Making Progress

There are many times these days that I feel like I am thinking way too much about food.  Before my big diet change, if there were no leftovers for lunch--no problem.  I would just have some bread, cheese, and fruit or maybe do a "breakfast" meal with an egg since I ate cereal for breakfast during the week.  Now, if there are no leftovers that means I have to cook something, and most of what I can fix isn't quick.  The solution?  The Plan!

My husband's work schedule is such that I may need to fix anywhere from two to four servings in order to have lunch leftovers.  By planning which meal will provide for which lunch, I can make sure I have enough but not too much.  The specific meals are then written on the big calendar.

If some of my recipes make extra, I divide the leftovers into portions and put them in the freezer, because no matter how good "The Plan" is, things don't always go as anticipated.  Even so, since these extra leftovers are frozen, I need to allow time for thawing if I need them.

All the new vegetable recipes require some reorganizing of my recipe box.  I am going to divide out the main dishes as well according to the meat used.   My desserts will even have their own little section, too.  (Welcome back, chocolate!)

Slowly, but surely, I am getting recipes written on cards so they are easier to manage.  We can at least use part of the breakfast table now.  :-)

Thinking of You, Charlie Brown

And you as well, Mr. Willowby.

Last year we didn't put up a Christmas tree.  We weren't hosting our Christmas gathering, and frankly holidays are always a challenge for me--out of the routine, you know.  So we hung the Christmas quilts and set up the nativity, but dragging the parts for the tree from the attic just wasn't appealing.  What I missed though was the ornaments.  I searched on line for a simple metal ornament holder, but couldn't find anything that I liked or that was a price I was willing to pay. 

Now that the holidays have come around again, we decided to go with a very small 3' tree that fits quite nicely on a plant stand I have in our living room.  It only needs one strand of lights that we will leave on it when we put it away.  So we have a "little" extra Christmas cheer this year.

 Merry Christmas to all!

Dressing Up

Everything is from scratch these days, so I am on the recipe hunt.  Homemade salad dressings were not something I gave much thought to before, but with salads being a several times a week menu item, it was a subject not to be ignored.  Here is one I adapted that I very much enjoy.  My favorite way to use it is on a spinach salad topped with dried apple, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds.  (On the spices, I use what I would call a good sprinkle, so adjust according to taste.)

Maple-mustard Dressing

1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon mustard
Dash of salt
Garlic powder
Onion powder

A Well-stocked "Pantry"

This past Tuesday a fellow quilter and I counted to see how many quilts we had in what I call our "quilt pantry".  When we started focusing on the UFO tubs (unfinished objects) that is what I envisioned--a well-stocked pantry of quilts ready for when the need arises.  Counting two that went to new homes on Tuesday, we had 13 quilts in the cabinet.  When I started coming (two years ago come spring), we had maybe one or two.  How I have enjoyed working with these ladies, and am so pleased to see all the creativity that has produced some very lovely quilts!

Here are some pictures a quilt done by one of our "new to quilting" ladies.  She started a new job a few weeks ago and can no longer meet with us, so I put the binding on the quilt for her.

And here is a picture of my next challenge.  One of the ladies ran across these blocks in a UFO tub, and delegated them to me to put together.  Hmmm.  I think that is a complement. 

As you can see, the blocks are all different sizes.  I think this is the general layout I will use, and now need to figure out how to fill in the spaces between the blocks.  The colors will be fun to work with, and it has the potential of being a really cute quilt.  Bring on the graft paper! 

What's for Breakfast?

Fruits and veggies are the name of the game around here for every meal.  Breakfast is one time I like to have something a little sweet.  Here is an idea for using leftover spaghetti squash that meets the bill.

Here are the main ingredients:  onion, a Granny Smith apple, spaghetti squash, and canola oil.

Dice about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of onion.  Cut apple in half, cover one half in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for later munching.  Peel, core, and chop the remaining half.

Heat a little canola oil in a small skillet.  Add onion and cook until just starting to become translucent.

Add apple to the skillet and cook until tender-crisp.

Toss in a few golden raisins

Add approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cooked spaghetti squash.

Drizzle with some maple syrup and sprinkle on some cinnamon.

Stir well.  Cover and cook just a few minutes until everything is hot.

I served this with a poached egg and some leftover green beans that I had seasoned with onion powder and garlic powder.  A little sweet and a little savory--a nice way to start the day.

Spaghetti Squash with Apples and Onions

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons onion, diced
1/2 Granny Smith apple--peeled, cored, and chopped
A few golden raisins
1/3 to 1/2 cup cooked spaghetti squash
Canola oil
Maple syrup
Cinnamon


Heat canola oil in a small skillet.  Add onion and cooked just until it starts to become translucent.  Add apple and cook until tender crisp.  Add raisins and spaghetti squash.  Drizzle with some maple syrup and sprinkle with some cinnamon.  Stir to mix.  Cover and cook for just a few minutes until everything is hot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Theory

First, a quick shift--I am updating my meal schedule to the following:

Breakfast

Lunch

Smoothie/snack

Supper

For one thing, trying to fit in eating five times a day was inconvenient and time-consuming.  Plus, I am not feeling as hungry in between meals, so the mid-morning snack isn't really necessary.  My weight has pretty much stabilized, so that isn't a concern.  And finally, smoothies in the winter weren't going to be very appetizing, so decided to have snack as an option in the afternoon instead.  

I have had several people ask me what I thought brought all my health issues on so suddenly.  The truth of the matter, though, is that it wasn't sudden at all, but had just reach a point of affecting my general health.  Two of my symptoms; my red cheeks and nose, and my constantly runny nose have been around for years and years.  I chalked the redness up to being my particular coloring, and the runny nose was simply allergies, though to what exactly I could never quite figure out.  It was quite a revelation to me when both these issues improved dramatically as I have changed my diet.  

As I said in the first post, I am not dealing with allergies.  I don't react to my lotions which I am sure contain corn derivatives.  Nor do I have issues with basic soaps or with shampoos and conditioners.  It is only what I eat that causes problems.  Thinking back on how I never have been able to tolerate a lot of whole grains, my guess is that whatever the body uses to process these foods is in short supply in my body.  And, with growing older, I am speculating that my body is producing even less of whatever that is, thus causing me to react more strongly to these foods.  I will probably never get a definitive answer, but this is my theory, and I am sticking to it! :-)

Now comes the big menu organization.  I have to put things into some kind of routine or system so that I don't have to always be figuring out what to do on the spot (a very stressful place for me).  Now that I pretty much have my parameters in place, I can look for a variety of recipes to use for each food.  I will write these down and then be able to quickly put together a varied weekly menu.  But, as is always with organization, things always look worse before they look better.

Looks like my kitchen table will be out of commission for meals for a while.  Once I have my recipes in place, I will begin to post them here.  Until next time!  :-)

Winter Readiness

Winter is the quiet season for the yard and garden, which is a good thing for me with holiday preparations before me.  Though our garden isn't productive currently, we wanted to give it a little boost by planting some winter rye which we will then turn in before spring planting.

I am calling this our mini-meadow.  It will be nice to have a touch of green when all the yard grass has browned from freezes.  

This past summer we planted some Barbados cherries.  Though it wasn't the best time to be planting them, they have settled in quite happily.  We didn't really expect them to do much this year except get established, but they surprised us by blooming toward the end of summer and now have put on their lovely red cherries.  They are supposed to be a favorite of birds, so perhaps we will have a little extra feathered activity around the yard this fall.

Setting the Parameters

At the beginning of this year (2010) I began to notice a significant change in my health.  While the changes may have been coming on gradually, they now started to affect my day to day activities.  In the spring, mainly as an experiment, I decided to eliminate gluten from my diet.  I saw an initial improvement and began to recognize the specifics of how I responded to certain foods.  After many ups and downs, I have eliminated everything from the plant family that contains grains.  This includes not only all grains, but also pseudo-grains, molasses, and cane sugar.  Dairy also seems to be factor, so that is gone as well.  My health is much improved and the reactions have pretty well subsided.  

I am beginning this blog to offer menu plans and recipe ideas that I have developed or come across in my search for meals that fit within my current parameters.  When I first reach this point of limitation in my diet, I was pretty discouraged.  Eating seemed like it was going to be this continuous monotony.  Thinking about it, though, made me realize how often grains were a part of my meals and that they were simple being replace with other things.  

Because I am not trying to follow a specific diet, but rather working towards what my body in particular needs, not all the recipes will suit the needs or limitations of others.  What I hope to accomplish is not just the passing along of recipes, but ideas that others can modify to fit their own dietary needs.

In addition, I want to say that I don't think grains are evil, but rather that, for some reason, my body seems to be lacking what is needed to process them.  I am not dealing with an allergy, but with an intolerance or sensitivity.  I love to make bread (and eat it), but that is no longer an option for me if I want to feel well.  So here are the foods I am working with (I will modify the list on this post as it changes):

Proteins:
     Eggs
     Chicken
     Beef


Starches:
     Sweet potatoes
     Potatoes
     Pumpkin
     Winter squashes
     Legumes


Sugars:
     Maple syrup
     Honey


Fruits and vegetables


Because the starches I am now using don't have quite the staying power of grains, my eating schedule goes something like this during the day.  I am still early in this process, so there will probably be shifts and changes along the way.


Breakfast
Snack
Lunch
Smoothie (where I add my supplements such as calcium and iodine)
Dinner

Breakfast generally consists of an egg, a starch, and a vegetable.  Snack is fruit and a protein. Lunch and dinner are either a meat, starch, and vegetable, or a meatless main dish like lentils plus a vegetable and a fruit.  With my smoothies I am currently experimenting with a base of either coconut milk or soymilk with a combination of frozen fruits. 

So, that is the broad framework and I hope to fill in the specifics in future posts.  Here is to happy eating! 

Another Catch Up

I feel like I dropped off the planet for a while with all my diet issues, but life has reached a more sane level, so time to do a little catch up.

Knitting:

A recent trip enlightened me to what great travel projects small hats can be.  Easy to pack and nice to pick up in quiet moments, a hat in progress will definitely be a good thing to have on hand for future travels.

Here are pictures (finally!) of two that I completed earlier in year.

The first hat was fun to make until the decreases at the top.  Knitting four stitches together at once was a trying process.  However, I did see some projects where the knitter did a different pattern for the crown, so may give it another go sometime.  The second hat was just a pleasure all the way around.  It will definitely be one I make again.


Quilting:


I had a grouping of fabrics in my stash that were green and purple with the feature fabric having a pattern of grapes on it.  While I really like the fabrics, the colors were not something I would use in my house, so I decided to make a giveaway quilt.  

Here is "My Father's Vineyard":

My camera did not capture the colors as well as I would like, so it is hard to tell how well the fabrics work together. (something to work on)  This quilt had several firsts for me.  It is the largest quilt I have made so far, and the first time I have done a pieced backing.  It is also the first time I have done an all over quilting design, and I find that I am not a fan.  I will probably stick with motifs and fill designs that work within the parameters of the block pattern in most of my quilts, but I will not rule out giving all over quilting a try again.  

Endings and Beginnings

Life is returning to a measure of stability.  Where I have currently ended up is eliminating everything that is in the plant family that contains grains.  This means all grains, all pseudo-grains, sugar cane, and molasses.  The jury is still out on how much I can tolerate nuts and seeds.  Dairy is also gone.

Consequently, baking is pretty much non-existent since my diet is mostly composed of fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs.  That being the case, I am no longer going to post to this blog.  Instead I am starting a new blog called Elzbee's Place (a more generic name in order to be more flexible in this journey).  http://elzbeesplace.blogspot.com/

My hope is to offer recipes within my diet limitations so that those who share those limitations might find it helpful as I have been helped by others' blogs through these changes. 

A Baker's Demise

It is amazing how quickly one's plans can be completely overturned.  Last week I had a strong reaction to some of my gluten free bread.  What!?  And then later in the week to some wild rice.  Okay, this is getting out of hand and I need some help, so on Thursday I am going to see my doctor.  I haven't done this before now because I didn't want to go the medication route which, to me, would be just trading one set of problems for another.  The other factor was that I didn't really have anything concrete to tell her.  Now I can say that when I eat such and so, this is what is happening.  I am still not interested in pursuing medication, but I hope to get some direction to see if there might be another underlying issue that is causing me to continue reacting.  That, and possibly get a referral to a good nutritionist who can give me some dietary direction.  

That being said, baking is going on the back burner for a while.  Hopefully not permanently, but we shall see.  

A Relative Peace

Well, the white bean flour was not so great for my baking, but it does work very well as a base for soup.  My husband had some dental surgery this week and needed to be on a liquid diet for one week and then a soft diet for six weeks.  That means a lot of soups on the menu in the days ahead.

White Bean Flour Soup
  
1/2 cup white bean flour

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths

1/4 of a medium/large onion, chopped

1 cup chicken broth

Salt

Sage

Cumin

Cooked rice

Note:  I often don't measure my spices, but am guessing that I used about 1/2 teaspoon each.  Adjust according to taste.

Place chicken thigh, carrot, and onion in a sauce pan.  Add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until chicken is cooked.  Place chicken and vegetables on a plate.  Pour broth into a measuring cup and add water to make 2 cups.  Return liquid to sauce pan and add 1 cup chicken broth.  Bring to a boil.  When broth is boiling, whisk in the white bean flour.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring with the whisk.  Pour broth into a blender and blend for 1 minute.  Cut chicken into cubes and add it, the vegetables, and the seasonings to the broth in the blender.  Puree.   Return soup to sauce pan and keep on low heat until ready to serve.  Spoon soup into bowls and add rice. 

I my last round of baking I used the following combination:

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal

I stopped using the guar gum since I didn't like the results, and I want to see what I can do without using additives.  I used two eggs instead of one in my muffin recipes and was pleased with the results.  Biscuits are still a work in progress.  Otherwise I made granola, with some minor adjustment.  I will write out the adjusted recipes in my next post.

I am still have some reactions, but they are minor.  I am not going to do any other adjustments to my diet for a while, but am keeping a food diary and noting reactions.  Cooking doesn't seem so overwhelming, and I have determined for the most part what ingredients are safe for me to use.  Ahh, hopefully a peace that will last for a while.

Healthy?

"Think, think, think...", to quote Pooh-bear.  

Currently I am reading The Omnivore's Delimma by Michael Pollan--a fascinating read that has at least given me some consolation on giving up foods with corn and soy as additives.  With that in mind, though, I have been giving a lot of thought to my flour issues.  There was a definite difference in texture in my baking without the soy flour, so I do need to find an alternative. 

When I first began looking into baking gluten-free, I saw that the most common blend of flours were rice and starches.  A few initial experiments that got thrown into the trash can caused me to pursue other flour options, leading me to the sorghum, oat, and soy.  As I have looked into starch side of the equation, I have realized that it is not an ingredient I really want to make a regular part of my baking.  Creating starches, whether corn or potato and I assume others as well, is a pretty complex chemical process, so the original food has been broken down way beyond its natural form.  Using it as an occasional thickener is great, but it isn't something I want to be consuming all the time.  Plus, I seriously doubt my system would handle it well.  Even in eating potatoes, a little goes a long way with me.

So, I began to consider soy and what kind of flour might have similar properties.  Soy is a bean, so that gave me some clue as to where to start.  I have tried a mix using garbanzo flour, and it, along with whatever I had baked, went straight into the trash.  Yuk!  However, I have discovered it is not the only bean flour out there.  There is fava bean, garfava bean (a blend of garbanzo and fava), and even green pea flour, but the one I decided to try is white bean flour.  The flavor is supposed to be very mild, and I hope it will have the same affect texture-wise that the soy flour did.  I ordered some this past Friday, and it should arrive in time for me to do some baking before my next post.  I will give my review next time I write. 

Adjustments

A few months ago I started an experiment with my diet to see if I could find the source to some health problems I have been having.  As a result, there have been major changes in what I can eat, and also how I eat.  One change that has helped is not having my tea first thing in the morning, but rather after breakfast.  Though I drink herbal teas, having them on an empty stomach was not working well.  With that change in schedule, I decided to also make part of that time my time to knit.  Knitting has been rather hit and miss the last few weeks, and I really need to be making better progress.  

Yesterday, during my tea time, I bound off a shawl and worked on another I had started but laid aside.  I find I do best with one project going at a time--one personal quilt, one quilt for my quilt group, and one knitting project.  Each has its time slot in my day or week, so I know that I will get to it--well, in theory, at least.  


I realized that I need to get some pictures of a couple of hats I finished some months ago, so will hopefully do that this weekend at my parents.  They have some lovely outdoor areas which make for good photo settings.  If all goes as planned, I will post those pictures next week.


Until then!

Onward Through the Fog

Last Tuesday evening, after blogging that morning, I hit the wall so hard it knocked me down and made me cry.  I discovered yet another expensive ingredient I was using wasn't safe, and I had tried to make myself some pancakes substituting brown rice flour for the soy flour.  They pretty much flopped.  The rice flours are just not my thing.

Anyway, the next day I got up and dusted myself off, and because I didn't have any leftovers for lunch, decided to try pancakes again.  This time I went back to my resources on different flours and thought perhaps potato starch might be workable.  Sure enough!  They had good texture and good flavor--better than the blend with soy, and I had hope again. So my new flour blend is as follows:

Equal parts of sorghum flour, GF oat flour, and potato starch.

A few other changes I have made helped as well.  Hot cereal everyday is hard on the digestive system, so I made a small batch of granola again with the new blend.  Waiting to have my morning tea after breakfast instead of before is easier on the tummy as well.  And as much for my mental sanity as my physical, I am not going to focus on anything else besides getting gluten, soy, and corn out of my diet.  I need to give my body time to adjust to the current changes.

Experiments with thickeners, soy sauce substitutes, and more baking still ahead. 

Edit:  Made biscuits tonight.  Equal proportions of the above flours don't always work well.  Worked for pancakes, not for biscuits.  Back to the drawing board.

Back to the Beginning

I feel like I have returned to the days when I first married and knew so little about cooking.  As more and more of the basic ingredients I cook with fall away, I am having to work with new ingredients and figure out how they work.  

Soy bit the dust this past week in my diet.  The irony of it is that I had just received four 20 ounce bottles of traditionally brewed soy sauce I had ordered on-line to be able to deal with the corn issue.  My husband opened one to help out some soy-free sweet and sour chicken I made.  He said it was very good soy sauce.  Glad to hear that at least.  (BTW, adding a little extra salt and sugar to the leftovers helped a lot, so I don't have to slog my way through eating rest of it.)

At this point I figure that once I get through testing out foods, I will make a list of what I can eat.  To keep writing about another food that I have to drop is getting a little depressing.  Even though my diet is restricted, it is a lot more positive to go at it from the challenge of "what good recipes can I come up with using only these ingredients".

This week I am planning to play around with sweet rice flour and potato starch to determine the proportions of water to thickener.  Building block # 1.  

A Quilt Tale

Several months ago I came across I came across an unfinished project at my quilt group that needed a little help.  When I picked up the bag out of the UFO bin, one of my fellow quilters said, "Don't go there!  It is too ugly!"  Well, I couldn't resist a peek and had to concur that it wasn't very pretty, but I felt challenged to see if I could redeem it somehow.  I decided to name it The Ugly Duckling.


Here is the before picture:

Six blocks created an imbalance and there was way too much of that red fabric.  To tone it down, I removed the solo block at the top and added a couple of borders between blocks and the outer border.

Next came the quilting.  The pattern on the red fabric is leaves, so I echoed that motif in the three rectangles.  I outlined the pattern in the plaid block and did a sunflower in the light green square. For the red fabric I did fill quilting, roughly following the leaf pattern.  

While I wouldn't give this quilt the status of swan, it turned out to be a pretty decent little duckling.

Two Contrary Tummys

I have lost my culinary mojo.  My rhythm has fallen apart.  My recipes are dying like flies.  Why?  Because my hubby's stomach and mine have decided to take diverging paths and don't want to share.  He cannot eat dairy and has other diet restrictions because of IBS.  I am off gluten and corn.  He can't eat butter.  Margarine is out for me.  Apple vinegar is now a mainstay for me.  He can't eat apples.  That wonderful soy cream cheese and sour cream that was the answer to several recipe challenges is off the list for me.  Argh!  When I am putting together a meal, I am constantly forgetting to get all the parts and pieces going at the right time so that the meal is ready on time.  

Sometimes lately I feel like my conversation with my digestive system goes something like this:

Me:  "What?  Are you really going to be particular about this, too?"

Tummy:  "Yes, I believe I am."

Me:  "You have been rather a pain lately--literally.  And you are starting to cost me a lot of money."

Tummy:  "Sounds like a personal problem to me."

Me:  "No kidding."

My goal at this point is to go a week without a reaction to anything.  Once I go a month, I will feel like can finally get my grocery list settled.  Maybe one day I will have a post entitled "How Elzbee Got Her Groove Back."  

Bingo!

Well, an interesting week....  Things are generally going well, and I am overall doing pretty good, but I a couple of times I hit the wall of pain recently and have had some minor lingering issues.  I decided to start writing down what I was eating with a key code of symptoms after which I would evaluate at the following meal time.  With a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being best, I was hovering between 3 and 4 for most things.  One thing I had eaten was some tortillas chips and, while I didn't have pain, I had a definite reaction.  They were a gluten free brand, so that wasn't it.  Hadn't felt well after eating some Mexican food as well.  Hmmm....  That leaves corn.

Off to Google last night for several hours of research.  Well, what do you know!   Corn is a common binding in medications.  It is also used in asthma inhalers.  Light bulb moment!  This explains a lot.  As I looked into it more, I find that corn truly is everywhere and in the most unexpected places.  I thought going gluten free was overwhelming, but this is like Mount Everest.  At the same time I feel like, "I've found it!"  Yes, I think gluten is still an issue, too, because I have see a change.  This morning my cheeks and nose are a nice shade of normal skin color instead of red, in spite of a tummy reaction to some salad dressing in a local restaurant yesterday which was probably the corn.  

So, along with this discovery, I am making an appeal to my family for some help.  There are going to be quite a few things in my pantry that I can't use any more (Goodbye, Celestial Seasonings tea.  I am going to miss you so much!! ), so I need to be able to pass them on.  I will publish a list after I get things sorted.  If you can use anything or know of someone who could, please let me know.  

The journey continues.... 

Seeing Red-the new kitchen protocol

The new containers arrived.  The pantry is rearranged and the kitchen re-zoned.  My poor hubby is now lost in the kitchen and I find myself opening several drawers or cabinets in my effort to find what I need.  That will all settle with time.  In keeping with the color theme, my new leftover containers and baking utensils are red, making them easy to keep separate, though I have moved my small whisk and my 1/2 tablespoon measure spoon from my old set over to the GF side, since I use those quite a bit in my GF baking.  

Thursday mornings are now my main baking time, and I have printed out a calendar to help me plan what baked goods need to be restock. The kitchen will have been thoroughly cleaned in between, so the likelihood of cross-contamination is minimized.  So far I have had one regular baking session and one GF, and I find I like having a dedicated time to bake.

As I had my first regular baking session, I realized after baking a couple of things that I was getting a headache and my hands were aching.  Ahh, flour dust--should have figured.  My husband said that he should see about getting me a haz-mat suit to wear.  :-)  Well, we don't need to go that far, but I am prepared for this week's baking.

Some might pose the question of why not just go gluten-free totally.  It would make things easier, but my husband has already had to eliminate all dairy from his diet, and I don't want him to have to give up bread, too.  Besides, even though I am challenged in a good way with the GF baking, regular flour can't be beat as far as results.  And there you have it.

Extremes

Now that Squared is finished (and hanging above our fireplace), it is time to get going on the next project.  I am switching from bold, bright, and contemporary to bright, old-fashioned 1930's reproduction fabrics.  A few months ago I gave a fellow quilter some fabrics leftover from one of my small wall quilts to help with some color challenges she was having on a project.  In exchange she gave me several fat quarters of some 1930's style fabrics.  I have to admit that the depression-era quilts are some of my least favorite in style, but it would give me opportunity to make a quilt very different from what I have done in the past.  

In tandem with this Bernie and I have been in this battle with each other about what thread she is willing to use.  The only one that has worked well comes in small spools and is rather expensive per spool, so I have to either try to guess which color I will need next and buy it on sale, or buy as I need it and pay a premium.  There was one last thread brand I had yet to try, and in their recent catalog they had a sampler of 1093's style fabrics that would work really well with what I already had.  I ordered the fabric and one spool of their thread to see how it would do.  A quick initial trial indicates that Bernie and I will both be happy with this thread.  Hurrah!  It is extremely reasonable in price and comes in spools of 1200 yards, enough to do at least a couple of quilts.  They have great colors, too.  Finally!!

Here is a sneak preview of "Starry-eyed Grandma": 

The Scone Challenge

A few weeks ago our son and daughter-in-law were up for a visit, and she mentioned that she had found a great scone recipe.  I had a rather sad, "poor GF me" response.  A couple of weeks later she issued a challenge to me on her blog to come up with a gluten-free scone.  Here is the link to her blog with her challenge and my response:

Chocolate Stitches 

Of course I accepted the challenge not only for the problem solving aspect, but also for the yarn incentive. :-)  In my GF baking, I have come to realize that GF flour works best when I can make it as light as possible.  Scones are by their very nature dense, so the question is whether I can reach a happy medium of good taste and texture without the scone settling like a brick in the old tummy.  I printed out the recipe she used and will do some research on GF scone recipes.  This will be a good opportunity to try out some experiments I have been mulling over, so as my DDIL says:  "Game On!"

A Bit of Sunshine

Last Thursday my gracious husband stopped by the grocery store on the way home from his travels that week because I had forgotten to get enough bananas at the grocery store.  When he walked in he not only had bananas, but he also had these:

 

"For the 4th", he said with a smile and a wink.  What a sweet, wonderful hubby I have!

Colorful

Yesterday started out with the blues when I realized that by re-purposing some of my previous wheat-storing container for my gluten free oats and granola that I had most likely contaminated my food.  Yes, I washed them; but they are plastic, and I have had them many years so they are scratched on the inside.  Then I looked a little more into trying to be gluten free in a non-GF kitchen, and I became discouraged and overwhelmed.  

Some time, research, wrestling with the possibilities, and a helpful conversation with my younger daughter brought things back into perspective.  To help make this transition hold more anticipation than frustration, I am going to pursue colorful solutions wherever possible.  

First, I found some new measuring cups:

Next I am taking some mixing bowls that I was mostly using for decoration and making them my new GF mixing bowls for now.

 I have ordered some new storage containers, that while not colorful, are distinctly different from what I am currently using.  I also order a couple of stainless steel muffin tins since that is what I use for GF baking the most.  I will get some baking sheets along the way, but since I usually use parchment paper with that baking, I am not quite so concerned about that for the moment.  Also on the list are a couple of sauce pans since I have used my current ones for pasta, baking utensils, a couple of colanders (pasta issue again), and leftover containers.  I will have plenty of things to put on my Christmas list this year.  :-)

Once I have my new storage containers, I hope to rearrange my pantry to help me and my hubby keep things separate.  Concerning the actual baking, ideally I would like to keep GF baking on one week and non-GF baking the next, with a thorough scrubbing of the counters in between.  The one thing that may be hardest to remember is to scrub the rack in my toaster oven before I toast any of my bread.  I am sure there will be other issues to consider along the way, but this will be enough for me to deal with right now.

Flour Blend and a Muffin Recipe

First I wanted to write out in more detail the flour blend that I am using:

1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill GF sorghum flour (22 oz)
1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free oat flour (24 oz)
1 pkg. Arrowhead Mills Organic soy flour (22 oz)

I combine these flours in a large mixing bowl and mix until thoroughly blended.  I then store the flour mix in the freezer and measure it out just as I would regular flour.  Since I find the rice flours and various starches difficult to digest, I do not use them in my baking.  In my shopping for flours, the three I use were the closest in texture that I could find to wheat flour, and so far are working well for me.  

And now, finally, another recipe to share. 

Almond-orange Muffins

1 cup GF flour blend
2 Tablespoons almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum


2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup oil
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Combine wet ingredients separately.  Stir wet ingredients into the dry mixture, mixing well.  Spoon batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each section about 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until done.  Makes 10-12 muffins.

These muffins came out nice and light, lightly sweet, and with a nice orange flavor.  They met the approval of some of my non-GF family members, which is my mark of a successful recipe.  Thank you, dear ones, for being my taste-testers.  

All Squared Up!

Finally there is something show after all the assurances that I am working on projects.  This quilt was to go in my husband's work office, but a recent realization changed that.  He travels some with his work and on returning to his office a couple of weeks ago, he found all the blinds on the windows in his office opened wide.  The interior walls are glass, so the co-worker that offices across the hall opened the blinds to get more light in his space.  Understandable, but not conducive to having quilts on the walls.  The plan now is to take a picture of it, have the photo made into a poster, and hang the quilt here at home. 

Here is the how Squared came to be:

First, the fabrics.

Next, the design

Then the swatches.

The blocks are pieced.  (I love my design wall!)  The two block on point are ones that I changed the colors to match the pattern my husband worked out.  Can you see what it is?

The top is complete. 

The quilt is done.  Ta da!

Q

Quilting details.