B’s class is having a bit of a Hallowe’en thing tomorrow, as, I’m sure, are the majority of classes in any given school. I decided last night to send something in. I wanted there to be something (besides raw veggies, which he won’t eat) that he could have that doesn’t contain artificial dyes or flavours. His school is nut-free but I also decided to try my hand at gluten-free, casein-free baking and chose to convert the Apple Banana Cupcakes recipe that I occasionally use. It’s a wonderful recipe: light, fluffy, moist, and full of flavour.

My regular tweaks include using one cup each of white and whole wheat flour, swapping out the shortening for 1/3 cup each of oil and applesauce (or all applesauce), adding 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, using 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown or only using half the sugar, 4 tablespoons of yogurt instead of buttermilk, and chopping the two apples instead of shredding. It makes 24 regular cupcakes (I only bake them for 20 minutes) or 10 jumbo ones (drop the temperature to 350F for the jumbos and bake for 27 minutes).

So today I spent a bit of money picking up small amounts of various flours to make this all-purpose gluten-free blend. I also used coconut milk in place of the yogurt/buttermilk. I was a little nervous about how it would affect the taste and texture. I was figuring the flavours of the apples and bananas would cover any difference and was mostly worried about the texture. The batter had a weird cornstarch-slurry texture to it (if that makes sense). I needn’t have worried. I can’t find a difference between the two versions in terms of taste or texture/density/moistness. I’m impressed, if I do say so myself.

Sorry. Night lighting. The colour’s a little off.

The frosting recipe is found here. I used the "yellow" portion of the recipe. I used a dairy-free spread instead of butter and added in some brown sugar to give the frosting a slightly caramel-y flavour to go with the apples. The frosting turned out very sweet but if you make sure you’re taking a big bite of the cake with every bite of the frosting it works out perfectly. Kids being kids though, I doubt they’ll do that. The orange food colouring is natural, ordered (along with other colours) online last year when I made B’s birthday cake. The spiders, bats, and skulls were 99¢ at Zellers for a 60-count bag (20 of each) of rings. I’m not sure these rings would fit any kid above three years old but they were a cute way to complete the cupcakes since I don’t have any natural candy sprinkles.

All in all I’m super-happy with how these turned out. I mixed up a batch and a half of batter and filled the regular tins a tiny bit fuller (instead of a scant half that the full recipe works out to) and ended up with the 24 regular muffins and four jumbo ones. I’ll be sending the regular-sized ones off to school with my little alligator/dragon/crocodile who decided this morning that he doesn’t want to be a puppy after all and will just wear his costume (we’re not exactly sure which animal it is) from last year, thank you very much.

I like mushrooms. I don’t love them but I don’t mind them.

I love these though.

This recipe is based on this one from Tosca Reno. I couldn’t remember the recipe as I was making this a few minutes ago and was too lazy to hunt it down. I knew it didn’t involve hummus but I added it anyway.

Take two portobello mushrooms (though one is enough for a light meal) washed, stemmed, and de-gilled. Turn each mushroom belly-side up and spread a tablespoon of hummus* in it. Top with a tablesppon of salsa, a few baby spinach leaves, and a generous portion of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I baked mine in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes and then broiled them a bit to further melt and brown the cheese. They smell amazing!!

*I added a tablespoon of tahini and about five or six dry-packed sundried tomatoes to this recipe as well as upping the lemon juice to 3 tablespoons and the garlic to four small cloves.

That looks questionable, doesn’t it? No matter what it looks like it smells pretty good.

I decided to try my hand at raw/dehydrated crackers yesterday. Going off this recipe from Emily at Vegan Paris and this one from Raw Genesis, I put two cups of flax seeds (one cup golden and one cup brown) to soak in four cups of water. I had planned to soak them for a few hours but I ran out of time last night and they ended up soaking from about 3pm until 8:30′ish this morning. I put them in the fridge last night and they seemed okay this morning. Soaking the seeds turns them into a gelatinous goo. I threw in a small handful of raw sunflower seeds as well.

This morning I pulled out the Vita-Mix (pricey but I’m loving it!!) and puréed up a large carrot, two stalks of celery, a few slices of field cucumber, and about half a large red pepper. I mixed the veggies into the flax goo and spread them out on three trays lined with ParaFlexx™ and turned the dehydrator to 115F. Now it’s just a waiting game. I expect these crackers will go well with some homemade hummus. Between the faint smell of the crackers just starting to dry and the applesauce cooking down to apple butter in the crock pot (I canned 10 pints yesterday), this house is a pretty pleasant-smelling place.

It’s been awhile since I’ve participated in Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family and it’s nice to get back into it. I had my dad’s truck yesterday while my car was in the shop so I took advantage of the extra cargo space and hit up two of our local thrift stores on the hunt for the perfect reading chair for the reading nook I plan to create in the living room. I didn’t come home with a new reading chair but I didn’t find a few other things. The Salvation Army store was the cheapest by far but I had picked up a few bigger items at the other store so I’m not sure how well I can compare the two in terms of price. I think the first store does tend to be slightly higher priced but they’re still both cheaper than Value Village, which is a store that I also love.

This post is a bit picture-heavy. The chair legs and all the table legs, foam, vases, round frame, and plastic casters came from the Salvation Army and cost a total of $6.25. Some of the items, if not most, will be painted or otherwise re-finished but all are in good shape.

Odds and ends:

The red vase reminds me of Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba, a kids’ show that I loathe.
I’m not sure I’ll be able to use it without thinking of that every single time.

The four legs at the left are destined to become a narrow end table to go beside my loveseat. The two table legs are for a desk that I’m going to build in the new closet in the back entrance. The "U" and round frame are just because I like the shape and thought they would add interest somewhere in the house. The casters are for the bottom of these stools if I ever get them past the batted-and-awaiting-fabric stage. The little black votive jack o’lantern is just a cute Hallowe’en decoration. The four short spindles/legs are for an unknown project as are the three drawer pulls (which will eventually be spray painted, I imagine). The poor little fawn ornament has a neck that’s been broken and glued so he will get a chip-filling treatment of putty or whatever works and then a coat of glossy white spray paint. The two vases are to add to a slowly-growing collection and to add colour to the living room.

The round metal bottomless tray will eventually get a bottom and the plan is to attach it to a plant stand (or something that will work as one), paint it, and have it sit, holding a plant or two, next to the window in the cozy/chatty space here. 

There are also a few bigger pieces:

A chandelier of sorts that is missing its globes and needs a little loving. I love the metallic orange colour and wish I could be happy with a cord running up the wall behind the dining table so I could hang it there. There is no overhead lighting in the living room so while I could still attach it to the ceiling, I’d need to cobble something together since I’m not up to poking holes in the ceiling and pulling wires over. It may get used in my bedroom (though the basement ceilings are low) when I re-decorate in there. The design of the light above resembles the lines in a throw pillow that I picked up a few months back specifically for the bedroom makeover. If it does go downstairs though the beautiful orange will have to be changed.

I found a super-cute folding wooden chair that will be my new desk chair in the back entrance closet. Here is the chair opened up. It needs a seat but that’s easily remedied. It could also stand to have a cheery coat of paint.

The lamp will live on the dining room table as there is no overhead lighting but there is an outlet directly under the table. I will spray paint some or all of the lamp base and re-do the shade as it’s stained at the top and bottom edges. The lamp base and shade did not come together but I like the height of the lamp and how the shape of the shade mimics that of the table and also how, because the shade is rectangular, the lamp can be pushed up against the wall so it’s not taking up the dining surface.

The stools will be spray painted and the seats recovered, maybe with a little extra padding (maybe the foam or maybe just batting). Extra seating is always good and they can stack out of the way until they’re needed.

I also picked up a 1 2/3-yard roll of decorator-weight fabric which has a huge tail of fabric attached. I’m hoping that it will cover the little rocking recliner I mentioned on Monday. I’ll be taking the curtain panels back; it’s unfortunate that I’ll only be getting store credit but that’s what happens when you’re past the cut off time for a cash refund. Maybe I’ll buy my patio umbrella from them in the spring.

What works for you on this Wednesday, October 21? Head over to We Are THAT Family to browse other blog posts and/or to add your own.

I finally got tired of having a torn-apart living room and decided to go ahead and change a few plans. Everything has been revolving around the fact that my front door (which I don’t use except to lean out and grab the mail) opens smack into my living room as seen in this post. I scrapped the loveseat-in-front-of-the-door idea though partly because I didn’t like the curtains I’d put up to disguise the door (it didn’t look like what I’d imagined) and partly because it dawned on me that the dining table didn’t have to go against the half wall, that I could put it further into the living room if I wanted to. And so I did.

It’s parked smack against the bathroom wall; there is room to pull it out to add two more chairs to the other long side or just to spread the existing four chairs evenly around it. Then the question was: if I’m not covering the front door over and therefore don’t have that for wall space, where do I put the seating? I didn’t want it all along the wall opposite the table because I didn’t want the table to be the focal point and I wanted a cozier atmosphere than that, so I’ve taken my two of my three seating options and placed them in a cozy, chatty arrangement seen above. I have a few things to add to that space but nothing big.

That cozy, chatty arrangement then created a space at the front of the room like so:

So what to do with this space? The curtains from the door will be coming back off. I’ll use the rod in my bedroom makeover instead and either return the two panels (I’ll only get store credit though) or use them to upholster that little swivel rocker in the photo above. I’m thinking a papasan-type chair (I’m talking with someone on kijiji about one) where the clock and painting are leaning and a tall bookcase to the right of that. I have a cheap 6-foot tall one at my mom’s that I could pretty up. A little paint, a plywood back instead of the carboard one, fill in holes that I won’t be needing for the adjustable shelving, and there’ll be room on the bottom for B’s books and room on the top for mine with a bit of room interspersed throughout for a few large knick-knacks (I’m not a knick knack girl). The little chair above will get a new dress and probably be slid down to the other end of the loveseat, still on the back side of it though. Maybe a cozy little rug tossed down on the floor, a small end table (or something posing as one) for the little chair and we’ll be good to go.

So that’s the what things are right now. The living room still needs a couple coats of paint in a nice neutral slightly-browner-than beige colour, pictures and other wall accents need to be hung, a few accessories need to be picked up, and projects need to be started and completed. I’ll update when it’s done! There are still a few small things to be done in the kitchen as well and the closet in the back entrance and then it’ll be an almost-completely done (damn that bathroom!) upper floor. Full before and after photos will be posted at that time. Exciting!

"Look!! I made a chocolate chip!"

B was playing this afternoon while I was puttering in the kitchen attempting to tidy it up when I heard "Look!! I made a chocolate chip!" I looked over and saw him excitedly pointing to his track, which in the past has only ever been an oval, a circle, or an un-joined road. He made me laugh, as he often does, and was more than happy to pose beside the track although we did have to work on getting rid of the camera face (he tends to tip his head back and do a bad cheese smile).

A somewhat grainy picture of my boy with his jack o’lantern. His SK class went on an outing to a pumpkin farm this week and he brought home a pumpkin. We ended up with a nicely-sized bowl of seeds to roast tomorrow. He did a great job scooping out the seeds and most of the guts while I cleaned up the inside a little bit more and did the cutting after he helped me mark out the shapes.

I haven’t shown my completed kitchen reno yet but you can see the
new hall wall colour here. Next up: living room!

Who doesn’t love giveaways? Seriously. And what about truly awesome giveaways like the one going on until October 12, 2009 at 8 p.m. PST over at Centsational Girl? Kate (a.k.a. Centsational Girl) and Price Pfister have teamed for this giveway and up for grabs is your choice of one of four kitchen faucets or one of three bathroom faucets. (I much prefer the word "tap" to faucet; it’s more familiar to me. Is it a Canadian term?) All of the choices offered are stunning for various reasons and all of them appeal to me but my first choice, after careful consideration would have to be the… No, wait. I think I prefer the… So hard to decide!!! I’m doing a bathroom reno in the relatively near future (hopefully) and will be in need of a bathroom faucet so the Treviso would be gorgeous but I’m also planning to spend a lot more time in the kitchen and the Hanover in a steel finish would be perfect both for the gooseneck and just as an additional tweak to the re-facing I’ve already done in the kitchen (painting the cupboards and walls and adding new cabinet hardware). Even though I would have to get a new sink (I think) to accommodate the new faucet, the Hanover is what I’m going with for my pick.

What would your choice be? Head over to Kate’s blog and take a peek at the gorgeous (and generous!) options. It doesn’t say anything about only being open to U.S. residents so I guess everyone has a fighting chance. You can’t be chosen if you don’t enter so go forth and state your choice!

I’m shaking. I’ve just forked over a fair chunk of money to some guy on the phone. He was a nice guy though. He works for Raw Nutrition in Quebec, a hop and a skip away from me. I love that I was able to buy "local" (local being within the country, not necessarily the same city/region). I shopped around and found that the best deal for me was to get my items all from the same place. With free shipping and three free extras thrown in (bonus!!), I’m happy. Happy but poor and so hoping I don’t wake up tomorrow with buyer’s remorse.

So what did I buy? A refurbished Vita-Mix Super 5200, a 5-tray Excalibur dehydrator, and a Spirooli fruit/vegetable spiralizer. I do not currently eat 100% raw nor is that my goal. Obviously I do eat foods in their raw form but only the "usual" ones. I do want to branch out though and start eating a few raw meals a week as well as more "natural" foods. I don’t buy very many packaged or processed foods; our consumption is pretty healthy due to the changes I made in B’s diet a year or so ago but I’d like to make a few more changes. Changes like making the following at home: crackers (both dehydrated ones and baked), flours (including bean, nut, rice, and millet), nut milks and butters, and fruit and vegetable "chips". Some of these things I could technically make now but these new additions to the kitchen will make it so much easier and therefore, hopefully, a very regular occurrence. Gena over at Choosing Raw posted about making an interesting "bread" with a dehydrator that was gifted to her (lucky girl!) and I can’t wait to try it out. I already have a juicer (not a top-of-the-line model but it works pretty well) and an awesome Bravetti food processor with blender jar that I love (and both the bowl and jar are thick glass, which is what sold me on it) as well as a cheap Nesco round dehydrator. I will either sell or Freecycle my Nesco to make room for the Excalibur. Just this week I gave away my microwave (I know! Extreme!) and I’m looking forward to living without it. I didn’t use it all that much except and am really liking the extra counter space I now have.

There is so much inspiration and encouragement to be found online that’s it’s hard to know where to start. Green Smoothie Girl is an amazing site (and check our her blog too). Choosing Raw is a wealth of knowledge even if you don’t eat raw. Blaq Berry over at Hi-Rawkus is also very informative and has a great basics page here and a wonderful "getting started" page here. Ariane over at Neat & Simple Living has a good summary post on the joys, benefits, and simplicity of the Vita-Mix. There are several models available; I chose the Super 5200, which has the improved lid (easier to use than the previous ones) and the extra "dry" jar for making flour, etc.

Raw Nutrition was a terrific place to buy from. Granted, all I’ve done is place a phone order at this point but the customer service was incredibly pleasant, helpful, and knowledgeable. They also threw in three free ParaFlexx™ sheets for the Excalibur since I was buying a Vita-Mix as well. The Excalibur comes with two sheets and I had three extras in my cart as well but they included them free of charge, a $29.97 value. Shipping was also free so all I pay is the cost of the items and GST (no provincial sales taxes charged for most provinces). Buying "local" also means no brokerage or customs/duty fees, which as anyone ordering from the States into Canada knows, is often a huge chunk of change (as is shipping itself) relative to the cost of the item being shipped.

Now I’m watching my mailbox. It should be here next week. Eeeek!