Boyfriend Soup

Trying to go on a diet makes you learn a lot about yourself. Such as: how much you whine when you're hungry; how unfulfilling some foods can be; how much I craved simple things like tomatoes. So I quit. I was unhappy, I needed food, and I quit the exclusion diet. And the first thing I did after quitting was ask my boyfriend what he wanted for supper.

"I'll make anything for you. Just tell me what you're craving and I'll make it," and I was ready for some crazy request since this guy is as food-crazy as I am. And he blind-sided me.

With vegetable soup.

Cheese + Buns = Genius

Today is the sort of day that forces you to slow down. With a weather forecast calling for about 20 to 30 millimetres of rain, you're forced to become a home-body. I can't spend 2 hours digging up my garden like last night. I can't weed or plant seeds. I'm stuck inside, and I don't mind it. Over a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of tea, I get to contemplate my most recent (and amazingly delicious) baking attempt: Tapioca Cheesebuns.


There's only one way to prove how awesome these buns are. Photographic evidence.
Exhibit A:

Puffy, airy, soft, delicious.

And Exhibit B: the recipe.

Fire > BBQ > Oven

Even though I live in the middle of a city in the middle of the Canadian prairies, I love water and I love camping. I specifically love camping at a site that you can only reach by water (on a canoe). So, eight months into my relationship with The Boyfriend, I decide to test the waters (literally) to see if he likes my favourite and adored pastime. 

Honey Glazed Chicken and Red Peppers on Vermicelli

I was having one of those days where putting on pants and going to the grocery store just to make lunch was too much of a hassle, so I looked in my fridge. I knew I wanted to make chicken and vermicelli, so I grabbed the last bit of an old garlic, some leftover red pepper and started work. I got distracted while cooking and wanted to finish off the meal with a splash, and spotted the container of local honey that I had used for my cup of tea. Plopping the honey in the pan was the best idea ever! This meal on a whim turned out wonderfully.

Being such a simple meal, I'll keep it quick and just include some tips:

1. Soak the vermicelli in a bowl until it softens and then transfer it into a hot wok with vegetable broth (Campbell's vegetable broth is the only gluten free one, but it has so much flavour!)
2. Cook the vermicelli until it soaks up all of the broth, and don't forget to stir! Take out of the wok and quickly wipe out all of the noodles for the Chicken step.
3. Heat up some oil in the wok and add sliced chicken breasts. Add some garlic early during the cooking, but don't add the red pepper at the same time. The red pepper will burn if you like to golden your chicken a little.
4. Honey honey honey! Before completely cooking everything, throw in a decent little dollop of honey (I used local honey from my friend Chandler, and it is very fragrant). It will take a second to turn into a liquid, so keep everything moving around in the pan until it's all coated!

Result: happiness for lunch :)

Diagnosis: Celiac Disease (One Year Later)

A month short of living a year with celiac disease, I'm continuing to live on the straight and narrow. I come to you now with gluten free cooking experience, plenty of photography to post, and lots of products and celiac-friendly restaurants to review! :) I'll hope to plunk out the first official gluten free post within a week!

Diagnosis: Celiac Disease

Well, I just got a nasty surprise that any food lover just starting a food blog would hate to hear. On February 22, I got a letter from my doctor saying my blood screen for Celiac Disease came back positive. So now I'm on a gluten-free diet, unable to bake my old favourites of poppyseed lemon muffins and banana bread.

And I'm on a quest to continue my food blog. Let's call this motivation to stay on the straight and narrow to avoid gluten.

It'll be a surprise!