Celebration

I started this blog as part of my healing process… to help others by sharing my story, as other stories helped me, and with the intent to create an illustration for every post. This would keep me creating. It is a tall order and has surely slowed me down, but is a very enjoyable and satisfying process.

That being said I felt this post deserved a photo. Our daughter turns 3 this week and on Saturday we had 7 of her friends and their parents over for brunch. We could’ve gone the bagel route but I was petrified of the amount of crumbs eight 3 year olds would create... Not for the mess, that comes with the territory, but what would a house full of gluten crumbs do to me? I decided not to find out.

I took Friday off from work and I spent the day baking and prepping for the party. And did I ever bake… 2 dz. cupcakes (vanilla and chocolate), a loaf of bread (for the baked French toast) and a batch of mini pumpkin/corn muffins. Thank you 365 Brand mixes... All were delicious and enjoyed by all!

I also made two crust-less quiches. No crust saves big on calories and is automatically gluten free. The meal was completed with a big fruit salad.

Ava helped me make the butter cream frosting that morning and assisted me in frosting the cupcakes – and herself. She was overjoyed by the party and managed to snag multiple cupcakes. She's fast.

Though the house required a serious cleaning there wasn't a gluten crumb in site. I was safe and healthy and got the ultimate thank you from my daughter…"thank you for the beautiful cupcakes. I love you mommy!" All is right in my world.

"Mommy's Baking!"

"Artisan Baker gluten-free"
handpainted flour sack towel, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

My daughter goes running joyfully through the house to notify her Daddy... "Mommy's baking!" I bake every week now but she is no less excited. It's all gluten free, and she, and my husband, gobble up the muffins and bread I bake, barely waiting for them to cool.

I was never a baker - probably made 5 cakes in my entire life. Especially from scratch. Any recipe with more than 8 ingredients intimidates me. So I use mixes, and I experiment... adding to the batter to make them as healthy and interesting as possible... canned pumpkin, bananas, berries, yogurt, nuts, etc. Some have been more successful than others, but all have been tasty.

Truthfully, I don't experiment with the bread too much - took me too long to get it right, so I am afraid to deviate. Tweaking the time and oven temperature, how warm the kitchen needed to be for the rise, which rack gave the best results kept me occupied. But, we ate all the trials along the way because this bread is damn tasty and goes fast in our house.

I use Whole Foods 365 Brand Corn Muffin Mix, Muffin Mix, and Sandwich Bread Mix. I recommend these mixes for ease of use and for the excellent taste and texture. Eating these is not missing out.

And, it is very satisfying to have safe, healthy fresh baked goods in the house.

Erin Go Paint Etsy Store