Coconut Milk Chicken Soup

On Saturday my neighbor hosted a Essential Oil Make-n-Take Class for me.  It was so much fun and we made three DIY recipes using essential oils.  But if I am honest this soup here STOLE the show.  Literally.  My host made this soup to serve the guests and along with a Sangria all of us went back for seconds and maybe thirds…. We were still talking about the soup while we were making our homemade Thieves Cleaning Wipes, Room Spray and Foaming Hand Soap!

The soup was essential oil infused using Basil, Lemongrass and Ginger essential oils from Young Living’s Vitality Line.  Young Living’s Vitality line of essential oils are specifically labeled for dietary use! Go here to see the entire line up and details. Below is the soup recipe. Try it for yourself and I dare you to not go for seconds!!

Coconut Milk Chicken Soup

• 4 Cups Chicken Broth (she made her own using a chicken thigh but I am sure the packaged kind would work too)
• 1-2 Large Yellow Onions, sliced
• 3-4 Large Carrot, diced
• 3-4 Celery Stalks, diced
• 2 Potatoes, diced
• 1 Whole Cooked Chicken Breast, diced or shredded
• 1 Carton (not can. Carton is creamier) 15 oz. Coconut Milk. You may double this amount if you want richer broth
• 1-2 Tbsp. Asian Fish Sauce
• 1-2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 Small Zucchini, halved and sliced
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. Salt (optional)
• 1-2 drops Young Living Basil Vitality Essential Oil
• 1-2 drops Young Living Lemongrass Vitality Essential Oil
• 1 drop Young Living Ginger Vitality Essential Oil

In a large soup pot, simmer chicken broth.  Add onions, carrots, celery and potato; simmer 2 minutes.  Add chicken and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, lemon juice, zucchini and salt.  Simmer another 5 minutes.  Take off heat and add essential oils.  Makes 6 servings.

You can purchase Young Living Essential Oils here. To get the cheapest pricing become a member and get this awesome Essential Oil starter kit for a reduced price! You get a diffuser plus 11 bottles of oils for $160. Some of these bottles are from the Vitality line so you can get to cooking with them right away!  It is a lifetime membership so no monthly minimums, etc.  Just do it already! I have been a member almost two years now and I love it more everyday.  So many ways to support your health and wellness! The kit comes with the following essential oils:

• Peppermint Vitality
• Lemon Vitality
• Copaiba Vitality
• Thieves Vitality
• DiGize Vitality
• R.C. Blend
• Frankincense
• Purification Blend
• Lavender
• Panaway Blend
• Stress Away Blend

PLUS a diffuser of your choice! All these oils can be used for everyday needs. And the diffuser makes it SO easy to incorporate the oils into your life. I use mine daily and I even keep a diffuser at my desk at work.  Needless to say my co-workers love to drop by and say hello! lol. Just get yours already!

 

 

Gluten Free Apple Dutch Baby (Apple Puffed Pancake)

The other weekend we hosted some family in our home.  Brian loves to cook for guests and he wanted to make a breakfast dish that could feed a group yet be a cinch to cook.  Oh, and it had to be gluten free.  This should be easy…not.  But it was! Enter the Apple Dutch Baby.  This large, fluffy pancake is excellent for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dessert any time of year. And it comes together in about five blessed minutes. Just dump all of the ingredients into a blender, give it a good whirl, pour it into a heated skillet sizzling with butter, and pop it into the oven. Twenty-five minutes later? Bliss.

Spiced Apple Ingredients:

• 1 Apple, cored, peeled, and sliced
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples and cook for 4-5 minutes.
2. Add brown sugar and cinnamon and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat

Pancake Ingredients:

• ¾ cup of flour (Gluten Free Bob’s Red Mill, Einkorn Flour, or Cup4Cup)
• ¾ cup of milk (room temperature)
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½-1 teaspoon of almond extract
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

Cooking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F with skillet in oven. Stainless steel or cast iron skillets work well for this recipe.
2. Add milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, salt, and flour to blender.
3. Blend on medium-high speed until the batter is a uniform consistency and foamy.
4. Add butter to skillet and place back in oven until melted.
5. Swirl butter to coat skillet.
6. Pour butter in batter and blend until incorporated.
7. Pour batter into skillet. Arrange apple slices on top of batter.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes until pancake is puffed and lightly browned.
9. Remove from pan, dust with confectioners’ sugar or whipped cream if desired. Slice and serve pancakes.

 

Einkorn Flour: A Wheat for the Gluten Free?

My husband has been gluten free for over 8 years now. In the beginning we were lucky to find one gluten free flour mix at the grocery store. Now there’s pancake mixes, flour mixes, cookies and cakes… and they’re all made with gluten-free ingredients that have been deemed safe.  But what if it didn’t have to so complicated?

What if eating gluten-free was as simple as choosing a better wheat flour?

Scientifically speaking of course, that can’t be true.  By definition, all wheat flours – all-purpose, bread, whole wheat (hard red and soft white), spelt, kamut,, etc. – contain gluten.  It’s how they were created and that’s that.

But the wheat on stores shelves today is NOT the same wheat that we once consumed long ago.  

Like many other foods, wheat has been optimized for the benefit of the farmers, creating bigger yields and disease resistant crops.  However, the changes that benefit the farmers could also be to blame for the recent rise of gluten-free sensitivities, intolerance and celiac disease. (source)

This is bad news across the board, whether you have food allergies or not.

A few months ago we discovered Einkorn Wheat Flour and every time we have cooked with it my husband has NOT gotten sick. This is amazing as he gets sick from food just fried in the same oil as products containing wheat! It has been life changing for us.

What Is Einkorn Wheat?

Early on in the history of wheat, Einkorn grew wild in the Far East.  Soon thereafter, the first farmers began to plant and harvest Einkorn, making it one of the earliest crops.  As an unmodified, ancient grain, Einkorn contains 14 chromosomes.

A little while later, Emmer spontaneously appeared.  Emmer is the first hybridization of wheat, being part wild wheat and part goat grass, and contains 28 chromosomes.

Then, Spelt emerged.  Spelt is a hybrid of Emmer and goat grass, intentionally bred by migrant farmers in order to keep the desirable traits of goat grass and diminish the undesirable traits of Emmer.  Spelt is the second hybridization and has 42 chromosomes.

Over time, farmers bred Spelt and Emmer to create today’s Durum Wheat, Spelt and Soft Wheat.  These too have 42 chromosomes and along with Hard Red Spring, are the most common varieties of wheat used in the market today.

So Einkorn grain is the oldest form of cultivated wheat. But most of the wheat that is used today is a hybrid.  Hybridization can happen naturally when plants are near each other and the wind blows and cross pollinates. But that is not what we are talking about with the modern hybrid wheat. Modern wheat was engineered to have shorter stalks to create less waste and fuller heads of grain to produce more product. The problem with this hybrid wheat is that it has been engineered to contain 3 genomes and 42 chromosomes while the old Einkorn wheat only has 14 chromosomes! Those extra chromosomes create new proteins that man was never intended to consume. They are foreign to the body and can cause confusion in the digestive system.

The Effect of Einkorn Gluten Versus Modern Wheat Gluten

This gluten chart shows the low-gluten content of Einkorn Flour in comparison with other grains.

All wheat contains gluten, and gluten consists of two proteins:

• gliadin (which causes the rise)
• glutenin (which causes elasticity)

Most individuals with gluten issues react negatively to the gliadin.

Einkorn has a higher ratio of gliadin to glutenin, so naturally we would think that it would be far worse for individuals with gluten sensitivities than modern wheat.  However, because Einkorn is not hybridized, the original DNA structure remains intact and actually helps the body to digest these gluten proteins properly.

From the way the starches in Einkorn are structured together, to the naturally high level of protein, to the ratio of soluble to insoluble proteins found in Einkorn wheat – it all remains unchanged as it was many years ago, equipping the body with the tools needed in order to break down and properly digest the grain.

So what does all this mean for you and me?

It means that people who are gluten sensitive or gluten intolerant are often able to consume Einkorn.

This does NOT mean that people with celiac disease are able to consume wheat.  That is an entirely different issue.

So while einkorn flour isn’t gluten-free, it has been found to lack some of the proteins that people with gluten intolerances can’t manage to digest. So if you have a gluten sensitivity — but one not as severe as celiac disease — einkorn flour may prove a good alternative to modern flours for you.

Where to Find Einkorn

Einkorn Wheat was lost in the hubub of modern wheat for a long time, so despite being a very old grain, it’s relatively new to the current market of wheat.  A few health brands carry it currently.  Young Living is one of them.

They currently carry five items with Einkorn:

• Einkorn Flour
• Einkorn Pancake and Waffle Mix
• Einkorn Spaghetti
• Einkorn Rotini – NEW
• Einkorn Granola – NEW

If you are interested in ordering please click here to do so.  Finding this flour has been HUGE for us and I am excited to see what other products Young Living will come out with using Einkorn Flour!

Gluten Free Black Forest Cupcakes

Growing up, my Omi (grandmother) made a traditional Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte or what we call a Black Forest Cake.  The cake featured sour cherries soaked in a cherry brandy known as Kirschwasser.  She then topped the cake with whipped cream, cherries, and fresh chocolate shavings. She learned this recipe from a tenant who was a baker back when they used to rent out rooms from their row home in Queens. Over the years her cake became legendary and no celebration was complete without it.  I still remember the last time I was able to eat some of her delicious cake.  If I would have known it was the last time I would have hounded her for the recipe.  She never wrote it down.  She always baked from her “head and heart.”

For Bryce’s birthday my husband wanted to recreate Omi’s cake for Bryce’s birthday. Problem? We needed it to be gluten free and we wanted a cupcake version, not a cake.  We decided to use Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix for the base to make the preparation easier and less time consuming.

The recipe below is the result. Gorgeous to look at and even more delicious when bit into, this recipe allows Gluten Free people the opportunity to experience Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte in the form of a cupcake and utilizes a gluten free cake mix for the sponge base.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 – 15oz box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
• ½ cup of water
• ½ cup of cherry juice (can use juice from tart cherries)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup of butter) softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp of Kirschwasser

Filling:

• 1 can of sour cherries
• 1/3 cup of cherry juice (you can use the juice from the sour cherries or other cherry juice)
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup of sugar
• ½ cup Kirschwasser

Frosting:

• 3 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1 packet (0.25 oz) plain gelatin
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• 3 Tbsp Kirschwasser
• 1 cup of chocolate shavings
• fresh cherries

 Directions

Cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare muffin baking pan with liners.
3. Cream butter until smooth with electric mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix.
5. Add kirschwasser, water, and cherry juice.  Mix to combine.
6. Add Gluten Free Cake Mix to the wet batter and blend with electric mixer until combined.
7. Pour batter into liners (about ¾ full)
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
9. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack

Filling:

1. Drain juice from the cherries.
2. Add cherry juice and sugar to a pot and bring to a simmer while whisking.
3. Add cornstarch and whisk until combined.  If you cannot get the cornstarch incorporated, then add to a blender and blend until combined.
4. Add cherries and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat, stir in Kirschwasser.  Allow filling to come to room temperature before using.

Frosting:

1. Place water in small pot and sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.  Whisk the gelatin and water in the pot and heat on low whisking until the gelatin is dissolved.  Remove from heat.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the whipping cream on medium high speed until in starts to thicken.
3. Add powdered sugar and Kirschwasser.  Whisk and taste.  Some people like their frostings sweet and others less sweet.  I provided a rough range for the powdered sugar to allow you to tweak the recipe to your liking.
4. Continue to whisk at medium high speed until the cream begins to get fluffy.
5. Slowly add gelatin while whisking until incorporated.

Preparation:

 

1. Cut a small hole out of the middle of the cupcake.  Save the top of our cut out.
2. Spoon about 1 Tbsp of filling into each cupcake and replace top.
3. Ice with frosting.
4. Sprinkle on chocolate shavings and top with a cherry.
5. Refrigerating the cupcakes will allow the frosting to slightly stiffen and allow the frosting to look and behave a little like a buttercream frosting.

 

Notes:

• The gelatin will allow the cupcake frosting to set up and stiffen.  This is a great trick for keeping your whipped cream frostings looking perfect.

 

Gluten Free Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

My son turned 2 years old last week. Everyone warns you the time goes fast and they are right.  I was looking at his baby pictures this past weekend and just couldn’t believe how much he has grown! Where did my baby go!?

Mom, I just want to touch the fire.  Please? Why are you blowing the fire out? I wanted to touch it! This was my son during the “birthday song”.

 

So this past weekend we threw a birthday party for him to celebrate. We made TWO cupcake recipes. Banana Cream Pie and Black Forest Cupcakes.  Here is the recipe for Gluten Free Banana Cream Pie.  Yummy and decadent, yet surprisingly easy since we used a boxed cake mix! (Betty Crocker to the rescue.  Awesome gluten free mixes). We finished this with homemade whipped cream frosting and chocolate “B” letters.

They turned out delicious! Try it and see for yourself!

Banana Cream Pie Gluten Free Cupcakes

Ingredients 

Cake:

• 1 – 15oz box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• ¼ cup water
• 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) softened
• 2 teaspoons of gluten-free vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 2 small bananas  (3/4 cup diced or smashed)

Pudding:

• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ Tbsp butter

Frosting:

• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 packet (0.25 oz) plain gelatin
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• ¼-3/4 cup of powdered sugar – to taste
• ¼ -1 tsp of almond extract – to taste
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare muffin baking pan with liners.
3. Cream butter until smooth with electric mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix.
5. Add vanilla extract, bananas, sour cream, and water.  Mix to combine.
6. Add Gluten Free Cake Mix to the wet batter and blend with electric mixer until combined.
7. Pour batter into liners (about ¾ full)
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
9. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack

Pudding:

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk.
2. Add sugar and cornstarch whisking vigorously until combined and smooth.
3. Continue to whisk until mixture becomes thick.
4. Add butter and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
5. Allow to cool.

Frosting:

1. Place water in small pot and sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.  Whisk the gelatin and water in the pot and heat on low whisking until the gelatin is dissolved.  Remove from heat.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the whipping cream on medium high speed until in starts to thicken.
3. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract.  Whisk and taste.  Some people like their frostings sweet and others less sweet.  I provided a rough range for the powdered sugar and almond to allow you to tweak the recipe to your liking.
4. Continue to whisk at medium high speed until the cream begins to get fluffy.
5. Slowly add gelatin while whisking until incorporated.

Preparation:

1. Cut a small hole out of the middle of the cupcake.  Save the top of the cut out.
2. Spoon about 1 Tbsp of filling into each cupcake and replace top.
3. Finish with frosting.

Notes:

• Ripe bananas provide much better flavor.
• The gelatin allows the cupcake frosting to set up and stiffen.  This is a great trick for keeping your whipped cream frostings looking perfect.
• Refrigerating the cupcakes will allow the frosting to slightly stiffen and allow the frosting to look and behave a little like a buttercream frosting.

 

New Vitality Line of Essential Oils from Young Living

Young Living has just released a NEW line of essential oils, their Vitality line!  This is so exciting.

Vitality is a dietary essential oil line, a line of oils specifically labeled for internal use.  From a consumer standpoint, these oils are the same exact therapeutic-grade oils we are used to, but the labeling makes it easier for new members to know which oils to use topically/aromatically and which oils are for dietary use.  Everything in the Vitality line is for dietary use.

The Vitality line has 4 distinct categories: Herb, Spice, Citrus, and Supplement.

At the launch of this new line, here are the 27 Vitality oils broken into categories:

Herb

Basil Vitality
Lemongrass Vitality
Oregano Vitality
Rosemary Vitality
Thyme Vitality
Lavender Vitality
Peppermint Vitality
Spearmint Vitality

Spice

Black Pepper Vitality
Cinnamon Bark Vitality
Clove Vitality
Ginger Vitality
Carrot Seed Vitality
Celery Seed Vitality
Dill Vitality

Citrus

Bergamot Vitality
Citrus Fresh™ Vitality
Grapefruit Vitality
Jade Lemon™ Vitality
Lemon Vitality
Lime Vitality
Orange Vitality
Tangerine Vitality

Supplement

DiGize™ Vitality
EndoFlex™ Vitality
Frankincense Vitality
Thieves® Vitality

 

If you want to purchase these oils at wholesale prices, you can read more Here about getting a wholesale account.

Pumpkin Roll made with Einkorn Flour

Einkorn Flour has quickly become our go-to flour for everything. It has been a game changer for us since my gluten sensitive husband has discovered he can eat this flour without getting sick. Seriously, it is amazing. Click here to learn more on why this flour is different from regular wheat flour and why you need to order some yourself.

Recently we decided to make a pumpkin roll with it since we had leftover cans of pumpkin from the holidays. Guys, seriously, it turned out delicious. Like melt in your mouth, let me have seconds, pour me some coffee cause I am going to hang around and savor every bite delicious. See below for the recipe and prepare to open up your leftover cans of pumpkin this weekend and bake some yourself.

CAKE:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup pumpkin
• 3/4 cup Einkorn flour
• 2 tablespoons of coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

FILLING:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Grease cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan (15 “ X 10 “), line sheet/pan with wax paper.  Grease and flour the wax paper
3. Beat eggs and granulated sugar until thick and light yellow in color
4. Beat in pumpkin.
5. Add flour (Einkorn and coconut), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, pumpkin spice, and salt.
6. Beat until blended.  Pour onto prepared wax paper and bake for 13-15 minutes.
7. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and roll up the cake.  Allow to cool on the rack for 20-30 minutes.  Unroll and carefully peel the paper off the cake.
8. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and almond extract until smooth.
9. Spread cream cheese onto cooled cake.  Sprinkle pecans on top of the cream cheese.
10. Reroll cake and sprinkle outside with powdered sugar.
11. Eat and Repeat.

Note:

Why add coconut flour?  The Young Living Einkorn Cookbook recommends reducing the liquid in muffin, pancake, cake and cookie recipes by as much as 20 percent.  This has made modifying recipes a tad challenging.  We have discovered that using 1-2 tablespoons of coconut flour to a cup of Einkorn flour prevents the need to reduce liquid in recipes. As an added bonus, coconut flour is naturally 75% fiber in composition and adds  9-10 grams of fiber per two tablespoons.

My January Essential Oils Order

I love when my monthly box arrives. This month I decided to try the Einkorn Spaghetti. We cooked it the night it arrived! It tastes the same to me as regular pasta and it has a nice texture.

This is everything that came in my box this month:

Orange Essential Oil

I love the smell of this one. It also pairs well with a lot of other oils in the diffuser. It is considered a “happy” oil. Who doesn’t like the smell of oranges?

Pine Essential Oil

I grew up in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. I love the smell of pine trees. This oil takes me back to my childhood.

Tea Tree Essential Oil

This oil is good for so much and I actually really like the smell. It is spa like to me. I love diffusing it.

Valor Essential Oil

I use this on my feet every night before I go to bed. 1-2 drops on each foot and I am out like a lightbulb in no time. It is that good.

RC Essential Oil

This Eucalyptus oil blend really helps open up your sinuses. When a cold or allergy hits, this is great to diffuse. I also really like the smell.

Einkorn Flour

This has been a game changer for us. Brian can eat this and not take a gluten hit. We have been using in so many recipes and love the taste.

Einkorn Spaghetti

We loved it and plan to order more. It has more protein than regular spaghetti as well as more vitamins and minerals.

If you are interested in ordering essential oils or getting started with your own essential oil kit, click here to do so. Young Living has a customized monthly box program that gives you reduced shipping rates and gives you 10-20% back in cash! It really is a good deal. This is what I have signed up for and I am loving it. You can alter your ship dates and what goes in your box all month long. I love the flexibility of it.

Have a great rest of the month everyone!

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies Using Einkorn Flour

Einkorn Flour: A Wheat for the Gluten Free?

My husband has been gluten free for over 8 years now. In the beginning we were lucky to find one gluten free flour mix at the grocery store. Now there’s pancake mixes, flour mixes, cookies and cakes… and they’re all made with gluten-free ingredients that have been deemed safe.  But what if it didn’t have to so complicated?

What if eating gluten-free was as simple as choosing a better wheat flour?

In the last month we have discovered Einkorn Wheat Flour and every time we have cooked with it my husband has NOT gotten sick. This is amazing as he gets sick from food just fried in the same oil as products containing wheat.

What Is Einkorn Wheat?

Early on in the history of wheat, Einkorn grew wild in the Far East.  Soon thereafter, the first farmers began to plant and harvest Einkorn, making it one of the earliest crops.  As an unmodified, ancient grain, Einkorn contains 14 chromosomes.

A little while later, Emmer spontaneously appeared.  Emmer is the first hybridization of wheat, being part wild wheat and part goat grass, and contains 28 chromosomes.

Then, Spelt emerged.  Spelt is a hybrid of Emmer and goat grass, intentionally bred by migrant farmers in order to keep the desirable traits of goat grass and diminish the undesirable traits of Emmer.  Spelt is the second hybridization and has 42 chromosomes.

Over time, farmers bred Spelt and Emmer to create today’s Durum Wheat, Spelt and Soft Wheat.  These too have 42 chromosomes and along with Hard Red Spring, are the most common varieties of wheat used in the market today.

Einkorn and Gluten

This gluten chart shows the low-gluten content of Einkorn Flour in comparison with other grains.

While einkorn flour isn’t gluten-free, it has been found to lack some of the proteins that people with gluten intolerances can’t manage to digest. So if you have a gluten sensitivity — but one not as severe as celiac disease — einkorn flour may prove a good alternative to modern flours for you.

Baking with Einkorn Flour

There are few things you can’t make with this type of flour. While it has its differences from modern varieties of flour, it can be used to make all the same things — everything from breads and rolls, to muffins and cookies.

How It’s Different from Modern Wheat Flours

While you can bake just about anything you’d bake using a modern wheat variety, einkorn flour can prove quite different to work with. Two notable differences are the way einkorn flour absorbs both fats and liquids: Einkorn flour absorbs less fat than the modern wheat flours we’re most familiar working with, so the key is having just the right flour-to-fat (usually butter) ratio. It also absorbs liquid much more slowly.

Our Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe using Einkorn Flour

This week we made Chocolate Chip cookies with it. They came out delicious and didn’t have that grittiness or blandness that gluten free flours can sometimes bring to recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 cup Butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips

 

Directions:

• Set Oven to 375 degrees Farenheit
• Beat butter and sugars together until creamy. Add egg. Beat until blended.
• Add Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt and Vanilla. Beat until blended.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Drop teaspoon size cookies onto ungreased baking sheet. Push dough into cookie shape.
• Cook 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Makes Approximately 2 dozen cookies.

 

Where to Find Einkorn

Einkorn Wheat was lost in the hubub of modern wheat for a long time, so despite being a very old grain, it’s relatively new to the current market of wheat.  A few health brands carry it currently.  Young Living is one of them.

They currently carry three items with Einkorn

• Einkorn Flour
• Einkorn Pancake and Waffle Mix
• Einkorn Spaghetti

If you are interested in ordering please click here or comment below with questions and I will answer.  Finding this flour has been HUGE for us and I am excited to see what other products Young Living will come out with using Einkorn.

My November Essential Oils Order

It is hard to believe November is halfway over already.  Yesterday we had our family photo shoot for Christmas Cards and I can’t wait to see the photos.  We found a local photographer who is great with kids and has amazing props.  This year we choose to photograph at a local park and it awesome, but of course there is always hiccups.  For one my munchkin had just woken up from a nap so trying to get him to smile was like pulling teeth.  We probably looked hilarious with all our jumping up and down and waving of the hands to get a 1 year old to show their toothy grin.  Lol

And then I had bought a pair of pants for him and never bothered to try them on before the shoot. Well, they ended up being HUGE on him. So here we are trying to quickly hem tape them and cutting the waist and hem taping that to try and make it work for the shoot. Thankfully everything held but wow the stress…

Which leads me to the purpose of this post.  A bright spot to my weekend was receiving my monthly essential oil order on Saturday.  This month was different though as I didn’t actually order oils.  I decided to try some stuff from their other lines of products.  This month I bought Young Livings hugely popular Ningxia Red juice supplement, their Thieves Cleaner and their Einkorn Flour mix.  Since Brian had such good luck with the Waffle Mix we hoped he wouldn’t react to the pure Einkorn Flour. Read below to see the results of this test.

Ningxia Red

As you can see I dug right into the bottle and tried it.  I like it.  Not super sweet, but not so tart that your lips curl.  You only drink 1-2 oz. a day so I drink it like a shot. Some people add a drop or two of extra oils to their juice but for now I will drink it plain.  I am hoping it will help my energy and stamina.  Chasing a 1 year old around is no joke.

Key Benefits:

• Sustain energy with the combination of select wolfberries and other superfruits. Contains powerful ingredients which are involved in many antioxidant processes and may help prevent against oxidative stress.

  • Delivers citrus essential oils containing d-limonene, a powerful component in citrus oils.

  • Powerful formula includes wolfberry which is touted for its health benefits

Ingredients:

Proprietary NingXia Red Blend: Ningxia Wolfberry Puree (Lycium barbarum), Blueberry Juice Concentrate (Vaccinium corymbosum), Plum Juice Concentrate (Prunus domestica), Cherry Juice Concentrate (Prunus avium), Aronia Juice Concentrate (Aronia melanocarpa), Pomegranate Juice Concentrate (Punica granatum) Proprietary Essential blend 50mg Grape (Vitis vinifera) seed extract, Orange EO (Citrus sinensis), Yuzu EO (Citrus junos), Lemon EO (Citrus limon), Tangerine EO (Citrus reticulata) Other ingredients: Tartaric acid, natural blueberry flavor, pure vanilla extract, malic acid, pectin, sodium benzoate/natural stevia extract.

 

Thieves Cleaner

I am hopping on the eco-friendly cleaning bandwagon and trying this.  Which is a big thing for me as I still use bleach and bleach products for the bath and kitchen to kill the “crud”. I am hoping this will convert me away from that.  I bought a pretty cobalt blue bottle from amazon to mix the concentrated cleaner to an all-purpose cleaning ratio.  I really like the smell.  The cinnamon and clove oils in it are great cleaning powerhouses but also smell divine. So much better than the fake overpowering scents from the other cleaning products I normally use.  I also like how it is safe ingredients so I don’t have to worry if I use it around Bryce.

The new Thieves® Household Cleaner has increased cleansing power and an even safer, more sustainable formulation. The new formula contains ingredients from renewable plant and mineral sources, vegetable-based surfactants, and even more Thieves and lemon essential oils for extra cleaning power. Bottle is 100% recyclable.

Ingredients

Water, Alkyl Polyglucoside, Sodium Methyl 2-Sulfolaurate, Disodium 2-Sulfolaurate, Thieves [Eugenia Caryophyllus† (Clove) Bud Oil, Citrus Limon† (Lemon) Peel Oil, Cinnamomum Verum† (Cinnamon) Bark Oil, Eucalyptus Radiata† Leaf Oil, and Rosmarinus Officinalis† (Rosemary) Leaf Oil], Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, and Citrus Limon† (Lemon) Peel Oil.

†100% pure YLTG™ quality essential oil

 

Einkorn Flour

We made Cinnamon blueberry muffins with it yesterday.  Really good!  The flavor was very balanced and the dough had a more typical “wheat” feel than what we get with gluten free flours.  Brian ate TWO of them and didn’t have any reaction at all!! Really amazing.  Einkorn has more protein and much lower gluten levels than typical wheat.

Einkorn is the original “staff-of-life” grain, known as the oldest variety of wheat, which dates back to the beginning of time. Einkorn’s natural genetic code and low gluten levels make it a superior choice because of the compatibility with the human body when compared to the modern hybrid wheat of today. Einkorn grain is easier to digest, so nutrients are better absorbed.

 

There you have it. Interested in purchasing the above or getting started with your own Young Living Essential Oil kit? Click here for Young Livings order page.