Short post today...don't feel all that well and didn't sleep well last night, but nothing serious, just stomach flu I suspect.
One of the ways I have been able to stretch my baking skills a bit is through exploring gluten free and vegan baking. Some experiments worked well, some were less successful.
Gluten Free Giant Party Cookies were a success! Recipe HERE. A Gluten Free Tart was also successful, after a little tinkering with the filling. Recipe HERE. The Gluten Free Sandwich Bread was better than the stuff in the grocery store, but still not a great bread. It's tough to get a true bread texture without gluten! Recipe is HERE.
Now a Vegan cookie is a wonderful thing. It's essential for people suffering from immune disease and from Lymes Disease, too. The owner of our gym, DeeDee Cool of Cool Fitness, hosted a gathering of Lymes Disease sufferers where they were given lots of information on nutrition and fitness and how that can help. For refreshments I provide a pumpkin cookie that was gluten free and vegan. It was also delicious and my own recipe. She was thrilled and so were the participants. Recipe HERE.
DeeDee collects turtles, a sort of emblem of going slow, which is the mantra of her fitness club. Here (and at the top) are some of her voluminous collections.
Do you collect things?
Due to many beloved friends unable to eat it anymore, we've gotten into gluten-free experimentation as well. The fruitcake (gF & vegan as well) we made was not exceptional in texture - it's slightly stickier than it should have been, but with the added fruit, it's not that noticeable. I think in a regular wheat bread, it'd be tricky. Cookies are a bit easier, and since I have a nice bit of leftover kabocha in the freezer that seems like it'd make a good stand-in for pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that little bouncy-head turtle in the bottom shot. My older sister made me a ceramic turtle in college and since it is hollow, it has held my cotton balls in it on the sink for as long as I've owned it. Because we don't own a house anymore, I try NOT to collect things, but... the books are, as usual, the largest collection of all...!
Books should be the largest collection! It is in our house, although I suspect that Sweeties' tool collection isn't far behind...and then there are my kitchen tools collection, especially baking!
ReplyDeleteI like a sticky fruitcake, but not bread...it is much harder to do, in my opinion.
That turtle with cotton balls sounds charming. I think DeeDee keeps adding shelves for her turtle collection...most of them are gifts from her clients. Her own home is turtle free.