Let’s kick this off by saying that this recipe made my house smell so incredible! Freshly baked bread is amazeballs! I wasn’t sure what to have for dinner and then I got that brinner (breakfast for dinner) craving. I also had a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix in my pantry. I will tell you this too, I am always looking for a reason to put my apron on and get busy in the kitchen. So my Tuesday afternoon was spent working on a loaf of cinnamon, raisin, and ground flaxseed bread that I created with Bob’s Red Mill bread mix. This bread was simple to make and actually fun. I made the bread with the intention of using it for French Toast. I always enjoy making my own bread for French Toast. It is a rewarding feeling making an entire meal from scratch. I think the use of Chef Shamy’s amazing butter really helped make this bread extra special.
Easy Gluten-Free French Toast With Bob’s Red Mill and Chef Shamy
Bobs’ Red Mill Bread Mix review
This bread mix is versatile. The first time I used the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Bread Mix to make a blackberry lemon loaf of bread. Having a KitchenAid Stand Mixer really comes in handy to make recipes like this. I was so extremely satisfied with this bread mix so I had to give it a whirl again. This time around I used Chef Shamy’s Honey Butter – Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. What a genius idea to pair the mix with the butter. That butter is my jam! I have fallen in love with every Chef Shamy flavor.
Give It A Whirl Girl with Bob’s Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix
Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me and my husband. My mom came over in the morning to pick Chloe up to go up–north (Oscoda, MI) to stay for two whole weeks. MY daughter is in love with all of her grandparents and values her time spent with all of them. Since my mom was coming over in the morning I decided to invite her over for some sweet and savory brunch. We had paleo French Toast with custard and raspberries. I believe she left with a full, happy tummy and a warm heart.
Paleo French Toast w/ Vanilla Custard, Raspberry Compote, and Maple Leaf Farms Duck Bacon
I have been playing around with a French Toast recipe that I have for quite some time. I produce this dish in a variety of ways. I have served it as Unicorn French Toast and I have also served it with a mixed berry compote. I have posted images below for you to see.
Paleo Unicorn French ToastMixed Berry Compote Paleo French Toast
Having French Toast for brunch is becoming a weekly tradition in the Give It A Whirl Girl Kitchen. The process is a bit time-consuming but the outcome is worth all of the effort that I put into this dish. You want to know why it is so delicious? Because the main ingredient is LOVE!
Give It A Whirl Girl with two mini loaves of paleo, gluten-free bread freshly b baked
I start out by baking two small loaves of gluten-free bread. I use almond flour and tapioca flour to create the bread. A little bit of raw honey goes in there along with some almond milk and some ground flaxseeds and chia seeds. I prefer to pump my bread full of fiber with the chia and flax. They also have other health benefits as well.
For this version, I also created a paleo friendly vanilla custard by using full-fat coconut milk, egg yolks, and by scraping the contents out of a vanilla bean. Making custard is a lengthy process with a lot of standing at the stove and whisking the mixture. I could not get my custard silky smooth yesterday because I am thinking I stirred my eggs in too quickly into the warmed coconut milk. It tasted fantastic though and had no added sugars.
The raspberry compote was created with a pint of organic raspberries and a splash of pure maple syrup. I simmer that on the stove until it reduces down into a thick raspberry sauce.
Paleo French Toast w/ chia and flax, vanilla custard, and raspberry compotePaleo French Toast w/ chia and flax, vanilla custard, and raspberry compote
My mom had a hankering for some bacon with her French Toast so we fried up some Maple Leaf Farms duck bacon. Yeah, you heard that right…. DUCK BACON! Maple Leaf Farms specializes in a variety of duck items, including the bacon. The bacon has less fat than traditional bacon and it is just as versatile as regular pork bacon. My whole family really enjoyed this bacon, including my daughter Chloe who is usually not a fan of any type of bacon. She was clamoring for more she loved it so much!
Maple Leaf Farms Duck Bacon cooking on the stovetop
I also wanted to share with you that I finally own a plain white plate! How unreal is that? I live in a color-obsessed world and owning a white plate seems foreign to me. I had to add it to my Fiesta dinnerware collection. I just had to! I am on a mission to own every single color of dinner plates that they offer. I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice my meal looked on a plain white plate. Not too shabby!
I really enjoyed having my mother over yesterday morning. I keep joking around with her about buying a house in the area and living around the block from me just so she can come by to enjoy the food that I whip up. Joking but not really! That really would be wonderful if my mom didn’t live so far away. I get a lot of pleasure from inviting people over so they can try out my food.
Speaking of which, I was recently just informed that this year for the holidays, Thanksgiving and Xmas, I am going to responsible for hosting the gatherings! That will most certainly be interesting, especially Thanksgiving because I have never ever in my life cooked an entire turkey. It sounds like a fun project to tackle but it honestly makes anxiety creep up on me with just the thought of such a huge commitment.
After brunch, my daughter loaded her suitcase into my mom’s truck. She will be gone for two weeks and I will miss her so much! She is my little blogger sidekick and I love the little foodie explorations that we do together. We said our goodbyes and I watched her leave.
Our time away from each other will be great for everyone involved though so I am trying to look at the matter with optimism. I will be able to devote much more time to blogging and recipe creating. Chloe will be able to make some wonderful memories on her trip and her Grandma Kathie will bond over those two weeks. Also, my husband and I will get some much-needed alone time. So definitely going to be taking major advantage to all of this alone time over here.
Give It A Whirl Girl and The Pearl Girl
Joe and I spent the day together. We did a little shopping (I needed things for the blog of course). Joe is always my chauffeur. I am always appreciative of all his help and support in getting this blog up and running.
We also got some fitness in with the dogs. We are dog-watching my sister’s little old chihuahua named Bebo. He has stayed with us a little over a week and he is always a joy to have around. I am usually not a fan of that breed of dogs but Bebo is super sweet and gets along very well with Stormy. They are definitely buddies!
When we got home after our walk with the dogs we had a couple of beers and we ordered food from Pepperoni Grille through the GrubHub app. GrubHub is a fairly new food delivery service that will deliver food from various restaurants that are local. You can sign up through this LINK and save $10 off your first order that is $15+. We are pretty addicted to the convenience of GrubHub and it is so perfect for me since I do not drive (I have a severe phobia of driving).
Right Brain Brewery Blue Magic BeerAntipasto Salad from Pepperoni Grille in St Clair Shores, MI
I am new to the world of craft beer and I honestly do not know how to discuss beer in any sort of lengthy, descriptive way (yet). The beer first was from Right Brain Brewery and it was called Blue Magic. The beer had hints of lavender in it and I really enjoyed the taste. I also had another beer with my salad and that was Mango Surprise from Arcadia Ales. I am not a big fan of the IPA beers but that one I did actually love the taste of. Very mango-ey!
The salad that I received from Pepperoni Grille was pretty decent. I did get brave and ordered anchovies on the side because I have never tried out. I was just always grossed out at the thought of them. Turns out I was right~ they are way too salty. I liked the first one that I ate with my salad and then I got hit with the fishy salty aftertaste. Not cool! Joe had a pepperoni pizza for dinner and he enjoyed his pizza and said he could have probably eaten a whole large one by himself. I believe him too because he can pack in a pizza!
Today is Sunday and I have to decide what I am making for dinner tonight. I love to make Sunday dinners special for my family. I have a bunch of Primal Kitchen dressings/marinades I can play around with so it might be something along those lines for dinner tonight.
Do you have anything special planned for the day today? Leave me a comment and let me know. I would love to hear from my readers. Comments here do brighten up my day!
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS. I DO RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION IF ITEMS ARE PURCHASED THROUGH THESE LINKS. ALL OPINIONS STATED HERE ARE MY OWN.
My husband has a new work schedule which clears his Fridays and Saturdays for family togetherness time. The last two days were full of fun and there were so many cooking/baking frenzies happening over her in the Give It A Whirl Girl kitchen! My family gets so much pleasure a food-filled weekend. This will be an ongoing series of our weekend adventures. More to come soon! Our two days together kicked off on Friday morning with some Unicorn French Toast. I have a major weakness for paleo-friendly French toast. I am always brainstorming some new ways to prepare it. It actually might just be “paleo-ish” and “healthy-ish” because I just had to add a sprinkling of candy sprinkles on there… another major weakness of mine. This was a total blast to make for breakfast and even more fun to sit down, eat, and enjoy it! I think this was next-level French toast because for this batch I made a vanilla custard batter to dip & soak the bread slices in.
Chillin on the steps
Unicorn French Toast for breakfast! YUMMY
Unicorn French ToastUnicorn French Toast
Miles Cake & Candy Supply
Later on that day (Friday) I had my husband chauffeur me to the baking supply shop in Clinton Township~ Miles Cake & Candy Supply. I used to visit this store often when I made resin jewelry. I would shop there for sprinkles to preserve in the resin. Now that phase of life is done and over with and I am buying these things for actual baking! I went there with the intention of purchasing a donut pan and I did score a nice pan from Wilton. It is a six cavity mold so you end up with a half-dozen of baked donuts.
rainbow sprinkles galore!
Milestone Grill Restaurant
Friday evening we were looking for a new place to dine at. We found a coupon for a restaurant in Eastpointe, MI I and it was the Milestone Grill. Our meals there were quite disappointing if I am going to be blunt about it. I ordered some baked whitefish with a cup of lobster bisque. When I see lobster bisque as an option I do get quite giddy and excited about it. Oh man… my soup came out and I then discovered (and I am certain of this) that it was FAUX LOBSTER! You know, like the fake crab stick meat. Yeah. Ugh. I recently ordered lobster biqsue at Nino Salvaggio’s and that soup was chockful of big lobster meat pieces. That bowl of soup there was just divine. The soup at Milestone Grill was a major letdown.
My baked whitefish was just ok to me. Pretty bland if you ask me and also my steamed vegetables looked quite dull. Joe had some chicken fajitas. When you order fajitas you expect Spanish rice. They served the fajitas with a RICE PILAF with peas and carrots in it. What???
Rochester Mills Milkshake Stout
I do have one nice remark about that place… my beer was great! I ordered a Rochester Mills Milkshake Stout. Boy, was it ever good! I have tried their other beers in the past and they never disappoint. Any kind of stout with a dessert-like flavor is right up my alley of the tasty department… wink wink!
Rochester Mills Beer Co. Milkshake Stout
Homemade chocolate donuts with the Wilton Donut Pan
Saturday started off with me whipping out my new Wilton donut pan. I could not wait to use it. I found a recipe at Elana’s Pantry and used that for inspo. So shoutout to Elana’s Pantry for the amazing recipe.
The recipe called for four eggs. I only had two eggs to work with so I ended up making my own “egg”. Did you know that you can use chia seeds in place of eggs in a recipe? You need 1 tablespoon of chia seeds for each egg. You add three tablespoons of water to that and let it soak for a bit.
If you ever had a devil’s food Entenmann’s donut these sure did resemble that as far as the taste goes. The great thing about these donuts for me is that they are gluten-free. I used coconut flour to make them. I am pretty fond of coconut flour being used in recipes. I think it injects a great flavor into the final product. I used a generous scoop of LivFit Cacao Powder in the donuts. Cacao powder is an incredible superfood with some wonderful health benefits so I am excited to use it in my recipes.
Paleo (minus the sprinkles) Chocolate DonutsPaleo (minus the sprinkles) Chocolate Donuts
Taking my Thunderbird Bars to Eastern Market in Detroit
The remainder of our Saturday was all planned out to head down to the city (Detroit) to go check out Eastern Market. I packed up my camera bag and brought along some of my Thunderbird Bars for the journey. I also had some of the ThunderKids Bars so I brought that along for my daughter, Chloe. It was our first time trying them and they were simply delicious. They offer a great line of bars with healthy and nutritious ingredients… real food! Their flavor combinations are quite unique. They are also filling. They are perfect for fueling your next adventure. I look forward to trying out the rest of my sampler pack.
Thunderbird Bar – Pineapple Mango PapayaThunderbird Bar for kids – Chocolate chip cookie
MooTown Creamery
We always love to visit MooTown Creamery during a visit to Eastern Market. I ordered a Maple Bourbon scoop, which I believe was paleo! How often do you find options like that at an ice-cream shop? I was so excited to see that and I was very pleased with the taste! Two thumbs up!
MooTown Creamery
Vegan and Gluten-free ice-cream options
Maple Bourbon ice-cream
Eastern Market veggie haul!
After our ice-cream pitstop, we went to the sheds to look for some gorgeous fruits and veggies. Eastern Market is the place to be if you want great deals on great foods! You can check out my awesome haul in the photo below. I am most excited about those purple carrots. I was hoping to find them there and I scored a batch. I am going to serve them as a side dish with an herbed ghee sirloin steak.
Eastern Market produce haulCould not pass up this mushroom blend… YUMJoe and Chloe
One of my favorite places to go! Heidelberg Project in Detroit
We always make it a priority to stop at the Heidelberg Project during our Detroit day-trips. Tyree Guyton is constantly adding to this outdoor art installation. It truly is something that everyone should witness at least once in their lifetime.
Homemade from-scratch PIZZA!
It was a long day that made me feel a bit tired when I arrived home but I was bound and determined to make my family a couple made-from-scratch gluten-free pizzas. I had a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix and it was simple and easy to use.
I also love to make my own sauce. I use Muir Glen tomato sauce and Muir Glen Tomato Paste to make a nice, zesty sauce. I used my pizza seasoning packet that I picked up at Eastern Market. Spice Miser made the seasoning and it was a great blend! I would have never thought to add anise and rosemary to my pizza sauce but it gave it a great flavor and it was the best pizza sauce I have made to date.
My family of 3 ate both 12 inch pizzas with one last slice leftover. We were too stuffed to eat that lone piece. Making a from-scratch pizza is a long process that requires dedication and time. It sure is rewarding though to sit down and enjoy your kitchen creation. To me, a homemade pizza is edible art!
My daughter, Chloe, also helped me make this pizza. It was her first time helping out with a pizza. I am spending more and more time with her in the kitchen. I see her passion for cooking and baking and it warms my heart and soul. She is my little foodie sidekick. For an 8-year-old child she has experienced a vast array of foods. She eats with an open mind and I am so proud of her! She currently wants to become a pastry chef. We owe that all to the Netflix show, Sugar Rush. We love watching that show together. She also loves Nailed It but we watched every episode of that already. She loves the show so much that she told me it is her birthday wish for me to make it onto the show. That would totally be a dream come true!
It is currently Sunday morning and I started the day off with a bang in the kitchen. I made some carrot cake donuts but my glaze was too thin. I can assure you that they were tasty because I ate two of them. I used one of my purple carrots to top the donuts and it really does look like chopped bacon! This recipe was inspired by Paleo Hacks. They are a great resource for paleo recipes.
Maranatha Almond Butter Fruit-Loaded Toast
Last but not least, Chloe had a piece of toast with some chocolate Maranatha almond butter on it. I also added some strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries to it. She is a big fan of toast like this. I know avocado toast is all the rage these days but for her it is berries, berries, and more berries!
I always love to crank out a great Sunday dinner but I have not made up my mind yet. It is either going to be an orange duck or sirloin steaks.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wow! What a long post! If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I truly appreciate and love all of my readers. I am hoping to make this blog into something so fantastic someday. It is baby steps all of the way there. Thanks to all who are holding my hand to get to that destination with this blog. XOXO
THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. I DO RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION IF ITEMS ARE PURCHASED THROUGH THESE LINKS (no extra cost to you). ALL OPINIONS STATED HERE ARE MY OWN.
You know what? We eat our mistakes here. Sometimes you end up with a happy accident. Well, that happened today! There were two obstacles that I had to overcome in the kitchen today. It was one of those days where everything seems to go wrong but in the end, it turns out alright.
The first hiccup in the kitchen occurred during lunch. I used Enjoy Life Foods gluten free pancake/waffle mix and put some LivFit cacao powder in the mix to make chocolate waffles. I have been craving breakfast foods like crazy and I had a craving for some waffles.
I forgot to spray the waffle maker to make it nonstick sooooo…
Here are my chocolate [messy] waffles topped with Enlightened Red Velvet ice-cream. I was so lucky that I was able to salvage these waffles because they tasted incredible. It was my first time trying out this gluten-free waffle mix. Enjoy Life is free of many common allergens: wheat, dairy, soy, sulfites, peanuts, tree nuts, casein, egg, and more! That makes this mix vegan and paleo friendly!
Chocolate Enjoy Life Waffles with Enlightened Red VelvetEnjoy Life Gluten Free Pancake/Waffle Mix and Enlightened Red Velvet
My daughter and I grabbed two forks and fought over every bite… it was that good! The presentation was not there but the flavor combo of the waffles with the ice-cream was on-point! And we also had to add a bit of maple syrup because a waffle is always deserving of that.
If you are looking for a healthy option for ice-cream look no further than to Enlightened! The entire pint of this particular flavor is only 280 calories and only 5g of net carbs. I will be doing a post in more detail soon about this product. The Red Velvet paired perfectly with the chocolate waffle. This flavor has a cream cheese frosting and chocolate flavor.
The second obstacle that happened was during the dinner hour. I was whipping up more breakfast food. Whenever I have breakfast for dinner I like to call it “brinner”. This time I was making some paleo-friendly French Toast with chia and flax seeds. I am trying to boost my fiber intake and adding those seeds really assists in some smooth moves. I also really enjoy paleo baking. I have this thing for making fresh, gluten-free breads. It brings me a lot of joy.
This particular recipe for the bread used coconut flour. I used a square baking dish and that gave me 4 nice, thick slices of bread to work with. The batter was egg-free and I used a mashed banana mixed with some unsweetened almond milk and cinnamon. I also made some caramelized bananas, using coconut sugar, to top the French Toast.
I had my bread baked and cooling on the countertop. My batter was prepped and prepared. The bananas were caramelized. All I needed to do was cook the slices that were dipped in batter. Then all of the sudden out of nowhere we experienced a power outage! It was totally unexpected because there was no inclement weather. I was a little bit freaked out at this point. How was I going to cook the rest of my dinner without any power? Thank goodness my hubby came home from work. We brainstormed and came to the conclusion that our best bet was to bust out the cast iron pan and finish “brinner” off on the grill outside. Genius plan! It totally worked too.
I am so happy to report that my little family of 3 enjoyed this meal. Each one of us joined the Clean Plate Club and were left wanting more. It was so delicious! Next time I make this dish I will be sure to have more bananas because those were like eating candy!
Candied Banana Paleo French Toast
Cooking sure does require a lot of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Knowing what to do when things are not going your way is critical. My two problems in the kitchen turned out awesome in the end. So when you are cooking do not be discouraged if things are not going the way you intended them to.
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I do receive a small commission if items are purchased through these links. All opinions stated here are my own.
