Gluten Free, Vegan, Refined Sugar Free Carrot Cake Pancakes Recipe

  These pancakes are seriously so yummy, I had to write a blog post about them! Its so hard to find tasty refined sugar free treats. These have maple syrup in them instead of sugar for sweetness which is so lovely!  If you don't eat gluten free feel free to use regular flour, I haven't tried it that way but I'm sure they would be delicious too :) Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you! Its an easy recipe, I promise! I got the base for this recipe from the cook book Isa Does It. I changed a thing or two from the original recipe :)


2 tablespoons almond flour
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup gluten free flour mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup chop pecans

Start by mixing the first 7 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Shred the carrots in a food processor than place them in the food processor and chop them until the are small little crumbles. Chop pecans to desired size. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold carrots and pecans into the patter. Set the batter aside for about 10 minutes to rest. Heat up a pan and spray with cooking spray. Cook the pancakes how you would any normal pancakes.
Serve with raisins, chopped nuts, maple syrup and earth balance butter spread. You are going to fall n into a deep, deep love with these pancakes. I didn't know I could feel so much love for pancakes until I tried these ones :D

These are sooo good! I can't wait to make them again!!!

Gluten, Dairy and Egg Free Meatballs in Teriyaki Sauce

   Theses meatballs are so yummy!!! My whole family really loved them! They were super tasty and easy to make :) I will most certainly be making these often!


Meatballs
1.5 pounds ground turkey
1 clove of garlic crushed
2 tablespoons potato starch (or gluten free flour mix)
1/4 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce (a gluten free one)
black pepper (do as much as you'd like)

Pre-heat oven to 4oo degrees. Mix ingredients in a medium size bowl. Spoon into round ball shapes-however big or small as you like. Place onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until no longer pink in the center.


Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons honey
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried ground ginger
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons gluten free flour mix

In a small bowl mix the water and gluten free flour until well combined. In a small pot mix soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger together. Bring to a simmer then add the water/flour mixture. Heat until the sauce has thickened.

Put the meatballs in the sauce and heat together for 5 minutes. Enjoy with so rice noodles and a vegetable like green beans. Yum! :)


                                                                        Much Love,
                                                                            Amanda

How to Roast Potatoes

     Roasted potatoes can be good so I thought I'd tell you how I roast mine. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family likes them...I hope. hahaha I think the most important thing to roasting potatoes is making sure you have enough olive oil so they get deliciously golden and crispy. I love crispy potatoes. Actually I love almost all potatoes. They are just so amazingly good!

Roasted Potatoes

7 golden potatoes
olive oil
salt

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Dice potatoes into desired size. Place on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over them. Salt generously and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Check the potatoes after 20 minutes and if needed put back in the oven for 10 more minutes or until soft all the way through. Enjoy! :)
                                                                          Much Love,
                                                                            Amanda

Tomato Balsamic Chicken

   Yay for a new chicken recipe! And an even bigger yay for chicken that I like! I'm very picky when it comes to chicken. Sometimes I just can't eat it because of the texture. I'm very picky about the texture of my chicken. Anyway, this chicken turned out really good and everyone in my family liked it.

Tomato Balsamic Chicken
olive oil
6 thin chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 fresh basil leaves
sprinkle as much as needed of
oregano
rosemary
black pepper
basil
salt
thyme


  Sprinkle the chicken with pepper and crush garlic cloves. Heat olive oil in a large pot/pan. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on each side. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, basil and other spices. Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way. Cook until the chicken juices run clear. Serve with a starch (potatoes, pasta or rice) and a salad or vegetable.

  

Performing and Being in a Dance Team

   Being in a performance team is really fun. Its really exciting and fun perfecting a dance routine to the point where you can perform it in front of many people. I love performing and I love dancing so combining the two is just wonderful for me. It can be really challenging and difficult to do things like aerials but sometimes the right thing to do is be challenged. I like being challenged physically because its so rewarding when it works.
  Last weekend our dance performance team performed 3 times. It was so much fun and I'm so proud of everyone of the dancers on the team. I feel super blessed to be a part of such a wonderful team of people. The routine we did was a modified version of the Lindy Chorus. There were seven couples dancing. All of the girls wore skater skirts, black t-shirts, nylons, black shorts and black keds/black tennis shoes. The boys wore black pants and black button downs with a tie to match the follows skirts. All of the girls had curly hair and a victory roll. It was super fun having a vintage hair look.
  Everyone who was in the show did a final hip hop dance together. We all wore these superman looking shirts that had a SB on them to stand for Spotlight Ballroom (the name of the dance studio). After the dance we took bows and clapped for everyone who worked in the show.
  It was a very lovely experience and I'm so glad I got to be apart of it.
Watch the video :)

                                                               Much Love,
                                                                  Amanda

My Top 5 Favorite Movies

   So if you asked my family what my favorite movie is they would probably be like "Amanda's favorite movie changes every time she watches a new movie." and they would be right five years ago when I changed what my favorite movie was every weekend. But now I have some real favorites. These are movies that I could watch almost any day at anytime because I love them so much. These are the movies that can make me cry and laugh in the same 2 hours. These are the movies that I love because of the story, or music, or actors. I'm not a super big movie person so it takes a really good movie to keep my interest. Since I love all of these movies equally I've decided to put the oldest favorites first. Let me know if you share any favorites with me :)

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory



   This is my oldest favorite movie. Its been my favorite since I was 8. Like I loved it obsessively for like a year. Its so crazy, creative, dark yet funny and colorful. There isn't a single thing I don't like about this movie. Johnny Depp makes such an amazingly awesome Willy Wonka. Johnny's acting in this movie is outstandingly awesome. I really can't say enough good things about this movie. The other day me and my little sisters watched and the whole time I was giggling like a fan girl.  hahaha I just love it so much! If you haven't seen it, WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!!!


2. Freaky Friday



  I love Freaky Friday. I pretty much love everything about it. The story is just so intriguingly strange and wonderful. I mean switching bodies but having the same mind?!?! Love it! Plus isn't it cute how Jake always knows where Anna's mind is? Its kinda strange when he starts falling in love with Tess but it just because its really Anna! hahaha Anyways this movie is a favorite for sure!!

3. Warm Bodies



So, Warm Bodies is the only zombie movie I've ever really watched. Its so deep and amazing. There are really funny parts, really creepy/weird parts and also really sweet thoughtful parts. This movie basically has it all! Love, action, zombies, a wonderful storyline, and the power of true love! :') Makes my eyes water just thinking about it. This movie is truly beautiful. (if you can get passed the fact that "R" eats Julie's boyfriend Perry's brains) Just don't watch the parts when the boneys are being creepy and you should be just fine!




4. Grease



   Ok, so I know you might judge me for considering this as one of my favorite movies but it is one of my favorite movies so I'd be lying not to include it. The thing I like about this movie is the music. Like with most musicals the music is the wonderful factor in this movie. Cause if you read to deep into the story you can be left like "Whaaaaaa?" so don't pay attention to the story and just enjoy the music and dancing :)

5.





  I adore this movie in every way possible. It makes me cry like no other movie every has or ever will. It makes me love and care about the characters so much that I feel emotionally attached to them through out the whole movie. The characters development is amazing. I really hope everyone watches this movie at least once! There is so many dumb movies that aren't worth the time to watch but this movie is the opposite.

                                                            Much Love,
                                                              Amanda

Covergirl Lip Perfection Review

   I have a new makeup review for you!! I love writing makeup reviews because that means that I've tried new makeup which makes me happy :) So, the other day I had my senior portraits taken. The day before the pictures were taken I realized I didn't have a lot of the makeup I would need to get picture ready so my Dad took me to Target. At Target I bought a bunch of makeup things and one of them was a lip liner from Covergirl called Lip Perfection. The color I bought is 225 beloved and its this pink with brown undertones, its almost a mauve pink. I really like the color because its something that can be worn under a lot of different pink lip glosses and lipsticks. I like the product. It works really well when I put some chapstick on a couple minutes before. I haven't tried to sharpen it yet and I didn't buy the extra sharpener that was made for the lip liner. It might be hard to sharpen but oh well! I love the fact that this lip liner is a natural pink because it looks great under so many different colors. It has the perfect amount of pigmentation for my lips. It defines them but isn't so bright and pigmented to make them look weird. I really like this product and would probably buy it in more colors if needed. The price is pretty good at around $6 at Target. Yay for lip liners that work!!
                                                           Much Love,
                                                             Amanda