 | Echoes by Amanda Grabler - a shortlink which takes you directly to the page in The Book Patch's bookstore from which you can purchase my book. |
 | I sing karaoke on SingSnap, and have for years. It is a great way to do karaoke, because you only have to share the version you like best! I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton)) - I love singing Dolly's songs. I have loved her music for as long as I can remember. I have seen her in person, albeit from a distance. Teresa and I were once lucky enough to go to Dollywood on a day they were having a parade --- with Dolly in attendance. I waved to her, and she waved back -- I'm sure to many of us. But it really felt like she had looked right at me, and smiled. |
 | October - December Recipes: I'm gluten free (Celiac), so if the recipe is not specifically gluten free, I'm modifying it to be. Usually this just means replacing the flour, and making sure the brands of the other ingredients are safe. Unless otherwise specified, I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 flour. Taste-wise, it reminds me very much of the Gold Medal flour I used to use before I knew I needed to be gluten free. It is not, however, safe if you're cooking/baking for people who need to be peanut and/or treenut free. When I need that, I buy flour from a friend who owns a dedicated gluten-free/peanut-free/treenut-free bakery. I am neither vegetarian nor vegan, but if I have friends/family visiting who are, I will find, create, or adjust recipes to meet your dietary needs, as long as you give me enough notice! I will also strive to meet any other dietary needs you have, keeping in mind that my house is only gluten free. |
  | Easy Crusty Vegan Bread - And it IS easy! Tuscan Bean Soup - I was unable to get my can of cannelini beans open, so I used 1 can of chick peas and 2 of dark red kidney beans, so mine was Two Bean, but still yummy! Because I was serving it to friends who are vegetarian, I swapped out the chicken broth for Pacific Low Sodium Veggie Broth. I also had 10oz more of tomatoes than called for. I misread the recipe, and didn't realize it until I was in the middle of cooking, and had to go out late! Oops! I couldn't find crushed tomatoes in puree where I went, so I bought whole tomatoes, and then targeted all of them with the immersion blender. It worked great! I had the Parmesan, but forgot to put it out. I bet it's great on this soup, though! The Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cake - It is SO good. I'm not vegan (or vegetarian), so these recipes are often hit or miss for me. Just in case, I halved the cake recipe (though . . . I made the full amount of frosting!). I also did this as cupcakes (which is a suggestion in the recipe). The second time I made this, I made the full recipe, which yielded 1 small cake, 6 cupcakes, and ..... batter I ate! Yum! The frosting didn't need any cashew milk this time. I found a suggestion on another site to whip the shortening and Earth Balance before adding the powdered sugar, for a lighter, creamier frosting. It worked great. I did refrigerate the frosting overnight (in the mixing bowl) and it became quite hard. But leaving it out at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes softened it enough to easily white it back into frosting consistency. For people like me who typically do not care for vegan desserts because they have a weird aftertaste? Not this one! |
 | Mediterranean White Bean Soup - I pureed part of the soup with an immersion blender, used 2 full boxes of Pacific low sodium veggie broth, and used frozen spinach. I made this the night before, except for the spinach. When I took the soup out of the fridge to heat it for my visiting friend, I added the spinach (straight from the freezer - no thawing!). Delicious! Teff Bread - adapted from The Best Vegan Cornbread recipe. Cornbread was my original plan. I make great GF cornbread, but I wasn't sure how to make my recipe vegan, so I went looking for one. But then every store I went to only had the Bob's Red Mill cornmeal that's packed in their NON-GF facility, so I had to make a change. I wanted something that would go with the above white bean soup. I've baked with teff before, so I gave it a go with this recipe. I also added a tablespoon of Golden Flaxseed meal. Full of Yum! Everyone has enjoyed it so far. |
Facebook Comments