You Find Out Who Your Friends Are... The Ones Who Make Cookies!

I was just reading a blog post about coping with celiac disease and it really got me thinking.   Whether newly diagnosed, or a seasoned veteran of  good ol' celiac there is always a bit of a struggle which hits some of us harder than others.

For a lot of us that stems from the fact that this disease demands a complete lifestyle change that will never go away.  I try to live my life in the moment, taking each day as it comes, but sometimes that doesn't always work.  Occasionally the reality that I will have to live like this for the rest of my life sneaks up on me from where ever it is that I keep it suppressed and it tries to hurt me.  But then I look at everything I have to be thankful for and push that thought right back in place... somewhere at the back of my mind that is close enough to remind me to take care of myself, but far enough away that it doesn't bring me down.

Some celiacs don't have the ability to see it like I do, and I credit my support system for helping me do that.  Don't get me wrong, there are ignorant people in my life who do not understand the severity of this disease, but the number of people who understand it and want to take care of me far outweighs the number of ignorant ones, and I am so thankful for that.

We just had our 4th annual Thank Dank 5K this past weekend.   For those of you who don't know what that is...We lost an amazing man to a car accident, so each year we put together this trail run to raise money for a scholarship in his name.  Family and friends work hard to raise money, promote, and organize this event.  It can be a bit stressful and a lot time consuming to make it all just right, but I love being a part of all that and seeing it all fall into place.  Watching the community, friends, and family all band together to thank him for everything he gave us (including his amazing daughter, Charlee James who he never got the chance to meet) during his short time with us makes it all worth everything we put in to make it happen.  The reason this is significant to this post is because first of all his death is a harsh reminder that life is too short so you need to be thankful for every day, and second of all that the support of family and friends will carry you through even the toughest of times and that support will always be there.

And even though there is so much that goes into making this weekend run smoothly.... there are always gluten free cookies!  In comparison to what the weekend stands for cookies are really not important.  They would be my last priority for such a busy weekend, but someone is always looking out for me, and despite everything going on... I always have cookies. 

Those cookies seem so miniscule when looking at the big picture, but it is just another reminder that I have amazing people in my life who love me.  These are the people who carry me through those hard times when this disease tries to bring me down.  They are constant reminders to be thankful that it isn't worse, because I know it could be.  They never make me feel like I am making a big deal out of nothing, and never show even an ounce of impatience if I need to vent a bit about anything celiac.  They cancel any little pity parties that I might occasionally try to throw for myself and give me a much better reason to have a real party.  Then they always have plenty of gluten free food and drinks anytime we get togther for those parties and always act like it was no big deal to put together.  I hope they all know how much that means to me, because  I don't think I could ever tell them in words.

Here are those cookies that make me smile more than any other cookie I have ever had!  Thank you friends!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

 

1 C natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy

1 C sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 t vanilla extract 

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla on low speed until well combined.

Scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough 1 1/2-inches apart onto the baking sheet.

Flatten the dough balls with a fork, making a cross pattern on the cookies.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until they are golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to rest on the counter for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Happy Thank Dank Day and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Charlee James and I (and papa & penny su) leading the Fun Walk!

 



Mama won 3rd place.... for her age group! :)  Go Mama!

What a great way to end a great birthday weekend!

 

Let's celebrate 27.... How About A Watermelon Rita?!

I always celebrate birthdays at my absolute favorite restaurant ...Mi Margarita!  I'm telling you guys if you are ever in the Illinois Valley area you must try it.  They make the BEST margaritas... we had peach raspberry last night... yum!  The food is amazing! The chips and salsa... perfect!  The best part is the staff!  They are all so friendly and take such good care of me and my food issues.  I never have to worry that I might get glutened there... ever!


Anyway... I'll share a margarita recipe with you in honor of my birthday and cinco de mayo weekend!  It's not Miguel's, but it's still yummy... I hope you like it!


Fresh Watermelon Ritas

1/4 C agave nectar- more or less to taste
2 1/2 cups cubed seeded watermelon
3/4 cup white tequila
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup triple sec
2 cups crushed ice, or as needed
1 lime, cut into wedges
watermelon slices

Place watermelon in a blender or food processor. Pulse until pureed.  Stir watermelon puree into a large pitcher with nectar, tequila, triple sec, and lime juice.  Place a small amount of salt or sugar into a saucer. Rub edge of margarita glasses with a lime wedge to moisten. Lightly dip the rim of the glass into the saucer to rim the glass; tap off excess salt or sugar.  Fill rimmed glasses with crushed ice; pour margarita mixture into glasses and garnish with lime wedges and watermelon slices to serve.

  

I enjoyed more of Mi Margarita's food this weekend... They are one of our amazing sponsors for Thank Dank!  They donated food for all of us volunteers this year!  It was so delicious and everyone loved it!  Thank you friends at Mi Margarita..... from ALL of us!






In case you are wondering....
The kids loved my Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes!  Especially the part about them being special treats that don't make Miss Kat's tummy sick!  They are all such sweeties!

Sadly Penny Su did not get to go to school for my birthday snack and share... it was a rainy rainy day, and she is not allowed inside school... so they will have to settle for seeing her at the all class picnic... which will be here before we know it.  We only have 5 more days of school!  Yikes!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake!

Everytime one of the kids brings a chocolate chip cookie cake to school for their birthday I practically drool over it!  They always smell sooo good and I just want to eat it... I would settle for just one bite!  Obviously I practice my (and any other celiac's) super hero power... self control, and don't... But that doesn't mean I stop thinking about it.

So I decided long ago that I would attempt to make a gluten free version for my birthday snack and share this year.  I found a chocolate chip cookie cake recipe online (Thanks Lindsay!) that I am going to adapt to be gluten and dairy free.  We will see how this goes... Wish me luck!



Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

3/4 C Dairy Free Butter- room temperature
3/4 C Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 C Sugar
1 Egg
2 t Vanilla Extract
2 C GF All Purpose Flour Mix- I have been loving Stashu's lately
2 t Cornstarch
1 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Salt
1 1/4 C Dairy Free Chocolate Chips

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy (about 3 - 4 minutes).  Mix in the egg and vanilla.  Into another small bowl sift together the flour, cornstartch, baking soda, and salt.  With the mixer set on low add the flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually.  Stir in the chocolate chips... the dough will be thick.  Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place parchment paper into the bottom of your pan to help prevent sticking.  Spread the dough out in the pan.  Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes before removing from pan.  Cool completely on a rack.  Add frosting and enjoy!

This should make one 8 or 9 inch cookie cake... but once again I am breaking more rules!  I am going to make these as cupcakes for the simple fact that it will be easier to serve to all the kids that way.  I got some adorable colorful polka dot cupcake liners and am going to hope for the best!  Once they are all slathered with frosting I'm sure they will be just fine!  Kids love anything with frosting right?! So they should love my snack and share!

Speaking of shares!... If you read my last post you probably already guessed the big surprise!  Miss Penny Su is coming to school!  The kids are going to be soooo excited!  At least I know they will love that part of my snack and share! :)

I bought myself an early birthday presents this year!  They make me smile.. and they were on clearance! :)


 

It's May... Celiac Awareness Month!!

Happy May Day all..... and more importantly, Happy Celiac Awareness Month!!

How are you all celebrating??  How are you spreading awareness??

I LOVE seeing so many food and cosmetic companies putting the words gluten free on their products nowadays!  Let's keep up the good work and keep spreading awareness so we can see more and more of that!

I apologize, I have been sooooo busy that I haven't been posting as much as I would like to.  All through our month I am going to try to do a post each week.  What would you all like to hear about??

In my next post I will share with you how we are celebrating my birthday at preschool!  I'll give you a couple hints....

Yum!!... You don't want to miss this! :)

AND....

Yellow Cake With Chocolate Frosting.. It's Gluten Free, Easy, and Delicious!

 

My family knows the importance of the words "yellow cake with chocolate frosting!"  Every celebration featured that exact treat as THE center of attention.  That is until I was diagnosed with Celiac disease.  Then the YCWCF love was stifled a touch.  But with "Christmas In May" (as my papa calls it because my mama, grandma, sister, and I all have birthdays in May... it's an expensive month for papa!) right around the corner I decided it was time to bust out this recipe and perfect it.

 

Lucky for me this recipe is already gluten free, and easily converted to dairy free too.  My parents had a local cake lady (shout out to Wanda Cakes!) make this exact cake for me for my 21st birthday party (that was soooo long ago!...I'm going on 27!...yikes!) and it was AMAZING.  Of course she has her special touch and noone could even tell it was gluten free.... even in an age that wasn't so gf friendly (before Kim K and a bunch of other celebs tried to jump on the bandwagon and before celiac disease pretty much started attempting to rule our population).  I'm telling you it was so good that I almost cried!  Of course that was the first time I had had cake in two years so it was a pretty emotional experience.  I had never attempted this recipe myself.. and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to live up to Wanda's... but you never know until you try.

Gluten Free Yellow Cake

 

1 1/2 cups white rice flour 3/4 cup tapioca flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

4 eggs 1 1/4 cups white sugar 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1 cup (almond or coconut) milk 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract

 

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and rice flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.
2.	Sift the white rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum together and set aside.
3.	Mix the eggs, sugar, and mayonnaise until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, milk and vanilla and mix well. Spread batter into the prepared pans.
4.	Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Cakes are done when they spring back when lightly touched or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool completely then frost, if desired. As for the frosting.... there is really no recipe.... Grandma taught me!  You dump a bunch of powdered sugar in a bowl, add some butter (pretend butter in my case), vanilla, cocoa poweder, and (almond) milk.  You know just a dab of this and a pinch of that... Grandma style!  Keep tasting and mixing until you get it just right.  And then if it is just right you better keep tasting just to make sure! :)  Grandma used to make extra frosting and save some in a bowl for me to snack on... some of my favorite childhood memories!  Slather that Grandma frosting all over your cake (don't be chinsy... make it thick!), add some sprinkles, and you are ready to celebrate any occasion.  Enjoy!  I sure enjoyed mine!

Here is one of the May Birthday Girls! 

She is going to be 91 on the 6th!

She makes the BEST chocolate frosting!

I'm A Catholic & A Celiac... And I Want Communion Too!

Well, I guess I'm dead inside then!  I don't like to believe that I don't have life within me.... I don't think God wants me to believe that either. However the Catholic church is making it unnecessarily difficult for me to "have life within" me.... And sadly it is pulling me farther and farther away from the faith that I thought my whole life was based around.

I admit, I used to cheat my Celiac disease. I cheated every single time I walked up to the alter. I knew all along it wasn't good for me, but I couldn't stand the thought of not receiving Communion. I told myself that God gave me this disease and he wouldn't punish me for participating in my faith. But I started having more health issues and realized I was looking at it backwards. God did give me this disease, and he wasn't going to punish me for taking care of myself.

So I quit cold turkey. No communion for me.... and I absolutely hated it! Despite my best effort to feel and think otherwise I still struggled with the fact that I was feeling guilty and unholy. I couldn't participate at mass in the only way I knew... the way that had been drilled into my brain since I first stepped foot in Catholic school at age five. I felt left out and judged. I found myself dreading going to church because I didn't want to face those feeling. I found my mind wandering while I was in church because I didn't feel the need to focus on something that I couldn't partake in. For the first time in my entire life I found myself flat out losing my faith... And it was depressing me.

I shared my thoughts and feelings with my husband and family. They all made efforts to make me feel better. But talk all they want, I was not going to feel better about this situation until I could again participate at mass. My mama, who works at the church, talked to the priests about getting gluten free hosts and I started to get some hope back... But then...It. Was. Crushed.

The Vatican apparently has this ridiculous rule that the host must contain a certain percentage of gluten to be used in holy communion. I have many issues with this absurd doctrine.  I have done A LOT of research on this topic, but I will just touch on the big picture here.  I don't want to preach to you, just simply share my personal struggle and thoughts on this issue.

First of all we Catholics believe that priests have the power to consecrate the "bread" into the body of Christ.   That is huge deal... the entire basis of the Catholic religion.  In my opinion, if you are given that kind of power does it really matter what that "bread" is made of? I mean honestly, in retrospect the contents of the "bread" are minuscule when you look at the big picture here. They are taking a substance and turning it into the body of Christ! Does it really matter what that substance is made out of? I really don't think so. 

Can anyone prove with complete certainty that the actual bread Jesus used at the last supper contained wheat?  And even if it did does that really make a difference?  Celiac disease was not a problem at that time... sadly it is now.  The reality is that the church needs to change and evolve to fit the needs of it's current time and members.  I doubt if I showed up to the last supper and told Jesus that I couldn't eat that bread that he would say "well you are shit out of luck then"  Don't think so!

Some may argue that if we truly believe that it is no longer bread, but the body of Christ, does it matter if there is gluten.  You aren't eating gluten... you are eating the body of Christ.  Yes I believe that in my heart and soul, but my intestines are just functioning organs and they sadly can't believe and don't know the difference between the two.  So something had to change.

I pondered whether my faith was what had to change.  Do I need a fresh start, a new religion that will accept gluten free bread more readily?  Other churches have no problem getting gluten free hosts for those that need them.  As I sat crying in the pew while I watched everyone else go up to communion on Palm Sunday I decided that a new faith was most definitely NOT the answer.  That thought was more like the devil tempting me.... well guess what devil.... ain't gonna happen!

The answer is that I need to work for a change.  And what better time for a change than now!  The institution of a New Pope means new ideas, new growth, and new perspectives!  I started with going back to the priest at my parish.  I sent him off to chat with the bishop of our diocese armed with a photograph of some gluten free communion wafers. 

 

He came back and told me to go ahead and order them! I happily started shopping!  Sadly the online store that I found them for sale on warns right on the page that they are not acceptable for Catholic Communion.  So I don't know what to think or feel about this.  Him allowing me to order them and use them is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't fix the entire problem.  The Catholic church is still denying the needs of it's members.  I will chat with him in more detail on this and go back to the drawing board.  We will see what happens from here.  I'll keep you posted.

 

 

Do I have any Catholic Celiac followers out there??  How do you deal with Communion?  There are "low gluten" hosts available... have any of you tried them without problems?  Personally they scare me, and seem to me like they are just a poor excuse for a real solution to the problem (on the part of the Catholic church- I place no blame on the nuns making them). 

 

Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for the effort that the nuns making them put into it... thank you ladies for being on Team Celiac Catholic!  Those wonderful women are doing everything that the Catholic church is allowing them to do to help us Celiacs, and I am so grateful for that!  Now if we can get some higher up Catholics to think like they do!  I'll say some prayers for a step in the right direction!  Join me will ya?!

 

 

 

 



But I Want A Chocolate Bunny Too!... Gluten Free & Dairy Free Chocolate

I made it happily through Valentine's Day this year... which is a success for multiple reasons... Yay me!  The main issue this year was that I am now completely dairy free.  Chocolates are what  Valentine's day is made of... so what's a girl to do??  Figure it out... that's what!

I found this recipe for Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge.  It's just five ingredients... that are all gluten and dairy free!  Yay!  I quickly mixed it all up with my hand mixer and poured it into some adorable heart molds.  After licking the bowl, I could hardly wait for them to be solid enouch to remove from the molds.  Once this happened they didn't last long! :)   I'm telling you... these are addicting.  So I didn't allow myself to make anymore! 

The bunny was about to come and as I was picking up stuff for Easter baskets I decided that Easter would not be the same without chocolate bunnies for me too.  I found a silicone bunny mold, and some egg ones too!  So I whipped up another batch of chocolates for Easter.  I shared them with my family and everyone loved them so I figured I should share the recipe with you all too... here it is!



I used this mold.... how cute!

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil (slightly melted, but not hot)

1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/4 cup mild raw honey

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract - I use my vanilla I picked up in Mexico...yum!

Preparation:



Put all ingredients in blender, hand mixer, or food processor.  Mix until everything is smooth and nicely combined. (It will be very liquid-y.) Don’t over-mix.  Pour the liquid fudge into whatever mold you choose, or even muffin tins.  Place in the refrigerator until the fudge has hardened.  That's it... now eat up! Store in the refrigerator. 

So easy and so good!  I'm telling you... the hardest part is waiting for it to harden!

I had the fabulous idea to add some GF Rice Krispies to some of mine and they taste just like a crunch bar.  I also chopped up some almonds in my food processor and made some almond ones too.  Yum!  I wonder what I will think of next....Oh the possibilities!