I'm doing a lot more gluten free over conventional baking lately. Not just for myself, but for anyone and everyone! It seems as though more and more folks really appreciate the option, and if I can pull it off in a way that no one misses anything, I am even baking without refined sugars. And besides all that, it's fun! There's a brave new world of available flour options, from sorghum (a favorite of mine), to millet flour, to my new favorite, teff flour. And the best thing is that we are all feeling better about life!

While an all purpose gluten free flour mix is generally okay for most baking and an easy choice, I am not a fan of all the rice flour and starches which may simulate texture and structure,

It's a cold and rainy early spring day. Well, truth be told, it's actually coming down in buckets, with lightening and fury, temps are at a raw 42 degrees and I'm freezing! Winter's filibuster continues well into April and I feel like a hot bowl of soup is in order. When I need a fast pot of soul warming goodness, the soup I've been making since the kids were knee high is based on a good neighbor's recipe so long ago.

No doubt, I have made this soup hundreds of times, to the delight of my family...yes, it's one of their all time fav's! And it's one of those recipes that becomes a template for a thousand variations,  easily adjusting to improvisation, which is so important when you realize you're missing an ingredient! The original recipe was