Random Hearts

I cannot believe how much candy/how many treats came home from preschool today. Or, to quote my son, "Mama, I thought Valentines were that you cut a heart out of paper and wrote on it." I agree about the paper hearts. Well, paper hearts and chocolate.

I'm going to make a dairy-free version of this chocolate cake for dessert tonight. I made my dad's favorite cake for his birthday this past weekend, and when someone asked, "Where did you get the recipe?" I said, "Where do I get most of my recipes?" Entire table in unison: "Catherine Newman." Yep. (Stephanie O'Dea and Mary Ostyn are two other good guesses. I'm making Mary's blueberry muffins tonight, too. In heart-shaped muffin tins.)

Recently, while making popcorn in the Whirley-Pop Catherine recommended, Scott said, "She's really had an influence on our lives, hasn't she?" She has, and so have you. Happy Valentine's Day.

Roll with it

Why can't winter babies have outside birthday parties?

Supplies:

fire in the firepit

sleds

snowboards

snowball makers

snow brick makers

(Ask guests to bring their own snow supplies, too.)

extra gloves, hats, scarves

snow

Menu:

hot dogs cooked over the fire

carrot sticks, pretzels, raisins (for eating and snowman making)

cakes with snowboardingStar Wars guys and princesses

slow cooker hot cider with cinnamon

slow cooker dairy-free hot chocolate (made with powdered soy milk and no peppermint)

bottled water

Happy Birthday!

Five Years

All this growing up is making me woozy. Stop it!

Oh, all right. Fine.

Happy Fifth Birthday, Eli.

Five Months

Happy five month birthday, Graham. Now please stop growing.

Three

peaking of cleaning, I dug my My Friend Mandy, Jenny, and Becky dolls out of my parents' attic and cleaned them (and their extensive wardrobes) up for Helen's birthday present. I can't wait to give them to her tonight.

Happy Third! Birthday, Baby Girl.

Dear person who took my diaries

Dude, it's -5 degrees outside, and I didn't put the trash out till evening. It takes some kind of commitment to tear a hole in every single bag of trash I put out, including the food-filled kitchen bags that were in the closed trash can.

I understand taking the boxes of VHS tapes; I set those out hoping someone would. But thanks for reinforcing every irrational fear I have by taking my junior high and high school diaries. 'Preciate it! You're in for quite the whiny, boy-obsessed read! And the entry where I finally get my period--diary gold! If you were looking for sex, drugs, and drinking, though, boy did you pick through the wrong trash!*

I can't help but notice you left the elementary school diary behind. Too tame? Or maybe you left it because it was filled front to back and the others weren't. That's it--you're going to tear out the used pages and recycle the diaries! Paper salvage! Say it with me: paper salvage! I'm breezy!

Why couldn't I have thrown these out when I lived hundreds of miles away from my hometown? Or published entries from them myself?

But seriously. So people find out I had crushes on them. Or that they annoyed me. I wouldn't hold anything anyone wrote twenty years ago against them. Right? RIGHT?

[Lamaze breathing.] Paper salvage. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely paper salvage.

*The really juicy stuff was in the college notebooks.

New year, SOS

We have mice.

Christmas and Thanksgiving were great. Very low key.

So was the December visit with family.

Katherine had wonderful dairy-free food experiences.

She went on her first overnight trip without her parents, and it went perfectly.

Probably because she was with her grandparents and aunt and uncle.

One of my favorite relatives died.

I dreamed about visiting with her the other night.

I love having four children.

Four is enough.

I am in the process of a MAJOR house cleaning.

Hoarders motivates me.

Only the basement to go.

Tell me about your affordable basement remodel stories.

Graham is the best baby ever.

He's four months old and is growing way too fast.

I look forward to the space that will be created when we hand down baby items.

I never thought I'd say that.

I don't know how to do everything I need to do AND blog.

I miss you.

You are important to me, despite evidence to the contrary.

Have I mentioned the pinehole mice?

Three Book Reviews

Alternative title: I suck, but these books sure don't!

Yeah. Don't send me anything if you want a timely review. I think that's the lesson to be learned here. Sigh.

ANYWAY. On to three cheerful children's allergy books! The Bugabees: Friends With Food Allergiesby Amy Recob is an incredibly cutely illustrated book about bug friends, each of whom has a food allergy. The end of the rhyming book has talking points about each of the allergies. I think this would be a great book for young classrooms to introduce them to food allergies.

Dairy-Free Dino-Licious Dig
from the No Biggie Bunch by Heather Mehra and Kerry McManama by is more appropriate for a dairy-allergic child, as it teaches how to be proactive in situations where you can't eat the provided snack. Also cutely illustrated, it is part of a series of books on different food allergies.

Why am I Different?: My First Allergy Book is by Naomi Antenucci, who probably sticks pins in my blog on a nightly basis because she sent me her lovely book FOREVER ago. This IS a wonderful first allergy book for young children, as it introduces them to the basics of being food allergic. It has simple language and illustrations appropriate for little ones.

Any of these would be great Christmas presents for a teacher or child. For a book that focuses on the emotional side of being allergic, check out Gina Clowes's One Of The Gang: Nurturing the Souls of Children with Food Allergies.

Give the people what they want

"I'm two months old, Mom. Post some pictures already."

"Never mind about the drool spot on your pants."

"You're too busy? That's a good one."

"Be sure to show off my dimple."

"Seriously. Do it now."

Twenty minutes

5:20 pm--Notice wet, warm feeling on leg while holding baby on lap. Pat baby on back to calm him. Notice wet, warm feeling on hand.

5:21--Change baby into spare changing bag outfit so you don't have to go upstairs.

5:23--Put diaper in trash.

5:25--Hear loud noise in baby's pants, much like the one he made during the prayers of the people Sunday at church.

5:26--Ask children to bring another outfit down for their brother.

5:27--Start to undress baby. Decide to take him upstairs for a bath.

5:36--Bring baby back downstairs where his outfit is.

5:37--Baby peepees all over towel, couch, your shirt, his clean outfit. Yay, slipcovers.

5:38--Child delivering another outfit from upstairs accidentally steps in growing diaper/laundry pile, gets poopoo on sock, carpet.

5:40--Look at huge laundry pile. Wonder when husband will arrive home with box of wine.

Six weeks

I have a six-week old in my house. I don't know how that happened. Soon he'll be off to college and I'll be weeping for my babies. Although his sister will be 27 at that point, so maybe the gap between children at home and grandparenthood won't be that big. Yes, this is what I think about.

Someday, I will share the miraculous story of his birth, but I am way too jittery to focus on that right now because I am jacked up on caffeine and steroids. (Sorry, Nursing Baby!) Somehow I managed to get poison ivy all over my FACE despite being Cesarean-sectionally restricted to hobbling outside and collapsing on a lawn chair while the children run around with the neighbors. I've heard people complain about our GP being 'old school,' but today I got squeezed in for an appointment I didn't have to pay for, and they gave me a free flu shot, too. Old school doctor FTW!

Now I must figure out what to feed ALL OF THESE CHILDREN since our supply of new baby meals has dried up. I'm thinking scrambled eggs.

How are you?

He's here!

Graham Mommy'sMaidenName arrived at 11:28 pm on Wednesday, via C-section, after a day of being induced. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz, and his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck FOUR times. Baby and Mommy are TIRED and SORE but are fine and so glad to be home.

Oh yeah, that pregnancy thing

Well, I'm not on bedrest like Sarah, and I'm not having problems leading to a C-section tomorrow like Theresa, (Our babies will be birthday twins!) but I AM being induced tomorrow morning because of another big baby. That makes me four for four, people. Woot.

More soon when Baby Boy arrives. Hope all is well with you!

The I Hate to Cook Book

FINALLY! Some wise person decided to rerelease my favorite cookbook of all time, The I Hate to Cook Bookby Peg Bracken.

Here's an article about the book's 50th anniversary.

And now that it's been republished, I should probably stop posting so many of her recipes.

Salad dressing

We've been getting soooo many greens in our CSA box, and I've been trying to get the kids to choke them down. We've had success with:
Ranch Dressing
Zippy Little Vinaigrette (scroll down)

Thousand Island (Thank you, Internet!)
1 c. mayo
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. sweet relish

Teriyaki Dressing from Guerrilla Cooking
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. teriyaki sauce
1 t. sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Happy salad making, Happy Fourth of July, and Happy twelfth anniversary to Scott and me.

Uh, Hi

I am here. I am fine. The family is fine. The baby is fine. I am just the worst Internet friend in the history of Teh Internetz, that's all.

I miss you, and I appreciate your messages so much. I don't even have an excuse, except to say that I hit some sort of blogging wall and needed to be quiet for a little bit, and that little bit turned into, um, months.

This week is VBS, so we'll be out of the house a lot, but I'll catch up more soon.

Oh, COME ON

I try to get back into blogging and what happens? I get a horrible spybot thing on my computer. Thank goodness I'm married to a computer guy who's fixing it as I speak. As I type. Whatever.

Back soon....

I'm a loser, baby

Why yes, I am the worst blogger who ever blogged. Thank you for asking. We are all fine. I just took a tiny break that ended up lasting a month.

As I say, we're all doing well, including the baby, who we found out today is a healthy boy!

More soon. I've missed you. (Although I have been keeping up pretty well in my reader.)

What did you just call me?

Here's another recipe from that old cookbook of my mom's, How I Feed My Family on $16 a Week: brownies without chocolate called, um, "Whiteys." I told Scott that we should probably call them something else, but he insists we keep the original name.

Whiteys

1/3 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raisins (I leave out the raisins.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan. Melt shortening in a saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and raisins, if using. Spread batter in pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cool slightly and cut into squares.

I'm sure these would be good with frosting or chocolate chips instead of raisins, but we do like them plain.

Spring cleaning: the freezer

Hey! I can talk about food without gagging!

Because of some combination of Spring cleaning/nesting/guilt over how many Runs for The Border Scott's made for me/worrying about money, I straightened out our top-loading deep freezer on Monday to get an idea of what we have in there that needs to be used up.

We have:
LOTS of blueberries
various cuts of venison
lots of cooked, mashed pumpkin and squash
freezer jam: strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, and that failed batch of raspberry I use to make dairy-free ice cream
three jars of pesto
two jars of roasted tomato sauce
one jar of tomatillo salsa
dairy-free cupcakes and cookies for school and birthday parties
one bag of cranberries
herbs and spices

Last night I used:
two bags of blueberries and the last bag of peaches in a pie with sugar glaze
the last three bags of zucchini in a casserole (adapted to be dairy free, of course)
two pounds of venison chops
and six brown bananas in two loaves of banana bread

I can cook again! I've really missed it.

Gone All Day Stew

Here's what's for dinner:

Gone All Day Stew

1 cup pasta sauce or 1 can tomato soup + 1 T. Italian seasoning
1 cup water mixed with 1/4 c. flour till smooth
1-2 lbs. beef stew meat cubes
1/2 bag baby carrots or same amount of carrot chunks
1 large onion cut into eighths
4 medium potatoes cut into chunks
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 8 oz. container of mushrooms (I'm using canned today because that's what I have.)
2 dairy-free beef bouillon cubes
pepper to taste
1 bay leaf

Cook in a slow cooker on low all day or in a Dutch oven at 275 degrees for 4-5 hours. Five minutes before serving, add 3/4 c. frozen peas. A glug of red wine is good, too, if you have it. In the stew, I mean.

Stop sustaining that note!

Maybe it's because I have a child who watches H.S. Musical AND children who watch Sesame Street, but this gets me every. Single. Time.

The more you know

Tired of hiding food you don't like in your napkin or saying your stomach hurts? Try this excuse:
"Um, Mom? I'm allergic to spicy foods now, I think."

Hey, it works for your sister about dairy.

Whew

Everything appears to be fine with the one (Sorry, Swistle) baby. Thank you so much for talking me down yesterday.

I love love love the technician at my OB's office because she explains what she's doing/looking for during the ultrasound. She said that everything looks good from her point of view, although the information will be correlated with blood work, etc.

Then she asked me if I was going to find out the gender.
Me: "Yes."
Tech:"Well, it's a little early right now."
Me: "Right. I figured."
Tech: "I'm just going to play around for a few minutes."
*She proceeds to look at the baby from all different angles, stopping when she gets a good between the legs shot.*
Tech: "It's early, but if I had to make a guess, I'd say it's a boy. See? Right there?"
Me: "Wow! Are you going to give me odds?"
Tech, laughing: "No. We'll know for sure in a few weeks."

!!!

So we'll see, but I can't help planning bedroom rearrangements and getting excited. I know Eli will be happy, too. "If the baby is a girl, it will belong to Katherine and Helen, but if it's a boy, it will belong to me."

Things

Lost things that I ordered replacements for from Amazon so I don't stay awake stupidly worrying about them:
goggles for Katherine's swim lessons

Eli's favorite gloves

cup valves for Helen's favorite Dora cups


Things that were later found, so now we have a spare:
goggles

Things that give me Nervous Tummy (TM Tess):
The little girl on the bus who WILL NOT keep her hands to herself, causing K. to come home with her face covered in hives one day (I assume the girl had dairy on her hands) and carrying the contents of her disassembled backpack another day.
A barely-known classmate calling--by herself--
to invite my second grader over at 7 on a Friday night.
My ultrasound this afternoon because it's a special Advanced Maternal Age one to check the baby for all kinds of scary things.

Things I can control:
Ordering replacement items to turn my brain off.
Having Katherine change seats on the bus.
Telling the classmate that it isn't appropriate for K. to come over.

Things I can't control, but oh how I would like to:
Every single social event in my children's lives.
Ultrasound results

Catvice

I have some questions for all of you cat lovers out there. But first, some facts.

1. I like cats, but Katherine and I are horribly allergic to them.
2. Our neighbor puts out tons of birdseed and corn and peanuts every season but winter.
3. This food attracts birds and squirrels and rabbits and voles and various other critters, who all poo in our yard/on our swingset.
   
4. There are several feral cats in our neighborhood.
5. Some of them are quite scary.
6. One beautiful, sweet, collarless tabby cat really likes our house.
   
7. He/she hangs out on our back deck and front porch a LOT.

So, can we adopt this cat as an outside cat? Is that OK? I really, really want to encourage it to stay around because I like it, and because I'm hoping it will feast on/scare away all of the rodents and birds our neighbor provides.

What do I do? Put out cat food and water? Will all of the scary, nasty cats come, too?
What about... litterbox issues? What if it belongs to someone else? (I think the chances are slim, but still.)


Next time, we can talk about keeping a hawk as an outdoor pet. That's right, so many critters came to my neighbor's yard last summer that we had a HAWK as a regular fixture on our swingset.

Well!

Pardon my little hissy fit. I took the kids to playgroup, visited with the other moms, and ate many, many French muffins. Am feeling much better now.

Thank you all so much for your morning sickness advice. I have an appointment next week where I'll ask about switching medications. And I cannot agree enough with Not Your Aunt Bea: protein helps me with nausea WAY MORE than carbs. I don't understand why this isn't common advice.

The candy trains were a big hit at E's school. If you ever do this craft, especially with preschoolers, use glue dots. They will save your sanity.

The 2010 Go Dairy Free Non-Dairy Product Lists are now available. Very handy for shopping.

Now I'm going to go enjoy Swistle's twin posts.

I wake up scared, I wake up strange

I finally got up the courage to ask my OB for anti-nausea meds. For 24 whole hours, I wasn't queasy! But I was so tired I wanted to die, and I got really irritated with the children for, you know, being awake. Anti-nausea meds FAIL. I'm back to being queasy and [barely] functional.

Somebody (No, not me, but good guess!) blew the whistle on the Nintendo DSes in the classroom, so that conflict is over for now. Woot.

I made the executive decision to bake the cookies for the school Valentine's party myself, even though I wasn't on the original sign-up list. I figured, hey, I'm ticking people off anyway, why not have a safe snack? 'Cause that's how Hormonal Pregnant Mom rolls.

Tomorrow is the boy's preschool Valentine's party, and I'm in charge of the craft. Candy trains it is.

I can't wait to try Catherine Newman's dairy-free Walnut-Orange Cake.

First Robert B. Parker died the other week and now Dick Francis, one of my all-time favorite authors, died yesterday. As Beck tweeted, "Stop dying, favorite mystery authors!"

Katherine and Eli played in the children's chimes choir at our newish church for the first time on Sunday. Eli had just one note, the very last one, but he played it with enthusiasm.

We've been having lots of fun watching the Olympics, although the kids told my mom that they don't 'get' curling. Mom: "No one does."

Radio Silence

Dudes, I don't even know where to begin. I think life overwhelmed me at the same time a bout of Blog Sickness kicked in. Throw in sick kids (Two-year old on steroids = Shoot me.) and birthdays and school parties and meetings, and, oh yeah, HORMONES. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

So! I met with the assistant superintendent and one of the elementary principals about the official allergy policy that they are finally going to put into place next year. Woot. I'm sure they just wanted to meet with the allergy parents to pacify us, but I don't care. I'm nosy, and I want to know what's going on. I'm pretty pleased with the policy so far.

Also, they are going to let us know who our children's teachers are in June instead of August! No more scrambling to meet with K's new teacher the week before school starts!

K's teacher asked me to be in charge of calling the parents who volunteered for the Valentine's party because she was frustrated with the amounts and dairy content of the Christmas party food. On the one hand, I'm happy to help. On the other hand, telling other mothers to step off? Not really my job. And, boy, did I inadvertently anger some people. Awesome.

Kids have been bringing in their Nintendo DSes to play during recess, even though the school handbook specifically says they're not allowed. K. keeps bugging me to let her bring hers. Uh, no. Our house rule is that the fragile, expensive toy stays home. Actually, ALL toys stay home. I think you can find something to play for 15 minutes in a room full of 20 other kids.

Huh. Maybe I'm not over Blog Sickness after all. Whiny much?

My blog turned three on Jan. 31, but much more importantly than that, my favorite boy in the whole world turned four last week. Four! I love him so much it makes my heart ache. Our sweet, serious little boy who takes such good care of his sisters, loves tractors, trucks, and Star Wars, and asked for tomato soup for his (John Deere) birthday dinner. Happy Birthday, Eli.

Odds and Ends

Helen's princess party was a huge success. The birthday girl's favorite gifts? The dollar-store plastic princesses from her cake and a gift box that looks like a castle. The princesses live there now and are having a fine time.

I'm so sad about Robert B. Parker.I've been rereading all of his novels. This is a great article about him.

Yesterday was also my first OB appointment (not counting the intake appointment). I was waiting for my OB to tease me, but all he said in his fabulous accent was, "I was happy to see your name on my schedule. [pause] You are very brave." I also had my first ultrasound, and there really is ONE little tiny baby in there! The technician said everything looks great. *whew* I never realize how nervous I am that things *aren't* all right till I hear that they are.

The other night I made Catherine Newman's borscht because I am craving cabbage. (And grapefruit juice.) I know, right? But dishes like this and this and this sound so good to me. And if the grocery store has cabbage rolls at the deli? Look out.

A picture is worth... etc., etc.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.

I heart the Internets

You all are the best. Not ONE of you said:

A. You know how this happens, right?/Have you figured out how this happens yet?

B. Was it an accident?/Did you do it on purpose?

C. Please tell me this is your last one.

D. Are you crazy?

E. I'm praying for twins. Twin boys.


Let's just say you all have a much better tact record than people I know in real life. MUCH better.

Your reward? I will answer those questions!

We were neither planning a fourth nor not planning a fourth. If it happened, great. If not, great.

Yes, this is our last baby.

We might be crazy, but I don't think it's because we're having another child.

If it is twins you all will have to come stay with us in shifts. Clear your schedules.


In other news, I am "AMA"--Advanced Maternal Age. Or, according to some of the lab forms, "Elderly." ELDERLY. Be nice to the crotchety old pregnant lady or she will trip you with her cane.

Too late?

Is it too late to ask you to delurk?




What if I tell you that I'm seven weeks pregnant and baby number four will be arriving in early September?

Guess where we're going?

That's right, The Pennsylvania Farm Show. No, we won't let Katherine too close to the 1,000 pound butter sculpture:



See you back here on Thursday.

Keeping Warm

It is freezing outside and the snow just. keeps. falling. Good thing Gramma made ponchos for all the girls to keep them warm.




(Eli chose not to be photographed in his new navy wool scarf.)

Epiphany

Me: *taking down nativity*
Almost-four-year old: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO BABY JESUS?!?"
Me: "Uh, putting him away. It's time to pack up the Christmas decorations."
Almost-four-year old: "WHYYYYYYY?"

Sigh. Happy Epiphany, Everyone.

Hey, it's 2010

I assume you all are doing well. I'm not sure, though, since my almost-two-year old deleted all of your posts from my reader. Apparently she wants me to spend less time blogging and more time planning her princess birthday party at the end of the month. "I pincess! Is mine! Pincess cake!" We'll follow that up with another John Deere birthday for Eli, just to keep things interesting.

I've been working on cleaning out our house, chanting, "Keep the memory, not the thing" and reminding myself that it is more important to use the space in our house as effectively as possible than to keep every toy the children have ever received. Would it have been more effective for me to take down the Christmas decorations before I started decluttering? Probably, but it's not Epiphany yet....

So that's what's going on here on the first day back to school when every other district in our county has a two-hour delay, the snow is sifting down, the tree is dark, and Christmas is over.

Christmas Copycat

Thanks to Nicole for this meme.

Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Santa leaves unwrapped gifts by the stockings in the living room. The rest of the gifts are wrapped and under the tree in the dining room.

Colored lights on a tree or white? How much time do you have? I like white lights. Scott likes colored blinking lights. So began the epic battle of our newlywed years. We alternated years. We tried white blinking and colored non-blinking. For several years I wound the tree with both white and colored lights. During this time, even my mother-in-law switched to white, non-blinking lights. Then the children were old enough to vote, and they chose colored. Scott would rather they blink, and I would rather they be red, white, and green only, which is my new favorite kind, but mostly we are too tired to care. At least they don't blink.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put your decorations up? The first day of buck season, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. We get the tree a couple weeks later.

What is your favorite holiday dish? All of the seafood dishes on Christmas Eve.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Chaotically. Almost ALL homemade ornaments with a few fragile, not-homemade ones at the top. And a lot of these sprinkled around.

Snow. Love it or hate it? I love snow. I would rather be cold than hot. I love walking in the snow. I even like to shovel. What I hatehatehate is bundling children in and out of snow gear all. winter. long. And of course I hate snow in April.

Can you ice skate? Nope.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Is 'cookies' too vague? What about 'all of the obscure, old-fashioned cookies the ladies in my neighborhood used to make'? You know, like these.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Everyone holding candles and singing "Silent Night" at the Christmas Eve service.

Candy Canes. Yum or yuck? I like them with chocolate. Dipped in chocolate, stirred in cocoa, on ice cream with chocolate sauce....

Favorite Christmas Show? It's a Wonderful Life.

The Wellness Tree

Garden Mama (Nicole) started a Wellness Tree for Kelly, a blogger with stage-four breast cancer, a few weeks ago, and she asked her readers to consider sending an ornament to support Kelly. Nicole writes, "The Wellness Tree was planted as a seed of compassion and inspiration during this time of challenge in Kelly's life. We endeavor to share our love and support by nourishing this wellness tree by crafting ornaments and wishes of hope to sustain every moment that she experiences, moving with her in sisterhood forward into a future full of health and joy for her body and spirit as she continues on her life's path."

The ornaments quickly started pouring in, and they are beautiful: felted wool angels and crocheted gingerbread men and beeswax snowflakes and knitted garlands.

Then Garden Mama emailed me and asked me if I wanted to contribute something. And I did! I did! But I do not have mad crafting skillz. *sigh* So what did I do? Dudes, I sent in an ornament from an Oriental Trading ornament kit. Because I care enough to send the very best, and because I love the cheap gifts from China.

If you feel led to send an ornament for Kelly, too, please know that I have successfully lowered the bar for you so you shouldn't feel any crafty pressure. You're welcome.

Some rambling and some Kenzoil

It's that time of year again. The time where one day it's December sixth and you're happily making Santa pancakes (with dairy-free coconut whipped cream) for your children and then life speeds up and becomes a blur of concerts, plays, dinners, lunches, neighborhood parties, church events, trips to the post office, and late night baking 'ideas': "How can I make Christmas cookies with what I have in the house? Maybe if I put crushed candy canes in these chocolate chip cookies...." (I did, too. I'm serving them to 20+ children and their mothers this morning. We'll see.) And suddenly you come to and it's December 24th and you're driving home in the dark from the Christmas Eve service to look at the luminaries your neighbor decorated the street with and to watch the children sprinkle reindeer food on the sparkling snow.

In the midst of all of this chaos, we're still trying out new dairy-free products. Because our commitment to taste-testing free samples stops for no holiday! One of the latest is Kenzoil, an oil blend of olive oil, fresh basil, fresh garlic, and spices. The company says, "Kenzoil is free of the following allergens: eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, fish, shellfish, wheat, milk, corn, potato, rice and yeast. We only produce Kenzoil in our facility and on our equipment.... Kenzoil is a fresh product. It contains fresh herbs and no preservatives. Like most produce items, it will keep longer in the refrigerator. Kenzoil is good for 4 ½ months if kept in the fridge."



We tried it as a dipping sauce for bread. It tastes like really fresh liquid basil pesto. Everyone in our family enjoyed it, even the littlest ones, who often find pesto to be too strong tasting. Scott also tried it as a baked potato topping and liked that as well. I bet mixing it with mayo would make a fantastic sandwich spread, and I'm sure it would be good on pasta, salad, etc. I can see it being a versatile addition to the fridge door.

My only issue with Kenzoil is the name. I know, I know, it's Ken's oil. But it makes me think of Pennzoil, which? Not so appetizing. Ah well.

Kenzoil can be purchased online in 5 oz. and 10 oz. sizes. I think it would make a great stocking stuffer/hostess gift/gift basket addition.

I was not given an extra bottle for a giveaway, but Grace was! So head on over for a chance to win. Contest ends on Friday, December 18.

Why I love living in a small town

When your child forgets her medication case at school, her teacher drops it off at your house on her way home.

Luna Bars: Same as they ever were. Except different.

Many, many moons ago, I eliminated dairy and wheat from my diet because of digestive problems. (T!M!I!) During that time, I became very dependent on Luna bars. Until I became pregnant and very dependent on Kit Kat bars. And Sonic chili cheese tater tots. The guy in the cubicle next to me at work's wife, who was pregnant, (got that?) believed pregnant women shouldn't eat chocolate because of the caffeine. He believed it, too. I kept the Kit Kats in my top drawer and ate a piece of one whenever he wasn't at his desk. Whereas today I proudly proclaim, "I eat chocolate when I'm pregnant and lots of it."

Anywho. Luna recently released bars with a new formula that includes Vitamin D. I tried them, and... they taste exactly as I remember them. (Flavorful, topped with chocolate or white chocolate, kind of like rice crisp bars but a little... grittier.) Which is a good thing. I don't think products need to be newing and improving all the time. Usually that just means they're adding dairy, which ticks me off. (I'm looking at you, Wyler's bouillon.) And Luna bars are the only nutritional bar I've ever liked, so I'm glad they didn't mess with their formula too much.

I tried:
Caramel Nut Brownie
Nutz Over Chocolate
White Chocolate Macadamia
Lemon Zest

Of course I liked the chocolate ones best. The white chocolate was fine; I am not always a white chocolate fan, but I liked it. The lemon zest was OK, but I've always much preferred their chocolate bars to their fruit bars.

Pack of 15 Luna bars available for @ $20 on Amazon.

This review written for Go Dairy Free.

Dairy-Free Christmas Baking Book

The other night I served cookies for dessert. My husband bit into one, paused, and said, "Is this for review?"

That should give you an idea of how many new foods and products we've been trying out lately. I want to hurry up and tell you about all of them so that you can give them as gifts or add them to your own wish lists! (The cookies weren't for review, but Scott did like them.)



Several weeks ago, I shamelessly requested a review copy of Kelly Rudnicki's cookbook, and she graciously provided a copy for me to review for Go Dairy Free. If you're looking for a cookbook gift, I can't recommend Kelly's The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book: Great Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Treats for the Whole Family highly enough. It is my favorite kind of cookbook: dairy-free (and egg- and nut-free), easy to follow with lots of great tips for food allergy parents, filled with beautiful photos of the food and her (four, soon to be five!) children, and calling for no obscure, hard to find ingredients. One photo in the book pictures the ingredients Kelly uses the most, and Scott said, "That looks like our fridge!"

The recipes are fantastic. Here's just a sampling:
Apple House Cinnamon Doughnuts
French Puff Muffins
Italian Fruited Jam Tart
Dairy-Free Classic Cheesecake
Key Lime Pie
Classic Yellow Birthday Cake
Chocolate-Soy Nut Butter Candies
Caramel Corn
Cranberry Bread
Whole-Wheat Waffles
Bakery-Style Bagels
Gingerbread Kids
No-Nut Russian Teacakes
Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies
Cutout Sugar Cookies

I'm currently obsessed with the Emerald Isle Coffee Cake, based on her mother's recipe. Mmm... cinnamon.... OK, forget it. You need to go buy a copy right nowfor all of your holiday baking. Trust me.

This review was written for Go Dairy Free.

Christmas around the world

When the kids were Mario and Luigi for Halloween, Scott ordered their hats on Ebay. That Ebay seller just sent him a festive email:

"Thank you for your support to us on ebay. We had a good deal experience with you in the past!

Now Christmas will come. If you have not prepared for Xmas presents, we hope you can come back and visit our ebay store again.

You know it is one good idea to get the cheap Xmas presents for Children from China.

But you know it is one long time to your country from China. So we suggest you can do one earlier plan to order Xmas items."

Oh yes, it is one good idea to get the cheap Christmas presents for children from China. I think I read that in the news.


A few weeks ago, we went to a German Christmas celebration in an old German settlement town. At the end of our evening we ran into Weihnachtsmann, (Christmas Man), the German Father Christmas. He was dressed in his traditional Father Christmas finery and spoke with a strong German accent. After greeting the little ones, he spoke to Katherine for several minutes. He taught her how to say Merry Christmas in German (Fröhliche Weihnachten!) and told her about the little girl who always helps him on Christmas Eve.
Then he said, "And how is your room?"
Katherine: *big eyes*
Father Christmas: "Have you cleaned it yet?"
Katherine: *shakes head 'no'*
Father Christmas: "Ah, yes. You know, I help Santa Claus, and he was asking about that. Shall I tell him you'll work on it?"
Katherine: *nods 'yes'*
Father Christmas: "Oh, good."

You rock, Weihnachtsmann. We'll think of you on Saint Nicholas Day.

Filled with holiday...something

I think I am almost recovered from our Thanksgiving. I can see the bottom of the laundry pile, anyway. The highlight of the day for me was getting a picture taken of our family with ALL of our children's grandparents, aunts, and uncles. *sniff*

I ran around with a very cute little girl in tow this morning while the two big kids were in school. And yes, that was me singing along to "Midnight Train to Georgia" in the store. I was just so happy not to be listening to "Same Old Lang Syne" (Shut it, Dan Fogelberg.) or "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

We made Christmas card photo prints (What score does our photo get, Swistle? It features all of us AND Mr. McFeely!), paid bills, went grocery shopping, and fixed the rear-view mirror on the van. Again. I made the mistake of buying Krazy Glue ("Bonds to glass! Plastic! Metal! Plywood! Drywall! Polyester! Skin! DO NOT USE FOR REAR-VIEW MIRRORS.") and then bought regular Super Glue, which didn't work, and ended up using the Super Glue gel we already owned. Maybe I should send someone a glue care package....

Boy, am I cheery. Here, go cry over Beck's much more appropriate Christmas post.

Wordless Wednesday

Coming up for air

*GASP*
Ohmygoshhowareyouguys? I've been catching up on your posts while decorating the house for Christmas with my three helpers since we have the first day of buck season off from school and also paying bills and ordering ornament kits and cooking leftovers although we are having black beans and rice for dinner tonight because, Beezus and Ramona, am I sick of turkey and all of its by-products especially because I took leftovers to my parents last night and came home with more food which is nice but NOT HELPFUL and I know you want to see pictures and hear how Thanksgiving went and all I can say is get in line behind my father-in-law who forgot his camera and is emailing me about photos as we speak and speaking of wanting to hear things I'm sure Kelly and several other people are wondering if I'm ever going to post reviews of their books and products, like, BEFORE Christmas, for the love of blog, and the answer to all of these questions is "Soon," which I imagine pleases you as an answer about as much as it pleases my children but it's the best I can do at the moment.

Dairy-Free Thanksgiving Menu 2009

Dairy-Free (and Semi-Wheat Free) Thanksgiving Menu
Made with lots of love and delegation

Two turkeys, deep-fried by Scott and Grandad
Gravy (substitute dairy-free margarine for the butter) made by Grandad
Gramma's stuffing, two batches, made with DF bread
Scott's mashed potatoes (made with soymilk and DF margarine)
Uncle Jarred's Sweet Potato Casserole (made with DF margarine)
Peas
Green beans
Gramma's Seven-Layer Salad (made with Sour Supreme and no cheese)
Scott's rolls and wheat-free bread
Cranberries: cranberry jelly and the awesome cranberry orange relish made by our grocery store
Applesauce (from the freezer)
Appetizers, made by Aunt Emily
Freezer pickles

Pumpkin Pie
DF/wheat-free Cherry Crisp made by Gramma

Cider
Soda
Water
Wine (Lots.)
Decaf coffee
Sparkling Grape Juice

Winner, winner, vegan dinner

The winner of My Sweet Vegan is:

GardenMama! Comment number 11. Congratulations! Email me your info and we'll get a cookbook to you!

One Week

Till company arrives.

Kitchen progress:
trim painted
backsplash tiles done
curtains made (by my friend)
breakfast nook assembled (by my husband)
holes filled
walls washed

Today, I begin the primer.

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

Sniffin' Fumes

Have I mentioned that we're hosting Thanksgiving again? With an all-time high attendance level of fifteen people and a dog? (Yes, and you, Kevin.) And that our house is...not big? And that some of my in-laws want to exchange Christmas gifts the day after Thanksgiving and some do not, but I figured I'd better have their gifts purchased and wrapped just in case?

Clearly this week is the appropriate time for me to start redoing our kitchen that I've hated for six years. Especially because it is parent/teacher conference week and we have half days of school Wednesday through Friday. I tiled the backsplash on Monday (with self-adhesive tile) and I could have stopped there. But yesterday I started painting the trim. As my OB/GYN said to my husband and sister after I ordered him to just BREAK MY WATER ALREADY, I'VE BEEN ON PITOCIN FOR TEN HOURS, "We are committed."

Now I am committed to getting this project done. Well, mostly. When my husband asked if I planned to sand and paint the cabinets before Thanksgiving, too, I said, "Oh no, that would be insane!" He just smiled. And maybe the entire enterprise is insane to someone who didn't grow up in a house where her parents wallpapered the bathroom on Thanksgiving morning. (Hi, Mom and Dad!) But come on, our kitchen is the size of your pantry or mudroom. I can do this, right?

RIGHT?

And the Winners Are...

Numbers seven and forty-five, Beck and Yasharian! I have the screenshots of the numbers Random.org chose on my desktop, but I have NO IDEA how to post them. Please get me your info and Alisa will send you a bunch of vegan e-cookbooks!

Cereal and Elephants

My e-cookbook giveaway is here.

One Frugal Foodie's awesome cereal giveaway is here.

Enjoy Life Foods has a new blog.

The Food Allergy Support Group of Minnesota emailed me about a Food Allergy Resource Fair going on this Saturday in Hopkins, Minnesota. I have been to their beautiful state exactly once to visit a friend one October. We went to the first U.S. performance of this musical that was written and introduced by these guys and I saw Garrison Keillor in the audience. It was fabulous. And freaking cold.

Tomorrow I am going to the circus with hundreds of second graders. I'll just have to think about Water for Elephants to amuse and distract myself on the long bus ride.

Spokesmodel

I bought a case of soymilk at Aldi today, as I often do. Ounce for ounce, Aldi soymilk is almost exactly half the price of Silk soymilk where I live. As I was leaving, an older gentleman stopped me to ask question after question after question about my case of soymilk. "What does it taste like? Why do you buy it? Is it good for you? I bet it's low in cholesterol and fat, right? You know, I had a neighbor in Texas who drank soymilk...." This exact same scenario happened the last time I bought a case of soymilk. Today I had an impatient toddler with me and was late for preschool pick up. And yet I COULD NOT not answer him, or just say, "Dude, it's wicked cheap. Go buy a quart and try it for yourself."

I had the same problem at second-grade orientation. I simultaneously resented being introduced as The Allergy Mom (my college friend D. suggests "Allergy B*tch on Wheels" as a more appropriate title) and being asked questions about ALL food allergies ("Are the pretzels I have at home processed in a plant with peanuts?") and yet could not SHUT MY TRAP when other parents were complaining about the new food allergy policies.

OBVIOUSLY, I don't mind talking about food allergy issues. I want our local stores to keep carrying dairy-free items, so the more people who buy them the better the chances of that happening. I want other parents to understand my daughter's situation. But I'd also like to go pick up a carton of soy yogurt and not have the lady in line behind me and the teenage checkout person play Twenty Questions with me about it.

I don't even know what my point is. Do you feel like the spokesperson for an issue? How do you handle it? Maybe I should start wearing a lapel pin:

I drink soymilk and you should, too! If you want! Or don't! Whatev! I gotta go.

Do you watch the Today Early Show?

I don't, and my neighbor told me that there was a dairy-free cooking segment on either yesterday morning or Monday morning. Did anyone see it? She couldn't remember the chef's name. I've been searching on NBC's site for about 10 minutes and have given up. That site is not organized at all, and if I have to sit through one more cooking segment clip with Kathy Lee Gifford bellowing things like: "VINO!", I'm going to be reaching for the vino.

Help?

EDIT: Marianne found it! On The EARLY Show! Thank you, Marianne! Oh, how I wish you were still blogging.... The recipes are for the lactose intolerant, but they all appear to be completely dairy free.

Odds and Ends

Christina has a birthday giveaway going on through Friday, October 30th. You could win two great cookbooks! (I own both these books and highly recommend them.) I won her last giveaway and am currently enjoying this cookbook and looking forward to this one arriving today! Thank you, Christina!

A friend of Alisa's designed this cool, circular, year-round poster calendar. Someone needs to get this for me my children for Christmas.


image courtesy of Earth Cycle Calendars

Scottish Twins and Marie each gave me a blog award. Thank you both!

Imagine my surprise when I found a Swistle gift package waiting on my porch the other day! Imagine my surprise when I found that my camera batteries were dead and I couldn't photograph it! But I'm sure you can imagine the richness: Shirts for Helen! Dishtowels! A Mother-in-Law Mug! Measuring spoons! Measuring cups! Lots and lots of paper goodies! A book! A pencil! Thank you, Swistle!
Edit: Swistle has a giveaway going on at her review blog right now.

Food Allergy Assistant found a recipe for homemade candy corn that she made dairy free.

And if you want some creepy Halloween reads, Beck is (fictionally) killing off beloved children's characters on her blog.

Corn Chowder

Katherine would take chicken noodle soup in her lunch every day if it were up to her. Here is our neighbor's attempt to add some variety. The notes are hers. I can't wait to try it.

Corn Chowder

4 cups water
2 packages of dry, dairy-free chicken noodle soup mix
1/2 C - quick cook rice (if you use regular rice, you have to cook it a lot longer)
1 Tbs - dried minced onion
4 cups of soymilk (you can use powdered soymilk)
1 can creamed corn
2 cups cut up, cooked chicken

Bring water to a boil. Add soup mix, rice & onion. Cook til noodles & rice are tender, about 20 min. Add milk, corn and chicken. Heat through stirring frequently but do not boil. This freezes well.

Lunchtime

Who receives a copy of Vegan Lunch Box Around the Worldto review and makes Beet Salad as her first recipe from the cookbook? That would be me. Because people want to know about the beet recipes! Or because you all have taught me to love beets, and this is the best pickled beet recipe I've tried. (The secret? Ground caraway seeds.)

Since then, I've used several of Jennifer McCann's fabulous international lunch ideas and have fallen utterly in love with her Boston Brown Bread Muffins. I am always especially interested in vegan baked goods, as adding meat to main dishes isn't an issue for us, but baking with dairy sure is. As Beck said when asked about lunch ideas, "...I generally just look at old Vegan Lunch Box posts for ideas, substituting 'pot roast' for 'tofu,' of course." Exactly.

My only complaint about Vegan Lunch Box Around the Worldis passages like this, "One of the biggest shocks I had when I first turned vegetarian was discovering where gelatin came from: the boiled bones, skins, and tendons of animals. Yuck!"

Yes, it's gross. Yes, authors are entitled to their own food choices and being able to write their books the way they want. But I think there are ways to put forth one's ideals without making some non-vegans *cough*my husband*cough* feel defensive and turning them off of a great book of recipes.

I've been a fan of Jennifer's blog for years. She inspired us to buy the Laptop Lunch system. Once I experienced her second cookbook in person, I used a little birthday cash to buy myself the first Vegan Lunch Box, too.

This review was written for Go Dairy Free.

Wicked Treats

Just in time for Halloween, the lovely Alisa sent me a copy of Hannah Kaminsky's newest e-cookbook, Wicked Treats. That young woman is a recipe-writing MACHINE, I tell ya. In it are recipes for:

Ghostly Vanilla Fudge
Jelly Bites
Licorice
Peanut Butter Fingers
Rice Crackle Bars
Tootsie Chews

All of the recipes are vegan, and therefore dairy free. They are also gluten free, and Hannah includes directions to make them soy free.

I cannot wait to make homemade Tootsie Rolls Chews for a child who has never had one!

The e-book is available to download here for $3.

Edit: Peanut butter is in just one of the recipes.

Fat Talk Free Week

It's Tri Delta's Fat Talk Free Week again. Here's their video for this year. My post about last year's video can be found here.



I find this program to be so inspiring, both as an individual and a mother of girls.

Surf Sweets Gummy Treats

Fruit snacks have been my go-to food allergy emergency snack/dessert item for YEARS.

Gummy treats:

• look like candy
• come in cute, portable packages
  
• have expiration dates that are months away
• can ride around in the bottom of your purse or diaper bag for months and never become: stale, crumbled, squished
• are dairy free
• are recognized and accepted by your child's peers
  
• do not carry the disappointment/stigma of Mom's Purse-Smashed Carob Flax Seed Bars

I know what you're going to say. "But, Blah blah blah cavities blah blah blah corn syrup blah blah blah fruits of the devil blah!"

Now we don't have to fight anymore because Surf Sweets just released a line of naturally sweetened, corn-syrup free gummy treats. And! They are gluten-free, dairy-free, allergy-friendly treats produced in a dedicated nut-free facility. I first heard of them from Kelsey, and when Alisa offered a chance to review them for Go Dairy Free, I shoved the other reviewers out of my way. Virtually speaking.


2.75 oz. package

We sampled:
Gummy Bears
Sour Berry Bears
Sour Worms
Jelly Beans

The Gummy Bears taste just like, well, gummy bears. The Sour Berry Bears and Sour Worms are not quite as sour as the usual Sour Patch Kid-type treat. Two of my children don't like sour candies and they liked these. The third child wished they were a bit more sour. Also, the sour candies have a firmer consistency, like those candy citrus slices your great-aunt always gave you when you visited her. The jelly beans are the consistency of regular jelly beans, with really fresh fruit flavors. They have several other new candies available, too. They are all vegetarian and some are vegan.


.9 oz. package

Ingredients:
Gummy Bears: Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Gelatin, Organic Grape Juice Concentrate,Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Colors Added (including Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Turmeric, Annatto),Natural Flavors, Organic Sunflower Oil, Carnauba Wax

Sour Berry Bears: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Malic Acid, Asorbic Acid, Colors Added (Black Carrot Juice Concentrate), Natural Flavors.

Sour Worms: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Citric Acid, Pectin, Sodium Citrate, Ascorbic Acid, Colors Added (Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Turmeric, Annatto), Natural Flavors.

Jelly Beans: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Colors Added (including Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Turmeric, Annatto), Natural Flavors, Confectioner’s Glaze, Carnauba Wax, Organic Sunflower Oil.

The candies are all available in 2.75 oz. packages. Suggested retail is $1.99.
The Gummy and Sour Berry Bears are also available in .9 oz packages. Suggested retail is $.79.
Amazon has some good bulk deals here.

This review was written for Go Dairy Free. Images courtesy of Surf Sweets.