I'm sure you've seen this floating around facebook.  I decided to try after my 28 day Clean Gut cleanse as a way of eating oatmeal again without the gluten.

Overnight Oatmeal
1 cup almond or coconut milk
1/2 cup whole oats (large flake)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. raisins
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp ground flax seed

Mix everything in a mason jar. Screw on lid and place in fridge overnight.

By morning the chia seeds have softened and all the milk has been absorbed. I really love it. My husband prefers dried cranberries.  I like mine cold but I have a co-worker who warms her's up and loves it.

Are oats gluten free?  Well it actually depends on the company you buy them from.  Quaker says that can't help some cross contamination and testing shows gluten in their product. What companies are gluten free?  Here are a few:
Bob's Red Mill 
Cream Hill Estates
Only Oats 

Check your local bulk food or health food store!

I JUST found this recipe at theyummylife.com ~ Pineapple Coconut Oatmeal.  I will be trying that out! (Click on the picture below for the recipe)  For a link to a bunch more varieties of overnight oatmeal check out The Yummy Life website HERE.

Every year I try to make some things to give away at Christmas.  2013 I opted for Homemade Caramels, Peanut Brittle, and Cinnamon caramel sauce.

I have had a number of people ask for the recipe for the caramels so here ya go...

Homemade Kahlua Caramel

Homemade Caramel

1 cup butter, unsalted
1 cup light corn syrup
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk (or substitute two cups half and half or light cream BUT factor in a longer cooking time)
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
*1/4 cup Kahlua ~ optional


1. Line 8x8 pan with parchment paper, even up the sides.
2. Cut butter into smaller, even sized cubes for even melting. Melt over low in sauce pan.
3. Carefully add sugar by pouring it into the center of the pan. Stir slowly until well combined with melted butter.
4. Mix in corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk (or cream).
5. Cook and stir on medium for one minute, then to med.-high until boiling. You want to change temperatures slowly. Once boiling, insert candy thermometer
6. Reduce heat to about medium, adjusting so that you keep a moderate, steady boil. Stir frequently!
7. Watch thermometer closely!!
8. When thermometer reaches 244°, remove caramel from heat (this is low firm ball stage; reaching this stage from boiling takes about 30 minutes with sweetened condensed milk ~ longer with cream)
9. Stir in vanilla or Kahlua. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan.
10. Allow to cool for several hours. I let it cool to room temp. and then put it in the fridge.  Once it's well set I pop the parchment paper out of the pan and cut it with a pizza cutter.  Allow lots of time to wrap them... it's a pain in the butt.

** The picture above I doubled the recipe to make more at once.

Today was Chili Sauce day. It's not a favorite day for my family but it's one of those necessary days every year.  Tomorrow is Chili Sauce Day Take 2.  Also not popular.

This morning I dragged my faithful family to the farm down the road to pick roma tomatoes.  We picked 1 bushel... well three of us did, the other one wandered around looking for bugs and avoiding any manual labour.

Said bug hunter redeemed himself by spending an hour chopping onions, peppers, and helping me skin what seemed like a million little red lava bombs.

All for this....

Here's how to make your own!

Steph's Chili Sauce (adapted from Cindy's!)
6 onions chopped
1/2 bushel tomatoes
3 green peppers chopped
3 red peppers chopped
4 cups vinegar
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
8 gloves garlic, smashed
1/4 cup pickling spice

I always blanch my tomatoes and remove the skin.  Then I dump it all into a huge stock pot, bring it to a boil, reduce and simmer until you have about 1/2 left. (a few hours).  Can it in jars.  We eat it all winter with nacho chips, or sometimes it's my base for pasta!  Love it!!

It's that time of year again... the time where I look at the mountain of zucchini on my table and wonder... "Why do I do this to myself every year??"

Oh well. Time to suck it up and deal with it.  If you are in the same predicament here are a few ways I'm using them up this year...

1. Zucchini Bread ~ the ol' stand by!
 I do some with chocolate chips and some without.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (optional) OR
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
Beat eggs, oil vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini, nuts, and chocolate (whichever you plan to use). Pour batter into pans. Bake 45-60 min or until a tester comes out clean from the center of the loaf. Cool in pans on rack for 20 min. Remove from pan and cool.  (For the record... the loaf on the left I tried to get out of the pan while it was WAY too hot still... cooling it is actually important.)

I usually double the recipe to do 4 loaves and give some away.


2. Zucchini Stuffing with Cheddar ~

4 slices of bread cubed
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups cubed zucchini
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup corn (I use frozen)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs beaten
salt and pepper
1/4 cup milk
2 cups shredded Cheddar

Toss the bread in a greased 9x13 dish, toss with the melted butter. Add the zucchini, onion, garlic and corn. Toss lightly. Mix the eggs, salt, pepper, and milk together and pour over the bread mixture.  Top with the cheese.  Bake covered at 350 for 30 min. Uncover for 10 more min.

It's pretty much like a stuffing with zucchini... I loved it.


Some other ideas that look AMAZING...

http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/07/25-zucchini-recipes.html

This is one of my more popular creations.  Here is a short How To on how to make this cake!  Enjoy.

Bake 2 chocolate cake layers.

I like this one:  

2 cups white sugar 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
3.	Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make a hot fudge sauce.

1 cup (250 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (300 mL) Regular or Low Fat Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter or margarine
2 tbsp (30 mL) water
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

Preparation: