The Art of Repurposing Leftovers

In our house there aren't really any leftovers. What we do have is food that has not yet been eaten. It may be cooked already, but I don't call it leftovers. You see, Fabgrandpa does not LIKE leftovers. So, I found out a long time ago that in order to make good use of the food we have, I have to do something different with it from time to time.

Tonight I made stuffed peppers with garlic toast and tossed salad. I started out with something entirely new, two green bell peppers. I cut them in half, took out the seeds and membranes, and put them in a 8 X 8 casserole dish.


I had some rice that was leftover, I mean stored in the fridge, from last week. I put that together with 1/3 pound ground meat (I use a mixture of 1 lb ground turkey, 1 lb ground pork, and o1 pound ground beef. I mush it all together and freeze in 1/3 pound portions). A half an onion, one zucchini, some garlic, basil, Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, and a 16 oz can of tomatoes finish up the dish.


Cook the meat with the onion, garlic, and zucchini until the meat is just browned. Add the seasonings, rice, cheese, and can of tomatoes to the pan. Mix together well. Fill each of the pepper halves with a generous portion of the filling. There will be about half of the filling left when you are finished stuffing the peppers. You can put that part in a ziplock freezer bag and put it in the freezer for another day. Pour about 1/2 cup water in the bottom of the baking dish, place the baking dish on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.



While the peppers were baking, I made a tossed salad. I think lettuce is quite pretty, don't you? Anyway, the salad was a simple one of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and green onions. I had some of that fresh mozzarella pesto tomato salad from the other day. It wasn't enough for one person, but I added a little olive oil and some wine vinegar, mixed it up, and used as a dressing for tonight's salad. When the peppers were done, I put some slices of that bread I made the other day under the broiler with some garlic butter. That rounded out the meal:


Do you use up all your leftovers, or just toss them out? What do you do to make them "new"?

Steamed Brussels Sprouts

While I like to cook, and try new things a lot, there are some things that FabGrandpa and I keep coming back to--old favorites that we just love. Brussels sprouts is one of those things. Whenever I find them in the produce section at a reasonable price, I get enough of them for us to have for a couple of meals.


They taste so good just simply steamed with some butter and salt. I cut off the bottom end, and peel off a couple of the outside leaves, and put them in a microwave safe bowl.



Add about 1/4 cup of water. It doesn't take much water to steam these to perfection.



Put about three tablespoons of butter, cut in thin slices, over the top of the brussels sprouts. Add a shake or two of salt, and they are ready to go.



Cover the bowl tightly with Glad wrap, and place in the microwave. I push the buttons on mine to set for 9 minutes. Your microwave may be more powerful or less than mine, so you will have to experiment with how much time it takes for yours.


Tonight we had the brussels sprouts with another standby meal, ground meat with mushroom gravy over rice. Talk about yum! And all naturally gluten free, naturally.

What They Do In Idaho...

This van drove through the RV park today. He said the donkey and the bull rode all the way from Idaho in there with him. All I can say, is, Idaho must be really weird.

hmmmmm.......

I Make A "Stab" At Gucamole

I accidently stabbed myself in the hand while I was trying to get the pit out of an avocado today. The good folks over at Avocado.org say:

"Remove the seed by sliding the tip of a spoon gently underneath and lifting out. The other common seed-extraction method - striking the seed with a knife and twisting - requires some skill and is not recommended." Guess I should have read that first, huh?

Fabgrandpa was outside washing the awning. He heard me scream and came running inside to see what happened. Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it sounds, just a tiny wound in between my middle and ring finger on my left hand. It didn't require stitches or anything. It DID hurt like hell, though

The remedy? An application of New Skin and Patron.

That New Skin stuff is great. As soon as you dab it on, it burns for a second, then the pain is gone. It is a sticky liquid that dries quickly to make a skin-like bandaid on a cut. I love this stuff.

I got that little bottle of Patron about two years ago. It has been living in my "office drawer" since then, waiting for just the right occasion. It was just right and just enough for today.

Dinner tonight was leftover blackeyed peas, cornbread, and fried spam. Not very exotic, but filling and good. And I didn't have to cook.


The recipe for the day:

Banana Pancakes

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Baking Mix or your favorite gluten free pancake mix
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 bananas

Mix all ingredients except bananas. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. When the skillet is hot, pour pancake batter in. While the pancakes are cooking on the first side, put slices of banana on top. When the pancakes are browned on the bottom, flip over and cook on the banana side until browned. Serve with butter and syrup. The taste of cooked bananas is soooo good!

As Promised

But first, I wanted to talk about making a monthly menu. One of my bloggy friends, Terri, of Terri Terri Quite Contrary, wrote this:

"I wish I were so organized with my shopping. Sadly, for lack of more time and energy, I end up grabbing a few coupons and just tossing whatever looks good in the cart. Nothing lasts long with teenagers in the house anyway."

Now, I will confess that it does take some time, but not as much as you might think. You see, last winter when I was yet again in the off season, living off our savings until spring came and we went back to work, I made up four monthly menus, and saved them in my "Budget" folder. So now, when I need to make a menu for a month, I might use one of those as is, or I might use it as a starting point to make a new one. Another thing I did when I was sitting around doing nothing last winter, was make a complete shopping list for each of those four monthly menus. So, now that I have the menu and the shopping list ready and sitting on my hard drive, all I have to do is print it off, shop my pantry first, and go to the store.

I also admit that not everyone has the need or the desire to shop for an entire month at a time. I didn't used to do it. When I lived in a regular house and acted like a normal woman, I went to the store every week, and didn't even make a list. If I forgot something, there was a Publix Grocery Store less than half a mile from my house.

But now, I have this new life, you see. I live in a travel trailer, where the whole house has about 300 square feet, and the refrigerator/freezer is a whopping 8 cubic feet combined. And I share this space with another person. And both of us like to eat. We like to eat a lot. And one of us has to eat a special diet, that is free of gluten. Right now, we are living in a remote area, where the closest decent grocery store is at least 50 miles away. Wal-Mart is an 80 mile drive. Shopping for groceries is an all day affair. A love affair it is not. Hence the once a month shopping. Oh, and did I mention that all of the refrigerated and frozen things I buy have to fit in two coolers in the back of the truck for the ride home? I have to be organized to make it all work. What is the point of buying it if I can't put it in it's proper place when we get it home, I ask you.

However, if you would like to save both time and money, making a menu and a shopping list is very useful. It could also save you some time if you are the primary grocery buyer and meal cooker. If you post the monthly menu where everyone in the house can see it, someone might just make a meal for you one day. Without you asking them to.

Another thing is, just beause you have a monthly menu doesn't mean you have to eat the meals in the order they are on the plan. I just print out the plan for the month, and mark off each meal as we eat them, so I know what I have still on hand. Adn I only plan the dinners, because breakfast is just breakfast. It will either be eggs, pancakes, or leftover eggplant parmesean. It has worked for me. Your mileage may vary.

And, to address the part about nothing lasting in a house with teens. Honey, you ain't seen how much FabGrandpa can eat! I solved the problem of him eating things I had planned to cook by giving him his very own cupboard. Yes, the FabGrandpa cabinet has nothing in it except for his snacky and lunchy things that he can eat any time he so desires. It makes him happy, it makes me happy, and so life is happy here. No more of him eating my special olives for that thing I wanted to make.

Ok, I think that about covers it. If anyone wants one of my monthly menus with a shopping plan atached, let me know. I'll think about it.

On to the recipe I promised. This morning (ok, this afternoon) we had scrambled eggs with zuchinni and onions. I chopped up a zuchinni and half an onion, sauteed them in some butter in a skillet, added three eggs, and scrambled them up. Yummy.

Dinner was Eggplant Parmesean with a side of this:



I made the bread using up some flours I had on hand, because my online order from hell has not arrived YET. Here is the recipe I used:

1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato flour
1/4 cup corn starch
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 pkg yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 pkg unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil

Heat the milk to lukewarm in the microwave, about 45 seconds. Add the brown sugar and yeast, set aside. Mix all the dry ingredients together well. Add the eggs, oil, water and milk. Beat well with electric mixer. Scrape all the dough into the center of the bowl, spray with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with olive oil. Spread the bread dough on the pan into a rectangle about an inch and a half thick. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut the rectangle in half. Cut one half into six bread sticks.

I served the bread with home made pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, and garlic stuffed olives.

The main course for dinner was Gluten Free Eggplant Parmesean

1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
1 cup milk
1 cup gluten free flour (you can use whatever your favorite flour is. Tonight I used half white rice flour because I was using up the rest of the box, and half buckwheat flour. but any flour is ok, as long as you like it)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
8 oz gluten free spaghetti noodles. (I used Deboles corn angel hair pasta, but you can use any gluten free pasta you like)
1 16 oz jar gluten free spaghetti Sauce. (I used Classico Traditional Sweet Basil. Again, you can use any brand you like, even make your own, just make sure if you buy prepared that it is gluten free)
2 cups Italian Blend shredded cheese or 2 cups mozzarella cheese.

Cook the spaghetti according to directions on the box, drain, rinse, set aside. Meanwhile, sprinkle the eggplant with salt, and let it weep. Rinse. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Dredge each slice of eggplant in flour, dip in milk, then back in flour. Fry in olive oil over medium heat until browned on each side. Drain on paper towels.

Spread about 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of an 11 X 13 casserole dish. Put the spaghetti in the casserole dish on top of the spaghetti sauce, and spread around evenly in the dish.

Place the eggplant slices in a layer over the spaghetti. Pour the remaining spaghetti sauce over the eggplant layer. Spread evenly over the eggplant layer.

Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top of the casserole. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

This casserole freezes well, and reheats well. Serve with a tossed salad or with bread and pesto.

Restocked and Ready To Go

We made it out of Wal-Mart alive and with at least some money left in the bank. Whew! It was a marathon of shopping, but we got it all done. I felt a little bit like we were on that game show, Supermarket Sweep, only not quite that fast. FabGrandpa had his list and I had mine, and we took off in different directions. Two carts full. And we had been to Frye's first. Grand total, to steal a phrase from one of my favorite bloggers, Oh Mah Holy Hell! $416.33!!!



But, for all that dough, we do have lots of potential meals. The cupboard is no longer bare. The fridge and the freezer, and the little fridge, all full. We can have some cooking fun now!


One of the reasons the total was so high this time was that we were out of every gluten free thing. I got some gluten free baking mix, gluten free cornbread mix, gluten free spaghetti, and gluten free noodles. And of course, we got some little treats again, too. MMMM, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. Those garlic stuffed olives FabGrandpa loves. Stuff to make this. OOO, and stuff to make shrimp and sausage gumbo. Oh, and I found some spring roll wrappers, a new item I have been wanting to try. Don't know yet exactly what I am going to do with them. Yes. I am a fool for food.



So after all that shopping, what did we eat for dinner tonight? Tuna salad with crackers. You didn't expect me to cook after all that did you? I had to put all that shit away, you know.


My goal for the next five weeks, or until I have to go shopping again, is to blog my dinner recipe every day. Here are some of the things I am going to make this month:

Mexican Seafood Soup
Chicken Salad with Guacamole
Stuffed Cabbage
Stuffed Peppers
Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo
Italian Mushroom Stew
Eggplant Parmesean
Fried Chicken Livers (so some days are better than others)

So some days are better than others.

And just in case you want it:

Tuna Salad

2 small cans tuna, drained
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 boiled eggs, chopped
1/3 cup mayonaise

Mix all together well. Served over romaine lettuce with cherry tomatos and crackers.

Time To Go Grocery Shopping Again!

Remember when I went grocery shopping the last time, and planned to have it last at least a month? We went to Wal-Mart and did that big shopping trip on January 19th. I spent a total of $304 for groceries that day, which included toiletries, paper good, and other miscellanous stuff as well.

In between times, we went to a local market for things like fresh veggies and fruits, milk, eggs, and ice cream. We spent another $197 in those in between trips. So, for 38 days, we have spent a total of $501 for groceries. That comes to About $13 per day or $92 per week.

I also still have a pound of breakfast sausage, a pound of bacon, one can of salmon, 4 cans of tuna, a can of spam, and 6 pounds of dried beans, along with an assortment of canned goods. If we really wanted to get down and dirty with the frugalness, we could put off going grocery shopping for at least another week, maybe two. But we aren't--we're going to do the big shopping trip again tomorrow.

As usual, I have made my menu plan and then made my shopping list. Tomorrow I'll post my menu plan for the coming month and let you know how we did on the shopping.

Gluten Free Cubed Steak and Gravy

A while back I found Road's End Organics Shiitake Mushroom Gravy Mix. It is gluten free, vegan and organic. That's a pretty good triple header there, but it is also very good tasting. Made according to the directions on the back of the package, it makes a thick gravy that goes pretty good with mashed potatoes or rice.

Tonight I made goulash using a cubed steak that I had in the freezer instead of using ground beef. It tasted very much like the cubed steak and gravy that I used to make before I started eating gluten free. I used more water than the package called for because I wanted a thinner sauce. It was still good.




Cubed Steak And Gravy Goulash

1 lb cubed steak, cut in half inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt ant pepper to taste
1 packet Road's End Organics Shiitake Mushroom Gravy Mix
2 cups water
rice

Cook the steak and onions in the olive in a large skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle in the gravy mix, add the water, and stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes. If you have some fresh or canned mushrooms, they would be a good addition.

We had this with steamed brussells sprouts and rice. Yummy. I'm going to order some more of this stuff.

Gluten Free Cobbler

On February 11, I placed an online order for some gluten free foods from a place to remain un-named on this blog, mostly because I still haven't received the goods I ordered. There were some mix-ups on their part, and they have been v.e.r.y. slow to correct them. Also believe me when I tell you that I will never order from them again. Anyway, I had ordered some Pamela's Baking Mix, some cookies, some bread mix, some cookies, some pizza crust mix, and some cookies. Do you see the pattern here? I AM JONESING FOR SOMETHING SWEET!

So, tonight, I took a good long look into the pantry, and decided that I had enough things in there to attempt making a gluten free cobbler from scratch. Oh, and let me tell you, I am glad I did because it was very good.

Here is the recipe I came up with:

1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon or Chinese 5 spice powder
1 tsp Xanthan gum
1 cup milk
1 21 oz can pie filling, any flavor (make sure it is gluten free) (I used Raspberry)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the stick of butter in a glass 8 X 8 inch casserole dish. Mix all the rest of the ingredients except the pie filling, together. Pour into the casserole dish over the melted butter. Do not stir. Pour in the pie filling on top of the batter. Do not stir. Place the casserole dish on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven. Turn heat down to 350 degrees, and bake for 50 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

This would be extra delish with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, but we ate it naked. No, not us, the cobbler, silly!

Out For A Sunday Drive

FabGrandpa and I were feeling cabin feverish today, so we decided to drive over to 29 Palms, California. It is about 160 miles from us. We crossed over the Colorado River in Parker, Arizona.




Hwy 62 is mostly straight, after this big curve. We drove all the way over to the other side of those mountains.



Was this a lake or a mirage? We couldn't tell, but there was a lake shown on the map.



We drove through Joshua Tree National Park. We had not been here before today, and were amazed at the huge rock formations here.




The Joshua Tree is really a yucca plant. They get amazingly tall for yuccas. They are taller than Jim.


If you want to see the rest of the pictures, go on over to Facebook and look me up. You can find me by using my email address: fabgrandma at gmail dot com. Or, you can send me an email and I will add you as a friend.

Wenden Elementary School Folklorico Dancers

I grew up in the south, in Georgia to be exact, and lived there until I was 50 years old. Whenever there was a carnival, or craft fair, or other community gathering, the little girls dance groups were usually cloggers. Or maybe tap or square dancing.

Today when we went to the Salome Chile Cook-Off, the little dancing girls were performing Mexican Folklorico dances. They were too cute!

Another New Blogger Getting The FabGrandma Bump!

My daughter-in-law has started her own blog now, too. I am glad to see her get into this, as it will give me another way to get to know her better. (and see some pics of those two boys!)

Owen's Mommy is the name of her game. Y'all go on over there and give her some bloggy love now, OK?

Oh, and I have to tell you, she took that photo of the sunflowers in her header. I am soooooo jealous that she actually saw that, AND that she got such a great photo of the experience. Ask her about it. Maybe she will blog about the day she was there.

This Whole Thing Makes Me Sad

When FabGrandpa and I first got together, we lived together first. We had both been married twice before and while we knew we wanted to be together, we were scared to take that final plunge so soon. We did plan to get married but had not set a date yet.

Then, when he had been living with me for about six months, he and his daughter were in a bad auto accident. He had a broken hip, five broken ribs, two ruptured discs in his neck and a concussion. He was in the hospital for thirteen days, nine of it in intensive care.

The day before the doctors let him go home, he had a very serious talk with me. He was worried that I would not want him to come home to my house to recuperate. I thought it was odd of him to even ask, because I loved him and couldn't imagine him not coming home there. I told him he could, but that we needed to get married. The day that the wreck happened, the people at the hospital wouldn't allow me to go in to see him in the emergency room because I was not his wife!!! So, as soon as he was able to stand up without support, we got married. Our first rings were gold bands we bought at Wal-Mart.

He was not able to return to work for almost two years. One day while I was at work in Atlanta, the attorney called me and said he had a check for us from the other guy's insurance company. I went to pick it up. It was a large check, the largest one I have ever held in my hands! When I got home, I gave it to FabGrandpa, because it was his money and the check was made out to him.

The next day, when he picked me up from the park and ride lot, he gave me these wedding rings, and every penny of the rest of the check. To me, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. Even though we both considered the money to belong to us both, he made that elegant gesture of giving me everything he had. And that is what makes it so sad for me to know that I have lost one of those precious diamonds. It is worth the world to me.

Yes, Sadly, I Am Addicted To Blogging

Thanks to Gaelyn at Geogypsy for sending me in for a intervention! According to the test, I am 80% addicted to blogging. I guess pretty soon I'll be blogging about blogging. What? Oh, yeah, I already do.

Want to take the test yourself? Go here:

80%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Nothing To Do

Since I have nothing to do, I have little or nothing to write about. We did go to Wickenburg and eat lunch with some friends last week on Friday.

yes, that is me on the left in the pink sweatshirt. My hair is getting longer. I want it long enough to wear it in a ponytail. Next to me is a new friend, Berta, Gaelyn, the Geogypsy. On the other side of the table is FabGrandpa, Jim and Bev of YmeIsay fame. Food was delish as usual and company was most fun!

We drove over to the gas station to get some propane, and passed by a dairy farm. The dairies here in the desert look a little different from the ones we saw in Pennsylvania, though. They have fans for the cows.



I know they must get a lot of rain here sometimes, because we see these signs everywhere:

Can You Type?

I applied for a job that asked the question on the application, "How many words per minute do you type?" I thought I could type about 30 words per minute, which is the minimum required for being qualified for that job.

So, after I sent in my application, I started having doubts about my actual typing ability. I mean, I had jobs in the past where I was required to type a certain number of words per minute, but not in recent years. And for all the writing I do now, for blog posts, emails, freelance articles, etc., I just type and don't worry about errors because of good old spellcheck. Get it typed, run spellcheck, all is good. Right? Unless you have typed "ass" instead of "add". Spellcheck won't find the error and you'll look like an add. hahahah.

Just to ease my mind that I had not fibbed on my application, I googled for an online typing test, And guess what? I did 50 words per minute! Yay!

So, tell me how well you did.

The Economic Stimulus Package. For Real. Read It If You Want To Argue With Me About It.

I have been getting into some heated debates with people I know and love, who THINK they know what is in the bill and what isn't. I say, even a lot of the congressmen and senators who voted for or against it don't even know what's in it. The dang thing is "at least" 1580 pages and growing. So, because I have talked til I'm blue in the face and only accomplished alienating and angering people, I am supplying the link here where you can go and read it at your leisure: The Stimulus Package. I am on page 440 of it, and my eyes are crossing, but I am determined to read the whole thing. Boring!

I WANT to be knowledgeable of what is going on. I have never read a bill this large before, but I have read several bills that have interested me in the past. It has been eye-opening sometimes to read what is in these things. Like The Patriot Act for instance. Wow.

As of yet, I can report that I have NOT found the line or sentence that reads "money for young women to go to foreign countries to get their abortions" as one person dear to my heart screamed at me, and called me a very vile name, before hanging up on me. If I do find that provision in this bill, I will call that person and let them know how very right they were. Until then, though, I am not in the mood to argue with people over a bill that has already passed, that they have not read, and their only knowledge of it comes from watching C-Span night and day. That they believe is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it.

I may or may not agree with any and or all of the provisions of this bill. I may or may not benefit from it. I may or may not like any or all of the politicians who are in office now. But, I think I have the right to agree or not, I have the right to benefit or not, I have the right to like politicians or not. And I don't think that anyone else on the face of the earth has the right to tell me I'm stupid for what I believe. Or don't believe.

As a rule, I generally try not to talk about politics with most people. What I believe or don't believe is my business. But sometimes it comes up in conversation, and before I can get away or hang up the phone, it gets ugly. I really don't want that to happen. So, take the time to read the bill. If you want to talk to me about it after that, ok. Maybe I'll have finished reading it by then, too.

Introducing:

My son, Seth, started his own blog this weekend. Check it out. I know you will. Because he is a great guy. And cute, too!

Anasazi Beans With Guacamole

I am always looking for new things to eat that are healthy, inexpensive, gluten free and good tasting. The other day when we were in Parker, I found these Anasazi Beans. I had read about them in cookbooks and on the internet, but I had never seen any in a store. They were more expensive than other kinds of dried beans, about twice as much for a 16 oz bag. I bought them anyway and brought them home.



I couldn't wait to take them out of the bag and take a picure of them. I mean, they are so pretty just sitting there in the pot:




I made bean soup with them, adding some chopped celery, onion, garlic, basil, thyme, and black pepper. I don't usually add any salt to the pot when I am cooking dried beans. It makes them tough and chewy, so we add the salt after they are cooked if they need any. I have always added some sort of meat to the pot when I cook beans, but this time, since we are trying to eat less meat, I did not add any at all. We wanted to see how good dried beans could be with no meat added.



Also, I have found that if you either soak the beans overnight, or put them in a pot with water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then pour off the water and rinse the beans well, you won't get the flatulence usually associated with eating beans. (It works, believe me, I know it does!)



After you rinse the beans, add them to the crockpot with the other ingredients. I cooked these beans for about 4 hours on high, then turned them off and let them sit overnight in the crockpot. The second day, I turned the crockpot on high and cooked them another two hours. The soup turned out just right. I served it with homemade guacamole spooned on top, and cornbread on the side. The guacamole added just the right amount of mmmmmmmmmm to this soup.


Now isn't that a beautiful bowl of soup?

Something I've Meaning To Tell My Sister

My sister has had eczema on her hands for a long time. She has trouble with breakouts often, and has to wear gloves when washing her dishes. I have also had some trouble with my hands itching and some trouble with my cuticles and nails getting too dry.

A few months ago, while we were in Flagstaff, I decided to look for a dishwashing liquid that would be better for my hands. We had been using Palmolive for years, and it had been the best one I could find to prevent the itchyness, but even that was not working for me anymore.

Yeah, I COULD just wear gloves, but even though I had bought some, I can never remember to put the dang things on until AFTER I had my hands in the dishwater. Have you ever tried to put rubber gloves on wet hands??? Not happening, friends.

So, anyway, we were in the health food store in Flagstaff, and found BioKleen Dishwashing Liquid:



This stuff is great if you have sensitive skin! I have been using it since the last week of October. My hands are not all itchy, and don't have the ugly peely looking cuticles I usually get when I am the one doing the dishes. See:



The bottle says Hand Moisturizing, Natural, Non-toxic, Biodegradable. It has Grapefruit Seed and Orange Peel Extract, and is Gentle to the Skin. It was not cheap, but a 32 oz bottle lasts a pretty long time. We just opened our third bottle and have been using it since the last week of October. Anyway, consider this a public service announcement. If you have a problem with dry itchy skin on your hands, get some of this stuff. It works great! (and NO, I was NOT paid to review this product. I just really like it.)

Driving Me Crazy!

When I turned 16, I wanted nothing more than to get my drivers license. My father, however, was of the opinion that girls did not NEED a drivers license, that they could go everywhere they needed to go with their parents, their brothers, or their boyfriends. He steadfastly refused to take me to get my license.

Until it occurred to him that he could also take my brother, who is a year younger than me, at the same time. At that time in Georgia, if your parent was with you when you went to get your drivers license, you did not have to show your birth certificate. You parent told the officials how old you were, and they took them at their word.

So, on that day in 1968, my father told them I was born in 1951, so he could tell them my brother was born in 1952. And ever since then, my date of birth has been incorrect on my drivers license. It has never been a problem. Until yesterday.

Yesterday FabGrandpa and I went to the Arizona DMV to get Arizona drivers licenses. His was coming up for renewal in March. Since we are not planning to go to Georgia until November, it would have been a problem for him. He is required to have a valid drivers license for his summer job. An expired Georgia license wouldn't work. And, because we also got a post office box in Arizona last week, I decided to go ahead and get my Arizona license, too.

When it was my turn, I appoached the desk, and gave the clerk my two forms of ID, which consisted of my Georgia license and my brand new US Passport card. And the dates of birth on them did not match! I went through the whole story of how my father lied on that day in history. The clerks conferred amongst themselves. They called the supervisor. They called The Boss. All of this was making me really uncomfortable. And they finally told me I could have my Arizona drivers license, but that I really need to bring in my birth certificate next time I am in town. You know, the birth certificate that the Passport office said was not a valid one? Thanks, Dad, for all the fun.

A Little Advice About Cooking

Many years ago FabGrandpa and I used to hang out with a bunch of people who got together two or three times a week for pot luck suppers. It was at a different person's home each time. Every family that came brought a dish to share, and whose ever house it was at cooked the meat, whether it was weiners on the grill, a pot roast, fried chicken, or whatever.

It was in the days before I found out I had to eat gluten free, so the things I made and took to share were always full of gluten. I made this one squash casserole that I had been making for years, the one that I had adjusted the original recipe to make it MINE. The one I used to make and tell my children it was pie, and they could have some if they ate their dinner. The one that I took to family reunions and other family get togethers, and people would sidle up to me and say, "Karen, that squash casserole is better than the ones your mother makes. How do you make them?" And I would always tell them the ingredients that I use to make it. And the next time I saw them, they would say "Karen, I made my husband a squash casserole using your recipe and he didn't like it. What am I doing wrong?"

The conversation would continue, with me asking questions like "did you cook the squash with butter?" And they would say, "Yes, I did." And I would ask "What brand of butter did you use?" and they would say "Country Crock" or "Parkay" or whatever else brand of margarine that they had used. And then I would ask "Did you use club crackers?" and they would say "Yes, I did" and I would ask "What brand of club crackers did you use?" and they would say, "Well, I used saltines."

And then I would tell them, if you didn't use real butter, and you didn't use real club crackers, then your finished casserole will not ever taste like mine and your husband will never like it. And they don't get it.

So, what I am trying to say here, is that if you ask ME for MY recipe, and you don't follow it to the letter, then what YOU end up with will never be the same as what I made. Get it?

And so now that I have got that out of my system, I have to say that whenever a recipe is given out, here or anywhere else, you can certainly make substitutions for any and all of the indgredients. Just don't expect what you make to be the same as what the original person made.

What made me think of this today is that FabGrandpa and I have been talking about changing to a mostly vegetarian diet. This discussion has come about because we watched a documentary on TV last night about healing your body through changing your diet.

As we discuss this between us, we have talked about whether or not we want to continue to eat chicken, fish and seafood, cheese, and eggs as a part of our new eating plan. And this is important to talk about. Because tonight for dinner we had Black Bean Nachos. We really enjoy this particular combination of foods. But, if we decide to cut the cheese (hahahaha, I said cut the cheese!) out of our diet, we could no longer have Black Bean Nachos. We would have to substitute something for the cheese. And we probably wouldn't like it as well as we like cheese.

So, if you have changed your diet as part of a new eating plan, to improve your health, what substitutions have you made? What things did you cut out? Do you like your new way of eating? Do you feel better now that you have made the changes?

I'll go first: I cut gluten out of my diet in April of 2007. I have substituted rice flour, tapioca flour, corn starch, buckwheat flour, and sorghum flour for the wheat products I used to use. I cut out everything that is made with wheat, rye, and barley. I do like my new way of eating. It took a while to get used to it, but since I feel so much better than I used to, it is easier to eat the things I need to eat instead of the old things I used to eat.

So, there it is. An informal survey of the peeps who read my blog. Feel free to email me at fabgrandma@gmail.com with any suggestions you may have as we work out this new eating plan.

And The Verdict?...

So today I put the new oven thermometer in the oven and turned it on at 400 degrees. About twenty minutes later, the thermometer was showing 350 degrees. So THAT is why the things I have been trying to cook have not been turning out right.

After fooling around with the oven for an hour or so, I figured out that to get the oven to 400 degrees, I need to set it on 450 degrees. That should make things better as far as trying to make a cake or cookies.

And after all that, I made a gluten free pizza. The crust turned out pretty good. I baked it for 12 minutes at 400 degrees, then put the toppings on and baked for another 12 minutes. Perfect! Oh, and no picture of it because we ate it all!

Oh, Excuse Me...

It has been brought to my attention that I have not written in my blog for 4 days. FOUR DAYS! Where has the time gone? It's not like I was doing anything really important, like working, or cleaning, or even reading the long awaited mail.

It's just that I have been doing nothing. And going nowhere. You know, being a complete mush head. Lolling about on the sofa watching TV. Playing games online at POGO. Sleeping until 10:00 then taking an afternoon nap before snoozing on bed before actually going to bed.

When your life is like that there is absolutely nothing interesting about it, for you or for anyone else.

So, today, we got out of our pajamas and out of the house and went for a drive. Only I was driving so I couldn't take any pictures to prove it. I wanted to go here, but we didn't, so I have nothing to write about. Because I am sure you don't want to hear about how we drove over to Blythe, California to go to K-Mart and buy an oven thermometer:


Oh, Yeah, Baby! and it even says Martha Stewart on it. Now I'm cooking! Oh, sorry.

So, there ya go, all the drama that was the drama, and all the news to make you sorry you asked.

Mail Lost And Found

For eight years, our daughter, Becky, who lives in Atlanta, has handled our mail for us. She has collected it from the post office box and sent it to us about every two weeks or so. She has done this for us because she loves us, and has done a very good job of it.

Over the last year or so, the mail has been sent with more and more time in between, an indication to us that she is busy. We understand that--she owns her own business, has lots of friends, a new boyfriend, and now a new puppy. (well, her room mate has a new puppy) So, we decided to permanently change our address to a PO box here in Salome. We decided to come back here to this same RV park next winter anyway, and the post office will forward our mail for free to our job in the summer for 6 months, which is all we would need, anyway.

So, we called Becky and had her send our mail one last time, which she did, 10 days ago. When we still had not received our mail package yesterday, I emailed Becky and asked if she had really sent the mail on the day she said she was going to. Yes, she did. So, today, still no mail.

I got to thinking about it, and although she has never done it before, I wondered if she had sent the mail to the last place we were, in Phoenix. Called them, and sure enough, they had my package. But, they wouldn't forward it to me. They could return it to Becky, but could not forward it to me. Even if I paid them to.

So, now I am waiting for my mail to take a ride from North Phoenix RV Park in Phoenix, back to Becky, then back to me here in Salome. That package will have traveled over 6,000 miles before I get it. Imagine that!

And I just want to say here, that I have worked at RV parks for years, and at every place I have ever worked, we would forward the mail. This is not normal.