A new year!

I am truly obsessed with food. Just because I don't post pictures or blog much anymore (period) it doesn't mean I have stopped. I still cook all the meals and (usually) love it. I read cookbooks as my de-stresser and scour the shops for random ingredients to try a new recipe. For a while now I've thought that I am gluten intolerant. I could get diagnosed (or not) with a simple blood test- but for now I am glad that I HAVE to eat sweet potatoes and brown rice for lunch or make quinoa salad with broccoli and avocado and really limit my eating of bread. I feel so much better when I do. I have read every blog on being gluten free and have discovered a few "new" flours. On Saturday Richard and I went shopping to try and find them. We found a lot of flours at one of the Asian markets. None were in English, so I guessed on what I wanted. When I got home I discovered that I got water chestnut flour, some weird bean flour, and then a chickpea and rice flour combo. I made raspberry jam bars and tried the bean flour as my only substitution. When I opened the bag I really liked the feel of the flour. It smelled a little different, but had a lovely creamy color and nice feel. I put it in and mixed it up. Paris was my "helper" and nibbled the batter and liked it. That was a good sign. I made the bars and put it in the oven. I tasted the batter and thought I would puke. The taste on my tongue was so awful! I then had Rich try it. He felt the same... After the bars had baked and cooled all the kids had a nibble and no one complained... I could not bring myself to try it. I will give it to them for breakfast but I'll wait for the kids to give their opinions after eating a whole slice before I try it and even then maybe I'll skip it. I think my tongue still tingles... I'll try the rice and chickpea flour combo next. And I did throw the bean flour away...

My newest cookbook purchase is called "Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache" by Harry Eastwood and all the desserts- mostly cakes, are made with a vegetable base and a rice or almond flour... no gluten and I didn't even realise it when I bought it! I'll make a cake from it this weekend. Swede? A lot of butternut squash and zucchini? Sounds interesting... and no bean flour!