A little of this...A little of that...

Everything I need to know about life I learned from Candy Crush

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:16:00 +0000

Candy Crush is an addictive game; very addictive. I spent two years playing and I don't even know how many hours I wasted on it. But, it was fun and I learned a few things a long the way.

1. If you want to meet your goals you need to be determined.

2. You can't get anywhere without hard work.

3. Chocolate is bad for you.

4. Bombs will kill you and destroy everything around you.

5. Even if it takes two years, keep going.

6. Winners never quit and quitters never win.

7. It's okay to ask your friends for help.

8. Set small goals to get to the big goal.

9. Remember you have responsibilities

Split Pea Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 00:05:00 +0000

My friend Kristie made some Split Pea Soup the other day for a coffee lunch at her house. I had never in my 41 years of life tasted pea soup because I hate peas. My friends convinced me I should at least give it a taste. They said it didn't taste anything like peas. My friends were right; the soup was delicious. I'm glad I tried it. This a very filling dish and the leftovers can be frozen.

Here's the recipe. It's pretty simple to make and is perfect for a chilly day.
Serves 4-6
2 - 32oz cartons of chicken broth
1 - 16oz bag of split peas
2-2.5 Cups Diced ham
1 heaping cup carrots sliced
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 Cup diced onions
2 Cups diced potatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until peas and veggies are soft (about an hour).

My family likes our soup thick. If you want a thinner style soup add more broth to thin it after simmering.
That's it! Pretty easy huh?

Shutterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 03:12:00 +0000

I received a great coupon for Shutterfly so I decided to use it to make Christmas cards. I think it turned out nice.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Stationery card

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Flourish Of Frames Christmas Card

Create from the Heart: photo Christmas cards from Shutterfly .

View the entire collection of cards.

50 year old phone

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:22:00 +0000

My Grandma and her significant other, Jerry, live in his childhood home. In the family room, also known as the breezeway, is this rotary dial phone. Jerry said this phone has been there as long as the house has, which is about 50 years. Believe it or not, this phone still works and they actually use it.

Bishop Castle - Rye, Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Bishop Castle is the project of a single man, Jim Bishop. Mr. Bishop has been building the castle by hand since the 1960s.

My husband, two kids, and I ventured out there last week. The drive out there took us a little over an hour from Colorado Springs. The drive was quiet, not a lot of traffic, and scenic to boot. If you aren't looking carefully, you could drive right by.

When you first arrive to the castle you are greeted by a few signs. Mr. Bishop is not a fan of the government as you can tell. There were several other signs around the castle, but I think you get the idea.

There are several ways to get up to the different levels of the castle, but none of them are any fun. You can climb up these very steep and narrow concrete steps.

You can also choose the narrow passage ways with concrete spiral staircases

You can climb to all parts of the castle, even the highest points, but you have to go on even scarier spiral stairs that are only made of wrought iron.

The inside of the castle is very open. I wonder if anyone is ever planning to live there or if it was just built to be seen.

This is the main floor -

And this is the upper level -

This castle was definitely worth the drive. My kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave. If you are in the Pueblo or Colorado Springs area I definitely recommend making Bishop Castle a stop on your itinerary.

Lazy does not make a good blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 23:03:00 +0000

I admit it; I am lazy. I could spend hours and hours surfing Pinterest, but when it comes time to write my own blog entries I find better things to do.

I have many posts written in my head, but somehow getting them from my head to you seems like an awful lot of work. I will try to be better about keeping this blog updated.

Beef Stroganoff

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:23:00 +0000

I love vintage cookbooks, especially anything pre-1960s. Yesterday I had some sirloin steak I needed to cook. I was going to make Pepper Steak with it, but my 12 year old son was protesting profusely so I decided I would look in my cookbooks and see if I could find something else to do with the steak.

In a booklet dated 1954 for a dairy company called Knudsen, I found a Beef Stroganoff recipe that I just happened to have all the ingredients for. It was decided; that would be dinner. Mys son, who protests pretty much everything these days, scoffed at the news of this new dinner. He had never had it; He just didn't like the name. I made it anyway and guess what? He loved it!

If my son likes it, I'm sure pretty much anyone will because he doesn't like much. It was really good. It was pretty easy to make too. There was enough to feed three adults, two kids, and have leftovers for lunch today. I don't have any pictures to show you, but I will share the recipe. I am going to post the original recipe although, I did modify it slightly when I made it. I will just add some notes in at the end of how I changed it up.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds thin sirloin steak
1/2 t salt
1/8 t garlic salt
1/2 t paprika
1/8 t pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup bouillon
1 small bay leaf
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
16oz Sour Cream
cooked rice

Directions
Cut steak into 2-inch squares, season with salts, paprika, and pepper. Brown with onion in butter. Add mushrooms and brown them a few minutes, then add bouillon, bay leaf, and worcestershire sauce. Simmer about 15 minutes. Place rice on a serving plate and place cooked meat pieces on rice. Add sour cream to sauce in pan and heat, stirring constantly. Pour over rice and meat. Serve at once. Serves 6.

My Notes
I only used an 1/8 t of salt. I used about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder instead of the garlic salt. I also chopped up a clove of fresh garlic and added that. I add fresh garlic to pretty much everything. I forgot to season the meat before I put it in the pan so I just threw all the spices in the pan with the meat and onions and stirred it up real well. I did not use the butter at all for the meat and onions. It really wasn't needed.

I didn't have any bay leaf so I skipped adding that in (obviously). For the bouillon, I used a cup of water and a veggie bouillon cube. Veggie was all I had, otherwise, I would have used beef bouillon.

I used a slotted spoon to pick the meat pieces out, but I put them on a plate and set aside. When I added the sour cream I also added about 1/2 t of sage. I used sage because I didn't have a bay leaf and I remember making a stroganoff before that called for sage and it being good. After the sour cream was stirred in and heated well, I added the meat back to the sauce.

We did serve it over white rice individually. If you can have gluten, I think egg noodles would be just as good as rice.

Stimulate the economy with small businesses.

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:45:00 +0000

You have to be living in a cave if you haven't heard of all the "occupy" protests going on around the country. Surely you know the economy is in a slump. If you really want to make a difference with the economy shop at small local businesses. I have several friends who sell products from home and friends who make their own products to sell. I would like to showcase them today.

With only 49 days left until Christmas, many of you are already thinking about holiday shopping. Maybe you will consider one of these online shops instead of going to a big box store this year.

Heather Fraser makes cute hair things for girls. I've known Heather forever. We went to high school together. Not only is she going to school, she is also a mom to two cute kids. I don't have little girls, but if I did I would totally buy some of her things :)

Over at Heart Shaped Leaves you'll find my friend Samantha. Samantha is one of those moms all other moms are envious of. She is always doing some awesome project with her kids. Samantha dreams of becoming a Certified Lactation Consultant. She sells kids books to help her make that dream a reality.

Christina is an Army wife in Colorado. She knits, crochets, and sews. She also sells her handmade creations over at Pit Chick Fashions on Etsy. She makes some nice, warm, thick scarfs for winter. She also will customize colors for you. I have mine in Michigan blue and gold :) You can sometimes find coupon codes on her shop's facebook page or you can click on the picture below to go right to her shop.

More Green Smoothie Attempts

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:17:00 +0000

I am really loving these green smoothies for breakfast. My favorite is definitely Blueberries, strawberries, bananas, spinach, milk, greek yogurt, and honey. I have made attempts at other flavors that didn't quite work out so well. I thought I'd share them with you so you didn't make the same mistakes.

First, I really wanted to try peach and mango together. So I put some frozen peaches and frozen mangos in the blender with the spinach and added the usual milk, yogurt, and honey. It didn't taste so good, so I added a banana. It was better and then I realized duh...should've used orange juice instead of milk. I drank about half of it, but it was really too milky tasting for me. I mean it wasn't horrible and if you like milk it would probably be okay, but it just wasn't for me.

I was going to try the peach and mango smoothie again this morning with O.J., but I am out of bananas. I am also out of berries so I decided to try chocolate. I first used one package of Carnation Instant Breakfast, a cup of milk, a half cup of yogurt, and lots of spinach. I added the yogurt thinking oh it will be like ice cream and taste like a shake. Yeah, not so much. It tasted too much like plain yogurt.

Since I wasn't wasting a lot of expensive fruit, I dumped it all out and started over. This time, I put in the Carnation Instant Breakfast, a cup of milk, a bunch of spinach, and a half cup of ice. It was too watery so I added a second packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast. Found a keeper! Now this chocolate smoothie makes half as much as the berry smoothie did and had about the same amount of calories. It also didn't fill me up quite as much as the berry smoothie normally does, but I think it would do if I was desperate.

Berry Green Monster Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:57:00 +0000

I have a serious addiction to Pinterest. These Green Monster Smoothies are all the rage over there right now. So I decided to give it a try.

Basically, a green smoothie is any smoothie with a whole lot of spinach added to it. Mine isn't green, but I have a feeling that is because of the color of the fruit I chose. Actually, mine looks a lot like a glass of puke. Doesn't that sound appetizing? I swear it's really good. I had my Mom and Dad both taste it and my Mom drank the whole glass.

There are probably a hundred different ways to make this and apparently some of them are actually green. I got my inspiration from this photo found over at Sing For Your Supper.

Now that looks good doesn't it? I didn't exactly follow her recipe though.

I used:

1 small banana sliced

about 5 strawberries cut into chunks

about 1/4 cup blueberries

about 1/2 cup raspberries

about 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

about 2T honey

about 1 cup milk

and a large handful (easily a cup) of spinach

I threw it all in a blender until it was a smoothie. It makes about two 16oz glasses (maybe less not sure of the size of my glasses). You CAN NOT taste the spinach in any way shape or form. So if you don't like veggies this is a good way for you to get them in. I think this is something I need to make for my kids for breakfast since they aren't fans of traditional breakfasts or breakfast foods.

Praying Mantis

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:01:00 +0000

My mom was outside cleaning up the flower bed and weeds along the back deck. She came into the house with a stick that had a weird looking cocoon on it. I immediately started searching google to figure out what it was. The cocoon reminded me of dried foam insulation. However, just googling "foam cocoon" will lead you to a million links for this:

Clearly not what I was looking for. It turns out that we have a Praying Mantis egg case. Thanks to a forum over at Garden Web I figured out what it was. This excites me as I've always been a nature freak and Praying Mantis are cool. Once I knew what I had I did a search for praying mantis egg case, and found out I can keep it in the garage over the winter and hatch it in a paper bag in the spring. Apparently people order these egg cases because praying mantis are so cool. Nature's Control is one place where these can be ordered. They also have great instructions for how to hatch your egg case.

I took a couple of pictures so if you ever find one you'll know what it is too.

I really, really want to keep this egg case so I can hatch it and release all the praying mantis in my yard. I live out in the country and part of our land is a swamp. We have A LOT of bugs. Oh, and did I mention praying mantis are REALLY cool? But, my oldest son is in 7th grade and his science teacher has the coolest classroom I have ever seen and this egg case would fit in perfectly. I'm contemplating emailing him and seeing if he'd like it for his classroom. Maybe I can still get the babies after they hatch for my yard.

Please Don't Text and Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:37:00 +0000

I frequently scold my friends for texting while driving; especially when I'm in the car. People don't seem to understand that when they are texting while driving their lives aren't the only ones at danger. The lives of everyone around them is in danger as well. I would like to share a picture with you that shows what can happen when you are the one texting while driving and you aren't the one that gets hurt.

This accident just happened today. This vehicle was at a stop sign in a residential area. It was rear-ended (at 60mph) by a 16 year old girl who was texting while she was driving. Inside the vehicle is a 15 month old baby. Fortunately the baby survived this crash, but not without injury. The policeman is reaching in to comfort her until paramedics arrived. The baby has two broken legs and cervical sprain (hopefully not severe). She is currently in the hospital.

Please, please, please don't text, check facebook, or play with your phone while you are driving.

My Favorite Gluten-Free Brands...

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:45:00 +0000

So I've recently had a couple of people asking me about eating gluten-free. I frequently post reviews of foods I've tried, but this time I want to make a list of my favorite go to foods and brands.

Pasta - Tinkyada hands down! It can be found in some regular grocery stores and definitely in stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Follow the directions when cooking. If you cook it like I do regular pasta by throwing the pasta in the water and then putting on the stove to boil it won't come out right.

Bread - Rudi's Gluten Free. Do not confuse with Udi's (nasty). Rudi's Gluten Free is found in the freezer section. It is a little harder to find. Some regular grocery stores carry it and I've found that not all Whole Foods carry it either. When you bring it home keep it in the freezer and toast it when you are ready to use. It tastes just like regular bread. If you don't toast it, the bread is very dry and falls apart easily.

Flour Mix - King Arthur's All Purpose Gluten free flour mix...this is better than having to mix your own flours and makes it much easier to follow regular recipes.

Cake Mix - King Arthur's Chocolate cake...OMG best cake ever and super, super moist. I think this cake mix is good without frosting on it as well. This is also a little harder to find in regular grocery stores. But Whole Foods always has it.

Pretzels - Glutino I have found this in pretty much any grocery store in the same section as the regular chips and pretzels, but sometimes in the gluten-free section. Tastes just like regular pretzels. My kids love them.

Crackers - Again, Glutino...The table crackers are a good substitute for saltines.

Pancakes - Gluten-Free Bisquick. My kids love pancakes made with this mix too.

Pizza Crust - Udi's this time. They make personal pizza sized crusts. They are very good. I think they would also make good bread for homemade paninis. There are a lot of crust mixes out there, but I haven't tried any of them yet. I'm lazy.

Chicken Fajitas

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:18:00 +0000

I love fajitas, but I don't like big chunky peppers. I also like A LOT of peppers and onions on my fajitas. I feel like I never get enough My kids will eat the chicken, but don't like peppers or onions. To accommodate all of us I decided to get a little creative in the kitchen.

You will need:
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 red bell peppers; very finely chopped
2 medium sweet or yellow onions; very finely chopped
oil
shredded cheddar cheese
fajita seasoning
rice
flour or corn tortillas

The peppers and onions can be chopped ahead of time. Raw peppers and onions also freeze well. You could chop them up and freeze them in a freezer bag when you have time so they are ready to go when you want fajitas. Because I have O.C.D., I chop all my vegetables by hand so each piece is the same size and shape. But, for those of you without O.C.D., a food chopper or food processor also works.

Cook the rice according to package directions. While the rice is cooking, add the onions and peppers to a skillet with a small amount of oil.

Saute the onions and peppers over medium heat until soft; stirring frequently. I sauteed mine for about 20 mintues. When the veggies are softened turn up the heat and cook a little longer to get them slightly browned. Remove veggies from the pan.

I refuse to cook with raw chicken so I start with frozen chicken breasts, boil them, and then cut them up. I boiled the chicken the night before and then sliced it up right before heating. Yes, I even shred my cheese by hand.

Put the chicken in the same pan you used for the veggies. Sprinkle fajita seasoning on the chicken (about 1tsp) and heat through. Obviously if you use raw chicken this step will take longer than it did for me.

Since I can't eat flour tortillas, I also have to fry the corn tortillas. The man tried the fajitas with both flour and corn tortillas. He said he couldn't decide which was better, because the tortillas each had different flavors. If you decide to try corn tortillas you just heat up some oil in another skillet, put a tortilla in for a minute and flip for a minute. Stack between paper towels to cut out some of the grease.

To serve: lay a tortilla flat on a plate, add a thin layer of white rice, followed by a layer of shredded cheese. Put desired amount of chicken in the middle of the tortilla and top with the desired amount of the pepper/onion mixture. Fold in half and enjoy!

If you cook the chicken and chop the veggies before hand and you aren't using minute rice, the rest of the process should be completed in the time it takes to cook the rice.

Celiac Disease SUCKS!

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 06:06:00 +0000

I do not wish Celiac Disease on anyone. It sucks. It sucks even more when you don't find out you have it until you're almost 39.

I will say there are a lot of tasty alternatives for gluten containing food. For the most part, I have embraced my new wheat free lifestyle. But, every now and then, I really want to eat "real" food. For instance when the kids are eating pizza from Pizza Hut. I can't just grab a slice and go. If I want to eat at a restaurant I have to send the waitress to the kitchen with a list of items from the menu to find out if they contain gluten or not. Sometimes I can find the allergen menu online and check it out before hand.

You'd be surprised how many odd things have wheat/gluten in them. For instance, I bought some fajita seasoning today. Guess what? It has wheat in it. Regular nacho cheese flavored Doritos? Yep, wheat in them too.

I do occasionally eat a piece of regular cake or half the bun on my burger from McDonald's. I do not tempt fate very often. I tried that once. It almost killed me and landed me in the hospital for four days.

So, the next time you go to a cookout and you're eating your hot dog on a bun consider yourself privileged.

Ken's Chicken Angelo

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:14:00 +0000

I had never heard of Chicken Angelo until our friend Ken made it for us. It's a little different than recipes I've found on the internet for Chicken Angelo, that's why I named this Ken's Chicken Angelo.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts; cooked and cut into bite sized pieces

2 12oz or 4 6ozjars of quarted, marinated artichoke hearts; drained

2 2.25oz cans of sliced black olives; drained

16oz whole fresh mushrooms sliced

1 lemon

olive oil

Shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions:

Coat a deep skillet with olive oil. Add chicken, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and olives. Cut lemon in half and squeeze both halves into the pan. Cook on low about 10-12 minutes. Serve with pasta and top with the cheese.

Notes:

- You can cut up the chicken and fry it. I prefer to boil the chicken and then cut it up.

- The recipe originally called for canned mushrooms, but I much prefer fresh mushrooms.

- Ken served this dish with angel hair pasta. I prefer bow tie pasta.

- Next time I make this I will probably also add a couple cloves of chopped garlic because garlic is good in everything. I think a jar of roasted red peppers would also be a nice addition.

Pawn Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:35:00 +0000

My family and I like to watch Pawn Stars on The History Channel. We like to see all the items that get brought in and learn about the history of them. It's very interesting to learn about some of the items, where they've been, and what they are worth. It's kind of like PBS' Antiques Roadshow in a pawn shop.

My husband and I also like to watch Hardcore Pawn on TruTV. This is a pure trash show. But, it's in Detroit and that is where we are from. The idiots that come in to the store are something else. That show is true Detroit. There is nothing historical about it. This show could be called The Real Housewives of Wayne County (LOL)!

Watching these two shows has made me realize a few things about people. Most importantly I've learned that people are idiots. Ok, I didn't learn that from pawn shows. I've known people are idiots for a very long time.

I don't know if the History Channel made the Pawn Stars shop an antiques dealer or if they always dealt with antiques, but people come from far and wide now just to bring their antiques to this store. It's funny because some people think that just because their item would fetch a certain price from a collector or at auction, they are going to receive the same offer from the pawn shop guys.

Hello! If you're trying to sell your highly collectible, very rare item at a pawn shop you're not going to get what it's worth. Pawn stores are kind of like the middle man. You sell you're item to the pawn store and the pawn store resells it at a higher price. The pawn stores need to make money too.

The other thing about the customers on Pawn Stars that cracks me up is that they think because they saw their same item in an Ebay listing for a certain price that is what their item is worth. Just because an item is listed on Ebay doesn't mean people are actually buying it. The price of the Ebay listing doesn't necessarily mean that is what you're item is worth either.

Lastly, just because you have something old doesn't mean it's worth money. Some girl brought in an original rubix cube that was still in the box. You can still buy Rubix Cubes in the store. That is hardly a collectible item. I mean, ya, it's cool cause it's an original, but it's not worth a ton of money.

Now that Pawn Stars has gained popularity I see more and more people on the show getting upset over the amount of money they are offered for their items. I think some people bring antiques in for the sole purpose of having an expert look at it and appraise it. I wonder how the producers decide which items to feature on the show.

I am also seeing people on Hardcore Pawn who think they are walking into the shop on Pawn Stars. American Jewelry and Loan, the shop featured on Hardcore Pawn, is NOT the same as the shop featured on Pawn Stars. They don't deal in antiques. They don't have a slew of experts. They all carry guns. The deal mostly in jewelry and electronics. They look up the value of items on Ebay. Stop bringing your antiques there. You're not going to get a free appraisal and you're not going to get anywhere remotely close to what you think your item is worth.

Gluten-Free Bread Heaven!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:18:00 +0000

I have found my bread heaven! I am now one happy gluten-free eater. Rudi's Organic Bakery now offers gluten-free products. The Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery Original is the BEST gluten-free bread I have eaten and honestly I don't think I'll be trying any more. I swear it tastes just like real bread. It's soft and not dry at all. You can find it in the freezer section and I've seen it at several different grocery stores. I would also keep it frozen at home. Defrost it in your toaster. I tried it today by having a tuna fish sandwich. It was so good I was tempted to have a second sandwich just because I was so happy to eat "real" bread again.

Updated on May 2, 2012
I know longer thing Rudi's Gluten-Free is the best bread around. It does taste good, but I've found it crumbles way too much. Before you are finished with your sandwich your bread is in a big pile of crumbles on the plate. I will have to write a new post about better breads I've found.

More Gluten Free Product Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:38:00 +0000

Amy's
I had the gluten-free macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight. OH. MY. GOD. that stuff is seriously good. It's expensive at around $3.50 for one serving, but if you are in need of some comfort food this is definitely what you are looking for. I also love the cheese enchilada's. Best enchilada's outside of an authentic mexican restaurant in my opinion.   I have the veggie burgers in my freezer, but haven't tried them yet. They also make gluten free pizza's that I'm excited to try.

Glutino
I've already reviewed the pretzels, which are delicious. They now have pretzel sticks in addition to the traditional pretzel shapes. I have since tried their original and vegetable crackers; also very delicious.   The original are a good substitute for saltine crackers. I think the vegetable crackers would be good with some veggie or chive flavored cream cheese on them.

Gluten Free Pantry products are also part of the Glutino family. I have the all-purpose flour mix. I use it for when a recipe calls for a small amount of flour and so far so good.

Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust
I did not care for Udi's white sandwich bread. Did I review that already? Anyway I picked up this pizza crust the other day and it is very, very good. There are two personal sized pizza crusts in the package. I think this would also be a good alternative for flour tortillas to make quesadilla's on and even a good choice for making a panini sandwich with the george foreman grill.

Kettle Cuisine Soups
I tried both the chickenoodle soup and the potato mushroom. I was not at all impressed with this soup. The package makes it sounds like they are made by a world famous soup chef so I expected more out of them.   The chicken noodle soup needed more noodles. There was too much dark meat chicken and the base was very bland and watery tasting.   The Potato Mushroom was ok, but not great. The potato part was actually very good, but the mushrooms were very rubbery.   I was very disappointed in this brand and will probably not try any of the other flavors.

Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies
Not bad. The dough is the consistency of sand. You have to form the dough with your hands to get cookie shapes. They dry out quickly after being removed from the oven and are crunchy like store bought cookies. So, if you can look past that part they are actually not too bad. I personally like soft and gooey cookies, but if I can't have Nestle Tollhouse these'll do.

Chain Restaurants That Are Gluten-Free Friendly

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:41:00 +0000

I like to eat out. A lot. I know there are more and more restaurants become gluten-free friendly. I do usually prefer to eat at smaller local restaurants, but this past week I visited two chain restaurants that I was very impressed with and felt they needed some recognition.

Panera Bread
My local military spouse meetup group had a breakfast meetup at Panera this past week. I had asked the cashier if she knew if there was gluten in a particular soup. It turns out they have a very large binder with all of their menu items in it. Each Item has the nutritional info, the entire list of ingredients, and allergy information listed. I was very impressed. She didn't seem annoyed at all by looking up different things for me, but it also wasn't quite the lunch rush either. I definitely would not recommend trying this at any Panera between 11am and 1pm. You can also go to http://www.paneranutrition.com/ and find the nutrtional information and allergen statements for each menu item.

Red Robin
My husband had a co-worker tell him that Red Robin was gluten-free friendly. We did our own investigating and found out that, yes indeed, they are. Their regular fries are not gluten free because of the seasoning they put on them. Also, they have a dedicated fryer for making gluten-free fries so there is no cross contanimation from using the same fryers as breaded foods. The chefs know what items have gluten in them. On one visit, I had asked for carmalized onions and the waitress came back to let me know that they did have gluten in them. On a second occasion I asked about a different item. The waiter printed up a gluten free menu for me to take home. Their gluten-free menu can also be found online at http://www.redrobin.com/pdfs/Wheat_Gluten_Allergen_Menu.pdf At the main Red Robin website click on the FAQ page and you will also be able to obtain menus for other food allergies. You can also sign up to receive email updates when their ingredients or allergens change.

Lesson Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:40:00 +0000

So I know you all want to know what happened to me and why I ended up in the hospital for four days.

Wednesday night I thought I would throw a little gluten in my diet and we ate dinner at The Olive Garden.   I ordered the Fettucinni Alfredo.   Later that night my stomach started to hurt.

When I woke up Thursday, every muscle in my abdomen hurt like I had done a thousand sit-ups, but I haven't been doing any ab exercises. My intestines also felt like they were tied up in knots.   Of course I just chalked it up to eating the pasta. My hands were all tingly as well, but I just assumed that it had to do with my neck injuries and I was going to go see the physical therapist that morning anyway.

After the physical therapist I went to Chik-Fil-A to hang out with some of my friends. My tummy still hurt, but I didn't think it was anything serious. After Chik-Fil-A I went home. Around 1pm I was feeling extremely short of breath. I couldn't walk across a room without hyperventilating. Everytime I would sit or stand up I would have sweat pouring off me and felt like I was going to pass out. I decided to take a nap until it was time for me to do my crossing guard duty at 3:30.   I lasted about 15 minutes and nearly passed out in the street. I felt so sick I just left and drove home. I checked my blood pressure and it was 90/60 and my heart rate was 137.   I thought I was having a heart attack and promptly drove myself to the hospital. I felt so awful I honestly was afraid I was going to die if I waited for someone to come get me. Thankfully, we only live one mile from the hospital.

When I got to the E.R. counter all I said was shortness of breath and they rushed me to the triage room. I didn't even get to finish telling them what else until a little bit later. I had to wait in the triage room for about 10 minutes while they found a room to put me in. I almost passed out in the triage room waiting.

Of course in the E.R. they did a million tests. I still thought that my low blood pressure/feeling faint and my stomach pain were unrelated. My white blood count was 23,000 and the normal range is 3,000 - 10,000.   They also did a lactic acid test. My level was 2.8 and the normal range for that was 0.6 -2.2 This meant I had lactic acidosis, which apparantly is bad.   Also because of all the digestive problems I have had over the last few months they did a CT scan on my abdomen which showed that my intestines were inflamed.   They assumed there was an infection in my intestine.   They did urine and blood cultures to tet for bacteria, started administering antibiotics, and admitted me to the hospital.   The E.R. doctor made it quite clear several times that I was very, very sick when I came in to the E.R. and it was a good thing I went in when I did.

I was in the E.R. room for six hours. Remember that tingling I had in my hands earlier that morning? Well it started travelling all over my body, but stayed mostly in my hands and face. The dr. said that it was most likely due to my blood pressure being so low. My blood pressure stayed around 90/60 for quite a few hours.   I was given oxygen for a couple of hours as well which REALLY helped with my breathing.

I pretty much just slept the rest of the time. I was getting two different antibiotics pumped into me plus saline.   They actually had to turn the saline off because it was making my blood pressure too high and my hands and feet looked like balloons. They were pumping 200ml/hour into me. That doesn't mean anything to me, but the nurses said it was a lot.

Yesterday morning the dr. gave me the choice between going home last night if I could keep a meal down or staying until this morning. I decided to stay just to be on the safe side. When the dr. came to see me this morning she said that the blood and urine cultures came back negative for anything.   She lectured me sternly about eating the gluten. I asked her if the gluten really could make me that sick and, of course, she said yes.

I have read up some on Celiac Disease and I know it is an autoimmune disorder. So apparantly what happened is that I ate too much gluten and my body started attacking my intestines. It really was kind of like a severe allergic reaction.

So there you go, that is the whole sordid story.

Kinnikinnick Gluten Free English Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:25:00 +0000

Kinnikinnick Gluten Free English Muffins
These muffins are found in the freezer section at the grocery store. They are really more like a biscuit than an english muffin, but oh man are they good. Only four came in a package for $6.00, but for someone who can't eat regular bread they are worth every penny. I think these "english muffins" would also make a good substitute for bread to have a small sandwich on. I look forward to trying some of this company's other products and hope that they taste as good.

Gluten Free Product Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:03:00 +0000

I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. This means I have to stop eating gluten. I don't think this will be as hard as it sounds. This may sound funny, but yesterday I was walking through the grocery store looking at all the things I couldn't have, but normally wouldn't even buy. Just knowing that I couldn't have them made me want them that much more.

I'm amazed at the number of gluten-free products that are now available in the grocery stores. I know just a year or so ago it was extremely difficult to find anything that was gluten free. As I try products I will write up reviews for you all.

This morning we had pancakes for breakfast with gluten free bisquick. Let me just say YUMMY! The box is very small, about half the size of a normal bisquick box, and it costs about the same price as regular bisquick. However, this will definitely be a staple in my pantry.

For dinner, we had my favorite steak pasta salad. I used Tinkyada spirals for the pasta. It was perfect! My husband even said that if I didn't tell him the pasta was gluten-free he would never have known.

Last week I made spaghetti with Bionaturae spaghetti noodles. Actually, I attempted it twice. The first time the noodles were nothing but a pile of mush. The second time they cooked better. I found that you have to stir and test them constantly to make sure they don't overcook. They were o.k., but I definitely like the Tinkyada noodles better.

Yesterday I made pizzas with Chebe's on the go pizza crust. They are found in the freezer section. The size of the crusts were small. I'd say just a little larger than 5x7. The crust tastes very good, but for the price (5.79 for two crusts) it isn't a very good buy. One crust was about the same as two small slices of pizza. There are several dry crust mixes that have had good reviews. There are also a couple of recipes for pizza crust on food.com that have good reviews. Since my kids think we need pizza every friday I have plenty of opportunity to try other products/recipes.

I have also tried a few gluten free snacks. The first is cookies. Jo-Sef's makes sandwich cookies similar to Oreos. They're definitely not Oreos, but a pretty close second. Thankfully they're expensive so I don't have to worry about eating too many.

Glutino makes pretzals. They are good and my kids approve! I don't care how much they cost we will be buying these often. I have some Glutino crackers and all purpose flour as well, but have not tried them yet.

Lastly I tried the sea salt flavored Sticks and Twigs from Mary's Gone Crackers. They were kind of weird. I'm not really sure how I feel about them yet. They did taste good, but they had a weird texture and they made my stomach hurt.

Cable and Sattelite TV

noreply@blogger.com (Just Sherry) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:13:00 +0000

The only reason I have cable t.v. is because I have cable internet. See, if I just had the internet it would cost me the same amount of money as having the internet and the very basic cable package.   If it weren't for that, we would not have cable.   I'm cheap. I'm also making a statement. I don't watch a lot of t.v. and most of the stuff I do want to watch I can get over the air, stream live on the internet, or rent on Netflix.   Satellite isn't any cheaper than cable so it's not really an option for me either.

I see these "deals" all the time for both cable and satellite that make me think about upgrading. The problem is that they are not really deals. I received a "deal" for DishNetwork in the Valpak coupons I get in the mail. This "deal" is $24.99 for 12* months.   I could get 120 channels including locals, free* HD for life, Free* 2-room HD DVR receiver, Free HBO and Showtime (for three months with activation*), and Free* activation.

Do you see all those little asterisks? Yeah, I thought so.   First of all you have to sign a 24 month agreement for all of those "free" things. They don't tell you what the price is after the first year. I called and asked. The response I got was it depends on what package I choose, how many tv's I have, and whether or not I even qualify for the deal in the first place.    Secondly, you have to give them your social security number and have a valid major credit card.   HD programming requires an HD t.v. Now, most people would realize this, but unfortunately there are some people out there that don't.   They will give you the DVR for free, but if you want to be able to use it you have to pay a $6.00 monthly fee. You will also have to agree to autopay and paperless billing. Wow! That doesn't sound like such a good deal anymore.

I went to the DishNetwork website to see if I could figure out how much it would cost me after a year. I looked at the different packages and channel lineups. You know what I realized? I don't want half those channels anyway. I always complain about the same thing with cable t.v. Who wants to watch this stuff?

I've come up with a great idea to solve this problem. Instead of these companies giving you a list of channels you don't want to watch and telling you how much it's going to cost, they should allow you to pick and choose. I wouldn't mind paying for cable if I knew I was going to get 60 channels I actually wanted to see. I would be happy with only picking 10 channels.

I'm sure it's possible for companies to do this. But, why would they? So many people out there pay the astronomical prices for the services offered now. People think they "have" to have a million channels so cable and satellite so they pay the prices and complain about it.