Cooking With C.C. ~ Gluten Free Rice Krispies Pumpkins

Welcome back for the 2nd installment of Cooking with C.C. Today (actually, last Sunday), we'll be making Gluten Free Rice Krispies Pumpkins. Just because you need to eat gluten free, does not mean you can't have yummy treats.


For this recipe, you'll need 10 Tootsie Roll candies, 6 cups of Gluten Free Rice Krispies (I bought mine at the local discount store), food coloring, 1 package of miniature marshmallows, and 3 tablespoons butter.


In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat until it is completely melted.


Dump all the marshmallows into the saucepan.


Stir until all the marshmallows are melted.


Let your daughter take your picture while you stir. :)


Add food coloring (1 drop red and 2 drops yellow).


Stir until mixture turns orange.


Decide mixture isn't orange enough and add more food coloring (another drop of red and 2 more drops of yellow).


Stir until mixture turns more orange (in retrospect, I'd probably add even more food coloring because once the Rice Krispies are added, it doesn't look as orange as I'd like).


Dump in 6 cups of Rice Krispies.


Stir until Rice Krispies are coated and mixture is ooey gooey.


Forget to coat your hands with cooking spray and end up with a mess on your hands, literally!

Have your loving husband scrape the mess off your hands with a spatula. Wash hands well. Ask loving husband to spray your hands with cooking spray. Shape mixture into balls.


Place each ball on baking pan lined with wax paper. Mixture should make about 10 balls.


Stick unwrapped Tootsie Roll in each ball. Voila! Gluten Free Rice Krispies Pumpkins!

Hope you've enjoyed this episode of Cooking with C.C. I'll be back soon with another gluten free pumpkin recipe. Enjoy!

Cooking With C.C. ~ Gluten Free Cappuccino Bars

Most of my regular readers know that I have gone gluten free in efforts to help my fibromyalgia. One thing I had not tried since becoming GF is to bake. You see, I'm not really a kitchen person. Give me a crockpot and a microwave, oh and a coffee maker, and I'll be a happy gal! Well, over the summer, I found out from my Mom that the youth minister's wife at their church is GF. I met her just a day after we moved here and we have discovered how much we have in common. We've been sharing tons of recipes that we find online and she, Katie, suggested we get together to bake.

Either my Mom or I had run across this recipe for cappuccino bars, but it was not a gluten free recipe. I sent it to Katie anyway and asked if she could convert it to GF. She was able to do it and we got together Tuesday afternoon to have my first ever GF baking experience! I took tons of pictures and am going to try to walk you through making this recipe. I did not save where the recipe came from so if you come across my blog and this is your recipe, let me know and I'll definitely give you credit.

Let's begin!

First, preheat the oven to 375*F with the rack at the middle level. Line a 10×15 inch pan with baking parchment or grease lightly. (We just used Pam and it worked fine.)


In a bowl, combine 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (at room temperature),


1 cup of brown sugar (firmly packed),


1 tbsp. of instant coffee or espresso powder (not granules), and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.


Cream together with your mixer.


You may have to use a spatula to get everything off the beaters during the process.


In a separate bowl, mix together 2 1/4 cups of all purpose gluten free flour, 1/2 tsp. of xantham gum, 1/2 tsp. of baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. of salt.


Use a whisk to slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.


It may become easier to use a spatula to mix at some point.


Lastly, stir in 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips using a large spoon. That is unless you use the really big chocolate chips and then it will be hard to get more than about 1 cup in the batter.


The mixture will be very crumbly, with barely enough dough to hold together the chocolate chips.


Spoon the mixture into your baking pan.


Use your fingers, palms, and heels of your hands to press the dough evenly into the pan. If necessary, cover the dough with wax or parchment paper and use a small rolling pin to flatten the lumps. We used the big spoon first and then finished with a spatula.


Bake 5 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until the edges are just starting to brown (watch carefully). Ours took the first 5 minutes, the next 10 minutes, and then 2 more minutes.


Remove from the oven and set aside to cool 5 minutes.


While the bars are cooling, combine 2 tbsp. of milk (we used almond milk), 1 tbsp. of butter, 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon in a saucepan.


Use a whisk and stir over medium heat until smooth and barely bubbly. Don’t leave this stuff! It might burn if you do.


Drizzle the glaze evenly over the bars.


Smooth out the glaze to the edges and corners with a spatula. Now, the hardest part! Let the bars cool until the pan is just warm to the touch.


Cut into bars with a sharp knife. The original recipe suggests cutting them into 32 pieces. Ours ended up being 35 pieces. Now, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why we were cutting them into such small pieces. Until...


...I ATE ONE!!!!! These bars are super rich. Make sure you have a beverage handy because you'll definitely need it!

These cappuccino bars were eaten up super quick! Between splitting them with Katie and her hubby and the five of us here at the house plus the extra guest we had, they were gone in 2 days. Damaris is already begging for more! (And I agree with her, just don't tell her that! LOL!)

Hope you've enjoyed this episode of Cooking with C.C. I plan to be back with more recipes soon, all having something to do with pumpkin! Enjoy!

Happy 14th Anniversary!

14 years ago today, I married the love of my life. I, a very young 19 year old, junior in college and he, a still pretty young 23 year old, senior in college, joined our lives together in our college church on a weekend early in the fall semester of another year of college. 14 years have come and gone and I pray that we have 14 more years many times over still ahead of us.

I thought it would be fun to put together a list (of 14 of course) of things that have happened during or about our 14 years together.
#1 - We've lived in 13 different houses/apartments since we got married (the crazy thing is the 4.5 years in one of them and 2.75 years in another one, too weird!).
#2 - We have earned 5 degrees between the two of us (Russ has a BA, MA, and MDiv and I have a BA and an MDiv).
#3 - We have one beautiful daughter Damaris who is about to be 12 years old (we aren't old enough for that to be true!!!!!!) and three precious children, Jordan, Micah, and Noah, in Heaven waiting for us.
#4 - We both were ordained to the ministry in a joint service about 2 years ago. I guess that makes us "The Revds Almon".
#5 - We've come to a place where simplicity is important to us. We were able to go from needing the biggest Uhaul truck available to fitting everything for the 3 of us into a 17 foot truck. We have truly learned that possessions are not the most important thing (I'm sure you'd argue for your books though LOL!).
#6 - You are a much better cook than I am. Give me a crockpot and I'm ok, but anything else that would take me ages to figure out and probably wouldn't turn out so well, you can do without batting an eyelash.
#7 - Our marriage is one of mutuality. The respect we have for each other is a big part of what makes our marriage work even after 14 years!
#8 - Who knew that when we vowed to have and to hold in sickness as well as in health, that sickness would be such a huge part of our lives. Thank you for your constant care of me regardless of the state my body is in.
#9 - Reading has remained as important to the two of us as it was 14 years ago and we have passed our love of reading on to Damaris. She can devour a book almost as quickly as I can!
#10 - On this day 14 years ago, we could never have imagined the grief we would experience in our years together. Our three precious children, grandparents, my uncle, your mentor, and many others. God, please keep giving us strength to endure the loss we feel in our hearts daily!
#11 - Who knew how much we would love sci-fi and fantasy and that we would pass that on to Damaris. Stargate, Star Wars, Star Trek, Chronicles of Narnia, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, just to name a few.
#12 - Even though we keep leaving, we keep ending up back in the West Texas area. Even though we're in SE New Mexico now, I won't be surprised if we go back to West Texas in the future. Unless we end up in Colorado or Canada!
#13 - Even though you are outnumbered 2 to 1 in our house, you still keeps things in a state of semi-balance with your books and football versus my pink, pink, pink! :)
#14 - So many of our hopes and dreams have come true and we still have so many that we are still hoping and dreaming of. I can't wait to look back in 14 years and see where we are then compared to where we are now and what has happened with our hopes and dreams!

My love, I cherish every day with you! Happy Anniversary Bubba!

Top 10 Things NOT to Say to Someone With Chronic Illness

I ran across this image this week and could really relate because I have heard many of these things since being diagnosed with my illnesses. I'm posting this in the hopes that one less person with a chronic illness has to be hurt by someone saying one of these things to them.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

September 12-18, 2011 is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. This annual event, started in 2002 by Lisa Copen, features a variety of ways to get involved. With nearly 1 in 2 people living with a chronic condition, about 96% of those people are suffering silently with invisible illnesses.

As a part of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, there is a meme, 30 things about my invisible illness you may not know, that many people participate in. Here is mine.

1. The illness I live with is:
not just one illness; fibromyalgia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, hypothyroidism, depression

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year:
fibromyalgia - 2009; polycystic ovarian syndrome - 1998; migraines - around 2002; hypothyroidism - 1998; depression - 1999

3. But I had symptoms since:
fibromyalgia - 2007; polycystic ovarian syndrome - 1997; migraines - around 2001; hypothyroidism - 1997; depression - 1998

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is:
having to use a power wheelchair and/or cane to get around

5. Most people assume:
that there is nothing wrong with me because I do not look sick

6. The hardest part about mornings are:
being in such bad pain that it is difficult to even get out of bed

7. My favorite medical TV show is:
I'm a long-time ER fan. It was part of the reason I became a hospital chaplain.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is:
my cell phone; I use it to call doctors, find out information about health issues no matter where I am, and to call my husband, family, or friends when I need help

9. The hardest part about nights are:
waking up so often; I rarely get any restful sleep

10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please)
17 but that doesn't include if I need to take additional pain pills or pills for when I have a migraine

11. Regarding alternative treatments I:
have tried massage and acupuncture. Massage is helpful for up to 48 hours but I can only get massages when I find someone affordable (like the massage school in Houston). However, here in Carlsbad, I have not been able to find an affordable massage therapist. Acupuncture did not work for me at all. I tried, I really did, but it was very short-term relief and did not improve long-term as I was told it would.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose:
visible, because then people would be able to see what I was going through versus always wondering or being unsure.

13. Regarding working and career:
I would love to be in ministry again, but the stress and hours that I endured during my 2 years as a hospital chaplain almost killed me. I am continuing to recover and rest and have Sabbath. Will I ever be able to go back to work? I don't know at this point.

14. People would be surprised to know:
how much it hurts to have people who I thought were friends disappear because I am not the person they think I was before my disease. I'm still the same person, some things just have to change because I cannot do all the things I used to do. Please continue to be my friend! I need people to walk this journey with me.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been:
not being able to do things I used to do, like running or taking a long walk or spending the day doing fun stuff with my family, because I'm in so much pain, because I don't have the energy, because my stability is so bad, because I am so stiff I can barely walk or sometimes cannot walk at all

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was:
fight through two years of 60+ hours of work per week, surrounded by stress, surrounded by illness, surrounded by pain, surrounded by death, surrounded by hate but also surrounded by love, surrounded by joy, surrounded by friendship, surrounded by hope, surrounded by grace, surrounded by peace; I honestly cannot believe I made it through those two years; there were days, many days I wanted to give up, but I didn't and I'm so grateful

17. The commercials about my illness:
are ridiculous; you cannot just take a pill and be all better; if only it were that easy

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is:
running, I would give anything to be able to go for a run, right now!

19. It was really hard to have to give up:
my mobility, yes I can still walk (some days), but I have to use a cane to do it and some days I have to use a power chair; I would love to be able to leave the house and walk around without having to use my cane, with the ability to use both of my hands versus having to figure out how to balance things with only one hand because the other hand is holding the cane; I am not truly mobile because I have to rely on something else to help me remain stable

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is:
none that I can think of. I have continued my hobbies of knitting, reading, blogging, drinking coffee/tea, watching tv/movies with my family. I think my plate is pretty full with these ones without adding another hobby. :)

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would:
be in the mountains at a great b&b, get up early, go for a long run, have a big breakfast with Russ and Damaris, go for a hike in the mountains, have a picnic lunch, come back down the mountain, have some alone time sitting beside the river with my journal, have a dinner date with Russ, and then back to the b&b to cuddle up in front of the fireplace

22. My illness has taught me:
to be more grateful

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is:
but you don't look sick

24. But I love it when people:
ask how I am really doing and actually take the time to hear my response and walk this journey with me

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is:
Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT) - For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them:
surround yourself with people who love you and will walk this journey with you regardless of what happens

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is:
how much it impacts every part of my life; there is nothing that I say, do, think, or feel that is not impacted by my illness

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was:
bringing a meal for my family

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because:
I want others to realize that just because you cannot physically see an illness, does not mean it is not there. Please don't make assumptions. Please don't turn your back on someone because they are ill. Please keep walking the journey with me and others like me!

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel:
that you might want to understand what my life is like; that you care about me; that you want to be a part of my life; that you want to walk this journey with me

Action, Reflection, New Action

My friends and colleagues who have been in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) will get a kick out of the title of this post. Action, reflection, new action was a huge part of the CPE method. We put it into play with Damaris' schooling these last few weeks. We had located an online public school that is free that we thought would work for us. After about three weeks, we knew it just wasn't working at all. There were rules that were just too stringent that we struggled with. And it was miserable around the house as Damaris tried to find work to fill the hours after completing the daily assignments but not the hour requirement.

So, Russ and I talked yesterday and decided that homeschooling was still the right thing to do, but we needed to make some changes. Ultimately, we want to purchase the curriculum we used previously before she went to public school. However, that curriculum is going to cost us about $400 plus whatever it costs for a Spanish course (haven't decided which one to get yet). We just don't have that right now.


So I went searching online and was able to put together a curriculum that costs us almost nothing but covers everything she needs to be learning. We'll be able to include fun outings and I've reached out to the homeschool group here in town to try to get connected with them. Damaris is really excited about the change.


Already today, we are feeling much less stress and it has not been a fight to get her to do school. She is taking advantage of the fact that her G-Pa is off work today and she is going with him to pick up her cousin Lola and have a fun outing with them. If we were still doing the original curriculum, she would not have been able to do this because of the time requirements.


As I sit here typing this, there is such a sense of peace and calm in the house. This is what the homeschooling I remember (we homeschooled originally through the middle of 4th grade) was like. Sure, there were times when things got stressed or frustrating because of the struggle to learn and/or teach a particular concept, but overall, it was like it is this morning. So, we put into place action, reflection, new action and this new action seems to be working for us. Thanks CPE! LOL!

Until next time,


Some images are from Homeschool Boutique

Just Some Sentences

It's tough being a parent sometimes.

It's interesting to share a house with Russ and Damaris plus my parents and sometimes my sister, brother-in-law, and almost 3 year old niece. Things are certainly lively most of the time.

I have really bad self-control when there is candy in the house.

I am devastated that there is no Starbucks in Carlsbad. I really want a pumpkin spice frappuccino. Going from a place with a Starbucks on every corner to the nearest Starbucks being 75 miles away is tough!

I can't figure out why I'm struggling to get the same amount of stuff done in more hours than it took me when I worked full time.

I am anxiously waiting for the arrival of the Dish Rag Tag - Team Knit 1, Win 1's box. That means I have the USPS website up and I refresh it very, very, very frequently.

Russ sent me this blog entry Becoming Weaker & the Power of Powerlessness. Very moving! I encourage you to watch it.

There are at least 3 clocks in this house that play music on the hour. One of them is very confused because it plays Christmas music all the time.

Sleep is still not going well for me. Last night, I woke up pretty much every hour on the hour from midnight on. Took a nap this afternoon. Hope that doesn't mean I won't sleep at all tonight.

I lost almost half a pound this week. I just need to stay out of the candy (see above).

That's about all I can think of. Until next time,