It's all about choices......

I have have come face to face with some really hard truths in the last few months. You see, I have struggled with my health (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Fibromyalgia and Insulin Resistance) for more than 15 years now and pain and sleepless nights have been my "normal". I was introduced to a Holistic Dr. by my son-in-law and this Dr. is helping me to allow my body to heal itself the way God designed our bodies to do through proper nutrition. I have been angry.....grouchy....and over-all whiny through a lot of this process. I have felt deprived and punished that I can't eat the foods that other people can. Through the multiple blood and saliva tests I have found out that I can never have coffee again, *sob*, no corn, no oats, no tapioca, no quinoa, no dairy, no rye, no barley, no sorghum, no sugar and no gluten. I have also found that most gluten free foods that are on the shelves even at Whole Foods contain some form of corn or tapioca in them. So I'm faced with the realization that I will be making my own foods. I also learned that I have autoimmune inflammatory issues and I need to eliminate any foods that cause inflammation as well. The good news is that I now sleep deeply through the night. I'm down 21 pounds and I have less pain (and it's only been about 2 1/2 months) I feel like I'm finally getting to a place of acceptance. I have the choice to be happy. I have the choice to live a healthier life. I've also been using natural soaps, shampoo, deoderant, etc. So I'll be sharing recipes and products that I find helpful along the way. I have decided that rather than drive you all crazy with my recipes and what-not (I mean...you came here for sewing and crafting....am I right?) I started a new blog today called Oh My Gluten Free Goodness so that I have a seperate venue for the g/f stuff. . I have no followers yet and it's pretty lonely over there, so if you find this helpful information, stop on by and say "hello"

Today I'm sharing a muffin recipe that I made for the first time this morning :)

Gluten Free/ Dairy Free Coconut Flour Muffins

3 eggs

2 tblsp Organic Coconut Oil -melted

2 tblsp coconut milk

3 tblsp Coconut crystals or honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp real vanilla
1/4 cup Organic Coconut flour
1/4 tsp corn free baking powder (I use Hain Gluten Free)

Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

*Note: there is no coconut flavor in these muffins at all :)

This is a great basic recipe. Next time I'm going to add some sliced almonds to the top before I bake them. I'm also going to experiment with adding some pumpkin :)

Oh My Gluten-Free Goodness!

I've mentioned before that my beautiful daughter-in-law has Celiac's disease. My 2 oldest grandsons eat a completely gluten free and dairy free diet. So I'm always on the look-out for fantastic recipes that allow me to spoil them a little bit. I mean, come on, isn't that what Nana's are supposed to do? Well I came across this recipe over at the Handmade Homemaker
( you really need to jump over there and check out her blog! ) and after reading the ingredients and then wiping the drool off my keyboard I realized that with just a couple of substitutions I could make this gluten free and dairy free. And believe me when I tell you that everyone in our home on the 4th of July was happily crunching away on these. I'm pretty sure I scored some Nana points with this one! Thanks for sharing it Krista!

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP peanut butter

1 1/2 TBSP Earth's Balance organic buttery spread

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP brown sugar

8 oz bag of Glutino Gluten Free pretzel twists

1 cup of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips (the gold bag is dairy free, but check your ingredients just to be sure)

Directions:

Combine peanut butter, Earth's balance and the sugars until combined. Mixture should roll into balls easily, but if not, refrigerate for a few minutes. I used a 1/2 tsp to measure the filling and roll into balls. Sandwich between 2 pretzels. Freeze for 30 minutes. Melt chocolate according to instructions on the Ghirardelli bag and then dip the peanut butter pretzel goodness into the melted chocolate. Place on wax paper and freeze for another 30 minutes (if you can wait that long).  Actually it wouldn't be a bad idea to eat several of them in the kitchen BEFORE you serve them to your guests or you may never get the chance.....just sayin :)

G/F Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

Since adopting the gluten-free lifestyle the hardest part has been finding a good substitute for all purpose flour. I came across Domata's website and decided to give it a try. I have to admit it was expensive when you add in the cost of shipping, but I figured if was good, it would be worth it and I could buy in larger amounts next order to save money. Anyways....today was my first recipe replacing my regular all purpose flour with the Domata g/f flour. It is TASTEY!!! And more importantly the texture is not at all gritty! So here's the recipe....hope you like it!


Cranberry Pumpkin Bread ( This recipe can also be made using regular all purpose flour)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I used Domata)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (150z) can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 - 9x5 loaf pans.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, spices, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil in small mixing bowl until just blended. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until batter is just moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon into prepared baking pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes.

Breakfast of the Gluten Free Champions!

About 3 months ago my daughter-in-law found out that she has Celiacs disease. In her research she also recognized that 2 of her boys are also gluten intolerant. She passed along alot of great information about the condition and how so many people probably have an intolerance to gluten but are never diagnosed. I am Hypothyroid and suffer from Fibromyalgia (thrown in just for fun) and these are things that were mentioned as conditions that could benefit from a Gluten Free diet. So in May I began my personal Gluten Free journey. It was also important to me to make sure that I always had foods and snacks available to my family members when they come to lunch here every Sunday after church. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that difficult. My daughter and son-in-law have also greatly benefited from going GF. So this morning's breakfast consists of Rice Chex, fresh strawberries and Vanilla (super yum) Almond milk.