|| Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Muffins ||

As many of you know I have been cursed with the dreaded Celiac Decease. It is a huge part of my life effecting me in so many ways other than just that I can't eat my favourite sub at Subway anymore, but that is another post for maybe another time. I have had Celiacs for over 5 years now so I feel pretty dang good at being able to tell you what gluten free foods suck and what ones are so delicious! I struggled for the first 3 years with finding things that I liked. At the time of my diagnosis being "gluten free" wasn't a fad and very little people knew what it was but fast forward to today and it's the new "it" diet! Couldn't be happier about this. Almost every restaurant I go to now has a gluten free menu or can at least tell me what foods are sans gluten. It is the bomb! One of the biggest struggles I found was finding good flour to use. I tried everything. It wasn't until my Aunt Cathy told me about Mama's Almond Blend All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour that my life was truly changed. (You must have xanthan gum also when cooking with this type of flour) It is the best gluten free flour I have ever used. It is awesome! I have been able to bake so many more treats and goodies that even Brett will eat! Which is a huge accomplishment because he refused to eat anything gluten free. He claims he has gluten only disorder. So I thought that I would try and post some gluten free recipes on here every once in awhile (cause I suck at blogging) that I have liked and that actually are Brett approved!

First up are these delicious GF Chocolate Bananas Muffins! {side note every time I spell bananas Gwen Stefani's voice pops into my head and then that song is stuck in my head for the rest of the day, but nobody is mad about it. Also I am not a huge banana fan but I LOVE these muffins. Weird I know.} They are so yummmmmy! We went home to Alberta a few months ago and Brett's mom made these and they smelled so good, which is surprising because I usually hate bananas as mentioned, but I couldn't eat them cause they were chalk full of gluten. So I had to watch Brett eat about 5 on our drive to the airport. Rude right? So when we got home he gave me the recipe that his mom used (thanks Robyn!) and I substituted the flour for Mama's Almond Blend All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and presto a favourite GF treat was born. So here is the recipe!

|| GF Chocolate Banana Muffins ||

Ingriedients

1/2 cup marg

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 mashed bananas

2 cups  Mama's Almond Blend All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour

1 tsp xanthan gum 

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 pkg mile chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Put margin, egg, and mashed bananas in a bowl and mix well. Then add the flour, baking soda, and sugar into same bowl and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix. Pour batter into muffin tins (I used muffin cup liners to help with easy cleanup). Leave in for 23-25 mins. Take out let cool and then enjoy!

|| Thanksgiving Dinner ||

Well peeps I did the dang thing. I cooked up the dinner and it was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Maybe ask Brett sometime when I'm not around to get a truthful, unbiased answer. I thought it would be a lot of work but I actually really enjoyed it. Not everything turned out the greatest... {my sweet potato casserole was a little on the "soupy" side} But overall I am proud that I took a chance and made something. For those of you who knew of my cooking skills pre-marriage, or lack there of, you would have been impressed. Mostly I am speaking to Annie, Amber, Megan, and my family! Anna if you are reading things just know that I took your for granted the year you were "my wife" and I am sorry. All those meals you made me, the treats you baked, I didn't say thank you enough. I hope this helps! Also to my own mother and to my mother in law, you guys are rock stars for always making such great meals like this! You make it seem effortless and I now realize it is not. Thank you both!

Anyway back to my meal. I made mashed potatoes with chicken gravy {shout out to my mother in law Robyn for getting me such yummy gluten free gravy!!}, sweet potato casserole with brown sugar pecan topping, and green bean casserole. Also if you are living near us and are craving any of these foods please stop by or we will have leftovers for eternity. I have a problem with making way to much food. I even half the recipe most of the time. Any tips for solving this problem?

I was grateful that Brett was able to take a quick break from the books to share this meal with me. We each took a turn saying what we were grateful for and it was just a nice little dinner. I am so glad we did it! I am sure this will be the first of many thanksgiving dinners away from family so I am sure glad I get to spend them with the best husband in the world.

Well here are a few more pics of our quiet little thanksgiving feast complete with recipes.

Oh you might be wondering why I didn't include the chicken you see in the "things I made" sentence above... well because I got that bad boy from wally world. We are poor students after all. A full blown turkey just wasn't in our budget. It was delicious and the best part was it was made already!

I really hope everyone had a great thanksgiving complete with loved ones and good food!