Gluten-free

21
Jan
2019

Just a little distracted

This past weekend was the Central Florida Highland Games. Which means that I haven’t so much as looked at my laptop since Thursday. However, a good time was had by all, WAY too much coquito poundcake was eaten, and I was told I looked like a Renaissance Jedi.

True to costumer form, I finished that coat Friday night to wear Saturday morning.

(And yes, that is a photo of the elusive Schechter-spouse)

This week will now be catch-up.

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

Forged in Fire
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 2

In other news, I am confirmed as a guest at Oasis 30, to be held May 31st to June 2nd at the Sheraton Orlando North in Maitland, Florida. The GOH is Adam-Troy Castro.

And in other OTHER news, this past week I found out that No Safewords 2 was out. I have two stories in this anthology, including the vampire story that inspired Layover.

To conclude, instead of an excerpt, I’m sharing a recipe today. My husband accused me of attempting to seduce strange men with this cake. It’s a very sexy cake.

Coquito Poundcake
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) Kerrygold unsalted Irish butter, melted
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 tsps gluten free vanilla
  • 3 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour (the blue package)
  • 2 tsps gluten free baking powder
  • 1 cup coquito (recipe to follow)
 
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bundt pan and LIBERALLY coat with cinnamon sugar
  2. Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Combine sugar and melted butter in mixer. Beat a medium speed until creamy, scraping bowl often. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, beat until well combined.
  4. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, alternating with coquito. Beat until well mixed.
  5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
Coquito:
Ingredients:
  • ½ cup water
  • 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 1/2 cups Bacardi rum
  • 27 oz Coconut milk (2 13.5 oz cans)
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
 
  1. Put water, sweetened condensed milk, rum and vanilla into a blender. Add coconut milk to the 6 cup mark. (You’ll have coconut milk left.)
  2. Blend. Chill for up to six hours. Blend again before serving (or using in cake).
Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, Adavar, appearances, baking, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Heir to the Firstborn, kvelling, No Safewords, Swords of Charlemagne, Table of Stone, why-the-writing-is-slow, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
25
Nov
2018

Cookiepocalypse is nigh!!!

Well, it won’t happen this week. I have too much to do this week. But Cookiepocalypse 2018 is coming!

Now, if you’re asking yourself what the heck I am talking about, welcome to the funhouse. You must be new since last December. Allow me to explain.

Cookiepocalypse is what I call my annual holiday baking. I regularly make enough cookies to feel a small army. A good number of them are given away, but for the past couple of years, I have been recording my culinary feats of derring-do under the tag Cookiepocalypse.

This year, the expected goodie list included:

  • Chocolate chip cookies
  • Carob chip cookies (because we have chocolate allergies in the house — the chocolate ones are for gifting)
  • Molasses cookies
  • Italian three-color cookies (a two day process. WORTH IT!!!!)
  • Biscotti (what kind depends on my mood when I go to the pantry. I’m thinking gingerbread this year. Or maybe maple walnut. Or both. Could be both.)
  • Thimble cookies (a shortbread base with some kind of jam in the center.)
  • Almond macaroons (a new recipe for me)
  • Mince cookies

And there might be some kind of surprise cookie thrown in, just because I catch a wild hare on baking day. Oh, and there will be struffuli on Christmas Eve. Because there has to be.

I will still be writing in and around this. Written in Water proceeds apace, and looks to be done sometime in the next six to eight thousand words — call it two to three chapters.  Then I need to do edits and prep the book to go live once the last chapter runs on Patreon, and get the ideas I have for Forged in Fire down on paper.

And in January I start Table of Stone, which will be the last book in Swords of Charlemagne.

And, in other news, I get to go back to the gym this week! I have to go in to the doctor on Friday for more xrays, to see how the toe is healing. At this rate, we won’t need lights on our Christmas tree — I’ll be glowing by the end of the month.

See you all next week!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2018 plans, 2019 plans, Adavar, baking, Cookiepocalypse, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Heir to the Firstborn, Planning, Swords of Charlemagne, Table of Stone, the-end-is-near, Written in Water, 0 comments
17
Dec
2017

Work in Progress: The White Raven, week 9

Week Nine. The week where everything went off the rails. AKA, the week I baked. A lot.

It’s only because I was so diligent in the early weeks that I’m still on track for finishing by the end of February. However, I’m just barely on track, so I need to get my words on the page this week. No excuses. Nose to the grindstone and all that.

Right?

The White Raven
Week Nine Total Wordcount

And in other news — there were cookies this week. Cookiepocalypse proceeds apace, although I did miss posting a day when I posted the pictures to Instagram. There was a Cookiepocalypse Day 2, I swear. There were coconut macaroons and everything (and they were AWESOME.)

Day 1 — Chocolate chip cookies. You saw these last week.

 

Day 2 — you’re gonna have to trust me on the macaroons.

Day 3 — the INFAMOUS three color cookies began, and I finished them on Day 4. The finished product:

 

Day 5 was surprise cookies — meaning they weren’t the cookies I’d planned to make. My kitchen helper got sick, so instead of making spritz cookies, I made Jelly Cakes.

 

There will be more Cookiepocalypse this week. Those spritz cookies aren’t gonna make themselves!

And there will be words. LOTS of words.

Posted by EASchechter in baking, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Princes of Air, progress, The White Raven, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
10
Dec
2017

Work in Progress: The White Raven, week 8

I can honestly say that this is my first real off week. I made my daily wordcount twice this week. Now, I know why. I just need to figure out how to work around it.

I did something to my back in mid-October. I’m still not sure how I did it (I think it had to do with coughing and bronchitis), and no one seems to be sure what exactly I did. The current theory is sciatica, and I’ve started physical therapy to see if that will help. Which cuts down on my writing time by about two hours a day (an hour in the office, and the time it takes me to do the exercises at home.)

So here’s the total. I’m pleased to say that I’m still ahead of where I should be for 8 weeks in.

The White Raven
Week Eight Total Wordcount

Now, since I really didn’t get a lot of writing done this week, I don’t have anything new to show you.

I can, however, show off the beginning of Cookiepocalypse 2017 (or as a friend of mine calls it, Porn for Diabetics. Yes, she is diabetic.)

These are gluten free chocolate chip cookies.  Tomorrow, there will be coconut macaroons. Later this week will be the three color cookies that I make every year, biscotti, spritz cookies (at the request of J.), and possibly shortbread with the Lego shaped cookie cutter.

So that’s my plan for the week. Stretches, cookies, and words.

Posted by EASchechter in baking, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Princes of Air, The White Raven, upcoming work, wordcount, 0 comments
16
May
2016

Gluten Free Writer

I don’t talk a lot about medical things. If you’ve seen my baking posts, you know I do a lot with gluten free baking. That’s because I am medically gluten free. I don’t have celiac — I have had the genetic tests, and I don’t have the markers. But when I eat anything with gluten (which means anything which contains or has been contaminated by wheat, barley, or rye), I get sick. The official diagnosis was Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance. It’s an auto-immune condition, and it’s not very well understood.

Now, this is the point where I get to tell people that no, I’m not looking for Doctor Google or any macrobiotic diet tips. I’m not looking for the current research — I keep up on that. And I’m not looking for people to tell me that it’s all in my head. My gastroenterologist and I have this under control

Last night, I had the fun of participating in a dinner hosted by the group putting out the Nima sensor. This is a nifty little device that uses spectrographic analysis to test your food at the table and see if it contains a safe level of gluten. For anyone who is medically GF, eating out is like playing Russian Roulette, so something like this is a tool that can be very useful, especially for people who have to travel a lot. You know, like writers. It was a little daunting — attending this dinner were the best and brightest of Central Florida bloggers on allergens and gluten free dining, and sitting right next to me was the Head of Special Diets for Walt Disney World. And then, you know, there’s me, being a little bit of a fish out of water.

Now, this device — you take the removable capsule (single use only, but they’re working on a recycling program for them). You put a smidgen of the foot you want to test into the capsule, and close it down hard. There’s a pop, which is the internal seal breaking and releasing… something. Then you put the capsule back into the machine, which is about the size of my palm. You turn it on, and it starts gurgling as it grinds up whatever you put in to prepare it for analysis. And within two minutes, you have an answer in the form of a smiley face or a frowny face. Frowny face, clearly, is BAD.

What was surprising was that this dinner was held at a restaurant that is pretty well known for the care it gives to gluten free dining. And the group hosting the dinner went in with full disclosure — we’re going to be testing EVERYTHING. So you’d think that they’d be extra careful, right?

There were positives — two of the choices of soup, and the only vegetarian entree both came back strongly contaminated! And I heard just a little while ago that several people got sick — I apparently dodged a bullet!

Needless to say, I *want* one! Especially with the travelling that I’m going to be doing over the next couple of years!

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in Gluten-free, Healthy writer, happy writer, this-is-why-we-can't-have-nice-things, 0 comments