Pear Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Nut Topping

Happy  Christmas!  It is cold and
rainy in our neck of the woods.  We've had thunderstorms since
midnight.  It's a perfect moring for coffee cake and hot chocolate for
breakfast.  This coffee cake has the DH stamp of approval - he exlaimed
"oh man, this is good coffee cake!" at the first bite, and now there is
none left.  I'll have to make more for Boxing Day!




Pear Coffee  Cake

1 1/2

Coffee Cake and Muffin Blend

Millet flour tastes lovely in coffee cakes and quick breads.  Alone, it tends to be crumbly.   Add buckwheat flour, and this blend  makes a moist coffee cake with a perfect crumb.

1 1/2 cups millet flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch

Sift all ingredients until well-blended.  Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

Cinnamon Skillet Apples

Skillet apples are one of my favorite recipes to make.  They are fast, easy and fun to make with kids.  Serve them for dessert by topping them with ice cream (we like So Delicious Vanilla Bean) or Soyatoo Rice Whip.  OR serve them for breakfast by topping them with granola (we like Homemade Buckwheat Granola) and/or yogurt (So Delicious Vanilla Yogurt or homemade coconut milk yogurt).

4

Pinto Bean Chili

Today is damp and cloudy.  Tomorrow will be cold and windy.  Weather like this is perfect for chili.  This pinto bean chili is my new favorite - it's very thick since Anna won't eat anything brothy.  You can thin it with more broth or even salsa if desired, or serve it with cornbread or on top of a baked potato.  I like mine dressed simply with plenty of chopped fresh tomato and avocado.

1

Romeo's Bruschetta Topping

It got cold here!  Last weekend it was 80 degrees, and this morning we woke up to snow.  My blood must be thinning because I'm starting to complain about 40 degree weather.  DH flaunts his "I grew up in northern Vermont" style by running around in this weather in shorts...out of spite, I think.  But I bundle up, and the girls more than me (hats and scarves and the works...it's not that cold). 

Fresh Berry Pancakes

It has been quiet here for the past month.  More like normal.  Anna wigged out for a good two months after the start of school, and then she calmed down and life is back to the way it used to be.  I took some good advice and to try to get a handle on Anna's meltdown triggers, I started using a point chart.  Anna got one point each for a good morning, a good afternoon and good homework time (