Crispy Cheese Omelet

Half asleep one morning, I discovered this delicious twist on a basic cheese omelet.  I had been mulling over some recent diet advice about cutting back on cheese "because a little goes a long way" in reference to flavor.  Knowing that a lot goes right to the scale, I knew I had to make peace with this advice. 

I'm still working on it. 

However, one morning I accidentally started to sprinkle my omelet with cheese before I'd flipped it to cook through.  I despise runny eggs in any form, so I was understandably in shock.  What to do?? Start over?  Then the light flipped on.  Mwahaha, I love the crispy cheese bits that don't make it into my omelet or on my pizza, why not just flip it and make LOTS of crispy bits on my omelet.  Voila! The Crispy Cheese Omelet was born.   I've added other things like grilled veggies, turkey pepperoni, and cooked mushrooms.  But the basic recipe is very satisfying on its own.

 

Crispy Cheese Omelet

3 points plus

1/3 cup egg beaters
1/4 cup shredded reduced fat Mexican blend
Lowry's seasoned salt

Warm non-stick omelet pan (~8") on medium and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Add egg beaters.  Cook egg whites, lifting sides to allow uncooked egg to run underneath.  When mostly set, sprinkle lightly with Lowry's Seasoned salt and with 2 Tbsp shredded cheese and flip.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cook another minute.  Fold in half and slide onto plate.   

Mom's FABULOUS Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

So, this isn't EXACTLY my mom's recipe (since I always have to be contrary, right mom?)  I wanted to make it a little more weight watchers friendly and reduce the amount of sugar.  In quick breads like this, it's pretty safe to replace 1/2 the fat with applesauce.

Mom's Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

Gluten Free Zucchini Bread; one loaf with mini choc. chips

 

Makes 2 large loaves, or 3 smaller
48 slices, each slice is 2 points plus

Ingredients
2 cups sorghum flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 cups white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1-4 oz. container unsweetened applesauce (generous 1/3 cup)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
4 cups shredded zucchini, I used one monster zucchini from our garden with the large seeds scraped out.

1.  Preheat oven to 375 (350 for lower altitudes).  Grease 2- 9" loaf pans.  I have one smaller glass pan that I also prepared.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl ~ Sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum.

3. In a stand mixer or by hand, cream mix sugar, butter, and salt on medium speed for 5 minutes.

4.  Mix in beaten eggs then applesauce then buttermilk.

5.  While the mixer runs on low, spoon in the dry ingredients. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl once. Mix a bit longer to incorporate any dry ingredients.

6.  Turn off mixer, remove the paddle and fold in the zucchini.

7.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  Yummmmm!  BUT FIRST cool for 10 min, then remove from pan and cool completely.  It will dry out much more quickly if you don't allow it to cool first.

Optional addition: Mix in 3 tbsp. mini chocolate chips into one of the loaves.

Spaghetti Squash Bake with Mexican Flavors

STILL working on all the squash we got from our CSA this fall.  I've saved the spaghetti squash for last because one of my kids is NOT a vegetable fan, especially when it's replacing his favorite "white" food - pasta.  But it's time.   I frequently make a Mexican flavored veggie soup to which I add the cooked squash to "beef" it up.  So why not try these flavors for the family? 

Verdict: Surprisingly DELICIOUS! My daughter loved it but I put in too much chipotle (2) for her delicate taste buds.  My son eyed it suspiciously and ate the bread that I added to this simple weekday meal.  He did admit that it smelled good.  My husband inhaled it.  I thought it was delicious.  So overall a success.

Mexican Flavored Spaghetti Squash Bake

1 medium to large spaghetti squash
1 cup cottage cheese
1 12 oz jar of salsa, drained of extra liquid
1-2 chipotle peppers minced
1 cup shredded marble jack
salt to taste
GF bread crumbs or panko crumbs, I use Kinnikinnick.

1.      Carefully cut squash in half lengthwise with a sharp knife.  Scrape out seeds and strings. Place squash cut side down on lined baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for about an hour.  The squash should indent somewhat when you poke it or a knife should pierce through it easily.  Scrape our stringy flesh when cool enough to handle.  Store for use later in the week or continue with the following recipe.

 

2.      Preheat oven to 375.  Gently fold remaining ingredients into cooked squash except bread crumbs.  (I actually didn't add any salt until serving since it was really flavorful even without.)

Pour into large baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Spray dish with cooking spray to crisp the crumbs if you would like.

 

3.       Bake for 30 minutes at 375 until bubbly.  Serves 6.

Gluten Free Blender Cornbread

This is a fun recipe.  Everything goes in the blender and you just pour it into your pan. Easy, delicious cornbread for any day of the week.

Gluten Free Blender Cornbread

Serves 12

 Ingredients

1 cup Buttermilk (Sub 1 cup milk, add 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice and let stand 5 min)
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup or honey
2/3 cups cornmeal
2/3 cup Gluten free flour blend such as Bob's Red Mill or if you are very sensitive to that bean flavor, use Arrowhead Mills which is a sorghum, tapioca, rice mix or use your own mix.
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

2 eggs (Sub1/2 cup egg beaters or 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed combined with 1/4 cup hot water and let stand until cool)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


1.   Combine first 5 ingredients in your blender; buttermilk, syrup, cornmeal, GF flour, oil. Blend for 2 minutes.  Let stand 2-4 hours.  (You can use this right away, but it will be a little crunchier. Also, you can use a courser corn product, but then let it soak overnight.)

2.  Preheat the oven to 350 with your cast iron pan in the oven.  Alternately, grease a square glass baking dish.

3.  Add remaining ingredients to your blender and combine for 2 minutes.

4.  Remove your pan from the oven and add 1/2 Tbsp butter to the pan and allow it to melt.  Pour in your batter. 

5.  Bake for 20-25 min. Allow to cool before cutting, unless you plan to eat it all in one meal.  It dries out quickly if you cut it hot.  Freeze the leftovers for another meal.

Weight Watchers Points: 2 points plus

UPDATE: I used half buckwheat flour and half tapioca flour and they turned out great.

BONUS Recipe:

We send a lunch with our kids everyday.  Though they are not celiac or gluten free, I make these and send 2 in their lunch with ketchup.  They love them and I don't have the suffer the indignity of buying corndogs at the grocery store. Win, win.  A rare occurrence.

Corndog Muffins (a.k.a. Best Mom EVER Lunch)

Serves 6

 

Ingredients:

1 cornbread recipe

3 hot dogs (We choose a lean all-beef GF brand)

 

 

1.  Prepare GF Blender Cornbread Recipe to step 3.

 

2.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. (I spray the pan and cups with non-stick spray at this point.)

 

3.  Scoop about 1/2" of batter into each cup. (about 2 Tbsp)

 

4.  Slice the hot dogs lengthwise and then into thirds, each third can be sliced 2 more times for 6 pieces per muffin.  Add these to the muffin cups.

 

5.  Top with remaining batter.

 

6.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 min.  Cool and freeze. 

 

7.  For lunch: In the morning, pull out 2 and place in lunch box with a side of ketchup. They will be thawed by lunch time. Our kids have access to a microwave and warm them for 30 seconds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gluten Free Polenta Bites with caramelized onions & gorgonzola

Adapted from a Michael Chiarello recipe.

Sometimes I get really tired of gluten free crackers.  These are a little more involved than pulling out a box of crackers, but such a treat.

Gluten Free Polenta Bites with caramelized onions & gorgonzola

Ingredients:

Polenta triangles
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped

Caramelized onions
Olive oil
2 yellow onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt

4-6 ounces of gorgonzola cheese - lighter veining will be milder



1.    Bring the milk and water to a boil.  Add the salt and reduce the heat to medium. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Whisk for 5 minutes then reduce heat to low and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.   Add the parmesan, thyme, and pepper to taste and stir to combine.

2.    Line a baking sheet with parchment and pour the polenta onto the parchment.  Using a spoon or offset spatula spread the polenta relatively evenly in the pan.   Lay another layer of parchment over the polenta and then another half sheet pan and press down to evenly distribute the polenta.

3.  Chill the polenta in your freezer for 1 hour or refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

4.  While the polenta is chilling, caramelize onions.  Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook until they start to brown about 5 minutes, then add 1/2 tsp salt and turn down the heat to medium-low and cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until caramelized. Set aside to cool.

5.   When the polenta has chilled, slice it into 2" squares or larger squares cut into triangles. 

6.    Heat a NONSTICK - very important - skillet to medium.  If your skillet is not very nonstick, the polenta will fall apart when you try to turn them.

7.  Add 1-2 tsp olive oil to the pan and spread with a silicone brush or by tilting the pan.  Add as many polenta pieces that will fit with some space between.  Cook until browned about 3 minutes, then carefully flip with a thin spatula.  Cook 3 more minutes until lightly browned and transfer to a cooling rack.  They will firm up as they cool.

8.    For serving, add a spoonful of caramelized onions and small piece of gorgonzola to each piece of polenta. 

Makes 2-3 dozen depending on the size you choose to cut the pieces.



Gluten Free Dinner Idea #1

Gluten Free Dinner Idea #1

 

For this dinner you don't have to turn on the oven or stove.  As long as you have a grill, this can  be cooked entirely outside.  But if you don't, the meal can be made on your range too.

 

 

Beet salad - recipe

Corn on the cob

Grill method: Soak unshucked corn by submerging in water for 15 minutes to 2 hours before cooking.  Grill in a closed grill for 15 minutes, turning as often as needed to avoid a lot of charring. You may have to move it to indirect heat to finish.
Stovetop method:   bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Meanwhile, shuck the corn. As soon as the water boils, add the cleaned corn.  When the water returns to a boil, the corn is done.  This way the interior of the kernels stay creamy.  Cooking it longer results in the kernels drying out.

Flank steak - great recipe from Simply Recipes. using an outdoor grill.

Indoor Method:  Marinate as you would for the above recipe. 
I use a cast iron grill pan when I don't want to fire up the grill.  After placing the grill pan over 2 burners, turn the heat on one side to medium-high.  Preheat the pan for 7-10 minutes. Grill the flank steak on each side for 4-6 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness.  Note: it is helpful if you have a vent fan for this recipe since there is a little bit of smoke/steam.

Steps:

1. Marinate meat at least 2 hours before dinner or overnight
2. soak corn in husks 15 min to 2 hours before
3. soak trimmed beets
4. prep (charcoal) grill
5. prep beets
6. prep (gas) grill
7. cook beets
8. cook corn
9. cook steak
10. While steak rests put together the beet salad.

ENJOY!!

The Very Best Beet Salad

We have been making this for a really long time.  There is just something about the earthy flavor of the beets with the freshness of the parsley and the salty tang of the feta.  "They are REALLY good friends." as my daughter likes to say.  This recipe pre-dates our CSA life. But has been very handy since beets seem to be standard CSA fare.   

The Very BEST Beet Salad

Ingredients:

1# Beets, beets rinsed and cleaned with a vegetable brush.
      Large beets - trim leaves and root, cut into 1 - 1½" pieces.
      Small beets - 1-2" diameter, ok to leave - 1-2" stems, trim root.

1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup crumbled feta
Olive oil

Optional:
Balsamic vinegar
Green leaf lettuce/arugula
toasted pine nuts or walnuts


1.    Toss cleaned beets in 1-2 tsp of olive oil.

2.    Lay beets on a foil-lined roasting pan.  Roast in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until a knife can slide in easily.  Remove from oven and allow to mostly cool.  (See grill method below.)

3.    Transfer beets to a bowl and toss with feta, parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. 

At this point, it makes a wonderfully easy and delicious vegetable side.  But you can also convert this to a salad:

4.     Toss beet mixture with some leafy green lettuce and arugula (we love the peppery bite) and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  Toss in some toasted pine nuts or walnuts for crunch.


Notes:

• It's a little easier to clean the grit off beets if you soak them for a bit in water.
• To pan toast pine nuts or walnuts, pour into a pan and turn on heat to medium low.  Stay very close and shake/stir the pan every couple of minutes until they are the color you want. Cool 10 min before tossing into the salad. 
• If it's too hot to turn on the oven, enclose the beets drizzled with olive oil to a double layer of foil, close and roast indirectly on a grill for about 20-30 minutes.  The actual time will depend on how hot your grill is.

Gluten Free Campfire Potatoes

We made these for our recent trek to the Black Hills of South Dakota for a semi-family reunion.  We missed the St. Louis contingent.  Maybe next year?  We had a fabulous time anyway.  Before the trip we decided that each family would make one dinner for the group.  Our dinner was cedar plank salmon (which we will post soon), a double batch of these potatoes and pan-fried green beans from our CSA sautéed with onion, garlic and sprinkled with toasted almonds (with much thanks for the green bean recipe from my friend Michele who really needs to start posting her delicious recipes!).  We also brought  Skinny Marinated Salad to have with picnics at the sites. 

Gluten Free Golden Campfire Potatoes

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 - 2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces about 1"
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp canola oil
1 Tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese (or any other flavorful cheese like cheddar or gruyere)
Salt and pepper
Optional: a sprinkle of fresh herbs such as dill, thyme and/or rosemary.

 

1.     Par boil potatoes: Cover the potatoes with water in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Cook until you can just get a fork into the potato.  Drain and rinse with cold water. Lay out on a sheet pan to dry.

2.     Meanwhile, slice the onion and add to a pan with 2 teaspoons canola oil and a sprinkle of salt. Cook over medium-high heat until they start to brown.  Then turn the heat down to low, cover and cook until softened and almost caramelized about 20 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the Worcestershire sauce and butter. Season with salt and pepper.

3.    Line a disposable metal roasting pan (you can find these at dollar stores) with parchment.  You can skip this step and just spray the pan with non-stick spray or rub the pan with some canola oil.  I used parchment so we wouldn't lose any of the delicious potatoes by sticking to the pan.

4.     Add the potatoes to the disposable pan.  Pour the onion mixture over the potatoes and sprinkle with the shredded cheese and herbs if desired.

5.    Cover with another layer of parchment (optional again) and a layer of foil.  Refrigerate or store in a cooler until ready to use. 

6.    Cook for about 30 minutes indirectly over medium coals until hot and golden.   You could also just bake these at home for a great side dish - 375° for about 20-30 minutes.

Skinny Marinated Salad

How can anything marinated be skinny?  Well, let me tell you...
My mom used to make a salad that I LOVED.  A vegetable salad. This was usually only for potlucks and contained vegetables that were mostly not grown in our Fargo garden. Though I'm sure we could throw in some carrots and green beans and it would still be great.  I go the traditional Italian vegetable salad route. But instead of a bottle of Italian dressing, I wanted to lighten it up.  Combined with a lighter version of vinaigrette, the salad is a no-guilt side dish that is always in our fridge in the summer.

Skinny Marinated Salad

Ingredients

Lightened Italian Dressing, see recipe below
4-6 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
4-6 cups cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
1-2 pints grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved
2  14 oz can quartered artichokes or whole artichokes quartered, drained
16 oz button mushrooms, quartered or if you can get them at your Sam's Club - 1 - 32 oz jar of Monterray Marinated Mushrooms (I brush off the big chunks of garlic)
1-2 jars pepperoncini, drained
2 cans black olives, drained
1 sliced red onion

Other optional ingredients:
2 cups sliced celery
2 - 3 bell peppers sliced, any color
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 -3 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

Combine vegetables in a large bowl and toss with the marinade. 


Dressing

2 plum tomatoes, halved and shredded on a grater.
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning
1/8 heaping teaspoon sugar to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake until combined.  (For a more mellowed garlic flavor, mince garlic, add salt, and mash with the side of a knife to a paste.)  Set aside while you prepare the vegetables.

By reducing the amount of olive oil and replacing it with the tomatoes, we have saved almost 500 calories!!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Balls

This is one of my favorite gluten-free desserts.  It scores big in a number of categories.  First, it is so good, nobody even knows it is gluten free.  Second, my kids love them.  Three, their size is automatically portion controlled and finally, did I mention chocolate covered chocolate.  AND, {Proud Mom Moment} the kids always request these for their birthday treat to share with their classroom.



Drizzled with White Chocolate and Sprinkles

Active Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours
Yield:  about 65 chocolate balls

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix
  3 eggs
  1 stick butter, softened
  1 cup water
1 can Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting
2 1/2 bags semi sweet chocolate chips


Directions

1.     Bake cake as directed. Cool.

2.     Crumble cake with a fork and mix in container of frosting.

3.     Scoop 1 tablespoon balls and roll smooth. Freeze for at least 1 hour.

4.     Melt chocolate chips.  Using a microwave safe bowl, cook in 30 second increments, stirring thoroughly after each time until smooth.  Do not overcook!

5.     Taking about 10 balls out of the freezer at a time dip in the chocolate, scoop out with a fork and tap off excess chocolate using the side of the bowl. Using a toothpick, scrap chocolate ball off fork onto parchment or into mini cupcake wrapper.  Use a spoon dipped in the chocolate to smooth if needed.

Tips:
~If you plan to decorate with sprinkles, be sure to add them before the chocolate hardens. Be quick. Your window is small.



Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Balls

Potato Salad with Green Beans

Goal for the week: use all of our vegetables from our CSA*.  Actually, this has been a summer goal all summer for the last 6 summers since we first joined a CSA.


Grandma's egg slicer & mine

I didn't use all of the produce, but came up with a delicious recipe to use our baby red potatoes and fresh green beans.  AND I got to pull out my unitasker egg slicer.

 

 

 

 

Potato Salad with Green Beans

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of baby new red potatoes
8 ounces fresh green beans, stems trimmed
3 hard boiled eggs, diced

1/2 cup mayonnaise**
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3-1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Salt


Directions

Potatoes:  Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are just fork tender.  Drain and rinse under cold water until mostly cooled.  Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and then into chunks roughly 1 inch.

Green Beans:  Bring another pot of water to a boil and toss in beans for 90 seconds, remove the beans and plunge into ice water.  Drain and dry. Cut beans into thirds.

Hard Boiled Eggs:  In a pot, cover eggs with cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute and turn off heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  Rinse with cold water, peel, and dice. I use my handy little egg slicer from Pampered Chef, turning the egg three times to get a small dice.

Dressing:  Combine the remaining ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.

Gently fold the potatoes and beans in the dressing and then fold in the diced hard boiled eggs.  Salt to taste.

Meal Ideas: 
Add tuna and black olives and serve on a bed of lettuce for a quick and yummy Nicoise version.  I used arugula and added some Glutino bagel chips.

*CSA stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture. For more information and to find a farm near you, click here.

** I use Hellman's or Best Foods Mayonnaise, usually the light version since they are gluten free and rated very well by America's Test Kitchen.  Though, ALWAYS recheck the labels of processed foods because formulations change often and they may not continue to be gluten free.

Old Standby - hummus

I call this The Old Standby because that's what it was BEFORE the celiac diagnosis and especially since.  It's a delicious appetizer, snack, or small meal and healthy to boot. It's also gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and egg free. whew!

warning: this is ADDICTIVE.  If you are not used to eating beans, make sure you drink plenty of water as you "snack".

 

ingredients:
1 16 oz can chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo, ceci), drained and rinsed
1-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely and mashed or squished in a garlic press
2 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
1/2-1 tsp salt
1/3 cup tahini--sesame seed paste (you could also use sunbutter, almond butter, or peanut butter)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

instructions:
Place all of the above in a food processor and blend for 3 to 5 minutes.

Serve with fresh veggies-fresh zucchini is great, GF pitas (I use this recipe from Gluten Free Gobsmacked), or some Crunchmaster crackers.

To make it fancy:
sprinkle with paprika or red pepper flakes

• drizzle the top with more olive oil
• sprinkle with feta
• add roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, or black olives
• add chipotles and cilantro for a southwest flair
• sprinkle with some chopped parsley
• sprinkle with toasted pine nuts*
• mix & match

*Note: toast pine nuts in the oven at 350 for about 10 min or on the stove top on med-low.  Do. Not. Walk. Away. These things are expensive and will burn like a vampire at dawn.

*37 points plus for the entire recipe*

Hangin' at CLT

Packed.  Check.
Made it to the airport (thanks Rachel).  Check.
Tagged children and delivered lecture about the dangers of wandering off. Check.
Survived the first leg of the trip from Denver to Charlotte. Check.

The kids were troopers.  There was one moment when Jack was yelling "I don't want you to win!" I'm not sure what was going on.   I was in the seat behind him and Matt next to my nice, quiet daughter.  hee hee.

I have to wonder why US Airways scored lowest on the Consumer Reports ratings. Boarding went smoothly, no noticeable difference in the claustrophobic space between me and the next person, flight attendants were pleasantly aloof.  I even received multiple email messages from US Airways notifying us of each new delay.

Our flight is now leaving at approximately 9:00 pm.

So now Jack is playing Uncle Erik's DS.  Olivia and Matt are off in search of a water fountain.  The rest of the crew is off getting a beer except Mom who is eyeing them with envy.  Only 3 more hours to take off...

Alternate reality?

April flowers bring May showers....no that's not right.  I do live in Colorado, right?  Someone help me out here.   It seems my wish to live in a subtropical rain forest has been granted.  It has been raining off and on for the last week.  Rainfall in May is at 3 inches!  Again, this is Colorado where it is proudly and annoyingly often stated "300+ days of sunshine a year".

Today: Looks like rain.

Well, this has been really nice for the back forty.  Even the peas are poking up with delight.

Here you can see wisteria, kale, arugala, peas and, next to the sandbox, spinach!

On the north side, the vinca, lilys, bleeding heart, oregano, ... irises, and hostas 

are all loving this weather.  

The other vegetable patch.

We're going to miss blooming of our lilacs. Italy better be good.

Lastly, the tipsy pots I finally planted this year.

No pictures of our plot at the community garden yet.  Not much to see yet.  But it will be fun to see what it looks like in 3 weeks.  

Should be good crops this year...yep...

Adventures in travel planning: Using a phone in Italy

What I've learned today:
You can figure out anything with a little time and the Internet.  You may need a padded room eventually but if you're compulsive and stubborn, it will come to you.


So, fellow travelers, I'm way behind on my travel planning log for our 10-year wedding anniversary trip to Italy with children, siblings, parents and significant others. What? You're bringing who? 


Italy is just TOO GOOD not to share.


Finally having some uninterrupted time this morning, I set out to book the tours out of Rome.  I had found Odyssey-Tours which has several of the tours we were looking for at seemingly reasonable prices, polled the family and was ready to book when halfway through they asked for a phone contact in Italy.  Reasonable request, I guess.  I was going to work on the phone aspect eventually but like life, sometimes you just need a reason to keep moving forward.


I have a 4 year old Cingulair Pay-as-you Go phone.  Yes, I know that it's AT&T now.  Long story short, I had to call AT&T who gave me the unlock code so that I can insert an Italian Sim card when we get there.  I ordered the Sim card from Telestial.com and should have a phone number to give out in about 5 days.  (I'm crossing my fingers that this works, because I've never done this before.) It only comes with €5 of air time.  But according to many helpful posts all over places like fodors.com, slowtravel.com, initaly.com and on telestial's website I get additional minutes at any convenience store in Italy.


So, there you are.


My other accomplishment for the day was to facebook message our Italian friends (I hope.  It's been a long time.) to tell them when we will be in Italy.  Crossing fingers again.


I'm off in search of GF naan recipe to go with our chicken tikki masala tonight. If the kids won't eat anything else, at least they'll eat the bread. sigh.