We Have A Famous Toaster

This is our toaster.

This is our toaster on a peanut butter jar lid.

See? Famous!

Do you have any appliances making cameos in other product labels?

Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free January: Stews From Around the World

This month’s Go Ahead Honey It’s Gluten Free challenge is hosted by the lovely Laura from Mouthgasmic with the theme of “Stews from Around the World”.

I wanted to make something that took a page from our upcoming trip this spring, so I made Swedish Meatball Stew. It’s not strictly Swedish, but I can’t make stew without a LOT of veggies.

Swedish Meatball Stew

For the Meatballs:

1 lb. each of pork and bison (or beef, but I don’t eat that)
2/3 c. gluten-free bread crumbs*
1 c. water
1 -2 tbsp. minced onion
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. each of pepper, nutmeg and allspice
2 egg yolks

1. Heat up oil and cook onions until softened, 1 – 2 minutes. Set aside.
2. Soak breadcrumbs in water until soft, for a couple of minutes in a mixing bowl.
3. Once breadcrumbs are soft, add the remaining ingredients to mixing bowl.
4. Mix on slow until combined.
5. Beat on medium-hight for approximately 10 minutes or until meat mixture is light coloured and fluffy. (I know, this sounds gross and it is. But it’s worth it!)
6. Heat a fair amount of oil in a large skillet. Meanwhile, shape meatballs – about 2″ in diameter. We made 19 or 20 meatballs.
7. Once oil is hot, place meatballs in skillet, turning frequently until cooked. (You can cook in batches if necessary.)
8. Once meatballs are cooked all the way through, place on a paper towel covered plate to absorb excess fat.

For the Rest of the Stew

2 – 3 c. veggie broth (or beef)
3 large potatoes, cubed
1/2 onion, sliced/diced
8 Mushrooms (or however many you want)
Garlic (as much as you want, I put 6 sliced up cloves)
4 – 5 celery stalks, chopped
4 – 5 large carrots, chopped
Frozen Peas and Beans
Corn Starch

1. Place meatballs, broth, potatoes, onion, mushrooms and garlic in slow cooker. Cook on Low for 8 ish hours.
2. Part way through (or at the beginning if you’re not around), put in the celery and carrots.
3. When you’re ready, add the peas and beans.
4. Take a liquid measuring cup and scoop out some liquid. Add some cornstarch to the liquid (how much depends on how thick you want the stew to be), stirring it until there are no more lumps.
5. Add the cornstarch mixture back to the stew, turn slow cooker to high and cook until stew is thicker and translucent.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Please check back on February 1st for February’s Go Ahead Honey It’s Gluten Free hosted by yours truly!

*To make gluten free breadcrumbs, take a few pieces of your favourite bread (I had a loaf that didn’t want to be separated into proper slices) and coarsely crumble and place on a cookie sheet. Heat your oven to 200F, place the cookie sheet inside and turn off. Or, you can just leave the bread out until it is dry enough – which will happen quickly because it’s GF 😉 . Once bread it dry, put in a bag and use a rolling-pin to crush into small crumbs.

The Face Plan: Week 0

One of my plans for the new year was to clear up my face. As much as I wish that hoping that my face would clear up by itself, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Thankfully, my face is doing a lot better than it has been before, but it still needs a spot of help.

It probably doesn’t help that I fell off the not-eating-chocolate wagon over Christmas (my decent down the slippery slope started at Mr. Bean’s Christmas party – c’mon, who can say no to white chocolate mousse at breakfast?) and that I was incredibly stressed out due to reports, projects and finals.

Fortunately, I do have a plan. A lady who works in the “beauty” section of my local health food store, suggested that I try this: Nature’s Gate Organics Acne Treatment System.

It’s good for a beauty dunce like myself because it has a cleanser, toner and moisturizer, so I don’t have to wonder what I’m supposed to use or do.

It’s supposed to take 6 weeks to work its magic, so I’m hoping to keep track of my facial progress … and maybe reduce my chocolate consumption. (I can always dream. 😉 )

Have you ever had problems with acne? What did you do to get rid of it?

The New Mr. Anderson

Since I’m still on somewhat of a baby kick (did it ever end? nope.) I need to announce that our friends had a baby just under a week ago: his name is Anderson.

He is so cute! And tiny! And sweet! And… I should probably stop before I write a 5 paragraph essay with an introduction, conclusion and 3 main arguments. Anyways, what is it about babies that makes your insides melt and make you desperately want one of your own? Erm… Maybe that’s a discussion best left for another day. 🙂

I am so happy that we got to meet him yesterday – I’m looking forward to watching him grow up! Hopefully he won’t have to battle any matrices other than ones in linear algebra or computer programming. (I’ll stop making “The Matrix” references now.)

What’s your favourite thing about newborn babies?

Olympic Torch Relay

As I hope all of you know, the Olympics are going to be in Vancouver this February. As part of the hype building process, the olympic torch has been travelling through Canada over the last months. In the last few days, the torch has been travelling through Calgary. It was completely by fluke that I saw the torch not once, but twice today.

I had a dentist appointment downtown this morning, so I was sitting on the train reading a book and I looked up to see the torch being run on an adjacent street. Apparently Calgary Transit did all it could to bring this moment to us.

After my appointment, I headed to the uni, got off the train only to be stopped by a small cheering crowd, a whole bunch of police vehicles and others driving past  making lots of noise.

Then lo and behold! The Olympic torch!

I really didn’t have any plans to go and watch the torch, but I guess they were made for me. Now I feel really excited about the Olympics!

Are you excited about the Olympics?