My Casa Bella

COME IN THE EVENING, OR COME IN THE MORNING;

COME WHEN YOU'RE LOOK'D FOR,

OR COME WITHOUT WARNING.

KISSES AND WELCOME YOU'LL FIND BEFORE YOU,

AND THE OFTENER YOU COME HERE

THE MORE I'LL ADORE YOU!

-Thomas Osbourne Davis



Welcome To My Casa Bella

My Casa Bella- means-my beautiful home- but it can mean so many other things. How you make your home a home. The sounds of children or pets playing. The aroma of scones in the oven or a lilac candle burning. The flowers blooming in your garden. The home grown vegetables ready to be picked. Grandma's quilt at the foot of the bed. A fire to curl up to with a good book. Or just a family spending time together with love, laughter and a good time.





















Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Another Handbag & Gluten Free Cooking

Do you love the beach?
I know I do!!!
So does the young girl
that I made
this bag for.
Her mom wanted to give her
a gift and she
asked
if I could make a bag with
the color of aqua
and a beach
theme.
So I searched, and searched
for fabric and
found this.
Then I added bamboo handles
which I just love.
This was fun to put together,
although,
I say that for all my bags.
I just love seeing
them come
together,
piece by piece.

My Gluten Free Cooking:
I made some Gluten Free Shrimp Scampi!
MMMM, was it ever yummy!
I used these noodles
which is like Fettuccine.
Sauteed the Shrimp
in garlic
and some spicy herbs
and made a
fresh
homegrown salad and
that was
dinner.
Then I made a Flour less
Chocolate Cake or
Tarte Au Chocolat
Served it with a Cherry Sauce
and had a cup of
Trader Joe's
Organic Coffee.

Now for some time I have been
looking for a
delicious Gluten Free
Oatmeal Cookie
recipe.
I'd say about 8 months ago
I found a recipe
that said it
won awards.
Now I SWORE I saved that
recipe,
but could not find it
ANYWHERE!
I searched online for it again
and it was
nowhere to be found. I was
quite
discouraged.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
oatmeal cookies,
but my tummy
doesn't agree.
Now my stomach is really
acting up,
and it seems I may have
H. Pylori
AGAIN!!!!
My symptoms seem to
be the same.
So after alot of research
and reading
I didn't realize
you can get it again!
So, my research
has led
me to
understand,
that I have to completely
AVOID:
Gluten
Wheat
Dairy, mainly cow, especially processed,
Soy, (which I avoid anyway)
so basically
NO LIFE!
Well, not really,
thank goodness for so many out
there who patiently
post GF recipes,
dairy free recipes,
and
they are so willing to share them.
I also love
the
website and magazine.
So many
recipes and ideas of healthy
living for
sensitive people like me.
Why can't I just be
normal?
I was grocery shopping on Monday,
and it took me
twice as long to get the right
foods
because I have to read
EVERYTHING.
Food right now
makes me sick.
My breakfast consists of a fruit smoothie
made with
Almond Milk
and I add
Aloe Vera Gel that comes
in a bottle.
For lunch, something
light
and GF.
Dinner, is a veggie or salad,
with chicken or light
fish,
and rice.
I have to be so careful now.
I never would of
thought
I'd have to do this.
Organic food,
Gluten Free Food,
Dairy free,
although I do buy
Goat's Milk for
my
Organic, Decaf Coffee.
OK, enough complaining,
I'm sure
many of you out there
understand.
So here are my delicious
cookies
Last night I heard my DH
getting into
my Cookie container
then I hear
this,
"Mmmmm, these are good"
I wanted to jump
of my seat
and snatch it out of his
hand and
say
MINE!!!
But I didn't, mainly because
the recipe
made plenty,
and I would like him to
eat
healthier as well.
But its a good thing for him I had
plenty to share!
If you'd like
this
GF Oatmeal Cookie
recipe,
leave me a comment
with your
email if you'd like.
Have a great
Day!
It's VERY HOT HERE TODAY!
UGH!!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Handmade Handbag..other goodies

So I've been busy, busy, busy,
working in my
craft room, trying to get some
things done.
My dearest friend, Valerie and her
Hubby celebrated
an
anniversary and I wanted to give
her something
special
so I made her this
and here's a close up
But I'll tell you something, I
will
NEVER
sew a satin ribbon on a purse
again!!
It slid here and there, it wanted
to pinch
and
it was getting pretty
FRUSTRATING!
But
it was for my dearest,
best friend
so I did it for her and she
loves it.
I'm glad!
Then I've been altering clipboards
as well
 I made one for my
mom
and then I made another
one,
just because
I really do enjoy making these
and I have
a few more to make.
I enjoy cutting
the paper
and trying to find
paper to compliment it
as well
then adding the
ribbon
to
make it even
more pretty!

Today was a good day!
I met a very sweet
young lady
all
the way
from
Ambert, France.
We spent the day together,
she's a friend
of a
friend
and we got to talking
about so
many things
She had lots
of questions about America
and how
Americans do things here.
We compared
cultures,
which
was fun
and it is amazing
how different
things are.
Let's just
say,
I'm ready to move
to the
countryside
of
France.
I
keep asking my
DH
to see if his company
needs him to
move
to France, or UK, or
how about
just Europe?
Well,
Evidently not!
STINK!!!
But she talked
about the
open markets there
and how they
cook
everything fresh
each day.
Very healthy,
no fast
foods,
she never even heard of
frozen foods
before,
I had to explain that to
her.
The look on her face
said it all,
how
GROSS!!!
LOL
But I did get to go
to a
Mennonite Market today
and
purchased some beautiful
berries,

and a large beautiful Melon
and
the largest
spring onions
And although
it rained most of the day,
we had a nice
time,
I love hearing her speak,
love the french
accent.
And I was able to purchase
fresh produce
right from our
local farmers,
hmmm,
what should I do
with all these
lovely
berries?
Maybe some warm
crepes
for breakfast?
Sounds
good!!
Au Revoir!!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Summertime Fun!

(Isn't she lovely?)
This is one of many reasons
of why
I
LOVE
summer!
Seeing things come to life.
A week or so
ago I went out to my garden
and started
taking pictures. I try and
do this
every year.
Then I keep a journal
of what
NOT
to plant next year
or what to
do differently
next year.
Below are many of my
pride and
joys:



Since I've taken this picture
my veggies
have grown quite a bit and I've
been able to
make a delicious organic
salad
Its amazing how delicious
food tastes
when you grow it yourself.
I really enjoy
going out there and picking
part of our
meal.
I also have been able
to use some of
my homegrown Herbs
I marinated some chicken
with fresh
Rosemary
and then grilled it, MMMMM!!
Now on a
different story,
do you remember this?
After a terrible rainstorm my back
porch
looked like this the next morning.
Well
after some phone calls,
and insurance
calls,
we now have this
a new beautiful, sturdy, better quality
porch roof.
Not only is it pretty, but we gained more
space,
we can enclose it down the road,
you can walk on it,
the guy who
put it on demonstrated
that part for us....lol
but we hardly
payed
anything for it.
Insurance payed for the majority
of it.
How wonderful!
We also gained a new family!
Well, that
didn't last for long,
would you like to meet
Oscar?
Say hello Oscar, don't be shy
When I first saw him on our back
porch, I just
about screamed
because I thought
it was a rat!
It was so exciting for me,
because,
I am a City girl, and although
I've seened
more animals living here
than ever,
I've never seened a
baby possum.
But I have seened them as
adults and
honestly'
they
scare me
half to death.
So although Oscar was cute
he
HAD TO GO!!
So we trapped him in a
pet carrier,
drove him
to the woods
and set him free.
Now I have to explain first,
there was no
mama
around.
It turns out, my neighbors
down the driveway
found an
adult Possum
partly under their shed
and
wondered where it came
from.
It looked like it was
hit but didn't
die instantly so it
crawled down
to their shed
and try to crawl underneath
it but didn't make
it, and it
died.
How sad!
I did tear up as I was
telling
my DH about this.
I am an
animal lover
but I don't mess with wild animals
at all.
But then after Oscar was
taken to a new home,
two more appeared.
DARN!
So we trapped them
as well.
Then,
last thursday night,

Possum NO. 4
Oh my, what in the world!
How many
did she have??!!
While my DH was busy snapping
pictures, I was trying
 to lure
him into the carrier.
It worked!
We dropped him off, came home
and OMGosh!!
This insane.
Possum No. 5
No time for pictures,
need to trap
NOW!
Here's my DH taking
the last
one to
its new
home
When we took the first one
out here
I was actually emotional,
I felt so bad
but I knew we couldn't keep
it around
they get big and not so nice.
But by the time
No. 4 & 5
came around, I was getting
annoyed.
But they seemed ok
moving into
their
new home.
Whew!
I think that's done now.
Haven't seened
anymore
since that last one.
Adventures of
living in the
country!
We went to NYC to visit
my family
on Memorial weekend
and had a blast.
love walking around
the City(Manhattan)
and we
walked around
Jackson Heights, Queens
where
alot of the
Indians, from India
live.
That was so much fun.
But on our
way back home here to PA
it was bittersweet
as always.
I LOVE NYC but I don't
see
myself living there again
unless I
had to,
but it is still hard to leave
mainly
because I miss my parents
so much.
But I took some
pictures as we were driving on
the B'klyn Bridge
I really love taking pictures
of this
bridge.
It brings back many memories.
I've walked this
bridge
so many times.
But when
we got to the
Holland Tunnel
we got
pulled over by the Police.
Evidently,
you CANNOT
take pictures of the Tunnel.
He had me
delete that
picture and wanted to see
of what else
I took,
he saw the Bridge and
said that
was ok.'
Because of Terrorists
reasons,
no
pictures of the
Holland Tunnel.
That was new to me,
How embarrassing,
sorry
Officer.
Won't do that again.
So heads
up,
don't take pictures
of the
Holland Tunnel.
Well, there goes what I've
been up to
for the past few months.
Now its
cold and rainy
and I may
just do
some sewing today.