Gluten Free, Cow Milk Free Coconut Cream Pie

When I asked what Kevin wanted me to bake him for our 4th anniversary, he said "Coconut Cream Pie!!!!" No hesitation. My husband and his family have been in love with this one recipe for forever so I called up his mom and got the specs (thanks Sandy!). The original version is full of cow milk and of course a flour-based pie shell. When it came time to make the pies, Kevin was like, I bet we can use that Pamela's Bread and Baking Mix to make you pie crust and then use goat milk for the filling! I hadn't even thought of making me one because I'm still trying not to focus on new pastry/sweet concoction recipes right now while I'm training for the half.

But we made me a version of the pie, and it's so good! I wish we had bought one of those throw away metal pie pans, because the one pyrex version we had was a little bit big, so the crust might have been spread out too thin and the pie filling didn't fill up the whole space. Other than that, we wouldn't change a thing. Kevin didn't even notice the goat milk taste and thought it was the real thing (although once he ate his version of the pie and went back to mine, he did notice a *slight* difference).

Gluten free, Cow Milk Free, Coconut Cream Pie
Filling:
1/3 cup of Pamela's Bread and Baking Mix
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups goat milk, scalded (microwave for 2 min)
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Crust:
I used Pamela's recipe except I used vegitable oil (soy) instead of butter (should be able to use any type of oil) and the recipe on the back of the package suggests refridgerating the dough for 30 minutes before baking. Poke holes in the crust with a fork around all sides and bottom (use a fork, one inch apart).

Mix flour, sugar, salt well in a cooking pot. Gradually add milk. Cook on medium heat until think, stirring constantly. Add small amount of hot mixture to the egg yolks (so not to cook the egg immediately). Stir egg into remaining hot mixture. Cook for two more minutes without stirring. Add vanilla and coconut. Cool and then pour into cooked pie crust.

Makes one pie.

Running update
My ankles and knees are telling me that I need new shoes. Kevin and I will be going to Academy today or tomorrow to pick up another one of my favorite pairs. Not normally supposed to get new shoes right before a race, but I'll break them in on a run on Wednesday and while walking throughout the week, and I've been getting the same pair for forever now and my feet are pretty much molded to shoe.

Also, here's a random word from Kent

"Life is best lived with eyes wide open." -A Word from Kent, mighty mighty Super Dog.

Ha! He's so cute, ain't he?

Gluten Free Breaded Turkey Fingers and More Kayaking

So this past week, Kevin and I tried to make some delish turkey fingers with some of the new Pamela's Bread Mix and Flour Blend that we bought when we were in Dallas at the beginning of the summer, and oh oh they were goo-hood! The recipe called for deep-fat frying, but we decided to just fry them up with a little coconut oil in the bottom of the pan. Oh, they were tasty. As a kid, I'd usually order chicken fingers and french fries where ever we'd go out to eat (since it's quite often a staple kids' food item in most American-style restaurants). I've not missed the calories those meals packed, but I do miss the taste! Next time, we're thinking about baking the turkey (or chicken, whichever one is already cooked) so we can get rid of more oil.

On another note, I was doing some graphic design research for an upcoming project at work and I was looking at the Sonic Web site. I took a quick gander at their "allergen info" link (those things change quite often so it's good to check back every once in a while), and I noticed that their french fries and tots don't have gluten, milk, peanut, egg, or soy ingredients (not that I have a problem with soy or egg, but that's just an FYI for those staying away). Whahoo! Kevin and I might partake of some this evening along with the rest of our fourth anniversary celebration. Yeah us! Love you, Kevin!

On to the kayaking. Yesterday, Kevin and I tried out the single-person kayaks and had a lot of fun. We noticed that we could go a lot faster than in the tandem kayak and we had less, ahem, coordination problems. On the other hand, it's a little more of a solitary activity (even though we were fairly close together most of the time) kind of like jogging. Still had some drama though (hee hee).

Here we are, sitting on the peaceful lake, watching ducks swim by, fish jump, and birds skim the top of the water. Beautiful and relaxing workout. [sigh...] Oh, how wovely and momantic!

Then we head on back to the lakehouse and Kevin decides it would be great fun to chuck a stick at me (piece of rotting something...). I yell out in pain and surpise and give him the bull elephant-death stare characteristic of the "great cap gun incident" of '06 (which was actually our honeymoon). We've come full circle, I know!

Now the average person might say "oh, did that hurt? Sorry I was just trying to be funny. Ready to go back to shore?" This statement shows remorse, gives an explanation, and changes the subject so that negativity is not dwelt upon for too long. Right? Least of all he could have just said, "oops" and then moved on. But that's not what happened.

Kevin chucked another stick.

His explanation: "I wasn't sure if you yelled because of an emotional reaction or because you were actually hurt, so I thought I'd throw another one to find out."

Ha! Sadistic! Cruel! And as I think about it a day later, quite funny. But man did that hurt.

Half-marathon update: Katrina looks to be working through her injury (don't hurt yourself Trina!), Kevin's still staying off of his, and I've completed my last long-long run before the half (did 12 1/2 miles last Saturday morning). Felt good afterwards, and I might have felt better had we not watched Into the Wild later that morning. Depressing beyond depressing. My soul is still healing after someone tried to suck it out of my body and stomp on it. Thanks Trina and Brian!

Kayaking Fun

Okay, so Kevin and I went kayaking for the first time yesterday. Used a two person kayak. Had lots of fun (!!!) except for one aspect.

So it should be pretty obvious that I've got loads slow-twitch muscles...and very little upper body strength. Kevin has long arms; they're strong. And, you have to be in-sync with one another in a two-person kayak.

Kevin and I will be trying out the seperate kayaks next time.

Sad Day for the Running Peoples

Kevin and I visited with Kayla, Terrell, Brian, Trina, and Seth this weekend. We all went on a run on Saturday (minus pregnant Kayla, of course). Kevin and I did an 11-miler (whooo, that was humid and hot, but a lot of fun). Sad news: Trina, the fearless leader this summer, has hurt her achilles tendon and may not be able to make it to the half. We're praying for her right now!

Refried Go Power

Yesterday was the third day that Kevin, Seth, and myself have been eating off of a big pot of cooked beans (that's not all we've been eating, that's just a side that's lasting a long bit of time). It's got a mix of pinto, black, kidney, and red. Kevin cooked it up on Monday so yesterday I turned it into refried. Most recipes for refried call for like four cups of cooked beans and two cups of oil. Yuck! I've modified the recipe to where it's got like two cups of water and a table soon of oil (kind of like mashed potatoes). Way better.

Anyway, that's one of the carbs we've been running on lately. Yesterday, we took off toward campus around 8pm or so and played a little three-person football. I've come to realize that I need to work on two things in order to become the next Dallas Cowboy rookie of the year:

1. I need to work on acceleration and speed. I lose Kevin and Seth in about the first 3 seconds the ball is loose and it kind of looks like I'm not even trying hard; might as well just stand still and sacrafice the body with a good tackle...then die after a after short life.
2. I need to be able throw the ball farther than 12 yards...and do that accurately.

So, although I had a lot of fun running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, maybe pro football is not for me.

I'll always have the beans.

After sprinting around a bit, we came back to the house, I made refried for the next day, and then I went on a two mile run (see my time to the right). I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't sped up since I've been training for the half this summer (even by an average of 10 seconds would be great, please?!!). But I've come to realize that those large leaps of improvement only happen once a year. I had a leap around December-January where I started runing very long distances easily under 11 minutes per mile, so I'm not yet due for one.

But I'm having fun. "Run on" allergy peoples!

Long Road to the Marathon

So I've been blogging off and on for a while this summer (can you blame me? it's summer!!!). I apologize! But for a while now I've been working hard at training for various races and the upcoming big two (the half marathon and the full) and it's been consuming my creative energy. Also, I've been avoiding blogging because I haven't really been thinking a whole bunch about food lately (trying not to so that I can loose a few pounds for the races). But just now I thought "Hey, this is my blog! I can do what I please! I don't have to always talk about food!" So I'll be blogging a lot about my training for the next two to three month and if food comes up, which I'm sure it will, then I'll talk about it. Sound good? Good!

So last weekend Kayla and Terrell witnessed our pain in the local sprint triathlon (300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run). I killed on the bike with my best time yet of 16 mph (even though we've gone biking only like 3 or 4 times prior to the race), which totally supports my husband's belief that I'm more of a natural biker than a runner. The swim would have gone a little better if I had remembered to take off my watch before hand and if I had put my goggles on before the horn. Needless to say, my mind was not in the right place for the open water swim and I was hyperventilating for about 1/3 of the distance. Then I just held on for the run at about a 10:30 or so pace. A triathlon is just such an interesting experience, lots of transitions, multiple sports, we have to do one at least every summer.

So now were ramping up for the big half marathon with the rest of the family. At this point, I've counted 7 people from Kevin's side of the family will either be running the 10K or the half marathon in August. All because little Trina wanted to run this summer. Crazy!

So this past weekend was our second long run in the training for this race. We went out to the favorite hilly country road and started running at about 7:15. Ran 9 miles in an 11:02 pace. Boy it was hot for the last half. I'm pretty sure it was at least in the mid 80s but the humidity was pretty high so it felt hotter.

Last night, Kevin's cousin Seth went with us on a 4 mile neighborhood run. It's always nice and cool around 10 pm, so I went a little bit faster and ran a 43:17 or a 10:49 minute per mile pace. I'm not quite up to par with what I did for my last half in January, but that's pretty much a given considering it's summer time and I'm a couple of pounds heavier from eating all those gluten-free, carb-filled, rice-based, ready-made foods I discovered all spring semester (mmmm...gluten free, 120 calorie for two oreo cookies!!!! Yummm!!!!). Anyway, it was really fun to run in a pack. We don't do that too often, mainly because Kevin runs at the speed of light, and it's not very convenient to find someone who's available and at your same speed for every run.

Also on the running front, Kevin and I bought these reflective running bands for our ankles at Academy sports for about $5. They seem to work really great for our late night runs and I feel a little more confident about not getting run over. That's always nice.

So that's about it. I might blog more often now that I've come up with a new strategy. And no need to fear! I'll come back to blog about food and recipes more often after the ordeal is over.

In the words of my boss with some minor modifications, "Run on" allergy peoples!

The Whole Foods Mother Ship

I went to Austin this past weekend to visit the folks and we hit the gluten free, milk free, yada yada mother load! We picked up waffles, goat cheese, Oreo-type cookies, and bagels!!! I'll post pictures next week.