another restaurant tip!

We went to Burton's Grill at Evergreen walk in South Windsor, CT last night for dinner and it was great! They have a separate GF menu which is endorsed by GIG. Burton's is a chain- but definetely more upscale food. I am so glad to see more places offering a GF menu- yeah!!!!!!!!!

Part 2 - continued pictures

( These are for you Chels- make sure you read the next post as well- more pics to view.)
Here's part of the kitchen- I just realized that the most important parts- the stoves are not in this view- sorry!

The kidlets and their friends- deciding to build their own store!

Finally! Here's Bry-man- who has been invaluable building our checkout counter, cafe area and all the trim and odds and ends. I keep wanting to get a picture of him for the blog, but keep missing him or don't have my camera at the right time- you know how it goes.

Pretty soon, we'll be open for business! What an adventure!

More pics of Nature's Grocer!

The first batch of cookies to be made from the store kitchen. We're not sure what to call these- they have dried cranberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, almonds and molasses- almost like a morning glory muffin, but not quite. Any suggestions out there for a name????

This is our cafe area- at this time our makeshift office.

The freezers and refridgerators- all lined up and ready to go!

Today all the floors were washed and waxed and all the shelves dusted, vaccumed and cleaned. We 're ready now to start setting up furniture and extras. Orders (like cups etc...) are starting to come in as well. A steady stream of people keep stopping by- asking when we are due to open. We're thinking March 10th. I'll keep up with the pictures as things fall into place!

It's starting to look like a store!

David came to help! It was great having him here for the weekend, although we did miss Judy.

The two Daves (one our good neighbor) and Bob putting the shelving together.

Here's a better look at the shelving- as well as the check out area that Bryan is building.

And the mural continues as well. Ali and Sandie are doing an awesome job!

So that's where we are for now. The store is really beginning to come together. Of course we still have alot of work ahead of us- namely stocking these shelves and learning the register and computer system. Thanks to all who are helping to put this together!!!!

Benji's gluten free cake and other goodies

Benji's Gluten free birthday cake!

Blueberry and cranberry scones- these will be a regular item at Nature's Grocer.



Happy b-day Benji!
Here's the GF birthday cake- I'll explain how we went about this creation!

A new recipe- chocolate chip walnut blondies.

Benji's liking this present thing!

Today Benji is a year old! We had a small family brunch to celebrate his becoming a whole number as his aunt Maxine calls it! Anyways with Ali trying a GF diet, what a good excuse to try to make a GF cake! And it was great! Bob made a marbled cake with a mocha frosting- delicious! We also had GF scones- blueberry and cranberry as well as chocolate chip walnut blondies. (pics are above)

Making a GF cake is really easy. I'll admit- we cheated a bit- we didn't make this one from scratch. We bought two boxes of GF cake mix- one chocolate, one vanilla, then swirled the two together in two cake pans. The frosting was Mocha buttercream. Here's the recipe:

Mocha Buttercream Frosting

6 tablespoons unsalted butter- room temp.

6 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa

5-6 tablespoons decaf coffee (or you could use GF coffee flavoring)

1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract

Directions: In an electric mixer beat butter until soft. Add two cups sifted sugar and beat until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and blades and then add the remaining four cups of sugar, cocoa, coffee, and vanilla and beat until smooth. If necessary,add a little more sugar or coffee to get the right consistency for spreading the frosting. Fill the cake layers and then spread over outside of the cake.

That's it! Of course you can always adapt a favorite cake recipe using GF flour mix instead of buying a ready made mix. The frosting is not too sweet and is nice and light.

So we'll call this Benji's cake- since he was our inspiration!

The painting coninues...

It is truly fascinating to watch two artists work and collaborate- different styles and ways of doing things and yet it all seems to mesh. This wall is where our little cafe part of the store will be- seating for 8. Ali and Sandie have been adding to this mural all week long- so it is still very much a work in progress. Click on the pics if you want to see details up close- it's pretty impressive! Work continues to move along with all sorts of people coming and going as the store takes shape. We are still aiming for the end of February to open- so keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime the response from passersby and emails to the website have been great! Thanks and please keep it coming- we're getting really excited. Once the equipment is organized, I'll post some more pics... until then Bob and I can still say we're in semi- retirement, I guess!