“In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:4)

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

The Busy Chicken Kitchen

 Sometimes you just get on a roll.  And sometimes you make rolls.  But since we're mostly gluten-free around here, we don't make rolls.

But I've been on a cooking kick today and so far, we have:

 Eggy Breakfast Muffins from Owlhaven's book Family Feasts for $75 a Week.  I made them gluten-free  by using 1 c. white rice flour.  Other changes:  I used 18 eggs and about a cup of milk, 1/2 lb. of bacon and a whole bag of frozen broccoli, chopped. This made 36 muffins in 3 Pampered Chef muffin pans. They freeze great and are easy to pull out for breakfast or cold lunches.

I've got a crockpot of chickpeas going and another of lentils.  Rosebud is hungry for lentil patties.  Patties are a super on-the-go GF food.  They can be cooked up and refrigerated for the week, or frozen.  She likes salmon patties made with cooked brown rice instead of bread crumbs.

These are "like eating Fall leaves," according to Daisy.  "Only they taste better!"  Love kale chips!  The only sad thing about making kale chips is that such a huge head of kale makes such a small amount of chips.  Must buy more kale.  (and note to self:  wash it first next time. :P)  updated to include link to a recipe.  Changes I made:  I used Italian dressing, sparingly. 1 large head needed 4 Pampered Chef pans to be spread in a single layer. Every recipe had a different temperature, with 300 being most common. I baked them at 300 for the first 10 minutes, flipped the kale and turned the oven down to 275.

Slip and Slide and Easy Gluten-Free Cookout with Friends

On a hot summer's day, we decided to put up a slip and slide on the lawn (since we don't yet have the pool up) and invited friends to join us.  My friend A. has Celiac and so is gluten-free also.  I knew she'd be blessed to go out and not have to worry about what she could or couldn't eat, or whether what someone claimed to have made gluten-free actually was.

We did a super-easy menu.

Hamburgers (with buns for the glutenous and lettuce wraps for those of us who are GF, which this week includes RoseBud, myself, Daisy (by choice) and the boys, on whom I am experimenting.  Mr. GT and Pepper chose buns)

Brats from our pigs.  Brats may or may not be gluten-free.  Ours are.

Two kinds of potato salad--the traditional mustard/egg kind and Yogurt Potato Salad (a boring name for a great salad!)

Yogurt Potato Salad (another recipe we've been making for over 20 years)

4-5 medium red potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced
3 T. plain yogurt
1 T. mayo
1 1/2 t. dijon mistard
1 t. thyme
2 t. fresh basil, cut in thin strips
2-3 radishes, sliced thinly
salt and pepper to taste

Peach-Black Bean Salsa

1/2 c. peaches, diced (can be fresh or canned)
1 can black beans, drained
2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 t. cumin
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. lime juice
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 green onion, sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste

Mix well and chill.  Serve with GF tortilla chips or Fritos (which are GF--at least the traditional, way-too-thin-for-scooping (ask me how I know this) are.  Check the bag for the Scoops.

Fresh veggies (carrots, plum tomatoes, celery, pepper strips)

Crystal Light (is GF) pink lemonade

The kids are all really sore and scratched up today from the slip and slide.  RoseBud, especially, who went flying off the end a couple of times, is full of scratches.  We finally had to add some more plastic to the end to extend it.  Fun!

Today's gluten-free: Strawberry Pie, Pea Soup and Chick Pea Crackers

Pepper made a Sky-High Strawberry Pie.  And because this is not a foodie blog, I'm going to link you to the recipes.  Lazy.

Sky-High Strawberry Pie, original  (from Taste of Home.)
We've been making this awesome pie since 1994!  We never use the whipped topping or pudding on top.  And we've always made it with a graham cracker crust.  We didn't have any GF graham crackers in the house so we used...

...Gluten-Free Crumb Crust  (also from Taste of Home).
Modified by substituting coconut powder (finely-ground coconut) for the nuts and honey for the juice concentrate.  Nuts, while themselves gluten-free, are often processed in a facility which also processes wheat, so they may be cross-contaminated.  You have to read the label.  We didn't have any uncontaminated nuts in the house.  This crust was easy and tasty. Pepper made it by herself.

After we finished dessert, (kidding) we had pea soup.  Pea soup is naturally GF.

Ham broth (I also often use just water for a vegetarian soup)
Dry split peas
1 large onion, diced
carrots, sliced
potatoes, cut in small cubes
salt and pepper to taste
oregano (dried or fresh)
2 bay leaves
chopped ham, if desired (my family doesn't desire)

Cook peas in broth or water with onion.  When peas start to soften add carrots, salt, pepper, oregano and bay leaves.    When carrots are nearly done, add potatoes and cook until all vegetables are tender and peas are mushy.  Add ham, if desired.

Then I went for uneasy.  I tried these crackers, which were neither easy (although they weren't THAT hard) nor that tasty.  I'd say they were fine.  I don't know if I'll make them again.