Friday, December 26, 2008

Out of the Office

Hi, this is Nowheymama. I'll be out of my blog office and in Florida at my in-laws until Friday, January 2. Please leave a comment after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Jamie, the post about allergens in baby toothpaste can be found here.

Vivian, the books arrived today, and I am saving them for a surprise for the kids when we return. Thank you!

Allergy Mom, I can't wait to meet you!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Overheard

At the store last night:

Preschool Girl: (weeping) "Mommy, I want [whatever toy she was lugging around]. Please?'
Mother: "We're not buying any toys today. Santa is coming in a few days to bring you toys."
Preschool Girl: (crying) "I want to buy it! I can buy it with my money!"
Mother: "Oh, you have money? I don't think you have enough."
Preschool Girl: (crying) "Yes! I have my air dollars!" [Ed.: I believe she was referring to her pretend money.]
Mother: "You do?"
Preschool Girl: (sobbing) "Yes! I have forty air dollars! I want to buy it with my air dollars!"
Mother: "I don't think that's enough, Honey."
[Conversation continues as they leave for another aisle.]

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Monday After The Day Before

The dreaded stomach virus hit our house this weekend, leaving heaps of laundry in its wake. Katherine and I spent Saturday subsisting on Jello water and Gatorade, but for dinner Scott made us Chicken and Dumpling Soup (made with Bisquick dumplings to make it dairy free) and homemade rolls.

We did manage to make it to the neighborhood Christmas party Sunday afternoon, where the kids decorated gingerbread houses (made of graham crackers) and ate lots of cookies. Santa stopped by, and some of the children took the opportunity to request toys their parents had never heard them mention before! Santa said he'd "see what he could do." Gee, thanks, Santa! That's swell. Maybe it's a good thing Scott and I had to postpone our Christmas shopping date until tonight because of illness.

This morning we had a two-hour delay because it was four degrees outside (-17 with the wind chill). The much-anticipated first grade concert at the nursing home was cancelled due to weather (They practiced so much!), but the Christmas party (for which I am providing nut-free, dairy-free sugar cookies) is still scheduled for this afternoon.

What kind of last-minute shopping and one-clicking and cooking and baking are you doing?

Friday, December 19, 2008

Free Priority Shipping!



Today is the last day Go Dairy Free is offering free priority shipping on the new Go Dairy Free book! Click here and order it by midnight (PST) for $19.95 in time for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Sweets for the Sweet

Wendy tells me that WalMart discontinued Sam's Choice semisweet chocolate chips. What the heck, WalMart??? The only affordable dairy-free chips most people can easily find, and you do away with them. I did find a new dairy-free baking chocolate on sale at our grocery store, though: Scharffen Berger Semisweet and Bittersweet Baking Chunks.

And, our grocery is finally carrying So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt. Dairy and soy free! (A lump of coal to YOU, O'Soy, for adding DAIRY to soy yogurt.) Now Katherine can have yogurt again, and I can make the rest of the recipes in My Sweet Vegan.


If you're going shopping at Marshalls, look for bags of Guylian Solitaires. They are delicious dairy-free dark chocolates, and Marshalls usually carries them around the holidays.



***

OK, this is NOT dairy free, it is dairy full, but if you are near a Le Gourmet Chef and you can eat dairy, go buy some of this Peppermint Candy Cane Dip and spread it on brownies. Or chocolate cake. Or dip chocolate graham crackers in it.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Shuttemup Cookies

Thank you all so much for your travel suggestions. AAA! Consignment store toys! Genius.

We had a very busy weekend of Christmas Cantata and Christmas play and Christmas dinner. Scott and Katherine did their cantata and play parts very well, and I made the easiest chocolate chip cookies in the world to take to the Christmas dinner.

Shuttemup Cookies, adapted from The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken
She calls them "the fastest chocolate chip cookie," and she ain't lyin.

Cream together:
1 cup dairy-free margarine
1 cup light brown sugar

Then add:
2 cups flour
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Mix it, press it into a 9"x13" rectangular pan, and bake it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. (I use a rimmed cookie sheet.) Cut it into bars while it's still warm. "If you forget, just break it up when it's cool."

Friday, December 12, 2008

You Can Be My Yoko Ono

Or, you can be my Florida travel guide. Please?

We will be spending the week after Christmas in the Tampa area (specifically Sun City Center, where You Can Play Golf Until You Die (TM) or whatever their slogan is). Since we will be flying, we will be packing a minimum amount of toys, and there will be no toys at our final destination. How can we entertain three kids for a week in the Tampa area? Swimming in their grandparents' pool will get us only so far.

Go!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Santa Was Early

Actually, Amazon was early. And didn't feel the need to put my Christmas present from Scott in a brown cardboard box, so when I answered the door yesterday afternoon, there was the UPS guy with my gift. (Thank goodness it wasn't one of the kids' presents, AMAZON.)

I'll miss having something to open on Christmas, but I'll dry my tears while I get started on Christmas baking:



What do you like to make with your mixer?

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dairy-Free Gifts, Part Two

If you're looking for an easy gift to send someone, how about an Ebook? No shipping! Arrives instantly! Environmentally friendly! Inexpensive! Paperless society!

Hannah Kaminsky has two excellent Ebooks available on her site for just $5 each: Mission: Impossible Pies and Lunchbox Bites. They are both full color and have photographs of all of the recipes. Each one is 20+ pages, so recipients could easily print them out if they choose. (Shh!)



Mission: Impossible Pies has recipes for easy, crustless, vegan pies. This means that they are automatically dairy free, but Hannah writes that they can easily be made gluten free and some can be made soy free. The book includes recipes for:
Apple Streusel Pie
Banana Creme Pie
Chocolate Fudge Pie
Coconut Pie
Cookies and Creme Pie
Cran-Cherry Pie
Lemon Curd Pie
Mint Chocolate Chip Pie
Peanut Butter Pie
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potato Pie

Mmm...pie....



Lunchbox Bites includes recipes for:
Cinnamon-Swirled Banana Sandwich Bread
Best Bran Muffins
Brownie Bites
Chipsters
Coffee-Buzz Energy Bars
Hummus Crackers
Peanut Butter Bomb-Shell Blondies
Peanut Butter and Jelly Toaster Tarts
Pie Cups
Root Beer Pudding
Steel-Cut Oatmeal Cookies
Strawberry Crispy Rice Treats

The Coffee-Buzz Energy Bars are definitely a grown-up treat, but the rest of the recipes are great for anyone in the family. My kids are especially excited about the Strawberry Crispy Rice Treats, and I'm happy to find another use for my steel-cut oats: Steel-Cut Oatmeal Cookies!

***
You could pack some of these lunchbox treats in a Laptop Lunch system for someone because Laptop Lunches (whose lunchbox Katherine uses) is offering 20% off all items until December 16. Just enter the code: holiday2008.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Dairy-Free Gifts, Part One

Hey, if you're virtually throwing gifts (like cheap toys) in your Amazon gift sleigh and you're trying to make the total go over $25 so you can get free shipping and you need a gift for the dairy-free person in your life, have I got a recommendation for you.

TA DA!



Yes, Alisa's Go Dairy Free book is finally available on Amazon. And yes, a couple of my recipes and hints are in it. But that's not why you should buy it. You should buy it because it is an amazing resource book and cookbook all in one. Since it arrived in our house, it hasn't even made its way to the cookbook shelf because it's been in constant use. "We need a dairy-free cream cheese frosting recipe for Thanksgiving!"
"How do you make a dairy-free buttermilk substitute again?'
"What should we have for breakfast?"
"How about Banana Crumb Coffee Cake?"

I would also recommend it for the vegan in your life because while Alisa was developing dairy-free recipes, she went ahead and made a LOT of them vegan, too. 'Cause that's how she rolls.

Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living $19.95 on Amazon.com.


[Edited to add: I just noticed that Amazon is saying the book will ship in 3-5 weeks. What the heck, Amazon? So if you need it right this minute, go to godairyfree.org (where it is $19.99) and they will ship it to you at no extra cost. Or if you or your gift recipient has one of those fancy Kindle thingies, you can get it for that through Amazon for $9.99.]

Monday, December 08, 2008

Giveaway!

Go over to One Frugal Foodie for a chance to win one of two Divvies gift packages! Just tell Alisa your favorite popcorn flavor in the comments by Thursday.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Props for Teacher

For the second year in a row, Katherine's class has collected the most box tops for the PTO. (No thanks to me.) Last year, they won a popcorn party, so I sent in a bag of dairy-free microwave popcorn for her to eat. This year, they won a pizza party. *Sigh*

Before I could figure out a plan B (like sending in a piece of cold dairy-free pizza), Katherine's teacher phoned me to see what we could work out.

Teacher: Is there a place in town that makes pizza that's safe for Katherine?

Me: Yes, it's [Pizza Place] and she can eat their regular pizza with no cheese. They're the only place in town that has never messed up our order.

Teacher: Well, they're going to be getting a lot more business from the school because of it.
[PTO Lady] said she was going to order all the pizzas with cheese and my student could just pick it off, but I told her that wouldn't work. I said I would call you to see what we could work out.

Me: Thank you for being so vigilant!

Teacher: Sure. Now I'm going to call [Mother of Student with Peanut Allergy] and make sure that pizza is safe for her, too.

You rock, Teacher!!!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Lollipops and Fields of Flowers

Sometimes things go on that just aren't bloggable. For me anyway. Let's just say that I agree with Not Your Aunt Bea that things are a bit craptastic right now.

How about some healthy denial, otherwise known as "Lollipops and fields of flowers!" Let's make a Christmas meme. If one already exists, sue me.

Favorite Christmas Carol: O Holy Night (when sung WELL)
Favorite Christmas Cookie: These coconut-rice krispie-date things our neighbors used to make. Anyone have the recipe?
Favorite Christmas Movie: It's a Wonderful Life (Which is also my favorite movie, period.)
Favorite Christmas Tradition: Lighting candles and singing "Silent Night" at the Christmas Eve service, then driving home to see the luminaries our neighbors line the street with each year.
Christmas Dinner: Usually ham or roast beef
Best Childhood Christmas Present: When I was 11, I asked for books, and I received about 15. I spent a lot of time putting them in the order I wanted to read them. (Yeah, yeah. NERD.)
What do you do with Christmas Cards? We keep them in a basket on the entertainment center.
Sitting on Santa's lap: fun or scary? Scary!
EDITED: New questions from MzEll!
What is the best gift you've given?
Wow, probably the little door to my Mom's college mailbox, purchased from the college after the building burned down.
What is your favorite Christmas book?
I LOVE Christmas books. My favorite is the story "Christmas Every Day."
When did you find out the truth about Santa?
I was pretty young, but I thought it was fun to keep "believing" till I was 9 or 10.
Christina adds:
Where is your favorite place to celebrate Christmas?
Our house.
If you think of more questions, I'll add them. Otherwise, consider yourself TAGGED. EDITED: or, you can answer some or all of the questions in the comment section. Come back and let me know if you post the answers on your blog!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

That New Oven Smell

Our new oven is here and it is installed, thanks to the gas-line technician (our plumber), the electrician (my husband), and the nice delivery guys who left the new stove and then came back again to install it after the old one was disconnected. No thanks go to the unhelpful telephone support lady who tried to tell me that I didn't pay to have them remove the old stove and put in the new one and therefore owed Sears $100+. Sarah don't play that.

After heating up turkey soup for lunch, I baked Catherine Newman's Yamberry Muffins. Except I used leftover pumpkin pie filling instead of leftover sweet potatoes. (The pie filling was from the freezer. Calm down, Salmonella Police.) And I greatly altered the amounts of the other ingredients. Otherwise, they're the same muffins. Oh, how I've missed having a gas oven. Let the Christmas baking begin.

Monday, December 01, 2008

December First

I've been away from Blogger so long, it logged me out.

I have hundreds of blog posts in my reader, and tons of emails and comments in my inbox.

We hosted a wonderful, busy Thanksgiving weekend with lots of company and food.

One of our oven's heating elements burned out in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner prep.

We could A.) put $100 into our ancient stove and fix it or B.) buy a new stove.

Guess what Sarah and Scott are getting for Christmas?

Katherine doesn't have school today because it is the first day of buck season.

The kids are making their Christmas lists.

They already received perfect early gifts from their aunt and uncle this weekend: a Star Wars clone, a race car, and a baby doll.

We're going to start decorating the house today, and maybe make some more ornaments.

If you want a cute, easy (cheap) mess-free ornament craft that's great for children to work on while you shop online, order these RIGHT NOW.