snow day

Well, the weather hit as predicted here, a crazy mix of strong wind and heavy snow, lightning and thunder, leaving drifts about our yard so deep that neither children nor dogs could travel through. Much of our snow day was spent deep in it, playing and shoveling -- at our house, the neighbors, the honorary Grandmas and Grandpas in our lives, at my brother's...My husband, brothers and big kids roamed the neighborhood with shovels and snowblower in hand, Sophia returning home to fill thermoses of coffee to fuel the work. It really took all day to dig everyone out.

It might be that some of the thrill of a "snow day" is lost on kids who don't go to school anyhow, but they were certainly excited for the snow and caught up in the high energy of preparing for the blizzard. And they were beaming with pride and a sense of importance as they travelled the neighborhood, working with the big guys.











While the big kids joined the effort, Charlotte and I worked on warming the house.

We designed and tested a new gluten-free banana muffin recipe that turned out so very moist and light, with none of the aftertaste of some gluten-free recipes we've tried.

Gluten Free Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. honey
2 eggs
1/4 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. gluten free flour mix (we used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gf flour)
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
cinnamon and nutmeg as desired

2 mashed bananas
1/2 c. plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter and sugar. Add honey, eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add. Mix in bananas and yogurt. Spoon into buttered muffin tins. Makes 12 muffins. Bake 18-20 minutes.