Glutened!

I've been gluten-free due to celiac disease since 2003. For the most part I've been awesome about managing it and the gluten-free market has improved so significantly since then that I sometimes just stop in the grocery store, staring in disbelief at all the choices that didn't exist ten years ago. I've lived in and traveled through several countries without major incidents. I don't get to eat every delicious food that crosses my path. I give up a lot of treats just because I can't be certain. I always remind myself that my health is worth more than that one amazing dessert.

I had gluten once in Bamako, in July 2014, within days of my arrival. I knew what I'd done; I recognized the pattern of my gastrointestinal distress as what happens when I eat gluten. As a precaution I went to the doctor to rule out parasites and food poisoning because I was in a new country with different food safety practices and germs I hadn't been exposed to before. They treated me for dehydration. I lost several pounds. It was a shaky start to my time in a new country but I recovered.

The culprit of the gluten was unexpected but quickly determined. Beef brochettes at a pizza place. There was so much flour being tossed around the kitchen with abandon that it covered every food inadvertently. And thus the psychological aspect of celiac disease set in. In a place where I already felt isolated by being an outsider, I couldn't frequent one of the most popular expat restaurants with my friends. One time I tried drinking a glass of wine while my friends ate but it was hard to smell the pizza and the grilling meat and watch everyone else enjoy it while I couldn't even eat the inherently gluten-free dishes.

For almost three years, all over France, Mali, Austria, Kenya, and the United States, I avoided gluten until a few weeks ago. There are two pizza places in our neighborhood and they both do a decent gluten-free pizza. I still prefer the one I make at home but sometimes I want to have pizza in a restaurant with my friends and family so I've come to rely on these two restaurants. I ordered my usual gluten-free pizza for pickup to take to a friend's house for dinner.

The pizza in question.

 By the time we sat down to eat I was so hungry that I ate two slices before I realized it was too delicious to be a gluten-free pizza. I'm not going to lie. After the initial horror of discovering it I was tempted to eat more since I was going to get sick already. But I didn't. I did finish off Mike's beer, since I hadn't had real beer, other than an occasional tiny sip, in so long.

Then I anxiously awaited the pain in the lower left side of my abdomen that usually signifies gluten poisoning. I barely slept that night, wondering if it was the gluten causing my sleeplessness or the nerves of waiting for the symptoms that caused it. By the next morning my stomach was still fine and I began to question everything that had happened. It wasn't a relief to not be sick. It was more nerve wracking than usual, knowing that I'd eaten gluten but my symptoms weren't manifesting in their usual way.

By about noon I realized what was going on. Inflammation. I'd never had it before but I knew it was a common symptom for many people. Full body ache. Exhaustion. Skin so sensitive I recoiled when Muffin tried to hold my hand. My plan had been to bring my pizza leftovers back to the restaurant to find out what happened with my order. By the time Mike got home from work I could barely get off the couch without great discomfort so he took them back for me, explaining to the manager that I was too sick to go myself.

To the manager's credit, according to Mike he was horrified. My receipt said "gluten-free" on it and my crust was clearly not their gluten-free crust. He looked up the name of the person who prepared my order so he could yell at him. He refunded us for the pizza and gave Mike a gift card for fifty dollars. He told Mike he wanted the chance to make it up to me personally, once my appetite for pizza from their restaurant returned. Two days later the manager called me to see how I was doing.

I was much better, gluten-wise, by the time he called, but the gluten weakened my immune system enough that the horrible cold Muffin had had, that I'd thought I'd successfully fended off, moved on in. I was still on the couch, although from a chest cold and sinus infection rather than inflammation.

And the thing is, unlike when I have the gastrointestinal problems from gluten, I never lost my appetite, even for pizza. Again the psychological games spring up, having to rebuild my trust with that restaurant. But a week later I was at the other restaurant enjoying a pizza while the waiter talked about how they recently changed to a new gluten-free crust that customers said was tastier than the old one. (It was pretty good, as far as gluten-free crusts go.)

Mainly I'm angry because it was one more setback after a winter and spring of injuries and illness. One more week that I couldn't run as much as I wanted to. A few more days that I couldn't do any kind of workout. It was while I was sick on the couch that I signed up for the two ten-mile races for later this year. I'm tired of being sick and injured and I really want to stay on track.

This Is Peanut Butter Country

Peanuts are a staple food in West Africa, where they are called groundnuts. Many regions have a groundnut stew to serve up with vegetables and a starch. Here in Bamako the local peanut butter, or pate d'arachide, is sold in buckets in the supermarkets. It's used for making a gravy for meats. In our house it's been made into banana bread and banana muffins, peanut butter cookies (which our housekeeper loved!), and peanut sauce for veggies and tofu.

Cashews are inexpensive here, unlike most of the rest of the world. They are a popular crop in West Africa because the climate is good for growing them and worldwide demand makes them profitable.  Their tasty availability has me anxiously awaiting the arrival of my food processor for cashew cream "cheese," cashew butter, and cashew milk.

I went for my first run in Bamako on Sunday, a short run to familiarize myself with our neighborhood. Right now is the perfect time of year for running outside -- relatively cool and cloudy. Early in the morning there were few cars on the road; on Sunday mornings traffic doesn't pick up until about 10:30. A few children said, "Bonjour!" and one man said, "Courage!" when I ran by, which is what Burundians sometimes yell to runners, also. I feel like I can get a lot of good miles in this town over the next couple years. I'm glad I brought trail runners, even for running on the road. Main roads are paved but the sidewalk, when there is one, is a dirt path that's often covered in rocks and debris. Looking at the photo, I can't remember now if that's a hard-packed dirt road or a paved road that has a layer of dirt on top of it. The red dirt coats everything.

Muffin goes back to school in one week which means I go back to regular running. (I am invoking all the patience and endurance I have learned through yoga and long-distance running to make it through this last week.) And that means we need a lot of food in the freezer for quick meals and snacks. We spent the weekend baking muffins and cookies. We tried our new tortilla press for the first time. We got Indian take-out for the third time in three weeks, just to test it one more time and make sure the leftovers are still delicious. This week will be a busy one for making tortillas, buckwheat crepes, Chebe bread, and more muffins, all for the freezer, and finding the best loaf of local bread for Muffin's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to hold her over until my bread maker arrives. The shipment with my blender will hopefully arrive this week and I plan on sending my housekeeper out in search of the last mangoes of the season for the freezer, for mango smoothies. Our other food project this week is to seek out the good meat supplier and place an order. We haven't been thrilled with the meat we've been getting from butchers and super-marchés so far.

Happy running and eating this week!

Stay Hydrated -- Important for Baking as Well as Running

It's been a while since I've made macarons but I decided that Muffin is old enough to appreciate the work that goes into them now (she loves them; her favorite books from when she first started picking out books are macarons cookbooks; she knows that when Daddy travels to Bangkok or Singapore he comes home with macarons). We needed a project for today and I thought this would be novel enough to hold Muffin's attention. Plus, the dry weather is perfect for baking them -- even though it's monstrously hot outside (108 F / 42 C) so it's a little insane to be lighting the oven. We stayed well-hydrated with ice water and took cooling breaks in the air-conditioned parts of the house. And we had a very fun morning with a delicious reward.

The last time I made them I used Cecile Cannone's Macarons: Authentic French Cookie Recipes from the Macaron Cafe. This time I used Berengere Abraham's Macarons. I found Abraham's recipes to be, not easier exactly, but less labor intensive because they are in smaller quantities. There's a lot of waiting time, though, so they are not "quick and easy." Good if you like to clean as you go, bad if you have an anxious kitchen helper. As you'll see from the photos, having a smaller quantity means there's less room for mistakes if you want beautiful, photogenic macarons. I think I'll stick with Abraham's, though, until I become more practiced. Cannone's large batches can be saved for a big Christmas party. Abraham's are for having a couple people over for coffee.

We were inspired by the photo of the raspberry macarons, but we used store-bought jam instead of making our own. Muffin requested strawberry jam in half of them and raspberry jam in the others.

Mine

Muffin's

Muffin was so delighted with her work that it was worth the heat and the "wasted" batter of her imperfect cookies. I think she wants to do this every Sunday now. When we're back in the U.S. I want to take Muffin to Cecile Cannone's bakery in New York to see if "Madame Cecile," as Muffin calls her, will autograph Muffin's book.

Motivation Monday -- One Holiday Down...

Thanksgiving was easy. We were on the road so there was no giant home-cooked turkey with side dishes and desserts. We were on the road in India so there was no restaurant serving turkey and all the fixins' either. But my first week of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge wasn't the greatest. I knew it wasn't going to be, knowing we'd be on the road. We walked quite a bit but I didn't bring my Garmin so I'm doing a conservative estimate of one mile per day; we weren't running 5Ks but we weren't exactly sitting on the couch watching television all week, either, so I want some activity accounted for. I didn't reach my seven servings of fruits and vegetables per day until we got home. (I got them in on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.) I was careful not to over-indulge in sweets and fried foods; I ate fresh fruit whenever it was available to me, mostly bananas and papaya, and I'd brought dried fruit and nuts for snacking on. Fresh vegetables are a little iffy in India so I avoid them when they don't come from a trusted kitchen, which means I didn't eat any while on the road.

Lululemon water bottles from Pinterest

We came home to find our kitchen freezer partially defrosted. Most of the expensive meats were in the deep freezer in the storage room, which was fine. The kitchen freezer was full of my pre-chopped fruit for smoothies, soup stocks, fruit purees for muffins,  tomato sauce, and vegetable soups -- all the healthy things I'd hoarded away to help me through the first few weeks of the challenge. It also had the duck we'd planned on having over the weekend in lieu of a Thanksgiving Day turkey.

I'm looking forward to Week 2. I have some treadmill time scheduled. I have a huge shopping list (partially on account of restocking the freezer) and a meal plan. I'm going to hold off on my Christmas baking for a few days, until I've got my healthy routine back on track.

Week 1 Points:
Monday: Walking -- 1 point
Tuesday: Walking -- 1 point
Wednesday: Walking -- 1 point
Thursday: Walking -- 1 point
Friday: 7 servings -- 1 point, Facebook check-in -- 1 point
Saturday: 7 servings -- 1 point, Facebook check-in -- 1point
Sunday: 7 servings -- 1 point, Facebook check-in -- 1 point

Total Points for the Week: 10

You can check out other participants' weekly wrap-ups at Jill Conyers: Fitness, Health and Happiness.

The Amy Sedaris Ghost Cake

I know I'm a little late, so bookmark or Pinterest this one for next Halloween.

I bought Amy Sedaris's I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence when it first came out several years ago. I love so many of the crafts and recipes but I'd never gotten around to trying any of them. About a year ago, though, Muffin became obsessed with the book, especially the pages with ice cream on them and the pages with ghosts. I looked forward to her being old enough to do the craft projects. When I made her a pair of tissue ghosts, she was ecstatic. My next project was the ghost cake for a Halloween party.

It was really quite simple, since I'd already tested cake mixes and frostings (back for Muffin's birthday party). I followed the photo in the book for the shape of the ghost. I cut out the shape of the head and used those pieces for the arms. I secured the arms with toothpicks and frosting. I used a white cake mix so that crumbs wouldn't be seen through the frosting. For the frosting I made sure to use white butter (no yellow coloring added) and I didn't add any vanilla so it was as white as it could be. For the mouth I cut a chunk of chocolate.

While I was working in the kitchen, I gave Mike and Muffin the task of testing the flaming eyes. I'd been saving egg shells all week so the two best ones could be used on the cake and the others could be used for practice. The instructions in the book call for sugar cubes soaked in lemon extract with an additional teaspoon of lemon extract added to the eggshells. We didn't have lemon extract, so after experimenting with vanilla abstract and whiskey, we determined that whiskey produced a nice, blue, glowing flame that lasted long enough for everyone to ooh and ahh and take some photos. (Don't worry, we didn't use the good whiskey from the stash. If you have any Teacher's Origin, India's finest, this is the best use we've found for it so far.)

Boo!

Muffin loved the ghost cake. I was laughing at myself the whole time I was working on it, the lengths I go to for such silliness.

Book cover image is from Amazon. Book link is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Doughnut Dreams

My doughnut pan arrived while we were in Thailand a couple weeks ago and since then I’ve been busy trying out recipes. I’m telling myself I’m testing them for an upcoming charity bake sale, but really I just want to eat doughnuts.

Chocolate frosted.

I blogged about chocolate doughnuts at the Hardship Homemaking blog recently.

Next up was pumpkin doughnuts. I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour but I replaced the regular flour with Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix. The recipe has potential but I made a few errors that resulted in overly sweet, sticky doughnuts with almost no pumpkin and spice flavor. Muffin and I both have a major sweet tooth and these were even too sweet for us. When a two-year-old puts down a half-eaten doughnut and says it’s too much, it’s way too much.

My first error was using coconut oil instead of light olive oil or vegetable oil. I thought it would be a healthy alternative to vegetable oil and it’s cheaper than olive oil. I wasn’t counting on the flavor completely overpowering the rest of the doughnut.

Sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar.

Also, I ran out of white sugar so used half white and half demerara sugar, which is a local brown sugar substitute that has a burnt-sugar-caramel taste to it. I thought it would complement the pumpkin and spice flavors. It was too sweet and too sticky. It was as if the doughnuts had been dipped in syrup when all they’d done was sit on the counter for a couple hours.

For my next attempt at the pumpkin doughnuts I am stocking up on white sugar, I will use a light, flavorless oil, and I am also going to amp up the spices a bit. I can’t find canned pumpkin here so I have to make my own puree and the pumpkins here don’t seem to be as flavorful as American pumpkins. 

I’m definitely doing the pumpkin doughnuts for the bake sale since pumpkins are in season right now in India. I think they’ll be popular among Indians and Americans alike, given the time of year. I’d like to make a second variety of doughnuts as well. I’m trying to decide between the chocolate doughnuts, replacing the pumpkin puree with applesauce for complementary pumpkin pie and apple pie doughnuts, or trying another new recipe entirely – toasted coconut. What do you think?

Motivation Monday: Awesome Edition

Image from Pinterest.

"Is this... is this a weekday?" says The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Between the family illnesses of the last couple weeks, last week's strikes, holidays, and car troubles, and today's holiday, I have absolutely no feeling for what day it is. But Muffin went to school today so it must be a weekday.

I have to run again. I have to finish up my homework this month before I begin two months of school vacation (while Muffin stays in school!). I have to make Muffin's Halloween costume. I have several baking commitments for charity bake sales and seasonal parties. I must be awesome right now. But I must also delegate tasks where I can and not spread myself too thin.

Accomplishing all that stuff means I should probably either be doing homework right now or going to bed early instead of messing around online. I have a plan though. Rest up tonight. Do homework while Muffin is at school tomorrow morning and continue with that every weekday. Go fabric shopping for her costume while she naps tomorrow afternoon with the baby-sitter and do my sewing during subsequent afternoon naps. Start hoarding ingredients for holiday baking whenever I see them in the grocery stores. Stick to my Saturday long runs even if I don't do any other running during the week.

It's not impossible. Just wake up and be awesome. And really, really go running to combat the effects of all the baked good test batches.

Motivation Monday -- Doughnuts

Gluten-free baked chocolate doughnuts,
courtesy of The Baking Beauties.

Yup, doughnuts. They are probably the food I miss the most being both gluten-free and in India. So as I was browsing my Gluten-Free Recipes board on Pinterest this weekend for healthy foods -- because I'm back in training now -- I opened up this pin, went to the original website, and ordered some of the ingredients I can't find here plus a doughnut tray. In three to four weeks I plan on treating myself to this chocolate doughnut. With sprinkles. The delivery of my baking goodies should coincide with finishing up the half marathon on September 23. After that, an opportunity to do an "Ultra Walk" of a half marathon or marathon distance is on the horizon.

In the meantime, I'm finding an energy boost in the form of replacing my sugary cold coffee concoctions with black tea and a little milk followed by a green smoothie and by replacing rice with quinoa. I've also replaced my Kind bars with a handful of almonds. I polished off 7 miles on Saturday without really thinking about it, except for being a little sleepy afterward -- the result of waking up at five o'clock in the morning, whether you've been running or not. Maybe there is something to this cutting back on sugar idea. (Says she who is making elaborate plans for a doughnut.)

Will run for doughnuts.

Will spend a ridiculous amount of time, money, and resources procuring those doughnuts.

Super Mommy

I'm pretty proud of myself this week. I prioritized my time, I delegated tasks, and I made this:

and I finished making this:

all for Muffin's birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

How to Make a Very Hungry Caterpillar Party in India
I have to thank Pinterest for the cake idea. I pinned it months ago and kept the idea tucked away in my head, thinking about how to make this in India.

First, when the Consulate placed an order with the commissary in Delhi, I ordered "one" food coloring box. Due to the confusing nature of the order form, I ended up with "one case" of food coloring boxes. I also bought one case of real vanilla extract (intentionally -- I use it a lot for baking) because you can't buy real vanilla in Hyderabad and the fake stuff sold here tastes awful.

Next, when we where on vacation in the United States in May, I tried the King Arthur flour gluten-free cake mix and I liked it a lot better than the Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes I'd been using. I bought several boxes of chocolate and yellow -- which actually comes out more like angel food cake -- and did a couple test batches once we were back in Hyderabad to see how the cupcakes would work in my oven. I also tested frosting recipes. I'd been using the Pamela's frosting mixes, and while I love the chocolate, the vanilla always tasted funny to me. I ended up using a butter frosting recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

I used Heritage unsalted cooking butter for the cake and the frostings. I've found it in HyperCity and at the Heritage markets. It freezes well, so I buy several boxes whenever I see it.

I did a little bit of work each day. On Tuesday I made a batch of green frosting. On Wednesday I made a batch of red and kept both in the freezer. On Thursday I took a break. On Friday, with our housekeeper helping to keep Muffin entertained, I made one box of chocolate cupcakes (one box yields 24 cupcakes), one box of yellow cupcakes, and another box of chocolate into 12 cupcakes and one nine-inch round cake. I also made another batch of frosting, dividing it into half blue and half yellow. I moved all the frostings into the refrigerator to defrost for Saturday morning. I sealed up all the cupcakes into Tupperware, blasted the air conditioner and kept my fingers crossed for the electricity, and left them on the kitchen counter overnight because there wasn't enough room in the refrigerator for them.

On Saturday morning, while Mike kept Muffin busy, I started frosting everything. I locked up the cat. I kept air conditioners blasting in the kitchen and the dining room. I ate a good breakfast and a good lunch and didn't drink too much coffee so I wouldn't have shaky hands and drop anything. I cut out little feet and antenna from black felt. I placed the cupcakes on a piece of white fabric (an old tablecloth that had a couple stains in it so can't be used for fancy dining anymore, but works well as a cupcake canvas) and the felt stuck to the fabric nicely. I kept the caterpillar's head in the refrigerator until the very last minute to keep his face from melting.

Several weeks ago I'd ordered official Hungry Caterpillar party supplies from the Eric Carle museum and some cheaper plain green supplies from Oriental Trading. I also found some party stuff at HyperCity and the party store next to Qmart.

Mike and I spent Friday night sealing up the goodie bags and I also finished Muffin's dress that night. Each day for the last two weeks I'd been working on the dress in about five-minute increments whenever I could. It's the Oliver + S Seashore Sundress in Michael Miller Lolli Dot from Fabric.com and red "matching fabric" from a sari shop.

All the work culminated in two hours of insanity. Nineteen kids and sixty cupcakes. We bought samosas from a kiosk around the corner for a savory snack and we had plenty of juice, water, soda, and beer for guests of all ages. We just let the kids go crazy with Muffin's toys until cupcake time, then they went crazy with cupcakes. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Muffin was a little subdued but she loved her birthday cake and she didn't cry when everyone sang "Happy Birthday." That's about all you can ask from a two-year-old.

And we had our housekeeper come in for the afternoon to help with cleaning up. That is a key element to throwing a party in India.

It was a pretty good party, but I'm glad birthdays are only once a year. I can't be Super Mommy every week.

Low-Key Christmas

Muffin has been down with a fever for the last two days which has put a halt on my Christmas preparations. This morning she seemed closer to her regular self except for a congested cough, so I think we're in the clear as far as the fever goes. We took her to the doctor on Thursday night to confirm that she didn't have an ear infection or the nasty throat infection that Mike had a couple weeks ago. Just a cold. Her first cold ever, but just a cold.

So, there won't be any gingerbread houses tomorrow. I've got the dough made already so I might be able to bake a batch of cookies, but I'm not worried about it if I don't. Two days of sitting with a hot, sleepy baby on top of me has been exhausting. I finished sewing our dresses so we'll have something to wear if we feel up to going out tomorrow. By a little mix-up we've ended up with two invitations for Christmas Day.

Mike's cooking our duck for dinner tonight. Since we brought it home on Tuesday, Muffin has been insisting on taking a look and saying "Hi" to it every time we open the freezer and then refrigerator. If she's not too crabby we'll make dinner early enough for her to join us before bedtime because, as I said to Mike this morning, she loves food and she's been so excited about the duck all week long.

Muffin had her first visit with Santa this week.

Santa on his own didn't bother her too much. She freaked out when the crowd of people watching cheered for her for not freaking out.

I hope everyone celebrating this weekend has a nice holiday, whether it's big or small, at home or far away.

This Week

This week I also posted at What I Eat. Chocolate pomegranate cookies and using flaxseed as an egg replacer.

This Week

This week I also posted at What I Eat. I've been waging war against the humidity of India to make macarons.

Thankful for the Little Things

My Facebook status this morning:

I should be taking a shower, or baking cookies for tonight's dinner, or wrapping presents to mail home, but instead I've gone for a run and I'm enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, being thankful that Sophie sleeps in later than I do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

food and stuff

I've been trying to reduce the amount of food we waste. Buy and cook smaller portions. Eat the leftovers. Just be plain old economical. We got take-out chinese food last weekend and most of it is still sitting in the fridge. The leftover rice was pretty good... but our entrees weren't that great the first time around and we've been avoiding reheating them. I think they've reached expiration but I feel sad about throwing out so much food.

Last night, for the first time ever I think, I made just enough stir-fry. We had plenty to eat and there wasn't any leftover except for the rice. I'd already planned to reheat the rice for tonight (which I'll be doing shortly.)

I made bread on Saturday so my focus is on sandwiches for lunch this week. Tuna salad, veggie, if there's leftover chicken tonight, then chicken. I'm anxious to use up my bread so I can try a homemade pita recipe. For some reason it's something I've been missing more than usual lately.

Today I bought just enough fresh produce to last for my lunch today, our dinner tonight, and lunch and dinner tomorrow. I like shopping for fruit and veggies every few days.

One of our wedding presents was a fantastic blender and I've been using it to make smoothies for afternoons snacks. Mangoes and peaches have been delicious lately in smoothies. And it's a good way to use up the fruit when it's at the point where it's almost too ripe to eat and if it sits for one more day it will definitely go bad.

Dinner tonight: Indian spice-rubbed chicken breasts on the grill, apple slaw (plain nonfat yogurt, grated apple, lime juice, cilantro), and the leftover rice. Easy, gluten-free, and Mike gets to grill.

Once I get myself in the practice of meal planning and smart shopping, then I'll be able to concentrate on Mike taking lunches to work. I can only eat so many leftovers myself. Mike has to eat up some of the slack.

Zucchini Quick Bread

A couple days ago, before it got too hot to light the oven, I baked zucchini bread. I slightly modified the recipe from The Best-Ever Wheat- and Gluten-Free Baking Book. (Hate that title; love the book as a reference.) The recipe called for zucchini (obviously), eggs, melted butter (I used canola oil), honey, rice flour, millet flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, xanthan gum, vanilla, an envelope of gelatin, raisins, and plain nuts. I don't know what "plain" nuts are so I used pecans. And I don't love raisins so I chopped some dried apricots.

Notice it doesn't say "quick zucchini bread". It took me awhile to chop and grate everything.

The recipe calls for two 8 x 4 loaf pans. I figured I'd fill one loaf pan and use the rest of the batter for muffins, then freeze either the loaf or the muffins for later. I emptied out my cupboards to discover that all 4 of the loaf pans I own are 9 x 5 pans. So, okay, I'll make a 9 x 5 loaf and use the rest for muffins. I decided to try my new silicone loaf pan--first time with silicone baking "dishes".

The batter came together just fine, until I started folding in the flour mixture. This was my first use of gelatin in baking and I wasn't sure what would happen with it but I decided to trust the recipe-writer. The batter was an elasticky lump. I thought maybe I had used too much xanthan gum. It plopped into my loaf pan and I knew it would be too much trouble and mess to scoop some out for making muffins. So I just put my 9 x 5 loaf in the oven.

The recipe said to bake for about 25 minutes. In my mind I was factoring in using a larger loaf pan, which might require longer cooking time, but using silicone is supposed to reduce cooking time because it distributes the heat better or something. After 25 minutes, I still had a gooey mass. After 30 minutes, the same. 40 turned out to be the magic number. Browning on top, clean toothpick from the middle. Quick, take it out before it gets too dry!

Dryness turned out not to be a problem here. Between the honey, zucchini, apricots, xanthan, and gelatin, there was enough moisture and stickiness in this batter. And it didn't turn out gooey, like some other GF quick breads I've tried. It's a nicely held-together moist quick bread. And tasty! Not too sweet, perfect for breakfast or snacktime with a cup of coffee or tea. And very filling. With the nuts and millet flour and apricots and zucchini there's a lot of protein and fiber in this bread.

Wet vegetables in breads tend to get moldy, quickly. After 3 days I had eaten about half the loaf, and was completely full and ready to eat something else for breakfast. I knew I'd never eat the rest before it went bad. So it's in the freezer now. We'll see how it comes out after freezing.

When this wedding nonsense is all over and I have more free time, remind me that I'd like to work on cupcake-baking as a hobby. Check these out: Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes. According to Bob, they're "gorgeous."

GF Blueberry Pie.

I have a blueberry pie in the oven, made with Gluten-Free Pantry's Perfect Pie Crust Mix.

I don't believe it is "perfect"; maybe "good enough" is more accurate. Right now the top is falling apart around the blueberries, looking more like a weird, thin cobbler topping.

Also, it calls for butter-flavored shortening. I had never even heard of that before today. And I didn't have enough butter, so I used the dairy-free modification, which means using double the amount of shortening. (Also, you can make it vegan if you use an egg replacer.) I wonder if I should have used regular shortening in place of the butter, instead of twice the amound of butter-flavored shortening? I'm thinking next time I'll make sure I have plenty of regular butter and shortening on hand.

The pie crust is yellow. They add yellow coloring to the shortening to make it look more buttery-licious. And I nibbled on a little bit of it of the raw dough. You know that fake movie-theater popcorn butter flavor? Butter-flavored shortening kinda tastes like that.

The dough handles well. I chilled the shortening and my rolling pin and used cold water. I left the dough in the fridge until the absolute last minute. It tears a little bit, but in a way expected from GF pie crust dough. It will take a little more practice before I can do an attractive top, like a lattice or cut-outs. For the time being, tasty but unattractive will have to do.

As it's been baking, it's starting to smell more like blueberries and less like fake butter. I think that's a good sign.

The finished product:



The baked crust is less yellow than the raw dough, so that's good. It seems pretty delicate, though. Maybe it will harden a bit as it cools. As for the taste, I don't know yet. I'm saving it for dessert tonight. The taste is in the hands of the blueberries now.