Home projects

Chris has been spending his extra time at home doing much needed projects like deep cleaning the kitchen, building new shelves in my spice and dishes cupboards, and most needed of all - building shelves for my booze collection.

Now I won't have to get the step stool out to reach my beloved Malibu Rum or Grand Marnier - yay for me!

My house projects have been just important, though more of an edible nature. I've been finding new recipes to try that I can substitute my gluten free ingredients with. Last night I whipped up a magnificently aromatic loaf of Pumpkin Espresso Bread.

It doesn't have a glaze on it like my maple stout bread did, but it does have an addictive crumble topping of pecans (instead of hazelnuts), espresso powder, and brown sugar. There's also espresso powder in the bread itself which gives it a deeper, roasty flavor. I love, love, love it. There was only 1 1/2 cups of flour called for in the recipe so it was an easy swap out with my GF flour blend. Once you start substituting more than about 2 cups of flour you start noticing the difference in texture. GF flour is a little chewier and denser and doesn't create the soft, fluffiness of wheat flour. But with both this loaf, and my last one, you can't tell any difference. Except, of course, for the fact that it doesn't make me sick afterwards.