Pub Mix freaks me out

Day 4 of end of quarter...snacks are beginning to appear.  This is one thing that freaks me out the most during these 2 weeks.  If I don't take it on myself to bring lots of gf treats, non-gf treats show up in full force.

Today I came in to find a bag of cookies, 2 gallons of Pub Mix and Starbuck's coffees everywhere.

I'm so glad they are keeping it at the other end of the table. One of the guys told me I'm "paranoid". I'd like to kick him in the nuts every day for 7 years and see how paranoid he gets of that. Instead, I explained that even a couple crumbs of gluten will make me sick for 2 weeks.  Umm yeah, maybe I'm paranoid thinking that the open baggie of cookies and the jug of pub mix might tip over and roll over to me and I might accidentally touch it and stick my fingers in my mouth and get sick. But.I.Don't.Care. Keep that crap away from me. I'm not giving them the stink eye for eating it, I just don't want it set directly in front of me.

As for the Starbuck's...since all the confusion about what is gf and what's not, I'm kind of avoiding them. So, here I sit with a cup full of Lemon Zinger, wishing I could have a sweet macchiato or even a vanilla latte. So sad.  I keep telling myself that all the Starbuck's in the world isn't worth the yucky sick I feel afterwards. 

Just in case you're wondering, my clean diet seems to be working pretty well. I haven't had dairy in weeks, and I don't really miss it. I actually haven't felt ill all week - this is AMAZING! 2 nights ago I had a bad headache and had to go to bed at 7:00 pm, but other than that, pretty good!

The oven is ON!

We are at that wonderful time called end of quarter at work. This means 2 weeks in a conference room waiting for the phone to ring with orders and chasing $$. Not for me, I'm just there for moral support or something... But, it means being trapped and needing to have snacks on hand because I can't run out. So tonight I'm having a baking marathon. First I roasted baby rosemary potatoes and beets (leftovers pictured)

Even thought I'm totally exhausted, I threw in some cherry muffins, since the oven is hot and all. I used Pamela's mix and they are so perfect!

And why not toss in a carrot cake too? I downloaded the recipe from the Betty Crocker site today: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/carrot-cake-gluten-free/81350456-95da-4e1b-bcb9-fe84378a2098

Everything is done now and as soon as that cake is cool enough to go in the fridge, I'm hitting the hay.
Bonus picture: best salad I had all week!! Craisins, walnuts, zucchini innards, balsamic...

My next endeavor will be a kale salad - later this week!

Time to go check the cake temp.  Nitey nite!

I can haz bean tacos?

As I was contemplating this post, here is what I saw. This is the 2nd time I've looked up to see barfycat peeking over my laptop.  Creepy? Cute? 

Personally, I think she's thinking "Boy do I love that girl! She's so cute & funny and sweet. I always have a full bowl &a clean potty. But, if she dies in her sleep on a Monday & no one finds us by Thursday, my dish will be empty. I think I'll start with her lips. Wait, maybe I should start on her while she's fresh - the food will keep." Yeah she rambles...

Now that I've completely grossed you out, let's talk about vegan bean tacos.

Oh but first...I finally got a pic of the collards - leftover - but still a picture :)

Now the bean tacos. Aren't they pretty? Want the recipe?

1 can pinto beans, 1/2 jar El Pinto Salsa cook until hot, toast tortillas and add some ripped up lettuce.  Num!

Cinnamon apple tacos

This week D2D sent me apples. I don't really like apples, it's the way the squeak in my teeth. Cooked apples are usually ok though. So, I chopped them up, put em in a bowl with a running over tablespoon of honey and a couple dashes of cinnamon and a dash of salt and nuked! Then, I had a little brain child. I have corn tortillas in the fridge still - would that be good? It was!  I toasted them on the stove in my non-stick pan so they wouldn't get soggy from the syrup.  I was pretty happy with my breakfast concoction.

Then there was lunch.

Yeah, I ran out of clean dishes. I'm washing them today!! I'm also running out of ideas and as you can see I put my homemade pickles on top of lettuce and chopped the last tomato up. That was it - pickle juice for dressing. I'm not going to tell you it was a fabulous salad, but it was tasty and light for a hot (fall) day.

You may notice a lack of meat, especially after my post about going almost vegan. I have to admit, I cooked a pound of bacon up 2 days ago to cook my collard greens in. The bacon is gone, the collards are not.  I should have listened to Ani Phyo's book and used them as mini-wraps. That would have been cool, and easy! I de-stemed them anyway and neglected to cut them up any more so I have giant leaves to eat. They are slightly tougher cooked than raw, well it's a completely different texture. You know?

Keep forgetting to take a picture, they aren't that pretty anyway ;)

Don't eat the dye, but be sure it's GF if you do?

Ummm....just so you know - Clairol brands Natural Instincts and Perfect 10 are gluten free (as far as I can tell) as is Loreal creme natural blonde . I was so surprised to see wheat protein, gluten and other wheat ingredients in quite a few types of dye, including boxes of highlights. Of course, I don't plan to eat the dye, I think glutening would be the least of my worries if I did.  I still I avoid it.


Why is my post about this? Because I couldn't leave the house today without a hat. Why? long story short, I dyed my hair 4 times in 2 weeks and #3 was horrific!
Ready for the long story?
I wanted to go lighter so a couple weeks ago, I picked up a nice blonde shade and gave it a try (#1). Success: blond roots, Failure: the rest stayed dark. Ewwww!  So, I took myself to the store and picked up some semi-permanent dye in brown to cover it up (#2). Semi-success. But as it washed out I ended up with tri-colored hair. :(
Then, last night after work I used 2 boxes of dye remover to try and clean it up (#3) and I ended up blonde/red/copper headed.  It would have been fun if there weren't also splotches of dark brown in the back...semi-failure. Here's the best I could do with it this morning...

Alas tonight, after waiting the required 24 hours, I finally dumped a couple boxes of light brown on top (#4) and so far so good - it almost looks like my natural shade. This bodes well, because by hair is so crunchy from all the processing horses could mistake it for hay!  Once it's all dry, I will know for sure if it's a success or not.  I'll let you know in the morning.
Sweet dreams kids!

Giant salads to cure the funky tummy

Good Morning Labor Day! I'm feeling down, I can't quite deal with the fact that summer is over. My vacation is over. I've come to some serious conclusions about my diet.
Turns out that dairy is definitely an enemy of my tummy :-(  I'm so bummed about this because it was the one thing I was holding on to. Something has changed though and it seems that I cannot handle dairy any longer.
So, after 4+ days of not feeling well, I guess I'll be cleaning up my diet even more.
Since I'm so emotionally tied to food, I thought that surely this means I can have brownies and cake, right? Wrong. The brownies made my tummy hurt too :-(  So depressing.  Back to the sugar free zone as well.
I guess when it's all said and done, I'm just bummed out today and really just want to curl up under the covers and ignore everything.  But, I won't and I can't. It's Labor Day!
So, I remind myself that I can still have all sorts of yummy foods. Like this juicy plum I'm having for breakfast and that wonderful avocado you see on my salad, above.  I'm still down with nuts and rice cakes too.
My positive twist is that if I eat like a cave woman, of course I'll look like this, right?

Since all my enlightenment settled in yesterday, today I'm going to have to do some research about how to get complete nutrition on a vegan diet. Any suggestions? Help?
Now, I'm off to clean up my messy house! I haven't vacuumed in ages and if that's the only thing I accomplish today, I'll be satisfied.

Bard's and Rice cereal

No, this is not my breakfast, although some people think it could be.  It's actually my dinner.
I did one of my massive cookings and made a big bowl of Cream of Rice Cereal and had it for breakfast 3 days in a row. This is the last of it and I just couldn't bear another day of it so I had it for dinner!  With a Bard's gluten free beer.
Luckily, I'm almost out of the Bard's. Not that it's bad, I'm just not a beer girl.  Never have been.
I used to be a tequila shot and gin martini kind of girl but after a few years of getting nasty "dirty" or watery martinis even when I specify "straight, no ice" and one very fun night of matching 20+ shots of tequila with a friend (some of them doubles), I'm not that kind of girl anymore.
I'm the kind of girl that likes to sip a short glass of Mogen David in the evening before bed or gulp a nice Riesling on a date to sooth my nerves.
I'm glad to sip a glass of very old, very smooth scotch with the guys and I've even been known to chug vodka and cranberry with a splash of soda at family events.
Maybe it's maturity, or just the loss of that excitement at drinking heavily and dancing all night, but I'm much more of a connoisseur now.
That's all  :)

My ~ing-venture & the Udi's bread

So, I have been doing a lot of spiritual work lately. I don't share a lot because I'm kind of secretive (surprise, surprise). I figure only a few people read this blog anyway, so what the hell...I can share a bit of my spiritual life with you all.
If you aren't familiar, check out Gabby Bernstein on www.addmoreing.com and follow links to her other stuff too. She's pretty cool.
So, I got her book back in April and as with everything else, I figured I could do the crash course. You know, as in "I can do anything in 18 days"??
And it was mildly successful, I changed my perception on some stuff and was flowing a little better. Then, in July, they started the ~ing book club and every month is working through a chapter (as she originally intends in the book). So, I decided to go ahead and participate since there was a lot of guidance and support.
July was about Feelings, & was one that I found to be easy, I mean I feel all the time, right?  I did start to find that actually being present with my feelings was a different action than I thought at first and discovered some things I'd been hiding from. I knew they were there, just never got curious about them before.
August was about Forgiving.  It was an easy peasy chapter for me.  I've always been really good at forgiving people. I had a significant learning experience though, when I found out that I had to go ahead and be mad at a certain person who was continually causing me pain, and feel that anger - then I could forgive. Good stuff!!
This month is Balance. I think it's going to be an awful lot of work for me.  I'm totally off balance and have been for years! Maybe always, as an adult.
So, that brings me to the sandwich.  I finally gave in and bought a bag of Udi's gluten free bread at the store $6! for a small loaf of bread...my review? It was bread - kinda dry but it got me through the last couple weeks when I just didn't feel like cooking.  Buddig sandwich meat, lettuce, mustard, mayo, bread. Every day for lunch or dinner.  Why?
Because I have been working very hard and getting very tired.
Alright, deep breath!! I'm off to do some rebounding and improve my balance!

Everybody's doin it - GF Bisquick review

I guess gluten free Bisquick is the news du jour for those of us desperate for gluten free baking mixes that might save us time and effort but still taste good.  Gluten Free Goddess rounded up a few, check out her blog for more.

I finally bought my $5 box of GF Bisquick and gave it a whirl yesterday.  What do I think?

Well, my first feeling was disappointment.  Every recipe calls for oil, eggs and at least 1 or 2 other things - far from instant! Not to mention the additional egg or corn starch to make it turn out at High Altitude! So, I basically felt like with all that effort, I might as well make my own mix from scratch.

You know me though, I won't.  So I gave it a chance...

I made "Pizza Crust".  Which, btw, took the entire box of mix - cuz it's like 2 cups of stuff in that $5 box.

I used extra "Italian seasoning" because I wasn't going to use cheese and I used EVOO instead of "oil". I suppose EVOO is veg oil, but I felt like it was a step up ;)

And I was SOOOO glad I did! or this would have been inedible. Instead it turned out as a super soft flat bread of sorts.  

Then, I went ahead and put my pizza toppings on it:

Fire Roasted tomatoes (not saucy, mind you), green onions and mushrooms

and baked it some more.  Looks good, no?

Well, here's the disappointing part. The crust turned into a pasty gooey mess under the toppings, which was gaggy to try and eat :(
So, the moral of the story: make the flat bread and dip it in stuff - don't try to bake a pizza out of it.
Other reviews have not been stellar either.  A couple people have used it to make some yummy looking things though, so in a pinch, go ahead and give it a try.
My official review: 5/10.  I prefer Pamela's for pancakes, Bob's Red Mill for biscuits and Amy's for pizza crust. Plus, they are easier to stir up!
But, thanks General Mills for giving it a shot, because sometimes something's better than nothing!!