There’s nothing like time with Mom.  The past few months, I’ve been traveling out of the city, leavin’ Manhattan and spending lots of time with my mother, my true best buddy and gal pal.  We’ve been cookin’ and bakin’ and I’ve been driving her crazy taking pictures of every piece of beautiful fruit, veggie n’ gluten-free baked good.

Thanks, Jo. (And of course, dad too)…

But, while my father and sis are off soaking up the sunshine in Bali, my mother and I are nestled in my parent’s cozy home with the heat turned up to 90 degrees, the oven pipin’ hot and Real Simple magazines sprawled out amongst the kitchen…Needless to say, we’re havin’ fun. And bonding. And giggling. And thinking about how 1/2 our family is getting a sun tan while we have frost bite on our toes and I’m ready to suit up in my ski gear just to head to the market for a hot potato.

Well, gotta make the best of Ol’ Man Winter, right?

And we are.  And my oven it getting tons of love.  So, last Sunday evening, I decided to create a gluten-free pound cake for my mother to enjoy throughout the week, seeing as though my papa ain’t in town, she needed a lil’ lovin’ and I thought a gluten-free pound cake would do just the trick.

And it did.

And I was shocked.

She loved it.

Hehe.

Now, I’m smiling.

My mother actually (heavy emphasis on the Actually) LOVED my gluten-free pound cake.

I know…I thought I was crazy when I heard her say it, but this gluten-eatin’ woman actually enjoyed a non-gluten dish! Yeah. I’m still smiling.

So, what did I do to make this pound cake unique n’ fun? I put a bit of ‘Amie’ into it and opted to add fresh grapefruit juice, zest, fennel and anise along with a touch of cinnamon and chili powder (my 2 favorite staples in baked goods).

The end result? Well, my mother loved it and I…let’s just say I’m makin’ another loaf this weekend.

Mom, I’m comin’ home again to bake.

Get the oven ready.

Gluten-Free Grapefruit, Fennel n’ Anise Pound Cake

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 stick Earth Balance Vegan Butter
• 3.5 oz. organic cream cheese*
• 1 3/4 cups coconut flour
• Egg substitute for 8 eggs
• 5 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. anise seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 Tbsp. almond extract
• 1 3/4 cup Greek plain yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. grapefruit zest
• 3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
• 1/2 cup brewed green tea, room temperature
• Coconut oil (for coating loaf pan)
• Cinnamon and sugar (for coating loaf pan)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare a loaf pan with coconut oil. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and 1/8 tsp. sugar.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Set aside.
4. In a separate large bowl, combine Earth Balance Vegan Butter Stick and cream cheese; beat for 45 seconds on medium speed.  Add in honey; beat until fluffy and light.  Slowly add egg substitute; continue to beat until well combined.  Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; beat until combined.
5. Transfer mixture to the prepared loaf pan.  Sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar.
6. Bake for 60-75 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Enjoy!

*You can substitute the cream cheese for a dairy-alternative such as Tofutti Cream Cheese.

Clothespin Chopsticks…

Now I surely am a fan of sushi n’ Japanese food and I’m quite the Chopstick kinda gal, but how cute are these Clothespin Chopsticks that I found at CB2, which is Crate and Barrel’s little (cheaper) sister.  I think I’ll be bringin’ these to my next sushi date.  I’ll let you know if my ‘date’ gives me weird looks, hehe..

As you all know I have a soft spot in my heart for mustard.  Yes, I am a Mustard Connoisseur.

Spicy, sweet, grainy, smooth…you name it, if it’s Mustard, I’ll have it and I’ll love it. So, I thought I’d share with you the Mustard Museum, now I know it’s located half way across the country in Middleton, Wisconsin, but how fun is this? I would love to go here and taste all the mustard’s…they house over 5,300 mustard’s from all over the world even Poland (Mom, I know you love this) and Uruguay…how amazing!  Have any of you been to the Mustard Museum? If so, I’d love to hear… I may just have to plan myself a lil’ trip on out to Wisconsin for a lil (cheese, hehe) n’ mustard date.  Who’s in?