Going Gluten Free & Dairy Free (Tips & Resources)

Hello again, friends! Long time no blog post! It's been a hot minute but I am finally sitting down to share some happenings. What a crazy year 2020 was - although, I have to admit that as a total homebody and introvert, I am mostly okay with all of this quarantine/work from home business. 

Recently, I was chatting with my friend, Jess (her blog is HERE) and she mentioned wanting to be more mindful of her gluten and dairy consumption. Later I sent her the longest text (novel?) ever with some of my favourite blogs, brands and products. In writing that text, I realized this should totally be a blog post. So today, I'm sharing links, cookbooks, brands, specific products, recipes and some overall tips for transitioning towards gluten free and dairy free eating. 

This post is coming to fruition with Jess in mind, but many people are making the transition towards gluten free and dairy free eating, so I'm hoping it reaches many of you!. I know that these lifestyle choices are not for everyone, and that is 100% ok. No judgement here! Just take what you need from this post and use it as it is best suited to your life.

A little disclaimer before I begin - I have been eating gluten free & dairy free since February 2018 (so about 3 years) but I am nowhere near an expert on the subject. I know way more than I did three years ago but I still have a lot to learn. This journey is daunting when you begin, but I promise it is so manageable. Give yourself oodles and oodles of grace and you will be just fine. I will share everything that works for me and feel free to ask me questions - I will help in any way that I can! 

Connected in the Classroom: Think Outside the Box Drawing Part 2

I posted a blog very similar to this one over a year ago, you can find that post HERE. I have seen this idea all over social media and just made my own prompts to use in my classroom. Essentially I take a piece of a drawing that may look obvious but tell the kids it isn't obviously what it looks like. So for instance, you can use half of a heart but say this is not a heart and encourage your students to search for alternative, creative drawings. I always try to attach a writing or oral component to this activity just to spruce up the educational content. In my experience, students get super involved in this kind of activity so the written or spoken part is a little easier for them to stomach.

I did this second Think Outside the Box drawing activity with that same group of kids that I posted about last year. I went back to sub for my fifth graders later in the year and I brought this lesson as a treat for them. When I first used these drawing prompts with them there was all kinds of ambivalence about doing work with 'no right answer,' But the second time they just got it. They knew what they had to do and there was zero hesitation. This is the drawing prompt that I brought for them:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Gluten Free & Vegan)

I have been doing so much baking and cooking during this quarantine and I have been meaning to blog about it all for weeks! I am so glad to finally sit down and get a post up! Whenever I blog a recipe, I've made it (& enjoyed it) at least two times before blogging. Especially now that my recipes are mostly gluten free & vegan, I always make sure they work twice before committing to taking pictures and posting. For example on Saturday, I made a recipe called 'Drunken Noodles' for the first time and it was a huge hit in my house! The Bean said it was the best thing she's ever eaten in her life! So, I will definitely post the recipe. It's on our meal list for next week so it will probably go up soon after that.

In other news, my teacher resource and party game posts have been blowing up! I'm thinking that with everyone stuck at home (and in some cases home schooling!) we are all on the lookout for new sources of entertainment. I have a few teaching & young learner activities that I never shared from my teaching interneships. I made a note in my planner to get some boredom busters and educational resources up a.s.a.p.

But, today I'm sharing chocolate chip cookies bars that went over super well in my house! They are darn easy to whip up and they make a fantastic dessert! The recipe is from Cara Reed's Decadent Gluten Free & Vegan Baking cookbook.

Vacation Bolognese

What a weird and interesting part of history we are living right now. I think it's important to start this post with a huge thank you to our essential workers. Thank you to our nurses, doctors, paramedics, janitors, food industry employees, police officers, fire women & men, truck drivers, UPS & FedEx drivers, nursing home employees, mail men & women, journalists... thank you to everyone who are working their butts off so we can stay home safe.

I would also like to say a big thank you to teachers and educators who are in uncharted territory, but are doing a darn good job. I have seen such wonderful resources online. I am eternally impressed by teachers' creativity and care for their students. As a teacher who has worked at low income school, I have all of those kids on my heart - I hope they are being nourished with love, care and food. And goodness, a big thank you to everyone who is going out of their way to make sure those kids get fed. Thank you to all of you who are contributing to the good.

The Good ❤

Oh Man! It has been a hot minute since I've been able to sit down and write a blog. But, this whole social distancing/self isolation/quarantining thing has provided me with oodles of time - to craft, to watch way too many movies and yes, to blog!

When we got home from Spring Break, I was SO looking forward to volunteering at the Worlds of figure skating, the year end show for my skating kiddos and a potential teaching contract at a local elementary school. But now all of that is on hold or completely cancelled. When I went into work last Thursday (just a week ago, but it feels like a life time ago!), I was starting to hear rumblings that we were about to experience a big change. That evening, we started hearing about all the shut downs. By 10pm pretty much everything came to an abrupt stop. Worlds was called off, my skating program was cancelled indefinitely and schools are shut down until further notice.