Random Acts run AMOK

Please read my other blog concerning Random Acts event AMOK and my day of prayer.

It's Ms Vee Charles!

As a blogger, when I grow up, I want to be just like her. 

Inspirational is the best word I can use for Ms Vee. I can tell you about how she has all these smart craft ideas for your clothing accessories. I could go on and on about how bright, beautiful, and witty she is. I could speak of how her blogs are professional, informative, and did I mention witty. But, as much as I enjoy all that is beautiful about Ms Vee Charles, the one word that encompasses why I follow Ms Vee around the net that she is inspirational.

Want to follow a health and beauty blog worth your time check out Ms Vee's blogs.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MsVcharles

https://twitter.com/ItsYaGirlVee

http://msvcharles.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/VeeCee80

http://www.msvblogs.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/VeeVlogs

Sharing a funny Gluten-free video

Another Kind of Survival Pantry

The walls are unpainted.

One of the nerve racking problems with having a lot of allergies, mostly with a corn allergy, is that buying packaged foods is a crapshoot. You cannot trust something as simple as a bottle of water, cooking oil that claims to be just the oil listed on the bottle, or frozen strawberries that claim to be just strawberries.

Food is neatly stored.

How can bottled water be a problem? In the bottling process it is not unusual for manufactures to use corn starch as a lubricant in the machinery. Since it is not an actual ingredient of the product it is not listed as an ingredient on the label. For someone with a body as sensitive as mine this means finding out too late that another packaged food item is not safe. It creates not only a situation where I often waste money, but it means pain for as much as three days.

The broken ceiling allowed mice in.

When do I find a packaged food item that works, I, then, find the store is frequently out of that item. To resolve this I took an old coal room, I had been using for a dysfunctional pantry, and made my husband turn it into a decent pantry. I can, now, buy food by the case. 

Wood panel sealed the holes.

 I'd like to conclude this post with a recipe that uses many of the type of items stored in a pantry.

Sweet Potato Soup

Optional and alternatives ingredients are in parentheses.

2 c diced sweet potatoes (butternut squash, pumpkin)

1 large diced apple

(1 Tbs minced onions)

1 stalk mince celery

Water to cover (apple juice can be used in place of an apple and water)

Cook until tender. Turn off and cool for handling. Place a cup or two at a time in the blender and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and cook on medium low heat. Add:

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp ground rosemary

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

(¼ tsp pepper)

1 c almond milk (any milk or cream, or milk or cream alternative)

Simmer 30 minutes or until thick and creamy. Top with roasted and salted sunflower seed. I like to roast the sunflower seeds myself and add Italian seasoning and salt at the end of the roasting.

Alternative roasted toppings:

pumpkin seeds

almond slices

chopped pecans

sesame seeds

croutons

Serve with Millet Bread.

A sweet alternative, instead of Italian seasoning and salt try cinnamon or pumpkin pie spices and 2 Tbs of your choice of sweetener. Then top with one of these choices:

raisins

sauteed apples

shredded apples

applesauce

shredded carrots

candied nuts

candied seeds

dried cranberries

Serve with:

sweet crackers

in bowels made from pie crust

a couple of sugar cookie
s

Where I've been, and where should I go

Yellow ceiling, orange wall, purple trim

Two weeks ago a bunch of excuses captured me. I have only just escaped.

First some pictures of what I have been doing instead of writing recipes. My daughter's sixteenth birthday is Friday the 28^th.. I've been helping her redecorate her room in her favorite colors. Wild, man.

purple wall, orange trim, green curtains 

green wall, yellow shelf

Husband, Ken and his Takamine 1987

Second, my husband said what I was afraid he would say about the picture of him I posted in my last blog. “That's not my guitar. That's the mandolin.” The truth is I liked the angle of the shot. So here's my hubby and his Takamine.

Finally, I have been giving some serious thought to my writing. I believe I am a writer. I have believed that about myself since I was eleven. In all that time I have been far more raw talent than educated and/or polished skill. My first love has always been to be a homemaker and I have done that for the past 33 years. I haven't regretted it. I have loved it and I am proud of it.

Ken, his banjos, and his dog, Jack  2009

However, my sons are grown and married, with children of their own. My daughter, after years of consideration has chosen to follow my footsteps into homemaking, is doing an academic/ apprenticeship home education. I have the time to be serious about what I want to do with my writing.

I have this cooking blog, but I tend to focus a lot on memoirs. I have a Tumblr where I post mostly stuff connected to the indie band Louden Swain, an occasional thing or two about the TV show Supernatural and I write about bringing peace to politics. It started as a place for my angst about politics, but I've realized that it wasn't going to bring me civil discussions no matter what angle I chose. Finally, have another blog where I post my fan fiction and other things I'm sure I'm not going to sell.

There isn't any doubt that writing is a part of who I am and from looking at my blogs I see that I lean heavily toward story telling. It is time to learn how to make money at it. The question is, and I'm posing this to my readers, do I:

a) Develop this blog into a professional gluten/allergy-free cooking blog,

b) Get serious with what I am learning about script writing in my fan fiction and have a go at being a writer for TV (a really hard business to get into, but I'm having so much fun),

c) Create a professional blog for my little stories, forsaking all other blogs, or

d) Give up blogging in pursuit of freelance writing?

Corn-free 'Cornbread?'

Have you ever watch a show called, Red Green? Click here for a segment.

I love his line. If a woman don't find you handsome, she should at least find you handy.

I have the blessing of a man I find both handsome and handy.

My husband and I had dated about a month when we decided to get married and did so five months later. A relationship moving that fast leaves a lot, let me repeat, a lot of room for getting to know each other after you're married. Which of course is the worst way to get to know each other, but it can also be filled with wonderful surprises.

One of those surprises came about a month after our wedding. We had decided no one would buy anything over thirty dollars, it was big money back then. As we were walking through Sears he spotted a $40 guitar and beg me to let him buy it. I was a bit stunned. Why would he “suddenly” want one of those. It turned out he had taken guitar lesson and he was actually kind of good at it. I didn't regret that purchase. I didn't even regret it when a couple of years later he took two unemployment checks to buy a Takamine, and then played the same song for 10 hours a day over the next week. It wore my patience a bit, but now, he plays classical and finger style. And, one of the classical songs he plays sounds like two guitars and a bell ringing. It like so cool.

No one is perfect

When it came to my cooking his compliments came with one word adjectives, dinner was remarkable, or incredible, filling. He was analytical about food. He would tell me it wasn't right, and then refuse to tell how it was wrong, for fear I would try to fix it. When my daughter and I had to go gluten-free he remained quiet and patient as I learned this new way of cooking. For a person who can eat gluten, gluten-free food just isn't the same, yet, he remains mostly quiet. As far as I'm concerned his patience and kindness in the matter made him a saint.

Not everything can be fixed with duct tape

Five years ago the cost of gluten-free flours seemed to be so high. He immediately bought me a mill attachment for my Kitchenaide. When my Kitchenaide broke, a few months ago, he rigged the mill to allow me to continue to grind, until we bought a new Kitchenaide. It's a fairly simple mount. If you're interested in making one of your own do a little online research, as a number of people have done similar things and posted their how-to.

Making Your home Feel Like a Hug

These are the things that add up and bring to life a richness which goes beyond our troubles. Placing within us the perceptive that together we can do anything. Bless your spouse by remembering the goods things and keep their heart warm by keeping the kitchen warm with home cooking.

One of our family's favorite foods which brought the comfort and warmth of home was cornbread. I posted a recipe here. Since corn is, now, ruled out I make millet bread. While like all mock recipes it is only reminiscent of cornbread. It has the hearty, homeyness cornbread brings to the table.

Millet Bread

Preheat oven to 400

Grease and flour a 9'x9' pan. (either flour will work, rice will provide a grittiness)

1 c brown rice flour

¾ c millet flour

¼ c course ground millet flour (Don't have course ground? Replace it with a 1/4 cup of millet flour.)

1 tsp guar gum

¼ sugar*

1 Tbs baking powder

½ tsp sea salt

¼ c fat (melted palm shortening)

1 c hot milk (quick almond**)

1 slightly beaten egg

Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Place in wet additions and mix until all dry ingredients are moist. Pour into the baking pan. The batter should be thick, maybe even spongy. Gently spread batter to the corners of the pan a spatula. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. You should see cracks in the surface of the bread, just as you would with a good cornbread.

*if you prefer agave or honey, change the recipe to 2 Tbs of sweetener and 2 Tbs of fat.
**Quick Almond milk is 1/3 c almonds ground in the blender. 1 c of water. First grind the almond into a meal, and then with blender on low/whip let blend for 1 minute. For this millet bread recipe use boiling water.

For a Vegan Version

Omit the egg and whip 2Tbs flax seed meal and 1 Tbs starch with your choice of the hot substitute milk.

Gluten/allergy-free Seasonig blends

I love herbs and spices. The smell of them have a way of reminding you of memories, home, or special events. The smell of peppermint reminds me of late September and walks in the woods, were I grew up. The smell of chili and cumin reminds me of my father cooking a large pot of pollo mole (chicken and gravy.) Let's not forget all those wonderful smells of Christmas. Tell me what season pops into your head when you think of Christmas.

While buying an envelope or bottle of season blends can be quite handy making your own fresh blend can provide moments of creativeness, a blend tweaked to your personal needs, and best of all provide one of those many ingredients that make a house a home of warmth.

The following are some of my favorite blends that meet our households allergy-free needs.

Mexican Seasoning

½ c chili powder

2 T cumin powder

4 tsp each:

salt

onion powder

garlic powder

oregano

2 tsp sugar

To blend either run through a coffee grinder for a few seconds. If you don't have a coffee grinder place ingredients in a tightly closed jar. You will need a jar with twice the room than the space the ingredients are taking up. Now, shake well.

For mild flavor, use 1 tablespoon in a pound of ground beef or 2 cups of beans for vegan. 2 tablespoons for a spicier version.

Italian Seasoning

2 tablespoons each:

Basil

Marjoram

Oregano

Parsley

Thyme

Rosemary

Optional 1 teaspoon of chili pepper flakes.*

Run all item through a food possessor or coffee grinder.

* pepper flakes is a part of the original recipe, but I can't have it so I omit it.

Garlic, onion, and black pepper are stand by flavors in cooking. Since I cant have any of them it became a struggle to find a replacement. I came up with:

Colleens Cooking Concoction

4 tsp Allspice powder

2 tsp Celery seed

2 tsp ground Mustard

1 tsp Thyme leaves

Grind in coffee blender until it is a fine powder.

Only 1-2 tsp are needed in your protein choice.

Pumpkin Spice Mix

Mix the following in a jar:

• 1/3 cup ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg or mace
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice.
  

For pumpkin pie, add 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of spice mix to your other ingredients.

Finally this is my corn-free baking powder recipe.

Baking Powder

2/3 cup starch (arrowroot,or kuzu)

2/3 cup cream of tartar

1/3 cup baking soda

In a large bowl mix all ingredients well. Being well blended is important to the function and the storage of baking powder. Store in a pint jar. Use it as you would prepackaged baking powder.