Well, hello, if there is anyone reading this little ole blog of ours!

I just took a peek at all of the photos I have of food from August – and now I want to abandon this laptop and run to my kitchen to bake something!!

First, though, I will finish this post, because I like to do this ole blogging thing as well.

I made homemade English muffins one day.

I have made them twice before – and they did not turn out.

The first time they were bricks.

The second time they burned on the bottom.

The third time IS a charm!!

Just LOOK at these!

They were as good as they look!!

Just to set the stage a little bit – I never was a baker until recently.

My big girls did all of the baking, Addie Mae in particular.

Once she was working full-time, I had to figure it out!

I did bake ALL of the time before I was diagnosed with celiac disease 17 years ago.

I made homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, cakes, cookies – you name it.

But gluten-free baking is a whole different thing.

I am SO thankful that the Lord is blessing my efforts!!

I have enjoyed learning to bake!

I am enjoying baking so much!

I also started doing gluten-free sourdough right around the time we started school.

It seemed completely overwhelming at first – but it is not!

It is so simple once you get going.

I am not looking to make sourdough bread because all of the photos I have seen of sourdough gluten-free bread look dense and dry and tough.

We do not eat a lot of bread anyway.

I was wanting to use sourdough in muffins, waffles, pancakes, pizza crust, biscuits, and desserts.

I have done most of those things and they have turned out wonderful!

I usually never eat what I make my three school age children for lunch.

My diet is very limited, and I do not want theirs to be!

Two of my go-to lunches are “snack plates” or a salad.

These things are very filling and nutritious too!

I think sometimes those of us who cannot eat just anything want overthink our meals too much.

It really doesn’t have to be complicated!

There are so many whole foods that are delicious just as God intended them to be!

Another good lunch option is leftovers too.

I have some great packaged foods that I use a lot too.

Packaged foods are limited here, one because they are pricey, but also because gluten-free packaged foods just aren’t very healthy for the most part!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Our dinner meal is my biggest job each day.

I make a menu plan and purchase grocery according to that plan.

Those two things alone make my ability to pull off a big healthy meal each night possible!

It would not be possible to feed this many people the kind of food we can have without a plan.

I enjoy making dinner very much!

And I am thankful for my three helpers who are always in the kitchen with me at that time.

I make breakfast Mondays through Thursdays and most Saturdays as well.

The children eat what they are served those days, but on Fridays and Sundays they can choose and make whatever they like.

Our family breakfast on Monday-Thursday has made this meal more fun for me since Blake is now home with us!

My kitchen work does not end with meals though.

I still spend time making things like chicken stock, snacks, sour cream, whipped cream for coffee, pickles…the list goes on!

And of course there is my bi-monthly trip to get grocery.

I am still thinking doing that every two weeks is working better than every week – and with winter on its way, I bet I keep doing it that way.

I did it!

I finished this post without stopping to eat anything or bake anything, ha, ha!

Do you all like baking and cooking too?

Anybody out there???

I hope you do!!

It’s been a journey like no other for our family through the years due to our health, but I am so thankful for it all!

Food is for our nourishment, but also for our pleasure.

Until next time!