Sweet Saturdays for Christmas in July

Last Saturday we had a nice rainy day so we invited some friends over for a Sweet Saturday. We started the day with homemade OJ and gluten free donuts and watched some Christmas movies to celebrate Christmas in July. We made a homemade glaze for the donuts and used a meat injector to make jelly filled donuts.

It was a pretty sweet morning and Dave and Jess ended up in a sugar coma while Jared and I pulled out this new Whoopie Pie Book to create Mocha Flavored Whoopies. We even took it a step further when Jared made our frosting coffee flavored too. It was a great change from a "plain" whoopie and made a rainy Saturday go by much too quickly. The book is great and even has a GF whoopie reciepe but I just subbed GF flour and xanthum gum in for the Mocha Whoopies.

The jelly donut was a winner as was the bacon wrapped donut... however it was hard to touch the...

Gluten Free Oreo Filled Donut with Glaze and Sprinkles.

Life here in Telluride is pretty sweet...

Time to make the Donuts, take 2

The last time we made donuts there was snow on the ground and winter was just beginning. Now as summer is in full swing and we suffer from a heat wave of  temperatures in the high 80's

(ok, it's kind of a joke but when you live in the mountains and at 9,000 feet this is HOT)

We were home after a busy weekends of playing with the dogs and enjoying the Food Network. Kid in a Candy Store was at Kick Ass Cupcakes and they were showing decadent deep fried cupcakes and we were motivated.We were not motivated enough to make cupcakes but we did pull out the Gluten Free Gourmet and revisited the donut recipe. Doesn't everyone want to make donuts when it's hot out?

This time we cut the recipe in half and whipped the eggs in faster to create a better dough.

I also finally picked up a cookie dough scoop which rocked our donut world. It made perfect scoops and reminded me of Dunkin Donut Munchkins.

We also now have a fondue pot that doubles as a donut fryer.

(thanks Kendra, come visit and we'll make you donuts to thank you in person)

It kept the oil at a perfect 375 degrees and had a good shape for making small donuts in.

After letting them cool we shook them in a mix of Cinnamon, sugar, powdered sugar and cocoa then enjoyed. Next time I make cupcakes I may have to coat in this mix and try my hand at deep fried cupcakes but for now I was pretty happy with our second attempt at homemade donuts.

YUM!

Udi's love

Although I haven't convinced Merle's Brown Bag to carry Udi's gluten free bagels yet I still get them to make their creations for me- BYOUB style (bring your own udi's bagel). These are Chaos & Mayhem approved eats on a lazy Friday in Telluride.

Morning walks

A step in the right dirrection...

Garbanzo Bean, Bacon & Arugula Salad

From think outside the breadbox

I've been swamped at work and came up with this creation to help me survive the week as a quick meal with a lot of protein. I brough a cold home from my Denver trip- I'm not sure how I caught that with the 90 degree weather I was in.

It kicked my butt and knocked me off my morning routine with the dogs. I'm recovering and trying to regain some equanimity with food and sleep so I can get back to playing with the monsters before the crazy work day. I've also put my Liz Lovely cookie collection in the freezer so I can slowly enjoy the goodness from the East Coast.

2 cans (15oz) of Garbanzo beans, drained
cook:
6 slices Bacon until almost done
then chop into small pieces, finish in pan and add 2 tablespoons maple syrup at the end and caramelize, set aside and let cool.
Mix:
3 Tablespoons EVOO
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Cloves Minced Garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
Juice of one lemon (more or less to taste- I really enjoy the lemon)
Whisk well then dice and add 1/3 medium onion
Combine with Garbanzo beans and Bacon. Store in the fridge, oil will congeal a bit, this is normal.

This has a lot of potential and the next version may include quinoa, corn or cucumbers... we'll see what kind of mood I'm in!

Serve with fresh arugula and know that you're surviving a busy time and eating well and that maybe tomorrow you can get out of bed earlier and go play...

the best part about coming home again...

From think outside the breadbox

Was these cookies waiting for me on my doorstep! I'm a member of the Liz Lovely fan club and when they had a free shipping promotion I couldn't resisit and ordered a mixed case of cookies. My friend Carol found these for me when I visited her on my trip through the East Coast. Carol and the cookies are both Vermonters and wonderful.

Ok, it was also nice coming home to dave and these furry monsters too...

From Chaos & Mayhem

Denver- Swing Thai

I spent the holiday weekend working but in a fun way. I went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver to promote Telluride. It was a fun event and one of my favorite Colorado singer/songwriters, Rob Drabkin,  preformed as well. I'd have to say the highlight of the trip was all the gluten free options.

From think outside the breadbox

I googled "gluten free LoDo" when we arrived as we were staying downtown. Urban spoon had a pretty good list and we enjoyed lunch at Swing Thai  at 1612 Wazee Street. I had the Peanut Sauce curry on a bed of stir fried spinach and it was incredible. The sauce had a good spice to it and the spinach was a good hit of veggies after  a day of traveling. I'm fortunate that the three folks I traveled with are also friends and were very accommodating to my glutard status.

From think outside the breadbox