Fun and Mental Changes

Please believe me when I say that this picture DOES NOT do this dish justice!!!  Today's gluten free dish is brought to you by the letter Y for FREAKIN YUM!!!!  It TOTALLY looks like I'm scarfing down on some pasta but its not.....it's spaghetti squash.  Now I'll be honest, the first time I made spaghetti squash I didn't like it.  I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and baked it (skin side up) a LITTLE too long and it came out mushy like a baked potato.  It was not appetizing at all.  I also slathered it with hot marinara sauce which didn't help even in the slightest.  But THIS rockin creation.... I could eat this every single day.  I am so excited to find a gluten free dish that is actually better than its gluten counterpart.  I wish I had a name for this dish, but I don't.  This is literally something I threw together praying to baby Jesus that the second time would be a charm.  Thank the dear Lord it was!!! 2 b...

   THIS awesome yumminess is what I had for dessert tonight thanx to my super awesome Pampered Chef lady.  Why that is important is because not only did she share the original recipe for this low-cal dessert that I "frankenfixed" with my de-glutening super hero powers, but she also supplied me with THAT AWESOME square brownie pan that I love so much and use for EVERYTHING!  I have used this thing for mini single serve quiches, bacon bowl breakfast cups, single serve lasagna and, of course, brownies.  But THIS wonderful decadence is by far my best masterpiece!!!!   My Pampered Chef lady posted on her facebook page a recipe for a 33 CALORIE CHEESECAKE!  And added, "Let the Brownie Pan help you with your New Years Resolution!"  Well I immediately noticed that the recipe contains sugar and gluten.... the two things I swore to avoid as my New Year's resolution, but I have the pan so away I went "frankenfixing" this rec...

  A friend of mine just posted the wildest thing I've ever seen on Facebook.... it is an excerpt from The Good Wife's Guide of 1955 (click on the pic to enlarge... really, do it)!  Now while most would get a pretty good laugh since women have gained much ground on the road to equality, it is THIS woman's opinion that we could stand to take at least one step back. Don't get me wrong.... treating your spouse like a possession or a maid is NEVER ok.  I mean, some of the items on this Good Wife's list are SOOOOO far out there, but some of them could stand a little rehash.  I have a little story of a couple at the top of their game financially, both with thriving careers but a struggling relationship when the housing market crashed and one of their careers came to a screeching halt. Yes, that would be mine.  So suddenly I was at home with not much to do but try to find ways to save money (we did just lose half of our household income) and m...

Hello my pretties!!!  Take a look at what I had for dinner!!!  Stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon.... and they were so so good!  I'll share the recipe here in a sec, but what I really wanted to talk about was this business about fat.  Fat does not make us fat?  Could this be real???  How could that even be possible when everyone from the time I started going to school has been telling me that a low fat diet is the way to maintain weight and stay healthy???  Could it be that dietary fat (real fats, not lab-created crap that the body doesn't recognize) is actually the key? I recently watched Fat Head, a documentary that debunked ANOTHER documentary I watched last year called Supersize Me.  In Supersize me a guy eats nothing but McDonalds for 30 days and "supposedly" ruins his health by the end (after watching Fat Head I REALLY questioned the authenticity of Supersize Me).  Do I believe that a diet of really bad food choic...

I've been gluten free in short bursts on and off for years, but I think this is the first time I've ever accomplished STAYING gluten free for a long period of time.  I'm coming up on a whole month and it feels WONDERFUL!!!!  I had no idea how bad I really felt.... all the time.  Sometimes you don't know how bad you feel until you start feeling good.  Well now I'm learning that it is a problem A LOT OF FOLKS might be having.  I just started the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis after hearing Dr. Wayne Dyer mention it on his New You Now video interview over at Hay House (click HERE to watch it) and then another friend of mine read it, cut out gluten and ALSO noticed a big change.  Well, with everyone getting these amazing results, I thought it would be worth a little shout out here on my blog. Just what if you could feel better?  What if you could have more energy?  What if mysterious symptoms weren't so mysterious after all?...

So this is me getting back to my roots I guess because I'm suddenly Stampin Up CRAZY!  Once upon a time, a number of years ago, I started an innocent card making hobby with a Stampin Up demonstrator friend of mine.  Well, those seemingly innocent little stamp orders have now turned into a stamp collection of 300+, paints, inks, markers, paper, die cutting machineS, tools, glitter, embossing powder, stickers, buttons in every color and an endless array of adhesives to stick anything the mind can fathom and plenty more that I don't have room to mention (ahem... the sewing machine devoted to sewing paper).... so you wouldn't think I need more.  But here I sit lamenting ANOTHER Stampin Up order that I just placed for more paper I JUST HAVE TO HAVE!  Oh sure, I justify it with, "It's a retired item.  It's on clearance and I may not be able to get it anymore (REMEMBER THE ROCKABILLY FAMINE???)!!!  I need it to make a very important projec...

Just a quick one today.  And I'm not off my rocker (well not anymore than usual).  This post is because my craft room was in storage for the bulk of last year and I'm becoming reacquainted with everything, so when my friend Cindy came over yesterday with all her Stampin Up goodies and a box of Halloween stuff.... well I couldn't resist.  COME ON.... HALLOWEEN?!?  You KNOW I couldn't!!!! So have you guys seen the Stampin Up Chalk Talk die set?  Isn't it INCREDIBLE????  I jumped on Pinterest to see what people were doing with that set and here's what I came up with (see how I took complete credit for someone else's design ideas.... just kidding, you can check out the designer's creation HERE , this is just my interpretation): Click on the link above to see how to make Nicole's little Halloween goodie box.  For mine I used Cindy's pre-embossed web card that she challenged me to do something with (I hope she wasn't expecting a complet...

I've dealt with gluten intolerance for a large portion of my life and recent "attacks", for lack of a better word, have caused me to REALLY think about my lifestyle.  I've known that I shouldn't eat gluten, but was always able to tolerate it in small amounts and even when I would splurge and over-indulge I knew that I would feel bad for it later.  But suddenly, "later" is now minutes after consuming a meal containing gluten.  My latest attack ended with me feeling like I was having a heart attack and my hands swelled up so bad that my knuckles were white.  I am SUDDENLY terrified of gluten.  It's like my body is saying enough is enough.  So I gathered my gluten free cookbooks and began putting a meal plan together, but I really wasn't "feeling it" if you know what I mean.  All the recipes that I've collected are good, but I was truly wanting to find GREAT food to inspire me to change and change for good.  Let's face it, I'm ...

This is truly a thing of beauty.... and the hubs went back for seconds.  Yep, I'd have to say that this cauliflower pizza crust is a HUGE winner.  Click HERE  for the cauliflower crust recipe I used. For the first one I've ever made, I am so proud to say that IT ROCKED!!!  But, even though it was PRACTICALLY perfect, a couple of changes WILL be made to the next one so I thought I would share those with you guys in case anyone out there is planning on attempting this. So, this crust ended up being a tad bit drier than the real thing.  While you couldn't tell that it was made out of cauliflower AT ALL, a little bit more sauce is in order for next time around.  That being said, I'm reading online that if you omit the third egg and the 1/2 cup of gluten free all purpose flower, that will make the crust a bit "wetter".   And I also read that without those two ingredients, too much sauce will make it fall apart. I'll definitely be giving it ...

THERE SHE IS!!!!  My very first 100% Gluten Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust!  Sorry about the hazy pic, I don't know if it was the camera on my phone, the steam from just being pulled from the oven,the lighting in my kitchen or a combination of them all, but if you click on the pick to enlarge you can see that it turned out PERFECT!!!  Honestly, I surprised myself.  When you make the dough it doesn't look like it should turn out this beautiful.  I haven't "officially" eaten it yet because I made it in advance so I can just throw the toppings on tonight after work and pop it into the oven.  But I DID sneak me a little edge and it is SOOOOO YUMMY!!!  I can't wait until the pizza is done with all the yummy toppings I got for it.  I even picked up some turkey pepperoni!  So here is how this pizza crust is made; you won't believe how easy it is!!! Florets from on small head of cauliflower 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free...

One of my last posts of 2013 was on tips and tricks for speed cleaning your home because I HATE cleaning, BUT THEN..... the day before New Year's Eve I read a blog post all about cleaning, not speedily, but efficiently!  How you ask?  Well it is so simple, I am kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner.  CLEAN EVERY DAY!!!!  Not all day every day... that would be impossible.  But just clean SOMETHING for 20 minutes every day.  Eventually it all gets clean and then stays clean.  DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE NIRVANA?!? So it couldn't be any more direct, this blog post is called:  How to Clean Your House In 20 Minutes a Day For 30 Days .  The author lives in an apartment and advises to clean the dishes you use after every meal so on top of the 20 minutes cleaning project outlined in the article I personally added 10 minutes to cover the dishes.  I am also splitting my cleaning into TWO half hour sessions every ...

Yes, yes... I know I've been away for quite some time.  Had a HARD tail end of 2013 with multiple moves, multiple surgeries and just as many nervous breakdowns!  WHEW!  Am I glad THAT'S over! I joke about having nervous breakdowns, but then again sometimes my nerves got a bit frayed and threatened to break right there toward the end of the year.  So I'm here today to tell EVERYONE what got me through and share my most recent 'HIGH FIVE'!!! So Hay House, the book publisher of one of my favorite people in the world, Dr. Wayne Dyer is hosting a " New You Now " event that kicks off in less than a week.  My guess is that Hay House will feature a good number of their published authors to sort of kick off book sales for the new year while at the same time sharing some insight and direction toward you reaching your full potential in this new year..... BRILLIANT IDEA!!!  My favorite of all is that RIGHT NOW they are featuring another life-changing v...