High school classmate, Judy, has Celiac's disease. She has to eat gluten free. I popped into her office the other day...cable company...for some reason or the other...probably having to do with the scarecrow contest we urged the businesses to compete in.
Knowing that I bake, she told me that she needed me to come up with an edible gluten free bread.
Last night I searched the web for gluten free bread recipes. BINGO! I found a bread machine recipe. OH MY GOODNESS! Forget just substituting one different flour for wheat flour! This recipe called for:
brown rice flour
white rice flour
potato flour
tapioca flour
and
soy flour
AND...there had to be something in it to make it have the texture of the bread we all know and love...wheat bread.
xanthan gum
?????!!!!!!!!!
I needed to make a run to Mt. Pleasant...which has two or three health food stores. I entered Fran's with my recipe. She directed 
me to the cooler and showed me what she had, then pointed to a package of bread MIX! WOW. Now THIS is the way to go. Especially when you are experimenting. Now lemme tell ya. The single loaf package was $5.99. We gluten gluttons should be glad we aren't paying that much for a loaf of bread!
The mix has several flours. And some other stuff. I added milk, melted butter, 1 egg and several egg whites, and a bit of apple cider vinegar. The dough was a bit wet and I thought it needed more flour. I actually had my hand on my flour canister when I thought about what I was doing. The dough just had to stay wet.
After it baked, I dumped it out of the pan. MAN was it ever one heavy loaf of bread! I dug the paddle out of the bottom and cut off a slice. Slathered with butter (the bread, not me), I thought...all this needs is a bit of salt. Not bad at all.
I kept an eye on my watch waiting for the loaf to cool. I poked it in a bag while it was still warm and jumped in the pickup. Her office was closed due to illness for the rest of the week. The illness is her husband...in the hospital. So...I called another classmate. Melanie had just gotten off the phone with Judy! I told her to call J back and tell her to meet me at M's house.
She pinched off some bread. Tasted it. And smiled. When I left, she had the loaf of bread cradled in her arm as she got in her pickup dreaming of cinnamon toast in the morning. ;o)
This is from Sam's camera. 
I went to the office for a bit this morning to download the photos to the office computer so that I could erase Sam's card. He's going on a motorcycle trip next week and wanted his camera...and I wanted the photos on it. I also needed to get the winners in the various events to the local newspaper before Monday's noon deadline. Since I have to go to the dentist in Longview tomorrow to get a crown recemented so that it won't come off any more...I took care of that too.
One of the Chamber directors was just too funny. I e-mailed them to let them know about the dental appointment and that the crown came off while I was eating a piece of Bit o' Honey. He replied that I needed a Bit o' Glue. eyeroll
Too tired to blog. Too tired to upload photos. If I only knew where my camera is... It's either in the pickup...or maybe on the dining table. It might possibly be in my purse where it belongs, but probably not. It stands to reason that it's in a t-shirt box in the Chamber of Commerce office. The closer to 4 o'clock that it got...the lower the sun was in the sky...the more sun was coming down on me. I kept moving my chair to the shade. Before long...the table was waaaaaayyyyyyyyy over there! LOL
A friend, HEY ANDY! sat with me last. He helped load boxes and chairs in one of the Director's Yukon and my pickup. After we unloaded at the Chamber office, I asked the Director, "What do I do now?" She said, "You're through. Go home." So I did.
Then I thought that I should've made another round visiting with the few vendors that were left. I probably should've stayed until they all left or at least had touched bases with them before I left.
Sigh.
I am NOT going back to town though! I am dedicated to my job, but not so dedicated that after a boss tells me to go home that I show back up again. LOL Unless perhaps we go back to hear the band playing for the street dance.
Andy followed me home. He and Sam are watching the Texas A&M and Arkansas football game. I took a quick nap until somebody hollered, "CATCH THE BALL!" I grabbed for it...but missed. ;o)
I "met" Aussie Cherry http://cperryman.blogspot.com/ a year or so ago. She had the cutest photo in the header of her blog. Two of her grand daughters sitting on the beach, facing out to the sea. Cherry took a photo of them from behind. So cute! She has since changed the header several times.
Cherry and I have so many things in common. Not to mention the rhyming names. ;o) Her artistry lies in photography while mine is mainly in quilting.
Via her blog, I have followed her travels. She once stated that she purchases ornaments for her Christmas tree where ever she travels. I asked if she'd like to have a Texas ornament. Once agreed...I then had to find an ornament that was NOT Made in China. It was not an easy task. Last month Carol and I went to an arts and crafts show in Gladewater. We weren't there long...we like antiques and quilt...the artsy/craftsy stuff just wasn't our thing after all. We wound up in the antique stores. Before leaving the artsy/craftsy ground, I did find THE ornament. 
I packaged it carefully, sent if off at the post office, and prayed that it would arrive in one piece. I did not e-mail Cherry. She got it! I hope she enjoys her bit of Texas each year.
Twelve pounds. Let me repeat myself...TWELVE POUNDS!!!! It's about time!This has been such slow going...but I'm jump starting it again this week. Can I tell you how busy I am?...which leads to how tired I am!! 
ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz Last week I just flat did not sleep very well. If I went to bed at 10 p.m., I would wake at 5 a.m. So....I would go to bed sometime between 11 and midnight. It worked pretty good for the week, but I did run out of steam over the weekend. Especially by Sunday. We had Sam's family reunion Saturday...we do the putting it together here in town. Then on Sunday Carol and I drove to Corinth...a three hour drive...for the baby shower. Then...Monday night. LEG CRAMPS!!!! I had been asleep about 30 minutes or so when something woke me. I couldn't go back to sleep so sat up, played Mahjong on the computer, listened to an audio book. Got back in bed about 2:30 or 3 a.m. The next thing that I am aware of...charley horse in my right calf like you would NOT believe! Where's the rusty butcher knife? Cut the leg off at the knee! Anesthesia not necessary! Where's the potassium?!!! ALMOST OUT OF POTASSIUM...not only in my body evidently, but also the bottle. Then...the alarm went off at 6:45 a.m.I was a zombie yesterday. A friend commented about how tired I looked. Ha-HA! I worked all day then went to the building where the community stew is going to be served and helped set up...Chamber of Commerce work for Daingerfield Days. The dinner is tonight...so another long day.
Needless to say, I won't be going to the gym any this week!
I've signed up for a quilting retreat the end of next April/early May in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm one of 99 other quilters who frequent the HGTV quilting forum. The planners/hostesses are putting together a wonderful retreat. Quiltaholic posted three questions about her grand state. I answered all three correctly and was entered in a drawing for a prize. I WON!! I have a few projects ahead of this...baby gifts...but am anxious to start cutting on this too!
Here's Sam's best friend since 5th grade, Ben. Ben bought a 'toy.'
me to the cooler and showed me what she had, then pointed to a package of bread MIX! WOW. Now THIS is the way to go. Especially when you are experimenting. Now lemme tell ya. The single loaf package was $5.99. We gluten gluttons should be glad we aren't paying that much for a loaf of bread!
