Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day one of the biggest candy holiday's in our nation, possible the world. For those of us with food allergies holiday's of any kind can make traditional treats difficult. Thanks to many in the gluten and allergy free community there are now many recipes and treat options. This year is our first all allergy free Valentine's Day, since my daughter went gluten and nut free. For my daughter we got her Peep's Hearts. Not the healthiest treat, but it was so hard to find a box of candy that would list what nuts might be in the candy or if they were gluten free. For breakfast I made chocolate pancakes, one in the shape of a heart for my daughter. You will find the recipe below, but I don't have any pictures because they were all gone before I got the chance.

Chocolate Pancakes

Pamela's Products Pancake and Baking Mix
1Tbs coco powder
1 1/2 Tbs powdered sugar (for the top)


 Make pancake mix according to directions. You can use your own mix, but I like Pamela's. Add coco powder to the batter and mix together. Heat on medium to medium low on a griddle pan. Pour desired amount of batter on the griddle. Pancakes are ready to flip when edges are firm. The chocolate mix doesn't bubbles like traditional pancakes.


For the heart shape pancake use a heart shape metal cookie cutter ( I think bigger is easier). Spray the cookie cutter with non-stick spray, cover all of the inside of the cookie cutter, because the batter will rise. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the pancakes for a nice affect. 

I also made red velvet cake, not my own recipe, but you can find the recipe here at Living Without. This cake recipe was very easy to make and came out so well. I've never made gluten free cake from scratch before, I normally use a mix, but this worked very well and you would never know it was allergy free from the looks or taste.

Few Words on Love
Since today is suppose to be all about love I thought it would be best to say some words on the subject. My Valentine's Day gift was the book 5 Love Languages. This is a very good book and I am very happy my husband got it for me, well for us. I've read other books by Gary Chapman and he does a very good of relating to both men and women on this very difficult subject. This book teaches couples how not everyone says "I love you" in the same way. My husband and I learned about this when we were engaged and going through premarital counseling. This book goes beyond the men are from Mars and women are from Venus differences. It gets down to each individuals differences in how they show their loved ones love. I also recommend the Apology Language book.

Hope you all had a great day!