WIAW Christmas Day 2013 + Future Posts

Before I get started with all of this 2013 recapping fun in the coming days I first want to share a quick collage of my Christmas Day.

Of course it must feature some food as I hate to miss out on Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday party.

First row from left: Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, my brother’s new Keurig machine, paleo Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls.

Second row from left: The fire station where we had lunch on Christmas day, laying out the food, Christmas presents.

Third row from left: My dad expertly cutting the ham, the start of the dessert table, my dad’s plate of leftovers for dinner.

For breakfast on Christmas morning we made Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls for my brother and Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls for my parents. Along with the rolls they also made bacon on our large griddle and after presents were opened, made coffee and hot chocolate with my brother’s new Keurig.

Every year for Christmas we always go to my grandparent’s house for lunch to celebrate. As they’ve gotten older though we have started just having holidays at the fire station where my grandpa is the retired fire chief. There was the usual ham and turkey, of which the turkey my grandma accidentally overcooked A LOT.  Sighing “good gravy” in an exasperated tone, she tapped the outside of the cooked bird and it sounded quite… hard. I preferred it that way, but to see her face when she first took the lid off the turkey was hilarious.

My grandparents also brought the stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, pie and soda. My great aunt brought some homemade rolls which everyone said were delicious. My other two aunts brought fresh fruit salad and homemade sweet potato casserole. One of my cousins brought her famous frosted sugar cookies, deviled eggs, and cranberry jelly, and another made a raw vegan kale salad which sounded amazing. There was also cole slaw, lemon bars, m&m cookies, powdered sugar balls, and peanut butter cookies (but I’m not sure exactly who made them).

After the lunch I was recruited as always to help dish out the leftovers. Just as my grandma was trying to send us home more food, I was also acting as a double agent for my mom who wanted me to stave off the attempts. I tried my best. As you can see in the last picture of the collage though we ended up with quite a bit of delicious food for the following night and next day.

If you are still plagued with any leftovers from Christmas feasts, or if you will be after New Years, check out my post on creative ways to use them.

Coming up soon in my next four posts I will have a recap of my Christmas presents, my recap of 2013/plan for 2014, a new oatmeal recipe, and another cookbook giveaway!

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Well, it’s officially New Year’s. My brother and his friends are outside right now blowing their kuzookas and probably making a mess of our yard with poppers. Once again the news stations did not actually show the ball dropping, which I just don’t understand.

Happy 2014 blogland! Hope it’s a great one 🙂

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Questions for you:

• What are your plans for New Years day? We are going to Pizza Hut with family.
• Are you ever roped into getting leftovers?  Yes.
• What would be your favorite food to get? Turkey!

Spill It #3, Banana Nut Bread, and What to Make With Your Christmas Leftovers

Hello fellow Christmas-lovers! I am just soaking up the amazingness that is Winter break, which so far has just consisted of sleeping, cleaning, and baking. Not terrible.

Actually, while I have been baking, this banana bread is not from recently but from this past summer. Somehow I’ve forgotten to post multiple recipes and hopefully I can catch up soon! Still, it’s banana bread and that never goes out of season.

First though we must do Spill It Sunday via Arman 🙂

Photoshopped Christmas Selfie: 

What is a traditional/cultural event you and your family/friends celebrate?

Everyone seems to have these super special traditions when it comes to the holidays, but we just really follow the basic customs, at least those here in the United States. For Christmas Eve we always go to one of my church’s many Christmas Eve services. Usually we pick one of the services where they turn off all of the lights and there is a candle lighting, which is my favorite.

On Christmas morning my brother and I get up super early around 5:30 or so and drag my parents out of bed to open presents. Then while my parents recoup with a nap in our living room, we get a chance to check out everything we got.

Around 12:00 we then head over to eat with my mom’s side of the family with the traditional Christmas lunch.

In the past couple of years I guess we actually have started the tradition of watching a movie on Christmas day at the theater. In the past we’ve seen both Sherlock Holmes. I’m not sure if we will do that this year though, as I don’t know if there are going to be any good movies coming out.

Do you have any traditions which you partake in on a consistent basis?/What is something special you and your family/friends do?

These questions reminds me of my recent Statistics exam where I ended up writing too much for the first question which then overlapped my would-be answer for the second. My bad. (See above!)

Most memorable event?

As kids, during trips to see my dad’s side of the family for Thanksgiving, on our way home my brother and I would beg our parents to go see the Christmas light set-up. It had moving parts and was one of the coolest things. It was a great way to start off the Christmas season and being so young I thought it was so magical.

Now we just drive around the rich neighborhoods in the closest town. Not quite as good, but some of the decorations are insane!

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For The Recipe Redux‘s December theme we were supposed to make something that you can enjoy for the New Year.

What will you be serving to get the New Year started with a little luck? Be it black eyed peas and greens, Chinese noodles or even a special family recipe you serve on New Year’s Eve or Day. Please share your good luck dish to start off 2014 in a healthy way.

I chose to remake my Great Grandma Sigler’s famous Banana Nut Bread. Growing up my great grandma was the best baker I knew. She printed a lot of those community cookbooks full of her favorite recipes, and at every family celebration you could be sure to find at least one of her creations.

She passed away a few years ago while I was in high school and I miss her dearly. When I first heard that she was gone I immediately went into the kitchen, knowing that I had to make up a loaf of her famous banana nut bread. It was her most popular recipe and we were never without a frozen loaf in the freezer.

This is my grain-free rendition of her recipe. I didn’t include nuts because I personally prefer my banana nut bread “nut” free. I don’t like that crunchiness that chopped nuts give. Still, I added them as optional because most of my family likes them added. Also, there is no cinnamon in here because my great grandma was allergic and thus never included it in her recipes. If you’d like to add cinnamon, I would go with 1-2 teaspoons. Again though, I prefer it without.

Paleo Banana Nut Bread

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy/Nut-Free Option, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly

Ingredients:

• 2 large or 3 small ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup worth)
• 1/4-1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
• 1 cup almond flour (any nut/seed flour will work)
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup of nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl, then add the dry ingredients, mixing well. (Alternatively I put all of the ingredients in a large food processor and had it all mixed smooth within a minute or two).
3. Pour the bread batter into the lined loaf pan and bake in the oven for approximately 70-80 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let cool completely before slicing. **Start checking the bread at 60 minutes your first time to make sure that it doesn’t cook faster than mine. All ovens differ and you should go by look/texture instead of time to see when your bread is done**

To check out the other New Years recipes featured in this month’s Recipe Redux round-up, check out them below:

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Aside from a new recipe and Spill It Sunday, you are also going to be getting a belated Christmas Recipes Round-Up post. As I wasn’t able to get anyone to do the leftovers post, the task was left to me. And well… I kind of dropped the ball on that one. So here it is a few days late. I figured it wouldn’t be TOO big of a deal since you won’t be eating leftovers until after Christmas anyways, right? 😉

So what I did was pick some of the common leftovers that people have after holiday dinners, and then found three unique ways to repurpose them for enjoyment later on. Unlike Day One where I included the dietary labels, for today’s post I did not. The main reason is that while I did link to recipes, they are more just to provide inspiration. Don’t feel limited if a recipe calls for eggs, dairy or gluten and you aren’t able to have those things. For example, with the Pecan Pie Brownies, the recipe linked isn’t really “allergy-free.” So just take the recipe as baseline and substitute with your own favorite pecan pie recipe and brownie batter recipe to fit your needs. If you can’t find any substitutions but want to make one of the recipes below, feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to help!

Turkey…

Turkey Sweet Potato Dumplings // Greek Turkey Pita Sandwiches // Carmelized Onion, Cranberry and Kale Saute Wrap

Ham…

Egg-Free Frittata // Ham and Apple Butter Panini // Baked Beans with Ham

Mashed Potatoes…

Potato Cakes // Orange Drop Doughnuts // Mashed Potato Cheddar and Chive Waffles

Corn…

Roasted Corn Chowder // Zucchini Corn Fritters // Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Rolls/Bread…

Customizable Breakfast Bowls // Homemade Vegan Croutons // Vegan French Toast

Sweet Potato Casserole…

Sweet Potato Casserole, Brie and Bacon Grilled Cheese // Sweet Potato Pancakes // Coffee Cake

Pie…

Leftover Pumpkin Pie Milkshake // Pecan Pie Brownies // Pie Breakfast Casserole

Cookies…

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookie Trifle // Cookie Pie Crust // Cookie Butter

Candy Canes…

Stained Glass Cookies // Candy Cane Popcorn // Body Scrub

Also posting today for the 12 Days of Allergy-Free Christmas Recipes is Cat from Cat Food is Good For You with a bunch of delicious desserts! And click here for the updated list on everyone who has gone so far!

And I’m also linking up today with Katie from Healthy Diva Eats for her Marvelous in my Monday. Because, let’s be real here- there is a whole bunch of deliciousness and marvelous-ness going on in today’s post 😉

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Questions for you:

• What are your family’s holiday traditions?
• Is there any recipe that you usually make for New Years?
• Do you have any popular family recipes to share?
• What is your favorite way to reuse leftovers?

Microwave Cinnamon Rolls — 12 Days of Allergy-Free Christmas Recipes Day One

Hello and welcome to Day One of the 12 Days of Allergy-Free Christmas Recipes. I am your host, Madison at Eating 4 Balance, and boy have we got a show for you today!

The theme for Day One is breakfast pastries, a very fitting way to begin this round-up as breakfast will be the very first thing you eat come Christmas day.

As part of this post I have collected dozens of breakfast pastry recipes which I will share shortly. Before we do that though, I have created a “new” special recipe to share as well which I am confident you are going to love.

Whether you have food allergies, a special diet, or are just trying to eat healthier, it can be frustrating to come across an amazing looking recipe and then see the serving size. Especially if you are the only one in your family eating a certain way, a recipe with multiple servings is just too much. First, do we really want to still be eating the leftovers come the next week? Of course not! And if it’s a dessert recipe, having multiple servings can be very tempting and if you’re anything like me you can’t just stop at one or two.

So this recipe, no matter which category you fall into, is perfect. It only makes two, and is so quick to whip up that if you need a tasty allergy-free treat on Christmas morning but don’t want the prep time or hassle, you can make these microwave cinnamon rolls.

Microwave Cinnamon Rolls

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly

Makes two large servings

Dough Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed + 1/4 cup water
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine the flaxseed and water in a bowl until thickened. Mash in the ripe banana and then add in the remaining ingredients. Mix well until you have a thick dough.
2. Using your hands, press out the dough onto a piece of parchment paper by hand to the size of a long, but thin rectangle.
3. Mix together the coconut oil and honey for the filling and spread evenly over the dough. Sprinkle on the cinnamon.
4. Next roll up the dough so that you are left with a log about 4 or 5 inches wide. Slice into two halves.
5. Place one of the halves on a plate lined with parchment paper and pop it into the microwave. Cook for about 3 minutes on high (you will have to experiment with this as all microwaves cook differently). When done it should spring back to the touch but still be somewhat soft.
6. Repeat with the other half. Enjoy your quick and allergy-free cinnamon rolls!

Notes: If you prefer to not cook things in the microwave, you can also bake these for about 15-20 at 350 degrees. I adapted this recipe from my oven one which you can look at here.

Usually I stay away from anything that isn’t meat or a vegetable because my stomach starts acting up, but I made an exception for these cinnamon rolls and hate half. Delicious.

If those don’t appeal to you though, don’t worry because I have many other recipes that you will be interested. Actually, it’s almost impossible that you won’t find a recipe that you can make among the ones I am about to share.

We have basically ever breakfast pastry under the Sun here. Scones, donuts, bagels, biscotti, cinnamon rolls, and much more. I have separated all of the recipes into categories with the links underneath the respective pictures. To make it easier for you, I have also included the food allergy profile next to each link so you can see if it will fit with your diet.

Those recipes that have an asterisk (*) by tree nut or soy free is to denote that the recipe calls for an ingredient that can easily be switched for those who cannot have it. For example, if a recipe calls for almond milk and that is the only tree nut in the recipe, I will put an asterisk by tree nut because you can easily use a different milk substitute with similar results.

While I tried very hard to make sure that I included the correct allergens and that the links are all functioning, please let me know if I have missed something. Enjoy!

Scones

Cranberry Orange and Chocolate Scones (wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Cherry Oat Scones (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Pear and Almond Scones (wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Paleo Pumpkin Maple Scones (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Cranberry Apple Scones – (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones – (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy*, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Donuts

Apple Donuts (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Apple Cider Donuts (gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Cinnamon Roll Donuts (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Donuts (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Gingerbread Donuts with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Healthier Chocolate Glazed Donuts (soy, peanut, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Molasses Donuts (gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Maple Glazed Donuts (dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Caramel-Glazed Donuts (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Carrot Cake Donuts (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Banana Coconut Pecan Protein Baked Donuts (gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Almond Joy Mini Donuts (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Bagels

Grain-Free Bagels (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut,  and sesame free)

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Onion Poppy Seed and Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Breakfast “Rolls”

Bananas Baked in Phyllo with Date-Sweetened Chocolate Sauce (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Skinny Mini Jelly Roll Cake for One (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Paleo Crepes with Nutella (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Biscotti

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (grain, gluten, wheat, egg, soy, peanut,  and sesame free)

Vegan Eggnog Crunch Biscotti (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Cherry Chocolate Biscotti (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Baked Fruit

Baked Apples Stuffed with Cinnamon Date Pecan Oatmeal (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Fresh Gingered Anjou Pear Cobbler (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Apple Fritters (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Honey Cinnamon Stewed Apples (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Healthy Apple Pie Breakfast (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Poached Pears (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Cinnamon Rolls

Raw Cinnamon Rolls with Coconut Icing and Caramel Raisin Filling (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Hot Cocoa Toasty Marshmallow Swirl Cinna-Buns (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Walnut Raisin Cinnamon Rolls (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Coconut Flour Cinnamon Rolls (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Nut Butter and Carob Chunk Cinnamon Rolls (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut*, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Miscellaneous Pastries

Cream Puff Pastry (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Cinna-Sugar Flutes (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Gingerbread Breakfast Pizzert (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut*, and sesame free)

Almond Croissants (dairy, egg, soy, peanut, and sesame free)

Chocolate Eclairs (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Paleo Churros (grain, gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free)

Thanks for looking through all of these breakfast pastry recipes! If you have a favorite not listed here, feel free to share it in the links so everyone can enjoy it as well.

To see the rest of the 12 Days of Christmas Allergy-Free recipes, check back on this page (which you can also access on my menu above) where I will be including the hyperlinks as the other bloggers post. Also, if you are interested in participating in this round-up, there are a few days left and we would love to have you.

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Questions for you:

What are you going to eat Christmas morning?

What is your favorite breakfast pastry?

Do you prefer smaller serving sizes for recipes?

Thursdays are for Thinking Out Loud #1

Hey! What’s this? A post on a Thursday? I know, I know. I’m a constant bundle of surprise.

I decided to break my normal posting schedule to support Amanda and her new weekly link-up for Thinking Out Loud! I’m not sure if I will do this every week because I don’t want all of my posts to become solely for link-ups, but I couldn’t miss out on this inaugural event. This is history in the making.

In true Thursday Thoughts fashion I am taking a cue from Ms. Spoon’s book and going with some numbers….

1. I’m just not feeling super festive yet. Anyone else? Maybe it’s because I still have school in my constant thoughts. If that’s the case, it probably won’t be until next Saturday that I actually start feeling like it’s Christmas time.

2. Despite not feeling all Christmas-y, the constant influx of snow is not letting me forget that we are indeed drawing nearer to Winter. While not a “warm” welcome, it does make me a little giddy and nostalgic to awake to a fresh bed of whiteness on our school lawns. Those happy memories are quickly forgotten though when my feet get soaked as I trudge through the wet snow. I need a new pair of boots that aren’t as thin as paper in the heels.

So basically, I feel like this whenever I go outside.

3. Speaking of boots, lets talk about Uggs for a moment. I own a few pair of knockoffs and they are so warm and comfortable. But are they cute? The consensus among my roommates is no. However, one roommate insists that they are adorable. I think that by definition they are ugly, and that is almost part of their appeal. They aren’t super high fashion so they are accessible to everyone and I feel like I can wear them everyday without much concern. Again, they are the epitome of warm. Nothing more.

 4. I have realized recently that I do best with small changes. Occasionally I do well with just jumping feet first into something (like with this blog, one day it was non-existent and the next I was blabbing away to you all!) But with most things in life it’s better if I get adapted slowly. Like with exercise. I don’t know how many times I have tried to go all out and exercise a lot everyday when I’m first starting. Then within no time I lose that initial excitement and it quickly falls to the way side.

Since Elf For Health‘s challenge on Monday though, I’ve begun slowly adding in just a “bit” here and there. I almost forgot to do the circuit challenge for the day so before going to bed I quickly busted out 5 minutes worth of toning exercises. Is it an overnight transformation? Heck no. However, I’m not doing this to lose weight, and really, I’m not even doing it for the health benefits like potentially reducing the risk of disease, illness, spontaneous combustion, etc. Recently I’ve been intrigued by the idea that incorporating exercise into your daily schedule can help reduce stress and possibly even better digestion. I’m all for that.

Three nights in a row and going strong! 😉 Lol. I have no naive thoughts that what I’m doing is nearly enough, however this time around I want to try the slow approach, adding in a little each day. If you don’t already do wall sits, you really should. Feel the burn.

5. Up next I’m going to make an easy 5 minute arm workout for myself. I love circuits for their short and choppy nature. With reading my favorite books I have no problem doing the same thing for hours on end, but when it comes to working out if I’m repetitive my interest fades fast. What I need is quick and effective stuff where I won’t lose my mind in boredom.

6. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the Hobbit 2 premiere and I am super excited. While I liked the original Lord of the Rings film trilogy I actually think the Hobbit is better thus far. My Loki-loving friend managed to snag seats to a special early showing tomorrow afternoon, so we are driving about an hour north to the city to watch in style. The only thing that could make this sequel better than the first is with the addition of some stellar new cast members. Oh wait, there is! Orlando Bloom as Legolas and Benedict Cumberbatch (as the dragon!). Aren’t you pumped? 😉

8. There are still open spots for the 12 Days of Christmas Recipes link-up! There are 3 or 4 themes left and for those of you worried about being too busy with work and such, all of the days remaining are towards the end so you can work on it in your spare time over Christmas vacation 🙂 A few of the other participants have already been e-mailing me with rough draft versions of theirs (not that you have to do that), which just goes to show how super easy it is join in!

9. I was just going to end with 8… then I suddenly felt a cold blast of air. For some reason unbeknownst to me (and the rest of humanity) someone keeps on turning the air conditioning on in our room. 😯 Hmm… That 6 degree temperature prediction for tonight is not in Celsius, is it? No. No it’s not. However, I’m keeping my lips zipped and pulling on my house slippers in silence. “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men…”

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Questions for you:

What are you thinking about on this bright, cheery (cold) Thursday?

Does ending on an odd number bother any of you?

Have you considered joining in our Christmas recipe fun?

How do you keep warm during the winter? (Electric blankets is not an acceptable solution per University policy. No matter how much I would love to convince them otherwise…)