I think everyday is a time to celebrate. 

I got out my Stangl tea pot and cups and saucers to go with some tea (Twinings Lemon and Ginger) and

the cupcakes I made the other day.

Just Cynthia and I enjoyed this particular treat.

Actually, Cynthia bought me this cute little machine the other day- and I decided to

give it a try.  It was a dark and rainy sort of day, and I needed something to lift

my our spirits – so I made gingerbread cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing.

They looked so pretty and bright that I matched them up with the bright brown, yellow, and

green Stangl plates and the whole room looked a little like Spring!

I’ve also made some German Chocolate cup cakes with a box cake, and mini quiches-

The crusts were cut to size and placed into the cup indentions while the machine

was still cold- and about 10 minutes later-

beautiful-toasty and delicious quiche!

Frank says-“Just what you need another gadget!”

But he loved the quiche which I served with a bowl of soup.

Add a fruit salad and it made a wonderful meal!

I’m going to make some pecan tarts this weekend. These are a really nice size-

larger than the mini muffin pan- but smaller than a regular sized cupcake pan.

I really love gadgets!

So many happy faces- so much good food- such a  great time!

We had a pre-Valentine’s tea and a wonderful pre-Valentine’s lunch with some of my favorite

people!

Last week I finally started to feel better and when Allyson invited us over for tea- I literally jumped

on it.  I’ve been staying home-watching the snow fall- watching the snow melt- watching the snow fall-

it is a long process to get better-  and kind of lonely,so it was so much fun sharing time with loved ones.

And then when I got home – I had a wonderful package waiting for me.

My son Luke sent  me these wonderful toe shoes- aren’t they cute?  I know I don’t have cute feet- but with these shoes-

I don’t even mind putting up some pictures of my ugly feet with these on!  Called vibram fivefingers, they are closely fitted

to fit closely to my feet,  I’m looking forward to wearing these on the beach this coming spring and summer.

First of all, let me say – if you have only had store bought bread wraps, then

you haven’t really had anything close to a good wrap.

These have a texture that just isn’t there- and an aroma that transforms the

whole making and eating experience into an occasion!

I patched together 3 different recipes to come up with one that used the

ingredients and processes that I wanted to incorporate into my wraps.

And we ate the first ones still warm from the skillet- this in itself makes the

whole job totally worthwhile!  I’ve made them again when the first batch was

used up- I have a feeling I will be making these up for a long time to come.

Recipe for Quinoa and Spelt flat bread wraps-

*quinoa (pronounced Keen’-wha) is the seedy top of a vegetable related to spinach.  It was used in the

Andes region of South America thousands of years ago- you can read about the

origin here.

**Spelt is a complex wheat originally found in the Mesopotamia region.  It predates

bread wheat – you can read about it here.

Ingredients :

2 cups AP flour

1 cup spelt flour

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup potato flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast

2-4 TBS vegetable oil

!/3 cup quinoa

1 cup boiling water

Method:

Place 2 cups AP flour in small bowl and pour 1 1/4 cups of boiling water into bowl and stir well.

Set aside and cool for 30 minutes.

Brown quinoa in skillet and add 1 cup boiling water.  Cover and simmer until water is all absorbed,

take off heat and cool.

In a large bowl add all ingredients together and knead for about 10 minutes. (Make sure that the boiled

flour and quinoa aren’t too hot to the touch, but don’t wait until they are cold either- warmish would

be right.)

Oil bowl and turn the ball of dough over so that it has an oily surface on top and cover and let raise

for an hour.  Separate into 8 to 10 balls.

Roll out on lightly floured surface until very thin- then carefully transfer to lightly oil

medium hot skillet

.And cook until browned.

Turn over and brown other side.

 

Cover with tea towel to keep warm and use immediately.

Or cool completely and put into plastic bag and use later.  I kept them

in the fridge and they were good for a week. ”

I grilled chicken slices, onion and green peppers, added some tomato and scallions-

put down a layer of hummus and added a dollop of sour cream.

Rolled them up-

 

And YUM!  Lunch was served!

Jordan especially loved these and was quite glum when I gave the last one to his aunt.

So I made them again on Sunday.

Try these – they really aren’t that hard to make- and you won’t ever want to go back to

the tasteless cardboard they sell in the grocery stores for wraps!