Where has time gone?

Wow! It's been a very long time since I've been here, and I promise I have a good excuse. I've been LAZY! Yep, that's it, lazy. But even more honest, I just plain forgot I even had this out there. But a lot has been going on in my life, especially lately. I've been sick since September, 2008 with terrible stomach problems. After all the different medications, gall bladder surgery and upper and lower GIs, they have finally reached a conclusion. Last Tuesday, I was diagnosed as being Gluten Intolerant. What's that you might ask? Good question! As far as I can tell, or understand (please don't quote me, and correct me if I'm wrong) but what it boils down to is that my body hates wheat products, while my tastebuds love them! Long story short, if I eat something with gluten in it, I get very sick and feel miserable for hours, sometimes a couple of days. So, I've had to make a complete lifestyle change which I was dreading and almost crying about, but am finding out it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I had started taking gluten out of my diet about a month before I was diagnosed, so the news wouldn't be as shocking. There are ton of gluten free products out there, more than I even expected. The hardest thing has been getting "rid" of bread, but I invested in a bread machine and have found some pretty good bread mixes that actually taste better than a regular loaf of bread. I've also found some brownie mix, cookie mix and my new personal favorite...Kettle Chips! I just got done making a gluten free pasta salad and the recipe is really easy...so I figured I would share it with you all since I always enjoy a good easy recipe. Especially when it's 90+ in Iowa today. All you need is gluten free pasta, a cucumber, carrotts, frozen (thawed) peas, diced onion and a bottle of gluten free ranch dressing. Take 2 cups of uncooked gluten free pasta and cook according to directions from the manufacturer. Let the pasta drain and cool and set aside. In a mixing bowl, add the thawed peas, diced onion, sliced cucumber and about 1 1/2 cups of chopped carrotts. I tend to add a lot of carrotts because they are my favorite, so use as many or little as you like. Add the drained pasta to the bowl and crack open that bottle of g-free dressing and start stirring. I also use about 3/4 bottle of dressing, but again, this is also up to you, depends your own personal tastes. Put in the fridge for about 3-4 hours and it's ready to go! Pretty easy, huh? I'll post a picture here in a little bit, but the picture won't do the salad justice...it's just plain wonerful! So, I suppose I should stop yapping for now and get back to my cooking. Please if anyone has any g-free info to pass along, do so...this is all very new to me and would appreciate any help at all. Enjoy your day and rest of the weekend! ~Kates~