Bread again!!

Ok...for those of you who don't know, my son was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is an intolerance to gluten. Gluten is a grain found in wheat, rye and barley and therefore he must avoid all foods and products that contain those grains, i.e. bread, pasta, crackers, gravies, cake, cookies, most cereals, etc. My daughter and I also are gluten-intolerant, so all three of us have been on a strict gluten-free diet for a little over a year now.

Well, it's a good thing I like to cook and bake, as I have had to experiment with all sorts of recipes. We've been successful over the year at finding some recipes that are yummy substitutes (in some cases better than their gluten-laden counterparts), such as cupcakes, pancakes, banana bread and oatmeal-raisin cookies. And then there are some other items that I have had the hardest time coming up with an even tolerable product.

Take sandwich bread, for example. In normal breadmaking, gluten is the ingredient that binds the bread together, giving it rise and keeping it from crumbling. For a year now, I've tried I don't know how many loaf bread recipes. There was the loaf made with bean flours that was so bitter, I couldn't get past the taste. There was the loaf made with a mixture of millet, bean, and rice flours of which every time I tried to slice off a piece, it would crumble into a heap. There was the loaf that was so dense, it would've broken the window had I thrown the silly thing into it (which I was quite tempted to do). And the list goes on and on...I just could not find a loaf that tasted yummy, had good texture (not too dense, not too crumbly) and could be the perfect background to peanut butter and jelly.

Ah, until now. I think I've found it!!! Okay, so I need to tweak it a little bit so that it doesn't get to be 11 inches tall, which is what the last one measured before it pitifully fell. But, oh, the taste! The texture! We even used the recipe to make a stuffed crust pizza dough and I thought I was in heaven! Just beautifully brown on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside. What more could you ask for? I'm looking forward to testing the recipe out for another favorite of mine that I have yet to have success with--cinnamon rolls! I'll let you know how they turn out...now, if only I could find a recipe for biscuits that doesn't create chinese throwing stars...

Ahhh...silence...

Ahhh...there is something so sweet about the sound of silence...after a tough morning with the kiddos, it's always so wonderful when aidan will take a nap, and aislinn dozes off and lets me put her down...and when this happens at the same time, well, thank God for little blessings!

My morning was spent cleaning up messes...First, Aidan had an accident in his trousers...then I left the room for about 3 minutes to write a quick email and when I came back, he had found the diaper rash cream and squeezed all of it out of the tube and onto himself, the floor, and the bookcase. Thankfully, this time he didn't rub it all in his hair like he did with my tube of lanolin. (By the way, if you're looking for a good diaper rash cream, I recommend Desitin Creamy! We couldn't get it off of our hands no matter how much soap we used!!) Now, he isn't being ornery on purpose...at least I don't think he is...He is just very curious. I try hard not to get upset, yet I do get frustrated at feeling like a crisis-prevention worker every second.

And then there are times like yesterday, my birthday, when my 5 year old daughter, Elyse, gives me a hand-made card on which she's written "I love you SO much mommy"...now that's what it's all about!!

Ah well, I guess this is the life of every stay-at-home parent...Can I get a witness?