A miracle happened.....

26 years ago today at 4:45am a miracle happened, a beautiful 6 lb. 7 oz. baby girl was born! She is a blessing to her family and I am thankful for her, she is my daughter! Happy birthday Ash!!

Easy Blueberry Muffins

Lately I have been craving sweets. It started one night when we had supper with Be and Ash and as Honey and I were leaving Be was making a coffee cake for Ash, so sweet. It looked so good but since I couldn't have any and Honey did not need any we left for home. Once at home I could not get that cake off my mind. I saw it over and over again and each time I craved something sweet. The next day around lunch I wanted something sweet sooooo bad, i didn't have time for something from scratch but thought about a mix I had bought at Wal-mart in Indianola and had not used it. I took some fresh blueberries out of the freezer and whipped up these wonderful muffins. I followed the directions on the box except for adding 1/2 cup of sour cream. I have found that sour cream does wonders for mixes, it adds a great taste and makes them moister.

I have been sitting with Punkin some while Ash runs errands and gets ready for a trip. Bless her heart she has had a hard time with her cold, and we have too! She doesn't sleep well and gets sooo irritable at times. In these photos you see we both had a break as she enjoyed her exersuacer for a while. I pray she gets over this cold soon. She's really a good baby.

Ian's Go Bars Review

How busy can I get, I guess I am soon to find out. We have been working hard to get our end of the year bookwork and taxes done. I really despise end of the year stuff around here. It is the busiest time of year for me, I guess because I am the bookkeeper, and it seems that I always find as much I am doing wrong as I am doing right. It's nothing major that can't be corrected but it's just agravating, do you know what I mean?

When I am swamped with bookwork I seem to neglect my cooking and eat what ever I can find for the time being. One of the best things I have found for a quick breakfast or snack lately is Ian's Go Bars I bought the Apple Pie Bars and they are wonderful, I can't wait to buy and try the Ian's  Cinnamon Bun bars and other gluten-free products.

Ian's WF/GF Apple Pie GO Bars are the ideal on-the-go snack. Made with wholesome brown rice cereal and drizzled with yogurt goodness, Ian's WF/GF Apple Pie GO Bars taste just like your mom's apple pie wrapped into a handy little bar. Ian's GO Bars provide the energy you need to power through another busy day, made without wheat or gluten.

I'm not feeling so good these days and I think I have been majorly glutened but my husband says he feels the same way and he thinks we ate some bad meat. UGG I pray for a quick recovery as I have sooo much to do and do not feel like doing any of it.

Punkin is sick with a cold and can't breath well so I rode with Ashia to take her to the doctor so they could give her a decongestant. She did great at the doctor but the ride there and back was NOT fun.

Nerves of steel...and Gluten-free clam chowder

Recently Honey and Be went to the Delta on business and I spent the day with Ash and Punkin. Punkin is growing up too fast and is more fun everyday. Here are some photos of her playing on her play-mat. I cherish the moments spent with her.

When deciding on what to cook for supper Ashia wanted soup and I suggested that we try a Clam Chowder recipe that I had from another blog. We printed it and changed some of it just because Steve is allergic to onions and we weren't in the mood for some of the ingredients. I have to admit the closer it came to time to make it I was afraid that we wouldn't like our recipe. Well, we persevered and made it and it was WONDERFUL, even our men liked it. So here is our version, it is supper easy and GREAT!!!!


Creamy Clam Chowder

1 cup clam juice
2 cups FINELY diced potatoes
1 (6-10 oz.) can minced clams WITH juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
**1-2 tablespoons cornstarch

Add the cornstarch to a bit of the clam juice and set aside. Add all other ingredients to a large pot and the add cornstarch mixture. Cook slow until potatoes are tender.

Makes 4 large servings.


You should know by now I am an avid basketball fan! I could watch basketball all day 24-hours a day and I don't care who is playing or where. Our Dawgs have won their last three games and considering they have been conference games this is a BIG THING. If you have an opportunity watch a SEC game, the defense is awesome. I am a die hard fan and State could loose every game and I would still support them! I don't understand people who only go for the winning team, I mean how can they do that? What has happened to loyalty or commitment? I have to admit to attend any college basketball game you need to have nerves of steel. Here a few photos of our last game...

Before the game we went to one of our many favorite places to eat Harveys! I have no problems eating there. I have told them of my gluten problem and three times the chef has came out and met with me. After asking about many dishes I know exactly what I can eat so now I just go in and order but still remind them of my problem so if by chance a recipe has changed. Thank you Harveys for making your restaurant a safe place to eat.

Sick at a Conference

Yes, it's true I attended a "Cotton and Rice Conference" where Steve was one of the many guest speakers, Steve has spoken at several conferences and this was the first one that I have been able to attend with him. The time away was fun but wouldn't you know on the first night I got really sick. I think it was just due to eating too much at "Paula Deen's" Yall and causing major stomach problems. You know I have a malfunctioning valve in my stomach and we've noticed that anytime I eat too much it tries closing off, which sometimes it succeeds. I'm not talking about eating a small amount of too much but really over eating and that's easy to do when you have a day on the road and then end up at the famous "Paula Deen's" buffet! It's a good thing my eating is VERY limited at places such as this or I would probably end up in the hospital. LOL

After no sleep that night the following day I woke up feeling really bad. Steve and I had to pick up our packet for the conference at 7am so I made myself get up early and get ready for the day. After the walk over to the conference center and then back to the room I just wanted to sleep so my wonderful husband let me lay back down and he attended the first meeting without me. I went to hear him speak around 11am and then we had lunch together. After lunch we both returned to the room to rest and then Steve went and attended the rest of the days meetings. Boy, conferences are NOT a time to rest, there were 11 sessions using 8 meeting rooms. Thank God I'm just the book-keeper who was there to support her husband and did not have to attend all of these meetings!

Steve resting in the room before attending more meetings.

Ok, Speaking of conferences I loving reading books, devotionals, etc. by Lysa Terkeuast and Karen Kingsbury. While playing on the internet and allowing Steve to rest I  ran across this..... I've also posted a banner on the bottom of my blog regrading my find. Check it out and maybe you and I can go together!!!!!

Today while lustfully browsing "Glutenfree.com" I ran across this recipe. I LOVE, LOVE Pamela's Baking mixes. I buy them in 5lb bags from Amazon.com and never go without them. They are so versatile, I use them for rolls, pancakes, biscuit, coffee cake, cookies just to name a few. I am known to be a lazy cook at times. I go through spells of not wanting to bake from scratch and I've found Pamela's baking mix is the perfect substitute! I made an order by the way, receiving gluten-free food makes it Christmas all over again!

If I weren't out of town I'd try these right this minute!! Can't wait!!

Cheesy Corn Muffins 


1 1/4 cups Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix

1 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk
2 Tbs. melted butter

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
Oil a 12-muffin tin. 
Combine first seven ingredients and mix well. 
Fold in corn and cheese. 
Fill each cup 3/4 full. 
Bake 15-20 minutes or until tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
Makes 12 muffins

Hope to see or talk to you soon Friend!

Some neat giveaways with an Easy Cheesecake recipe.

I have read some really neat blogs lately, and this is one of my favorite!  She has tons of giveaways and they are great, plus she's just an all around neat blogger. This giveaway includes UGG boots, normally I wouldn't know what UGG boots are but I've heard my daughter talk about them a lot and from her talking I have found that they are stylish and warm. I selfishly wanted to keep this entry all for myself but thought about it and you deserve to win too!  Enter to win by clicking on this icon or the icon on the right hand side of this blog.

 Also check out the blog of Wishing Penny!

Here is a recipe that I ran across today in my collection and I haven't made it in a long time. I'm excited about making it with the Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix. I am awful when it comes to taking photos of the things I cook, I try to wait to post until I have a photo but I'm afraid that if I don't start posting without photos you may never get a recipe. This one is too easy and good to wait on any longer. So give it a try and tell me what you think!

Cheese Cake (Easy)

Ingredients:
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
2 TBLS oil
2 (8-oz) cream cheese
½ cup sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ cup milk
¼ cup lemon juice
2 1/2 cups cool whip
1 can cherry or blueberry pie filling

Instructions:
Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix. Combine remaining cake mix 1 egg and oil. Press evenly into bottom and 3/4 way up sides of greased pan. Mix remaining ingredients and pour into crust. Bake at 300 for 45-50 minutes. When cool add pie filling. Top with cool whip before serving.

A Surprising Study

As shared by Jens Gluten Free Blog.

I just read about an astounding study about the effects of gluten.  Dr. Mark Hyman writes about it in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.html).

Dr. Hyman reports that according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association people with diagnosed celiac disease, undiagnosed celiac disease, and gluten sensitivities have a higher risk of death than the average person.  Apparently they looked at 30,000 patients from 1969 to 2008 and divided them into three groups: those with celiac disease, those with intestinal inflammation but not full blown celiac disease, and those with a gluten sensitivity (positive blood test, negative endoscopy).  The people with celiac disease have a 39% increased risk of death, those with intestinal inflammation have a 72% increased risk of death, and those with a gluten sensitivity have a 35% increased risk of death.  Most of these risks are associated with heart disease and cancer.  It was unclear to me from Dr. Hyman’s article whether the celiacs in this study were following a strict gluten-free diet.

The most surprising aspect of this study is the fact that one does not need to have full blown celiac disease in order to be at risk from serious health issues related to gluten.  Even if you are gluten intolerant,you can become very sick from eating gluten.  Dr. Hyman points out that while 1 in 133 people are believed to have celiac disease, 1/3 of Americans are believed to be gluten intolerant!  99% of them don’t even know it.  They are being diagnosed with IBS, inflamatory bowel diease, osteoperosis, anemia, and scores of other illnesses and are completely unaware that gluten is the cause of their health problems.

Dr. Hyman strongly recommends that if you want to know if you have a gluten sensitivity try the gluten-free diet for 2-4 weeks and see if you are feeling better.  If when you reintroduce gluten into your diet you suddenly feel your symptoms return, you are probably gluten sensitive and you should stay away from gluten.  Similarly if you test positive for gluten anti-bodies but your endoscopy is negative, you should still stay away from gluten.  You are gluten intolerant and can become very sick.
Chek out the article with the link I provided above.  It is well worth the read.