Vegan nachos

I haven't blogged, cooked or baked in forever. I have subsisted on various holiday parties and eaten a ridiculous amount of cookies.

And I feel gross because of it.

Today we had salad for breakfast, and now at 3 p.m. I'm enjoying vegan nachos: black beans, my home canned corn salsa, home canned garden grown salsa and avocado topping.

The avocado topping is almost gaucamole except we didn't have tomatoes or onions. Not that I use onions.

Avocado topping:
- 2 avocados
- juice of one lime
- a pinch of cumin
- a pinch of garlic powder
- a pinch of chili powder

Mash, mix and let flavors blend for an hour or two in the fridge. Way better than cheese!

Cherry pancakes

My husband tricked me into making vegan pancakes. Or at least mixing a batter. I don't handle the holidays well and this year has left us with fairly empty cupboards since my daughter had a double ear infection and some unexpected medical expenses.

This batter was fairly pasty and we're still adding almond milk to thin it out.

- about 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup organic white flour
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup sourgum flour
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- about 3 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- pinch salt
- about 2 cups vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup cherries

The flavor is delicious!

Peanut butter banana frozen dessert

I cook with an eight and a half year old. This dessert has two ingredients:
Equal parts ripe bananas & peanut butter

I had one ripe banana in the freezer and an almost ripe banana on the counter. So we heated the ripe banana and combined it with the fresh one and mashed them with a potato masher.

Then we took the banana and the peanut butter and placed it all in the blender with just a splash of water to lubricate it.

It tasted how I remember the filling in a "funny bone" cupcake to taste.

We put it in the ice cream machine and since it took forever to get the sticky mess out of the blender we ended up with a thick layer that was just like peanut butter ripple in commercial ice cream and a creamier filling on top.

I got it all out and mixed it well before I transferred it to the freezer.

No sugar.
No dairy.
No soy.

Puff pastry wheels

My husband has a Christmas party in his office tomorrow. He wanted to make little broccoli pot pies, but I didn't have store bought pie crust and Target didn't have any. So I bought Pepperidge Farm puff pastry.

The first sheet was a cup of berries and some strawberry syrup ground in the food processor.

I used the leftovers and added sliced banana for the second batch.

The third batch was Green Giant broccoli and cheese sauce, Frank's Red Hot buffalo sauce, and crushed red pepper. (In the food processor)

The final batch was another pack of the broccoli, shredded Parmesan and a sprinkle of Romano.

Super veggie vegan chili

Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards are certainly getting very bare.

So, I started chili.

My chili is always bland or five-alarm delicious. Maybe if I followed a recipe, this wouldn't happen.

Today's batch:

In my Le Creuset pot I boiled and then simmered for one hour:
- one can petit diced tomatoes
- one can sliced carrots
- about 1/2 a big can of pineapple chunks ( and the juice)
- about 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- way more cocoa than I intended (about 1/4 cup)
- similar amounts of chili powder
- 1 teaspoon hot indian chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- about 1 cup frozen spinach

Stir every 15 minutes.

Add:
- 1 can reduced sodium black beans (rinsed, drained)
- 1 can reduced sodium red kidney beans (rinsed, drained)
- the equivalent of 2 cans mysterious beans from the freezer (pinto? Not labeled. Don't remember)
- 1 cup water.

Boil. Pour into crockpot. High for an hour. Low for the rest of the day. Add water if needed.

Super Sweet dairy free ice cream

It's darn cold outside so of course I choose today to make ice cream.

In the ice cream maker I place:
- 1 1/2 cups very vanilla soy milk
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1/4 cup strawberry syrup imported from Beirut
- 1 teaspoon Bols blue curaçao liquor

(The preliminary tests indicate this is going to be WAY too sweet)

Breakfast for lunch

Ham, spicy cheddar omelet and parsleyed fried potatoes

Leftover Lunch

Child decided to pack lunch today. I packed her the pork leftover from Friday's meal in her thermal bowl. (Pork, pears, dried cranberries.) 3 ginger snaps. A small salad with croutons and Amy's Goddess dressing. A banana. Apple juice.

Molasses dairy-free sticky rolls

First note: you can not make caramel with brown sugar and coconut oil. But, if you stir in blackstrap molasses and stir like crazy, you can make a syrup that solidifies into molasses candy as soon as it cools. I'm thinking Popsicle sticks and spinning it into lollipops...

For the dough:
- 2 cups organic white flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sourgum flour
- 1/4 cup ground flax meal
- small handful granulated sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup warm coconut oil
Combine.
In another container, mix:
- 1 cup warm soy milk
- 2 tablespoons yeast
- 1/4 cup local raw honey

Combine and knead. Let rise until double. Could take 90 minutes.

Make caramel (see my note above)

Preheat oven to 350. Have daughter roll dough into rectangle. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.

Roll and pinch ends closed. Shape into nice cylinder.

Put some "caramel" on the bottom of a cake pan. Slice into buns. Place buns in pan. Top with "caramel."

Now you're supposed to let them rise 30 more minutes, but I forgot.

Bake 30-35 minutes.

Crock pot pork chops

It is never a good idea to put a good cut of meat in the crockpot. But I worked until 5:15, child had to be dance at 6, and husband had to play chauffeur to all of us.

So I browned some boneless pork chops and threw them in the crock pot with the following sauce:

- black currant juice
- mixed berry juice
- golden brown mustard
- brown sugar
- water
- fresh pears, chopped
- dried cranberries

The meat was very tasty, but dry.

Cheater dinner of scallops

Tonight is my last psych lab. Last night of a quick dinner before running out the door to attend a three-hour night class.

So, over the weekend I used some coupons at Target. $1 off an Archer Farms purchase of three dollars or more... I got the bacon wrapped scallops, regularly priced $6.99.

In the frozen veggie aisle, many varieties of Green Giant Steam-in-bag vegetables are on sale this month for 5/$5. I can't use any of them with butter or cheese sauce so I decided to try the plain asparagus tips.

Add that to the brown rice my husband made for dinner last night and voilà!

Mixed up ravioli

Last night I had a delightful dinner with friends at Valenca in downtown Easton. I brought home a lovely piece of salmon that I recycled into the following hot lunch:

- dairy free roasted red pepper ravioli
- Wegmans feta spinach peorogies

In a sauce just slightly warmed in the cast iron skillet:
- Extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed, imported from Beirut
- garlic pepper
- Italian seasoning
- a teaspoon of lemon juice
- zaatar spice

Crêpes with coconut flour

We invented these crêpes and served with berry filling:
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup unbleached white flour
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flax
- 1 tablespoon local raw honey

These were delicious.

Crazy Southwest Pizza

I saw something similar to this on the back of a can of Del Monte corn at work.

I made one of my multigrain pizza crusts, this one with organic white flour, unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, dark rye flour, sorghum flour, and corn meal.

For the sauce, we used Archer Farm raspberry salsa. Then we piled on spinach, pinto beans thawed from the freezer, and leftover turkey.

Someone ate all the black olives so that's out.

We topped with some of my home-canned corn salsa and a cup of grated cheddar cheese from the farm. We intentionally kept the cheese minimal because of girlie's ears.

It's now baking and before I serve I'm going to sprinkle with the crumbs of organic blue corn tortilla chips.

Grain free holiday loaf

Edible Harmony's Cranberry Pumpkin loaf was such a hit in this house that I decided to try a variation of it inspired by the multiple pieces of Starbucks holiday gingerbread loaf that I ate at work last night.

I also decided to use my kitchen aid mixer for the first time. This beast intimidates me.

Into the bowl I placed:
- six eggs
- about 1/3 cup coconut oil which I should have melted
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
- about 2.5 tablespoons local raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup ground flax
- 1/4 cup sourgum flour
- ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup finely diced candied ginger
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Place in greased loaf pan. Sprinkle heartily with pumpkin seeds. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes.

I had to bake it for more than an hour, but good stuff!!!

Grain Free Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Ah, the beauty of food via Facebook... Just Eat Real Food posted this recipe from Edible Harmony. The original recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free.

http://www.edibleharmony.com/grain-free-pumpkin-cranberry-bread/

I thought to myself, "Gee, it's thanksgiving morning. This would be a fantastic seasonal breakfast and fun for child and I since it's simple."

And since the doctor removed her right ear tube Monday, I'm keeping her dairy free.

If you want the real recipe, go to Edible Harmony. If you want horrible misadventures in the kitchen, by all means read on.

Preface: I am finishing my last semester of college classes, after this I just need to finish my honors thesis. We're broke (like most of America). And I have a part-time job at Target which means I work full-time this week because of Black Friday. So right now this instant, I'm stressed.

And holidays tend to push my over the edge anyway.

I am an opening cashier tonight, which means I go in at 8:30 pm and cashier until 1:30 am. Then I go in tomorrow at 5 pm to close the café. To reset my body clock toward working late, I stayed up and watched a James Bond movie after punching out of work at 10:07.

My internal alarm clock woke me up at 7:15. Child was reading to herself out loud, so I got up and closed everyone's bedroom doors. Then, the cats started scratching at the door which went from annoying to amusing when one cat started attacking the cat who was scratching at the door.

So maybe baking wasn't the best course of action for a morning that started this way.

Child got the eggs. I called up the recipe on my phone. Six eggs. Left from out last trip to the farm. Exactly what we needed. And in my head I still have this reaction of "That's a LOT of eggs." I understand coconut flour requires gads of eggs but it's still a shock.

Especially when you've only had a 1/2 cup of coffee.

Child cracks all the eggs and puts them in a bowl. The recipe says to combine eggs, 12 pitted dates and 1/3 cup coconut oil in the food processor.

We dump in the eggs and the dates and child starts measuring 1/4 cup oil because I don't have a third. I let her jam the oil (coconut oil is a solid at room temp) into her cup and I fling some extra into the food processor.

When it's ready, I let her pulse forgetting that the edge of the food processor is broken and this stream of eggs and coconut oil spews onto the counter. Like the Incredible Hulk, I turn into stark raving mad lunatic mom.

What to do? I have to get those dates pulverized. Husband gets blender. With my sunny optimism, I remind him that this won't work and we're doomed.

It works for the dates. Child measures the coconut flour. I add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to replace the egg mixture now on my counter. We blend. Blender stops. Coconut flour jams blender.

We reassemble poor food processor. Transfer mix to food processor. Realize blade isn't all the way down. Fiddle and twist.

Add remaining ingredients. Pulse. Recipe a for 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon. I love cinnamon. And my coconut flour bake goods tend to be bland, especially since I have taste buds so attuned to refine sugar.

The only cinnamon we have is in a grinder. Child grinds for what feels like an eternity.

We pulse. I add some local raw honey. Taste buds. Need to wean off sweet. We stir in cranberries. Plop into loaf pan. Batter seems to disappear.

We sprinkle unsalted pumpkin seeds on top. We bake.



Verdict: I need to get toothpicks so I don't keep using random household objects to poke baked goods.

This is delightful!

Success!

Cute lunch

Another variation of my salad wrap:

- small tortilla shell
- Italian salad green blend from wegmans
- Bulgarian feta
- olives
(No dressing)

And a homemade strawberry soda:
- strawberry syrup imported from Beirut
- carbonated tap water via my SodaStream

Friday night decadence

Last night after a successful round of holiday shopping while the child was in dance, we put her to bed and I prepared this "flight" of Bulgarian feta, Klein Farm cheddar and mozzarella, baguette from Wegmans and goodies.

The goodies included hummus, extra virgin olive oil from Beirut with zaatar spices, black olives, almonds, roasted red pepper dip from Forks Mediterranean Deli, dried mango, and Harissa.

We opened a bottle of côte de Rhônes French red wine and celebrated our Friday evening.

Multicultural cheese pocket

This turned out super yummy:
- 1 tortilla
- roasted red pepper dip from Forks Mediterranean Deli (red peppers, garlic, pine nuts or something)
- mozzarella from Klein farm
- cheddar from Klein farm
- Bulgarian feta

Spread tortilla with red pepper spread. Add cheddar and mozzarella to taste.

Heat until cheese is melty.

Add Bulgarian feta crumbles.

Fold. Eat.

Butternut squash ravioli and sushi

So, tonight was child's night to cook dinner. She wanted to make ravioli. I got her some vegan butternut squash ravioli.

She opted to make a cream sauce with vanilla almond milk, which came to a great consistency but had a flavor way too sweet for me. She also selected broccoli to serve in the sauce with the ravioli and also a side of Sushi from Wegmans.

Our seven year old neighbor cams over to help us cook, which was a tad much for my nerves. He also ate almost a whole loaf of my freshly baked, specially purchased bâtard bread.

Since my child shouldn't have dairy, I served the bread with extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil with basil and parsley.

Her cream sauce was roughly:
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- pepper, garlic pepper, basil, parsley, Italian herb seasoning, mustard and nutmeg
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk

It was edible, but not something I would repeat. I suggested some olive oil drizzled on them.

Bâtard and quince

A few more weeks and my last full semester at Lafayette will end. My daughter is drowning in her phlegm and her ear tubes are falling out. Target opens at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. We're still barely making ends meet.

But hey, no sense complaining. This is life.

Today I stopped at Wegmans because my poor daughter wanted ice cream and I'm restricting her dairy right now because of her allergy/ear issues.

I got her coconut milk cookies and cream ice cream.

She also wants to cook dinner tonight so I got vegan ravioli, one butternut squash and the other roasted red pepper. She suggested ravioli for the meal.

I also got salad greens and Health is Wealth Pizza Munchees which are also vegan.

And sushi. Because I can't make it through Wegmans without a serious impulse buy.

I also got bâtards, a small type of French bread, because I've craved a bâtard with butter and quince jam for months. A few weeks ago, I discovered Lebanese quince jam at the Mediterranean Deli. Imagine my delight when I found bâtard bread today. The flavors bring me back to Tunisia.

I also made myself a smoothie of vanilla maple yogurt from Klein Farm, frozen pitted dark cherries, a fresh banana and a splash of sour cherry nectar from Turkey. (Another find at the Mediterranean Deli.

My belly celebrates.

Vegan Paleo fruit "cookies"

I'm neither vegan nor paleo when it comes to eating but I appreciate recipes focused on unprocessed foods with minimal animal products.

This recipe is very clean. No added or refined sugar. No gluten.

It's based on a recipe from Against All Grain, posted on Paleo Parents. I have adapted it to what is in my pantry.

Ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 4 madjool dates, pitted
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil

- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- about 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoons each: raisins, dried cranberry and dried cantaloupe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine first block of ingredients in food processor and combine until a fine purée like baby food
3. Add next block and pulse until just combined
4. Add dried fruit and nuts and mix just enough to incorporate
5. Place golf-ball sized cookies on cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper) and press into cookie shapes
6. Bake about twenty minutes, carefully flipping after the first 15

Mine got a tad dark, and are still very soft but so delicious. I think I need a touch more coconut flour in my mix.

But that said, I could eat the whole dozen.

Brussel sprout broccoli dish

I wanted to make this:

http://www.katiekdid.com/2012/03/05/pistachio-cranberry-and-bacon-brussel-sprout-salad/

But ran out of Brussel sprouts, didn't have tarragon or pistachios and doubled the bacon.

I used 3 tablespoons of coconut oil since broccoli loves to suck up cooking fats...

But here we go:

In my cast iron skillet, sauté 12 ounces broccoli and about six ounces Brussel sprouts in 2 tablespoons coconut oil.

Sprinkle with generous garlic pepper, fresh ground black pepper and parsley. Add bacon broken into bits and another tablespoon coconut oil. Toss to coat.

Bake about 30 minutes at 375 adding cranberries in the last five or so minutes.

Pumpkin coconut squares

Today marks my first attempt at baking with coconut flour. With my tendency to not follow directions, this could end badly.

I based my recipe on one from my coconut flour supplier, Tropical Traditions, who had a lovely buy one get one free sale on coconut flour and coconut oil with free shipping. So I got almost 4 pounds of coconut flour and two 32-ounce bottles of expeller pressed coconut oil for $44.


Preheat to 350.

Grease 8 x 12 pan with coconut oil.

Ingredients (my version, not the original):
- 1/2 cup organic coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
(Mix those two and set aside. Then mix remaining.)
- 3 farm fresh eggs
- 15 ounces pumpkin
- 1/4 cup raw milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves

Spread in pan. Cook 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.

I didn't stir the batter enough. I was warned this was an issue with coconut flour. They are a tad on the bland side, but not inedible so for a first attempt...

In the aftermath of Sandy

We were lucky. We lost power for 48 hours but we sustained no damage. School and work have been closed all week. Restaurants and gas stations mobbed. Traffic terrible.

We lost power at Target, but opened the store on generator. Didn't have enough power to juice all the fridges and freezers so all the café and Starbucks food plus all the grocery department. Trash.

Today I went in at 7 a.m. to help restock those empty shelves. Pallets upon pallets of it. Yogurt. Cheese. A pallet of milk. Frozen vegetables. Ice cream.

What did I stock specifically? Shredded cheese. Greek yogurt. Gelato. Amy's Organics. Kashi. Archer Farms appetizers and fancy desserts (yup, I got to stock the crème brûlée) and frozen vegetables.

I smashed a fingertip and broke a few nails, but I hope it helped get food back to the people who need it.

And our store has power strips in the café so people can charge their devices. For the first few days, the place looked like a refugee camp.

Zombie cupcakes

In a coup of marketing, Aldi combined a box cake mix, with skull cupcake cups, and pink icing mix for brains. My in-laws bought a box, but I have to admit my husband really wanted this.

How we entertain ourselves as the wind of hurricane Sandy hits eastern Pa.

Hurricane Sandy Pasta

During the weekend, my husband made his famous-in-our-household "Daddy Pasta" to use up our ground beef from the farm, just in case we lose power.

We recycled it for lunch today and used up our calamata olives and Bulgarian feta that I would hate to lose. So we ate it.

Yummy stuff.

We also got homemade muffins, zaatar bread, mocha bread from Target, and croissants from the freezer.

We're ready.

Hey Sandy!

For about a week, I've been talking about Tuesday. October 30 is my 13th wedding anniversary and it's the first day in weeks that I don't have school, work, volunteer commitments, internship and/or job interviews.

I was very much looking forward to this day.

Now we're getting a category 1 hurricane.

We have filled buckets, pitchers and other spare containers with water. We cleaned the yard, put the car in the garage and scrubbed the bathrooms and the kitchen with bleach.

We ate the contents of the fridge and freezer. Stocked dried fruit from Forks Mediterranean Deli. Have home canned salsa and corn salsa and tortilla chips. Bananas, apples, nuts and mocha bread. Peanut butter. Juice in boxes and bottles.

Flashlight batteries changed. Candles and matches gathered. Electronics charged.

So, we're ready. And right now we're having hamburgers made from ground beef from the farm made with spinach in them, homemade French fries, and the burgers will be served on zaatar bread with Bulgarian feta and calamata olives and a side of cole slaw.

I also stopped at the liquor store for wine and brandy.

Power omelet

- 2 farm fresh eggs
- 1 cup spinach
- handful of calamata olives
- 1 tablespoon Bulgarian feta
- 2 tablespoons cheddar horseradish spread
- 2 tablespoons roasted red pepper dip from forks Mediterranean deli.

Served with iced earl grey tea with honey

Raspberry smoothie

I'm not a fan of smoothies. Maybe it's a psychological throwback to when I broke my teeth and survived on an all liquid diet for a month.

But today I wanted something different.

So, for breakfast, I prepared some salad in a wrap.

And got out the blender.

Ingredients:
- one banana
- about 1/4 cup vanilla maple yogurt from Klein farm
- about 3/4 cup frozen raspberries
- about 2 tablespoons apple cider from Heckman Orchards
- about 3 tablespoons Very VanillaSilk

This is delightful.

More so-called weird snacks

For breakfast today, my daughter had a banana, water and peanut butter/jelly on my multigrain biscuits I made yesterday.

I started to prepare her snack. I was thinking maple-vanilla yogurt from
Klein Farm. She's been pretty good about avoiding dairy so a shot of yogurt will be good.

As I was adding some frozen raspberries to keep it cold, she came into the kitchen.

"Are you packing another weird snack?" she asked.

"Is yogurt and raspberries weird?"

"Yes."

"I thought other kids brought those tube yogurts."

"Yeah. And some bring fruit snacks so that's similar."

Me, muttering, "fruit snacks... As if that's healthy... Do you want something else."

"No," she said.

"Do you want some almonds in top?"

"Yeah!"

Me, after contemplating, "Yesterday you had an apple. That's not weird."

"It is when I bring it."

"I'm sorry."

She shrugs.

Funky grain biscuits

This is a variation of my "experimental" multigrain yeast biscuits.

Yeast mix ingredients:
1.5 cups warm water
1 heaping teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon local raw honey

For the dough:
2 cups organic unbleached wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
About 1/2 cup organic sorghum flour
About 1/2 cup white corn meal
About 1/2 cup organic whole grain dark rye flour
About 1/2 cup ground flax meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick butter

Combine dry ingredients (and butter). Stir. Add yeast mix. Stir. Kneed with hands.

Sprinkle corn meal in the bottom of a large cast iron skillet.

Roll out dough and use glass or biscuit cutter to cut biscuits.

Preheat oven to 400. Let biscuits rise about 15 minutes. Cook about 15 minutes.

This is my first time buying organic wheat flour (at Target. Had coupon. Normally $5/bag). Ordered coconut flour.

The sorghum flour is gluten free but not low carb. Has a little more protein than wheat.

The rye has slightly more protein and iron than the other two and it has calcium. And flax is full of good stuff and is low carb.

Vegan night

- leftover chili from the freezer
- tortilla chips
- raspberry salsa
- local apple cider

I packed the child's school lunch today: an orchard fresh apple, homemade date fruit bars, cocoa dusted almonds, zaatar bread, Bulgarian Feta, and calamata olives.

Breakfast was homemade apple butter and cottage cheese.

After school snack was a banana.

Spaghetti and local sausage

- wheat rotini
- tomato sauce
- local sausage
- oregano
- garlic pepper
- Italian seasoning

'Nuff said?

Sunday Reflections

Food is such a vital part of our lives, and since I'm finishing school, interning at USAID, trying to be productive on the library board, and laying out the GLVWG newsletter, I'm stressed. Oh, I forgot my job at Target and the job hunt. Two interviews this week.

I decided that since I'm stressed, I'm making an extra effort to eat more whole and less processed food. I have a tendency to eat less healthy when I'm stressed and then my physical performance suffers.

This week I ate a lot of salad wraps. Homemade apple butter. Fresh feta from our favorite deli.

Today I stopped at Nature's Way for some funky flours-- some gluten free, others not. My family doesn't have gluten issues but many of the gluten-free recipes incorporate a better balance of carbohydrates/protein than wheat.

I have a long history if requiring a certain blend of carbohydrates and protein with lots of good veggies to keep from self-destructing. I experience incredible weakness if I skip meals that can't be fixed without hearty protein. Testing my blood sugar reveals that it's "fine," but that I feel ravenously hungry with a blood sugar of 90.

Anyway, my adventures with flour hopefully will start with multigrain biscuits.

Then we went to Kline Farm where I got yogurt, dill Colby, a huge pumpkin, apple cider, ground beef, sausage and pork chops.

I planned to make a "quick" 4 course meal before I go to work, and realized I must be delusional.

We started with a salad and big glass of water.

Next I heated my spiced apples in my skillet with pecans and butter and served with vanilla ice cream.

Now I'm frying pork chops in the same skillet I warmed the apples to capitalize on any apple flavor. I'm also heating corn we froze off the cob this summer.