Crustless Cauliflower Quiche Gluten Free

We made this for a church potluck and the smell of parmesan cheese cooking was amazing and there were no leftovers to bring home!

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of rice or quinoa
• ¼ cup of hempseed
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 medium zucchini shredded
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• 1½ cups cauliflower finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon cheyanne pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1 ½ cups almond milk
• 3 eggs beaten
• ½ cup grated Parmesan or cheese of your choice Old cheddar is also good

Directions:

1. Cook the rice or quinoa as per package directions
2. Grease a 9 inch pie plate and spread the hempseed evenly over the bottom of the plate
3. Add the coconut oil to large frying pan on medium heat
4. Add the onion, and garlic and sauté for approximately 2 minutes
5. Add the zucchini, carrot, cauliflower and basil and sauté for a further 3 to 5 minutes
6. Remove from the heat and stir in the rice or quinoa
7. In a bowl mix together almond milk, eggs and ½ the cheese
8. Add the cook ingredients to the prepared pie shell
9. Pour in the milk and egg
10. Sprinkle the last of the cheese on top
11. Bake in a 350 °F oven for between 35 to 45 minutes until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean
12. We like to then place the pie under the broiler until the cheese turns brown.
13. Rest the quiche for 10 minutes before eating.

This quiche can be made a day ahead and reheated without any loss of taste.

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Tribute to Mother - Young Mother Poem

Young Mother

by~Robert William Service

Her baby was so full of glee,

And through the day

It laughed and babbled on her knee

In happy play.

It pulled her hair all out of curl

With noisy joy;

So peppy she was glad her girl

Was not a boy.

Then as she longed for it to sleep,

To her surprise

It just relaxed within her keep

With closing eyes.

And as it lay upon her breast

So still its breath,

So exquisite its utter rest

It looked like death.

It seemed like it had slipped away

To shadow land;

With tiny face like tinted clay

And waxen hand.

No ghost of sigh, no living look . . .

Then with an ache

Of panic fear and love she shook

Her babe awake.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Market Day

Wordless Wednesday

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Tribute to Mother - Poem by Robert William Service

The Mother  

Robert William Service

Your children grow from you apart,

Afar and still afar;

and yet it should rejoice your heart

To see how glad they are;

In school and sport, in work and play,

And last, in wedded bliss

How others claim with job today

The lips you used to kiss

(picture of a wedding)

Your children distant will become,

And wide the gulf will grow;

The lips of loving will be dumb,

The trust you used to know

Will in another's heart repose,

Another's voice will cheer . . .

And you will fondle baby clothes

And brush away a tear.

But though you are estranged almost,

And often lost to view,

How you will see a little ghost

Who ran to cling to you!

Yet maybe children's children will

Caress you with a smile . . .

Grandmother love will bless you still,--

Well, just a little while.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

A Tribute To Mother

Mother o' Mine 

by Rudyard Kipling

If I were hanged on the highest hill,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

I know whose love would follow me still,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

I know whose tears would come down to me,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,

I know whose prayers would make me whole,

Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

Words by Georg Weissel, 1642

Score by J. Baptiste Calkin 1872

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;

Behold the King of glory waits;

The King of kings is drawing near;

The Savior of the world is here!

O blest the land, the city blest,

Where Christ the Ruler is confessed!

O happy hearts and happy home,

To whom this King in triumph comes!

Fling wide the portals of your heart;

Make it a temple, set apart from earthly

Use for heaven’s employ,

Adorned with prayer and love and joy.

Redeemer, come! I open wide

My heart to thee; here Lord abide.

Let me thy inner presence feel;

Thy grace and love in me re-veal.

This hymns is within the public domain and to be directed the sheet music click here. Note: the word on the sheet music and those in the Hymnal the word were taken from are different.  You can choose which you prefer.

This hymn was found in Church and Sunday School Hymnal Supplement 1911, Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale PA.  #415

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Tuna Melts

Grandpa’s Tuna Melts

 

This is one of Grandpa’s specialties and the go to meal when comfort food is in order. 

Ingredients:

• Bread (Grandma’s is always made on gluten free bread)
• 1 tin of water packed tuna
• 1 small onion chopped
• ½ red pepper chopped
• ½ cup cucumber chopped
• 1 carrot finely grated
• 1 tablespoon relish
• 2 tablespoons light mayo
• Cheese slices or shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Chop all of the vegetables
2. Drain and add the tuna to the vegetables along with the mayo and relish
3. Mix well
4. Toast 8 slices of bread
5. Divide the tuna mixture on the 8 slices of bread and top with cheese
6. Bake in a 350 °F oven for 10 or until the cheese browns

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Growing figs in Ontario Canada

Purchased in 2013

A year ago this week we posted how our fig tree wintered in our garage (click here visit this post) and yesterday April 29, 2015 we started moving out two year old tree outside during the day and back in the house overnight. 

Our fig tree has five figs developing and they brown spots on them and a few of the leaves look as bugs are attacking them.

Here are some great links if you would like to grow a Canadian fig tree

1. Yes, you can grow figs in Ontario it's not that hard
2. Fig Fetishists in Ontario

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Burdock

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

10 Things to Tell Your (Grand)children in April

Let our stories spark the imagination of our children, "creating pictures in [their] heads" of our childhood and in this way strengthening their identity and sense of personal ancestry. 

In April introduce your (grand)children to your memories of:

1) Your earliest memory of getting lost in a book.

I have vivid memories of being curled up in the corner of my bedroom curled up in a nest of pillows forgoing lunch on a Saturday afternoon not willing to leave Anne alone in her struggle to belong to a family ~ Anne of Green Gables

2) Your favourite childhood toy and what you cherished about the toy and if you still have this toy bring it out and share it while you tell your story.

3) Describe your childhood Easter traditions.

4) Discuss the Easter traditions that you have established for your family remembering that no tradition is a tradition and your reasons.

5) Any memories you have of mud and spring.

I was 8 years old when playing with friends at the top of a favourite sledding hill I slipped and slide down the length of the hill on my back. I returned home covered entirely in mud except for my eyes - a mud monster.

6) Your favourite spring flowers.

7) When you think back to your childhood what activities was/is associated with spring take time to talk to your (grand)children about these memories.

8) Share any childhood family activities associated with spring.

Collecting pussy willows is a family tradition from my childhood and one I have continued. We would as a family drive the countryside looking for pussy willows and more than once Dad lost the muffler on the car on muddy back roads.

9) What your favourite Easter candy or food treat was/is.

10) Bunnies factor large in North American spring culture. Share your memories of spring rabbits.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls 

Sunday Dinner and a Hayride

As a child Sunday afternoons were either spent having a family over for dinner or being invited over to another church member’s home.  If we were lucky they would have children around our age and a wonderful afternoon would be spent playing.  This custom has for the most part disappeared in favour of going out for dinner at restaurants which are now open Sundays.

 Today we revisited this old custom when we were invited to break bread with members of our church.  The meal was wonderful and for Ruth, Emily and Haley the real treat happened after dinner when they were invited on a private hayride.

As a child what were your families Sunday afternoon traditions?

When was the last time you went out of a hayride or wondered around in the woods on a Sunday afternoon?

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Sour Cherry Dumplings

There are those recipes that bring back childhood memories of kitchens, sweet boiling syrup, and windows steamed over with the moist rich mist coming off the stove.  Sour Cherry Dumplings is just such a recipe.  We have adapted the recipe to be gluten and dairy free and as requested we have included the original recipe as well.

Ingredients:

Dumplings

• 1 cup of gluten free pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup almond milk (or your favourite none dairy milk)

Sour Cherry Sauce

• 2 cups water
• ½ cup coconut sugar (this made the syrup brown in colour you can substitute with any sweetener of your choice)
• 2 cups cherries
• 2 drops almond extract

Directions:

Sauce

1. Place all ingredients for the sauce in a medium sauce pan with a tight fitting lid.
2. Stir until the sauce begins to boil and then turn the heat down to low

Dumplings

1. Mix the dry ingredients
2. Add almond milk to the dry ingredient just until combined do not over mix
3. Drop the dumplings one spoonful at a time into the sauce
4. Cover and let boil on low for 15 minutes

Note:  if the sauce is too thick do not be afraid to add more water

Original Recipe

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Horse and Plough

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Crocheting The 2015 Sky

March 2015

March

“The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing,

The small birds twitter,

The lake doth glitter, The green field sleeps in the sun;

The oldest and youngest, Are at work with the strongest;

The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising;

There are forty feeding like one!

Like an army defeated, The snow hath retreated,

And now doth fare ill, On the top of the bare hill;

The Plowboy is whooping-anon-anon:

There’s joy in the mountains; There’s life in the fountains;

Small clouds are sailing, The rain is over and gone!”

~ William Wordsworth

For my yarns I go to Docknits in Port Elgin and now they have an online store that we all can shop from.  

Click here to be directed to Docknits

I have a problem that I am hoping you can help me solve,

What should I make with 52 granny squares that measure 6 inches square?  

What are do you suggest?

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Planting Grandma's Coleus

I can remember my Grandmother and Aunt Marjorie over wintering coleus and geraniums plants.  All winter I would watch the coleus get bigger and more spindly and the geraniums hanging in the basement gets dryer and more dead looking.

Then in the spring these wise women of my childhood would cut the coleus into small pieces and shake the dry dirt off the geraniums and plant both in fresh new soil.  Soon to my amazement both would grow and once again bring beauty to the gardens of my childhood.

Last year we took our spindly coleus plant and with the help of our granddaughters cut the plant into small pieces making many new beautiful plants for our gardens (Click here to visit that post).  

Today Ruth and Emily in search of something to do spied our large spindly coleus and so began our Sunday afternoon cutting and planting frenzy.  If they all grow we will have 73 separate coleus plants our summer garden.  I think there maybe a plant give away in our future.

What do you remember from your childhood gardens?

How are you sharing a love of gardening with the children in your life?

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Apple Cake Squares Gluten Free

and dairy free

We once again ventured into the many cookbooks and scrapbooks that we have inherited from our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers.  In one of the scrapbooks we came upon Apple Cake Squares and decided it would be our Saturday evening desert.

Many of you have asked that we include the original recipe when we adapt them to be gluten free and so at the end of each such recipe post we will include the original.

In our adaptation we have substituted coconut oil or shortening and 1/3 cup honey for the sugar.  We tried many egg substitutes without success so we left them in and we change out the flour for gluten free flour.  The end result was a moist rich cake that can be eaten alone or placed in a bowl with warm almond milk poured on it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup gluten free pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 apples diced
• 1/2 cup course chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves

Directions

1. Cream coconut oil and honey together
2. Add eggs one at a time
3. In a separate mixing bowl mix all your dry ingredients 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet
5. Fold in the apples and walnuts
6. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes
7. Let cool and cut into squares

Original Recipe

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Paper Wasps

Wordless Wednesday

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Children both blessings and life lessons.

(Grand)children are a blessing, they keep us young and take us forward with them into the future.  

They also bring with them life lessons as they challenge us to move into their world, to take risks in ideas and see the world through their eyes.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015twosnydergirls

Faith or Skepticism as a Parent

 Do you have faith or Skepticism in your parenting ability?

Faith in yourself to be what your (grand)children need in a parent.

Faith in your (grand)children as they grown up and away from you.

and

Faith in you community to be a safe and supportive place to raise your (grand)children.

The alternative is to be skeptical in your abilities as a (grand)parent.

Suspicious of your (grand)children.

and

To see treachery in the communities where we raise our (grand)children.

Which point of view do you parent from?

Because if our (grand)children  have faith in they future opportunities will open up that a future viewed through fear will never have.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Belmore Maple Syrup Festival

48th Annual Maple Syrup Festival

Sometime the best way to start a Saturday is to not have a plan at all.  That is exactly how we started with coffee and a desire to go for a drive.  We heard about the 48th Belmore Maple Syrup Festival over the radio and off we went, we had our destination.  

In the photograph above children are learning to tap trees.  They drilled the hole, tapped in the spial and hang a pail and just a few feet away and under very close supervision there was an evaporator steaming on top of a fueled firbox.

A pancake breakfast with sausages and plenty of maple syrup was the big draw of the day.  We were fascinated with the pancake production line equipped with it's own conveyor belt.  Six large hot plates with three on each side kept the line of hungry visitors from having to wait too long.

There were also many artisans selling their crafts, as well as the mandatory bake sale table which by 10:30 am was well on the way to being sold out.

It was a wonderful day at the Belmore Maple Syrup Festival 

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls