Enjoyable

Truly an enjoyable January day.  I can't complain about 26 degrees with total sunshine.  Years ago we always dealt with subzero temperatures in January, but because of climate change, our January weather is changing.

Enjoyed my Saturday run and then a late afternoon ice fishing outing with Bike man!  Guess who had sunburn cheeks tonight?  Hint....not the little turtle!!!

Christmas Baby

Nine days ago, baby Neko was born on Christmas day.  I finally got to meet her today even though she was fast asleep in babyland.  Because of social media, I was able to monitor her momma's labor.  Who would have thought 25 years ago, when I had babies, that one could monitor another via the Internet.  I love technology.....and better yet, I love babies.  Congratulations to Kate, Dean, Lila & Enso.

Snow Run

Just a normal winter day with temperatures around 14 degrees.  Came home tonight and went for run with my neighbor Jill.  Lightly snowing tonight made for a nice hour-long run.

Bringing In the New Year

Bringing in the new year with passionate people is so enjoyable, especially when everyone shares the same philosophy of life, politics and understanding of good wholesome food.  Our friend Caryn threw an awesome party last night. Despite the cold temperatures, Caryn packed in a houseful  of wonderful people.  How often do you attend a party and meet a Buddhist monk? It was great meeting John (Lama Yeshe) and learning about his background.

I love Caryn's house, which is located  not too far from our house on a back-country road through the woods.

Where you find Caryn, you'll find Carol.....another one of our friends.  Both Caryn & Carol work with Bike man with stream monitoring.

Plenty of food and wine and about five hours of great conversations!!! 

On our way home last night, Bike man and I talked about the last time we stayed out until 1 am.?  Awwwwh, maybe like college days!  Happy New Year everyone.  Thanks for following our blog.

Experimenting

I'm going to experiment over the next few months.  I hope to talk about and share some alternative recipes that eliminate wheat flour.  

I actually made a bread tonight which called for almond and garbanzo flour along with ground flaxseeds, butter, buttermilk, eggs and baking soda.  I could have added sweetener, but I decided to make this bread savory by adding some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a middle eastern spice blend.

So why am I experimenting you ask?  It has nothing to do with being gluten-free, but rather trying to focus on eliminating some wheat from our daily eating.....specifically genetically modified wheat.  You know, it makes me damn mad that all of our wheat is genetically modified and has been for years thanks to Monsanto.  I've been doing some reading on what happens when seeds are genetically altered.  It's scary and we wonder why our society is struggling with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other aliments?

I haven't found a good affordable source yet for wheat flour that is GM-free, however I hope my food co-op can help me with this.  I did stumble upon GMO Compass, a website that features lots of  GMO information.....check it out.

I guess I could take the easy route and buy wheat-free products, but that's not me.  Both my husband and I love to cook and bake and we try to make our own foods.  So, I'll give this no-wheat recipe thing a try and will be looking for more grains, beans and nuts recipes.

Any suggestions?