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Gluten free cranberry cinnamon applesauce muffins!

For the perfect gluten free muffin. Yup, that's right. And I'm gonna share it, cause I can not believe that after almost a year of gluten free baking, that I finally came up with the perfect combo of flours and other ingredients. Whew.
Ya, seriously, it's been a year of trial and error trying to find a muffin that wouldn't crumble to sand when you touched it. Or so dense, that you feel like you just ate a meal. The other great thing about this recipe is that, they are low sugar, and dairy free as well. I am telling you, this muffin recipe is at least just as good, if not BETTER than any regular flour muffin you've ever made. There I said it. Makin big claims over here, but just make them once. Then I'm sure you'll come back here and tell me how much you love me, haha.
I have made this recipe 3 different ways now. Banana blueberry, Pumpkin spice, and Cranberry cinnamon applesauce. After the first two batches the winner was cranberry cinnamon applesauce. When I perfect the first two, I'll share those as well.
Alright enough talk. Let's bake some gluten free goodness!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Cranberry Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins
 makes: 18 -20 med. sized muffins         Bake at 350F for 15-25 minutes

Dry ingredients:
1 1\2 Cups brown rice flour
3\4 Cups tapioca flour or starch
3\4 Cups potato starch
1 1\2 tsp xanthan gum (can substitute guar gum)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
Whisk all dry ingredients together, in a medium size bowl, till well incorporated.
Next, in a separate medium size bowl mix together:
1 1\2 Cup of organic unsweetened cinnamon applesauce
1\2 Cup date paste (to make date paste blend or process about 10 dates with 1\4 - 1\2C. water) * (instead of date paste you could add another 1\2 cup of apple sauce)
10 Tbs. omega or olive oil
1\2 Cup maple syrup or agave
Once well mixed, then beat in 2 eggs.
Then stir in flour mixture.
Next fold in:
1 Cup frozen or fresh cranberries
1 Cup cinnamon chips (optional)

Once everything is mixed, if it seems a little stiff or too thick for muffin batter I added about 1\4 - 1\2 Cup of vanilla coconut milk. You could use any milk alternative you like though. Then spoon into greased muffin tins. Bake till slightly golden on top, and toothpick is clean when inserted.

Et Voila....... A thing of beauty. The perfect gluten free muffin.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate. Let me know what you think!
~ Katrina

The Uxbridge Studio Tour and other good stuff!

 

Back in February The Husbands Aunt asked me to be a guest artist at her art gallery, The Magic Door, for the annual Uxbridge Studio Tour. I was SO incredibly honored by this, as she is a very talented artist.

Jay and her mother Joan Yerema often paint these beautiful pieces together. Amazing.

I have been preparing for months. I've learned a lot in this time of preparation. Not just about technique or application, but how to step way outside my comfort zone and go after the things that I dream about. Even if every detail is not perfect, or exactly the way I think it should be. I am learning to create, even when I don't feel 'inspired'. I guess this makes me a 'working artist'. Here are some photos of the art I displayed, and some of  Joan Yerema and Jay Yerema Weafer's gorgeous paintings. If you would like to purchase any of their art work, you can contact Jay here. If you are interested in purchasing my art work you can do so Here.

 Love Never Fails

Love Never Fails and ceramics by Mayta Markson

Be Still (on the top) and Shift (on the bottom) both by Katrina Weafer

See me through (on top) by Me   Cornwall coast paintings by Joan Yerema

The two red paintings by Joan and Jay Yerema and all ceramics by Mayta Markson

It also makes Miss Mack a working artist too, she spent the weekend with me and really wanted to bring one of her paintings to sell.

To all of our delight, she sold it! To a famous Canadian Brass, Juno award winning, jazz musician! How cool is that!? She was so proud.

Needless to say I was so proud too. I may have gotten a little bit teary. 

In the vein of stepping out and pursuing goals, comes my second bit of news. Well, not just a bit, huge actually. Amazing, and sometimes I still can't believe it.  For years I have talked and wondered, and talked and wondered some more about pursuing a career as a tattoo artist. After a few weeks of research, and working up the courage, I visited a little shop, Ill Cosmos, that I had heard great things about. After we met and chatted and they got a chance to check out my portfolio, they decided to take me on as an apprentice! These ladies are artists. They really value being great at what they do. So I feel super priviledged to be a part of the team. I am already learning so much.

I got to tattoo my first grapefruit the other night, I'm sure there will be many more to come.

Cute, right?

Till next time my friends and family be well!
~ Katrina

Pursuing dreams, and leaving perfectionism by the wayside.....I have an Announcement!

Well, from my title post I'm sure you can guess that I have a little announcement. It's something I've been thinking about doing for quite sometime now. But my sister gave me the push I needed yesterday. We were talking about some paintings that I've been working on, in preparation for a studio tour in September. She was so encouraging, telling me that often people who visit her (very hip, I might add) Etsy shop, ask where they could find paintings like the ones in her shop photos.......

Select Modern

She told me she's always wanted to give them my shop name, and send their business my way. Well....... now she can! The husband and I sat down last night, and set it all up, and I'm so pleased. Not to say that it's perfect, or exactly what I had envisioned. I have to be honest though, one of the reasons I had not set up the shop just yet was due to my laundry list of reasons not to. Such as I don't have a good enough camera, I don't have the time, etc, etc. Because I have an expectation of exactly what I think it should be, I'm nervous of letting it fall short of that. Which has kept me from doing anything! Isn't that just silly. The Husband was very encouraging too, and said, you can always go back and tweak it later. Yup, that's true, and had not previously occurred to me.  And I have already adjusted some things since last night, and will continue to do so for a while I'm sure :)

So with out further delay, I am so pleased to announce my own Etsy shop...KatrinaAnja! Over the next few days, I will be adding several more paintings. So check back regularly. Add it to your favourites! Tell your friends and relatives! 'Like' my shop on facebook! I know, shameless self promotion here, but who's gonna do it if I don't!?
Below are some of  my  most recent paintings. Most of my work is Arcylic and mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas. Thanks for your support friends, and remember I take commissions as well!

See me through

Simply Present ~ SOLD

Learning to Love ~ Info to follow soon

Arise ~ SOLD

No Title ~ Info to follow soon

 Thanks for taking a minute to read my ramblings, and look around my NEW SHOP! Have a wonderful weekend friends, be well!
~ Katrina

Master plans, update!

The last time I wrote about my master bedroom was, well.... a while ago. But, believe me, it has not left my thoughts. We'll it's been aging.  I have been collecting ideas for a few months now, over on Pinterest. I just love Pinterest. Yes, sometimes it can be a black hole. But, it's really provided a way for me to collect all the ideas and images that I have found. After a while of collecting, I sat down and looked at all those images with The Husband, and certain things became apparent to us......

1. We really want an upholstered headboard, with nail head detail. Like this....

source

 

2. A deep, dark accent wall.

source

3. White, airy linens a la west elm.

4. A lush upholstered bench.....

Source

 

 

  In a cool graphic print.....

source

5.Large flanking mirrors.

source

6. Small dressers as night stands.

source

7. This rug. sigh......

8. And finally, this color pallet......

source

I think that about sums it up!
~Katrina

Something to write home about.....

Eggplant meatballs. Yup. I'm kinda excited about it. So much so that I emailed my mother the recipe the next day. This is kind of a big deal you see, cause I have never cared for eggplant. And being a vegetarian I am almost required by law to love it, and yet I have never encountered an eggplant dish that I was happy with. That was till the other day when I stumbled across this lovely little blog, via pinterest. Please go take a few minutes and check out her recipes as they all look fantastic, are vegan, and I can't wait to try many of them! So here they are (these are midwestveg's photos)! The pictures say it all.

For the recipe click here!

I'm looking forward to the farmers market tomorrow. I'm going to go buy a few eggplants, and make a big batch of these and freeze them! Hope everyone enjoys them as much as we do!

Be well, and have a great weekend!

~Katrina

The Long Weekend and Our Childless Revelry!

Happy August Long Weekend to my Canadian friends! One of the many reasons I love living in Canada. Made up holiday weekends in the summer, so everyone can go to the cottage, soak up as much vitamin D as possible, and drink a little more than they should. Bless you Canada, Bless you.  

Oh, and cooking happens. I love the morning of a long weekend. I get up and just start cooking and baking and I love it. Truly I do. Today I made a crust less spinach quiche, blueberry muffins (technically for the new neighbors, but they don't need to know they were going to get six!), and frosty no bake granola cakes! But that's not all...... I made The Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle salad. If you haven't tried it yet, go, make it tonight. It just might change your life. For real. Best salad- as- a- meal, ever. I also made gazpacho, and last but not least, garlic scape pesto.

That would be the pesto on my quiche. I also added a few dollops to the quiche batter. You say, 'pesto? in quiche? weird.' I say, 'don't knock it. The Pioneer Woman herself recommends it. Therefor it is gold.'
So without further ado, Garlic Scape Pesto.
8-9 garlic scapes (I did 10, cause we all know more is better)
1/3 Cup olive oil 
1/3 Cup walnut or pine nuts ( I prefer pine nuts, also really good with pistachios)
1\2 Cup, packed fresh basil
Squeeze of half a lemon
dash cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
Place it all in a food processor or blender. And blend, blend, blend till smooth.


All this cooking glory would not have been possible if it were not for my awesome in laws, who took all three kids for 3 days and 3 nights. At first I thought, I won't even know what to do with myself. That thought didn't last long at all. I helped my neighbor and friend pack and move, I painted some new canvas (not finished yet), slept in. Took the puppy for long walks, and drank a cup of coffee while sitting at Starbucks! Went to the movies, and sat in a friends hot tub till 1am.

Went to a Jays game and drank cider with the husband. And just generally enjoyed ourselves.

I think we used our time pretty well. We called it our 'Stay-cation.'  And it was fabulous.

And finally, my Blurb photo books came in, and I am quite pleased with the Instagram photos. I will certainly be making more books with them. 

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, long or not!
Till next time,
~Katrina

If I'm Lyin' I'm Cryin'

As I sat down to write this post, the kids were watching Mater Shorts. For about ten minutes I stared at the title line, and could think of nothing but "If I'm Lyin' I'm Cryin!"' So I just went with it :)

Just wanted to share a few things 'Instagram' that I've come across the past few days, that I am loving!

First up is Instagrid a sweet little web gallery for all your Instagram photos. I love Instagram, so this is kinda perfect! If you aren't already come follow me on Instagram! Oh, and I should mention that they can print your Instagram photos as a poster for $25! So awesome. I will defefinitly be doing this soon.

Next up, is Blurb. They are a photo book company, based in Canada. I had some Groupons that were about to expire, so I started making my first ever photo books. To my delight, they gave me the option to upload my photos from Instagram and and adjusted the resolution. I should be getting them in the next day or two. I'll be sure to post on the finished product. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! But till then here is a little preview.

2011 | Make Your Own Book

It has become clear to me now, that this post was nothing short of me professing my love of all things Instagram! But seriously whats not to love?

Till next time, Suit yerself!
~ Katrina