Dinner on the Deck?

It just a little too cold right now for Dinner on the Deck don’t ya think!? Trent and I like to have our dinner outside from time to time but this time of year just doesn’t always make it possible for us. But I still find it so pretty out there.

Right now I think I'm starting to feel like smokers feel. I love the snow but can't share my love for it many places because people everywhere are always complaining about how horrible it is.  I have only lived in Louisville for three years now and having seasons is still a wonderful and fun thing for me.  See being from Texas we have Hot and Hotter. I never saw the leaves change until I moved here. and I still want to dance when I just see a flurry!

Snow or Shine I love my Deck I love to have sweet tea on summer days while read with my cat.  In the Spring the flowers are amazing and smell is wonderful…. Fall comes and it’s time for hot chocolate or hot apple cider and a quilt and a good snuggle with my hubby as the sun goes down .  So for right now with the all the days with snow I enjoy this view  from the window of my deck that has so many different roles to play in this game of life! 

GF Menu Monday

This is so easy and really yummy!!! I'm learning to make a few go to dishes and this is one of them. 

Easy Gluten Free  Chicken Spinach and Egg Bake

Chicken Spinach and Egg Bake
½ cup chopped onions                                         
2 tablespoons olive oil                                        
6 eggs, beaten                                                 
½ cup milk                                                   
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken                                 
1 (10-ounce) box frozen spinach                                
1 cup shredded  mozzarella cheese                              
½ teaspoon salt                                              
¼ teaspoon pepper

     Saute onion in olive oil until tender.  In mixing bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Add onions to egg mixture in bowl.  Stir untill all ingredients are combined.  Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until slightly browned and eggs are set.

Based on a recipe from Taste of Home the original recipe used chopped red peppers as well I can't eat them I am sure if you ad them that would taste great too.


I'm full up to here.....  Can't for get about dessert!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup finely chopped nuts, toasted (I used walnuts)

     With an electric mixer at medium speed beat together all ingredients except nuts until creamy and well mixed.
     Cover and chill at least 2 hours.
     Shape chilled mixture into small balls (about 1 tablespoon each).  Roll balls in nuts.  Serve well chilled.

Wondering Weekend

I don't have any special plans for the weekend. I think I will go up to Cincinnati so I can see what I can find at Trader Joe's. I need  to stock up on some Yummy Gluten Free groceries. Plus with this weather who doesn't want to feel like they are in Hawaii! (ha ha ha)

Then while up there I would love to stop in at The Container Store. You see for someone who people tease and say my cans in the pantry are in alphabetical order this store is to me like chocolate to some women! Oh my panrty is not in alphabetical order, but there is an order.  When my daughter in law first saw our master closet it was when our house was on the market. She asked if the clothes were in color coded order because of the house being on the market? No. I really keep it that way!

So when I see pictures like this, I just kinda want to dance and clap my hands......

What ever YOU do this weekend I HOPE it make you FEEL like THIS

 

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Making Laundry Soap = Doing Laundry

Today started like most of my days. At my laptop with my coffee looking at blogs, when lo-and behold there it was, something really new! I mean I am always looking at recipe’s but this one is for laundry soap. Yes, laundry soap!

I stopped in on a blog I love to look at http://somedaysarediamonds-karen.blogspot.com/ I mean come on just name makes ya wanna look doesn’t it? Well Some days are like diamonds and I think today is one of them.

She had posted about her new adventure in making homemade laundry soap that she found from her friends blog.  At first I thought wow, good for her, good for them! But why? I continued to read and was intrigue by how EASY and CHEAP it seemed to be!  

SO

Off to the store I go. I’m going to get all this wonderful stuff and leave Martha Stewart in my dust! I hit Wal – Mart they usually have everything like this. No such luck you need to buy Arm and Hammer Washing Soda from an ACE Hardware dealer so a stop at Lowes and I was ready to try this.

3 bars Fels Naptha Bar Soap - each bar is 5 1/2 oz. OR

USE PINK ZOTE THE BEST! USE 1~1/3 bars

4 lbs. Borax

4 lbs. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

4 lbs. Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

Mix and store in airtight container.

1 to 2 tablespoons per load.

Buy all these

 Grate this

Mix and store

Add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle to soften fabric, brighten whites and eliminate cling. No vinegar smell left on clothes! 

Mmm The smell of fresh Laundry........

Happy Birthday Mom A walk down Memory Lane

I  took these this morning on my home from an appointment near the Ft. Knox area.

I know you remember living in Amish country, I wonder about these cute funny face little dolls! I remember playing with them all the time in Grandma's play house in her back yard.

I just love these - Vintage birthday candle holders! they have a small hole in the top to hold a candle.

 Aren't they sweet?


They each have a little hole in the top to hold a small birthday candle!

Funny the things that will make you SMILE!  : )



Typewriters!! wow before the good old DELETE KEY !!! 

I must admit I LOVE getting the good old "vintage style" mail too! But I am so glad people are able to stay connected more by the computers we have today.  Like this post birthday card!!

I had three mixing bowls that matches this that were G- Grandma's too that I lost in the fire. I still have this. I just love this pattern. I also remember the "plum pattern" with the branches and thought it was fantastic!! What I always thought was funny was how you got mad over the set of dishes that Grandma gave you because the glasses were square. HOW THE HECK DO YOU DRINK FROM A SQUARE GLASS!?!!! Too funny! They were pretty but very odd to drink from the corner.

 

This is a scary monster!!! I remember like yesterday it eating my arm all the way to my shoulder!! I just wanted to feel how smooth the two rollers were going together looked cool..... Can't believe nothing was broken, and don't even remember bruising!

Oh the things you could sew. I can see you still sitting in front of the window looking out toward Carl and Diane's yelling " I've sewn my fingers together!!" I was so scared. I ran in there to find you laughing and that you had stitched you pretty long nails all in a row. What a hoot!

 These dishes were great! Everyone had even the kids!! LOL So how did anyone know which one to take home at the end of a pot luck dinner?  I remember seeing brown tape on some dishes.  I still love these and wish I could find a whole set or two!! I have to say these dishes right here are part of my I can't wait to grow up and have my own kitchen wishes.

 I will never forget the day we got our VCR WITH A REMOTE!!! if you look close like ours this one is not wireless. LOL What a day we were living in...... Cable TV and a way to watch things and we didn't have to be there when the came on! I still remember the day Ch. 26 came on.  You have come a long way Baby!!!

A new Centry and what a time you are living in!!!

 

A time where you can keep up with your friends and make new too with just a click of a key! And even though we now live miles away we are wble to stay in touch and be closer than ever.

So HAPPY BIRTDAY to the birthday girl! I love you.



Dinner tonight?

This was so fast and easy and who hates that at the end of the day!?! I looked at my vegetable basket to see what was left in there.  I absolutely love PF Changs lettuce wraps! So..... what can we do?

A DASH OF THIS     A DASH OF THAT

Take some of these yummy veggies and chop them up

carrots, onions, cabbage, squash,

                            Saute them in some olive oil in a large fry pan or wok...along with this...

                            

                 Add a little GF soy sauce, teryaki and your favorite seasonings...

                        

And you end up with a healthy little mix like this. I forgot to get a picture of what we did with it then...

I took lettuce leaves and made wraps and squeezed fresh lemon juice on it.  Yummy and Healthy and best of all Gluten Free!

We finished this all off with a wonderful dessert from a local bakery that has delicious GF bake goods 

Let me know if you try it and what you think. What changes did you make?

ENJOY!

I even took the time to put on a hat

I’ve had a sick family this week and the past two days were my turn. Ug. I needed to get to the store to buy some coke and something bland to eat so we could be nourished but keep it in at the same time. Here’s my beef…. It took me all day to finally get dressed and wash my face. I even took the time to put on a hat. I get to the store and I am quickly reminded of the times we live in. There are people there in P.J.’s slippers and hair far worse than mine! Even those who got dressed looked like they only took a break from cleaning out the barn, painting the house, or washing the dog. I didn’t want any of the food they were walking by. Ewww, don’t touch those apples!!! I know I know wash them when I get home and I do, but really I often find myself wishing for the days when people actually took pride in their appearance, yet here I was not even close to participating myself as I was in blue jean and sweat shirt with a ball cap. But at least I appeared clean. Some didn’t. What happened to dressing to go to the shows too? I mean like the nice Broadway type stuff. Like when you take the family to see the Nutcracker. I am always taken back when I dress up to go to an opera or show and see people in jean or the rare pair of shorts! Even the work place has gone from having casual Friday to casual. So what’s wrong with taken pride in how we look? Wanting to look and feel our best.












But we we go out and see things like this......



Have a great weekend everyone!

It's a Process with a learning curve

The process of becoming Gluten Free can take a while. Often, we learn about the no-no foods first: wheat, barely, rye, spelt, etc. That’s do-able, right? It sucks, it’s hard. Sometimes people don’t even thing about flour being wheat. Unless it’s “wheat bread,” sometimes it doesn't register for people. Please don’t offer me oatmeal or cookies or even pizza!

But for some Celiacs once you have mastered the food list and still are not feeling well have you thought about, hair care, make up, and lotions? It can be in our makeup and is especially dangerous for celiacs and the gluten-intolerant in lipsticks because we end up ingesting our lipstick. It’s also in our hair care and our lotion, especially conditioner.

A quick list to try:
Desert Organics line: is fantastic and a great cost. This is our body wash and my kids shampoo.
Himalaya Herbal Healthcare: I love the face wash. They are very herbal.

California Baby: Great stuff for kiddos and very gentle. I’ll need to try some other products on myself, but this will help you get started.

Surface Hair: a professional line that you can try to request from a salon or purchase.

ZuZu Cosmetics and Gabriel Cosmetics: I use the blush. A caution with the lip products- they contain wheat germ. I’ve spoken with the company and it claims that wheat germ can be extracted without gluten. However, if you’re allergic to wheat, you won’t want to use the lip products.

Afterglow Cosmetics; Mineral makeup

Larenim Mineral makeup. I purchased some eyeshadow today. Stay tuned for more info….I have not had the chance to sample them much yet. But they don’t contain Gluten.

MEDICATIONS
Most important though is to be sure your prescriptions and OTC medicines are all GF. I was wondering why I was still going crazy with migraines when I know I was being “good”. It turned out on the thyroid meds were not GF.


Dinner tonight is chicken and dumplings from the GF Bisquick box. Oh Yum love dumplings! Hate that this box is less than half the size of the original and more than twice the price. I wrote the BettyCrocker Company about that and hope others will too.

I'm not a Dr. but I play one at home

Well after spending all night in the ER our daughter Melissa. They decided to let her go home even though her blood pressure was still 96/58. She was not dizzy and did well walking, she had taken 4 bags of of the juice and 2 of the antibiotic's and blood work was ok. So Lets Roll! That is just not the place you wanna hang at... Though there are some interesting sights and sounds at the University Hospital in Louisville in the middle of the night. I thought with all the cops roaming the hall we were sure to be caught by the 48 hours camera in some case they were following!

While we were there, there was a lot of talk about the "bug" that has been going around. Well it must have been buzzing around and decided to bite My husband and Melissa's too! Today I had to go get Imodium and we had some nausea meds left over from a prescription for Trent. I guess Mark probably took some of Melissa's nausea meds too. Now there is me who has been diagnosed with 3 different of autoimmune diseases. Uhhh, I think I will wash myself in hot bleach water and roll me in a long sheet of bubble wrap!!


On the up side I went to Barnes and Noble today and found a great Gluten Free cookbook. All the dishes look real yummy!


I also saw this today and It made me very HaPpY~




All I could say is Hello future Kitchen!

Being Celiac

I was watching Fox News Channel where Elisabeth Hasselbeck was discussing the release of her book The G-Free Diet. I listened in awe as she listed her symptoms; each one I had struggled with for as long as I could remember. When the show was over I wondered if this was the answer no doctor or specialist had been able to give me. I spent the next couple of weeks surfing the interest searching for more answers.

I was a mess of mixed feelings and couldn’t imagine a life never eating the long list of foods with gluten again but at the same time excited by the mere idea that it could be true, I could be physically pain-free.
My symptoms had been interfering with every aspect of my life. To say I was fatigued would be an understatement. I could nap for 2 or 3 hours during the day and still be exhausted. I never had a sharp focus, my thoughts were always cloudy, and my short-term memory was shot. I could have a phone call and not be able to repeat the information I just received. I have joint pain and muscle pain through out my whole body, but, the hyper sensitive nerve pain especially in my lower back and legs has been unbearable! I had headaches everyday.

And that doesn’t even cover what was going on with my stomach! I was constantly bloated. I had to know where the closest one was at all times. It got to the point just gave up eating. If I had an appointment I couldn’t eat before, and if I was not sure what was going on the rest of the day I couldn’t chance it. I had a couple of times I made the horrible mistake of eating in the car after I went to an appointment on my way home. I was so hungry, it was 2:00pm and I had not eaten all day. I drove through Wendy’s and couldn’t make it to a bathroom. Many times I couldn’t make it through a meal before I had to excuse myself.
Now after eating gluten free for a few weeks now I am able to walk better and lift my arms, I don’t run people over charging for the bathroom and my mind is much more focused. I am so glad to have found what has been slowly killing me all these years. The Dr. says it will take at least a year for my body to heal. That any form of gluten on my food is like sprinkling rat poison on my food! So, I am being as careful as I can to not cross contaminate, however, all the pain and suffering is enough to keep me from it.

Finally we know…it only took 23 years to figure it out!


This is a very good book for anyone looking to find out more about Celiac Disease

Not what it used to be.

I messed it up! Some of it was me, and some things have changed in how this thing is programed. So I messed up my background and all the colors and pictures. My post will get better as I get back into the swing of it.

In the mean time...aren’t these ninja gingerbread cookie cutters amazing?!? I mean, seriously? When I think about the future and toddler boys running around (I don’t know, my dreams consist of at least one little boy around here some day) I could totally see these cookie cutters getting them into the kitchen to help a grandmommy bake.



I sort of heart them. The cookie cutters that is. And the boys ;)

If I can remember how....

I want to start my blog again. It kinda fills the need to journal or keep a diary. I guess I get that from my Grandma. She always had diaries.

I like that I can write more on here than I can on twitter for sure and on facebook too to keep family informed and others entertained by my crazy life.

I have been spending the snowpocalypse watching a lot of old movies, tons of reading, and learning how to live with Celiac and eating gluten free. This is much like learning Chinese to me.





I've got several big sweaters in my 2nd drawer, they’re at your disposal if you’re chilly.