Gluten Free Kay

2011-03-03T12:10:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note to say Wil Wheaton has a post on celiac disease on his blog.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2011/03/and-now-a-word-from-my-mother-about-celiac-disease.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wwdn+%28WIL+WHEATON+dot+NET%3A+in+Exile%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Go Green! or Yellow, or Purple or Striped!

2009-08-07T21:29:00.003-04:00

I'm talking about beans. No need to restrict yourself to only green beans any more! Here are a few of the varieties I've been picking from my garden. I cook them all together. The colors make for a lively side dish.

Left to right - Rattlesnake pole beans, yellow pole beans, Roma II bush beans, Dragon Tongue bush beans, Flat Italian pole beans, Brittle Wax bush beans, and Contender bush beans. The purple color cooks away, leaving a pretty green or yellow bean when served.

These are my Vermont Cranberry bush beans, a new variety for me. The flat pods have pink streaks and can be picked when tender and steamed fresh. I let these dry on the vine to use as soup beans. The first ones I picked were so pretty that I planted a couple more rows late in the season. They'll make a nice Fall treat.

I'm sure Melissa at Gluten Free for Good can tell you all about the nutritional value of beans. I'll settle for knowing they're good for me because I love eating fresh beans every day!

I picked my first ripe tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. They were running late this year. Since then, I've had to pick the cherry tomatoes every day. The yellow cluster tomatoes are called Yellow Perfection - and they live up to their name! I'll save seed for next year. Definitely a keeper! My favorite red tomato is called Red Star. They are small, flat, funny-looking and delicious. I ate them all before this photo was taken. Oops!

Although we made it through all of July without hitting 90 degrees, the okra decided to bear fruit anyway. They thrive in really hot weather. We'll hit the 90s this weekend for the opening of the Indiana State Fair, so I expect a lot more okra.

No post would be complete without a photo of my girls. These Buff Orpingtons decided to test drive their new roost, made from a branch from the honey locust tree. Seems to work just fine. My little chicks are getting so big! I expect the new flock of 24 to start laying any day now.

Construction is underway on 2 new chicken coops and runs. That's why I've been away from my blog for so long. I've been gathering materials, digging out stumps and clearing brush. Today I dug my first five (okay, 4 and a half) post holes. When it got too dark to work, I could barely lift a New Grist beer to my lips. I struggled through a whole one, though. Hope I can raise my arms tomorrow. Ten more post holes to dig.

My totally neglected flower gardens have done just fine while I've been busy with chickens and vegetables. Here's a pretty black-eyed Susan, one of MANY. They've spread like crazy.

I'm Back!

2009-07-15T22:16:00.004-04:00

Actually, I never left. I've been in the back yard, the front yard, the side yards, the chicken yard and the garage. Summer is always a busy time for me. After being gluten free for a year and a half, I feel great! Better than I have in recent history.

I've been tackling big projects and pulling them off. My latest conquest was the garage. I'd been meaning to have a garage sale every summer for the past 20 years. I'd been storing a lot of gluten-contaminated kitchen stuff and tons of catering equipment. Gone! Done! Leftovers donated! I can now park not only the minivan, but the John Deere, the snowblower and the push mower in convenient and secure spots. Yahooey!

I decided to check the progress of my root crops and dug up a few tasty morsels this evening. I LOVE my Dragon Carrots! They are purple on the outside and yellow or orange inside. The purple does not cook away! I also pulled a few white, yellow and orange carrots.

The potato bed was like a treasure chest, filled with fingerlings, Red Pontiacs and Yukon Golds.

The cukes and zukes are in high gear now. I've already made three batches of pickles. I've sauteed a couple of zucchini, but was still seriously overstocked. Thank heaven chickens like zucchini! I've been adding it to their breakfast fare.

Think they like it? Oh, yeah!

The Barred Rocks rule the roost.

The Brahma says, "I'm ready for my close-up." She has feathers on her feet. Sorry I didn't capture the pedicure in this photo.

Hope you're having a great summer!

On the Brink of Abundance!

2009-06-21T13:37:00.005-04:00

It finally feels like summer here at Kay's Leaning Tree Farm. We've had our first 90 degree day, and I've had two sunny pool days. Yahooey!

My six chickens have been enjoying a diet of carrots, clover, corn, strawberries, watermelon rind and grapes. I've been getting three eggs a day since I moved the 4H chickens into the coop annex. Yesterday was my first four-egg-day! That super jumbo egg in front is from my Black Australorpe. She's a keeper! A couple of her eggs have been double-yolkers.

I picked my first black currants this morning. They are kind of bitter and need lots of sugar or honey. I plan to make a syrup to add to smoothies. These babies are full of antioxidants.

The black raspberries are sweet and tasty right off the vine. A couple of handfuls didn't even make it to the house.

My first beans. My first cucumber. The last of the asparagus. My record for first beans is June 14. That was at least ten years ago. I would call this harvest "nice and early."

Look closely. That's a chipmunk waaaaaay up in the cherry tree. He was later chased to the ground by the bossy mama robin.

These lucky baby robins are growing up on a diet rich in cherries! I'm sure mama will be heading for the raspberry vines soon.

Hey, we're famous!

2009-06-15T23:59:00.003-04:00

A friend at bowling tonight told me NPR's Morning Edition did a segment on celiac disease this morning! I googled NPR, celiac disease, June 15 and found the transcript right away. Good info! Glad NPR is helping spread the word!

One step forward, two steps back

2009-06-12T11:43:00.005-04:00

I've been missing for a while because I've been dealing with chicken health issues. Turns out I bought the first flock from someone who did not take good care of his chickens. I shamed him into taking the whole bunch back and giving me a refund. I'm relieved! It was an 80-mile round trip to return them. Lots of cleaning and sanitizing in my near future!

The second flock of six is doing just fine. They have separate quarters and yard. They are giving me three eggs every day. Except for putting up with waaaaaay too much rain (new record in Indianapolis,) they seem to be pretty happy. As soon as I clean out the chicken yard they will have more room to move around. That should make them even happier.

Here's what I'm harvesting this week:

The campanula and Asian lilies have popped open to decorate the yard.

Which came first?

2009-06-01T09:12:00.003-04:00

In this case, the chickens. I brought 14 of them home Sunday afternoon. Breeds include Silver Laced Wyandotte, Aracana, Cochin, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, Plymouth Rock and one Turken. The turken loves me! The Cochin is HUGE and has feathers on her feet. The Buff Orpingtons are afraid of everything and sleep standing up with their heads under a wing.

My first egg! I'm thrilled about it because moving chickens causes them to stop laying for a few weeks. Maybe it was the bedtime snack of watermelon rind and apple peel. Maybe it's that I sang them a lullaby (Sweet Baby James, because I like the "goodnight moonlight ladies" line) when I tucked them in.

I bet they'll like it here. They came from a large chicken farm. They already love their grassy yard. Conditions were more crowded and less personal at their previous address.

Chicken-ready!

2009-05-31T10:17:00.007-04:00

Look! My chicken coop is finally finished! My little barn no longer leans, has a new coat of paint and all the renovations necessary to provide comfortable and secure lodgings for my flock.

Here's a glimpse of the people doors into the coop, and my little office which sits atop the nesting boxes.

This is my view of the nesting boxes. There are six. The chickens can get in on the inside, and I can check for eggs from the outside via the sliding back panels.

Here's the chickens' view of the nest boxes.

The people doors straight ahead, the annex door to the left. Thanks to Nicci who came with her miter saw and built my doors. She also helped frame the interior. I was kind of baffled at the start, and she really helped me figure things out.

This is the view from the end of the chicken yard. I'm facing east. I'll add some shade cover when the chickens arrive.

The chicken door and chicken ramp.

Chicken's eye view from inside the chicken door.

It's taken waaaaaaay longer than I predicted to complete this project! There were many puzzles and challenges. And the fence panels really beat me up. My vocabulary became quite sailor-like during the fencing phase. There were chicken wire installation days when I was bleeding from nine of ten fingers. But it's done!

I'm thinking of writing a booked titled "Kay's Chicken Coop Diet and Workout Plan." I dropped a whole size since buying new Spring clothes at the end of April. I worked really long, hard days and didn't have time to hang out in the kitchen much.

The next challenge is acquiring my flock. I have two chicken dates this week. Raising from babies is easier in some ways. But I'm looking for chickens that are already laying. They are harder to find.
My gardens are mostly planted. I got to harvest my rhubarb!

I also pickled five jars of asparagus this week. I was overstocked!

My first snow peas are just setting on. So far, I've eaten all I've harvested on the way to the house. Maybe this week I'll have enough for an Oriental chicken salad.

In other garden news, this will not be a stellar fruit season in my yard. The cherry tree set about half as much fruit as last year, and I have exactly one peach. No apples on my new Granny Smith dwarf. I'll have lots of black currants and gooseberries, though. And the black raspberry vines are loaded!

Here's my pretty water lily. I had three blooms at once! Big accomplishment in my little pond!

This is the last of the peony blooms.

I hope you're all enjoying this pleasant Spring!

At long last, sandal weather!

2009-05-20T09:27:00.006-04:00

Can't believe I've been away from my blog this long! So much to do around here that I've barely been indoors since finishing my school year at Butler on May 5.

The chicken coop is progressing nicely. I took an extra week to reset my little barn on its foundation. So now I'm looking forward to being chicken-ready by Memorial Day instead of Mother's Day. The interior is near completion. Now I have to dig some post holes and set up the chicken yard.

I found all these four leaf clovers back by the chicken coop. I think I'll have me some lucky chickens.

Look! My first radish! I already ate it in a salad with some fresh-picked lettuce and asparagus.

Bibb lettuce is sooooo photogenic!

The potatoes are growing like crazy!

This beautiful visitor stopped by to admire my poppies.

And some new neighbors took up residence above my downspout. I think they are ambitious sparrows. They built their nest out of last years Siberian iris fronds.

Here's my first peony. It's the fanciest variey in my yard, and always the first to bloom.

My mud shoes sit by the back door, ready for action.

Looks like the weather is finally going to cooperate with us farmers. Dry days and weekend temps in the 80's! Yahooey! I hope to wear sandals to Mike and Steve's Indy 500 party on Sunday, and Leanne's big birthday bash that night. It will be great to take a break from digging and construction to hang out with my pals.

And we're off!

2009-04-24T09:39:00.003-04:00

Spring is springing around Kay's Leaning Tree Farm! When nightly low temperatures are in the 50's, my planting season kicks into high gear. The 10 Day Forecast (thanks Weather Channel!) has the lowest low at 49. So I'll be outdoors (and dirty) every daylight moment for at least the next ten days.

This is what my mother wanted in her Easter basket this year. No marshmallow peeps. No chocolate bunnies. A pick axe. This one is sort of the "ladies model." It's called a Matlock and it's a little shorter and lighter than your average pick axe. I'm glad the doctors fixed her heart, and she's feeling invincible again.

Surprise! As I was planting my potato patch I found a survivor from last year's crop! Isn't he a beauty?! For winning the reward challenge, he'll be served alongside a BIG steak and some fresh-picked asparagus.

My first tulip! Welcome to the sea of yellow and white daffodils!

Fresh cut flowers decorate my bathroom. A sure sign that the long winter has passed.

Updates: The chicken coop is progressing. Thanks to Nicci, it now has doors! People doors, that is. I'm working on the chicken door. I've had to take a break from construction to work on my gardens. The potato patch is nearly complete. I've selected Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac and fingerlings for this year's crop. Last year my potato garden was underwater several times. I replanted twice, and finally picked a spot with better drainage. I decided to dig a drainage ditch from the old potato patch to the big drainage ditch by the street. I'm about 2/3 of the way there. This will let me utilize two boggish spots for vegetable gardens. Yes, my back is stiff. Lots of digging around here!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T20:33:00.002-04:00

From me and my friends at the farmers market. I didn't dye these eggs. They came in pink, blue green and brown.

Happy Easter from the frog I snuck up on.

And happy Easter from Daddy Cat. He hopes you managed to work in some sunbathing and a good roll.

Comfort me!

2009-04-07T21:48:00.004-04:00

Winter is back. My schedule is full. My to-do list is a mile long. I need some comfort food! I have already blog-whined about the serious shortage of snacks and desserts in my life. So I decided to check the fridge and the internet for something that might comfort me. Found it!

It's custard! Made from fresh brown eggs from the farmers market, local honey, and goat's milk - all legal ingredients for me!

Kay's Honey Custard

4 eggs
1 1/2 C goat milk
1/2 C honey
scrapings from 1/2 a vanilla bean
pinch of salt
cinnamon for sprinkling

Beat the eggs. Add milk and honey to the eggs in the top of a double boiler. (I sat my small pan in a larger pan of water.) Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add the salt and vanilla scrapings. Taste. Yum! Pour into custard cups and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill. Indulge!

Make yourself some custard, and come back to see what's popping up in my yard.

And . . .

Look! It's my first asparagus spear!

I hope we all feel better now!

Awakenings

2009-03-29T15:28:00.004-04:00

Earth Hour comes before Earth Day. The whole world goes dark for an hour to bring attention to earthly issues - like power consumption, and the resulting global warming.

I decided to spend Earth Hour enjoying a candlelight dinner. It was yummy! I rather liked the darkness and the quiet. The auto flash on my camera kicked on, so my photo doesn't quite convey the warm ambience.

It was nice to have one quiet hour. Since the temperatue hit 70 a couple of weeks ago, I've been behind on everything. Every Spring feels this way. The gardens, the upcoming chickens, the worm farms, my future crops in the basement greenhouse . . . they all need work. During the growing season, I never get done with my chores. Don't get me wrong - I love summertime! I love growing vegetables! But once the season starts, it takes off like Tony Stewart. Okay, maybe Jimmy Johnson. (Sorry, Tony! Win one for the hometown fans!)

I've made some progress since my last post. I've gathered most of the materials I need for my chicken coop and yard. My radishes and lettuce are popping up in the very first garden. The tomato plants in the basement greenhouse are outgrowing their little pots. I own the peat moss I'll add to the potato patch. I've won a few small battles against the fruit flies that seem to like the kitchen scraps I'm feeding the worms and night crawlers. I'm learning!

Rewards of the season abound! Here's one, er, two:

Look closely. It's like a seek n find picture. There are two small frogs between the rocks! One is in the water. They're shy. This is as close as I could get.

On the Last Day of Winter

2009-03-19T10:22:00.004-04:00

It's cold again. A cold front passed through last night, bringing a temporary end to my twice-yearly seasonal wardrobe crisis. I can wear my heavy jeans and ski socks again, after several warm days of digging around for long forgotten lightweight clothing.

Tomorrow I will celebrate the equinox with its promise of new beginnings.

In the spirit of the season, I decided to test drive a new product. Living Harvest Hemp Oil is a naturally gluten free oil. I've had some reactions to olive oil that I suspect was cut with soy oil, so I've been using mostly canola oil. Hemp oil is a nutty flavored finishing oil that offers a wealth of healthy Omega 3 and Omega 6. After talking with Living Harvest, I trust that their oil contains no fillers. And the Omegas might help revive my winter skin!

To appreciate its flavor, I decided to drizzle it on some sauteed halibut that my brother caught on a fishing trip to Alaska. And I invited my mom over for dinner. She'd had a heart procedure earlier in the week, and was feeling good enough for a field trip. (*Note: She had a baffling heart attack last Fall. Previous tests failed to illuminate the cause. The problem was found and fixed. We're jubilant!)

I seasoned my saute pan with some spring onions. Then sauteed the halibut with just a little salt and some of Penzey's shallot salt. Topped it with a drizzle of hemp oil and fresh green onions. The hemp oil added a delightful nutty flavor. It was a fine compliment to the fish. I think this oil would work well in a spinach pesto, which would also be great on halibut. And my spinach seedlings will soon offer me some big savoy leaves to work with. I look forward to trying this oil with some of my spring crops.

Springtime is fickle. Warm yesterday. Cold today. Sun and rain and strong winds. It's an entertaining season for weather radar (my favorite show!)

I've been busy laying the framework for my gardens. I've spent a lot of quality time hauling unmentionables to the compost bin. The little sprouts in the basement greenhouse are starting to look like real vegetable plants. And I planted radish, lettuce and snow pea seeds in the garden over my spring break! It was great to get my hands into the dirt again. It's been a long winter!

My flower gardens have started without any help from me. I love that! Here's a taste of Spring beauty at Kay's Leaning Tree Farm:

Hope you enjoy your first tastes of Spring! It starts tomorrow!

Spring-ing into action!

2009-03-08T09:40:00.004-04:00

I spent my Winter relaxing and planning for Spring. At long last, Spring feels imminent. And I realized I have a really long to-do list. Worm farms, chicken preparations and the basement greenhouse all needed attention. Good thing I'm on Spring Break!

My first day off dawned windy and warm. I'd kicked half the blankets off my bed while I slept. I did not walk directly to the thermostat upon awakening. I dressed in a t-shirt and jeans to head to the Winter Farmers Market. My stuck-to-the-window thermometer was already above 70 degrees. We hit 76 later in the afternoon!

I bought some raw milk cheese, and a big jar of honey. I signed up for a class where I'll make my own rain barrel. The market is a fun gathering spot. I got to visit with lots of friends. And my friend, Larry, loaded up the cast-off fence panels I plan to use for my chicken yard. These are industrial strength fences. I can get me some really big chickens!

Back home, I had some help carrying the fence panels down to the barn. Then I got out the wheelbarrow and moved firewood from the driveway to the bonfire area. The neighbor cut down an big maple that was damaged by the tornado six years ago. He couldn't let go of it in the face of all the other destruction at the time. But it had been dropping branches on both our driveways. I kept the immediately burnable logs.

I took this photo when I had moved about half the logs. It's a really big pile now!

My first crocus blooms greeted me on the path!

I added two more shop lights to my basement greenhouse, and a new shelf. I planted about 200 tomato seeds in plug trays. This year's crops will feature many heirloom varieties, my favorite Sungold orange cherry tomatoes, Juliet small Romas, a flat Amish red, beefsteak types in red and yellow, and a couple of new cluster types.

My early lettuces are ready to share greenhouse space.

I planted broccoli raab for gifts to my garden friends. They are just sprouting their first true leaves. I haven't been able to eat broccoli myself for over a year. I might keep one plant for myself, just to see if I've healed enough to tolerate it. I really miss broccoli and cabbage!

I decided to expand my worm farm to include night crawlers. I ordered 500 of the European variety. They eat a lot and get really big. Yeah, I'm thinking about fishing as much as I'm thinking about compost. So I made two more worm farms and added them to the "worm condos."

Daddy Cat had a bit of Spring Fever. He enjoyed a good roll in the backyard spot that will later hold my pool. I know he's happy when he exposes his white belly.
It looks like Snoopy's Happy Dance for cats!

That recipe I promised

2009-02-22T14:14:00.003-05:00

The Nascar racing season is underway! Snack foods required!

I always celebrate the the first race of the season (that's Daytona, for you non-race fans) at Rich's Racin' Party. It's a delightful annual event where Rich (and everyone else) show off their culinary skills. This years buffet featured FIVE deep fried turkeys, fancy mac & cheese, hot chicken queso dip, cheesy potatoes, homemade bread, hot mamas, brownies and cherry cheese blintzes.

And my gluten free Scotch eggs. They took MUCH less time to assemble before I had to make my own sausage and my own bread for breadcrumbs. But the extra effort was worth it! I'm glad to have this gf recipe in my repertoire. They can be a great pitch-in dish for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.

Scotch eggs

1 doz. large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 lbs. ground sausage
2 raw eggs, scrambled
1 t dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 C (about) DRY gf bread crumbs
Canola oil for deep frying

Put a piece of waxed paper on your counter. Grab a handful of sausage a little bigger than your egg and flatten it with another piece of waxed paper.

Wrap it around your egg, so the sausage layer is even.

Scramble your 2 eggs and add dry mustard, salt and pepper. Dip your sausage covered eggs in the raw egg and roll in a small bowl of bread crumbs.

Heat your oil in a pan or deep fryer to 350 degrees. Place a couple of the eggs in the oil. (Note: if you used moist bread crumbs, the oil will boil over.) I cooked my eggs for about 8 minutes, turning to make sure the browning was even. Then I put them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, and put them in the over (at 350) for about 10 minutes. You can cut one open to see of the sausage is done. You don't want raw sausage next to the egg.

Cut the eggs in quarters for serving. Scotch eggs can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.

I made a dipping sauce for mine with mayonnaise, grainy mustard, cayenne and paprika. It was well received.

And here's the THIRD bloom from my amaryllis! Hey, it's all I've got in February. Maybe in another week or so I'll have some basement greenhouse vegetable sprouts to show you.

Kay's Leaning Tree WORM Farm!

2009-02-14T14:01:00.007-05:00

The Red Wigglers arrived in Wednesday's mail! Who knew two thousand worms would fit in my mailbox?! I was looking for a big box on my porch.

I had gathered all my materials, but thought I had a couple more days for construction. So I was drilling holes and putting things together until after midnight on Wednesday. I wore out two power packs on my cordless drill.

Since this is my first worm farming experiment, I wanted to test several types of containers. I have two large farms, and three different smaller ones. I think I have about 800-900 worms in each of the big tubs, and 50-100 in the small ones. I didn't count them, of course. It was a calculated guessing game.

I decided to use stack systems to make harvesting my worm castings easier. When the worms have digested all the food and bedding in the bottom layer, I can add another tub or bucket (with holes drilled in the bottom) above it. The worms will migrate up to the new layer for fresh food. Their original tub will contain the rich compost I can add to my gardens, and I won't have to sort out all the worms. I really hope it works!

Here's the largest of the small worm farms. I used recycled 2 gallon buckets. These buckets are delivered to my Butler kitchen a couple of times a month, so I have a stack of them. When nested, there's about 2" of space between the bottoms of the buckets. So that gives me a little air space.

I drilled a line of air holes in the side of the bucket, just below the line where the next bucket will nest.

Then I drilled drip/air holes in the bottom of the second bucket, and air holes in the lid. I used a paint scraper to clean off the drilled holes, so they wouldn't have sharp edges. A file might have worked better, but I don't have one.

The worm homestead was done. Time for food and furnishings. I used shredded newspaper and cardboard and a few crunched leaves for the bottom bedding. I sprayed it down with a mister until everything was about as damp as a wrung out sponge. Then I added a sprinkling of garden soil. Worms need a little grit so their gizzards can work on the food grinding process.

The used food layer included egg shells, coffee grounds, apple peel, potato peel, strawberry tops and mushroom stems. I froze the peels and tops to help break them down. I let them get back to room temperature before adding them to the worm condo.

Welcome to your new home, Red Wigglers! I added the worms on top of the food. Then another layer of newspaper and cardboard bedding, misted and damp.

Not only to I get to generate my own organic compost, but I'm cutting down on the trash I send to the landfill.

Now I have a whole worm neighborhood! I'll move Wormland to the basement eventually. It's in my breakfast room right now. I'm still admiring my work. In about three months, I hope to have some worm castings to make my tomato plants big and strong. In the meantime, any liquid that drips out can be used to fertilize my houseplants.

Speaking of houseplants, this amarylis just bloomed for a second time! I got it for a Christmas present in 2007. It bloomed last year and spent the summer outside. I've never had one last this long and bloom again.

I promise my next post will contain a recipe. I've been eating cave man food for a while. Too dull for most of you. But NASCAR season starts with the Daytona race on Sunday. Rich will be deep frying turkeys and I'm making gluten free Scotch eggs to take along to the party. With racin' underway, Spring can't be far off!

My green onions have sprouted. I'm ready for Spring!

Thyme is on my side

2009-02-07T19:12:00.005-05:00

Guess I wasn't the only one waiting for the thaw. These thyme sprigs popped out of the melting snow to greet me.

Darn groundhog! Okay, so we've got six more weeks of winter. I've had a lot of winter in the past 10 days! After the snow day of my last post, I shoveled many sidewalks many times, tended my frozen pond, had some very expensive work done on my minivan, shivered through several sub-zero nights, got six more inches of snow (no snow day, rats!) and took Daddy Cat to the vet for some mouth surgery. He's fine and has already forgiven me.

And . . . I called Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. My 2000 Red Wigglers are on their way! I've made a big worm farm out of three Rubbermaid tubs. This one will stay in my basement. For my own amusement, I think I'll also have a smaller worm farm in the kitchen. I'll build it out of cast-off buckets. Fresh fruit salad is delivered to the sorority house in these buckets. I couldn't bear to throw them out. Now I'm glad I kept them.

The BIG THAW started today. It was probably in the 50's. I had the back door open most of the afternoon. We'll hit 60 degrees next week. Naturally, my thoughts turned to spring.

In Indiana (zone 5) we can plant lettuce in March, providing the ground isn't frozen. Lettuce can endure cold nights that are above freezing. So I dug out my planting plug trays and planted lettuce seeds, spinach seeds and leek seeds. I planted some bunching green onion seeds about a week ago. They've sprouted already. I'll move my little plants outside on warm days as soon as weather permits, bringing them in at night when temps drop below freezing. For sprouting, I use old disposable catering trays with clear lids for my indoor greenhouses. When the plants get bigger, they don't need the lids anymore. I put the trays under shop lights in my basement.

I planted several different lettuces. I found a bibb mix that had red and green varieties. I also planted seeds from a mesclun mix and some Romaine. My favorite red oak leaf is Brunia, so I planted some of that, too. I'm looking forward to salad days!

I'll be placing my order for summer crop seeds soon. I'm still studying my seed catalogs and looking for weird offerings. I'll plant my summer crop seeds in the basement greenhouse over Spring Break in early March.

Then I'll start thinking about potatoes and peas, which can be planted outdoors on Good Friday, weather permitting. That's April 10 this year.

(Melissa - has this banished your winter doldrums? Think Spring!)

Snow Day!

2009-01-28T19:54:00.004-05:00

This was Daddy Cat's view off the back stoop this morning. He insisted I open the back door, but was puzzled about what to do next. Over a foot of snow greeted him, and he's maybe a foot tall. So he came back in and we watched the morning news and the closings list. Butler University (where I work) was listed as having a 2 hour delay. I decided to sit tight (in my pj's) and let them come to their senses. They did! Classes were cancelled! So Daddy Cat and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and I played around on Facebook while watching the local news snow coverage. It was a good day to stay off the roads!

I eventually put my jeans on over my pj's and ventured out to see if I'd remembered to fill the gas can for the snow blower. Yes! It started on about the 20th pull. (It's been idle for two years.) I cleared the driveway and carved a path to the back door. Daddy Cat had to inspect my work. He looked longingly at the spot where his catnip grows. The nip was buried and I'd neglected to shovel it out.

While watching tv (all day!) I was struck by the fast food ads. Mostly, my brain just skips over all the foods I can't eat. But today it really hit me how drastically my eating habits have changed . . . and why obesity is an epidemic in the U.S.

Arby's is running a new special - Texas Toast meals. They feature a grilled sandwich made with two slices of Texas toast (which is four servings of starch right there,) large fries (probably two more starches and several servings of fat,) and a jumbo soft drink (gobs of empty calories.) I don't eat ANY of these things anymore. I guess lots of folks still do. Before going gf, I was a mostly healthy eater, with a few indulgences. What I miss most is the camaraderie of food. I wish I could enjoy dinner out with my friends. But I don't really miss the junk. My mind and my taste buds have changed.

I fixed pork loin with baked apples and green beans with potatoes. It was a great snow day lunch. Daddy Cat really liked his bite of pork.

BTW, I'm still thinking about Spring. I spent last weekend researching how to construct an indoor worm farm. (Gross note: kitchen scraps turn into compost faster when they are digested.) I'm ready to start farming, but it's too cold to ship Red Wigglers (the Cadillac of worms!) from PA to IN. I'm ready! As soon as it warms up!

Deader yet!

2009-01-16T10:14:00.005-05:00

The arctic blast hit Indy night before last. It's cccccold! The waterfall between my upper pond and my lower pond has become an ice sculpture. Sorry gang, I'm not going out to take a photo. But here's one of ice on the inside of my picture window.

And here's my footwear of choice. Those are wool felt Birkenstocks and the socks feel like little ski sweaters. Not much snow, so I haven't resorted to boots yet. I've been cooking to to keep warm. I've studied my seed catalogs. I've read the small space gardening book I found in the basement. Figured out I can add coffee grounds to my compost. I don't drink coffee, but I've been collecting used grounds at work.

My automatic thermostat keeps the house at 60 degrees overnight, so I've piled on the blankets.

I made some raisins in the dehydrator because a site I googled described the process as "stupid easy." And it was! Wash grapes. Put them in the dehydrator. Turn it off when they look like raisins. The raisin googling started after a trip to my practitioner last Friday. Among the suspicious items he tested me for, store-bought raisins did not pass the test. But grapes did. Hmmm. So I thought I'd make my own.

I needed a recipe to use my tasty treats. So I started with a granola bar recipe I found on Gluten Free Gallery.

Granola Bars

1 C gluten free oats
1/4 C peanuts (I used salted)
1/4 C brown sugar

Stir together and add:

2 T melted butter
1/4 C goat milk (or whatever milk you like)
vanilla bean scrapings (or 1/2 t vanilla)
1 medium egg
1/2 C raisins

Spread in a greased 8 x 8 pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes before cutting.

These bars are kind of spongy, but good. I think I'll try adding coconut, a dab of molasses, and a little more sugar next time. I could definitely live on these for 39 days if I was on The Amazing Race and competing for a million dollar prize!

Daddy Cat says, "I'm bored with oatmeal. Why don't you get that pot roast going?"

Dead of Winter

2009-01-10T08:45:00.006-05:00

The Colts lost to the Chargers. Again. Deja vu! When the Colts are out of the playoffs, the dead of Winter begins in Indianapolis. That's when I start building my plans for Spring. I've already received a lot of seed catalogs in the mail. They're like wish books for me!

I was pleasantly surprised to find racks of fresh Burpee seeds next to the Christmas clearance items at KMart. So I bought packs of green onion, spinach, Swiss chard, snow peas and bibb lettuce. Those are the early crops. They can stand cold nights, even a light frost. So I like to have my bedding plants ready to go outside the minute the weather cooperates. I'll probably start these seeds in my makeshift basement greenhouse in February. According to the old time gardeners, potatoes should be planted on Good Friday, April 10 this year. I might try one of the gold varieties this year, so I'll be checking my seed catalogs.

I finally found the garden book I wanted to loan to a friend last spring. Now I want to read it again myself. It's called Small Space, Big Harvest by Duane Newcomb. Newcomb says you can grow over 200 pounds of produce in a 5' x 5' plot - naturally. I've utilized his space-saving techniques for years. Maybe this year I'll try a bona fide test garden and weigh all the produce.

(Note: Melissa - this would be a great book for you! Cheap used copies are available on Amazon! He has a chapter on trash can composting.)

I've been moving pretty slowly this past week. I cleaned the basement and stirred up dust. My particular dust allergy results in one very puffy, painful eyeball and a need for lots of extra sleep. I have bad reactions to prescription and OTC antihistamines, so I've just been sleeping and whining a lot. My practitioner recommended a homeopathic liquid and it seems to be working. I am pleasantly surprised!

I'll need some energy today! I'm going to drop my oldest computer off for recycling. Then I'm hitting the Winter Farmers Market. Tonight I'm volunteering at the Naptown Roller Girls first roller derby bout of the season. I'll be manning the merchandise table and selling those calendars with the GREAT photos. I'll get to sit in the stands with the loud crowd for the second half.

Back to garden stuff, I set a new record! About ten years ago, I managed to keep my garden tomatoes fresh long enough to eat my last red one on January 1. Well, it's January 10, and I'm still eating my own garden tomatoes! We had a luxuriously warm fall and a late first frost. The Romas have been the best keepers. The red onion is also from my garden.

I remember someone asking for a salad dressing recipe. Here's my default vinaigrette.

Kay's Vinaigrette

I use a clean salad dressing bottle. Fill it half full with apple cider vinegar. Add about 2 T honey, the juice of half a lime, and 1 1/2 t salt. Put the lid on and shake until the salt dissolves. Then fill the bottle with canola oil and shake some more. Grind some fresh black pepper over your salad after it's tossed.

I made a huge vat of chicken stock on Thursday. I let it simmer for hours while I was napping on the couch (and whining.) I froze some and made a small pan of chicken vegetable soup to comfort me and my puffy eyeball. I was, indeed, comforted.

Daddy Cat says, "Love dat chicken soup!"

Deja vu

2009-01-03T18:24:00.003-05:00

Okay, I wasn't going to post about the 1 year anniversary of my divorce with gluten. But the Colts vs Chargers playoff game (it's on tonight) brought back the memory of my epiphany day.

Synopsis: Sick for five years. Covered with rash doctors told me was psoriasis. I had to soak my ravaged skin in the bathtub every night for an hour just to be comfortable the next day. Hair falling out in clumps. Constant back and foot pain. Hard, painful knots on my knuckles. Swollen eyes, blurry vision. Bad at sleeping. Bad at staying awake. Ever-increasing girth. Forgot everyone's names. Googled "symptoms:" and the ever-growing list daily. I'd seen more doctors than I could count. They ran tests and told me I didn't have anything wrong with me. I was just getting old. I should lose some weight, use this $100/tube psoriasis medication and get steroid shots for my bald spots.

Prayed for a sign from God.

One year ago: It was the Saturday after New Years. The Colts were scheduled to play the San Diego Chargers in the wildcard playoff game. Wow! It's like deja vu all over again!

I decided to give my aching body a treat and scheduled a massage with Chandra. She came highly recommended. Upon meeting her, I found out she was studying acupuncture. She saw my rash and the knots on my knuckles and told me I might have gluten issues. I thought that would give me something new to research on Google.

Later that same day, I met DeAnne and Nicci at The Dugout to watch the Colts game. Ate pizza and drank beer. Their friend, Brian, was sitting with them. He noticed the rash on my hands (they looked like raw hamburger,) and said he'd seen a similar rash on a friend's hands. Turns out his friend had celiac disease. Gave up wheat and the rash went away. Hmmm. Okay, two unrelated acquaintances mention the same suspected ailment on the same day. How much of a sign do I need?

(BTW, the Colts lost and our season was over. I was wearing size 18 or 20 jeans that day, with a baggy sweatshirt.)

Even though I was fairly certain that wheat could not be poisoning me (after all, I'd been eating it daily my whole life,) I checked with my doctor about getting tested. Expensive test for the uninsured. So I decided to give up wheat for a couple of weeks, just to prove that wasn't the problem.

I did it wrong. I didn't know about cross contamination. I made lots of rookie mistakes.

And I got better anyway. Every day.

I found Gluten Free Girl and Ginger Lemon Girl and The Gluten Free Goddess. I read their new posts and their old posts. I asked questions in their comments sections. Bless their hearts, they guided me through the early, frustrating days. I still made lots of mistakes. I still got better.

So here I am, one year later. I'm a seasoned veteran at avoiding gluten. My hair has grown back. I have almost no rash for the first time in 30 years. No back pain. No foot pain. No pain anywhere. My brain works again. My vision is back to normal. I sleep like a baby. And I'm wearing size 12 jeans.

What a long, strange trip it's been! I'm almost comfortable with my lifestyle changes, though I still miss feeding my friends after-work treats and massive party foods. And I'm still looking for a career outside the food industry. My health and attitude continue to improve. I am sooooooo much healthier than I was year ago. And happier! It's great that optimism has replaced frustration.

Thankfully, The Dugout makes good pizza. It was the last wheat I knowingly consumed. And the last time I ate in a restaurant.

The Colt vs Chargers wildcard playoff game has just started. I hope the Colts are having a better year, too.

I'll have a New Grist beer with my gluten-free pizza while I watch the game. Go Colts!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T11:57:00.002-05:00

I'd post my "First Year, Gluten Free" roundup, but lots of you have been down that road already. I'll just say thanks to God, the universe, my patient family and friends, and my gluten free blog buddies for helping me through this year. I love being healthy again. Some mysteries remain, but they are manageable. I feel good every day.

The week between Christmas and New Year has passed in a flash. I still have a few more vacation days, and I plan to enjoy them at a leisurely pace.

In chicken news, I ran into my buddy, Big Lar. He's a developer and owns the land where the winter farmers market sits. He's offered some valuable re-used materials for my chicken coop project. Thanks, Larry!

I joined Facebook so I could be an official friend of the Chatterbox Jazz Club. In only two days lots of friends, old and new, have checked in on my wall. I'm lovin' Facebook!

I'll be enjoying an early New Grist beer at the Chatterbox this New Year's Eve. I hope to see lots of my pals in the after-work hours.

I wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009!

Sounds like summer . . .

2008-12-28T08:30:00.005-05:00

But it's not! It's an unseasonably warm December 27th. I started my leisurely Saturday with a trip to a new farmers market. When I returned home I did a little gardening. IN DECEMBER!

Indianapolis has a relatively new Winter Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at 25th and Central, in the renovating Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood. I had just run out of the apples I picked from my neighbor's tree, so I decided to check it out.

I had lots of varieties to choose from. I bought some Grimes for baking and a couple of good red apples to eat fresh. I got to use one of the three new shopping bags I got for Christmas. Two are nylon and fold up into tiny bundles. One even has a clip so I can attach it to my purse or belt loop. The third is a big canvas shopper from Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville store. I love them all!

I saw these funny fingerling potatoes. Their odd shapes reminded me of ginger root. The same stand offered beautiful winter squash. But I've still got plenty of potatoes and squash from my own garden, so I settled for photos.

Sunset Acres had samples of all their cheeses. I tasted several and decided on the horseradish white cheddar and the white colby. Yum! I also picked up some Fromage a Trois goat cheese featuring a white layer, a sundried tomato layer and a pesto layer.

My last stop was the chicken and egg stand. I bought these beautiful brown eggs and got to see photos of their chickens and Quonset hut-like mobile chicken coops. Their free range chickens are protected by a hard-working guard dog and a puppy in training. The grown dog is training the puppy. The humans just watch in awe. Hawks and eagles are their most dangerous predators. So the dogs watch the ground and the sky. Good dogs!

I talked to my friend, Kyle, who is organizing a downtown food co-op. I might plant extras of some vegetables so I can be a supplier. My dragon tongue beans and sungold orange cherry tomatoes are real eye-catchers, and tasty, too!

I stopped by the homes of a couple of friends on my way home. I still have lots of summer cherries in my freezer and decided to share the wealth.

It was 67 degrees when I returned to Kay's Leaning Tree Farm. We'd had some rain, so the ground was a bit muddy. But it seemed like the right time to move a couple of rogue asparagus plants from the front yard to the asparagus patch in back. I'd been meaning to get around to that chore for eight years. Dormant roots, wet soil, perfect! I hope they like their new home.

It felt great to have a summer-like day in late December. Today we're back to a high in the 30's. It's winter again.

Is this gluten free?

2008-12-25T13:26:00.006-05:00

Why, yes it is! My Key Lime Pie passed the holiday-with-wheat-eating-relatives test! It had been a year since I'd enjoyed a piece of pie for dessert. So I was probably the happiest about eating pie. But none of my relatives left even a crumb on their plate.

The crust was confusing part. I can't eat any packaged cookies, even the gluten free ones. And all the cookie recipes call for baking soda, which is off my list. So I decided to bake up some vanilla cookies without baking soda. I was just going to turn them into crumbs.

Crumb Crust Cookies

1 C butter
2 1/2 C sugar (Next time I'll use 2 C)
vanilla scrapings from 1/4 vanilla bean pod
2 eggs
3 C brown rice flour
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla. Add eggs. Beat well. Blend in flour and salt. Roll into balls and flatten the balls slightly. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet at bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove when they just start to brown around the edges.

*Note: They were a little dense and my crumbs were a little big. Next time I'll try whipping two of the egg whites and folding them in last. I hope that will give me a lighter cookie.

Key Lime Pie

Crust
1 C cookie crumbs (I ground mine in the food processor)
4 T melted butter

Press your gooey mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Cream layer
1/2 C fresh lime juice
4 egg yolks
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Separate the eggs and put the yolks in the mixing bowl. Whip them until they are creamy light yellow. Add the lime juice and milk. Beat until it thickens. Pour into cooled pie shell. Bake for about ten minutes while you make meringue.

In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until they are stiff. Add 6 T sugar. Beat until the sugar dissolves. Spread the meringue over the creamy layer of your pie. Be artistic! Bake another 10 minutes and remove pie when the meringue is nicely browned. Let the pie cool at room temperature for a couple of hours before refrigerating.

My mom made these polar bears to decorate her yard for Christmas. The bears entertained neighbors and passersby, and their photo appeared in our local newspaper. They are constructed of papier mache and painted with exterior latex (house paint.) They are nearly weather-proof. One of the bears was seen wearing a plastic bag over his head during a recent rainstorm. Thankfully, the paparazzi missed that moment.

Welcome home, Cousin Kathy! Missed you! She's on the right. I'm on the left. As you can see, my side of the family is "cheekier" than Kathy's side. My puke green sweater with fur collar was maybe the second bold fashion statement I've made in my whole life. I wore it all day and all night on Christmas Eve. I attended three different Christmas celebrations that day. Christmas Eve is my birthday, and it was a really happy one! Who needs birthday cake when there's Key Lime Pie?!

The countdown continues

2008-12-17T21:19:00.005-05:00

It's December 17, one week before Christmas Eve. I have to cook two more dinners for the finals-frenzied sorority girls, then take leftover perishibles to Second Helpings. I'll join in some holiday gatherings over the weekend. Then my brother and his girlfriend will arrive on Monday.

I checked out my fridge, to see what I could offer to mainstream gluten-eaters. Eeeek! I was seriously short on condiments! I'm afraid my brother might have a panic attack if he opened my refrigerator to find no ketchup, mayonnaise or barbecue sauce. I've only enjoyed ketchup a few times in the last year. I made two batches (about 3/4 cup each) from my garden tomatoes. Turns out my gluten free diet doesn't require much ketchup. But I think every refrigerator should contain a bottle. It's a food comfort issue.

Early on, I tried every organic and health food store ketchup I could find. No luck. Reactions to all. I hadn't found a canned tomato sauce that worked for me, so I decided it was time for more research. I found some Muir Glen organic tomato paste and crushed tomatoes, with only one ingredient - tomatoes. No reaction, yay! So I cooked up a batch of ketchup, then turned half of it into barbecue sauce.

On to the luxuriuos creaminess of mayo! I've tried making it by hand whisking. That worked, but took a long time. I tried using my stick blender. Didn't work out for me. And it's tough to whip one egg yolk in the KitchenAid mixer. Hmmm. Okay, how about two egg yolks? How about if I unscrew the mixing bowl and hold it just a little higher so the whip can reach the yolks? Score! Double batch!

Kay's Mayonnaise
(Makes a little over 2 C)

2 egg yolks
4 1/2 t cider vinegar
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 t fresh lime juice
2 C canola oil

Whisk the egg yolks in the stand mixer using the whisk attachment. Hold the bowl just high enough for the whisk to do its job. It's tricky!

Combine vinegar, water, salt, sugar and lemon juice in a cup or bowl. Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved.

Add half of this to the egg yolk and whisk a few seconds until incorporated.

Measure the canola oil into a measuring cup with a spout. Pour a couple of drops of oil into the egg mixture. Then pour a couple more drops. Screw the mixing bowl back onto its stand and run the whisk at med-high speed. Then pour the first cup of oil in a very thin, slow stream down the side of the bowl.

When the mayonnaise is very thick, add the rest of the vinegar mixture. Whisk some more.

Add the remaining oil in a slow steady stream while the whisk is running.

Voila! Sandwich and potato salad heaven!

I added a little (maybe 1/2 t) dry mustard to 1/4 c mayonnaise to make a tangy spread for ham sandwiches. It needs to sit in the fridge for a few days to mellow before using. I might spice it up a bit by adding a dab of the vinegar from my jar of horseradish.

After a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on chemical-free bacon, I'll be ready for company! I really envy those of you who can just go to the store and buy a jar of whatever condiment you need!

And just for fun, here's a photo of my Delta Delta Delta alumnae group. I'm in my pink Christmas tree sweater. We had our Christmas brunch and auction last Saturday. We had fun and raised some money for local collegiate chapters. Irma's famous rum cakes brought a pretty penny! Several members were sidelined with the flu. Hope you're feeling better, girls!

All this goodness for $3.88!

2008-12-10T08:34:00.002-05:00

There's a little produce market I visit frequently. It's called Wilcher's and it's sort of the Big Lots of fresh foods. The prices are always great, but I never know what I'll find. So I used to stop in every week before my trip to the grocery store. But I haven't had a regular schedule for grocery shopping lately, so I've been skipping that stop. Wilcher's closes at 6:00, and I've been shopping on my way home from late nights at work. So I just pay the grocery store prices.

Fortunately, my mom shops there too, and alerted me to some deals. So I went there three days in a row. The first day I bought two boxes of bluberries for $1.00. The second day I got all the lovely produce in the photo for $3.88. The third day I bought two HUGE pointsettias for $3.00 each. I gave them as gifts before I took any photos. Oops!

I froze the bluberries for a holiday cobbler. I ate every one of the red raspberries right out of the box. They tasted like June! Last night I oven roasted the baby beets and ate them with a dab of goat cheese and some toasted pecans. They were sweet like fruit or candy! I squeeze an orange or two for a glass of juice before breakfast. I used the celery for a re-do batch of my wild rice soup.

I love Wilcher's!

Goals . . . how oddly mine have morphed

2008-12-06T09:18:00.004-05:00

Sally over at Aprovechar is wondering what new physical goals to set, now that she has reached some previous goals. First, congrats Sally! You're the butterfly now - light, beautiful and mobile. It's been encouraging to follow your blog and watch your transformation. I'm happy you have taken charge of your health and made dramatic improvements.

Nearly a year into gluten-free living (my anniversary is Jan. 1,) my goals have also changed dramatically. Healthwise I'm feeling nearly normal. I can get through a tough day's work and still have energy for my own projects. I put in 12 hour days of hard work in the garden all summer and was rewarded with delightful harvests. I rescued my flower beds after five years of neglect due to ill health.

My attitude has improved along with my health. Most days I'm a pretty happy camper. I have enough energy for fun after five years of struggling to just make it through my work days.

My new lifestyle has brought new goals. Funny what can happen in a year . . . really! Laugh-out-loud funny!

Here's the entertaining list of my current goals:

1. I want to raise my own chickens and eat fresh eggs every day. I've found a couple of "chicken mentors." I want to build my coop and chicken yard with recycled (reused, really) materials. I'm circulating my materials list, so the right cast-offs can come my way.

2. I want to raise my bowling average to the 120's. I had a couple of lucky games during the last league. I'd like to figure out what I did right and do it more often. I'd also like new bowling shoes. I bought my current shoes when I was puffed up like an Oompah Loompah. They are too big now. Like my pants - ha ha!!!!! (BTW - I'm taking 14 pairs of too-big pants to the resale shop today.)

3. I'd like to try out for the Naptown Roller Girls, Indy's fairly new roller derby team. I'm pretty sure I'll be the only 52 year old at tryouts. I'm a good skater, and the uniforms are really hot! I went to their 2009 calendar party last night and I sooooo want to be in one of those calendar shots. They definitely celebrate their strengths, with perfect lighting, of course. The biggest challenge of this endeavor will be finding a new career, or a job that provides health insurance. But that's on a different goals list.

4. This is a really short-term goal. I want to drive half an hour north and get arrested by Erik Estrada. He's back in uniform with the Muncie, IN police department! He did a reality show with the force there and made some friends. He's back this weekend to help them out with some fundraising. I don't generally break any laws, but maybe I could, just this once!

Of course, I have other goals. They are not as much fun as these goals. I'll save them for a less entertaining post.

Since I don't have a roller derby calendar shot yet, I'll leave you with a this photo from our bowling banquet. I'm on the left, with fellow bowlers Rebecca, Rich and Christianna. Rich is about a foot and a half taller than Christianna, so she's standing up on the stage. It was a really fun bowling banquet!

2008-12-04T08:32:00.003-05:00

I ended up baking a new loaf of bread while watching Rudolph. Before Thanksgiving, I found a couple of bags of white rice flour marked down to half price. I'd been using brown rice flour for months, but I couldn't resist a gluten free deal. So I bought them and used them in place of my usual brown rice flour. After three days of eating the foods I'd made, I noticed my vision was blurry . . . again. My vision has been clear since about May. So it took a couple of days for me to realize that white rice flour was the new item in my diet. And it's puzzling that I would react to white rice flour, but not brown rice flour. But it's an easy fix.

It pains me to throw out homemade food with expensive ingredients, but I'm getting used to it. So I abandoned the pizza, bread and soup I'd made with white rice flour. My eyes seem to be back to normal today. I made a fresh loaf of bread with brown rice flour and potato flour, and I'll try the soup again, with brown rice flour. It's a great soup!

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup

3/4 C wild rice
1 onion, diced
1 C celery, sliced
1 4 oz. can mushrooms
1/2 C butter
1 C rice flour (choose your own color!)
8 C chicken broth
1 C diced chicken
Salt & pepper to taste
1 C milk or half & half (I used goat milk.)
2 T sherry or white wine (I left this out.)

I started by making a big vat of chicken stock. I haven't found a store-bought version that agrees with me. I miss the convenience, so I made enough to freeze some for future soups. Since I need a "do-over," I'm glad I made extra.

Simmer the wild rice in 2 C water for about 4o minutes.

In your soup pot, saute onion, celery and mushrooms in butter until they start to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in flour until mixed in. Do not brown. Heat the chicken stock and stir it in slowly until the mix is well blended. Stir in drained, cooked rice and chicken. Season. Heat thoroughly. Stir in milk or half & half. Add sherry or wine and heat gently but do not boil.

I needed some flavor for my stock, so I cut some Italian parsley and par-cel from my frozen garden. Worked just fine!

I used my adorable pastel carrots. I love them! I'm planting twice as many next year!

I started preparing Christmas treats in my work kitchen at school. The sorority girls will have their party next Monday (eeek!) so I need to make a couple of items every day. I love making the treats, but fixing their dinner feels like an inconvenience this time of year.

First I stirred up a big jar of hot cocoa mix. They'll need a comforting hot beverage for late night studying. The recipe I used included non-dairy creamer. The first ingredient listed is corn syrup solids. As soon as I opened the pack, a cloud of dust rushed up. Since I stay away from corn and corn products, I put on a mask right away and turned on the big exhaust fan. I mixed a double batch in a gallon zip lock bag, to inhibit the spread of corn dust. I had one of my house boys taste-test a cup of cocoa when the mix was done. He said it's lots better than the mix that comes in packets.

Hot Cocoa Mix

2 C powdered milk
1 C sugar
1/2 C cocoa
1/2 C non-dairy creamer
4 shakes of salt

Mix well and store in a pretty jar. To make cocoa, add 3 to 4 T mix to a mug of boiling water. Add marshmallows, whipped cream or both!

I also tried a very easy, and mostly allergen-free peanut butter fudge. My houseboy taste-testers liked it, and couldn't tell there's no cream or milk.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1 C creamy peanut butter
2 C sugar
1/2 C water
1/4 t vanilla

In a pot, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Let boil for EXACTLY one minute. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla. Have it measured out and ready. Mix well and pour into 8 x 8 greased pan. Cool and cut into squares.

My notes on this recipe say that natural peanut butters don't work well. I used Peter Pan for this batch. I'll test drive it at home with one of the brands I can eat. Smucker's Natural is the thickest of the peanut butters I eat, so I'll try that one first.

Happy holiday baking!

It's the big day!

2008-12-03T10:23:00.003-05:00

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on tonight! I always kick off the holiday baking season while watching Rudolph. I almost know it by heart. I know when to step away from the chocolate because I'll have to shed a tear or two. Copyright laws prevent me from posting a photo of Rudolph and Burl Ives' Snowman, but just the sight of them cheers me up and puts me in a Christmas-y mood.

This will be the first gluten free Christmas Rudolph and I will share. So my recipes will change, but not my spirit! I might stir up some homemade hot chocolate mix to warm the hearts (and bodies!) of friends and family. I might roll some truffles into perfect round delights. I might bake some vanilla cookies to use for the crust of my Christmas Key Lime Pie.

Rudolph reminds me that even my oddities can have value. He lets me treasure my role in my little universe (which is looking a bit like the North Pole since we've had a little snow!) He reminds me to love unconditionally. And he lets me sing along, even though I can't carry a tune.

Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you light my kitchen counter tonight? He never lets me down! Let the festivities begin!

I started my gluten free journey last January 1. I'm glad I've got 11 months of adjusting behind me. I've come a long way. My brain has found detours around wheat-laden roadblocks. My heart has found joy in improved health. And . . .

All my hair has grown back! No bald spots to hide with ingenious comb-overs! Every Christmas for the last five years, my mother has said, "Don't worry, dear. I'm sure your hair will grow back by next Christmas." At long last, next Christmas has arrived!

Snacks - hot, gooey ones!

2008-11-22T20:06:00.006-05:00

Last Sunday was the last race of the Nascar season. I joined my favorite race fans at Rich's house for our now-traditional celebration. Rich deep fries a boatload of turkeys, Cajun style, and we all bring a show-off side dish. I can't try even a bite anymore, but I remember each and every returning favorite.

My most popular contribution in past years was the Bacon Monkey Bread from the Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner. It's made with "whump" biscuits, the kind that come in a tube you whump on the counter to open. That bread goes mighty fine with deep fried turkey! Alas, no more baking powder for me. So I can't even try to convert this recipe to gluten free.

Jenni always brings these spicy, gooey treats she calls Hot Mamas. They are deeee-lish! And entirely free of leavening agents. So I decided to give them a gluten free try. The conversion was a success! I'll be making these again and again!

Hot Mamas

2 lbs. grated cheese (I used Monterey Jack and sharp white cheddar.)
1/2 C hot peppers, sliced thin (I used some salsa peppers from my garden. Jenni uses jalapenos.)
2 eggs
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk (Go ahead, try it with rice milk, hemp milk or coconut milk!)
1/2 C white rice flour

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan. Layer cheese and peppers in the pan. Mix the eggs milk and rice flour in a bowl. Pour the mixture over the cheese and peppers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. The top should just barely start to brown around the edges.

I liked it so much, I decided to try an Italian version. I added sun dried tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms and green onions. Wish I'd had some basil left, but the frost got mine a few weeks ago. I threw in a little provolone cheese. I liked this version as much as the spicy one.

I know the recipe sounds like these would be dangerously similar to the dreaded mini quiche, but the texture is quite different. These little bars are a whole different animal.

Because I am in "ocean withdrawal," and have no coastal vacation scheduled, I'll leave you with a photo of the full moon rising over Carolina Beach I took in June, 2007. Ahhhh. I can almost feel the sand under my bare feet . . .

Sausage!

2008-11-12T22:41:00.007-05:00

I got tired of reading sausage labels months ago. With my long list of forbidden ingredients, it became one futile exercise after another. I cooked bacon with my eggs. I used it on my pizzas to add that salty pork taste I craved. But then . . .

My fennel blooms turned to seed . . . almost. I like them a little green. I get all the flavor of fennel seed without the crunch of the dry seed. And the sage I'd cut weeks ago was dry, ready to rub between my palms. The two herbs that give sausage its distinctive flavor were right outside my back door. So it was time for me to enjoy sausage once again, without all the frustrating label-reading.

I ground some pork shoulder with my grandma's old meat grinder. I fried it with salt and pepper. Then I added my little green fennel seeds and rubbed the sage leaves over the pan.

I cooked it until the fennel seeds lost their green color.

Then I scrambled some eggs and buttered a fat slice of toast. I love me some sausage and eggs for breakfast!

I froze the rest of the tasty crumbles for later use on pizza. I've been craving a sausage and mushroom pizza since January. I think I'll take my own slice to the last night of bowling next Monday. Yes, I'm still in the "pizza and beer" league. I usually grab a snack before I leave home, so I'm not hungry when the pizzas arrive. And All Star Bowl ordered a case of Red Bridge gluten free beer just for me. So bowling night is not painful like it was when I first went gluten free. I'm enjoying it. I even hit a new personal best - 183! That's 23 points higher than my previous best. My average is 108, so that was a really good game.

Until today, November has been a really dry month in Indiana. Birds have been flocking to my little pond. Daddy Cat noticed the trend and found a good hiding spot for birdwatching.

A few weeks ago, after we roasted marshmallows over my great bonfire, Rich tossed a bundle of short copper pipe pieces into the hottest part of the fire. It turned the flames blues, greens, purples and reds. That was a really good fire!

Shine on, shine on harvest moon

2008-11-09T09:10:00.005-05:00

Fall's abundance continues at Kay's Leaning Tree Farm - my root crops, green tomatoes ripening in baskets, all the mysterious squash, and now persimmons!

Persimmons are very pretty, before they ripen. They aren't ripe enough to use until they are nearly mush. I've eaten my cousin Carol's persimmon pudding on many Christmas Eves, but I had never cooked with persimmons myself. I had a bonus day off on Thursday. So I embarked on my first ever Persimmon Day.

My mom returned from visiting a friend and said, "Jiggs' persimmon tree is loaded! Maybe next year you can work persimmons into your new gluten free diet."

I said, "Next year? No way! I'm off on Thursday. Let's take a field trip!"

So we headed half an hour south to Franklin, IN. It was a beautiful fall day, still in the 70's.

Jiggs, on the left, and Mother posed in the front yard.

This is Jigg's preferred mode of transportation in her neighborhood. I love it!

I'm always prepared to climb a fruit tree to pick fruit, but Mother had told me that you don't climb a persimmon tree. You shake it. If the fruit won't fall, it's not ripe. So Jiggs pulled a long-handled push broom out of her garage and knocked the branches. We all picked up the fallen fruit. Some was pretty mushy. I came home with three plastic grocery bags half full of mushy persimmons.

With instructions from Cousin Carol, I put the mushy persimmons in a screen wire collander and mashed them with a wooden spoon for hours. I ended up with 6 cups of pulp and a really sticky kitchen. I froze the pulp in zipper snack size bags. They hold one cup. So I'll be ready for future recipes. After an entire day devoted to persimmons, I just had to bake something. I decided to try persimmon bars.

Persimmon Bars

1 C persimmon pulp
1 C sugar
1 C coconut milk (you can use any milk that suits you)
1/2 C soft butter
2 T vanilla (I used some vanilla bean pulp)
1 1/2 C white rice flour
2 eggs
2 T baking soda (optional, I react to baking soda so I left it out. Worked great!)
1/2 t cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together. I did this by hand. Pour into a greased and rice floured 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for about an hour. The bars are done when they are firm. I jiggled the pan. When the middle didn't jiggle, I took them out of the oven.

Note: I think these bars would be great with a nut meal and butter crust, and/or with a streusel topping.

I found a new product at the Georgetown Market on their recent Gluten Free Day. They had lots of samples and product reps on hand. Unfortunately, the samples all contained forbidden ingredients. So I didn't get to taste anything. But I'd been looking for a coconut milk with no guar gum. All the canned coconut milks I've seen have a tiny bit (less than 1%) guar gum. I found this powdered version from Let's Do Organic that lists only one ingredient: coconut. I found it after I'd made the persimmon bars with canned coconut milk. I plan to test drive the powdered one with my next batch.

After our persimmon picking, we drove farther south to The Apple Works in Trafalgar, IN. A friend I saw at my college reunion said her goats are part of the petting zoo there. So I got to pet some goats. I also saw my first alpacas. They also had some pretty chickens and I liked their chicken coop. I wish I'd taken my tape measure and made some drawings. Hickory trees shaded the path from the apple store to the petting zoo. I picked up a couple of handfuls of hickory nuts. It was a good day!

Spooky!

2008-11-01T09:34:00.008-04:00

A whole herd of these pumpkin-like squash mysteriously appeared on my back stoop on Halloween. No note. No phone call. Spooky! They appeared to be freshly cut from their vines, so I bet they're from a big-garden buddy.

I grabbed the biggest one (about the size of my head) that looked most like a pumpkin, and took it to The Chatterbox. I planned to carve a scary face and leave it for a Halloween night decoration. So I spread my newspapers on one of the patio tables and tried to cut the top off. I could not! That baby was solid! I needed a crowbar to pop the lid. Further exploration showed the seed core was about the size of my fist. The flesh part was nearly three inches thick! Oh, what beautiful flesh it was! This squash had a higher calling than decoration. It was destined to be dinner!

I'm sorry David, Chatterbox owner, missed the comical carving attempt. He was home donning his Sarah Palin costume for the evenings festivities. I hope there are photos!

After seeing the inside of the squash, I'm betting it was from my buddy, Rich. I bet it's this year's incarnation of his family's (ahem) illegitimate squash. His grandma saved seed her whole life. Now he and his dad save seed. The squash has cross-polinated every summer for gerenations. They never know what the squash will look like when they plant the saved seeds. But it's a good bet it will be tasty in all pumpkin recipes. I've had their illegitimate squash before. That year the flesh was orange. This year it is more yellow.

I brought my squash home and baked it. I cut the flesh off the lid piece and diced it. I baked it with some brown sugar, butter and a squeeze of lime juice. It was so delicious I ate all I could. There's enough left for two more meals! That was just the lid! The rest of the squash will become soup or a casserole or a dessert - maybe all three.

Here are some Fall sights around Kay's Leaning Tree Farm.

This is my little sugar maple. I caught a glimpse of it while pulling okra stalks out of the front garden. My bonfire pit is just to the left of this photo. I'll cut down my sorghum stalks today, so there's another entertaining fire in the making.

My burning bush is really on fire!

A few anemones popped open to cheer me. I guess it's Indian Summer.

This is the seed pod on my unusual dogwood.

The raccoon has been gleaning my last tomatoes. Of course, he washes them in the pond before eating. He spits out the seeds. That's okay. A flock of robins used my pond for a bird bath this morning. They ate the seeds.

Daddy Cat says, "I don't know who brought them. They just appeared. Halloween magic, I guess."

Sorghum Experiment #1

2008-10-30T22:12:00.003-04:00

I had a lot of committments in September and October. Not much time to play with my food. The last event on my schedule was Tuesday night. It's done! They're all done! I finally had a free evening!

So I gathered up my bouquets of sorghum and tried to figure out how to proceed. I was pleased with my first sorghum harvest, but it wasn't really edible yet.

I pulled some of the grains off the stems. Each grain was surrounded by husk or chaff. I needed to remove the chaff and separate it from the grains. So I rubbed the grains between the palms of my hands and had a little bowl of kernels and husks. Hmmm. I could pick all the kernels out by hand, wearing the strong reading glasses I keep in the bathroom to use when plucking my eyebrows.

I was sure there must be an easier way, so I called my mom. She said to stand outside on a windy day and toss the grains and chaff in a pie pan. The wind would carry the chaff away and the grains would fall back into the pan. She said that's how they winnowed grains in the old days. Hmmm. I think by "the old days" she meant Biblical times.

Since it was a calm night, I gathered small handfuls of grains and blew on them. Sure nuf! The chaff blew out and I was left with just grains. In only 30 minutes I had about 1/4 cup! Thankfully, that's all I needed.

For my first experiment, I wanted to grind sorghum to the texture of corn meal and use it for frying fish. One filet would do. I found out I'm allergic to corn back in January. I grew up on fresh-caught bluegills dusted with corn meal and fried. I've missed that down home taste.

So I ground my little kernels in in the coffee grinder. The texture was pretty close to corn meal! I dusted a catfish filet and fried it up.

Voila! Down home fish dinner! It only took about TWO HOURS! Ha ha! Good thing I wasn't starving. That two hours didn't include sweeping all the chaff up off the kitchen floor.

Here's the sugar maple that brightens my view from the dining room window. It was just a wispy little sprig when I moved here. I'm glad it survived the tornado and has filled out nicely.

My rainbow Swiss chard is the last color in my gardens outside the back door. I had to reroute the ridiculous squash vines several times to protect the chard. The squash vines have succumbed to the frost, but the chard still stands tall.

After the first frost, before the first hard freeze

2008-10-26T08:30:00.006-04:00

I've been cooking up a storm lately! I peel apples nightly, and stash little containers of applesauce in my freezer. I've made a bazillion apple crisps, and I'll make another one today.

I've had my first ever gluten free party! Twenty-some people came over for steaks on the grill, a big bonfire and a few fireworks. I've had a lot of bonfires, but this was the best fire ever. Rich brought over a whole trailer full of well-seasoned pine. He'd taken it to his woodpile after my tornado, six years ago. By the end of the evening, we had a HUGE pile of glowing logs. It was hypnotic. We couldn't look away. We kept all the food outside, and my house was safe from wheat. Sorry I couldn't taste all the pitch-in dishes everyone brought, but I'm sure they were delicious as usual.

Yesterday I cooked a big brunch for a homecoming reunion at the sorority house at Butler. This is my 13th year of cooking for the Alpha Chi's. I was happy to see some old friends. Those young college girls have grown up to be lovely ladies.

I can't eat anything I fix in the wheat-kitchen at Butler. So I was hungry when I got home. I decided to treat myself to some comfort food. I still have baskets of ripening tomatoes from the garden. A few of my basil leaves were protected from the first frost. I had some mushrooms and zucchini in the fridge.

So I started with this.

I made a red marinara and a yellow one.

I sauteed sliced mushrooms and zucchini strips in brown butter with a little cayenne. I browned some ground beef and shredded some mozzarella. I assembled all my ingredients into a lasagna with a layer of creamy ricotta.

Here's my yummy lasagna. It was a puzzle to figure out the order of the layers. I wanted to keep my red and yellow sauces separate, and I wanted to to taste every ingredient in every bite. I ended up using three layers of zucchini strips, and assembled the mushrooms in a layer as well. I was thoroughly comforted by the gooey goodness.

Without cutting flowers, I've had to look underground for photo opportunities. I call this one "Carrot Britches."

Stone Soup

2008-10-13T09:07:00.007-04:00

Remember the old fable about the man who made soup by boiling a stone? It was a fabulous soup because everyone around found something to add to the pot, even though they first said they had nothing.

The gardening season should have ended by now, but my garden offered up some bonus produce. So I made myself some stone soup.

These are my back steps covered with cucuzzi squash vines. I'm having a party next weekend, so I'll need the steps. I cut the vines and harvested about 50 tiny squashes.

The babies look like furry green beans. They are very tender. I also picked some tomatoes, okra, a few green beans, peppers and pulled a couple of carrots and onions.

The gluten free bloggers have been pulling out their soup recipes lately. Cindy at Cindalou's Kitchen Blues posted a great looking pepper chowder that inspired me to concoct a similar fall pot of goodness. I used all the "bonus" produce my garden had to offer.

Kay's Stone Soup

2 chicken thighs, no skin
3/4 C pork pan drippings, defatted
2 C water
2 carrots
2 sweet peppers
2 (sort of) hot peppers - I used Salsa peppers, which are pretty mild on Cindy's pepper chart
2 stalks of celery
2 small onions
12 green beans
20 tiny squash
1 C diced fresh tomatoes, with juice
6 okra, sliced in chunks
2 sprigs fresh basil
1 T chopped Italian parsley
Salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne to taste
Fresh chives for topping

I boiled my chicken thighs in the water and dipped off most of the fat. Then I added the pork pan drippings. I de-fat and freeze all my pan drippings for later use. I shredded my chicken and added it to the broth. I sliced and diced and added and tasted until the soup was perfect. The okra thickened it a bit.

I had a bowlful for supper. I'm saving the rest for a couple of days. We've had unseasonably warm weather in Indiana. On Tuesday or Wednesday our temperatures will drop like, well, a stone. I'm sure it will taste even better then.

I got to use my homegrown paprika for the first time in this soup. It has a lot more flavor than the stuff I buy at the grocery. I can't wait to sprinkle some on deviled eggs.

I cut my ripe paprika peppers in half, removed the seeds and dried them in the dehydrator. Then I broke the dry peppers into pieces and ground them in my coffee grinder. I don't drink coffee and never dreamed Mr. Coffee could become such a valued friend. This is a great little spice grinder!

Daddy Cat says, "Cook more meat. Don't need no stinkin' vegetables!"

Instead of a flower photo, you get a picture of me. I'm in the pink. Saturday was my 30th college reunion. It was 83 degrees, so I didn't get to wear a new homecoming sweater. I did, however, get to buy some new skinny jeans. They're the same size jeans I wore in college. Yahooey! I'm with my pals Nancy, Dee and Rick. I really enjoyed the weekend festivities. We had great weather, a good turnout and we won the football game 63 to 3.

And thanks to Rachel at The Crispy Cook for giving my blog an E for Excellent award! I am honored. I joined the gluten free blogging community because you have all been vital in my lifestyle transition. I'm glad you tune in to see my garden photos and share in my continuing journey. Check out her blog for links to other award winning sites.

October! Really? Already?

2008-10-02T19:44:00.006-04:00

Okay, September is over and I'm still behind on EVERYTHING! Every day has been full . . . too full. So sitting at the computer was put on hold. I've managed to read a few blogs, but haven't had time to write any words myself.

Looking at my last post, I'm guessing I will never make the time to re-learn those linking skills and tag some friends. If you'd like to play along, please join in.

Summer has been fading in Indy, but only for the last week or so. The last two nights have cooled to the 40s. I had to dig around and find some long pants. Surprise! Last spring's skinny jeans are now too big! I've got a college reunion coming up and I'm treating myself to new jeans to wear to the football game. I'm also trying a natural hair dye I made from boiled black walnut hulls. This whole experiment has been fairly entertaining and pretty darn messy. Vanity struck me when I met with reunion committee. Apparently I'm the only female who is allergic to commercial hair dyes. No one else had any gray showing. Thank God the guys look their age, and my age. This is my 30th reunion. I don't want to be ushered into the 50th reunion photo.

I conducted extensive internet research to figured out when to harvest my sorghum crop. I learned a lot of interesting things about the rainy season in Africa, but could not find any information about when to harvest sorghum in Indiana. Then it all became clear. When flocks of migrating birds change their flight pattern to include a stopover at your sorghum patch, IT'S TIME TO HARVEST THE SORGHUM!

So I cut the grains off the top of the stalks and put them in vases all over my house to dry. The grains are really pretty up close. I ordered seed for white popping sorghum. I think a couple of other varieties sneaked into my seed packet, including red sorghum.

I tasted a few grains before they were ripe. They were soft and starchy, a little bit sweet. I'll let them dry until they are hard enough to grind. My research did not tell me how long it should dry. I just hope birds are not involved.

I picked my last beans about ten days ago. I made this pretty pickled bean salad from a recipe in the Ball Blue Book. I substituted my orange and yellow carrots for lima beans. I didn't grow any lima beans.

I spent an evening slicing and dicing peppers, zukes and onions for some zucchini relish. See, I haven't been idle. I've been busy.

Looks like a meager harvest, but wait! I used several baskets.

I pulled a few more carrots.

I dug my second row of potatoes. Still one row to go. The long skinny one is a sweet potato. I hope there are some larger ones.

These are my paprika peppers. I'll dry them in the dehydrator and grind them to powder in a coffee grinder. I don't use the grinder for coffee, just spices.

My Lily of the Day feature has come to its seasonal conclusion. These are the last of my gladiolus. I'll miss having cut flowers in the house. I'll have to settle for my bouquets of sorghum.

2008-09-16T09:03:00.002-04:00

Back in June, Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness tagged me for a meme. Sorry for the delay, Cheryl, but I've been busy in the garden. Yesterday, Sarah at Gluten Free Everyday tagged me for a "fun facts about me" game. Since both games involve the same information, I've decided to combine them.

I like these games because they connect me to new bloggers, and let me feel like part of the gang with familiar blogging buddies. They're like party mixer games.

Here are Cheryl's rules:
1. i must link the tagger to my blog and list the rules;
2. i must share 7 weird bits about myself
3. 7 new bloggerites must be tagged and must be made aware with a comment in their blog.

Here are Sarah's rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Here are my fun facts:

1. It's taken me 40 minutes to figure out how to link both these sites to mine. Sheesh! I am sooooo geeky in sooooo many ways. It's a shame the techno-geek gene is not in my DNA. I was a graphic artist in advertising before computers were part of our daily lives. That was 20 years ago. Then I began my food career. Now that I found out I have celiac, I need to find a career where I don't touch wheat-laden food all day every day. My graphic skills are, sadly, obsolete. Every 12-year-old on the planet is better at computer graphics than I am. But I'm learning! This blog is my classroom.

2. I bought my first house for $1. After a year of jumping through governmental hoops, my name was drawn to win a long-vacant FHA repossessed house in Indianapolis' Homesteading program. I had to make repairs to get it up to code and live in it for five years. I ended up staying 14 years. It was a cute little bungalow on a dead end street near a massive city park. Mayor Bill Hudnut played Bob Barker and drew the names from the hat. A few years later, I ran into him and told him how owning my first home had changed my life. He decided to announce his candidacy for re-election from my front porch. There was a media circus on my little street and I was on the news. I got a half day off work and wore my best suit. The reporters were really nice to me.

3. Though I haven't used them in years, I still own tap shoes. They're on a shelf in the garage next to my roller skates and ice skates. I still use the ice skates.

4. I love the Atlantic ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. I love the Florida Keys, and every island I have ever visited. When I'm on an island (any island!) I am comforted knowing I can walk in any direction and fall into the ocean. Ahhhh.

5. My favorite bands for nearly 20 years were Steely Dan, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers. These days I like Coldplay and Counting Crows. It makes me happy anywhere, at any time, in any mood to hear any song by Earth, Wind and Fire.

6. Since discovering multiple allergies, I have given up chocolate. AND I LIVED TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT! I never dreamed I could live without chocolate for a day, let alone months. I'm doing just fine with my cobbler-of-the-week.

7. The bonus tidbit! I am attempting to write my first work of fiction. I failed miserably at previous attempts. I couldn't even stand to read them. But I've done my homework, and I think I have a good beginning. I pray the right words keep on coming.

I'll edit this post later to tag some pals. All this linking and thinking has worn me out!

In Between Summer and Fall

2008-09-13T09:25:00.003-04:00

The summer sun continues to move south, casting longer shadows in my back yard. I officially ended my pool season. My lounge chair is back in the barn. The last book of my summer reading season remains unfinished.

But the garden hasn't figured out that its season is passing. I'm still canning, freezing and pickling until the wee hours of the morning. I have plenty of pickles now - dill pickles, lime pickles, sweet pickles, pickled okra, pickled onions, pickled peppers and hot pickles.

With four days of rain on the way, I dug the last of my onions. I also pulled some of my funny carrots. Their pastel shades are interesting, but I think I'll plant the Burpee Rainbow Carrots next year. I like their vivid colors. I hope to dice those peppers for some zucchini relish. I made some last year and it was beautiful and tasty. My mother ate it with a spoon, no hot dog required. I found the recipe in the Ball Blue Book.

My ridiculous cucuzzi squash continue to THRIVE! This one decided to go wading in the pond on a hot afternoon. A friend and I are wondering if we can feed it to her dog. The large pup is now on a gluten free diet. His expensive special dog food contains vegetables. She may start cooking for him. I have lots of squash to experiment with.

I had a visit from my old friend, the box turtle. She likes tomatoes and cucumbers. This tomato lasted her three days. I'll put a new one in her reach today. Or maybe I'll leave her an overgrown cucumber.

This is my hardy bibiscus. The blooms are as big as saucers. I moved my plants last fall. The bushes are small, but the blooms are still big.

I'm watching The Hurricane Show on the weather channel. Ike is blowing Galveston away. Looks like he'll head for Indianapolis and arrive just in time for motorcycle races at the Indy 500 track on Sunday. Unlike the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400, motorcycle races will run in the rain. The Moto GP races will be the first motorcycle races on the track in 99 years. They reconfigured the Formula One track to add more turns.

Quick note

2008-09-09T08:32:00.002-04:00

I was off the grid last week. My indestructible mom had a heart attack and spent some time in the hospital. She's home and feeling better. I'm feeling more normal, too.

I saw an anonymous comment on someone else's gf blog about itchy arms. The comment said the upper arms itched like fleas were biting, but there were no fleas.

I have experienced the same kind of itching. It drives me crazy and even wakes me up at night. I tried every topical cream I could find. Nothing worked. Years ago, I thought I had become allergic to bleach, and stopped using it in my laundry. The result was continued itching, and dinghy whites.

Now, fifteen years after the itching started, I think it's probably related to celiac and the itching occurs when my body's pH is too acidic. I squeeze a fourth of a lemon or lime in a glass of water and drink it. The itching stops almost immediately. I drink lemon water twice a day for a week or so, and my system seems to balance itself out again.

I was relieved to hear that ONE other person experienced this baffling symptom. Anyone else? I'd like to hear about your similar experience, and your solution. Has anyone had a medical professional say this was a symptom of celiac disease? I assume it is, since celiac seems to be the cause of ALL my odd symptoms.

Labor Day Sunday

2008-09-01T09:15:00.004-04:00

The long Labor Day weekend offered perfect weather here in Indianapolis. We had spectacular fireworks, set to music, on Saturday night. Downtown was bustling with activity.

My friends, John and Sara, had their annual party at the farm on Sunday. So I headed west to Cloverdale with my fishing poles and my bathing suit. It was so wonderfully comfortable in the shade that I never felt the need to jump in the water. I enjoyed sitting in the shade and catching up on everyone's news. It was a fun day! Sara made a big clam bake (more like a shrimp boil, with mussels and clams) and everyone brought goodies to share.

I, of course, shared some things from my garden - tomatoes, beans, okra. And I took along a couple of my cucuzzi squash. They proved to be so entertaining as table decorations that we never ate them. At home, I'm still working on eating the first squash I harvested. They're HUGE!

That's the lake you can see through the trees behind me and the remarkable cucuzzi squash.

Later, that same day . . . me and my stringer of fish! They started biting right after we ate dinner. The sun was falling and the trees cast shadows on the water. I found a shady spot just off the west shore line where they were biting like crazy! So I stayed out in the little rowboat until I ran out of bait. I'm standing by the water in this shot, but darkness fell quickly, so you can't see the lake. I didn't want to clean fish in the dark, so they're on ice in my fridge.

Back at home, here are the two cucuzzi plants that have taken over the flower bed. Really, there are flowers under those big leaves and vines! That's my back door at the top of the shot. Vines continue across my sidewalk and are heading for the steps and my house. I think I hear the shark music from Jaws! Eeek!

This is an okra bloom. It reminds me of hibiscus. Like the tropical flowers, each okra bloom lasts only one day. When the bloom falls, there is a baby okra that looks line a tiny green acorn.

My pole beans don't know that school has started, and I have to spend time away from the garden. They show no signs of slowing down.

The bumble bees are happy that I have some new blooms for them to taste. This is a frilly pink sedum. Around here, we call them "live forevers."

That reminds me! At John and Sara's party, I ordered some honey. A friend's brother has added more hives to his collection and has honey to share. I'm excited to be on his customer list.

I think I'll clean my fish while I watch tv coverage of Gustav hitting the Gulf coast. I'm glad New Orleans had a good evacuation plan this time. I'm reading James Lee Burke's latest offering in the the Dave Robicheaux series. Robicheaux (and Burke) live in New Iberia, Louisiana. The Weather Channel has a reporter posted there, which is never good news.

Chips & Dip

2008-08-29T09:09:00.008-04:00

Snacks are really scarce around my house. Celery and peanut butter, carrots and celery sticks (sometime with dip,) my lame porridge bread with honey, cherry tomatoes, a few grapes. That's about it.

So I was delighted when Cousin Kathy sent me this gluten free chip recipe from her low carb collection. No corn for me, so I'd been looking for a replacement chip for salsa and hearty dips. This is a great chip!

Zucchini Chips

1 large zucchini (I used a yellow one)
2 eggs
2 cups shredded cheese (I used Monterey jack)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Grease 2 cookie sheets.

Cut the ends from zucchini. Shred. Mix with egg and cheese. Make 6-8" circles on greased cookie sheets. I used a rubber spatula to get spread them thin. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes. Loosen and flip the circles. Bake for another 5 minutes.

With a pizza cutter, cut rounds into triangles.

Let cool on a rack for 6 - 8 hrs in the cooling oven. Store in a plastic bag or container in the refrigerator. Best used within a week of preparation.

After the chips have dried, you can toss with popcorn seasoning or any dry seasoning mix. I used a little salt and pepper.

Cousin Kathy is an actress, and now a professor in a university drama department in Florida. Her appearance has always been part of her job. That's tough, all day, every day, no matter what. She's always looked beautiful, wispy and stunning to me. I have trouble just being appropriately dressed and having my hair combed when I leave the house. We shared lots of recipes before I went gluten free. I'm glad we still can. Break a leg in your new teaching position, Cuz!

And here's that dip recipe I've been dying to make with my sun dried tomatoes:

4 dried New Mexico chiles
3T minced fresh hot pepper (I used hot banana pepper)
3/4 C sun dried cherry tomatoes (or cut larger ones into pieces)
1/2 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced chives
1 T minced garlic chives
1/4 C olive oil
3 T cider or red wine vinegar
1/8 t salt

5 ounces fresh goat cheese.

Cut the dried chiles in half. Remove the seeds and discard. With a really sharp knife, cut the chiles into small pieces. Put the pieces in a bowl and cover with hot water. Let soak 30 minutes.

Put the sun dried tomatoes in a separate bowl and cover them with hot water. Let soak about 15 minutes. Get your goat cheese (I've substituted cream cheese in the past) out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

While they are soaking, cut up all your fresh ingredients.

Mix all you ingredients (except goat cheese) in a bowl. Leave the blow in the refrigerator for at least an hour, so the flavors can blend. Spread the goat cheese on a serving plate. Cover with wrap and put that in the fridge. They can stay in the fridge for a day or two before you assemble the finished dish. When ready to serve, just spread the tomato chile topping over the goat cheese and serve with chips.

Sorry I don't have a photo of the finished dip. I put it together quickly and ran out the door to a party. There was not one morsel left to photograph.

In garden news, my squash mystery is solved. It's the cucuzzi squash that have taken over the flower garden by the pond. Since I started watering daily, the squash are maturing rapidly. I am already overstocked!

And here's another zinnia with tiny bonus flowers in the center. I love my zinnias!

Happy Labor Day! I hope you get a long weekend!

Popping Sorghum

2008-08-21T09:20:00.005-04:00

I was beginning to wonder about my sorghum crop. The stalks had grown over seven feet tall, but there was no sign of the grains I coveted. I waited. I waited some more. Just last week the first tassels appeared!

Within a couple of days, many of my stalks were sprouting tassels. They are heavy with grain. The plants are now eight feet tall. The grains need to ripen before harvest. I'm not sure how long. I'll do a little research. I think I have figured out a plan to remove the grains. I plan to put several tassels inside a clean pillow case and beat them against a rock. Sounds logical to me, but this is my first sorghum crop. Let me know if you have better idea.

My pole bean tower looks miniature in the background.

This is a baby squash. It's either a cucuzzi or a tromboncino. They are nearly the same squash, but tromboncino has a bulbous end, like a trombone. Cucuzzi does not. I planted both varieties. One has survived. I guess I'll know which one when that first one ripens. Two vining squash plants have taken over the pond garden. I'm trying to keep the vines from heading onto the grass at the bottom of the hill. I'd like to keep them safely out of mowing range. Above the pond, they are crossing the sidewalk and may be heading into the house soon. Eeek!

For months this plant has produced only vines, HUGE leaves and blooms. I'm happy it's finally setting fruit.

I'm still picking tomatoes every day. These little Roma tomatoes are called "Juliet." I peeled and quartered them and put them in a jar of cider vinegar to soak for a few days. The vinegar draws out the tomato "plasma" and tomato flavor. It makes a tasty vinaigrette!

I got a deal on some red raspberries at my little fruit market - six pints for $5! After paying $3 for one pint of blackberries at the chic farmers market, I couldn't pass up this bargain. A few of the berries were past their prime, but most were still perfect. They are jelly now.

Since my pectin experiments all resulted in itchy skin, I've gone back to my pioneer jelly recipe - 1 cup of fruit or juice, 3/4/ to 1 cup sugar, a squeeze of lime juice. Bring to a boil then simmer until the mixture coats the spoon and only three drops fall. Then I skim the foam, put it in jars and process for 10 minutes.

Here's a creamy yellow zinnia with bonus flowers inside.

I'm still picking beans nearly every day. We've had some cool nights, so the tomatoes are setting on their late fruit. I'm overstocked on cute lavender eggplant. I can't give them away! Once again, I wish you lived on my street so I could leave some on your doorstep. I have a million baby squash on my miles of vines. If even half of them mature, I'll be seriously overloaded!

I'm Back!

2008-08-19T16:23:00.005-04:00

No, I didn't go anywhere. I went to my back yard every day. I picked lots of vegetables. I stayed up late every night - freezing, pickling and canning. I've enjoyed watching the Olympics while I'm slicing and dicing.

I've finished my first "science fair project" using ground okra in place of xanthan gum or guar gum. I learned a lot and I'm ready for my next okra experiment.

Okra, the whole plant, is sticky, gummy. I have to wash my hands after picking it in the garden. The water that I cook okra in is gummy. So I thought the whole plant might be useful. I decided to start with whole okra, dried in the dehydrator. I was too impatient to let it air-dry.

So the first lesson I learned is: Let the okra air-dry. Ha! The dehydrator shrunk it to miniature size. The air-dried pods remain their full size. Since it would have been impossible to get the seeds out of the tiny dried pods, I ground up the whole pod with my mortar and pestle.

This is when I learned lesson second lesson: Only grind the seeds. The pods are too tough and stringy to turn to powder.

For my first okra baking challenge, I used water I had boiled fresh okra in and 1 teaspoon of dried ground okra in my usual lame porridge bread recipe. The texture was slightly improved over my normal loaf. Here is the test loaf:

For my second experiment I will try 2 teaspoons ground okra seeds, and forget about the okra boiling water. I'll let you know how it turns out.

And just because I can't resist, here's a guest entry in the Lily of the Day column.

It's a zinnia with a party going on in the center. Looks festive!

While the zinnia had a party, this day lily decided to do a little sunbathing.

Dog Days?

2008-08-10T09:48:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the zucchini bread recipes! If you, too, are overstocked on zucchini, check the comments in my previous post. I've tested the first recipe, and it was wonderful! I was a little skeptical at first. The batter looked different than my former glutenized zucchini bread batter. But it baked up just fine. I still fear raisins, so I added some diced fresh apple instead.

The weather is unbelieveably comfortable in Indiana just now. Now is August. We don't do comfort in August. We do sweltering days of 90+ degrees, nights that never cool us off, and serious storms. Yesterday's high was 78 degrees. My thermometer read 58 degrees when I woke up this morning. Ahhhhhh.

I took advantage of the comfortable temps to do some yard work. I was at it for 12 hours. I still had an hour of daylight, but was too tuckered to continue. I cut brush. I pulled weeds. I used my push mower like a weed whacker and cleared out some big overgrown areas. I carefully pulled up miles of poison ivy vines. I wore shoe and socks all day long. That's a departure for me.

I'm a little stiff this morning. I expect the kinks will work themselves out when I begin "Operation Mulch" after CBS Sunday Morning is over.

To take a break from the heavy work, I picked some vegetables.

Jack: I have your beanstalk. You are welcome to climb it any time.

I have steamed beans. I have sauteed beans. I have pickled beans. I have canned beans. I have frozen beans. I have made bean salad. I like beans a lot. Good thing!

These are the tomatoes I've picked in the last two days. I hope this photo helps my cousin, Kathy, remember her Indiana roots. She and her mom introduced me to tomato pie. The two of us can polish off a whole pie by ourselves. Kathy lives in Florida now. Indiana tomatoes are much better than Florida tomatoes. And the tomatoes in my back yard are better than any other tomatoes in Indiana. No, I'm not biased!

My cherry tomatoes make the tastiest sundried tomatoes. When dried, Sungold tomatoes (the orange ones) are sweet like a dried apricot. But I like red and yellow ones, too. I think they are all pretty together. I put them on pizza and use them for a GREAT layered dip with goat cheese. When these tomatoes are done, I'll make some and post the recipe.

Here is my technique for drying tomatoes: I wash my tomatoes and get out my dehydrator when the 11:00 news starts. You don't need fancy equipment. I bought this dehydrator for $20, over 20 years ago.

I leave an empty tray as the bottom layer of the stack. I slice my cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut-side-up on the tray. I hold the filled tray over the sink and generously sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt. When my trays are full, I put the lid on top and go to bed.

In the morning the bottom layer is done, or nearly done. I check all the trays, and put the done ones in a bowl. I move the least done tray to the bottom layer and put the lid back on. During the day, I check the trays several times. I take out the done ones, and leave the rest. When they are all done, I put them in a zip lock bag and store them in the freezer. They keep for years in the freezer!

Don't agonize over perfectly matching dried tomatoes. After I put them all together in a bag, they seem to even out in texture.

This is a Baby Bubba okra. It's a new variety, for me. It's more bush-like than stalk-like. And so far, it's a good producer. Good flavor, too! I pick okra every day because they ripen fast. I've used my okra in gumbo, and I've pickled some. It's also nice, steamed and cooled, on a veggie tray with some dip.

I'm going to dry some of these. They thicken soup. And the water I cook them in is positively gummy. I'm going to grind some dried okra and add a little to my bread dough. I can't use xanthan gum, and I hope this will be a good substitute. I'll let you know if it works. The weather is too good to come indoors for baking just now.

I've got chiles! Salsa soon!

Here's a visitor to my garden. The cool temps let the bumble bees relax. They slowed down enough for photo ops.

And here's the Lily of the Day: Surprise! They're Suprise Lilies!

In search of

2008-08-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

Gluten free zucchini bread recipes. I'm desperate! Please leave me links or recipes in the comments. (Note: Sadly, no bananas or pineapple for me.)

In past years, I always had a freezer full of (glutenized) zucchini breads. I need to make the switch.

In Indiana, if you walk up to a friend's house carrying a basket of zucchini they will lock their doors and pretend they're not home. Zucchini bread, however, is always welcome.

You know this recipe by heart!

2008-08-04T09:38:00.000-04:00

It's my first BLT of the season. I finally picked a ripe tomato! I've had enough cherry tomatoes for my salads for a while, but I needed a "slicer." Winning the "race to red" contest was a delightful flat, smallish tomato called Red Star. I discovered this variety last year and decided they were a good addition to the tomato patch. They are thin-skinned and tangy. And they ripen early.

I used lettuce leaf (or mammoth) basil in place of lettuce, and I had two layers of bacon and tomato slices. I whipped up a batch of homemade mayonnaise using the Hellmans clone recipe from Kopykat. And it was all piled on Carrie's soft sandwich bread. You can find her recipe by clicking on Ginger Lemon Girl on the right, then going to her recipe index. I can't say enough about this bread! These slices had been in the freezer for a couple of weeks. I warmed them in the toaster and they were perfect!

And I made chicken fingers! They are unbelieveably easy.

I eat a slice and a half of toast with my eggs for breakfast. I wrap the extra (buttered) half and put it in the fridge. Some days I spread peanut butter on the extra for a late afternoon snack. But I'd been missing my snack time lately so I had a few half slices hanging around. I threw them in the food processor and turned them to crumbs. I sliced up a couple of chicken breasts and dipped the slices in water. I seasoned the strips with salt and pepper and rolled them in the crumbs. Then I baked them on a greased cookie sheet for about ten minutes. Voila! Chicken fingers! I think the butter on my leftover toast made them extra tasty.

And, yes, I eat green and yellow beans every day, with nearly every meal. My bush beans are really cranking out the produce right now. And my pole beans are trying to shoot vines to the moon. Life is good in Kay's Garden!

Although my gardens need tending (thistles are trying to take over the potato patch,) I spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons floating in my pool and reading. Some of the reading was research, and some was just for fun. We had perfect weather - low 80s and low humidity. I'd planned to catch up on my weeding Sunday night. But, no! I had to go to a party instead! I had a great time.

Bonus! At the party I was invited to the last Indians home game of the season. That's the Indianapolis Indians, our minor league sluggers. I'm glad I gave myself the weekend off!

Stuffed eggplant

2008-08-01T08:58:00.001-04:00

Surprise! I finally have a recipe to post! I took a break from my eating-the-same-things-every-week schedule to try something new. My lavender eggplants are so pretty and tempting, I just had to dress them up a bit.

Stuffed Eggplant

2 smallish eggplants
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
half a sweet onion, minced
1 clove garlic
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 chopped green chile
1 t salt
1 C gf bread crumbs
Chives and garlic chives, snipped small

Wash the eggplants and cut them in half, the long way. Scoop out pulp to about 1/2 inch of the skin. Dice pulp. In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat. Chop the garlic. Brown it in the oil and butter. Add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add eggplant pulp, chile, tomatoes, bread crumbs, both chives and salt. Mix well. Heap the filling in the eggplant shells. Bake at 375 degrees until browned, about 30 minutes.

Now you've got a great vegetarian dinner. For you meat eaters, I think some spicy sausage or bacon crumbles would be nice additions. You can add some shredded cheese on top when the baking is nearly done.

A colorful harvest

2008-07-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

It's a little early for root crops, but I decided to thin out my carrot and beet beds. Instead of pulling out little starts and throwing them away, I wait a bit. Then I pull out the biggest ones and eat them when they are baby-sized and tender.

The Vidalia onions I planted from seed had stopped growing tops. So I think they are done. Maybe I'm supposed to save these pearl onions and plant them as sets next year. Nope, I'm going to eat them.

I planted a different variety of rainbow carrots this year. Last year I used Burpee's rainbow mix. It was the seeds of several varieties mixed together in one packet. This year I found an interesting offering in the R.H. Shumway seed catalog. All the carrots are the same variety, but that one variety produces many colors of carrots. The babies I pulled were light yellow and orange.

The beet patch was looking crowded, so I pulled a few of the larger ones. They're chioggia beets and feature a bullseye inside. So I had to cut one open. So pretty!

It's the height of bean season, and I've got lots of pretty varieties - Cherokee wax, dragon tongue, contender, and blue lake pole beans.

I only have two eggplant plants. With the large, dark varieties I don't usually get to harvest until late August or September. But I've already had about ten of these smaller lavender ones. I'll be stuffing these babies with tomatoes, onions, basil and bread crumbs for dinner with a veg-aholic friend.

I have so many cucumbers I don't know what to do! Yes, I do. Pickles, of course! I react to something (maybe tumeric) in store-bought pickles. So I'm trying to make enough homemade pickles to last until next year's cucumber crop comes in. Here's a rerun of my pickle recipe, with a few new tips.

Kay's Dill Pickles

2 C water
1 C cider vinegar
2 T sea salt (non-iodized)
1 bunch of dill for each jar
1/4 t mustard seeds for each jar
cucumbers

This recipe makes enough brine for about three pints of pickles. If you have lots of cucumbers, double or triple this recipe. For my last batch, I tripled it. It made six pints and two quarts.

Boil the first three ingredients for five minutes. Sterilize jars in boiling water. Cool and dry the jars. (Or just run the jars and lids through the dishwasher, like I do.) Put a bunch of dill and 1/4 t mustard seeds in the bottom of each jar. Fill with (room temperature) cucumber slices. Really pack them in! Pour the hot brine into the jars over the cucumbers. Leave leftover brine in the pan. Let the jars of cucumbers and brine stand for 10 minutes. Pour the liquid from the jars back into the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 10 minutes.

Fill a Dutch oven or large pot half-full with water. Bring it to a boil while your brine is cooking down.

Pour the reduced brine back over the cucumber slices, to 1/4 inch from the top of the jar. Clean and dry the jar threads and seal with lids. Set your boiling water off the heat. Set the sealed jars into the pan of water. Water need not cover the jars. It's fine if the water comes 1/2 to 2/3 up on the jars. Do not process or cook. Let the jars cool completely in this pan of water.

Here's what I do next: go to bed! When I wake up the next morning, the jars have sealed and cooled down. These pickles are tasty if you eat them right away, but they're better if you wait a week or so.

Use ONLY stainless steel or enamel coated pots for making pickles, and plastic or stainless steel utensils. Since I have a well, I use bottled water in the brine. I reuse old pickle jars. The rubber seals on the lids will hold up for two or three picklings. Glass quart mayonnaise jars can be reused. You can buy metal rings and lids in the canning section of most grocery stores.

I use the brine without fresh dill or mustard seed to pickle asparagus, using the same method. Then I use the pickled asparagus in place of artichokes in my Greek salads.

Last week I bravely ventured out of town for the first time since going gluten free. I attended the Midwest Writers Workshop at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. Because my body is still VERY sensitive to some foods, I took all my meals with me. The kitchen staff was great! They let me store my food in their refrigerator and reheat meals in their microwave. They also prepared gluten free meals for two other workshop attendees.

I am REALLY glad I went! I got to meet Bill Fitzhugh, a favorite (funny!) mystery author, and get good advice from lots of authors and agents. I feel like I'm finally ready to write fiction, just as soon as I get a break from the gardens.

Abundance!

2008-07-22T22:56:00.000-04:00

I love the harvesting part of this farmin' thing! My basket is full every morning. Those puny little plants I stuck in the ground six to eight weeks ago have grown like crazy!

Here's my little bean patch. The pole bean towers are as high as I can comfortably reach. The pole beans have just started to bloom. The bush beans are giving me more beans than I can eat!

I've made a few pickles, and some jellies. My shelves are bending under the weight.

Here's what's ripe today - or almost ripe. I wish those tomatoes would hurry up!

Chilis, tomatoes, gypsy peppers, blackberries, yes, that's a honey bee in my cleome, eggplant.

My chigger bite count stands at about 1000. Sheesh! I'll put up with those itchy critters so I can enjoy my good bugs. No chemicals here!

The winged creatures in the bee balm are hummingbird moths. I had three moths and one real hummingbird in the bee balm at once! I clicked about 30 (mostly blurry) photos. These two were the only decent shots.

Good thing I've got photos, because I'm too busy to write much!

Morning chores

2008-07-15T08:54:00.000-04:00

I needed a basket to gather all my ripe produce this morning. I picked my first green and yellow beans, my first lavender eggplant, and my last asparagus. Also my last black raspberries and gooseberries. I pulled a couple of baby beets. They need a few more weeks, but I wanted an early treat. The cucumbers have been ripening two at a time for a week or so. I picked a dozen yesterday! I'm ready to tackle that sweet gherkin recipe that requires daily maintenance.

I wasn't the only one to discover the cucumbers. The wascaly wabbit has helped himself to four of my crisp beauties. I planted bush cukes in the back garden, because I thought they wouldn't vine. Wrong! I have vines galore! They're already five feet long - and still growing! I may have to set up a make-shift trellis. The cukes on the ground are too accessible to my short, furry friends.

After three weeks of constant cherry picking and pitting, my cherry season is over. I picked all the cherries I could reach on my tree. There were only a few very high branches that I couldn't get to. The birds stripped those branches clean in 24 hours! My friend, Richard, reported that there were still MANY cherries left on his tree. So I picked four more gallons at his house. I have a wealth of cherries in my freezer. I've made a couple of batches of jam, and several cobblers.

I even dried some in my dehydrator. I split them in half and sprinkled them with sugar. They are still very tart. They may be good in a sweet oatmeal cookie.

This little gem will grow into a dragon tongue bean. That's a flat yellow bean with purple stripes. I like them because they are tender and hold on the vine well. Don't you love baby pictures?

I have two patches of bee balm behind my pool. The purple patch blooms first, and then the red patch takes over. My hummingbirds love the bee balm. They visit every day while I'm floating on my raft. They are speedy and fearless.

And here's the day lily of the day. Many varieties are in full bloom now. I have a rainbow of yellow, oranges, reds and maroons.

I didn't post my Monday Menu because it's the same as every other week's menu. I filled the oven with some chicken, some pork, and a peach cobbler. I'm sticking to basics. Even so, I managed to poison myself somehow. I've been puffy and itchy and groggy for eight days now. I'd really gotten used to feeling good every day. I'm anxious for this to pass.

I'll be leaving town (eek!) for a writers conference next week. I'll be taking all my food with me. So I'm trying to plan and prepare carefully. It's my first trip since going gluten free. I'll miss the (relative) security of my own kitchen. I love my house and my big yard, but I don't want to be captive here. I need to figure out how to travel. This is my first baby step.

Hope you can join us!

2008-07-05T23:03:00.000-04:00

Kate over at Gluten Free Godsmacked is throwing a virtual barbecue! Thanks for the invitation! Just click on the title of this post to link to the shindig.

I signed up for the letter T, so I could bring my Tomato Pie. It was one of my favorites before going gluten free. And it was a big hit at my farmers market booth last summer. So I wanted to find a way to make it gluten free. I've given up a lot of former favorites for my health.

I AM NOT GIVING UP TOMATO PIE!

The crust was the biggest challenge for me. I think this dish would be great as a crustless casserole, but I didn't want to chicken out. I hadn't attempted pastry, and was a little intimidated by the challenge. So I tried a rich crust that can be pressed into the pan instead of a rolled crust. You can use any crust recipe that works for you. And if you have a good one, please share it with me!

Kay's Tomato Pie

3 or 4 large tomatoes
1 medium onion
Salt

First, cut your tomatoes into 1/2" cubes, and dice your onion. Put them in a colander, over a bowl, and salt them like crazy. Really, use more salt than you need for taste. The salt will pull out some of the moisture, so you don't get a soggy pie. Let them sweat while you make and bake your crust. You will discard the salty tomato plasma that collects in the bowl.

Crust
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/2 C tapioca starch
2 T arrowroot
2 T sorghum flour
1/8 t salt
1 stick cold butter, sliced
2 T goat cheese
1 t vinegar

Mix dry ingredients in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Add the butter, cheese and vinegar and beat on medium until creamy. Press it into your pie pan with your fingers. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until crust starts to brown.

While your pie crust is in the oven, mix up the creamy topping.

1 1/2 C mayonnaise (I used homemade. Hellman's light works great.)
1 1/2 C grated sharp cheese (I used aged provolone. Extra sharp cheddar works great.)
Stir them together.

Cool your baked pie crust for 5 minutes. Then cover the edges with foil strips. Add a handful of chopped fresh basil and a generous shake of ground pepper to your tomatoes. Stir to distribute the flavors, and place them in your baked crust. Spread your cheesy mayo all over the top. Place your pie on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. The top should have some browned spots, but should not be all brown. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting. May also be served at room temperature.

I can't wait to see what everyone else brought to the barbecue! Kate will post links to all 26 recipes (one for every letter of the alphabet!) on or about July 7.

Y'all come!

New heights!

2008-06-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

It's Super Kris! He climbed my wobbly ladder and picked lots of those cherries that were taunting me from the high branches. Thanks, Super Kris!

I shot this photo from the deck, which is several feet above the top of the hill. The cherry tree is near the bottom of the hill. So ladder placement is always tricky.

Random Tips

2008-06-29T12:02:00.000-04:00

I call this one "Sunset over the cherry tree." I took it from my deck, looking west last night. I was picking cherries and looked over my shoulder. I had to climb down from the ladder and run for my camera. The glow only lasted a few minutes. This is about as close as we come to aurora borealis in Indiana.

Since I've been working in the yard day and night, I've come up with some time saving practices I'd like to share. I envy all of you who can stroll through farmers markets and gourmet stores, linger over new cookbooks, and prepare meals at a leisurely pace. But that's not me, so I've made some adjustments.

Now that I've figured out which recipes work for me, I'm baking in batches. About every ten days I need a baking day. I make a double batch of bread, slice both loaves, and freeze little two-slice packages for later use. Before I mastered homemade mayonnaise and found a good pickle recipe, one loaf would last about ten days. I only ate two slices a day with my breakfast. Sandwiches are back! And they're so easy and tasty, I'm going through more bread.

When I turn on the oven, I fill it up. I don't need the oven heating up the whole house, repeatedly. This is where my time saving practices go green! I can reheat in the microwave and the a/c gets a break.

Today I filled my oven with a small ham, four chicken thighs, two loaves of bread, and a cherry cobbler. On the stove, I cooked a pan of brown rice and sauteed some veggies. I cooked some green beans with spring onions, and boiled some potatoes for potato salad. I did all my cooking while CBS Sunday Morning was on. I love that show! Too often, good weather coaxes me outside on Sunday mornings. I was happy to work in the kitchen while enjoying some culture.

By the way, I made a double batch of streusel topping for the cherry cobbler. Half went into the freezer for my next cobbler. The next cobbler will feature different fruit, so it will be a different flavor, even though the topping is the same. The cherries taste more decadent than other fruits I've used - apples, rhubarb, blueberries. My second crop of rhubarb is coming in, and the gooseberries are almost ripe. The black raspberries are so precious I will probably make jelly from all of them. I'll feel secure having a year's worth of black raspberry jelly in my pantry.

I harvested a couple of heads of Brunia lettuce from the garden (during a commercial) and made a gallon zip lock bag of salad mix. I made TWO bottles of my default vinaigrette. (Duh! Why didn't I think of this before?) I can change it up by adding a splash of balsamic or red wine when serving.

When I fried bacon for breakfast, I added a few extra slices to use on pizza later in the week. I found some lovely fresh mozzarella at the new Fresh Market. I have piles of fresh basil. No tomatoes yet, so I'll have to use sauce. But I'm already looking forward to that pizza! I made a double batch of pizza crust a couple of weeks ago. So the extra crust is waiting in the freezer.

As a professional cook, I'm used to big batch cooking. During the school year I prepare meals for about 85 people daily. If you can get used to having lots of pots boiling at once, it's a real time saver. I'm set for the week!

Here's my cherry cobbler. It's tangy!

Kay's Cherry Cobbler

2 1/2 C pitted fresh cherries
3 T Zulka cane sugar
3 T quick tapioca

Mix together and spread evenly in a 7 x 7 buttered casserole dish.

1/3 C softened butter
1/2 C Zulka cane sugar
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/4 C gluten free rolled oats

Mix in the stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Sprinkle on top of the cherry mixture. Bake about 40 minutes at 350. I take mine out when the topping just starts to brown.

And here's my last random tip for combating poison ivy. While clearing three or four bonfires worth of brush last night, I must have encountered some. I've been lucky to avoid contamination so far this season. I forgot to follow my own rules. After I've been working with weeds, I always spray my exposed flesh with rubbing alcohol and rinse with cold hose water. If I think I might have walked in poison ivy, I spray and rinse my tennis shoes as well. I keep a spray bottle (from the $1 store) on the back stoop for convenience. But I forgot to use it last night.

This morning I have itchy bumps on my arm. Rats! So I'm using my homeopathic cure. I empty a capsule of slippery elm onto a saucer. Then I add a drop or two of water and make a paste. I put that on the blisters. The itching stops right away, and it's drug-free. The slippery elm draws out the poison and I heal up in few days.

Ah, summer!

Indians Fan

2008-06-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo for Karen at Gluten Free Sox Fan. It's Victory Field in beautiful downtown Indianapolis. Our Indianapolis Indians, farm team for the Pittsburgh Pirates, play at The Vic.

That's the RCA Dome on the left, and the new Lucas Oil Stadium behind the steam plant on the right. I think our whole city looks like a giant Mayberry when viewed from inside The Vic. The hard lines of the cityscape are softened. The people are friendlier. We're all on the same team, and our team plays in a really great place.

The announcer always welcomes fans to "the best minor league ball park in the world." He welcomed me on Tuesday night. My friend David (owner of the oft mentioned Chatterbox,) hosted our first baseball outing of the season. The age range in our group was from 3 to 90. It was a good group, and a perfect night for baseball.

It was my first baseball game since going gluten free. So I ate dinner at home before the game. No matter. I still wanted a hotdog dripping with ketchup and relish when I got there. Next time, I'm taking along some snacks. I enjoyed a pre-game gluten free New Grist beer on the Chatterbox patio, pictured below.

If you're a race fan, or have another reason to visit out fair city in the summer, I recommend a visit to see the Indians play. And a stop at The Chatterbox before or after!

As previously mentioned, I am five years behind on my weeding. Since I'm feeling so much better this summer, I'm trying to get caught up in four short months. But I'm really glad I took a break for a little summer fun. Daylight Saving Time has all but eliminated evenings for me. I work in the yard until dark. Sunset is around 9:30. Then I put my tools away. Then it's time for a little dinner and off to bed. This weekend's fireworks displays won't start until 10:00. I prefer my fireworks at 9:00, and I'm not fond of DST.

Catching up

2008-06-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

I seem to be in my usual summer work mode. I usually get up about 7:30. I work on the computer a bit and eat breakfast. I'm out the door and working in the gardens by about 9:00. And I stay there until dark, which is about 10:00 p.m. I take a break in the heat of the day to float in my pool and read, and I generally remember to eat lunch. But my garden chores are never done. Honestly. I've never come in the house at night and thought, "Well, that should do it."

Now that my vegetable gardens are planted, weeds have invaded the early beds. And the woods weeds are trying to take over my flower beds. So I have been armed with a weed whacker, a shovel, a hoe, pruners, a claw tool and a machete for my daily tending rituals. Soon I'll get out the chain saw.

Of course, harvesting my crops makes it worth all the work! I think I'll start a new photo feature called "What's Ripe Today." Here's my first installment:

Life is just a bowl of cherries! I have picked many, many bowls of cherries in the last few days. Fortunately, I am a contortionist and have near super human powers to climb, stretch and balance. And I have a very attractive climbing outfit. I put a gallon ziplock bag inside an old fanny pack (which I wear with the pouch in front) and I have a couple of plastic grocery bags attached to the belt on either side of the pouch. Then I perform feats of daring and return to the ground with overflowing bags of cherries and very sticky fingers.

I've picked a few of my black currants. More to come! They make a great jelly, but they're pretty sour right off the bush. I mix them with other berries to add a beautiful tint to jam.

The gooseberries are just starting to pink up. Some prefer green, I like mine ripe.

This is my largest cucumber. I've named him "Gerkin." I predict he'll be salad fare by mid-week.

My first zucchini! It's the light green variety, with a bulbous end. I might even eat his blossom.

And here are some honorable mentions:

Not nearly ripe, and three months behind schedule, my second planting of potatoes has sprouted! The first plantings were under water too long. So I dug a new bed in an area with better drainage. Looks like it was a good move.

These are black raspberries. I've eaten exactly four, so far. As you can see, there will be more!

I have 128 varieties of daylilies that offer blooms all summer long. This is one of my favorites.

Yes, I even baked something this week. This is my peach bluberry cobbler, before it went into the oven. Turned out great!

I also tried Carrie's soft sandwich bread. YOU SHOULD TOO! Although my loaf fell in the middle, I'm eating it anyway. (No fault with the recipe. I had to leave out and sub a few ingredients.) The texture is fabulous! It is SOFT and tasty. Now that I've figured out how to make my own mayonnaise, I'm really happy to have a great sandwich bread. I thoroughly enjoyed my odd-looking chicken salad sandwich. I've got some homemade sweet pickles resting in brine. They should be ready in about a week. Then I'm making ham salad.

Happy Summer Solstice! I hope you're enjoying foods from your own gardens, or great finds at the farmers markets.

Go fish!

2008-06-12T09:04:00.000-04:00

We had two rain-free days in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday! That's the first time that's happened since April. Since we were in a relative dry spell, I finally dug a big hole and planted my new peach tree. It had about a dozen peaches on it when I bought it. Three of them are left. Wind knocked the others off.

My cherries are just starting to turn. My guess is it will be ten days until harvest. And my gooseberries are big and fat. Most gooseberry pies are made with green berries. I really love jelly made from ripe, purplish berries. So I'll wait for them to turn as well.

I tried a new tuna salad replacement experiment. Still having issues with stuff that comes in cans and jars, even when the ingredients list no forbidden substances.

I really miss my Hellman's mayonnaise, with it's forbidden soybean oil. So I'd made some homemade mayonnaise. First I tried to whip some up in my mini blender. Didn't work. Came out soupy. So I tried the same recipe again using a hand whisk and a bowl. Worked great! I could have just eaten the whole bowlful with a spoon!

Then I poached two tilapia fillets in water with just sugar and salt. When they cooled, I broke tham apart and stirred in some celery, carrots, a hard boiled egg, and some of my fresh mayonnaise. I ate it with sliced yellow tomatoes. De-lish! The next day I ate the rest of it for lunch. Sorry, no photo. It's all gone now. I'll be making this again and again. I'm delighted to have a replacement for tuna salad, which I could eat every day during tomato season.

I had the great fortune to spend one winter in Key West. I fished at least a couple of days every week. I always had plenty of fish available. So did everyone else on the island. So there were many variations of fish salad recipes. Some started with smoked fish, others grilled fish, and some of us just cooked our fish on the stove. All the locals seemed to have their own "secret family recipe." Some used hot peppers, some sweet peppers. Most used mayonnaise, but I remember one we used to spread on crackers that had cream cheese and green onions.

There was one I particularly liked that started by marinating the fish in sour orange juice and mojo sauce from the grocery. I think we used that one on the cero mackeral, and maybe mullett. Orange trees produce sour fruit when their roots hit salt water, so we had a lot of sour oranges down there. There was a key lime tree across the street from my house, (house? ha! I mean the trailer from purgatory!) so I used them for lots of marinades.

I was happy to reclaim my Key West state of mind for a while. It was nice to relive an evening of cooking after a day of fishing on Captain John's Greyhound. I probably went fishing with Captain John and Mate Jeff a hundred times over ten years of vacations and one winter as a "snowbird." We fished in all kinds of weather. I came home fishless exactly twice. That's a pretty good record!

One of the biggest challenges of fishing (for me) is maintaining an even suntan. The Greyhound had a sun deck up top. So I could change positions and angles while the boat moved from one fishing spot to the next.

History is made in Southern Indiana

2008-06-08T18:31:00.000-04:00

If you'd like to read about the historic flooding in my neck of the woods, click on over to http://kaysdays.livejournal.com/. The lake cottage that my grandpa built (construction began shortly after I was born) is intact. It sits way above the water. But the biggest dam in the chain of lakes burst Saturday morning. Yeah, that's the lake our house is on. That's our dam.

Milestone!

2008-06-07T09:26:00.000-04:00

Boy, am I happy! Since going gf in January, my body is responding well! The unexplained puffiness of the last few years is going away! I noticed some waning right away, but I continue to shrink. I was blown up like an oompah loompah for at least three years.

And today, (drum roll) I have pulled all my old favorite shorts out of the Goodwill bag because they fit me again! Yahooey! I missed my comfy old duds! I missed being my comfy old size!

I wish I had photographic evidence, like Sally over at Aprovechar. You should check out her amazing transformation! But I was careful to avoid cameras when I was lugging around my Santa-belly. Now I have my concrete proof. Waistbands don't lie!

This tiny pitcher holds the dozen or so four leaf clovers I've found in the last two days. I am, indeed, a lucky girl!

I'm so amazed by the weekly menus many of you post! You're so organized. And you've given me lots of ideas.

I'm still in the "playing it safe" portion of my new gluten free lifestyle. I can't use any powdered spices except salt and pepper. I can have a little red meat, once in a while. I can have a little dairy. I'm not giving up butter, but I try to substitute rice milk or goat milk products. No corn. No soy. No "gums." The entire cabbage family, and legumes, bananas and pineapple are out. I can't use any products that come in a jar or a box or a can. So my options are limited.

I eat my safe foods every week. I generally spend one whole day or night in the kitchen. I bake bread. I bake a chicken and some pork. I steam a pot of green beans. Some weeks I fix a big stirfry, or saute vegetables.

I sometimes miss the convenience items I used to buy, but I'm slowly making my own from scratch. The pickles worked out well. Now I need to work on a homemade mayonnaise. I'll try ketchup when my tomatoes are ripe. I am suspicious of mustard, because it comes in a jar. If anyone knows of a "free of nearly everything" brand, I'd appreciate a comment.

I enjoy eating like a pioneer woman. It's gotten easier, and I'm accidentally poisoning myself less these days. I feel sooooooo much better that it's all worth it!

After a sweltering Friday, I was sipping a RedBridge on the Chatterbox patio when the tornado sirens roared. So I headed home to batten down the deck furniture.

I was enjoying yet another night of weather radar on tv. More big storms. Luckily, the bad stuff missed my house. But there was lots of entertaining lightning. My kitchen work counter faces north, and that side of my house holds a picture window, double glass doors and a bay window. Good for viewing summer storms! There's a tv between the picture window and the glass doors, so I don't miss weather updates. Gotta have my radar!

I was feeling bold, and decided to try a safe version of shepherd's pie. The layered dish lends itself to substitutions. I'm sure you all have a version that fits your needs. Here's mine.

I peeled one enormous Idaho potato, cooked and mashed it with salt and pepper and a little butter and milk.

I fried up about half a pound of hamburger with some diced spring onions, salt and pepper.

I sauteed a half pound of mushrooms in a tablespoon of canola oil.

Then I built my casserole. Hamburger on the bottom, then mushrooms, then Monterey jack cheese, then mashed potatoes. I baked it for abour 25 minutes at 350.

It was the perfect dinner for a stormy night. I missed the layer of sweet peas that my original recipe calls for. They're too legume-y for me. Next time I might try it with steamed snow pea pods.

The rain that missed me last night hit at 7:00 a.m. There was LOUD, constant thunder for half an hour. The trenches in my potato garden look like little canals. Again. I don't think potatoes like living underwater. I may have to replant. Maybe next year I'll try planting them above ground by stuffing starts into a bale of hay. I've seen this work for others, but never tried it myself.

I will not complain about the amount of rain I have had. Areas to my south and west got over eight inches this morning. Roads are closed, big roads like I-65 and I-70! I am a lucky (and merely damp) girl!

Garden Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2008-06-01T08:59:00.001-04:00

I still have asparagus spears popping up in the myrtle. I've been enjoying asparagus nearly every day for about a month now. I add it to my stir fry, I chop it fresh in my salads, I grill a handful for my dinner side dish.

I remembered a treat from my archives that is easy to convert to gluten free! I won the American Dairy Association of Indiana recipe contest with this one in 2001. It was a grilled cheese theme that year. The top six recipes got to compete in a grill off, with local food celebrity judges. My entry won by one slim point. I decorated my plate of appetizer-size sandwiches with miniature daffodils from my garden. So that one extra point might have come from the "presentation" category. Here's my gluten free version.

Kay's Garden Grilled Cheese

About half a loaf gluten free bread, 8 slices
8 slices crumbled bacon
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened (Because cream cheese contains guar gum, I now sub 6 oz. goat cheese and 1 to 2 oz. sour cream, blended until smooth.)
4 T grated sharp cheddar cheese
20 asparagus spears, cooked tender crisp
1 to 2 T chopped fresh dill
zest of one lemon
butter

Combine bacon, cream cheese, lemon zest and dill. Spread mixture on one side side of each slice of bread. Sprinkle half of the slices with cheddar cheese. Place asparagus spears on top of the cheddar, cut to fit if necessary. Top with an un-cheddared slice.

Melt butter in a skillet. Grill the sandwiches, turning once, until bread is lightly browned.

These can also be oven-grilled. Brush the sandwiches with melted butter and bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, turning after the first 6 minutes.

This sandwich lends itself to lots of variations, so add whatever sounds tasty. And don't be afraid to substitute.

I usually made small sandwiches and served them as appetizers. So I mostly used the oven method.

My gardens are nearing completion! I have most of my plants in the ground, and a little space left over. I've been working on these gardens a long time. I harvested my first whole heads of lettuce yesterday, as I was getting the last of my tomatoes planted. And the my beets sprouted in the root bed the same day.

This is just two heads of lettuce, one bibb and one Brunia red oak leaf. They filled my basket!

Today I'll help plant Rich's big garden. While I have seven different vegetable beds, nestled in among the flowers, Rich has one big "manly-man" garden. I'll help build the tower for pole beans. Then I'll help plant the corn that he can eat and I can't. Last year's Silver Queen crop helped me diagnose my corn allergy. It was quite tasty! We sold hot buttered ears at our little farmers market. I always ate at least one ear myself. That's okay, I'll watch others enjoy it this year.

Time to give up shoes and socks!

2008-05-30T22:48:00.000-04:00

I've been waiting a long time for spring to start feeling like summer. We've had a few warmish days, but the nights have remained cool. It's certainly been comfortable. And I haven't had to turn on the air conditioner or the furnace. But my vegetable plants need some warm nights so they can start growing in earnest.

Wonder Melon toes!

A high of 80 degrees was predicted for Race Day, May 25. So I painted my toenails their summer color. I think it's called Wonder Melon. It's a good summer color! We didn't hit 80, but my feet didn't get cold in sandals. So I'm ready to give up socks for the season.

I've been busy working on my gardens all week. I've installed weed cloth, held down by strips of carpet. It's a weird look, but it works. I'll be re-carpeting the pool site as soon as I finish my planting. I've had an 8' pool for the last few years. Last fall I found a deal on a 10' pool, so I upgraded. I need a bigger chunk of carpet.

Having a pool makes my gardening life easier. I take breaks during the heat of summer days to float on my raft and read paperback novels. I only read outdoors. So the stack of books I'm dying to read is getting pretty tall. I read my first two in the lounge chair. I just finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I loved it! I'm also hooked on the Stephanie Plum series from Janet Evanovich. I found Plum Lovin' and read it in one afternoon.

I baked a ham this week. I decided to try a ham and cheese sandwich. I've had exactly two sandwiches in 2008. Both were disappointing. I was encouraged to see a new soft sandwich bread recipe from Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl. I hope to try it on my next baking day. So I settled for my improving porridge bread.

I seem to react to every (EVERY!) pre-made mayonnaise. I'm okay with that. I warmed my sandwich, so the cheese was a little melty. It was a good little half a sandwich, but something was missing. Pickles!

I seem to react to everything that comes in a jar, box or can. So I made some easy, quick pickles with entirely safe ingredients. The next day I had another half a ham & cheese with pickles. Perfect! I've planted about 20 cucumber plants so far. I'll be happy when they start producing. I'm going to make lots of these pickles. They are crisp and delightful.

Kay's Crispy Pickles

2 C water
1 C cider vinegar
2 T sea salt (not iodized)
1 big dill head for each jar or a small bunch of tarragon

Boil water, vinegar and salt 5 minutes. Put a dill head int he bottom of each jar, then fill up with clean cucumbers, whole or sliced. Pour boiling brine into jars of cucumber and let sit 10 minutes. Pour the brine back into the kettle and boil again for 10 minutes. Pour the brine back over the cucumbers, clean the threads of the jars, and seal with lids.

While the brine is boiling the second time, bring a kettle half-filled with plain water to a boil. After sealing the jars, place them in the boiling water. Turn off the heat. Do not process the pickles. Water need not cover the jars. About a third of the jar should be above the water line. Allow the jars to cool completely in this pan of water. I went to bed, and they were perfect in the morning.

I used small jars, that added up to about a quart. My dill is tiny just now, so I used a small bunch of fresh tarragon in each jar. I used to make tarragon cornichons for my special remoulade sauce, so I knew I would like the tarragon. I'll use dill when mine grows up.

I also pickled some asparagus, using the same recipe. I use the litte ones in place of artichokes in my Greek salad. The long spears look pretty on an antipasto tray.

Daddy cat and the lettuce patch.

No, it's not a poppy, it's a peony!

My favorite show has been on tv all night - weather radar! We're having our first severe storm of the year. Sounds really severe just north of my house. Power is out, a roof blew off, roads are flooded, and trees are down. I think it would be a good time to unplug my computer.

2008-05-23T23:21:00.000-04:00

Milo, my big orange fur ball, passed away on Tuesday night. He was sixteen. I remember when my brother sent me a video titled "Baby kitties at the kitty ranch" so I could choose two from the litter of four. I chose Venus and Milo and drove over to Illinois to pick them up in a couple of weeks. We got to enjoy sweet Venus until she was three years old. Then Milo got a new sister, Minnie Mouse, a spirited waif who had been dumped at the greenhouse where I was a volunteer. She was a good addition, and especially loved the winter we got to live in Key West.

Daddy Cat was a homeless outdoor cat who was our friend. He waited two years for an indoor space to be available. I wasn't sure he would like living indoors, but he gladly made the transition. And Milo got his first brother. The girl kitties had always been in charge. I think Milo liked being on equal footing with "the new guy." He always remembered the lessons the girls taught him. And he followed their rules long after they were gone.

Daddy and I miss Milo. But I'm glad he's free of his failing body. Here are some of my favorite kitty photos.

I had some trouble cropping my old scanned photos. The baby pictures are my favorite. Venus and Milo liked every window sill.

Here's Milo in the sink, Minnie and Milo in the Trailer from Hell (which I improved to be the Trailer from Purgatory) in Key West, and Milo imitating art.

It's been another busy week around here. The weather was dry enough for gardening a couple of days. I'm still waiting to finish the new beds. They need to be tilled again, but the rain just hasn't stopped. I have a dozen tomato plants in the ground. I'll put in a dozen more. It will probably be June before I finish the vegetable beds. This year marks my latest start, ever.

Some friends and I decided to enter a 48-hour film competition. The entire project will be started and finished in 48 hours in June. Those are the rules. We draw for our genre on a Friday night, and all the films are shown at a gala premiere the following Sunday. We had our first film meeting this week, and we viewed some past entries. We're excited about this new creative challenge. The "Best Film" goes on to national and international contests. We hope to be very clever.

So those are the reasons there are no new recipes (again) this week. I wish all of you great gluten free bloggers lived in my neighborhood. We could take turns cooking and help each other out. We could share our bountiful harvests.

Breaking News!

2008-05-20T17:08:00.000-04:00

Indianapolis will host the 2012 Superbowl! Yahooey! Are you ready for some football?

There's more good news for our city. Tech High School will get a new indoor athletic facility! It will serve as the required second practice field during the Superbowl. Then it belongs to Tech.

My parents both graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in the 1940's. I believe they still use the same gym that they did back then. Tech is a public school. They offer a variety of vocational programs, including cooking, for those who students who want to be food professionals. I'll be happy to see some future chefs have a chance to be great high school athletes.

Fresh turned dirt and blubarb cobbler

2008-05-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

The rain missed my yard for a few days! My gardens have all been tilled, at least once. All but one need another pass. But I have one to work on! We got lots more rain on Monday night, so the rest of the beds need to dry out again. The rain brought more cold temps. The owner of my nearby garden shop described today as "a lovely March day." Weather forecasters predict our first 80 degree day for the Indy 500 next Sunday. 'Bout time!

My buddy, Rich, came over with his big Troy Bilt tiller on Sunday afternoon and spun all my dirt into submission. Bless his heart! I'm finally able to move ahead with my spring plantings. He'll till most of it again to work in compost.

I love fresh turned dirt. It's beautiful. It's black and powdery and inviting. It's a fresh palette, ready for my chosen colors. My yard looks clean and promising. I even like the smell of fresh dirt.

In celebration, I harvested a little rhubarb. I converted a long-time favorite recipe to gluten free. It started as a rhubarb torte, maybe 20 years ago. I added some blueberries about 15 years ago, and have been adding them ever since. It's been a staple at my annual spring party for years. One friend calls it "Blubarb Cobbler."

Kay's Blubarb Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the topping ingredients with your mixer:

1/2 C softened butter (or shortening)
1 C brown rice flour
3/4 C brown sugar
1 C gluten free oatmeal
1 t cinnamon

In a small saucepan mix 1/2 C sugar with 1 T cornstarch (or 1 t arrowroot.) Whisk in 1/2 C water and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture is thick. Remove from heat and add 1 t vanilla.

Toss 2 C cut fresh rhubarb and 2 C frozen blueberries into a buttered 6 cup casserole or cobbler dish.

Pour the thickened mixture over the fruit. Stir it up a little. Spread the topping evenly over the fruit. Bake about 50 minutes, until the fruit starts to bubble up around the edges. Serve in a pretty dish with ice cream or whipped cream. Or grab a spoon and eat it right out of the pan!

Ta-dah!

I didn't have enough rhubarb, so I added a couple of chopped apples. It works with many combinations of fruit. If you'd like to use just rhubarb, double the sugar, cornstarch and water amounts that you cook on the stove.

And here's what I like in the garden today:

Upright hostas.
These were a gift from friends at the race party last year.
It's the first time they have bloomed in my yard.

Brunia red oak leaf lettuce
"I'm ready for my close-up!"

Rain, rain, go away

2008-05-18T09:42:00.000-04:00

I've been working between the raindrops to get my gardens planted. Not much actual planting, so far. I'm creating new beds. So mostly I've been moving plants and digging up weeds in anticipation of tilling. It's slow work. It's hard work. Gardening is the reason I don't belong to a gym. I'm not looking for recreational exercise. I get a lot of exercise just keeping my yard in shape. When I get a break, I'm looking for recreational recreation.

Speaking of recreation, I gave Daddy Cat one leaf of fresh catnip. I grow it in hanging pots, so the cats don't "over-imbibe." But some seed from last year's nip fell to the ground below. It's growing like crazy!

Mmmmmmm, nip!

No, I wasn't drooling!

I'm several years behind on my weeding. I have half an acre of gardens, and the woods tries to take them over every year. Undiagnosed celiac left me puffy and bent and sickly for the last five summers. I was a little better last summer, and started my "catch up" plan.

My body was puffed up, about 25 lbs heavier than it had ever been. My joints ached. I was told my backache was sciatica, and my foot pain was plantar's fasciitis. And my joint pain was arthritis. I marveled at my Santa-like belly. It felt so foreign, it might as well have been a third foot sticking out of my stomach. I couldn't lose weight, no matter how little I ate. My eyes were constantly puffy, and my vision was frequently blurred. My hair fell out in patches. Doctors gave me first prednisone pills, then steroid injections to make it grow back. The hair that fell out was curly brown hair. The hair that grew back was straight, stark while. I'd already discovered that I was allergic to permanent hair colors. So I was dismayed at my strange appearance. I felt like I had the flu, every day. It was a struggle to make it to work, let alone work in my yard.

So that's why I got behind on weeding . Five years behind.

In March, 2007, I had two encouraging breakthroughs where my health is concerned. A doctor decided to (finally!) test me for food allergies. Wheat allergies did not show up, but broccoli, cabbage, bananas and pineapple did. I'd been eating a lot of these foods, for my health. (Ha!)

So I eliminated these foods and began to see some improvement in my general health. Not recovery, but improvement.

Then a friend of mine gave me a bottle of Mona Vie acai juice to try. I'd tried a lot of snake oil over my five years of mysterious illness. So I was skeptical. I was pleasantly surprised to find it did me some good! I wasn't quite so puffy, and some weight just fell off me. After drinking 2 ounces a day for about two weeks, my hair started growing back! It had never grown back without those awful steroids! So I knew all those antioxidants were helping.

I had more energy than I'd in four years. I could, occasionally, put in a full day of yard work. I made a plan to "save" my gardens, and got a good start on it.

I still drink Mona Vie every day. It offers the highest concentration of acai juice available. Acai is a magic berry from the rainforest. It naturally reduces inflamation. I had a lot of inflamation! Everywhere! And reducing it a little let me see how different foods impacted my symptoms. A year later, I figured out wheat was the biggest culprit. I'll settle for my self diagnosis of celiac disease. The doctors have been wrong so many times that I've taken charge of my own health. It just took me a long time to get to the starting point. And all those misdiagnoses cost me a bundle. I could have a new car with all the money I've paid doctors to be wrong.

I finally feel like I'm in the "rebuilding" stage of my life, instead of the "circling the drain" stage.

So, back to the gardens! Spring is starting slowly here in the midwest. That's okay. I've needed the extra prep time.

Last summer, I decided to consolidate some of my flower beds. I inherited 128 varieties of day lilies when I bought this house. I love them all and wanted to keep one of each. So I moved some of the plants from the back gardens to up around the pond. I installed weedcloth and mulch between the plants. I even went to southern Indiana and collected a lot of limestone. Now the plants are closely spaced, with mulch and limestone pathways in between. And I get to mow the back gardens instead of fretting about all the weeds.

This week I've spent three long days moving plants out of the garden by the front door. I disposed of five trash bags of weeds, roots and all. That bed is well-drained and gets hot afternoon sun. So I'm turning it into the okra and onion bed. They like those particular conditions. And okra is a really pretty plant. Its blooms look like hibiscus blooms, and bugs don't eat my okra leaves. I've found a compact variety of okra called "Baby Bubba." I hope it's as pretty as the taller varieties I've tried in the past.

I've worked in the dirt for ten to twelve hours for three days in a row. That's my little miracle!

For encouragement, I walk around the yard and see how my early vegetables are doing. And I visit my tiny peaches. They're smaller than my cherries this time of year. They are so cute and fuzzy!

Here's what's growing at Kay's Leaning Tree Farm:

Snow peas

Asparagus. It grows in the myrtle.
The myrtle is high enough to block the sun, so some of the spears are white.

Lettuce. This is the mixed row.

My sage is ready to bloom.

Rhubarb!

I did all my cooking for the week last Sunday. I made a pizza, baked bread, baked a chicken, and tried two new recipes. Melanie over at The Gluti Girls fixed a great potato salad for Mother's Day. It uses a vinaigrette dressing and it's quite tasty! I added some baby spinach. Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl entered an oatmeal recipe in a contest on Gluten Free Goodness. It's in the comments section. I baked some of her fantastic apple oatmeal bars. I added a little rhubarb.

So that's why I haven't posted any new recipes of my own. I was living off other people's great ideas last week. I hope to spend lots of time in the garden again this week, and keep kitchen time to a minimum. I plan to make time to enter my oatmeal recipe in the contest. I need to convert an old favorite to gluten free. I'll get around to that when it rains, or after dark.

Spring is smacking me upside the head!

2008-05-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

Wow! This is a busy time of year! School is out. My mom's having a garage sale. My gardens need A LOT of attention.

To celebrate the end of the school year, I got together with a couple of my former houseboys from Butler. That's Tyler on the left and Ryan on the right. Me in the middle. We're at the Chatterbox, where I know I can always find a gluten free Redbridge beer. They graduated five or six years ago. They were part of the best houseboy team I've ever had. I'm always happy to see them! I love it that these successful businessmen used to wash my dishes. Bless their hearts! They're both homeowners now, and like their professional lives. And they shared news of other houseboys. We hope to get together later in the summer, when the weather has warmed and we can sit out on the Chatterbox patio.

I've been waiting months to finish converting my kitchen to totally wheat-free. I have some wheat-free "zones." All sources of potential contamination are housed in tubs with lids. But I still cook for others, who eat wheat.

My precious cookware, gathered lovingly over the years, must go someplace else. I need to make room for a few new, uncontaminated pieces. I might invest in a rolling rack, that I can keep in another room and bring out to cook for the wheat eaters. Then I can keep my new pots and pans conveniently located near the stove. Maybe then, I won't feel like I'm camping out in someone else's kitchen.

I missed the deadline for Kid Friendly Food Friday at Ginger Lemon Girl. But I thought I'd share a fun recipe. This one falls into the "comfort food" category, as opposed to the "healthy" category. It was one of the first recipes I tried when I began to change my eating habits. I'd just found out I was allergic to corn, in addition to wheat and soy. Corn syrup is in EVERYTHING! And I was really missing snacks. So I made some of these gooey caramels using honey in place of corn syrup. They turned out great!

When I changed my eating habits, my cravings for sweets dimished pretty quickly. Within a couple of weeks, I no longer had a desperate need for sweets. I still like them occasionally. I sliced and wrapped about one fourth of this batch of caramels. I keep them in a pretty bowl and treat myself to one now and then. But I still have a big slab of uncut caramel in the freezer. I can thaw it out and slice it up when I run out.

Kay's Honey Caramels

1 C butter
2 C honey
2 C heavy cream
1 C brown sugar
1 t gf vanilla

Line an 8 inch square pan with foil. Spray it with pan coating, or rub with olive oil. Melt the butter in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the honey, cream, and brown sugar. Cook and stir frequently until the gooey goodness comes to a boil. Boil for four minutes, without stirring. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking and stirring until candy thermometer reads 250 to 255 degrees. This takes about 45 minutes. So pick a good cd or tv show to keep you company while stirring.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. I make my own vanilla. I filled a pretty little bottle with rum, one of the few liquors I'm not allergic to. I added about half a split vanilla bean. It gets stronger the longer it sits.

Pour the mixture into your pan and put it ito the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. You can lick the pan and the spoon immediately!

Cut the caramels and wrap them in little squares of waxed paper. I found my large chef's knife worked well for this. I cut my own squares of waxed paper. You can roll caramels in coconut or chopped nuts before wrapping, if you like.

Caramels will be soft if stored at room temperature.

Indiana Primary

2008-05-06T08:47:00.000-04:00

It's voting day in Indiana. This is the first primary election in my voting life where my vote will count in the presidential race. It's been great!

All the Clintons have made appearances at Butler University, where I work. And Bill Clinton spoke at Beech Grove Middle School, just half a mile from my house. That's the closest a former president has been to my house - ever! John Mellencamp (pride of the Hoosier state) did a concert to support Hillary last Saturday night.

Obama shook hands at Garfield Park, also very close to my house. Stevie Wonder played (for free!) in a big downtown park last night.

My mom got an invitation to see Hillary speak at a factory on Indy's east side. Mother said she's much prettier in person than on TV. And her speech was just right. That's pretty high praise from a lifelong republican.

It's my last day of work at Butler. Finals end today, so I'm cleaning out the kitchen and taking leftovers to Second Helpings.

Then I'll be watching election returns at the Chatterbox. It will be packed! And I just found out that Hillary's "after party" will be held across the street at The Murat! That will add another degree of difficulty to parking. It's okay, I'm willing to walk!

I feel like the dogs in Moonstruck. The grandfather took them for a walk during the biggest full moon in decades and told them, "Howl! This is what you've been waiting for!"

I'll be voting before I head to work. I expect I'll see more of my neighbors than ever before at my polling place. I love being part of the process! Today, I count!

Old friends are the best!

2008-05-05T09:52:00.000-04:00

I had a craving for something sweet. So I turned to my old friend, Betty. Betty Crocker, that is. Betty taught me how to bake, with lots of photos to guide me through each recipe.

I pulled out Mother's cookbook nearly every Saturday, from second grade on. I was allowed to try new recipes with the stipulation that I cleaned the kitchen up before dinner time. Betty was my idol. She made it sound so easy. After college, I found my own copy of her cookbook at a garage sale for $3.00. What a deal!

One of my favorites is Betty's apple crisp. So simple. So good. So I decided to try her basic recipe with a gluten free twist.

Regular granulated sugar tastes too sweet for me these days. I found milled cane juice in the Mexican food section of my grocery store. It's not not so refined, and not so sweet. And it costs less than milled cane juice at the health food store. So it has become my default sugar.

Apple Crisp

1/3 C butter, room temperature
1 C brown rice flour
3/4 C sugar, or milled cane juice
A liberal sprinkling of cinnamon
A liberal sprinkling of salt
The juice of half a lime
Five large apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and slice the apples. Place in a greased 8" x8" pan. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon. Squeeze the lime over the apples.

Place the butter, rice flour and salt in the bowl of your mixer. Mix until no lumps of butter remain. Spread the topping over the apples and press it down.

Bake about 35 minutes, or until top starts to brown.

I've also made this recipe with canned "lite" peaches. Maybe my little peach tree will give me some fresh ones to try this fall. Sometimes I add blueberries or dried cranberries to the apple variety. If you can eat nuts, I think adding some almond meal to the topping would be tasty.

Milo says, "I just know Daddy Cat is on the counter,
licking the buttery topping off the apple crisp. He's so bad! I can't look!"

My baby bibb lettuces are looking perky!

Pizza!

2008-05-03T13:46:00.000-04:00

Bazbeaux makes the best pizza in Indianapolis. They are also my sentimental favorite. They came to Mass. Ave. (my social center) early in its rebirth and helped establish it as a fun arts district.

Plus, I used to grow basil for them when I had my gourmet farm business. They liked my basil best and called it (and me) Kay Basil. I figured out I could reap the most pounds of basil leaves out of each square foot of ground by growing Mammoth Basil. I harvested just the leaves, and left the plant intact. I even washed it for them. So as not to damage the leaves, I would pick them and put the bags in the refrigerator for a few hours. Then wash, then refrigerate again before cooler-packed delivery. So they had big bags of clean basil leaves they could use as-is. I loved making that delivery because the restaurant smelled heavenly!

My Mammoth basils are just babies right now.

My favorite pizza on their menu is the Quattro Fromaggio. It has bacon, mushrooms and dallops of creamy ricotto. It also has a variety of grated aged cheeses. This was a good combination to create gluten free. I've avoided sausage and pepperoni because of forbidden ingredients, but I love Oscar Mayer Natural bacon with no nitrites or nitrates. The upscale food service pizza sauce I use at work happens to fit my requirements - no corn syrup or questionable ingredients. I didn't have any ricotta on hand, so I used little blobs of goat cheese. I shredded mozzarella, provolone and a little white cheddar to top it with. Sometimes I add fresh basil or spinach and sun dried tomatoes.

I found a crust recipe on somebody's blog. My apologies to the person who created it. When I was first searching for recipes I was quite desperate. I printed them out without noting their sources. So if this is your recipe, thanks a million! It saved me from a pizza-free life.

Oops! I almost ate it all before I remembered
to take a picture!

Pizza Crust

1 T dry yeast
2/3 C brown rice flour
1/2 C tapioca flour
2 T dry milk powder (you can sub tapioca flour or sweet rice flour)
1/2 T salt
2 t unflavored gelatin
2/3 C warm water (105 degrees)
1/2 t honey
1 t olive oil
1 t cider vinegar
*2 t xanthan gum (optional, I don't add any)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In the bowl of my stand mixer, I mix all the dry ingredients. I mix all the liquids in a measuring cup and add them. Then I beat it for about five minutes.

I grease AND FLOUR two foil-lined pie pans. I use the rice flour for this. Tapioca flour doesn't work as well. Then I oil my hands split the dough into two blobs, and work it gently into the pans.

I bake the crust for about 10 minutes. I leave the second one in the oven when I pull the first one out to add toppings. Then I top the second one and put them back in the oven for 20 to 25 more minutes, just until they start to brown. Voila! Pizza! Two pizzas!

Daddy Cat says, "I'm sorry I jumped on the counter
and ate that cheese when your back was turned. How about some bacon?"

Milo says, "Cheese? There was cheese?"

Millet

2008-04-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

I decided to try a new bread recipe last night. I've been anxious to try millet flour. I have to be careful to try new ingredients one at a time. It's easier to figure out what I react to.

First I had to find a recipe with no milk. Found one! Replaced the xanthan gum with gelatin. I debated with myself about adding molasses, since that was a second new ingredient. I decided to add it.

The perfectly crusted loaf came out of the oven about 10:00 last night. It smelled great! It tasted so good with butter, that I had to try a slice with peanut butter and honey. I was out of my standard peanut butter (Kroger Natural, creamy) so I tried my new jar of Smuckers Natural. Oops! That was the third new item.

The suspects. Hmmm. Who looks guilty?

By the time I took my bath about 11:00, I noticed my lips and eyes were puffy. And there were three suspects. This is why I first decided to try new ingredients one at a time. It's easier in the long run.

I'd also worked in the garden all afternoon and evening. I'd handled potting soil and bone meal. I could be reacting to one of those.

The bread was beautiful. It tasted fabulous right out of the oven. The texture is good, not as crumbly as the standard "lame porridge bread" that I usually eat. So I've decided to share the recipe.

Kay's Millet Bread

I mixed these dry ingredients in the bowl of my stand mixer:

1 C millet flour
1 C brown rice flour
1/2 C potato flour
1/2 C tapioca flour
1/4 C rice bran
1 T (1 packet) unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 t salt

In a small bowl I combined 1/2 C warm water, 1 T sugar and 1 packet of yeast (I used Red Star Rapid Rise)

In my glass 2-cup measuring cup I combined:

3 eggs
1 C warm water
2 t cider vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T molasses
2 T sugar

When the yeast was bubbly, I added all the wet ingredients to the dry and beat it on medium speed (with the paddle attachment) for about 5 minutes.

I put the dough into a greased and floured loaf pan, covered it with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rise about 30 minutes. The dough had risen to the top of the pan. I baked it at 350 for 50 minutes.

If you can use xanthan gum, add 2 1/2 t with your dry ingredients.
If you can't use eggs, use Ener-G egg replacer, and warm your wet ingredients in the microwave until warm to the touch.
You can use cornstarch instead of tapioca flour.

I'll do a more lab-like trial the next time I bake this bread. It's really good, and I'd like to eat it daily. I'll try honey in place of molasses, and I'll just have one slice with butter, for starters.

In other news, some friends took a field trip to a horse farm for "garden nutrients" over the weekend. I understand they brought home enough to share with me! I'm thrilled! I spent the weekend transplanting my tomato plants into larger pots, cleaning out some garden space, and finding a new battery for my ancient John Deere riding mower. It's running again. My lawn looked like green velvet right after mowing. By morning it was dotted with dandelions again.

I also planted seeds in pots for my zucchini (four kinds!) vining squash (hubbard, cucuzzi and tromboncino this year) cucumbers (County Fair and Calypso, both supposedly wilt-resistant) and pole beans (scarlet runner and Kentucky wonder.) I'll leave the pots outside during the warms days and nights, but I can bring them inside on cold nights. I look forward to planting everything in real dirt in a couple of weeks. I wait until after my black raspberries bloom. That will mean we've had our last frost.

The bright spot in my weekend was discovering a tiny frog has taken up residence in my pond. I've seen his nose and eyes peeking out from under a floating oak leaf. And I've heard him "ker-plunk" into the water from the rocks four times as I walked by. Hee hee! I'll post more on my frog situation soon.

Dinner from the back yard

2008-04-26T11:35:00.000-04:00

I did, indeed, saute my first asparagus spears with portabello mushrooms and onions. And my bread came out of the oven just as the steak was hitting my plate. Simply delicious! I even pulled out the "grandma dishes," to remind me of lots of great Sunday dinners at her house.

Just Peachy

2008-04-26T09:52:00.000-04:00

Hope comes in many forms. A sunrise, a new kitten, a shoe sale. And peach blossoms!

A tornado five years ago changed my landscape dramatically. The sixty foot evergreens that lined the back of my property were snapped in half. They were the backdrop for my idyllic view from the dining room table, and from the kitchen counter where I spend most of my time. I waited nearly a year to remove their remains. Their absence was a big shock to the little ecosystem on the north side of my yard. The redbud trees they had protected died. The hostas and oak leaf hydranges baked in the sun. Weeds and cattails moved in.

I looked at the bare space for a year, then another year. I couldn't seem to conjure a vision of the future of this damaged space. The edible landscaper in me finally had a lightbulb moment. It happened when I was shopping at the little fruit market near my house. I opened the door and the smell of fresh peaches beckoned me inside. I wanted all the baskets of peaches. Blink! The lightbulb over my head lit up.

So I bought a couple of peach trees and nursed them through that summer's drought. The next spring, only one sprouted leaves. I checked the other daily for signs of life. Nope. Still dead. I checked it again this morning. Still dead. But in its third season, the survivor has bloomed! There's a chance I might pick a fresh peach in my own back yard. I think it's time to replace the dead one. Now I want lots of peaches.

My hopeful peach blossoms.

The cherry tree looks even more hopeful!

Take heart!

2008-04-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

The bleeding hearts bloom early in my yard. Sometimes, like now, they bloom on one of the first warm days, even though freezing temperatures are in the forecast for next week. They let me know it's okay to welcome Spring, even though Winter might make a comeback.

Celebrate the very first minutes of the new season. Take heart!

I picked three more asparagus spears yesterday. I have six in the crisper drawer now. The bit of overnight rain will bring more today. So guess what I'll be having for dinner tonight! I think I'll saute them with onions and mushrooms and grill my first steak of the season. Life is good!

2008-04-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

Look who's here! It's my first asparagus spear!

I inherited my asparagus garden from my home's previous owner. Patrice never ate any of the asparagus. The spears grow into tall ferns if you don't pick them. Patrice liked the ferns. When mature, the ferns add structure to the myrtle beds below them. The myrtle camouflages the spears, so some of them get a little too tall before I see them, and eat them. I eat most of the asparagus spears, and just leave the very thin ones to go to fern. They are so fresh and tender that I always eat a couple of them raw, as I walk back to the house.

I've lived in this house and worked these gardens for eight years now. I know where to look for the first asparagus spears. On a hot day, I can almost watch them grow. They can pop up quickly in the heat.

Patrice created beautiful big flower gardens, that wind around the perimeter of my big yard in the woods. I live in a secret neighborhood. It takes me 12 minutes to get to the center of Indianapolis from my driveway. But my street is secluded. We all get our water from wells. We have corn and soybean fields, lots of shade trees, woods, raccoons, groundhogs (grrrr!) a couple of deer and one coyote. The coyote is living in the woods about a half mile from my house. I can tell when he's living nearer. My rabbit population drops dramatically. I have lots of rabbits just now.

I prefer he live away just now. I have two geriatric cats. Milo is 16 years old, deaf and arthritic. Daddy Cat is at least ten, probably older, and has very few teeth. So I want my boys to be safe in the yard. We like it best when we are all outside together.

I like flowers, but I also like to grow my own food. So I have added a lot of edibles to the landscape. And I have three beds just for vegetables. I've planted black currants, gooseberries and jostaberries. I've let the wild black raspberries invade one edge of flower garden. I have my first blooms ever on the little peach tree. I have an old cherry tree that was broken down to a nub by a tornado that flattened my neighborhood five years ago. It has recovered nicely, and it is full of buds. The birds usually let me pick "my half" of the cherries. As long as there are mulberries available in the woods, I get good berry crops. One year there were no mulberries. The birds ate all my fruit. Most years there is enough for all of us.

Entertaining

2008-04-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

I used to entertain frequently. I had lots of dinner parties. Big ones. Big, fun food. Lots of guests. Food issues brought that to an aburpt end. But I miss everyone, and I'm tired of eating alone. So I had my first dinner guests of 2008 last Sunday. Just two guests, for starters. I made a meal that I could eat and I thought they would enjoy. It was a hit! The gravy was a little iffy, but it was my first ever gluten free gravy.

My menu was baked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes with arrowroot gravy, sauteed zucchini and onions with garlic, and apple crisp for dessert with Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream.

I got to use garlic chives from my garden, marking my first meal of the year with fresh homegrown ingredients. I love eating foods I grow, and growing foods I eat!

Little Pitfalls

2008-04-19T09:48:00.000-04:00

The backs of my hands have been raw and scaly for months. I've been careful to wear gloves when handling all foods at work. The kitchen at the sorority house is full of wheat. So I even wear gloves for cleaning up, even though the Board of Health doesn't require it. I was just doing that for my own protection.

But my hands were getting worse and worse. They've been really bad for about four months.

Hmmmmm.

That's about the time I discovered new "safe" gloves and ordered some at work. I can't use latex or any gloves with powder inside. The powder is cornstarch. Eeeek! So I was happy to find FoodHandler TacTix powder free synthetic gloves. I went to their website to try to discover what these gloves are really made of. They won't tell me their ingredients, but there's a disclaimer at the bottom of the listing that says: "These gloves have been known to cause allergic skin reactions."

I've had three days off work, and the red patches are healing. I'll just rely on frequent hand-washing until the end of the school year. Thankfully, that's only a couple of weeks away.

2008-04-11T19:19:00.000-04:00

Signs of spring are popping up all over my yard!

I cook for sorority girls at Butler University. Lots of organizations have fund-raising dinners. The girls vote as a chapter whether to attend. If they vote to attend, I don't have to cook supper. Since the weather just warmed up, invitations abound. I get three suppers off next week! I love these bonus days off in the spring and fall.

2008-04-10T11:06:00.000-04:00

Hi there!

Since my wheat-eating friends were getting bored with gluten free posts, I decided to set up this blog for sharing stories and recipes with my gluten free buddies. It's time. The gluten free, corn free, soy free part of my life is just that, a part. It's not my whole life anymore. I made the big lifestyle change January 1, 2008. I'm still evolving, figuring out what I can eat and what I should avoid. But life goes on, and I refuse to let what I eat define who I am. I want the other parts of my life back. So I hope this blog helps me celebrate my renewed health. Now that I'm feeling stronger, I'd like to get back to gardening, quilting, reading and writing.

When I first considered writing a gluten free blog, my title would have been: "Staff of Life, My Ass!" I was confused and sick and struggling. I found many helpful gluten free blogs that guided me through the first steps of my transition. I didn't understand why everyone else sounded so cheerful. I was having a hard time. I cried in the soup aisle at the grocery store after reading soup labels for half an hour. There was not one soup I could eat. I mourned the loss of Hellmans mayonnaise, made with forbidden soybean oil. I looked longingly at drive thru windows as I passed in my car. I was in the "Pizza and Beer" league at the bowling alley. It was torture! I ate homemade chicken and rice soup with rice crackers for nearly every meal.

With improved health came one little spark of enthusiasm, then another. I found a bread recipe that worked for me. Then I made apple crisp. I made a vinaigrette salad dressing that was quite tasty. I found a bacon with no additives. I became better acquainted with organic foods. I discovered sorghum beer and the owner of my favorite bar added it to his beer selections immediately! I bought my own copy of Gluten Free Girl. Bless your heart, Shauna! For going before me and being my guide.

Little by little, my "new" life has become just my life. I have to take a detour now and then, but I'm on the right path.

I hope you'll come along and enjoy the journey with me. This site is under construction, so bear with me and check back often.