Seriously it has been a YEAR!

I just can't believe it has been almost a year since I wrote in  my blog.  What a crazy year of changes and living in limbo.  As posted previously we moved to Kentucky last year - HA - well poor housing market prevented our beautiful Oklahoma home from selling and a weak job market in Kentucky prevented us from finding work, so it was a quick last minute move back to Oklahoma where I was completely blessed to find a job teaching 4th grade.  I learned so much this past year and felt I grew so much as a teacher.  For that and many other reasons, I know God had this plan in motion the entire time.  So when it was time to decide if we should try to move again, it was a very hard decision.  But we gave a realtor a very short amount of time to sell our house and just left it up to God.  The house sold very quickly even though it was listed for $20,000 more than we asked last year and I quickly learned God wasn't quite done yet - a phone interview was done the day of our closing and half way through Missouri I received a call with a job offered teaching 5th grade.  Those of you who know me real well know my tough exterior is just a cover for my super mushy interior, so it took all I had to not just start crying.  So much anquish it seemed last year to sit back and have everything fall into place this year.  I just give all praise to God and a year long lesson for me that he really is the one in control of my life.

So back on the farm - our garden is double the size as last year and a lot of canning is underway as it produces so many amazing vegetables.  Today I will be canning zucchini/squash pickles.  So yummy!  I have continued to refine and gain confidence in gluten free baking, so although I find myself discussing many other things here, I will try to stay true to the title of the blog.  I will say I have a two flours that have just become a HUGE staple in my kitchen.  I used to make my own flour using Bob Mills, but discovered King Arthur Gluten Free Flour and fell in love with the delicious products it produced.  I can find it at Kroger and Meijer and cost about $8 per box.  The down side - you have to add xanthum gum to your recipes.  Then my second favorite flour - Olivia's Outstanding Flour Mix - it also produces great results and the benefit, the zanthum gum is in the flour already.  Also, on the inside of the box are directions to turn the flour into Self-Rising or Cake Flour if you have recipes that call for these flours.  I was so excited because I had a cake recipe calling for Cake Flour and had no idea how to make it, so never got to make the recipe. 
King Arthur has a wonderful website too with super great recipes and I have made several, one of which I will talk about here in a minute - go to: www.kingarthurflour.com 

So if you have been reading my blog you know my mastery of the GF pie crust has been a mission.  Many unsuccessful tries had left me feeling defeated, but thank you King Arthur!  On the website listed above is a GF pie crust recipe.  Well with all my previous pie crust disasters what harm could trying the recipe be?  So this past Christmas I went for it and let me tell you - light, crumbly, perfect pie crusts!  No one even realized it was gluten free.  So I am now confident in the baking of the pie crust, so you won't have to hear me ramble on in my posts about not being able to make one.  Next should be the bread - a good winter project since I am so busy canning and working the garden now. 

So here is the final result - my apply pie made for Christmas 2012.  I also made a pecan pie, but it was eaten so quickly that I didn't get a picture of it.  I had a lot of fun this past Christmas making some old favorite cookies into gluten free cookies.  I will share those soon.
So my concluding words today are to NEVER GIVE UP - this amazing pie would have never come to be had I just given up.  AND when things don't seem to be going the way you want - step back God's plan is always better!  Happy Baking!