So I am sitting at a computer in Mt. Pleasant, Texas when I should be asleep. My uncle passed away this past weekend and I am here with my parents for the funeral. My family is at home because the kids have school and I am in need of a little time away from all of them. Needless to say I am here with my parents, and my dad is sawing logs...enough to destroy a forest in Alaska!!! I am under the impression that my mother can sleep through it all...but I have seen the sleeping pills she has to take to get any rest. I will just chock it up to my insomnia...he need not know today of all days.

Keep your family close this week. Keep giving thanks for all that God has done for you.

Dessert of the Week- Pumpkin Mousse with Autumn Spiced Nuts

Apples, cinnamon, and pumpkin-- these are my three favorite Autumn scents. I love to have at least one of them going in my wickless candle burner all the time. I have scents that I love for every season, but the three named above are by far my favorites.

I love apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and apple cinnamon coffee cake. All of my recipes for these items became obsolete when I went gluten free, or so I thought. For aq while, this fact depressed me. I now know that with some careful planneing and reseach, I was going to be able to have my favorite fall foods.

With the holidays coming, I thought that my first Dessert of the Week should be related to my favorite desserts. Here is my recipe for Pumpkin Mousse with Autumn Spiced Nuts. You will find this an awesome replacement for pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving desserts have never tasted so good, in my opinion. Top them with the Autumn Spiced Nuts (which my kids adore) and you have a dessert fit for the Queen of Stellar G-Free Cooking!

Pumpkin Mousse with Autumn Spiced Nuts

Ingredients:

1-8 ounce pkg cream cheese, softened
1- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
1 tsp. gluten free vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie spice
1 3/4 c. milk
1 pkg french vanilla instant pudding
2 cups Cool Whip
1/2 c. Autumn Spced Nuts (recipe follows)

1. Beat cream cheese and pumpkin together in medium bowl. Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.. Set aside


2. Mix together milk and instant pudding let set for 5 minutes in fridge.


3. Add 1 1/2 cups of Cool Whip and the pudding to the cream cheese mixture.


4. Let set for additional 5 minutes in fridge.


5. Top with remaining Cool Whip and Autumn Spiced Nuts.

Autumn Spiced Nuts

Mix together one egg white and one teaspoon water. Add 4 cups mixed nuts, one cup sugar, and one tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice. Toss until nuts are fully coated with sugar and spices. Put on a greased cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool on waxed paper. Break into clumps.

These are some of my favorite fall go to recipes for get togethers where you need to take a dessert. I always get rave reviews on this recipe. Let me know how it goes for you with your family and friends. Happy Cooking!!

A Change of Heart-- Prayers for Ft. Hood

The purpose of my blog is to teach you to be flexible when it comes cooking without gluten. In fact today's blog was supposed to be recipe for the dessert of the week, which I will give you tomorrow.
But something happened in the world this week that mad me rethink that blog idea. Today I am going to tell you a story: The day my world stood still for just a moment.
It was a cool October morning (October 27, 1995). My husband was at PT running his little heart out on Grubber Road in front of Headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft Bragg, North Carolina. That's where we were stationed. I was pregnant with our oldest child. I was still dozing because it was still pretty early. Then the shots rang out. Sgt. William Kreutzer was hunkered down in the woods. At the end of the incident, 1 soldier was dead and 20 soldiers were hurt. Michael's company was on the route toward the sniper. They were told of the incident, and they turned around and ran the other way but continued to run. No one in his company took the news seriously. Little did they know the serious situation that was occurring at that very moment.
On the way home, he learned of the incident. He told me when he got home. I don't think I have ever been so terrified in my life. My husband was less than a mile from the scene where people were being shot. He was running straight toward the area. I very well could have been without my husband. The thought of the seriousness of the situation and how close we had come to the tragedy, totally terrified me.
I spent the next couple of days fielding calls from friends and family who were concerned once they heard of the incident. I was rehashing the event over and over again each time I had to tell the story.
Once the story was out, things began to die down after a few weeks. Our lives returned to normal, but the story continued to unfold. Sgt Kreutzer was found guilty, sentenced to death, had his conviction over-turned, was re convicted, given life in prison. But in the end the situation affected all of us stationed at Ft. Bragg. Who would have thought that incident would have changed us so dramatically.
This week another shooting on an army base by an army soldier occurred at Ft. Hood. It brought back all those memories and feelings of dread. We were so lucky. Of course the tragedy at Ft. Hood was greater than at Ft. Bragg, but any amount of loss of life is a tragedy. I am inclined to give my condolences and prayers to the families and soldiers who have been affected by the shooting because of the incident we went through.
Remember that the soldiers were in the army readiness area and were either on their way to the middle east or coming home. These soldiers were just doing their job, and someone with a skewed view of things, decided to take things into his own hands and used violence to "change" the situation. This was not the way to impact the thoughts of the people. The people will see this as a reason to continue to stay in the middle east.
Prayers are what the soldiers and their families and friends need at this critical time. The situation has caused them to question the safety of their home base. they can feel scared and jumpy for the next few weeks. Having been in their shoes, I am giving my prayers in earnest. Tomorrow I will give you the dessert of the week. It is a Pumpkin Mousse that will be the go to dessert that you will use in place of pumpkin pie.
Lord be with those at Ft. Hood.

G-Free Meal of the Week

When I was first married, Michael and I ate a lot of packaged meals. Hamburger Helper's Cheeseburger Macaroni was one of our favorites. As the kids came along, I started adding veggies to the mix to teach them how wonderful these healthy items could be in a multitude of dishes. Over the years, I learned how to make most of those go-to meals my way from scratch.
Now that I have to eat gluten free, I have had to learn to make them in a way that suits our needs and tastes. The following is my latest creation. What a great hit it was, too! I even got my pickiest eater to try artichokes. This is a great busy night meal, for those nights when you don't have two hours to prepare dinner. The leftovers are great for lunch the next day, just add a little milk to "reconstitute" the cheese sauce.

G-Free Cheeseburger Macaroni Casserole

Ingredients:
1 Box Quinoa Elbow Macaroni
1 lb ground meat (beef or turkey)
3 T EVOO
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 c. Bob's Red Mill GF flour
1 1/2 c. gf beef stock
2 c. cheese of choice, grated
1 jar marinated artichoke quarters
2 c. frozen California medley (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
2 T Dijon mustard

1. Make pasta according to package directions. Make sure to salt water when adding the pasta to flavor the pasta.
2. Brown meat in olive oil. Add spice to the meat as it is cooking.
3. Add onions, bell peppers, and garlic to meat. Cooking till soft and onions are translucent. Add artichokes.
4. Add veggies to pasta water during the last 3 minutes of cooking process. Drain and put back into hot pot. Set aside.
5. Sprinkle flour over meat mixture and blend to cook away paste taste. Add stock slowly stirring to make the gravy.
6. Stir in cheese and mustard till cheese is melted.
7. Pour cheese/meat sauce over pasta and veggies.
8. Serve.

This recipe makes about 10 servings.

Make a batch and let me know how you and your family liked the recipe. This is a true test of a dinner recipe. By the way, I used Sharp cheddar, provolone, and Parmesan cheeses, but feel free to use your fave cheeses.

Happy eating!

So...G-Free? Don't mind if I do!!

So lately I have been writing in a journal and now I have this blog. The name implies that I have Celiacs, so I thought I might want to write a little on this topic, especially how I came to have the disease and what I, as a mom, am doing for my family and myself.

In the spring of 2009, the world was changing from winter dead and cold to spring's warm colorful life, full of greens. Then I found out about the devastating Celiacs disease had a hold on my life and I never saw it coming. Celiacs is a gluten intolerance, found in wheat, rye, barley, and some oats( depends on the processing plant and method).

This all came about because of another disorder that had been plaguing me for years, eczema. A coworker and friend recently found that there was a link between celiacs and eczema. After years of suffering from eczema, allergies, and asthma, I was intrigued that at least one of my issues may have a non-medication solution, though not one I was looking forward to having.

So an experiment was in order. I went home and decided that I would try and see if there was any way that I had Celiacs. For three days I gave up all foods that contained gluten. Then on the fourth, I had pizza. within the hour I had broken out all over my body in eczema and I had stomach cramps for almost two days. There the proof was in the pudding, the bread pudding. My life was about to change and I knew it would not be easy or fun, but the next day I went 100% g-free as we call it.

The simple decision was not so simple to implement into a family of five. I also received a lot of grief from other coworkers who thought that this was another ploy to gain attention. Like having Celiacs was the new "in" thing. It's not easy or fun to realize you can never go out for pizza with friends or family, I can never have some of my favorite dishes unless substitutions are made for certain ingredients.

My eczema has cleared up and my breathing has improved. My focus is clearer and I have just as many choices as you do, just different. Hardest, most rewarding decision of my food life.

Thoughts of a Stellar, G-free, Christian, Mom, BFF, Nurse, and Wife?

Hello world. Today is Hope's Birthday. She is one of my dearest friends of more than 20 years. I am so glad that we have remained friends for so long.

Question: How do you define yourself? Are you defined by your job, status in life, marital status, children or the challenges that you faced and overcame? I am inclined to think that we are defined by all of these and in the end they mean nothing!

I am a Christian, but what does that mean to you? I believe that we are here on this planet to see what we will do with what He gave us and undergo a transfomation from a selfish person to a person that worships the one true God. I wish that I was less like me and more like Him. I am striving to teach my children that He should be first, but they are bombarded with contridicting information from the world we live in.

I am the daughter of a preacher, but I am not the one who has all the answers. My God does and I am looking for them every day. I am hoping that this blog will inspire and excite you to think outside of your box and see that the woes of this world have a God who will listen and answer your questions.

By the way, I do have celiacs and I am looking for others who wish to share ideas and solutions to living gluten free in a world that is full of road blocks for us. I have three children, 13, 12, and 8 years of age. I have been married for most of my adult life(15 years). I also have severe asthma and live in the great state of Oklahoma. Not many choices for those of us with celiacs in Tulsa.

As we all know, the internet has taken over the world. We Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter our free time away. There are also good things. How else could you sit in your living room in your comfy PJ's and research your ancestors, chat with your BFF in Switzerland, and buy that stellar sweater for Christmas in June, no less. But remember to water your plants and feed your children before you sign on to feed your customers at Cafe' World. There is a sun outside during the day and you need it for vitamin D.

You can always email your questions to me. Have fun and enjoy the love He has for you and your family and friends. TTFN and C U L8r!!