This girl is a total snow-aholic. And guess what? This morning I woke up to this.
Oh, blessed white stuff, I love you. Please stay for awhile. Please, please, puleeeze.
I am sooo an everything type of gal. So for me, traditional Thanksgiving stuffing falls well within my "mush it all together" mentality. I am notorious for my lack of priggishness (is that a word?) when it comes to keeping my foods properly separated, categorized, and filed on my plate. I could care less if my jello salad touches my dinner roll. Or if my cranberry sauce leaks into my mashed potatoes. All the better, I say. To me, everything tastes better when it’s, well, everything.
When I was young and I would go with my family on a very rare trip to a fast food joint, I couldn’t resist the urge to take my cardboard cup and press it on every single little soda machine arm, all the way down the line. Phssst. Phssst. Phssst. Phssst. All the way down. Even the iced tea got a chance to take part in the satisfyingly muddy compilation of fizz. Ahh, yes. I loved it. I had to give up the habit when I finally became an adult as I found out that isn’t good form when dining at the Big Ole Burger Place.
There was also the time when we went on vacation to Utah, I think it was Provo, and Dad took me to get some ice cream. When asked what toppings I wanted on my rainbow sherbet I chose sprinkles, M&M’s, and gummy bears. Oh, yeah. So great. And now when my Numero Uno and I go out for ice cream, he observes, but has never understood, how a person can order three small scoops of ice cream and choose three different kinds totally unrelated in flavor.
Me:"I’ll have three little scoops, please. Make that a scoop of Daquiri Ice, Moose Tracks, and Cherry Cheesecake".
My husband: "I’ll have a couple scoops of the vanilla. Thanks."
*I will say that since going gluten-free, it has been easier to do plain vanilla as I know with certain brands exactly what is in them.
So, basically, I’m Supreme Girl. I will never understand people who say, "Yeah! Order a Supreme Pizza. I love Supreme!" And then, when it comes, they pick everything off.
In my pre-gluten-free days I took my Supreme Pizza-ness seriously. I ordered it with everything and I ate it with everything. Period.
So, it only makes perfect sense for me to come up with an everything recipe for one of my favorite foods: stuffing. And loving stuffing like I do makes me want to treat it with the kind of respect any other everything dish deserves.
I promise from the bottom of my heart you won’t find any gummy bears or mixed soda pop in this stuffing. Just pretty much everything else. *wink*
Now, I make many of my recipes with roasted garlice instead of minced. It gives such a rich mellow garlic flavor without so much of the burning after-meal dragon breath. Here’s how to do it, if you have never done it before.
Everything Stuffing
2 loaves gluten free bread, preferably made with yeast if possible, slice into 3/4 inch cubes
Approx 6 T. olive oil or butter
2 whole onions, chopped
4 stalks celery
2 C. walnuts, roasted and chopped
1 whole head garlic, roasted, cloves squeezed out and mashed
3/4 C. chopped dates
1 whole granny smith apple or any type of apple you like, preferably peeled, cored, chopped
12 olives, any kind you like, chopped
1/3 C. chopped, fresh parsley
3 C. chicken stock or other broth
1 egg, lightly scrambled
1 T. rubbed sage (or to your taste)
1 T. thyme (to taste)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
After cubing bread, spread the cubes on a cookie sheet and dry them out in a moderate oven until crunchy, like croutons. Once dry, allow them to cool. Meanwhile, lightly roast the walnuts in a dry, low-heat skillet until tender and crunchy. Remove from heat and chop nuts into small pieces. Chop onion and celery and add to a pre-heated skillet with 2 T. oil or butter. Saute’ until translucent and tender. Remove from heat.
Prepare apple and combine in small bowl with dates, olives and parsley.
Place bread cubes in large, oiled dutch oven and add celery and onion mixture, and walnuts. Add dates, apple, parsley, and olives and toss entire mixture together well.
In another small bowl, combine 1 C. of broth with egg, garlic, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Drizzle over bread mixture, pausing to occasionally toss, making sure the bread is evenly moist. You may have to use more broth, so have the reserve 2 C. ready if needed.
Bake at 325 degrees for approx. 1 hr., basting as needed with the extra broth to maintain moisture.
*I am sincerely sorry I have no pictures of the lovely stuffing. I will make sure that happens next time. It was swooped upon and devoured rather swiftly on Sunday when it made it’s premier at my mom’s house. I hope, for those of you making a gluten free debut into this food-laden holiday, that this could be a bit of a help.
And, finally, from me to you…
Have a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!
As one season passes, another is swiftly on the way bringing with it all manner of new things. All of our children were born in the winter months, so every year we see a small turnover in our current reality.
Our second born just turned 6. It’s so hard to realize that much time has passed since greeting her for the first time. What a precious, precious little girl. She has been a joy since first making her appearance in our lives and we can’t imagine a life without her sugar and spice.
Happy Birthday, Anna Bird. We love you.
A few weeks ago, I hit one of the last of the yard sales and found a huge tin of vintage thread that was in amazing condition and came in colors I have never seen. Added to that, I was finally able to put the antique rubber stamp holder to good use!
I absolutely love the orange right in front and the teal. Also, that pale pink and the minty color on top? Love, love, love.
And this tiny spool of orangy-gold will be used for a very special project. And guess what? There’s even more in the tin they came it.
Goodness. I feel like a millionaire.
Or, maybe a spoolionaire.
In the midst of sewing up winter-time "jammy-pants" (pajamas), for the kids, making my Christmas list and checking it twice, reading great blogs like this one and this one, and editing photos from my last shoot, I have been making snow. *grin*
I suppose, more accurately, I have been making snowflakes.
I have been doing this for years, but I always end up making them and then giving them all away before the season is over. They are ideal for putting on Christmas packages and it’s so hard to say ‘no’ when someone sees one on my tree and says, "ooooh, I love those. Where did you get them?" I tend to pluck them right off and send them home with my dear friends, so their tree can hold a little piece of indoor winter.
I can’t help it.
Which is why every fall I have to begin again, crocheting my brains out to make a whole new set.
About 6 years ago, I found this pattern from Martha Stewart. Or from one of her assistants. I don’t know. I just know I love them. They are relatively easy for a beginning/intermediate crochet-er and, while they take some patience, once you learn the pattern, you can make one in less than an hour.
You then starch them (I use a non-yellowing glue diluted with a bit of water), pin them on cardboard covered with packaging tape, let them dry overnight and they turn out like this:
This is the only pattern i have completed this week, but I’m working on two more. When I finish them, I’ll post them here.
They really are lovely.
You can find the full patterns for all of the snowflake designs here. It actually looks like they have added several designs since I first began making them
I fully intend to keep at least 10 of them for myself this year.
But again, I say that every year.
We are marching slowly but surely toward winter.
It’s inevitable that soon every leaf will have fallen and every garden will have seen it’s heyday and withered and died.
Isn’t God good that He makes that yearly march so gracious and gentle and beautiful?
I couldn’t help documenting a bit of the last of this season’s beauties. Most of our trees are now bare, having swiftly flown through the progress from green to orange, red, or yellow. There is now a thick carpet of dead leaves, a testimony and evidence to the bounty of summer. I never tire of fall.
So, a fond farewell to fall. Lord willing, I shall see you again next year.
I have been far too busy lately. In fact, I have been far too busy doing a slew of things I shouldn’t have really been doing in the first place. Amongst these: worrying, way over-committing my calendar, running myself and my poor family into the ground, etc. It tends to happen without me realizing it and then I’m there in that frantic space, all dressed up with no place to go. Like the story-book girl who thinks she has to have it all, only to realize the gilded carriage is once again a pumpkin.
Unlike Cinderella, I am so glad that figurative carriage is gone. I have a feeling it might try coming back one day, but I can trust God and life to always bring me back to the ‘pumpkin moment’. The moment when I realize I already have a prince I have needlessly neglected, a tiny kingdom that needs my tending.
So, I say, bring on the pumpkin.
Because it is autumn, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and ’slow lane’ I’m going to love on pumpkins today. They deserve it after all the bad Disney publicity.
I can already hear all you ‘eewwww, pumpkin?’ people heave a collective sigh of resignation. I’m sorry. I guess today isn’t your day. There will be something for you in the near future, I’m sure. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t love all things pumpkin (there was a prodigiously bad pumpkin soup I remember from when I was 13 years old), but I do love most things pumpkin. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin rolls…I could go on and on.
However, since realizing I can no longer consume gluten, this addiction has taken a back seat out of necessity. I mean, pumpkin pie without a crust? I am currently working on a good recipe for the muffins and breads, but I miss the special dessert-y items that are a hallmark of the fall holidays.
That is why I am bringing you a recipe a friend helped me discover. Oh, thank you, thank you, Jodie. It’s amazing. She shared the recipe with me in it’s original form, definitely not gluten free. With just two easy changes, it has become safe for me, and, if I might be so bold, it is even better than the original.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
15 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 C. sugar
1-1/2 T. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 C. chopped pecans
1 recipe for a gluten free spice cake *I used Gluten Free Pantry’s Spice Cake and Gingerbread Mix,.
Vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream (please remember to always read the labels of your favorite ice cream if you have a gluten sensitivity)
Okay, to begin you will want to mix up and bake your spice cake. I did this first thing in the morning. It was then able to cool and set and be ready for an afternoon baking project.
Next, you gently heat the evaporated milk on the stove until warm; be careful not to allow it to scald. In a mixing bowl combine the pumpkin, the spices, the eggs, and the sugar. Once milk is heated, slowly whisk the milk into the pumpkin mixture and combine thoroughly.
You will then cut the prepared spice cake into 1-inch cubes. Cover the bottom of a lightly greased baking dish with half the cubed cake. Pour half the pumpkin mixture over the cake and repeat by adding another layer of cake cubes and the rest of the pumpkin mixture. Top with chopped pecans and a sprinkle of sugar and bake on 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt or eat it by itself, perhaps with your afternoon tea. Serves approximately 8 people.
Bon appetit!
I’m just going to throw it out there because I’m so excited and I’m not very good at being subtle and clever when I’m beside myself…
I did my first wedding shoot this weekend! It was interesting finding my stride, looking for the shots, using everything I have learned up to this point. The bride was lovely and kind and the whole bridal party followed her lead, so it was a true pleasure to work with them all.
I have decided to post just a few pictures from the weekend just to let some of the excitement out…or I’m going to burst.
Thanks for indulging me…I just could not hold it in.
And thanks, Mark and Nicole. It was a true pleasure.
If you are reading this right now and you live in the United States and you haven’t voted…go now. This blog will wait.
If you have voted, you are two things: a proud participant in the electoral process, and the grateful recipient of free Starbucks coffee.
I am now in my thirties and am ashamed to say I didn’t vote in the early years of my eligibility. I was holding to a faulty idea that my vote didn’t really matter. I had listened to some naysayers and was a bit of a pessimist. Then I observed the last two presidential elections and realized it does matter. A lot. Nothing stopped me this time. I paid attention to the records, the issues, the debates, the statements. As much as I could take in, I took in. I needed to know I wasn’t just voting, but that I was informed in my voting.
It felt like a good kind of gauntlet this morning as I traversed the short path through all the campaign signs and volunteers and handed the nice lady my driver’s license. It felt good because I knew exactly who I was going to vote for and why.
It was so exhilarating I felt my heart rate go up as I ascended the steps to the armory where I was to cast my ballot. I saw the sign that read, "No campaign signs or paraphernalia past this point." The signs, people, talking were left behind me as I crossed that invisible line and I stepped through the massive door to do my job as a citizen of the United States of America.
I walked up to my Center’s table, signed the book, and waited in line. It didn’t take long for the voter in the box to finish and then it was my turn. I have voted at this precise location the last couple of years for all the local elections, so it felt familiar. But never, ever have I been so excited.
After the kind man explained how to use the voting machine, I made my way slowly through each screen, making my selections, double checking to make sure I had pushed all the right buttons. That last screen flashed up and the large, square, red button loomed. My finger hovered, but only for a split second. It then came down with a firm finality. I was done. I had voted and it would be counted.
I walked away with such a feeling of accomplishment that I didn’t register it fully when I pumped my arm at my side and uttered, "yes!". The knowing smiles and slightly startled expressions of those looking on told me I hadn’t been as silent in my exultation as I thought.
I stepped out of the building into the fall sunshine glad I had come, glad my children knew I had come, and glad that I was married to a man who would also be voting with a sincere conscience. I had to get home so he could come vote, as well.
But not before getting my free Starbucks.