yummy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

  I have celiac disease and I have to eat gluten-free.  2 of my children also have celiac disease.  It's been almost 2 years of being diagnosed and although it's easier to "swallow" the fact that I have to eat gluten-free for health reasons it certainly hasn't gotten a whole lot easier.

I cheated and ate some regular brownies a couple of months ago that were sitting on our counter just screaming my name.  I begged my husband to take them for lunch but he didn't.  I couldn't bare to throw them out so I ate them.  I think I felt more happiness in the anticipation of eating them then actually eating them.  What I think has happened my taste buds in my month have adjusted to my new eating ways.  I did not enjoy them.  I did not feel that "this-is-so-good" feeling like I used too.  So maybe this is a good thing in the long run. 

I am a totally sweets person!  I love all things that are yummy.  So when I received the letter showing that my blood work indicated that I had celiac disease I was devastated.  That meant no more sticky buns at Cici's pizza, no more chocolate chip cookie with my sub at Subway, or no more sugar cone at Baskin Robbins.  

Now that I am on the diet, I have found recipes that taste pretty close to the gluten version.  Like these chocolate chip cookie recipe that I clipped from a newspaper article.  They might now rise up like a normal cookie would do but they taste awesome!  Plus I will freeze them.  So all I have to do is pull out a cookie 3 to 4 times a day now and then and I have instant yummy goodness!

So here's my process pictures....I could probably eat a fair amount of this batter.  But I remember my Mother always saying, "it has raw eggs in it - not too much".

My little helper trying to get into the picture.  Or should I say he was trying to swipe a finger in my dough when I wasn't looking.

Look at that cookie!  Chocolate chips are still formed but warm and gooey.

For snack that day I thought I would make little flags for their cookies.  Also I severed them with lemonade with real lemons on the glasses.  And I even got out glass glasses and fabric napkins!  We never bring those out!

My daughter came up from the basement and saw the arrangement and asked, "Who's coming for snack?"  They were soo excited that it was all for them!  It's always fun to do something out of the ordinary...every once in awhile.

If anyone is interested in the recipe just email me.  I can scan it in and email it to you.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

  

summer birthday

  Last Friday was my daughter's 7th birthday.  It was a fun swimming/sleepover that went flawless!  I don't think I could ask for a better party!  We have had our blow-up slide for 3 years and this is her 3rd pool party.  But this year we had to add a new twist to it - friends sleeping over.

Here are just a few pictures of the party.

My banner matches the banner I have displayed on my front door wreath and my invitations.  I wanted everything to coordinate....I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I like that everything matches!

The paper lanterns are from Martha Stewart and I made the pom-poms for her website found here.

The orange flowers are made from crepe paper.  I really enjoyed working with that type of paper.  I will show in a few days how I made them.  I just recently saw a hair accessory that looked very similar to my flowers that were made out of tulle.  I might have to experiment with that as well.

Lastly is my yellow ruffle.  I absolutely love it!  I purchased 3-1/2 yards of a yellow cotton at Jo Ann's that was on sale for $1.99.  I didn't really care what type of fabric it was but I needed it to be yellow on both sides.  I cut it into 8" strips and ruffled it with my handy dandy elastic thread.  (I think I'm also going to ask for a ruffling foot for my birthday - I really like to ruffle!).  Then instead of sewing the strips together, probably like a normal sewer would do, I hot glued them.

I think the ruffle adds so much color and I couldn't be more pleased!

I'm really liking this brithday decorating thing!  I so like making it a fun atmosphere for my kids and their friends!

Poor handy husband got the job of blowing up water balloons - all 100 of them.  It probably took him 1/2 hour to do them all.  The sad part was that it literally took the kids 2 minutes to break all of them!

And one more picture of our dog, Mason, just hanging out and watching everyone play.  Good old dog!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!