gluten free

Gluten Free Cake Mix Waffles

Hey, y’all. 🙂

Our newest Christmas yard ornament. 🙂

That cactus will not stop leaning. I’ve yet to get a good pic at night so here’s what it looks like in daylight. We always have to explain this so…the snow woman is tubing the Guadalupe complete with belly button ring / bikini and beer. 🙂  I added that piece kinda as an homage to my Mema who 1. loved Christmas yard ornaments so much and 2. loved tubing the river. The beer label used to say Old Milwaukee…again, in her honor…but it’s faded.  Yeah, I know it should say Shiner or Lone Star to keep with the theme…but it’s never going to say that.

Do y’all think I have a problem? 😉 That’s a drawer full of post Halloween Frankenberry.

If you know me in real life…if I showed up somewhere in these what would you think? 😉

But speaking of…ModCloth, how do you know what I’ve looked at if I haven’t signed into my account?  I’m not sure I like that.  I was searching clothes but I know without a doubt I wasn’t logged in.  Then the next day this showed up in my email and I had looked at every single one of those dresses.

Have y’all seen this at Target?  How hard was it not to buy that Strawberry Shortcake? When I was a kid I couldn’t have Strawberry or her friends because of their smell. I am so allergic to any kind of perfume-y type smell. So no Shortcake gang for me.  That’s ok though because I more than made up for it with Smurfs. 🙂

Buggy number 1 of toys for CPS children. 🙂  Just a reminder…if you’re doing any sort of charity type shopping most of the organizations want the items turned in soon. 🙂

Ok so I know I’m kinda crazy late to this but I searched for gluten – free versions online just to read some reviews and couldn’t find any with pics.

Cake mix waffles.

I had bought that King Arthur gluten – free cake mix and a box of their gluten – free flour.  I hated the flour. So much. As you run your fingers thru it you can feel the rice bits.  It’s definitely not a super fine blend. At all.  So then I was scared to use the cake mix because I hate to be able to feel the rice bits in the finished cake.

Solution?  Test it out with waffles.

Y’all that cake mix was amazing.  Silky smooth.

When I was looking at recipes for the waffles I decided on the one where you just make up the cake mix like it says on the box but then cook as pancakes or waffles.  I weighed out half the box of cake mix (11 oz) and then halved all the ingredients. I got 7 waffles out of that amount.

These were so good.  Everyone loved them.  What I would do next time though is use my regular pancake / waffle recipe and sub the cake mix for the flour and the dry ingredients.  Also…for these I just used a store bought tub of cream cheese icing (melted a little bit).  Next time I would mix up a simple powdered sugar / milk drizzle.  The icing combined with the sweetness of the cake mix made these way too rich tasting for breakfast.  And if I’m saying something is too sweet…y’all know it must be super sweet. 😉

King Arthur gluten – free cake mix,  you definitely have a spot in my pantry. 🙂

I’m not in a randoms mood today but one more time… Blue Cross Blue Shield, you suck.

Those links link to local stories about cancer patients who will no longer be able to use some of the best doctors in the world.  People come to the medical center in Houston from all over the world…but BCBS customers right here IN Texas won’t be able to use them.

I really don’t think I would ever go back to BCBS after this.  Like I said before…it’s one thing if these insurance companies want to limit what they offer to those using tax incentives.  But for those of us straight up paying out of pocket?  This is ridiculous.  I’ve moved to United Health.  It’s more expensive but I get to keep all of my doctors…even the big deal scleroderma specialist I don’t see til next month.  I would not have been able to see her if I’d stayed with the crappy HMO plans BCBS is offering.   Which of course…they do not care.  They want our monthly premiums but they don’t want us to actually use the benefits.

Have a good day and I’ll see ya soon.  🙂

 

Recap and Randoms

Hey, y’all.  Hope you survived the holiday weekend.  🙂

Since I had to rejigger my ingredients I spent a good part of Wed mixing up all the gluten – free dry ingredients I could ahead of time…

Cooked a turkey breast in my pressure cooker and let me tell y’all what I did…see that blob that looks like ketchup? It’s not.  It’s homemade apple butter.  I mixed up some salt / pepper / onion powder and a little dry chicken broth base plus a couple of tablespoons apple butter and a tablespoon mustard.  I slathered it all over the top / bottom of the breast.

Wrapped it up tight and into the ice box for about 24 hours.

Pressure cooked on high for 25 minutes and then let the pressure release naturally instead of forcing it to release.  The flavor was amazing.  I decided to try that combo because I always slather mustard / seasoning mix all over / inside and then stuff my big bird with onions and apple slices.  I wanted to try to recreate that flavor with the breast.  Mission accomplished. 🙂

This is what I used to cake mix for…apple cake.  It wasn’t all that great so I didn’t get an after shot.

I made gluten – free green bean cass and left the fried onions off a small portion for me.  Mama B took our family dressing recipe and made me a gluten – free version that was so ridiculously good.

The meal turned out really well esp for having to change plans.  Everything was gluten – free except the pie crust (which I didn’t eat) and Mama B made gluten – full dressing for everyone else.

The next day I whipped up some of my most favorite gluten – free whipped butter cookies.  They’re good but I have to get some fresh cup4cup. I ordered some today so hopefully it’s here in a few days.  The whole time I was eating wheat this year they had cup4cup in our local grocery store.  Now that I have to eat it?  Of course they’re not carrying it anymore and it’s back to ordering it.

49* in the middle of the day (Sat).  I pulled out the UGG boots. 🙂  I don’t care if you think UGG boots are silly. 🙂  I ordered another pair on cyber Monday.  Oh y’all know y’all did it too…used the deals to shop for yourselves. 😉  I ended up getting pretty much all of my shopping done and got some pretty good deals…but can’t really talk about them here since most of the recipients read here.

Look at that bottom pic.  That’s bubbling with a gluten – free pancake.  You might understand then why I had such high hopes for these. They turned out to be the most vile tasting thing I’ve had in ages.  I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth for several hours.  I picked them up at HEB because they had a store coupon and because Kirby Lane is one of Sister B’s fav restaurants.  Big mistake.  It might be a fabulous gluten – full place but gluten – free?  Yuck.

Got the tree up and decorated.  Love it so much.  🙂  Decided to do all red and white this year. I’m looking for a different skirt but not having any luck.

 

Randoms:

  • Media, I’m gonna need y’all to start labeling these horrible people exactly what they are…Christian terrorists.  Just like their Muslim counterparts they don’t speak for every or even the majority of Christians everywhere but it’s time to start identifying them as exactly what they are.

 

  • I’ve been to Planned Parenthood two different times in my life.  Guess what?  Just because some people are too stubborn and / or intellectually challenged to actually research and decipher the statistics for themselves it doesn’t change that fact that far more people use PP for well women, well pregnancy and well baby care than they do for abortions.  So while you’re advocating violence in the name of life just remember your violence could very well end up killing a LIVING breathing baby doing nothing more than getting his / her well baby checkup.  So much pro life, y’all.  Said with all the sarcasm and disgust in the world.

 

  • Remember this post? I was very passionate about not supporting organizations (specifically the Salvation Army) that support domestic abusers. A reader contacted me and told me that the Salvation Army also actively supports anti-gay organizations.  I truly did not know that.  Some of y’all know that my favorite day of the year is when I (and Mama B) go shopping for the Angel tree kids and elderly each Christmas.  At first I was a little bit torn because the trees are primarily for disadvantaged children who most likely have no idea what religious hate even is.  But I like to practice what I rant about so I decided to no longer support the Salvation Army in any way.  Instead I went around to several churches in my own little town and found a way to do basically the same thing.  I’ll still be helping children and their families but without also being in any way associated with the Salvation Army.  If you’re someone who feels the same way…call around to the churches, the chamber of commerce or you local newspaper office in your own towns. Even if they don’t have an organized angel type program they all know someone in their church and / or community who can use a little help.  🙂  Somebody reading this will no doubt contact me and say “but texas girl…churches hate gay people too”.  Uhmm no.  Every single church around doesn’t spew hate.

 

  • It’s time for me to switch over to Christmas music here on the blog but I really need somebody to tell me what Chris Janson is saying about a Yeti something in his song Buy Me A Boat.  I mean my idea of roughing it is a 3 star hotel instead of 5  😉 so I don’t really have a need for a cooler.  The only way I even knew Yeti = some sort of cooler is because I see people buying them / putting ice and beer in them in the Bucees parking lot when I’m getting my ‘medication’…aka crack coke…aka coke icees.  😉 But still…I must know what he’s saying.

 

  • Can y’all believe that removing gluten was all it took to stop those awful blood spots?  I haven’t had one new spot since I stopped the gluten and most of the ones I already had…cleared up within days.  My arms haven’t been this clear for this long since mid July.

 

  • There are a few more hours left of giving Tuesday.  Did you give?  If you’re looking for a good cause I know they’re all good but this is where I donated today…The Lotus Project.

 

 

Ok that’s enough for today.  I have a Dr’s appointment Wed and then one more in a couple of weeks.  After that hopefully I can be done with Dr’s and tests until mid January when I’m going to see some big deal scleroderma specialist at the medical center.  🙂

Y’all have a good week. 🙂

 

Happy Thanksgiving + Health Developments

Happy Thanksgiving. 🙂  Don’t all little girls celebrate Thanksgiving by putting a hat on a turkey and letting it look in a mirror? 😉

So…where’ve I been?

I’ll just go ahead and put this here…

So…yeah.

I went to the gastroenterologist for something else and left with this. 🙁  If you can’t read it…it’s Celiac confirmation.  The blacked out stuff is personal information + what I originally went in for and don’t want on the blog.

I can’t believe this.  I’ve lived most of this year eating pretty much all the wheat around because we (me and my other dr’s) thought the original 2013 diagnosis was wrong.  The gastro thinks that reintroducing gluten is directly related to some of the health things I’ve been going thru for the last several months.

I was in such denial I even took multiple pregnancy tests to try to account for all the bloating.  Because ya know it’s so much more likely for the woman who hasn’t ovulated in several years to be pregnant than not able to eat donuts. 😉

Anyway…I’ve been dealing with this…clearing out the cabinets…changing up things for Thanksgiving meal…getting reacquainted with cup4cup…and being a little bit mopey.

But if I’m completely honest with myself…I know it’s something I have to do and just the week and half-ish of no gluten has changed my health in dramatic ways.  Those awful blood spots on my arms are even healing up really fast.

I don’t wanna dwell on it too much more right now.  Obviously I’m gonna have to go back to cooking everything gluten-free but I’m not sure how much I’ll put on here.  I mean I’ll post pics of stuff but I don’t think I want to go back to posting a bunch of recipes.  At least not until I’m feeling a whole lot better and have the energy to do so.

Those of you who know me in person…”I told you so” will be accepted til midnight tonight.  😉

Hope y’all have the best Thanksgiving weekend with those you love. 🙂

Be safe on the roads and in the malls and I’ll see ya next week when hopefully I’ll get this space back to normal.  🙂

Let’s go old school with the music today while I ask…Is tequila gluten- free? ’cause I think I’m gonna be needin’ the bottle.  😉

 

Pushed to the Limit

Happy October. 🙂

Y’all know what that means…I can officially buy some Halloween Oreos. 🙂  I know they’ve been out for a while but I refused to buy any til October.  Yes, our scarecrow is wearing an Aggie cap…as should all good scarecrows. 🙂

I’m gonna do the health update at the bottom. 

Let’s start with some eats…

Made a pressure cooker pot of short ribs.  That pressure cooker is worth every cent just for short ribs alone.

Tried out this new potato soup.

It’s Gluten – Free

You just bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Dump in package. Stir. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. That’s it.

It was delish. Those of us who ate it gave it thumbs up.  I had mine with some grated cheddar and a handful of croutons.  I went back to pick up a couple more packages for when the weather cools down and other people must have been thinking the same thing because there were only 2 packages left.  Next time I’m going to add some chopped up chicken and some corn for Chicken Corn Chowder.

Best Casa in Tejas. 🙂

Ok now to the end of my rope…not really but it feels like it.  AKA…the health stuff…

When we last met I was going to see another specialist.  She was great. I really liked her and it turned out her husband is a rheumatologist so she asked if I cared if she consulted with him. She got him on the phone and sent him all the pics of my blood spots / bruises.  He said the spots on my arms looks like vasculitis but the two on my toes (which I thought were the same as the arms) where not and looked like little tiny blood clots in the tiny vessels.  He told her to send me to the hematologist in her building and to also test me for Scleroderma.

Hematologist number two was miles better than the first one.  She agreed that they’re tiny clots but said that I have good blood flow in my feet so it’s just a part of my clotting disorder and that I didn’t need to freak out about it unless another one pops up.  Then I’d have to have a scan and possibly start heparin shots (a different blood thinner).

Both of these doctors were so much better than most of the doctors I’d seen before them.  They were located in Tomball…so a pretty good ways from me…but it was worth the drive.

Now the blood results are in and…wait for it…of course I tested positive for the Scleroderma antibodies.  As if I don’t have enough to deal with.

Oh and I forgot…the night before I went to see them I fell so the first doctor wanted to do an x-ray.  Yep you guessed it.  Small fracture on my tailbone.  Nothing to do about it.  Just manage the pain and let it heal.

I’m starting to wonder if this will ever end. 

So now I don’t get to just forget about all of this for a while and stop the doctor trips as planned.  I have to find a rheumatologist to sort thru the Scleroderma stuff because it can be serious.  The reason I can’t see the husband of doctor number one is because he’s currently waiting out a non-compete and won’t be working until January.  He’s going to be working in his wife’s building and I was planning on waiting til then and seeing him but when she called to tell me the results she said I needed to be seen by a rheum much sooner.

So that’s where things stand with the health stuff.  Still no definitive answers and couple new things added to the pile.  Oh well…

It’s October.  Birthday month.  I think I need to celebrate everyday in case it’s the last one. 😉  And by celebrate I mean…ya know Mexican and cake every day.  😉

Have a good weekend. 🙂

 

 

Crockpot Migas + Hodgepodge Brain Dump

Hey, y’all. 🙂

Here in the texas girl household we’ve all got what the Dr called ‘that crud that’s going around’.  Earache, cough, sore throat, congestion, body aches.  It’s like something between a fall cold and the flu. I caught mine early and started meds so hopefully it won’t be too bad.

Made some crock pot migas for Sunday.

8 eggs

Sausage crumbles

Cheese

Tortilla chips

You add whatever ingredients and as much of them as you like.

The eggs look gross next to that red of the crockpot but that’s…

8 eggs beaten with 1 cup of water

You use 1/4 cup of water per 2 eggs.

Add the rest of your ingredients and stir.

Cook on low for about 2 hours.  Longer depending on what you add to it.  Stir it around a couple times during cooking.

Sorry about the pic.  The familia got to the finished pot before I could get pics.

Serve it with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, more cheese, etc.  Some of my fam eat it with syrup. Yuck.

Took the whole fam to the doctor…it’s seriously starting to feel like I’m spending my life in a medical facility…afterwards we ate at this little small town restaurant…

They have a chicken buffet.  I was the only one in the group who hadn’t been there before and Papa B raves about this place all the time. It was actually really good. That’s fried chicken, smashed potatoes, corn, green beans and seafood etouffee. The etouffee was so completely out of place with all the other ‘country’ type foods but it was so good we got some to bring home.

Some kinda red velvet cake.  As good as the main meal was this was equally awful.

So the overall meal was really good but then something happened that I haven’t seen happen in ages…another diner lit a cigarette.  Can you believe that?  In the year 2015 someone actually lit a cig in a public…non-bar type place?  I’m pretty much a live and let live kinda girl…I mean I don’t hold back my opinions on stuff at all…but as long as you’re not hurting anyone else I pretty much think you should just ignore everybody else and do you.  EXCEPT when it comes to smokers.  The fact that I’m full on asthma attack / highly allergic to smoke aside…in general I think smokers are disgusting and openly judge them.  Even more so if they’re smoking around a child.  Don’t know if I’ll ever go back to this place.

Randoms

  • I really don’t enjoy what The View has become…and one of my best friends and favorite people in the world is a nurse so before I say anything else let me say that I totally respect the good ones. I’ll save my uproar for the ones who are starting their 10th night shift in as many days though over the one who is using the job to pander for votes… or whatever it is they whore themselves off for in those ‘contests’.
  • And really Johnson and Johnson / advertisers, you pulled your ads from The View over this? Where were you in December when Whoopie was telling RAPE victims to shut up and calling them liars for DAYS?  THIS moves you to action more than verbally attacking a RAPE victim?
  • Normally if I see a car with a political sticker on it I silently make fun of the driver but those of you supporting Donald Trump …I’m gonna need y’all to identifiy yourselves. Need to know the exact level cray I’m dealing with on this one.
  • On the plus side…if by some miracle he does win the nomination it will be absolutely hillarious to watch the ‘base’…all the hypocritical Sunday morning ‘Christians’…having to throw their support behind that particular piece of human garbage.

  😉

Let’s see…I probably won’t do much cooking the next few days til the germs leave the body / house.  I’m seeing my last specialist on Thursday.  I say last because I’m done after this. I’ll either get better or I won’t but I’m tired of doctors for a while.  This one specializes is coagulation issues so I’m gonna be hopeful that she’ll have some answers or at least will be able to help me get the yo-yoing PT INR (blood thinner measure) under control.

Hope y’all are well and that the germs are staying clear of your homes.  🙂