Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour

Well, I cracked open the bag and started baking! I found a recipe for gluten free muffins. I am on my second round of them now. The first round was not flavorful enough, so I am experimenting with ingredients. These came out pretty good. I added bananas, cranberries, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Oh, and I added some local honey that I recently bought. That is another subject!! But, since I mentioned it. It was the first local honey that I think I have ever bought. I read or heard somewhere that local honey is better for you because it helps with your allergies. I don't have them bad, but I thought it couldn't hurt. I was working for a week in "farm country" and stopped by a roadside stand and picked some up. I have to say it was the most delicious honey that I have ever tasted! I will probably contact them to tell them how much I liked it.

As for the muffins, well, they will pass. Gotta keep working on them.

All natural product.....oh, you want it to work?

A few years ago, I had bought my Dad an all natural soap. My Dad likes to save things over long periods of time. He finally used it and said that the nice scent that it once had was now gone. (No preservatives?...yup) He then proceeded to use the soap prior to shaving his face. When he was ready start shaving, the soap had already dried. When he told me about it, I said, "Oh, did you expect it to work, too?" LOL

The lesson that must be taken from this situation is that you cannot expect your all natural products to make you smell good and to work. ....ah, such as life. :)

Happy Holy Week!

Happy Holy Week you Trinita Crazies!! Hey, Carolyn, I am experimenting with some new "strange" things lately. I am trying ginger tea right from the root. I am trying to reduce my gluten, although today was not a good day for that. I am also trying to add turmeric....not even sure I spelled it right....to my diet. We shall see!

A blessed holy week to all!

Strawberry Fields FOREVER

I've started my strawberry seeds and it looks like I'll definitely have three plants and maybe four.  My goal is to transplant a couple to the garden and a couple to containers.  The ones in containers I hope to move back inside when it gets cold again and see how long they'll produce edible strawberries for when they're under the lights inside.  Exciting!  :)  And if the fourth one does come up, I could bring one of the containers to Trinita this summer, if the sisters are looking for any donations to their vegetable garden.  Assuming that these things fruit at all.  I will provide pictures soon.  (This is the second time I've started strawberries inside.  The first time they were alpine strawberries and so weren't that sweet and I also started them in January and grew them almost exclusively under lights.  They were not at all edible until moved outside.  This time, they're regular strawberries and are under lights but in front of a south-facing window and so already are getting strong natural light.  I think this may be a formula for success.)

Not much else is happening healthy-wise.  Although I did get a container of Sustenex, a probiotic, a couple of weeks ago.  I took one everyday for two weeks and now I'm going to take one every other day and space it out more as time goes on.  I'm not sure how I'll know if they make a difference, but I wanted to try it.  Haha, at least nothing bad has happened yet!

Where did everybody go?

Somebody out there must be cooking or baking......I haven't though. ...just the usual stuff. I am due for a Trader Joe's run soon. I need some organic peanut butter, and they have it the cheapest around.

No picture with this one

Well, our family has acquired a bread machine. I thought, "How great, just like Trinita." So, I went ahead bought some ingredients and tried to make it from scratch. Wrong!!!!! It came out dead. There is no other way to put it. I had to scrape out the ingredients and re-bake it in the oven. The result: still dead. It was edible this time, although resembling a fiber brick.

On the up side, I think it was the yeast. Did anyone realize that there are different types of yeast? I didn't use the fast acting kind. Ooops. Well, I'll give it another try. I'll just try plain white this time. No sense destroying good ingredients.

Pizzelles and tortilla chips

This was my first crack at pizzelles. I was asked to make some for one of my sister's customers. (She has her own dog grooming business.) The first batch was very sad looking until my Mother intervened and told me that I had to use the clasp on the iron to make them paper thin. Anyway, the recipe itself comes from great Aunt who has now passed away. Her recipe calls for vanilla and lemon extract with anise seeds. She also used corn oil instead of butter or other oils. I think they turned out pretty good for my first try. Now, I can experiment with the recipe to get different tastes.

PS: I have a recommendation from Sister Barbara Mac that our next subject should explore the healthiness of tortilla chips. I'll start.....Trader Joe's has a number of healthy tortilla chips. One of my favorites involves a chip that is made from corn, rice, and something else....I can't remember. Does anyone have any favorite tortilla chips??