If I Owned a Restaurant...

I love steak. And one of my favorite things to do with leftover steak is this.

It's simple, just lettuce, sliced steak, sunflower seeds and blue cheese dressing. It's flavorful, blue cheese and steak are a match made in heaven. It's super quick and easy to prepare. And every time I take a bite, I think, "If I owned a restaurant, this would be on the menu."

On this day, I then asked myself, "If you owned a restaurant, what else would you have on the menu?"

Hmm... 

Cupcakes. Definitely cupcakes. 

And Lemon Bars.

Then I'd probably throw Chicken and Rice on the menu, just because this version is so different from what most expect.

So today, I thought we'd play a little game called If I Owned a Restaurant. And this is how it goes. If you owned a restaurant, what would be on your menu?

And...go!

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Potluck Love

I love potlucks. I mean, why limit yourself to just one entrée/side/dessert when you can sample a dozen different ones?

Last weekend we attended two potluck meals. So aside from getting to sample the dishes others brought, it gave me an opportunity to prepare some of my favorite recipes. You know, the ones you don't dare make unless you've got plenty of people to share them with, otherwise you're stuffing your face with those delicious leftovers for the rest of the week. And while that is enjoyable, things come to an abrupt end when you can no longer fasten your pants.

Our first potluck was a dinner. A farewell party for some good friends. And I knew I had to bring a pan of Chocolate Lasagna.

All that chocolatey goodness simply has to be shared.

This easy and oh, so tasty recipe can be found here.

I wanted something savory too take, as well. Something that was more of a party food. So I opted for Hot Hawaiian Beef Sandwiches. I saw the Pioneer Woman make these a long time ago. Now, I always make them for our Christmas lunch when I have lots of growing boys to feed. Don't be put off by the pepper jack cheese and small amount of hot sauce. Between the sweet rolls and cheese, any spice is more about flavor than heat. That recipe is available right here.

For our second potluck, which was after church, I knew I had to bring my favorite broccoli salad. 

This stuff is so addicting. And while it's not unhealthy, it does make a pretty good sized batch. Find out how to make it here.

Of course, no church potluck in Texas is complete without peach cobbler.

It's a quintessential favorite. And this recipe is my personal fave. You can find it here.

Yep, all that good eating made for one really good weekend.

Now it's your turn. What are some of your favorite potluck recipes?

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

The Great Eat All The Candy You Want Experiment

When I was little, I used to tell my mom I wished candy was good for us so we could eat all we wanted and steak or green beans or beets, whatever I did NOT want to eat for dinner, were bad. I think I was this age when I said it.

Gotta love the dress, huh? I think the rubber band in my hairdo was too tight.

I grew up and got to control what I ate. Did I choose all the candy I wanted? Nope, for me it was bread. Give me bread and butter over chocolate any day.

Fast forward to 2003/4.  A bad bout of the flu a year earlier left me with bruises all over my body, pretty close to bedridden. Every time I ate a bagel I would almost collapse and be unable to move. Doctors wondered if I had leukemia or severe diabetes. Yikes!

Fortunately, in the loosest form of the word, blood tests and biopsies revealed my body wasn't processing vitamin B-12 and I was allergic to wheat and corn.  A celiac disease blood test turned up negative.  Trips to the nutritionist got me on the road to "clean" living with no bread (whaaaaa!) and no processed food since most contain corn.

For ten years I've done pretty well, but still deal with osteoporosis, anemia and other absorption issues.  With our medical fun this year, turns out it's a good year to have anything done that I've been putting off (nothing like reaching your out of pocket medical expenses by April). My doc and I decided it would be best for to re-visit my wheat allergies since those celiac tests of a decade ago and even allergy panels were notoriously inaccurate.

Guess what? For a month, I got to relive my modified childhood dream. I got to eat things like this every day:

I didn't go overboard. After all, it wasn't just celiac we were looking at but how allergic I was. A cracker one day, a roll in San Antonio, a pancake at the local breakfast place. Why, you ask?  Well, gluten in wheat affects the small intestine villi that absorb nutrients. Doing a biopsy is the only way to tell if you have celiac since the blood test can go false negative. As much as I eat carefully, if I do have celiac, then I need to go extreme on the clean eating, the whole separate pans for cooking, no cheating on eating route. 

I didn't notice much, except bloating, when I started. By the end of the month, I couldn't move. Deja vu all over again! Did you know a sign of a food allergy can be extreme fatigue? I was never so happy to have my last meal of a croissant and bacon scone from the local french bakery.   An aside: One of the employees told me they discovered he had a gluten sensitivity after he developed pneumonia from working in the back with the flour.

I'm still waiting for the biopsy results but whether I turn out to have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity in addition to a wheat allergy, I'm sticking with my diet of extremely "clean," no-processed foods unless they are wheat and gluten free. So I will eat things like this:

And this:

  
And this:

As you see, living wheat, corn and gluten-free could be a lot worse. Looking forward to exploring  gluten-free fall recipes with you in the coming weeks.

So, if you could eat anything you wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what would it be? Have you ever had to give up one of your favorite foods for health reasons?