend and blend. if you have a commercial grade super blender you won't have to blend as long, but with my plain ol' regular blender, i let it run for 6 minutes on high.

step 4: pour into your vessel of choice
if sealing the label of the rum bottle wasn't strange enough, adding some benign rice milk to it should up the ante. make sure you pour it right away, before things settle too much.  and don't worry if it does settle, pour that in too.

step 5: dish soap in the blender
fill the bender halfway with hot water and add some soap. let that blend.  you'll thank me later.

step 6: shake well
don't freak out when you open the fridge and it's separated. just shake it up and pour. {ten bucks says this is the reason it only comes in opaque packaging at the store....}

gluten free, dairy free, pumpkin spice cloud cookies

super easy, super yummy, and pretty healthy{ish..}
you need:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can pumpkin {plain pumpkin, not pie in a can}
• 1/2 c walnuts or raisins or both or neither
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice OR
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

preheat your oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pans)

mix the dry ingredients together first so your nuts/raisins won't sink to the bottom of the cookies. THEN add your pumpkin.

spoon onto your lightly greased cookie sheet. try to keep 'em smooth because they won't melt down.

bake for 10-13 minutes

yummmmmm!

ps, what's your fav fall recipe?

it's sangria time!

because i don't see any snow in my backyard yet...summer may be (un)officially over, but doesn't mean we have to stop drinking iced fruity beverages on the patio. one of my fav, easy, go-to, day-drinking options:


you can google your day away looking for sangria recipes, but i usually just whip this together with whatever i happen to have on hand. aka too lazy to leave the house for supplies. i figure you can't really go wrong mixing a bunch of stuff you already have and like....well, its pretty safe booze-wise, proceed with caution anywhere else!

like all of my *recipes,* this is really more of a guideline.
i eyeball things and just make it up as i go.

step 1: gather your supplies

• some sort of vessel to contain the deliciousness
• fruit: fresh or frozen, berries, watermelon, peaches, etc.
• juice: apple, peach, raspberry, grape, etc.
• wine: all white, all red, or a mix of the two
• ice: but frozen berries won't dilute your drink :)
• flavored vodka(if you desire)

i happened to have some fresh and frozen berries, cran-raspberry juice, pinot noir and moscato. i used the pinot noir so it wasn't super duper sweet and made turned the whole thing red. you could do a white version with peaches/grape/apples/honeydew, white grape juice, and moscato and/or white zinfandel.


step 2: mix your supplies


chop up your fruit into bite sized chunks (this will come in handy later), and you want to add your ice now to avoid any splashing issues. i used frozen berries, so no need for extra ice. i usually do 2/3 wine to 1/3 juice, but it depends on how potent you like it. feel free to taste-test as needed. add a few shots of vodka if you're feeling frisky.

step 3: drink your supplies!

and once all of the liquid has been consumed.....move on to the fruit! caution though, it can kick your butt.


p.s. what is your go-to patio drink?