The perfect day...

I love cooking and that is what I've been busy doing today. This is how my perfect day unfolded.

Breakfast: Poppyseed Buns from Lorenzo's Bakery, Coffee, and CBC on the radio

After breakfast it is time to start chopping vegetables for chicken soup.  

And vegetables for the pizza.  

Aww, little baby pepper inside the big pepper!  

When the soup starts to boil, reduce to a simmer and add the Rosemary and Garlic Dumplings.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
I found the recipe for the Rosemary and Garlic Dumplings over at The Spunky Coconut.  

Now to focus on the gluten-free pizza.
 I have to say that I highly recommend this pizza mix.  

Top with pizza sauce, pepperoni, red onions, green peppers, cheese.
And then pop into a 400 degree F oven.  

While the pizza bakes, enjoy a bowl of soup!  

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

Here is my version of Apple Crisp, one of my favourite desserts.

Apples

Cinnamon

Slice almonds

Toss in bowl and transfer to a buttered baking dish.  

Amaretto

Sprinkle the apples with amaretto.

Topping:  

Substitute oats used in traditional apple crisp with
Quinoa Flakes. Even though oats are gluten-free they
are often processed in plants that are not
designated gluten-free. 

Quinoa Flakes

Almond Flour

Cinnamon

Brown Sugar

Unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Mix the topping ingredients in a bowl and top off the apples with the topping.  Sprinkle the topping with a little more amaretto.

Bake in 350 degree F oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the apples are fork tender.

Note:  The Quinoa Flakes and Almond Flour were found at Lorenzo's Bakery and Specialty Foods.

Almond Flour.
You can make your own by finely chopping
almonds in the food processor.  

Served with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt = yumminess!

Breakfast...

Adapting to a gluten-free diet has been difficult, extremely difficult when it came to breakfast.  What to eat?

Would I have to give up my old favourite bacon and egg breakfast stand-by because I couldn't find any good tasting gluten-free bread for my toast?  Thankfully, no.

Grocery stores has caught on to the fact that more and more people are adapting to a gluten-free diet. As a result they have been carrying products to reflect these changing dietary needs.

Let me make a plug for my favourite store.

If you are lucky enough to live in Winnipeg you likely know about Lorenzo's Speciality Foods. If you don't, let me introduce you to this gem. Lorenzo's Speciality Foods is not just a gluten-free grocery store it also a bakery.

They opened their St. Vital bakery and gluten-free grocery store in 2001. Their inspiration for this speciality store was Lorenz who was diagnosed with celiac disease and found it difficult to find gluten-free products and adapting to a gluten-free diet. For years they were selling their home-made gluten-free baking at St. Norbert Market until they opened their shop.

They have a loyal following of customers, you just have to drive by their store at 9:45 Saturday morning to see all the people lined up waiting for the doors to open.

You see, until I discovered Lorenzo's I didn't know what to eat for breakfast. Have you tasted the gluten-free selection of bread typically found in the freezer of the gluten-free selection of grocery stores. Nothing can turn you off from your once-favourite bacon and eggs breakfast. But thankfully nothing comes close to the freshness of Lorenzo's bread.

According to their website, Lorenzo's Speciality Foods added a staff member to their business, a trained baker from Germany and they have been adding more bakery products to their already delicious selection.

Try it out if you are in the neighbourhood or make the drive if you're not, you won't be disappointed. They are located at 1060 St. Mary's Road.