Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Starting out gluten free

When I started to cut gluten out of my diet I found adjusting dinner recipes fairly easy. It was the snacking that got me. REALLY got me. So here are some snack foods that are gluten free. I am a chocolate fan but I am finding my taste buds are changing. I now eat a lot more chips. I buy BBQ kettle chips. They are gluten free. Yummy. I also have started eating yogurt, yoplait is the only brand I can stand and they are gluten free, most flavors anyway. Don't think that every yogurt brand is gluten free. You will have to check the back of every thing you buy from now on.

I love freshly baked cookies but I have found that "Pamela's" makes some very tasty cookies. I have had some other brands but they all leave a bad taste in my mouth. Pamela's also makes some good baking mixes. And I am lucky because my local Roth's carries their line.

I love pasta. I could live on pasta. So I was devastated when I thought I would never have pasta again. But I found a brand that I think tastes darn close to wheat pasta. It is Tinkyada. They make every kind of pasta imaginable including Lasagna noodles. THANK YOU LORD. My family has barely noticed a change and sometimes I still cook their wheat pasta and I boil mine up, for the pocketbook.

Now here is something I didn't know when I started. Oats can be gluten free or they can contain gluten! It has to do with where they are grown and where they are processed. So to get away from this I but ONLY Bobs Red Mill's gluten free oats. I use oats in cookies, meatloaf, etc. I have to get this at a Whole Foods store but the trip is worth it.

So this is probably boring most of you so I will end by saying that it is trial and error. I have tried some things that are terrible and found some things I would still eat if I could eat gluten. I have a long way to go as I have only been using other peoples already mixed flours. My next challenge is to start using flours (rice, tapioca, corn, quinoa, etc.) on my own. I want to try make cinnamon rolls. Good cinnamon rolls. Like Karen's :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Looking forward to "Gluten Free Wednesdays"

Tomorrow will be the first Gluten Free Wednesday on my blog. From here on out every Wednesday I am going to post something to those of us living gluten free. Just recently, a friend of mine gave my blog address to a friend of hers that is gluten free. Then an old college classmate was diagnosed Celiac. It has spurred me to share what little knowledge I have as I know when I started to eat gluten free it was hard. Gosh, it is still hard. So I decided to give some people a starting point. I will list recipes, review products, offer up book recommendations, etc. I am hoping this will help me as well.

See, I sometimes sneak a lovley gluten (poison to my body) product! I went about 6 weeks eating perfectly then I had a craving for a chicken sandwich. And I ate it! Then because I know I have to go back to eating right I quickly ate more gluten full foods. I am now back on track but it is like starting over again. Its freaking hard. :) But maybe if I am sharing my finds others will too and I may find a bit of accountability with you all.

So there you have it. Tomorrow I am reviewing gluten free cookies, or maybe posting a gluten free chocolate cake recipe, or discussing flours with you. So stay tuned.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Summer School, already?

This morning Alicia asked me if this summer when I do "summer school" if they could make volcanoes. I said that sounded great. But it got me thinking. I know I can do my summer school when I have lesson plans all done but when I just have vague ideas of what to do I start to flounder. When real school started last fall I knew I had to start earlier this time to get lesson plans done for the whole summer and FINISH this year.

So I am going to be looking for cool ideas again. We will be doing something similar to last year. We will study each continent. The kids learned a lot and we could do this every summer until they started college and they would learn new things. The world is BIG.

So if you have any great ideas please share. If you would like to do something like this at your home I can tell you that the sugar cube pyramids for Egypt was a big hit.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Spring for a day

Yesterday was a beautiful day! Not a day you expect in the dead of winter. I had nothing planned with my kids so when Alicia asked to go the park I thought, "why not!" I then found out that our small town library was giving away a free book to every child! So we headed to the library where the kids each chose a free book. Thank you, Martin Luther King. Then we walked to the park and the kids played for a bit and watched the ducks play in the creek nearby. We did not wear coats. We never grew cold! It felt like spring.

I remind myself that it always does this to me. Sometime in winter it will feel like spring, getting my hopes up and then more winter comes. Lots and lots of winter. Which means lots and lots of rain where I live. Did I say "lots and lots" of rain? I meant to say lots and lots and lots of rain.

But yesterday we got out of the house and we were reminded of what a park looks like. We probably won't see it again until May, but it was nice while it lasted.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

In Theaters

I love going to movie theaters! I love grabbing a snack and sitting in specialty chairs while watching a movie on a huge screen in Dolby surround-sound. I wish I could see a movie every month.

There are too many movies out right now, or this month, that I want to see! Sherlock Holmes, Leap Year and Extraordinary Measures! Then there are even movies that I wouldn't mind watching on DVD, Did You Hear About the Morgans and The Blind Side. And in February Shutter Island comes out! It has my two favorite male actors in it so I am excited to see that one as well. Too. many. movies.

So if you are going to see a movie and need someone to go with you ask me!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

another new years resolution

Loving books is hard on my pocket book sometimes. In December I started to think that in 2010 I would like to work on that. I do use paperbackswap.com and the library a lot but I also use amazon.com for those books I don't want to wait for. I probably only buy 10 or so books a year for me, and then I recycle those, but I also buy books for the kids, family, etc. So I am aiming at something in 2010:

Buying less books.

I would like to use paperbackswap.com and the library exclusively this year, and maybe a garage sale or two. This is good for two reasons. The first is it will save me money, and the second is it will save a bit of tree. I would like to start thinking more "green."

I may have to buy a book or two but I don't want to buy more then that. I may even give second hand books as gifts this year.

We'll see how I do.

Friday, January 8, 2010

FINALLY

So today I had a doctors appointment because even though my fever broke on Wednesday night I still had a sore throat, and all the stuff that can come with that. When I woke up this morning I felt good enough to cancel it.

I am so happy to be better. I do find it funny that I am excited, exuberant, overjoyed to feel like I do, when really I feel kind of crummy. I just don't feel like road kill anymore.

I actually ventured out of the house to deliver AND pick up my kids from school both yesterday and today. So I am not feeling as stir crazy anymore either.
and I want to thank those who updated their blogs this week. It gave me some kind of interaction, fake as cyberworld interaction is, in your lives and I was in need of it.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

day 4 of flu.

any medical advice on how to get better?

Sorry Rachel about your pink eye. :(

Monday, January 4, 2010

miserable

have

the

flu.


write

more

later.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

First Day of the Year

Yesterday we went to play in the snow! We were unsure what we would find as the weather called for rain but we thought we would give it a try. It rained nearly all the way up to Hoodoo but once we got there the rain turned to snow, well, mostly snow. So we played a bit and then headed into Sisters for some food. When we got to Sisters we called some friends who just had a house built in town. We wanted to drive by and check it out. They were actually there and we went and spent about an hour in their new vacation home. They were very gracious and fed us lunch and let my daughter do some crafts. I found a new toy I would love to get Alicia for her birthday. They said you can find it at Michael's and it is called American Girl Paper Posies. (I am writing the name down so I can remember it later!) Such fun. If only Michael's was closer! We then got ourselves some icecream in town and headed home. It was a fun outing. When home we got home we turned on the DVR for the Rose Bowl. How disappointing that game was. We finished the night off by watching Episode VI of Star Wars.

It was a nice way to start our year off. A day spent with family and friends.

Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year - - - New Goals

I have been trying to figure out how to set new reading goals. I wanted something with set boundaries but boundaries that were wide, wide, wide. Also some sort of goal that would push me a bit. I think I have found something that will work for me.

I plan to read five book from each decade:
2010-2000
1990-2000
1980-1990
1970-1980
1960-1970
1950-1960

and then five books from 1900-1950 and five from 1850-1900.

I think this allows me to read the books that I want to read and then push me to find books from different eras. It also is only 40 books so hopefully I won't feel so burnt out by the end of the year as I was reading 52 books.

What do you think? Want to do this with me? Or a smaller version?