Dinner Rolls for Dinner? Makes perfect sense.

Just a little Wednesday night baking. Celimix dinner rolls. Turned out perfect! 

Revival, turning over a new leaf...equally cliche comment on ressurecting my blog?

I'm running out of excuses for being a huge flake with this thing. Writing a blog definitely comes in waves for me. I have no logical reason why this is so. Perhaps I have a short attention span? Perhaps I have a fear of disapproval? Perhaps I am bored? For one reason or another it has always risen as a form of therapeutic self-indulgence for me. And I think it becomes all the more soothing when I return to my normal school/work schedule and need a mental vacation from the bustle and dreariness of everyday life. So, I am trying to spruce it up!

Sadly no baking to report of (that may change though, the holidays are coming up).

I feel like I want to give a preliminary testimonial to my new life as a UBC student. Part of this comes from my desire to blog more in the future. I miss writing. It was always come so easy for me that I suppose it was also an easy thing to neglect. But I digress. My experience thus far at UBC has proved to be a mix of disappointment, and an invigorating feeling of hope for the future. On the one hand, my class which I was hoping would interest me has proven to be quite the opposite. On the latter, I believe I have settled on a faculty choice for my minor, something I was so far unsure I would even decide to pick.

Campus eating has proved to be what I expected, unfortunately. Gluten free has not made much of a presence to say the least. My schedule allows me to eat at home before classes however. Are you gluten free on campus? Aside from bringing your own snacks or eating off campus, I don't believe us non-gluteners have much choice.

On a happier note, I am enjoying student life. I am looking at it as an opportunity to not only continue my studies in the conventional education system, but to strive to expand my boundaries of self discovery. I worked hard to get into university, I feel I have earned a bit of privilege to learn beyond the classroom, and without killing myself for a GPA. In the end, it's the times you spend enjoying yourself that you look back on fondly, and as I have no corporate or conventionally studious ambitions, I intend to enjoy my school years, before they're gone and I have to be an adult (sigh).

So, thoughts? comments? What has been your greatest realization or disappointment with university? Would you, should you, do things differently? If you're a novice blogger in university, what have been your greatest inspirations for your writing?

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Weekend Successes

This weekend wasn't as baking-tastic as it could have been, but I did discover a great cornbread mix from Ed's Gluten Free Speciality Inc. I believe the brand was One Earth? I threw the packaging out before I had a chance to write it down (doh!). But it's a Creole mix, with kale and sunflower seeds. Sweet, but with a spicy kick. Highly Recommended!

Another lovely success was my first visit to Raw Canvas in Yaletown. If you've never been, and have always wanted to smock-up and paint with a glass of wine in your hand, I suggest you give it a try. I had the best time! I wish I had more time to sit around and paint, it's such a meditative experience for me. Raw Canvas supplies a variety of canvas sizes and provides all paint and tools to bring your inner masterpiece to life. I brought my own canvas (De Serres often has great deals on packages of canvases, and they have a student discount!)

Sunday called for an afternoon of puppy bonding and painting with Della, followed by pakoras and watching No Strings Attached with the lovely Abbie joining us. All around, a successful weekend. The last relaxing one for a little while, I'm hoping to get motivated enough to push through these last couple weeks of school and dominate my exams. High hopes? Probably. Last few weeks before freedom, and hopefully some sunshine! Winter is being a bit of unwelcome party guest...

The Cinnamon (Roll) Challenge!

All in all, a successful weekend; although the buns aren't exactly picture perfect, they are edible and indeed, delicious! As expected the dough was a bit of a challenge, since the original recipe wasn't gluten-free, I had to improvise. The consistency of the end result isn't the fluffy, gooeyness of regular cinnamon rolls, but hey, you can't win em all. My lovely boyfriend played photographer this time, so the whole experience has been well documented. See last week's post for the recipe!

*A couple of notes: I had to use quite a bit more flour (white, brown rice, tapioca, potato starch) than 4 1/2 cups. Along with flouring the surface, I had to add some more to the dough before I could roll it out. I used almond milk for the dough and the frosting. And, before rolling out the dough I chilled it for 20 min or so, as I've done with other GF recipes since they seem to be a bit more stubborn when it comes to staying together. Hope you get a chance to try it! They were a tasty success! 

Next recipe post! Stay Tuned!

This weekend I want to do some celebratory baking in honour of finishing my midterms on Thursday, which seemed to drag on for 3 weeks too long this semester, and to make something new for my lovely boyfriend who is coming to visit <3. I've been wanting to try cinnamon rolls for a while, and I would like to make some for my dog's birthday (yes, I'm throwing her a party) for the human guests. This recipe's been sitting in my Recipe bookmark folder for a few months and I think it's about time I tackled it. I'm always up for the challenge of taking originally non-gluten free recipes and turning them into gluten-free deliciousness. This one, like most of the others I've metamorphosed, will require me to change the flour. So far, I've had success changing most recipes this way, using my GF mix (usually brown or white rice flour, sourgum and tapioca flours, and potato starch. The ratio depends on what i happen to have in the cupboard) instead of using wheat flour.

Here's the original recipe: Apple Cinnamon Rolls. If anyone happens to try it before I do this weekend let me know how it goes! If you make it GF, vegan, dairy free, also let me know! I also usually use almond milk in my baking, I will probably do that this time as well. Almonds and apples are a good combo (also an alliteration combination!) This one probably won't be entirely dairy free, as I like to make cream cheese icing instead of the sugar-based one in the recipe.

Bear with me, I haven't attempted a recipe like this before so it'll be an experiment!
Also, in lieu of the miserable weather, (and the fact that my motivation to study has dwindled since I found out I was accepted to UBC for September) I am looking for recipe suggestions! Particularly muffins or loafs. If you have a favourite you'd like to see me wizard into a gluten-free delight, let me know in a comment!

As for today, I plan to be neck-deep in studying for the rest of the day.
Hope you all enjoy this chilly Tuesday!

Anyone have leap-day plans for tomorrow? Maybe doing something you would never normally do, this day only happens every 4 years, make it count!

New year..new leaf? (Or at least a new recipe)

Sigh.

(puppies make it ok, right?)

I've tried to start writing this post probably about a dozen times...mostly in my head. It feels like the break-up letter circa 1495 and I'm using up all my parchment, my ink has doth spill'd...and I've started using olde english to compensate for the fact that I haven't written anything in eons. 


The real motivation is the fact that I'm becoming aware that I may be repressing some unresolved stress in my life. Hell if I know what stress that might be at the moment, but I heard from my resourceful coworker that that constant leg jiggling, that a lot of people do (mostly me) is a sign of repressed stress. Argo, the slow revival of this little blog in hopes that this repression is radically relieved (on the other hand my alliteration skills have been vastly improving). A creative outlet is probably going to do more good than harm anyway, it's a far more productive procrastination pastime than updating my Pinterest, or trolling Nasty Gal...


So, without further ado, a new recipe! As always I love hearing any variations that you lovely creatures come up with. These lip-smacking morsels were originally supposed to be linzer heart cookies, but I followed the advice of one of the commenters on the orginal blog and made them into thumbprint cookies! Still vegan, still dairy and gluten free. Raspberry jam is awesome but I'm sure you could make them just as delicious with a different kind.

2 ½ cups blanched almond flour (I used equal parts brown rice, tapioca flours and potato starch) 

½ teaspoon celtic sea salt (I found the regular variety to work just fine)½ cup grapeseed oil (also a possible substitution...maybe almond?)

¼ cup agave nectar (or honey! Let me know if you try this with success!)                                                          

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup raspberry jam

(I also added a tsp of cinnamon)

1. In a large bowl, combine flour(s) and salt
2. In a smaller bowl, combine grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry
4. Chill dough in freezer for 30 minutes (I fridge'd that bad-boy...freezer dough is hard and I don't have the patience to wait for freezer dough. You just might have to chill it for a few minutes in between rolling out sections of dough. This timing works out nicely as your batches of cookies bake)
5. Between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll out dough 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick

I followed these steps from the original recipe (Elana's Pantry) But it calls for two different sized heart-shaped cookie cutters. This is where I broke free and chose to make them into little round cookies. 

6. Once you've cut and laid your cut-outs on a pan (I kept mine lined with parchment paper) GENTLY press your thumb into the middle of each one to create a slight indentation. 

7. Place a small dollop of jam in said indentations.

8. Bake hearts at 350° on a parchment lined baking sheet for 5-7 minutes until brown around the edges (I found they needed 7 min but my oven runs on the hot side)

9. Cool and Serve

I should have taken a photo as evidence of my success but alas they did not last long, too many cookie nomm nommers in my house...I'll try to make them again soon with other modifications. 

Hope you enjoy this very belated baking blurb. I'll try alleviate my alliterary austerity...

The Glutinous Avenger

As I'm getting closer to my Italian departure, I started doing some research on eating gluten-free in Italy. When I went to Italy before, I had been cautioned by my doctors to eat wheat/gluten minimally, but not told that it was the cause of all my digestive woes. Alas, I was an unwary traveller, and not being familiar with the country, or that there were even gluten-free options, I paid the price for eating not-so-gluten-free. Half a panini into my lunch, I felt the familiar ache, cramp and nausea. Yup, wrong choice. Fortunately, my teachers were very accommodating when it came to group meals,  otherwise my diet consisted of a lot of produce (not always the cheapest option) and asian food from the supermarket. This time, being fully realized of my dietary dilemma (I love alliteration) I did some searching for tips from fellow gluten-avoiders. I found some amazing ideas! And something I would have never thought of on my own, the farmacia (pharmacy) carries gluten-free goods! Whoda thunk it?? That will definitely be my first stop once I arrive in Florence. Along my interweb travels, I discovered some helpful lasses who gave me gluten-free hope for my travels! Thanks so much ladies!

Celiac Chicks

A Gluten-Free Guide

Gluten-Free Girl

Aha spaghetti, we will meet again. This time you will not be so fortunate as to upset my tummy.