…my nose in a bookFood, research, yoga and music. . . is there anything else?

As I noted a couple weeks ago, I have planned a trip to Hawaii during the two weeks of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  Aside from getting away from the grid-locked traffic, the excessive tourists, and the basic hectic insaneness that comes along with the Olympics, I feel @nachoman and I deserve some time off. We are heading out to Waikiki/Honolulu in Hawaii, which has its own masses of tourists, shopping and traffic, but at least we will be able to retreat to the beach, surf, and enjoy the hot weather.

The biggest problem with flying into another city to enjoy a vacation is the late night flights.  By the time you get off the plane, get your luggage from the never ending carousel of black bags, finding the sign with your name on it for your transfer from the airport to the hotel, and then finally checking in at the hotel front desk, you likely are famished and tired. Since we need to be careful about allergies, its not like we can just order a pizza to the hotel room at 2am, in fear of a vegetarian pizza having pork products on it (finding a hospital in a foreign or different city can be difficult when you don’t know where to go). So what am I going to do about it this trip? I made sure our hotel has a FULL kitchen, with rice cooker, microwave, stove etc.  But if we are arriving at the hotel at 2am, where am I suppose to find groceries? Problem Solved. I will do the same thing I do back in Vancouver, have my groceries delivered (sadly they wont all be organic and local – there goes my trying to only buy food within a 500km radius).

The Aston hotel chain in Hawaii has a partnership with a local grocery delivery service - Island Grocery Service.  Not only am I ordering my groceries ahead of time, when we arrive in our hotel room, we will have our fridge and cupboards fully stocked with the groceries I have ordered.  I can’t think of a better way to start our vacation.  Not only will I have my favorite snack foods available to munch on once arriving at the hotel room, I will be able to make a full breakfast of eggs, toast, waffles and orange juice without having to trek around the next morning looking for the grocery store. Yep, I would say paradise.

Hopefully it all works out. I will keep you posted after I return.

Mahalo for reading!

Aloha!

Deanna

Round 2: Wheat-free Muffins

The next project in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook that I thought I would attempt would be muffins.  The pictures in the book and the recipe seemed fairly straight forward, and I figured it would be a good recipe to try to adapt to a wheat-free recipe.  The recipe is Blueberry Muffins (click here to get the recipe), though I revised the recipe to be blueberry-less as there were no good local blueberries at the market in the middle of winter-time (I try to limit the distance my groceries travel from to a 250km/155 mile radius when I have the chance).  I revised the recipe to be pumpkin oatmeal muffins instead, using pumpkin puree, oatmeal, molasses and cinnamon in place of blueberries.

Here is what I substituted:

- Instead of regular flour: 1 cup white rice flour and 1 cup corn flour

- Gluten-free Baking Powder (instead of regular baking powder)

- Instead of blueberries: 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 cup of oatmeal, 1/4 cup of molasses

As noted in my previous posts, instead of butter to grease my muffin tins, I use extra virgin olive oil and then dust my tins with white rice flour.  Of course you can use butter if you choose, but it is just my personal preference to use olive oil (less cholesterol and seems to work better with gluten-free flours).

When mixing the ingredients in the electric mixer, you may find that mixing for an extra 10 minutes or so will help blend the chunks of oatmeal and accommodate the thickness of the molasses.

Batter and my awesome electric mixing paddle

I found that when cooking the muffins, I needed to cook them for an extra 5-7 minutes to accommodate the extra ingredients. Of course, as with any wheat-free cooking, you will want to keep an eye on your baking in the oven, as dependent on your oven you may need less cooking time.

Upon trying the cooked version of the muffins, they were fluffy and moist, and due to the oatmeal, corn flour and molasses, they had a unique texture.  Keep in mind that these muffins will be a slightly browner color than in the cookbook, as the corn flour and molasses will brown the batter and make it a bit denser.

Muffins Baking in the Oven

All in all, this was a successful baking adventure.  If you decide to make a wheat-free version of these muffins with the blueberries included, I would love to hear about how it went. Hopefully my substitutions and wheat-free trials have been helpful.  See the picture below for my final muffin batch:

Yummy Finished Pumpkin Muffins

Next on Wheat-free baking with the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook… Gingerbread Cookies!

Ciao!

Deanna

Over the past several years I have been using a grocery delivery service called Spud!, that sells local, organic, minimally packaged products. It is not that I am lazy (well I do prefer a more relaxed pace), but it is more out of necessity that I have used this service.

I have found that going from store to store (Choices to Whole Foods to Save-on-Foods to IGA to the farmer’s markets) to get all my foods that I need for the week takes a ton of time, travel, driving, and most importantly, effort.  On top of it all, many of my trips to some stores or markets are futile, as many of my “organic”, “wheat-free” and “specialty” items are typically not in stock, or “on order”. Ugh!

I mean, I am happy that there are stores out there that actually have organic, wheat-free, dairy-free options, but not only are they overpriced, but most of the time, the expiry date on the item is from last month!

So I began using Spud!.ca (and other grocery delivery service Ladybug Organics), and I was more than excited.  I also love shopping online from the comfort of home.

Now the thing is, of course since there is a ever changing stock of fresh produce and items each week, you can’t always get the same items from week to week, but there is always a good substitution.

I pick my breads, veggies, wheat-free pizza etc. online, and order however many I want, and low-and-behold, they all show up on dry ice at my door first thing Friday Mornings, which make me tickled pink to not have to drag myself out of the door to go buy my Almond Spelt Bread and Gluten Free, Soy-free Pancake Mix from a store that is over a 30 minutes drive away.

Okay, so there isn’t just “health” food either, I buy @nachoman beef burger patties (from a local, antibiotic-free, and organic beef supplier), and yummy fresh made wheat bread from bakeries all over Vancouver.  Did I mention they deliver all over North America.

Okay, so if you are signing up for Spud! any time soon, use this coupon code:

CR5-100006103 or CRVAN-PELDEA

It will get you $25 Savings towards your Spud! Orders.  It gives you $5 off your first 3 delivery/orders, and $10 off your 4th Delivery.

So this week’s grocery delivery provided me with some yummy Poblano Chilli Peppers and Refried Beans, therefore I think I will be making Mexican food tomorrow night. Once I decide what I’m making, I will post pictures and the recipes of course.

I also have found a new brand of wheat-free bread that I am in love with. It is the Food For Life brand of Rice Bread, and it is very tasty, and has a great texture to it (not overly dense at all.

Ooh and if you want a local bakery to check out, The Artisan Bake Shoppe in North Vancouver is absolutely wonderful. (Make sure to try their Organic Spelt Bread)

Well now I am off to have some yummy fresh blackberries.

Ciao

~Deanna