Monday, January 23, 2012

Fun stuff

Life just goes on being lifelike, which is to say, busy. Today, for instance, Piglet and Eeyore had to be rescued from a cloud. They'd been out in the rain, gotten wet, and evaporated up to the cloud when the rain evaporated.



Here we were doing an experiment of sorts. The green layer is water with food dye. The yellowish layer is cooking oil. You then add Alka-Seltzer or some similar fizzy stuff. Hey, presto, bubbles of green water rise and fall through the oil. Further experimentation needs to be done to determine if it can be made to look like a slightly less manic lava lamp.



Here you see what happens when you empty the bottle into a bowl and add some paint. It should be noted that plastic Pooh figurines get especially oily when dropped into such a bowl.



This weekend we went in search of snow. It was our first trip to Mt. Hood, which is just plain silly, given how close it is. There was indeed snow. Lots of snow. The Spawn was introduced to the delightful idea of being towed around in a sled. The only thing we didn't manage was a nice mug of hot chocolate while watching the snow fall. Next time, maybe.



Oh, and the snow DID fall. Quite heavily it fell. It was really lovely and made me soooo glad we're not at snow elevation.

Monday, January 16, 2012

GFCF pizza crust--no xanthan gum

Okay, so recipes I don't normally post, but it's a way for me to keep track of 'em, so there.

Pizza Crust

Preheat oven to 218C/425F.

In a large bowl, whisk well the following:
85g (2/3C) sorghum flour
107g (2/3C) superfine brown rice flour
120g (1C) tapioca flour
2T dry yeast
1T chia seeds, ground (that's 1T before grinding)
2t plain gelatin
1t salt
1t sugar

Warm 1 1/3C milk-oid (real milk or non-dairy milk) to 43C/110F,
to this add:
2t olive oil
2t cider vinegar

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. This will make a thick batter, NOT a dough. Using a silicon spatula (or something of the sort), spread the batter onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper--my pan is 30cm X 35cm/12" X 14"--or two smaller baking sheets. Here you can let the dough rise for half an hour which is the preference of the Better Half, or immediately bake it, which is the preference of the Spawn. Bake for 10 minutes, flip the crust(s) and bake for another 8-10 minutes. Take the crust out of the oven and top as you wish. We usually brush the crust with olive oil, then put on cheese and olives, this being the best way to do it according to the Spawn. Bake topped crust until cheese is all bubbly. Remove and watch in awe as the Spawn eats more than half the resulting pizza.