Grandma's Cucumber Dill Pickles (Gluten Free Pickles!)

I'm re-posting this post from way back in 2013, since it's been one of my most popular recipes, and I thought some of you might enjoy re-visiting it!

 
My grandmother has always made amazing pickles. She would can them in enormous batches. I started helping my mother make them sometime around my 7th birthday, up until about 10 years ago when I moved out and my mother stopped making them and my grandmother got tired of cooking.

Well this year, after seeing buckets of little cucumbers at the farmers market, I decided to resurrect my grandmother's amazing dill pickle legacy. I called my mom back home in Canada and asked for the recipe.

And now I'm sharing it with you!

Goodreads Giveaway for the Caravanserai Bride!

Hi all! I know I've been MIA for a while, but part of the reason for that is my latest novel, The Caravanserai Bride! I've been working hard to finish it and roll out the pre-order (you can order now, and get your eBook copy August 1), as well as offering a Goodreads Giveaway!

You can enter the Giveaway through this link, or below, for the chance to win one of two FREE print copies :)


What's the story about? 
 
Lunja is a freed slave searching the desert for her lost brother, while trying to hide a secret that's haunted her family for generations.To fund her search, she puts herself up for auction, hoping for a service position in the Dakhla caravanserai.

Senna is heartbroken when the woman he wants chooses another. To win her back, he decides to prove that he can be a responsible husband, and how better to do that than by marrying another?

Check out more details below:

9 Gluten Free Ways to Use Up Leftover Sweet Potatoes (with vegan options)

If you're like me, you probably have a fridge full of leftovers from Easter. It's a blessing and a curse when both your in-laws and your parents send you home with containers full of poultry, potatoes, and veggies.

With all those bits and pieces, it's not always easy to make a full meal. OR, maybe you're just tired of eating the same thing day in and day out and wondering what to do with it all...

Well here's a list of suggestions for using up leftover baked sweet potatoes in baked goods, burgers, soups, AND salads, so you can completely transform Easter dinner into something else entirely!

Easy, Gluten Free and Vegan Chocolate Coconut Nests

 Looking for a super last minute, easy-to-make Easter treat? These Chocolate Coconut Nests require only 2 ingredients (3 if you count a filling, like mini eggs or jelly beans), no baking, and can be thrown together in almost no time at all.

Did I mention they're super tasty, and lots of fun for little kids? I made these to take to my 2 1/2 yr old niece for Easter, and I hope she likes them, because I've been nibbling on them myself the last couple of days!

They can also be made vegan if you use vegan chocolate chips like these and fill them with something like peanuts or vegan jelly beans instead of mini eggs.

Gluten Free Easter Treats and Baked Goods

Easter is just around the corner, and I thought I'd share a little roundup of some of my favourite gluten free Easter treat recipes from the blog.

Some of these are traditional Easter foods, like my GF German Easter bread (a.k.a. Osterkranz), Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns, and Gluten Free Apple Dumplings, while others, like my lavender sugar cookies and vegan, GF parsnip cake, are a little less conventional but just as tasty! 

I've also included one of my go-to Spring decoration tutorials that is incredibly cheap and easy (hint, it's a way to use up old tin cans, too).

No Sew Shoe Tying Quiet Book Page + Free Template

 Hi all, I'm back with another no-sew quiet book page and template from my niece's epic no sew quiet book!

This week I'm sharing a FREE template and tutorial for a shoelace tying page. This one is pretty simple, as there are not that many little bits, and it's a nice one for little kids to practice fine motor skills and shoe tying. 

Healthy, Savory, Vegan and Gluten Free Sweet Potato Bread

Every now and then I come up with a recipe that turns out amazing. More than amazing. Freaking addictively delicious. 

This healthy sweet potato sandwich bread is one of those times. 

This sweet potato bread is one of those rare things in vegan, gluten free baking - delicious, perfect texture, sturdy yet soft, not chewy or gummy or dry, great for sandwiches, toast, French toast, and just about anything else you could ask for. 

And did I mention it's actually healthy? 

Unlike a lot of other sweet potato breads that are... well... really sweet, this one can be enjoyed guilt-free. It's low in sugar, uses a small amount of olive oil in place of tons of butter, and the flour combo includes high-protein multi-grains. 

Here's how it goes...

No-Sew Dinosaur and Volcano Quiet Book Page (with tutorial and FREE template!)

 Hi all, it's been a bit since I posted one of the pages from my niece's epic, no-sew quiet book, but I finally got around to putting together the template for the dinosaur volcano page. 

Below is the tutorial and free printable in case you'd like to do one yourself. It's a pretty simple page, especially since, like my Pirate and Ship page, I used stickers and felt from the dollar store! 

My Gluten Free Weekly Meal Plan

Hi all! I know I've MIA on my blog this past month, but things have been hectic, and blogging has fallen to the wayside. You can still find me active on Facebook though.

One of the reasons I've been away from blogging is that I've been feeling a bit low energy/lacking in motivation lately. A blood test indicated that my ferritin (the protein that carries iron) is a bit low, so that may be a part of it.

Since meal planning is something that helps keep me on track health-wise, I've decided to prioritize meal planning again, and therefore this week's meal plan involves a lot of iron-rich foods! Seafood, check noodle soup, homemade yogurt, and beans are on the menu, along with a lot of fibre-rich veggies to combat all that protein that can *ehem* make it difficult to eliminate waste.

No-Sew Pirate and Ship Quiet Book Page (with tutorial and FREE template!)

Phew! I don't know about you all, but we had Snowmageddon here on the Vancouver West Coast last week. And by snow I mean we had almost two feet dumped on us over a few days, which is a big deal in a city that can go a whole year without a single snowflake!

I didn't even move my car for a whole week, and we lost power for a night. 

And at times like that, you just want to curl up on the couch with a good book - or three...

But I'm back this week to share the second page of the super crafty quiet book I made for my niece (you can see the entire thing in video here).

This page is actually one of the easiest to make because I could make a really simple template, and I used all bits I found at the dollar store, so it was very cheap.