A Gluten Free Blueberry Morning

At the International Food Bloggers Conference last year, I attended a session in which Hostess with the Mostess showed us bloggers some themed recipe ideas (with corresponding tablescapes!) using some of Krusteaz‘ newest baking mixes.

Obviously the tablescapes were my favorite part…of the entire conference. So thrilling, in fact, that I decided to model the tables for our annual Tijuana mission trip auction after the Hostess’ fiesta-themed tablescape. More on that later!

Anyway, one of Krusteaz’ newest offerings is a line of gluten free mixes, and after the conference, they sent me some mixes to try.

Nice touch with the branded spatula.

I’d recently tasted the brunch donut holes at Capitol Cider (a gluten free restaurant), and was just starting to believe that gluten free baking ≠ equal dry, thin tasting and dense. But mixes by nature are iffy.

HOWEVER. I made up a batch of the Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin Mix and … I’m pretty excited about them. It took five minutes, for one.

Et Voila!

Second, there’s definitely not a lack of flavor. The texture and richness reminded me of a cake pop. I could only eat one muffin per sitting (as you can see from my photo, I originally intended to eat two). That’s not a bad thing – all of the fancy-pants cupcakes around are a similar intensity. I think these muffins would be great for a group brunch or bridal shower, and I’d imagine most people wouldn’t even know that the muffins were gluten free. Plus, there are all sorts of other recipes you can make with this mix on the Krusteaz website, such as tropical blueberry cake.

My parents, for instance, are now gluten-free and were delighted to experiment with some of my extra mixes. I tried using the pancake mix for waffles… and, well, I’m bad at making waffles so I didn’t think the mix could be blamed for my own personal issues. I also tried the Double Chocolate Brownie Mix and the end result was a strong “good” when accompanied by my normal brownie accessories of vanilla ice cream and raspberries. Alone, I could tell the brownies were gluten free (that aftertaste thing?) but the texture and chocolateyness were on point.

What are your favorite gluten free foods? I am going gluten-free for the next few months because whenever I do, I feel better. And get skinnier. What? It’s summer.

Would love your ideas!

-t&T

Country Concert – Outfit Reveal!

So … as a refresher, Tristan and I attended a major country concert last month and crossed a huge item off Tristan’s bucket list. We had a great time and I actually knew half the songs, despite being rather new to Garth Brooks. (Apparently when you’re a legend, your songs creep their way into people’s life whether they seek it out or not). I was excited because I knew Garth would be a great entertainer, regardless if I actually knew the songs.

I was also excited to have an excuse to plan a themed outfit. Here is the inspiration outfit I put together.

And here is how it came out!

YEEHAW, my first animated GIF!

Tristan held it down in some flannel.

Anyway… you get it. That’s enough pictures of me. 🙂 What do you think?  What do you usually wear to country concerts?

-t&T