JustGreatStuff Smoothie

JustGreatStuff Smoothie

My all time FAV smoothie.

Notice my new pretty and colorful pitcher in the background? Who says we can’t have a smoothie in a pretty wine glass? 😉

 

 

Shellac Polish ;) Loven it so far But be careful of the lotions at salons!

Shellac Polish ;) Loven it so far But be careful of the lotions at salons!.

Roast Too….Comfort Food Stew….Now this is what I’m talking about!

Do y’all remember the yummy roast I made a few days ago? Well, I had leftovers and decided to make beef stew by adding some GF beef stock and frozen peas and corn and some of Randy’s sun dried tomatoes. All this and it became one of my favorite comfort foods 😉 and yes, I was very comforted….

OMGOODNESS! I just realized I didn’t blog about it! For shame for shame! I Facebook’d it but forgot to blog it! So here it is:

Season your roast with Daddy Hinkles dry seasoning.
Brown your roast in bacon fat, all sides.
Cut up a yellow onion and lay in the bottom of your crock pot.
Then add your browned roast on top of the onions.
Add cut up carrots and mushrooms on top.
Add about 3/4 cup of water.
Then cook for 8 hours on low.
Now after the roast is done take it out and the mushrooms and carrots. Try to leave in as many onions as possible and then use a emulsifier to blend all the droppings together. To make a gravy I add in a couple of Tbl of potato starch. YUMO!
Enjoy with a nice big healthy salad 😉

Weekly Photo Challenge

One word……..Bruschetta ;)

Tell Me I’m Worth It

Tell Me I’m Worth It.

Seems like she can read my heart and mind. What a gift ;) love her!

Simply Organic Chicken Fajita’s Yumolishous ;)

Todays surprise Dinner for Randy was …….Simply Organic Chicken Fajita’s Yumolishous ;)
Start by cuting your chicken into 1/4 in slices
Put them into a ziplock bag with 2Tb of olive oil and then add your (Simply Organic Chicken Fijita seasoning mix. Love this stuff!)
and put into the refrigerate for a couple of hours to marinate them.

After marinating add the chicken into a skillet with 2 Tb of olive oil on med high heat and cook them till just done. Don’t over cook them or they will be tough and dry ;( yuk!

While chicken is cooking prepare your other ingredients.

I like to use red and yellow bell peppers and onions. Cut them into strips and add them into your 2nd skillet with 1/2 Tb. of olive oil and cook them on med high heat till they are crispy done.
Cut open your avocados and slice them and spoon them into a bowl. ( these are your garnish or in my case the topping! Lol ) We also like Mexican style cheese and lettuce for toppings.

We prefer corn tortillas instead of flour….can’t do flour….have to stay gluten free ;)
So I spray olive oil on a sheet pan and lay the corn tortillas on it then spray lightly on top of them too and bake them for 5 min at 350*
They always turn out perfectly. ;)

When I first had to go gluten free I didn’t think I’d ever be able to have Mexican food again…… But when there’s a will there’s a way…right!

Here’s to eating gluten free and staying healthy 🆓 🆓 🆓 🆓 🆓

Bruschetta and Some Tomato Loven Chickens

We love Bruschetta and our Tomato Loven Chickens

We have tons of cherry tomatoes from our garden so I thought what better way to use them then to make Bruschetta. So as I started to prepare them I got the idea to put all the juicy parts in a bowl for our chickens and it turned out to be a big hit as you can see from my pics they were happy little campers.

Bruschetta is very easy to make:
Cut and scoop out the seedy juicy part of the tomatoes. Add 1/4 c. olive oil, 4 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 hand full chopped basil and a little salt to your taste. Put into a glass bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours to marinate. Serve with Gluten free toasted bread. This is our dinner for tonight! This makes me happy 👏👏👏👏👏

What Can I Say About Marriage

What can I say about marriage? I’m crazy in love with my husband of 31 + years. I’ve loved every minute. He’s a wonderful, loving, kind hearted, Christian man and I am blessed to have him as mine. (Advice: Read the Bible, its a guide book for everything. ;) forgive each other…no body’s perfect, be patent with each other, laugh at yourselves and love and kiss allot! )……..love covers up a multitude of sins……the ups and downs ( your going to have them, don’t give up on each other ) ……the good, the bad and the ugly, lets face it, the good far out weighs the bad so think on those things ;) ……..the sad moments and the happy moments, we’ve had them, death and birth, that’s life…….growing up and growing older, we both were immature, experienced some much needed life’s lessons, that’s where the forgiveness comes in ;) as far as growing older, well, with it comes body changes, some pain too, but the good part is you become more free or set free from life’s influences or expectations, your mind has matured and you start to see things differently and it’s a HUGE relief! ………raising children and watching them grow up, get married and then us becoming empty nesters, now here’s where joy reaches the most inner part of you soul and sadness too…… Chapters in our lives on the book about us……..life goes on……grandchildren start to fill our lives with new beginnings……such joy do they bring to our hearts and lives but at the same moment the loss of our own children become more real…..they are children no more but parents…..I miss my children, their child like smell, the touch of their little hands and the feel of their soft hair, the sound of their voices in my ear day and night. The twinkle in their eyes as they look at me face to face in that I love you mom way. The touch of their sweet kisses and hugs. A mothers heart aches for those things for her whole life long but our children won’t know that till they feel the longing for themselves when they too begin to feel that loss. Nothing can really fill that place in our hearts…….Grandchildren are a blessing from the the Lord, a second runner up to our own beloved children, I hope that doesn’t sound terrible but that’s the way I feel. I love my kids and I equally love my grandchildren. My little loves. They have my heart, they always have and always will. Such joy they bring to our home. As they come into our home with voices of pure excitement from being here and seeing us. We hear…… Mema!, Papa!, They come running to us, hugs and kisses are given, cookies and candy are asked for, toys and laughter begin, sibling rivalry….let’s don’t go there….lol…… So much fun to be with and then time to go home and there’s tears because they want to stay…..but Mema and Papa need a nap! Ha! The house is once again quite….Thank God….because like I said before….we need a nap. ;) I am thankful for my family. I love them, each one with their own personalities, I have a special relationship with each one, not one in the same way but all equally loved and cherished. Thank you God for making me a Wife, Lover and best friend for my Husband Randy, Mother, to my Children Brandi and Nathan and their Spouses Bryan and Lacey and a Mema to my little loves Taylor, Tristan, Abigail and Genevieve and a Friend to those who have loved me, believed in me and cherished me as I did them. ;) Our Book isn’t over by far……we’re just in another chapter of our lives. I’m excited to see and experience and to live it all out to the fullness and all for the Glory Of God and Christ my Savior. ;)

spiced carrot cake – just like grandma makes (only gluten and dairy free)

spiced carrot cake – just like grandma makes (only gluten and dairy free).

Carrot cake is one of my favorites ;) I think I’ll make it for my birthday ;)😙🎂

Our all time favorite Tacos with a surprise twist

I know I’ve blogged about my favorite taco brand seasoning before but I couldn’t let this one slip by without telling y’all about it. I went to Akins Natural foods the other day and came across this (new to me) NuI Latin Cuisine 100% Natural Chipotle Taco Seasoning. OMGOSH! It is AWESOME! DELISH! YUMMY! My husband and I couldn’t stop making the uuummmmuuummmm noise as we went to town on these tacos! I promise you, your goin to looooooove these ;)
Here’s the surprise twist : Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes ;)
Now the only thing I did different from what the package directions tell you to do was instead of adding the water and the tomato paste I added 1 can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes.
Eating gluten free Mexican food at home couldn’t be anymore satisfying ;) These are a weekly event at our home. You will not need taco sauce…..it’s perfect on its own. Happy Safe Gluten Free Eating ;)

Shellac Polish ;) Loven it so far But be careful of the lotions at salons!

This week so far has been about taking care of me. Chiropractor, blood work up, hormones, mani, pedi, ending with neck and shoulder and back massage then chocolate. Some times a girl has to do what a girl has to do. — feeling relaxed.

The above post was my Facebook Post for last Wednesday. ( I haven’t been feeling too good lately. ) My only problem with my wonderful day was waking up the next day sicker then a dog! Dizzy, blurred vision, diarrhea, nausea, low grade fever, body sweats. All symptoms of being glutened for me. I couldn’t understand what had happened to me, I couldn’t even think straight. I finally figured out what happened……. I didn’t even give it a thought……..I mean I use gluten free body products at home…..why didn’t I think about this before getting my mani and pedi? I hadn’t had a pampering day in quite some time. ( I had gotten athletes foot from a nail salon and hadn’t been back in years ) I finally talked myself into having my nails done only to be glutened from all the lotion that was rubbed into my skin! From now on I’m bringing my own gluten free products! It’s Friday and I’m still not back to normal :(

On another note:
I was real excited to try the new shellac polish I’ve been hearing about for a while now. I’ve heard some good things and some bad things which kept me from trying it. I finally decided to try it and have my own opinion so here goes.
First off I need to tell you that I have always been able to grow beautiful nails. I polished them for years but at some point I stopped and went all natural. Except for my toe nails, I kept them polished. My hands were and are always in water….I’m a retired hair dresser ;) and I am a mom and now Mema……which means I’m in the kitchen allot. Keeping up with the polish was just not on my priority list. Now this is where the shellac comes in…….it is supposed to stay on for up to three weeks! Now I can handle that! Now it’s only been 3 days but so far so good and yes….my hands have been in water. ;) I’ll update this as the weeks go on. ;)

UPDATE ;)
July 17, 2013 – July 31,2013 = 2 weeks today
So far I love my shellac nails. First of all they feel more protected from all my daily chores…. You know…..washing dishes, laundry, cleaning, banging them on the door or cabinet or drawer……all the normal stuff we do. I started getting dings about a week after I got them done. The second Sunday I noticed that my pinky was starting to peel off. The tips were getting smudged or dinged. All in all I still love it. Normally I’d have to change normal polish in a few days so for me I really think its going to work. Now I haven’t had them redone yet and I don’t know if there is any discomfort in having them redone or in what shape my natural nails are in so I’ll have to get back with y’all on that. Below are the pics as they are now.

Update:
Ok, I went to get my nails done on Friday Aug 2, 2013
I have to say that it was a good experience. No pain although I did feel a little bit of heat from the acetone she used on the cotton ball under the foil. Not bad at all. ;) She begin by starting my pedicure and then at some point ( I’m not sure when ) she got up and applied the acetone, cotton and foil on my nails then went back to work on my feet. When she was done she took me to her table and began the removal of the shellac with absolutely no problem at all. It just came right off. Just a little rub and she was done and had me wash my hands and then reapplied my new shellac. I LOVE THIS STUFF! And by the way……I brought my own GF lotion and didn’t get sick so it was a win, win, situation. 😊👏👏👏👏👍 Below are my new pics and yes……I did go over board taking them but I just had to show y’all some of my new rings…..don’t you just love them?!

Update: Aug 26, 2013
Third color and I’m still Loven it. As you can see I had my nails cut down short in the beginning of this blog to watch them grow with the shellac. I’ve not had one of them brake or split on snag on anything! This stuff is great!

Baked Fish and Tarter Sauce – Gluten Free

Baked Fish and Tarter Sauce

What you’ll need:
Cod Fish
Butter
Panko
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dill powder
Mayo
Sweet relish

Pre heat oven to 350*

Spray coconut oil on a glass pan
Lay 4-6 filets of Cod fish in your pan.
Put small amount of real butter on top of each fish.
In a separate bowl add 1 cup of Panko
1/8 tsp of garlic powder
1/8 tsp of onion powder
1/8 tsp of Dill powder
Stir togetherness and pour on top of your fish
Bake in 350* oven for 25 min.

Tarter Sauce:
1 cup Gluten Free Mayo. ( I use Hellman’s mayonnaise.)
1/4 cup of sweet relish
1/4 tsp of tsp of garlic powder
1/4tsp of onion powder
1/4 tsp of Dill powder

I love me some Salmon

Salmon……my favorite fish. Makes me smile and salivate just thinking about it. Lately it seems that I’ve been seeing it everywhere, Facebook, Tv, in my head………so last night I put some on my grill. It turned out delish as usual. I have to mention my Misto oil sprayer. I love this thing! No more unhealthy Pam spray and it chemicals. If you don’t have one run and get one at Bed, Bath and Beyond….love that place! I spray my grill pan and the salmon with olive oil and top it with my favorite seasoning and grill it for a couple minutes on med high heat per side. Since I have/need to and want to stay gluten free there will be no pasta in my kitchen……so to replace that I use lots of veg’s. I love red, yellow, orange bell peppers ( dislike the green ones….blach…. I always cut them into long pieces and add them to zucchini and garlic and a little olive oil, salt. I like fresh tomatoes too but I wait till the veg’s are almost crispy done just to warm them up and sometimes if I want the added fat I’ll add Parmesan on top after plated up. ( but not this time. :) I’m trying to lose some unwanted weight. ( too many nuts lately ).

Shifting Shadows

Shifting Shadows.

From Here to There

From Here to There.