Game Changer

Day two of the coastal-type weather, and it appears that what I contracted in Saskatchewan may, in fact, have been viral in origin as Randall's sinuses have begun the same kind of mucus production, and it's about ten days since mine started... At least he can take the good decongestants- the ones I can't take because they mess with liver glucose secretions and, ultimately, blood sugar levels.

Today started out a little slow. Not slow in a bad way, necessarily, just sort of sluggish.

We had a nice pancake and sausage breakfast, with some good Yorkshire tea, and after the cleanup I turned my mind to the church potluck tomorrow. I'm supposed to bring either a hot dish or a salad and pie. Salad and pie seemed the easiest, mostly because I know there's rhubarb out back and I can do a good gluten free crust. I was thinking of a grated carrot and raisin salad... then I thought it would be easier to just mix up a batch of buns and bring those in lieu of a hot dish.

As I was debating the merits of all the things I could do, I decided to take care of the crushed strawberries I'd taken out of the freezer last night, and so the strawberry jam got cooked up.

After the jam was sealed into jars I remembered the Daiya "cheese" (dairy, lactose, casein, gluten and soy free cheese-like product). We're doing fondue at MOPS this week, and I've been meaning to see how this allergen free stuff melts, and what it would taste like. While the jam cooled, I took the last lump of Daiya cheddar style "cheese" and threw it in a pot with a bit of almond milk and a splash of sherry.

I must say that the afternoon was all of a sudden a little bit brighter after half a piece of toasted gluten free bread dipped in quite delicious melted "cheese" fondue and the other half buttered and topped with fresh strawberry jam.

I'm excited to do the melted "cheese" trick next time we want to have a Raclette evening, although I'm still deciding if I should add the sherry for MOPS.

And for the potluck? I think I'm going to mix up a really big batch of pancake batter and cook them up, then throw them in a paper towel lined slow cooker to keep them warm. I may or may not bring jam... or peanut butter or homemade syrup. The kids will like pancakes for lunch. Or I'll decide that buns are actually that much easier and I'll do that. Buns with garlic sausage and cheese, or pancakes... We'll see.

Now to figure out supper...