yup, i jumped on the pumpkin bandwagon… Pumpkin Banana Spice Bars!

well, thanks to wordpress sucking, i am now writing this recipe up for the 3rd time. that must mean that it is a really awesome recipe, otherwise i just would have flipped off the computer screen and gone back to eating delicious dairy free ice cream. ah the joys of wisdom teeth removal.

ok so is the 3rd time really a charm? for your tastebuds’ sake i hope so!

Pumpkin Banana Spice Bars

Dry ingredients:

1.5 cups almond meal (I used trader joes)

.5 cup oat flour (can probably sub for other gluten free flour. use coconut if trying to make these paleo!)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins (soaked in hot water for 5-10 mins to soften)

Wet Ingredients:

2 super ripe bananas

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey

i forgot to take a picture of these, so you can enjoy an adorable dog photo instead!

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×9 square pan (these would also make delicious muffins, but i have no idea how long you would bake them for).

Puree wet ingredients in a blender, or using a hand blender in a medium size bowl.

Mix dry ingredients together (add raisins last).

Add wet to dry, and mix until fully combined. Batter will be similar to a thick cake batter.

Pour into greased pan and bake for 20-25 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean (a few crumbs are ok, i prefer mine a little underbaked). Wait to cut into them until they are COMPLETELY cool! trust me on this.. otherwise you will end up with a bunch of crumbs instead of a bunch of delicious bars.

Enjoy! these are awesome for breakfast alongside some eggs, or as a snack or dessert. the raisins can be subbed out for almost any add-in.. chopped nuts, chocolate chips, cranberries, coconut flakes.. the list goes on!

p-p-p-aleo (ish) and how i got here

oh.. hey there. been a while! miss me? there have been a few changes around here since the last time we hung out… you ready?

ive been busy doing awesome things like this..

i really didnt want to jump on that gluten free bandwagon.. i know, i know, gluten free is sooooo trendy right now. but really, i wasnt going to give up delicious, gooey, chewy gluten-rich cookies for no reason. 

so then what the hell happened?!?

heres the story. i had been feeling really lethargic for about 3 weeks- like, REALLY lethargic. i mean, its always taken me a cup of coffee or two before i’m ready to have conversations in the morning, and i always struggled getting out of bed, but this was worse. i didn’t want to work out, and when i did it would take me half an hour to really get in the groove. my brain would cloud over and i would struggle to keep my concentration, especially in the afternoons. i blamed it on lack of sleep (which in retrospect is a little ridiculous- im a grandma and go to bed at 1030 every night). this continued on for a while until one evening i went out for a delicious dinner of pizza, pasta, and pretty much every type of gluten-y food an italian restaurant serves. we called it an early night, and i got about 9 hours of sleep that night. i woke up EXHAUSTED. being the amazing food detective that i am, i put two and two together and came up with a hypothesis.

IF i eat gluten, THEN i feel tired, cloudy, and a little bloated (sorry for the TMI. youll get used to it.)

well, friends, its been about 2 months since i started testing my hypothesis. and i feel awesome. hypothesis proven. and the rabbit hole has gotten super deep. not only have i given up gluten, but also corn, beans and legumes, and ive been trying (its so hard!) to stay away from soy, refined sugars and most processed foods.

 

juicy tomatoes and a my-size chair at the san rafael farmers market

i therefore dubbed myself “paleo-ish”

so then the question i am sure is on the tip of your tongue is what AM i eating? ( i assume if you’ve gotten this far, you actually care.)

-LOTS of vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, eggplant, cabbage, carrots, kale.. the list goes on.

-Fruit! Apples, pears, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, dates.. you get it.

-Almond butter! yes friends, i have crossed over to the AB team. thank you trader joes for not charging me an arm and a leg for some ground up almonds and some sea salt

-protein.. i finally got over my weird fear of cooking raw meat, and now i kind of enjoy it. 

as someone that has included peanut butter in my short list of must-have food staples (list includes sweet potatoes, apples, oatmeal, among others) for pretty much as long as i can remember, it was a tough breakup. the ONE thing i refused to get rid of was oatmeal. i literally have a love affair with oatmeal (and it is technically gluten free, although it is often processed in facilities that also process wheat products) and i drew the line at giving up my precious overnight oatmeal. 

so all of this rambling brings me to now. im sitting in my living room, watching the giants game (does anyone else find humor in the fact that there is a player named angel pagan?), enjoying paleo brownies, and waiting for some slow cooker balsamic short ribs to finish cooking. for those of you nay-sayers out there, does it sound like im depriving myself?

my life, minus gluten.

something to believe in

theres a few things i believe in. not a ton, but a good sturdy 5 or so things that i firmly stand behind.

1. not taking yourself too seriously. if you can’t laugh at yourself, it makes you kind of a douche when you laugh at other people.

2. exercise. if that one needs an explanation, you might be an idiot.

3. comfy shoes. you know when you see that girl wearing crazy high heels and you just want to give her the sneakers off your feet? yeah, thats NOT hot.

totally irrelevant, but hilarious. click to enlarge. (TWSS)

4. pandora. i get it, spotify’s supposed to be cool right now. im ok with not being cool.

5. a dependable set of go-to recipes.

So far, i’m still working on the last one. but i have nailed down a couple really really good recipes. heres my criteria for a go-to recipe.

if this many ingredients are needed, its not happening

-not a lot of ingredients. if i have to go to the store and buy 12 different spices that im never going to use in any other recipe ever, it ain’t gettin’ made in my kitchen.

-doesn’t use 9 different pieces of kitchen equipment. lets be real here, no one wants to spend an hour doing dishes in order to enjoy one meal.

-not a lot of hands-on time. if i have to simmer a soup for a couple of hours, no worries. but one of the main reasons ive never made puff pastry (besides the pounds of butter involved) is because it a lot of work. and lets be honest, there are less lazy people out there when it comes to cooking. like Smitten Kitchen. if you DONT love that blog and you DO love food, you may be a crazy person.

-healthy. i love cookies and cakes and pizza and other unhealthy things as much as the next person, but i also know that it doesnt make my body feel good. so i figure out how to make these things healthier, while still super tasty.

*side story: i was on vacation with a big group of friends a couple of weeks ago, and told them all i was going to make cookies. of course, they were super excited about it. who doesn’t love freshly baked cookies? and then i made a mistake. i told them that they were VEGAN. long story short, they were a little hesitant to try them.. and then devoured 3 batches in 2 days.

this is what we do on vacation.

so far ive got about 3 or 4 nailed down. go to soup recipe is either butternut squash soup  or sweet potato chili (inspired by Gina’s recipe). for veggies i love my brussels sprouts  or more recently, kale with golden raisins (thanks Ana!). and for cookies…. oh god, the cookies!!! i have this blog to thank for inspiration- Kirsten’s Kitchen.

in the last month or so, i’ve gone through pounds of whole wheat pastry flour, cups of sugar, and almost 5 bags of chocolate ships. ive made every variation on this cookie you can imagine… from regular old chocolate chip, to oatmeal white chocolate chip to snickerdoodle to cranberry pumpkin spice to chocolate cookie sandwiches. and they’ve all been AMAZING.

so partly because i love you, and partly because im hoping for once someone will make ME these cookies, i present to you…..

The amazing technicolor variety cookie.

oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip

(no joke, someone proposed to me the other day because of these cookies. dont worry, i said no)

Basic Ingredients:

-2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (up to half can be subbed for old fashioned oats or almond meal)

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup regular sugar (or turbinado if you like the crunch)

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda

-up to 1 cup add-ins (chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts)

-(for oatmeal cookie varieties add 1/2 tsp- 1 tsp cinnamon)

-1/2 cup oil (i prefer vegetable or safflower, but melted coconut oil works and adds a coconutty flavor.. olive oil will make your cookies have a distinct olive oil taste)

*up to half the oil can be replaced with pumpkin puree or applesauce. if using pumpkin puree add 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and dried cranberries. trust me on this.

-1 tsp vanilla

-1/8-1/4 cup water (start with 1/8 and work your way up.. the more water you add, the more your cookies will spread)

Preheat oven to 350. mix dry in one bowl. mix wet in another. mix together. use a tablespoon measure to drop balls of dough on greased cookie sheets (i like to flatten the balls with my hands, but it is not necessary, they just wont spread out a bunch when baking). Bake for 9-10 minutes. they will not seem done, but trust me, they ARE. let cool for at least 7 minutes, if you can wait that long.

lucky you, now you have something else to believe in. your mad baking skillz.

youre welcome.

blog love + squash love = soup recipe

i have a thing for blogs. i devour them (like they’e freshly baked cookies) every morning. is it because i love to read? or maybe it’s because im nosy and just like knowing what everyone else is doing.

i dont comment very often, i dont enter  the giveaways, and i probably only make 1/37th of the recipes i read.

am i a virtual foodie version of a peeping tom?

my creepster disguises.

so what is it that keeps me coming back? is it a mutual love of oats that brings me back to most of these blogs? or is it the pretty pictures of blogger x’s morning coffee? in most cases, it’s the recipes and workouts. reading that someone you’ve never met has created the best cookie recipe ever, or run their 814th marathon, or rearranged their living room furniture (again) is great, but im not gonna lie here… its the food.

the funny part to me is that i cant follow a recipe to save my life. some part of me is ALWAYS compelled to change something about a recipe.. even if its perfect to begin with. that said, sometimes i make some great choices.

heres one:

since this photo was taken, ive probably made this soup 6 times. in a month.

Butternut Squash Soup

makes about 4 HUGE servings or 6-7 smaller ones

-1 medium- large butternut squash (probably 2-3 lbs.. or you can cheat and buy the big bag of peeled and cut squash from TJ’s… saves a lot of trouble, but actually tastes better if you go through the hassle of peeling and dicing yourself)

-1 med-large yellow onion (ive tried with both regular yellow onions and sweet onions- either will work)

- 2-3 large garlic cloves

- black pepper

-2 tbsp butter (i’ve tried with earth balance, olive oil and real butter… USE REAL BUTTER)

- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

-2-3 cups veggie/chicken broth- less broth=thicker soup (i prefer the regular sodium chicken broth- and then i don’t add any extra salt to the soup)

Directions:

1. melt 2 tbsp butter in a large soup pot (stockpot?) over medium heat

2. dice garlic and onions. size is not important, as it will all be blended together in the end.

3. saute garlic and onions in butter until soft and translucent- do not brown! while garlic and onions are cooking, tackle that beast of a squash (if you went the hard way). peel and dice (remove seeds) into ~1 inch cubes. pepper can be added now or after squash/broth.

4. add butternut squash and 2 cups of broth to pot. bring to a simmer. add 1 tbsp balsamic

5. simmer until squash can be pierced easily by a fork (about 15 mins).

6. use a slotted spoon to remove all garlic, onions and squash from pot. if your blender is big enough, just dump the whole pot in there. blend until smooth- i find i like it better when its less grainy and more silky.

*ive been toying with different ideas for how to increase the protein in this soup so it is more of a meal. ideas so far are blending in a can of white beans or garbanzos.. let me know if you try this!

____________________________________________________________

im also crazy addicted to pumpkin these days. im that crazy girl with pumpkin in her purse. NO JOKE. that happened.

speaking of pumpkin, i made AMAZING pumpkin muffins the other day- bsed off of this recipe by Joy Bauer-

Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

I made a bunch of changes and additions to the recipe- almond meal and way more pumpkin to name a few.. and they turned out AMAZING! recipe to come. i promise.

any seasonal foods you’re currently obsessed with?

i LOVE winter squash and summer berries. 

life and times of gigiboots.

im not gonna lie, part of the reason i haven’t posted in so long is because i’m a little embarrassed that i havent posted in so long.. talk about a vicious cycle!

so heres whats been up in the world of gigiboots…

i have no idea who that lady is

i went to spain!

no joke, took about 15 minutes to get everyone to stop talking, look at the camera and stand still. herding cats is probably easier

wait did i say look at the camera? apparently half the family didnt hear that part…

it was amazing having the whole family (well, most of it) together. since my dad is from england, all of his side of the family lives there. i dont get to see them as often as id like, since vacation time stops being built into life once you’re out of school. anyways, we all got together to celebrate my grandpas 90th birthday. 

yes, i said NINETY. and he doesnt look a day over 78. seriously. we took him hiking, to the beach, out to the clubs. (kidding, not out to the clubs… i tried though). my grandpas kind of a BAMF.

so what else did i do during my little blog hiatus?

i went to hardly strictly.

for those of you that arent in touch with the sf scene.. thats basically a gigantic free concert in the park= lots of drunk hippies not wearing shoes.

i went to santa cruz… and spent a little time at the amazing Swanton Berry Farm

i mostly picked berries.. but for some reason chose to display the beets and sunflowers instead. note to self: beets photograph awkwardly

ive also made some pretty awesome food..

and i am now realizing that i havent photographed ANY of it. oops.

to make up for it, heres a really cute puppy. cute enough to eat?

better than pictures of weird healthy baked goods? cuter, but i bet less tasty.

heres a few recipes ive taken a stab at… all very successful!

Pumpkin Molasses Cookie Dough Balls- a la Mama Pea

Challah (at yo’ girllllllll)- Smitten kitchen

Butternut Squash Soup- SO easy!!

and some almond meal banana nut muffins that were a weird hybrid between 3 different recipes.. heres one that i used as a guide- http://www.jessicasdinnerparty.com/2009/11/banana-almond-bread

ive also gotten back into my green smoothie phase. seriously, having one of these a day cuts back on my sugar cravings like no other. and its kind of hilarious seeing everyone’s grossed out faces as i carry my jug (i like my smoothies like i like my men… tall. with a big banana.*im sorry, i had to. i think im sooooo funny) of bright green smoothie through the office. its just so tasty.. and so….. GREEN. i know i’ve said this before, but try adding a little spinach to your next smoothie. it pumps up the nutrition value like crazy, adds very few calories, and the color is enough to keep anyone from stealing it from you. (in case you work with food thieves?)

have you come across any good recipes lately? what do you like to cook when the weather gets colder? 

i swear, i can’t follow a recipe to save my life.. even the couple i posted above i had to make a few adjustments. art imitating life? (food is art, btw)

whirlwhind weekend.

to be honest, i really dont feel like blogging. BUT… i know once i write a blog post i will feel AWESOME.

kind of like how eating healthy and exercising feels. sometimes its so much easier to walk 2 steps to the fully stocked candy drawer (really its more like a candy cabinet) that calls my name from across the row, but i know if i eat a piece of fruit instead i will feel WAY better (in my body and in my head).

it’s so much easier to pretend i’m too tired to exercise, but there has never been a time when i didn’t feel way better (again, in my body and in my head) after a great workout.

so then why is it that we always take the ‘easy’ way out… when just putting a teeny bit more effort into something makes us feel like a million bucks?

me, feeling like a million bucks.

in the long run, isn’t it much easier to enjoy life as a healthy older person rather than someone who is sick and has to go to the doctor all the time?

(instant gratification, i hate you for making me want sweet, sweet candy)

ok. so thats my rant for today. hope you enjoyed it. or at least can relate to my sugar loving self.

so what have i been up to? dang, it was a LONG weekend. comedy show, airport trip to pick up the bff, mission beach cafe, shopping, pub crawl, abalone eating, brunch again, farmers market, fremont diner, wine tasting, homemade puff pastry and steamed pork buns (!), blueberry pancakes, sleepovers, hiking, failed trip to rainbow grocery, cashew butter success, dinner,humphrey slocombe…. WOW.

and now in photos:

fremont diner. go here. ask for julie.

the girl in the picture is not julie, btw. she just happened to be in the way. and serves as proof that people do things at fremont diner, it isnt just an awesome looking kitchen.

proof that wine was tasted.

i get what people mean about wine tasting getting you hammered. you’re basically just taking shots of wine in quick succession.

(oh wait, thats just me being uncouth) <—- definition 2C is me in a nutshell. dont worry, i wont tell anyone you clicked.

wow, there are a lot of people in my photos today.. how unsual

hiking= awesome. hiking in sonoma with one of my favorite people in perfect weather through a vineyard= SUPER AWESOME.

artistic phone photos? i dont know

then when we got back to the city, i made cashew butter

(so easy…. 1 cup cashews, just under 1/4 tsp salt, literally process until butter. occasionally scrape down the sides of the food processor. IT WILL TASTE LIKE COOKIE DOUGH I SWEAR!)

and julie took artistic photos with my phone. see above.

then we ate peruvian food and ice cream. humphry slocombe has a sorbet flavor called jesus juice… guess what flavor that is?

ps. i guessed correctly. then i tried some and felt taken advantage of. 10 points if you get the reference.

how was your 3 day weekend? did you indulge or keep up your healthy habits?

yeah, i definitely indulged… and then got in an awesome workout and amazing fresh food today so i feel a-ok.

READ THIS POST.

i have created THE carrot cake cookie. no other carrot cake cookies even come close to tasting this amazing. seriously. if you make this recipe and it sucks, i will come clean your whole house. and anyone that knows me knows i hate cleaning.

 

im just going to go ahead and give you the recipe… and then ill get to all of the other random not as cool stuff ive done lately. because really, what matters more than making the best cookie ever?

like many of my recipes, these look like ass but taste like heaven

oh and did i mention they’re vegan, have NO refined sugar and only 2 tablespoons of oil in the whole recipe? 

yeah, i’m awesome. you can thank me after you wow your whole family and everyone you know with your baking prowess.

Carrot Cake Cookies (or should i just call them manna from heaven gillian’s kitchen?)

preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:

Dry-

1 1/4 cup almond meal

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (use gluten free if you don’t eat gluten, i have no idea if that will work…)

1/3 cup oats

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon (do not skimp on this!!!)

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Wet-

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown rice syrup (the combo of these is what makes them chewy and moist)

2 tbsp light tasting oil (i used vegetable i think..)

1/4 cup almond milk (next time i will try using 1-2 tablespoons- i think they would stay together better if the dough was a little bit drier)

1 cup shredded carrot

Directions:

mix dry, then add wet. mix until you have a wet, doughy mess. you can try the batter, its vegan (no salmonella, duh)

scoop onto greased cookie sheet using a tablespoon measurer. leave about 1-2 inches between each cookie, as they will spread out during baking.

bake about 11-13 minutes

let cool for 10-15 minutes before using a spatula to take them off the cookie sheet… or you might have to eat them all because they will fall apart.

enjoy! i had 3 already.

———————————————————————

IN OTHER NEWS……

3 things that happened this weekend:

1. i went hiking at mt. tam

that white stuff down there.. thats a bed of clouds. i took a nap on it.

2. almost got mugged. by a kid with a fake gun. how did i know it was fake? i grabbed it. i know, im nuts… at least thats what the cops said.

3. rode a tiny tricycle. actually, thats a lie. i did that last week, but this picture is so awesome i had to put it in here.

baller.

so, kids, ill end with these few words of advice.

- eat less sugar. sugar makes you crash. (like energy crash, not what happened to us on the tricycles 30 seconds after the above photo was taken)

-if a dude points a gun at you, it might be fake. but probably you should give him all of your stuff anyways… just in case.

-bake these goddamn cookies.  then tell me about it.

any questions?