For my Grandma's birthday this weekend we decided to have a bbq at our place (mostly so the dogs could run around the backyard and not be in everyone's way) and generally mom takes care of the purchase of the cake. This year however, with us going Paleo, and my younger sister figuring out she has a gluten intolerance, I asked to make the cake.
The end result was a creation that was mostly paleo, and 100% gluten free.
I started off by making a chocolate cake from one of our Paleo cookbooks.
Then I whipped up some cream cheese with a bit of coconut sugar (my goal was to not have it too sweet and maintain the natural cream cheese flavor).
Then I started cutting strawberries. Most of them I hollowed out so that I could fill them with melted chocolate and my cream cheese mixture. I also sliced a few for inbetween
As the cakes were cooling out of the oven I started on my melted chocolate.. it was supposed to be a ganauche... but ended up being just hardened chocolate. Oh well.
Assembly:
One cake on the bottom (top down so I had a flat surface to work on). Spread cream cheese mixture and top with the slice strawberries. Place on second cake. Drizzle over chocolate until just starting to spill over the sides.
Using the remaining cream cheese I piped them into the hollowed out strawberries and then drizzled chocolate over top of those and voila!
A cake I was proud to serve to my grandmother.
I love food... and crafting. Here's documentation of my successes and failures.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Quiet Book
For Christmas this year I thought it would be fun to make a quiet book for one of my nieces.. set out with grand intentions, I scoured through Pinterest to find what I thought would be the best pages. Little did I know the enormous task that I had set for myself.
Originally I had planned on 15 pages:
Of the planned pages I was able to get done:
I think next time (if there is a next time) instead of sewing everything together I'll whip out my handy glue gun and give that method a whirl
(Sorry the pictures are sideways.. formatting them is proving a challenge)
Originally I had planned on 15 pages:
- A page showing a tree with spring leaves
- A page showing a tree with summer leaves
- A page showing a tree with fall leaves
- A page showing no leaves (for winter) but with snowflakes instead
- A page with an ice cream cone
- A page with shape matching
- A puzzle page
- A race track page (with cars to play with)
- A page with a fish bowl (with fish to play with)
- A zipper page
- An African safari page (with animals to play with)
- A page with things to button (and un-button)
- A page with fake crayons to match to their colored word
- A page with flowers on it (with a watering can to water said flowers)
- A dress up doll page
Of the planned pages I was able to get done:
- A page showing spring / summer leaves
- A page with an ice cream cone
- A puzzle page
- A race track page
- A page with a fish bowl
- A page with a zipper (which turned into also a storage page to keep all of the loose bits ie. cars)
- A page with flowers that can be un-buttoned
And of course, a snazzy cover page.
I think next time (if there is a next time) instead of sewing everything together I'll whip out my handy glue gun and give that method a whirl
(Sorry the pictures are sideways.. formatting them is proving a challenge)
Check out http://hand-mademoments.blogspot.ca/ for page tutorials
Happy Crafting
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Avacado painting from Monica's kitchen
So after scouring the internet for a week or so to find an image of the painting of the avocado in Monica's kitchen in friends (seasons 1-4?ish) I decided to use the poor image from a screen capture I found to re-create it.
It didn't turn out exactly, but I'm pleased with the results.

Thursday, October 4, 2012
Pumpkin Pie Crust Fix
So last night was the worst night ever for my pie crust! Which was more than frustrating since I'm the one bringing pumpkin pie for thanksgiving this weekend.
My crust wasn't rolling nicely and when I finally got one to roll out, I didn't have enough dough to make it big enough... so I improvised!
To achieve the braid I cut pie crust into 1/4" long strips and carefully manipulated the strands into a braid
Then I attached to the crust. You can't see very well (sorry, cell phone pictures) but at the top and bottom there are spaces with no braid. To keep things manageable I made the braid long enough to cover just under half of the circumference of the pie.
I then added pie filling
And then cut out leaf shapes to fill in the places that weren't covered by the braid.
I put the pie filling in before the leaves so they would have something to rest on.
My crust wasn't rolling nicely and when I finally got one to roll out, I didn't have enough dough to make it big enough... so I improvised!
To achieve the braid I cut pie crust into 1/4" long strips and carefully manipulated the strands into a braid
Then I attached to the crust. You can't see very well (sorry, cell phone pictures) but at the top and bottom there are spaces with no braid. To keep things manageable I made the braid long enough to cover just under half of the circumference of the pie.
I then added pie filling
And then cut out leaf shapes to fill in the places that weren't covered by the braid.
I put the pie filling in before the leaves so they would have something to rest on.
So luckily a crisis was adverted... but there's still more to make tonight. Hopefully its a better pie crust tonight than it was yesterday.
Pumpkin Pie Filling (gluten free)
1 can pumpkin puree (make sure that it is just pumpkin, and not pumpkin pie filling)
3 eggs
3/4 of a 725ml can of evaporated milk
3/4cup brown sugar
1-2tbsp chai spices (I just kept tasting the mixture until I thought it tasted right)
Mix all together and place into pie shells (my pie shells were not gluten free, but I will be making crustless pie to achieve a gluten free option for supper)
Chai Spices
Cardamom
Black pepper
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Allspice
I just mixed the above spices into a bowl adding 1tsp at a time in order to achieve my desired flavor/smell.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Weekend Crafts
So this weekend was fairly productive on the crafting side of things.. below are two of the crafts that I was able to complete
The pillow was made by cutting out and tracing around the desired shapes (this time it was the lion's that are on top of the Cummine coat of arms) and coloring them with a fabric marker. Then for embellishment I used a silver paint pen to make the swords stand out more.
The turtle was made purely by accident. Originally I wanted to make a hat for my niece... but ran out of the green yarn before it was deep enough. So I added the head and legs, made a shell bottom (not shown), used 2 buttons for eyes, stuffed it all, and sewed it together. and Voila, a turtle. He's super cute (and customizable!), and the whole thing only took a couple of hours to make.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Gluten Free Flour
So last weekend my sister and I had a baking extravaganza day. Sadly for her, she has a gluten intolerance.. so we were driven by necessity to make the recipes gluten free.
With the help of some really great cookbooks, we stumbled across a recipe to make a gluten free flour...
Gluten Free Flour: (will produce 6 cups of flour)
2 1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup chick pea flour (aka. garbanzo bean flour)
2 tbsp xanthan gum
All of the above ingredients we were able to find at our local Bulk Barn.
After making our gluten free flour, we proceeded with substituting it into recipes.
My favorite one that we made was the gluten free pizza perogies!
With the help of some really great cookbooks, we stumbled across a recipe to make a gluten free flour...
Gluten Free Flour: (will produce 6 cups of flour)
2 1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup chick pea flour (aka. garbanzo bean flour)
2 tbsp xanthan gum
All of the above ingredients we were able to find at our local Bulk Barn.
After making our gluten free flour, we proceeded with substituting it into recipes.
My favorite one that we made was the gluten free pizza perogies!
Following the directions on this blog for perogy dough, we substituted in the flour and continued to work the dough up the same.
For the filling, all I needed to do was ensure that the meats that I bought were gluten free and we were in business!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Pizza Perogies
Perogy Dough. I made 2 different kinds of dough, one with eggs and one with out. I would highly recommend the one using eggs, as the dough was a lot nicer to work with.
Ingredients (Dough with no eggs) - makes approximately 20-24 perogies:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup warm/hot water
Method:
Sift flour and salt together onto a work surface. Make a hill with the flour and form a hole. Pour the water in a thin stream and work in the flour. Mix well and knead until smooth. Rest under a bowl for 15 minutes.
Rolling Method:
Roll out dough to approximately 15mm and cut into circles (I used a pint glass for a template). You can also just cut squares out of the dough, I feel the circles look better, so I use circles. Roll circles so they are approximately 10mm thick.
Ingredients (Dough with eggs) - makes approximately 20-24 perogies:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup cold water
1 egg, beaten
Method:
Sift flour and salt together. Add egg and cold water. Mix well and knead until smooth.
See above for rolling methods
**NOTE: I found that the dough turned out a lot nicer if it was made in single batches rather than double.
**NOTE: I always do an egg wash around the edges of the perogy before pinching together (and make sure not to get any of the filling in your pinched edge or it will self-destruct in the water)
**NOTE: If you are not planning on cooking your perogies immediately after making them...put the finished perogies onto cookie sheets (not touching each other) and freeze until hard to the touch.
I also chose to go non-traditional in the filling for the particular batch of perogies shown below. I chose to try and make them taste like pizza!
Ingredients (Pizza filling):
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 white onion
6 cloves of garlic
butter (not margarine)
salt
pepper
dill
basil
oregano
Peperoni (or any other kind of pizza meat)
Grated Cheese
Method:
In a large pan (I chose to use a wok, as it provided enough space in order to make all of the sauce in it), saute together chopped up white onion and garlic in the butter.
When nicely browned add in the can of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Season to taste with above mentioned spices and set to simmer together. I let mine sit on low on my stove for 2 hours, stirring every now and again to make sure nothing burnt to the bottom. I found my sauce to be a bit watery, so I also added to it 2 tbsp of flour to help thicken it up.
After the sauce is finished, let it cool overnight in the fridge.
After the sauce has cooled, chop up desired pizza meat into small pieces (mine were approximately 0.5cm by 0.25cm by 0.1 cm thick) and mix in with sauce. Mix as much, or as little as you want for a meat to sauce ratio.
Spoon small portions into the centers of rolled out perogy dough, top with cheese and pinch close.
If you are not going to eat the perogies right away, I suggest laying them out on a baking sheet and sticking them in the freezer until they harden up a bit (to prevent sticking). Then put them in freezer bags to finish freezing all the way
Ingredients (Dough with no eggs) - makes approximately 20-24 perogies:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup warm/hot water
Method:
Sift flour and salt together onto a work surface. Make a hill with the flour and form a hole. Pour the water in a thin stream and work in the flour. Mix well and knead until smooth. Rest under a bowl for 15 minutes.
Rolling Method:
Roll out dough to approximately 15mm and cut into circles (I used a pint glass for a template). You can also just cut squares out of the dough, I feel the circles look better, so I use circles. Roll circles so they are approximately 10mm thick.
Ingredients (Dough with eggs) - makes approximately 20-24 perogies:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup cold water
1 egg, beaten
Method:
Sift flour and salt together. Add egg and cold water. Mix well and knead until smooth.
See above for rolling methods
**NOTE: I found that the dough turned out a lot nicer if it was made in single batches rather than double.
**NOTE: I always do an egg wash around the edges of the perogy before pinching together (and make sure not to get any of the filling in your pinched edge or it will self-destruct in the water)
**NOTE: If you are not planning on cooking your perogies immediately after making them...put the finished perogies onto cookie sheets (not touching each other) and freeze until hard to the touch.
I also chose to go non-traditional in the filling for the particular batch of perogies shown below. I chose to try and make them taste like pizza!
Ingredients (Pizza filling):
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 white onion
6 cloves of garlic
butter (not margarine)
salt
pepper
dill
basil
oregano
Peperoni (or any other kind of pizza meat)
Grated Cheese
Method:
In a large pan (I chose to use a wok, as it provided enough space in order to make all of the sauce in it), saute together chopped up white onion and garlic in the butter.
When nicely browned add in the can of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Season to taste with above mentioned spices and set to simmer together. I let mine sit on low on my stove for 2 hours, stirring every now and again to make sure nothing burnt to the bottom. I found my sauce to be a bit watery, so I also added to it 2 tbsp of flour to help thicken it up.
After the sauce is finished, let it cool overnight in the fridge.
After the sauce has cooled, chop up desired pizza meat into small pieces (mine were approximately 0.5cm by 0.25cm by 0.1 cm thick) and mix in with sauce. Mix as much, or as little as you want for a meat to sauce ratio.
Spoon small portions into the centers of rolled out perogy dough, top with cheese and pinch close.
If you are not going to eat the perogies right away, I suggest laying them out on a baking sheet and sticking them in the freezer until they harden up a bit (to prevent sticking). Then put them in freezer bags to finish freezing all the way
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