Just a taste of my new toy

My new Olympus E-PL1 <3 Still learning how to use this baby, so I promise my skills will improve! So far loving it thought :)

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays! All the best and lots of Christmas cheer! 

Wheat-Free Gingerbread Men

Okay! So I have finally made approximately 60 cookies so far and can probably make at least two dozen more with the dough I still have. I made two batches and let them cool overnight. I must admit, these cookies are a wee pain in the ass...as some cookies tend to be. And you have to work fast before the dough softens too much and you can't pick up the little men...but success! I prevailed and they are actually decent. As always, my wheat-free baking is a bit of an experiment. This time I used a mix of tapioca flour, potato starch and sourgum flour. Once I was rolling out the dough though I added a little brown rice flour, just to mix it up and add a little different texture. Feel free to experiment with a different mix/ratio of flours, I find that's the best part! The original recipe uses all-purpose flour, and is from www.allrecipes.com 

1 cup butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup or molasses (I used 1/3 cup of each!)
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups flour (1 1/2 cup sourgum, 1 1/4 cup tapioca flour, 1 1/4 cup potato starch)
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves

In a medium saucepan, stir together butter, brown sugar, and molasses/corn syrup, over medium heat until dissolved. Pour into a large bowl, and let cool for 5 min.
Stir the beaten egg and vanilla into the mixture until smooth.
Sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; stir into wet mixture.
Cover and chill dough overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
On a lightly floured surface (here's where I used potato starch again and brown rice flour), roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into with cookie cutter, and place onto unprepared cookie sheet. (if you have one of those rubber oven mats the cookies won't stick at all).
Bake for 10-15 min, cookies should be firm

Happy Holidays everyone, and happy baking!

ShoppingShoppingShopping

Sorry for the lapse in posts..I just returned from a short trip across to exotic Nanaimo. Had a lovely, quiet and bowling-filled time with my boyfriend and Cinnamon of course. And after much procrastination, today is the day I am going to make gingerbread-mustache men. I'll update with a recipe and (hopefully) successful results very soon.


On the topic of Christmas (until there is only 2 DAYS by the way), how does one go about your holiday shopping? This year, after much deliberation and delay, I decided to brave the malls and the outside world. I've become quite attached to online shopping, you really can't beat sitting on the couch, in sweats with a hot cup of peppermint tea, browsing such fabulousness as asos, etsy, forever21, revolve, among many others. Compare that to squirming through throngs of mind-rattled shoppers along Robson or through the mall, and having to needlessly pick through entire stores to find your wishlist. No, I am the converted. My people are the online shopping community. Amazon has helped me greatly this year, and I am perfectly content in not having to go outside in the rain. I am brave enough to try and find my NYE dress online this year (gasp). Weighing the options, really, a little need for alteration suits me better than clamoring through fitting room lines and ripping off layer after layer. Save that for those with credit debt. My Visa is my Christmas elf this year, and baby's been busy!



Happy Holidays! Gingerbread recipe coming soon!!

How To: Easy Fishtail Braid/Plait

found this tutorial on how to do a fishtail braid! so awesome and beautiful! <3

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi...

Ah the holidays! There's just something tummy-tingling and nose-wiggling about the holiday season. Something that makes you have a bad case of the sniffles, a case of the holiday cookie sniffles that is!
I have high hopes for my attempt at wheat-free gingerbread mustache men. As I do with most of my recipes, few of which are originally wheat-free, I'm going to substitute with my own flour mix. This tends to vary depending on how much of each flour I have...so far so good though. I have successfully made banana bread, lemon squares (which some might call little drops of heaven), and a variety of muffins. Gingerbread-mustache-men are next. Ambitious? Yes. Delicious? No, Legendary. Start counting, my last exam is tomorrow and then the full-on holiday baking can begin!

Stay Tuned!

Truth.

                                                                          

                                               

                                

    

      

      

Whitney's Wheat-Free Banana Bread

So to start off my mission of holiday baking, I'm starting with a tried and true recipe that I love. The recipe originally calls for rice flour, but I substitute with my own flour mix to add a smoother texture, and I find it tastes better than plain rice flour. I made two loafs today, one nut-filled (walnuts) and one nut-free for my work Christmas party tomorrow. :) Enjoy, would love feedback if you give it a try!

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 large bananas)
3/4 cup sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1-1/4 cup flour mix (1/2 cup sourgum flour, 1/2 cup tapioca flour, 1/4 cup potato starch)
1/4 cup nuts (or not!)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil (I used grape-seed oil)

Add bananas, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl and beat at med speed for 1 min. Add eggs and mix well.
 In a large bowl mix flours, nuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add banana mixture alternating with oil and mix well at low speed.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 min (check at 40 min, depending on your oven. I find I have to bake things longer than recipes call for. This one originally said 30-35)
Cool 5 min before removing from pan
This makes one medium size loaf.
Happy Holidays!

Some things I love

There will always be people who get pleasure out of putting other people down. Everyone does it in their heads, and it's my pre-New Years resolution to try and muffle my inner Scrooge. I'm aware that I can be over critical, cynical and a bit of a skeptic at times. But something about the Holidays just makes you want to do better, if only by your own little Tiny Tim. So to pay homage to some things that will always be great, no matter how much of a grump you are, let's be thankful we have what we have. Yes, they can be superficial and materialistic, it's hard not to love new toys I know. And they can be as corny as loving the way some commercials will make you tear up. Here are some of my Grinchless vices:

- my dog Cinnamon, she knows more than Yoda. Mostly because I don't tell Yoda when I burn a pair of oven mitts in the m\icrowave to try and make them warm cuz my hands were cold...

- puzzles. The ultimate time-passer. Take that MLIA

-MLIA. 'cause it is awesome. Though not as awesome as puzzles.

-Christmas carols

- Sunday afternoons. When else can you watch a full 5 hours of SATC?

-baking (psst holiday baking is coming!)

-the way Vancouver feels after a good rain.

-Glee. Anyone watch the Christmas episode last night? Not gonna lie, Arty walking at the end got me teared up. I am not ashamed.

-black and white photos.

-being able to wear lululemons and socked feet at work. I <3 the VPC

-strutting to Stevie Wonder.

-alpaca scarves.

-making lists of things that make me smile. Always a sure way to cheer yourself up :)

Next time you feel like being a Grinch, remember one thing that makes you happy. It can be as simple as the way your feet are dry when your in the rain, and you're wearing weather appropriate footwear. Or if you find a blog and post a comment that you know would make someone's day :)
Happy Holidays everyone!

Procrasti...maybe tomorrow.

Soooo procrastination...we all do it. I think half the time, when you're updating your Facebook status to something along the lines of "studying sucks! fml" or "soo screwed for this exam tomorrow!' we're all secretly hoping there's at least one other person out there doing exactly the same thing. Of course, there's a herd, a flock a bloody stampede of people doing exactly that. In the spirit of procrastination, I've decided to dedicate a blog to some of the wonderful sites that I often shamelessly fill my time with. Enjoy Slackers!

MLIA - My Life is Average
Dear Girls Above Me
Awesome crafty/handmade shopping site. Shop local!
Some chick's random blog

Let me know if you have any good ones, everyone knows they'd rather be reading about other people's lives than living their own. :)

STAY TUNED!
once my sadistic-minded exams are over, get excited for Holiday Baking Blogs!
Some things I'm planning on trying are cinnamon buns (yes to honour my Cinnamon), mustache-wearing gingerbread men, and more banana bread, cuz that stuff never goes out of style.
And P.S., it's always wheat-free. Hell to the yes.