Ice Cream Bread

Hey, y’all. 🙂

I wasn’t feeling well last week but hopefully this week will be better.

Early voted even though I wasn’t feeling well.

Just a couple of reminders during this election period.  🙂

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Gathered up a couple of loads of clothes to donate…in my case to the women and children’s shelter.  Sharing this just as a reminder that now is a great time of year to go thru your stuff and see what you and your children can share with someone less fortunate. 🙂

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Started watching 11.22.63.  If you’re not familiar it’s a new hulu original produced by Stephen King and JJ Abrams where crazy James Franco’s character travels back in time via a diner pantry to the early 60’s in order to try to stop Oswald from allegedly 😉 killing Kennedy.  Just the kinda crazy you’d expect from James Franco. 😉  The premier ep was pretty good.  Not digging the rollout though, hulu. If this is gonna be weekly eps instead of releasing them all at once like Amazon and Netflix do then we’re  just gonna wait til all the eps are out in few weeks. Get with it, hulu.  If we want to watch traditional style TV we’d just watch regular TV.

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RIP, Harper Lee.  🙁

Over the last 2 days I’ve seen or heard some of the most hateful racist people referencing To Kill A Mockingbird / posting meme’s…ect in a positive way.  Makes me wanna scream.  Some of y’all need to reread the book because y’all ARE the horrible people from the book.

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Do y’all like Annie’s Gluten – Free mac and cheese ?  I really like the deluxe one in the blue box with the squeeze packet of cheese.  The purple box?  Not so much.  Mama B likes the shells shape the best though but always wants me to make homemade cheese sauce for her.  So I end up with a bunch of left over powdered cheese packets.

What should I do with them?

 

Make cheesy bread of course. 🙂

Look at that.  No holes.  Just soft chewy stretchy buttery bread. 🙂

The dough I’ve been playing around with.  For this batch I mixed in the Annie’s cheese packet plus some parm.  I’m running out of words to express how good the gfJules flour is working for well everything but esp this dough.  Made some of it into garlic toast to go with gluten – free shrimp alfredo for Lent Friday…over rice because I didn’t feel like messing with boiling pastaAnd guess what? The whole fam loved it over rice.  That made me really happy because sometimes I just absolutely hate messing with boiling gluten – free pasta.

Ignore the writing on the Saran wrap…it was for something else.

I’m not happy with these pics but I’m sticking them in to show how versatile the dough was.  The next day I used the rest of that batch to make a cheeseburger roll.

Now to the title of this post…Ice Cream Bread.

Have y’all made this?  I’m probably way late to this one but when I saw it last week I had to give it a try.

1 1/2 cups Self Rising Flour**

2 cups melt-y Ice Cream any flavor I used vanilla

Sprinkles I used a spring mix

**I used 1 1/2 cups gfJules flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt per cup to make homemade self rising flour.

so for this particular recipe

1 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 plus 1/8 tsp Salt

It’s kinda like banana bread consistency.

Ok I’m only posting this to show that it can be done gluten – free…but having made it and tasted it…I’m honestly not sure why anyone would want to do this.  It was interesting and looked pretty but it was also pretty blah.  Maybe if I’d used a stronger flavored ice cream and different add ins it might have been better but I really can’t imagine ever making this again to test it out.  I can’t be wasting my Blue Bell like that.  😉

Hope y’all have a great week…if you’re in Texas go early vote…and I’ll see ya soon. 🙂

Strawberry Filled Brownies

Hey, Y’all.  🙂

I’m gonna just randoms this today…recipe at the end as always. 🙂

A little bit of V-Day advice…

 😉

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So let’s do the serious topic first. I got a couple email about the Johnny Manziel domestic abuse story.  Basically wanting to know if I was going to defend him given our A&M allegience.  Uhm…hell no.  I defended his college drinking and partying all the time and always will.  He was a college kid.  That’s what they do. This? No way. He has a history of domestic violence so no benefit of the doubt on this one. And to the media and fans trying to paint him as ‘troubled’ or a drunk / addict.  Yeah he’s troubled and probably both but ya know what? He can take a seat in jail and dry out / do AA or whatever in there.

I won’t throw him in the human garbage pile til there are pics and / or court transcripts / a conviction.  But defend him on this…never ever ever.

Those of you who know me in person know that I’m always screaming patience (let’s see the evidence first) but see with this he already got away with hitting her once.  Which is 100% sad /ridic and a million other things.  One of those things being his wake up to get himself in check.  He chose not to do that.  Not his dad.  Not his team.  Not the girlfriend.  Him.  So whether he hit her or not this time he and only he put himself in the position for any of this to happen.  I don’t care if she seems like a mess too.  He put himself in the room with her.

Now if it comes out she put a gun to his head…forced him to the room…then forced him to hit her…I’ll apologize.  Pretty sure that’s never gonna happen.  So you just go right ahead and take a seat in jail, JM where you belong.

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Screenshot (389)  😉

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Staying with the sports theme…

Former A&M QB’s Kyler and Kyle…y’all know what?   The succesful / talented players who leave here never have anything bad to say.  Interesting. 😉

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This Beyoncé stuff is ridiculous.  Doubtful they’ve actually listened to the song at all.  Protesting over someone with a powerful voice wanting those who protect and serve to stop MURDERING young black men is dumber than usual for these fools.  A badge is not a license to kill.  Keep on screaming it loud, Queen Bey. 🙂

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Well y’all definitely picked the right doofuses for that one. 😉  Screen shot from a Windows live News tile today.

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Look what came this week. 🙂 31 pounds of gfJules flour. It cost a little more but instead of buying 3 ten pound bags I got a bunch of smaller bags.  Because of the 100* + temps in the summertime here (meaning even hotter while stuck on a delivery truck all day) I always order a big batch of flour to last between now (while it’s cooler) and like November when it’s cools off again.  Jules says that her flour does best when stored out of the super cold (icebox / freezer) so this way I can keep the flour in the coolest room of the house all summer and then just have one smaller bag opened at a time.

Recipe time…

Have y’all ever tried this brownie recipe?

You take any brownie mix (or even your own recipe) and mix it up according to directions.  I used the gfjules brownie mix I ordered after Christmas and used butter instead of oil.  Jules has to cook dairy free (I think) but I don’t and just like butter and chocolate better.

Rough spread half of it in a brownie pan.

I can’t get this to rotate correctly but it’s Ghirardelli Valentine’s Strawberry filled squares.

Place 12 of them on top like this.  Did this in halves to show the next step better.

A little trick for helping top when recipes call for half on the bottom half on the top.  Spray a piece of Saran really well.  Plop the required amount of batter / dough in the center. Obviously only do this if your batter / dough is thick enough for it. 🙂  Fold Saran over on top and them press out in between to the needed size.

Then just plop the dough on top. Peel off the Saran and no mess or fuss. You don’t lose any batter to your hands and it’s just so much less mess and frustration trying to get it even.

After it’s all layered follow the temp and time on your mix or recipe and bake til done.  I used my convection oven at 325* for about 14 minutes.

Let it cool and then you have a little gooey strawberry filling in each piece.

Only the good china for this girl. 😉

I always try to give my reviews on the new gluten – free stuff I try.  Since I like to read reviews myself before trying stuff so I know what to expect. I adore the gfJules flour and the mixes I’ve tried have all turned out exactly as I expected them to.  The only issue I have with them at all…including this brownie mix is they’re not sweet enough for me.  This is 100% my issue and nothing on them at all as we all have different sugar preferences.  As y’all know mine lean more toward freebasing it 😉 …and the mixes are more light handed. 🙂   Just my opinion though and I’ll still order my favs when they’re on sale and just add additional sweetness.  No biggie but I still like to share for the next person looking for reviews.  🙂

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Happy Valentine’s Day.  🙂

See y’all soon. 🙂

Watched Top Gun the other night. Even though Tom C turned out to be more than a little cray…it still totally took me back to 1oth grade.  🙂

Individual King Cakes

Hey, y’all. 🙂

It’s little Friday.  AKA Thursday.  🙂

Do y’all have big super bowl plans this weekend?

No health news this week.   Trying to fight thru the pain while I get my insurance situation settled.  I might write about the insurance drama soon.

 

😉

Did y’all watch the OJ show this week?  I was addicted to the OJ drama / trial when it was happening.  I think the casting for this new tv show is pretty spot on except for Travolta playing Shapiro.  I can’t buy that at all.  I also think it’s a sign I’ve been watching too much Roku content when I can’t stand the thought of having to wait 10 weeks of watching to get to the end of the series. Instead of being able to binge it all in a few days.

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All the talk about the new Barbie lead me to an article about this other body positive doll, Lammily.  100% cool with her but the pic above?  You can order a “Period Party” kit for her. A booklet about periods plus period underwear with sticker ‘pads’.  What?  I get the whole point of the doll is to give girls a realistic body image and I’m all for open body talk with kids but I mean wouldn’t the kids playing with these dolls be a little young for period pad stickers?

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Watched this docu, Iris. About quirky stylist Iris Apfel.

This lady.  She’s just as quirky as you’d imagine her to be.

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My latest coloring book creation.  Coloring really does zen you out.  🙂

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So next Tuesday is Mardi Gras and of course King Cake time.  I decided to make individual King Cakes this year.

After rolling up I had a few busted spots…

…which were easily covered with the icing and sprinkles.  For size context that’s a square salad or side sized plate.

Y’all know how I feel about tightly / multiple rolls King Cakes…it’s not a King Cake if it’s not flatter / loosely rolled. 😉

This was the best gluten – free King Cake I’ve ever made (or eaten).  I used half of my usual recipe which is just the Southern Living recipe which calls for sour cream.  I used gfJules flour and instead of sour cream I used vanilla yogurt because I’ve been playing around with a base / do it all type dough for a while and I’ve been using plain yogurt in it and really loving the results.

I still can’t say enough good stuff about gfJules flour.  I just ordered 32 pounds. Of course about 5 hours after I placed my order she sent out a 15% off everything coupon so I missed out on that but I think it’s still going on if y’all want to check out her store.  I’m not sure but you might have to subscribe to her daily email to get the discount.  If you’re at all interested in ordering some you should sign up anyway.  She sends out a recipe each day and the email has different sales / discounts each week.

That’s all for today.  Thanks so much for reading. See ya soon. 🙂

 

Catching Up

Hey, y’all. Are you staying safe and warm?

It’s supposed to get up into the 70’s for us this weekend.  I’m so happy.  I hate this cold weather. It’s nice for a couple of weeks but it’s time for it to go back where it came from.

So when we last met I was heading out for a TNE procedure.

Looking out the window of the office.  I don’t know if y’all can see that in the bottom pic but it’s a rainbow that went from down in the trees on one side of the road to down in the trees on the other.  When I saw it I thought maybe it was a sign that things were going to be ok.

Well that turned out to be a disaster. The scheduling doctor’s office didn’t make it clear that I needed the scope that goes all the way into the stomach and when I got there all they could do was the scope that only goes the to the bottom of the esophagus. I need both scoped and can’t have it done two separate times. So now I’m having trouble getting scheduled somewhere else where they can do the entire procedure. I’ve had several good long cries and I just feel like this is never going to end. 🙁

But let’s not dwell on that…and get on with the randoms. 🙂

Are any of y’all addicted to this tea?  My addiction is getting out of hand so I’m trying to wean off of it.

So I bought some of this and am filling up the empty bottles.  Yes, it has Splenda. No I do not care. 🙂  It has the Splenda in the bag.  You just steep it and it sweetens at the same time.

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Love this so much. 🙂

So thankful for my once in a lifetimes. 🙂

If you know me in real life or followed the old blog you know I love all things UK and love love love me some britcom Coupling.  There’s this episode where Sally (who is obsessed with aging) has to go to a funeral and says something about how she’s scared to be around all the elderly people there because they’ll be like the desert trying to soak up all of her moisturizer.

Had to take Papa B to the SAS shoe store…and felt so much like Sally. 😉

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So Cruz wants to sit down with Trump one on one? That ought to be riveting television.

Cruz: me.

Trump: Me.

Cruz: ME!

Trump: ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!!!!!

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Went to London and Germany today. 😉  This grocery store I go to has what they call the Ethnic aisles.  They added stuff from the UK and Germany.  The can is rice custard pudding and the box is boil n bag potato dumplings.  Can’t wait to try them out.  This particular box of dumplings had an English list of the ingredients stuck over the German list printed on the box and they’re all celiac safe but they had some other brands that were not safe.

On the baking front…

I wish y’all could feel how soft and stretchy these are.

Gluten – free rolls to go with Mama B’s gluten – free fried chicken bits.

Used part of the dough for the rolls and the rest for these cinnamon rolls.  An early Valentine’s Day treat.

I’m playing around with the gfJules flour and dough.  I’ll share when I get this where I want it. 🙂

BTW…big congrats to Jules…the flour and mixes won a bunch of awards last week. 🙂

Okay that’s all for today.  Stay warm and I’ll see ya soon.  🙂

Keeping with the UK theme…you’re welcome for the earworm. 😉

 

 

Hodgepodge and Raisin Bread

Hey, y’all.

So when we last met I was getting ready for the Scleroderma specialist appointment I’d waited 3 1/2 months for.

I didn’t take a bus instead I took…

That’s right this spoiled girl took the metro. It wasn’t bad.  I parked at a park n ride right at the train stop and then it dropped me off literally right in front of the office.

Riding by Reliant.  A lot of good things (and days of my life) happened in the building on the right (the Astrodome) not so much in the one on the left. 😉 Y’all can call it NRG.  I’ll keep right on calling it Reliant.

Anyway the appointment went really well.  She was one of the best doctors I’ve ever seen.  The appointment was almost 2 hours long and that was 2 hours spent in the room WITH the doctor. She went over every single thing that’s happened from day one with my lupus, celiac and everything in between.  She ordered some more tests which left my arm looking like this…

And tomorrow I’m going back to see an ENT in the same group of doctors for a Transnasal Esophagoscopy (a non-sedated endoscopy thru the nose).   If everything comes back ok or no worse than the original blood work / scans then she said that right now she’ll classify me as having mild sclero and it’s predominately internal.  The only skin issue I have is dry / disappearing lips.  (They’ve shrunken up and like into my face over the last few months.)

She was a dream and I feel so much better and feel like no matter what comes back from the testing I know I’ll be in good hands.  🙂

Stopped at Fuddruckers after the appointment and this note about them being the official hamburger of the Texans is on the cups.  Uhmm I’m gonna go ahead and suggest a switch to Whataburger next season.  😉

RIP Glenn Frey. 🙁  Such sad sad news.  Not only was he an awesome singer / musician but he and his wife gave both a lot of time and money to the Lupus foundation.

If you love music and have never watched the docu History of the Eagles…you should.  Like tonight. 🙂

If you’re a sports fan you’re probably at least a little bit familiar with the ‘mess’ that is Bill Simmons.  He says it best though in this article he wrote about the docu…”In my humble opinion, it’s the finest documentary ever made about the rise and fall of a memorable rock band, as well as a superb commentary on the dangers of fame and excess.”  Right on, BS.  Right on.  He says at the time of the article he’s watched part one five times.  I know we’ve at least equaled that in the texas girl home. 🙂

Hey, Sister B.  Look familiar?  🙂

Did y’all see this story going around last week? This Mom knit a doll that looks like her son so she can hug it since her son is older and doesn’t want to cuddle with her anymore.  I hope she’s also setting aside some money for therapy.  So creepy.

Snapped this while sitting at a red light.  What do y’all think they serve at ‘Hoggs n Chicks – a fine food shack’ ?

Remember last week when I showed y’all the gfJules mixes I ordered? Well I’ve tried two more…

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The pancake mix which I made into blueberry waffles.

And…

Have y’all ever made bread with Ginger ale as the liquid? I’ve made a lot of bread in my life and had never seen this before.

I did a long overnight icebox rise.

I wish there was a way to show you how soft the inside of this bread is.  There’s also no doubt that it would have risen to a full size loaf if I had the right size pan.  My bread pan is smaller so I had to bake part of the dough as a round otherwise I knew it would have never baked all the way thru.

So I took the bread mix and turned it in to raisin bread by adding some sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and raisins.  It. Is. Fabulous.  Since it was the first time using the mix I went light on everything I added to it but next time I will definitely add more cinnamon inside the mix.  It wasn’t cinnamon-y enough for me at all so I just made raisin bread cinnamon toast.  I can’t wait to make plain bread with the mix.  Good thing I ordered three boxes. 🙂

That’s all for today.  See y’all soon. 🙂