Simple Gluten-Free: Pretty Pink Strawberry Icing Cupcakes

I know that there are people who get all kinds of anxious when they know I'm coming to their home. Why? Because they don't know what to feed me. Where I am hospitality is a big part of life but for some the thought of creating a gluten-free meal or snack is overwhelming. People are afraid that they'll inadvertently contaminate something, or that it won't taste good, or that it's just too difficult. I try to give these people a few simple guidelines.

1. I come for the company; not for the food: Seriously, food is not high on the list of things that excite me. I am one of those people that will literally forget to eat. I am more interested in good conversation and laughs than what's being served.

2. You will not kill me: I am usually the one that inadvertently poisons myself because I'm being lazy. If I get contaminated it's my own fault for not asking more questions or checking labels. And even if I'm contaminated it does not always necessarily equal physical illness and if it does, oh well, I'll have to be more careful next time. 

3. Gfree can be simple. Meat, vegetables, fruits and most dairy are gluten free. Simple, old-fashioned meals are usually gluten free meals or can be made to be easily. 

4. I don't expect any extra effort to be made on my behalf and I am very appreciative of any effort that is.

On that note - this is not really a food blog. However, I thought I might post a few things that I make gluten-free that are as simple as it can get. 

Golden Cupcakes with 

Homemade Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

These are simple because I am going to tell you to bypass all those recipes that require three different kinds of exotic flours and go to a grocery store and get some Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Golden Cake mix. Exotic flour recipes are good; but they can be unpredictable sometimes and require a few tries to get it right. I think if you want to make something yummy for your gluten-free friend or family member, Betty Crocker is the way to go. 

This particular mix will require three large eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla extract (make sure it's g-free, the common Club House brand is as off 2012 at least), 1/2 cup of butter and 2/3 cup of water. That's all on the back of the box.

This is probably the best gluten-free cake mix I have come across. They come out of the oven after 20 mins a beautiful colour and a nicely rounded top. 

Once the cupcakes are cool it's time for the icing. You will need:

250 g of cream cheese (softened)

1/4 cup of butter (softened)

Half cup of cut up fresh strawberries

3 or more cups of icing sugar

1. Wash and cut up your strawberries. It's not an exact science. You need about a half cup or a bit more of strawberries that have been cut up into a size that your electric hand mixer can manage to beat to a pulp. Put them aside.

2. Soften up your butter and cream cheese together in the microwave (40 seconds) throw into a mixing bowl and cream it together with the mixer. 

3. Gradually add a cup of icing sugar at a time. I usually add in the strawberries before the third cup of icing sugar. This turns the icing to the pretty pink colour! No food dyes necessary.

4. You can add in icing sugar to get the consistency you desire. I'm not a huge fan of gritty, stiff icings so I tend to leave mine more on the pudding-like side of the spectrum. But add your sugar as you see fit. Then you can either pipe the icing on each adorable little cupcake or take a knife and slather it on. 

These simple cupcakes took less than an hour to make and they are stress and gluten-free. I hope yours taste as good as mine! 

How is Your Courage?

"How is your courage?"

Since coming to my community and church I have learned a number of new words, phrases and terms that now grace my vocabulary. Out of all of them this my favourite.

To break it down even further I would say that the words "discouragement" and "courage" have changed my perspective on life. A strong statement for two words I realize, but I'm an English major - I'm allowed to have these kind of epiphanies.

I believe that discouragement is a positive word. We tend to use dramatic words with such finality when we're dissatisfied with our life circumstances. Sad, upset, depressed, angry, mad, hurt, resentful. Not that these feelings aren't warranted at times but I wonder if maybe we give these negative feelings far too much power by defining them all the time. After all, they are just feelings. Feelings come and go and are very biased to the situation or person they relate to.

To me, "discouraged" describes a state where you have demonstrated that you have courage, but something has happened that has made you forget that courage, suppress your courage or lose your courage. I think "discouragement" is a positive word because if you can acknowledge that you're simply feeling discouraged then the solution is easy! Go get more courage!

I don't know where to get "happy" or where to get "satisfaction" or "justification" but I know where to go to get courage.

First, you can find courage in the core of your being. It is something you can make a habit of self-producing. It can never be fully taken away away from you - you can just make more. You utilize your core courage by making conscious decisions about how you want to handle your discouraging circumstance. Each little decision to press forward, despite the circumstances increases your courage.

Secondly, courage can be given to you by your friends and family. It's a gift. Sometimes it's a few words, or a long talk, a hug or just their support. You might need this first before you can even find your intrinsic core courage factory. Having friends and family that can give you this gift is invaluable.

However, the most valuable place to go find yourself some new courage is in the Bible. Seriously! If you're not inclined to believe me then I don't know what else to tell you. . .good luck I guess? Did you know that God tells us to be strong and of good courage about 25 times in the Old Testament alone?And most of those times he is making a promise to see us through and lead us.


"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Deuteronomy 31:5-7


God spends a lot of time throughout the whole book trying to reassure us that He is with us, will never leave us, and has a plan for us. He is the cure for discouragement. By ourselves we may not have enough courage to get through but God can give us what we need if we ask. 


That's why I think the words "discouraged" and "courage" are powerful. They prompt you to take action. When I received "bad" news the other night, my friend noticed that I was upset and she hugged me and said that she knew it was discouraging. The little light in my head went on and I realized that the news was nothing but discouraging. I'm quite used to discouragement and I know how to handle it! My friend gave me courage, then I read my Bible and was encouraged enough that my personal little courage factory moved into gear. There's no need to wallow in discouragement if you know what you need to do. 


How is your courage?

Awesome Stuff #6: Help from Strangers

I’m not going to lie. It was a bit of a rough night. After working a busy day shift with only three hours of sleep in me and in very icy and snowy road conditions I headed home, prepared for the fact that due to the amount of snow that fell out of the sky I would likely have to park my car on a plowed street and walk the rest of the way home. This did not deter me as I knew that my baby Jack was at home waiting for me. But it was worse than I had expected. Much, much worse. The west side of the highway probably got more than double the snow than the east where I was traveling from. This in its self is not a shocker. Living in relative proximity to the mountains - actually living in Alberta at all makes a massive snowfall an expected occurrence. HOWEVER, it becomes a bit more of an issue when your municipality decides that plowing the roads (any of the roads) is simply not on its list of things to do.

I needed to get milk from the store where I proceeded to get stuck in the parking lot. A wonderful man saw my plight and began rocking my car until I was free from what our slightly oddball news meterologist calls “grippy snow”. Grateful for the help I proceeded to head home and turned onto what is not a primary road but the largest north/south running street on the west side of town only to find a foot of snow spread across it. I kid you not! In the wisdom of my “many” years of winter driving experience I decided to take a high-speed run at it, figuring that it surely couldn’t be like that the whole way through. I made it about halfway before I lost control and 360’d it to the buried curb. Miraculously I managed to rock out of that one myself and continued the chaotic path to my street. I went to turn into the street I planned to park my car on and was dead stuck. Actually, that’s not even true. I was completely high centered. Spinning in the air. 


First I was given the blessing of two young men who began trying to push me out. After about 15 minutes of pushing another two gentlemen joined the efforts until I was free for a whole 5 metres before another two guys pushed me again until I was well away from my home where Jack waited. I could not stop. There was no where I could stop the car without getting stuck and I needed to still get out for work in the morning. I was so frustrated! What did the town expect us commuters to do? I finally decided that the best option over all was to head back the direction I came - back to work and ask for the hospitality of friends for the evening. They gracefully accommodated me. On top of that my dad offered to go and get Jack just as soon as the streets were plowed (he also ended up shoveling my driveway {thanks dad} ). 

You might think that this is where the story stops and I end with an AWESOME. But it gets better!

It is definitely awesome that I have friends and a dad that would go out of their way to help me out. It is especially heart warming when you have a total of seven strangers that stop what they are doing to push you out of a rut. 

But you know what else is awesome? Getting to be one of those strangers! I came home tonight and got stuck again trying to turn onto my road. Another stranger jumped out of his truck and pushed me out. I yelled my thanks as I struggled to get control on the road and began thinking how I wished I could somehow give back - I mean I just had a platoon of strangers help me out in the past 24 hours, I should be contributing something back in the way of blessings. 

I finally made it to my beautiful home and quickly jumped out and shoveled the remains of the plow so I could pull into my snow-free garage. Suddenly a car came by and stopped and three women around my age grabbed shovels out of the trunk and began shoveling one of the driveways a few houses down from me. I could tell from the conversation that this house belonged to someone they knew didn’t have anyone to help shovel their driveway. I was being given a chance to give back! I brought my shovel and together the four of us shoveled a truck load of snow out of that driveway. 

What a great feeling.

So! Having strangers help you out and being able to help a stranger out. . .

AWESOME!!!!!!!!