I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and definitely my favorite time of year.  We will be getting together tomorrow with my side of the family for all the traditional Thanksgiving food and fun.  Usually, in Texas, the weather is beautiful, and it looks like it will be tomorrow…around 70 during the day.  We are planning on spending time outside at the park with the kids.  (okay, so I wrote this the day before Thursday and am posting the day after…it was a beautiful day!)

Today we baked.  I think all the kids were in on it at least a little bit.  The boys made the cornbread stuffing and the girls helped with everything else.  We made everything gluten-free, which is only getting easier!  I found some gluten-free cream of chicken soup at Kroger this week.  I usually make my own, but I splurged for the convenience this time.  Our cheesy broccoli rice casserole called for cream of chicken and cream of mushroom, so I put in two cans of cream of chicken and sauted fresh mushrooms in with the onions and celery.  I think it will turn out perfect!

We made a pumpkin pie with almond flour crust.  The pumpkin pie is the recipe on the can of Libby’s, and the crust is 2 cups of almond flour, a stick of melted butter and two thirds cup of sugar.  I added a 1/2 tsp. of almond extract for added flavor.   I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  It tasted delicious!!

Last, I am waiting for the pumpkin cheesecake to come out of the oven.  It is starting to smell good!  I have not made very many cheesecakes, but this one sounded good.  I used the same almond crust for the cheesecake.

I think it is wonderful that our nation has traditionally taken a day to thank God for His amazing grace in our lives.  All over the country, families are gathering around each other to thank Him.

May we repent and pray for our country as our hearts sing with thankfulness for the freedom we enjoy today.

Susan

Have you ever read the children’s book with this title?  Fun!  Our relatives are coming this weekend, in fact, some of them have already arrived.  Laughter, memories, jokes, deep questions, the fun of family…  I had to laugh as my brother-in-law started telling the same joke as my husband.  Brothers, grown up in different decades, yet there is such a common thread running through their mannerisms, smiles, and sense of humor.

Arren't families great!

Tomorrow we will have Jeff’s sisters and their families add to the celebration.  We decided we would not have the typical Thanksgiving feast, but instead snacks and sandwiches.  This is the gluten-free side of the family, so I’m sure we will have new recipes to taste.  Right now I am waiting for my GF subway sandwich bread to finish rising.

This recipe is one of our favorites when my GF team is ready to have submarine sandwiches.  It has a nice flavor and texture and looks yummy!

The recipe is from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts.  It is one of our favorites and I would recommend it to any one who is trying to eat gluten-free and missing some of those gluten things we grew up loving.

I’m still learning what the “rules” are in blogging recipes from a cookbook, so I guess it will have to wait.  Anyone else know anything about that??  I do want to honor the copyright!

Have a fun baking week this week!

We will be making GF cornbread stuffing.  I think I can post that recipe!

Susan

I was looking around in the World Wide Web and came across this blog with the cute kids chore charts.  We don’t use these all the time, but I thought they would be fun to use for awhile.  I personally love checking things off my own list!  Hope you enjoy!  I thought you could even use it for school subjects…

chore chart

Click here for the link to the chore chart!

Susan

I just found another great website full of home tips.  I found it while I was looking at apron patterns from my friend’s blog.  (joyfulmomofmany)  It looks like it has great ideas and it will take me awhile to look through everything!

Hope you like it, too!

http://tipnut.com/

I so enjoyed the cooling rain today.  I am amazed at the way our Lord provides rain from heaven.   We are cleaning out and going through things to get ready for the garage sale tomorrow.

Susan

I enjoy looking on TipHero.com for some fun ways to save money.  I thought these were good!  I had never heard of the banana idea before, but my rosebushes may thank me!
Wishing you many blooms!

Susan

Submitted by: Karen Tindall  09/24/2009 3:10 PM

Tiphero.com
The tip was to use 3 regular kitchen yeast packages (I pay $1.12 for 3pks at Walmart) and flush 3pks down each toilet in the house to help keep your septic tank clean and toilets flushing well. And it works!!
I also use 2T spoons of regular baking soda and 1/4 cup white vinegar down each sink in the house once a week, then flush with hot water. I have never had any problems with stopped up sinks. This keeps everything very clean and free flowing and it’s cheap, less than $1.00 for a box of soda and less than $2.00 for a gallon of white vinegar. And it is environmentally freely plus it last forever.
One more tip for anyone interested in growing roses. I take 2 quarts of my leftover dish water and pour over my roses, and other flowers, vegetables, etc to kill bugs, water and stops fungus that can grow on your plants. I also take any old bananas, instead of composting, I now freeze the bananas “whole”, peels and all, then a couple of times a month I use them as “spikes” and shove them into the ground next to my roses. This is pure potassium and roses love it! Your blooms and colors next year will be gorgeous. I learned this from a master gardener of flowers and roses

Check out my two new favorite places.  The first one is “Preach the Word!”.  My husband now has his sermons on sermonaudio.com which is a super place to listen to great sermons.   I especially appreciate his!

The second place is the  free phonics readers.  My last four children have enjoyed learning to read with these fun books.  They were just what I needed at the time, and the price was perfect!

Hope you take some time to enjoy,

Susan

Today we tried the Glutenfreeda’s recipe of the month. They were great! The only changes I made was I used ½ Splenda with ½ sugar.

I have several huge zucchini( TEXAS size) left over from our friend’s  

Texas size Zucchinis

 garden that are tough and hard.  

I peeled and seeded them before I grated them.  

I still have a few left, so I am planning on grating them this morning and putting them in the freezer for later muffins.  

Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

 1-1/4 cup gf flour

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon gf baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 1 cup sugar

 1/4 cup cocoa powder

 2 eggs, beaten

 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 1 Tablespoon vanilla

 1 cup zucchini, grated

 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Add zucchini and pecans, blending until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.
I didn’t have 55 minutes before breakfast, so I just made muffins.  The whole family loved them.  I doubled the recipe and they made 24 muffins.  They were fairly crumbly like GF recipes can be, so when I make them again, I will add some xanthan gum.  I would think the bread loaf would be too crumbly without it.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Thank you, Lord, for giving us our daily bread.  (And making it chocolate!)
Happy cooking,

Susan

Today some of my children entered an art contest. They all enjoy art and have fun trying new things with watercolors and crayons. I wanted to share their pictures with you.

My oldest daughter drew the baby of our family.  She has been working on her art for many years and continues to improve with each year!  She received a first place ribbon for this picture.

I hope you enjoy this God-given talent,

Susan

Have you ever even seen or heard the second verse of our national anthem?  Is it too ironic that it isn’t mentioned too often.  May we sing it from the rooftops!  Be encouraged, our God is GREATER!

The Star-Spangled Banner, Second Verse (from Heavenly Highway Hymns, Second Edition).
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war’s des-o-la-tion!

Blest with vic-t’ry and peace, may the Heav’n res-cued

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a na-tion!

Then con-quer we must, when our cause, it is just,

And this be our mot-to: ”In God is our trust!”

And the Star-span-gled Ban-ner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Let us be brave and stand up for our King!
Praying for wisdom,

Susan
James 1:5  ”If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”