Reggie Turns Three (& the Best Gluten Free Cake Ever!)

I can't believe my baby is three! She's my third baby, and today is her Golden Birthday because she is turning three on the third of September.

To celebrate, we invited friends to swim at my in-laws pool for one last hurrah before they drain it after Labor Day. Only a few of our friends came, but it was a great little celebration!

I also found an amazing gluten free cake recipe! I made it in three parts too. I saw this idea on Pinterest for creating a heart by cutting a circle layer in half and then putting each half on two sides of a square layer. I didn't have the fresh pumpkin like the recipe called for, so I tried a can of cooked pumpkin puree. It was really good, though you could definitely taste the pumpkin flavor.  Still really yummy though!

The Not-Buttercream icing was astonishingly good!
Everyone was deeply impressed (myself included) that something made from cauliflower and avocado could be so delectably decadent! I highly recommend you check out these recipes!

Roasted Zucchini mini "Pizzas" (What I ate Aug 28, 2016)

I know this idea is all over pinterest and the internets. . . I just thought I'd take some pics and offer my own recommendation.

It's a super easy recipe/concept.
Although you may find variations and tips all over for how to do it, I basically sliced up a zucchini, arranged the slices on a baking sheet, basted them with a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and then roasted them at 40 degrees F for about 10 minutes.

Then pulled them out and added some shredded cheddar and sliced grape tomatoes (which by the way were amazing! My friend gave them to me fresh from her garden!) with some more salt and pepper. . . .

Then popped them back into the oven until the cheese was sufficiently melted.

It was a delicious, comforting meal for me. Though honestly, nothing like pizza.
they didn't hold together once I started cutting into them, as the olive oil made the cheese were slip off; but the fact that they didn't look as pretty was really not a concern for me, because I was hungry and they were tasty. :}

Update: October 13, 2016

I made these again today, and used a little less oil. I also cooked them a bit longer and let the cheese get a bit crispy, and I added italian seasoning on top of the tomatoes before I put them back into the oven. All these changes made it even tastier than last time!
Thanks for reading and let me know if you try it!
~Julie :}

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Super Easy High Protein Snack!

We sometimes shop at NPS for groceries and though they often are not known for healthy meats in their frozen section, we were fortunate enough to find these thin cuts of beef by Simple Truth that had no weird additives that I can't eat. (I.E. MSG, Gluten, Sugar Etc.) They were about $0.50 each or something, so we bought a bunch of them and I depended on them as my source of meat for a couple of weeks. They are as thin as lunch meat though, so finding ways to eat them took a little extra thought since sandwiches are not really an option. (If you wanted gluten free meat, why would you want it in a sandwich anyway? I mean, I guess you could use gluten free bread, but I'm personally not a fan. Hmm, maybe that's why these ended up at NPS.)

Anyway, so most of the time I'd warm these cuts up on the griddle, season them according to my mood and tear them up to eat over a salad. However, on this particular day, I think I was out of salad greens, or maybe just feeling lazy; (Possibly both). So I warmed them up as usual, (though I think I just stuck to some simple salt and pepper this time,) and then topped them with some goat cheese and green onion spears. I thought they were pretty tasty, and were a great easy high protein snack so I thought it might be worth a share.

Hopefully it will at least inspire someone to the possibilities that come with a no bread diet. You wouldn't have to warm them up, I just prefered that method since they still had a little blood on them. I prefer my meat a tad more well done.

Hope this helps someone out somewhere, and if you try it, I'd love to hear what you thought!

Have a fabulous day!

~Julie :}