9 months on, 9 months off...

I wish this were one of those blog posts where I talked about how my baby weight just fell off.

It's not. 

I am aware that it takes time, and I wish I were more patient. 

I'm not.

Aaron & I welcomed a beautiful baby girl on August 12, 2013. She is a true blessing, and the weight was worth it. 

Every. Single. Pound.

Before getting pregnant I was in the best shape of my life. I weighed less at the age of 22 than I had as a freshman in high school. I worked my tail off to get into the 130s. I suffer from an endocrine that makes it extremely difficult for women to lose weight. I felt amazing, and for the first time since the age of 14 my bloodwork work came back NORMAL. 

I wish this were the point where I told you that I felt amazing during my pregnancy.

I didn't.

I also wish I could say I ate healthy and stayed active.

Nope, didn't happen.

I was sick, daily. I spent a lot of my time in bed during my pregnancy. My experience carrying our sweet little girl was the polar opposite to carrying little M (they remain polar opposites to this day, minus the sassy part). I threw my gluten free diet out the window, ate what I wanted and moved less. 

I gained almost 50 pounds.

Yes, 5-0.

Full term pregnant I weighed close to my starting weight before, that's the part that made me nervous. 

So there I was back at square one. Except now I have a second little human to take care of. 

Our little lady is 8 months, almost 9 months old. I often hear people say, "It took 9 months to put it on, it will take 9 months to take it off". WHAT A JOKE. Little M was born in 2007, I lost my "baby weight" (and then some).....do you know how long it took? 4 1/2 YEARS. 

I have lost some of my baby weight. Eating better, and getting back to being active is an ongoing process. I still have 15 pounds to go. I will get there, but it won't be 9 months. 

Vegan Gluten-Free Fries/Potato Wedges

I've made these A LOT, they're simple enough to prepare within the amount of time that it takes for the oven to preheat, and they are delicious!

Ingredients-

-3 Russet Potatoes

-1 Tbsp Corn Starch

-1 1/2 Tsp Seasoned Salt

-1/2 Tsp any other seasoning you would like

1-2 Tbsp Canola Oil or Olive Oil

Start out with preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Then peel the potatoes and cut in half, cut the halves in half the long way, then cut at an angle, making them wedges. Place the wedges into a ziplock bag and add the dry ingredients. 

Shake vigorously ensuring that all wedges are covered. Add the oil to the bag, reseal, and shake again.

Take a cookie sheet and lay down a layer of parchment paper on it. The parchment paper keeps the wedges from sticking. Lay the wedges out individually with a little space in-between. I stick to 3 potatoes because I know that I can safely fit 3 potatoes worth of wedges on one cookie sheet.

Place the wedges in the oven for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, turn the wedges over and bake for another 15 minutes.

When you remove them from the oven after 30 minutes of baking, they should look something like this!

My favorite condiments for these are sriracha hot sauce mixed with ketchup, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Gluten-Free Vegan Tortilla Recipe FAIL... Well, sort of.

Ok, so I feel really making mexican food, and I am eating a delicious flour tortilla, and my wife has to suffer with corn tortillas. :( I want to make some gluten-free tortillas so she doesn't have to eat corn tortillas. Here are the ingredients that I used, I figured it shouldn't be too far off from making regular tortillas.

2 cups gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup soy milk
3 tbsp canola oil

oil for cooking tortillas in skillet

I mixed all the ingredients together well.

I let the dough sit for an hour, covered.

Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. (kind of, I'm really bad with eyeing things up like that)

Heated up my skillet on medium heat with canola oil and placed one ball of dough at a time in the pan and flattened with a spatula since it was too sticky to roll out. They turned out ok, and they are usable, but there has to be a better way. I'm thinking of trying a different type of gluten-free all purpose flour. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Currently, I am not Vegan, but I did have a period of 7 months earlier this year where I followed a Vegan diet, just to see if I could do it. Now, if there is a way for me to make something without animal products, and it's not too much of a hassle, I will do it.

You will find a Gluten-Free Vegan pie crust recipe here. This recipe is just for the filling. If you are making your own crust, I suggest that you take a look at the pie crust recipe first!

Ingredients-

-1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
-1 cup soymilk
-3/4 cup sugar
-4 tbsp corn starch
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground ginger
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp ground cloves
-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

(I had to crush up the whole cloves myself, that is the brown powder in front)


Preparation

Preheat the oven right away to 350 degrees, this wont take long. Mix all of the ingredients together until combined well. Pour into your unbaked pie shell.

Bake your pie for 60 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, it will seem runny, but actually thickens while it cools down. Just be sure not to cut into it before it cools down over the next couple hours.

There you have it, a Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie! I bet if you brought this to your family's Thanksgiving, they wouldn't know it is Gluten-Free or Vegan!

Gluten-Free Vegan Pie Crust Recipe

This is the first time that I have ever made a gluten-free pie crust. I wanted to give it a try since Emily has a gluten intolerance, and Thanksgiving is coming up quickly!!!! It turned out really well, and you only need 4 ingredients, I took a picture of the ingredients before I realized I needed to add sugar.

Ingredients-

-1/2 cup vegetable shortening
-1 tsp salt
-1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
-2 tbsp white sugar
-1/2 cup water

Mix together the first four ingredients with a fork until the shortening and other ingredients get clumpy, then add the water and mix until it is completely combined.

I tried rolling the dough out, but it is very fragile, and kept breaking when I tried to get it to the pie pan.

I ended up balling up the dough, putting it in the pan, and forming it in there. I wrapped my hand in plastic wrap so it wouldn't stick to my hand while I formed it.

Now you have your pie crust, in the pan, ready for you to fill and bake! If you are looking for a Gluten-Free Vegan pie to make, try my pumpkin pie recipe!