What a week!!

Well, we had some weather this week. Seems like the whole month of June has been about powerful afternoon storms and tornadoes. Yes, here in Colorado.

We usually have one or two through the Spring. Now and then one does a lot of damage. This year we seem to have one somewhere nearby almost every day. So far as I know, none have destroyed any homes or vehicles. Only our new gazebo.

You remember from last time that we had just gotten one and put it up for Fathers' Day. Well, it's smashed now. We didnt actually have a tornado, that I know of. Beth said she and the grands were watching the wind blow the trees in circles when the gazebo began to turn and then just slid over onto the ground. Impressive for the kids. For us, too, in a monetary sort of way. We bought this one because the canopy of the last one was shredded by a similar storm. Guess we'll just build one with a real roof next time.

The Bridal Shower seems to be going well. Looks like out-of-staters are ordering from the online registry. That's good.

Today, Sharon came over so that she and I could try a new recipe- Gluten-free Almond Bread. Unfortunately, we ran into a hitch. It calls for dry curd cottage cheese. I wasnt aware that this product doesnt exist in the United States. The recipe came from an artist friend in Vancouver, so how was I to know. We called all over to find it. Nothing. Okay, not quite. Whole Foods said they can special order it for us by the case. Thanks. :

So, we had some regular low-fat cottage cheese. Not the first choice, but we'll try it out.

First we got out the Salad and Berry Spinner (sweet tool) and plopped the cottage cheese (8 oz. container) into the small basket, spun it around a bit, stirred it and spun again to get as much moisture off as possible. This was more successful than I thought it might be.

The we used the Food Chopper to make the dry curds into a kind of paste, which we then added to the rest of the ingredients (email me and I'll get you the recipe).

As it turned out, this method worked well. The bread came out pretty good. It probably works best as a base recipe, into which you might add your own favorite ingredients or spices. The bread itself could be used to pile stuff on, like some sauce and a slice of cucumber cheese with tomato.

NOTE: If you dont have a Pampered Chef Food Chopper, you need to get one. Besides the knives and baking stones, this is the tool I undoubtedly use most. When you want to chop nuts, tomatoes, celery or any food, it is the go-to tool in the kitchen.

You may wonder,"How is this Living Pampered?" Well, you see, it was Beth's PC income that bought that new gazebo. It also pays for her car.

Not only that. All these kitchen gadges make it easy for me to fix dinner on those nights when Beth is out with her PC friends or doing shows. While most guys have to go with frozen dinners or pizza, I'm actually getting to be a pretty good cook. In the time it takes to do a frozen pizza, I can fix myself a really fine mexican style supper or an italian style chicken breast, complete with home made sauce and sides.