Gluten Free Brownie Cheesecake

After you read this post you're going to know that I am a crazy cat lady - so I am just going to admit it up front. I'm a crazy cat lady. Last November, my husband and I adopted our first pet as a couple. He's an adorable boy named George and is (according to the Humane Society) part Russian Blue. This cat is seriously the most interesting animal I have ever known. His favorite game is fetch, his favorite food is raw spinach, he loves his tummy rubbed, and he's extremely interactive. He's like half dog and half human with a sprinkle of cat. 

Lazy Girl Update

You have likely noticed that I haven't really done much on my blog lately. Well, as an understatement, it's been a crazy past several months. My boss went on maternity leave last October, leaving me in charge of my department. I was pretty excited about this opportunity, but the second she left, we got beyond busy. And if that wasn't enough, we acquired another bank, which involved a lot of training and even more work. Needless to say, I had zero energy left by the time I got home. 

My goal was to get back to blogging in March, but then things continued to be crazy. April brought me a car accident (I was fine, thankfully) and my husband getting into a bad mountain biking accident. He had a concussion and broke his collar bone in six places! He ended up having surgery a week later and is doing great now. Shortly after Steven's surgery, I took a couple weeks off to help my dad recover from a full knee replacement. 

Now that things are FINALLY starting to settle down, I am trying to get back into a routine. We've been eating a lot of super quick and easy staple recipes, and not too many new ones. Even if there was a new one, I simply have not had the time or energy to take pictures, edit them, and even consider coming up with something to write. So, I apologize for the several month hiatus, but I am happy to say that now that my life is getting back to some form of normal, I can resume blogging! I'm still working on getting a schedule down, but bear with me, I'll get there. :)

Thanks for your continued support while I disappeared for awhile. You all are my motivation for keeping LGF up and running.

Hugs,
Andrea Joy 

Lazy Girl, Lately.

Okay, so I know that my posts have been pretty few lately, and I apologize for that. To mitigate any concerns you may have that LGF is going away, I figured I'd give you an update: LGF is NOT going away. 

Gimbal's Jelly Beans Giveaway #2!

Back in June I was given the opportunity to sample and review some products from Gimbal's Fine Candies. I had never heard of them before, but since I love trying new gluten free products, I definitely was excited to see what Gimbal's was all about.

Lazy Gluten Free is 2!

When I started Lazy Gluten Free in the summer of 2012, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I was super nervous about sharing my life in such a public space and I was scared about what people would think. I remember shaking as I was about to publish my first post, simply because of nerves. 

Lazy Girl's Top Five Favs

Well friends, it's nearly the end of June, which means we're pretty much half way through 2014. Where on earth has this year gone! It's blowing by way too stinking fast. Regardless, I thought I would try to slow it down a little bit by taking some time to share with you my top five current obsessions. I mean, why not right?

1) Acure Organics. This company has some amazing skin and hair products that are organic and gluten free! I've been using their face care products for a couple months now, and I'm loving the difference. Plus, I love that I'm treating my skin to something that's chemical free :)

2) Broiled Grapefruit. You may have seen my post on how to broil grapefruit awhile back, well, I'm still loving it. It's sweet and sour and so delicious.

3) Gimbal's Cherry Lover's Gourmet Jelly Beans. You guys, these are seriously addicting. I also did a review of these on my blog that you can check out.

4) Everyday Minerals. You could say I've gone a little nuts with overhauling my skincare, but hey, it's the biggest organ you have. EM has some great makeup that feels lightweight, doesn't have nasty chemicals, and lasts all day.

5) Hudsonville Triple Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. Maybe this is just sold around where I live, so I'm sorry if you can't enjoy the amazingness that is this ice cream. I'm hooked.

Gluten Free Spaghetti alla Carbonara

My senior year of high school I made fast friends with an exchange student who was from Italy. She and I had a surprising amount of things in common, even joking that we were long-lost twins. While she was here in the states, my mom asked her for an authentic Italian recipe - because how fun is it to be able to make some nearly authentic Italian cuisine?! 

Snap Peas and Mushrooms in Wine Sauce

On my way home from work the other night I was thinking about everything in my fridge and pantry trying to decide what to make for dinner. I knew I had wine (always do) and I had these beautiful looking sugar snap peas that were craving a dish to be in. Conveniently I had some leftover whipping cream too. After mulling through my options, this Snap Peas and Mushrooms in Wine Sauce was born.

Chicago GFAF Expo 2014!

I am so excited to announce that this year I will be attending the Gluten Free & Allergen Free Expo (GFAF) in Chicago as a part of the Official Blogger Team! 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the GFAF Expo, it is the largest gluten and allergy-free event that brings together all of your favorite brands, authors and bloggers all in one place.

Gluten-Free Banana Pudding

As long as I have known him (which has been over 8 years now), my husband always looks forward to Thanksgiving, because his grandma makes him one of his all-time favorites: banana pudding. Although I wasn't diagnosed with Celiac until a couple years after meeting Steven, for some reason I had never tried his grandma's banana pudding. The brilliant idea came to me to make it the other day so I could see for myself what got him so excited for it every year.

Starting A Gluten-Free Lifestyle

When I was first diagnosed with Celiac in 2008, there were not very many resources online like there are today. I was simply given a list of things I couldn't have, referred to a dietitian for one meeting, and left to my own devices. With my mom's help, I did quite well, despite the lack of info, and only had two gluten mishaps within my first year of being gluten-free. Now there is so much information out there that it is actually overwhelming sometimes, especially since not everything works for everyone. 

Mini Cauliflower Crust Pizzas

Pinterest is always a good source of recipes (assuming you can get the links to work...), and sometimes when I see something circulating for awhile, I have to breakdown and try it. These cauliflower pizzas are one of those things. If you want a great way to sneak in some veggies, this is definitely the recipe for that. If you're looking for a traditional doughy or crispy pizza crust, these mini pizzas probably aren't going to satisfy you.

Quinoa Vegetable Skillet

You may remember me mentioning a couple weeks ago that my husband and I have started to eat more produce since we signed up for a produce delivery program. Well, I am still taking advantage of this and am loving receiving fresh produce every week. This week we had a zucchini in our box of goodies, which is one of my favorite veggies (technically it's a fruit, but we won't get into that). 

A Lazy Girl's Reader Survey!

I always get to share my thoughts and opinions with all of you, and now here's your chance to do the same with me! Reading your comments and emails is something that I love to do, and I want to hear from more of you. I want to know what you love about my blog, what you don't love and what you want to see different. This will help both of us continue our journey together since I will be able to cater to what YOU want. 

I have many great ideas for LGF, but I want to make sure you’re going to love them, so please help me out by taking a quick 5-ish minutes to fill out the 10-question survey I created. Seriously, it's really quick and it would mean a lot to me to receive your feedback. 

Take the survey below (make sure to scroll down to answer all 10 questions), or follow the link here: A Lazy Girl's Reader Survey

As always, thank you for being such an important part of A Lazy Girl's Guide, I appreciate all of you more than you know! :)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Veggie Alfredo Pasta

When I am looking for recipes to modify, there's a variety of reasons I will choose a particular one. The most obvious are my two main criteria: the recipe must not have too many ingredients (usually 10-ish) and it must not have a prep time much longer than 30 minutes. However, there are other things that will draw me to recipes as well. This recipe for example I was drawn to because of how colorful it looked. Yes, that really is the reason I wanted to make it. 

Easy Gluten-Free Pear Cobbler

Every new year I always resolve to eat better, and every year I start out great with buying and eating my fruits and veggies, but as the year goes on my health-kick always dwindles. This year, however, is going to be different. Simply because I no longer have an excuse for not getting my fruits and veggies - I signed up for a program that delivers them right to my doorstep! How convenient is that??

Gluten-Free Meatball Stuffed Shells

Happy 2014! I know I'm a little late on this, and I apologize. I decided to take a couple weeks off from blogging to refresh, recharge, and let my creativity have a break. I didn't have much time for cooking anyway since the holidays were super busy and I am finishing up with cold number two...which I don't know about you but I certainly do not feel like cooking when I am sick. Anyway, I'm back and ready to make 2014 a great gluten-free year!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I love making a treat for my close friend's birthdays. So every year I ask them what they want and I do a gluten-free version of their treat of choice. Sometimes they like the basics, like chocolate cake, and other times they prefer to be a little more difficult by simply saying they want "pie". Our good friend just did this for his birthday, telling me that he simply wanted "pie" with no other suggestions at all.

Thanksgiving & An Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or Friendsgiving)! I know I did. Thanksgiving is one of my top favorite holidays (next to Christmas). I love spending time with family and friends, sharing food and laughter. There's just nothing better than a warm house filled with those you love most. Udi's also helped us out by providing a wonderful ensemble of their products as well as a brining kit (which was amazing by the way). They sent me a lot of my favorites, so needless to say, we ate very well! 

Cranberry Apple Relish

We all love the canned cranberry relish, which always comes out looking so delicious....Okay, so maybe not. Last year, my dad found a recipe for this delicious cranberry relish and ever since then I've been craving it. Normally I am not a big fan of cranberries, but this relish had a great balance of sweet and tart and since it contains all fresh ingredients, it's very good. Not to mention it's quite pretty too, unlike it's canned counterpart.