Waffle Sticks

Another breakfast recipe?!

Yes. But they are waffle sticks, totally different than regular waffles ;) 

Lately, I have been so busy I haven't even had time to make a good breakfast. So I have been craving a nice homemade breakfast. And what's better than waffles? Waffle sticks my friends! 

Waffle sticks are very kid friendly, they are perfect for their little hands. And it gives them an excuse to eat with their hands. 

Does that make me a kid..a kid at heart that is. 

Plus who doesn't love dipping their waffles into syrup? 

Waffle sticks are really simple. Especially if you have a waffle maker that already lines out where you can cut them. 

This is from Hamilton Beach. 

This is a recipe more for trying out this new waffle maker. But I also like to see how well appliances make gluten free foods. 

So how well did it hold up?

Perfect.

They actually look pretty similar to the ones in the picture above. 

Perfectly golden brown, light and fluffy waffle sticks. 

Perfect for dipping. They don't fall apart.

Waffle Sticks (gluten and dairy free)

1 1/3 Cup Bisquick Gluten Free Mix

1 1/4 Cup Rice Milk

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

Directions:

Heat up waffle pan. And grease the pan with a little bit of coconut oil. 

Combine mix and milk and whisk till a smooth consistency forms. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well. 

Add into waffle maker and wait. 

I placed my waffles on cooling racks so they wouldn't get soggy. You can serve them as a whole waffle. Or pull apart for sticks. 

Amazing right?! 

And so simple. I made a few batches because they were so simple. And will be nice to just grab on a morning where I don't have a lot of time. 

Enjoy!!! 

:) 

Aveda Skincare Review

Recently I decided to change up my skin care routine. Well because I'm pretty sure I have the most stubborn skin ever. I can use a line and my face will love it and be clear, then within a year of using it...my face freaks out and starts to break out and just not be clear. My skin is worse than what it was in high school. Besides getting an infection on my skin, it was pretty clear. Now all I deal with is breakouts. It's quite frustrating. I take such good care of my skin so I'm clueless as to what I'm doing wrong. 

SO 

Also, I spent hours looking in Sephora for a good line. But everything just seems so harsh. I even took home a sample of a brand a consultant in Sephora recommended to me....NEVER AGAIN. I'm still trying to heal my skin from all the harsh ingriendents. Word to the wise...just because someone works in a place like that, doesn't mean they always know best. But at that point I was desperate. She told me it was good for sensitive skin....umm no. It burned when I put it on! It is called Shisedo White Lucent. Also, since I'm so fair the brightening just made me look like a ghost. Not a good look at all. So don't buy that if you have sensitive fair skin. 

I googled lots of different products and finally ended up finding Aveda. 

I read into all of their ingredients, what people had to say. They are a plant based skin care line and that's what caught my eye. I want an all natural skin care that's not going to put harsh chemicals on my skin. After debating for about two weeks, I just decided to purchase their  starter kit and see what it would do. I mean, at this point I didn't have much of an option because I refuse to buy any drugstore skin care lines. 

I chose the line for dry skin. Because I have normal to dry skin that gets flakey.  I decided to go with their Botanical Kinetics line over the sensitive one. I felt my skin needs more help and then I'll try the sensitive one. My order came sooner than what I expected so they are really good at getting your products to you. 

Online the products look bigger in the picture. So I thought I'd get more, but they are smaller than I expected. Kind of a downside. If you say starter kit, I think full sizes. Trials or samples are usually smaller. But for the price it's a good deal and also it came with three other samples! I love samples.

Here's a breakdown in what I've been using:

Creme Cleanser 2x a day. Morning and night

Hydrating lotion 2x a day. Morning and night

Toning mist 1x a day in the morning. 

Exfoliant 1x a day at night 

Firming face creme 2x a day. Morning and night. (Yes, I'm only in my 20s but I want to avoid wrinkles)

I haven't been using this line for a full month yet. But I can say that my skin has calmed down A LOT. It's not as dry and uncomfortable as it used to be. 

It hasn't made me breakout. I've had breakouts, but I think it has been from my face trying to get rid of the crap I was using before. So that is a big plus. 

I do feel that these are better products than I have used in the past. So I will continue to use them and see if I see any more differences.

At the moment, I would recommend this line. Their trial packs are a nice way to start. I have already bought fuller sizes because I ran out of the samples. 

Cheers!!

Links

Aveda Homepage

Dry/Normal skin care starter Kit

New York Style Cheesecake

I'm beyond excited. 

Why you might ask? 

Well a few differently reasons. One being that it's December! So that brings me to my second reason I am excited...CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I am seriously like a little kid at heart when it comes to Christmas. I love just everything about it. I always have. I am one of those people who will listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving....judge me. If I could, I'd even decorate before Thanksgiving. I'm not crazy, I just love the season. It's just filled with warmth, joy, and happiness. 

Pretty lights, decorations, and music all help the season seem magical as well. 

Caleb and I have a tradition of driving around and looking at Christmas lights. Last year is probably one of my favorite memories because it was Christmas Eve and snowing so we looked at lights on the way home. It was just so fun. I could probably go on and on about everything that I love about Christmas, but I think you get the idea :) 

But I'm even more excited to share with you a cheesecake recipe!!! Earlier this year I experimented with making a dairy free "cheesecake" that was more of a tart. I made it out of cashews. It was okay, but it wasn't that cheesecake I was looking for. And this time of year, I really think cheesecakes are very appropriate. 

I decided to just dive head first into making a dairy free cheesecake, just by following a regular cheesecake and substituting the cream cheese for a dairy free version. And making the crust gluten free of course. Oh a side note...I've never made a new york style cheesecake....only non baked cheesecakes in the past. So this all was very new to me. 

Baking this cheesecake was pretty nerve-racking. I had no idea what to look for if it was done. Yes, I have a passion for baking and have baked a lot. But cheesecakes are just something that I rarely ever made. Only ate ;) 

I found a pretty easy recipe off of the King Arthur Flour website. I'll link it below. I looked up dairy free recipes for cheesecake, but they all had way to many ingredients and it just seemed to complicated. I'm a very simple person when it comes to baking. And sometimes less ingredients is more. 

I might have over baked it? I'm not an expert on cheesecake by any means. 

Could it be?! Actual cheesecake?! I haven't had cheesecake in about three years. Wow, that's sad. 

But after letting it sit in the fridge over night. The texture was perfect. It was exactly how cheesecake should be. Well from what I remember it to be. But everyone who tried it really liked it. Except they ate it kind of warm still. But hey, that means it was good! I'm so happy how it turned out. Now I have an amazing cheesecake recipe for Christmas. 

Cherries on top makes it look much prettier! 

New York Style Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

1 1/2 Cups Gluten Free Graham Cracker Crumbs 

1/4 Cup 10x Sugar 

1/3 Cup Coconut oil 

Filling

2 Packages Go Veggie Classic Plain Cream Cheese 

2 Large Eggs

1/3 Cup Sugar.

1 Tsp Vanilla 

Topping

1 Can of Pie Filling 

Or you can certainly add any topping you prefer. Homemade topping would defiantly taste a lot better.

Directions (Taking from the website) 

1) Select a pie pan whose inside top dimension is at least 9", and whose height is at least 1 1/4". Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2) Make the crust by stirring together all of the crust ingredients, mixing till thoroughly combined.

3) Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.

4) Make the filling by mixing together all of the filling ingredients till smooth. Use a mixer set at low-medium speed. If your cream cheese is at room temperature, this will go fairly smoothly (pun intended). If the cream cheese is cold, it'll take much more mixing to create a smooth filling.

5) Set the pie pan onto a baking sheet, if desired; this makes it easier to transport in and out of the oven, and also protects the bottom of the crust from any potential scorching. Pour the filling into the crust.

6) Place the cheesecake in the oven. Bake it for 20 minutes, then add a crust shield; or shield the crust with strips of aluminum foil. Bake for an additional 10 minutes (for a total of about 30 minutes). An instant-read thermometer inserted into the crust 1" from the edge should read between 165°F and 170°F; the filling won't look entirely set in the center. **** I ended up baking this for 45 min. So keep a very close eye on it***

7) Remove the cheesecake from the oven, and set it on a rack to cool while you make the topping. Once the cake is cool, refrigerate it, covered, till you're ready to serve it.

*It is best if you refrigerate this for a few hours, or even better overnight. Since the cream cheese is a different consistency than normal. It needs more time to set. 

I used Go Veggie Classic style cream cheese because it has the closest flavor to cream cheese that I have tried recently. And it turned out very well! I'm very pleased with this cream cheese. 

Enjoy!! 

Cheesecake recipe derived from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/easy-cheesecake-recipe