Gluten Free Coconut Cream Pie

Ok, so I feel like this is really cheating, because all the ingredients for making Coconut Cream Pie are naturally gluten free. You just have to make sure the corn starch you use says "gluten free" on the label.

I love coconut cream pie, but I rarely make one. There has to be just the right alignment of the stars and the moon, and it has to be a chilly winter night, for me to even consider making one. That's because you have to bake the coconut, bake the pie shell, then stir the filling over the hot stove. Do you hear me, Fabgrandpa? There is a LOT of work involved in making this pie.

First you have to get a coconut at the store. You could use packaged grated coconut, but if I am going to do this, I am going to do it RIGHT. Use an ice pick to poke holes in the "eyes" of the coconut, then pour the juice, or milk, into a bowl. Place the coconut on a baking sheet and put it in a 450 degree oven for twenty minutes. Then, using potholders, wrap the coconut in a kitchen towel, take it outside, and smash it with a hammer. You can really work out a lot of frustrations in the making of this pie. If anyone ever gives you a home made coconut pie, and tells you that they grated the coconut themselves, you might want to tip-toe away from them and sit over in the corner by your self out of their way. Know what I mean?

Ok, so you have roasted and smashed your coconut. Take a sharp knife and separate the coconut meat from the hard shell.



Once you get the hard shell off, use the knife to peel off the brown side of the meat. Then, you can grate it until you have about a cup of grated coconut.


Meanwhile, take your frozen gluten free pie crust out of the freezer and let it thaw to room temperature. At this point you can cuss up a storm because the dang thing is all broken. &*&@#$!!! Always, they are broken, so why are you surprised?

When the pie shell has thawed, put it in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 25-40 minutes until browned. Take it out of the oven and set aside.


Now you are ready to make the filling. You'll need:


1 and 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons of gluten free cornstarch
a dash of salt
1 5 oz can of evaporated milk
the coconut milk you drained out of the coconut
enough water to add to the milk and coconut milk to make 1 and 1/2 cups
3 eggs, separated
3-4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then put the milk, coconut milk, water and dry ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Beat the egg yolks. Add a small amount of the hot filling to the bowl with the egg yolks, then stir it all back into the pot. Cook and stir two minutes more. Add the butter and vanilla and coconut and stir well. Pour into the baked pie shell.


To make the meringue, you need the 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar, and a dash of salt. Put the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff. Add the sugar a little at a time until it is all mixed in. Spread the meringue on top of the filling, making little curls and stuff on top:



Put the pie on a cookie sheet and place in a 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the meringue is browned:



The pie is now done. But, then you are just started in cleaning up the kitchen:
Dang it.

Workampers Meet-up

We were invited to a meet-up today with some members of an online forum from Workamper News Magazine. The place we were to meet was a gold claim on BLM land east of Quartzsite, about 30 or so miles from where we are parked.


This is the road to the claim. It is the good part of the road. We went about four miles out then turned off on a side road that looked more like a pig trail. Very rough, very remote.



I think they said this is a contraption used for dry panning for gold. They put the dirt in there, then sift it. Or something like that. Shit, I really don't know HOW it is used, just that they were using it to look for gold. It was really very interesting. Really.




FabGrandpa and I walked up that hill. I got some cactus stickers in my leg. That part was not fun. It was another beautiful blue sky day. I think I got sunburned on my face. That part was not fun, either, but I really did have fun today.


Some more scenery. I love this place.



Here, FabGrandpa is standing next to this big red cactus to demonstrate just how big it is. It had really big stickers on it, too. You don't want to be falling on one of those babies!



See, I told you it had big stickers on it. Those things bite.



This one is tiny. I had to sit on the ground to get close enough to get this picture. It was about four inches across and about 5 inches tall. It had the remains of red flowers on it. I think this is where I got the cactus stickers in my leg.


The real name of this cactus is Cholla, but some people call it "jumping cactus" because if you brush up too close to it, the little arms will "jump" off onto your clothes. And that is not fun. No, it didn't happen to me. And I hope it never does.


More scenery. Jaimie, the girl who owns the claim, told us she has seen bighorn sheep up there before. We didn't see any today. Probably because there were too many people around.


Here we are, proof we were there, looking for gold! George, Jaimie, Lynda, and me.



This was a bunch of people camping on the BLM land on the way out to the claim. This was a couple of miles off the main road. I bet it is real quiet out there.



That is a tiny little house out there in the desert. I probably have more room in my RV than there is in that house. It is hard to believe someone actually lives out here.



A gravel pit mine on the way out to George and Jaimie's claim. There were several claims being worked out there. Jaimie said they do find gold, but it is a LOT of work to find just a little bit.



Of course, Workampers can't get together without eating! We all met up back in town at Palo Verde Restaurant. The food there was good. I had liver and onions, FabGrandpa had a rib eye steak. MMMM.


left to right: FabGrandpa, me, Jim and Bev (ymeIsay on the Workamper forums), Charlie and Lynda (G'Ma on the Workamper forums), George and Jaimie (Calamity Jaimie on the Workamper forums), and Bob and Ann (TwoRootless on the Workamper forums)
Oh, and when we got home and were getting out of the truck, when Charlie opened his door, rocks fell out! Pretty rocks.

It Must Be A Sign

On my walk today, I saw lots of signs. This one told me the road ahead would be rough. I didn't care because I was walking. And I had good shoes.


I didn't know there was rabbits out here! But apparently there are, because he left his tracks behind:




Here a sign that there a LOT of water here just a little while ago:


This sign cracks me up:


Because this is McVay Road:


And this is 61st Street:


And then I saw a sign that it was getting late, and I had to hurry home to make dinner:

A Walk In The Desert

I was restless today, after having done little but sit or sleep for the past week. We had both been sick again, just a general "blah" feeling and no energy. Our trip to Parker yesterday included a visit to the pharmacist at CVS, who suggested some Claritin and a cool mist vaporizer. She explained that even though we had spent the spring, summer, and fall here in Arizona, we were still in a very dry climate, with winter being the driest. Some allergies are aggravted by the dry climate.

We brought the vaporizer home and plugged it in. It brought the humidity in the trailer up from around 26% to 51%, and we are both feeling much better. That lady really knew what she was talking about.

So, in the afternoon, I set out for a walk in the desert. Like most people, I always thought there was not much life going on in the desert. But I found lots of animal tracks, and other evidence that they had been there. The plants are turning green quickly from the little bit of rain we got this week.

I walked out about a 1/4 of a mile off the road. This picture was looking to the northeast of the campground:


This one is looking west:


I walked back over to the dirt road that goes past the campground, and walked about 1/4 of a mile to the south. There was a smaller, narrower dirt road that went off to the west, so I took that one for a way:



There were lots of animal tracks here, probably cows and javelinas. I found some seashells in a wash area, and a pretty rock, and brought them home to examine more closely.


It was getting late when I got home, so I made some dinner. Actually, I heated up leftover eggplant parmesean. After dinner, I went outside again, to get some shots of the sunset. I never get tired of seeing it:




It was a grand end to a great day:

Going To Parker Arizona

We had some business to take care of today so we had to drive over to Parker. It's about a 50 mile drive so it took most of the day. It was overcast, threatening to rain. The countryside in the desert looks like they already had some rain as everything is getting green.



Here you can see the rain over there. Since it's mostly flat out here, you can see the rain for a long time before it gets to where you are.

I love this photo, it shows how flat and straight the road is, with the mountains in the distance.


We took a wrong turn and wound up over by the Colorado River. This is the railroad bridge. It looks rusted, and still has wooden trestles.


Another shot of the railroad bridge over the Colorado River.



Isn't this beautiful? That's California on the other side of the river. The palm trees were huge here.



We had some lunch here. I had a combo with a taco, an enchilada, rice, and beans. FabGrandpa got the fish tacos. No beer, though, just diet cokes.


Then we went across the street to this little place. I got some garlic stuffed olives and some of the freshest pistachios I have ever had.


They also had these, but I didn't get any of them:


And on the way home, we finally did get into some of that rain. It didn't last long.

Gluten Free Fried Chicken

If you read my post from yesterday all the way through, you may have seen that I planned on cooking fried chicken sometime this month. So what? you say. Well, let me tell you about fried chicken.

In the early days when I could still eat all things gluten, I loved me some fried chicken. I was a frequent flier at the neighborhood Church's Fried Chicken, KFC, and Mrs. Winner's places. We had fried chicken about twice a week---always bought somewhere already fried and ready to eat. My personal philosophy about fried chicken is that even though I know how to make it, there was no reason for me to do it myself and deprive one of those places of my business, since they did a pretty good job of cooking it and then they were the ones who had to clean up the mess. So, if I was going to cook chicken at home, it would usually be baked in the oven in a disposable pan, or in the crockpot with a crockpot liner. Delicious, then a breeze to clean up. I DO know how to cook fried chicken, I just don't like to.

Last summer, I made some gluten free fried chicken for FabGrandpa. He was surprised because in all the years we have been married, I have never made fried chicken for him. He asked me why I had never made it and I told him "A girl has to have some secrets." Why tell him I know how to do something if I ain't gonna do it, right?

So, anyway, he loved the fried chicken I made last year. He loved it so much he has asked me several times to make it again. Well, today I made him some fried chicken again. And his response? "It took you 16 years to make it for me the first time, I'm surprised it only took 1 year for you to make it the second time."

Here is how to make gluten free fried chicken:

Chicken Pieces
salt and pepper to taste
tenderizer
1 cup of your favorite gluten free all purpose flour mix
1 cup milk
1 cup Crisco or oil

Heat the oil in a large skillet with a lid. Wash the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with tenderizer, salt and pepper. Roll in the flour mix, then dip in the milk, then roll in the flour mix again. Put in the skillet. When the skillet is full, place the lid on and cook for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off, and turn all the pieces of chicken over. Replace the lid. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the chicken again, and cook another minutes without the lid. It takes about 20-25 minutes to cook the chicken.

I served mine with homemade gluten free macaroni and cheese and green beans.

Budget Report Week 10 Cash Monday

We did really good this week. We decided to only take out $120 from the bank. At the end of the week, this morning I had $5 and some change in my pocket, and FabGrandpa had $6.00. We did go out to eat and use the debit card, for $27.00. So, even though we used the debit card, we are still under budget because we didn’t take out the entire $300.


Also, before we left Phoenix we went grocery shopping and spent somewhere around $300. That was 3 weeks ago, and we have only had to buy milk and bread since then. So, today, we drove over to Buckeye, Arizona, 80 miles away, to Wal-Mart to replenish the pantry.


Here is the menu for the next 3 weeks—we are going to try to make it 4 weeks this time before going back to buy groceries:


Salmon Patties/Peas/Mashed potatoes
Tuna A La King with Rice and canned fruit
Spaghetti/Salad/Garlic Toast
Mac & Cheese/Fried Chicken/Green Beans
Pork Roast/Potatoes/Carrots
Leftover Pork/Rice/Baby Lima Beans
Chicken with Salsa/Rice/Pear Salad
Meatloaf/Fried Okra/Diced Potatoes
Blackeyed Peas/Collards/Cornbread
Eggplant Parmesean/Brussells Sprouts
Chili/Cornbread
Black Bean Nachos
Beef Stew/Biscuits
Chicken with Garlic and Spinach over noodles
Bean Soup/Cornbread
Pork Chops/Green Beans/Mashed Potatoes
Tuna A La King/Rice
Goulash/Rice
Pizza/Salad
Salmon Patties/Corn/Potatoes
Roasted Chicken/Green Beans/Potatoes
Italian Mushroom Stew with Italian Sausage


We probably won’t eat all those meals in the order listed, but I listed them to show that I was able to get all the ingredients I needed to make these 22 dinner meals (plus breakfast and lunch stuff, and snacks) for under $300 for two people. And with leftovers, we should be able to stretch this out for a whole month.


I got us a couple of treats, too. Some garlic stuffed olives in Napa Valley Chardonay; some Black Olive Tapanade; some of those Mexican cookies FabGrandpa loves so much, the Surtido Rico ones. So we’re not even doing without good stuff, y’all!


Just so those of you who read this who love us and all, we are not on the brink of bankruptcy. We are just trying to eat a healthy diet without spending all our money on food. It is a challenge to do this, so it has become sort of a game to spend as little as possible and still have good food. With the prices of gluten free items out the roof, it is even more of a challenge. So, in addition to the Monday Cash thing, we are adding this monthly grocery shopping into the mix.


And as usual, I will let you know in a month how we did on this.

Jewelry Making Class

Lynda and I went to our wire wrapping class on Saturday. The lady who taught the class makes some really pretty stuff, but she does not allow you to take pictures. I was going to show some of the process of making the bracelets we made, but she told me to "put away my camera".
I can show the finished product:


I made the bracelet on the right with silver and gold wire in the class. I came home and made the one on the left with silver and copper wire. I definitely need some practice but they are ok for a beginner.




Here is what the clasp looks like. The one I made in class looks a whole lot better than the one I made at home later. Again, it just needs some practice.



These bracelets are 7 and a half inches long. I think I need to make mine 8 inches to fit my "plus size" wrist.




Then, today, I used a different pattern but the same concept to make this bracelet for FabGrandpa. I used a piece of sterling silver patterned wire and gold wire in it. This was really hard to make because it was hard to keep all the wires together and to keep them from bunching up while I was making the binding wraps. I got really frustrated with it and walked away from it three times before I was able to finish it. I like the way the clasp on this one looks.



Here is the front of his bracelet. I can see the mistakes in it, and my father in law probably will too, but then again, it does look pretty good for a beginner, and FabGrandpa liked it.


So, tell me what you think. Will I be able to master this?