I Forgot

I realized that I forgot to share a photo of my tree. This is what it looked like when we first decorated it. Notice the large number of ornaments in the lower half of the tree. Right at kid height, no?

The Countdown is On, Baby!!!

My children are officially busting at the seams due to their excitement over Christmas. The photo is from a party held at the clinic where Zoe receives her speech and occupational therapy. The people there do a wonderful job with Zoe, and every year they throw a fantastic party to celebrate another year of helping kids get stronger. I can't thank them enough for all their hard work and support.

It's been a challenging week before Christmas here. Everyone at Casa de Flamenco is sick. The kids have strep throat, hubby had some kind of nasty funk, and I'm afraid my bronchitis decided to rear it's ugly head again. Good news: the kids and hubby are on the mend. Bad news: I'm still wheezy, and I don't mean like "the Jeffersons".

We're sticking to a low-key holiday this year, and I'm so glad we made that decision. We're going to have just a few extra dinner guests, since my sister-in-law and her hubby and two kids will be joining us. I'm sticking to my guns about making a totally gfcf dinner; though I did give my sister-in-law the green light to bring a dessert of her choosing. I'm serving a turkey, gfcf stuffing (thanks to Gluten Free Girl for the recipe), sauteed spinach with peppers, sweet potato casserole, salad, and a gfcf pineapple upside down cake for dessert (recipe courtesy of Cooking Free). I'm thinking of making some type of holiday cocktail, like a cider or coquito(a traditional coconut and rum drink made for the holidays).

While our family has been recovering from being sick, we've spent a lot of time watching Christmas specials and Veggietales DVDs. It's been fun; I barely notice my dying Christmas tree anymore. I've got a few last minute people to shop for, and then I will be all set.

Joy to the World

According to the start bar on my computer, today is December 15th. My tree already appears to be dying. Yes, I've been watering it daily. No, I don't have it near a heater. WTF?? I'm probably overreacting (I'm been known to do that; shocking, I know), but I actually have reservations about turning on the lights for fear we're going to have a fire without a fireplace.

I'm having visions of us with a tree reminiscent of the one in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Anybody have tips for trying to keep my tree alive until the 25th?

Versatile and Delicioso

Growing up in Puerto Rican home, I never had the pleasure of eating food prepared with this Harina PAN. This is a pre-cooked white corn flour which is used throughout Latin America in preparing a variety of dishes. The dishes have different names, but they are remarkably similar in their preparation and in their accompaniments. This flour, combined with some warm water and salt, comes together to form a masa. It's the same as how fresh tortillas are made. The masa is then shaped into round patties, and fried in a pan or griddle.

The yummy part comes when you slice these things open (like pitas), and fill them with all kinds of good stuff. In Venezuela, the patties are called arepas. Many people fill them with scrambled eggs and/or cheese. Believe me, it beats an Egg McMuffin by a mile. In fact, the arepa filled with egg and cheese was my first intro to this wonderful treat.

While I was a student at the University of Miami, I made friends with a lovely girl named Gabriela, who was born in Costa Rica but was raised in Venezuela. Gabi and I eventually became roommates, and one day she made this for breakfast. I made her swear that day that she would make this for me at least twice a week. Of course, she had to teach me how to make the dish as well. She did, but she found it funny that I had to be taught to put together corn flour, water, and salt.

In El Salvador, the dish is called pupusas. The patties are served as an accompaniment to a meat dish, usually either a stewed beef or pork, served with a delicious slaw. Now, I've been meaning to head over to this Salvadorean restaurant not far from me--and you'd better believe this is what I'll be eating. From what I've heard, Los Angeles has a tremendous array of Salvadorean restaurants to try; so if you're in that area, check it out.

I've been trying to figure out what a good American equivalent would be to arepas, to give people something to compare it to. I guess if you've ever had hoe cakes that's getting pretty close. Think of a delicious corn fritter, then slice it open and fill it with one of your favorite things. That's about as close as I've been able to get to an American version.

Tomorrow morning it's going to be arepas with scrambled eggs at Casa de Flamenco. My kids have renamed these crabby patties (a la Spongebob Squarepants). Hey, whatever gets them to eat their breakfast, right?

Rocket Man

We just got back from watching one of the coolest things I have ever seen: the space shuttle launch. We drove our SUV to an overpass on I-4 and rolled down the windows, and watched the eastern sky turn a vibrant shade of tangerine. We saw a bright orange ball ascend at breakneck speed, gradually turning into a streak of orange light. After travelling a few more seconds, the light turned blue, then white, as the shuttle joined the billions of twinkling lights in the sky.

To say that we were excited about what we saw would be the understatement of all time. My kids were cheering and just absolutely giddy with enthusiasm. My husband had seen a launch before, but for the kids and me, it was the first time. I've still got a huge perma-grin on my face; my kids are beyond thrilled. Zoe is on the other computer as I write this, looking at the NASA site, learning about the astronauts and the mission. Ayden wants his own rocket ship. I wonder if they sell one at Target?

*The photo above comes from the NASA website. Believe me, I'm not that good a photographer.

Clearly Marked for Your Convenience

My friend Azure called to tell me about a neat website called Jeeto (www.jeeto.com). They make all sorts of cute tees and patches and things for kids. What attracted me to this site is that they have a collection called the "allergy collection," which features t-shirts, patches, and stickers that will alert people of a food allergy. They've got gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut allergic even. For parents of kids, especially kids that cannot communicate to others what their allergies are, this could certainly be very beneficial. I can't even count how many times the day care gave Zoe cookies and milk, even though I provided them a list of acceptable and unacceptable food items.

I decided to send them an e-mail today to see if they would consider making a product that lists gluten-free/casein free (hey, kill two birds with one stone). Besides, since putting "dairy free" doesn't mean the same as casein free many times, I figured there'd be no harm in asking the folks at Jeeto. I'm curious to hear what Jeeto thinks about my proposal. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon--and I'll be sure to update on this site to let everyone know what they had to say.

And Because I've Got All the Gifts I Need

We took this photo on our trip to North Carolina in October. This particular photo was taken on our hike through Linville Falls. Surrounded by all the beauty around us, we had a perfect day together, enjoying each other's company and taking in all the scenery. I love this photo. I look at it, and am reminded that I have everything I'll ever need.

Because They're Just Too Adorable

My boys don't get much face time on this blog. And since I've been experimenting with getting photos to work on this thing, I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to show off my two favorite guys.

And We're Off!

I apologize for my lack of photos lately--since I updated to blogger beta (and subsequently had to change my password; don't ask), Photobucket went all wonky on me and won't let me post photos on here. I'm going to try using some of the "nifty" new features beta is supposed to offer and see if I have any luck with that. Gosh, I just have had no luck with this photo stuff. Anyway, I have a beautiful Christmas tree photo to share--eventually.

So prep is underway for our Christmas celebrations (plural). We're having a quiet dinner for five (DH, me, kids, and mother-in-law) Christmas Eve/Christmas Day; we're driving to my mom's on the 28th to do the holiday with my family; and we're having all the in-laws over to celebrate on Jan 5 (MIL and I will be cooking for that one). It is my intention to make our dinners at home completely gfcf so that I don't have to make a million different dishes. I've been inspired by other gluten free and gfcf bloggers (thanks, ladies), so I have faith that I can do it.

I'm going to do my best not to stress over the holidays. My husband and I joke that my major meltown of the year always happens sometimes between the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Orange Bowl; this year I'm going to try to buck the tradition and have a serene holiday and really enjoy the season without getting wrapped up in all the hooplah.

Now that my little guy is three, he is WAY into Christmas. And my daughter is loving teaching him the ropes of the whole naughty list/nice list. I must confess that I am using Santa and threats of lumps of coal as a motivator for good behavior. Okay, so mother of the year I'm not.

Play-Doh and Gluten Sensitivity

One of the most interesting "fringe benefits" of living gfcf means that your learn about some of the hidden places where common allergens are found. It's also funny when your friends report to you when they've found gluten & casein in unusual places. My friend Stephanie has become a gfcf detective over the past year or so that we've been friends. She is very inquisitive, always asking about the diet and what Zoe's food limitations are (Steph brings her kids over to play with my kids sometimes, and she likes bringing sweets for the kids occasionally).

She called me today to ask me if I was aware that Play-Doh contains gluten. I knew about it, but gluten doesn't bother Zoe if she touches it--only if she ingests it. Ayden likes playing with Play-Doh, but since he is not gluten sensitive I don't worry about it. Whenever Zoe comes in contact with it, or other gluten-containing clays, I make sure she thoroughly washes her hands with soap and water to avoid contamination. You know how it goes: kid plays with clay, kid chews own fingernails, puts fingers in mouth, you get the idea.

I gave Stephanie some more information to think about today, which has nothing to do with gluten. Steph's daughter has a peanut allergy, and Steph mentioned that she was going to go to Chick-Fil-A with her kids. Now, I LOVE Chick-Fil-A. Their fries are gluten free (Take that McDonald's and BK), and the fried products are fried in peanut oil, which is much healthier than the partially hydrogenated oils most fast food places use. But I had to tell my buddy about the peanut oil because of her daughter's allergies--I wanted to make sure she didn't get her daughter anything fried from there because of the potential for allergic reaction. So, it's grilled chicken and a carrot & raisin salad for her daughter.

Steph and I are destined to become the Cagney and Lacey of food detectives.

Back in the Saddle Again

Now that the revelry of the Thanksgiving holiday is over, it's back to business as usual here at Casa de Flamenco. I've given myself permission to wait another week before I start to obsess over Christmas preparations; so this week is all about having fun at home with the family and not getting all wrapped up (no pun intended) in holiday stuff.

I'm planning to bake a little something to surprise my daughter with when she gets home from school. About two weeks ago, I made Zoe and Ayden some delicious peanut butter cookies; I got the recipe from one of my favorite gluten-free bloggers, Gluten Free Girl. Her link is listed on the right. The cookies had just the right balance of crispness, chewiness, and melt-in-your-mouth yummines.

Oh, and the hubby did not miss out on the cookie action, believe me. He ate several of them, accompanied by a ginormous cup of his outstanding coffee. My husband is a total coffee snob! He has beans shipped to him from the company we used to buy from in NYC; and he grinds the beans fresh every time he makes a pot. I've been officially spoiled to the point where I don't even make coffee anymore--his just tastes better.

I could use some coffee right now; too bad my husband already left for work.

Turkey Withdrawals

Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's was lots of fun! The kids had a great time, the weather was nice (so we actually got to use the patio), and the food was delicious! It was a nice, relaxing day--especially since I had done all my food prep the day before (including all the gfcf goodies). I was very mindful not to overdo it at the dinner, so I didn't do the eat till I feel bloated thing. I was very proud of my show of restraint.

But there is one problem--I have no turkey leftovers. I love Thanksgiving, partly because I get to get my turkey on this one day of the year. Since I did not make my own turkey I am missing my leftover turkey for sandwiches, soups, and the like. My husband does not share my enthusiam (or zeal) for turkey, so when I told him that I planned on buying a small turkey to roast here, he just rolled his eyes and said, "whatever."

So today I'm off to the supermarket for a Thanksgiving redo. I figure I can get a small turkey, make a small batch of gfcf stuffing, some type of green veggie, and a nice dessert. Then after my family eats their second turkey dinner of the year, I can go to bed with visions of turkey pot pie dancing in my head; gfcf pie, of course.

Gobble Gobble

Today I'm taking care of all baking in preparation for tomorrow's feast at the in-laws' house. I've got desserts, both gfcf and not, and my homemade cranberry relish done--and it's only 3:30. Yipee! Tomorrow will be all about relaxing and enjoying time with my husband and kiddies. No stressing for me this year!

I'm not going to get to see my family (mom, brother, grandmother, stepfather, uncle) until Christmas, which is pretty sad. I haven't had a Thanksgiving with my mom in twelve years; I always had to work over the holiday, so making the trip to her was never an option. Now that I've transitioned into staying home full-time, I thought I'd get to have turkey with Mom. Alas, it wasn't meant to be this year, but hopefully next time. Actually she'll only be a two-hour drive from me starting in January, so the trip will be much shorter. Right now the long drive can be torture. Try driving for 6 hours with two rowdy kids and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Arroz con Gandules

I thought it would be a good idea to post a recipe for arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) since I raved about it in my last post. Trouble is, when I asked my mother-in-law for the recipe she gave me the response most lifelong home cooks give. "Oh you know, put a little bit of salt, water, rice to cover..." You can see where I'm going with this. The lady doesn't measure ingredients--ever! So what I decided to do was to take a recipe for the dish from one of my favorite cookbooks, and make adjustments based on what I've learned from watching the mother-in-law make it.

There are two Puerto Rican cookbooks in our home. One is Puerto Rican Cuisine in America by Oswald Rivera. The other is Cocina Criolla by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli. It was given to my mother-in-law as a wedding present back in 1960, and she still uses it. I'm fortunate in that she's been kind enough to allow me to borrow it from time to time. It's a real treasure. The book is in Spanish, so it takes me a few minutes to figure out some of the ingredients. I hear the book is now available in an English translation.

Arroz con Gandules
adapted from a recipe by Oswald Rivera
special thanks to Rebeca C.

Ingredients:
1 can pigeon peas (I like the Goya brand)*
2 cups rice
3 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 lb. salt pork, rinsed under cold water and diced
1/4 lb. lean cured ham, rinsed under cold water and diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbs. chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olives (with pimentos)
2 Tbs. capers
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 Tbs. dry white wine
salt to taste
2 cups water

*Note: If you decide to use dry beans, soak 1 lb. of beans overnight and cook until tender. Drain, setting aside 2 cups of the cooking liquid--you can use that in place of the 2 cups water.

1. Wash rice and drain.
2. Heat oil in a heavy kettle or Dutch oven. Brown salt pork.
3. Add ham and cook until golden crisp (on medium heat).
4. Add onion, peppers, cilantro, garlic,cilantro, olives and capers for about 5 minutes, or until onions begin to appear translucent.
5. Add tomato sauce and cook about 3 minutes.
6. Stir in rice, add peas, water (or reserved liquid), wine, and salt.
7. Bring to a boil, uncovered, until water begins to be absorbed by the rice.
8. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and let rice sit about 10 minutes prior to serving.

Ole!

The family and I will be gearing up for some Thanksgiving festivities here shortly. There are two things I like about Thanskgiving; one is cooking for family and friends, and the other is (no surprise here) that we party! And when there's a party that usually means dancing, so you can guess what I'll be doing come Thursday evening after I take my tryptophan-induced nap. This is a good thing, because I'll need some physical activity to burn off all the stuffing and pies that will no doubt be part of our family's celebration.

My husband's not really a turkey fan (sacrilege!), but his mom typically makes his favorite dish of hers, which is arroz con gandules. It's yellow rice with pigeon peas; the dish includes ham, onions, peppers, garlic--you know, typical Pilgrim fare. A Puerto Rican family's Thanksgiving dinner really isn't complete without it. And you thought mashed potatoes were the only way to go, huh? Did I forget to mention that the dish is gfcf? And my kids love it. Okay, I love it too--and nobody cooks it as well as my mother-in-law does (Sorry Mom).

What? No Pumpkin Pie?

I got a note from Zoe's teacher letting me know that on Monday, her class and the class next door are going to have a Thanksgiving feast. They're asking parents to send in ingredients for the dishes they (the kids) are going to help prepare. The teachers will provide the turkey and plates, etcetera. From what I was able to glean from the note the class will be eating turkey (gravy on the side), cranberry sauce, stuffing, pumpkin pie, green beans and mixed veggies, rolls, and sweet tea. The teacher added on my note to let her know what Zoe could eat from the list, and informed me that I could send substitutes that are appropriate for my daughter to eat.

Man, I love her teacher. She's really good about giving me the heads-up on these things early so I can prepare. I'm going to need all the time I can get, because 99% of that menu is off limits to my kid.

My idea is to make some side dishes that I can send portions of to school and freeze the rest, so I can take them with us when we go to Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's. Both the school Thanksgiving feast and the dinner with my in-laws will feature items that are either laden with butter or stuff that's got both gluten and casein. Hey, can't say I blame them; I loves me some rolls with butter, and don't even get me started on how much I love stuffing.

So here are some of the ideas I've come up with so far:

GFCF cornbread stuffing
Veggies with no butter
GFCF rolls
Chocolate cake

I know, pumpkin pie is conspicuously absent from my list. There's a good reason. Last year after my daughter realized that she couldn't eat pumpkin pie (which is a Thanksgiving staple), she insisted that I come up with a recipe for it and make one especially for her. After all, it's tradition! So I labored long and hard and made a delicious soy pumpkin pie with a rice crust. It looked, smelled and and tasted quite good. I put a slice of pie on a plate and handed it to my precious firstborn, she took a bite, looked at me and said, "I don't like it." She at that moment realized that she didn't like cinnamon; and seeing as how cinnamon is a major player in pumpkin pie, that meant no pumpkin pie for Zoe. Fortunately my husband and son eat anything I put in front of them; they made short work of that pie.

Speaking of pies, I have been asked by my sister-in-law to bring some pies to her dinner. I'm going to be a busy girl come next week.

Drama at Casa de Flamenco

I didn't post yesterday; I'm disappointed because I'm really enjoying getting into the habit of writing on here daily. Believe me, it wasn't by choice. We've had quite a bit of drama here so I wasn't in the mood for writing (and I certainly didn't have time for it).

My husband was on his way to play at a wedding on Sunday morning when he was in an accident. The car he was driving (his mom's) was struck in the rear. By a DRUNK/STONED driver! Can you believe it? Here it is, 10 a.m. on a Sunday and some lady is drunk and hits my husband. Fortunately, my husband's injuries do not appear to be severe. He's got some neck and back pain but it certainly could have been much worse. The driver of the car was arrested at the scene, and her car was impounded. My mother-in-law's vehicle has damage to the trunk and bumper, and of course the insurance people always take longer than expected to resolve these things. Oh, and here's the bonus: the driver of the vehicle that hit my husband gave the arresting officer her insurance information--and according to that insurance company, she doesn't have insurance with them!

So we are in the middle of dealing with all sorts of insurance people, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs (just kidding), and trying to navigate with one vehicle. We're still waiting for the insurance company to give my MIL a rental car, so I'm driving her and my husband to work and my daughter to her therapy appointments. Hopefully the rental situation will be settled today so I'll have one less person to drive around.

I'm just so grateful that my husband wasn't more seriously hurt in this accident; the car thing is quite low on my list of concerns, although I don't want my MIL to be inconvenienced by all this either.

I forgot to mention that my husband's $10,000 concert guitar was in the trunk of the car at the time of the accident. It appears to be working fine, although we're going to have it looked at to make sure there is not structural damage. My husband is more worried about his "baby" than himself.

Technology is a Fickle Friend

For some odd reason, Blogger does not like when I attempt to post more than 1 photo in a single blog entry. I discovered this by accident today, when I posted an entry with both the photo of this cake as well as the photo of my rocker kid (see below). If you viewed the entry in Internet Explorer, the photos appeared one above the other, and all looked fine. However, if you use Mozilla Firefox, the two pictures appear side by side, and it makes my blog look--well, funky. So I'm posting the picture of the cake separately so as not to upset whatever forces exist in the internet world that conspire to make my site look weird. I'm going to try to figure out why this crap happens, because it is annoying. If anyone out there has a good (simple) explanation for why this happens, feel free to let me know. I stress the word simple because anyone who knows me knows that computer stuff just isn't my bag, baby.

In the meantime, I'm going to just curse at my computer.

We Came to Rock

I thought I'd share a photo of my daughter with her new guitar. She is over the moon about this new instument--after all, it is PINK!! Zoe is psyched and ready to start her own band.

After she jammed for a little while, she celebrated by eating the last of her birthday cake, all by herself.

Fortunately, They Left Me Some

Today I made this delicious skillet cornbread, which we ate for breakfast. As my husband, kids, and mother-in-law dug in, my husband looked at me and asked, "Hey, did you want to take a picture of this for the blog first?"

What a sweetie.

We didn't devour the whole thing; therefore, here is the only decent photo I could get of my cornbread. It looked so pretty and round when it came out of the oven. And it was delicious.

This remaining bit of cornbread did not survive past lunchtime. My husband warmed it in the microwave, poured some honey on it, and dug in.