Tastiness

(Image Source: Cherrybrook Kitchen)

So tonight I was craving chocolate and had this left over from a former roommate visit.  My former roommate has Celiac's Disease, hence the gluten free.  Anyway, I used Earth Balance buttery spread and it made DELICIOUS brownies.  I cannot stop eating them and no one is home to help me eat them.

This post is to share this great dairy (and gluten free) find and to start a little brainstorm of things I can make with gluten free mixes.  I love to bake and not being able to use dairy is going to be tough.  I will probably start out with using short cuts like dairy free/gluten free mixes as bases until I learn more about dairy free baking.  I am determined to be able to make things with out dairy that are just as tasty as things with dairy, but in a different way.  If anyone has recipes, share away!!

Perfectly Paradoxical

My brother posted this as a comment yesterday.  Love it.

Dairy is for the Birds!

 

Image: (Eat Real Good)

For those of you who don't know I've recently discovered that I am sensitive to all things dairy.  It may be lactose intolerance, it may be just a sensitivity, but whatever it is, I feel a thousand times better not eating dairy.  After only one week of knowing what it feels like to be in my body with out dairy my desire for chocolate, cheese, ice cream, and other delciously dairy-ed out treats has completely disappeared.  Anyone who personally knows me knows I have an epic sweet tooth, so this is kind of nuts.  I am a little sad that I can't eat certain foods, but knowing how good I can feel makes me want to avoid dairy completely.  The bad news is dairy is hidden in many, many things.  The good news is I get to experiment with recipes (or this could be bad news if you're going to be tasting these creative concoctions).

I am in the process of figuring out which dairy replacements I like and don't like.  The memory of real dairy is so fresh in my mind (or maybe just imprinted on my taste buds) that I can be a good judge, but finding tasty substitutions could be hard.  For example, I've found a vegan buttery spread that is pretty legit (Earth Balance), but my taste buds have a general disdain towards pretty much all dairy free cream cheese. 

Last week I made chili in a slow cooker (recipe coming soon).  Realizing I wouldn't be able to put cheese or sour cream on top, I decided to try my hand at Dairy Free cornbread to go along with it.  After a bit of googling I found a recipe from Whole Foods that seemed simple and easy. 

Unfortunately, to me, it came out pretty bland.  You could taste that it was oil and soy milk, not butter and real milk.  The loaf itself was moist, but the lack of savoriness and creamy flavor left my tongue feeling like it was just to dry.  I'm not going to give in so easily, though, on this one.  The comments from reviewers on the recipe page suggested using a vegan butter spread instead of oil and maple syrup instead of sugar.  Since I have plenty of baking ingredients, I'll be trying this one again. 

I'm not the best cook in the world, so any one with any substitution suggestions should leave them in the comment area.  I'll follow up when I get to try again and let you know how it goes.

Recipe after the jump:

Ch-ch-ch-chaaaages (Turn and Face the Strain)

What a great song by David Bowie, who, by the way, just turned 65. I bet he knows a thing or two about change.

I am about 2 days shy of it being a full year since my last post, and my, how things have changed. Two and half years ago when I started this blog, I was struggling to be creative so I started a Photo A Day Blog. Confining my posts to photography helped to get me started, but it hindered my progress and growth.  What I discovered is that I need a place to document and nurture my whole creative self...

Like most people I thought "I'll start a new blog! I'm going in a new direction and I want a fresh start." But life is a process, adventure, journey, etc. ... and it's always in flux.  Everything waxes and wanes, the moon, the ocean, seasons, happiness, sadness, relationships, hairlines, waistlines...  As a creative person I must learn that I have to fail to succeed, because learning from failure is sometimes the most meaningful.  Thus, I will be keeping the 'fotos in flux' part of this blog even though it wasn't even close to my best work.

SO! Today, January 12, 2012 is the first day of the rest of my creative life... And I'm bringing this blog and all it's failed glory with me!!!

As a programming note, the blog name has changed, but the URL address is still the same.  I now plan to post recipes, crafts, DIY ideas, and whatever other thoughts fall out of my erraticwannabecreative brain. It will basically be like my pinterest, but with more words. YOU ARE EXCITED, DON'T LIE!!!

I expect a lot of crap and a lot of failed attempts at things that I think are totally great.  I am hopeful that for every 50 craptastic blogs, I will be able to produce 1 thing that will potentially inspire something in someone somewhere.

And speaking of inspiration... I am signing off with two thoughts:

1 - I saw this picture on someone's facebook, and did a little right click, save so I cannot give credit to it's creator, but it's exactly the message I am trying to convey above.

2 - My Brother, also a creative person, works at Weiden + Kennedy and recently told me about one of the mantras that floats around their company

 "Fail Harder" 

I couldn't put it better if I tried. Mostly because I haven't failed hard enough or long enough yet...

So let's get started!!