Almond Flour Cinnamon Rolls

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

I awoke this weekend nostalgic as all get up for cinnamon rolls. Growing up, we rarely ever made them from scratch, instead used the dough boy’s (you know, in that tube you peeled to pop it open), often with orange frosting because my sister has a sweet spot for fruit in her sweets, and it’s good. And they were good. But, alas, my family eats no grains and we make most things from scratch now a days. The old days were good ones, but I’m happy here, too. And I have been working with almond flour like it’s nobody’s business–except I’m making it yours, now, too. Almond flour is divine. It’s simply magical!

After I got the senator up and running (you have to get the fire really hot first, before you can preheat the oven in our house), I began to make the dough. We typically find that almond flour works well in almost any dough setting if we use a blanket recipe (2 1/2 cups almond flour, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil or butter) adding a few bits here or there. So taking this blanket recipe, I adapted it for our cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon Rolls
3 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter (or oil of your choice, the flavor of coconut oil would work well for this recipe)
2 pastured eggs
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey!)

1 1/2 cup pecans and walnuts and raisins, coarsely chopped up
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey!)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (ground)

Preheat oven to about 350 degrees (almond flour cooks beautifully at lots of temperatures, I’ve even cooked biscuits in a jam at 200 degrees for 15 minutes longer than the recipe called!), so stand by.

Mix first three ingredients in a bowl. Add butter, mix. Add eggs one at a time, mix. Add maple syrup, mix.

Knead it with a spatula or your hands.
Spread a ball on parchment paper on a flat surface. Kneed a bit. Pat it down into a nice big squarish shape. You can use a second piece of parchment paper and use a rolling pin, but we like to pat it with our hands.

In a small bowl, mix together the nut and raisin combination with the maple syrup and cinnamon.
Spread thinly on your dough.

Use your parchment paper to help roll it into a long log. You will need the assistance of your parchment paper, because this dough is made from almond flour it’s not as stretchy and sticky as a wheat or other gluten flour.

Once you have a nice rolled log, wrap it up in the parchment paper and plop it in the freezer while you make your icing.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
4 oz. cream cheese (you can make it by straining 12 oz of yogurt with a tight knit cheese cloth or tea towel for an hour or more–monitoring for consistency), softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (you could use milk, half and half, coconut milk, or almond milk, with extremely similar results)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Orange Cream Cheese Icing
Same as above, omit the vanilla, add 1/2 teaspoon orange zest and 1/2 teaspoon orange extract

Mix using a hand blender, hand beaters, or an immersion blender.
Scoop into a bowl. Set aside.

Retrieve your log from the freezer. Unroll the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet. Take the log (not frozen, only a little hardened from the cold) and cut two inch sections, evenly. Flip them (so the spiral is facing up) and spread on your parchment paper.

Bake for 15-25 minutes. Stay close, though, because they could cook faster or slower in your oven! You want the top to be lightly golden, the middle to be tender (not doughy), and the sides to be beautifully blonde.

Let the rolls cool slightly.
Ice them with your frosting. Enjoy!

DIY household cleaners

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

To make a simple and effective household cleaner, you need not look outside your home! We fight even the toughest stains on our white kitchen ceramic sink with baking soda (our wood stove coats most of our cast iron pans in a soot to be seen, when we wash them our sink becomes scarred and marked, this is a revolution for our home)! We spray everything down with the cleaning anti-bacterial essential oils of tea tree and lemon and water. For tough messes, simply combine all of the said ingredients with some vinegar or lemon juice and water and you have the tough action fighting cleaner!

DIY All Purpose Household Spray
10 drops essential oil of your choice (lavender is also anti-bacterial, oregano oil is extremely antimicrobial, etc.)Water to fill your spray bottle

DIY Gritty Household Scrub
5 drops essential oil
2 tablespoons of Dr. Bronners liquid soap
1/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice
mix all ingredients in a mason jar. It will make a thick paste. Use on the counter, in the sink, to clean out any ceramic coffee mug with stains, all enamelware (you know we love those!)

For the living room, look in your first aid kit! Hydrogen peroxide cleans stains on your carpet, your couch, your throw pillows, and your rugs!

And for the redwood we have all around our home, we like to polish with a simple solution of 1 cup olive oil plus the juice of one lemon (or orange, or both! it’s citrus season, after all!). The cabinets smell so delicious and look beautiful, too.

We don’t have a single “locked” cabinet in our home. I want to keep my children safe and having all natural home-made cleaners keeps me resting assured that they are. It also aligns just dandy with our money budget!

What cleaner do you make yourself?

Squash Pancakes! Our new favorite.

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

I love love love these pancakes! They are sweet or savory. They are breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are cold or warm or piping hot. They are everything I’ve searched for in a pancake with texture and fluff, with color (oh my!), with taste!

They are grain-free. They are whole foods. They are downright delicious. They are the most simple (once you bake the squash) to make.

We’ve been using red kuri squash. You can use any squash. The vivid orange of this delicious variety has our hearts stolen.

1. Slice in half, spoon out seeds, place face down in an oven-safe dish, pour an inch or more water in the dish.
2. Once soft (poke with a knife), pull out and let cool.
3. Spoon the yummy squash into a bowl.
4. Save half of the squash for squash soup.
5. Let cool completely.
6. Add 2-3 eggs.
7. Add two heaping spoonfuls of nut butter. We’ve been using and loving cashew butter. It’s creamy, and lets the squash stand on its own. I prefer it to peanut butter–which I think takes over the flavor.
8. Mix together until very well distributed.
9. Add seasonal spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, freshly grated ginger, etc.) for breakfast pancakes, and savory spices (like cayenne pepper, salt, seaweed salt, etc.) for dinner pancakes.
10. Heat a cast iron skillet (using the no-stick trick).
11. Add coconut oil or ghee or butter to the pan.
12. Ladle the pancakes onto the skillet.
13. Flip when small bubbles form.

Willa’s Almond Birthday Cake

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

For lil dub’s birthday we made a yummy almond cake. I made a trial the week before, as not to flop the birthday cake. It has been a hit since then. I wanted a cake with no grains. I wanted a cake with moist texture and one that held up. We use almond flour a lot in our home and while we like to make our own, we also use store-bought. On the package of store-bought we found this recipe (the package is Bob’s Red Mill). I’m madly in love!

It’s called Magically Moist Almond Cake, and I changed a few bits, but I’m in love with the magic in this title and cake!

Magically Moist Almond Cake, Glitter & Grit edition:

3/4 cup (one and a half sticks!) butter

3/4 cup maple syrup

4 eggs

1/2 cup raw milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream butter and syrup. Add eggs one at a time. Beat until blended. Add vanilla and raw milk. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredient bowl. Mix well. Line one cake pan with parchment paper (this step is optional, I prefer using parchment paper). You may also use a greased cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Serve with your favorite icing. Serve without any icing. It’s that good, y’all.

For our icing I used a tried and true in my family. My mom texted me the image of the very recipe page she used at least 24 times to make my own birthday cake. I tweaked that recipe, too, though. (For my birthday, my absolute favorite all time, every time cake was Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing. My mom perfected it, as you can imagine!)

Tried and True Cream Cheese Icing, Glitter & Grit Edition:

8 ounces cream cheese (softened via hours at room temperature)

1 stick butter (softened via hours at room temperature)

1/2 cup maple syrup (the original calls for 2 cups powdered sugar, but I adapted it to our maple syrup sweetener theme)

Mix ingredients well.

My mom suggests making more than you need (like doubling or one and a half the recipe) because she loves it so much!)

I’m going to make this cake again, and again, and again. I made it for the dark moon celebration on the 13th. I think it will be a staple in our kitchen.

(Those are raisins on top!)

Senator Cooks an 8 Pound Turkey

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

November is my favorite month! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Hands down, no questions asked, favorite holiday of the year. I love it. A holiday based on gratitude, with good food, the gifts of abundance and harvest are the only ones given, and feasting with family and friends, what’s not to love?

We contemplated joining our friends’ to their family Thanksgiving feast a few hours north of here, it would be our third year. They have adopted us into their holiday season and we felt honored to be invited a third time. But with the wedding and the over-stimulation it brought for our daughter, we opted to have a very intimate Thanksgiving in our house bus. It went so smooth and beautiful, I am so excited! The senator cooked everything! We made a wood-burning feast, y’all!! It was downright dreamy, I tell you.

Kalamata Aioli

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

After tasting kalamata aioli while in San Francisco a few weeks ago when Cody and I took a long drive (sans bebe) up highway one to buy his wedding duds, we were completely sold. Cody immediately went to buy olives at the New Leaf olive bar. The aioli wasn’t anywhere on the menu and we didn’t have a specific plan to make it, but we knew it would come about. One afternoon Willy and I decided we would take a stab at it. And I’m so glad we did!

I’m so madly in love with our pestle and mortar!

Look at those olives!
We didn’t make our own aioli from scratch this time, but one of my favorite parts of living a life from scratch is that it’s overall. And I firmly believe in doing what feels good and right for you, so this felt good and right for us in this particular venture, and we’re happy with the outcome. I’m also a fan of going easy on myself and supporting my choices.

Some children love ice cream. Some crave chocolate cake. My darling, the sweet savory sap, loves licking the pestle remains of garlic-y, kalamat-y paste.

And the stamp of approval from the diverse palate of the almost-two-year-old. Love.

My Southern Kitchen

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

I’ve been in love with pork as long as I can remember. At Buenos Aires Cafe in Austin one summer evening with Cody two years back I said “when pork is on my plate, everything else pales in comparison” and meant every word with a fervent truth reaffirmed each opportunity which exists. Lately I’ve been mad about pork chops and port gravy! For this meal, I made traditional mashed potatoes with raw garlic, butter, milk, salt and pepper. I made carrots vichy, which is my new favorite way to eat cooked carrots.

You need about a pound of chopped carrots (peel them if you desire!),
filtered water to cover them in the pot,
4 tablespoons of butter (you may want to add a tablespoon just prior to serving),
2 tablespoons of honey,
sea salt to taste.

You boil the carrots in the water in a covered pot. Take off the lid and add 4 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons honey. Boil uncovered until the water reduces to nearly nothing. Add a tablespoon or so of butter and sea salt to taste. Serve warm.

To make the chops and port gravy:

you’ll need:
a bit of flour, salted and peppered, perhaps a tiny (super tiny, super fresh) bit of rosemary (any flour works well, but I prefer oat flour for this, because its nutty robust flavor adds to the chops!),
pork chops, bone-in,
butter,
bone broth,
port
To begin, dredge the sweet chops through the salted, peppered, perhaps herbed flour and shake off excess flour. Give it a fairly good coat, but not completely covered and smothered.

Place them in a hot skillet with butter and brown each side.
Add broth and simmer for about an hour. They will be so tender you never knew a meat to fall so gracefully from the bone!

Once finished, transfer pork to plates in a warming box or slightly warmed oven.
Use the left over delicious sauce and add 1/4-1/2 cup of port. I generally add a sprinkle or three of flour while constantly whisking to make that roux and then let it simmer until viscous, this takes about 5 minutes on a medium-low simmer, watching it carefully, perhaps even whisking often. Add sea salt just before serving, to taste.

I just love this gravy more than anything right now.

It is delicious to do it yourself

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

Vanessa Barrington, author of DIY Delicious (and others) is here to talk about making her life from scratch. I fell instantly in love with her beautifully written book filled with finger-lickin’ sauces (we sent out her Texas Barbeque Sauce last year for our Solstice gifts!), cookies to make even the most patient mouth urgently desiring yet another taste, stunning photography, and recipes collaborating with one another last summer upon receiving it as a gift while cooking in an outdoor kitchen, living in a shanty with three walls. I know you’re going to love it, too.

Sweet or Savory?
Both, but I prefer to cook savory food and eat other people’s homemade baked goods.

Coffee or tea?
Coffee

What does a typical day look like in your life?
Early exercise, breakfast, work, writing, dog walking, lunch, more work, bike to store or market, cook dinner, read or watch whichever HBO or Showtime series I’m addicted to on DVD. (currently Treme)

What are your daily practices?
Paying attention to the people and things I love and remembering to appreciate them.

Will you describe your idea of the perfect day?
Leisurely breakfast followed by a hike somewhere beautiful and a home-cooked meal with a delicious bottle of wine (rose or pinot noir)

Do you cook at home every day?
Almost

What’s your favorite kitchen device of all time?
My mortar and pestle

Is there anything you’ve wanted to cook but felt too intimidated to try?
Croissants

In D.I.Y. Delicious, you write about making certain staples from scratch (like yogurt, cheese, bread, salad dressing). In a regular week, how many projects are going on in your kitchen?
Usually two or three.

In the introduction, you mention your grandmother’s kitchen; what influences of her kitchen do you bring into your own?
Fresh from the garden produce prepared simply or put up for winter.

What traditions have been passed down in your family?
My sisters’ like to cook more, use my recipes, and eat healthier than in the past. I get a kick out of them calling me and saying they are “hooked” on my brown rice bowl.

It’s easy for me to romanticize the days of yore, but I like the balance in gratitude of our modern times; what is your favorite modern kitchen tool?
My immersion blender.

A lot of your book is about making yourself things that are staples in many daily recipes. Where do you recommend starting for someone who does not make anything from scratch in his or her kitchen?
Salad dressing. It’s so easy and it will be a revelation in flavor compared to bottled dressings, which are uniformly terrible. All you need really is a good basic vinaigrette and if you want to branch out from there, you can.

What is the one food that will change people’s lives when they start making it at home?
Hmmm. Depends on the person. For some people it’s the granola in my book. They never knew it was so easy. For others, it’s the cultured butter. They never knew butter could be so good.

What time savers do you suggest for busy people who want to cook from scratch?
Learn to improvise and cook with what you have, parlaying leftovers into new meals, rather than following recipes and buying special ingredients. Starting over every time you want to cook takes a lot of time out of your day compared to making-do with simple meals you already have the ingredients for. However, this practice takes time to learn and get in the habit of.

And what about storage of preserved food for tiny homes?
That’s a good question. I think it’s about priorities. Some people might have to choose between cookbooks and jarred food. Others might be good at building storage systems.

When I’m in the kitchen fusing creative alchemy I occasionally bump into an accident, how do you recommend turning an “oops” into an opportunity? Can you give a specific example of your own mishap turned fabulous in the kitchen?
Hmmmm. I can’t think of any particular dish I’ve invented as a result of a mishap, but I’m quite ok when my jam fails to set and comes out as fruit sauce. I just put it on ice cream or stir it into yogurt for breakfast
What is your favorite meal to cook for yourself?
An egg on anything. Mashed up kale and potatoes, Indonesian fried rice, savory, spicy beans, you name it.

What is your favorite meal to cook for dinner guests?
I go through stages. Lately it’s been variations the sustainable seafood stew in DIY Delicious because it’s simple and quick but fancy enough for company. And you just need salad and bread to go with it.

What is your best memory of childhood?
This is a little embarrassing. Salt and fat are my go-to cravings. My mom used to make oven-fried chicken. (Simply shake it in a bag with flour, salt and pepper and drizzle butter over it and bake) My favorite part was after dinner: I’d sneak into the kitchen and pick the crispy, buttery, salty bits of crust off the bottom of the pan and gorge myself on them. I liked it much better than the chicken itself.

Did you always love cooking/baking?
No, I was a picky eater as a child and wasn’t interested at all. I didn’t become that interested in making food until I was a young adult.

What is the first thing you learned to make?
I remember learning how to make “welsh rarebit” in elementary school. It was grated orange cheese mixed with mayonnaise and then spread on an English Muffin and toasted under the broiler. I loved it but it sounds vile now.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a food writer/advocate?
When I cooked and catered at Jimtown Store in Healdsburg, CA, back in the late 1990s, I started to learn about the importance of sourcing locally and seasonally and supporting local farms—not just for taste, but also to preserve the rural environment and build healthier regional economies. Prior to that, the only thing that mattered was how the food tasted. Once I started to see the connections between what we eat, how we treat the environment, animals, and each other, there was no going back.
What is your favorite aspect of being in the kitchen, and writing about it?
I love starting a day of cooking for loved ones and friends. Getting up in the morning, starting in a clean kitchen, prepping the ingredients slowly and methodically, tasting as I go, and just enjoying the process.

Where is your mom’s family from?
My mom’s family emigrated from Yugoslavia. She was the first generation born in the US.

Have you ever been there?
No, but I’d love to go. I have cousins in what is now Croatia because one of my mother’s siblings was left behind with other relatives.

Where is your dad’s family from?
Cape Breton Island, Canada

Have you ever been there?
I have not been there and I’m sad I know nothing about my father’s food traditions growing up.

A big part of Glitter & Grit is making life from scratch, do you have any additional comments about this?
Though we are surrounded by mass consumer culture in our jobs, on the streets, on the freeways, on the internet, and in our towns, we have the power to create our own realities at home and live differently. We don’t have to be defined by mass culture and advertisements. For me, creating my own life is about holding the line against the encroachment of mass consumer culture into my home, head, and heart.

All photos credited to Vanessa, and thank you for letting me borrow them!
Thank you Vanessa, your kitchen sounds downright dreamy and I am honored you are a part of Glitter & Grit. It is with utmost respect that I publish this article.

Isn’t she delightful!? Did you–mid-read–rush over to a new tab (or your local bookstore!) and purchase DIY Delicious like I think you might have? Well, hold it for just one second (week). Vanessa is giving one Glitter & Grit reader a chance to win a copy of her beautiful book DIY Delicious!

Here’s how:
Leave a comment sharing how you make your life from scrach, or your favorite go-to recipe (that you make from scratch!) to be entered into a random drawing to win your own recipe-filled goodness that DIY Delicious entails. Do it! You have until next Monday, August 13 at 11:59 PM.

Happy Monday, folks!

UPDATE, WINNER of the DIY Delicious Book Giveaway: Ashlee!

{Giveaway // The Art of Fermentation} & other ferment musings

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

Fermentation is living. And our friend Colin said to stop surviving and start living. I think I’ll translate that into my fermentation obsession, though I’m fairly certain he meant get out there and live your life, y’all. (A huge part of my living includes ferments, so, you get it. Not to mention, that ferments are alive and kickin’.)

I believe that fermented foods belong next to any heavy and hearty food; we accompany all warm meals with a fermented vegetable. Classic ferment: sauerkraut. We make several variations of flavor and ingredients. My favorite is garlic dill–it’s like a dill pickle, always crunchy and always delicious. My other favorites include curry raisin (inspired by Farmhouse Culture! Who makes a most delicious batch of any flavor they try), jalapeno ginger, and ginger beet. Other vegetables we love fermenting include (but are never limited to) salsa (tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, garlic, cilantro), carrots, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, and obviously cucumbers (that’s where this passion began, mind you).

I became obsessed with fermenting foods because I love the sour taste. Some people may find that they need to acquire it (and should, because it’s incredibly healthy for digestion and many other bodily functions), but I was born with the beautiful desire for a ferment in my mouth.

My friend Sam stopped through Santa Cruz a year and a half ago while we still lived in Pleasure Point and we had her over for a breakfast. We steamed nettles (“stinging bull nettles?” she cautiously inquired, fork timid of greens) and laid them atop a local egg scramble. And also we had a side of fermented salsa to accompany. (She loved the meal!) She left all too quickly, but soon after, a package arrived at my doorstep. “This book screamed your name.” Sam regaled of her trip back to Portland, stopping off at a bookstore and seeing Wild Fermentation staring at her, screaming of me.

I read it cover to cover in the first few hours. I soaked it in. My mental kitchen was overflowing with ferments, chutneys, kefir, cheese, beer, wine, and all the like. My actual kitchen was soon not far from that list. Cody, my sweet patient darling man tasted each experiment and loved getting involved, too. I can’t recall how many favorites of his I made–”this one is my favorite” he’d exclaim, again and again.

I believe the book really helps a novice ferment-freak gain confidence in the kitchen to experiment alone. It did for me. I still reference the book for a certain recipe or idea. I recommend the book for other beginners.

I just recently heard that Sandor wrote another book. Another book, y’all. The Art of Fermentation. Yes, immediately I went to the bookstore and admired each page. I am in love. It’s even more comprehensive than the first one. Can you believe it? And what’s even better (what could be?) is that Chelsea Green Publications wants YOU to win a copy of The Art of Fermentation for your own kitchen experiments! Oh the delight!

To enter the contest, please click and follow the steps by 12:00AM on July 19th 2012. I will announce on Friday the 20th!

Feel free to comment as well and tell me your favorite fermented recipe! I love sharing.

Make Salad Dressing, Do It.

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Lindsey Royal Wayland

I love whipping up my own salad dressing. But I didn’t always 1.) know how, and 2.) want to. I love love loved Brianna’s Real French Vinaigrette. When I met Cody, occasionally he would walk out of my bedroom (where I left him many minutes prior) and see me crouched in front of the open refrigerator pouring this dressing over a rolled up piece of lunch meat (or anything else, really). I even made a commercial for them while in Alaska that summer, showing them the many (odd) things with which I consumed their dressing (Cheerios? a banana? roast beef, etc.). In the end, I asked for a lifetime supply of the dressing. Fortunately for the future of my life-from-scratch, they instead sent me a cute care package (including a tiny two-inch Swiss Army Knife with the Brianna’s logo scribed atop, “for the wilds of Alaska” they noted). Adorable.

Once I got interested in my health in a semi-obsessive awareness, I read the ingredients and in my standard black-and-white fashion, vowed never to buy a bottle again.

And ever since I’ve been simply making my own dressing. I can’t imagine a day when I don’t make my own. What’s your favorite recipe?

And a taste-tester!

My go-to vinaigrette ingredients:
:: olive oil
:: white wine vinegar
:: Dijon-style mustard
:: honey
:: salt & pepper

Shake it all up in a little jar and voilà!

For my Spring-Into-Summer Salad (can you believe it’s already summer?!), I add dried (or fresh!) dill and the juice of half a lemon.

The options are endless. Endless! Make your own salad dressing.

Glitter and Grit

a lady-like guide to the wilds of the world

Category Archives: Kitchen