You might be wondering what exactly you’re looking at here? These are my most recent experiment in the kitchen: sunflower seed “brownies.” And though they look sorta funny, they taste quite delicious. People who know we are on the GAPS diet, often ask if I miss grains. Truth is, not really, because I feel so much better not eating them. But I do miss baking because I’ve always loved to bake treats in the oven. After meeting Jeff (who was very allergic to gluten), I tried my hand at gluten-free baking and made plenty of desserts that tasted fine. The downside was always the way I felt so terrible after eating them, with painful stomach aches. That happened to me with any sort of grain, whether gluten-free or not (and even when I soaked them first.) I like all the food we eat to be made of wholesome, healthy ingredients, even the “treats.” Why eat something if it has no benefit to your body in any way? I kept searching for healthy baking options, but I finally gave up on baking for awhile because as much as I loved doing it, I always felt so awful after eating the results. 

 Shortly after Bracken was born, our oven broke and shortly after that we started the GAPS diet. I said bye bye to baking until recently, when we got an incredible deal on a used oven. Being so used to being without one for so long, I have to keep reminding myself we have an oven again. Yes we can have roasted vegetables again! Yes we can have baked chicken again! And yes, I can do some baking again, GAPS style! Couldn’t I make some baked treats that my body would feel good after eating them? I saw some GAPS recipes for grain-free baking and wondered. I tried a recipe in ‘Nourishing Traditions’ for sunflower seed brownies, using the ground seeds for a base. I used our old blender to grind up the sunflower seeds and it only ground up some of them, so there are still whole sunflowers throughout, giving it crunch. I changed the recipe, omitting things, adding things. I sprinkled on some cinnamon, added some raisins, and a little honey. Then cooked it on a low temperature. We enjoyed eating some warm and soft from the oven, and topped in raw, local honey (like the front one in the picture)….yum! 

Next time, I plan on using the food processor to grind the sunflower seeds into a meal instead. I am going to work on the recipe a little more before I share it here with you. But I will share it. And I’m excited to be baking once again. (And not only to be baking, but to be making things where I feel good after eating them!)

I didn’t intend to write so much about this, just to show a peek at an experiment, but once I get talking about food….ya know. 

And now from the kitchen, onto other things we’ve been making….

Here’s a peek at some new things we’ve been working on. Jeff just finished some new tree pendants that we posted in the shop, some custom tree carvings that will adorn some handmade purses, and a bunch of buttons almost finished. You can see in the picture, that I’ve marked all the buttons. Next Jeff will drill them. Then I will put them on cards. Some people think the prices on our buttons are high, but if they spent a few days in the workshop with us and had any idea how much work we put into every single button, they would be shocked that we were selling them for for as little as we are. It’s all about perspective. 

The truck is all loaded for market tomorrow. 

Looking forward to seeing many of you locals at the Eugene Saturday Market!

You can find us in booth 350. 

P.S. Stay tuned for an awesome giveaway tomorrow! I’ll be posting it before we leave for market in the morning.