GF Pancake Muffins

Last week, my amazing blog friend, Gina at Kleinworth & Co. blogged a genius recipe using pancake mix to make pancake muffins (check it out here!). I instantly wanted to try it with gluten free pancake mix as a fun to-go breakfast.

Gina used a mix that only required water rather than also adding eggs and milk, etc. I found a similar GF mix at my local Whole Foods and set home to give it a shot as a new twist on a weekend breakfast.

Gina made her pancake muffins with white chocolate chips and blue berries. Since I can't eat dairy, I tried throwing in shredded coconut with the blueberries.

I followed Gina's simple recipe otherwise and was super happy with the result! I've never gotten any GF muffin I've made to poof up like this, so I was just happy with how they looked.

Taste? Amazing! I have loved having an easy to eat breakfast all week. I think I eat less than if I had made regular pancakes since I always have two of those, but think "one muffin is plenty" - win win!

Gluten Free Blueberry + Coconut Pancake Muffins:
(adapted from Kleinworth & Co.)

2 cups gf pancake mix (one that only needs water/milk like Cherrybrook Kitchen)
2/3 cup almond milk (or regular milk, I just can't do dairy)
2 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut

1) Preheat oven to 350º and line or grease muffin tin
2) Mix the ingredients together.
3) Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 15 to 19 minutes
4) Let cool and enjoy!

 

And! Come link up and join the Good.Random.Fun. each Monday, right here!

A & B's Wedding

Over Labor Day weekend I took a giant leap in my photography work and photographed a wedding! It was the big day for the couple whose engagement shots I took during that snowy day in February. The warm day on the Cape was a nice change from 6 months ago! 

I am so happy with the images that I captured and even better, the couple is happy with them! 

also...going to do a better job at promoting my Monday link-up!

come join the Good.Random.Fun. each Monday, right here!

4 years.

Tomorrow marks 2 anniversaries. One is a happier one than the other. 

Tomorrow marks 4 years since my Zayda died, on the English calendar. Tomorrow also marks the day that I kicked off this little blog. 4 years. 4 years of adventures, milestones, celebrations, successes, and adventures. 

In 4 years...

I've said good-bye to my Zayda...

graduated college...

become an aunt...

taught first grade...

earned my master's degree...

fallen in love with 3rd grade...and so many more things in between.

I have fallen in love with the little community I have formed here from my blog. You are supportive, encouraging, friendly, and all around amazing. My photography has grown by leaps and bounds. And I've met some amazing people!

So thank you! Thank you for reading my insanely random posts, thank you for being an awesome blogging community, and thank you for being you!

Stay tuned for more awesomeness and random-osity. To many more years of blogging!!

Spagetti Squash and "Cheese"

Last night's dinner was a giant experiment and a giant success! 

I had a spagetti squash begging to be cooked up and some leftover daiya cheese that needed cooking up. 

So, naturally, I tried making: gluten-free, vegan, soy-free, and low carb "mac and cheese"

 Okay folks, this was pretty amazing! And I will so do this again. Even better it was so easy to whip up.

Spagetti Squash and "cheese"

Roast a spagetti squash: cut (carefully) in half and scoop out seeds. Place cut side down in roasting pan with water and roast at 400º for about 30 minutes or until flakes easily with fork.

After it's cooled slightly, scrape it all out into amazing spagetti like strands and place in sauce pan.

Add daiya shreds. I used a cup of cheddar and mozerella (what I had leftover).

Stir to melt. I added almond milk to help thin it out.

Season to your liking. I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and italian seasoning.

Really quick, really amazing, really not that bad for you! I might experiment with then baking it off in the oven, but last night I was hungry!

Enjoy, enjoy!

Job!

Okay, so I suppose I should back the truck up a little bit here. I spilled the I have a job beans yesterday in my weekly recap, but for prosperity's sake and for the 4 of you who are genuinely (bless you) curious here is the low down on how the last week played out!

So, the Friday before last, I got a tough job rejection ("a close second") at what I thought would be the job. I was pretty much ready to give up hope, but, Sunday night, on a whim, I sent my resume and cover letter to one of the Jewish day schools in the Boston area. 

Monday night they emailed me asking me to come in to interview for a suddenly vacant position. 

24 hours later I was staring at an email that was offering me a job! 

Time has barely slowed down since then!

 The school is about 30 minutes from my neck of the woods, which meant I needed to get my first set of wheels! A mere 12 hours after accepting the position, I was at my neighborhood Honda buying a car!

 Meet Zippy, my 2009 royal blue civic, we are already the best of friends!

 It also meant, that since I was coming in the middle of staff week my 5am wake-up and workout sessions started, suddenly! But to keep it real, I have missed "Way too Early" and "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.

So, to recap: within 48 hours I went from jobless, car less, alarm clock-less, and office-less to...having a job, having a car, having an am alarm, and having an office! Yes, office. Probably want to know what the actual job that earned me this office, right?

I am working as a third grade genreal education teacher (math, social studies, and language arts) and as the special education support specialist for the 3rd and 4th grades (IEPs, teacher support, supervising 1:1 aides, etc). Pretty much two awesome jobs in one, which use both of my certifications!

I hit the ground running, hard, and my head is finally stopped spinning a little... But honestly, nerves and head spinning aside, I am so excited that the universe suddenly presented me with this amazing opportunity. I felt welcomed and a part of the school community within seconds of walking in the door and I am so looking forward to the chance to start my career in an amazing place.

So, as this is being posted I am gearing up for the school year to begin! Day 1 of our year (private schools don't need the 180 so I have no clue how many we are going towards!) Ready or not, here comes the school year!

And for your enjoyment, some back to school humor:

Bob's Red Mill

I've spoken before about how much I love the Bob's Red Mill products. I've even visited the factory/mother ship store in Portland. Well, the kind folks there offered me three products to try, review, and offer to you, my blog friends!

I chose the shortbread mix, steel cut oats, and brownie mix. I honestly had a hard time deciding what to pick! So many yummy looking gluten-free options, even after I factored in all the ones I have already tried! 

First up, the brownie mix. Now, this may get me some "say what" looks, but I am not a huge chocolate baked good person. Yes, I love a good semi-sweet chocolate, but cake/cookies/brownies - not so much. Well, these came out so good. A nice combo of moist and dense, sweet but not overpowering.  I also replaced the butter with apple sauce - so much much much less guilt! I froze a bunch of these and they tasted great frozen, thawed, and fresh!

Next, I tried the shortbread mix. One of my favorite girl scout cookies was the shortbreads, so I was intrigued by these. I decided to (gasp) not really follow the directions and made "bars" rather than cut out cookies.  I again used apple sauce in place of the butter (more on that in a sec). I pressed the dough onto my pan and pushed in some pecans and mini-chocolate chips. They came out pretty good. A bit sweet for me, but a nice balance of chewy and dense. I bet with butter they are a true shortbread!

And now for something healthy! I have had one other brand of steel cut oats and these blew those out of the water! The oats are super thick and cooked up into an amazing bowl of yummy-ness.  You really have to be patient with steel cut oats, let them cook so they soften and become mush. Then some cinnamon, vanilla, and fresh berries and I was ready to take on my day!

Overall, I loved each of these. Of course with the oats, I have many more breakfasts to look forward to! And the other goodies, for the sake of my will power and waist line, I shared them with friends!

One reason I really love Bob's Red Mill is because their gf products are soy free and dairy free.  I used to be dairy free, and have decided I need to go back to that life style and the soy free is a new change, but one that I knew I had to make eventually - one reason I use apple sauce exclusively now in baking (dairy-free butters are soy based...).

So! Now it's your turn, anyone who leaves a comment will be eligible to win these three goodies! To be entered in, just leave a comment and next Monday night I will have a random drawing! Then these goodies will be on their way to your door! (US residents only, sorry!)

Good luck, and may the baked goods be in your favor.

Free at last!

After nine long months, lots of rubberbands, and being restricted to a non-crunchy diet, I am finally free at last! Last Wednesday, a few hours after landing back in Boston I was braces free! 

 I am still getting used to the feel of it, I still resort to my usual food clearing maneuvers (sorry if that's TMI) after I eat, but I don't have to! I even had spinach for dinner Wed. night just because I could without having green stuff stuck up in my grill (-:

 Of course, now it's retainers, but they are clear, and I am getting used to them and anything is better than braces. This process was totally worth it, my bite is better, my teeth are straight, and they look great, for the second time around!

I am loving being able to eat crunchy foods, although I am almost learning how to bite into crunchy foods again. 

The first crunchy thing I bit into! An apple, without it being pre-cut (-:

Free at last, free at last, thank my orthodontist, I am free at last!

Linking with Renae

I'm going to miss this...

Alternatively titeled: schools out for summer!! 

We made it. I cannot believe it. 

180 days...9.5 months...19 kids...2 teachers

We all survived! We all learned! We did it! In all honestly though, I'm going to miss this. 

 the messes...

 the fun and games...

 the friendships...

the learning...

the coping mechanisms...

I go back and forth between being ecstatic that it's summer vacation and sadness. This was my first class. They made me a teacher. They pushed me to the brink some days, but others the sweetness and laughs and eureka moments reminded me why I am doing this.

I think the hardest part of saying good-bye was that it was good-bye. Heaven help me, I will have a job at another school next year. I won't see these amazing 19 kids as big second graders. I feel like a mama bird who just watched her bird babies fly out of the nest. I know I did my best and that they will do so well next year.

I also know they taught me so much and I cannot wait to get to do it all again come September. But for now, there is one thing I will not miss...

my early morning alarm(s)...

Happy summer vacation!

Sufganiyot!

A Chanukah tradition is to eat fried foods, to remember the miracle of the oil. So latkes, fried jelly donuts, etc. Being gluten free it's hard to readily find sufganiyot, or donuts, so Avi and I decided to make our own! We figured it would be a total success or disaster, but fun all the same!

 We found a recipe online, and read that using the Bob's Red Mill, GF pancake mix yielded good results so we tried that!

 It really mixed up like a dough, with yeast and everything. We mixed it up, played with it a bit, then threw it (gently) into the oven to rise for an hour. It really rose up well, then it was time to fry!

 We opted for donut hole sized donuts rather than cutting really large circles. We rolled them up, and threw them into the oil.

 Our first few were still raw in the middle so we decided to flatten the rest and that was what we needed! They came out golden brown, crisp, and amazing!

Then it was time to try to fill them with jelly (try being the operative word in that sentence). We chose a strawberry pinot noir and a marionberry jam (both are amazing!). So the donuts were a bit too dense to fill with jelly so we opted for a healthy dusting (covering, whatever) of powdered sugar and then dunking/dipping/decorating them with the jelly!

Oh my word, they were so good! A total keeper for future Chanukahs!

ps - if you've been away for the holiday, keep reading to hear my big (!) news!

47

Yesterday my supervising classroom teacher (I have 3 supervisors, it's complicated!) was out all day at a training. This meant it was just me and the kids (and the sub). My head was spinning by 2:20, but I did it! 
This is my journal entry for the day...thought I'd post my thoughts on making it through a day as the sole teacher here too.
___________________________________________________________________________________
I learned...that I can successfully teach an entire day's lessons and manage the class!

Something great that happened was...I did it! I ran the classroom from arrival to dismissal, without my supervising teacher and only a sub, (who honestly wasn't more than a warm body).

Something challenging that happened was... essentially being the only teacher in the room. Having to deal with conflicts and behavior issues alone, and try to teach everything, somethings for the first time (when did handwriting get so involved!)

A question I have is...how in the world do teacher's run a classroom of 19 kids without an aid or an intern to be there as support?

I wonder about...if I really did well today, did they learn what I was trying to teach, did they understand my expectations...

Living the gf life lately...

I haven't shared some of my favorite gluten-free foods lately, and friends were recently asking me how I live the gluten-free life!

So, as any Jewish person, a love for falafel is in my blood. I may love to cook and bake, but my desire to make falafel from scratch is non-existent! BUT! One of my favorite companies, Orgran (we've been ordering their products all the way from Australia since I was 13!) makes a GF falafel mix!

I usually add a little cumin to the mix for an extra kick, then fry it up or bake them in the oven! Perfect dinner and lunch. I like to dip mine in chumus and ketchup (it's a Jewish thing people...almost everything goes into ketchup).

A friend was talking about their obsession with waffles and I chimed in with my favorite waffle. Which of course got me weird looks and the comment "but, waffles are good how can they be made gluten free?" Well, folks, it's 2011 and gluten free is in, if you haven't noticed. My personal favorites are by Nature's Path. I like the berry flavor and they smell so good!

Also, when my sweet tooth kicks in I love to pop back the Orgran (a theme, right) Outback Animals. They are so cute and one or two hits the spot! Put a little peanut butter on them, and mm! I really like the vanilla ones and the chocolate chip ones!

See, 2011 is a great time to be gluten free! The orgran company is a personal favorite since they were the first company we found to order things from! We used to make their rice bread mix and I also love their cooking flour and pastas, and flat crisps (so good with tuna fish!), and I just also got the rice crumbs and have used them to pan fry fish!