Crunch Granola

I had another busy and wonderful weekend here in Michigan. I feel like I have so much to update on, but haven't been posting much because I am enjoying my time visiting with friends and family. So I will do a quick update tonight about a product I purchased last weekend when I was visiting my sister, Jill. 

It is a Michigan made gluten free granola that I used on top of plain Fage Greek yogurt (with a little honey too).

Jill spotted Crunch Granola at Kean's, a store we were at, and I was instantly intrigued. It's Michigan made. It's gluten free. And it donates 50 percent of its profits to local food banks. What's not to love?

100% Delicious

Made with Love

The granola makes the perfect topping for plain yogurt. It gives it crunch with a sweet and satisfying flavor. I would highly recommend trying a bag! 

Fruitiversary

Today marks four years of marriage for Justin and me! And today poured with rain, just like on our wedding day. Unfortunately, we are roughly 7,000 miles apart right now (as long as I did the math correct). But I am blessed to have a loving, thoughtful husband who sent me an Edible Arrangement with balloons.

My husband did some research, because the fourth anniversary is the fruit anniversary or "fruitiversary." I don't know if Justin came up with that word or if he found it somewhere, but I think it is clever. See even the arrangement has a "4" made of pineapple!

Plus, I love fruit!

I especially adore the strawberries and pineapple dipped in chocolate. The chocolate is gluten free, however it could be manufactured in a facility with gluten.

Isn't the flower adorable?

Yes, I posed with my present.

Iivana thought it was her gift. She was sniffing and smelling; I had to fend her off and explain that it was mommy's gift. I did share a strawberry with her though.

He even sent balloons; I just now realize why there are four, duh! Justin is way better at significance things than me. (Remember, I sent him $11 for his birthday.) Although for our third anniversary, I bought something leather for us.

The best part of the day was Skype-ing with him! I love you Justin, and you will be home soon. I can't wait to hug and kiss you.  

Vince & Joe's

Updating from Michigan.

Last week I decided to check out Vince & Joe's, which is a market that has quite a few gluten free items. I wandered through out the store, mostly browsing. They have a wonderful selection of baked gluten free goods; however, I couldn't find the cake section. They must have moved it since I was there last, remember my Favorite Things - Michigan post from last summer. I decided to purchase these butterscotch macadamia cookies.

I ate all the cookies by myself! I liked the fact that they were a thicker cookie which was soft in the the middle. I know I've said it, but I'll say it again: I'm not the biggest fan of crunchy cookies. I love butterscotch, but usually don't like nuts in my cookies. However, the combination was perfect for me. The butterscotch flavor was present in all bites and the nuts weren't overbearing. 

Now, Cape Cod chips are not new to me. They are often part of my lunch or a go to snack in out house. I knew they came out with the 40% less fat Aged Cheddar and Sour Cream flavor a while back, but I couldn't find them in Texas. I was pleasantly surprised to find them at Vince & Joe's. This flavor didn't disappoint either, I think it fell in the same quality category as the rest of the chips that Cape Cod makes. I think they were more Cheddar-y than Sour Creamy though.

Gluten Free!

I'm sure I'll be making another trip to Vince & Joe's soon.

Gluten Free Italian Cheese Bread

Time to catch up! About a month ago I went to Little Aussie and bought some pre-cooked pizza crusts. (Remember the cranberry bread, it was that same trip.) I debated what kind of pizza to make, when I came up with a brilliant idea. Does any one recall Little Caesar's Pizza Kits? My parents would buy the fund raising pizzas, and I preferred the Italian Cheese Bread. I decided to make my own version of the Italian Cheese Bread. 

I started with my pre-made gluten free crust from Little Aussie. I truly believe finding the right crust is half the battle in making the cheese bread delicious. Their pizza crust is thicker than most, while very moist.

I didn't measure, but I used enough mozzarella cheese to cover the area of the crust. The crust was a more personal size pizza so I didn't even use a whole bag of shredded cheese.

Then I used my Italian Herb grinder and went to town turning and cranking to generously cover all areas. Again, it's hard to measure with a grinder, but I probably used about a teaspoon. You can add as much or as little as you want. Then I popped it in the over for about 20 minutes.

While the cheese bread was cooking, I melted one tablespoon of butter. I mixed in about a 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic that we buy in a jar and keep in the fridge. I'm sure powdered garlic would work too.

The cheese bread should come out with a nice golden hue.

I used a basting brush to spread the butter mixture all over the melted cheesy goodness.

I cut my Italian Cheese Bread, and enjoyed it. I thought my version tasted very similar to the kits we used to make. Plus it was simple to make since I already had all the ingredients at home. I would really recommend trying this if you come across an excellent gluten free pizza crust.

SAWP is Over

A week ago today, was my last day of SAWP, but also my last day of class for my degree. Yesterday I turned in my comprehensive exams. And now I just have to wait to hear if I passed, then I'll get my M.A. in Literacy. 

My last day of class was special because we had a visitor's day and I was blessed to have my parents and mother-in-law in town. They all accompanied me and experienced what a day in SAWP was like. They wrote their own 6 word memoir, listened to pieces, and participated in other demonstrations.

Me & Denise

Dad, me, & Mom

Here is my poem, turned into a digital literacy story with pictures. I shared this on visitor's day. It's about my sister, Kristen and me! I decided to write this poem to describe some of the silly things we did as kids. I figured a poem would be the best genre, because people wouldn't have to totally understand everything I was talking about. But of course it turned sentimental at the end.

I'm also including a video I was playing around with that I made with various clips of Iivana. It was somewhat inspired from 1st writing piece.

After SAWP, me and all my parents went to Fogo de Chao for some good eats! I didn't take any pictures, but if you're interested in a previous experience click here.

Traveling, Birthday, & Food

Well, we hung around the hotel while they fixed the van. Iivana enjoyed looking out the window at the hotel.

She especially liked laying in the bed.

We had a late start on Thursday due to the fixing of the van tire, and spent the night in Indiana. We arrived in Michigan on Friday, July 6, my hubby's birthday. I was even able to Skype with him! I sent him a package for his birthday that included a microwaveable brownie packet in a mason jar with a candle. The brownie mix is gluten free, Pamela's individual packets.

I also filled the package with balloons, an idea I saw on Pinterest. In each balloon, I included money or a note. Apparently I didn't keep track of the money and only sent him $11. His co-workers wondered if there was a significance to the number 11. (No, just a zany wife!)

For dinner on Friday, we enjoyed some Carlo's Pizza, a local place right by my parent's house.

Of course my pizza was gluten free. I ordered mine with mushrooms and green peppers. The crust was thinner, but tasted decent. It must not have been too bad, because I ate half of my pizza for dinner.

Iivana has been adjusting to my parent's house. She has more room to roam around, so we've been trying to think of ways to contain her. She managed to squeeze through the chairs anyways. She is loving all the attention from my mom and dad.

And now I'm brought to today. Sipping on Biggby coffee, I was working on comps for my master's most of the day. They are due tomorrow! Hopefully this will mean more regular updates in my future.

En Route on the Fourth

I realize I have some recent things to recap on, but I thought I would write about my current happenings first. Yesterday was my last day of class, which I plan to write about another day. So my parents and I decided to head back to Michigan today. Iivana has been a very good girl in my parent's van. Of course, she thinks she owns the place and is sitting in the captain's chair.

She took many naps through out to journey (so far.) Hopefully she continues to behave during the long ride tomorrow too.

We stopped in Oklahoma to have lunch at a park. Afterwards we started to hear a rattling sound that one of the tires was making. We kept going but it seemed to get worse. So we pulled off to the side of the road and my mom noticed a lug nut was missing. We drove a little further to a visitor's center in Missouri and asked where we could take the van. Of course, today is a holiday so we weren't sure if anything would be open. We started to make our way to Walmart, but came across a Goodyear Tire first and pulled in there. It was 4:50 and they were going to close at 5:00! We were very thankful to make it there safely, because when we arrived we had noticed another nut was missing.

Unfortunately, they were not able to fix it in 10 minutes. So we left the van there for the night and had to halt our travels for the day. The manager drove us to a hotel, so we are spending the night in Joplin. Do you notice Iivana in the tire store?  I think she is still trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

Happy Fourth of July to all! Safe travels to everyone.