The best apple-cake-dessert-thing ever

So, I've been a bad blogger... I know.  Things is crazy.  I guess I'll have to blog about all the craziness at some point.  But I'm getting closer to my Phd, so a little crazy (or a lot) is to be expected.

Anyway, I was forced to come blog because a week or so ago I found the unicorn of cookbooks.  A gluten-free, casein-free cookbook developed by a chef so she could cook for her 13 year old son.

Tonight, I wanted a dessert, and Mowgli ate the last cookie.  So I made the apple coffee cake from the book.  Pure Heaven.  So I'm sharing the recipe:

• Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan.
• Peel and cube 2 large apples.  You want about 2 cups of apples.
• In a small bowl, toss together 2 tsp. GF flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, and 1 tsp. cinnamon.
• In another small bowl, whisk together  2 eggs, 1/2 cup granulated sugar,  and 1/4 cup brown sugar until smooth.  Whisk in 1/2 cup oil and 2 tsp vanilla.
• In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt.  
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
• Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, top with half the apples, and half the chocolate chip mixture.  
• Repeat layers.
• Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I think I need another slice.

Tofu

A few days ago, I made some miso soup.  This was the first time that I have served tofu on the dinner table and Mowgli didn't gag when he tried it.  I keep serving tofu, because it's one of the few things I can be absolutely certain that Mowgli doesn't like.  Or at least that was my plan.

See, Mowgli's a smart kid.  He knows the 'right' answer.  He knows what adults want to hear.  So when we ask him if he liked X.  The reply he always gives is "I like X."  always with the same sing-song intonation. 

Was that a good apple?
It's a good apple.
Was that a good brownie?
It's a good brownie.
Was that a good mushroom?
It's a good mushroom.
Did you like those noodles?
I like noodles.
Did you like the tofu?
I like tofu.

Many parents would give anything to quit hearing but I don't like it.  Sometimes my brother is one of them.   But this is a real problem for us!  Mowgli's not answering the question, he's just giving us the response that he thinks will satisfy us.  And really, he's at an age where it's developmentally appropriate to think about favorites.  Favorite colors, favorite movies, favorite stories, favorite shirts...  We've got to get past just replying it's good to everything. 

But tofu made him gag.  Mowgli would tell me it's good around choking on it.  It was a golden opportunity.  So my glorious plan was to periodically serve tofu until he would tell me It's yucky! I don't like it!

Well, that was my plan until tonight.  Tonight I used the tofu leftover from the miso soup to make mabo dafu, a lovely combination of tofu & ground beef with a thick sauce.  Tonight he ate the rice and the tofu.  He picked the ground beef off of the tofu.  Ate the tofu.  Then asked for seconds of tofu.  He did not want seconds of rice.  He wanted tofu.  And he ate the seconds too. 

I can't tell if I'm winning or losing this battle. 

Rediscovering Cracker Jack

Eating is a lot more interesting when you have to pay attention to the ingredients of every single thing you eat.  I can't buy bags of meatballs at the grocery store because they have breadcrumbs in them.  I can't let my son eat a hamburger at school, because those burgers usually have textured vegetable protein in them, and that may or may not contain wheat.  And you might as well skip the snack food aisle.  Most BBQ potato chips have milk, and don't even think about the Sour Cream & Onion.  Even the chili cheese fritos have wheat.

So it was with great joy that I read the ingredients of a Cracker Jack box today.  In slight translation, the ingredients are:
sugar
corn
more corn
peanuts
more sugar
and more corn