GF Baking Class.

For my mom's 65th birthday, my two sisters and I decided to surprise our Mom and give her an experiential gift, along with some time spent with us.  We decided to attend a cooking class together at a cooking studio in uptown Waterloo. You can check it out here.  

Before I go any further, I must pause and give all credit to my sisters who came up with the idea.  If it were up to me, I would have chosen something predictable like pedicures.  And here's the thing, our Mom LOVED it.  It was something that she would never (and I mean never) normally do and it was super fun for us to do together.  We laughed lots.  Hopefully we didn't distract the other 4 members of the class.  Who am I kidding?  I'm sure we did.  They probably hated us.

The funny thing was that this particular class was a gluten-free baking class.  To be totally honest, we picked it based on the day that worked best for us, more than on the focus of the class.  However, it completely worked out to my benefit as I am (mostly) gluten free. :)

Our menu consisted of:

Pumpkin Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberries and Cinnamon Maple Syrup

Gluten-free Strawberry Scones with Lemon Curd

Roasted Heirloom Tomato Tart

Chocolate Souffle Cookies

Everything was delish.  One of my favourtite take-a-ways from the class was learning how to make my own batch of gluten-free all-purpose flour.  I can't wait to make it and substitute it in my favourtie recipes that call for wheat flour.   Not to mention, it's way cheaper than buying gluten-free all-purpose flour already made up and packaged.  I'll be making a trip to Bulk Barn this week :)

Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 cups of brown rice flour

1 1/4 cups of white rice flour

1 cup tapioca flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 tsp. xantham gum

Turns out the day was a total success.  Even my nephew loved it!

p.s.  the homemade lemon curd was to die for!

- Carrie

Soda Bread Anyone?

As you may or may not know, we have some Northern Irish blood in our family.  Growing up, soda bread was a staple in our home.  Seriously, our Mom made it almost daily!  

Even though it's been forever since I have lived under my parents roof, I love it when my Mom makes me soda bread.  Sometimes she brings a whole batch or two to my house and puts it in the freezer for me.  It's such a treat for breakfast with butter and homemade jam : )

It's been a while since my freezer has been stocked with soda bread and last week I thought to myself, "how hard can it be to make it".  Turns out it was pretty easy.  Can't believe it's taken me so long to make it!  If you're interested, here's the recipe:

Irish Soda Bread

1 2/3 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tarter

1 cup of buttermilk ( approx)

1.  Mix together dry ingredients.  

2.  Add in buttermilk.  

3.  Turn onto floured board.      

4.  Form into a circle.

5.  Cut into four.

6.  Bake in a frying pan at medium heat.  No oil or butter in the pan.

Flip when brown.  When you're ready to eat it, slice the quarter in half and pop the 2 halves in the toaster or toaster oven  to crisp them up a bit.   You can eat them without toasting them, but my preference is always to toast : )

Cookie Exchange

Today I participated in my first ever cookie exchange. Check out my loot!  Its awesome, now all I need to do is stop myself from eating it all in one sitting.  I remembered to take a photo just before putting most of it away in the freezer. The plan is to pace myself so that I can enjoy it between now and Christmas.

There was eight of us participating, all from the same prenatal/mom & baby yoga class - and we all have babies under 1 year. We met this morning to drink coffee and exchange goodies, my contribution was half a loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread (made with frozen, shredded zuch from my CSA this summer). The plan is that to also exchange recipes soon too.

Anyone else doing a cookie exchange? Its not too late - get some friends/co-workers/neighbours/family together and make it happen!

-Lauren

Cooking With Squash

I have about 6 squash sitting on my counter - different types: butternut, acorn, sweet potato squash and a jamboree pumpkin. I have never used the last two types before but from what i have learned so far about squash is to cut them in half, remove the seeds and roast in the oven. These types are interchangeable (in my mind) in recipes, they might change the taste slightly but the recipe will still work.

The easiest way I find to eat them is after roast

ing in the oven, add some butter, brown sugar or maple syrup and puree. Easy and delicious.

Alittle more strenuous is to make soup. My favourite is Roasted Butternut Squash soup from the Rebar cookbook. I have had many different types and they all turn out pretty good.

A new one

for us this summer was eating spaghetti squash - while roasting the squash, we sauteed onion, garlic, peppers and tomatoes (and pretty much anything in your fridge) and then added the veggies to the squash and mixed with goat cheese. Its hard to believe you aren't eating pasta.

I had never baked with squash or pumpkin before, all the recipes I have seen call for canned pumpkin puree but I substituted with fresh roasted and pureed. My latest project was to make some muffins (also from

the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook).

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk ( I used 1 cup minus 1 tsp of milk and 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar for a substitute )

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree ( I used some leftover pureed acorn squash)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup millet (I used ground flax seeds)

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 cup unbleached flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger (I omitted this as I don't really like ginger)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

-mix wet ingredients together

-mix dry ingredients together

-mix wet and dry together - do not overmix

-fill muffin cups (i made 12 large and 12 small)

-bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I think next time I will probably also add some chocolate chips

If you have any favourites - let us know, I love trying new things!

Where do you look for new recipes? websites? cookbooks? friends? blogs?

-Lauren

Brownies

Wherever I go I am always on the lookout for brownies. Even if I am not in the mood for dessert at a restaurant, I will still look at the dessert menu to see if there are brownies on it - and then proceed to ask questions about them - to see if I should get them anyways or make note to come back later specifically to get try them.

I have eaten ALOT of brownies, and there are only a few that I think are worth mentioning.

#1 - boxed brownies, made at home. I have tried recipe after recipe and I always come back to this one.

the rest, in no particular order:
-two bite brownies from the grocery store
-starbucks espresso brownies
-brownies from the cafe infront of the candy store in tobermory - get them warmed up. (its worth the drive)

some runners up
-Leah's in-laws family homemade 'mint brownies'
-'skor brownies' from Nougat Bakery in kitchener
-brownies from LPK's Culinary Groove where my sister-in-law works as a baker.

saying all this, since its zuchinni season, I found a new recipe to try which is zuchinni brownies, I don't have high hopes, but it does seem like a new way to eat my millionth zuchinni this month!
Turns out they are more moist cake-ish, they didn't go to waste but probably won't make them again.

Also I tried a frozen brownie snickers ice cream sandwich this weekend - and it was great!

If you think there are some brownies out there that I need to try - let me know - and I am willing to travel!

-Lauren