On Friday, I held a Canada party. It was the night of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics games being held in Vancouver, Canada. Over the previous couple of days, I started feeling a sense of deep Canadian spirit and wanted to host a night to celebrate being Canadian and the Canadian athletes. I invited a few friends and family members over and boy, did we celebrate! We ate, drank, and cheered for Canada-and what an opening ceremonies it was.

I even put up a poster with the question “who, do you think is going to light the final torch?”-and many guesses were made.

While getting ready for the party, I tried to make the food and beverages as Canadian as possible. But most importantly, make the evening GLUTEN FREE. I want to ENJOY the evening, like everyone else. I want to be able to relax, and not worry about cross contamination, if I have a “wheat” dish on the table. It can be done!

Here are some photos of the food and beverages…

Can’t have a “Canadian” party without KETCHUP chips!

Warm and gooey- Crab and Artichoke dip

Canadian Brie cheese and Hippie chips(great gluten free, full of nuts and fibre chips)

Vegetable platter

Fresh strawberries and blueberries

Shrimp and cocktail sauce

Stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon

Vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing

Gotta have “Canadian” napkins

Bruschetta topped crostini(the crostini, is the gluten free bread I get from GF Patisserie bakery in Cochrane

A wonderful Canadian red wine from the Okanagan Valley

Can’t have a Canadian party without Canadian beer.

GO CANADA GO!!

On a side note, I do have to send my condolences to the parents of the luge athlete Nodar Kumartiashvilli who was killed on the luge track. My son David, was on the CANADIAN junior national luge team and did the sport of luge for 7 years. I am very greatful that he survived the sport with no major injuries, and my heart goes out to the parents of the athlete.

Let us celebrate the Olympics and pray that the rest of the Olympics go injury free!

What to make for supper?

What else can I do with pasta?

These are questions many of us deal with when preparing meals for our families.

I happen to be at home full-time right now, therefore have more time to make the meals for my bunch of men.

Not everyone is able to be at home, but we all still need quick and easy meals.

This is one example, I hope you all enjoy.

Creamy Shrimp Pasta

1 pkg.(16 oz) rice pasta( I used penne)
1 bag, lge raw, peeled pacific white shrimp
½ pkg (125g) cream cheese
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
Juice of one lemon

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until done. Drain well and place in large bowl.

In skillet, sauté shrimp with oil and garlic. Cook until shrimp is pink, then drain, and transfer to the pasta bowl.

Give same skillet, a quick wipe with a paper towel.

Place back on low heat. Stir cream cheese, and lemon juice. Cook until blended, stirring constantly. Cook approximately 5 minutes.

Pour sauce over shrimp and pasta and stir well.

Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese.

Serve right away.

** I found this recipe would serve easily 6-8 people.

Next time I make this recipe I will double the cream cheese sauce. My boys like pastas to be really creamy and they found this a little dry.

Well, I am back in Calgary. Sad to leave my friend in Texas but always happy to see my husband, kids, and friends. As soon as the weekend hit I headed to my local farmers market. I visit the one at the Currie Barracks here in Calgary. When I walk through the doors I am always overwhelmed with happiness. To see the stands overflowing with homegrown, non-pesticide, some organic vegetables makes my mouth water. The abundance of colored fruit and vegetables is a sensory thing for me. IT MAKES ME SMILE!!

So, I walked up and down the aisles-hitting my favorite stands and loaded 3 bags full. I can’t wait to get home and bake and cook. This is a favorite time of the year for me. The Fall. The days are getting cooler so you want the oven on. You want to smell freshly baked cookies and cakes in the house.

You want to smell herbs and vegetables roasting in the oven.

Can you tell I am excited?

I need your help! What should I make first?

1. Quinoa salad
2. Minestrone Soup
3. Homemade pasta sauce
4. Butternut squash soup
5. Pumpkin curry
6. Apple crisp
7. Carrot cake
8. Butter chicken with roasted vegetables

Ahhh, the list is endless. Follow along on my baking and roasting journey and you too, will have amazing smells coming from your kitchen.

Well, this is my first blog. And as any journey, I hope to lead myself and others to a love of food and also make the food gluten free. I will experience bumps in the road, but I will write about those bumps, how I feel about them, and also, write about the many successes.

This has been a rough week for me. For some reason, weight has always been an issue in my life-and a really hard one at that.Let me give you a little background about me-without going into specifics about my childhood(my kids would cringe if I got into that).

I was on my first diet when I was 10. And back then, a diet meant A LOT of COTTAGE CHEESE. Only recently have I been able to eat cottage cheese-that tells you how much cottage cheese I ate as a kid.

But through the years I have lost and gained-going on various diets-and at times suffering from asthma and food allergies. After my third child was born I gained a lot of weight. Yes, you heard me right AFTER he was born. I was diagnosed with low thyroid and basically told that I would gain weight through the years.

Four years ago I started seeing a weight management doctor named Dr. McKenna and in working with her, I followed a low carb diet that worked. And lost 50 lbs and felt great! I thought I had won the battle.

And as always my journey continued. After reaching my goal Dr McKenna started me back on wheat………….and through the next year started gaining back the weight, but also getting sick. And as anyone who has celiac disease knows, when you eat gluten you get really sick. I was finally tested for celiac disease, and after a biopsy, got the diagnosis.

Now, for myself, I thought that once I stopped eating gluten, my body would stop thinking I was starving myself and I would stop gaining-and hopefully start losing. NOT SO!!

So, here I am! Fighting this weight battle again, while navigating myself through this wheat world we live in.
Beginning of the week, not great-but as always I am going to adapt myself. Take the battle on-and enjoy life also. I hope to figure out a balanced program of what I need, to with what my family will go along with-but still smiling through it all.

Today is going to be a great day!