Karen

GlutenFree Homemade Peach Cobbler Recipe

When I started eating gluten free, I thought that I would never be able to eat a good peach cobbler again. Last week, I found a roadside market where they were selling fresh fruits and vegetables. They had the best smelling peaches I have found in a very long time. Today, I decided to use the peaches to make a gluten free home made peach cobbler. Oh, was it ever good! Here’s my recipe. Let me know if you like it.

Here is the recipe so you can make one for yourself:

Gluten Free Peach Cobbler
6-8 fresh ripe peaches (about 2 to 2.5 cups canned or frozen)
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup water or milk
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix

Peel and slice the peaches. Put them in a medium saucepan with 4 tablespoons butter, the corn starch, and the cinnamon. Stir until sugar is mixed in well with the sliced peaches. Cook on medium heat until peaches are hot and the corn starch has thickened the sauce in the pot.

Meanwhile, melt the 6 tablespoons of butter and pour it into the bottom of an 8X8 inch pan. Mix together the water or milk, the 1/2 cup sugar, and 1+cup of Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix. Mix well, and pour the batter over the melted butter. DO NOT STIR. Pour the peach mixture over the batter in the pan. DO NOT STIR. Put the pan into a preheated 400° oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. I like to sprinkle mine with a little bit of sugar before baking.

This recipe works with just about any fresh fruit. What is your favorite?

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Traveling With Grandkids: Day Trip Ideas

Karen · Leave a Comment

One of the best things about being a grandparent is that you get to take them on all the fun car rides and can leave the boring stuff up to their mom and dad! If you’ve got a road trip planned with the little ones this summer, you might be looking for some tips on where to take them.

In this partnered post, the guys from Passsmart share some fun and family-friendly ideas for taking the grandkids away.

Beach drive

If you live near the coast, a day trip to the beach can be the perfect way to spend some quality time with the grandkids. We all know kids love building sandcastles and paddling in the sea, so they’ll spend all day there if you give them the chance! All you’ll need is some towels, buckets and spades and you’ve got yourself the perfect road trip destination!

Zoo trip

Drive down to a local zoo to visit the animals and enjoy watching the kids be amazed by all the different species! Zoos can be expensive but if you pack your own lunch you’ll be able to cut down on costs. Play some animal related in-car games on the way down there to get them even more excited. In the alphabet game for animals, for example, you start by saying, “I went to the zoo and I saw an anteater”, then the next person has to say, “I went to the zoo and I saw an anteater and a baboon” and so on, until someone forgets the sequence! On the way back you can play it again, but this time with animals which you really did see.

Road trip to the city

If the kids are a little older, you might want to take them on a trip to the city. There’s often so much to see and do in the city that you might struggle to fit it all into one day, but look for museums and local attractions which are usually quite affordable. Of course, your activities will depend on what city you’re visiting, but you can take a look at what’s on in the area online beforehand to plan your itinerary.

You might need to leave the car on the outskirts of the city to avoid traffic jams and high parking rates, but public transport links will usually get you right to where you want to be.

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Del Real Foods Review & Giveaway

Karen · 140 Comments

Oh, My goodness! I have to tell you about these delicious foods from Del Real Foods. They sent me a Party Box assortment to review. I sort of expected average taste. Since we lived eight miles from the Mexican border for two and a half years, it has been hard for Fabgrandpa and I to find authentic tasting Mexican food in restaurants, much less in the grocery store. Let me tell you, though, that these dishes from Del Real Foods are just fabulous. They are the most authentic you can get without driving south of the border. OH! Did I mention that all of these Del Real Foods are Gluten Free?

The package that we received included included a six pack of Beef Tamales, a six pack of Pork Tamales, and packages of Carnitas, Arroz, Chile Verde, and Barbacoa. There was also a package of Pulsas, which are corn meal patties with chile cheese inside.

We started out our first meal with the Del Real Carnitas. I love carnitas when I go out to an authentic Mexican restaurant, and these were very good. The best part of it is that you just heat and eat. There is no cooking and no mess to clean up. And there is a generous portion in the package. Fabgrandpa and I ate dinner twice, and made breakfast burritos once with the meat in this package of food.

Beef and Pork Tamales — Del Real Pork Tamales

When we lived in South Texas, we had a lot of Mexican employees. They brought us the traditional tamales for Christmas every year, and I loved them. These tamales from Del Real are really comparable to home made tamales. I think you will agree once you try them.

One of you is going to get the chance to try these tasty Mexican treats yourself. One winner will receive a Del Real Party Box. To enter to win, use the Giveaway Tools Form below:

Entry -Form

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These Boots Were Made For Stomping

Karen · 3 Comments

My daughter-in-law sent me this picture of Amelia in her Princess rain boots, stomping in puddles this week. Seeing this, it made me think of a day from my own childhood over 50 years ago.

We lived in the country, on a dirt road. My house was about mile one way from my aunt Sarah’s house, and about a mile the other way from my grandmother’s house. My mother worked outside the home, and left us kids at home by ourselves while she was gone. There were five of us: my three brothers, and my baby sister.

It was my responsibility each morning to walk my sister to the baby sitter’s house, about a mile in a different direction. When I got home from taking Linda to the sitter on this particular day, my cousins Jimmy and Phillip, and my brothers Bobby, Preston and Richard decided that we would go on an adventure.

We packed sandwiches in a paper bag, and set off on a trek through the woods behind our house. I have no idea how far we went before we found the creek. When we got there, we all striped naked and waded in the pool created by a small waterfall. I also have no idea if any of us could swim, but we all jumped right in.

The water was up to my neck in some places, but I had no fear on that day. No fear of drowning, no fear of being naked in the woods, no fear of being abducted. We stomped in that creek most of the day, taking time out to eat our sandwiches. Late in the afternoon, we got dressed and hiked back home. Life was good, even if I did not have princess rain boots.

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Ah, Bubble Baths!

Karen · 2 Comments

I realized soon after moving into our first RV that I would no longer be able to take advantage of those buy 2 get 1 free on the entire site deals at The Body Shop for bubble bath. Because we did not have a bathtub, there would be no long hot soaking bubble baths for me. For a long time, I dreamed of taking a bubble bath and even thought about getting a motel room or cabin at one of the many RV parks we worked at during the 13 years we lived our RV life.

Every time we went on vacation or on any extended trip away from the RV, I always picked up some bath salts or some bubble bath so I could just lay back and relax and soak in the tub. Those times always felt really extra special because of not having a tub at home.

Now that we have bought another house and have a real live bathtub of our own again, I am still not able to take a bubble bath. Because of my colostomy, I have not yet figured out how to do it. For one thing, I am afraid that if I get down into the tub, I won’t be able to get up! I have read about some options but I have not tried them yet. One thing is a “cap” for the stoma, which I can not for the life of me figure out how that would work. Another is to just take off the pouch, and not worry about what happens. Um, don’t think so. I know I’ll figure it out soon.

What is keeping you from taking a bubble bath?

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Some Pretties For You To Look At

Karen · Leave a Comment

Someone sent me the link to this website, where they have the most beautiful scent diffuser lamps. The company, Lampe Berger Paris, has been in business since 1898. The company has been making fragrances and air purifiers since then. They started out with lamps to diffuse scents to make the air in hospitals smell better.

During the 1930’s, when the taste for beautiful things was at its height these lovely lamps because collectors items. I can see why, because they are quite beautiful to me. There are so many styles and colors of lamps from which to choose, that you will have a hard time picking one. And because they are so pretty, you can put them anywhere in your house and no one would ever guess that it was more than just an ornament.

Oh, and don’t forget the fragrances! They have all sorts of scents, too. Fruits like Grapefruit Passion, Green Apple and Under The Fig Tree; Flower Scents such as Lavender Fields, Precious Jasmine, and Wild Orchid; Sweet Fragrances such as Vanilla Gourmet and Sweet Pear, and many many more. I know that I am going to have one or two of these in my house, but it will take me a long long time to decide what to get.

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My Mini Demolition Crew

Karen · Leave a Comment

I didn’t think that I would survive my children’s childhood. The three of them were into everything, every day, and I never knew what was going to happen next. It seemed like they plotted and planned everything together to see how long it would take Mama to crack!

One day, my s0n decide they should play “barber shop”. This game consisted of him cutting all of my daughter’s hair off. Neither one of them had had a haircut, and had such beautiful curls. I knew they were being too quiet, so you can imagine how shocked I was to see both girls come out of the playroom bald!

Another time, my oldest daughter was about three years old, and frequently got up in the middle of the night to get things to eat out of the refrigerator. I got up one morning to discover a 2 pound jar of grape jelly and a dozen eggs smushed into her carpet in the bedroom. I could have used a professional carpet cleaner that day!

And just imagine this: I left my husband in charge of the children while I went to do grocery shopping. He took them over to his parent’s home. The kids went outside to play. After a while, they started looking for the kids. They found them in the garage, painting my father-in-law’s red truck with some white paint that someone left within their reach.

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Glutino Gluten Free Toaster Pastries and Muffin Mix Review & Giveaway

Karen · 54 Comments

The good folks over at Glutino sent me some delicious gluten free Toaster Pastries at the beginning of May. When I was a little girl, I loved to eat pop tarts for breakfast. I also have to confess that I used to eat them pretty often for breakfast and snacks after I grew up. But when I found out I had to eat gluten free, I had to say bye bye to them. Until the first week of May 2013, that is. These toaster pastries are SO GOOD! I had to make myself eat only one at a time to make them last longer. They come in two flavors, Apple Cinnamon and Strawberry. I wish I had taken a picture of one of them before I ate them all up.

DSCN0175 — Glutino Gluten Free Toaster Pastries

These pastries tasted equally good whether I just opened one up and ate it without heating it up, or if I put it in the toaster. The strawberry was my favorite, and I hope that they will make some in cherry flavor real soon!

Glutino also sent me a package of their Gluten Free Muffin Scone Mix. I decided to use it to make a Raspberry Banana Bread. It was so easy to use this mix, just measure out just like when I used gluten full flour, and mix in all the ingredients. The taste of it was pretty good, too. It didn’t have that “bean-y” flavor that some mixes have.

I used a recipe I found online for banana bread, and just used the mix instead of the flour called for in the recipe. I made a couple of changes because I did not have enough bananas to make plain banana bread, I used 1/2 cup of mashed bananas and 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries. I used Chinese Five Spice Powder instead of the cinnamon and nutmeg called for in the recipe. The taste of this Raspberry Banana Bread was marvelous! Even my non-gluten free husband was raving about it.

I did have to cook this bread a little bit longer than the recipe called for, but I think it is because the raspberries were wetter than bananas would be.

One of my winners will win two boxes of Glutino Gluten Free Toaster Pastries, one of each flavor. Just use the Giveaway Tools entry form to enter:

Entry -Form

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