My favorite gluten free foods!

Gluten free foods have gotten a lot better over the years, but living in a family of gluten free people I've learned a lot about brands are good and where you might find them,
(For the record, I do not have celiac disease and recommend that you always double check the label to make sure an item is safe to eat:)

1. Glutino - best pretzels and crackers

 http://shop.glutino.com/?gclid=CPngpYSx470CFa9cMgod-lQAIQ

2. Mary's gone crackers are good, in the seedy cracker department, and taste great with goat cheese (or regular cheese.) i would pass on their pretzels though, they were not especially good.

3. Udis is an overall a life saver. Their bread, bagels, cookies, tortillas, (basically everything) is amazing! And they are sold at a lot of stores now.

4. My personal favorite snack bar, are Pure bars. http://thepurebar.com/ (they are also vegan! ) They are certainly expensive but you can order them by the box on the website with free shipping over $39, so that helps.

So these are just a few of my favorite products, hopefully it helps:)

*all pictures are from product websites.

Love, Pillow.

I love throw pillows, like seriously, I ADORE them! However, like most people I really don't like spending $30, even for the most fabulous pillow. So, last year when I was getting to move to school and saw an inexpensive plain red pillow at Ikea, that happened to match my bedspread, I had to dress it up!

First off I used some white yarn, which  I already had, and twisted it and tacked it onto the edge of the pillow. I also added some handmade tassels.

Than, I created a template by using sticky labels and cutting out the design I wanted, It worked a lot better than just plain old paper because it adhered to the fabric and the paint didn't run under. (at least not much.)

I than used white acrylic paint to fill the stencil in.

Once the paint dried, all I had to do was peel off the stencil and there was my pretty pillow!

I've had this pillow for over a year and it has worn pretty well, I used inexpensive materials, so it won't last forever, but part of the fun of throw pillows is being able to change them out.

Hopefully this inspires you to make your own wonderful throw pillow.

Gluten free, Dairy free Sandwich Idea

      Ok, so for my first real post  I want to share my favorite sandwich recipe!

 To put this in context I have a pretty strong gluten intolerance and issues with dairy so I've had to get pretty creative with my food!

     I came up with the idea for this sandwich after having a cranberry cream-cheese Monty-Cristo at a little tea place a number of years ago. Of course I had to modify the recipe after developing my food allergies... but I like this version even better!

     So here it is:

     I use gluten free bread (I like Udi's bread http://udisglutenfree.com/)  and spread soft goat cheese on each piece. Than I take raspberries (fresh are best but defrosted ones work too!) and basically smash them into the cheese. Finally I take sandwich meat (I prefer turkey or chicken) and add that. 

     You can also put lettuce or other topping on the sandwich, but I like to keep mine pretty basic (also I don't like lettuce!)

 Than you fry the sandwich. I usually use a little butter in my cast iron pan, but coconut oil or a butter substitute would work as well. 

       Voila! You now have a lovely raspberry sandwich that is allergy friendly!

A Fresh Start...

       Well its been over a year since I had the "brilliant idea" to start a blog..... one year and a grand total of one post. (Yes I know that is highly impressive...)

       However, I am back and ready to start this blog for real, so get ready for all sort of crazy/creative  ideas to start inundating this blog!

Number one...

So, this is my first blog post.

I don't have anything overly profound to say, I just hope that anyone who comes across this blog might feel inspired in some small way.

I intend to start posting various projects I've done, maybe some recipes, i'm not really sure. That's why this Blog is called Creative Brain Juice, its just that; a bunch of, hopefully, creative thoughts poured out.

So, welcome to my blog!