Happy Hamantaschen!

I am quite proud of myself. My first ever attempt at making hamantaschen was pretty successful, if I do say so myself. These also got a thumbs up from a few samplers and I hope to share them with others because I do not need all of this temptation sitting in my apartment!

I used a recipe from a great gluten free blogger. Her recipes always sound delicious and this was my first time to try one of her recipes. I did make a couple of swaps for these cookies: 1 cup of gf baking mix and 1 cup of almond meal (instead of blanched almond flour), and 1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce and 1 tbsp grapeseed oil instead of 2 tbsp of oil.

Making the cookies was a fun process. I used a wine glass instead of a cookie cutter and found that wetting the rim of the cup (and my fingers) made the process of rolling and cutting the dough and shaping the cookies much easier since the dough was pretty sticky.

I made 3 flavors - fig, berry, and dark chocolate peanut butter and have sampled 2 of the 3 so far. They are delicious! Light, not crumbly, and a nice hint of almond flavor.  I had 1 for an "appetizer" and one for dessert at lunch and was never really hungry for a proper dinner. The almond meal and no added sugar help make these a healthier treat than most cookies.

I finished off a half serving of tomato soup with a Gone Cracker crumbled in plus some beets, and spaghetti squash for lunch - I was in desperate need of some vegetables.

I managed to run a couple of errands before meeting up with friends for Purim celebrations. At a happy hour, I enjoyed a glass of merlot and a few tortilla chips with salsa.

I must have been tired because I got 11 hours of sleep last night and am just about ready to start my day. I had another egg sandwich and pear, with about 1/4c frozen blueberries on the side.

The sun is shining and I'm going to peruse the farmers market, see a friend who's in town, and spend some serious time with Jillian Michaels for some weight lifting!

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

A berry good day so far

My to-do list for today looks a little something like this:

• bake muffins
• lift weights / go to the gym (I'm trying to stay fit somehow with the toe thing)
• make hamantaschen

So when I woke up this morning I knew a few things: a savory breakfast was in order, the sun is shining so I have no excuse to not go to the gym and run errands, and I only wanted to watch the super nerd cool documentary on Pearl Harbor on the History Channel.

So far, it's been a great day!  Breakfast was another egg sandwich (I wonder what my body's trying to tell me here) with 1 egg white and a pear drizzled with cinnamon and about 1/4 tablespoon of PB.

I soon got started with baking project #1 of the day: blueberry muffins! I assembled my ingredients, and used the recipe provided on the box of the gluten free muffin mix I purchased. I made a few changes to the recipe though. I used egg whites instead of whole eggs. Instead of 6 tbsp of butter, I used about 5.5 tbsp unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 tbsp of grapeseed oil. I added 1/2 tsp flax seed and 1 tbsp chia seeds for some extra nutrients and fiber since the mix was pretty "white."

First I combined the egg whites, applesauce / oil, and vanilla.Then I stirred in the flour and almond milk. Next came 3/4c thawed frozen blueberries (including about ~1/8c chopped strawberries that I needed to use or lose), flax, and chia, and then into muffin tins for baking.

The recipe yielded 16 muffins and I was excited to sample one for my morning snack!  These dairy-free beauties weigh in at: 115 calories, .75g fat, .75g fiber each. A pretty great treat to have! They are a bit gummier than a glutinous muffin but moist and delicious nonetheless.

After cleaning up a bit, I got started on project #2: hamantaschen. I followed the first part of this recipe and am now chilling the dough. About to lift some weights and get ready to finish these cookies up so I can get outside for a bit.

See ya later!

White Christmas... in Dallas of all places!

Merry Christmas and Happy Chinese Food and a Movie Day! It's a white Christmas here which brings my snow storm count to two storms in a week. Brrrr. The good news is that the sun is shining and the snow is beginning to melt!


It's been a great vacation so far! I've seen family, friends, and had plenty of time to relax (and exercise too!). Yesterday was the start of the snow, so after the gym, we spent the afternoon at home. In keeping with tradition, my mom and I set to work in the kitchen, baking and relaxing. My 2 creations of the day were dark chocolate drizzled gluten-free pretzels and chocolate dipped strawberries.

We went for Chinese food (I had steamed chicken and veggies with brown rice) and came home on icy roads to watch Julie and Julia with a fire going in the fire place.

Today will be nice and relaxing. So far, another movie in pjs and maybe out for one this afternoon. Tonight, we are heading to a neighbor's holiday party. Tomorrow morning we will head to Houston for our family's Chanukah celebration, and then it's almost time to head back to the tundr, I mean DC!

The amazing gluten free aisle at Central Market:And amazing salad from their prepared foods bar:
Happy birthday Stenz!!Some yummy eats!
A few bowls of hot cereal w/ 1 tbsp sweet potato, 1/2 tbsp PB, and 1 tsp fig jam have been consumed this week:
Erev Christmas:

Ready, Set, Go!!

Wow, the past couple of days have flown by, and what fun it's been!!

Sunday night was my first Chanukah party of the week and it was a blast! The latkes and meatballs were yummy, the company fantastic, and I was so sad that I had to leave early to go babysit (and miss the fondue). There was a station for making your own snowman which was cute and clever. Kudos to our hostess, JS, for a great time!

Yesterday began with a delicious new twist on a regular breakfast. A lot of people recommend mixing pumpkin puree into their oatmeal for added thickness and fiber. Sadly, I'm allergic to pumpkin but decided to try something similar - smashed sweet potato! I had baked a sweet potato on Sunday to try at some point in the week. I must say, this is a great addition to my BRM hot cereal!

1/4c BRM GF hot cereal
1 c water
drizzle of sugar-free syrup
a few raisins
1 tbsp baked sweet potato (stirred in after cereal is cooked)
1/2 tbsp PB
lots of cinnamon

This bowl was quite fantastic. It tasted warm and cozy, just like Thanksgiving! There was a touch of sweetness from the sweet potato and the spice of the cinnamon really completed this combo!

I had a productive afternoon at work. Lunch was the rest of last week's adobo beef atop a salad for extra veggies.

After a quick stop at the store, I got ready for another holiday happy celebration. I met up with L and friend and we headed to the big party. The entire bar was rented out and all 3 floors were packed. I had a great time - I got to catch up with so many friends that I haven't gotten to see in a while which was great! It was late when I got home and I snacked on a bit of stir fry I had cooked up earlier, a couple of clementines, and some cereal.

I headed to bed early because today was another full day.

I had the same breakfast as yesterday, complete with egg white and pear, but couldn't finish all of my fruit and cereal so I packed it to bring with me. I headed out to meet a former colleague for coffee but we unfortunately mixed up our days so I ran a quick errand and headed into work early! I'm not sure if it was the coffee I had or the early start, but I was extremely productive all day long, which felt great!!

I left mid-afternoon and stopped home for a quick change into gym clothes, a snack, and then it was off to see a good friend, N, who was in town for a whirlwind visit. I really enjoyed hearing about his adventures in graduate school and catching up on our lives. Great conversations with friends always make me appreciate the quality people I have in my life. I'm grateful for the many friendships I have and the fact that I still get to see people from all parts of my life! It's especially nice getting to see a lot of these people over the holiday season!

My snack was the same on both Monday and Tuesday - an apple with cinnamon and a slice of GF toast with cheese melted on top. I was hoping for the same boost I had last week before my gym class.

Class tonight kicked my butt and I meandered home, in colder and windier weather than when I set out this morning, and have spent the night cooking up all sorts of veggies. Dinner was 1/2c Bush's vegetarian baked beans with some roasted red potatoes (and BBQ sauce, aka best condiment ever, yeehaw!) and broccoli. Dessert was 1/4c Greek yogurt with a small bit of a PB cookie crumbled up and chocolate Chex.

My cooking included sweet potato, some sweet potato chips, and an acorn squash, yum!

I'm off to bed in preparation for another full day - work, a holiday pot luck lunch, dinner with a friend, and holiday party #4!

Rain and West Side Story

Good afternoon! It's cold and rainy which made for the PERFECT morning of sleeping in, yummy hot cereal, and some West Side Story on tv!

Last night my friend BZ came over for dinner, some baking, and every girl's favorite holiday-time movie, Love Actually! We ate at a neighborhood Asian restaurant, Raku, which was delicious. I walk by Raku every time I'm headed to / from the gym, and sometimes forget that this little delicious gem exists! BZ had the Kway Teow noodles and I had the Szechuan Beef. Both were great - BZ's was sweet and savory and mine had a great "kick" to it!

Over dinner, BZ and I were discussing the recipe that we had decided to try out (BZ eats somewhat gluten free as well) and the fact that I did not own any baking soda. You see, I'm not a big baker by any means and don't even keep sugar, baking powder or soda, or most yummy ad-ins in the apartment! So after dinner, we popped into a bakery across the street to see if they could spare a mere 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Nonetheless, we made 2 interesting finds. 1) these yummy looking Chanukah cakes... and 2) that the bakery in fact doesn't do their baking in-house but at their main location out in Virginia! We were able to pick up some baking soda though, so all was not lost on our baking adventure.

I discovered this recipe for Flourless Nut Butter Cookies and thought that they might be the perfect thing for me to try. All in all, not too bad for you, and it combines 2 of my favorite things in one bowl - dark chocolate and natural peanut butter. Mmmmmm!

We popped open a bottle of wine, preheated the oven, and lit candles for Chanukah night #2! I'd say that these were pretty easy to make and taste great, especially when they're still warm from the oven! AND, they please gluten-free and gluten eaters alike!

I had a couple of the small cookies and a clementine during the movie and that was my night. A great, cozy evening!

I didn't see much of this morning, which is a-okay with me. I slept in until 11 and was ready for breakfast! I decided to try out something I've seen on other food blogs when they get to the end of a nut butter jar - Oats in a Jar! I cooked my BRM hot cereal on the stove, and then added it to the 1/2tbsp of peanut butter that was left in the jar. I mixed in 4 chocolate chips (I'm not a huge fan of sugar for breakfast) and cinnamon, and have to say, this is my new favorite way to eat my hot cereal. Sadly, this will only happen once in a while, but what a special treat!! I ate this slowly and savored each bite. Plus, how fun is it to eat straight from the jar?! I also had a pear and egg white alongside to give me some extra protein and carbs before the gym.

(all warm and steamy, fresh off the stove!)

On tap for today: the gym (I skipped yesterday to get some job stuff done), salad making for a Chanukah party tonight, Chanukah party, and babysitting. It should be a perfect end to the weekend!!