Friday Weigh In

Happy Friday! Weather here is a brisk 50 degrees this morning, the sun is shining after a rainy couple of days.   My yard is happy but my dogs are not. They don't like it when the sky leaks! 
So, I weighed in this morning and....Who Hoo Victory!  I lost 2 pounds! I was trying to take the supplements but just couldn't get them down.  So that means this weight loss is just me. I am pretty proud, but realize I have a ways to go.

Also had to make 2 cakes for hubby's work. Will have pictures to follow.

Weight Loss Update!

I've decided to weigh in on Fridays.  I started my original or starting place weigh in Monday.  Not going to give you the actual starting number because well, that would be just too embarrassing. 

I was supposed to take the supplement but couldn't get it down Wednesday or Thursday.  So, I basically took it for 2 days.  I have a hard time swallowing pills anyway. Couldn't even take an aspirin until I was 26.  I find supplements difficult, because they float.  Weird, I know! 

So, with a sick little carpoolprincess home all week, and cupcake drama, I did actually lose 1/2 a pound.  That may be pathetic to you, but it's progress to me. 

Have a Great one!

Gluten Free Cupcakes: The Saga Continues

As you may have read in a previous post, I've been having problems with making a decent gluten free cupcake. So, I bought some new ingredients and tried a recipe that was handed down from my Great Grandmother.  Her recipe was gluten-full and butter full and kind of dense on it's own. 

So, I tried a premade flour mix.  The last one I tried was kinda, well, gross!  So, I got a new one and it had no chickpea flour in it.  Now don't get me wrong, I love chickpea flour (besan flour) for savory but not for baking.  This new flour, is rice flour and starches and worked really well.  The recipe didn't make alot. 

The texture of the batter was less like taffy, or bread dough and more like very thick batter.  And don't judge my ancient semi-rusty tins, they can't help it. 

So, Hey!  They cooked pretty and rose so nicely!  That is already a big victory considering the horible sunken gooey messes I made before.  Look!  Aren't they cute?! 

Then I played with the camera a bit. Brought out the milk glass fruit bowl and Grandma's china! 

Oh, Black and White!  Maybe the Cleavers or Ricardos are coming for tea! 

 

They were a great texture, but slightly dry.  So I will be trying again to moisten the final product without going all the way to gummy!

when I get it perfect, I'll post the recipe for you all.

!

Wedding cake

Oh yea! I forgot to post the wedding cake and groom's cake pictures. My nephew got married in March and Auntie Beth did their cakes. Here are a couple of pictures.

Gluten Free Lemon Cupcakes.

So, lately I have had a hard time with a tried and true basic Gluten Free cupcake recipe. I made some for the carpool princess' baptism in early March and they were soo dense and just unedible. Ick! They made great paperweights.  So I had to try them again. They were soo gooey. Kinda like the toy slime stuff from back in the 80's. (not that I remember the 80's mind you) So, I tried them again and adjusted the temp of the oven and the liquid content.  Yea, that didn't work either.  They rose nicely then fell hard like a drunk coed after last call. ( that's called imagery and my high school creative writing teacher would give me detention if she could for using that example)
On attempt number 4, I finally got a super dense but "non collapsed" cupcake. They tasted ok, but the texture just wasn't right. I'd changed the oven temp again, and cooled them more slowly, and changed the liquid and eggs and said a prayer and knocked on wood.... Still the cupcakes were meh. (yes, meh is an official culinary term)
So after much more research and a little private investigating I think I figured out me problem. Everyone who knows me knows I like a great deal. GF flour is expensive and I found some great GF flour at my IndoPak market. Well a few weeks ago I tried a larger asian market. Korean I think and got some rice flour there. The Korean market did not translate into english all the items I was looking for. Hmm. Not very helpful for this linguistically challenged person if you ask me. So I think I bought sweet rice flour instead of regular rice flour and according to my expert sleuthing sweer rice flour is gummy when used in baking.
So there you have it. Therfore I had to try my cupcakes again with sorghum flour instead. The color was slightly darker than with fine rice flour but they taste good.
GF Lemon cupcake
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp xantham gum
1tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup lemon pie filling (gf)
2tsp vanilla ext
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
Learned to aerate the flour and starch before measuring and sifting together. Then wisk together well.
I baked them in a 350 degree oven for almost 30 minutes.
I then made a lemon "Buttercream". I didn't use butter though because I was in a hurry and the butter was too cold.
1 cup butter (butter flavor crisco)
4 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup (about) lemon pie filling
1/4 cup milk (ish)
1tsp vanilla ext.
They were really good. If I do say so myself.
Bon Apetit!

This is No April Fools Post!

Ok, I may share thoughts and recipes and reading lists, but I seldom actually share personal information.  Kinda think it's safer that way.  However, since I don't really think anyone is reading this but me, I'm making an exception. 

I am what doctors would call morbidly obese.  I need to lose about 150 lbs to be at fighting weight.  That is so difficult for me to admit verbally even though anyone looking at me could guess.  So, I have decided to track my journey to a healthier me. 

I know that the number on the scale does not define me, and does not equal my worth.  However, it's the way I am treated by others.  Most salespeople won't look me in the eye.  It's like, I'm somehow less than a human.  I also have decided too that this is the time because I'm finding it difficult to do some very simple basic things.  I'm too large for lawn chairs and ended up missing my nephews first baseball game because there were no bleachers.  Ok, so April is the month! 

I know this journey will be difficult and more than likely lengthy.  I have not only body image issues to deal with, but exercise insecurities.  I need to work on food, obviously, but more so than that I need to work on my mind and heart. 

I am starting today a supplement advertised on Dr. Oz called Garcinia Cambogia.  It is supposed to help with appetite, and fat burning and energy without the crazy buzz.  So this morning I weighed in and took my first dose.

My ultimate weight loss goal is 100 lbs, but my more immediate goal is 10lbs. 

Magic