So Baby Shower is really not my expertise but one of my closest friend’s was having a baby so I was jumped to take the responsibly and start organizing things in three weeks!

Since she is having a girl, it has to be pink driven party and maybe something in white… I had to decide the menu and the decorations to start organizing… Cupcakes were my first choice for a sweet and than chocolate was another must in my list… So I wanted to give a try to something I was thinking for a while.. Cake Balls!!!

It is so hard to explain why but they are just so cute and drives people to try! Since I had no idea about icing, melting chocolate, decoration muffins or cakes it was a big challenge for me..  But good thing is I survived and we loved how it looked and tasted…

I used Pamela’s Chocolate Cake mix for the chocolate cake instead of the regular cakes with gluten.

Cherrybrook Kitchen for icing (I got this from Whole Foods)

Milton’s pink candies for dipping (I found them in Party City)

Ghirardelli White chocolates for white dipping

I followed the recipe of Pioneer Woman and decorated as I can make for a baby shower. So I added some pink sprinkles but they were not seen much in the pictures….

I bought the sticks in Party City.

Recipe for Gluten Free Cake Balls:

1 Pack of Pamela’s Chocolate Cake Mix

1 can of gluten free icing/frosting

1 pack of Wilton’s pink colored candies for melting

1 pack of Ghirardelli white chocolate for melting

After you bake the cake according to the package instruction you wait until when it’s cooled down.

You make the cake crumble and mix with gluten free icing can.

Make cake balls and wait them in freezer for at least 1 hour.

After you melt the candies and chocolates you can start dipping them and decorate as you would like to! And let them set aside on a parchment paper for a while. You can keep them in the fridge for days… They taste so good that everybody loved them!

Anyway, enough with the psychology, let’s get back to our subject. So when the subject comes to muffins and cupcakes, I just stare at the perfect pictures of many many blogs I love. And then I am having hard time to ignore not to make them… Because I know if I make them I will eat just by myself.. I don’t understand what are boys having with sweet thing but they just don’t crave like girls! weird!

So most of the time I decide not to bake and then just crave for a muffin.. I was not sure about frozen food before I discovered Udi’s muffins. They are incredibly tasty when you heat them little bit in microwave. And you don’t have to unfreeze all of the package to eat only one.. And they can last up to 1 month in the freezer so it is perfect solution to my problem! Since I love love blueberries I bought and tried to consume as slow as possible! now I don’t have to worry when I want a muffin or when I am too lazy to find out all the ingredients to make just a simple muffin!

They are also easy to carry in a food bag and to bring everywhere you go..maybe to a breakfast that you may not find something for you… try it, you will love it!

Promise by a dessert addict

So my friend took me to Brazilian market in Berkeley called Bossa Nova. Even the supermarket was so similar to Turkish design and atmosphere. So I bought the best things I liked…

All Gluten free!

My favorite Brazilian goods:

1. Pao de Queijo

2. Brigadeiros

3. Coconut Brigaderios (beijinho)

4. Guarana

So I bought a lot of these and the good thing is everything in the store was marked down if it has gluten or not.

The drink is Guarana, very traditional soft drink of Brazil made from Guarana fruit.

Potato chips are sliced potatoes, Suspira is like merenges which is also very Turkish sweet.

I also bought Nestle’s prepared brigaderios and cheese bread! Pao de Queijos!

So easy to live in Brazil! So even though I tried Pao de Queijo (cheese bread) it was not like the I bought from the supermarket. This frozen ones are incredibly tasty and easy to prepare!

Pao de Queijos!

We ate potato chips with meat which is very similar to Turkish meal

Enjoy this amazing cuisine wherever you find it! It is so good to have them as a naturally gluten free food!

Regular crepes were also off limits for people who are in gluten free diets. And I was not sure that I could do easy one with not so many ingredients. It always makes me lazy when I see an incredible picture of a meal and than look their recipe and I get scared of all the ingredients they use.. It is always pain to have exact same ingredients with the internet recipes for gluten free items especially. That’s why I make my own recipes and not rely on them… I sometimes dream about bloggers to send those ingredients to me and I just make it that recipe at home.. why not? 

So here is my own crepes recipe.. I filled with chicken mushroom ingredients but you can make it both for sweets and savory dishes.

2 Large eggs

1 cup of rice or regular milk

1/2 cup of brown rice flour

1 pinch of salt

1 Tablespoon of canola or olive oil

Beat the eggs and add milk and oil.

Add gradually the flour and salt and mix them well. It should look like more liquid than a thick batter.

Just spread 1/2 cup of the batter into the greased and heated pan.

Wait until the corners of the crepes are brownish and there are some small bubbles on top the crepes to flip them.

Makes 4 large crepes.

Chicken-mushroom filling:

2 slice of chicken breast almost 1 pound

1 cup of any kind of mushrooms you like (I used portobello)

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 scallion

1 cup of mozzarella cheese

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Heat the olive oil in the pan and add scallions. Slice the chickens and add them to the pan. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on them.  Add mushrooms and let them cook little bit for a 2-3 minutes. I like the mushrooms marinated with oregano and olive oil but this is just optional. So you can make either way. Stir occasionally.

When the chickens are well done and the mushrooms wilted you can add the heavy cream and stir all them together.  Cook them in a lowest heat for 3 more minutes and it is ready.

Take one of your crepes and add the chicken filling and add mozzarella cheese as well. You can also melt the cheese in microwave and serve on top of the crepes but I didn’t think that at that time.

Believe me it was a challenge for me.. So I closed the crepes and eat easily. It was not so heavy because I didn’t use any heavy sauces on top of it but I am sure it could be nice with some Bechamel sauce.

You can add other sauces you like.. We liked the color of our Thai Sweet Red chili sauce so we just added but the taste was enough for me!

Hope you also enjoy this type of dinner like us!