Breakfast: Sticky Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal from The Big Man's World

I was scrolling through Instagram find me here this morning and saw The Big Man's World post on Sticky Cinnamon Roll Batter Oatmeal. OMG, I knew I had to have this! I went to his website and found the recipe here. 

I had all the ingredients in my kitchen, except coconut butter, which I replaced with regular butter. Sadly I forgot that my Sun Warrior protein powder(this is what I use. ) is not flavored, and I was out of vanilla, so I just threw the mix into the pot. I used Trader Joe's Gluten Free Rolled Oats, Nutiva's Coconut Flour, and Kate's butter.  I didn't take a pic because I was WAY too hungry and dove in. This is SO good, gluten-free, vegan if you don't use egg and butter, and low-sugar, unless you use sugar :P , and OH SO GOOD. This will be added to my collection of favorites!
Arman makes some fantastic foods, so you should check his sites out.

The Big Man's World website
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Tell him the Cynikal Kat sent you!

Love, love, love, K

Oh, here is an empty bowl :p

Vegan Gluten free Chocolate Raspberry Torte

Hi folks! This post would have been up sooner but the Blogger app isn't working correctly, so I am rewriting this on my laptop.

Last Friday I made a vegan, gluten-free chocolate raspberry torte to bring into work the next day (there's only 3 of us that work Sat, and A & I spend most of it just ourselves). I have 2 coworkers that are vegan and I am gluten-free (obviously). The recipe comes from Bakerita, found via Pinterest (follow me here!).

I used Bob's Red Mill Almond flour/meal, one of my favorite flours, for the crust. It took me a few minutes of reading labels in the baking aisle at my local grocery store to find a baking chocolate that was suitable for vegans, but Mrs. Meyer's 66% Bittersweet baking chocolate looked safe. I had organic raspberries from work and I found a yummy raspberry preserve at Job Lot. Unforunately my springform pan turned out to be 22" where it needed to be 9", so I used a 9" pie plate instead. I am amazed how easy this recipe is and that it didn'te require fridgeration!

THe next day I brought this torte into work for consuming. As A & L dug in in the kitchen, I heard "oohs" and "ahhhs" and gasps, even got a "you're an angel!". Clearly they loved it and I did too. A job well done! Thank you, Bakerita!

Remember to get the recipe from Bakerita and go say hi to her from me!

Kashi's Gluten Free Indigo Morning cereal

I saw Kashi's new gluten free cereal, Indigo Morning, in the grocery store and brought it home. I do not like it all. It is puffed corn (organic), which doesn't soften up very well (in almond or coconut milk), so it's very crunchy. It also left pieces of hull in my mouth. I did like the berries, which I believe are freeze dried. Good effort Kashi, but no thanks. I'd rather eat sawdust.  A+ for organic and non-GMO ingredients but D for taste.
kashi organic corn flakes indigo morning cereal

November update with some new products

Hi readers! Sorry about my disappearance;  I find blogging to be something I have trouble dedicating time to. I get to it when I get to it, sorry, however, my blog is always on my mind. I am always writing notes for a future blog.

Sadly I did not attend the GF in CT this weekend b/c finances would not allow it. That really bummed me out, but it needed to be done. Plus, I really needed the time with my o.s.o. and time for ME. (That is probably the most important!)


So, a few blog worthy things...
I came across Wellness Mama's post about Carrageenan and decided to share it with EVERYONE. I have been thinking about carrageenan, way back in my mind next to the thoughts about not eating meat/animal products before 6 (Thank you VB6 diet by Mark Bittman http://markbittman.com/book/vb6/). I was thrilled to see that my favorite almond milk (Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze Hint of Honey Vanilla) does NOT have carrageenan in it (http://www.almondbreeze.com/?navid=334. Now I need to look at the rest of the stuff I eat/drink and see where it stands. I do NOT need more inflammation (damn autoimmune illnesses).  
Wellness Mama's post is here: http://wellnessmama.com/2925/what-is-carrageenan/
This is a very informative post from someone whose blog I just adore. She has so many great recommendations, recipes, and more. You should follow her on all the social media sites. (Please go check out her blog.)

I went shopping at Target last weekend. Sadly the closest one is 45+ mins away. (sigh). Island life. I found some great gluten-free items there for cheap!

The Seven Sundays muesli is my new favorite, next to Qia's coconut oatmeal. I have Seven Sunday's blueberry chia buckwheat currently. The WOW Baking Ginger Molasses cookies were completely new to me as well and SO worth it. They are soft and even have some chewy ginger pieces in them. The Annie's Cocoa &Vanilla gf cookies and the KIND bars are old favorites. I had some coupons for the Justin's snack packs so I bought them. A good haul all together and a lot cheaper than my local Shaw's.

Seven Sundays: their website
Qia via Nature's path 
Wow Baking bagged cookies
Annie's
Kind bars
Justin's

I haven't made anything spectacular lately..OH! But I did. For Samhain (Halloween for non-pagans) I made 2 amazing Samhain pumpkin breads. The recipe is courtesy of LApagmom2 on Allrecipes.com recipe is here. I didn't take any pictures of it but I brought 1 loaf to work and it was scarfed throughout the day. This will be a staple recipe for me. I did finagle it a bit but I can't remember what I did exactly now.

Speaking of food, I need to get started on dinner. Tonight I'll make some gluten-free stuffed shells. Since TJ doesn't like ricotta cheese (weirdo) I'll make a few for him and just use mozzarella with meat instead of ricotta and mozz and meat. Perhaps I'll remember to take some pictures.

Lots of love to you fantastic people. Again, I'm sorry about the delay, but life gets in the way sometimes. love love love