Mother's Day Ideas: Homemade, Vegan, Gluten free

Ah Mother's Day.  Mom's everywhere are look forward to this day each year to get breakfast in bed, chores done without asking, diamond jewlrey, and everyone getting along.  Wait.  I'm not a mom (yet), but I don't think any Mother's Day I've participated in has ever looked like a Norman Rockwell painting.  Does yours? 

Alright then, Mom might want a gold and emerald necklace, but realistically she's gonna get one made of macarooni.  But everytime you did that as a kid she loved it, didn't she?  So with the the economy tight, our wallets tight, and our gas tanks running on empty what are we gonna do?  That's right!  Macarooni necklace! Only, let's take that and make her something else, more, uh, enjoyable.  Here's a list of really awesome ideas:

Make her some sugar cookies.  Even if your decorating skills are lacking, they'll still taste amazing.  Especially if you try the chocolate sugar cookies here.  Spell her name out in them like below.  Then arrange the cookies into a cookie bouquet!  Neat huh?

Bake a loaf of chocolate babka.  This is really great for grandmas.  The word babka means grandmother in the original language.  (Directly it means old woman, but it's used as a term of endearment for grandmas.)  It's hands down the best sweet bread I have ever had.  Mom's not into chocolate?  Make cinnamon sugar filling instead.  This Jewish bread is traditionally served at Passover, but it's good for breafast any day.  Heck, it's just good.  Mom will be greatly impressed by the time and effort you put into making homemade bread.  It's my most requested item at Christmas time.

Make her some French Macarons.  Bonus, they're gluten free.  This is one of the things my mom is getting as she suffers from fibromyalgia and gluten free diets can assist in reducing the inflamation causing the pain.  These are trickier and take some helpful hints, which I will be happy to post shortly.  They have chewy centers and practically melt in your mouth as you eat them.








My mommy and me several years ago.


Make her a cd of all her favorite oldies that she used to jam out to you will when you were a kid.  My mom and I used to have pretend concerts to Heart albums.  I cherish those happy memories.










Create a card from cardstock to tell her how much she means to you.  It's really not difficult and you'll spend less than five bucks doing it if you already have some of the supplies on hand.  So what if it's less than gorgeous. Remember, honey, that macarooni necklace was no work of art either.

(Cards not yet made.  So behind this week!)

Whip up a batch of those scones I posted and package them with some yummy teas in a cute little basket with a decorative mug.  How cute would that be?  And, it's vegan!  It could easily be shipped and overnighted too.  Just saying.

Get her her favorite lotion from Bath and Body Works.  Then buy some flowers at the local farmer's market and arrange them in a vase yourself.  I did this last year for all the moms in my life and it was well recieved.  Wildflowers and daises are the easiest to arrange if you are worried about skill level.  Just snip the ends off and plop them into a vase with water in it.  Dress the vase up with her favorite color ribbon to make it stand out.  Tada! 










Cook her favorite meal.  She did it for you for years now it's your turn to show her you learned a thing or two since back in the day.  She'll appreciate not having to cook her own Mother's Day dinner, I promise.

The possibilites are endless.  Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there.  Make the best of the mom God gave you.  Hope it's a delicious day!

Royal Wedding Scones {Recipe}

Tissues, just in case...

I LOVE WEDDINGS!  Unless we are reliving mine.  Mine had multiple glitches (they prepared me for perfectly planning someone elses'), but in the end I got to marry my Prince Charming.  That's all that matters.  Soon, the famous Kate Middleton will be marrying her prince.  I remember watching recaps of Princess Diana's wedding over and over as a child.  My grandma even has several Princess Di porcelain dolls, including one of her in her wedding gown.  My favorite fictitious books are about the history of the royal family.  It's intriguing to us commoners.  : ) 

So, I'm gonna watch this grand event in a few short hours, in my pj's, with cups of tea and scones with cream, and a feathery headband to top it off.  It seems the proper thing to do. 


Example of such head piece.  I'm wearing a sleeveless dress.

 Scones come in a variety of flavors.   You can have savory scones, like broccoli and cheddar, or my favorite, sweet ones, like blueberry cardamom.  I hope I've given you enough time to make these for your watch party.  If not, make them for Mother's Day.  This version is vegan, but you can replace the vegan ingredients with the dairy version if you prefer. 

Blueberry Cardamom Scones

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour
1/3 cup of sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cardamom
1 teaspoons salt (omit salt if using salted butter or butter alternative like Earth Balance with salt in it)
3/4 cup of vegan butter/shortening
1 cup of frozen blueberries or dried if you prefer
1 c of almond milk with 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in it (makes "buttermilk")
Sanding sugar-amount varies

Preheat 400 degrees F.
Make the buttermilk mixture first.  Let it sit while you make the rest.  Mix the butter, cut into small 1/2 in pieces, with the dry ingredients using a pastry fork, food processor, or your fingertips until pea sized crumbles form.  No need sift the dry ingredients together first unless you like being precise.  Stir in the blueberries.  Stir in the buttermilk.  Mix well.  I mix by hand.  Knead 4 times or so, I cheat and do it in the bowl.  Spread out into a circle on the counter.  Cut into 8 wedges and place on a parchment or Silpat lined sheet.  With a pastry brush, brush a bit of almond milk or even water on the tops of the wedges.  Sprinkle with various sanding sugars.  Be fun, use color if you like.  I often do.  Bake 25 minutes.  Edges and tops should be deep golden brown.  Cool on the pans for 5-10 minutes and remove to cool for freezing or place on a plate and enjoy with tea or cream.  They freeze well, after cutting the dough or after baking.  Scones tasted best when warm, but they are pretty darn tasty regardless.

 Sweet Poatato and Carrot

 

Orange Cranberry Wheat 



Orange Cranberry Wheat-minis



I also made orange cranberry wheat scones and sweet potato carrot.  If anyone wants, I can post those recipes too.  Normally I roll them out and cut them with darling cookie cutters.  See the hearts with the colorful sanding sugars?  I know William and Kate like color so I popped some on for them. 

Have a delicious day watching the two love birds tie the knot!

Vegan Molasses Chai Cookies {Recipe}

I found this recipe in Comfort Cuisine for the Soul, a local church cookbook, and I thought, now this would be delish if turned into a vegan cookie!  There are several church members and friends of mine that eat vegan to promote a healthy, plant based lifestyle.  I myself am a vegetarian for the last few years which, with exercise, has allowed me to stop taking medication for my heart disease.  For those that don't know, vegans do not eat any animal products.  No meat, cheeses, butter, milk, eggs; not even in the fine print of packaged food. ~ Food companies can be very specific and crafty.  Whey, casein, etc. in the ingredients for instance mean the product contains milk. 

This cookie is very soft and reminiscent of gingerbread with less spice.  It could easily be decorated with royal icing to give it more pizazz.  So if you want some variety for the holidays use this recipe.  Even people who love their butter (me) loved this cookie.  I'll include the recipe as I made it this round, but next time I will decrease the sugar by half a cup*.  The cookies are naturally sweet and the frosting takes care of any extra sweetness needed.

Recipe:
COOKIES
1 cup vegan butter (Earth Balance, Veg. Shortening, homemade with coconut oil)
1 cup sugar*
1 cup molasses
5 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons ginger
pinch of cloves (no more than 1/8 teaspoon)
1/2 cup of strongly brewed Chai tea, cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
FROSTING
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon of vegan butter, melted
1 Tablespoon of vegan milk (I used regular almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in molasses.  Add dry ingredients alternately with the tea.  Mix well.  Add vanilla.  Chill overnight, or at least a few hours, rolled out between two sheets of wax paper.  Roll thin, about 1/8-1/4 inch and cut with cookie cutters.  Bake in preheated 375 degree oven 7-8 minutes.  Keep re-chilling the batter as needed to maintain shapes of cookies.  As they cool, make frosting by beating all ingredients until smooth.  Apply frosting by spreading with a spatula, or if you are as anal retentive as I, then put it in a piping bag.  Sprinkle sanding sugar on them for extra sparkle.

Prior to baking.

Right out of the oven.  They loose the puffy look as they cool.

Frosting.

Add sanding sugar for extra sparkle.

Or leave it off for a different look.

Try them.  They are tasty.