Yay for Granola!

This is corn free, no nut warnings, AND wheat free! I was practically dancing in the aisle in the store. I can never find corn free granola! I don’t know about the other flavors/types of cereals with this brand. Only this particular one. Yay!

*Sidenote – Maltodextrin is made from corn. I don’t avoid it because I don’t seem to react to it but I know some people do.

Do me a favor?

If you know me, love me or if you know or love (or are even just acquaintances with!) that has a chronic physical condition/illness that they deal with every single day…

If you know anyone like that…

Read this. The Spoon Theory.

I’d repost the whole thing here but it requests at the bottom that I not repost it without permission so you have to follow the link.

Thanks

PS I just used up most of my spoons going to the grocery store. I think I’ll just sit here now. Whew!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Revised Chocolate Chip Cookies  - Go there and make those ones if you're looking for a recipe. I made some changes :)

*****

This is the recipe as I made it today. They were truly fantastic cookies. I’m going to make two changes the next time I make them.
1 – 1/2 tsp cream of tarter (I want a little more puff in the cookie)
2 – “quick” oats to grind for flour. I think that will give a slightly smoother texture. Although I kind of like the earthiness of the oat flour as it is. I still want to try it though.
***
2/3 cup oat flour* (I ground regular oats)
1/3 cup plus 2 TBSP Brown Rice flour
1/3 cup plus 2 TBSP Tapioca Flour/Starch
1/3 cup plus 2 TBSP Sweet/Glutinous Rice Flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (with no peanut warning!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Center rack. (Or if you’re feeling ambitious – do half the time in the middle/upper and half in the middle lower. I was not feeling that ambitious.)
In one bowl sift all the dry things together – flours, xanthan gum, soda, salt (cream of tarter if you’re doing that).
In the stand mixer (that’s what I used. You can use whatever floats your boat – or is available in your kitchen…) put the brown sugar, raw sugar, and butter. Mix until very thoroughly blended. I left it on high while I helped Hannah with something so I’m not sure how long it went.
Add to that mixture the eggs and vanilla. Mix again until combined and lighter.
Add the dry ingredients. Mix until blended.
Add the chocolate chips. Mix.

I dropped the dough by heaping tablespoons and round them into the little balls. See how you can see tiny oat flakes? That’s why I want to try the quick oats. Hmm. Or maybe I need a vitamix so grind my flour better. (That would be me looking for a justification to buy a vitamix. FYI.)

I did 6 to a cookie sheet because they were big cookies.
Baked for 11 minutes in my oven.

*I have read that if you’re trying to avoid gluten you have to be careful with oats. We are just trying to avoid wheat so I can use oat flour. If you’re gluten intolerant/celiac make sure your oat flour is okay for you!

Toddler Fingers

I love them. I kissed those ones after she was asleep and then took a picture and left so she could nap without me kissing her fingers more…

Waffles

4 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour/starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp xanthan gum

1.  Beat egg whites until stiff
2.  Cream together egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until light. 
3.  Add cooled, melted butter, milk and vanilla extract. 
4.  In separate bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda, cream of tarter, salt and xanthan gum.
5.  Add dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture and mix thoroughly.
6.  Fold in egg whites.

I added a little bit of milk at the end. Perhaps a tablespoon or two. To thin the batter a little bit. I think next time I’ll add slightly more. Maybe in the beginning to 1 1/4 cup milk.

But these were delicious and lovely!

I had pure maple syrup on mine and the girls had pure fruit jam on theirs. Nom!

I adapted this from this recipe: http://www.allglutenfreerecipes.com/index.php/gluten-free/detailed_recipe/belgian_waffles/ – It had baking powder in it – which has cornstarch.

If you ever need to know:

1 tsp of baking powder = 1/2 tsp cream of tarter, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp cornstarch.

Cooking Blog

I emptied my old cooking blog – which has been unused for awhile anyway. http://cookinginwyoming.blogspot.com/ – Now it’s a place where I’ll be storing things I find or try or use – that are corn free, wheat free, peanut free ways to feed my family.

I can’t imagine it will ever be of a ton of use to anyone else but there it is. It will be helpful to me. haha.

*insert catchy title that belies my true feelings of dismay*

I’ve whined on here about my health before. I just have something to add.

I have fibromyalgia.

I went to the doctor. He tested me for lots of things (that’s the blood tests I mentioned in Leah’s allergy post). I do not have lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis or any of the other things he tested for. Whew.

Fibromyalgia has no test. It’s a diagnosis of elimination.

My mother has it. I have it.

So I hurt a lot. Just about all the time. I have only so much energy to go around. So my girls have been getting it all. Some goes to cleaning my house if I have it left.

Some days I’m fine, some days I can’t do the simplest things – like shut my garage door. That was really annoying. There’s a lot of muscle weakness.

The are lots of other symptoms but we’ll just say it’s been impeding my daily life for awhile.

I’m just over here doing the best I can… but just about everything is going to the way side except caring for my children.

That’s all.

Leah’s Eyes

Leah on wheat…

Leah off wheat…

I really can’t believe how swollen her eyes used to be. Holy. Moley.

And yes. The 2nd picture is with my phone. The first one with my camera. If I wasn’t lazy, I’d go charge the camera battery and do a better comparison. But you get the idea, eh?

Spaghetti

Generally I make my own spaghetti sauce but we were in a hurry tonight. I sent my husband to the store for something else and called him while he was still there and asked him to see if any jarred sauces would fit our little family here.

It turns out the Prego is corn free, peanut free, and wheat free. Yay for that! A lot of prepared sauces have high fructose corn syrup in them.

We had ground turkey in it. The turkey was seasoned with salt, pepper, onion powder, and an Italian seasonings mixture. Then the jarred sauce, salt, pepper, basil. Then left to simmer for about 20 minutes.

During that time we cooked this pasta:

Which was FABULOUS. I'd eat this over regular pasta any day! I had no idea brown rice pasta was that good or I’d have been eating it a long time ago. Amazing.

Simple Woman

Find it here.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... It's dark and windy and cold. We've had a high wind warning all day.

I am thinking...  about my doctor's appt in the morning.

I am thankful... for the joy of motherhood. The women who made that possible in my life. For the feel of my children laying on me.

From the learning rooms... Leah and I got her through a lot of homework today. She was out of school all last week and there's a good size stack. Almost done!

In the kitchen... I've been wheat free cooking. (And it's a freaking disaster in there.)

I am wearing... pjs. 

I am creating... a messy house? happy children?

I am going... to make a steamed milk, relax for a bit, and go to bed.

I am wondering... what is going to happen next.

I am reading... I just finished Alcatraz versus The Evil Librarians by Brandson Sanderson. I haven't decided what to read next yet.

I am hoping... to get some answers, pretty please.

I am looking forward to... sleeping good tonight (that's me thinking positive thoughts. PLEASE let me get some good sleep!)

I am learning... that I can't do everything my brain wants me to do.

I am hearing... Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Around the house... Oh the mess. I don't want to talk about it okay? When I'm sick things... fall apart.

I am pondering...  finding a different normal within my physical limits. I need a house elf. Anybody?


A favorite quote for today... “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” -Mary Anne Radmacher

One of my favorite things...  Steamed Milk. mmmm. (I'm having that right now)

A few plans for the rest of the week... To the doctor tomorrow, clean the house, wheat free cooking, and trying to keep my head above water! Woohoo.

A peek into my day...

Leah's been "creating" things for days. There is a giant mess in the dining room from it. Jewelry, arts/crafts, anything she can think of. This was a puppet from today (There's a tongue under the flap. A little red one. She's so cute!). She used this and a couple stick puppets she made to perform Little Red Riding Hood for me. She even made a back drop with a big piece of construction paper. She cut pictures of furniture out of a newspaper ad and glued it all over it. She amazes me.