The view outside my house

So I woke yesterday and saw this surprise out my window:

Outside across the street

Outside living room window

Outside our door

The pretty view outside

We don't get snow very often so it was a bit of a shock to say the least. When my family and I moved here there was snow similar to this. It cripples the city and lots of schools and offices are closed.

Being from Ontario I grew up with snow and love how beautiful it looks. It is bright and casts a beautiful glow which I quite enjoy. It is bitter cold out and hard to drive in so I think most people want it go away.

Michelle

A Random Post of Sorts

Today I thought I'd do a random list of things I like and yes all buy one is food related.

As of late November I've been on a health kick. Sure I want to lose weight but I also want to feel better and eat better. I've come to realize that losing weight, feeling better and looking good are a process. It's not instant (well at least losing weight isn't instant for me but maybe for some it comes off quickly).

I've also come to realize I can't tolerate gluten so I eat gluten free now. My sister and I sell gluten free goodies at our local market 6 months a year so we love experimenting with new recipes.

Here is a lovely colourful plate of veggies:

Here is a divine gluten free quiche my mom made:

My newest addiction is Cauliflower Soup with sweet potatoes on top:

I've talked about this before but my favourite Christmas gift is my new milk frother. I use soy milk and it comes out great. This is one I made the other day (it's Cafe Lib in there with Vanilla a caffine alternative):

A divine chocolate gluten free cupcake (I did not make this one but it tasted great and inspired me):

Here is a gluten free cupcake I made with a vegan frosting that was tricky to work with. The cupcake was Vanilla Bean with matching frosting:

I used a new recipe and filled the muffin tins rather low. I'll fill them much higher next time and tweak my vegan icing recipe. It was delish.

Now for a break from food, here is a night where the sky looked heavenly outside my house:

A divine salmon dinner my sister made for my birthday awhile ago (I had tried it at a restaurant and she made an exact replica of it). It was to cry for:

The last mouthwatering photo I have is of a gluten free, vegan birthday cake that was for me. My mom made it and except for the topping the cake is sugar free. It blew me away it was so good. My mom is amazing at gluten free baking and created her own gluten free four blend that we may sell at our market this year:

Okay now I'm feeling hungry and for dinner I'm having gluten free pizza.

Have a great week-end everyone.

Michelle

Yummy Coffee at 2 percent Jazz, Panettone and Pumpkin pie

Hello,

I discovered a coffee shop a few months ago. I had been to it once or twice about 15 years ago and then it moved locations and I rediscovered it all over gain. It's 2% Jazz. When I was there I snapped some photos of things that caught my eye (Their caramel 1/2 cafe latte was divine by the way).

I was greeted with their inviting chalkboard.

This photo above the washroom caught my eye (I love her hair).

Aren't these coffee warmer sleeves adorable?

I grew up eating Panettone and it's my favourite Christmas treat. It's a white bread with sweet dried fruit inside. There are many variations on this and sometimes you get raisins. On occasion we buy this delectable treat around Christmas time but this year we couldn't find a good brand we liked. Once bakery we went too was charging an outrageous price so we decided to make our own this year. My sister volunteered to make it and we ate it throughout the Christmas holidays.

Homemade Panettone

The other divine treat I had over the holidays was my mom's divine Pumpkin pie without crust. When she does make a crust it's gluten free and is so tasty. I was watching calories though so she left out the crust.

Yummy Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Next up I'll post more about my divine new coffee, Cafe Lib, Green Tea Latte frother and divine Gluten free cupcakes.

Michelle

Some of my Christmas 2010 Outings

Hello,

I was on holidays for the last 3 weeks and it was glorious to not think about schedules etc. I did a lot of fun things around town and went to Vancouver for the day.

This is part 1 of my photos:

This first one isn't that exciting but my family and I went to Vancouver on December 21st and my sister decided to bring along one of our cute Christmas lights. We stopped for lunch outside this store so she took it out of her bag and placed it on our table so it would feel Christmas like. Plus Salvation Army was nearby playing Christmas music.

See the wee flickering light in the centre

Later on that day we decided to go into Starbucks for a nice hot cocoa. After 4.5 hours of walking everywhere we figured we deserved a treat. This is the regular hot cocoa and we even got to try a sample of their mint hot cocoa which was divine. My newest addiction though is the Salty Caramel Hot Chocolate. It's pure heaven if you love hot chocolate.

Starbucks Hot Cocoa (notice the flickering light again)

Just after Christmas we got to see the beautiful decorated Christmas trees at the Empress. Every year different companies can make a donation and submit a Christmas tree. They are then up for a few weeks for the public to enjoy. There were quite a few beautiful ones so I had about 3 favourites. It's called Festival of Trees.

I can't remember all the companies but here are my photos of a few of them:

I think this was by Pine Lighting and the lights were amazing.

This was by The Papery (a fun shop with great stationary) I loved the wood carved ornaments.

This is a close up of one of the wood carved ornaments. The detail is incredible.

The Root Cellar tree (The produce here is wonderful)

I call this the blue tree and think it was done by a packing company.

For more Festival of Tree photos check out this link.

So I have been begging for a milk frother but since I don't drink milk I wanted something to whip up my soy milk. I got a new frother and here is a Cafe Lib drink I made for myself. It works well with the brand of soy milk I use.

Cafe Lib with frothed soy milk, the whipped texture was surprisingly foamy

That's all for now, next up I'll have photos of the Gingerbread houses.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Michelle

Happy New Year 2011!

Hello,

I had planned to post some photos of Christmas outings around town but decided to post about the New Year just around the corner. Hope you all have a great 2011!

Michelle

Merry Christmas 2010!

Hello,

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was beautiful.  It was done by Northland Park Church in Longwood, Florida during Christmas Eve 2008.


"Carol of the Bells" (subtitles) from Northland Media Design on Vimeo.

Sit back and turn up the sound.

Have a wonderful blessed Christmas,

Michelle

I love Quinoa and a shout out to my mom's biscotti's

Hello,

Quinoa Salad

So I haven't really had Quinoa cooked properly. My sister has tried to make it and it never turned out right and didn't taste good at all. I keep hearing about it everywhere and it's so good for you.

Here is the definition of Quinoa from Wikipedia: a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth, but the commercial availability of quinoa greens is currently limited.

Quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods.^[9] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

So the other day I was flipping through a recipe book I have and saw this great looking recipe for a Quinoa corn salad so thought I'd try it again but only bought a small amount. Well one cup gave me a whole pan worth and I tried some with just a bit of Mrs Dash extra spicy and thought it tasted good. It has a bit of a slight nutty flavour to it if (it's hard to describe). Once it was mixed in with the corn salad it was divine and so filling. Now I'm addicted to it and because it doesn't have a strong taste you can mix it with so many different things.

Since Christmas is around the corner my mom has been baking non stop it seems. She is famous for her Biscotti's and she makes them more moist then a traditional biscotti and has perfected her recipe over the years (she even makes gluten free ones too). Since we are Italian it comes pretty naturally to her.

4 Pack of Biscotti

This week we are preparing for our last Christmas show at Moss and it should be a great time.

Until next time

Michelle

My brand new Magenta Macbook Pro 15" hardshell case

Hello,

It's been awhile since I posted and I've been crazed with our bath and body product line. We have had 2 Christmas shows in the last week and have been working non stop to make sure it's perfect.

Our last Christmas show is coming up in two weeks.

So back in the summer I finally got my a Macbook Pro 15" antiglare laptop and was looking everywhere trying to find a hard shell for it and it had to be pink. The problem was the laptop I bought had just been released and no one at the time had a case that fit perfectly since Apple changed the power adapter for this model. My plan was to order a Speck one but at the time they had to be modified using a nail file and I wanted to buy one that just worked.

I ended up with a Magenta InCase Design one and love it:

Magenta Hardshell Case for 15" Macbook Pro

Now I won't worry about scratches or having it go in and out of my knapsack. I like to travel with it as well.

Michelle

Delicious Delights

My sister and I had our first Saturday off in 26 weeks (we usually sell our Splurge bath and beauty products at a local market) and it was wonderful and hard to believe all at once. This is how the rest of the world must live.

We jumped up early Saturday morning to get a Pumpkin Latte at 2% Jazz.

We made to cry for kale chips last week-end and they were gobbled up so fast. There were only a few left when I snapped this photo.

Until next time,

Michelle

Homemade Marshmellows....Yummy

Hello,

My business is Bath and Beauty products at a local organic farmer's market on Saturdays 6 months a year. Gluten free baking
is also another product we sell.

A fellow vendor asked if we had ever tasted home made marshmallows. I replied not only have we tasted them but
we can make them. We sold them last Saturday to our gluten free customers and they were a hit.

Here is the an overview of them packed in their cute home:

Homemade Vegan Marshmellows

Here is a close up:

Vegan Marshmellows Close Up

They were so divine I can't wait to make another batch.

Michelle