WELCOME to our monthly collection where we post interesting and fun information; stuff we came across that caught our attention or tickled our funny bone or inspired action.

I eat mostly gluten-free and by accident so does my family. I have struggled to find a gluten free flour blend that meets my criteria: gluten free, with a fairly good mouthfeel and healthy! That’s a trick as anyone who eats gluten free and also reads labels knows. A friend told me about Namaste gluten free flour blend and I am sold! It is quite good tasting (read feeling) and the ingredients are the best I have found yet! (They aren’t perfectly stellar, but a lot better than most gluten free flour blends you find!) Here is a Dutch baby recipe that I’ve used with this flour and they are very good!

Dutch Babies using Namaste Gluten Free Flour Blend

3 large eggs, at room temp

1/2 cup Namaste gluten free flour blend

1/2 cup milk of choice

Pinch or two of salt

1 T sugar

4 T butter

Heat oven to 425*F. Combine the eggs, flour, salt, sugar, and milk. Blend with a stick blender (or in a stand blender) until very smooth.

Place butter in a 10″ cast iron skillet and place in stove until butter is melted. Add the batter to the pan and return to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes (until the baby is puffed and golden). Turn the oven off and let set inside oven for an additional five minutes.

Remove from oven, cut in wedges and serve at once with syrup, jam, powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

I was visiting with my younger brother awhile back and he said, “It’s just so…. BOUGIE!” I had no idea what the word meant, but I told Weston later the only word I can imagine it coming from is bourgeoisie. After you read the definition, I hope you don’t come up with too many acquaintances who meet the criteria for being bougie! Maybe you will come across this word now and know what it means. That is what happened to me! I had just learned the word, and not more than a few days later, I read it in a book! I was delighted that I knew what it meant! I love it when serendipity touches my life like this!

You shouldn’t be having trouble with knowing where to read your books this summer, but just in case you are, we have a blog post to help you out! A Thought From A Carrot Top clues you in with all the most delightful places to read, and I couldn’t agree more! 1 and 3 are a tie for my favorite places!

There is a reason people complain about the English language! Why does it have to be so complicated?

One thing I ask for every year at Christmas is the Day to Day Calendar that is titled 1000 Places to See Before You Die. It sets on our table and we look at it every morning at breakfast. We learn so many cool things from it. Every Saturday there is a trivia question and it’s about grounds for divorce with us if one gets it right and the other one doesn’t. The other Saturday the question was ‘What is a group of Cheetahs called’. There were four choices, so we knew one of them was the right option. I chose Coalition, even though I didn’t have a clue which one was right. I got lucky, once again. I have a tremendous lucky streak, my husband says, because I get a lot of them right. I say it’s all the reading I have done, tucked in my brain somewhere, waiting to be of use. Anyway, that question sent us down the rabbit hole of animal group names and we came across this cool list. How many of these did you know? Some sound familiar, others totally unheard of.

I’m a huge fan of Legos, as long as others are putting it together. Lego sets are a common gift in this house for all four of us. If I get a set, the girls love putting it together for me! I came across this set on Amazon the other day and I absolutely am in love with it! I would love to open up a box and this would be inside! I would be happy to let my girls and Weston work on putting it together for me. Isn’t it the cutest set?!

I read within a poet’s book
A word that starred the page:
‘Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage!’
Yes, that is true; and something more
You’ll find, where’er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.
But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest. 

~  Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

If you are looking for an easy trellis this spring, look no further than the humble hog panel.  It works like a charm for anything viney you want to grown in your garden.  My husband put one up for me, and I can't wait to get some Morning Glories growing.  That is one of the flowers that even my black thumb doesn't kill! 

What about you? What have you found this month that is interesting and out of the ordinary? Share it with us in the comments!

PS There may be fewer articles through the summer. We are following inspiration instead of schedules.

PPS Wishing you sunny summer days!