Karen

Gluten Free Cranberry Tangerine Quick Bread Recipe

gluten free cranberry tangerine bread recipe

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I wanted something that would put me in the holiday mood today. This gluten free quick bread was just right for that. Cranberries, tangerines, and sharp cheddar cheese combine to make a really good, flavorful bread.

all the ingredients for cranberry tangerine bread

I cheated on this quick bread because I used a mix for the starting point. This one is Hodgson’s Mill All Natural & Delicious Multipurpose Baking Mix. Here is the recipe I use:

Gluten Free Cranberry Tangerine Quick Bread

2 cups gluten free baking mix (I used Hodgson’s Mill but you can use your favorite gluten free mix)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup milk

2 cups whole cranberries

2 whole tangerines

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

To get started, put the cranberries in a food processor and coarsely chop.

chop cranberries coarsely in a food processor — Chop the cranberries

Remove the stem end of the tangerines:

remove stem end of tangerines Cut the tangerines in quarters, and chop in the food processor. Do not remove the peels before processing.

cut tangerines in quarters and process — Process tangerines until peel is shredded

Process until the peel is shredded:

process tangerines until peel is shredded — Tangerine pulp

Combine the baking mix, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In a medium bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and milk, and beat well. Beat in the dry ingredients. Add the chopped fruits and continue beating until they are mixed in well. Stir in the grated cheese. The batter will be very stiff and thick.

cranberry tangerine quick bread — The batter will be very thick

Spoon batter into greased baking pans. Bake in a 375 ° oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completly. Serve plain or with cream cheese frosting if desired. Makes 2 small loaves or one large.

cranberry tangerine bread — Fresh from the oven

gluten free cranberry tangerine quick bread

Pin2

Share1

3 Shares

On The Road To Buying A House: Finding The One

Karen · 2 Comments

We woke up yesterday morning feeling sort of dazed–we asked each other if we really did just put in a bid for a house after ONE day of looking in person. And while this does seem rather quick, we have been looking online for about two years. We knew from the online search exactly what was out there in the price range we wanted, so it was just a matter of looking at them.

After breakfast, we decided to drive out to the house again and take another look, just to be sure that it is what we want. I wanted to take my laptop and Mi-Fi card to see if I would be able to get online. Not being able to get internet service way out there would be a deal breaker for me. I also wanted to measure the back porch so we could figure out about how much it will cost to renovate it and make it livable. Here are some pictures of the inside of the house:

I am trying to keep in mind that we don’t know for sure this will be our home yet, but can’t help being excited about buying it. Oh, and to all my RV friends, we ARE going to put in an RV hookup so you can come to visit.

0 Shares

On The Road To Buying A House: Finding The One

Karen · 3 Comments

Although we started looking at houses in person today, we have been looking at them online for almost two years. I have an app on my Droid called Realtor.com, that shows you houses for sale in any part of the United States. We have seen houses for sale wherever we have traveled by using that app. It is very a very handy tool for finding a house to buy. In addition, we have had our daughter go and look at some we found while we were in Arizona. Because we have been looking for so long, we pretty much knew what was available and for how much. Getting pre-approval for a loan before going to look in person was essential, because we are ready to buy, and did not want to find something we loved and not be able to make an offer on it.

I can now tell you that it is tiring looking at houses online. Looking in person is exhausting. At least it is the way we looked at them. We walked all around the yard, looking for signs of voles, looking at the view from different parts of the yard, checking out the outbuildings, under the house. It takes a lot of time to look at everything on the outside. Don’t even get me started on looking at the inside.

The first thing I notice when I walk into a house I am thinking of buying is the smell, or rather, the LACK of smell. I don’t even want to look at a house that has a bad smell in it. The good thing is that the two houses we looked at today didn’t smell bad. Here is a synopsis of the two houses we looked at today:

House A:

This house was a lot bigger than what we need. We agreed to go look at it because the price was well within our range at $42,000. It had 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen with a breakfast bar, laundry room/pantry, and a separate office with an entry from the carport. And yes, it had a two car carport, fenced back yard, and a storage shed.

The pros: in our price range, large bedrooms, existing office

The cons: off a very busy highway with no traffic light, in need of many small repairs throughout the house, needed painting, needed LOTS of elbow grease on the white kitchen cabinets, light fixtures missing, and the shed was falling in (the roof had a huge hole in it) While all of these things could have been fixed over time, the biggest con was that it was right next door to a business. We don’t know what kind of business, but we could see bobcat diggers, a dump truck, and other things like that through the trees in the back yard. And, the neighborhood was quite noisy at 11:30 a.m. on a school day.

House B:

Smaller house, in better shape than the first one. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen/dining combined, enclosed back porch with laundry hookups. No carport or garage, but there is a lean-to type barn on the property. I have been looking at this house online on Redfin, and asked the real estate guy if he knew anything about it. Turns out it was his listing, so he told us how to get there so we could go take a look.

The pros: Well within our price range at $45,000, inside is ready to move in, hardwood floor in living area, on 5 fenced acres, large trees in yard, out in the country.

The cons: Back porch enclosure needs to be redone, needs a new front door, needs new steps to the front porch, no carport, no stove (but this could be a pro because I can get a gas stove).

We drove home after looking at these two houses, and discussed the options. Then we met with our real estate guy and put in a bid on the second house. We will know on Monday whether or not our bid is accepted. If it s, then we’ll go to step three, which is getting the actual loan. If it isn’t, then we’ll start looking again.

We didn’t understand a lot about the bidding part of buying a home. Steve, our realtor, told us that when a HUD house is put on the market, there is an initial period where only homeowners can bid on the property. At the end of the intial period, they either award the bid to the most qualified bidder, or they reject all bids and open the bidding to anyone, including investors. You can bid lower than the listed price, the actual listed price, or higher than the listed price. On this particular house, we bid the actual listed price, because we felt it was already a good deal. After our bid was submitted, we found out that we are the only bidders on this property, and the bidding closes at 1:00 a.m. tonight.

0 Shares

On The Road To Buying A House: Pre-Approval For A Mortgage Loan

Karen · 1 Comment

Today we got the phone call we have been waiting for! The lender called to tell us that we are pre-approved for a loan, in the amount we were asking for. We have both been so anxious, and not sleeping well because of it, while we waited this out. Again, we know we are an exception to most rules because we have worked seasonal jobs for the last eleven years. We had to get our employer to state that we have a job to come back to in the spring. I can really understand a lender being cautious with lending to someone who works seasonal jobs, but they can see that we have paid our bills on time for more than eleven years. We may only work half a year, be we ARE responsible people.

So, the next step is to start looking at houses. We have an appointment with the real estate agent in the morning to look at one in Carrollton. We have looked at this house online, and it looks really good. Because we are buying with a VA guaranteed loan, everything in the house has to pass VA approval. This particular house meets with most of our criteria: A flat, ranch type house with at least two bathrooms, a carport, and a yard big enough to park our RV in AND in an area with no restrictions for doing so. We don’t especially want to be in a subdivision, but even though this one is, the houses aren’t jammed right up against each other.

I’ll be taking pictures of the houses we look at, and if they don’t meet our expectations, I’ll tell you why. Y’all keep your fingers crossed that this looking process doesn’t take forever.

0 Shares

8 Gluten Free Recipes For Thanksgiving

Karen · 1 Comment

First, let just say here that I don’t take very good pictures of food. I live in an RV, so I don’t have a lot of room or very good lighting. That being said, I can say that these recipes are quite good, and if you have to eat a gluten free diet, they will be a great addition to your holiday meal! Click on the pictures to get the recipe.

Gluten Free Coconut Cream Pie

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Sweet Potato Pie

Potato Salad

Blackberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

I don’t have a picture of them, but here are recipes for:

Gluten Free Southern Style Cornbread Dressing and Giblet Gravy. They taste just like the stuff my mother used to make for me.

Sausage Balls. These are great for appetizers!

GlutenFree Macaroni and Cheese.

Share1

1 Shares

Eyeglasses From The 1960’s To Present

Karen · 3 Comments

Getting new glasses today made me think about all the different glasses I have had over the years. I couldn’t find a picture of me with my very first glasses–they were those black cat eye glasses that were popular back in 1965, the year I turned 13 years old. I hated them and wouldn’t wear them. But the second pair, shown here in 1968, wasn’t much better. I had them because my mother picked them out:

cat eye glasses from 1968 and here is an even dorkier pair from 1969:

eyeglasses from 1969 — What was I thinking???

glasses in 1071 — By 1971, they got a little better. I was 19. (with my son)

glasses circa 1979 — Here I am in 1979, with huge glasses that are tinted pink

1983 11 01 karen in office bellsouth — In 1983, I was wearing contacts. A scratch on my eyeball in an auto accident ended that.

huge eyeglasses in 1984 — In 1984, I was sporting those huge frames again.

1991. Still wearing huge frames, but not tinted.

2003 12 24 Karen in office 02 — Short hair and those big glasses in 2003

karen at microwave — My funky red glasses from 2004

If you wear glasses, when did you start wearing them? Did you get to pick out your own frames? Do you think you would have worn them more if you had picked them out?

Pin1

Share2

3 Shares

Buying Glasses Can Be Fun

Karen · 4 Comments

No, not for the kitchen, for my eyes! Last night I was cleaning my glasses and broke the frames, and I knew I would have to go today to buy some new eyeglasses. I am one of those people who can’t walk without her glasses. I walk into walls without them. I am pretty much useless for anything if I don’t have those glasses sitting on my face. The ones I broke were purchased in 2007! so I knew it was time.

Because we have an account at Lens Crafters, and we have bought our glasses there several times, we decided to go there again this time. I had an eye exam, and had my eyes dilated. After that I was told to go and pick out some frames. Now I don’t know about you, but I can not walk, or see much, without my glasses. Add to that the fact that my eyes were dilated, and you can be assured that I was not seeing much.

tryin on eyeglass fremes in the store I took these pics myself, but I did use the try on option at the store, too.

What was really neat, and new for me, was that they have a camera built into their computer station that can take a picture of you wearing the frames you have picked out, so that you can actually put your old glasses back on and see what you look like wearing the new frames!

I asked Fagrandpa to help me decide which frames to buy. I already knew I want some with rhinestones, because I am all about the sparklies! Here are some that I tried on:

eyeglass frames with rhinestones at lens crafters — I love me some sparkle!

I found quite a few pairs of frames that I liked, and these were the four I liked the best. I really liked the rhinestones on the ones on the lower left the best, but the actual frames on the lower right looked better on me.

eyeglass matrix used for measuring your lens placement — I felt like I was in the Matrix!

There I am on the computer screen! The salesperson attached a matrix like device onto the frames, then took a picture with the computer camera. Using the resulting photo, she was able to get measurements that were accurate to with .10 of an inch! Look how big my pupils are! Fuzzy vision for sure!.

Because I have such a weird prescription, I have NEVER been able to get a pair of glasses in one hour, at any store I have ever been to. But, the manager of the store made me a temporary lens that was as close to my prescription as he could get it, for me to use until my prescription lenses arrive, for FREE! Now THAT is good customer service! And just another reason why I will continue to use Lens Crafters for my eyeglass needs.

my new glasses — Don't pay attention to my hair--I got caught in a drenching rain!

So there I am in my new EXPENSIVE glasses. Please don’t pay attention to my hair. I got caught in a drenching rain.

Vercace eyeglass frames There they are. New glasses with temporary lenses. At least I can see until I get the real prescription lenses.

I used My Memories Scrapbooking Software to make the collages in this post

0 Shares

On The Road To Buying A House: Pre-Approval For A Mortgage Loan

Karen · 3 Comments

houses for sale in georgia, getting pre-approved for a loan — We would love to have a house like this one.

I really don’t have anything new to report as far as the progress towards getting pre-approved for a mortgage loan. When we went for the first meeting with the lender on November 1, we asked how long it would take to get our pre-qualification letter. The answer was “In most cases, you will have your pre-approval in just a couple of days.” Well, it seems we are not your everyday mortgage applicants.

For one thing, we work seasonal jobs. And those seasonal jobs are with the U.S. Government. And you know how long it takes to get paperwork flying with the feds. The mortgage representative we are using send the forms to both of our supervisors last week. But then there was a federal holiday. Yesterday, I called Fabgrandpa’s supervisor and left a message telling him we need for him to fill out that form ASAP. He is being transferred to a National Park in Michigan, and his last day for work at the North Rim is Friday. He called me back later in the day, and filled out the paperwork while I was on the phone with him.

The second thing is, since we live fulltime in an RV, we change our address frequently. We have been living and traveling in an RV for going on 12 years. We are hoping that any potential lender can see that we have a good credit score, pay our bills on time, and would be a good credit risk in spite of our lifestyle.

One other thing that has slowed this process down is that the day we went to our first meeting, a work crew was digging on the main road through town, and cut a major communications cable, and the internet service to the office was down for three days. While that was not the fault of the mortgage company, it still added some days to the process.

Now, as far as I can tell, the mortgage company has everything they need to make a decision. It has been two weeks since our first visit, so I hope we hear something soon. We can’t even go to look at houses until we get that letter from the lender.

0 Shares