Baby Bentz is 9 weeks now. Not much else to report on that front right now...

We went to Wadsworth this weekend. I hadn't seen the family since Christmas and Diana enticed me up with promises of home made sushi... We made a few different kinds (no raw for us) but I was very impressed! It was delicious! We went over to her house- we cooked and played with the kids while the boys put together Ryan's pool table.
On Sunday morning, we went to Firestone park to feed the birds again. The birds were really hungry and we got tons of them to land on our hands!

Gluten sensitivity...

That's apparently what Bill's stomach problems have been all about... he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few years back and has been having stomach problems for a long time. His meds stopped working, so we started trying eliminating certain stuff from his diet, and getting rid of gluten is doing the job so far. I'm certainly glad we've found something that helps him, but it sure makes cooking more difficult as gluten is in every convenience food ever created. It's also hard figuring out about cross-contamination. Even if wheat or any other form of gluten isn't in the ingredients, I still get online to check if it's officially gluten free. The way I cook has been drastically changed. The baking kick I was on has come to an abrupt halt. Sadness.

On a good note, though, this diet does encourage mostly natural foods, which is better for both of us. Here's what we've been basically living on: Salads, chili, veggie soup, rice, chicken, omelets, popcorn and a few other things. There are still a lot of good things we can eat, it's just time consuming checking all of that. We've also both lost some weight, so that's good too!

I'm going to start experimenting with different kinds of flour, hoping I can still make bread, cake, and all the other yummy stuff. Thing that stinks is that these ingredients are hard to find if you don't live close to a Raisin Rack or Trader Joe's... and they're expensive... more sadness.

Anyone else out there gluten free? Any tips?

Troyer's is a store near the entrance to Apple Valley and is my new obsession. It has all sorts of spices and bulk food- today, I got vanilla coffee creamer, cinnamon, ground cloves, and creamy caramel cappuccino mix. It's so much cheaper to get spices here than at a grocery store and is such a cute, clean little store!

This post is PG13...

Bill tricked me into agreeing to make a cake for his co-worker's 50th birthday...

The cake refused to come out of the pan, so I just put everything in the pan!

The final product- not bad for my first erotic cake :-)
...and my kitchen was trashed.

Snickerdoodles!
Very unhealthy, but VERY delicious cookies!
Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.
In a small shallow bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in the sugar mixture. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should be slightly golden at the edges. Remove to cool on wire racks.
*Mine didn't turn golden at the edges and they're stilll a little too crunch for my liking once they cool.

Recipe #1: French Toast Casserole (for my day 0 project)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Toast-Casserole/Detail.aspx
This was a good recipe, but the inside was still too gooey when the top was brown... I gave it a 3/5 stars and will stick to regular french toast.

Massive baking fail...

I had some very ripe bananas, so I figured I'd make some delicious banana bread. I mixed up all the ingredients, put them in a pan and baked them at 325 for 40 minutes. I check it regularly and sure enough, it sure looks done. So, I take it out and let it cool, come back in 10 minutes and the flippin' thing has deflated or something. so I stick a knife in it and it's super gooey, but like I said, the outside is done. I decide to flip it onto a plate to better evaluate the situation. It SLIDES out of the pan (in a bad tidal wave kinda sliding way). Being the resourceful person I am, I put it on a baking sheet and decide to make a.... well I'm not even sure what to call it- Banana lump? I suck at baking! Here are some pictures for your amusement:

After the tidal wave

The banana lump

Bill actually laughed when I brought it to him to eat.

On a totally unrelated note: Happy 2010!

We had a very fun holiday season and hope you did too!

The man's version of putting away the leftovers:

Yes, that is mashed potatoes, still in the pan, and chicken on a spatula in the fridge...

making dog treats

The squirrels are for Roscoe. This is how Sammy stood the entire time
...and this is how the others waited

It's that time of year!

All I want to cook lately is soup! I made veggie soup last week and potato soup tonight... so delicious!!! A couple people asked for my recipe and I truly take after my mom in that I don't follow recipes very well. I usually don't measure and I add whatever I think sounds good so here's basically what I do:

I saute chopped onions and celery.

Add chicken broth and cheddar cheese soup and wait til it boils.

Add potato flakes.

Add baked, chopped red potatoes (I leave the skins on) and some cheddar cheese.

Make sure it's warm through.

Serve it with fat free sour cream, turkey bacon, and a little more cheddar on top.

I made some Tastefully Simple beer bread with it.

If you look on allrecipes.com, you'd probably find a better recipe (if you're into measuring and all that nonsense)

Better yet, just come over some time and I'll make it for you:-)

Our new favorite thing!

So we've been grilling out just about every night and I got on allrecipes.com and got the idea to grill pizza. As you can see, I'm not real careful about the shape of the dough :-) but it's so super delicious. I put fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil (from my garden :-) on this one and had olive oil dipping sauce for it. Bill's pizza had the tomato sauce, cheese and turkey pepperoni. It's sooooooo delicious!