Gluten Free Pop Tarts (Pinterest Poser Challenge)

This week's Pinterest Poser Challenge** isn't about crafts or outfits or expressing myself.  No this week it's about something I'm even worse at than crafting, baking.

**In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,* every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

*My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.

We are a gluten free (gf) household.  Even though JT is the only one of us that has to eat gluten free because he is the only one with Celiac disease, we are a gluten free household. We always say we're all for one and one for all. It works for us, not for every Celiac family.  

Just because it works for us, doesn't mean we don't miss gluten-filled foods. I make some of the kid favorites like chicken nuggets, pizza and corn dogs.  The homemade corn dogs look a little bit different than the packaged store-bought kind, but the kids have gotten used to it.  Sometimes when their friends come over they don't know what do with the homemade pizza or chicken nuggets, but they usually get over it and enjoy the meal.

My latest attempt at replicating popular kids foods was inspired by Pinterest.  I made Gluten Free Pop Tarts.

I had some great helpers. What 3-year-old doesn't want to roll out dough?

For the recipes, I did a Pinterest mash up of a few different recipes and came up with this:

Ingredients for the pop tart pastry:

2 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1 tsp of xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbs of butter or margarine (melted)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup of milk

Ingredients and Instructions for the cinnamon/sugar filling:

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

2 tbs of butter or margarine (melted)

Mix together in a small bowl and set aside.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, mix the flour, xanthan gum, salt and sugar.  Add melted butter, vanilla and milk and mix. 
• Turn the dough until it holds together well.  Start kneading!
• Spread gf flour onto a cutting board or clean surface and start rolling.
• Roll the dough very flat and very thin (I wish I would've made mine even thinner than pictured below).
• Then cut into rectangles which will soon be your pop tart.
• Spread melted butter onto the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture onto one side of the dough.
• Use the other side of the rectangle dough as a cover.
• Fold the sides tightly, like very tightly so the filling doesn't seep through.
• Put the almost pop tarts onto a baking sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes.
• Don't forget the glaze** and then serve when they've cooled off a bit.

**Glaze**

Mix powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk until a glaze/frosting forms.  Drizzle it onto hot pop tarts from the oven.

The pop tarts don't look exactly like the store bought kind.  In fact they kind of look like Frankenstein-type pop tarts.  But guess what? None of my kids cared, because they tasted so good.  

Yes, it took a little longer and was more expensive than a simple box of regular pop tarts, but I'll make them again.  It was fun to bake with the kids and try out new recipes. 

The GF pop tarts were a hit at the breakfast table.

JT gave the pop tarts one thumb up.  It would have been two, but he was too busy grabbing another pop tart.

Once again Pinterest inspired me to do something way out of my comfort zone, like bake and combine recipes and take kitchen risks.  

Have you made something from Pinterest lately?  Had any great successes? Or advice?  Or warning about a project that's a total waste of time? Do tell.

Please share whatever you're working on in the comments here or over on Facebook.  Come on over and follow my Pinterest boards.

Here are some of the projects I've already attempted, the good and the bad:

Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

Come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here.

Burning Daylight & Searching For Soul

I've been feeling a little blue lately, a little down, a little not myself.  Even before I left for the longest road trip evah, I was off track.  But didn't somebody say you have to get off track to know just how right the right one feels?  Didn't someone say that in some sort of way? I need to get back on track, I need to remember who I am...

"We're burning daylight here, let's just play!," yelled JT to the other boys when they couldn't decide who was on whose baseball team.  

The kids know what's up.

They know that it's almost over.

It's the calm before the storm really, the last few weeks of sweet summertime.  The time when you try to squeeze in everything left undone on your summer list.  The time when you try to make the most of every bit of daylight.

Tim made the game winning grab, so of course that means a dog pile.

And of course, JT had to jump on too.

Knowing there isn't much time before long school days, homework, practice and more homework we try to make the most of every summer-y minute.  That might be why no one was thrilled when Tim and I announced this past Sunday was "Organize Your Room and Clean Out Your Closet Day."  There were no screams of approval or applause after we spoke.  Just groans and "do we have tos?"  It wasn't just the kids, Tim and I were whining too.  

Lucy renamed the day and made a sign.  She didn't really clean, but I appreciated that she made an attempt at enthusiasm.

All that back-to-school busyness means there will be no time to organize and clean.  The piles on the counter will get bigger right along with my anxiety.  Chaos does nothing but get me further off track.  So it was now or never.

Not sure if I've mentioned that I am organizationally challenged and that housework isn't really my thing.  I blame it on my mother.  Because I blame everything on her and it really is her fault.

When I was little we used to have random Clean Up This Place Saturdays.  In the early days my mother would blast Supertramp 8-tracks or ALABAMA records (when she was homesick for her home state) or the soundtrack to Fame (my personal favorite) and we would dance and sing and clean and dance some more.  We danced more than we cleaned.  

In later years, she would blast music, but we danced less.  The music was a little sadder (think Tracy Chapman), but it had soul and it was always loud.  

Those Saturdays were more about the music than the cleaning, more about the getting back on track with your soul than your closet.

So there, I never learned to keep a house properly and I blame her.  Even though my mother's story isn't a very happily ever after kind of story and her house was never clean, she did pass on a few important lessons--  Turn the music up loud, dance through the mess and always remember that you have soul.

Yesterday I cranked up my goddesses of soul, the women I have always turned to in times of off-trackness...Aretha, Patsy, Bonnie, Dusty, Etta, Tina.  

We vacuumed a little, filled a bag or two of clothes that the kids have outgrown to give away and cleared one pile off the counter.  I felt my heart lighten even though my house was only slightly cleaner.

The kids danced, we all danced.

Tim got a chance to play DJ and that led to soul searching/dancing to Beastie Boys, Jane's Addiction, ACDC.

"Juicebox hewoooo," sang Wade.  You know the classic song Jukebox Hero from Foreigner?  It's Wade's very favorite song, which he has made all his own.

It's not a cure all, I'm still a little off, but it helped.  My kids may be blaming me for their messy houses when they grow up and I can live with that.  Honestly if that's the only thing I get the blame for I will be quite proud. 

I hope they always turn up their music and dance to their own beat and remember they have soul.

Here are a few songs to get you feeling a little more soulful and hopefully dancing/singing on this Monday morning.

One of my favorite songs of all time, Bonnie Raitt's cover of Bluebird:


My favorite all time Aretha Franklin song, Spirit in the Dark:


One of Tim's favorite songs of all time (and legend has it, the cd he listened to on repeat on his first time visiting me in when we were dating and living in two different states), Jane's Addiction's Jane Says:



Here's Tracy Chapman's Fast Car:


One of my favorites from the original Fame soundtrack and how I so wished my lunchroom looked like, Hot Lunch Jam:


What's on your soul searching/get your groove back/dance in the kitchen playlist?  What music helps you get back on track and remember who you are?

What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

Last week on the big road trip, I brought along a fancy camera to capture the magical moments.  But I never got it out.  I was too worried about sand getting stuck in the lense or someone splashing too much in the pool.  And I didn't want to spend my vacation worrying.  So, I took every picture with my camera in my phone and I still captured some pretty magical moments.

Like boat rides,

my kids on the beach (even if a few of them were annoyed with me taking their picture saying "um, take it already mooooooom"),

multiple trips to get ice cream,

the awesome streets of Savannah,

going for the perfect shot (at a game of pool and with water balloons),

and even an unintentional Forrest Gump moment courtesy of a grumpy tween who was sitting out on our fountain wishing in Savannah.

Big fancy cameras are great, but using the camera in my phone let me be less worried and more in the moment.  So that's what I know this week for sure, I love that we live in a time where we carry phones in our pockets with cameras.  

Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• My road trip made me love my kids more. In case you missed it, here's the video from our road trip.

• I love this song and the video.  It is a little like my kids in the summer.  Since I saw this on Girls Gone Child I've watched it a lot.  So beautiful (and my kids love it too).

• A cheeky (or peachy) sense of humor is a good thing.  I saw this sign at a fruit stand in Alabama I always stop into on my way home every summer.  I think it's referring to the peaches? I think.

• I love bloopers.  I always wondered how the guys behind the YouTube series Conversations with My 2YrOld did their skits with straight faces.  Turns out, they had some bloopers.  

What do you know for sure (this week)? C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. Do you get great shots with your camera/phone? Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page.

  Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Sarah from SundaySpill.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones. 

Check them out. 

My Boys & Baseball

Baseball is part of the fabric of our family.

I love baseball.  But more than that, I love the way my boys love baseball.  It is pure.  It is deep.  It is what baseball movies are all about.  

This is one of our favorite movies around here...The Sandlot.
 


I love the way my boys will sleep with their mitts (and even baseballs), compare baseball cards and play catch all. the. time.

I love that when my oldest son went on his first sleepover at his cousin's house, he called his dad to talk Detroit Tigers' stats when he got a little homesick.

I love how they have always played baseball anywhere--in the backyard, on the beach, in the park, in the kitchen.  They use bats, they use sticks as tees for the little boys' wiffle balls, they use kitchen spoons as bats.

I love how in both homes we've lived in the backyard has become a baseball diamond.  I love how the neighbors know we are the ones with the bases and they play and play and play.

We may not have the nicest grass, but need a batting helmet?
Um, we have plenty of those.

I love how there is no tackling in baseball (as a mom of three boys, this is a big one).

I love watching my oldest teach my youngest how to swing the bat or throw a pitch.

After a tournament, before school, after school, in the summer or in the winter...any time, any season it's about baseball.

I love how our family can watch nine innings of any game (from little league to major league).

I love how they always bring their mitts to minor league games just in case a foul ball comes their way.

Baseball is my boys' life.  Their love may fade as they get older.  They might choose different sports, different interests.  But right now, I love the way they love baseball.   

This Dick's Sporting Goods commercial makes me tear up every time I watch it...they get it.

Video Proof & Linking Up With Mama Kat

I've mentioned before how much I like road trips.  As much as I like being on the open road, this year was a little much.  This year was a little far even for me (have I mentioned I spent 46 hours in the minivan last week?) and a lot of time alone with my kids.

One of the vlogging prompts from Mama Kat this week is "Family time. Show us something you did together." So here it is, video proof of my family time, my road trip:

(If you are an email subscriber, click here http://youtu.be/Kij7h9qxU3E to watch.)

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, 
click here!

In case you missed it, here were some of my concerns going into the trip:

(If you are an email subscriber, click here http://youtu.be/5YNi7giwHds to watch.)

Check out Mama Kat and the other funny vloggers over on Mama Kat's Losing It.  Click here.

Come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood.

Too-Much-Ahhh

I talk a lot about moments.  Living in the moment, embracing the moment, not missing the moment. But what if the moment sucks?  What if the moment is so filled with stress and awkwardness it chokes you?  What if the moment is so crowded with years of hurt feelings and misunderstandings?  What if all you want to do is get out of the moment?

Part of my trip was that moment, that moment I felt stuck in.  I felt trapped in a role I was cast in years ago as the emotional, sensitive one.  The one that has too many feelings.  The misfit, the broken one.  The trip was after all a family reunion.   A reunion with great expectations and well, a lot of messy feelings and broken people.

I usually dig these reunions of past and present and future.  All the generations taking a break from the messy brokenness and going to the beach.  Laughing, connecting, sharing stories of relatives we didn't know, passing down family legends and jokes.  Not hiding from the past, more like embracing the parts that they and we all lived through.  And at the same time making new memories and new inside jokes.

This year, it just wasn't working for some of us.  Sometimes a line is crossed that breaks open a flood of bottled up resentment that has more power than the crashing waves on the shore.  

My brother told this story about his friend from Sicily.  His friend is a well-liked man with many friends.  He loves to talk and listen.  But sometimes when the talks turn into a heated political debate or ideas that are too far out for him, he throws his hands up dramatically, closes his eyes and says in his thick Italian accent "Too-much-ahhh" and walks away.

This, my friends, is what you do when a moment is suffocating you.  This, my friends, is what I did with those moments of my week.  Sometimes it was a joke to my brother, sometimes it was in my room at night after a good cry.  But it worked.  Because most of the "conflict" was way Too-much-ahhhh.

So, I focused on my present and my future....my four kiddos.  And while it was exhausting not to let on that I was feeling any bit of uncomfortableness, I pulled it off.  They had no idea and they had so much fun.  And I had fun with them.

I focused on the moments full of hope and light and wonder and love and magic.

Moments of collecting shells and sea creatures.  Sometimes discovering perfect shells, but finding beauty in the broken ones too.

Jumping waves and running from the big ones.

Playing Marco Polo because it's the best pool game ever invented, duh.

Celebrating 45 years of lasting love and marriage with puffy paint posters and seashell frames (and champagne and complete and total admiration if you're a grown up).

Cheering on brave body surfers.  My kids had no fear of the ocean which is great, but also completely Too-Much-Ahhhh.  While I was on the shore with Wade, the other kids went out chasing waves and body surfing.  I constantly counted heads as they popped up.  I felt like Carol Brady anxiously watching from the beach. Remember the Hawaii episode where Greg was surfing and then didn't pop up after crashing into a wave?  Thank goodness none of my kids were wearing a cursed medallion. 

Making wishes.  Which was all very magical in fountains surrounded my palm trees, live oaks and street performers in Savannah (one of my favorite cities).

Catching Lulu daydreaming.

We left the beach and drove to Alabama to visit more family.  Every summer I go to my spend time with my cousin.  In the same town I've been going to every summer of my life.  It was a great way to wrap up the trip.  We all went to a minor league baseball game in the same stadium that I used to go to when I was a kid.  

Making the 13 hour drive back to metro Detroit yesterday, I was tired.  Tired from all the playing, all the getting stuck in a bad moment and getting unstuck, all the overthinking, overfeeling, all the fun, and all the god damn driving.  

We made our annual stop at GunTown Mountain Kentucky (another one of my favorite places remember this and this?).  "Half Off Everything" signs were posted on the doors of the country store.  We walked in and were greeted by the amazing Miss Della who has run the store for the past 45 years.  (And remembers us when we stop by every summer!)

"It's a big sale today," I told her.

"Yeah, I'm retiring and shutting the place down," she said in a voice that so closely resembles my grandmother's it my makes my heart hurt.

All of a sudden, it was Too-Much-Ahhhh.  My eyes filled up with tears and the kids asked "what's wrong mom?" for the first time the whole trip.

"Um, I'm just sad, this won't be here and we won't see Della," I said, my voice cracking.  It was that and everything else good and bad from the last 11 days.

Della reached over and grabbed my hand and said, "Well hon, it's going to be okay, it's all going to be okay."

And I believe her.