The Nativity Story 2012

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Yay, I can finally share this!  It was a Christmas present for the grandparents.  We dressed up and acted out the nativity story.  Be sure and pay attention to Esther Joseph's expressions.  Priceless.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Snowflake Canvas

We had a blast making snowflake canvases the other day!

planning her design

cover the whole canvas

5 different blues to choose from

We found the idea via Pinterest here.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Donuts (Paleo Indulgences Book Review)

Our gluten-free, dairy-free diet continues...  Many of my recipes have come from The Healthy Gluten Free Life.  I love the cookbook, so when I saw that the author had come out with a new book, Paleo Indulgences, I begged her to let me review a copy.  ;)

The Paleo diet is new to me, but it is gluten free and contains minimal dairy, so most of the recipes work for us.  Its actually grain free too; the baked goods are made with almond flour or coconut flour (much easier than the zillion different gf flours needed for some things).  Paleo Indulgences is not a Paleo guidebook, rather it tells you how to make those special treats you might be missing from time to time.  (Read: a mother's lifesaver!)

With Christmas coming up, and therefore all of the holiday recipes that we can't eat, I've been trying hard to come up with replacements.  I splurged on two donut pans and decided that would be our Christmas morning meal.  Of course we've had to test out a few recipes to be sure they work well...

This morning I used this recipe from Paleo Indulgences:

Chocolate Mini-Bundts

1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  
2. Place the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Add the wet ingredients, except the coconut oil, to the dry and mix well with a hand mixer.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the coconut oil.  Mix well.
5. Divide the batter evenly among a 6-cavity greased mini bundt pan.
6. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until the center of the cakes spring back when pressed lightly.
7. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack.  Cool completely before frosting.

I used two donut pans, and baked them for 15 minutes.  For the frosting I mixed some powdered sugar with a bit of coconut milk.  The donuts were cakey tasting, but my kids were completely thrilled!  We certainly didn't have any leftovers.

I'm sure I'll be using many more recipes from Paleo Indulgences.  Like The Healthy Gluten Free Life, there are full-page color photos for each recipe.  It is well written and easy to follow, with great information in the front of the book.  One thing to note is that recipes are sometimes small and need to be doubled for my family.  

Thanks, Tammy!

Green Giant Seasoned Steamers Flash Giveaway

We recently received a fun package from Green Giant including a coupon for a free package of their new Seasoned Steamers, a cute apron, a serving spoon, and bowl.

I was interested in trying out the Seasoned Steamers because it looks like they have some fun flavorings.  Unfortunately I didn't read the ingredients closely enough and they all have either soy or dairy in them.  I can't have those foods right now, so we haven't eaten the veggies yet.

I have another package like this to give away, so one of you will have to try out the veggies and let me know how tasty they are! ;)  I'm going to do this quickly and close the giveaway tomorrow, Monday afternoon.  To enter, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite veggie is.  Be sure to leave an email address so I can contact a winner. Giveaway closed!  Congrats, Emily!

The coupons, information, and gift packs have been provided by Green Giant through My Blog Spark.