There's this little coffee shop downtown that I quite like. Coffee Encounters has a fun, hip feel, and plenty of menu options. Mostly, I like it because they sell gluten-free treats. Depending on the day, they'll have cupcakes, muffins, cookies, squares, cake... I wish I could eat a sandwich there, but a cupcake suffices most days.
Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Picnic
Beautiful weekends call for picnics at the lake.
Oh, did I say beautiful? I mean weekends. It was windy, chilly, and cloudy. Not like stormy-cloudy, but like no-sun-is-shining cloudy. Oh, and she is wearing clothes. I promise. Her blanket-cape is just conveniently covering her entire dress.
Anyways, Banana and I packed a little picnic and drove out to a lake, which was deserted, probably because it wasn't such a nice weekend.
Delicious, fruit-packed picnic. Mmm. Oh, and Lay's. They're GF! Did you know that? New favourite discovery. I don't mean they don't have gluten in them. I mean at the bottom of the ingredients, in bold letters, the bag says Gluten free. Fan-frickin-tastic. Mmm. Most of the flavours are too, but I think plain is my favourite right now.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Raspberry Lemonade
Banana is amazing and made me curry and raspberry lemonade. I would call it from-scratch raspberry lemonade, but we used bottled lemon juice and fresh raspberry. Delicious, easy, and a quintessential summer drink!
Smoosh up the berries in a plastic baggie. With your hand, or a rolling pin. You can use really any berry you want, just cut leaves off and rinse them.
Add equal parts lemon juice and sugar to a pitcher. Start with half a cup or less (less sugar than you normally would like) and then add the smooshed-up berries. Taste the lemonade, and add a bit more lemon or sugar, to taste, until it's perfect.
I'm sorry, lemonade is not a perfect science. But it is an easy one!
Smoosh up the berries in a plastic baggie. With your hand, or a rolling pin. You can use really any berry you want, just cut leaves off and rinse them.
Add equal parts lemon juice and sugar to a pitcher. Start with half a cup or less (less sugar than you normally would like) and then add the smooshed-up berries. Taste the lemonade, and add a bit more lemon or sugar, to taste, until it's perfect.
I'm sorry, lemonade is not a perfect science. But it is an easy one!
And a pretty one.
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Day 68: Crock Pot Apple Cider
Well, it snowed today. When I woke up this morning there was a good six inches on top of my car, and it was wet, thick, solid snow that stuck to all of the tree branches, and broke a bunch of branches, and even toppled some trees.
Seriously. Tomorrow is May first, and the world is completely covered in snow. In the spirit of extended winter, I made apple cider today. Back when hubby was in school, he got it in his head that he wanted homemade apple cider, so I figured out how to make it and made him a couple batches. It's pretty easy, but I make it in the slow cooker, so it just takes forever. It also makes my entire house smell like Christmas and fall for a few days.
I've tried it with peeled apples, and with apples that still have their peel, and I decided the biggest difference was the amount of prep time. The recipe is extremely exact, I know. You quarter some apples, add some water, throw in some spices, and cook it until they're done. If you mess up a tiny bit, then it's all gone wrong. Kidding.
Quarter some apples and put them in a crock pot. I put too many apples in, don't fill it this full, but I just used all that I had, and I'm stubborn. Pour water in, until the apples start to float a little.
For sure you need cinnamon and cloves, and I added ginger, allspice and nutmeg. I forgot to put nutmeg in the picture. I added a teaspoon or so of cloves, two sticks of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of each of the spices at first. The spices you can always add more of at the end, after you taste it, but the cloves and cinnamon need to cook into the cider. Also, I would suggest adding a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. I was out this time, so I used white sugar, but it was definitely better with brown.
Turn your crock pot on low, and let it cook all day. It typically takes about eight hours, but you want the apples to cook and all the flavours to marry. Last time that I made this, I made it in two different crock pots at the same time. Admittedly, they had different amounts of apples and water, because they were different sizes, but after eight hours, this is what they looked like.
You want them to look like the one on the bottom, however long that takes. It might actually take less time, but as long as you don't burn it, you can leave it in.
I maybe forgot I had made apple cider until 10:30, so mine cooked for a little more than ten hours. I added my sugar then, and since it made exactly three cups, I didn't store any. However, you could. I have poured it straight into mason jars and sealed them, or just let them cool and put them in the fridge for a few days. It microwaves well.
The perfect remedy to a winter that just won't end.
Seriously. Tomorrow is May first, and the world is completely covered in snow. In the spirit of extended winter, I made apple cider today. Back when hubby was in school, he got it in his head that he wanted homemade apple cider, so I figured out how to make it and made him a couple batches. It's pretty easy, but I make it in the slow cooker, so it just takes forever. It also makes my entire house smell like Christmas and fall for a few days.
I've tried it with peeled apples, and with apples that still have their peel, and I decided the biggest difference was the amount of prep time. The recipe is extremely exact, I know. You quarter some apples, add some water, throw in some spices, and cook it until they're done. If you mess up a tiny bit, then it's all gone wrong. Kidding.
Quarter some apples and put them in a crock pot. I put too many apples in, don't fill it this full, but I just used all that I had, and I'm stubborn. Pour water in, until the apples start to float a little.
For sure you need cinnamon and cloves, and I added ginger, allspice and nutmeg. I forgot to put nutmeg in the picture. I added a teaspoon or so of cloves, two sticks of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of each of the spices at first. The spices you can always add more of at the end, after you taste it, but the cloves and cinnamon need to cook into the cider. Also, I would suggest adding a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. I was out this time, so I used white sugar, but it was definitely better with brown.
Turn your crock pot on low, and let it cook all day. It typically takes about eight hours, but you want the apples to cook and all the flavours to marry. Last time that I made this, I made it in two different crock pots at the same time. Admittedly, they had different amounts of apples and water, because they were different sizes, but after eight hours, this is what they looked like.
You want them to look like the one on the bottom, however long that takes. It might actually take less time, but as long as you don't burn it, you can leave it in.
I maybe forgot I had made apple cider until 10:30, so mine cooked for a little more than ten hours. I added my sugar then, and since it made exactly three cups, I didn't store any. However, you could. I have poured it straight into mason jars and sealed them, or just let them cool and put them in the fridge for a few days. It microwaves well.
The perfect remedy to a winter that just won't end.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Day 57: Lemons, lemons, lemons!
Today was a lemon kind of day. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But Robynne, it's Friday! It has to be a good day!" Well, I actually find Friday to be the worst day of the week. It means that I've done five straight days of my job, and my brain is just done. 4:45 on a Friday is the worst time of the week. Because to me, it doesn't mean I have 15 minutes left before the weekend, it means I've worked almost 40 hours in five days. I really hate my job.
But that's not what I meant at all! Today actually was a fine day, despite being Friday. Yesterday, I bought four lemons. Today, I used all four of them. That's what I meant by it was a lemon kind of day.
For dinner, I made lemon butter shrimp. It was stellar.
Then I made lemon loaf, because hubby has been asking for some for weeks.
While that was baking, I made lemon pudding again.
Now, you've already heard about the lemon pudding, but I've added pictures for you now.
I'll save writing about the shrimp for one of those highly unproductive days that I just want to lay on the couch and watch Mad Men.
So! The loaf! I was slightly disappointed by it, honestly. It was a little dry and crumbly (classic gluten-free texture), and it didn't taste all that lemony. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe Starbucks' lemon loaf? Well, this didn't come close.
But it has flax, and egg whites, and lemon.. Okay, it's not healthy bread by any shot, but it's probably a bit better for you than Starbucks' version. Also, it's still really yummy.
I found the recipe here, but of course I didn't have that combination of flours, so I just used my own.
2 lemons - zested and juiced
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons ground flax
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter - softened
1/2 cup egg whites (this was four eggs for me)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a loaf pan. I use a piece of paper towel and olive oil, because it doesn't have nasty things like petroleum, and everytime I use it everything pops right out.
Whisk together the flours, starches, flax, salt, baking soda and baking powder thoroughly in a separate bowl. Set aside.
Cream together sugar, egg whites, soft butter, milk, the zest from both lemons and vanilla thouroughly. It will be a bit soupy looking.
Add in the bowl of flours, and mix well. It becomes thicker the longer you mix. I started doing something else while my mixer was going, and I think mine got a little too thick. Turned out well, but maybe stop it before it looks like this.
Pour (or scoop) the batter into your prepared loaf pan.
Bake for an hour. Mine took 50 minutes before a toothpick was coming out clean everywhere. Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then run a knife around the edges and pop out onto a platter.
While it's cooling in the pan, put your icing sugar in a large bowl and juice your lemons into it, making sure not to get any seeds. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle over loaf. And apparently, the entire plate too.
Mmm! And if you just so happened to finish making lemon pudding, pour some of that on top of a slice. Lemon. Heaven. I'm telling you.
But that's not what I meant at all! Today actually was a fine day, despite being Friday. Yesterday, I bought four lemons. Today, I used all four of them. That's what I meant by it was a lemon kind of day.
For dinner, I made lemon butter shrimp. It was stellar.
Then I made lemon loaf, because hubby has been asking for some for weeks.
While that was baking, I made lemon pudding again.
Now, you've already heard about the lemon pudding, but I've added pictures for you now.
I'll save writing about the shrimp for one of those highly unproductive days that I just want to lay on the couch and watch Mad Men.
So! The loaf! I was slightly disappointed by it, honestly. It was a little dry and crumbly (classic gluten-free texture), and it didn't taste all that lemony. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe Starbucks' lemon loaf? Well, this didn't come close.
But it has flax, and egg whites, and lemon.. Okay, it's not healthy bread by any shot, but it's probably a bit better for you than Starbucks' version. Also, it's still really yummy.
I found the recipe here, but of course I didn't have that combination of flours, so I just used my own.
2 lemons - zested and juiced
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons ground flax
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter - softened
1/2 cup egg whites (this was four eggs for me)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a loaf pan. I use a piece of paper towel and olive oil, because it doesn't have nasty things like petroleum, and everytime I use it everything pops right out.
Whisk together the flours, starches, flax, salt, baking soda and baking powder thoroughly in a separate bowl. Set aside.
Cream together sugar, egg whites, soft butter, milk, the zest from both lemons and vanilla thouroughly. It will be a bit soupy looking.
Add in the bowl of flours, and mix well. It becomes thicker the longer you mix. I started doing something else while my mixer was going, and I think mine got a little too thick. Turned out well, but maybe stop it before it looks like this.
Pour (or scoop) the batter into your prepared loaf pan.
Bake for an hour. Mine took 50 minutes before a toothpick was coming out clean everywhere. Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then run a knife around the edges and pop out onto a platter.
While it's cooling in the pan, put your icing sugar in a large bowl and juice your lemons into it, making sure not to get any seeds. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle over loaf. And apparently, the entire plate too.
Mmm! And if you just so happened to finish making lemon pudding, pour some of that on top of a slice. Lemon. Heaven. I'm telling you.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Day 48: Greek Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip
I've been trying really hard to eat more fruit lately. I try buying grapes and blueberries and things, and they just go bad in my fridge. I mostly buy bananas and apples, because my husband is usually good at eating those. I eat bananas, but it's hard to eat apples, because I chipped a front tooth when I was seven, and if I take a bite out of an apple or beef jerky with my front teeth, I might lose the filling and re-chip my tooth. I eat beef jerky with my back teeth, but I pretty much only eat apples when they're sliced up. Slicing them up takes a lot of work, so I don't eat them much.
Unless... I have a really yummy dip for them. It's really easy, creamy, rich, and sweet.
Spoonful of plain greek yogurt, spoonful of peanut butter, squirt of honey and some cinnamon. Mmm. Hubby hates it, because he hates greek yogurt. I swear I can't taste it, I just taste sweet and peanut butter, but he gags after a little taste.
Unless... I have a really yummy dip for them. It's really easy, creamy, rich, and sweet.
Spoonful of plain greek yogurt, spoonful of peanut butter, squirt of honey and some cinnamon. Mmm. Hubby hates it, because he hates greek yogurt. I swear I can't taste it, I just taste sweet and peanut butter, but he gags after a little taste.
I also dipped some arrowroot cookies in it, and would dip crackers if I had some that weren't onion flavoured. It seems pretty versatile so far. Mmm.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Day 14: The Airport
Happy Thursday everyone! Today was a very happy Thursday for me! My best friend came home! She's been in Thailand for three months, but she came home today! (Okay... she actually came home last night. I'm writing this on Friday, because I got home from picking her up after midnight.)
The rest of the day was pretty insignificant. I woke up, I worked, I ate food. I made pasta in the microwave for lunch, because all of our pots needed washing. I've made pasta in the microwave a few times. It always comes out a slightly funny texture. So the gluten-free pasta in the microwave was just fine. I mean sure, it wasn't normal, but I had no expectations.
I'm noticing that I'm starting to expect my food to taste gluten-free. My gluten-free pretzels taste normal to me now, in fact even good. I can see that in some time I'll think gluten-free bread tastes better than other bread like people keep telling me. My taste buds and tummy are slowly readjusting to all this weird food.
For dinner, I made a buttload of rice and fried some BBQ-marinated chicken. You can tell my creativity is sapping, huh? I wanted rice in the fridge, because it's easy to make a stir-fry, or some rice pudding and other yummy things. And last night I pulled out two frozen chicken breasts and put them in the fridge with some BBQ sauce. Wanna know a funny story? Three or four months ago, when we were out of barbeque sauce, we were at the store looking for more, and I found a big bottle with a cool top that I liked, and I read the label which has big letters saying "Gluten-Free" and I said to my husband, "Really? Gluten-free barbeque sauce? What is this world coming to?" Well, this world is coming to me being pre-emptive and smart and I was very happy when I remembered that, because I had read BBQ sauce is on the bad list. But mine's not! How cool is that?
Also, my attitude wasn't directed at the people trying to avoid gluten and eat barbeque sauce, it was directed at barbeque sauce makers who add gluten. Don't worry, I didn't hate on my future self.
Anyways... So after dinner, I drove an hour to the bigger city, and then waited an hour at the airport (the plane was delayed in Calgary, waiting to be de-iced for an hour). And then saw my friend for the first time in three months, and proceeded to hand her a ski jacket, mittens, hat and scarf. And in my car was a blanket waiting for her. It's not even that cold today, but it's a heck of a lot warmer in Thailand. And somebody didn't pack anything warmer than a cardigan, because she didn't need it...
I've written before (on my other, pre-celiac blog) about how much I love airports, because they're just fantastic for people-watching. But I didn't do much people-watching. I was so glazed-over. I was also hungry, because I'm always hungry and we're out of gluten-free snackables. So I wandered over to the little place that sells food. I didn't feel like analyzing and freaking out about ingredients and so on, so I bought some Rice Crisps and an apple. I love that fruit is still safe. I never think about eating fruit or buying fruit, but when I see it, I remember how good it tastes and how much I want it.
And that was my day. I'm sorry. It's been a glazey day. I'm beginning to think much of my near future looks like this.
The rest of the day was pretty insignificant. I woke up, I worked, I ate food. I made pasta in the microwave for lunch, because all of our pots needed washing. I've made pasta in the microwave a few times. It always comes out a slightly funny texture. So the gluten-free pasta in the microwave was just fine. I mean sure, it wasn't normal, but I had no expectations.
I'm noticing that I'm starting to expect my food to taste gluten-free. My gluten-free pretzels taste normal to me now, in fact even good. I can see that in some time I'll think gluten-free bread tastes better than other bread like people keep telling me. My taste buds and tummy are slowly readjusting to all this weird food.
For dinner, I made a buttload of rice and fried some BBQ-marinated chicken. You can tell my creativity is sapping, huh? I wanted rice in the fridge, because it's easy to make a stir-fry, or some rice pudding and other yummy things. And last night I pulled out two frozen chicken breasts and put them in the fridge with some BBQ sauce. Wanna know a funny story? Three or four months ago, when we were out of barbeque sauce, we were at the store looking for more, and I found a big bottle with a cool top that I liked, and I read the label which has big letters saying "Gluten-Free" and I said to my husband, "Really? Gluten-free barbeque sauce? What is this world coming to?" Well, this world is coming to me being pre-emptive and smart and I was very happy when I remembered that, because I had read BBQ sauce is on the bad list. But mine's not! How cool is that?
Also, my attitude wasn't directed at the people trying to avoid gluten and eat barbeque sauce, it was directed at barbeque sauce makers who add gluten. Don't worry, I didn't hate on my future self.
Anyways... So after dinner, I drove an hour to the bigger city, and then waited an hour at the airport (the plane was delayed in Calgary, waiting to be de-iced for an hour). And then saw my friend for the first time in three months, and proceeded to hand her a ski jacket, mittens, hat and scarf. And in my car was a blanket waiting for her. It's not even that cold today, but it's a heck of a lot warmer in Thailand. And somebody didn't pack anything warmer than a cardigan, because she didn't need it...
I've written before (on my other, pre-celiac blog) about how much I love airports, because they're just fantastic for people-watching. But I didn't do much people-watching. I was so glazed-over. I was also hungry, because I'm always hungry and we're out of gluten-free snackables. So I wandered over to the little place that sells food. I didn't feel like analyzing and freaking out about ingredients and so on, so I bought some Rice Crisps and an apple. I love that fruit is still safe. I never think about eating fruit or buying fruit, but when I see it, I remember how good it tastes and how much I want it.
And that was my day. I'm sorry. It's been a glazey day. I'm beginning to think much of my near future looks like this.
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