Celiac Disease

Celiac Disease details and symptoms

I left off my personal story of being diagnosed with Celiac disease (Why the gluten free diet?)  telling you I'd get into the details of the disease.  Here's the scoop.
Celieac Disease is... 

• genetic (although no one in my family wanted to get tested, so I'm it)
• chronic (for life!)
• an autoimmune disease (like Type 1 Diabetes, some Thyroid Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's disease, and many others, our bodies fight themselves)  If you have one autoimmune disease, you have a good chance of having or developing another.  
• a disease with one treatment:  a gluten free diet

Here's my version of what happens when I eat gluten:  If I were to swallow a piece of gluten filled pizza, it would go into my stomach where it would begin the digestion process.  It would then flow into my small intestine where the small fingers that are attached to the small intestine walls would try to absorb nutrients from my food.  These are called villi.  My body's immune system would say, "Attack!  Attack!  Attention immune system, the small intestine is being attacked by something toxic!  Fight it!"  My own body would then proceed to fight my own villi, causing them to get all messed up, retract, and make my small intestine more like a slip-and-slide than a nutrient absorber.  The next time I eat, my villi aren't there in full form to deal with the food, so it just goes right on through me.  I imagine every bite I take letting out a little "Woohoo!" as they slide freely through my digestive tract.  And it's not like these villi come back out after the gluten is gone, it takes FOREVER for them to get back to normal, it seems.  When I was first diagnosed they told me I may have to eat gluten free for a year before my villi recover.  I don't know how long it takes now that I'm somewhat healthy.  I don't ever knowingly cheat on my diet.  Never.  It's really ingrained in my mind that it isn't an option.  Cheating means horrible pain in the short term and in the long term it means I put myself at risk for a whole slew of problems, including small intestine cancer.  No thank you!  When I get stomach aches now, they'll last three days to several months before I feel normal again.  I assume that these episodes are somehow related to unknown gluten contamination.  You learn early on that this isn't something you do half way.  Gluten free has to be 100% or it doesn't work. 

When your body doesn't absorb enough nutrients from your food, you can imagine there's a whole slew of consequences to the intricate balance that should exist inside your body.  For me this showed itself in common ways, diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, anemia, distension, fatigue, excessive weight loss, headaches, irritability, depression (as if dealing with hourly bathroom runs wasn't depressing enough, a lack of absorption of B12 will really make you gloomy), tingling fingers, and dizziness.  Years later I battled a case of hypothyroid and other hormonal imbalances that took about a year to regulate, but may come back to haunt me later in life.  These are all known to be related to Celiac. 

Getting Tested
So, if you THINK you have Celiac disease, that does NOT mean you should try a gluten free diet.  It DOES mean that you should have a blood test done.  Have your doc do a Celiac panel.  This will test for antibodies in your blood that indicates that your body is currently treating gluten as a toxic substance.  Folks, admit it, you wouldn't stick to this diet unless you knew for sure that it was 100% necessary.  You must get the test!  Don't self-diagnose!  You have to be actively eating gluten in order for these tests to give you proper results.  If your blood test comes back positive, then you have to get the endoscopy and small intestine biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.


Two last bad doctor stories
After several years of a gluten free diet, I went to a gastroenterologist and told him, listen, this diet is not fixing the problem!  I still feel like crap ALL the time!  He said, "Well they should have told you to go lactose free as well!"  Turns out, if my digestive tract was in recovery mode, it was in no position to be digesting lactose.  An easy switch to lactaid milk for my cereal and vanilla soymilk for my lattes made a huge difference!  Lactaid pills don't work for me, but I ingest lactose in small doses anyway and just deal with minor upper-digestive tract pains.  (Hey, I'm not giving up pizza AND ice cream, plus, WI girls need their cheese!)  Yes, distinguishing between lactose stomach aches and gluten stomach aches is just one of my many talents.

Finally, maybe two years ago I went to get an endoscopy to check out how things were going and to see if yet another new doctor (change of health insurance) could figure out why I STILL didn't feel good.  I got the results via voicemail where some nurse told me, "We tested you for this disease called Celiac, which is a blah blah blah, and you DO NOT have Celiac disease."  Of course, if I were an idiot, I would have rejoiced and gone out and ate an entire Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza for dinner.  However, because I'm educated about my health, I knew that the nurse didn't see on my chart that I DO have celiac disease, had been on a gluten free diet for 5 years, and THAT is why the test came back negative.  I called them back and confirmed this with the doctor, who didn't seemed the slightest bit concerned that his his nurse was spreading false hope by not looking at people's charts before delivering lab results to patients.  The good news was that my villi had recovered enough to test negative.  So, my current stomach aches must just be unavoidable, unless I want to search for other intolerances (soy?  corn?  more strict on the lactose?).  We'll see.

Rocky Mountain National Park 2010

This weekend we went camping with another couple in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We took off early Saturday morning, but not early enough to find a first-come-first served campsite on the east side of the park, so we took Trail Ridge Road to the west side and grabbed a site at Timber Creek Campground.  Here is the first Elk we saw on the trip on Trail Ridge Road.  (Click on any picture to enlarge.)

After claiming our site, we looked for a good hike.  The hikes on the west side were all pretty long, so we settled on a 10.2 mile, 1000+ ft elevation gain to Granite Falls.  The hike took us on a trail that is shared with horses, so besides seeing horses, we had to keep a keen eye out for horse apples, which were about every five steps.  The rain at the end of the hike made the horse shit particularly fun.  The hike starts out in a pretty Meadow where we eventually spotted a male and female moose!  They followed the trail parallel to us and we ran into them again when we got to a creek.  Here is the male checking us out. 


After a lunch break and some heavy rain, we made it to granite falls and took ample pictures.  



Props to all of us, especially the newbies, for making the full 10.2 miles.  We all were pretty sore the rest of the night! 

We went back to our campground and had a well-deserved beer (hard cider for me) and Cheetos while the rain evaporated off of our tent sites.  I have a new rule that should always be implemented:  couples setting up a tent together must first ingest one beer.  We were finally ready to set up camp when we got a few visitors.  Elk! 






Then mule deer walked behind our tents while we were prepping for dinner! 









Finally, we enjoyed skewers of peppers and onions, potatoes, corn on the cob, and hamburgers for dinner, had a nice campfire complete with s'mores, and shivered ourselves to sleep.  The low was probably in the mid- to low 40's. 

The next day we walked up a quick trail at the top of Trail Ridge Road where we found these sweet rocks.  It was very cold and windy that high up, so I'm decked out in jeans under my tennis skirt and my poofy jacket.  We also enjoyed some wild flowers and inspirational moments on this walk. 























We made our way to the east side of the Rockies and did another hike in the park.  This one was a ~4 mile, 1,000 ft elevation gain hike to Bierstadt Lake where we had some lunch and had a visit with some ducks before the rain set in.  It was a fabulous weekend with good friends!  It was hard coming back to Boulder, but nice knowing all of this is just an hour away.  

 

Summer Salads and Dressings from Scratch

Grilled chicken summer salad is a nice hot-weather meal that is light and cool.  At our place, we don’t have air conditioning, so it is really important not to be using the oven or the stove if the outdoor temperature is too high.  Why not leave the cooking to the outdoor grill? 

Each salad gets a grilled chicken breast on top.  I’ve recently learned how to make top-notch chicken breasts.  First, put them in a ziplock and beat them with a hammer (or a meat tenderizer if you like to be fancy like that).  After this step, if you have 15 minutes to a few hours, throw your chicken into a brine.  Brine is just water, salt, and sugar.  Let the chicken hang out in this in your ziplock.  I also often marinate chicken in Italian dressing sometimes (zesty Italian from Kraft, to be specific).  If my chicken has just been sitting in brine, before throwing it on the grill, I like to brush it in olive oil and sprinkle dry Italian seasoning over it, or simply salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano.  Honestly, if you don’t have time for brining or marinating, chicken breasts these days are so un-natural that they taste tender without treatment.  I have yet to find affordable, natural chicken.  Grill it! 

While it’s grilling, start getting your veggies together.  Iceberg lettuce is so 90’s.  Grab a spring mix or even leaf lettuce instead.  If it hasn’t been pre-washed, wash it well!  Those salad spinners are a huge help for this.  Add peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and when I’m feeling fancy, fresh mozzarella or cashews.  My vegetarian friends get creative and will put corn, sesame seeds, or other favorite nuts on their salads for a little extra protein in place of the chicken.

Salad Dressing
I used to collect salad dressings.  Seriously, I’d buy something that looked fabulous, try it, hate it, and leave it in my fridge for a year, then toss it.  Luckily, when I moved in November, I got to start fresh with a clean fridge and decided to start making my own salad dressing.  (I will admit that I bought thousand island for Ruebens for St. Patty’s Day!)  Really, making your own dressing from scratch is the only way to guarantee that it’s gluten free.  Here are my three favorites:

Italian:  I use “Good Seasons Italian All Natural” dry packets.  Follow the directions on the box by adding water, olive oil, and cider vinegar.  I even invested in one of those glass dressing containers that has the measurements right on it so you can just fill it up to the lines and shake.  If you don’t have dry Italian seasoning on hand, or prefer making it from scratch to avoid a few un-needed, possibly glutened ingredients, you can whip up your own by combining dashes of sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, oregano, and pepper flakes.

Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette:  Sometimes I make a less savory salad and serve it with goat cheese and strawberries on top.  I then whip up my own dressing using Rachel Ray‘s (Food Network) recipe:

2 teaspoons strawberry jam
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
Salt and pepper, to taste 

Chipotle-Lime Vinaigrette:  Lastly, I’ve been ordering this fabulous Fajita salad at this amazing local restaurant called Mod Market (in Boulder, has gluten free flatbread pizzas and amazing salads).  They throw peppers, tomatoes, corn, green onion, and greens in a bowl and dress it with this fabulous chipotle-lime vinaigrette.   I’m still mastering this dressing recipe, but thus far, I use the juice of one lime, splash of cider vinegar, squeeze of honey, olive oil, salt, pepper, and for the chipotle flavor, I might  do chili powder or grab a very small smidge of the sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I use these up so slowly that I always have the contents of my latest can frozen in the freezer).  

You’ll notice I don’t measure things.  As a recipe-writer, it’s something I’ll work on in the future, but I find that as long as you know what goes into it, you can adjust until you’re happy with it!

I have two gardens and I can’t wait for them to start producing all the veggies I need for fresh salads!  One is in tubs on my porch and another is in actual ground.  I’ll share my first-time-gardener drama with you another time.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Bing Commercial in Utah

Last night I was in the bedroom reading my Greatest Adventure Writing book when Dave yelled, "It's the Microsoft commercial!"  I jumped up and ran into the living room just in time to catch the end of it.  We saw this commercial being filmed!  We were on our way to Utah in May when I lead us on a "short cut" between highways that took us on a very desolate road.  (Seriously people, my GPS gets me into a lot of trouble.)  We came over the crest of a hill and got stopped by a police man standing in the road.  He explained to us that they're shooting a commercial up ahead and we have to hang out for a bit so we don't get in the shot.  We watched as three goofily dressed men on motorcycles seemingly raced each other up the next hill.  They had to continue doing the same shot, being instructed to improve each time.  We prodded the police man for details and found out it was a Microsoft commercial.  Finally, a cloud shaded the shot and we were waved on by through the commercial set and on our way.  Of course I was hoping my car showed up in the commercial, but, see for yourself, it did not:  Bing Commercial

The scenery got a bit more interesting just a few miles later when we followed the river into Moab, Utah and then took a right at the McDonalds. We made our way through a pretty awesome canyon at sunset and finally, after a long drive, we found our friends and our camping spot for the first night of our trip, pictured above.

Why the gluten free diet?

Back in the day, when I was a junior in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my body stopped digesting food properly.  I had daily (hourly) symptoms that involved running to the bathroom quite often and insanely painful stomach aches.  I went to several doctors who all told me, "It's probably just stress!" or "Are you SURE the symptoms have lasted this long?"  I lead myself to believe that I was a nutball and if several doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, then I must be fine.  I lived with intense symptoms for about a year and a half.  Eventually I lost my freshman 15, which, frankly, was just fine with me.  I wasn't able to concentrate very well, I was pretty irritable (apologies to old college friends), and I liked to sleep more than a normal person should.  I couldn't climb a few stairs without dizzy spells.  This brings back a memory of my mom sitting down with my roommate, Ann, telling her to make sure I drink lots of Gatorade so I don't pass out.

I had a series of pretty bad migraines that got me to the doctor at UW.  They told me it was stress.  A few months later I went in because my hands were starting to tingle all the time.  I got this really young doctor (intern?) who looked back at my chart and saw I had been in for other symptoms and asked me if I still had the same problems.  I told him that I most certainly did.  He sent me to get a blood test.  I don't really remember (that whole time in my life is a blur), but I must have come back for a separate appointment where he sat me down and said, "You have Celiac disease."  I was super confused and before I could start crying, he told me the treatment is not to eat wheat.  I didn't know what wheat really was.  Okay, no wheat bread, whatever!  He told me to make an appointment with my gastroenterologist for a biopsy of my small intestine (endoscopy) and to go home and read a few pamphlets on gluten free diets. This must have been November of 2003.  (Side note:  when a doctor gives you a list of things to do, why don't they write it down and let you take it with?  I was clearly verging on insanity and I'm surprised I didn't just go home and forget what he had told me.  Now, I bring a notepad and take notes at the doctor.)  Years later, I wish I knew who this intern was and could give him a big hug for being intelligent enough to do the right test! 

I went home that night and told my five roommates what was up.  We went through my shelf in the pantry and looked at the ingredients on all of the labels.  Wheat was in EVERYTHING!  I think I was left with a fruit cup, a gallon of milk, and some ice cream.  We went grocery shopping and I remember spending forever in the cereal aisle trying to find something I could eat for breakfast.  No Lucky Charms, no Cheerios, even Rice Crispies and Chex had malt flavoring.  Suddenly I could no longer involve myself in ordering in pizza or Chinese food or even drinking beer, which is exactly how everyone dreams their senior year of college in Madison will go, right?

I went home for Christmas break and my mom had managed to get me in for an appointment with my ridiculously overbooked GI doctor who had treated me in the past for acid reflux.  I hadn't seen her the entire time I was actually having Celiac symptoms because whenever I called to make an appointment, I would need to wait six months to see her, so I just never made one.  We did an endoscopy, which is a procedure where they put you out and stuff a tube down your throat to take pictures.  This time, she took a biopsy of my small intestine.  (Anyone else ever had an endoscopy?  I swear, I wake up every time, mid-procedure.)  The results confirmed the blood test, I not only had Celiac disease, but my small intestine showed very obvious damage and scarring that would take a while to recover.  She had found no neurological damage, which was good news considering my severe lack of nutrients for almost two years.  She mentioned that when I had gotten my last endoscopy several years earlier, that I showed vague signs that I may have Celiac disease, but she either never mentioned them to me or I just never took note of it.  It's also possible, I guess, that she didn't notice it at the time, but was innocently commenting on old pictures.  Imagine if the doctors in Madison had access to my medical records, or if my actual doctor wasn't too busy to see me, I could have avoided years of discomfort and permanent intestinal damage!

I finished up my senior year, graduated with my first college degree, worked all summer in a factory in Fondy, and moved to Colorado for graduate school where I knew no one.  My gluten free diet in no way made me feel any better.  The dizzy spells had stopped, but I still had severe stomach symptoms and general lethargy upon my move to Colorado and several years after that.  Today I feel more like myself, but am certainly not symptom free.  I'm no where near as sharp as I used to be, mentally, and physically, I still get occasional weeks with stomach issues and I have dealt with a slew of other health issues along the way.

I eventually educated myself on the topic and figured out this whole gluten free diet.  Life after Lucky Charms didn't have to be pure torture, and today I live happily gluten free!  I'll give you some Celiac facts in another post for those of you looking for details beyond my personal story. 

Green Chili Salsa

Since moving west, life has gotten a bit more spicy. My first year here, my officemate Alicia had a bunch of folks over for a party. She had made some salsa and had it out for all to try. I walked in and she told me not to try any, but watch other people’s reactions. (She was well aware of my sensitive digestive tract!) She’s from New Mexico and the reactions she got from the salsa were a combination of eye watering and begging for beer.

I’ve been in CO for six years now and have been slowly been building up my tolerance from mild to medium to actually enjoying the flavor of spicy foods and putting up with some burn in my food every now and then. I definitely have my limit, though.

About a year ago, Dave introduced me to an awesome local Mexican market in Boulder. They have a huge selection of cheap produce. Last week Dave was on a hunt for some new bike wheels, so I walked to the market and grabbed ingredients for Green Chili Salsa and made it later that same day while I finished a baby quilt for my cousin Katie. The aromas from this recipe are amazing (and, depending on how many jalapenos you include, could clear out your sinuses and cause some eye watering).



Lessons in peppers for the “mild” readers: The peppers at the top of this picture are California peppers (same as Anaheims). They are very mild, but have annoying peelings, so don’t go subbing these for bell peppers ‘cause you’ll be chewing on them . They have to be roasted for their peelings to be removed. The dark green big guys are poblanos and these have the same peeling deal. They taste great roasted, but can be bitter if not cooked all the way. (I often stuff these with refried black beans and pepper jack and roast for an hour, then serve with sour cream. ) In fact, I only used one of these in the salsa and ate the other two for another meal. The middle pepper is the jalapeno, and folks, don’t touch this thing. I’ll share another jalapeno recipe with you soon that involved cleaning raw jalapenos and my hands burned and swelled for two days. Just use your fork and knife wisely or invest in some rubber gloves. It’s really the seeds and membrane that is the spiciest. If you like it hot, add more of these to your batch.



These are tomatillos. These are like green tomatoes, but they aren’t. You’ll find them in the store with a cover on them that you’ll remove. They are mild. They aren't usually this big, either.

Okay, wash everything really well (I doubt the Mexican market is importing anything organic) and throw them in oven-safe pans that will catch the juices should things split open. Throw some garlic in one of the pans. Roast at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or turn up the heat for faster results. When they are done roasting, you’ll know because the peelings will seem separated from the pepper. Take these out and let them cool so you can touch them.

While you’re waiting for them to cool, finely chop up a white onion and start sauteing it in olive oil in a pot. (Olive oil and garlic can't be very Mexican, but it's healthy, right?) While that’s going, start cleaning the tomatillos by just removing that hard stem area. Throw the tomatillos into a blender along with the garlic cloves and any juices that are in that pan. Blend! Just do a few pulses, then add half of it to your onions. Now it’s time to clean your peppers. Go mild to spicy on this to limit your contact with the spicy peppers. Cut off the pepper tops, cut out the membrane and seeds. Throw the peppers into the blender and pulse a few more times. (You’re more than welcome to finely chop the peppers rather than blend.)

Add everything to your pot. Add salt (I did Kosher) to taste. Let it simmer until you can’t wait any longer (minimum 10 minutes).

Treat this as a salsa, not a soup. Serve over shredded pork in corn tortillas, serve with chips, or serve on a burger. This couples well with pepper jack cheese on a burger! Enjoy!

I'll spare you from the picture of the salsa itself. Let's just say it didn't photograph well and it is just one of those pictures that belongs on a menu at a Chinese food restaurant.

Grocery list for Green Chili Salsa:
5 California peppers (Anaheims)
1 poblano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
5+ tomatillos
3 cloves garlic
1 white onion
olive oil
salt

Hiking my first 14er

Dave and I had a little freak-out moment when we looked at a calendar last week and realized that we have very few weekends together in Boulder this summer (three including this past weekend). So we did what I do best, made a list of things we wanted to accomplish this summer. My list included things like "Prep for dynamics class," while Dave's included things like, "Climb a 14er" and "Go backpacking." (Good thing I have him around!)

In order to put a dent in the list, we woke up early on Saturday and headed up I70 to Bakerville to climb my first 14er. Dave has done a few, but never this one. We were shooting for two in one day since they are next to each other and connected by a convenient saddle. We got a later start than we wanted and it didn't help that we had to park an extra half mile (maybe more) from the trail head since we picked a "gaper day" to hike it. In other words, 4th of July weekend brings the tourists to the trails.



I was struggling to catch my breath before we even got to the trailhead. Apparently elliptical machine workouts coupled with minor weight lifting for one month is not sufficient to get a person in shape. Dave was barely winded and always 50 feet ahead of me giving me looks of pity. I pretty much call any hike that makes my legs burn "the stairmaster from hell," but this topped anything I've done before. We gained over 3000 feet in elevation on this hike (more because we weren't able to start at the trailhead). By the time I got near the top I felt like a drunk stumbling forward gasping for breath. A little fat kid stopped in front of me to cry because it was too hard and frankly, I kind of wanted to join him. Dave kept telling me an 80 year old woman was gaining on me and reminded me that you can't take your time because if we don't summit by noon, we might have to turn around early if the weather gets bad. Later he told me I wasn't showing any true signs of being sick, so he kept pushing me.





After much torture, made slightly better by awesome views, we made it to the top of Grays! 14,270 feet! We could see everything!!! It was really amazing. I collapsed on a rock and downed a PBJ. The wind picked up and we got a few snowflakes. Dave was going to continue on to do Torreys, but I had taken too long getting up the mountain and it really didn't leave him enough time to make it up before the danger of thunderstorms became too great. You do not want to be caught on a 14er in a lightning storm, which is why you can only hike them in the morning.



We headed down the mountain, which goes quick, but it was difficult to find footing where the rocks were loose and we each rolled ankles and tripped several times. Next time we'll bring trekking poles! My knees were shaking by about mid-descent, but we made it down safely. I'm very proud of myself for stumbling up my first 14er and very thankful that Dave pushed me to go to the top.

Strawberry Pie

I grew up on an orchard in Wisconsin. We had 6,000 apple trees, 1,000 cherry trees, and a large strawberry patch. My parents still live there, but the orchard is no longer functioning and the trees are dying off slowly. We used to go to the farmer's market every Saturday and sell our fruit, as well as caramel apples, apple and cherry pies, and apple juice. The whole family would come together on Fridays to bake, pick fruit, and pack up the van. Most Saturday's I'd wake up early with my mom (think 4:00 AM) and help her set up our two-stall display at the local farmer's market. I'd help sell and I learned how to make change at an early age!


Okay, maybe not THAT early.

I'm also a pro at the secrets of pie making. Little good that does me now, though, not being allowed to eat flour. Within the past year, however, I have discovered THE gluten free flour substitute that has worked in every family recipe I have tried it in. (Dave claims he can taste a distinct "gluten free taste" when I use this flour, but for those of us who have forgotten what real food tastes like, this is really the best in taste and texture! Poor Dave, he's such a trooper!) It's called Jules' Gluten Free Flour. Trust me on this one, it's expensive, but worth it! (Bob's Red Mill GF Flour just doesn't cut it for me, even if it is available in bulk at Costco!.)

It's strawberry season (although the strawberry plant in my personal garden hasn't gotten that memo yet). This means that it's legal to buy cheap strawberries at the grocery store or farmer's market! Strawberries and watermelon should ALWAYS be saved for summer only! My mom used to make a melt-in-your-mouth strawberry pie. It's a pie served cold where the strawberries sit in a jello and the crust is white and crumbly. I gave my mom a call, and she read off the recipe to me over the phone. I didn't have kyro syrup (or at least I thought I didn't, I just found it in the back of the cupboard after the fact) so I substituted honey, which seemed more natural anyway, so I'm making that a permanent change in the recipe. The original recipe comes from my Aunt Diane. I will say that this pie is beautiful, but when it comes time to cut and serve it, it never ends up quite as organized on the plate!



Strawberry Pie
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp milk (Lactaid worked)
1 1/2 c. flour (Jules' gluten free flour!)

Filling:
1 c. sugar
1 c. cold water (take it from a gluten free girl, corn starch gets lumpy in warm water)
3 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp strawberry jello
1 lb fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Mix first four crust ingredients until smooth. Add flour and mix again. Spread this out in a 9"X9" greased glass cake pan. Bake for only 5 minutes. Whisk first four ingredients of filling together over medium heat in a sauce pan. Stir constantly until thick and somewhat clear. Add jello and whisk. Let cool a bit while you clean and slice your strawberries. Pour the filling over the crust and place the strawberries on top. Refrigerate a few hours.

Enjoy!

Dirt

I've got two days left of teaching summer school (Intro meteorology) and then comes the big 4th of July weekend! Plans are still up in the air, but my cousin and her awesome husband and fun three kids are visiting Saturday and Sunday, so there has to be some grilling, fun desserts, and fireworks, right?

There's a good chance I might whip up some Dirt. Dirt is a fun dessert that I first remember eating in grade school where it was oh-so-fun to pretend I was actually eating dirt with real worms in it.



Dave has similar memories and got the recipe from his mom! Score! With her suggestions, I scaled back the original recipe to something a little less unhealthy (no butter, no cream cheese). I have made it for us a few times and I serve it in large wine glasses to class it up. A few weeks ago, though, we needed to bring a dessert to a big BBQ at our friends' house. I ran to the store and grabbed all of the Dirt ingredients, some small, clear plastic cups, and a package of gummy worms. The grocery store nearby has many gluten free choices, but Oreos are not one of them! (Kinnikinnick is the only brand I know of.) I bought some gluten free chocolate cookies, but having never used them before, bought Oreos for everyone else's Dirt. Of course I then forgot to make myself a cup and wasn't even able to taste my masterpiece! I just had to hope that it was edible! The Dirt was a huge hit, a few people went back for seconds, but it was funny how the worm was either loved or hated by the attendees of the BBQ. I think it really added a little extra fun by giving everyone their own glass.

I highly suggest doing this for any 4th of July picnic you may be attending!!!

Ingredients:
1 package Oreos (gluten free)
16 oz. Cool Whip (lite is okay)
1 pack vanilla instant pudding
1 pack chocolate instant pudding
2 1/2 c. milk (lactaid works, soy milk didn't get along with the instant pudding)

Directions:
1. Crush Oreos (I do this in a big ziplock and use my rolling pin)
2. Beat vanilla pudding for 2 minutes with 1 1/4 c. milk
3. Beat chocolate pudding for 2 minutes with 1 1/4 c. milk
4. Add half the Cool Whip to each pudding and fold in well
5. Layer in your favorite glass: Oreos, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, Oreos, etc.
6. Chill for 1 hour or more (It really tastes better if you let the Oreos absorb that yummy pudding for a bit)
7. Top with a gummy worm, optional full Oreo, and make a cute sign labeling your tray "Dirt"

Be sure to bring spoons!

Baby blanket

One of my best friends from high school had a baby who just turned a year old! Just before she was born, I sent this to the mom-to-be. Turns out, she had it waiting for her when she got back from the hospital last June. I asked her cousin, another best friend from high school and my favorite blogger (NavyGirl), and her mom to get me the inside scoop on how the new mom was decorating her baby room. The new parents wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise, so they picked a cute animal theme with blues, yellows, greens, and browns.



I went to Joann Fabrics and found the exact match to the animals she had in her theme. This is the monkey, elephant, giraffe, frog print you see here. I then built the rest of the blanket around that print. I grabbed some plaid baby-blue, solid yellow, yellow stripes, and green all in a soft flannel texture. I grabbed a relatively thin batting and yellow yarn. My blanky from childhood (and, embarrassingly, my favorite stuffed animal that still sleeps in my bed, a yellow bunny) had/has this same soft yellow look to it. I thought basing the blanket around the mainly yellow color would also keep the quilt from becoming irrelevant, should the baby be a girl. It was! I should tell you that I am awful at planning and really just went to Joann and put things together in my head on the spot. Sometimes this works, sometimes it leads to a waste of money and unused fabric.



Two weeks ago I took a trip to WI for a wedding where I got to see my good friend and her one-year old girl, who is practically a teenager when it comes to flip phones. Here she is playing with NavyGirl while I chatted with her mom.



I also got a chance to see my cousin Katie, who is due in a few months! She just finished painting her nursery and guess what the theme is? Luckily for me, I have leftovers in each of these colors. Hopefully I have the time to follow through and make her a similar, but unique blanket for her new baby, especially if she sees this!