The Griffin Takeaway

As someone with celiac disease, I've always struggled with those crazy busy days that I don't have any time to cook or eat out, because there aren't a lot of gluten-free fast food options, but if I'm over on the East side, then  The Griffin Takeaway is my hands-down my go-to. It's easily one of my favourite places in the city, with a selection of sandwiches, soups and salads that will be ready in a jiffy, and a large case of delicious baking - all of which is gluten-free!

I've been there a ton, and it's become one of my staples. I can always expect a most delicious dessert that doesn't make me one bit paranoid. I'm always torn between cheesecakes, brownies, pastries, cookies, and tarts. They have so many options, and it always looks splendid.

Chocolate Cream Puff

They also have a selection of soups and sandwiches, but I haven't tried very many. I usually order the pulled pork, which is delicious and I love it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

To be honest, pretty much everything else is a little "weird". You'll find hummus, goat cheese and artichokes, but not much for "classics". However, if you're looking for dairy-free, vegan, or vegetarian options, you will find them here!

Brownie with icing and cherry

 If you have any dietary restrictions at all, I would recommend checking out the food at Griffin, and if you're looking for a great bakery on the East side, definitely check them out! It's one of those places that proves gluten-free can be delicious too.

The Holidays

Well, I've been pretty quiet on here the last couple of months, mostly because I haven't really had anything relevant to blog about, but I think the holidays in general are pretty relevant to all with special dietary requests. So here is how I got through my holidays:

Christmas Dinner Theatre

The first Christmas event that I attended was a lovely Christmas dinner theatre. Pretty basic concept - they feed you dinner, then you watch a play. The play was Christmas-themed, of course, and I loved it. It was amazing.

The dinner, however, was pretty so-so. When I called to buy the tickets, I asked if they would be able to accomodate me in any way. I was pretty open-minded about options. The lady said that most of the dinner was already gluten-free, so I would just be able to eat anything. Well, anything besides the stuffing, the pasta salad, the gravy, and the buns, of course. Well, that left turkey, ham, potatoes, corn, and fruit salad. It wasn't what I would call a plentiful banquet to begin with, so knocking out half the options made it pretty depressing. Oh, and the fruit salad was right next to the buns so I couldn't trust it.

I did try to make the best of it though - I loaded up on mashed potatoes and corn, and I smothered my dry turkey in (pre-packaged) butter, and put on a happy face. And you know, that plate of food was pretty delicious. Maybe not worth what I paid for it, and maybe not what I would call "accommodating" but hey, it's the holidays.

Work Christmas Party

Two days later, we had my work Christmas party to attend. Ahead of time, I asked one of the organizers about the meal, and she contacted the catering company. They promised to make and set aside an un-contaminated plate of food with my name on it.

When it came time for my table to go get food, I grabbed a waiter and told him my name. He returned shortly with a plate stuffed with roast beef, turkey, roasted potatoes, and hot vegetables. There was an au jus on the turkey, which they assured me was gluten-free (without me asking), but everything else was dry and sauce-less (which I prefer, for safety reasons alone). I barely finished my plate of food and I was stuffed for the rest of the evening.

The organizer also made sure to have at least two gluten-free alcohols on hand, so I ate and drank without a worry. It was a really lovely party, and I loved how care-free I felt.

Work Potluck

Quite possibly the source of the most anxiety for me was a potluck hosted at work. As I've mentioned before, I love potlucks, and I love bringing food to them, so despite my fears, I signed up. I decided to bring a potato dish as well as a dessert so that I would be able to eat real food and junk food (genius, right?). I brought slow cooker scalloped potatoes and some cheesecake truffles. Both went over really well.

As for what I ate, I did some spy-like work ahead of time, and casually asked a couple people what they were bringing and what they were putting in it. Then I went through the line and scoped out about four different dishes I could eat. I also dumped a bunch of raw veggies on my plate too, so no one would see and empty plate and pressure me about going back for seconds. I know, I go to a lot of work to avoid people saying anything, but it worked - nobody said anything. I was feeling a little sick right after lunch, because I ate a lot of dairy, but I figured that was pretty unavoidable.

Holiday Baking

As tends to be the rule for celiacs, I knew the only Christmas baking I would be eating was what I made. I made the cheesecake truffles from the potluck, and then I also whipped up some bacon peanut brittle and some chocolate walnut banana bread. Both went over very well, and I enjoyed them as well.

Home for the Holidays

The next big step in our holiday plans were that we were driving 'home' to Moose Jaw on Christmas Eve and staying with my in-laws through the weekend. That means four days full of meals that I wasn't certain about. I didn't want my mother-in-law to worry about every ingredient in every meal, and I didn't want to be eating out constantly, and I didn't want to compulsively wash every dish in their kitchen. So, in answer to all that, when we got to Moose Jaw, my first stop was a grocery store, and I bought four days worth of freezer dinners. That way, the only dish I needed was a fork, and I could have a quick, safe meal at any time.

Yeah, also picked up granola, oranges and Coke. Can't make it through a weekend without those.

However, I didn't need half of what I bought. I ended up leaving three meals behind in the freezer, and I didn't even touch my oranges or granola. My MIL had actually taken a few steps to carefully cook for and feed me as much as she could, without my permission. Haha. She cooked up a delicious ham and potatoes meal on Boxing Day, and she also had a supply of oranges, chips, and nuts so that I didn't go hungry.

Not that I regret any of the meals I bought! When it comes to my food, I would rather be safe than sorry!! And I think that freezer/microwave meals are pretty safe. Quick, easy, uncontaminated, and I never get to eat them at home.

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner, my mother hosted a feast, as she has every year for as long as I can remember. I was, as usual, a little anxious about it, but I shouldn't have been.

My mother bought and made gluten-free gravy and gluten-free stuffing. She made them just for me and nobody else got any of them (there was plenty of regular gravy and stuffing). Both of parents also ensured that I got the first helping from every dish. They didn't let anyone else grab any food until I had grabbed some, so that the serving utensils couldn't be contaminated. Mind you, the only contaminants were the other stuffing and gravy.

So, I was pretty impressed by their effort, and I ate until I was stuffed. And then of course, my mother pulled out a gluten-free torte for dessert (and tarts for anyone else).

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, I've decided to host another little party at my house, so there won't be any chance of contamination. I'm kind of excited. Much like last year, I'll make a few appetizers ahead of time, and hope they go over just as well.


So, I made it through all of December without getting glutened once. How about you? What were your survival techniques?

Gluten Free Butter Pecan Cheesecake Truffles

As I said in my last post, I made two desserts for the wedding. I immediately settled on sugar cookies for the first dessert, but the second dessert took a lot of brainstorming. I wanted something that would travel well, be spectacular, unique and gluten-free. I wanted something in small servings, but we already had cookies and tarts. 

After a couple weeks of thinking and searching, I put it off for awhile. Then one of my favourite blogs, EZ Gluten Free, posted a recipe that I thought sounded pretty perfect. The best thing was that I could make it several days ahead. Since I had a lot of things to do the week before the wedding, I made it as early as I could.

The recipe does include a lot of chilling time, and one ingredient did require some hunting down, but the actual work didn't take all that long and I managed to get some other things done will the ingredients were chilling.

Also, seriously, does it get better than Butter Pecan Cheesecake Truffles?

So you really need to click through and read that recipe, but to sum it up for you... You brown some butter and brown sugar on the stove, then mix it with some cream cheese and vanilla. The cream cheese mixture goes in the fridge to chill, and you mix some chopped pecans with some crushed cookies. The very specific gluten-free pecan shortbread cookies were the hardest thing to find, but I did find a pack at the health food store. Also, it's the only ingredient that is explicitly gluten-free. If you don't care about gluten content, just use regular pecan shortbread cookies.

Once the cream cheese stuff is chilled, you scoop up little balls of cream cheese and roll it in the pecan mixture. Once every little ball was rolled, I put them into containers between layers of plastic wrap and froze them for several days. I kept the containers frozen until it was time to leave for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding (and rehearsal dinner) was all in a town two hours from home, so I put the truffles in a cooler until we got there, and then they went back in a freezer. A few minutes before the reception, I pulled out some mini cupcake liners and plopped each truffle in a liner on a table. It took maybe five minutes. Right away, they were frozen solid, but they warmed up pretty quick, and by the time the last one was devoured they were still a little cold.

Overall, these worked perfectly for what I wanted. They didn't take long to make, they kept well, and they travelled just as well. Oh, and they delicious. Everyone who had one told me they were amazing.

Except my sister (the bride). Apparently, she doesn't like cheesecake. I knew that, I guess, and she didn't mind, because there were plenty of other sweets. The groom, on the other hand, told me that I'm going to go visit them and make these. I don't think he even cares if I visit, as long as he gets more of these.

Wedding Sugar Cookies

My sister wanted a few dessert options for her wedding, and she wanted at least one of them to be gluten-free. I volunteered to make two desserts, because the more I make, the more I can eat. I knew right away that I wanted to make sugar cookies.

When I made sugar cookies for Christmas, I used a mix from Kinnikinnick. I loved the mix, so I decided I'd try it again. To give the bride a taste before the wedding, I made them again for my birthday. So this makes the third time I have used Kinnikinnick's Sugar Cookie Mix, and I can not say enough good about it. It's easy to make, quick and simple to put together, rolls well, and re-rolls just as well. The cookies are easy to bake (there's a two or three minutes of flex room where the cookies are neither under-cooked nor burned) and every time I've made them, people keep exclaiming that they don't taste gluten-free!

 For the wedding, I made two boxes, just to make sure there would be enough. I made them shaped like little brides, little grooms, cakes, churches (even though they weren't getting married in a church) and hearts. I made all the cookies in one night, along with doing multiple other things for the wedding, and then I stacked them on a couple plates and wrapped them up for a few days.

When I had time again, I iced and decorated them with some royal icing and sugar crystals. For the royal icing I used:

1 cup gluten-free icing sugar (I used El Peto brand)
1 - 2 tbsp milk (I used almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla

I only made this much at a time, but I had to make four batches to decorate all of the cookies.

I wanted to decorate them with coloured sugar crystals. I found all sorts of colours of sugar at Bulk Barn, but I couldn't find black, so I bought some extra white and some black Wilton Icing Color. I mixed the white sugar with some black color until the crystals were evenly black, and then I spread them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and put them in my oven on the lowest temp (180F, I believe) for ten minutes at a time until they seemed dry.

After icing a few cookies, I let them dry for a minute or so, but before they were completely dry, I sprinkled some sugar on top.

My sister's wedding dress was cherry red, so I made red brides, black grooms, white cakes and churches (each topped with a tiny silver ball) and red hearts.

Of course, I didn't get a picture of the table before several of the cookies were devoured. Along the back of the table are the leftover favours - little bags with Hershey Kisses and mini peanut butter cups, and the far edge of the table has some truffles that I also made, and will tell you about later!

At the end of the night, there were maybe ten cookies left behind, and probably eight of them were grooms. I'm not sure why the little guys were so much less popular. Possibly because it left a few people with coloured lips. After baking the sugar, there was a lot less colour transfer, but before I put the sugar in the oven, my hubby ate a spoonful and his lips, tongue and mouth all turned bluey-purple.

Nonetheless, I would highly recommend Kinnikinnick's sugar cookie mix, and if you want them to look spectacular without a lot of work, a bit of royal icing and a spoonful of sugar goes a long way.

My Brother's Wedding

My older brother and my older sister are twins. They spent most of their life sharing things. They haven't shared clothes much, but they shared photos, attention, friends, and every single birthday. They also decided they would share the summer they both got married! My brother was married six weeks ago, and my sister was married just this past Saturday. I've been meaning to share photos from my brother's wedding, but I've been putting it off. Before I have photos of my sister's wedding, I guess I'll show you photos of my brother's.

Birthday Sugar Cookies

I love baking, and I especially love when people enjoy my baking. When I first started eating gluten-free, I baked a couple of things that people did not enjoy. Over the last while, it's always been a bit of a gamble. Sometimes the things I bake turn out amazing and no one can believe they're gluten-free. And sometimes I keep the whole batch at home because no one would really enjoy it.

However, when you bake out of a box, you take all the gamble away. Every time you make a box mix, it turns out exactly as expected.

As such, whenever I'm baking something for something or somebody, I usually buy boxed mix. It kind of feels like cheating, but I want to convince everyone that gluten-free can be amazing, not that even experienced bakers make gross gluten-free food...

Anyways, I made Kinnikinnick's sugar cookie mix last night, in celebration of my birthday. My birthday is actually on Sunday, but I have Monday off work, so today is the closest work day to my birthday.

My mom gave me a big bucket of 101 cookie cutters for Christmas one year, and a friend gave me a couple moustache-shaped cookie cutters for my birthday a couple years ago, and I got a unicorn-shaped cookie cutter for my birthday this year. I dug out a couple of dinosaur-shaped cutters from the big bucket and made the most awesome collection of cookies ever! I kind of expected to find some birthday-themed cutters in the big bucket, but I decided a few of my favourite things would work way better anyways.

Everyone at work kept saying how sad it is that I made my own birthday treats. I hardly think so. If someone else made them, I wouldn't be able to eat them.

Oh, and I can not speak highly enough of Kinnikinnick's sugar cookie mix. No one believes they're gluten-free, and they were really easy to put together. Anybody could do it.

Jack Keaton's

I was never one of those girls to order a salad and to tip-toe around a burger. I like real food. I love barbequed food. I love ribs, and pulled pork. I do enjoy my fancy shmancy quinoa and kale salads, but there will always be room in my heart for a slow-roasted half rack of baby back ribs. Always.

I discovered a restaraunt in Regina and I've been there twice now, but will definitely be going again. Jack Keatons BBQ & Grill didn't sound like the kind of place I could eat, but it is. Their BBQ sauce is gluten-free, and although they don't have any gluten-free bread, the only non-sandwich main I couldn't eat was meatloaf. The sides were a little more difficult, out of the eight or so normal options, I only had three GF options.

 The first time I went, I was starving, so I ordered the sampler plate, and I still took home some leftovers. 

Fifties Housewife Bridal Shower

Well, I'm still here. I survived the weekend, and I still have all my hair! I will admit that I am exhausted and I was late for work this morning because I'm just so exhausted.

However, the bridal shower went off perfectly, everything was amazing, and my sister was super happy with everything. I did manage to finish cleaning, and make and do everything before people showed up, and everyone was completely impressed with everything I did.

Every time someone walked in, they apologized for not dressing up. I was dressed to the nines, with an original 1950's housedress, my hair curled and my makeup done. Although I wasn't actually the only one dressed up. I have a friend who loves vintage as much as I do, and although she's never met my sister, I invited her, and she was thrilled to dress up and come! So the two of us were very housewife-y, as was the house and party.

I spent awhile collecting vintage melamine dishes, real napkins, napkin rings, vintage flatware, and some old wooden spoons, which you can see here. I had a million napkins, which went hardly used, although I loved having the old dishes and flatware, because I wasn't worried if anything broke, or even worried about washing it after. I planned to throw most of it out right after the party. You can also see some of my World War II era posters above the table, and a couple of dishes, because a few people had shown up before I got these photos in.

The doorway between my dining room and living room had some lovely bunting that spelled out my sister's name.

The only thing I didn't spend a ton of time on - my little bride and groom clothespins which I reused my sister-in-law's shower a month ago. (Also, funny timing on this one, but on Saturday, that post was featured on another blog, Pinstrosity.) I had these on a small vintage table and doily right by the door.

My main dining table, which didn't come close to seating everybody, but was set with 12 tea cups, each with a Werther's and Riesen candy inside.

I had this cute little game set up - there were six little bowls with a different spice in each one, and people had to smell them and guess what each spice was.

I made up a bunch of little printables for the games. There was, of course, a little square with six number and some picture of spices for the spice game, and another little square to fill in advice for the bride (the guests don't write their name, and the bride has to guess who said what) and then some blank bridal bingo cards. Before opening presents, each guest fills in what they think the bride will receive, and then as she opens presents, they mark off and compete to get a bingo. I like this game because it keeps the guests entertained while the bride is opening presents.

As for the potluck aspect, there was quite a bit of food that people brought, and it all looked delicious. A few people specifically cooked with me in mind - there was a gluten-free soup, and a cheese ball with gluten-free crackers - and then a couple other dishes I could eat like devilled eggs, fruit, veggies, taco salad and my chocolate covered strawberries & raspberries.

For the prizes for the games, I found some pink and blue oven mitts and some wooden spoons at the dollar store. I put three wooden spoons of different sizes in each set of oven mitts, and then tied a bow around it (I had blue bows on pink oven mitts and pink bows on blue oven mitts). It had a vintage feel, while still being unused items, and in a very cute presentation.

Overall, everything look spectacular. A couple of details that you probably can't see... I put candies in each cup so that people would know which cup had not been used, and everyone got a little candy. I also designed and printed little place cards for each dish so everyone would know what was what and who made what. I had a binder with page protectors on hand, and as everyone handed me their recipe, I slid it into a page protector.

It went off amazingly, everyone had fun, and everyone had lots to eat. I love bridal showers, and I'm excited to go to the next couple that I don't have to host. Yay!

My life, lately

I haven't been doing much that's blog-worthy, but I have been doing lots of things lately, so here's a quick summary of my current obsessions, hair colour and foods I've been buying.

My sister and I dyed our hair from the same box of dye, so now we have the exact same colour of hair. No one will notice, though, because we're sisters, and they expect us to look alike. (PS, we both dyed our hair as close to natural as possible, because we both have grays coming in. What is up with that?)

On my slow journey towards cutting all dairy out, I bought some dairy-free coffee creamer. I've tried a few kinds, and this is my favourite! I honestly can't tell it's not dairy, and I feel just a little bit better throughout my day.

Freezer Meals: Teriyaki Chicken

The second meal to come out of my freezer and into my slow cooker was teriyaki chicken.

Ingredients
Medium - large bag of carrots
Red onion cut into large chunks
2 large cans pineapple (undrained)
4 garlic cloves
4 chicken breasts (or eight chicken thighs)
1 cup teriyaki sauce
Split between 2 bags, seal, mix, lay flat, freeze
Directions for bags:
Add 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce to pot. Cook low 6-7 hours. Serve over hot rice.

 It was super easy to throw everything in the bag, like easier than the other ones. The only part that took any time was the carrots. I wasn't sure from the recipe what to do with them, so I julienne'd them through my mandoline. The original recipe called for chicken breasts, but my grocery store was absurdly out of chicken breasts, so I substituted chicken thighs, and left them whole.

Freezer Meals - Italian Sausage and Peppers

The first meal from my freezer cooking that I made was Sausage & Peppers.

Ingredients:
6 Italian Sausages
2 Green Peppers
1 Red Pepper
1 Red Onion
4 Cloves Garlic, Minced
2 Cand Italian Diced Tomatoes
2 Tbs Italian Seasoning
Split between two bags, seal, mix, lay flat, freeze
Directions for bags:
Add drizzle of olive oil, cook on low 6 hours, serve over hot noodles or fresh french bread with mozzarella cheese.

Just looks like veggies to me!

Freezer Cooking

 I love freezer cooking. It's a pretty basic concept, but the application is a little intensive.

Basically, you take some time, and prep a whole bunch of meals and put them in your freezer so when you want dinner, it's prepped and ready and just needs to be finished. Finishing varies on what recipes you do. I've done casseroles that just need to be popped in the oven for an hour or two, I've done barbecue meat that just needs to be thawed and grilled, but my favourite is slow cooker meals. You toss everything in a bag and then thaw it, dump in in your slow cooker and have dinner! Or, put it in a strategically sized container before freezing and then dump the frozen dinner in your slow cooker.

I haven't done this gluten-free, but I did do it a few times a few years ago. I always had a hard time getting all the groceries - it would take me a few days to find everything, and then I had to set aside an entire Saturday to do it all. I'm not sure how exactly I did things differently this time, but it worked a lot smoother.

I figured out what meals I wanted to make, made a combined list of groceries, went straight to the grocery store after work, got home around six, and by ten o'clock everything was in the freezer.

Daiya Pizza

A few weeks ago, my sister and I were discussing what to eat for dinner, and I said, "Is it too much to ask for a gluten-free, dairy-free pizza?" She looked at me and said, "Uh, yeah. It is."

I realize that this small town will probably never have a restaurant that offers a DF GF pizza, but you can buy frozen ones! I had to hunt and hunt for one, but after trips to three different stores, I found one! Exactly one.

Daiya Foods mushroom & roasted garlic pizza, to be specific. I really wanted one with meat on it. I'm honestly not a fan of vegetarian pizzas, but when the decision was between a pizza with meat on it and a pizza that won't make me feel sick later, I chose the vegan option. I'm okay with this.

When it comes to ease and time of prep, it's a pretty classic frozen pizza. Didn't take much work, or much time. When it was done, the cheese didn't look melted. The photo above is after it came out of the oven. I thought the cheese was still frozen, but when I poked it, it was melty and hot.

The pizza was relatively good. The toppings were great, and the crust was good. But honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Daiya cheese. I have heard endless raving compliments about it, but I don't like the way it clings to the roof of my mouth. Mind you, I've always had issues with that. I stopped eating peanut butter for years because it freaked me out when it clung to the roof of my mouth. So maybe this is just me. Anyways, the pizza was good. And I didn't feel sick all night after eating it. Two wins.

I will probably buy this again, although I'll probably hunt for a different flavour. I liked it well enough, but I like to try other things too.

I guess I'd give this pizza three stars. It was good, it wasn't amazing, but it didn't make me sick.

Car Cake

This weekend I'm hosting a bridal shower for my brother's fiance and then next weekend is their wedding, at which I will be a bridesmaid. I have a ton of shower- and wedding-related stuff between now and then, so I'm sure you can imagine that I'm busy, stressed out and tired. And I will be for a little while longer.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my sister is getting married in June, so once all this is done, I get to start it all over a month later. Yaaaay.

However, I somehow found time and energy to make a cake! 

And I can actually take credit for this cake!

I bought boxed mixes (I know, but I don't like to risk gluten-free going wrong when it's important), I put together and baked the cakes, and then took them to my mom's house, where she made me decorate probably 50% of it. Naturally, she helped, and it was really her supplies that pulled it all together, but I put in a lot more effort than I usually do. 

I'm really proud of it. 

So before I disappear into the nethers that is wedding planning, enjoy this beautiful car cake that I made.

Yam Fries

I am a huge fan of yam fries. Actually, I'm a huge fan of yams. Hubby doesn't like them so much, but I love them. I quite often order yam fries at restaurants, but I don't buy them often, because hubby doesn't love them. I did buy one recently, and I plans to boil and mash it for dinner some night.

Then one night, while hubby was working late, and I was home alone, watching Netflix, one of the bloggers I follow posted a pictures of her yam fries for dinner on Instagram. And suddenly, I decided I really needed to make yam fries. I've made this recipe before, and I'm pretty sure I've blogged about it before. So I found the pin, I sliced my yam, and I made yam fries.

And that was that. They don't take long to make, and you can prep them way ahead of time and let them soak. You're supposed to let them soak for up to half a day, but I let them soak for as long as it took the oven to heat up, because I was impatient.

Peel, slice, soak, shake, drizzle, bake. Easy-peasy, right? I wasn't totally satisfied with the texture of my fries, so I'll try to remember to slice them thinner next time. They were still delicious, and I whipped up a really simple dip which I love, but I know isn't for everybody. I just mixed mayonnaise with mustard. 

Playing with Vintage Hair

Okay, so I love vintage things. I have always had a fancy for old things. I love looking at photos from the 60's and earlier, and I've bought a few dresses just because they evoked something oh-so-50's (or another era). I'm not obsessed, I don't buy strictly vintage, I'm no expert, but I love it.

I love old houses, with their sweet little charms like keyholes, strange closets and wood floors. I love mid-century homes, with their kitchen islands, breakfast nooks, floral wallpaper, counter-height ovens, counter-top stoves and housewife-charm.

I especially love the fashion of bygone days. I love full skirts with fitted waists, petticoats and crinolines and adorable peep-toe pumps. I love the dramatic hair styles, be it a big bouffant look of the 60's or a sleek curled do from the 40's.

So I guess the point is that I've always loved vintage, but lately I've discovered a few blogs from girls who dress vintage every day. I envy them, but I could never. I like to be comfortable on occasion, I am also far too hard on my clothes to buy 60-year-old clothes and actually wear them, and I am far too cheap to pay the prices for reproduction vintage constantly.

Along with the blogs come amazing hair tutorials. I've tried to emulate 50's and 60's hair a few times before, but it always falls short. With a few helpful tutorials in mind, and knowing what tools I need, I figured a few out.

Adventures in Crafting: Canvas Posters

I'm not very good at crafting.

And by that, I mean, what I craft usually turns out, and I enjoy creating things, but I never get around to it. I have all sorts of plans in the making, and several things laying around, just waiting to be crafted into perfection, but I very rarely work on them. Most of them require something more and I just forget to buy it, but there are things that I could finish if I just did it.

A very long time ago, M and I bought some posters. We got two sets, one set had eight vintage movie posters, and the other set had eight world war two era posters. We bought them just after we moved into the house, which was two years ago. So they have been sitting in the sewing room, and then the office and then the guest room since then. Every now and then, we'd talk about how we wanted them mounted. We looked at frames, at paying to get them mounted on canvas, on just buying some canvas, but we'd decide whatever option was too expensive and to do it later. Right, later...

Well I was at a craft store and I saw the exact right sized canvas on sale (6 for $18) so I called him and bought them. I bought a bottle of Mod Podge and some paint brushes, too, even though I could have found them cheaper, I just didn't care anymore. I wanted this project done.

Spring Cleaning - Sewing Room, Part One

Personally, I wanted to finish off the kitchen next. I didn't have time to clean out the fridge and freezer or under the sink when I did the rest of the kitchen. On top of that, two of the later projects are both in my kitchen (pantry and laundry room). So I wanted to get those things finished so that my whole kitchen would just be done, but hubby had other plans. He has been itching to clean out his office for awhile, so I  agreed to help him, on one condition: I wanted my "office" cleaned too. I should have just finished off my kitchen.

However, he got called in to work a couple extra shifts over the weekend (a week ago), so I just started on my office alone.

It's really more of a sewing room, but because of it's prime location right off the dining room, it collects all of the clutter. I have a couple of clear organizing drawers, that I try to sort things in to, but that only works for so long. There's also a giant dresser in there, but it's only about half full. I keep my clothes drying rack there because the laundry is in the kitchen. So this is my catch-all room and I hate it. This is what it looked like when I started, Sunday morning (after making muffins):

Daiya Cream Cheese Style Spread

Every time I pick up a new pack of my dairy-free cheese, I notice all the other dairy-free products. It's crazy, isn't it? Butter, sour cream, cream cheese, you name it, you can get it dairy-free. I usually eye up all the options, and then buy only what I actually needed.

Cream cheese is my biggest weakness. I used to be a bagel-addict. I probably ate a dozen bagels every month, sometimes more. If I was out of cream cheese, I'd eat peanut butter or Nutella on them, but cream cheese was my very favourite thing.

I honestly have not bought a single pack of cream cheese since my diagnosis.

Not one.

How depressing is that? I consider it, every now and then, but what would I eat it on? Whenever I buy bread products, I usually have a plan for them. I'll buy a pack of gluten-free sliced ham and a loaf of bread and eat sandwiches for lunch a few days. Or I'll buy a package of gluten-free crackers and a little package of goat cheese. Bread products are such a luxury for me, that I haven't wanted to "waste" one on cream cheese.

But I caved. I bought a package of gluten-free sandwich bread and a little container of Daiya cream cheese style spread in strawberry flavour.

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

I did work on spring cleaning this weekend, but I got stalled and distracted a lot. My sister came into town (she lives on a farm 1.5 hours from here) and I spent a ton of time with her. I also decided to make chocolate muffins.

A friend of mine posted a photo of her adorable 9-month-old baby covered in gluten-free chocolate muffins crumbs, and I asked for the recipe. I've been in kind of a baking funk for a really long time, but having a clean kitchen now makes me want to bake again. After reading through the recipe and realizing I had everything I needed, I made it. Simple as that.

The recipe comes from Gluten Free on a Shoestring. My friend has the cookbook, but she tracked down and shared the blog recipe.