quote

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses."

- Joyce Brothers

American psychologist and advice columnist

ugh

I got glutened by a hotdog.

You know, 22 year olds are not supposed to feel like this. I have been stuck feeling like crap for way too long. And I get mad about it. I missed out on so much in high school and in college because I was sick ALL the time. I remember once, in college, my friends waited until 1 in the morning to go out because I couldn't get out of bed for hours. And I get mad at myself after being gluten free for almost a year when I make a stupid mistake and pay for it for almost a week.

I ate a hot dog today. Within 15 minutes, I had a headache that would make anyone else go to the ER. Then my stomach blew up like a balloon and I had horrid stomach pain. Next came fatigue and nausea. I feel like I will never want to eat again.

I feel so crappy, at one point I wanted to stomp across the street and punch my neighbor who was mowing his lawn and yell, "Don't you know I feel like crap!?" (kidding)

Next with come the muscle aches, the itchy skin. The infamous irritability. The rash. And oh so much more that I would prefer to not discuss on such a public forum!

Ugh. This celiac disease is the pits.

Zucchini pizza!

Ingredients :

2 zucchini

2 eggs

1 c cheddar cheese

garlic

Shred zucchini and dry it out.

Add eggs, cheddar and garlic to zucchini and spread on pan.

Cook until the edges are browned.

Add toppings

I used:

Classico roasted garlic and onion sauce

Hormel turkey pepperoni

Mozzerella cheese

Tomato

Dried basil

Cook until cheese is bubbly and...

ENJOY!

favorites!

I (finally) bought sunbutter last night. OH MY GOD. So good. I don't even have to avoid peanuts and I love it.

I also found a gluten free bread that even Adam likes! It tastes kind of like sourdough and the pieces are relatively small, but it is the least expensive and I really do like it (but it MUST be toasted! Do not eat this straight from the bag!)

It is Ener-G brand tapioca bread! A lot of celiacs do not like it (most like the light version - Kroger only carries four varieties of Ener-G bread, though). It makes a delicious sandwich though.

Another new product I tried this week was kefir. Am I in love or what? Kefir is a yogurt-like drink chock full of probiotics - good for people with celiac. Seriously, my stomach is happy for once! And I'm not going to lie, I actually think it tastes pretty good. I bought the cappuccino flavor and it will definitely be a weekly purchase! I think I am going to try the fruit-flavored kind next.

Something not so good I tried recently is Glutino brand DUO pizza. The crust was tasty, but where is the cheese? And the sauce had a weird sweet flavor that I was not fond of. If they sold the crust plain (which they very well may, but I am sheltered in the midwest so I don't know) I would definitely buy it and make my own cheesy delicious pizza out of it.

Something to think about

A quote by a Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"There is an ecstatic mechanism in birds that makes them fly upwards in spite of worms"

I know you have one too, one of those ecstatic mechanisms.

P.S.

A true friend never greets you with asking how you are, but if the statute of limitations is up yet

An excerpt of Paracelsus by Robert Browning

...that at times I almost dream

I too have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out—not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again. All which, indeed,
Is foolish, and only means—the flesh I wear,
The earth I tread, are not more clear to me
Than my belief, explained to you or no.

Try it!

Berghoff Harvest 12 Pack.

Delicious!

Also, Anybody got any rules on eating chocolate cake at work? Just kidding

Anyway, thats All I got, no real interesting update.

Besides that you need to drink berghoff and visit www.asofterworld.com

Adam

Also, If you stop stabbing, I'll stop screaming.

CAKE!

I made a gluten free cake last night for a family function today. It is a double chocolate Kahlua cake. Oh my... it is tasty!

Y'know, making a three layer cake with one round pan is kind of a night long ordeal... I really need to invest in another round pan, methinks. Oh well. I like baking (I really liked it before going GF, but it is difficult and quite expensive when it has to be gluten free).

Unfortunately, I had been drinking more Kahlua than I used and attempted to set up a three layer cake. It shifted a little bit. Oh well, I don't think it looks THAT bad... :)

I also tried a new GF product last night!

These are the Chebe frozen tomato basil breadsticks. I have had Chebe's dry bread stick mix and it was absolutely delicious (only had it once though - it was the first GF product I tried). These were just okay. The flavor was there, but they did not rise at all and they were very crunchy. Also, they took 45 minutes to cook! That was kind of shocking, but fine. The breadsticks were about $6 for 12, which is kind of steep, but I'd be willing to buy again if making pasta because I bet they would be really good dipped in marinara.

Bye bye summer.

Oh what a lovely weekend. It was beautiful out and we both had three whole days off of work (virtually unheard of 'round these parts).

But then I got glutened.

Last night to be specific. By salad dressing. Who else goes through their own personal hell over Caesar? Blech.

Update on my soup:

It does look pretty gross because it is an odd shade of green (a lot of zucchini) but I liked it.

Adam did not like it too much. It is very light (which I think is good because it is only September). I am making cream of sweet potato soup tonight and am oh-so-excited about that!

It has sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, broth, allspice and cinnamon. Can't really get any easier than that...

I also have to go into work early this morning, which I don't mind. I am much more of a morning person. Unfortunately I will be the only one in my department and am absolutely terrified that I will screw it up. I was transfered to a completely different department about six months ago to work on their computers and ended up liking it so much I asked to be transfered. It is a much better fit for me, anyway.

An ode to my crock

I love my crockpot. I have fond memories of my mom using hers (quite a bit) when I was a young'n. I love it so much I have a feeling that I probably don't use it quite enough because it sits unnoticed all summer. Well guess what? It's September 1st and 40 degrees out: I'm busting my beloved crock pot out.

Actually, I used it last night when I got home from work. I made a vegetable broth.

I just poured it into a stock pot about five minutes ago so it can drain completely. I may have used too much celery (is there such a thing?) but I figure it will be good to have in the freezer. Now if I only had something to do with the dilapidated veggies...

I also assembled a nice end of summer soup that will cook all day on low while I am slaving away at work and be ready to eat when I get home. It has sweet potatoes, zucchini, spinach, green beans, onion, an apple, and kidney beans (and it already smells delicious).

YUM! I can't wait to get home from work and I haven't even left yet!

-- Monica