Bisquick -- it now comes gluten free!

This weekend I was shopping and came across this new product at my local grocery store. My friend Bonnie mentioned there was a gluten free Bisquick but I had never seen it. When I noticed it on the grocery shelf, I thought two things: One, this is a product that can help so many people who have problems with celiac disease or are allergic to gluten. And two, there must be so many people who are suffering from this problem -- enough people to make this product marketable. I hope to see more products like this in the future.

The ingredients are rice flour, sugar, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), modified potato starch, salt, and xanthan gum. This does sound gluten free, I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to in the future. I don't know how it rates, compared to the regular product, but if you go to www.bisquick.com you can find plenty of recipes -- some of the old standbys like garlic biscuits and cheese balls and some new ones, too.

What I really liked was the website slogan, "Introducing pancakes that don't leave anyone out." I think that sums it up.

I'm Loving How-To Videos

Recently, I have been watching how-to gardening videos on the Internet. It can be a hassle sometimes to find the video that will be helpful, but I have been gaining some valuable information from them.

How do I find them? I usually do a Goggle search for the problem I'm having or the question I need answering. I always find something, even if it is not the miracle solution for which I am hoping. Some videos are more helpful than others. I am a visual person and just seeing the solution or idea is better for me than reading about it. A video is even more helpful because it is more dimensional than a photo.

I recently turned up this video on an organic solution for garden caterpillars and I will give it a try in the future. If you find a website you like, please share it. I can always use more information.

A rainbow of tomatoes

In the last couple of years I have noticed that tomatoes come in all sizes, shapes and colors. My photo, above, is not very good but this gives you the idea of what I mean. I planted seeds for Heirloom Brandywines, pictured at back, which will turn a rose-colored red when ripe, yellow tomatoes, in the center, and Black cherries, bottom right.

I didn't think any of my yellow tomatoes grew, but noticed these yellow ones after they began to ripen.

I also like the shapes. Large, like the Brandywines are good for slicing but have a large core. I don't have one right now but the Rutger tomatoes I planted are large and bright red, a good all around choice.

The Romas, center left are cone shaped and are a good, meaty variety.

The nutritional value of each color varies. The red tomatoes have more vitamin C, more lycopene and are more acidic.

The yellow and black tomatoes are best for people who suffer from reflux or acid-related stomach problems and have more B Vitamins.

I just like having a variety of colors. My husband really doesn't like the black tomatoes because he says they look like they have gone bad. He also is wondering why we just can't grow regular tomatoes. On some times we just have to agree to disagree.

Fish prints at the museum

While my daughter and her husband were on their retreat, my husband and I were entertaining our grandsons, ages 7 and 5. One of the fun things we decided to do was to take the boys to the Children's Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina. One of the exhibits was a "make and take" art project. The photos above and below are the "fish prints," the current  project. It was surprisingly easy to do and not as messy as I would have thought.

The museum is interactive where the children "drive" race cars and space ships, shop in a play grocery store and scan their own products, slide through a giant stomach that makes appropriately rude noises, and climb in a giant kaleidoscope.

We finished with our art project and I know the boys had fun. How do I know? When it was time to leave the five year old BEGGED to stay.

I will frame the fish prints in a nice frame as a memento for the boys and I hope to go back again in the future.

Highland Lake Inn: Photos of their gardens

This past weekend, my daughter sent me the above photo in a text and underneath she wrote, "Not so many problems with THEIR squash."

My daughter was on a retreat sponsored by her husband's job at Highland Lake Inn, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Of course this was a dig, because she knows how hard we have been fighting bugs this year, especially the bugs that have been attacking our squash.

She started taking photos of the organic gardens during a walk and the photos kept coming. They do have a beautiful garden close to the lake. It looks like they have a nice irrigation system and also use companion planting to help keep insects at bay.

Her comment on the photo above, was, "They sure need to pick their butternut squash!"
 

I really loved the photo of their greenhouse. It would be nice to have a greenhouse to grow things year-round. The Inn has a great restaurant with much of their food provided by these gardens.

It would be perfect to be able to grow lettuce and things that won't grow in the hot part of the summer.

I didn't expect this photo of a turkey, but it was obviously was a large one and my daughter was impressed.

She finished with photos of the lake and grounds.

She had a wonderful time and said the Inn was a mix between rustic and trendy. The food was really delicious and the rural setting was relaxing. She had a great time and I appreciate these photos of their gardens, even though their squash looks better than ours.

An apple addendum

One more thing about apples. I tried drying some apple rings and they were wonderful. I didn't even cut off the peeling, just washed them, cut them in thick slices and put them in the dryer.

After about 24 hours the apples were dried. I thought since the slices were thick, they might not dry well but they were really good. I know I will dry more apples for snacks and for cooking. I just need to get the apples.

I would love to show you a photo of the finished apples, but I can't. I am sorry, but we ate them.

What I did with a bushel of apples

I didn't know before today, but a bushel of apples will make around a dozen quarts of applesauce and a dozen pints of jelly. I know because that is roughly what I just canned. I had the container pictured below and a large mixing bowl full of applesauce and a gallon of apple juice.

It took several hours, but I was proud to preserve all of the apples. I was even more proud that my sister and daughter-in-law came over the night before to help me peel apples. That was the hardest job and I am so thankful for the help. I could not have gotten so much done without their help. The canning wasn't that hard compared to the peeling.

The juice was easy to turn into jelly. I added 3 cups of sugar to 4 cups of apple juice. After it came to a rolling boil for 1 minute, I poured in fruit pectin and cooked it for another few minutes, then poured it into my jars, cleaned off the tops, put on the lids and waited for them to seal and the jelly to harden.

The jelly on the left is regular apple jelly. On the right, I tried something new. I found some packages of low or no sugar fruit pectin. I was able to make jelly using about half the amount of brown sugar. You can use Splenda or honey, but I like the taste of brown sugar with apples so I decided to try it.

I am hoping to try making some jam with the no sugar pectin. I think it is very interesting. I usually buy the all fruit version of jams in the grocery store and I am hoping to make some all fruit jam of my own -- but not today. I think I have done all I can today.