Overcoming fear while eating lemon-ricotta-almond cake!!!

Gluten Free Lemon-Ricotta-Almond Cake no less! Click! or read below. 

Pincha Mayurasana ~ Feathered Peacock Pose ~ Forearm Balance

Pincha : Feather

Mayura : Peacock

Do dolphin downward dog on your forearms and a few dolphin pushups to warm up and then just ease into Pincha Mayurasana, kicking up without over-thinking it.  Don't let your elbows splay out more than shoulder's width (closer than you think.) Also warm-up with Urdhva Dhanurasana, Upward Bow, so when/if your legs fall behind your head you do not end up in your first wheel of the day ;)

If you have been practicing yoga for a while and can hold down dog for long periods of time, are comfortable standing on your head and on your hands - even if it's against the wall- then you are ready for this pose physically, it's only your mind that's holding you back. (At least, my mind majorly holds me back in this one.) I like to practice you-are-bound-to-fall-if-you-are-actually-making-an-effort poses at home on grass or carpeting, as I am one to be apprehensive in the look-at-me quality of a studio. You can teach your spouse or friend to properly assist you. 

I glazed my gluten free Lemon Ricotta Almond Cake with melted guava preserves for a sticky blackberry-friendly surface. The cake is quite sweet, so any fresh fruit complements it well and the jelly is just there as glue. 

Gluten-Free Lemon-Ricotta-Almond Cake

This one-bowl recipe is EASY, moist and refined. 

Worthy of guests. 

Time and energy friendly for the hostess. 

A no-brainer in these gf times.  

3 eggs
1/2 cup almond meal/almond flour
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix
1 cup sugar (3/4 should be enough... it's fairly sweet.)
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (1 if you like lemon as I do.)
1 lemon's juice
1 lemon's zest

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar.
3. Add almond meal and butter, and stir well.
4. Mash ricotta and add to batter.
5. Fold in Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix.
6. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract.
7. Grease 8" round cake pan. Pour in batter and bake for 30 minutes.
8. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving warm.
9. Garnish with fruit. Dust with powdered sugar prior to serving.

Still working on my "Homemade by Astrid" labels.

Delish! J ate 3 pieces and said he "wouldn't mind if I made it for him for his birthday." Which is in March. We do not have gluten allergies in our household, per-se, (I'm sure it's no the easiest food to digest for anyone,) but many family members are excluding the protein and the nation-wide frenzy certainly has my interest piqued. Especially after enjoying the French Open Federer-Djokovic match! (Djokovic sited the GF diet as his key to being unstoppable CLICK! since December, and since, just now, Federer.) 

"It's mostly mental energy you're talking about, not energy supplied to muscle tissues," said David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University, when asked about the effects of giving up gluten if one has an allergy. (An allergy differs from celiac disease, whose sufferers, Levitsky said, can incur far-reaching health effects from eating gluten, including the inability to absorb nutrients.)

Levitsky said a gluten-free diet might have benefits for those with mild allergies, or even no allergy at all. "The other part of the story is, if you believe in a cause of your disorder, it becomes the cause," he said. "We see this in many different studies. If you believe it, you change your behavior in the direction of being cured."

Do you have any gluten-free thoughts or stories?! 

Next on the Agenda: Friendship bracelets!