Such is life.

Hello friends. Freends, if you will. Ha! Get it?

Hmm. Okay. Nevermind.

I have to be honest. I just haven't felt like blogging lately. I know you've missed me. Right?

Right?

...Bueller? ...Bueller?

I've had a lot on my mind. Nothing major - just stuff that makes me gravitate toward laying on the couch with a glass of wine (after a day at work, mind you) rather than flex my creative muscles and sit down and write or play with my camera. A funk/lazy period, if you will.

But now I'm at the point where I've missed this. You. The escape. The fun. All that jazz.

I'm currently sprawled on the couch with my laptop in...well...my lap. Imagine that. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Toby, my precious 6-year-old striped/spotted brown fat tabby cat, also sprawled, but across the living room rug, in an attempt to cool off from the heat. Or to relax. Whatever. His little brother, Hobbes, a grey tuxedo tabby, is pacing the floor waiting for The Hubby to get home from class. This seemingly unimportant stuff makes me happy.

It's the little things. Write that down.

Pretty soon The Hubby will walk in the door, thankful to have missed the thunderstorm that just passed through. For the past month, I've seen him for only about an hour (sometimes two) each day. Funny how life just gets in the way of seeing those we love. I miss him - but I'm so proud of him. Plus, this week is the last week of summer school, and I get him back. We already have a date set for the weekend to go get gluten-free pizza. How great is that?

These past weeks I've had to improvise when it comes to dinners during the week. If I'm not cooking for both of us, chances are I'm not cooking at all. Luckily, I've had dinners with friends planned and meetings that have run late enough to justify eating Cheetos for dinner. What? You don't do that? Liar.

Tonight was a little different, seeing as how we actually have fresh produce and other yummy stuff in our refrigerator. I whipped up a plate of leftover cheeses from "wine and cheese night" over the weekend - Camembert and Havarti with dill to be exact - plus hummus and baby carrots (so easy!), and a few slices of salami. Not a huge dinner, but plenty of food - all washed down with Chardonnay and a chick flick.

Sidenote: In case you happen to be considering it, I do not recommend watching "My Sister's Keeper" at home alone on a rainy night with a glass of wine. Holy cow that movie is sad!

In a few minutes, I'm going to have a night cap of the gluten-free ice cream sandwich variety. Look for a review on these bad boys later on. De-lish.

After that, I'm headed to bed for a little reading and an early snooze-fest. We (as in myself and The Hubbster) acted much younger than we actually are last night, and I've been paying for it all day long. Almost falling asleep in big marketing meetings = not cool.

I promise to be a better blogger - with pictures and everything! - soon.

K

Breakfast in a Pinch

A couple of weekends ago, my parents came to visit. I love it when they visit us; I love having them stay in our home, regardless of the stress of guests.

The parentals don't come visit terribly often, but when they do, we almost always have something fun planned. This time, we had matinee tickets to see the musical Wicked. My parents had never been to see a big Broadway-style musical, so we were all really excited. (Side note: If you haven't seen Wicked, you HAVE to go see it. It's spectacular.)

After the show, we celebrated a belated Father's Day at Texas de Brazil, which I review here. In short: awesome meal.

The next morning I was craving breakfast (and coffee, of course) at home, mainly so we wouldn't have to battle the Sunday brunch crowds. Having totally missed the boat on any type of planning (typical), I rummaged through our pantry and refrigerator and was able to make this:

My original goal was a frittata, but after realizing we didn't have the right pan in the right size, I ended up with a crustless quiche. Kind of the same thing, right?

Here's what I did:

6 eggs, beaten

4 red potatoes, peeled and sliced thin

1 tomato (mine was fresh from my Mom's garden - yum)

1/4 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon worshester sauce

Butter (I used 2 big pats, but this part is really up to you)

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

Put the sliced potatoes, butter, worshester sauce, salt and pepper in a microwave safe bowl. Heat covered on high for 3-4 minutes, or until potatoes are just barely fork tender, checking every minute or so.

Lay cooked potatoes out in a single layer in the pie dish of your choice.

Meanwhile, saute your onion until just translucent and slightly browned.

Mix eggs, tomato, onion, and seasonings to taste, then pour over layer of potatoes.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until egg is firm and cooked through.

Easy! So many good things about this:

1. You can use whatever mix-ins you have available/leftover/about to go bad/etc.
2. You can whip it up and put it in the oven and visit with your guests or do whatever else it is that you need to be doing.
3. It looks really pretty when you take it out of the oven, even though you didn't work that hard. Score!
4. It is naturally gluten-free. :)

Isn't it fun learning to improvise with your food? 

Happy 4th of July!

Strawberry Blueberry Honey Oat Muffins

Aren't I festive?

I love leisurely waking up in the morning without an alarm clock and having breakfast at home. While it might not seem luxurious, keep in mind that during the work week I'm usually inhaling a Larabar on my way to work and washing it down with water from a plastic tumbler.

Weekends are different. For instance: this morning, I woke up a couple of hours before The Hubby, made myself a pot of coffee, and retreated to our bright and airy sunroom to read my freshly downloaded Emily Giffin novel on my new Kindle.

The house was quiet and still cool before the heat of the day set in. My book sucked me in immediately, and before I knew it, I had been there two hours. My hunger (and now functioning husband) got me off the couch and in the kitchen...where these muffins were living.

I made these yesterday, fully intending to enjoy them today. Fresh, ripe red strawberries and beautiful blueberries, baked into a healthy muffin.

---

Strawberry Blueberry Honey Oat Muffins
adapted from AllRecipes.com

1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour blend (I used Gluten Free Pantry's all-purpose flour)
1 cup rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free oats)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons applesauce
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Combine all ingredients except fruit and stir until well blended. Fold in berries. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups (either greased or using liners) and bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

---

Now here's my confession about this recipe. They browned up beautifully (as you can see in the pic) - however, much to my chagrin, they did not cook all the way through. I didn't realize this until I had two on my plate and tried to take the wrappers off. I suggest that the temperature be lowered to 350-375 in order to allow the muffins to cook completely through and THEN brown.

Not being one to be deterred from eating, I ripped the fully-cooked muffin tops off and ate those...and they were fabulous. Not too sweet, a little punch of tartness here and there from the fresh berries. I will most definitely be making this recipe again.

I'm telling you about this, as always, to let you know that disasters when cooking/baking gluten-free are totally normal! You just have to go with the flow. I plan on slicing my next muffin in half and sliding it in the toaster oven for a few minutes to finish it off. I've done that before with previous disasters, and it's worked really well.

It's all about learning, right?

Happy 4th!
Kelly

P.S. At The Hubby's request, I also made cupcakes today from a mix I hadn't used before. Stay tuned for details and a review!

UPDATE: Check out this recipe and other healthy, gluten-free recipes at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Texas de Brazil

What better way to celebrate a belated Father's Day than taking your Dad to a place that serves unlimited amounts of meat on swords?

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

Actually, The Hubby thought of the idea, having the advantage of being a carnivore-on-steroids male with the ability to read my Dad like a book.

Anyway.

As I might have mentioned before, I grew up in small town Texas. Just in case this isn't common knowledge, I'll take it upon myself to inform you that restaurants with names like churrascaria don't really exist in that part of the world.

So we approached the subject with my Dad delicately.

"So, Dad. Check this out. We're taking you to dinner tomorrow night for a late Father's Day."

"Oh, cool!" (My Dad is, without a shadow of a doubt, the cutest man alive, and incredibly animated...so yes, he did actually say 'cool!')

"We figured you wanted steak of some sort. We made reservations at two places, so you have a choice. Would you rather go to a cozy, dark, manly steakhouse..."

"Oooh!"

"....oooor...a place that serves you 14 different kinds of meat (insert clarification that this would indeed involve various kinds of steak) on swords?"

"Uhhhh. Yeah. That one." (Said in a similar tone to...'duh, you idiot, which one do you think I want?')

Our reservation was the following night at 7:00...and it went off without a hitch. After sitting down, our waitress took our drink orders, explained the process, and shortly thereafter sent us on our way to the salad bar. Before that, however, I was able to capture her attention long enough to ask about their gluten-free options. She didn't hesitate at all, and said that she would check with the chef and be right back.

A few minutes later, she said that the chef was ready to meet with me to walk me around the salad bar and discuss all of my options. I know a lot of people have one-on-one time with restaurant chefs due to their diet, but this was a first for me. A very appreciated first, and one that will take us back to that restaurant.

If you haven't been to Texas de Brazil...it has the biggest salad bar I've ever seen. They claim it has 50-60 items, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had more.  It's enormous. Indescribable, really. The unbelievably nice and patient chef (this was prime-time Saturday night and he was walking me around bowls of lettuce and salad dressing - how cool is that?) gave me a tour of the salad bar, pointing out things I could eat and things I couldn't, and answered all of my questions about things I had read online before coming in. Very impressive.

I ended up with an enormous salad, in case you were wondering. Gluten-free mecca.

Turns out, all 14 meats that they serve are naturally gluten-free. In fact, I was able to eat most everything except:

• Mashed potatoes (both on the salad bar and served family-style at the table)
• Cheese bread on the table (some reviews I read before visiting said it was gluten-free and made with yucca flour; the chef said it was not)
• Any hot items on the salad bar (including pasta and potato salads, soups)
• All salad dressings except the Brazillian vinaigrette (plus hundreds - no kidding - of oils and vinegars to choose from)
• Croutons, breads, etc (obviously)
• Plus a few additional items that were noticeably off-limits, like breaded and/or marinated items

I had PLENTY to eat. Leafy lettuces, beautiful tomatoes, colorful corn salsa, boiled eggs, a variety of gourmet cheeses, smoked salmon, shrimp salad, gorgeous olives of all shape and size...I could go on and on. The Hubby and I are already talking about going back JUST for the salad bar. It's that good.

And that doesn't even take into account all of the meat: various cuts and preparations of beef, lamb, pork, and chicken, pieces sliced at your table off of giant hunks carried on swords by Gauchos. All juicy and delicious. Flip your "button: to green and the meat magically appears. Turn it to red when you need a breather. Brilliant.

We had a great time, and I felt completely confident in everything I was eating. My Dad absolutely LOVED it, and my Mom did too. I highly recommend it - especially if you're celebrating something. It's a fun, different night out.

Texas de Brazil currently has restaurants in eight states, as well as Trinidad and Aruba in the Caribbean. More are on the way. Check it out at www.texasdebrazil.com. You won't be sorry.