This morning, I was snuggled up on the couch with Brennan sipping coffee and watching Andrew Zimmern eat his way through India on Bizarre Foods, when Parker came tearing into the family room, yelling “SOMETHING IS WRONG! THE GRASS IS WHITE!!”.  He then proceeded to unlock the sliding glass door, clutching a green crayon in his hand. 

“STOP! What are you DOING?!”

“I have to go out there!!  The grass is white and I need to color it in with my green crayon!!”

He was VERY serious.

Sometimes, the way my son views the world confuses me, and occasionally (if I am being honest), it frustrates me. But this morning, it was beautiful.  He was ready to take on the world, and finding the solution to the crisis of a lawn covered in frost.  Two years ago, or maybe even last year, seeing the frost on the grass may have caused a full-blown meltdown.  He wouldn’t have had the words to express what was wrong in his world, and I would have had no clue as to how to “fix” it.  It is hard in the daily struggles to stop and look back at where we were, but today it was clear as day.  

Thank you God for progress, and giving me the ability to stop and see it.

Here is the recipe for the Messy Baking Girl’s gingerbread guys.  I doubled the recipe and then divided the dough and froze half of it.

1/2 c. shortening

3/4c. sugar

1/2 c. molasses

1 egg

1 Tbs vinegar

3 c. gf/cf flour blend of your choice.  After trial and error (and probably hundreds of dollars- I discovered Tom Sawyers Gluten Free Flour blend).  It can be exchanged cup for cup in any of your favorite recipes!  It is the best!  You can order it here: www.glutenfreeflour.com (and then make us something delish with it) :)

1 1/2 tsp xanthan

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 375*.  Cream sugar and shortening together in mixer until light and fluffy.  Mix in molasses, egg and vinegar until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, xanthan, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  Mix with wet ingredients.

Grease cookie sheet.  Set aside.  Flour your surface, roll half of your dough to about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut into “guys” (everything in our house is “guys”) and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for one minute before removing from pan.

When cool, ice with your favorite gf/cf icing.  I just combine powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and almond milk in my mixer until I get a consistency that I like!  Decorate when cool, making sure to make a HUGE mess.  Then, and only then you will know that you are doing it right! :)

Happy Mess-making, I mean…BAKING!! 

Over the weekend, I decided to bake gluten free/casein free gingerbread men with the boys.  Parker and Brennan were VERY excited to help me destroy the kitchen, with the hopes of edible cookies at the end. :)  In my dreams, I wish that I was a combination of 3 people in the kitchen.  I wish that I BAKED like Paula Deen, COOKED like Bobby Flay, and LOOKED like Giada De Laurentiis.  I am a Food Network JUNKIE and I love how they can whip up these amazing things while keeping their kitchen beautiful.  When I bake, I make a MESS.  I don’t intend to disasterize (yup, that’s a word) my kitchen, but it just happens. My food doesn’t look very pretty, isn’t always edible, and I when all is said and done I have inevitably spilled something on myself.  But you know what…it’s ok.  My boys won’t remember that I wasn’t the prettiest baker.  They will remember that I got in there with them, icing dripping down my arms and shortening in my hair.  And I will remember their yells of excitement when I ask “Who wants to make COOKIES!!” :)