A weekend of reading!

What a calm weekend! I had a great weekend at home with lots of good food! This weekend consisted of reading Bethenny Frankel's book, Naturally thin, and relaxing. I have been learning a lot already in this book. She shares life experiences and really makes concepts very simple and almost makes you say "Duh, I should have known that."

I have been doing very well with being gluten-free. It has surprisingly become very natural already. Sure, there are some temptations (which I do SOMETIMES take 1 bite of), but feeling great is more important than food.

I had a lot of salad, fresh fruit, and oh I made a delicious Thai curry soup!

o Thai Curry Soup

·2 ounces rice noodles (pad thai noodles)

·1 tablespoon olive oil

·1 clove garlic, minced

·1 1/2 tablespoons minced lemon grass

·1 teaspoon ground ginger

·2 teaspoons red curry paste

·1 (32 ounce) carton chicken broth

·2 tablespoons soy sauce

·1 tablespoon white sugar

·1 (13.5 ounce) can reduced-fat coconut milk

·1/2 cup peeled and deveined medium shrimp

·1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

·1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach leaves

·2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

·1/4 cup chopped cilantro

·2 green onions, thinly sliced

v Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rice noodles and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water to stop the cooking; set aside.

v Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, lemon grass, and ginger; cook and stir until aromatic, 30 to 60 seconds. Add the curry paste, and cook 30 seconds more. Pour in about 1/2 cup of the chicken broth, and stir until the curry paste has dissolved, then pour in the remaining chicken stock along with the soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

v Stir in coconut milk, shrimp, mushrooms, spinach, lime juice, and cilantro. Increase heat to medium-high, and simmer until the shrimp turn pink and are no longer translucent, about 5 minutes.

v To serve, place some rice noodles into each serving bowl and ladle soup on top of them. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of sliced green onion.

It was simply amazing! My boyfriend, mom and dad all loved it! It does make a portion for only 4 medium size bowls though, so beware if making for a big family!

My mom also made her AWESOME gluten free oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! They are made without flour and no grinding of the oats necessary. They are seriously the best, good (and small) enough for my boyfriend to devour 6 in one sitting!

Oh another thing, I bought the ever so famous "Babycakes" book of gluten and sugar free and vegan cupcakes and other desserts. I am happy I bought the book, but I was completely unaware of all the ingredients I will need to buy to make ANYTHING in this book. I went to the local Amish (yes, Amish) baking store and bought rice flour, oat flour, and tapioca flour in hopes that those would be the only flours found in the book. I was sadly mistaken, because NONE of the recipes require any of those flours :( I am sure I will find other recipes elsewhere to fulfill those flours, and "Babycakes" will just have to wait.

I will take more pictures this week and be sure to post!