Roasted Summer Fruit Cookie Shortcake With Coconut Whipped Cream

Summer felt different when I was a kid.

It was thick and lazy with the scent of chlorine clinging to everything. Perpetual tan lines carving their way through my shoulder blades. Rich purple plums being plucked off of my grandparents’ tree — the warm juice trickling down my chin. It was matinee movies with buttered popcorn. It was watching my dad try to put out fires we’d accidentally set with shady roadside Fourth Of July Fireworks. I can still see him running around the back yard, chasing away sparks with the lid of the BBQ. It was the beach, and family vacation. Sleepovers were long, and filled with whispers about boys. We made prank calls and ate pancakes. It was dusky evenings in the tree house–swinging in a hammock and deciding what character I’d be in The Babysitter’s Club (Claudia–always Claudia). It was the sticky packages of store bought shortcake, fresh strawberries and a canister of whipped cream. A little bit gross, but also kinda great. […]

Raspberry & Honey Goat Cheese Tartlets {Gluten Free & Primal Friendly}

My husband plays a lot of video games.
He is probably proof reading this right now (Hi, Honey!) and wondering where this is going to go…
Am I going to tell everyone about the time I came home from that work function to find him on a headset, shouting loud and purposefully “DOES ANYONE NEED A JETPACK?! I HAVE JETPACKS!!” ? Nope Yes.
It turns out that in video games most things are easier when you have a jetpack. This is a solid lesson. I think this lesson carries over into real life.  I have high ceilings, and a jetpack would be super useful to help me clean the sky lights. I would also be able to reach things out of the tall-people cabinets without having to stand in my sink. Practical Applications For Everyday Jetpack Use. Do I smell a book deal? No — I don’t. Unless you do. I could write the heck out of that book.
To be fair, my husband makes his grown-up living working in the video game industry. He is lucky enough to really enjoy what he does. Sometimes he enjoys it so much he will put in a few hours on a Saturday. It’s totally recreational on weekends, but when I decide to sigh loudly or roll my eyes, he likes to remind me that video games pay the bills around these parts. This usually just makes me sigh louder or elicits a bigger eye roll. I’m fun. […]

Giant Sunbutter & Chocolate Chunk Cookies {Gluten-Free & Paleo}

After a week of intense recipe failures one needs to bake cookies.

I think this is a rule. It feels like it should be a rule. Let’s call it a rule.

In between my lemon bar attempt and operation “OMG, is that supposed to be gnocchi!? “, I managed to get something right. I put some sunflower seeds into a food processor and  made some nut butter. I combined it with almond butter. The two did a happy dance. I added in large chunks of dark chocolate, and decided that these cookies should be GIANTS. Instead of making a recipe that would yield a sensible dozen, I decided to instead make you six cookies. Big cookies. Forget about your kitchen failures cookies. Are you surprised that I didn’t just make one big cookie and take a fork to it? Yeah, me too. […]

Salted Peanut Butter Cookies {Two Ways} | Gluten Free

Here are a few things that make me happy:
Peanut butter. Chocolate with peanut butter (so much so, that this was our wedding cake flavor combo). Peanut butter and bananas. Peanut butter cups. Giving my dog peanut butter and watching her try to lick the stickiness off of her palate for a full five minutes. It’s the simple things.

These cookies are TOTALLY simple. We’re talking five-ingredients-simple. Sure, they are a little sticky and you might get the batter all over your sleeves and maybe in your hair…but that’s just something that happens. You might not even realize that you still have peanut butter cookie batter all over your forearms before you go to answer e-mails and your arms stick firmly to the top of your desk. Peanut butter is sticky. That is a true story. I probably should have  titled my blog “Wait… Do I have food on my face?” to which the answer is almost always a firm YES. I write to you as if you have my same problems. I shouldn’t do this. You probably have way less food on your face and in your hair on a daily basis. I admire you. […]