Rosemary (Oregano & Thyme) Crackers

I've struggled with store bought, gluten free, crackers. They either taste like cardboard, are too hard, or taste funny. These don't quite taste like gluten-filled crackers - at least not the mass market ones that I used to eat - but they don't taste like a pale imitation of something I used to eat - they taste like a gourmet cracker.

The recipe is from Elana's Pantry (she seems to use only almond flour) - Rosemary Crackers. The only thing I changed was the herbs because I didn't want to decimate my small rosemary plant.

I'll be making these again!

Pretty Please Socks

I just finished my Pretty Please Socks - from the January 2008 Sockaholics club (Make 1 Yarn Studio) - in Cherry Tree Hill Merino Sock Yarn.



I loved knitting the socks but I'm not sure how they'll wear because I went up to a US1.5 needle to get the lace to go over my heel but I was getting stockinette gauge on US0...



Just a few modifications - I worked 15 rounds of ribbing instead of 6, picked up more stitches at the start of the gusset, and twisted the stitches in the first row after picking up the stitches on the heel flap.

Kale - Garlic - Tomato Pizza

I wasn't going to post about this meal. I was going to knit on my second Pretty Please sock (no pictures yet, sorry). But as I sat here, looking outside, I kept thinking about how good the pizza was, and how great is the taste that currently fills my mouth (aftertaste? that sounds somewhat negative). And I thought that I couldn't not tell you about it, especially seeing how little I post around here.



It doesn't have a fancy name - Kale, Garlic & Tomato pizza - and it doesn't come with a pizza crust recipe (though there are gluten free crust recipes on the same blog - I used a different one) - but the taste! My only real modification was to use 6 cloves of garlic instead of 3-6 T... It was plenty garlic-y, so perhaps the author meant clove instead of tablesppon. I also used less chilli flakes because I'm pretty sensitive to spice. She isn't exaggerating when she instructs you to pile on the kale - I spread out the kale pretty evenly to start and then added more in the centre, I used 4-5 leaves minus the stems, but my pizza could have handled more. In the future I might add more tomato so that its flavor is more prominent.



I definitely recommend this recipe - for gluten and non-gluten eaters alike.

Second Weather Related Post in a Row

Does anyone know who I speak to about the weather we're having - I'd like to file a formal complaint about the current winter storm warning. Last week's snow melted in the next two days, this stuff looks like it will last longer than that.

As my husband was joking yesterday, we're Canadians, we live in igloos and it snows most months of the year...



Also, the frequent power outages are getting annoying - I think we're up to 4+ in the past month and a half. Last night we had 3 outages, 2 of them over 30 minutes.

Snow Again

Apparently that warm weather we were having was a teaser and we're not into spring yet... This is Calgarian weather right now.

Green Smoothie Challenge

As a result of several medical tests over the past 2 months and they've left me feeling like my digestive system is a little worse for the wear. Nearly every day I've been having tummy aches - even when I'm certain that the food I was eating was not cross-contaminated. That, combined with an urge to eat more vegetables made it that when I heard about the Green Smoothie Challenge via Heather of Shivaya Naturals I immediately signed up.

I was quite uncertain about the taste of the smoothies but I figured I'd go for it. And if eating them doesn't produce any of the benefits that other people have experienced, well, at least I'd drastically increase my fruit and vegetable intake for at least 2 weeks. It turns out that I love the taste of green smoothies - though the ones that I've made so far taste largely of fruit.

They are astonishingly green. This was my smoothie yesterday:



It was Basic Balance + an apple + 1 extra cup of water. Today I had Apple + Kale + Lemon + some romaine lettuce that I had in the fridge. I liked both of them - the greens got blended smoother today than yesterday - but the apple didn't blend completely. If these things become a daily habit I could see the value of investing in a good blender. I drank all of the smoothies each day - so over a liter each day. I don't want to over do it - but perhaps on the weekend I'll increase my intake. On my way home tomorrow I have to pick up more fruit and vegetables.

Sweatermaker Socks

Ravelry tells me I started this pair of socks last September (September 22, 2009 to be exact). I have finished one sock - I had issues with the heel flap being too long and having to rip out a lot. That stalled me beyond the ripping. I think patterned socks are knit faster because I knit by a repeat and so if there are only a few repeats the sock goes quickly. That said, the foot and heel of this sock went pretty quickly once I actually knit - so you may see this sock having a mate relatively soon.