Hi guys! I've been receiving some injections for my arthritis. Today, I began injections for my neck. All things considered, I'm very lucky. I haven't needed any surgeries, just nerve blocks & rhizotomies. Looking forward to a day really soon where I won't need to see my pain specialist, and can work on Sam & I's cottage bakery full-time, and finish up my culinary degree. I can't believe it's going on two YEARS since I had to go on medical leave due to my pain levels & active lupus. I love being home with my family but I miss doing God's work in the kitchen. I do love thinking about posting here on my blog as well, but my true passion is teaching face to face.
I've accumulated a few different recipes with pics, so I'll be posting those soon. Just bear with me, our wi-fi at home is temporarily off too. It's difficult at times, not being able to pay all our bills when they're due. We're juggling them at the moment, but Sam's gotten a government job, so we should get back on track real soon. God always blesses us with what we need, just not always what we want, when we want it.
As for my eating habits/gluten & sugar free-I am still focusing on eating gluten free, but I've gone back to having sweet tea during the day. I can't consume a lot of sugar though, or it'll make me sick to my stomach. I did start eating regular loaf bread for sandwiches, and immediately got a skin rash, and a slightly upset gut. The gut irritation subsided after a day, but my skin rash is still around. It itches rarely, when I eat gluten bread two days in a row.
I'm still cooking gluten free and learning new recipes all the time. The problem I'm coming across is the texture and fluffiness of the baked goods. There are plenty of all-purpose mixes out there, so I wouldn't have to buy a lot of different starches, flours & add-ins, but there's nothing like figuring it out for yourself, especially when we're trying to match our already delicious baked goods from our cottage bakery. My next challenge is pate a choux dough, or creme puff & eclair dough. I'd LOVE to offer these in our retail space we're planning on opening. Most of these recipes won't be posted on this blog though since my husband & I know how easy it would be for other restaurant owners to "steal" them for themselves. We don't want to give away all of our hard work & research.
That brings me to our business. Sam & I have been blessed with many avid fans of our sweets. We've been featured in the Dallas Morning News, and we've met lots of folks. However, when I had to take time away from our business, we lost a lot of customers, and we "cut off" many due to legal issues re shipping baked goods out of state. We want to start accepting funds through a crowd-funding website, so we may begin construction asap. That is our goal at this time. In the meantime, we'll be opening up a new website to offer our baked goods, decorated cakes, private chef parties, catering events, and culinary teachings.
I especially love to teach children and families. I've done it through a non-profit organization called Cooking Matters for a couple of years now and enjoy meeting so many eager students. Sam & I both love giving back to the community, and we especially love our church. We do whatever we can to assist them with catered events and dinners. In the past, we worked with a Cares Team couple as well. Cares Team is another non-profit organization who offers planned events for specific apartment complexes. We demonstrated Chicago style pizza from raw dough to finished product. We also catered three other themed events at their apartment, including a healthy eating habits and a Mardi Gras event.
I'm logging off for now, but will be back on soon with the recipes I promised. Everyone have a blessed weekend!
