Warm Baked Bread on a Cold Winter's Day

The holidays are almost over and I am ready for the New Year! Today I’ve taken down the decorations and am getting very excited about what this next year will bring!

            The weather here is dreary and grey which makes me long for comfort foods. One of my loves is baking, any kind of sweet or bread. Today, I began thinking about gluten free baking and how being gluten free might change my lifestyle. I’ve really been too busy this holiday season to bake like I usually do, so I decided today to try out the new baking “lifestyle”. I have decided that on a day like today, Banana Nut Bread is just what the doctor ordered! It turned out GREAT!!!!

 Here is my recipe for Gluten Free Banana Nut Bread:

3 or 4 ripe bananas mashed up

1/3 cup melted butter (I use organic unsalted)

½ cup applesauce (I use organic no sugar added)

¾ cup sugar (I use raw turbinado)

1 egg

1-teaspoon gluten free vanilla

1-teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1-½ cups of all-purpose gluten free flour (I used arrowhead but any gluten free all-purpose will do)

Walnuts (I usually use about ½ cup but feel free to add as many or as few as you like!)

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Stir in the walnuts. Pour into a well-greased bread pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let the loaf cool on a rack, turn out on plate, slice and enjoy!

This recipe can also be made with wheat flour, but I am amazed at the way the gluten free flour brings out the flavor of the bananas, apples, and walnuts!

Happy New Year, Ya’ll!!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family! I promise that I will try and not ramble along today because we all should be spending time with our families and giving thanks for all of our blessings!

My many blessings are what I plan to talk about today. I spent a wonderful day yesterday with family. The first part of the day was with my India Association of Nashville family cooking and serving lunches to the homeless of Nashville. There were a total of around 30 members who came and pitched in. We had a wonderful time together, however, it is very sobering to see almost 200 people, many of them children stand outside in line in the cold because they are hungry, especially at Christmas!

After finishing at the shelter, Shank and I drove to Birmingham and had Christmas with the family! Although Tom, Isaac and Emily were missing, we had a wonderful time!  I so love my girls and their husbands and there is nothing like children to get everyone in the Christmas spirit!

 Wyatt was very excited to show me his Christmas chain. This is a tradition that we have been doing since I was a child. My mother would help us make a paper chain with 25 links. Everyday, we would take a link off. When the last link was gone, it was Christmas! I don’t know where Mama got this idea, but it was a great way to teach us patience and also how to count and subtract! Whitney has taken this idea and expanded on it. On every link, there is something written. It could be as simple as 4 days until Christmas, or it might be something like, “remember to be kind to everyone”, or “ Santa is watching to see if you are nice and respectful”.

Reaghan and Maggie made sure that I knew that there were “ONLY 3 more sleeps!” before Santa came. They were very excited about spending the night with Wyatt and making cookies!

And Chloe’…. What else can I say she is growing up so fast! She is as tall as me! I enjoy hearing about her favorite musical group "One Direction" and what she is reading in her spare time.  I always miss my Chloe’ when she is not around!

Well I have taken you away from your family for long enough! Merry Christmas, and may God bless you in the upcoming year!

I am leaving you with pictures of what else? The grandkids!

                                                 Chloe', Reaghan, Maggie, and Wyatt!

                                         These are the crowns that I made for the girls!

Grateful for friends and family and praying for the families in Connecticut.

Hello everyone! One week closer to Christmas!

I had a wonderful time at my friends Carol and Henry’s house last night! I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  I laughed until my sides hurt! And the food was amazing!  In fact I had such a good time I have to include pictures!

        

  Driving home last night, I began thinking about the horrible tragedy in Connecticut and the grieving families when a hymn from my childhood popped into my head. It has always been a favorite of mine not only for the words but also for the story behind it. The hymn is: It Is Well With My Soul by Horatio Spafford.  For those of you unfamiliar with this beautiful song and the story behind it, I am including this link. Please read about this man’s amazing faith. For those of you who know the hymn and it’s history, please sing along with me:

            When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
 When sorrows like sea billows roll;
 Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, 
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
 It is well, it is well, with my soul.

            Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
 Let this blest assurance control,
 That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
 And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

            My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! 
My sin, not in part but the whole, 
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

            For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
 If Jordan above me shall roll,
 No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
 Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

            But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
 The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
 Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
 Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

            And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
 The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
 The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
 Even so, it is well with my soul.

           

            Please pray that these grieving families will find some sort of peace and comfort for their broken hearts!

  Until next time….

Tis the Season of Giving!

            Today I woke up thinking how thankful and grateful I am for my life!  I have a husband who loves me, a beautiful family and friends, and of course Dante’ who never leaves my side when I am at home!

            We had a wonderful night last night. Shank’s staff came over for a Christmas get together. I spent most of the day cooking and everything was gluten and cow dairy free! There was very little food left and everyone seemed to like it! They were very impressed with my gluten free pecan pie! The thing that really stays in my mind though is how much better I feel with my new lifestyle! I would not have been physically able to do all of this before Vanessa and Q helped me make the lifestyle change in August!

            Christmas is almost here! Can you believe it? I still have so much to do.  The good news though is that the gifts that I had a deadline in finishing are here and ready to be wrapped. The storybooks are back from the publisher! The Year in Pictures Album should be here on Monday. Now I only have the handmade gifts to finish!

            I have always loved handmade gifts and making things for other people. It makes me sad to think of all of the people who don’t know that joy. While I enjoy walking through the mall during the Christmas season, I have never understood the need to equate money with giving.  As a child, my mother would help us make gifts for others. One year we made key holders for the men out of paint stirrers that we spray painted and attached cup hooks. We made sewing kits for the women out of (and I am dating myself here) Bayer aspirin tins.  For those of you too young to remember these, they were about the size of a small matchbook, and made of metal. To open them, you pressed on the back corners. We spray painted them gold, took the little piece of cardboard that separated the rows of aspirin, wrapped different colors of thread around them, added needles, straight pins, safety pins, and a couple of buttons.

            I have since inherited these back. I have two. My great grandmother who I called Ma had used hers until the paint was worn off. She just kept refilling the thread. My Granny, who died at the age of 51(I was 12 and heart broken) had hers saved with her jewelry! Needless to say, I keep these inherited items with my good jewelry also; they are more precious than all of the other jewelry pieces combined!

            In high school, I made a counted cross work pillow and cook book cover with a blank cookbook inside for my other grandmother. When my grandmother died, my aunt sent them back to me. Grandmother had handwritten recipes in the book. So I got a priceless present in return!

            I think what I am trying to say in all of this rambling is that as humans we need to remember the saying “It is better to give than to receive”. Give from the heart! You always end up the winner. And remember, we all make our own Karma!

I told you last week that I would show you pictures of what I am doing for Christmas. I am not as far along as I thought I would be, but here are pictures of my finished books! Also, a picture of Dante’ who loves me even when I am not at my best.

Until next week!

Learning to Give Thanks!

What a hectic time of year! I am frantically working on my Christmas presents. Today I finished writing two storybooks for the younger grandchildren and sent them to be published!

I am so blessed to have my family. There are so many people in the world who are alone and lonely. I have been working on my attitude and trying to remember to be thankful for what I have. I also am trying to learn not to worry. There is a bible verse that I have taped to my computer screen that I have been trying to follow.  Matthew 6:34 says:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I read this every time I sit down at work and try to live this verse.  Every time that I read it, I realize that the things in my life that I worry about are not really even the things that I find important. The reality is that I need to find a way to transcend all of the stress and chaos of my daily life and find something that I can do that truly fulfills me instead of uselessly trying to appease unhappy individuals. Every day that I wake up and go to work, I become more aware of how unfulfilling my workdays have become.  Nursing is supposed to be about helping and serving others, not about chaos. 

There are several quotes that I also find inspiring:

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.  -Woodrow T. Wilson.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi.

As Christmas and the New Year grow closer, I think that it is time to reevaluate my life and my need to help others. I feel that it is time to start giving back and to show God how truly thankful I am for all of the blessings in my life!

As always any thoughts, suggestions, or comments are greatly appreciated! I will talk to you next week and will update you on the Christmas present project and maybe even show you some pictures of my handmade gifts (if you promise not to tell anyone what their gift is)!

But now, I want to leave you with a picture of one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day memories:

My Dad cooking deer steak for me! I love you Daddy!

I am so Thankful this Season!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope Thursday was a wonderful day and that the rest of your holiday season is blessed! I am writing this at 0515 because I cannot stay in the bed any longer. Why is it that on workdays, I drag out at 0430 with the alarm and wish I could stay in bed but on off days I am up at 0400?

Today, I am going to try and put a dent in my Christmas gift making. I have almost finished the family calendar, I have one of two books written for the grandkids and ready to go to the publisher, but the majority of the gifts are just ideas in my head at this point.

I have never been this far behind at Christmas before. I cannot seem to get anything done because I am either in the hospital or too exhausted mentally from being at the hospital. I am thinking that it is time for a change. Everyday that I wake up, I realize that life is too short to be this stressed. I am planning my escape!!!! More details on that topic later.

This year, I made my Thanksgiving dishes gluten and cow dairy free!!! I modified existing recipes and my family loved them. In fact, except for Adrienne and Whitney, no one knew that they were not the original recipes!

While I was cooking for Thanksgiving, however, I encountered a dilemma. Have any of you southern ladies ever thought about how many recipes that are handed down from our mothers and grandmothers contain condensed soups? What is a casserole without cream of some kind of soup?  Well, have any of you ever read the ingredients in a can of condensed soup? It contains wheat and MSG!!!! Needless to say, I won’t ever be using them again! But what, am I going to do?  Some of the recipes are so good and bring back memories of my childhood.  So I researched and here is what I found!!! I am including the link to the blog along with the recipe. Thanks to Jill who put this on her blog!

Soup or Sauce [S.O.S.] Mix

Ingredients


2 cups powdered non-fat dry milk


¾  cup cornstarch


1/4  cup instant chicken bouillon (regular or low sodium)


2 Tbsp dried onion flakes


2 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions 
Combine all ingredients in a recloseable plastic bag, mixing well.
 Equal to 9 (10.5 oz) cans of cream soup. To use: combine 1/3 cup mix to 1 ¼ cups water and cook on stovetop or in microwave until thick then use in your recipe.

When I discovered this I was ecstatic but then I realized that I couldn’t have the non-fat dry milk. So, I searched and found a solution. I used :

I found this is in the Asian grocery store. The results are great and it tastes really good.

Let me know what you think! Talk to you soon!

A Foodie in the Jungle!

Good morning everyone! I hope ya’ll are having a great day! I am having an amazing weekend! We are in Cincinnati celebrating our 5^th wedding anniversary and the wedding of our friends Carrie and Chad!

We drove up on Friday and the ride was spectacular. There is nothing more beautiful than Kentucky in the fall. We arrived in Cincinnati around 3pm and stopped at Skyline for Chili! Then we checked into the hotel.

I have always liked Cincinnati. For those of you who have never been, it is a beautiful city with lots to do. Friday evening, we decided to go to Trader Joe’s. I know, I know, we have Trader Joe’s in Nashville but due to Nashville’s laws preventing the sale of wine and liquor in the same store as beer, we are unable to buy “2 Buck Chuck” in Nashville. For those of you unfamiliar with Trader Joe’s, “2 Buck Chuck” is the store brand wine. It is an exceptionally good wine and originally cost $2 per bottle. It is now $3.79 but still an exceptional value. Whenever we are in a new city, we go by and stock up on 2Buck Chuck!

Now, the best part of the evening!!!! We went to Jungle Jims! This is an International Market in Cincinnati! It was beyond cool! The store sells anything and everything that you could imagine. There is an international section where the aisles are twice the length of Kroger aisles and they are labeled by country. Plus the frozen food section is twice the size of Kroger’s. But that is just the beginning!!!! There is a regular grocery store, a seafood market, a butcher shop, a bakery, a deli, a liquor store, a cigar shop, a candy store, a gourmet section with cooking utensils and implements, and an amazing produce section with fruits and vegetables that I have never seen or heard of! My favorite sections though were the cheese shop and the natural food section.

The cheese shop is made up of 8-10 areas with cheeses divided not by country but by ingredients and/or type. There was a whole dairy case of goat and sheep cheese! There was also a gourmet butter bar!

The natural food selection was unbelievable. There were multiple selections of every food group imaginable! There was even a gluten free bread selection. Most stores in Nashville have one or 2 different loaves of gluten free bread. Jungle Jims had a selection of loaf breads, French baguettes, deli breads, sub rolls, bread sticks and homemade cupcakes, cookies and brownies!

We were there for 2 hours and did not see a fraction of the selection. The store is so large that there is a map and the ceiling is painted different colors to correspond with the map to keep people from getting lost. At the check out, I asked the cashier how big the store was and was told that it is 250,000 square feet. To put that into perspective, a regular Wal-Mart is 97,000 square feet. 

On Saturday we went to the Cincinnati Museum. It is located in the beautiful art deco Union Terminal Building. We spent the majority of the day looking at the exhibits and watching a great movie on the building of the Canadian Railroad across the Rockies.

 For lunch we tried Gold Star Chili because a trip to Cincinnati is not complete without comparing the chili, am I right? For those of you who have been to Cincinnati, I am interested in which chili you prefer!

Last night we went to the reception for Chad and Carrie! What a great time. Too much food and good times and the band was great! They came up from Nashville. They are called Rubiks Groove. Check them out on You tube!

e!

Talk to you soon!

Learning to cook healthy with Vanessa!

Thursday I went to Health4Life Center to a cooking class. It was great!  Q used a Thanksgiving dinner decorating theme. There were appetizers and wine. What a great time!

Vanessa demonstrated her amazing cooking skills and used her infinite nutritional knowledge to prepare a wonderful meal and explained the reasoning behind her use of certain spices and products.

She cooked an entire meal for 10 people in the oven in 35 minutes and prepared a scrumptious dessert. The meal consisted of Oven Baked Chicken with Vegetables, Oven Roasted Red Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Pine Nuts, Spinach Salad with Candied Pecans, and Toasted Coconut Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup!

The meal was delicious and the best part was there was nothing to clean up! Vanessa cooked everything in parchment lined foil pouches.  After serving, the foil goes in the recycling and the plates and utensils into the dishwasher.

Vanessa teaching the class

The beautifully decorated room!

Q and her decorating flair!

The lovely and beautiful Q!

My secret to having a great dinner every night is to prep ahead. I have been doing this for years and it really works. I wash and cut all of my vegetables when I bring them home from the store and place everything in Ziploc bags. I often will go ahead and place the meal in foil or in the crock-pot and leave in the refrigerator until I am ready to cook. I am very glad that I developed this habit years ago in order to prepare healthy meals for my girls. Now with my new food allergies, I am thankful for this habit.

One thing that I want to stress is the importance of using parchment paper to separate your food from the aluminum foil. Aluminum is a heavy metal and it is absorbed into the body. This is not something that we want in our bodies! Parchment lined aluminum foil is available or you can just place a sheet of parchment paper in the foil and place the vegetables on top.