Out On The Town

The FabGrandpa and I crawled out of the woods last weekend and went down to the big city to spend the night with Becky. This is the view from her balcony:

She lives in a high-rise condo (with no guest room, as noted earlier) right on Peacthree Street in downtown Atlanta. She took us out to dinner at The Vortex, an ecclectic place with posters of biker chicks on the wall and loud rock music blaring from a juke-box.

It says right on the menu that The Vortex is an “Idiot Free Zone” and that they are not politically correct. They had great cheeseburgers (I had mine sans bun). It was a fabulous place to start the evening. Here are Jim and Becky at The Vortex:

After that, we drive over to Blind Willie’s. It is billed as Atlanta’s finest blues bar, and I agree. I love the slogan on their website “It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Sleazy”, but I did not find the place to be sleazy. When we got there, the place was packed, so we had to share a table with some young guys. They were quite friendly, even bought a round of drinks for the whole table. We stayed there through one set, then sashayed down the block to 10 High.

Now, Becky had been telling us about this great karaoke bar she has been going to, and we have been thinking to ourselves that we could not believe she would like karaoke. Jim and Becky pictured here post Jaeger Bombs at 10 High:But let me tell you, this was not your father’s karaoke bar! At 10 High, there is a live heavy metal band, Metal-some. Our niece Emily, Becky, and me at 10 High:The people who sing karaoke are on stage with the band, with back-up singers, and it is dang good! I have never seen anything quite like it. Well, I have seen movies with night club scenes where you had to work your way through a sea of people to get to the bar, but I have never been in a place like that until Saturday night.

So, yeah, after a night of bar hopping, we were up bright and early on Sunday afternoon, going down to Dekalb Farmer’s Market to eat lunch and do some shopping. I stocked up on herbs and spices: I love that place, it is like no other place I have ever been. Part farmer’s market, part grocery store, part cafeteria.

They sell no paper goods, cleaning products, or sodas. But you can get gluten free flours, all kinds of vegetables, and herbs and spices in huge containers cheap. There is a fish market, a butcher shop, a deli, a bakery, and a dairy section. I always spend too much money, but how can you resist the swiss chard, the kohlrabi, the gulf shrimp, the fresh mozzarella cheese, the basil, the—well, the everything! I got out of there for under a hundred bucks, but I got so much stuff.

Now we are back in the woods, but eating such elegant foods you wouldn't know it unless you looked out the window. Last night we had bruschetta, with fresh mozzarella and basil. Tonight it will be sauteed shrimp and swiss chard with gluten free quinoa spaghetti. I can hardly wait.

A New Writing Gig

I have started writing at a new venue for me, The Fun Times Guide To RV Road Trips. I would appreciate you clicking on over there and taking a look. I would feel very flattered and my head would grow immensely if you would comment on my articles over there, too. Yeah, Shameless is my middle name these days.

Almost Finished

Are you a lister? By that, I mean, do you keep a list of things you need to do, should do, must do, either written down on a piece of paper or in your head? I am very obsessive compulsive about MAKING lists of things I need to do. But when it comes to actually DOING those things, well, that is a different story. Sometimes I feel like I will literally die if I don’t have that list in my pocket. But there are some things on that list that have been on it for years!

Now that you know that particular thing about me, maybe knowing it will let you understand how happy I am that I actually accomplished one of those things this week. A major thing.

The item that has been on my list of things to do for the longest was the first thing I accomplished this week. You see, seven years ago I bought the fabric to make a quilt for my stepdaughter, Becky. I can remember the day I showed her the pattern and the fabrics I had picked out. She was excited about it, and happy that I was going to be making it for her. She was going to use it in the guest room of her first house that she had just bought. Five years ago, I actually cut out the pieces for the top and sewed them together. The top has been folded neatly and stored under my bed ever since then. It has traveled with me to Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and back to Georgia. She has moved on to a new home, with no guest room. Hmmm, could that in itself be a hint?

The last time I said anything to Becky about it, she said, “Don’t tell me anything else about that quilt. I am never going to get it, and you know it, so just hush.” It’s not that I didn’t want her to have it. I really love her; she has been in my life for more than 16 years. And while we didn’t see eye to eye when I first became her stepmother, we have become closer and have had some fun together since then.

And, that quilt top lying unfinished has prevented me from starting on a couple of other projects I have to do. How can I finish the quilt I made for Becca, my daughter, when the one for Becky just lies there, accusing me of being the procrastinator I am turning out to be? How can I start on any other thing when I have not completed that one? And now, after all these years, it is a matter of pride, a matter of proving that I do really mean for Becky to have that quilt. So, on Monday, I took it to the quilt shop and dropped it off to be machine quilted. I can hardly wait to get it back so I can put on the binding and sign it:

“To Becky, from your loving stepmother, Karen. May your days be as cheerful as these colors are bright, may your dreams be happy throughout night.”

Mushroom and Sausage Fritatta

The folks over at Peanut Butter Etouffee are hosting a recipe challenge called The Second Annual Peanut Butter ´Etouffee Pullet Surprise The recipes entered into this contest must contain eggs. And, as always, recipes I post must be gluten free. This one fits both requirements. As you can see, it was served on some of my finest dinnerware:

Most days I try to include some veggies in most of our meals, including breakfast. Our favorite breakfast menu is fritatta with grits. I try to vary the ingredients in the fritatta to keep from eating the same thing day after day. Here is one of our favorite combinations:

Mushroom, Potato, and Sausage Fritatta

2 small red potatos
½ medium onion, chopped
½ cup sliced mushrooms
¼ lb pork sausage
1 tablespoon butter
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and dice the potatoes. Place in a microwave proof dish with a couple tablespoons water, cover, and microwave for 8 minutes, or until soft. Drain

Crumble up the sausage and cook until browned in a large skillet with a lid. Remove sausage from pan, and drain off the grease. Melt the butter in the pan. Add onion and mushrooms and sautee until onions are clear. Add potatoes and sausage, and sautee one minute more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Crack the eggs into a bowl and scramble well. Pour eggs over meat and vegetables in the pan, cover with the lid, and turn heat to low. Cook for two minutes, then turn heat off. Let sit another 5 mintues before serving. This serves two hungry adults.

Other vegetables we like to add are asparagus, zuchinni, yellow squash, bell peppers, fresh green beans, or broccoli. You can also substitute ham, bacon, chopped roasted pork, leftover roasted chicken, or smoked sausage for the pork sausage. Just use whatever you like. The possibilities are endless.

MMMM, Biscuits!

It has been almost a year since I started eating gluten free. It has been that long since I had a biscuit. Well, at least since I had a GOOD biscuit. And let me tell you, I know good biscuits. Not that popped out of a can, stuck together kind that you just stick in the oven and bake. My first husband’s mother, Pauline, could make some dang good biscuits. She is who taught me how to make them. Even my mother, the Original FabGrandma, said once that I could make better biscuits than she could. So, you can imagine my tragic, heartfelt loss over biscuits made of wheat flour that I can no longer eat.

Last week, my daughter, the Fabulous Gluten Free Becca, sent me an email with a gluten free biscuit recipe enclosed. She said, “Mom, you have GOT to try these. They are SO GOOD!! So for dinner last night, I mixed up a batch of them. Jim and I sort of fought over the last one. I didn’t cook all of them last night, so after he left this morning, I baked two more for my breakfast. And then I cooked the rest of the batch for dinner tonight. I managed to get a picture of the last one, only after telling Jim “Don’t you dare eat that last biscuit!”

I do not know where on the internet Becca got this recipe, but if you are the originator of it, thank you so much. E-mail me and I will gladly give you the well-deserved credit for this creation. I have never used the Pamela’s Baking/Pancake mix before. I sort of choked up on the price tag—at $7.49 for a 24-ounce bag it was expensive even for gluten free stuff, but I was determined to try this recipe. I’m glad I did. The recipe makes 12 medium sized biscuits. I left mine in the oven for the full 15 minutes. They turned out crispy and browned on the bottom and so light, fluffy, and moist on the inside, I thought I was eating one of Pauline’s cathead biscuits from back in 1972. And the dough refrigerated well. The ones I baked this morning and tonight were just as good as the first ones last night.

Cheddar Garlic Gluten Free Biscuits

2 cups Pamela's Baking/Pancake mix
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup Milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
a few shakes of garlic powder

Mix the shortening with the baking mix with a fork or your fingers, until it is about the size of peas. Add in the cheese and mix again with a fork or your fingers until the cheese is all mixed in. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Drop by rounded tablespoons on a greased pan.

Coating/topping:
4 tbs melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp parsley
Coat the top of biscuits with this right before you put them in the oven
bake at 375 for 10-15 min

A Love Story

Thank you, my seester, for sending me this valentine. Although I do like to get valentine cards in the mail from my girlfriends and my sister, Jim and I don't "do" valentines, just as we don't "do" Christmas gifts and anniversary gifts for each other. We both feel the same way about that: we both want to be loved and cared for by the other every day. I would rather have a little surprise gift on any ordinary day, than on a mandated occasion. I want him to say "I love you" in the middle of the night, when we both just happen to wake up for a second, you know, when one of us has snored too loudly or something like that.

I love it when he fixes me a cup of coffee with just the right amount of chocolate Coffee Mate. I love it when he picks me up a scratch off lottery ticket when he is at the store. I love it that he will eat all my gluten free stuff without complaint, and that he gets it that I can't eat stuff like biscuits and donuts anymore. And he always thanks me for cooking dinner by saying "Thank you, my love." And when I ask him to do something for me, he says "Certainly, my love."

Yeah, it is a mushy thing, but how else can I tell you about the guy I love. And now, for those of you who don't know, here is how we met:

I was a divorced mom with three teenagers, going slowly out of my mind. I had bought myself a new lawnmower for my 39th birthday, but it was missing a bolt on one side of the handle from the day I brought it home from the store. A couple of months later I got so fed up with the handle that would not stay up, that I jumped in the car and went to the hardware store that my brother in law managed to buy a bolt to fix it.

When I walked into the store, my sister's husband was standing there talking to this guy. Alan looked at me and said, "Look what the cat dragged in." and the guy said, "Why are you talking about this nice lady like that?" to which Alan replied, "She is my wife's sister, so it's okay." and the guy said, "all the more reason to be kind to her." (ooooh, I liked that) Anyway, the guy waited on me and got the bolt for me and I went home to finish mowing the lawn. I did not even know his name.

So, when I got through with the yard, I called my brother in law at the store and asked if that guy was married. He said no. Then I asked what his name was, and Alan said "Jim." So, I told Alan to give Jim my phone number and tell him if he was interested in going out to dinner to give me a call. And he did. 16 years ago. On our first date we went to a state park to go for a walk. Hmmm, we did that yesterday, too.

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

A Day In The Life Of A Volunteer Camp Host

So, just what is it that a volunteer camp host does? And why do we do it? Here at Unicoi State Park in north Georgia, we are required to work 24 hours per week. The things we do vary from week to week, depending on what they need done. Most often, we do the normal campground duties, like cleaning out fire rings at the camp sites. We are amazed at the number of people who burn their trash in their fire rings. It is hard to believe that they enjoy the aroma of burning plastic. We wind up cleaning out all the leftover paper and plastic debris, so that the next person who uses that site won't get toxic fumes in their wieners and marshmallows.
We also pick up all the trash left behind. All of this rubbish came from one site. I know to some people it doesn't look like a lot, but if everyone left this little bit behind and it wasn't picked up, the campground would soon look like a dump. And no, those cigarette butts don't break down and disappear. They are still just as ugly to see next year when you come back if someone doesn't pick them up. And what about all those little bare feet running around next summer? If they stepped on those bottle caps it could ruin a nice vacation.
One of the camp hosts does a site check twice a day to document which sites are occupied and by whom. We give this information to the front desk at the lodge, so when they have new arrivals they will know which campsites are available, and so that they will know where each guest is camping in case they need to contact them.
The is always a project list of little things that need to be done. Here, Jim is attaching colored reflectors to the sign posts so that campers will know what color campsites are available on each road in the campground. The sites are color coded to designate what utilities are available and/or how long a of a camper will fit into the site.
In the camp store, called The Trading Post, there is always something to be done. Keeping the t-shirts folded and neatly stacked, stocking shelves, and sweeping the floor are things that need to be done every day.
The volunteers who are assigned to the trading post also ring up sales, give out trail maps and hiking information, and directions to other points of interest in the area. We meet a lot of people who come in for the day or to camp with us over the weekend.
The park hosts a huge arts and crafts show every year. The show takes place in a couple of weeks. Getting ready for it means a lot of very important, but little, tasks need to be done. We stuff envelopes, make name tags, and prepare parking passes for the show.
Although not a part of our official duties, we like to help guests when they need a hand. This young couple, Brian and Jude and their cute little dog, Russ, hiked down the mountain from Anna Ruby Falls, a 5 mile trip one way. It was getting late in the day, so Jim and I drove them back up to their car at the top of the mountain. They are a very interesting couple--she is from England and he is from Atlanta. They are getting married soon, and going to the Phillipines where she is going to teach in a British school there. Cool!
We do a lot here, but the Georgia State Parks give us a lot of perks, too. In addition to that spiffy black hat Jim gets to wear, and a certificate good for five free nights of camping at any Georgia State Park, we get a very nice full hook up site. We use the Toro cart to get around the park while we are on duty.
We get to use the laundry facilities free of charge to wash our clothes, and we get a 50% discount at the lodge restaurant, where the buffet features fried trout every night of the week. And, oooh, that dessert bar is quite yummy, too.
Best of all, we get to work with all the nice people who are on the paid staff. This is Scott and Ellen. Ellen is the person we go to with any questions, and who assigns the jobs we do. We have already signed up to come back next winter. They have five camp host spots here, so if anyone wants to come, let me know, and I'll send the info on how to sign up. Oh, and did I mention that we get to live in this beautiful place for a few months, where most people only get to visit for a day or two?

A Walk In The Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day in north Georgia, so we decided to go for a hike. We didn't make it the entire 5 miles--but we did make a 3 mile round trip of it. Smith Creek Hiking Trail starts in Unicoi State Park and ends up at Anna Ruby Falls on U.S. Forest Service property.

This is where we started our hike, off an old forest service road.
An earth and log stairway down a steep slope. The trees are flashed with blue paint to mark the trail.
Isn't it amazing how this tree hangs on to the hillside with those enormous roots?
I wish you could hear the water bubbling along in Smith Creek. This was a lovely spot to rest and just listen to the forest.
This tree was cut just enough to clear the trail. It must have fallen during a storm we had here last month.Jim found these feather remains of a large bird--probably an owl or a hawk.
A beautiful fungus growing out of a decaying log.
I wonder if these lovers are still together? They left their mark here years ago on the side of the trail.

And The Winner Is...

Jim and I have been looking for our next job since before Thanksgiving. It is not an easy task, let me tell you. We first have to decide where we want to go, then decide on a second choice of place to go. Then we look at all the places where campground jobs are posted that we know of:

Workamper News, a magazine to which we have a subscription
Coolworks a website dedicated to cool seasonal jobs
Happy Vagabonds, another website that has listings for jobs in campgrounds
Work@KOA, which is exactly what it sounds like

There are many more, but these are the main ones I use. Anyway, this year, we wanted to go to Arizona or Colorado, but it has not worked out that way. None of the job offers we got had enough money attached to even consider. So, even though it was our second choice, after everything has been said and done, we have decided to go to work at Water's Edge Campground at Table Rock Lake in Kimberling, Missouri.

We have never been to Missouri, except to drive through it once when we were making a delivery to Cedar Rapids, Iowa back when we were driving for a living. But, from the pictures of this place, it looks beautiful. And, my friend Wanda says she has been there and it is very lovely. Now, I have to get online and find out where all the farms are so I can start planning my days off!

Mexican Seafood Soup

When Jim and I were working in south Texas, one of our favorite restaurants, Las Margaritas, served a delish soup made with a white fish and shrimp. I asked Margarita for the recipe several times, but she wouldn't share it. I want to believe that it was because she was one of those cooks who "just knows how" to cook something, and really didn't have a recipe for it.

After we left Texas, I experimented for months, trying to reproduce that soup. This is as close as I can get without driving for three days.

Mexican Seafood Soup

Olive Oil
3-4 stalks of celery, coarsley chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 (or 3 if you dare) jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
3 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
3 medium potatos, washed and cut in chunks
3 cubes Shrimp bouillon (Caldo con sabor de camaron) w/ 1 cup water
OR 16 oz seafood stock
6 cups water
2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 shakes of tabasco sauce
1 bunch fresh cilantro if desired
1 lb tilapia or other firm white fish, cut in bite size pieces
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 avacado, peeled and sliced
1 lime

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven. Saute the celery, onion, garlic, and jalapenos until the onions are clear. Add tomatoes, cumin, basil, red pepper, tabasco, carrots, and potatoes. Put the bouillon cubes in 1 cup of water in a microwave safe container. Microwave for 4 minutes, until the water is boiling. Stir well to make sure the cubes are dissolved. Add to the dutch oven. If using the seafood stock instead, add it now. Add the rest of the water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, cover the pot, and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the fish and shrimp, cover, and simmer another 10 minutes. Slice the avacado and squeeze lime juice over to prevent discoloration.

Ladle the soup into bowls, add a few slices of avacado, and a squeeze lime juice. Serve with corn or flour tortillas.

Or, just drive down to Pharr, Texas, walk into Las Margaritas, and order a bowl.

A Visit With My Friends

Phyllis and Wanda are my two best friends in the world. I have known them for more than 16 years, having met them when I worked at BellSouth in Atlanta. We used to go to lunch together every day, sharing our joys and our heartbreaks over some of the best food in the south. We always went to Mary Mac's Tea Room at least once a week when the weather was nice so we could walk it off coming back up the hill on Ponce De Leon to West Peachtree Street.

I was the first one of us to become a grandmother, so when Michael made his entrance into the world in San Antonio, they made the road trip with me over those 1,000 miles to go hold my grandson for the first time. How could you NOT love friends like that?

Here we are at the Riverwalk in San Antonio in October, 1996.
(Phyllis, Me, Wanda)

When Jim and I sold our house and hit the road, I was worried that I would never see my friends again. I shouldn't have worried about it though, because these girls have shown up in some interesting places. I don't see them as often as I would like to, but they are just a phone call or an email away. And we still sort out all the worlds (at least OUR worlds) problems whenever we get together.

Here we are sneaking across the border to Mexico in 2004.
(Wanda, Me, Phyllis)

They came to visit us on Saturday at Uncoi State Park in Helen, Georgia. Not a very long road trip, but they do live a couple hours away. We went to lunch at the lodge, where they have a buffet three times a day. After that, we acted like tourists in Helen, going to Nora Mills, Mark of the Potter, Serendipity Stained Glass, then coming back to walk around town looking in all the shops. Dinner was at the Troll Tavern, right down on the Chattahoochee River. (mmmmm, German bratwurst platter!) All too soon it was time to say goodbye, but not before we made plans to meet again at least one more time before we Jim and I leave here at the end of March.

Here we are after lunch at Unicoi Lodge on Saturday
(Wanda, Me, Phyllis)Yeah, we did let the guys come with us. Here they are, checking out the trout in the Chattahoochee at Nora Mills.

Rick, Jim, Jeff

A Recipe Contest

I am a member of a yahoo group called "Healthy and Wheatfree". Cheryl on that list invited me to enter my Banana Muffin recipe in a recipe contest on her website, Harris Whole Health. The prize for the baked goods category is a $50 bag of products from Bob's Red Mill. That is a prize worth getting, since I use a lot of Bob's Red Mill stuff. So, if you love me, click on over there and vote for me by March 20th. And if I win, next time I see you I'll bake up some of those muffins. And yes, this is shameless self promotion.

I have also entered my Chicken, Garlic, and Chard recipe, so you can all vote for that one, too. The prize for the Main Meal category is a bag of goodies from Heartland's Finest.

Here are the links to my recipes:

Banana Muffins
Chicken, Garlic, and Chard

Click on the name of the recipe above, it will take you to the webpage where you can vote. To vote, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on the stars to rate the recipe. If you want to enter the contest, any recipes do need to be your recipes, or a recipe that you’ve changed to make gluten free, allergen friendly or healthier. The deadline to enter is February 20, 2008. The deadline for voting is March 20, 2008. Let the games begin!

Another Muffin

A while back I posted the recipe for Cranberry Tangerine Muffins. Tonight I made a banana version of them. Here is the recipe, basically the same one from before, just changed up a little bit. If you are casiene and egg free, then leave out the egg and substitute soy, rice, or coconut milk for the regular milk.

Banana Muffins

¼ cup butter, melted (you can use olive oil)
1 cup buckwheat flour
½ cup brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup milk
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
3 bananas
1 of those individual serving cups of applesauce

Melt the butter and set aside. Mash the bananas and mix with the applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Mix the egg, milk and vanilla together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in all the liquid ingredients. Stir quickly to combine, but don’t worry about if there are lumps. Fold in the fruit mixture. Spoon into muffin pans that have been sprayed with Pam, or line with paper baking cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 28 minutes.

What An Exciting Thing!

This is Mama on the left, and Lilly on the right.

Back in December, I was the Guest Babe Of The Month over at 7 Babes A Blogging. As the guest blogger, I had to write at least one post per week. While I was trying to figure out what to write, I went to my mother's 80th birthday party. I came home from that party and wrote A Tribute To My Mother. (this site is now defunct, sorry) I didn't think much more about it, until this week.

On Sunday, Mama called me and told me that she got a phone call from her niece that she has not heard from in 44 years. Susan, my cousin, is the daughter of Mama's sister, Lilly, who died in 1963 from an aneurysm. Susan was 12 years old when her mother died, and went to live in Oklahoma with her paternal grandmother, and never saw her relatives in Michigan again after that. She said she has tried for years to find them, but did not ever know any last names except for Grandmother Brouch, Mama's mother.

Susan's husband has been searching the internet off and on for several years, and Saturday night he googled "brouch michigan" and one of the sites that came up was 7 Babes A Blogging, the site where I was the guest blogger for December. When he clicked on that link and found my post, he knew right away he had found the right family. When he showed it to my cousin and she saw the pictures of Mama on that post, she said they looked so much like her own mother that she knew it, too. So, they looked up phone numbers for Strouds in Douglasville, and the first one she called was Mama.

When Mama called me, she was THRILLED! She was so happy. She did not know I had written about her. Mama told me that she had often wondered over the years what had become of her sister's children. Then she asked me, Did you really write a tribute to me? and I said yes, and she said, "I never knew you felt that way about me." Well, gee, she IS my mother!

So, Susan called me last night and she thanked me over and over for writing that blog, because she has found her family after all this time. She also told me that she has been trying to duplicate her mother's stuffed cabbage all her life, and now she knows that she has found the right recipe.

This is not the first time our family has been reunited through the internet. Back in 1979, my youngest brother, Bobby, died in an accident. At the time of his death, he had a six month old daughter. After he died, his widow would not allow any of us to visit with her child, and we lost track of her. Earlier this year, my sister joined MySpace. She decided to do a search to see if maybe our niece was a member there. Sure enough, there she was. And since she had a very unusual first name, we knew it was her. She was in the Air Force, stationed in Arizona.

When my sister contacted her, she was delighted to find out she had such a large family, and when she came home to Georgia to visit in July, she was the guest of honor at a party to introduce her to the whole gang.

My sister also found our older brother's two children from his first marriage. They are both living in California. While they have not visited us, yet, we do keep in touch with them through MySpace. I think we have found everyone now. How Exciting!

Owen, The Rock Star Baby

Owen is our newest FabGrandson. We have three now, but since he is the newest one, he is the one we get the most pictures of at the moment. He has so much hair that even though he is only 15 weeks old, he has already had his first haircut! My son and his wife, the parents of this fabulous child, have taken to calling him "the rock star baby" because no matter what they do, his hair sticks straight up on top os his head. I think he looks sort of like a baby Einstein.

Here he is at 12 weeks, just discovering his feet. I LOVE this guy!

Another one at 13 weeks. He looks so serious here.

15 weeks. I'm still in love.

Gluten Free Cranberry Tangerine Muffins

One of the yahoo groups I am on is one where you can make a post telling what you have on hand, and other people can suggest recipes to make with it. One day last week someone posted that they had been given a bunch of oranges and wanted to know what she could do with them to use them up before they went bad. Someone then posted a recipe for a quick bread, where they put the whole orange, peel and all, into a food processor, chopped it up, and added it to the bread batter. MMMM, that sounded so good, except that 1. I can’t eat wheat flour, and 2. I am allergic to oranges. But, I CAN eat tangerines, and during the winter months I buy them by the bag.

So, this morning I decided to make an “Experimental Breakfast”. Here is the recipe for what I made:

¼ cup butter, melted

1 cup buckwheat flour

½ cup brown rice flour

½ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon (more or less) Chinese Five Spice Powder (or cinnamon, if you prefer)

2/3 cup milk

½ tsp vanilla, orange, or lemon extract

1 egg, beaten

½ cup frozen cranberries

1 whole tangerine, peel and all

Melt the butter and set aside. Put the cranberries and the tangerine in a food processor and process until the tangerine peel is well chopped (I did cut out the stem end that was black). Mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour in all the liquid ingredients. Stir quickly to combine, but don’t worry about if there are lumps. Fold in the fruit mixture. Spoon into muffin pans that have been sprayed with Pam, or line with paper baking cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 21 minutes.

This recipe made 12 muffins for me, this may vary depending on the size of your muffin tins.

I have to say, that I was a little leary of using the whole citrus peel, but by gosh these were delicious!

I have to give credit here to the cookbook that I used as a guide for making this, after getting the idea of it from the yahoo list. It is “Allergy-Free Cookbook” by Alice Sherwood.

I checked it out from the library and I am thinking about buying one. She has some really good recipes in there and shows adaptations for every one of them for nut free, dairy free, egg free, and gluten free versions. The pictures in it will make you drool!