Celebrating Thanksgiving Week with Gluten-Free Goodness #PieRecipe #Product Review

The arrival of the Glutino box for this month  was perfect for the Thansgiving week.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Glutino for continuously providing us with  gluten-free products.  They are a great resource company  especially for people who  watches their  gluten  intake.  They have  everything you need from  baking mixes to  snacks and other  stuff.  Gone are the days when gluten gree products  taste so bland, now, gluten-free products  are as delicious as regular products but  without the gluten. 

These are the goodies that Glutino sent us this month.  Vanila Creme and Choclate Vanilla cream cookies, chocolate cake mix, pie crust mix, blueberry and strawberry  frosted toaster pantries, chocolate covered wafer bites, and  salted caramel  covered pretzels.

The cookies  don't last  very long as the kids love to snack on it  when they get off from school.  My son finally tried the  the strawberry filled  pastry and he loves it.  Now, my husband  has a rival for this goodies lol.

The vanilla creme is my  mys on's favorite  dessert to take  for hos school lunch.  He love to have  a little sweet after  eating his packed lunch so I   put this on his lunch.

My daughter love thes mini butes  chocolate covered wafers.  I don't blame her because I love it too.

This reminds me of the wafer that I used to buy when I was in highschool.  So every time I bite into it, a lot of high school memories  are flooding in my mind.  

Our Thanksgiving week celebration was ffilled with gluten gree goodies including the pizza we baked two days before Thanksgiving. and the pie. You can check out the recipe for those through the link provided.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Squash #Pie #Recipe and a Gluten-Free Pie Crust

Last week, I got the courage to  bake a pie.  My daughter love pumpkin pie  so I thought of surprising her with a pie when she comes home from school. This is not a traditional pumpkin pie but a squash pie.  I still have many acorn squash  from our garden last summer  and after  cooking sevral dishes using  the squash, my  family are getting tired of it so I thought  why not try to use it  for making a pie.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups  baked acorn squash
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

For  Acorn Squash Puree

•  Wash  the squash and  cut them into halves.  Scrape the  seeds and  the stringy part out.  Once you  scraped the inside, placed the into a foil lined  baking  sheets (as shown below) for 40 minutes on a 350 F.  
• Wash the seeds and  roast it for 30 minutes.  It's a great snack while you are watching TV or  while preparing the pie.

• Once the squash are baked, let it cool and scrape the meat out.  Put it ion a bowl and set aside.

For Pie Crust:

•  Combine an entire bag of Glutino pie crust mix with 3/4 cup (12 tbsp) cold butter and mix it until it's crumbly.
•  Whisk 2 eggs and 4 tbsp vinegar together until it's foamy.  Mix  this into the dry ingredients. Stir until the mixture holds together.
•  Divide dough in half.  Refrigerate or freeze one for later use.  Chill the other half for  about an hour.  Allow the dough to rest  at a room temperature for 20 minutes  before rolling.

For the Pie:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 
• Whisk squash, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust and sprinkle the brown sugar  in top.  

• Bake 15 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick  inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. 

My lovelies can't even tell that I used squash instead of pumpkin.  I was very surprised actually that it turned out delicious, lol.  

It was a nice pie, perfect  for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

I made some pizza  at home  and used the pizza crust mix  that I have from last month's Glutino box.  The  mix included a pack of yeast.   All you need to  is add:

• 1 1/2 cups of warm water  and
• 6 tbsp of vegetable oil.  

After adding the other ingredients to the mix, I put the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour. For 12 inch pizza pans, you can divide the mix into 3 portions, that's what I did. These are the ingredients of our toppings. Green, red, and yellow ( hot)peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, tomatoes, and olives.

I pre-baked the crust for  20 minutes then I  put the toppings in.

Bake it  for another 15 minutes and then top it with cheese.

I over baked the crust so it was a little tough but still good.  I think next time, I will just  put the toppings without baking the  crust first.

I have more success with  the pie crust  than this pizza crust.  Nonetheless, the  toppings rocks!

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancake, Bacon, and Eggs for Weekend Breakfast

I love weekends because I get to sleep in, lol. I don't have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. Having a little extra time of sleep during the weekends gets me energized and that extra sleep inspires me to make good breakfast for the kiddos and husband.

I got this 3-set Green Earth frying pan from Ozeri to review so that added up to my enthusiasm of cooking our weekend breakfast.

These pan is on sale right now at amazon and it comes with free shipping so if you are in the market for new set of pans, you might want to check it out while it's on sale.

These textured ceramic non-stick pans are great to have in any one's kitchen. It's innovative textured surface delivers enhanced heat distribution. Their superior non-stick performance is great and you don't have to worry about any harmful fumes or toxins. Ever since I started using Ozeri pans, I have never bought any other brand but them. I love that it is super easy to clean.

I made some blueberry buckwheat pancake, bacon, and eggs last Saturday and mind you, we ate it all. We usually have some left over whenever the breakfast is pancake but U guess the addition of blueberry compote in the batter makes it better so they liked it even better.

Having three pans  is great  because I can cook everything  at the same time.  So when I got done  making the pancake, the bacon and eggs are still  hot.  

It's funny because, I was in a hurry when I cooked our breakfast that day. I was suppose to talk to my mother so when I got done cooking, I told them to eat but I brought my breakfast  by the phone.  I thought when I got done  talking to my Mom, I will come back in the table and find  more pancake but I was wrong, they ate  everything, lol.  

I really do like Ozeri's pans.  If you  take care of it the way you suppose to, you can use it for a long time.  The first  pan that I go from them, I used  an abrasive  cleaning material and it ruined it so after I learned my lesson, I never used that type of scrubbing material anymore.  I used  dish cloth now to clean my pans and it works great.  

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Thank a Veteran Today, They Deserve it #ThankAvEt #VeteransDay

The fighting in World War 1 ended on November 11, 1918.  Every year since then, people have honored anyone who has fought for his or her country.  The United States call this  day Veterans Day.  In Canada, it is called Remembrance Day.

 A family friend dropped by yesterday and  gave us a cake.  It's been three years now since they started their family tradition of thanking a vet, my husband included.  In our  street, there are three Veterans so the family gave each family a sweet treat.  Our two neighbors  are both Vietnam war vets and we  respect and salute them for that.

 My kids  brought  papers about  the  story of Veterans day.  I did not learn this when I took my  citizenship test but now I know that there are 35 countries who  in World War 1.  They fought for 5 years, from 1914-1918.  The United States fought in the war from 1917-1918.

 According to the story, when countries finally stopped fighting,  the leaders signed an armistice.  They signed the armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.  The armistice meant that the war is over.  President Wilson made November 11 a holiday to remember the ed of the war.  The holiday was called Armistice Day.

It said that the body of an unknown soldier  was brought to America from France.  His body was buried in a tomb at Arlington National Cemetery.  IT was called the  the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The US was in three more wars, World War 2 (this is where my father-in-law served). the Korean War, and the Vietnam war.  The name of the holiday was changed into Veterans Day.

  My husband served 20 years in the Navy.  He retired   five years ago.  He said that he learned a lot  in the military.  It taught him  discipline, work ethics and respect.

 He spent most of his tours in Asian countries such as Philippines, Kora,  and Japan.  He was stationed in Guam when I met him then he was stationed back here in the US for his retirement.  However, on his last two years of service, he was asked to be stationed in South Korea and we were able to  spent his last two years in the Navy with him.

 He is  glad he served, he is glad he retired but I can tell he miss the travels that he used to do when he was still in the service.  When he was interviewed for a book that a museum is trying to make, he told them that he would do it all over again if he has to.

 My kids admired  their Pap and Dad for their services.  They are their real heroes.  My son wants to join the military as well when he grows up.  Let us see if it doesn't change.  We will support him if he still interested in joining.

My father-in-law survived the WW2, he is now 93.  Two of his  brothers were also drafted in the military.  His brother Paul died in Normandy and was buried there.  I can't imagine how  their parents felt  when they were informed.  I remember Dad telling us a story when they were fighting the Japs in Japan, he said that one bullet  put a hole in his pants.  He believed God was looking  out for him that day.

To Dad, John, and all veterans, thank you so much for all your sacrifices!

Shadow Shots

If you get a chance, thank a Veteran today, they deserve it!