Stuff you don't need to know about me, but I'm going to tell you anyway

I read this on one of my favorite blogs this morning and liked it so much I decided to steal it.

The phone rings. Who will it be?
Either my friend Jennifer or my husband.

When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
Yes. Unless they don't put the cart corrals in the parking lot. Then I just abandon it.

In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?
Talker, without a doubt. Once I get going it can be tough to get a word in edgewise.

Do you take compliments well?
Why yes I do, thank you.

Do you play Sudoku?
No, I tried it once. I can't figure out why in the world anyone would want to do that for fun. It was awful! And who makes up all those little Sudoku tables? What a terrible job that would be.

If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?
5 minutes? Yep.
5 hours? Probably.
5 days? Plan my funeral.

Did you ever go to camp as a kid?
Yes. I was really bummed that I didn't get to walk in the bog. Yep, my big camp disappointment was a lack of bogging.


What was your favorite game as a kid?
I liked to play school, but only if I could be the teacher.

Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?
Nope, I'm already married and my religious beliefs preclude me dating other people while I am married to my hubby.

Do you like to pursue or be pursued?
Be pursued. You tend to get more flowers and candy that way.

Use three words to describe yourself?
My husband says sexy, silly and sweet. In that order. I don't think I would have picked out sexy on my own, but he is the only guy I sleep with and if he says sexy then I'm going with it. (And by the way, he got a kiss for that answer.)

Do any songs make you cry?
When I was pregnant everything made me cry. I am still waiting for most of those hormones to wear off...8 months later.

Are you continuing your education?
I am supposedly working on my master's degree. I have one internship left and I really want to do it, but finding time and childcare is a little bit of a challenge these days. I am too busy enjoying my little boy.


Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth?
Nope, I always wanted to though.

How often do you read books?
Daily. I love to read.

Do you think more about the past, present or future?
Present. I think it helps that I am at home with a baby all day. We are pretty much in the moment around here.

What is your favorite children’s book?
Umm, check out the title of my blog. It's from the book, If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Suess. That would be my current favorite. I also like Diffendoofer Days by Dr. Suess and all the Little House on the Prarie Books.

What color are your eyes?
Blue.

Where is your dream house located?
In my head. Heather who writes the blog I stole this survey from, says that the house she lives in is her dream house because it is where her husband and kids live. That is so sweet, but I'm just not there yet. My dream house is still located on the beach and has a hammock. And my husband and little boy live there too.

If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed?
My son. I cannot imagine the devastation of losing all my stuff, but as long as my family was safe we could replace it all. It's just stuff.

When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?
2 years ago? I don't know. I don't eat out much.

Where was the furthest place you traveled today?
We went to the YMCA and a consignment sale.

Do you like mustard?
Not really. It's okay mixed in things, but I wouldn't choose to put in on my hamburger.

Do you prefer to sleep or eat?
Depends on what we're eating. Ice cream? Chocolate? If it's one of those, then wake me up to eat it!

Do you look like your mom or dad?
Mom, hands down. When my hair was short (as hers is) it was very obvious were related. I grew my hair out.

How long does it take you in the shower?
Depends on the day. I'd say about 15 min on average.

Can you do the splits?
I doubt it since I don't even know what the splits are.

What movie do you want to see right now?
I don't even know what's playing.


What did you do for New Year’s?
I was 9 months pregnant. I slept until the neighbors set off firecrackers in the street at midnight. Then I lay awake in bed and tried not to think mean thoughts about the neighbors for the next hour or so as they partied outside my window.


Do you think The Grudge was scary?
What's The Grudge?

Do you own a camera phone?
Yes.

What’s the last letter of your middle name?
N. What kind of survey question is this? I mean, do you really feel you know me any better now that you know that?

How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
As many as possible. Unless I have insomnia. Or stay up reading. Or watching TV. Or my son gets up 700 times needing a paci. I think I average about 6 or 7.

Do you like Care Bears?
They are not something I think about all that much.


What do you buy at the movies?
I haven't been to the movies in almost 2 years. Usually just a ticket.

Do you know how to play poker?
Nope.


Do you wear your seat belt?
Yes.


How many meals do you eat a day?
Three, and a couple of snacks.

Do you like funny or serious people better?
Well, funny people tend to be more fun. But I love a good coversation, which can be hard with a funny person sometimes. It's a toss up.

Ever been to L.A.?
No, it's not a place I really want to see. I imagine miles and miles of traffic backed up, smog and then lots of people who are dressed really fancy (like for the red carpet). Not my cup of tea.

Did you eat a cookie today?
A cookie? Umm, well...technically no. I ate broken pieces of what probably amounts to several cookies.

Do you hate chocolate?
No, why would anyone hate chocolate?

Are you a gullible person?
Oh yeah, I believe just about everything. Did you know gullible isn't in the dictionary? No really! It's not.

Are you easy to get along with?
Sometimes. I can be very opinionated and very stubborn. Especially if I think I'm right. And sometimes after I realize I'm not right but I don't really want to back down because I think I might look dumb. But by then it might be too late. And then I just feel sorry for my poor husband. Actually, I'm probably not really easy to live with. My huband is a patient man.

Pound Cake

I used to bake a fabulous pound cake, then I got Celiac and couldn't have gluten. I tried one gluten free version and it was a total flop. Both literally and figuratively.

But the other day I found a gluten free pound cake recipe on the Land O Lakes website of all places. I just had to try it.

Here is my trusty assitant chef, Doodlebug. Ready for action. He is the chief supervisor of mixing. (He really likes the Kitchen Aid.)

Of course, I had to make a couple of substitions.

The first one was almond extract for the vanilla extract. I just like the taste better.

The second was in place of the 4th egg I used 2 T of cornstarch. I didn't realize that I only had 3 eggs until I was well into the recipe.

I use the recipe for Jules Nearly Normal Flour mix as my flour mix which you can find here.

Here is the modified recipe I used.

2 cups sugar
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons gluten-free almond extract
3 cups Jules Nearly Normal Flour mix *
2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1 cup milk

*Jules Nearly Normal Flour Mix

For the basic flour mix
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour or tapioca starch
• 4 teaspoons xanthan gum


Heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar and melted butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cornstarch and beat well. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.

Stir together flour mix and baking powder in small bowl. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating at low speed until well mixed.

Pour batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt® or 10-inch angel food cake (tube) pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan.

Cut. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

A Conversation With My Boy

Let it go down in history that my baby has uttered his first phrase on August 19, 2009! Of course, I have all the details and I can't wait to share them.

I heard Doodlebug wake up and start talking in his crib. Just your typical baby babble stuff. I walked in his room and leaned over the crib smiling at him. "Hey there Umboo, what're you doing?" (Umboo is one of his favorite things to say, we have no idea what it means but he likes it when we say his words too.) He grinned up at me and replied, "Hey baby!"

Shocked silence. I wasn't expecting that to be his first phrase!

Chicken nuggets

We had a good-eatin' weekend at our house this past weekend. I've had this recipe for a while (no idea where it came from) and decided to try it, finally. And I was so glad I did.

Chicken Nuggets

2 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
~3/4 cup crushed potato chips (I used onion and sour cream. If you are making these gluten free don't forget to check the label on the chips.)
1 egg slightly beaten
2 t milk
Cooking spray

Pre heat oven to 375.

Mix together the egg and milk.
Dip the chicken pieces into the egg mixture and then the potato chips.
Lay on a cookie sheet.
Spray nuggets with cooking spray.
Bake for about 15 minutes. The potato chip coating will start to brown when they are done.

Eat and enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am in love. Serious love. The kind that inspires me to write blog posts and fantasize about my new love all hours of the day and night. Ahh...chocolate chip cookies. I hear you, you are thinking "Cookies? She's in love with chocolate chip cookies? What is the big deal?" Ah...let me explain. Hang in with me, it will all make more sense in a minute.

First you need to know I cannot eat any gluten. What's that? It's a protein found in wheat and other grains. That means no flour. No bread. No cake. No donuts. No cookies. Well...at least no bread, cake, donuts and cookies like I used to eat, back when I could have gluten. There are gluten free products on the market that use other flours (like potato, tapioca, rice and bean) to try to duplicate baked goods that have gluten. It takes about 5 minutes on a gluten free diet to figure out that they just aren't the same. The texture is often gritty and the taste isn't the same. The gluten free products are often really crumbly too. When I want a good cookie, a bite of crumbly sand is just not what I had in mind.

Recently Betty Crocker put out a new line of gluten free baked goods. You buy the mix and can make baked goods at home. I was a little skeptical but since they were offering a coupon for a free mix I decided to give it a try. (If you want a coupon for the free mix call General Mills at 1-800-446-1898 and select option #4 on the main menu.)

Now part of the fun of baking at home is licking the beaters. I tried this and was sorely disappointed. The dough was gritty and did not taste the way I remembered cookie dough. My heart sank but since the dough was mixed up and on a cookie sheet I slid it in the oven anyway. By the time I pulled the cookies out my expectations were pretty low. But being the optimist that I am I poured two glasses of milk, put some cookies on a plate and my friend and I both took bites of fresh-from-the-oven cookies. It was love at first bite. It must have been for my friend, who is also gluten free, because she looked at me and whispered conspiratorily, "Oh...our lives just got so much better!" Amazingly these cookies are good fresh from the oven and cold, another rarity for gluten free baking. And they taste like the Nestle Tollhouse cookies from my childhood. Ah, such bliss. Oh, and I haven't even told you the part I am the most excited about. I will actually get to bake cookies with my son. Cookies I can eat with him without getting sick and cookies he will want to eat too. I will be able to have those precious moments of baking with him as a child. I can't wait!

The bad and the good of motherhood.

Yesterday I took Doodlebug to have his helmet adjusted. No big deal, we do this every week. When we got there I smelled a poopy diaper. For some reason we almost always have one on the way to his helmet appointment. I just picked him up, carried him into the office and took him in the bathroom to change him. Oh.My.Goodness. I saw pooh coming out of the leg of his diaper. Hmm, that's not good. Then I noticed a large wet spot on his outfit just above the waistband of his diaper. Uh-oh. Upon further investigation it turned out to be more pooh leaking from his diaper. Great. And when I looked down at my shirt I realized he had gotten it all over me too. This is just getting better and better.

It's hard to know even where to begin in cleaning up a mess of this magnitude. So I opened his diaper. He stuck his hand in the poop and then tried to put it in his mouth. I cleaned off his hand. I took the diaper off and soon realized that I did not have enough wipes to get him cleaned up. So into the sink he went. Thankfully he cooperated and stood in the sink while I rinsed him off. But then what do you do with a slippery wet baby? I can't really hold him since my shirt's still all poopy, I can't put him on the changing table for the same reason.... So I dried him with paper towels and laid him on the floor to put a clean diaper on him. I took my shirt off and washed it in the sink and then put it back on. By then I had to call for backup and had to leave the restroom to ask for some Lysol wipes and plastic bag. It was a long afternoon.


By the time we got home Doodlebug had catnapped in the car and would not go back to sleep. I was beat. We had been to 2 doctor appointments and met my husband for lunch. I hadn't slept much the night before and was just trying to hang on until Daddy got home. I turned on the TV in our room and layed him on the bed. I lay down next to him and he happily babbled, cooed, giggled and watched TV. I was too tired to act silly and interact with him much and he gave me several puzzled looks while we were lying there. He rolled away from me and picked up his paci which he looked at and then looked at me. He rolled back and stretched out his arm to hand me his paci. My sweet little boy gave me his most precious possession. I took the paci and thanked him and told him what a sweet little boy he is. He was so proud of himself and rolled around on the bed grinning from ear to ear and cooing. I guess I just looked like I needed a paci to him.

Mmm...feet

Pizza Sauce

What pizza post would be complete without one for the sauce?

I'm usually kind of lazy when it comes to making my sauce. I don't have a real recipe that I follow, I just throw in whatever I happen to feel like on that day. Here's an approximation of the basis of my sauce.

1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1/2 t olive oil
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t powdered garlic
dash of pepper
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t parsley flakes

Mix together in a small bowl. Makes enough to lightly cover 2 pizza crusts.

Our favorite gluten free pizza crust

2/3 cup brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
2t xanthan gum
½ t salt
1 t dried gelatin powder
½ package Good Season’s Italian dressing mix (dry). ETA. This is no longer gluten free.  I use a homemade Italian spice mix instead now.
½ t sugar
2/3 cup water 105 degrees
1 t olive oil
1 t apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 packet of dried yeast

***I often mix up all the ingredients to the sugar and make bags of pizza mix. Then when I’m in hurry I can get a pizza on the table in 30-40 min.

In medium bowl mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and yeast and beat for 3 min. If mixer is bouncing around the bowl add water 1 T at a time until this stops.

Preheat over to 425F.

Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. (This is essential or dough will stick.) Place dough in center and using a spatula spray coated with cooking spray push/pat dough out until about 8-9” across and even.

Bake crust for 9 min, remove, top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Return to oven for 11 min and cheese is beginning to brown.

This makes enough for dinner and 1 lunch for me. Doubling the recipe also works well.