Camera Randomness

Good morning!  Is everyone enjoying the weekend thus far?  This is a 3 day weekend for us thanks to Monday being family day!  Looking forward to NO alarm tomorrow morning.  LOL  Anyways, the kids are busy watching movies this morning so I decided it was high time to clean up the pictures that have been lingering on my camera.  Thought I’d share a few with you!
First, last Friday we went to Casey’s for dinner and I was (happily) surprised to see that they now have a gluten free menu!  I haven’t had pasta in a restaurant for ages so I dove right into a bowl of Jambalaya with corn penne.  The flash went off when I took the picture so I took another of the leftovers that I ate for lunch yesterday:  Nicely done!  I also enjoyed a PB ice cream/brownie “mini” dessert. I’m not a fan of whipped cream so that went to Jason’s dessert, but I was all over the brownies!!  YUM!
Speaking of pasta, I’ve collected a few noodle-y meals on the ole camera: The above was from a bit ago, but I remember it because I had made a wicked seafood sauce!
^^^Pad Thai; also from Casey’s back in the summer…^^^
^^^Rice noodles with homemade clam sauce^^^
  ^^^Rice pasta bakes with ground turkey, spinach and provolone cheese.
I’ve also seem to have collected many breakfast pictures over the last few months: And eggs!  I seem to eat more eggs than I thought!  I’m a little quirky with my eggs in that I really don’t like them for breakfast.  I mainly eat them for lunch or, on occasion, for a quick dinner.  
Here’s a coupla kitten pictures! What a face!!   :)  I think I’ll leave the photos at that.  There’s plenty more, but I’d like to get them in some sort of order for a proper post!  :)
Before I go I wan tot remind you to check out the House of Tsang giveaway I’m hosting.  There’s still time to enter!!
Bye for now!!

Alarm Free

Happy Sunday, all!  Has everyone been enjoying a great weekend?  Mine’s been more low key than usual which is just fine by me.  Yesterday and today I actually got to wake up naturally, read; NO ALARM!  I seriously can’t remember the last time I was able to go to bed without setting my alarm.  It’s not even that I sleep late, it’s just SO nice wake up on my own, ya know?? 
It’s definitely been a lot cooler lately, this weekend in particular.  Only 6*C right now!  I was hoping to go another few weeks before starting the furnace up, but we cracked yesterday and started it up.  I’ve also been using the oven as a heat source.  Yesterday after groceries but before Noah’s hockey game I baked another batch of granola from Quinoa 365:
I love that this makes such a massive amount (7 cups) of granola!  And we all like it, so it never goes to waste.   Sarah helped me out with another recipe from the book: She seems to be developing a real interest in the kitchen, so I let her do most of it for me.  I only had strawberry jam so we used that instead and the bars turned out GREAT! The quinoa flour *almost* makes it taste like there’s peanut butter in the crust.  Noah actually thought this and I didn’t try to change his mind.  ;)
Breakfast yesterday was a big stack of pumpkin pancakes topped with blueberries; How absolutely delicious does that look?  I could go for another stack right now!  HAHA  I had one rice tortilla left in the fridge so I decided to fill it with some eggs.  I cooked a big handful of spinach, added some turkey deli meat (GF) then poured in about a 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters. When it was just about set I added some goat gouda w/ chilles: Then wrapped it up!
I don’t know that I’m too fond of the rice wraps.  They taste fine, but tend to get awful hard which in turn makes them crack.  Hmm….For dinner I made a BIG batch of homemade butternut squash soup which was served with plain Greek yogurt and grated mozzarella: Soup just never photographs well, does it?  I had some toasted rice bread on the side for dipping.  YUM! 
Sarah is trying out for a volleyball team here in town so a few tryouts have been taking place. 
I know; just what we need right?  Another competitive sport in the house!  But I firmly believe in giving my kids every opportunity out there that they show an interest in.  This may make for a busy life right now, but when you think of it, at 12, I really don’t have many more years left with her before she leaves for school and what such so it’s a small price to pay. 
Let’s see….not much more to report.  The gluten free thang is still going well.  Like I’ve said before; I’m sure there is still some gluten in my diet, but the bulk of it has been removed and I’ve been feeling better.  It’s really only been 7ish weeks and I was told to give it at least 4 months to *really* see results, so I’m gonna stick with it for the time being.  On that note, I have a delicious salad waiting for me to eat for lunch!  Talk soon!
Bye for now!!!

It’s About to Get Crazy!

The temps around here have become much cooler and the skies dreary since September arrived.  I’m just not a fan.  Summer with all its heat and sun is definitely more my style.  September also brought this with it: Yes, hockey season is upon us again.  Noah was so pumped to be back on the ice.  His enthusiasm for the game makes sitting in cold rinks doable.  His soccer season will officially wrap up on September 17, although they will still practice indoors each Sunday from October to January.  Sarah’s dance classes start back up tonight, as well.  She’ll be dancing the winter away doing hip hop, jazz and modern…..so 2 nights a week.  What does all this mean?  That things will be getting crazy around here again very soon!  In anticipation I spent the long weekend mostly in the kitchen preparing freezer friendly meal starters.  The crockpot was put to use making homemade chicken stock (from bones I save throughout the summer from our many beer butt chickens) and pulled pork (frozen minus the sauce).  I also made a BIG pot of homemade marinara sauce and some roasted peppers.  The peppers are a cinch for me because I have a gas stove so I just use the stainless steel BBQ tongs and hold the peppers over the flame until they char.    Then I place them in a bowl and cover with a lid for about 5 mins. The skin peels off like a dream using this method!! 
I either freeze them as is or with some chopped garlic and olive oil.  YUM!  I also tried a new (gluten free) granola recipe that’s just awesome! This one is bursting with chocolate peanut buttery goodness!
I particularly like it sprinkled over vanilla ice cream or mixed with Greek yogurt  :)
Last night Noah’s hockey team got together to do a biathlon which they raised money for to put towards the team’s budget.  The boys had to run 1km (2.5 times around the track) and bike for 2km (5 times around).  Here are a few pictures I took…
I wanted to run with him but was told a very firm “NO!!”  HAHA!  I’ve been doing OK with this gluten free business that I’m trying out.  I learned pretty fast to make sure I have snacks packed if we’re going to be out for a bit or things can get tricky.  I’m sure there’s still some gluten sneaking into what I eat, but the main culprits have definitely been eliminated.  And I’m quite certain that the gluten police won’t be showing up any time soon.  Overall I have been feeling better; my tummy is upset less often and the bloating has almost disappeared.   It’s only been a month or so but these little changes are enough to keep me going.  Here are a few examples of meals I’ve been enjoying: Buckwheat bread with almond butter and blueberry jam. The Canadian Maple Forest is my favourite flavour yet! Brown rice spiral pasta. Pork chop, basmati rice with homemade marinara sauce. Grilled salmon with zucchini and tomatoes. Kettle corn is one of my favourite snacks!  Truth be told, I’m not much for “regular” popcorn, but kettle corn is a whole different story!  :)
So. I’m sure you’ve noticed that my blog looks different.  Yeah….that was an accident and I’m not too happy with it!  :(  I was fiddling around with templates and and for some reason hit the “apply to blog” button.  I’m definitely not techy enough to figure out how to get my old look back, though.  BOO!  C’est la vie, I suppose!
Have you ever changed something with the look of your blog that you weren’t happy with??
Bye for now!!

Dusting Off My Oven

Hello friends!!  How is everyone’s week going so far?  We are definitely seeing a change of seasons in these parts; the air is crisper, some leaves are changing colour, the apple trees are heavy with fruit……fall is without a doubt licking at summers feet!  The cooler evenings have been poking at the “baker” hibernating inside to let me know that it’s A-OK to crank the oven up and get the aroma of goodies in the air.  I’ve already baked up some delicious gluten free zucchini muffins which didn’t last very long at all!  Something I’ve really been missing since trying out this gluten free diet is granola.  I did buy a bag of Bakery On Main Cranberry Orange Cashew granola, but before I could try it more than once a mouse got into our pantry and ate a hole through the bag.  But that is another story!  DOH!!  So after hearing my friend rave about a granola recipe her husband had made, I emailed him requesting the it.  Turns out it’s from the Quinoa 365 cookbook which I then borrowed from a co worker.  The only change my friend made to the recipe was to replace 1 cup of the rolled oats for quinoa flakes so I followed suit.  The following photos were taken at night and don’t do this recipe justice, but let me tell you….IT WAS AMAZING!!! Jason and I had to sequester ourselves in the living room because we were eating it by the handful straight from the oven.  LOL  The recipe made 7 cups which just fit into my 4 litre storage container!   Here’s what’s left. We’ve enjoyed it with yogurt, as a cereal with milk (I’ve been using So Delicious Coconut Milk) and as a topping for oats.  This recipe alone has convinced me to order the book.  Can’t wait to receive my copy!  The next recipe I toyed with was the result of an advertisement for sunflower seed butter that I found in a Clean Eating Magazine for trail mix cookies.
I didn’t have any sunflower seed butter, but I did have a jar of peanut, cashew, dried fruit butter that was begging for some attention!  Here’s a peek at the bowl pre mixing:
I love recipes where you just dump all the ingredients in one bowl and mix!  After some serious stirring to incorporate the ingredients…necessary due to the fact that I do not own a stand mixer….and some careful 2 tbsp-per-cookie-measuring, I had 26 beauties ready for the oven. These made the house smell fantastic!  We could hardly wait for them to cool down before diving in. Sarah doesn’t like dried fruit so she’s been missing out on some pretty tasty cookies!  Noah just adores them and they’re good for him, too! I’ve been eating 2 just about an hour before hitting the gym which has been working out well.  No PB burps like some bars can give.  ;)
Other than baking I’ve been hanging out at the soccer field:
And working on the finishing touches of our rec room renovation.  Here’s a sneak peek of a before and (an almost finished) after:
I’ll be doing a full before and after post just as soon as it’s complete.  We just bought some shelving from IKEA this weekend that will go on either side of the fireplace/TV, there’s some artwork to be hung and I have to pick out some window treatments.  *Almost* there!
Before I sign off, have you checked out Krista’s Kraving’s facebook page yet?  That’s where I post all the new (to me) gluten free eats I’ve been trying, my pantry basics and little tidbits of info here and there.  I also post recipe and review links once a week.  Check it out!!
What have YOU been baking lately??
Bye for now!!