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!!

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!!

What I Did Yesterday (In The Sunshine)

We finally had some GORGEOUS weather yesterday!  Sunny and warm.  It’s funny how 15*C feels warm in the spring, but downright chilly in the fall!  LOL  Seriously, though….it was pretty awesome to be outside in just a t-shirt and light jacket.  DS had his first outdoor soccer game yesterday and the temps were perfect for it!  They lost 3-0, but played like warriors so it was all good.  Plus, they’re still in exhibition games.  The season actually starts May 1.  I took numerous photos, but this one is my favourite of the bunch!
 
He insisted on picking the brightest cleats in the store!  It worked out well yesterday because the other team showed up in the same colour jerseys’ as our boys, hence the green pinney’s.  After the game we made our way over to the rink for an hour of ice hockey practice.  One of the families has a 6 month old chocolate Lab named Douglas that always comes with them because the rink is at a large park.  It didn’t take much begging on my part to have them let me take him for a walk!  He’s pretty good on the leash until a scent distracts him. LOL 
Seeing as DS had 2 hours of sport “stuff” practically in a row, we decided to take him for ice cream and a walk along the river later in the afternoon.  He choose some neon blue bubblegum ice cream which he wasted no time diving into!
I went with a peach/blueberry frozen yogurt….my favourite fruit combo!
SO delicious!  Here’s a close up… We won’t discuss how it ruined my appetite for dinner!  ;)  Next was a quick trip to the mall.  I stopped in David’s Tea for a refill of my favourite blend, Read My Lips:
I drink a cup of this at morning break everyday at work.  Love.  While there I found a blend that seriously perked my interest.  Check it out: I’m too much of a chicken to dish out the cash on a bottle of the real stuff because I’m afraid I’ll HATE it, but figured I couldn’t go wrong with the tea.  Plus it smelled amazing!  I’ll be test driving it later on today for sure.
A few other tasty, new to me food items I’ve been enjoying are this trail mix; It’s chock full of nuts and dried fruit…..a real winning combination!   I’ve been enjoying it out of hand and mixed into my oats.  I’ve also been digging this cereal: We have the blueberry pomegranate one, too.  Both are delicious!  Now that it’s warming up some out there, I’ve been craving cereal a lot more.  I’ve been using these sprinkles on just about anything deemed “sweet” lately, too! Here are some other eats I’ve been enjoying the past week:  This pancake kicked ass, BTW!  I made a batch Friday morning using Bisquick, then topped mine with whipped cream cheese, PB chips, pecans and maple syrup.  Divine, I tell ya! 
  Lastly, the 4 of us in the payroll department at work were treated by this beautiful arrangement as a thank you from a teacher: After admiring it for a bit we dove in!  Those strawberries were amazingly sweet!! Well, I’m gonna sign off now and go enjoy a lazy Sunday!  Hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend so far.  We’ll catch up again soon….
Bye for now!!