Gingerbread Men

Yesterday, I made gingerbread men!  It was the first time I made gingerbread cookies in awhile and I made them with my sister :)  I used a Little Bay Baking Mix that I won.  The gingerbread cookies came out excellent.  I would definitely recommend this mix.

Here is a picture of some of our little men:

Lunch Foods

Lunch doesn't have to be a midday bore, it can be grand :)  Here are two great lunch items that I made recently.

Grilled Cheese with Tomato Sauce, Green Peppers and Mushrooms on homemade Potato Buttermilk Bread

Those of us who have to gluten-free for health reasons know that a lot of gluten-free breads on the market can leave something to be desired, hence when I can I bake my bread.  The crisp outside of the bread contrasted pleasantly with its soft insides.  

Pinto Beans on Brown Rice Griddlecakes

I used flaxseed as the binder for my tortilla-like cakes and it gave them a delicious multi-grain taste.  This was a project with leftovers of brown rice and broccoli from the night before.  I left the broccoli in the rice when I made my griddlecake mixture and it added a wonderful flavor.

Merry Christmas

Hopefully this Christmas season finds you with family and friends. May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

I'm a Winner :)

I won a contest from Be Free For Me, a blog that provides information about gluten and allergen free living.  The contest I entered was entited The Little Bay Baking Contest.  The winner of the contest was to receive three mixes.  The mixes I received were their gingerbread cookie mix, their yellow cake mix and their waffle/donut hole mix.  So far my sister and I have baked their yellow cake mix and the results were quite nice.  The yellow cake package also gives information on making the yellow cake into spice cake; my sister and I decided to split our mixture into one half spice and the other half yellow.  Both endeavors came out well and we were sure to frost them with vanilla frosting :) 

Pancakes

Pancakes are a weekend tradition in my home.  During the summer, when I was a summer camp counselor, I made sure that I had enough to last the whole week.  Having pancakes greet you around 6am is always quite nice.

Here is a simple pancake recipe:

1 cup rice flour
1/4 sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk (or a non-dairy alternative such as rice, almond or coconut)
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
2 eggs (or a 2 eggs worth of an egg substitute)

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly.  Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Give the mixture a few minutes to rest.

In the meanwhile,  oil a skillet or a non stick griddle and heat your chosen item to medium heat.  Apply about 1/4 cup of the mixture to the skillet/griddle at a time.  When the edges of the pancake start to dry and the there are bubbles in the middle, it is time to flip the pancake.  The number of pancakes made depends on the amount of batter used at a time.

Companies Producing Great Treats

     Courtesy of my grandmother, I was given the opportunity to try four great products: Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip cookies, Josef's Gluten Free Cinnamon O's, Cherrybrook Kitchen's Gluten Free Chocolate Cake and Cherrybrook Kitchen's chocolate frosting.  While I don't have pictures of the cookies (they're gone), I do have a picture of a cupcake :)  All of the treats were quite good, the texture and the flavor of each product was delightful; I savored every one of them.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

To tell the truth most of the books I've read have been written by people who have been dead for multiple years.  So, this recent book pick is the first one since elementary school that I have read in which the author is still living.

This book made The New York Times Book Review; it is called The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.  As someone who likes to cook, I thought it would be interesting to read what the New York Times Book Review calls a "[t]houghtful, engrossing... explanation of exactly where food comes from."

Shouldn't we know where our food comes from?  Of course, it would seem to be common sense to know.  Apples come from apple trees, chickens come from eggs but technological advances have changed the way in which food is produced and is cared for; not all farms and orchards are created equal.

Should it matter what food items we purchase? If one sees him or herself as a steward of the environment does what a person eat matter and is it possible to be ecologically and budget friendly in accomplishing the above?  While this book may not have all of the answers to the questions I posited, the questions I mentioned may be ones to be considered.