bake fail.

the first time jared came to visit me in nj, i was waiting anxiously for him to arrive and decided to have a go at making what in my mind was a gluten free version of apple crisp. substituting quinoa for oats and wheat flour.

unfortunately, i decided that all the quinoa needed was some water and it would cook just fine. So he arrived and there was the smell of yummy apple crisp -- i looked like the perfect girlfriend who was cool and could bake!! we had awkward conversation, since this was our first time seeing each other after only meeting twice in chicago a month before and communicating with each other every single day via phone, chat, im, text and email.

i nervously checked the damn stuff about 50 times -- adding more and more water hoping for some magic change. the quinoa never popped. jared was really antsy to try it, and i thought it got sort of mushy so we ended up trying it. at first taste it was all yummy but it had a crunch that suspiciously resembled uncooked quinoa -- or in layman's terms uncooked rice -- and not in a good way.

jared brings this up whenever he says something about my cooking, as in, you always cook great stuff except for that time when i first came to visit and you made that apple stuff -- that sucked. and i laugh, because i totally agree -- it sucked.

regardless, there really hasn't been another time where i had a repeat of that failed attempt, except this sunday when i had a bake fail from a box mix. it happens, people. it usually happens when you don't follow directions (note: i don't really like to follow directions).

anyway, we were out of butter so i substituted smart balance in the betty crocker gluten free chocolate chip cookies box mix (which i might add, i got at the lackawana pathmark in montclair). the damn things wouldn't come off the cookie sheet and true to gf baked good form they were crumbly. BUT -- they tasted damn good. we scraped them off the sheets and ate the cookie crumble out of a plastic baggie.

my review -- follow the directions and you can be reminded of why chocolate chip cookies taste so good. it was easy and i am sure they will work with real butter. i did put some in a small loaf pan and they came out fine.

Day Two - feeling good, a little manic

so i made it through day one and am onto day 2. i had my first 2 juices and am off to get a mani pedi at lunch. i might just bring juice #3 with me to enjoy while being pampered.

it's funny, i'm not really hungry, but i totally have this craving for a gluten-free homemade soft pretzel. i came across this recipe on the net and am totally psyched to try it (once i am off the juice that is). i can't wait for the fall/winter to really expand my gluten free cooking;it's too hot in the summer to really try too hard. i plan to learn how to make gluten free bread this fall bc god only knows how freaking expensive the store bought kind is. my lovely friend, soffia, is going to share her icelandic bread-making skills. it's likely that we will listen to bjork or sigur ros whilst we bake.

other thoughts for baking -- depending on what time i get home today, i may bake up some chai cupcakes for mona's 40th bday weekend. it all depends on how much i want to torture myself.