Oh my goodness!! I haven't blogged since I received my Nima Sensor back in October of last year!!!!!
I seriously didn't realize it had been that long. I've had a really bad cold that I've been trying to get rid of. It's always a challenge when you're autoimmune & your immune system doesn't work properly. Between essential oils & homeopathic meds I think I have finally kicked it completely! And I've been busy with homeschooling & karate with my son. I always view my primary job as my son's education. And I truly love homeschooling him, although it does present it's challenges at times & it was recently. But my hubby & I seem to have resolved the recent issues very well. My husband, ummm, errrr, I mean the school principle, is amazing at problem solving & coming up with effective solutions. And we are more than half way done with the school year, so I suspect the rest of this year will be smooth sailing from here on out. He will be testing for his next (5th) karate belt on Friday of this week.
We hosted a glorious & completely gluten free Thanksgiving feast at our home in November complete with turkey, stuffing, steamed baby potatoes, hawaiian yams, & dinner rolls with pumpkin pie & pecan pie for desert (I might be forgetting some items......). And we hosted 2 separate completely gluten free Christmas meals in our home in December with cornish hens, broccoli, & mashed potatoes along with chocolate bundt cake & an apple tart for desert.
I am still totally in love with my Nima Sensor. We rarely eat out, but recently we were going to & it totally saved me! We had a gift card for Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ so we ordered take-out. We've eaten there in the past & love it. The Chicken salads they brought out had the crispy onions on them, which are totally not gluten free. We had to send them back & have them make new ones. And then the Tri Tip salad tested positive for gluten with the Nima Sensor. So I ate the Chicken salad, which tested negative for gluten. But I was super thankful that I didn't have to get glutened & didn't have to suffer for weeks all because I have a Nima Sensor! I will add that I am extremely disappointed that Lucille's never even responded to the complaint I filed with them about having to throw the Tri Tip salad in the trash. I don't think I'll ever give them my business again in the future.
I will add that even though we don't eat out much the Nima is still very useful at home. I've been able to test lots of items that were questionable & know that they are safe.
Lately I've been working on mastering the art of gluten free breads. I bake a lot of cakes, cookies, cobblers, tarts, pies, quick breads, etc & I'm really good at it. Everyone who tries them tells me they can't believe they are gluten free. But I still miss bread. I honestly wasn't even eating much bread just prior to my celiac diagnosis, almost as if my body instinctively knew it wasn't good for me. But after 4 years of no good homemade bread I have to admit I'm starting to get a little desperate.
My favorite right now is the focaccia. I make it at least once a week. I've been baking since I was a teenager (& I'm now in my 40s) & I used to make wheat focaccia all the time when I was younger. I'm so thankful to have that at least. And I have a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread in the oven baking as I type this. My house smells amazing!! My plan for now is to continue to work on gluten free bread baking. I definitely need some more pans though--hot dog buns, hamburger buns, french rolls, etc!!
gluten free focaccia
And I'm also planning to work on making pastries. That's another item I'm really missing--flaky pastry dough. And my husband really loves pastries as well, so I know he'll really appreciate it. That is one area I hadn't gotten to yet in my old wheat baking days. So it will be an entirely new adventure, but I know I can handle it. By now it's clear that baking is a gift of mine. I am good at it & I love doing it. For Christmas I had made a chocolate bundt cake for Jesus' birthday cake. When my sister in law took a bite she declared that I really need to open a bakery. She said it's not just the best gluten free cake she's ever had, it's the best cake she's ever had period. That was quite a compliment. And I have to admit that although I love baking, I do love even more seeing people enjoy what I've baked even more.
And for my other love: guitars! I got a Cordoba guitar for Christmas & have been practicing classical guitar style now. That's a whole new animal for me. And I sold my Fender right before Christmas & then got a gift card for Christmas & with those monies combined I was able to buy the Martin LX1 that I've been wanting. So I'm pretty excited about that & that completes my collection. I now have a spruce top (Martin), mahogany top (Taylor), & a cedar top (Cordoba), just as I had wanted.
So that's it for now. I'll keep you posted on bread making, pastries, Nima Sensor, & homeschooling!! Hopefully we'll get to do some RVing again soon too!
