This is one of the most simple cake recipes you will ever come across! I never used to have the courage to bake a cake from scatch, but this is more fool proof than your run-of-the-mill cake mix.

There is no flour involved in this almond cake recipe at all, and does not include any other ingredients that contain gluten. If you’re looking for an easy source of healthy almonds, this recipe is perfect. I’ve topped this cake with some jam or butter for a great bread alternative. Go low on the agave nectar or maple syrup for a hearty cake.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole natural almonds (about 6 ounces)
• Egg whites from 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
• 3 tbsp Agave nectar or maple syrup

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Use a food processor to grind almonds into a fine mixture. It shouldn’t take more than 15-20 seconds.
• Using an electic mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
• Mix vanilla extract and agave nectar or maple syrup in with the ground almond.
• Gently fold almond mixture in with the egg whites.
• Pour batter into a loaf pan, or a 9-inch springform pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pan.

Modifications:

You can add in raisins, pecans, almond pieces, cranberries… anything you fancy! Make sure not to bake the cake too long or it might be a bit on the dry side. This delicious flour-less, gluten-free almond cake is meant to be moist.

If you love almonds, check out this almond cookie recipe as well.

I can’t stand the gluten free breads you can find at the grocery store, if you’re even lucky enough to live close to a store that carries an assortment of gluten free products. Although I live in a major metropolitan area, it is still a reasonable hike for me to get to a whole foods or health food shop for my dose of overpriced cardboard-like bread. I suppose I’m being awefully mean about the commercially available gluten free breads out there, but I am just yet to find one that tastes good, and is reasonably priced, and is not just made with refined white rice flour.

Obvious solution to the problem? Make my own bread of course. A good friend of mine gifted me a breadmaker last Christmas, and boy does that come in handy! This recipe would work just fine without a breadmaker as well, but you need to allow for some time to let the dough rise. If you use a breadmaker, even if the breadmaker doesn’t have a setting for gluten free bread, the time it takes to rise is already programmed.

This bread recipe is very simple, and can be used by those of us who are lactose intolerant as well. The recipe does call for three eggs, but you could easily replace the eggs with either a commercial egg replacer, or by using this egg replacer recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup of unsweetened almond milk (or soy milk, or water). Almond milk adds something subtle to the taste.
• 3 large eggs (or egg replacer)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp apple cidar vinegar
• 2 Tbsp of maple syrup or agave nectar (optional)
• 3 Cups brown rice flour
• 1 3/4 Cups buckwheat flour
• 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 1 Tbsp quick rise yeast

Preparation

If you are using a breadmaker, add all ingredients in the order presented above into the breadmaker pan. Select a rapid white or regular white course. These ingredients will make roughly a 1.5 lb. loaf, and most breadmakers will have an option to select the size of your bread.

My current breadmaker does not have a gluten free course, but I selected the rapid white (hoping it would be done soon enough for a BBQ dinner, but alas it wasn’t) and it turned out fantastic. You may need to fiddle with the settings on your breadmaker, but once you find one that works you can stick to it! Unless you can add more baking time manually (with my machine you unfortunately cannot), I recommend rather underbaking than overbaking. I’ve previously selected whole wheat settings to bake my gluten free bread, and the bread was a bit too dry and crumbly when it came out. If it is underbaked, you can always finish baking in your regular oven.

Enough said about breadmakers. If you are doing this the old fashioned way:

Beat the eggs first, then add in the milk and other wet ingredients. Slowly stir in the flour and finish with the yeast. If you are making a yeast free bread, just follow all the same instructions but omit the yeast altogether.

Kneed the dough well, and leave it for about 30 minutes to rise. Kneed it again.

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake for about 70 to 80 minutes.

Whether you use an oven or a breadmaker, always let the gluten free bread cool completely before cutting it.

A few notes: I’ve made gluten free bread before without using Xanthan gum. It comes out tasting the exact same, and it can be omitted if you have no access to this ingredient. However, the Xanthan gum makes your bread far less crumbly! Gluten free bread is more often than not a bit on the crumbly side, and since I’ve added xanthan gum that has changed dramatically. I am thoroughly impressed with the consistency of this last bread I made using this ingredient. I found it in the health food section of my local major supermarket. But you can also order it online.

I came across a phenomenal gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe today. It is flourless, so wheat and gluten free. It is also completely dairy free and sugar free. In short, it meets all the dietary requirements and they taste fabulous!

The recipe calls for almond flour, which is a great alternative to wheat and low carb. These cookies don’t only taste great, they are great for you

Here is the original video explaining the recipe and how to make these flour-less chocolate chip cookies:

For this recipe, I recommend:

After switching to a completely dairy free lifestyle, I was a little dissapointed by not being able to eat ice cream. Although of course it is very easy to find dairy free sorbet at places like Whole Foods, they are pretty expensive. Particurly because I am also eating sugar-free. Now, it has always boggled my mind why there is a need to add so much sugar to something like fruit sorbet. Presumably, fruit is already pretty sweet, so adding sugar really doesn’t seem that necessary to me.

Last week, I did find a fantastic orange mango sorbet at my local Whole Foods. At $6.40 for about half a litre (and it lasted me only one day), it does get a little expensive. The other added inconvenience is that Whole Foods is a good 5km hike from my home, so it’s not a place I can easily go to to pick up a tub of ice cream on a whim.

Inspired by my purchase though, I bought a Cuisinart Automatic Ice Cream Maker yesterday. It’s fabulous! I produced this fantastic strawberry sorbet in about 20 minutes.

Here is my dairy-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free recipe for homemade fruit sorbet:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box of strawberries (about 15 medium sized strawberries)
• 1 cup of almond milk (or rice milk)
• Agave nectar

Preparation

Combine strawberries and almond milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Set up the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (the Cuisinart has to sit in your freezer for at least 12 hours prior to using it, so plan accordingly!). Turn the ice cream maker on, and pour the strawberry mixture into the machine. Add agave nectar to taste (about 1-2 tbsp).

You can get creative and add other things to this recipe as well. Cut up some strawberries into pieces and add them in while the ice cream maker is turned on to mix them in properly. Or add in gummy bears for a fun chewy taste.

Yesterday I went to a salsa club that offers a wednesday night special on mojitos. Given my new commitment to a (refined) sugar-free lifestyle I wasn’t sure I’d be able to enjoy my usual mojito. I wasn’t really in the mood to pay double for a glass of wine, and at the last minute I came up with an interesting alternative solution to the usual sugar added to mojitos. I asked the waiter to make me a mojito without any sugar, and instead sweetened with maple syrup. I’m not kidding when I say my Canuckito (Canadian mojito) was even tastier than the usual sugary version.

Here’s how you can make your very own Canadian Mojito!

Ingredients:

• Mint leaves
• 1 lime
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 2 ounces white rum
• 2 ounces club soda
• 1 sprig of mint (garnish)
• crushed ice

Preparation:

Put the mint leaves in a glass and squeeze the lime over them. Add the maple syrup, then muddle the mint, lime juice, and maple syrup together. Add the crushed ice. Now, stir in the rum and top off with club soda. Garnish your Canadian-style mojito with a mint sprig. Enjoy!

Refined sugar in any foods causes it’s glycemic index to shoot right up. Skip the white stuff, and you’re on your way to a lower GI food or drink. Classically, our favorite summertime drink can contain tons of sugar, I have a just-as-sweet alternative without so much as a sprinkle of refined sugar.

Here’s what you do to serve four people with refreshing delicious sugar free lemonade:

Ingredients:

• 5 Lemons
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 quart sparkling water
• 1 handful of mint sprigs

How it’s made:

Juice 4 of the lemons; slice the other lemon and set aside. Blend juice with applesauce and maple syrup. Stir in sparkling water. Pour mixture into large pitcher over ice. Garnish with lemon slices and mint sprigs and serve.

The details:

80 calories per serving, 0 g fat, 22 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 0.3 g protein

Photo credit: dtcreations from morguefile.com

We’re just two months into the new year, and perhaps you have already fiscally recovered from the Holiday season. If you’re not quite there yet, or you’re getting tired of the dinner-and-a-movie routine where you sit across the table from each other and find out you have little to say.., here are some creative ideas you can use to keep some money in your account and break the monotonous boredom spell plaguing a lot of long term relationships.

1. Exercise together

We all know we eat to much and move too little. Most of the time people feel they are too tired for even mild exercise after getting home from work. As a result, either dinner out or hanging in front of the TV together to fall into a carbohydrate-induced coma is as exciting as the date is going to get. Ironic as it seems, exercise isn’t going to make you as tired as you think. In fact, exercise will actually give you energy, and can help improve your sex life. After all, if you are too tired to do anything in the evening, do you really think it’s going to get very exciting in the bedroom?

Some ideas to get you moving:

1. Beginners who feel low on energy can start by just walking along a shopping street and checking out the window displays. At night, chances are you won’t be spending much on this trip.
2. If you have a Wii-Fit, use it together! Get a new program (this is relatively low cost compared to other date ideas), and step out of your comfort zone. Try some Yoga, it will improve flexibility, and guess where you can apply those new found skills?
3. Train for a marathon together. If you’re already going to the gym separately, go together. Working towards a common goal strengthens the relationship.

If you need new fitness gear you can get 10% off at the Fitness Magazine apparel store with this coupon code: FIT10OFF. Another benefit of exercising together is that support from a partner or spouse is paramount in reaching fitness goals. If you’ve set a fitness goal for yourself this year, get your partner involved and kill two birds with one stone!

2. Abuse your library membership

You don’t necessarily need to visit the library together, but having a library membership gives you incredible advantages you may not be aware of yet. For example; pick up an exciting cook book if you are a foodie, and take your date into the kitchen. Try some new recipes, and enjoy together! Get a copy of the kamasutra, if you’re in a more adventurous mood. You can even find books that help you get through tricky home renovations together. Some of my best memories involve paint brushes and lots of mess, and again you’re working towards a common goal. Besides, women find handy men (or even not so handy men who try!) incredibly sexy.

3. Make day to day chores into a date

A date doesn’t have to consist of going out, spending money, or doing those things that are traditionally considered “date like”. Just like you can go rock climbing as a date, who says you cannot do more ‘mundane’ things, and enjoy each others company? The trick is in making day to day things more fun, not just by doing them together but by adding an extra element to the ‘chore’. For example, if you need to set up a budget for yourself, because you are saving for a vacation, new gadget, or just your future, why not get your partner’s input? Unless you severely disagree on financial matters (in which case you should really discuss it at some point), there is no reason not to involve each other in the process. Sit down together with a treat (lattee anyone?), and work through what you perceived before as being a chore. You’ll accomplish four things at the same time: you get it done, you have more fun at it (because presumably you have a partner with a good sense of humor), you spend quality time together, and you get to know more about the person you are with. You’d be amazed at how much you can find out about someone’s character by actually engaging in real day to day things together.

4. Explore your city with your date

If you live in a fair size city, I bet there are tons of neighborhoods and parks you have not explored yet. Why not take an afternoon and stroll through a new area you have never been to before? Try finding some free community events, such as concerts and art shows.

5. Teach your date a new skill or hobby!

Share your hobbies or teach each other a new skill. Do you know how to salsa? Have killer carpentry skills? Know your way around the golf course? Take your date for a spin around your (livingroom) dance floor, go into your garage and build something together or take her for a round on the driving range. Major benefit of this is that you are likely better at whatever you are teaching than your date, so you get to do a little showing off as well. And there is nothing wrong with looking good in your partner’s eyes!

Marie Claire has published an article about the practice of force-feeding young girls in Mauritania. This form of, what we perceive as, child abuse is performed in order to improve a girl’s chances at finding a husband, Apparently, Mauritania has some fairly archaic views on body size that stem from nomadic times. Basically, a woman was a status symbol for a man back in the day as much as it still is now. Men who had large wives were deemed to be wealthy, basically because it showed they could feed their wives. This concept is taken to an extreme when considering girls as young as 12 are sent to force feeding camps where they are manipulated into consuming 14.000-16.000 calories a day to become obese as fast as possible. In practice, it does not say anything about a man’s wealth anymore, because parents are sending their girls off to force-feeding camps before they are married off. Somehow, obesity is considered to be sexy in this culture. Unfortunately, there are serious health concerns associated with forcing young women to become obese.

Millions of women in the west try to get rid of, or prevent, stretchmarks. These annoying scars are considered the ultimate turn on in Mauritania! Everything the Western world depicts as unhealthy, unappealing, and grotesque is held in the highest regard in Mauritania. We know obesity causes a number of very serious diseases, and considerably shortens life-span, however, the Mauritanian traditions dictate that a girl is not beautiful or worth marrying unless she is tremendously obese. The culture is so ingrained that even women find a healthy body weight unattractive and “sickly”.

Although each culture has their own views on what is considered attractive or sexy, there is a problem when women are forced to adhere to a certain ideal and this ideal causes them (no pun intended) bodily harm. As much as anorexia might be a problem in our culture, obesity in Mauritania is a much bigger issue than we will ever face in North America.

This article is definitely one worth reading, and I look forward to hearing what you think in the comments.

Today I read an interesting article titles “Marriage and Money: Can Love Overcome Financial Incompatibility?” and I can’t help but link to it and wonder: how much financial incompatibility can someone live with? The situation described in the article sounds like a clear case of financial delusion and a sure trip into debt, bankruptcy and possible divorce… I hate to blame the girl, but from what I read it sounds like it is the woman who does not have a grip on reality, and is living in a dream.

Is it really her fault though, or did her life style given to her by her parents rob her from a sense of reality? After all, she doesn’t need to make ends meet with her own pay cheque.

Perhaps it is easier to be financially compatible once you can be financially realistic. Nothing gives you a better sense of reality than living on your own, without financial help from mom and pop.

This is without a doubt an interesting topic that can be explored endlessly!

After reading this article, and hearing many other similar stories, I’m starting to think financial incompatibility is almost as detrimental to a relationship as sexual incompatibility. At least in finances you can learn to moderate your spending, without feeling a pinch. However, with sex there really is little you can do to change your tastes. Having said that though, money habits can be as hard to break as a ‘undesirable’ mating ritual…

With tough economic times pinching the budget, at-home dates are bound to grow in popularity. However, you don’t want to sit on the couch staring at each other either.

Keeping your date indoors isn’t the only way to save money at home, but it’s a great start when you need to save money or reduce your debt load.

Here are some cheap indoor dates

• Not great in winter, but when weather permits stargazing is a great opportunity to just be silent, or talk about whatever is on your mind. In winter, take out a blanket and sit by your fireplace.
• Get a DVD at your local library or Blockbuster, and have a movie night at home. I prefer this to going to the theater anyways, because I love snuggling up on the couch with a blanket and some good food.
• Hold a poker night or play a (sexy) board game.
• Hold your own wine & cheese tasting: instead of shelling out big bucks, get a variety of different cheeses and some different wines, and set up your own wine tasting. Light some candles, and you’ve got yourself a romantic, and relatively cheap, evening.
• Pamper each other with a foot massage or back rub. Get some nice massage oil, light candles and take a relaxing bubble bath together. Life is stressful enough, just taking your time to unwind together can really help set a great mood.

An evening in doesn’t mean you are not having fun. I can think of many times I’ve gone out, spent money, and had a lousy time. Staying home, and setting up an evening filled with activities you like, you can have a load of fun, while taking the pressure off your pocketbook.

Of course there is nothing like balance. You can’t stay home every single date-night, and you can’t expect to go out every night either. Tipping the balance a bit more towards the home-front, can definitely save you a bundle of cash.

What do you like to do on an ‘at-home date’? What is your main reason for going out instead of staying in?