A Beautiful Surprise!

What a beautiful sight. I don't mind making hummus, but there are times I just crave this stuff... and now I know it is safe.  Thank you, Sabra!!!!  (and thank you, Costco, for selling these large tubs of it!)

Valentine's Day Chocolates

A broken oven + leftover chocolate in the pantry = the perfect excuse to make Valentine's Day chocolate.

 

That, and I saw chocolates at Graeter's that were SO CUTE but I wasn't 100% sure they were gluten free - I figured I could try and make them myself, and then give them away to neighbors, teachers, etc.

Chocolate "suckers" like the ones I saw at Graeter's... unfortunately I ran out of chocolate, so the neighbors probably won't be getting chocolate suckers this year!

I had only tried "making" chocolate one time before, so this is not something I was positive would work. I simply bought a few molds at Hobby Lobby (LOVE that store) and had the leftover Wilton candy melts. I put the melts into a cake decorating plastic icing bag and microwaved it for about a minute and a half, in 30 second intervals. Once the chocolate was liquid instead of solid, I cut the bottom of the bag and piped the chocolate into the molds.  Then poured on the sprinkles and voila!  Cute chocolates, gluten free.

White chocolate heart-shaped nonpareils

The sprinkles I used are made by a Cleveland company called Brand Castle - they make confections under the Festival name as well. I bought their cute Christmas sprinkles at Hobby Lobby, and called the company to confirm they were gluten free, and received the BEST customer service. I was ecstatic to see their V-day sprinkles flat out labeled gluten free! So happy to support an Ohio company!

Ovenless... so let's start blogging

My nine month old oven needs a new "brain."  It arrived in the mail yesterday, but Mr. Whirlpool won't be back to install it until next week.  I am surprised at how much I want to bake now that I cannot!  I have never considered myself a baker, but thanks to our gluten-free status around here, I am really seeing that I have become one - or at least use the oven to burn lots of stuff.

So, I'm using this gluten-free-baking-planning time to start up a blog.  We moved to the Cincinnati area almost a year ago, and while moving itself is stressful, I think leaving behind my comfortable gluten-free routine was one of the hardest aspects of the move. We're slowly trying new restaurants (some success, some failures), and new products as they come on the market (and are available at more stores, thankfully!) - and figuring out the new shopping routine.  I have it down to three stores (any gluten free cook understands this!) and I think I am liking the selection here even better than the home we left.

In the past week alone I have met two people dealing with gluten issues - one that may be diagnosed with Celiac disease, and one that was recently diagnosed.  One gave me the biggest compliment ever, saying that I've proven we can still live normally.  I laughed at the thought of the word normal being used to describe anything about our family, but it made my day to give someone hope.  So, here I am, in front of this keyboard, typing, in hopes of giving others out there HOPE.  It is this online world of mommy-gluten-free bloggers that saved my sanity when my little one was diagnosed with Celiac almost two years ago, and I'm hoping to pass it forward.