posts in category baking
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
our wheat free journey and stuffed acorn squash recipe
It started when she was two.
Random early mornings of getting sick were just that random, at first. But then they seemed to have a pattern. Every other morning. Very early in the morning. For a month or two. Then the sickness stopped. Then it would start again. No rhyme or reason.
We went to a GI doctor and he seemed to think she just had reflux. We didn't want to get her scoped because it seemed to stop by the time we were able to get into see the doctor. Time passed and her random sick moments became fewer and further between. But I did some reading. Lots of reading. Lots of research. Trying to figure out what could be causing these random moments of getting sick.
We started to try to heal and make the random moments not happen by cutting out Red 40. Then we tried to cut out all artificial dyes. It helped. For a bit.
Then we noticed she was getting headaches (which is something her dad and I both suffer with). We didn't see a real trend. So we weren't exactly sure what to do. We cut out sugar and stopped eating things with high fructose corn syrup. I no longer bought meats that contained nitrates. We were trying to eat "real" and "clean" food. Then I read more and more about the affects of wheat and heard about the Wheat Belly book and thought it would be a great place to continue our journey. My husband was not thrilled by the idea but once he got on board we went full steam ahead.
We started our wheat free journey in January of 2014. We are not purists. Since no one in our family suffers from Celiac Disease we didn't take it 100% seriously. We continue to go without wheat for a few months out of the year. But then life gets busy and we take a few short cuts and eat wheat. I will tell you that I feel SO much better when I am not eating wheat. I am not going to get into the science behind it all just check out the Wheat Belly Cookbook by William Davis if you want the science and great testimonials.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
two shows I'd like to pitch to the food network
As I was creating a soup of leftover pork chops, veggies, potatoes and some herbs and spices the other day, I was thinking to myself that I didn't really know what I was doing. I was wishing there was someone there who could tell me what spice to use and why. I wanted someone to show me how to properly cut an onion and tell me why I should or shouldn't add broccoli to this soup (I didn't add it). I was thinking that if I could go to culinary school that would be awesome but I don't really have the time or the money for that right now in this stage of life. Then I thought that it would be awesome if I could go on the Food Network and be on one of their shows...but I couldn't figure out which show I would be qualified to be on. I obviously couldn't go on Chopped or any of those serious competition shows (those people actually know how to cook and make up their own recipes). I couldn't go on "worst cooks in America" because those people can't even boil water and well, I can at least follow a recipe.
SO, I thought up a show that I am proposing here and now to Food Network. It's called "The Mediocre Chef" and it's a show for those of us who don't use the fancy terms or the super expensive cuts of meat but we want to know how to cook food that tastes amazing with little effort and not a TON of money. I want the show to include how and what to grow in your garden for optimal eating and how to use and store it. I want the show to include people who love to cook but don't have the time or resources to read articles and try many different techniques. I want the show to have a part where the mediocre chefs learn how to create their own recipes...whether baked goods or dinner. I want the show to have real non-chefs like myself in there with the Bobby Flay's of the world teaching them what spices to add, how to work a grill, how to make dinner with just a few ingredients, etc... which got me thinking about my second show idea.
I don't know if this show would be better on the Food Network or the Game Show Network but it's called, "Mom's Pantry" and on the show the contestants have to create dinner for five-seven people with whatever happens to be in the pantry. Each show would have the pantries stocked differently but they definitely would not be FULLY stocked like all the Food Network shows pantries are. There would be a pre-determined amount and type of food. And sometimes there would be a little bit of spices left sometimes none, sometimes full bottles. Sometimes there's two onions and sometimes more. Get my drift? Also, while the contestants are coming up with a dinner their kids will actually eat they have to answer homework questions, switch the laundry and peel the crazy toddler off their legs! I think this would make good TV!! Who wants to help me pitch this? ;) And who wants to come teach me how to cook...and make up my own recipes? Cuz I'm already pretty good at following the ones I find online and in books!
Some day I'd love to go to culinary school. But for now I will continue to cook meals for my family from recipes and some from scratch from things I make up but forget to write down so I can't ever recreate them!
SO, I thought up a show that I am proposing here and now to Food Network. It's called "The Mediocre Chef" and it's a show for those of us who don't use the fancy terms or the super expensive cuts of meat but we want to know how to cook food that tastes amazing with little effort and not a TON of money. I want the show to include how and what to grow in your garden for optimal eating and how to use and store it. I want the show to include people who love to cook but don't have the time or resources to read articles and try many different techniques. I want the show to have a part where the mediocre chefs learn how to create their own recipes...whether baked goods or dinner. I want the show to have real non-chefs like myself in there with the Bobby Flay's of the world teaching them what spices to add, how to work a grill, how to make dinner with just a few ingredients, etc... which got me thinking about my second show idea.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
number 3 shaped cake
I've decided that it'll be fun to always make a cake for Hannah shaped in the number of years she is turning. I made her a two last year and I hope to continue the tradition for a while. So, this past October little Hannah turned three! Crazy. How can she be three already? Anyway, I wanted to make her a three cake so I looked on pinterest and came up with a design to make a number 3 shaped cake. I asked Hananh what she wanted on her cake and she told me blue flowers. I asked her again a week later and she said "blue flowers" so I guess since she didn't change her mind that's what she really wanted. I'm not big into having fake food coloring in my cake decorations but since it was her one request and since it would be a small part of the cake I figured it would be okay. Plus it's hard to find natural things to turn fondant blue (I even asked a pastry chef). But Hannah loved her cake so all the work was worth it. I really do love making cakes for my littles!
I'll just let you browse through the photos rather than trying to explain every little cut. Sometimes photos really do speak louder than words! Start with two bundt or jello molds! You want doughnut shapes! This cake is pretty simple and only requires you to cut two pieces from each circle.
Monday, October 28, 2013
octoberfest
A couple of weeks ago our friends came over to celebrate our own take on Octoberfest. We decided on a menu and had hopes of making some fall crafts with the kids...well, that didn't happen but we ate well! We'll have to do the crafts another time...October isn't over...yet!! So we had some homemade whole wheat pretzels and beer cheese dip, reuben sandwiches and perogi soup. We also had some donut acorns and apple cider. It was a great gathering of friends around food. We love having these theme dinners with our friends. Last month we had a homemade chinese take-out date night and this month Octoberfest. Do you celebrate October with any special meals?
Friday, October 25, 2013
abi's birthday celebration
So, if you're new here let me explain just a little bit about the background of this party. We have decided that with four kids it's a little crazy to allow each kid to have a big "friend" birthday party every year. If that's what you want to do, more power to you but we just feel that our kids don't need a HUGE party every year and really I cannot plan a huge party every year for four kids (especially with three of them being in the same month). So we decided to have big "friend" birthday parties when they turn 1, 5, 10 and 15 (and we'll discuss parties for older years later). It also works out nicely that the girls won't have their big parties on the same year! yay!!
Abi just turned one. So she got a big party. It ended up being a very intimate party but I still had to go all out! This is my one time to spoil my little baby and to get crafty. Yes, the party was more for me than Abi but I hope that one day she'll look back at the photo album of her first birthday and know how much I love her!! I had a great time planning this party and as with every party I plan I didn't get to do half of the stuff I wanted to do but I still love how this one turned out.
The search for a theme started about two months ago with a question on facebook. I got lots of great responses and started a pinterest board with ideas for Abi's party. I thought about a Hungry Hungry Caterpillar party, a rainbow party, a vintage doll party and settled on a "paper doll"/just stay little party. I really really needed an excuse to buy the On Parade fabric from Sarah Jane Studios and this party was the reason. I also LOVE Sarah Jane's other illustrations and her paper dolls so that is what finalized the theme for Abi's party. I also wanted this to be a cute, pink, girly party.
I had every intention of creating printables for the party decorations until I stumbled on something that made me forget that altogether. I was ordering the photos for Abi's banner and "1" from snapfish when I noticed a little section that I had never seen before. It's under "prints" and is called "print at home" after a little exploring I decided to download a free printable birthday party kit. I wasn't positive that I would use the kit but I knew that it would save me a TON of time from designing my own and would save me money from buying some on etsy because the kit was FREE!! yay!! I didn't use all of the pieces but I did end up using the happy birthday banner, and the favor bag labels and the table tent signs. I am so glad I stumbled upon this free kit because it was just what this party needed and even better because it saved me a ton of time.
So, for the party favors I decided to give each kid a little set of paper dolls along with some cute outfits all designed by Sarah Jane. I put them in a sandwich baggie and folded the top down and stapled the favor bag label to the top and called it good. Sarah Jane also offers this free bookmark on her website so I decided to print one of those for all the kids too!
The party food was simple yet delicious. I made a few cake balls with leftover cake from Naomi and Hannah's cakes (after they got shaped into numbers) and had them frozen until I needed them for this party. I decided to dip some pretzel rods in chocolate because I love sweet and salty together. I made a new cake recipe for Abi's actual birthday cake and while the frosting/decorating of Abi's birthday cake didn't come out AT ALL like I wanted it to I decided to not worry about it as there will be plenty of time to make more cakes! BUT the cake was delicious and I'll be making it again in the future. It was called Pumpkin Pie Crunch and was like a pie on the bottom with a layer of crunchy cake on top...soooo delicious! I made a homemade whipped topping that got whipped too long and had added some vanilla pudding to stabalize it and while it didn't look pretty it tasted pretty good. I also made some cucumber cups (my mother-in-law made the cups) that were stuffed with chicken salad...such a great appetizer that was easy to make, had a big impact on the table and was delicious. My mom helped me out by bringing a veggie tray and some puppy chow. And I made some sparkling apple juice for everyone to drink (it was just two cans of frozen apple juice concentrate and a 2 liter of ginger ale). So, pretty simple yet delicious and satisfying. I also had some black bean pumpkin chili hanging out in the crock-pot for dinner once the party was over.
At the party we didn't play any games, Abi didn't open any presents but we spent time hanging out with our family and friends and just had fun celebrating Abi. She looked cute in her birthday dress, which was too big but too cute to even matter and she loved the attention!! So, here are some photos from Abi's first birthday party. I'll be making her snapfish birthday album soon! If you want to see why I use snapfish you can refer to this post about albums!
Abi's little cake..
She wasn't too sure what to think at first.
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