happy birthday Mom/Grandma

So, this last Saturday, August 29th would have been my Mom (aka Makenna’s grandma) DeVona’s 74th birthday. We miss her desperately and felt inspired to make a treat that we thought she might really have enjoyed. Growing up, it was pretty easy to find a bag of “Red Hots” in her purse, in the car or tucked away in the cabinet where she thought she’d hid them well enough that us kids wouldn’t find them. Clearly, they weren’t hidden well enough! Not sure what “Red Hots” are huh? Some folks also call them cinnamon imperials…ya, just too fancy of a word for these little, red morsels of heat, so we’ll stick with “Red Hots”, it’s more fitting for the story here too! My momma was pretty spunky and if necessary could become pretty “hot” ~ especially if it involved dealing with anyone messing with her kids. Get the idea?

K, well she ALWAYS had a bag around and typically could be found eating them a handful at a time while she was reading the latest National Enquirer, the morning newspaper or watching a show. When she passed away and I was cleaning out her pantry a few years ago, I did in fact grab her last bag of “Red Hots” she was working on finishing off, there’s a few candies in the bottom…I will always keep this basically empty bag, some memories are just too special to throw away! #warmfuzzy

As a tribute to her love of cinnamon & also her birthday, I thought that making a cinnamon ice cream sounded really amazing. Rather than start from scratch I knew I just needed to start with a Paleo vanilla ice cream that I already loved making and “spice it up” so to speak! In April I fell in love with a new cookbook called “My Paleo Patisserie” by Jenni Hulet (buy it here) ~ it’s a must have folks! Her love of family and celebrating them in a healthy way is clear from reading the “Why Paleo Patisserie” section (pgs 14-21) of the book. I was nearly in tears reading it the first time. So much of what she says resonated with the same feelings I had about the need to change how our family eats for health reasons yet feeling limited in celebrating like we’re used to with amazing sweet and wonderful treats!

“This book, from it’s ingredients and techniques to the way it is photographed and laid out, is designed to inspire and equip anyone and everyone to reclaim or discover anew their own unique sense of occasion.”  (pg. 17, My Paleo Patisserie, Jenni Hulet)

I started with her recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream (pg. 192) and went from there. I decided I’d take it a step further and also add a cinnamon/sugary tortilla bowl to put the ice cream in. Haha and guess what!!!! I have been making her cassava flour tortillas for months now (recipe on her blog here) and I knew that I could accomplish the sweet tortilla bowl easy peasy!!! You should totally check out her blog! It’s beautiful, just like her book!

I’ll list steps that are mine and that I came up with on the “Recipes” tab (get to it here!) right below our logo. For recipes that are Jenni’s, you’re gonna have to buy her book and go to her blog, I will always give credit where credit is due. I would one day LOVE to have my own cookbook and can only imagine how much work goes into it, so you will not find me posting anyone else’s recipes here on my blog! As my mom would say “Not Cool!” – she may have been quoting Fonzie for Happy Days…but you get the idea!

It turned out awsome, the cinnamon taste is amazing! Head on over and find our recipe here: recipe link Using an essential oil to get a natural cinnamon flavor was key, because what’s the use of making amazing real food and not use real ingredients! The sweet tortilla bowls aren’t very big, and the three scoops of ice cream are teeny (much like my mom, all 4’9″ of her) so we did in fact all have our own little bowl of yumminess to enjoy! We don’t have treats like this all the time, but since it was the weekend and a special occasion…we did certainly enjoy! Happy birthday Mom, we love you much and miss you always! Mwah!

~Michelle