Spoon and level

Since going grain-free over a year and a half ago I gave up the dream of ever eating pizza again. Or at least, eating pizza that half-way resembled, in the looks and taste departments, pizza. But as you can see from the picture above my resignation to a pizza-free existence may have been premature. Behold, ladies and gentlemen,  the cauliflower crust. But not just any old cauliflower crust, mind you. Not the shiny, slimy, oozy numbers you see plastered all over Pinterest. I have tried those. They make the prospect of going pizza-free a welcome one. No, this is worlds apart. Crisp. Golden colored. Sturdy. And pretty easy to put together. Now it isn't anything like you ran out and got yourself some Pizza Hut.  But neither is it like you're trying to ingest a soggy cardboard box.

*Recipe @ http://realsustenance.com/revamped-better-than-ever-cauliflower-pizza-crust-graingluteneggdairysoy-free/


Note: I made pizza using this crust recipe again this week and this time I put Daiya dairy free cheese on top. While not "technically" Paleo (if has pea protein) I will say it is totally worth it and a very, very tasty addition...

Introducing SPOON and LEVEL... (my new baking feature.)

So this is homemade allergen free marshmallow creme...amazing stuff, really. Fun to make. Pretty easy and oh so very sweet. (Less so if you eat it chilled...) Turns out it's the perfect topping for my not-so-sweet Chocolate Almond cake. Which I make using maple syrup instead of agave. I have made it using both, with equally successful results. But I find the agave gives the cake more of a burnt caramel depth of flavor. Whereas the maple syrup is mellower and imparts a moister, denser texture. The cake, with the marshmallow creme ended up tasting like a hostess cupcake. Now mind you I haven't eaten a hostess cupcake in close to a decade so perhaps I am not the best judge but, never-the-less, the cake was delicious!

*Recipe for allergen free Marshmallow creme @ http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2012/04/grain-free-oatmeal-creme-pie-cookies.html

*Recipe for Chocolate Almond cake @ http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/Chocolate_Cake.pdf

This week...

                                         

...was the perfume of fresh picked lemons and a car full of flowers on Valentine's day, British comedies and antique shop discoveries, a stack of new books on my bedside table and a surprise or two in the mail, honey almond chocolates and lunching out by myself, icy, glistening trees and more family flying in from out of state.

Well, at last, the days are getting longer...a fact which hasn't escaped the notice of my plants. And as you can see they couldn't be happier about it...

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

-Charles M. Schulz

Valentine's Day is pretty big around our house. It's the anniversary of the first indication my husband had, waaaaay back when, that I might actually have a teeny, tiny, little thing for him. You see I handmade some pink paper, turned it into a card, covered it in a silvery glitter heart and maybe, just maybe instead of signing my name your friend... I wrote love.  (I know...what a tease I was...) That was 16 years ago and we were little more than silly, starry-eyed kids but still, the memory means a lot to both of us. And that pink, glittery Valentine sits on our mantle to this day. This Valentine's, while special and filled with chocolates and cards, was a bit of a departure. And a bit out of the ordinary. We were delivery drivers for a local flower shop and instead of celebrating the love that brought just two people together we got to share in the love that over 120 people exchanged. Which is something to truly marvel at, I think. So say what you will about it being a made-up Holiday all for the purpose of selling more cards. But I happen to think any day that brings so many smiles to so many faces can't be anything but wonderfully magic.

This week...

...was black and white movies and phone calls from India, breakfast dates and lunch dates and dinner dates, stormy clouds over Lake Michigan and rolling banks of mist, early Valentine's gifts and even earlier dreams of spring...

This week...

...was afternoon dress up tea parties and January thunderstorms, snow days and snowmen, a weekend spent away with family and swans huddled together on a frozen lake, homemade donuts and pumpkin cake and pumpkin pies and chocolate cheesecake, winter sunrises and afternoon firelight, late, late nights spent talking and oh so many board games...