Here we are in the year 2009.  The first week of the year has proved to be a little rough for us.  Both Hannah and I had the stomach flu last week on New Year’s Eve.  Needless to say, there wasn’t much celebrating going on here.  Now, as I write this, Jon has the stomach flu.  He told me last week when Hannah and I were sick that he wanted to get the stomach flu on Monday (the 5th), so he could have another day off of school.  Well, the kid got his wish.  Poor thing!  This week we are concentrating on getting back into the groove. 

Cheryl, over at GF Goodness, is hosting this week’s GF Menu Swap.  The theme this week is soup.  I don’t think I have ever made soup before, so it is a huge coincidence that I have Crockpot Taco Soup on my menu for the week!  Don’t forget to check out Org Junkie for some other great menu ideas.

Sunday ~ Spaghetti with meat sauce, steamed broccoli and salad.

Monday ~ Grilled Chicken, oven roasted red-skin potatoes, sauteed spinach & salad

Tuesday ~ Salmon, quinoa, salad & veggies

Wednesday ~ Herb Pork Loin Roast, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Steamed Veggies & salad

Thursday ~ Going to the Fish Market for my birthday (it is actually the 9th, but my Dad is leaving town, so we are celebrating early)

Friday ~ Crockpot Taco Soup & salad

Saturday ~ Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Salad

Baked Goods for the Week

Brownies from the 1, 2, 3 Gluten-Free Mix

Something baked from the Carol Fenster 1,000 GF Recipes Cook Book…haven’t decided what yet, but need to fulfill my goal of making 1 item per week out of this book.

Each year on New Year’s Day I eat pork & sauerkraut for good luck.  Well, to be honest, it isn’t only for luck, I happen to really like pork & sauerkraut and don’t get to eat it that often because I am the only person in my family who will touch it.  🙂  So, I use NYD as an excuse to cook my pork & sauerkraut and stink up the house, as my family puts it.  Yesterday, as my pork & sauerkraut was cooking, I began to wonder about other New Year’s Day Food Traditions and came up with all kinds of traditions when I googled for info on it.  Gotta love google.  What did we do before it was around?  I am editing this post to add another fun Food Traditions Article. Next year I may want to give Hoppin’ John a try or maybe some version of Black Eyed Peas with Rice or Quinoa.

One of my favorite things about pork & sauerkraut is that is it naturally gluten-free!  WOOOHOO!!  There are many different ways that I have made pork & sauerkraut, but the  easiest way has got to be in my crock pot.  I use a couple pounds of country style pork ribs (nice & fatty….don’t worry, you’ll work it off, remember your resolutions?), sauerkraut (I prefer the kind you find in the refrigerated meat section as opposed to the canned stuff and I won’t be making my own any time soon…YUCK!), salt & pepper and a little touch of brown sugar if I feel like it, I did not yesterday.  Believe it or not, I am all sweeted out, I think.  BTW, I remember when I was little, maybe around 10 or 11, my parents making their own sauerkraut. What a process that was. It stunk too, obviously. I honestly would prefer not to think about how it is made. 😉 I started by browning my pork ribs in a frying pan sprayed with Pam….no need to add extra fat with oil, there is enough already.  I seasoned the pork with S & P.  I turned the crock pot on low and added half the bag of sauerkraut.  Once the meat was browned on both sides, I added to the crock and spread the rest of the kraut on top.  I added more S &P  and this is where you would add the brown sugar if you wanted to.  I cooked on low for 8+ hours, until the meat was falling off of the bone.  I served over Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes.  I didn’t take a picture.  I considered it, but there is really nothing attractive about pork & sauerkraut, it just tastes amazing!  LOL!  Use your imagination here. God gave you a brain for a reason.  Since I was the only one who ate this, I froze half to have in the next few weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my pork & sauerkraut, but not every night of the week for several weeks. 😉  I did get Hannah to try the pork, sans kraut, and she really like it, dipped in ranch, of course.  Whatever works. 

So, what did you have for New Year’s Day dinner?  Do you eat the same thing each year on New Year’s Day?  Any good recipes for Black Eye Peas or Hoppin’ John? 

I have heard good things about this bread, so when I was at my local health food store a few weeks back, I decided to give it a try.  It wasn’t cheap by any means ~ $5.89/loaf.  I was out of bread at home and thought now was a good time. 

I got home and toasted up some of the bread in my toaster oven.  I made a deli turkey, cheese, lettuce & tomato sandwich out of the bread.  I dove right in.  The bread was not horrible by any means, but it wasn’t fantastic either.  I was more than a little disappointed.  Maybe my expectations were too high?  I don’t know.  I normally eat Pamela’s Wheat Free Bread that is made from a mix.  I make it in my bread machine.  So, maybe I am just spoiled.  I served this bread to my son, not telling him how I felt about the bread.  He said the same thing I did.  The next day I served him a grilled cheese sandwich on it and he said it was much better that way.  So, apparently just toasting the bread isn’t enough.  You apparently need to spread butter on it and then grill it.  It would probably also work well with french toast or stuffing for Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

This year for Christmas, Grandma Linda sent Jon some gluten-free goodies from Gluten-Free For Me.  This bakery sent a wonderful Holiday assortment of goodies for a very, very decent price. 

Here is a picture of Jon with all of his goodies:

The cookies were all so soft, tasty and not crumbly in the least.  A nice surprise for a gluten-free cookie.  The muffins were amazing, the rolls…YUM!  We have the Lemon Cranberry bread in the freezer still, just waiting to be eaten.  I think the most enjoyable treat was the gluten-free chocolate roll.  OMG….it was TDF!  Seriously, when I was growing up, chocolate roll was my all-time favorite dessert that my Grandmother (Mom’s Mom) made for family functions.  I had never attempted to make this GF, mainly b/c it seems like it would be a big mess! LOL!  Anyway, we brought this dessert to my Dad’s house on Christmas Day and shared it with our family there.  It was so moist, chocolately and delicious.  I will definitely be ordering from these wonderful bakers again.

I wish they were closer to us so we didn’t have to have them ship the food, but, oh well, whatever we have to do to get our chocolate roll!  LOL!

Thanks again, Mom, for such a wonderful gift! 🙂

In years past I have never been big on resolutions.  Why would I resolve to do something, then not follow through, only to end up feeling disappointed in myself?  Well, because it doesn’t have to be that way, that is why.  Instead of making a broad resolution, such as “I am going to get in better shape” or “I am going to exercise”, I turned that around into specific steps I was going to take to reach that final goal.  And, that final goal is one that will be on going for the rest of my life, not for just a year.  What steps am I going to take to keep myself healthy, to keep in good shape, to feel better all around?  That is more what my resolutions have been about in the last year and will be this year, versus what I had done in years past. 

It worked well for me in 2008.  I had resolved to continue to exercise 4-5 days per week, to increase my muscle tone and decrease body fat.  Another part of that resolution was to not lose weight or too much weight in the process.  That can be a slippery slope for me, as I have suffered from and eating disorder (anorexia) in the past.  For the first part of 2008, I exercised at home, using my Gazelle (no laughing, please 😉 ), strength training with 8 lb and 10lb weights and running on occasions.  In May 2008, I joined a gym for the first time and loved it!  Okay, so we did join the recreation center in 2000 and never went once.  That was a colossal waste of money.  So, when my husband heard I was joining a gym this time, he laughed.  He doubted that I would go.  Well, I proved him wrong and impressed myself in the process.  I went at least 5 days per week, except when my surgeon made me take 5 days off, from May until the end of the year.  WOOHOO!!  I was able to decrease my body fat from over 20% to 16.7% in that time with only losing under 5 pounds overall.  I also went from barely being able to run any distance at all to running 7.1 miles in 69 minutes one day last week! 

So, this brings me to my resolutions for 2009.  I have 3 total.  The first being that I am going to continue on this exercise path and expand on what I am doing.  I want to add some variety to minimize injury.  I have recently had some ankle & knee pain, and while I am loving running, it is proving to be too much for my joints.  So, that has led me to look into the group fitness classes.  GASP!  These have always intimidated or even scared me in the past.  I am always worried about making a fool out of myself because I am severely lacking in the coordination department.  Yes, I was a gymnast for 10 or so years, but that was a long time ago.  So, this year, I resolve to try out some of the group fitness classes at my new gym, starting with spinning today.  🙂 

Resolution #2.  I am going to make one new recipe per week from my brand spanking new cookbook, Carol Fenster’s 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes!  I received this as a gift from my sister.  🙂  I realize that if I make one recipe per week for a year, I will only be through 52 or so recipes, but it is a start.  Of course, there may be weeks where I make more than the 1 recipe.  I wanted my goal to be reasonable and more importantly, attainable. 

Resolution #3.  I am striving to keep my house more clean and picked up.  This is an ongoing battle and I think that I am going to have to start by getting rid of a bunch of junk.  I do pretty well with our first floor, the floor where we spend the most time.  This floor includes our kitchen, living & family rooms and play room.  The places where I have the most problem with junk & clutter is the loft/office and basement.  They are catch-alls for the stuff that I move off the first floor.  I have gotten better with the loft, but the basement is a mess.  I also need to weed through the toys in the playroom, though they are not unmanageable and I do watch 2 toddlers, so getting rid of all of the baby toys isn’t realistic.  Also, keeping up on dusting, vacuuming & sweeping is another tough one.  Yes, this all happens on the main floor, but while I mean to get to those other places, it doesn’t always happen as soon as I would like

So, there you have it.  My resolutions for 2009.  I look forward to keeping tabs on myself here and updating you all occasionally.  Putting it in writing seems like it will make me more accountable.  🙂 

I wish you all a Happy & Healthy 2009!

We have never really been big New Year’s Eve celebrators, in fact, I think I have only made it to midnight once in the past 6 years! LOL!  Last year we spent the evening at our neighbor’s house and made it past midnight!  Probably had something to do with the multiple Red Bridge beers that I had that evening.  Oh, that and another neighbor suckered me into playing Singstar with her.  I say “suckered” because not only do I not sing, I certainly don’t sing in public.  Well, I did that night.  Boy, I feel sorry for those who had to listen.  LOL!

There are many gluten-free drinks that those of us who have to follow the GF diet can enjoy.  There are several GF Beers out there, including Red Bridge, Bard’s Tale and New Grist.  There is hard cider, such as Woodchuck, which comes in all kinds of flavors, all of which are GF.  Wine is gluten-free and a personal fave.  I like reds the best, such as Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.  There are also numerous liquors that are GF that can be enjoyed.  Absolut  (I am not sure about the flavored vodkas, so please verify before drinking those) & Stoli are both GF and wonderful with cranberry juice (Ocean Spray is GF, as is Northland) or 7-Up.  Champagne is also gluten-free and a must at midnight on New Year’s Eve.  Here is a nice list of gluten-free alcoholic beverages from www.celiac.com. 

I don’t see a lot of celebrating going on tonight.  My sweet daughter is recovering from the stomach flu, as am I, though I had a very mild version of it.   I think the only reason I may make it until midnight is because I took 2 naps today!  Yes, I said 2!  I went back to sleep this AM after Hannah fell asleep on the couch.  Then, I fell asleep this afternoon on the couch while watching my all-time favorite Christmas movie, Elf.  It appears that USA is running Elf all day, or having an “Elf-a-thon”! 

If we were feeling up to it, we would be having an appetizer night, as we do most New Year’s Eves.  We do shrimp cocktail (naturally GF, as long as your cocktail sauce is GF , McCormick’s is), veggies & dip (T. Marzetti makes a GF dill dip), cocktail wienies (Lit’l Smokies are GF and we cook them with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce), nachos (made with Hormel chili w/beans & cheese), queso (Rotel Tomatoes & Velveeta) and the party nectar of the Gods, Buffalo Chicken Dip.  For desserts & sweets, we usually gobble up leftovers from Christmas such as fudge (peanut butter & chocolate), gingersnaps & peanut butter blossoms. 

Well, time to go check on the little girl.  I hope you all have a fun & safe New Year’s Eve & day.  Tomorrow I will be making  my pork & sauerkraut, a tradition for good luck on the new year.  I will make sure to share how I make it here in the next day or two.

Happy New Year ~ 2009!!!

Saw this post on another blog and I had to play. I am a sucker for these things! Copy this list, post on your blog and bold the items that you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (does crochet count?)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (are you kidding…my Mom would KILL ME!)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (would love to one day)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke (sorry to all that had to listen 😉 )
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Does candy for the Camp Fire Girls count?)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (hell to the NO!)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bibe
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (define famous….)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

What have you done?

This year for Christmas I got the most exciting gift! Well, I actually got quite a few, I had a very nice Christmas. But, there is one in particular that will allow me to be very creative. It is Carol Fenster’s 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook! WOOHOOO!! This cookbook is absolutely amazing! Not only are there tons of baked goods (we all know I have a sweet tooth), but the meals look wonderful! My Mom, who doesn’t have to eat GF, is going to buy this so because she wanted to try out so many of the recipes. Plus, she will have ideas for Jon and I as well.

Here is a picture of me with my new “toy”:

Thanks so much, Kelly, Greg & Noah!

These cookies have to rank right up there with my favorite cookies from my childhood. I love that you can add any kind of jelly topping that you like to them. I was afraid that when I had to go gluten-free that I would miss out on my favorites like these, but, I was wrong. My wonderful Mother has made these every year for me, even gluten-free. She uses Gluten-Free Pantry’s Beth’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour as the flour in the recipe.

Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (gluten-free flour mix)
1 or 2 tsps xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts
Your favorite jellies / jams

Heat oven to 350. Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Work in flour, xanthan gum, and salt until dough holds together. Shape dough by teaspoonfuls into 1 inch balls.

Beat egg whites slightly. Dip each ball into egg white, then roll in chopped nuts. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Press thumb deeply into center of each. Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet; cool. Fill thumbprints with jelly / jam before serving.

Thanks again for making these, Mom!! I placed half of these in the freezer so I can enjoy them for the next few weeks, too! BTW, don’t freeze with the jelly in them, leave them as is and add the jelly once they are defrosted. 😉

Now, in the picture above I have my new favorite cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms. They are awesome too!

Another favorite dessert I enjoyed as a child was Gingerbread or Gingerbread Cake. I haven’t had this in years, so I decided that it was high time to make it gluten-free. I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and converted it to be gluten-free. It was a fairly simple recipe and not very time consuming at all. Not only did I sub GF flour, but I cut the butter in half and added in 1/4 cup applesauce, I also doubled the spices. I am only typing out the recipe as I made the cake below.

Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used Bette’s 4 Flour Blend by Authentic Foods)
1 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350. Pam or grease & flour a 9-inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add in the applesauce. Beat in the egg and mix in the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, spices, xanthan gum. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven. Check after 45 minutes or so, as I didn’t have to cook mine longer than 50 minutes. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

I flipped my cake onto a plate after it cooled and topped with powdered sugar. I served it with Cool Whip.