Whoops! Where did the time go?

I seem to be making that statement a lot on this blog.  I don't know why I forget to post!  I think when I am feeling good and not whining at you my dear readers I just forget to post the good things.  Okay I'm going to do a synopsis of the past month and catch up!!

The family and I had a great time on Thanksgiving at the dear daughters house.  I made some gluten free cornbread stuffing and goodies that were gluten free.  I found gluten free pie crusts at the Whole Foods store in OKC and although they were a little pricey it was nice to have pie with a crust!  Unfortunately I don't know what happened to the pictures I took on Thanksgiving...rats!

Heather and I had a really good time cruising around the Caribbean and all my worries about my disorders and eating issues were mostly unfounded.  Now I did have some problems with tiring easily and the first day on the boat ended up falling twice and scaring Heather half to death!  Her response was I was only allowed to fall once a day and I was being penalized for going over the limit and couldn't fall anymore on the trip.  Not counting near falls I didn't fall another time!!

Only known variance from my gluten free diet was the Beignets and coffee I had at the Cafe Dumond in the French Quarter in New Orleans!  Very yummy and I didn't seem to have any bad effects from them!  Might have been the small amount of gluten but it was nice to know an occasional slip wouldn't send me into agony!

My hamberger and fries at the Guy Fierey grill on board the Conquest!  It was so yummy I ended up going back there 3 times and ordering it.  

 I was very impressed with the way the dining room staff went out of their way to make sure I didn't feel neglected or underfed on the trip.  After they found out I was gluten and dairy intolerant they went out of their way to prepare the same food everyone else was eating within my dietary restrictions.  I had gluten free bread at dinner and the molten chocolate cake every night at supper.  I didn't feel the lease deprived because how could I eating filet mignon and lobster tails or all sorts of awesome foods! 

More then a few cruise picture can be seen on my Okienurse Paper and Ink Therapy blog if you would like to see them just click the link!  Saves me from having to repost and boring the folks who only want to hear about the health info.

I wish I could say I didn't have any issues with traveling and the trip because I did!  I tire easily and I had a lot of problems with fatigue, mental fog, balance was a big issue.  I came home with quite a few bruises.  It was cool and rainy most the trip and that effected my health a little.  BUT!  I just took it easy stopping frequently to rest and people watch, I read a couple books sitting on deck wrapped up in warm clothes when it was cool and soaking up the sun when it was nice. 

Food alert:

If you have access to a Natural Grocer or a Whole Foods store they both carry this Quinoa pasta.  It is awesome food and I truthfully can't tell the different between it and the wheat flour variety except in price.  This box is about $3.29 vs the $1.89 of wheat pasta!

I made some really awesome banana nut muffins yesterday.  I will include the recipe below.

You will need some of my gluten free baking mix and you can find the recipe here!

Gluten Free Banana Nut Muffins with Crunchy Topping

4 cup gluten free baking mix
1 cup sugar
1 1/2  cup almond milk
4 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
5 bananas mashed up
1 cup chopped pecans

Crunchy Topping
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c butter
1/4 c pecan bits


Mix all ingredients together in large bowl except those for the crunchy topping.  Mix the crunchy topping ingredients together in a separate bowl.  You may need to use a little more sugar if it doesn't look like lumpy sand.   Line baking tins with cupcake liners and spray lightly with nonstick spray.   Fill each cup about 3/4 full of batter.   Top with about tablespoon of topping.  Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of muffin comes out clean. Makes 36 muffins

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies!

Now if that isn't a mouthful to say I don't know what is but the mouthful you get of this cookie is really awesome when you bite into it.  I found a cookie recipe on Martha Stewart.com for the cookie but of course it wasn't gluten free so I modified it and made it mine.

GF  Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cups pecans
• 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put sugars, butter, and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
3. Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture, and mix until just combined. Mix in pecans and chocolate chips.
4. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop balls of dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

Modified from a Martha Stewart recipe 

Bet you can't eat just one!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I posted this picture of my Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins on my Face Book page yesterday and had several requests for the recipe.

I made these muffins using the Master Mix I found on Ginger Lemon Girl's blog site when I first started this journey.  I tried another mix but it was so bitter that it made what I used it in also have a bitter taste.  I have read that it is probably a bean flour or sweet sorghum flour that will cause that so I am steering clear of that flour in making my bread goodies unless it is used in small amounts.  Anyway here is a link to that recipe that I posted a couple weeks back. 

I made up what amounted to 10# of my version of this mix after making a small batch up a couple of times using the above mix but then you know how I can't leave anything alone!!!  I changed it up! It is absolutely amazing taste wise and does what I want my mix to do.  If you want the exact mix Carrie used then go the recipe link above....  This is my version:

Vickie's Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix...like Bisquick but better!
Makes about 18 cups of mix

2 cups of Brown Rice Flour
2 cups of White Rice Flour
1 1/2 cups potato flour
1 1/2 cups Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 cups Oat flour
1 1/2 cups pecan flour
1 1/2 cups Sweet Sorgham flour
3 tbsp of Xanthan Gum
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
6 Tbsp of baking powder
2 cups or a small can of dry buttermilk powder
1 cup dry milk powder
1 cup Crisco butter flavored shortening
1/2 c butter

Cream the butter and Crisco together in a very large bowl.   Start adding the flours in one cup at a time till the mix is all mixed up and resembles a speckled/pebbly flour mixture.  A very coarse flour if you will...then add in the remainder of the ingredients.  You can cut the flour into the mix with a pastry cutter but this is so much mix that the mixer worked better for me.  I then took the mix and put 2 cups of mix in Ziplock bags, labeled them, and stored them in my refrigerator.  According to Carrie this has a long shelf life but I didn't want to risk spoilage hence the refrigeration.  Non gluten flours and baking supplies are not cheap so you don't want to risk losing them.

You will notice that the mix doesn't have sugar or substitute in it.  I suppose you could put it in but...I thought for savory baked goods like dumplings or biscuits I wouldn't want the sugar.  I have so far used this mix for making dumplings, biscuits, pancakes, cake donut holes, muffins etc.  Yummy!


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

2 cups of Vickie's GF Mix
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1+  cup milk (I used almond milk)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup lemon flavoring or juice
1 tbs poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 360degrees 

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  The mixture may be a super thick and you can add more milk if you like but it is a thick batter.  Spray muffin tin with spray oil.  Divide mix into the 12 muffin tin wells.  Press down lightly with finger  tips.  Spray tops with the spray oil and sprinkle with granulated sugar.   Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of the muffin.

Okay give it a try.  These are really yummy!

Week 4 and the GF lifestyle keeps on!

Week four is over and done and I am doing better then I thought I would be doing at this point in my journey.  I am not saying it has been a super easy four weeks but it has been getting progressively easier with each passing day!  I keep borrowing from my GA background...one day at a time.  If I can make it through today then I will let tomorrow take care of itself.  I focus on just today. 

Some noticeable changes since starting the diet is my increase in stamina.  I am not as tired when I first get out of bed and I don't seem to get so run down and wore out as quick.  The fibro fog brain fuzziness on waking seems to be better too but memory is still in the crapper.  My pain seems better but that is such a subjective issue since I always have good days and bad days!  

I found a yummy pizza from Mazzio's that they make and deliver to the house...yes they do they make a gluten free pizza.  It only comes in one size but it is gluten free in a foil tray to prevent cross contamination in their ovens but it can be topped with whatever GF toppings you want to put on it!  Not bad but a bit pricey at about $11 for a 10" pie.   Another alternative is making your own pizza and crusts.   

                                                                                                       

               

Bob's Red mill has this pizza mix for about $4.50 a package and it makes a pretty good size pie.  Tastes wonderful too but doesn't reheat well.  Soggy/spongey is a term that comes to mind to describe the texture!

I bought some Udi's preformed pizza crust at the health food store and it isn't too bad but once a gain is a little pricey.   Two small single serve size were over $4.  Tasty though and there weren't any left overs!

Another alternative would be to make your own from scratch   I found a recipe on About.com that sounds like it might work and plan on giving it a try.  Here is the link for the recipe.  http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/pizzasflatbreadswraps/r/GFPizzaCrust.html

On my crafting blog I showed a recipe card I had made for a swap and thought I should share it here too!  I made these cupcakes and took them to an event and everyone was questioning me as to whether they were gluten free or not.  I told them that they could eat them or not but that I wasn't giving up my secrets!  Towards the end of the event I went to the back and fixed me a cup of coffee and grabbed a cupcake and started eating it.  OMG!  The looks on some of the faces...and these were the same ones that ate two of the darn cupcakes.  You would have thought I had force fed them big juicy worms or something...another just went and got another cupcake.   I think you can read the recipe if you click on it to make it larger.  I used a bag of GF chocolate cake mix from Bob's Red Mill.  I think next cake I make I am going to substitute applesauce for part of the fat in it though.  

One thing I have found about gluten free cooking/baking is that it is fattening!  I don't know whether it is a difference in the nutrition or as I suspect the fact that I am cooking and baking so much more recently! 

Week Three....done!

It has been a good week but I think I may have  over done it several days cause today I am really achy all over and a more than generalized listlessness going on.  I just couldn't seem to get out of bed then I just can't seem to get my butt out of whatever chair it is parked in...

How do I define over doing?  Well I usually make a quick run to one store if I have to shop for groceries or whatever and I try not to do more then one store when I get out.  It just takes too much out of me to do that and shopping has become a real pain in the butt...literally!  I do a lot of online shopping now if possible to conserve energy for those things I can't buy in an online way.  Several days last week I was up late because I couldn't sleep and when I did go to bed and didn't sleep well because of external noises.  The City of Norman decided to put in a new water line behind my house and all the heavy equipment with their safety beeping noises went on all week.  The lawn care guys showed up and OMG! how loud can a lawnmower and blower be?  I have been having more light and noise sensitivity this week and I am unsure what is the cause of that!  If you have fibromyalgia and CFS it doesn't take much to throw you into a flare up and I think I am just going to relax this weekend and try again next week doing some things I want to do and pace myself while doing them.  

Found a new to me store in Norman called Natural Grocer's that is like what we used to call a health food store.  It has a full line of everything you would find in a regular grocery except it is 'natural, organic, healthy' for you.   Have you every had a craving for something you can't have?  Well I was that way on Thursday wanting store bought bread so I went to Natural Grocers and they were having a sale on their Udi's bread so I bought a couple loaves of their multigrain and cinnamon raisin bread.  The clerk told me she thinks they are better then regular bread!    I also picked up some frozen pasta dinners like mac and cheese and spaghetti to have for supper this week.  Amy's Kitchen food brand has all sorts of foods for the Gluten Free diet and I think that Natural Grocer's carries them all!  I tried the rice macaroni and cheese that is diary free and it was so thick and creamy...OMG!  I didn't know it was dairy free! 

$7.99 on iTunes

$3.99 on iTunes

Went to supper last night at Coach's with a bunch of friends and Robin turned me on to a couple really cool iPhone app called "Is That Gluten Free?"  and the eating out program called "Is That Gluten Free? Eating Out"  Both Programs have a lot of really useful information about foods I can and can't have.


The Is That Gluten Free program has the foods organized several different ways, by category, brand, and an ingredients section that lists ingredients on packages of prepared products so that if you aren't sure what it is you can look it up.   The Is that Gluten Freen Eating Out guide has the foods divided up by restaurant and tells you what you can have and can't have on the menu.  If the food contains a gluten item ie hamburger then it tells you how to order it without the gluten component.  I think I am going to find this a really helpful took in my gluten free journey.

Okay I am off to fix some lunch.  Made myself hungry writing this.  More later!

Just finishing week 2 of the new eating regime!

Well Sunday heralded the end of week two of the no gluten, no dairy except cheese and butter, no sweeteners and limited sugar, limited caffeine and I am still alive to tell the tale!

I think I am seeing enough of a difference that I can call it a change due to diet modification.  I have frequent headaches but haven't had one since last Wednesday...that's almost a week without one!  One of the biggest things is the bugs crawling on me sensation I have had since 2007 is definitely diminished and I am not having the numbness in my toes like I have had for a long time.  I seem to have increased stamina and I am able to do a little more then I have done in months.  I still have trouble getting out of bed but I never was an easy riser at any stage in my life.

I went to the local health food store the other day and bought several different gluten free foods for variety and have really enjoyed the foods that I am preparing with it.  Want a peek?
Here is breakfast from Sunday morning...

 Ham, eggs, gluten free pancakes with maple syrup! 

I bought a little doughnut hole maker and used an all purpose baking mix to make these yummy balls. 

Went out to eat supper with a friend the other night and thought WOW I don't know what I can or can't drink so I asked the waiter if they had any gluten free beers...yes they do make them...and he came back with this.  Too scary for description.  Tastes like a crisp tart apple cider with a kick...guzzled the first one then read the label on the second...5% alcohol.  I can truthfully say it is a favorite drink right now!  :-)

 I bought several different flours to play around with at the Whole Foods store Friday.  I didn't even know that there was Rice flour, or fava bean flour but now I do!  I am going to mix up my own baking mix tomorrow that is similar to Bisquick mix but a whole lot cheaper then buying gluten free baking mixes.
This recipe is from the Ginger Lemon Girl, Gluten Free and Guilt Free site.  
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Gluten Free All Purpose/ Master Baking Mix
(like Bisquick)
Entire mix makes roughly 30 servings (1/4 cup of mixture)
2 WW points per serving

 

2 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups certified gluten free oat flour - or - millet flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. salt.
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups powdered milk (I bought dry buttermilk)
1/2 cup shortening (I used a butter flavored one)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all flours, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and powdered milk. Make sure to whisk for several minutes to fully incorporate all ingredients evenly. Cut shortening into small squares and cut into flour mixture (like you would for pastry) with a fork or potato ricer until shortening has been fully incorporated throughout the entire mixture. It will look like very tiny peas or specks of shortening throughout the mix. It should look similar to the picture below. When your mix is well combined, place it in a seal-tight plastic or glass container and keep in a cool dry place. I keep this in my cabinet with my gluten free baking supplies. It will be ready anytime you need to use it!! This mix has a very long shelf-life, but we usually have to make it about once a month because we use it so often!

http://gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com/2008/02/successful-gluten-free-master-baking.html

and the recipe for the doughnut holes

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Gluten Free Mini Donut Hole Muffins
14 servings (4 mini muffins per serving)
3 WW points per serving

2 1/4 cups Gluten Free Master Baking Mix (see recipe above)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 egg whites
1 1/4 cups skim milk (or water since there is powdered milk in the master mix)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder (if desired)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 24 mini-muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine gluten free baking mix, sugar, and cinnamon. In a small bowl combine egg whites, milk, and vanilla flavoring. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour egg white/milk mixture in. Stir until fully incorporated. Batter will be somewhat thin, almost like a pancake batter. Fill mini-muffin tins 2/3 full. You should have enough batter to fill and bake 48 muffins. Bake at 375 degrees around 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a donut hole comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. In a gallon sized plastic bag mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder together. Place 8-10 muffins at a time inside the bag and shake to completely cover donut holes. Allow to cool completely and then place in an airtight container. You can also freeze these wonderful donut holes in individual plastic bags and take out a serving at a time. Enjoy!!

Brownies

Looks yummy!  It is/was.  I made gluten free brownies last night and being a bad girl I slathered a whole lot of chocolate fudge frosting on them and threw a handful of chopped nuts on top.  Now since I was breaking the limiting sugar rule I figured I had better leave the ice cream off but wouldn't that have been just the yummiest addition!!

Going gluten free has been a change but I am having fun with it (as you can see) and it isn't as bad as I had feared it would be.  The mix I bought was from Betty Crocker and they carry it at Walmart in the baking aisle.  Looks like this:  Now don't freak out when you see it cause it isn't cheap...it cost about $4.50 a box for the mix but so worth the price!  Especially when you are trying to stay GF and are contemplating eating a whole bag of powdered sugar doughnuts!

The frosting is dark chocolate fudge from Duncan Hines.  

OMG!  awesome. I don't even want to think about calories right now.  Check it out!