Ellie's Third Birthday

Decorating Ellie's Cake with Grammy

It was Ellie's third birthday last week. Here are some picture highlights.

New Hair bows from Aunt Beth (and Uncle Mike and baby Jack-Jack)

Blowing out the candles at Grammy's

New outfit from Grammy

Presents!

More Presents!

New Coat from Aunt Martha

We also had a nice party with Grandma, PapPap and Great PapPap Good.  But, I was cooking and things and not taking pictures!  Sorry!  We had a great time at that party too.  :-) 

Taco Soup!

This evening I consider dinner to be a huge win. And we haven't even eaten yet! We are in serious need of a grocery run because last week was really crazy and I was away for a few days. This past weekend I just did not feel like going to the store. So, I didn't. As a result dinner time at the Good household has been sketchy at best this week.

As I looked through the sparse landscape that was our cabinets and fridge, an idea started taking shape. We would have to have soup, as that is the ultimate food stretching tool. We had some leftover ground beef. And some potatoes. Oh, and I'll stick the rest of the half eaten salsa in there.... that's when I knew-

Taco soup.

A few veggies rounded this soup quite nicely.

TACO SOUP

1 quart chicken broth
1/2 lb ground beef or shredded chicken
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, cut up
Celery, if you have it
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
1/2 TBS taco seasoning
2-3 potatoes, diced
1 jar salsa
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese for on top

Put everything except the cheese in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until potatoes are done, about 30 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese and cornbread.

This soup was a huge hit. All of it was gone and there was even fighting for seconds. I will definitely be making this again, and in a much bigger quantity. :-)

An Unusual Sight

Well, hello old friend (the bottom of my sink). It's been awhile since we've seen each other. :-P

Steak and eggs for lunch

Sometimes I just need a hearty lunch.

Today was one of those days- my body was craving protein. Luckily, we had some leftover venison tenderloin, eggs, and even an unopened box of baby kale greens. For the finish: the very last piece of banana molases bread.

Even though I had to give the baby 1/3 of my egg (he had already eaten the whole of his), I still feel satisfied and energized to take on the rest of the day!

Adding Gluten to Gluten Free Flours

Two things, "right off the bat"--
--this post is inspired by my lovely friend Ashley who is ironically both gluten and peanut free
--this post was supposed to be a 'morning musing' but that was days ago and now it is 9:45pm

The other day, I was making pancakes for breakfast.  My children officially eat so much that I have to make a triple batch to keep up with them.  It was already getting kind of late-- 7:45ish and we were just whipping up the batter.  I poured the milk and eggs and maple syrup and peanut butter (we were being creative that morning) and everything else to make my usual triple batch of pancakes into the bowl.  And then, I opened the bucket of flour. I immediately started improvising, because there was only just over two cups of flour and I needed a full three.  I could tell just by looking we were going to be short. I opened my cabinet to see what I was going to do.

I did not want to have to grind flour. I have been pretty good about sprouting it recently, but the thing is, I let the last batch go too long and then the little tails are too long to just grind up happily in my grinder-- first I have to put them in the food processor!   I did NOT want to have to go through three extra steps for less than a cup of flour.  Ok, well, I can use the rest of the corn meal.  That was about 1/3 cup. I needed at least another 1/3 cup to make these pancakes work.  Then I spied the millet flour I had made for Baby John.  Yes, it was perfect.  Just the right amount. I mixed up the batter and poured the first round.

Right away, I could tell these were not going to be my fluffy regular happy pancakes.  They needed some rise. This always happens when I substitute whacky flours in my pancakes.  What could I do? Then I thought of a conversation I had with my friend Ashely-- only days before.

"What does xanthan gum DO in gluten free baking, anyway?"
"It adds the rise so your cookies don't turn out all gross."
"huh."
(well, that was close to how it went down, anyway)

I thought, I used some gluten free flours, but I don't have any xanthan gum.... what can I do? add more flour? I wonder .... can I add gluten?!?

I added about 2 TBS gluten to my pancakes.  It mostly worked.  They were not so dense and wet after I added gluten as before I added it.

My conclusion?  Adding gluten to gluten free flours to help it rise works in a pinch.  For pancakes.  I have not tried this with other baking. So don't yell at me if you try it and it doesn't work.

My second conclusion? Must obtain xanthan gum for emergencies or gluten free friends.