Baking in the BBQ

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..and wheat free doesn’t mean carb free

After reading Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD, one quickly realizes that eating gluten and wheat free foods doesn’t guarantee weight loss. There are more and more gluten free products on the market than ever, especially in the snacking and bakery sections of the grocery store. If you were to read the ingredient lists you would discover that many of these products are high in sugars, fats and alternative starches and the calorie count is high for what you’re getting.

I was feeling somewhat liberated when I found gluten free flour at Costco and I was somewhat disappointed when I couldn’t find a gluten free banana bread recipe in Dr. Davis’ book. After using a regular recipe and substituting the gluten free flour for regular flour it started to dawn on me that I don’t normally eat bananas, let alone banana bread, even though I love both. I’ve always known that bananas are high in carbs and the bread goes without saying. It was when I added the 2 cups of sugar, the 1 1/2 cups of butter and 6 cups of flour that I started to question what I was doing.

So why was I baking banana bread when I’m still trying to lose weight? It just so happened that we were going to celebrate my friend D’s birthday on Sunday and she suggested that we bake something special. Besides she had some sour milk that needed to be used and I had some very ripe bananas. I went through my cottage cookbooks and lo and behold I found a recipe that used both those ingredients.

As you know from previous posts I don’t have electricity and I do the bulk of my cooking on the BBQ, including any baking that I might do. Over the years D and I have developed a knack for baking muffins, cakes and breads in the great outdoors. One of the tricks is to use smaller pans so that dough cooks through to the middle in a shorter length of time. The bread in the bundt pan was finished first, or so we thought. If you look closely at the cut slices you can see that the middle is a little too soft.

The two breads in the loaf pan took a little longer but were a better texture. One of the differences with using gluten free flour is that the bread was much denser than a normal banana bread and for some reason tasted much sweeter. If I were to do this again (for my friends who are truly gluten intolerant) I would definitely add less sugar and maybe even experiment with some kind of substitute that isn’t aspartame or saccharin. I’ve heard that applesauce is a good replacement for sugar in some baking recipes.

I had one and a half slices of the bread on D’s birthday and I ate one slice for breakfast the next morning. I’ve always found that if I’m going to eat carbs it’s best in the morning and then avoid them for the rest of the day. Maybe I should clarify that when I say carbs I mean breads, pasta and primarily flour products. I still eat lots of healthy carbs in the way of vegetables, some fruit and dairy products along with lean protein and healthy fats.

I’m going to have to read the Wheat Belly book a little closer and try to figure out how to fit it into my daily diet without increasing my carb intake. Maybe some of you have a gluten free, wheat free recipe, low in carbs, fat and sugar that I could try. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The following pictures are of D and D’s birthday/anniversary dinner that they kindly invited me to. Afterwards we relaxed around a beautiful bonfire as the sun set over Christian Island.

Delicious lamb, fresh tomatoes, green salad with avocados and Ontario corn on the cob. Yum!

Happy Birthday, D!

Gone for a Week

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….I’m heading up to the cottage for one last long stay

It seems like I haven’t spent very much time at the cottage this summer and the fact is I haven’t compared to previous years. So I’m leaving in the next couple of hours for my paradise up North and as many of you know I don’t have electricity. That of course means that I won’t be posting for awhile.

I will however write articles and save them, paint and take photographs. Hopefully I will have a lot to share when I return next Saturday. If I’m really desperate I could go to the store in the village and pay $5.00 to use the WiFi but I think I may be too busy just laying back and resting up before the school doors open for another year.

Here’s what a typical day at the cottage might look like:

wake up at 7:30 or there about
go for a walk or run along the beach with my camera in hand
make coffee and a ‘wheat free’ breakfast
spend 20 minutes tidying up and filling the water barrel
reading the next book for our book club The Head Master’s Wager by Vincent Lam
rake around the cottage
prepare a salad for lunch and enjoy it
visit with my neighbour and enjoy a game of scrabble
experiment with a new recipe that I can prepare on the BBQ (probably from my Wheat Belly Cookbook)
go for a swim
prepare dinner
draw in my journal or set up for printing or painting
do the dishes from the last two meals
read for a couple more hours
go to bed around 10:30

That’s pretty much it. I’m really looking forward to a week of healthy eating, walking, swimming, reading and exploring my creative side. See you in a week (maybe sooner).

Carol

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..38 years and still going strong

Today K and I celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. Wow! Looking back through the photo albums it’s clear that we’ve changed physically but how we’ve grown and matured emotionally and socially aren’t as obvious.

K still has all his hair and there is very little grey. No, he does not use Grecian Formula. The big difference is that he likes to keep it really short. Drives me crazy because I’m the one who cuts it. Just when I start to like the length he insists it’s time for another buzz. I, on the other hand, still have very blonde hair but I do cover my grey and I’ve been wearing it longer.

We’ve both gained weight over the years. K used to run marathons when we were first married and even when the kids came along. Except on our wedding day, I’ve always weighed more than my husband. Even at my thinnest, 132 pounds, K weighed 2 pounds less (at the peak of his marathon running days). Although we’re both heavier now we’re probably fitter than we’ve been in years. We walk anywhere from 5 to 10 k every day and we eat pretty healthy meals.

I’ve always worked as a teacher but at numerous different schools and I’ve changed specialties over the years. K on the other hand has had a lot of different jobs but he’s happiest working on his own. He’s been self employed for over 20 years.

People often ask what our secret is to maintaining such a long relationship. There really is no secret. We have our rough patches just like everyone else but we work through them together. We also give each other a lot of freedom to pursue our interests. K has always supported my little business adventures over the years and encourages me when I take courses and classes. I do the same for K. A few years back K was travelling to Ireland on his own almost every year. I knew it was important to him to keep in touch with his family and travelling in June or October made sense, money wise. Of course that meant that I couldn’t go because I’d be working. On the other hand, however, I have the cottage and I spend a great deal of time there during the summer.

When we were first married I did most of the cooking but K has become a very good chef and he prepares at least 75% of all our meals. I can’t tell you how envious my friends are.

One of the most difficult periods of our marriage took place about 3 years ago when K was diagnosed with cancer, CLL. Last year he underwent 6 months of chemo and I’m happy to say that he is in remission for now. We know that it will return but we’re hoping that it will be later rather than sooner. Today he went for his routine three month check-up and everything looks good but more importantly he feels good. This is the best anniversary present for both of us.

July 2013 at Howth, Ireland

Installation Art Along the Shores of Lake Ontario

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..Inuksuit made with 21st century rubble

Colonel Sam Smith Park, on the shores of Lake Ontario, at the south end of Etobicoke was recently extended into the lake with landfill. It is one of Toronto’s newest and largest waterfront parks. Much of the park was created in front of the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and the RL Clark Filtration Plant. The waterfront lakefill area is mainly naturalized with grasses, shrubs and small trees. The shoreline is a combination of rocky headlands, cobble beaches and protected wetland. This blends further north into the mature trees and mowed lawns of the former hospital grounds and now the site for Humber College.

This is the park that Frances, my husband and I walked through every day (when I’m not at the cottage or away). This morning on our usual walk to the point I noticed that there were more pieces of installation art that someone has created, using the bricks and rubble from the landfill along the shoreline.

The sculptures were intended to look like inuksuit, a native stone landmark or cairn built and used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America.

An inuksuk was originally built as a travel marker for camps, hunting grounds, food caches and sometimes burial grounds. For more information about the inuksuk, check the Wikipedia site, here.

A Farm in the Middle of Canada’s Biggest City

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….another 5.3k walk to add to this morning’s 5.0k

Actually it’s already Wednesday but I’m writing this as if it’s still Tuesday. After this morning’s walk I came home to a message from my friend, D, inviting me to join her for lunch at a little bistro in Cabbagetown and then go for a stroll to the Riverdale Farm.

I called her back and arranged to meet her at her condo, downtown, park my car and then together we would walk over to Parliament Street and have lunch at the Merryberry.

The walk took us past numerous churches and Allan Gardens. The area has really changed in the last 20 years. There are more upscale restaurants and the old victorian homes have all been renovated, numerous times to accommodate the design needs of their predominantly upper middle class owners.

The restaurant, The Merryberry, is situated directly on Parliament, just north of Carlton. When we got there we were greeted in a friendly and welcoming manner and offered a choice of eating indoors or sitting out back on the patio. We chose to eat outside. There were lots of light fare lunch options. The soup of the day was a tomato peaches n’ cream soup. Both D and I decided on a half bowl of the soup and D had a salad and I ordered a ‘mash up’. A mash up is a sandwich with egg, goat cheese, avocado and chickpea salad served between two slices of multi-grain bread. I’m trying to eat less bread so I asked for it to be served open face. No problem.

When we finished our meal, D informed me that lunch was on her. It was an early birthday present for me. The big day is in two weeks. We ordered a lemon lime mouse to share for dessert. It was heavenly ….. light and tasty.

After lunch D and I started to walk toward the Riverdale Farm. It used to be the Riverdale Zoo and I remember going there with my parents when I was very young. Today the zoo animals are all gone and have been replaced with farm animals. It’s a great place to take city kids. There were lots of them there today, either with their parents or with a daycare or summer school group.

After walking around the barns and the pens there are several hiking trails that one can use. We walked down a very steep embankment toward a pond that has been restored to its original condition. If it wasn’t for the noise from the cars on the Don Valley Expressway you wouldn’t know that you were in the middle of Toronto.

Wildflowers in T.O.

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..back to our morning walks

Today started out as an exceptionally beautiful day.

As hard as I try, I can’t keep up with my husband and the dog on our morning walks. I watched from a distance today and counted K’s steps and discovered that we both take the same amount of steps in the same amount of time but my stride is so much shorter, due to my shorter legs.

Frances runs twice as far as both of us but today she kept running back to me to make sure that I was okay. How sweet! I’m not upset that K walks ahead of me and he doesn’t worry about me. It works for both of us and so when I stop to take photographs I take my time to get that perfect shot and then continue on my way. Sometimes I run to catch up and occasionally K will stop at one of the benches and waits until Frances has one more swim and I come into view. Here are a few of the wildflowers that I observed on our walk this morning.

Back from the Cottage

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….3 glorious days with my girls and my husband

Friday of last week I spent four hours waiting to see my doctor. After the last trip to the cottage I came home with a slightly scratchy throat. Over the next three days it got much worse and very sore. I had to keep a bottle of water with me at all times to keep from choking,…..it was that bad.

When I finally saw my doctor he was very apologetic for the long wait and checked out my throat. Apparently it didn’t look that bad but he said that my glands were definitely swollen so he prescribed me with an antibiotic and a special throat rinse that actually numbs the tissue.

When I got home I packed the car for the cottage and picked up my oldest daughter and her partner and headed north. I was worried about leaving so late on a Friday but the traffic wasn’t too bad and we made pretty good time getting to the ferry dock. My husband, our younger daughter and the two dogs had left much earlier in the day and were already well into cottage mode when we arrived.

We had perfect weather all weekend. I avoided the water, except for one day, because of my throat but we all got much needed rest and by Sunday I started to feel a lot better. On Saturday evening, after dark, the four girls headed toward the beach with our blankets and cameras to watch the Perseid meteor showers. The best night is actually tonight but we managed to see some spectacular shooting stars in the first few minutes at the beach. As far a photos go we weren’t very successful capturing the night sky.

We all shared in the preparation of meals and on Sunday night we invited our cottage neighbours over for a pizza fest. A and J really wanted to bake pizza in the BBQ so they bought most of the toppings and I bought the pizza dough from our local Italian bakery.

Doing pizza in the BBQ is a bit tricky but after experimenting with the heat settings and raising the pans off the grill we managed to make 5 delicious pies. One was even made with gluten free dough for two of our neighbours who are gluten intolerant. We also made two huge salads to round out the meal. Of course what would pizza be without a glass or two of good red wine?

All of us were able to spread the weekend over to Monday. My husand, my daughter G and the dogs left on one of the earlier boats and A, J and I stayed a little bit longer. After cleaning up the cottage and packing the car, A and J went for one last walk along the beach. We relaxed for a bit on the deck and tried to get some photos of the hummingbirds.

Like I said we ‘tried’ to get photos of the hummingbirds. This camera is much better than the one I used last year so I think I’ll try it again when I go back up later this week.

The trip back on the ferry treated us to some beautiful cloud formations over the lake. I’m inspired to try painting these beauties.

Highlights of My Trip to Ireland

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….my most memorable moments

Time Spent With the Irish Cousins

Checking out Dublin With Our Son

Meeting Our Son’s Beautiful Girlfriend

Our Trip to Westport

Our Day at Howth

The Museums, Art Galleries and Beautiful Gardens

Spending Time With My Wonderful Husband

….and Finally, Finding a Good Cup of ‘Coffee’ in Ireland (something we had a hard time finding 9 years ago)

Malahide….a Seaside Gem

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…….our last day trip outside of Dublin

On our second last full day in Ireland we decided to take a bus to the seaside town of Malahide. As with Howth, it was just a city bus ride away. We left our hotel early in the morning, caught the bus to the city centre and then made our connection for the Malahide bus. Unfortunately we missed the bus by a couple of minutes and it was almost an hour before the next bus.

Luckily we were in the centre of town and there was a lot to see and do in the space of that hour. When we finally boarded the bus we found a seat on the upper deck right at the front, so we had a great view of the countryside on our journey. I only wish that the windows had been a little cleaner, so some of the photos might appear to have a smudge or two on them.

The drive took us north of Howth and along some very pretty coastline. When we arrived in Malahide we were greeted by a small town with a very touristy feel. Down the centre of the street a small orange train made its way toward the Malahide Castle Estate, past numerous gift shops, travel centres, restaurants and small businesses.

We quickly got our bearings and started to walk towards the grounds of Malahide Castle. K’s cousin highly recommended going there and paying to see the inside of the castle.

As we walked we noticed a large number of young families with small children and babies in strollers making their way to the same place. Not only is there the castle but as we discovered there is an amazing playground and numerous sports fields around the area that is very popular with the locals.

When we got to the visitors centre we paid for the tour and made our way to the castle’s entrance. We passed the old Abby and cemetery that surrounds it along the path and off in the distance we could see the magnificent grounds that surround the castle. One tree on the grounds is over 500 years old and is quite spectacular. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

Inside the castle, as we were waiting for the tour to start, we were able to visit the small historical museum that gave us some background on the castle itself and its inhabitants over the centuries. It turned out that this was the only place inside the castle that we were allowed to take photographs.

The tour itself was very informative but a tad short. We were allowed into four rooms.

Malahide castle has been a fortress and a private home for over 800 years. The Talbot family lived here from 1185 to 1973, when the last Talbot died. The house is furnished with beautiful period furniture together with an extensive collection of Irish portrait paintings, mainly from the National Gallery.( This is the reason why we couldn’t take photographs of the interior)

The history of the Talbot family is recorded in the Great Hall, where portraits of generations of the family tell their own story of Ireland’s stormy history. Many additions and alterations have been made to this romantic and beautiful structure, but the contours of the surrounding parklands have changed little in 800 years, retaining a sense of the past.(Copied from http://www.visitdublin.com/Asset/See_and_Do/Malahide_Castle)

After exploring the visitor’s centre, making a few purchases from the sportswear store (located next to the centre) and walking about the 250 acre park that surrounds the castle we made our way back into town and down to the quays looking for a place to have lunch.

Much to our chagrin we discovered that all the seaside restaurants were closed and were only open for dinner. We finally found a pub that my husband had been to on his last visit with the Dublin cousins and we sat down to a delicious meal of seafood entrees. Afterwards we easily found the bus stop that would take us back into Dublin and we enjoyed the scenery going in the opposite direction back into town.