Written by Natalie of Gluten A Go Go.

Making beautiful and flavorful food is the goal of every baker and cook. For baked goods that involves creating carbon dioxide, which is odorless and also colorless. In your kitchen you’ll find carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages, candy, beer or wine and in your breads or cookies. Carbon dioxide is what makes the pockets that give our baked goods their light and airy texture.

To get carbon dioxide into your baked goods you need to use a leavening agent. These agents can be chemical or natural in nature. The common chemical agents are cream of tartar, baking powder and baking soda.

Written by Phoo-D of Phoo-D.

This is the time of year when cabin fever starts to set in with a vengeance. Winter has worn out its welcome and we are ready to show it the door, telling it to go and not come back for another year. The sun doesn't help with matters, teasing us with longer days when it is still too cold to go outside. It is enough to make even the heartiest of souls start dreaming of the beach. However apart from a lucky few, most of us will remain landlocked and snow covered until Spring. What could possibly remedy this unfortunate situation? Why an indoor beach party, of course!

An indoor beach party can be as elaborate or as simple as you desire. With the right setting, music, food and drinks, even your most theme-party-averse friends will get into the spirit and for a few hours you will feel like Winter is slipping away.

Written by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction.

When the winter temperature gets warmer during the day and freezing at night, it is a sure sign of the beginning of the maple syrup season in Quebec. This is the ideal temperature to ensure the sap flow. The province of Quebec in Canada is the world’s largest maple syrup producer.

A Visit to the Gallant Maple Pavilion

During the maple syrup season, it is a Quebec tradition that has sugar shacks or ‘cabanes à sucre' offer maple syrup meals as well as maple syrup products to the public.

It is an event that brings family and friends together for an afternoon for the sweet celebration of spring.

One of my favourite ‘cabanes à sucre' is the Gallant Maple Pavilion located in Rigaud, Quebec which was constructed from the trees that were salvaged from the 1998 ice storm.

Written by Caren of Photographs and Recipes.

It’s Valentine’s Day again! Anyone who thinks that the surest way to a man or a woman’s heart is through his or her stomachs was definitely thinking about Valentine’s Day. The world over, celebrations are inextricably linked with food (or is it just me? I mean do you associate any celebration with playing Scrabble???)

While my first realization of what Valentine’s Day meant came when I was fourteen, it did not mean much to me till I was sixteen and had what one would call a sweetheart! This sweetheart was exactly 11months younger than I was and about 1-½ inches shorter. When he gave me a lovely, cuddly little teddy bear and an accompanying box of chocolates, I was swept off my feet. The next minute when I came crashing down, I had to wonder what storm caused it. The storm’s name, it turned out was MOTHER.

How was I to explain this new addition to my mom who up until then had no idea that I had a boyfriend and I was certain, had every intention to ensure that I did not have one till I turned 30!

Written by Natalie of Gluten A Go Go.

Baking or cooking with alternative flours, all of which are naturally gluten free, can expand the range of flavors, textures and nutrition to your food. All flours have a unique taste that can enhance or subtly change the flavor of your recipe. Some flours have a shy taste and others are bold enough to hijack your food. Another consideration when using these flours is their texture. Some starches or flours have a powdery texture and can billow around when you try to use them, while others have a slightly fibrous texture. Additionally, many alternative flours can have a significant impact on the nutritional quality of your food. For example, there isn’t much of any nutritional value to tapioca starch, while lentil and bean flours can add protein. Nut meals can add a wide variety of nutrients from protein and calcium to magnesium and more.

Written by Janice of Makan Time.

So that I’m clear, this article is just about the rice dishes I like to eat when I go home to Malaysia. This is the story of a day of eating rice.

I’m a self banished Malaysian lucky enough to live sunny/cloudy Sydney, Australia. Lucky because it’s got the warm beaches that I rarely get to go to, the lovely cafes which I try to not buy coffee from (I’m saving to buy a home and the coffee is often far too good to not buy), and the brilliant food and restaurant scene which I indulge too often in. I’m also lucky that the proximity of Australia to Asia, and its huge Asian population means that I’m never too far from Malaysian comfort food.

Written by Natalie of Gluten a go go.

My kitchen has become a coveted rodent party palace. Who would’ve thought I’d need to keep mouse traps going year round? Or scour my pantry for signs of mini mammal nocturnal visitations every morning? If I have to purge my pantry and sanitize it one more time, I swear I’ll give into some primal scream therapy…oh, wait…I did that already.

Guess what made me so popular amongst the local rodentia? It isn’t my little garden, not my dog’s big bag of lamb kibble and not my bags of various types of sugars. No, it’s all because we had to go gluten free. Huh?! What has that got to do with anything you ask? Well, it’s all because of the grains I collected; sorghum, millet, amaranth and quinoa. Not to mention the buckwheat, corn, rice and sweet potato.

Have you ever been to a pizzeria and seen the person at the counter working the pizza dough? They knead the dough a little with their hands next they stretch it out and then flip the dough up in the air and let it spin a little, stretching out the disc of dough. Gluten is what holds the dough together as it is worked and spun in the air.
Pizza is problematic for the person with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or intolerance and certain grain allergies. Since these people can’t tolerate gluten or wheat, they will need to find another way to hold their baked goods together, rather than gluten, as well as finding other flours to use.

Written by Olivia of From the Kitchen of Olivia.

Consuming locally grown and locally made foods seems to be quite a trend these days on the food scene. However, depending on the amenities available to you in your community and your level of commitment to support them, achieving that deep-local sensibility is not always so easy to come by. Winter in a chilly climate definitely adds to the challenge of remaining steadfast to the local creed.

'With festivities ringing out the “oughties” behind us, it is time to take a deep breath and look ahead to a new decade. If the holiday season proved to be indulgent times, as is often the case, now is the time to plan for a healthy start. The world has shrunk in the past 10 years. We have access to a global bounty of ingredients and recipes. Healthy doesn’t mean bland and boring anymore.

Written by Sharon of The Evolution of Me.

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and so begins the planning for a New Year’s Eve party. It is the perfect opportunity to get together a group of your foodie friends for some eating, drinking and fun. New Year’s Eve is known for all things appetizer when it comes to food. Little bits of food that can be consumed while chatting. There are all kinds of options to make and truly, there is no better opportunity to showcase some of the daring things you have done over the year. Look back over some of the challenges we’ve had and I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s lots of opportunity there!! Here is a list of some things that can help make your New Year’s Eve Party fantastic.