Wisconsin - Favorite Things

Before we drove back to Texas, my mom, dad, Iivana, and I went to visit my grandparents in Wisconsin for a few days. It's almost been 2 years since I was diagnosed with celiac disease and when I go to visit my grandma and grandpa I am pleasantly surprised at what they've done to accommodate my dietary needs.

1. Schaum Torte

One of my favorite desserts that my grandma makes is called schaum torte. It's been a favorite of mine even before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, so I'm excited that it is a dessert that I can still indulge in. It is basically a meringue, but I think it is more fluffy and marshmallow-like. When my grandma makes it, I don't think she even uses a recipe. I was searching for recipes on the Internet to post, in case others were interested in making it. I think this one seemed close to what I remember of hers because I've made it with her when I was younger. Although I don't think she uses vinegar, but she does the second method cooking option like the recipe suggests where you preheat the oven and then turn it off after a couple minutes and allow the torte to cook for hours. Mine pictured below is topped in strawberries and whipped topping. I came across this lemon schaum torte recipe that I thought looked interesting to try to make in the future.

2. Chicken Rice Soup
Every time we would make the drive from Michigan to Wisconsin for as long as I can remember, when we would arrive my grandma would have homemade chicken rice soup ready for us for lunch. She normally uses bullion in her recipe, which contains wheat; but she makes a special batch for Kristen and me that doesn't use it. Mmm, I always try to replicate her soup, but hers is always the best.

3. Wisconsin Brick Cheese
These are my favorite Wisconsin things all wrapped into one trip! Because what is a trip to dairy land without cheese. We always buy brick cheese, which is a treat because we can't really find it other places outside of Wisconsin. It's a light, buttery tasting cheese which means you can eat slice after slice. I brought a couple pounds of it back to Texas with me!

Just the Facts

May 1st brings Celiac Awareness Month. You know how much I love Pinterest and Udi's! I couldn't help but pin several of their facts about celiac disease. Check out more of them here.

No pills, no crumbs, and no cross contamination.

So many undiagnosed out there.

My sister! And quite possibly more family members who have not yet been tested.

Eek, for me it was 18 years! I'm glad there is more awareness now.

Here's more information about celiac disease.

Quick Trip

Last weekend we were able to go to Michigan for the weekend. We were able to see tons of people; if only we could've had longer conversations with everyone. Justin set up a tacos and euchre tournament on Saturday night at his parent's house. I feel gracious for everyone who thought of me and brought GF treats! My mom made GF chocolate chip cookies, my sister Jill made GF brownies, my sister Kristen made regular GF Rice Krispie treats, Amanda made gourmet GF Rice Krispie treats, and Ashlee made GF cannolis! Not to mention Justin's parents had the house stocked with loads of GF foods from frozen waffles to bars and even marshmallows.

Unfortunately I didn't take many photos. I had told Justin that I was going to take many pictures, but I seemed to have gotten caught up too much into cards, desserts, and conversations.

Amanda's GF Rice Krispies: half are made with caramel and chocolate while the other half consisted of peanut butter and chocolate. I loved her plating of them too.

O-M-G GF cannolis!! They were so delicious that I ate two. (I would've ate more but everyone else gobbled them up too.) While I was eating my second one, I was completely distracted during cards and probably cost my partner a few points.

I was able to get one picture of actual people (not just food.) Hmm...here's wishing I had more people photos.

I was also able to spend time with my niece, Maren and my nephew, Jett. We bought Maren some Tom's for her birthday, which is this month. (You know how much I love my Tom's. I'm hoping to get some of the new ballet flats soon.)

In the summer I posted about my favorite Michigan things. Thinking about this weekend trip, I was able to repeat 4 out of my 5 favorite things! I saw family, drank Faygo courtesy of Aunt Sally, ate too many desserts, and bought more Jenna Kator purses!

I was on the hunt for the Peninsula Drive purse. Prior to our trip, I noticed it was sold out online and wasn't sure if I'd be able to find one. I had told Justin my one request of the weekend was to go to the boutique in Monroe that sells the Jenna Kator handbags. I wanted to look at them for myself because things often look slightly different in person. When we pulled up to Belle Fleur, it was closed! I was disappointed because I had checked the store hours earlier. However, there was a phone number on the sign, so I gave it a ring. The store owner said that January is a slow month and they were at shows so they decided to close for the weekend. But she was so kind to drive to the store to see if the Peninsula was in stock. Fifteen minutes later she called me and they had one more in stock! So Justin and I went back to the store and were able to look around at everything.

The Peninsula Drive

I began to fall in love with more of the purses as I browsed the store. With a little encouragement from my hubby, I decided to purchase another one! I also bought the Huntington in brown.

Like our Detroit rug that I scored an awesome deal on from a Groupon? I figured it was a fitting place to take photos of my new handbags since they are Michigan inspired and designed.

If only weekends were longer...

My Latest Obsession

After dinner on Friday we stopped at Central Market HEB, which was down the street from Paloma Blanca. We wanted to browse their huge wine and beer selection. We also checked out their gluten free options.

I knew Udi's semi-recently came out with cookies, but this was the first time I saw them anywhere. I had to buy some, so I chose the chocolate chip ones.

I think these cookies are awesome because they are chewy! It seems like the majority of the GF cookies are hard and crunchy. These are kept in the freezer, which is nice so you can pull one out whenever you want one. They defrost pretty quickly or I put one in the microwave for a few seconds.

I think they're comparable to other cookies nutritionally too. The serving size is two cookies for 7 grams of fat and 150 calories.

My mouth waters just looking at this picture. They are rich and buttery tasting with tons of chocolate chips. I'm interested in trying their other cookie flavors.

My Favorite Things - Michigan Trip

I love making lists.

I was away on vacation for 14 days, which would be nearly impossible to catch up all of the details from my amazing trip.

As a result, I'm going to share some of my favorite Michigan things.

1. Family 

Me & Kristen (my fellow celiac)

Of course, number one on my list is seeing my family. I saw all three of my sisters, my niece, my nephew, my parents, Justin's parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandpa, even my grandparents from Wisconsin came! I had fun with every single person I saw.

2. Faygo Pop

So many flavors at Meijer.

My favorite flavor is diet Rock and Rye. I describe it as a cross between cream soda and red pop. In fact, at the store I questioned if there was actually rye in the pop. Then Justin's mom made a good point, is there actually pepper in Dr. Pepper? Just to be certain, I emailed Faygo about their gluten status. Here was their response:


Hi Karen,

All Faygo products are gluten free.

Thanks for writing!


3. My Jenna Kator Handbag

I had been obsessing about these online for quite awhile. When looking at the shop locations, I knew I would have to pick one up on my trip! My procrastination got the best of me and I waited until the day I left to search for this Corktown purse. The handbag came with a longer strap as well, that I've been rocking for the summer time. There are little pockets inside that make organizing easy.

Jenna Kator went to Michigan State and named her collection after places in Michigan, which I love! I will hands down support a Michigan designer over other designers.

4. Desserts! 

Everywhere I went, everyone was very supportive of my dietary needs. Justin parent's bought a toaster oven for GF stuff only! My mom always made meals that were naturally GF. Kristen and I were always eating first to avoid cross contamination with bread crumbs. Everyone was so amazing.

Desserts are a treat for me. I honestly don't eat as many cookies and cakes that I used to. When I was home, there was no shortage of desserts!

Disclaimer: I have more photos of the desserts than I do of my family. Some of the pics are not the greatest quality either because I felt like my dog, Iivana, with my mouth watering while I looked on.

Julie brought GF cupcakes from a bakery in Berkley. The carrot cake was my favorite.

My mom took me to Vince & Joe's to pick out some things from their GF bakery collection. I chose:

Bumpy GF Cupcakes

The topping was outrageous!

The frosting to cake ratio was almost equal.

My mouth is full, yet I'm still smiling.

I also picked out some GF peanut butter candy cookies. (aka Reese's Pieces inside)

I've had some amazing cakes since being gluten free, but cookies are a lot harder to replicate, in my opinion. I love soft, chewy cookies. Most cookies I've tried are as hard as a rock. These were a little stiff, but the peanut butter and candy made up on the crunchiness. 

Then Kristen arrived in town and was craving carrot cake from Vince & Joe's. The carrot cake was moist and filled with raisins. Like I said, so many delicious desserts.

My mom made homemade strawberry pie with Michigan strawberries for my grandpa's birthday. So she made me a crustless version. I never really liked pie crust anyways. The insides are the best part of the pie!

5. Biggby Coffee  

My mom gave Justin and me a couple gift cards to Biggby (formerly Beaner's). After quick research, I concluded there should be some GF options for me. To confirm these suspicions, I questioned the barista. He read me the label, asked me questions, and was patient. We went to Biggby twice. One time I ordered the Caramel Marvel iced. The next trip I ordered Caramel Mellow (caramel + marshmallow) hot. I love that you can order hot, cold, or frozen. I didn't take any pictures of my drinks :(

But if I had the option between Starbucks and Biggby: it would be Biggby every time!

• They offer several GF options. Upon further research I found:

Biggby Coffee Did you know all of our sauces and syrups are gluten free?? Only one drink currently on our menu has gluten - our chocolate chip cookie creme freeze. B happy!! ^FF

This was a recent Facebook post from May 23!

• And they are Michigan based!

 Check out my other favorite things here.

My Favorite Things

I often share my favorite GF recipes, products, and restaurants. I also want to share some of my current favorite things with y'all too!

1. Tom's

Just look at my collection

They are my favorite shoe to wear to work. I find them amazingly comfortable and can walk around all day in them! They offer enough support and are cute too.

You may remember around Easter I posted that I would be getting a new pair of Tom's. Well, here they are...you can wear them with or with out the pink laces!

Did I mention, for every pair you buy a child in need receives a pair of shoes!

2.James Avery charm bracelet

I know it's a little blurry, but it's the best I could get. I guess the shiny silver was too much for my old camera to capture. In the future, I hope a new camera makes my favorite things list. Slowly, but surely my Texas charm bracelet is growing, it represents my time living here. 

My current charms include my "special teacher" apple charm that Justin bought me after my first year of teaching along with the "K" charm for Karen to start my bracelet. For my birthday, he bought me the deep in the heart of Texas charm. The dog bone with "Iivana" was a Christmas present. For valentine's day, I received the "te amo" charm.

I want to buy this awareness charm some time this month since May is Celiac Awareness month. I was diagnosed with celiac disease down here, so it deserves to be a part of my bracelet as well.

3. Netflix Instant Stream through Wii

We successfully spent most of our weekend streaming movies, documentaries, and TV shows. For only $7.99 a month, it saves trips to the Red Box and is available instantly, no mailing required. While the streaming version doesn't have all the latest movies, it has enough to keep our interest.

4. Shark Professional Steam Pocket Mop

All of my favorite things can't be fun and games. My sister, Jill, shared her love for her Shark mop with me during our Surprise Attack trip. I hate cleaning, especially the floors...but this steam mop makes it a breeze. I used to use the Swiffer Wet Jet but it left a residue and always felt dirty. This baby only needs distilled water and steams the floor sparkly clean. It doesn't require much hard scrubbing motions either. If there is something stuck, you simply hold it over the spot a little longer, and it will come off!

Now I must do one of my least favorite things...grading papers. Only two more weeks of school left.