Sometimes You Need A Little...Sometimes You Need A Lot

Gotcha!  You likely think this story is going to be about life with type 1 diabetes sometimes needing a little insulin & other times needing a lot of insulin.  That is not the direction I am going at all this time.  Let’s face it that it kind of goes without saying that that whole diabetes & insulin correlation thing has been done & then done again.  It is a little like saying that the sky is blue in other words.  At the risk of completely dating myself, my question for you is do you remember the commercial several decades ago that had the jingle of “sometimes you need a little Finesse, sometimes you need a lot?”  The commercial was playing on the word Finesse since the product itself was entitled that & we are all aware of the definition of the word finesse.  Those were in the big hair days & hair spray commercials were all the rage.  I was a little girl at the time of those commercials & frankly I don’t remember seeing too many ladies that chose to use just a little of the hair spray by the name of Finesse.  It is funny to look at photographs of family during the big hair days.  Each generation though likely finds the previous generations photos to look kind of funny because time & trends march on. 

The finesse that my mind travels to from time to time is the one in conjunction to new forms of cooking/baking.  Is it an art or a science or a combination?  In my kitchen my cooking & baking tend more towards being an art versus a science mostly because I am a rascal when it comes to wanting to follow a recipe to the letter.  I believe in a wee modification here & there.  Some recipes I have come to learn from experience would be better followed as a science.  Two examples come quickly to mind.  The first one is the automatic bread maker bread.  I have gone too far with my modifications from time to time & ended up with something resembling household grade concrete.  The second is the one time when I messed/modified a perfect canned peach recipe entrusted to me by my husband’s grandma.  I learned my lesson on those 2 recipes & found that being a bit of a kitchen scientist provided for a delicious outcome in those specific instances.  Everything else though I throw in a pinch of this & that & take out this & that & pretty much have an out loud one sided argument as to why putting in what is called for in most recipes is ludicrous or ridiculous or just plain gross sounding.  It is a feisty, fun kind of cooking & baking full of animation that takes place in my kitchen.  The ingredient that I claim is the secret ingredient to everything is love.  Okay, enough of the hokey stuff.

Has your kitchen ever looked like a complete science lab or worse an experiment gone terribly wrong?  I am not talking about a wee flop here or there when it comes to preparing a dish.  What if you went from feeling completely at ease with cooking to feeling like a toddler in the kitchen?  How would that feel?  Maybe you have had or are having this experience right now?  You just might be if you have had to give up a bunch of foods.  My list of foods for replacement is lengthy.  Due to celiac & many allergies identified 14 months ago, I am the toddler at times in our kitchen.  The 2 major changes over those months have been learning to cook with something other than wheat flour as well as all things dairy.  That has proven to be challenging at times.  The main courses have worked themselves out pretty well because spices & fresh foods are lovely.  Desserts are often an example of a science lab gone wrong in my kitchen though.  Muffins, cakes, cookies & more have been an abomination looks wise as well as taste.  Is gluten & dairy free cooking a science or an art?  That is a good question.  Is it a case of finding the cook book that clicks for us or getting some tips that make all the difference?  I don’t know.  It is very much a work in progress.  Frankly what I have going for me is that I live within a 10 minute drive to a couple of delectable gluten & dairy free bakeries just in case  the science lab gone wrong situation happens when company is coming over.  The other weapon I have in my arsenal is the wherewithal to make several goodies with some being gluten/dairy free & others on a separate plate being trusted oldies that can be served to dear hearts that can eat wheat & dairy.  It’s pretty awkward though if you sit there watching others enjoy goodies & have to sit it out.  It did not take long to come up with ways of dealing with this though.  First of all, how great is fruit!  Doing up a festive fruit platter means that everyone can have that sense of being at ease.  Then the other thing that I like to do is to find at least one baking item that is dairy free and gluten free that not only I find enjoyable but better than that, my dear hearts ask for the recipe for.  Do you know that feeling when you just are not certain whether people are complimenting a baking treat to be kind or if they really, truly enjoy it?  Well, I suppose I have had so many gluten & dairy free flops in the kitchen over the past 14 months that it is a big win to say that I have one gf/df baking treat that is a win!  This treat has been served to well over a hundred people in the past year with rave reviews consistently so it is the go to recipe for serving along with other recipes that are not gluten & dairy free.  (on a separate platter)  Many dear hearts have asked me for the recipe & so I thought that I would just go ahead & share it with all you dear hearts too.  A friend of mine recently reminded me that I hold my recipes pretty close to the vest so to speak so truthfully it is a push for me to actually share many recipes with others.  I kind of don’t like that about myself so here I go sharing my one & only baking success that is gluten free & dairy free publically.  The recipe is for date squares.  If you have diabetes you will need to know that this recipe has a boat load of carbs in it.  I only personally choose to have a tiny square because I have to take quite a bit of insulin relatively speaking to indulge in just one.  The accompaniment for a tiny date square that I find to be yummy is a cup of Tealish Lemon Meringue tea latte.  The latte is easy to make into a dairy free one by replacing the dairy with your choice of soymilk, almond milk or coconut milk.  I cannot seem to successfully enjoy soymilk without “repercussions” & am allergic to almonds so I make my latte with “So Delicious Original or Vanilla Coconut Milk.”  To make the yummy drink, I make the tea twice the usual strength & then froth the coconut milk & add it in & it tastes absolutely delicious. 

The recipe for the date squares is:

Filling:

-4-6 cups chopped, pitted dates

-1/4 cup white sugar

-1 ½ cups water

-1-2 tablespoons fresh juiced lemon

Dough:

-1 ½ cups unrefined virgin coconut oil

-2 cups brown sugar

-3 ½ cups gluten free flour (I use Pamela’s)

-1/2 teaspoon gf baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon gf baking powder

-3 cups of gluten free rolled oats

In a saucepan over low heat, combine filling ingredients & cook until thickens.  While waiting for filling to thicken, make dough.

In a large electric mixing bowl, cream coconut oil & brown sugar well.  Next add oats & mix well with electric mixer.  Add the rest of the dough ingredients & mix well until totally blended together.  Grease a 13 by 9 inch pan with coconut oil & put in half the dough & pat down well.  Next cover this dough layer with date filling evenly.  Cover the date filling mixture with the remaining dough & pat down.

Cook 350-375 F fir 25-30 minutes.  Allow to cool & then cut into squares.  Enjoy J

My heart’s hope for you is that you find something that you have had success with & share it with your dear hearts too.  The point of having a win is to share it don’t you think!

Smiles,

Saundie :)

As always be gentle with yourself & enjoy time doing something that energizes you & brings you joy.  And share those things with others around you.  The next Monday story idea will be entitled, “Just Call Me Slotty Bartfast” & it is actually not written yet.  That is how my creativity rolls though…for some reason I seem to start with a title & then create the story from there.  The next Monday story will be posted in two weeks on Monday September 14^th mostly because from now until next Tuesday, I am squeezing in fun with our 3 sons before school starts back up for them.  Have a hit it out of the park 2 weeks!  (Go Jays Go as an aside).  And I am as always cheering for you too :)