Larson Loonie Byne
I think I shall climb on my soap box.  I've been labeled Celiac by a blood test. Took a while to figure it out and suggest my Dr. look for it.
Wondering.  Are "WE" the canary in the "mine" of food on this world?   Celiac has been labeled a fad because it has recently come to the public eye.  IT IS NOT A FAD.  Here's the simple version of what is happening to a celiac's body when they eat gluten.  There is something in gluten that causes microscopic holes in the intestine.  Once that hole is formed, microscopic particles of food go out those holes into the blood stream.  Once there the white blood cells that have the job of attacking anything that doesn't belong in the bloodstream and getting rid of it.  The problem happens when excessive amounts of food particles confuse the white blood cells.  There's so much stuff to attack it quits trying to differentiate between those food particles and the actual parts of the your own body.  Thyroid is one of the first to go.  Weirdly enough my thyroid is in great shape.  But my arthritis is really, wonderfully, reduced now that I've totally given up gluten.  Have to wonder how it would be if I had stopped much sooner.
Now, here some of the things I've learned of late.  The human family is NOT eating wheat. Wheat is a tall, slow growing grain that has several problems.  It gets some of the nastiest diseases, and it's production is one NINETH of the production of Triticale.  The grain being called Wheat is really a 9 inch tall semi dwarf that was breed in combination with several other grains.  It's a hybrid.  It's made.  But it's 9 times more productive that that tall red wheat of my childhood.  I would like to have someone with an electron microscope examine the stuff at the "bottom" of a stomach after the "patient" has ingested a chunk of bread made with triticale and then after the same patient has ingested a chunk of bread made with good old fashion red wheat.  I'd like to see what "slivers" come out the other side.  I think someone would find that the slivers from triticale are not being broken down by the human stomach acid.  That's your piercing devise.  Wish I could prove the theory.  Call it a gut feeling.  (Sorry)
NOW, let's quit feeling sorry for ourselves.  We can't stop for a donut on the way to work, McDonald's is out of the picture.  Pizza 3 times a week? Forget it.  A sandwich in your lunch sack? Nope.  So sad.  Now hold it.  That sandwich?  It was built for a lazy man playing cards. And it goes downhill from there.  Look again at that list of food.  Convenient, easy to obtain, and dangerous.  S. A.D. Standard American Diet. Toast and Coffee for Breakfast (gluten and caffeine)  Hamburger and fries and soda for lunch ((gluten, fats, sugar, salts, with tomato and lettuce)  Dinner?  KFC?  Pizza?Chinese take out?  ( now that list goes on and on) 
Now, let's try a gluten free day.  Breakfast, scrambled eggs, with turkey bacon (ok I'll give you the salts) but throw in some spinach for pete's sake.  Homemade GF oatmeal with fruit?  Fruit and sausage.  Hash browns with sausage and orange slices.  "You mean I've got to cook????"  Yes, I mean you have to plan, shop for the plan and cook to the plan.  Yes,. I've whined and shed many tears of frustration. But I DO feel much better.  The brain's less fuzzy that it used to be.  I could almost sense it clearing up.   There's more, but it's late.  Another day

Larson Loonie Byne
Magic in the Kitchen from a newly diagnosed Celiac.
Hunting for a "cheese sauce" to go onto rolls of thin sliced turkey ham, wrapped around fresh asparagus.  Had  some banana squash still in the freezer.  Grabbed a chunk and threw it in a pan to defrost.  Once soft and mushing I hit it with the stick blender, added more water, a bit of dry milk and while that heated up put a few tbsp of AP -GF flour in some cold water.  Blended that till smooth, then threw into the watery squash.  Thicken up quite quickly.  Added, not as much cheese, as a good cheese sauce calls for.  Oh, my it was good.  Lovely color, heck, I'll bet you could make mac & cheese for the kiddos and they'd never guess they were getting a healthy dose of vitamin A, & veggie fiber.   Should have added nutmeg, dry mustard and/or parsley.  It was still yummy
Dad said so.  I'll be doing that one again.

Larson Loonie Byne
His name is Lee and we got to play together for hours.
From the start.  I was invited to play at the Joy Fest at Miner Pickin' in Idaho Spring.  Susan, and her husband John own the place and we've been up a few times to join in the Sunday night Bluegrass Jam.  We arrived around 1pm and didn't leave until 6.  My back is till a bit not happy with me, buy my soul is totally enraptured with the joy and fun that day.  She invited Lee up from Black Hills and between Mark on the banjo or guitar, Bonny on the mandolin.  Good times were had by all.  Even Robert.  You can actually hear him sing on one song.  He say's it was to get Bonny to sing, but I think he was just caught up in the moment

Using the past to help the future
What feels like 100 years ago I was a new missionary in Minnesota.  Got to talking with the mission president's wife, Sr. King, about cooking.  She gave me her family recipe for pie crust.  Odd thing.  Required 5 or 6 cups of flour, darned if I can remember how much shortening, 1 or 2 eggs and 1 or 1/2 & cups milk. (Notice, no vinegar, lots of milk based pie crust recipes do).  Just cannot remember the amounts, lost it years ago, because it has some draw back.  The first being that it made 6 or more pie crusts.  Once or twice upon a time I remember making it, rolling out the pie crusts, freezing them. But it became a bother, so I lost it.  Fast forward 40 years and I'm gluten intolerant.  How to make a pie crust with flours that don't bind like gluten does.  Oh, an dI didn't want to make 6 pie crust.  So I played.  Only wanting 3 pie crust, I used 2-1/2 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. Mostly because it's highly accessible. I think I will play with other flours as time goes by.  3/4 cup shortening, the natural stuff, 1/2 egg (you figure that out, it's really easy with a stick blender) and 3/4 cup milk.  I'm thinking I'm going to play with a whole egg next time.  This time it was a bit dry, but.  Mix together just like any pie crust and roll it out just like any pie crust.  It worked.  Yes, you have to dust your board and pin, frequently. And the smaller pies that I like to make were a lot easier than the big pumpkin pie I made for the family.  BUT, IT'S NON GLUTEN AND IT HELD TOGETHER.  I won't say it was as easy to use a regular flour, but I learned a lot, and I learned not to fear it.  This is all about adapting.  I've been saying I was getting "bored" with the normal food we've always eaten. Time for a change.  Should have made the change awhile ago.  To bad the Dr's are fighting it.  I really think everyone should get tested, just like you do for cholesterol.

Larson Loonie Byne
So I've started a new blog.
The Eggcellent Collection.
With all of the redecorating we've doing around the house, I had to empty the egg case and have taken the opportunity to photograph each egg, so I'm going do document all of them.  I've decided to put a penny in each photo for comparison
Hope people enjoy them.

I think I shall rant a bit.
Some SD idiot has announced that it's OK to partake of caffeine if you LDS. What kind of madness is this?   When are people going to learn CAFFEINE IS A DRUG!! And a dangerous one at that.  I tried to heart attack at 27 when I had my second child and the doctor prescribed a caffeine look-alike to help the pain meds get into my blood stream faster.  That's what caffeine does. Accelerates your heart rate.  Guess who is clinically allergic to it?   And people feed to little kids and wonder why they don't do well in school? 
Let's look at the facts. Joseph Smith drank tea.  Herbal Tea.  Everyone in that day and age did. Why?  Care to guess the quality of the water?  LOUSY!! Water purification?  What is that?   Everyone new if they drank pond water they could and usually did get sick.  40 to 50 year lifespan was normal. Germs were all over and not boiling water made people ill.  Boiled water, plain, tastes lousy.  Throw a few leaves into it, add a bit of root or bark, hey, this stuff tastes pretty good.  Add a bit of honey? even better.  Drink it hot? Are you kidding?  #1 it burns!  I lived with a lady on my mission who had no taste buds.  Burnt them out of on hot coffee.  She was the skinniest person I ever met.  Eating held no joy and she often forgot to do it.  Try putting a piece of meat into a cup of HOT water and guess what you get. COOKED MEAT.  Guess what happens to your tongue, throat and stomach lining when it gets repeatedly hit with HOT water.  You are, after all made of "meat"
#2 If you take hot water and bits and pieces and then drink, why did you put the bits and pieces it.  If the water is still hot, there's no flavor from the bits in the water AND NOT OF THE BENEFITS EITHER!.   There is a lot of good in those leaves, bark and root.  Don't believe me, try making a tea with catnip, oh plan to do it on a day when you rest, cause you won't want to do anything else for several hours.  It's a muscle relaxant.  God put those plants on this planet for our benefit, and then we toss them aside for a manufactured stimulant.  Whatcha gonna do when you get to the other side and find out God don't make caffeine. 
One of the main reasons we are here is to try and be like HIM.  How going to do that when you're so hyped up you can't think straight.  I thought LDS people were suppose to rise above the world, in the world but not of it.  What's next?  Whose re-thinking homosexually?  It's a darn slipperly slope and guess whose busy greasing it.
Me? NO CAFFINE NO CODINE, NO LOOKALIKES. WE MEAN IT!!

One of my dad's favorites.
The preacher has chosen to preach on the need to have no enemies and goes on, quoting this scripture and that to bring his point home.  He's well into his surgery and the need to make friends with everyone and to helps his point get across the thunders across the congregation "I need to know if there is anyone here in this family of friends that can honestly say they have no enemies, I need to have some one rise to their feet and tell us how they have come to the point in their life that all around them are friends, that hey have no one they hate. I need that person to rise to their feet and teach us all how it is done."  WAY in the back old brother Jones rises to his feet (takes a couple of moments to get there, I did say OLD brother Jones) and he says "Reverend, I ain't got no enemies."
"WONDERFUL, brother Jones, tell us all how you did that"
"I OUTLIVED THEM ALL"

Don't think that was what the Rev was after.


LL