Lemon cheesecake

I haven't been making baked goods on Sunday for work for a couple of weeks now. Mainly because there aren't enough people left at work to eat them all, but also because I really shouldn't be eating them with all their sinister wheat flour. Instead I've been experimenting with gluten-free baked goods for Chris and I. This weekend I took a regular mini lemon cheesecake recipe from the Baking Bites website and easily converted the gingersnap crust to a gluten-free gingersnap crust with cookies from Trader Joe's.

They're made in a regular size muffin tin and are the perfect single serving portion. We've already talked about trying the recipe with a chocolate cookie crust and mixing coffee in the cheesecake batter for a mocha cheesecake. Mmmmm.....

Besides enjoying cute little cheesecakes, I've been busy wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. We apparently did all our online Christmas shopping at once because we just received a plethora of delivery boxes at our front door. Family will have no problem spotting our gifts because I realized I'm still using the same wrapping paper I've been using for at least the last 6 years! Apparently they're never-ending rolls!

When bad ideas happen to good people

This house has been puked on with lights. Too much of a good thing.

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Decking the halls

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, we wasted no time in dragging out the Christmas swag.
No presents to put under the tree yet, but based on the Canadian's online shopping spree last night, that'll soon be changing.

Thankful for tissue

I am battling my 5th day of a progressively worsening head cold. What started off as a horrible sore throat, to the point I thought I had strep again, has turned into full blown scurvy. I've got a head full of snot, blown my way through three boxes of kleenex, and have been on a steady diet of dayquil and nyquil. Thank you to co-workers who come into work sick, share their cooties, and then leave me stuck in a situation where I'm already covering for two other people who are out and can't call in sick. Awesome.

As it just so happened, we weren't having anybody over for turkey day today, so I was free to continue to wallow in my misery while Chris baked up some Thanksgiving ham. For sides we made green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, and gluten-free cornbread.
Dessert was pumpkin fluff which a new Weight Watchers recipe I learned. It's a 15 oz can of pumpkin mixed with a small box of sugar-free butterscotch pudding mix and a small box of sugar-free cheesecake pudding mix (or vanilla), 1 3/4 cup of mix, and pumpkin pie spice. You blend it all together and let it sit overnight and it turns out to be the most wonderful, low-fat pumpkin pie filling ever. We eat it scooped in a bowl with some crumbled gluten-free gingersnaps on top and whipped cream.

Now to let all that yummy food digest through three back-to-back football games. What more could you ask for?

Epic baking success!

Today I tried a bread recipe out of a new gluten-free cookbook. They're called "bread slabs" because they're denser, like focaccia bread. I used my gluten free all-purpose flour mix, water, yeast, egg whites, salt and sugar in the base mix and then added chopped kalamata olives and rosemary seasoning. Once everything is stirred together you plop the dough onto floured parchment paper, shape it into a rectangle and let it rest for 30 minutes.
I'd used the oven for a pizza at lunch so I let it hang out for a little bit in there before the oven completely cooled off. After 30 minutes it was beautifully risen so I cut it into four rectangles, like the recipe called for, and brushed the tops with olive oil and salt before putting them in a preheated oven at 450 for 13 minutes.
Oh my goodness they were so good! The olives and sprinkling of salt on top give them the perfect saltiness and the garlic olive oil I used in the dough gives them such a delicious aroma.
I was trying to save a piece for our stew dinner, but I couldn't stop myself from already eating a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. This will definitely be a go-to bread recipe!

Rocking out!

Kari and I are spending our evening at Arco Arena in Sacramento for Winter Jam, a Christian concert. Rock on!

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Pirate ship

On our walk last night we discovered a house on a neighboring street had gone all out and built a pirate ship in their front yard for Halloween. That's dedication!

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