Soy Free Donuts .... YES INDEED!!!!!

Last week, I decided to look into making soy free donuts since Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts are not good soy free options for us.  I then found a babycakes donut maker on Amazon for 19.99 with free shipping using my Prime Membership.  It came with a cooling rack and fork tool.  It also came with some Recipes.  So far, I have only tried the Sour Cream Donuts recipe, which turned out really well.  My girls are hooked.  We haven't tried making chocolate covered donuts or powdered, but that is next :).  The girls really really love the donuts.  It made me so happy to see my younger soy sensitive daughter eating donuts with such an enjoyable smile.  We ended up making two batches. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have found it easier and more delicious to take regular recipes and just make the substitutions ad hoc.  So for the Sour Cream Donuts, it calls for:

Ingredients:

Makes about 2 dozen donuts

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp double action baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup applesauce and 1/2 tsp double action baking powder (substitute for 1 egg)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients.  Using a mixer on medium speed, blend until smooth.
3. Fill each cooking reservoir in the baby cakes donut maker with about 2 Tbsp of batter.
4.  Bake abou 4 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean.

Use the fork to transfer the donuts from the donut maker to the cooling rack.

NOTE:  If you want to make powdered donuts, then you need to fill a brown paper lunch bag with powdered sugar.  While the donuts are hot off the press, go ahead and put the donuts in the bag and shake to coat them with the powdered sugar.

I will blog again when I have done this along with melting chocolate to make chocolate covered donuts. 

Soy Free Crescent Rolls

Hello All.  Sorry it has been so long since I've posted.  Life has gotten ahead of me, but I have many neat things to blog about in my quest for soy free goodness with cooking.  So, you can find many recipes online for soy free crescent rolls.  I have been searching for something comparable to the pillsbury brand that we used to eat.  Of course it has soy so there will be no buying it from the store.  Anyways, I have learned that in most cases when looking for a recipe, I don't necessarily include soy free in my online search.  I have actually just started looking for general recipes and then making the substitutions where needed for things like egg, onion, and vegetable oil.  I don't use any vegetable(soybean) oil in my cooking.  I only use canola or olive oil, depending on the recipe.  Anywho, I found the following recipe:

http://healthfulmama.com/2011/12/homemade-crescent-rolls-dairy-free-too/

which calls for the following ingredients:

Makes approx. 32 rolls

3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/3 cup water, warm
3/4 cup soy milk, room temperature
1 1/2 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp butter or Earth Balance, softened

For the inside:4 or 5 tbsp butter or Earth Balance, softened

Here are the ingredients I used:
Makes approx. 32 rolls

3 1/2 cups bread flour (Make sure you use bread flour, NOT all-purpose flour)
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/3 cup water, warm
3/4 cup soy milk, room temperature (I just used regular 1% milk)
1 1/2 tbsp honey
2 eggs (I used 1/2 cup of buttermilk and a teaspoon of double action baking powder)
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp butter or Earth Balance, softened ( I used Land of Lakes unsalted butter.)

For the inside:4 or 5 tbsp butter or Earth Balance, softened  (I used Land of Lakes unsalted butter)

From there, I followed the instructions.  I will say that you need to make sure you use softened butter.  Otherwise, the dough just doesn't come out right.

1. Mix bread flour with salt. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the warm water with the honey and add to the flour mixture. I added a little more honey since I wanted a little extra sweetness.  Add buttermilk/baking powder and milk, mix everything together. Add the butter and knead the dough until the dough is smooth and soft. Cover with a dampened dish towel and let it rise for about 1 hour in a warm area, until doubled in size.
2.Punch down the dough and divide into two equal parts. Roll them into balls. On a floured surface flatten each part into a large circle (about 16″), using a rolling pin. With the back of a spoon (or your fingers), spread about 2 tbsp of very soft butter onto the dough. Using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut the circle into 16 triangles.
3.Start rolling each triangle into crescents, starting from the wide edge of the triangle. Once rolled, tuck the tip under the roll and place on a greased baking tray. Repeat with the rest of the triangles. Let them rise for about 20 minutes. Melt additional 1 1/2 tbsp butter and brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter, if desired.
4.Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake for 15-18 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack few minutes before serving.  If you want to save some for later, you can store them in a freezer zip lock bag to keep in the fridge or freezer.  I took a quick snapshot of what the cresecent rolls looked like coming out of the oven.  These were truly delicious and light.  If you keep them in the freezer, then you can defrost them for about 10 seconds in the microwave.  Then use the toast setting on your toaster oven to cook them up.  If you have them in the fridge, then just toast them in the toaster oven...no need to defrost.

Squeaky Screech garage Door

So my garage doors have been sounding like Freddy Kruger's claws every time I raise or lower the garage door.  Needless to say, it has been really annoying to hear.  So I have been looking at what kind of maintenance needs to be done annually and so forth.  First off, I was instructed by my Garage Door Subject Matter Expert to NOT use WD-40.  He said that would be really bad so I am glad that I did not do that.  Instead he had me go to Advance Auto Parts and pick up a can of Lithium Grease.  It has that red straw like thing that WD-40 does which you cannot see in the picture below.

Anywho I put the straw in and went out to the garage.  You pretty much need to spray the hinges on the garage door vertically and horizontally like a cross.  Just takes a couple seconds per hinge.  You will most likely need a ladder.  You also need to spray the very top of the arm that attached to the door.  See the black arm in the picture below. You want to spray for a few seconds on top so that the grease will traverse across the track when the door opens and closes.

The lithium grease is safe to use on the door so don't worry of you overspray.  I sprayed the spring and pulley as well since they were also squeaking.

Bottom line, all better now.

Allergen Wash Laundry Detergent

I wanted to blog about this detergent that I have been using pretty regularly for towels, sheets, and pillow cases.  It has really helped with my younger one who is 4+ for dust and dust mites.  If you are looking for a detergent so that you do not have to regularly use hot hot water temperatures for the wash in order to kill the dust mites, then check this one out.

Link to the Allergen Wash Laundry Detergent

Allergy Friendly Natural Candy

I just received my order from the natural candy store online (http://www.naturalcandystore.com).  It was like Christmas at my house.  The girls, especially my younger one who has a soy sensitivity, went crazy when she and my older daughter opened the box.  It took a while to get the order, but it was worth it.  They had actually forgotten that we ordered the assortment of candy, but were extremely pleased to see the contents.  The girls and I ordered gummy bears, gummy worms, cotton candy, chocolate candy bars, and chocolate gold coins.  The Enjoy Life chocolate bars can also be purchased at Whole Foods.  Both my girls love the chocolate. 

I ordered a couple of the chocolate sprinkles because the ones at the grocery have soy.  The only cupcake toppings that don't are the sugar crystal toppings so now we have more of a variety.  I also found that the white pearl-like decorations are soy free as well.

So the first thing they each requested is a bowl of chocolate ice cream.  They then proceeded to top their ice cream with gummy bears and gummy worms.  My older one put some Enjoy Life chocolate morsels in hers as well as M&Ms.  Yes, it's FRIDAY....haha.  Anyways, All the products I just mentioned are Soy free...except for the M&Ms.  No big deal.  My younger one had PLENTY to choose from.  She ran up to me and said, "Thank you, Mama.  You're the best."  I never get tired of hearing that.

It's nice to know there are some really cool and equally delicious options for those who cannot tolerate soy.

I am one Happy Mommy!!!

Simple Soy Free Asian Pork Stir Fry

Tonight I made my Soy Free Pork Stir Fry dish.  Both my daughters loved it and went back for seconds.  I love that.  Anyways, for those of you who are eliminating soy from your meals, here's a crowd pleaser for both little and big people =).

For the meat, I use about 1.5 lbs of center cut pork.  That feeds 4 people very comfortably.

Marinades:

Great Marinade to use with center cut pork.

Cut pork into bite-size stir fry pieces, but not overly small.  See picture below for reference.  After cutting all the pork, put the pork in a bowl.  Add the following ingredients to the bowl.

1 tsp Soy sauce (For soy sauce, substitute with ¼ tsp worcheshire and ¾ tsp balsamic vinegar) NOTE:  I have a homemade worcheshire sauce that I posted a while back on my blog in case you are interested.

1 Tbsp rice wine

2 tsp corn starch

Cover bowl with saran wrap and let the meat mixture refrigerate for at least 4 to 5 hours.   This will help make the meat more flavorful and tender.

**************************************************************** 

To save time for later, you can go ahead and pre-make the stir fry sauce:

Stir Fry Sauce:

½ tsp soy sauce (Soy Sauce Substitute = worcheshire/balsamic vinegar)

1 ½ tsp sugar

1T rice wine

2t oyster sauce

1t corn starch

3T water

Set the bowl of the Stir Fry Sauce above aside until it's time to cook.

Ready to Cook time:

2 slices of Ginger root

Sliced Red bell pepper (just enough for flavor)

Canola Oil for cooking

Put some oil in the pan, and throw the ginger root and red bell pepper in there for just 30 seconds or so.  Then you can add the pork and begin browning the meat.   Using wooden chopsticks, make sure that the pork is fully cooked.  Then you just add the stir fry sauce to the pan and mix it up.  You may not need to use ALL the stir fry sauce.  Just use your best judgment.  It just depends on the your preference.  My girls love the sauce so I usually use all of it.

That’s it!!!  Wallah...  This is a great meal and goes great with a side of steamed rice and then a vegetable of your choice.

Jumpstarting a Car - QUICK CHEATSHEET

Try to get the hood of the working car as close to the dead car as best as you can.  This may mean that the passenger side door of the good car has to be positioned very close to the driver side door of the dead car, but that's ok.  You can just enter the dead car through the passenger side.

Make sure the radio is off and that nothing is plugged into the cigarette lighter adapter of both cars.

Get your red and black jumpstart cables out.

Using the red cable first, clamp the connector to the positive (+) terminal on the battery of the dead car first.

Then clamp the other end of the red cable to the positive (+) terminal on the battery of the working car.  While you are still in front of the working car, go ahead and clam one end of the black cable to the negative/ground (-) terminal on the battery of the working car. 

Connect the other end of the black cable to a piece of grounded metal on the dead car, preferably the bolt where the thick negative cable from the battery connects to the chassis. If this is not practical, look for shiny metal (not painted or oily) that is attached to the engine. Usually a nut, bolt or other protruding shiny metal will work. You may see a small spark when you connect to a good ground. As a last resort, you may connect to the negative (-) post of the dead battery, but this risks igniting hydrogen gas coming off the battery.

Now go ahead and start the working car.  Let it run for about 30 to 60 seconds in order to charge the battery in the dead car.  The starter of the dead car will draw most of its current from the battery of the working car not the cables.

Now start the dead car.

Remove the jumper cables once the car starts. Do this in the reverse of the order in which they were attached, and don't let any of the cables or clamps touch each other (or dangle into the engine compartment).

So start with the black clamp on the previously dead car first, then the black clamp on the working car.  Then the red clamp on the working car and then last, the red clamp on the previously dead car.

Keep the recently-disabled car's engine running. Run the car above idle (slightly revved up with your foot on the gas) for 5 minutes and then on or above idle for 20 minutes before turning it off. This should give the battery enough charge to start the car again. If it does not, you probably have a dead battery or a dying alternator.

That's it!!!