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It’s been kind of a stressful year so far (as you may have gleaned from my lack of posting). Work has been crazy, and because of that and some other big life events, my immune system has also been fritzing out on me. I’ve had all my typical autoimmune symptoms – low grade fevers, exhaustion, muscle aches, brain fog – in other words, it’s been a treat.

One of the terrible things that’s happened is that I had to put my cat to sleep. My poor sweet Stella has been with me for eight years (I got her when she was four), and has had probably as many health issues as my own self. She had an autoimmune disease (no, I’m not kidding), severe gum disease that caused the loss of 80% of her teeth, and chronic pancreatitis (which is what got her in the end. The vet thinks it was caused by a tumor). As any of you who have lost a pet knows, it’s been really hard without her. She always slept curled up against my chest, so I’ve been having trouble sleeping without her there, in addition to just missing her sweet little face and (sometimes annoying as hell) constant meowing.

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However, I am one of those people who have wanted a dog since I was old enough to know what a dog was. Since, as Cesar Millan would say, Stella was totally the leader of my pack (she was in charge, and she knew it), I’ve never been able to get one. Now that she’s gone, it might sound heartless, but I’ve been cheering myself up by preparing to get a puppy!

I’m on a waiting list to get one from a breeder (after months and months of research and talking to various breeders), and it should be born in the end of the summer.

One of the things I’m worried about, though, is my ability to physically care for a dog. Especially with the months-long flare up I’ve been in the middle of, how am I going to have the physical energy to be able to take care of a dog, much less a puppy?

The breed I chose, after careful consideration, is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, largely because they are reputed to be low energy. All the books and articles I’ve read say that they need just a 20-30 minute walk daily.

(c) Alexas_Fotos, pixabay.com

(c) skeeze, pixabay.com

So I decided to use this long lead time to start – as you may have guessed from the title of this post – puppy training! I shoot for a 20-30 minute walk three or four days a week. Sometimes I walk at a right swift clip, and sometimes I mosey along at about a 20 minute mile. But I’m out there, walking, doing my thing. Obviously, I’m planning to increase the days and the intensity of the walks, but for now, I’m really satisfied when I can do a minimum of three days. If I’m really feeling badly that day, I don’t push myself – mindfulness and listening to my body has become really important to me. But by building up my stamina again now, slowly and steadily, I should be ready by P-Day!

Sometimes I look back at my earlier workout posts on this blog, and want to cry when I

(c) 2536477, pixabay.com

read about the intensity of my old workouts. I used to really kill it in the gym. And now I’m happy if I get in one mile in twenty minutes a few days per week. It makes me really sad. But that’s part of life with chronic illness, I guess…I keep reminding myself that what’s important is that I’m still trying, still getting out there, still doing the best I can, even if that’s just a short stroll. And it feels good to have something to look forward to and work towards again.

How has 2017 been treating you?

It's been kind of a stressful year so far (as you may have gleaned from my lack of posting). It's been kind of a stressful year so far (as you may have gleaned from my lack of posting).

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Best News Ever

Guys! Guys!! GUYS! Starbucks has gone beyond the gluten free marshmallow dream bar they’ve had for years, and are now selling… A GLUTEN FREE BREAKFAST SANDWICH! Yeah. Dreams do come true.  They come premade in hermetically sealed paper bags (lined inside) and are cooked and served in the bag, so there’s zero risk of cross contamination.  There is a fluffy scrambled egg, white cheddar cheese, and…

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Eating Fresh and Cheap: Chicken Noodle Soup

Pixabay.com I’ve been down with the most ridiculous cold ever for the last two weeks. It’s lasting forever and will not go away, regardless of my arsenal of get-better teas, cough drops, sinus rinses, and nebulizer treatments. Ridiculous.  So naturally, I wanted to make chicken noodle soup.  (more…)

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A Tribute to the First Badass Princess I Knew

I don’t really have anything I can say that other people haven’t about the passing of Carrie Fisher. I find it hard to believe that the world can continue existing without her in it – it seems wrong.  She is the first princess I knew who was also a badass – if I were a princess, that is the kind of princess I’d want to be.  But Carrie Fisher was also a sufferer of chronic illness and mental…

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Winter Isn't Coming. It's Here. 

Winter Isn’t Coming. It’s Here. 

One of the sites I adore is called Nerd Fitness.  If you don’t know why, I suggest you go back and read some of my older posts. I’ll wait.  They post a lot of workouts that are, obviously, nerdy. Usually, these workouts are pretty intense, and given my current life circumstances, they’re something to aspire to rather than jump into at this moment.  But recently they posted one called “Winter is…

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Bodiddly

Remember yesterday, when I used the word “bodiddly,” but couldn’t remember where it came from? I remembered.  You’re welcome 😉 I know that was driving you crazy, too. 

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Guys, I do not have words to express how much I love these biscuits. They are from Nicole over at Gluten Free on a Shoestring, and I am not exaggerating when I say I did not think I would ever eat food this good again. Especially not food that I made!

Yes, I’m a good baker, but I didn’t believe I would ever get a rise like that on something gluten free.

You should know that I followed all of Nicole’s instructions to the letter, even going so far as to buy the exact kind of flour she prescribes (Cup4Cup, just FYI. I ordered it the first time from Amazon, but have since realized my local Target carries it. Woot woot!). I also ordered a specific, 2.5-inch biscuit cutter,  rather than using a cookie cutter. And because I already had a bench-scraper, cleanup was incredibly easy. The dough just scooped right off the counter. You’re also going to need some dry milk powder, which was super cheap on Amazon, as well. I’ve used dry milk powder in recipes before, so I knew that it can work as a decent substitute for the gluten protein in dough. That’s what gave me a good feeling and made me want to try the recipe in the first place.

She also has a couple of particular instructions regarding the butter. This is kind of cool and sciencey – when you’re making dough with a lot of butter in it (sugar cookie dough and pie crust are other examples of this), the butter is partially responsible for the structure. It needs to hold a solid shape well into the baking process, because as it heats, it melts and gives off steam. This steam pushes out on the dough surrounding it, creating pockets and layers in the dough. This is why pie crust and biscuits are flaky – the layers are created by the melting butter. I learned this back in food science class, and thought it was just the coolest thing since sliced bread (pun intended).

One of Nicole’s orders is to keep the butter in large chunks. Usually in recipes that require cold butter to be mixed into the dry ingredients, they have you smush it up until it “resembles small peas.”

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve read that in a recipe, I could probably afford a duodenum transplant, and then I could eat Bob Evans’ biscuits like a normal person.

But that’s a separate issue.

Anyway, she says to leave the butter in chunks about as big as half of your thumb. This felt really weird to me, but I trusted her and did it anyway.

She also says to freeze the raw biscuits for about five minutes before baking them; since the butter has been softening the whole ti

me you’ve been rolling and cutting the biscuits, it isn’t cold enough to last a long time before melting in the stove. Remember: the longer it lasts, the better the flake in the finished product. So I did that, too.

A couple more tips: don’t twist the cutter when you’re cutting the biscuits. That makes the sides get all twisty and you lose some of the rise (I’m looking at you, biscuit in the front left of the pan in the picture below. Yeah. I see that shit). I was surprised how second nature it was to twist the cutter, and I had to keep stopping myself and re-rolling the dough to get out of the habit.

Also, the dough came out really sticky for me. I had to flour the living bodiddly out of it (please don’t ask me what that means. My finals/retail-working brain is pretty fried right now) to make it roll-out-able (yeah, I know that’s not a word. Don’t you remember what I said two seconds ago?). Don’t be afraid to sprinkle (read: fling) more Cup4Cup all over the freaking place.

Here they are, about half-way cooked:

Seriously, y’all – LOOK AT THAT RISE!!!! I was so impressed that I actually got out a ruler and measured. These bad boys went from half an inch tall before baking to almost two full inches.

And finally, have a look at those flakes and that crumb. Gorgeous!

Finally, I froze some, and cooked them the next day to see how they’d come out. I cooked them at a slightly lower temp (375 degrees instead of 400) for two minutes longer (17 minutes instead of 15), and they came out beautifully. I made them with fried eggs for breakfast, and guys, I won’t lie…

…I cried a little. I said it in the beginning of this post, but I honestly, truly did not think I would ever eat anything that tasted like this again. Obviously I have no frame of reference for what Bob Evans biscuits taste like, since it’s been 13 years minimum since I’ve had them, but this is what they taste like in my dreams.

Thank you, Nicole! You are the bomb diggety.

Seriously, guys, what are you waiting for? Get her book, Cup4Cup, some dry milk powder, and a biscuit cutter right now. Amazon can have them at your house in one day. That means you could be eating these tomorrow. What are you waiting for??

**Please note that Nicole from Gluten Free on a Shoestring, her publishers, Cup4Cup, Carnation, OXO, and Ateco have no freaking idea who I am. My spazzing out over the awesomeness of their products is completely unsolicited, and my praise is 100% my own opinion.

Recipe Review: Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits from Gluten Free on a Shoestring Guys, I do not have words to express how much I love these biscuits. They are from…

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Photo Diary: My Thanksgiving in Snaps

Photo Diary: My Thanksgiving in Snaps

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Photo Diary: A Month of Walks to Pile on the Miles Well, Pike on the Miles ended a week ago. It was a very successful month for me!

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Piling on the Miles

(c) HD PicturezI had all kinds of great plans for workouts to try out and post about over the summer: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn workout (a modified version, obvi), some from my weight lifting app, some ballet barre from YouTube…alas, my immune system had different plans for me this year. Instead, I put on about ten pounds over the summer. Thanks a lot, thyroid. You’re a jerk. (more…)

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Baking Makes Everything Better

Baking Makes Everything Better

2016 has been a hell of a year, friends. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here – there were some problems with one of my medications at the beginning of the summer, and that sent me into the biggest autoimmune flare-up spiral I’ve traveled down in a long time. I’ve been spending a lot of time sleeping. Just going to work exhausts me, and I come home and stare at the TV in stupor, often too…

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Meal Plan Ideas: Summer Lunch in the Tropics

Meal Plan Ideas: Summer Lunch in the Tropics

(c) PublicDomainPictures, pixabay.comSo school started this week! The class I’m in right now is Called Meal Management. I was super excited for this class. It turned out to be a little more basic than I thought it would be – more focused on shopping, costs, timing, etc., than designing nutritional content based on outside factors. It’s definitely still a lot of fun, though! (more…)

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Coming Attractions: Summer School

Coming Attractions: Summer School

(c) Hans, pixabay.comAfter a very restful semester off from classes, they are beginning again in June. I’m actually kind of excited to go back! (I say that every semester, regardless of how long the break was. I don’t know why I expect any differently.) I’ve decided to only do two classes per semester from now on. It’s going to take me longer to finish, but it will also preserve my sanity, so I…

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As per usual, when I’m looking for weekend brunch recipes, the PioneerWoman  comes to the rescue!

The Pioneer Woman rocks. She is the second food blogger I ever started following like 8 years ago (the first was Smitten Kitchen, who ultimately led me to Pioneer Woman via her version of Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll recipe). In a world of health bloggers*, Pioneer Woman is unafraid of butter, beef, and sugar. It’s pretty great. Any time I want a recipe that will wow my guests or that is 100% comfort food, she is the first one I check.

So when I wanted to try a new recipe for weekend brunch, she was obviously my go to.

She came out with a new cookbook last year called Dinnertime. Despite the name, she has an entire section called “Breakfast for Dinner,” to which I turned in my hour of need.

The first recipe in the section is called Greek Yogurt Pancakes. Since I love Greek yogurt, and pancakes are my all-time favorite breakfast food, I decided I need look no further.

The recipe is fairly simple and is very easy to alter to be gluten free. Just use GF flour (Pillsbury All Purpose is my favorite) and GF yogurt (I like Dannon or Oikos). One thing I really like about this recipe is that you can make all kinds of flavors by changing the yogurt. I did vanilla, strawberry, and banana ones.

They’re an absolute breeze to whip up. My only concern was that they were a little difficult to flip, even in my Teflon pan. They got all squinched up like an accord is  when I tried to move them. The best trick I found was letting them cook longer than I thought they needed to. Using my most flexible spatula also helped.

The pancakes were heavier than regular ones, obviously – not as lift and fluffy. But they had the most fabulous flavor – bright and creamy and tangy and sweet. The other major benefit is that, since they have so much protein in them, they stuck with me and kept me fuller a lot longer than regular pancakes do.

Overall, these pancakes lived up to Pioneer Woman’s rep. They were insanely delicious, quick and versatile, filled me up, and were even good frozen and reheated a few days later. I’d be happy to eat them for breakfast, brunch or dinner any time!

Recipe Review: Greek Yogurt Pancakes from Pioneer Woman As per usual, when I'm looking for weekend brunch recipes, the PioneerWoman comes to the rescue!

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Review: Gluten Free Pillsbury Muffins

Review: Gluten Free @Pillsbury Muffins

Normally I hear about new gluten free products pretty far in advance, on account of the number of gluten free and food blogs I read. But I had heard nary a whisper of Pillsbury’s latest GF offering: ready to eat muffins! As per usual when I run across some unexpected gluten free good fortune, I pretty much lost my sh*t. I was perusing the freezer case at Giant Eagle, debating between fake…

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Summer To-Do List (plus where I've been)

Summer To-Do List (plus where I’ve been)

(c) maksim pasko – fotolia.com (text added by emilystarblog) Hey everybody! I know, it’s been a while again. I’ve had a lot going on since Easter – starting a new job, digestive issues, lots of doctor’s appointments (many of my yearly check-ups are scheduled for this time of year – some were to do with the aforementioned digestive issues, though), working a ton, and oddly, selling a lot on my…

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My friend C texted me earlier this week and said she wanted to try coloring eggs with natural dyes this year. Normally, I hate coloring Easter eggs. I’m the kind of clutzy that gets food coloring all over my hands and arms (and, yes, sometimes my face if I scratch my chin or something), and then it stays indelibly for about a week, and I look like a moron.

But, I thought, maybe natural dyes will be different! C is my crafting buddy – we’re always having knit-nights, shopping for yarn, making homemade Christmas cards, etc, so I knew I would have fun even if I did end up with green streaks all over me.

There are a lot of different guides to doing naturally dyed Easter eggs. We started by looking at Martha Stewart’s (obviously). But some of her instructions seemed a little…excessive. I mean, four cups of chopped beets? We’re not made of money (or time. Or giant stock pots), Martha. So then we found some other guides that were a little more low-key, and we decided to be all YOLO and cobble together our own recipes for the dyes.

The colors we tried were: Red cabbage for blue Turmeric for yellow Onion skins for brown/orange Spinach for green

They all worked beautifully, with two exceptions. The most notable was the absolute and utter failure of the spinach to produce anything resembling color. #EpicFail

Please note that Martha does not even mention spinach, or the color green, anywhere in her guide. That’s because she knows what the eff she’s talking about.

It is also worth noting that the spinach smelled truly rancid as it cooked down in the water, and looked even more disgusting by the time it was done. Add in the smell of the vinegar and the cooked eggs and I was longing for the food coloring of my youth! Lesson learned: next time, forget the spinach. As C said, it may have made Popeye strong, but it just made us want to gag.

The other is that, shocker, we should have just listened to Martha, because when we decided to use the skins of four onions and less water instead of the skins of twelve onions and more water, most of the water boiled out. I mean, we lessened the formula and calculated the proportions correctly. But for some reason, the water with the onions just evaporated so quickly that we ended up with about a quarter of a cup left for dyeing, which was not enough. We were only able to do one egg at a time, and since only half of it was covered, we had to rotate it like every ten minutes. At first we thought it was because the cabbage and the spinach both contain water, and they might have released it as they cooked, which would keep the water level the same. But the turmeric water didn’t evaporate, and there were no water-containing veggies in that, so go figure. If anyone out there has an actual completed food science degree and can explain what happened, I’d love to know!

But despite the problems with the spinach and the onion skins, we had a lot of fun! The red cabbage/blue eggs came out beautifully, as did the turmeric/yellow ones (they do really look natural, like they could be giant robin’s eggs or golden goose eggs), and of course we had fun goofing around in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate, and watching Death in Paradise on Netflix in between egg rotations. And best news of all: natural dyes don’t stick to your skin! I am dye-smear free this year!!

Have you ever tried natural dyes on your Easter eggs?

Review: Using Veggies to Color Easter Eggs My friend C texted me earlier this week and said she wanted to try coloring eggs with natural dyes this year.