Organizing My Recipes

Just wanted to let you all know that I have now categorized my recipes so you can easily find them by type. As the number of them grew I was having more difficulty finding them. So now if you look at the right side of the blog "main" you will see a section with categories.

I also added some new music. My favorite artist Basia is now online. :)

Thanks to all of you who *follow* me.

Stephanie

Processed People

I am taking a time out from gluten free to share a video I found. This concept is so important to me since good foods that are pure and nutritious are part of what saved my life after battling cancer. Please, if you are not concerned about what you put in your mouth or are putting it off saying "I know I need to do better" - don't put it of. The time is now. Food does matter. My passion is to help others avoid the hardships of poor health physically, emotionally and financially.

Also, you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the blog and hit the pause button on my music box or you will have competing audio with this video trailer.

To your health, naturally.

Stephanie

Starbucks Gluten Free Valencia Orange Cakes

They're here, they're here! Starbucks Gluten Free Valencia Orange Cakes. Ahhhhh now I can have a little sweet treat with my coffee. I used to drool over the case of goodies and know that the gluten ones would be the end of my day if I ate it. But now there is a safe cake for me and all the other gluten free people out there. This cake was not in the bakery case. They had it in a separate drawer so if you don't see it, don't despair but ask them if there is a cake hiding somewhere for you. As near as I can figure this cake was around $2. I didn't get a receipt to know how much it was. Frankly, I didn't care either. :o)

Ingredients: Whole Eggs, Valencia Orange Pulp, Almonds, Sugar, Orange Peel, Gluten Free Baking Powder (Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Rice Flour), Orange Oil. Manufactured on shared equipment processing peanuts and tree nuts.

Nutrition Information: Calories 230, Calories from Fat 148, Total Fat 16 g, Saturated Fat 2g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 125 mg, Sodium 40 mg, total Carbohydrates 32 g, Dietary Fiber 4 g, Sugars 23 g, Protein 9 g

Betty Crocker Goes Gluten Free

I was given a blog link to a woman who is evaluating Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie, Cookie and Cake mixes. They look yummy! I can't wait to find them here. I hope they are relatively toxin free and inexpensive. That will be key for me to buy them.

Check them out!


Stephanie

Being a Good Steward This Year - The Grocery Challenge

I have decided that this year I need to be a better steward of my gifts from God. Overall I think I do OK but I want to see if I can improve in the area of meals. My goal is to plan more nutrient dense meals for less. I find myself getting busy, pop into the grocery store, grab a few items and then get home to find out I already have 3 of something and none of something else I needed. I also want to plan things so that those partial cans of things get used in something else, the leftovers are sent with my kiddo's to school or eaten for another family meal.

So here is my first run at 2 meals. Today I baked the Ginger Lemon Girl Favorite Sandwich Bread. I doubled the batch and made 1/2 into 2 mini loaves and 8 hamburger buns. I took the other 1/2 of the batch and made a loaf of bread for sandwiches for the week. By the way this bread does really well on the counter. We had it there for almost a week w/o it drying out. Today I noticed flecks of white mold so the last 3 pcs went to the birds.

Two meals (Chili & BBQ's) Ingredients total $13.20.

Grass Fed Ground Beef (1 2/3 cups) $4.75
Can Organic Kidney Beans $ .99 cents
Can Organic Northern Beans $1.78
Can Organic Beef Broth $2.79
Can Organic Tomato Paste $1.09
Leftover 1/2 of 28 oz Can of Organic Diced Tomatoes $1.45
1/2 Organic Red Onion diced .32


First I made chili. I browned the ground beef and took 1/2 of it and put it in a soup pot with once can of kidney beans, northern beans, beef broth and 1/2 the can of tomato paste plus the leftover diced tomatoes. Then I added 1/4 of the red onion. I seasoned it with 1 Tbs Chili powder, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp Penzeys minced garlic, 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp celtic sea salt and some pepper. I also added a few red pepper (the hot flakes) for some "zing".

Next, I made BBQ for the buns I baked. I took the other 1/2 of the ground beef and added the rest of the tomato paste with 1 cup of water. Then I added the other 1/4 of diced onion. For seasoning I add 1/4 cup of ketchup (I use Trader Joes because it uses sugar and not high fructose corn syrup), 1 Tbs Yellow Mustard and 2 Tbs Brown Sugar. I simmer it and add a touch of celtic salt and pepper.

Tonight we had:
Rotisserie Chicken from CostCo $4.99
1/4 the bag of Peas and Pearl Onions $1.25
Au Gratin Potatoes from Trader Joes (no hydrogenated oils) $1.99

Dinner cost: $8.24 for 4 of us but....... 1/2 the chicken was left so it will be used for another meal so really it was only $5.74 for the entire meal.

I currently have a banana bread (Bette Hagman's) in the oven. Thankfully I made up the Four Bean Flour mix for Christmas baking and had leftovers so I put the flour in the freezer. I used 2 very squishy banana's on the counter for my bread. I put it into my mini loaf pans so I can freeze one for later. My kids will need snacks this coming week.

So far so good. No trips to the store since New Years Eve. I will continue to try to be creative with what is in the house for the next few days.

Gluten Free Day 1

Friday we took our son in for blood tests for Celiac. Saturday I went through my house and cleaned out every product that had gluten in it. They are packed up in 3 grocery bags to take to my friend who has three kids.

There have been a few tears today as they realized what was being eliminated. But it will be fine. I have gotten pretty good at baking the "replacements". The mainstay being chocolate chip cookies. I picked up some kinnikinnick brand K-Too's so they will think they are getting Oreo's.

It was a calm day in our house. No screaming, fighting or running around. Is this a fluke or related? It normally takes 2 weeks to "detox" them from the overload. It dawned on me that this is the first day since they were very small babies that they have been totally without gluten. There is something wrong with that. Cleaning out my cupboards made me realize just how much they were getting.

Onward to a new adventure.