blah

Yeah... it's still been quiet around here.

If you ever want to turn into a cranky hermit, get yourself a wheat or gluten allergy.  It works wonders.

Made it thru Thanksgiving... even though I quizzed the hubby about the mother-in-law's "stuffing practices" with her turkey and he assured me she cooked it outside the bird... yep, we arrived at their house just in time to see my mother in law pulling stuffing out of the bird.  I didn't have a horrible reaction from it, but I knew it'd mean one night of turkey and absolutely no leftovers for me.

Yep.  When you have problems with wheat, it can be to the point where if you eat turkey that comes from a bird that was stuffed, you can have a reaction.

Luckily, we're just having ham and Polish sausage for Xmas.

In the upcoming days though, I will be doing some gluten-free baking of cookies and other delights for the holidays.  I can't go another holiday without having at least two desert options, lol.

But one of the kickers of that seems to be that a lot of gluten-free cookie recipes use almond flour.  Not really an option, since we also have a nut allergy in the extended family.  It just makes things extra fun!  Lots of internet recipe searching has been happening around here.

But, to try and be useful and actually add some information to the interwebs, I am going to throw out a few tips for those out there who, like my own family, may be very new to this whole "no wheat" thing and a bit worried when it comes to the holiday season:

• Be patient.  You are most likely to get quizzed on products, preparation details and other stuff.  It's not that we don't trust you, we know from experience that there are some products you won't trust unless you know all the brands/ingredients involved.
• We love you for trying.
• Things to avoid: Soy sauce (yep, that has wheat in it usually - find a gluten-free brand or use the Japanese sauce Tamari which is basically the same thing), anything that lists "natural flavors" in the labeling as those often contain wheat (those are the things that are killers to me), and if you're really going for it and trying to rely on things like cornmeal and oats -please read labels.  A lot of those products are processed in facilities that also process wheat and YES, that can be a problem.
• Make it simple.  Really... dumb down your dishes.  Rather than the green bean casserole (yep, those condensed soups usually contain wheat) - steam some fresh beans and toss them with some browned butter - delicious. 
• Don't be afraid to ask.  Trust me, we are more than happy to help you.

 

I hate food.

Yeah.... it's been quiet on the blog.

That might be because me & food are not in a very good place right now.  It is a very odd thing to deal with the fact that wheat had such a bad effect on me.  And it's just everywhere.

Not there, though!!  Apparently one of the local pizza biggies - Lou Malnati's - does a "gluten free" (wheat free is the important bit for me) pizza.  Basically... their deep-dish sausage pizza contains the sausage as one big disk.  Someone was real smart and figured out they could use that as the "crust", and then put the toppings on that.  And it is just like eating a slice of their regular stuff, sans crust.

At least when we come back from Vegas (going at the beginning of November to celebrate the hubby's big 4-0 birthday) I'll know I can order up a couple of personal pizzas (with crust for him) for us for dinner.

Our area Whole Paycheck (Foods) has a cooking class next weekend on "gluten free cooking."  After much inner debate... I'm going to skip it.  I've pretty much already figured out most stuff I need to know on my own, and this particular Whole Paycheck tends to be frequented by a lot of rich 2nd wives from the affluent 'burbs around these parts... and there is a very high chance I might get violent around someone who is doing this as a "lifestyle choice" and not because they HAVE to.  Because when they cheat or mess up, there are no consequences.  There are when I mess up (and not cheat... have no desire to cheat and make myself feel miserable). 

I used to love food.  I especially loved food prepared by other people for me.  Now I almost dread Friday night and ordering out and trying to figure out what I can eat that won't leave me hurting the next day.

Hopefully the kitchen mojo will come back soon and it'll be less of the totally bland food I've been doing lately (most things are so plain they are totally boring).  Anything on a bun or bread I usually eat "naked" pretty much because although Udi's does make a pretty decent gluten-free bread, it's expensive and I am cheap.  If I'm gonna use it... it better be worth it.

This also means I am spending more time actually in the kitchen - I gotta do my own breakfasts (usually an egg) and lunch for every day.  It's not like it is easy to just pick up something wheat-free if I don't plan ahead (although I am increasing the stockpile in my desk with things like Minute Rice, canned oil-packed tuna, jars of beans, etc.).

I might be doing some full-out meatballs with wheat-free pasta and red sauce and - gasp! - some french bread for me next weekend because I have discovered that a local area bakery - Deerfields - does GF french bread and I did pick some up,  but again.... $5 for two mini loaves - I want to do it justice.

Are you still on, blog-o-sphere???

So... yeah.

After we got back from Vegas, I was still dealing with "issues" from the food poisioning for about a week, and just when I thought I was returning to full health, one of those really annoying "not full blown enough to make you totally miserable but annoying enough" linger colds started. And decided it really, really liked me and wanted to stick around with me.

So, cooking around here has been pretty damned dull lately. Lots of repeats, lots of half-assed meals (grilled ham & cheese) and just general BLAH.

But I am happy tonight. Now that I know the Superbowl will be Favre-Free (I was seriously NOT going watch if it was going to be four hours of listening to FavreLove from the commentators AFTER they'd beaten my Saints... ) I will be able to watch that and cheer on the Saints, who I have been rooting for all season (which usually means certain doom for a team, so we'll see).

Hopefully, I'll get back to some regular-ish posts this week. If nothing else, I have plans to make a pork tenderloin, and that is almost always a disaster worth sharing.

Boring Sunday

Ok, I've hit the point (already) of unemployment where weekends are boring. Mainly because television viewing options this weekend have sucked. When I can't even find one single mindless movie to waste a few hours as background noise, I'm not happy.

I did spend some time in the kitchen yesterday making some garlic confit, tomato confit, and boiling down some cream for a sauce for pasta (with crawfish).

Today, it was an easy meal that was all about the grill.

Started off with some Grilled Pepper Poppers.

Oh my. Were they tasty.

We're not goat-cheese people, so I left out the goat cheese, and added some shredded cheddar. Also used romano cheese, because it's cheaper and I'm currently in "cheap" mode (and my wedge of parm is nearing the rind, I ain't gonna waste what little I have).

Get them on the grill....




And while those cook, how about a look at the garden?



Happy tomato plants!



Wow, plants continuing to actually grow in the back! Yay!



I really, really hope these day lilies decide to bloom this year. They didn't last year, for reasons unknown.

And a closer inspection of the tomato plants....



Yay!! Two little itty bitty tomatoes. Don't worry my little friends, you will hopefully get many more little friends to join you.

The flash totally washed out the picture of the grilled peppers....




I also made some bratwurst. I usually buy cooked brats, because they're easier. Just have to slap them on the grill (also reheated some leftover onions and peppers from an omelete night last week) and get them browned.


Peppers were SERIOUSLY good. We're lovers of the popper arts, and these were a pretty nice way to do them. Peppers get all charred and cooker, cheese gets all melty and good.

Actually looking forward to tomorrow and the week ahead... need to hit the job boards, do some organizing in the fridge, get in my workouts and I might even do some major cleaning (cleaning seems somewhat pointless with the hubby around on weekends... at least if I do it while he's at work, I can get a good couple of hours to enjoy the cleanliness before his slobby ways undo my efforts - this weekend I actually WATCHED him take something out of the trash so he could dump something else in there, and then replace the thing he took out, rather than just change the bleepin' bag. I swear, he didn't turn into this big of a slob until we got married. You'd think he'd have started to slip up in the seven years we shacked up before that, but no. And now I can't trade him back).

This week in Cooking

UGH.

Yeah, apparently people at work have finally looked at their calenders, and realize that I only have a week left. "Busy" doesn't begin to describe this past week. "Country Bear Jamborooo" almost fits it.

I'm also fighting with trying to get as much done as I can, and dealing with people who just don't seem to think it's a big deal the writing staff is being cut in half and apparently can't recall how things used to go (weeks/months to get things updated as other fires needed to be put out) and aren't worried about what they're going to be dealing with.

Oh, and my work programs have all gone crash-happy. I had to reboot three times on Friday. Yay.

Anywho....

Big Cooking Event of the Week was Cinco de Mayo. Yay! Bring on the Mexican food.

I actually met ThatWordGuy for lunch that day, and ThatWordGuy also loves sharing new food finds with me, so not only did we eat Mexican food, I left with some beans....



Pretty good. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled from them. Much more like a canned bean dip than a canned refried bean (meaning - doesn't taste like library paste's less tasty cousin).

Got home, and my Tacos Al Pastor were bubbling away nicely in the crock pot. I actually had left out the pineapple (enzymes or something in pineapple can really break down the texture of meat and make it kinda funky) so I threw that in and left it warm through with the pork. I wish I'd have put it in there longer so it could have flavored the pork. Oh well.



And tacos... yum....





And yes. That is a Mexican Rice fromt the shameless bag things. Hey, it's about the only rice thing I don't make a mess of. And it cooks in less than ten minutes. Me happy.

This week was also the start of prep for Mother's Day. I'm brining brunchy things over to my mom's, and I'm making several quiches. All, of course, require different fillings. Including three types of oniony things (leeks, shallots, and onion) and coooked mushrooms. Onions confit-ing, leeks blancing and mushrooms ready to start....


Hopefully on Sunday I can update with the results of the Great Quiche Making Day. I can already say there has been smoke involved.

So... what's going on in the garden?

Happy herbs!


And... um.... not-so-happy basil.....


D'oh. They've just been going downhill since I planted them. I went out this morning and bought some replacements. I'd gotten those at the produce mart, and they're not about to replace them. At least if the ones I bought from the garden center die, I can go back and get replacements for free.

Tomatoes are all looking pretty happy, too....



I've even got some flowers on a couple of them. Yay! Cannot wait for the first BLT of the summer. (And the second one. And maybe the third. I take advantage of the first BLT night of the summer.)

Is this thing still on?????

Apparently, at the Christmas party on Saturday, my hubby and I both decided to catch colds from someone. GREAT. He was in sorry shape on Monday night and we just had soup and sandwiches for dinner (and I think he was hungrier than he thought, he had TWO grilled ham, and cheese sandwiches and a full bowl of soup) and while I planned on showing ya'll the documented evidence of my horrid commute home last night (three miles an hour - took pics of the odometer to show it but I'm too dead to go through the complicated procedure to transfer them to the laptop right now - and several SUVs in ditches) - I'm just wiped out. I still love me some Zicam.. the head/stuffy symptoms are not here, but I'm still suffering an invader in my body.

But oh yeah.... yesterday I did actually see someone in a Lexus SUV cut across two lanes of traffic on VERY snowy roads to get into the lane where they could turn into the Starbucks. I watched. SUV went straight to the drive-thru.

And to Beepy McIdiotHeadButtFace who was behind me at the stop light at Buffalo Grove and Aptakistic road... I am sorry, but I am not willing to get into a head-on collision just so you can zoom past to get home 30 seconds quicker. You're going to have to wait untill I know it's clear before I more forward.

And as if last night's hour and fifteen minute commute home was not bad enough, it took me an hour to get into work this morning. It's one thing, after an hour in the car, to finally get home... it's another level of suck to then have to walk into work knowing you can take a leisurely 15 minute lunch if you still want to leave at 5pm.

No exicitng cooking going on.... just counting the days until the weekend right now.

Yeah, I'm grumpy. Deal with it.

From lands far away and unknown......

Ladies and Gents.... this post comes to you from lands far and unknown from my usual spot...... I'm sitting upstairs in our computer room. Supposed to be the second bedroom, but we have it turned into a 'puter room.

This is the hubby's territory. Since I got my laptop (before we moved into the townhouse) I haven't spent much time at my ole desktop PC. I throw it some love now and then, but I spend most of my time with my laptop. But, the hubby got some wrestling pay per view tonight and he's watching that, so I have banished myself to the unknown lands.

I go downstairs every once in awhile.... to get a beer and to hear the Man talk about how great this $12 Pay Per View is. I do my duty.

God, this rooms is a mess. I try not to come in here too much. And I'm trying to not pay attention to the dust bunnies.

On the more hausfrau-ish front.....

I have my fingers crossed that next week I'll have enough garden tomatoes for BLTs. I am looking forward to that moment.

After my day at work today (in the midst of a software release and my coworker overslept this morning and was very rested all day) was just hell. I don't know if it is just not being used to the pace I used to function at all the time or what... but was I ever glad to leave work today. Even if I have to find some time to do some work over the weekend.

Ok.... that's all I got in me right now. i suck. and using my split keyboard it odd, but it does feel better on my hands, which are killing me right now....

Is it Monday yet?

Actually, by the time I'm done typing this... it might be.

Left work early on Friday, very happy for some extra time. I scrapped my plans to go to Ikea since traffic seemed like it was a mess, and opted to go for an all-exciting oil change instead. Oh, the life I lead!

Came home, and found a wonderful letter stating "thank you for completely paying off your college loan" for one of my loans. Of course, not the big one, but exciting none the less. I was happy... even though it was Friday the 13th, it was looking to be a pretty good day!

Of course, it all went to shit then.

Hopped online to check in on what was up with my peeps, and stumbled right upon the real-time frantic situation of some friends trying to find out if the news of a death of one of their friends (I met the guy only once, but I was a fan of his band). Sadly, it was not a Friday the 13th joke, and he had indeed passed away. Friends are kinda (expectedly) a mess right now. And yes, he might have been someone who could have made some better lifestyle choices, but he was a genuinely good guy, and our world is a little worse off not having him in it.

So yeah, despite some great geeky TV between Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and the new Venture Brothers streaming over the webfeed, but the night was still kinda a downer.

Saturday, running hausfrau-ish errands to replace some kitchen stuff and pick up some aprons, I ran to Ikea. On the way there, noticed a club from my more wild days (that has been closed for ages, but still) was torn down and replaced by a discount grocery store. Wow, that brought me down.

Today wasn't too bad... went over to the parent in-laws and played around with the kids, the brother in-law made some chili and brought it over, I brought over some guac. But, still... it's yet another Father's Day without my dad. And it still stings a little. And the firth Father's Day of the man's cousins and aunt without their dad/hubby. And I know how bad that sucks.

Got home, and it appears one of the files for my login for the computer got currupted, and I spent awhile fixing that problem. Luckily, no data was lost and as far as Windows problems go it wasn't too hard to fix, but still a pain in the ass.

Kinda looking back to getting back to work, back to the mundane.

The diet blahs....

Yeah.... currently in a bit of a diet funk.

Since Vegas, the scale has. not. budged. And it's frustrating. I should be exercising right now, but I'm not. And that is not a good sign.

I've been here before... I know what I need to do... start planning everything out better, including planning. More than just planning the week's dinners... planning ALL my food to the point of making sure meals are more balanced.

Also, I'm really getting sick of eating out lunches. Thought it would be fun... a nice treat.... to make it a point to head out to lunch every day. Yes, it has been nice to make it a point to get out of the office, but frankly I'm getting darned tired of the food. One problem is that the lunch room at work is not nearly as big as it needs to be for our building, so it's hard to even get a seat around lunchtime. There are quite a few people at work that actually take their lunch to their car to eat, seats are always so scarce. I might need to start looking in to getting down there early, around 11am or so, so I can actually get in my OWN food. I donno. Still thinking about it. But in any case, this "no food at the desk" thing is just insane. Like, close to "deal breaking" insane. Bleh.

Doesn't help that I've been a walking kitchen disaster the past few days.... there is an episode where Homer is trying to make breakfast for Mr. Burns, his boss, and every thing he tries to make catches on fire. Including pouring milk on cereal. I was about that talented yesterday. Didn't toast enough panko for all the veal cutlets (last night it was veal parm for dinner). Forgot to sauce the cutlets before coating them with cheese. Forgot to get mozzarella at the grocery store (luckily I had some cheese). Tonight was a new recipe, chicken fried skirt steaks, and the hubby liked them but I guess I am just not a fan skirt steak. I ended up eating two slices of sage derby cheese and a peanut butter cup for dinner. Healthy!

And I have some ground beef in the fridge that I should cook up tonight. Not going to be home tomorrow night, my bro had some surgery today and the plan is to go visit him tomorrow, which means I won't be home until late.

Blah.

Nuttin much happening....

It's been quiet since we got back from Vegas.

Travel plus the time change over the weekend plus being stuck (yet again!) in Addendum Help for my old company has kicked my ass this week. And general just "not feeling well".

Cooking has been laughable... old, easy standards, nothing exciting. Tonight was delivery pizza... I was going to do the usual steaks/potato/veg for dinner, but the steaks at the markets today looked horrible and were not on sale. No fun.

I am going to be making some soda bread and a wheat soda-type bread tomorrow for the usual St. Pat's dinner at the parnet-in-laws' house tomorrow.

And Easter is also looming on the horizon... plan to make a fancy crepe cake-thing from the newest issue of Gourmet, some tiramisu brownies, and maybe some kind of appetizer. Possibly a crab/horseradish dip. I had forgotten I bought some sage cheese and brie also, so I might just bring those over. At this point, it will depend on if I feel any better next week.

But, corned beef and cabbage for dinner tomorrow, likely I'll use leftovers to make some hash on Monday with some poached eggs. I've also got a hankering for some steamed chinese buns, so I think I'll be doing a stir-fry at some point. Hot dogs were also on sale this week, and the hubby is always happy with some chili dogs for dinner. Might also do some pepper & egg sandwiches, which I haven't done in awhile. All fairly easy stuff.

But, for now, it's an evening for finishing "Bone in the Throat" and relaxing.

Not that bad of a b-day....

B-Day was yesterday.

Busy at work, fighting technology and a wonky internet connection that wouldn't let me send stuff to the machine that we use to make CDs, but I got outta work pretty much on time, traffic home wasn't bad, and we were going out for burgers for dinner.

At the burger place (Hackneys) we each got a black & tan, I had a cup of chili, we split an order of their "onion loaf" which is basically onions dipped in batter, then formed in to a loaf and fried. I'd tried it before at another location, but it was greasy and not nearly as good as the one last night.

Night was quiet. I'll take it.

I've had some awful birthdays in the past. When I turned 13, my best friend forgot my birthday. On my 20th birthday, I had an awful day of work, and awful day of college classes, due to a billing mistake my phone got turned off and I couldn't even call out to order myself some Chinese food for dinner. When I finally used my roommate's phone to called the now-hubby, in tears, to moan about my horrible day, his response was "But... your birthday is tomorow!" Um, no, I think I know when it is! We'd been dating about a year and a half (one birthday) and he apparently messed up the date of my b-day with one of his friends. I just took it as the shitty icing on the craptacular cake of the day. But he hasn't messed up the day since.

My 27th birthday (it seems to happen every 7 years) the hubby got laid off, I had to call five different pizza places to find one that actually had shrimp (everyone seemed to be out of it) to get my favorite shrimp & garlic pizza for dinner. But on the bright side, we did find a new pizza place that is still our favorite.

Yeah. For my 34th birthday, I already plan to crawl in a hole and hide the entire day.

Not much else happening. Work is busy, looking forward to being in Vegas in two weeks. Made omelettes for dinner tonight to use up some egg whites so I now have the 6 egg yolks on hand to make the Malted Milk ice cream from the Perfect Scoop cookbook, but when I went to make the actual mixture I found I was low on sugar. Guess that might wait until Saturday or Sunday.

I did make the blackberry-banana sorbet, yum. When I first ran it past the hubby he said "what could be bad about that?" but when I offered him some when it was done, he said "banana? Ew!" Yep. He listens GOOD.

Not sure what the weekend plans are yet... have to bring in the truck for an oil change, and I know my brother in law is trying to do some kind of get together for my sis in law's b-day, which is tomorrow. We'll see. Although I'm not looking forward to dealing with going to a now non-smoking bar when I have to run outside for a smoke in these frigid temps, but rumor has it the place has a "special" area for some folks, and with the amount of money my huband and his brothers and cousins have dumped in to that place over the year, we better qualify as special!

Random housewife-y thoughts....

I'm still not diggin' Costco. Went today to pick up essentials (like ketchup... the hubby is a ketchup fiend and we're dangerously low). In my quick run thru the store at lunch time, just didn't really see anything too exciting. And the damned ketchup bottles... it comes in a pack of three in the *stupidest* holder ever, totally off balance... as I was carrying all the shit in to the house, the damned holder gave out and two bottles plunked to the ground. GREAT.

The new Glad veggie steamer bags.... nice. I did some asparagus in one this week, very nicely steamed veggies. I even threw in some shallot and lemon zest, and it really picked up the flavors nicely. Kinda wish they'd had these things when we lived in our hot as hell apartment.....

Dealing with mirgraines the past two nights. Mild at least, but still a pain in the ass. It's better tonight now that I actually thought of putting my glasses on.

Cooking was unexciting tonight... steak sandwiches... and there might not be cooking for the rest of the week. The hubby's got his fantasy football draft thing tomorrow night, and there is talk at work about doing some kind of after-work bar thing. Not a going away party for all the people who are leaving... but just a last chance to hang out with and enjoy the company of people you hope to be running in to again in future workplaces.

God damn love 'cause it's breakin' my heart... and if I had one wish, I could see in the dark....

It's been an uneventful week in the Casa de Hausfrau.

Work has been downright depressing and also half-dead. A lot of people who don't need to be there just aren't coming in, my co-worker has been doing maybe four hours a day. I know there are projects that I need to move forward on, but nothing is really moving forward. It'd also be easier if we had an actual business direction.... there isn't much to do until we figure out which markets we're staying in, and which ones we may leave, which product are a priority... fun stuff like that.

Nothing interesting on the cooking front... just tryin' to get by. Tonight was just eggs, ham and hash browns for dinner. Easy and don't have to think much about it. But I do have to give mad props to the Crisp Potato Hash Browns. Love those.

I know I'm off the hook for cooking on Wednesday this week... the hubby is doing his fantasy football draft thing that evening. No idea what the heck I'm going to do for dinner. Maybe I'll pick up some Thai food.... that sounds good right now.