Avocado’s are one of my favourite things on earth. Bagel’s have always been my weakness. Ever tried a gluten free bagel? Yeah they suck. Until I met Udi’s. It’s really nice to finally be able to enjoy a good bagel again. Their breads and pizza crust are pretty good too! (Homemade bread is of course better.. but I’m lazy and don’t have a bread maker.) I’ve recently started playing around with avocados a little more. I just loveeee them.

This sandwich though is easily one of my new favourites. It’s nice and easy and so yummy. Toasted bagel, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and cream cheese. Bam. Party in your mouth.

I’m also finding myself strangely addicted to almond milk lately. So. Good.

Today I went to a little event in Toronto called the Gluten Free Garage. It was my first year going, (I had to work last year boo) and it was a lot of fun. There is a ton of different vendors with samples and it’s a great way to find new products for yourself. It’s also pretty educational too!

One thing though that really caught my eye though was a company called Nutrilish who is going to be coming out with a monthly box subscription of gluten free products. (So it’s kinda like glymm box, birchbox, juelp box etc. but with gluten free food!) I’m so excited for it to launch. One of the hardest things about going gluten free is there is a lot of products out there that aren’t too great, and its a continuos struggle for me to find new GOOD gluten free products.

Also remember how in my last post I was so excited that it was getting warmer? Well two days after I posted that it snowed haha. Silly Canada. But it was 20C today and it was wonnnnnderful. Hopefully it stays around this time.

Oh and one more thing! Something really cool about the feedly app for google chrome – it adds this little icon to the bottom right hand corner of your browser so you can easily add blogs/rss feeds to your feedly list! (read more about feedly here)

Posted in Food, Gluten Free • 2 Comments

Before going gluten free I rarely ate foods like sandwiches, burgers, cereal, pizza and other normal bread products. Now I find myself craving them all the freaking time. I have never really found or made a gluten free pizza crust that I’ve liked until recently. I’d still like to figure out how to make one for myself, but for now Udi’s will do.

This doesn’t take long at all to prepare or cook, especially when you’re working with a pre made crust like I usually am. Not to mention its one of the best pizza flavors I’ve had in a while. It’s especially god with a creamy garlic dipping sauce.

Chicken Club Pizza
♥ pesto sauce
♥ mozzarella, feta and goat cheese
♥ 1 cup spinach
♥ red onion
♥ bacon strips, cooked
♥ 1 boneless chicken breast, cooked

Cook your chicken and bacon first. (We cooked our chicken just in a pan, covered with tin foil and in a little bit of water at 400F in the oven.) Wash and chop up all your veggies and set aside. Drain some of the oil from the pesto sauce then spread the pesto all over your crust as thick as you’d like. Add the mozzarella next, it will be your base cheese. Layer on the veggies, feta and goat geese then the meat. Follow the instructions for the crust your using and bake. Udi’s only takes 9 minutes.

If anyone has tried any amazing gluten free pizza crust recipes I’d love for you to share them with me!

Posted in Food, Gluten Free • 7 Comments

These cookies are probably the best thing I’ve ever created. Honest. The first time I made them, (for the Santa Clause Parade hehe) they were gone by the end of the day. This recipe makes roughly 2-3 dozen. The second time I made them  I wanted to take them to work. They didn’t make it out my door. I eventually got a batch to work (two actually!), and had a friend who even paid me to make an entire batch for her. They’re actually pretty simple to make and don’t take too much time either.

So before I get into the recipe, you might have noticed that on my last recipe post and this one that I’ve included printable ‘recipe cards’. (See the last photo above.) Should I keep doing this? Or am I wasting my time with this little extra feature?! Let me know if you like them :)

Text-friendly copy:

♥ 2 1/4 cup gluten free, all purpose flour.
♥ 1 tsp baking powder
♥ 1 tsp baking soda
♥ 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
♥ 3/4 cup softened butter
♥ 1 cup sugar
♥ 2 large eggs
♥ 2 tsp vanilla extract
♥ 2-3 tsp peppermint extract
♥ 2 cups chocolate & white chocolate chips
♥ 4-6 large candy canes, crushed

preheat oven to 375F. bake for 9-12 minutes.

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Then add the butter and eggs, mix again. It’s easier to mix the dough with your hands at this point.

• Add the vanilla and peppermint extract and mix it really well using your hands. The dough is going to be thick and hard to work with. Add the crushed candy canes and chocolate chips and mix together one final time.

• Create small dough balls roughly around one inch. Place them on a baking sheet, lined with either parchment paper or tin foil (shiny side down, lightly greased). Spread the dough balls about 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 9-12 minutes.

Hope you all had a good weekend! :)

Posted in Desert, Food, Gluten Free • 1 Comment

Oh my it’s been a while! My laptops battery.. um kinda exploded. Inside my laptop. But I got a new battery for Christmas and I’m back in business!  So expect a few belated holiday-themed posts in the next week or so. I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday! With the New Year right around the corner I thought I’d share my pink champagne ice cream recipe – it’s one of my favourites.

Text-friendly copy:

♥ 1 cup finely chopped strawberries
♥ 1/2 cup puree strawberries
♥ 3 cups milk (I used lactose free)
♥ 2 tbsp cream (again, lactose free)
♥ 1 cup sugar
♥ 1 cup + 2 tbsp pink champagne
♥ 1 tsp vanilla

• Boil about half a bottle of pink champagne. (Alcohol doesn’t freeze, this will help remove some of the alcohol.)

• Combine all the liquid ingredients into a large pitcher and stir. Add the sugar and puree and stir again. Slowly pour the mixture into your ice cream maker. and the sugar into a large pitcher and stir.

• My ice cream maker takes about 20 minutes, at the last 5 minute mark add the chopped strawberries. It should be a soft-serve consistency when done. Put it into a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Happy New Years everyone!

Posted in Desert, Food, Gluten Free • 2 Comments

It’s no secret that I love pumpkin everything. I had a craving for pumpkin cupcakes. And then I thought to myself, while sipping some tea… Pumpkin spice chai cupcakes!!! I have to admit that I was inspired by one of my favorite teas, pumpkin chai by DavidsTea, when creating this recipe. For a non-gluten free version, just take out the xanthan gum and use regular flour. It should work just the same!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
♥ 1 1/2 c gluten free all purpose flour
♥ 1/2 c brown sugar
♥ 1/2 c sugar
♥ 1 c and 1.5 tbsp pumpkin purée
♥ 1/2 c butter, softened
♥ 1 tsp baking powder
♥ 1 tsp baking soda
♥ 1 tsp xanthan gum
♥ 1 tsp pumpkin spice
♥ 1 tsp cinnamon
♥ 1 tsp vanilla
♥ 2-3 large eggs
♥ 1 c milk

Mix all ingredients together, dry first then wet, in a large bowl. Preheat oven to 325F and cook for 25-35 minutes.

Chai buttercream icing
♥ 4 c icing sugar
♥ 1/2 c vegetable shortening
♥ 4 tbsp milk
♥ 1 chai tea bag

Heat some milk in a glass and steep the tea for 6-10 minutes (if you want a strong chai flavor I recommend using two tea bags and steeping a little longer). Measure out 4 tbsp of the chai/milk and mix it together using an electric blender with the other ingredients.

I garnished the cupcakes with crush walnuts and milk chocolate. The cupcakes were a little dense, but I (as well as everyone else) really liked that about them. Enjoy!! :)

Posted in Food, Gluten Free • 5 Comments