Hello Friends

Monday, March 22, 2010



Just a quick hello. Jes and I returned last night from a weekend visit to my mom's. We had a great time, eating strawberries and chocolate, watching movies (such as the one above), lunching, and even a little shoe shopping - pretty nice, huh?

Jessie is doing well. On the way back last yesterday, we stopped off at the BCBG outlet to shop for a prom dress. What felt like 50+ dresses and no decision. I think she gets her decision-making ability from her mom - poor thing. She's been living so "normally" lately that we're able to enjoy extended time out as long as we bring along salty, gluten-free treats.

We found little snack bags of salty peanuts at Sam's - perfect to keep in the purse. The small bottles of Powerade also tend to tag along as well as Kind bars (fruit and nut are SO good).

If you have orthostatic intolerance, what do you like to take along as your safety net?

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Well Said - My Favorite Word...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010


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Well said.
If you can't trust a fortune cookie, now what can you trust?

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Check Out

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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{What a picture! Me in the studio w/ Jessie and her face scrunching}

I have had to check out a little for the past week. With spring quickly approaching, business has taken over and I'm barely coming up for a breath!

I do have a quick little update:

Started backing Jessie off of her morning dose of Lyrica and every time I do, she gets those pesky little headaches. I called the doctor and the pharmacist yesterday and asked it I could actually split a capsule. Unfortunately Lyrica only comes in capsules and 25mg is the lowest dose. What we decided to do is to give her half of a capsule each morning (cutting her to 12.5mg - a little easier). So, we just did that yesterday. After a week or so we'll know if it's working. Dropping 25mg cold turkey was just too much for my little munchkin.

Also, we went to the gastroenterologist last a couple of weeks ago for a recheck and he did the blood work to check for gluten. He found it. So either I'm missing something in the diet or the little munchkin is sneaking a few gluttonous bites! Actually, when she was originally tested, her level was very low, but still positive for celiac. This time, the levels were much higher! Hmm...

It seems that while Jes had no outward symptoms of celiac originally upon diagnosis, she has begun to get stomach cramps and all the other bad stomach stuff when she's accidentally exposed. So maybe her celiac is getting worse as she ages? Just an uneducated theory.

Anyway, I'm in my studio as this is being written and MUST return to the grindstone.

Hope you're having a splendid introduction to spring.

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Gluten-Free Potato Soup for the Soul

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

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*Note: I posted this here and here. So, this is really cheesy,but it's soup week at The Gluten Free Homemaker! So sue me - I'm proud of my soup!
My apologies if you're reading this for the second, or perhaps the third time. :)


It's a well known fact that I'm a gourmet wanna-be, but oh so bad, and not in a good way. I toil - sometimes, I slave - once in a while, I plan my meals - weekly, I stick to the chart - rarely.

Being the good, money-saving wife that I am, I searched high and low for something, anything to cook with this humongous bag of potatoes that had been purchased in bulk. What was I thinking? That I had a family of fifteen or something? Anyway, after researching and pondering and thinking about the weather (a snowy day in Atlanta - so much for thoughts of spring!), I decided to make a big pot of potato soup.

Normally when I try something new it's not well received.

Who knew that carbs, cream, and butter would be the miracle drug my family needed? Go figure.

Someone gave me this simple recipe yesterday and it provided that additional shot of warmth that we needed. I whipped up a fruit salad and that's all it took to complete this easy meal.

Homemade Potato Soup

{{I'll try to be accurate with the ingredients. Don't laugh - I'm an eye-baller}}

about 8 or so (maybe more) small russet potatoes
one large onion - diced
4 carrots - diced
2 stalks of celery - diced
olive oil
chicken broth (I used a carton - 32 oz.)
salt and pepper
butter
cream (I used fat free half & half) - about 3/4 cup

In a large stock pot, bring the cubed potatoes to a boil - oh, add water. :)
Reduce heat and simmer until soft.

While that's cooking, saute the onion, celery, and carrots in your olive oil
(in another pan - duh).
Hmm... a little minced garlic might be good at this point, too.
Be sure to salt & pepper the veggies pretty well.
Saute until soft.

Once the potatoes are done, pour off about half of the water.
Add in the chicken broth and the veggies to the potatoes.
Add more pepper and salt to taste.

In a separate saucepan over low heat, warm the fat free half & half and to that,
add about 3 lbs. tbs. of butter to melt.

Once the creamer is warm, add it into the soup mixture. At this point, I took my handy dandy potato masher and mashed some of the potatoes right there in the pot. This way, the soup became more starchy and thick. At least that's what I like to tell myself.

You can garnish with crumbled bacon. I didn't because I hate frying bacon - makes me feel greasy. The family complained, but they got over it and STILL thought I was a rock star.


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Cheerful Little Dance Sequence

Tuesday, March 2, 2010



This is the dance clip from 500 Days of Summer. Have you seen it? It's a cute, feel-good movie - a chick flick - definitely an indy type, artsy movie, which I happen to love. Jessie tried to convince her dad that guys would like it and he inadvertantly listened from another room. At the end he walked through and said, "oh yeah, it's not a chick flick." lol

Anyway, enjoy the clip.

I put Jessie back on her full dose of Lyrica AGAIN because her headaches have been coming back a little. Pretty spotty and I'm practically certain they have nothing to do with the reduction of her dosage. But at any rate, I put her back on until things level - which should be, hmm... in about 6 - 8 years when she graduates from college. :)

Have a great day.

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