South of the Boarder S'mores

I'm running out the door to run errands, but I randomly wanted a quesodilla. So I went to make one. I only had one corn tortilla left(who does that?) and it was falling apart. So I threw it in the pan with some margarine(vegan, soy-free, of course). It didn't look like it would hold my vegan(and soy free!) cheeze very well. So I changed my game plan. I toasted it on one side, flipped it over, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, and threw some marshmallows on it. It needs a couple of safe chocolate chips, but it's mighty tasty.

Allergy Update!

I haven't actually talked much about CupCake's allergies on here. She passed Sunflower, and now Sunbutter is a staple in her diet. She can eat soy oil and soy lecithin, and I'm not opposed to shared lines, but actually eating and drinking soy is out. We did a soy trial and it as going well for the most part. It isn't going to kill her if she eats it, however her eczema got BAD. Cracked, bleeding, oozing, painful eczema. Luckily only in a very small spot was it that bad. But it was enough for me to pull it again. She's nursing ~5 times in 24 hours now, so I still need to watch my diet. Now the unofficial, official allergy list is as follows:

Avocados (hives/swelling, tests - on SPT)

Dairy (tests + on SPT)

Peanuts (tests + on SPT, has been around it without issue, still peanut free house, no shared lines)

Eggs (tests + on SPT, doesn't react to occasional baked in egg in MY diet, but reacts if I eat scrambled eggs, so avoiding all egg)

Sesame (+ on RAST test, avoiding due to severe eczema flares)

Tomato (never been tested, severe and immediate eczema upon direct consumption, thank Ketchup)

Wheat (tests - on SPT, causes eczema if I eat it and nurse her)

Almonds (never tested, ate a marzipan cookie and had some NASTY rashes. No more)

She's avoiding all Tree Nuts and most Gluten. I let her have an occasional barley cookie from Newman's though. I can eat cashews and macadamia nuts w/o issue, but we're not giving them to her yet. I think that's it.

The Joys of Sleeping Children

Mine is passed out. In my arms. Typing is interesting. More often than not when I'm blogging, she's sleeping. On me. Life happens, and when you're sick, with a sick little one and a new house(did I mention I moved?! This house is AWESOME), life tends to get sticky. Currents are sticky. Natures gummy candy. I sound just like my dad.

Anyway, I made some corn cakes from ... I thought they were from fatfreevegan. But I can't find the recipe. In any case, I could never get them to cook up right. They stuck to the pan, weren't light and fluffy. Probably user error, since I hate following recipes. AND the last time I tried to make them I only had vanilla kifer, which I didn't realize until AFTER I had added it. The onions were already in. EW.

Today, I went to find corn bread recipes. I REALLY wanted corn bread with my split pea soup(that hasn't been made yet...).I found a recipe that looked promising. I didn't want something that I had to tweak too much because my kitchen isn't set up yet. In fact, we have no plates. Seriously, we have bowls, little tiny cereal bowls, and some pyrex measuring cups, and I dug out my metal measuring cups and a measuring spoon(1/2t in case you're wondering). I have my tea cup and mesh strainer so I can have tea in the morning. OH. And NO counter space. I mixed it on the stove. And the mail comes flying in through the front door. Except it's Sunday, so we shouldn't have mail. Maybe it's the gardeners coming back to clean up their mess from yesterday. If they wake the baby(who's not a baby anymore) I'll be Pissed. With a capital P.

I found this recipe from CupcakePunk. I knew immediately that I'd love it. Before I even saw the recipe. haha

I scaled it down a bit, and tweaked it a tiny bit(I can't help it!) and fried it up like pancakes! We have a gas stove/oven now and I couldn't figure out how to get the oven to work. The result was light, fluffy, crumbly, corn cakes. DELISH!

Vegan Gluten Free Corn Cakes

1 3/4c Coconut Milk Kifer PLAIN

1c corn meal

1c corn flour

2t baking powder

1/2t baking soda

1T sugar

1/2t salt

2T olive oil

Whisk together dry ingredients. Make a well and add in oil and ~1c of kifer. Stir to combine. Add the rest of kifer and mix well.

Lightly oil(you can use bacon grease if you're not vegan, or canola oil if you are. Or peanut oil if you're not allergic) a cast iron pan and preheat it(just like making pancakes). Add ~1/4c of batter to the pan. I cook 2 at a time. Watch carefully. After 2-3ish minutes check the bottom(my stove cooks hot) and if they look nice and golden, flip them. Give them another 2-3 minutes on the other side then move to a plate with a paper towel on it. Repeat. The ones at the end wont be as fluffy, and that's okay. They're still good. Really good. This made ~18 I think. But I can't remember how many I ate already, so I can't be sure.

I LIKE CELERY!

Actually, I hate the stuff. As a kid I would retch if you tried to feed me celery. I did actually vomit a few times from celery containing Tortilla soup. I remember it well. (Oh, that's nice. Opening a food blog post with stories of vomit. You're welcome.)

Well. NO MORE. I've been trying to eat more celery lately cause I know it's a diuretic(it makes you pee more, taking water out of your body). And as I keep eating tiny bits of gluten containing food(soy sauce...) I'm retaining LOTS of water. I may need to start being more careful with my diet. Today I made a spinach bean dip that is AMAZING. I get WIC for CupCake and they gave us a recipe book. It actually has a lot of great recipes in it. Some bad ones too. It's WIC after all.


Spinach Bean Dip

1T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 6oz bag spinach
1 15oz can White Kidney Beans
Lime juice from 1/2 a lime
1T balsamic vinegar
1/4t pepper
1T salt
1/2t paprika

Saute garlic in olive oil until fragrant(or, since I'm sick and can't smell, until it turns color a bit). Add spinach and wilt. Put every thing in a food processor and process until smooth. Serve with celery sticks, chips, or other veggies. Goes well with chicken taquitos too.

Next time I'll probably add another 3-6oz of wilted spinach and 2-4 more cloves of garlic. Mighty tasty.

Blueberry Morning

Yesterday I wanted to make blueberry muffins. Okay, great. I went to bed. I almost never wake up the next morning wanting to make the same thing. Except today I did. So I made them! I used an agave sweetened, gluten-free cupcake recipe and altered it a bit. It's WONDERFUL. Could have used more blueberries. Cupcake is trying to eat one now(the paper is still on them).

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk drink
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup +2 tablespoons tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 1/4 c corn meal
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt

Fresh Blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with 11 paper cups. Fill remaining cup with water 2/3 full.

Mix together coconut milk, agave, and oil. Mix in tapioca starch and flax meal. Mix WELL. I do it by hand with a whisk. I probably mix for 2-4 minutes, depending. It needs to look emulsified. Then add in the cinnamon and flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix another 3-4 minutes until all combined. Pour into prepared pan, filling liners 2/3 full. Lightly press in blueberries. After I filled 11 I had a little batter left over, and I drizzled it over the blueberries. Just a little. Maybe a teaspoon over each muffin. Bake at 350F for 20-24 minutes. They're done when a toothpick come out of the center clean.

I love my "Mom Curves"!

I've always been "big". I was born 8lbs 7oz, 21 inches long. I'm now 5'8" and 172lbs. Before I had my daughter I was 150lbs, and it took a LOT to keep me that little. I was worrying my family and friends because I just don't look healthy at 150, my bones stick out. My ideal weight for my body is around 160.

Once I got pregnant I figured I'd love my body. I mean, I'm growing a human being! What's not to love, right? Wrong. My body never looked pregnant to me. I have a very hard time seeing myself as I am, as others see me. I always look bigger than I actually am. Once Emi was 5 months old I joined Weight Watchers. I was doing it with my step mom. I lost some weight, which some of came back once I stopped. But I realized something that was more important than weight loss. My step mom complained about her body a LOT. In front of my child. She weighs herself daily. Eats poorly, and wonders why her butt is huge(hello genetics!).

I realized that I didn't want my daughter to feel that way. I wanted her to be happy in her body no matter what her weight. And so I started changing my perceptions. I am beautiful. My body created a human being. My breasts have nourished a human being for almost twenty months. I will never be a size 11 again. I'm okay with that. I'm working on getting healthy at the weight I am now. If I end up loosing some weight, great. But I'm not focused on that. It's taken me a year to change the way I look at everything, and it's still a work in progress. I still binge eat, and I know that's not healthy. I still have a hard time getting out and moving. I still look in the mirror sometimes and wonder why I can't be thin like my sister. But most of the time I love myself, just as I am. Fat and all.

Lots of women think that they don't have enough milk to breastfeed successfully. 98% of those women are having perceived low supply. Not an actual one. Lots of women think they're fat, but again it's a perceived fatness. Not actual. Not everyone is catwalk thin, especially after having kids. That's not a bad thing. Lots of women think they look old too, but it's not that they look old, it's that celebrities are getting face lifts and looking "younger" (plastic). In 1960 a 20 year old looked like what a 35 year old does now. It's perception. (I'm rambling now, sorry)

I hear you on feeling tired, and I think once you rule out a physical problem(thyroid, etc) that getting out and moving is going to help that. Put on some music and dance with your kids. Fifteen minutes, twice a day. If nothing else it will get your blood moving and it will be fun for you and your kids. Don't over do it, just keep moving. I find it hard to do with ONE child, so I don't know how you do it with four. Whoops, wrote a book. Sorry.

That was a post I made in a group. A woman was complaining that she was fat. She wanted to be back at 130lbs and she's 5'10". The first post I made mentioned how I wanted to hit her upside the head. I figured that wasn't productive and deleted it. All day today I've been bombarded with images of women before and after weight loss, of diet pills and fad diets. I'm out in the country and I don't have TV. But the internet is more than enough. And magazines. I picked up a copy of Good Housekeeping and 90% of what is in there is related to weight loss! Not even healthy living, but specifically weight loss. I'm disgusted. I'm saddened. I want better for my daughter. I've spent most of my life with disordered eating, and a good chunk with an eating disorder. This weight obsessed nation needs to get a clue. How is it that we are, as a nation, obese but dying, literally dying to be thin? It hurts my brain to try and wrap around it.

Fig Bars

I ran across this recipe for fig bars. They sure looked good. I wasn't sure if I could pull them off without oats, but i just happened to have everything in my kitchen to make them so off I went! They are divine. A little too sweet, so next time I'll ditch the frosting on top.

Fig Bars

Filling

8oz dried figs, stems removed

4oz dates, pitted

2T Hemp seeds

3 drops vanilla extract

1T Honey(Or agave, or rice syrup)

2T water

1T orange juice

1/4t cinnamon

1/8t ginger, ground

Pop figs, dates and hemp seeds into a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until blended.

Or do like me and start out in a food processor, realize it wont work, move to the other food processor and realize that one is broken too. (Who has 2 broken food processors?!) Then chop everything by hand and mash with a spoon.

Crust

2/3 c Brown Rice Flour

1/3 c Tapioca Flour

1/3 c Shredded, Unsweetened Coconut

2/3 c Quinoa Flakes

1T Brown sugar

1/2t Cinnamon

1 1/4 t baking powder

1/4t salt

1.5 T Mashed, Canned pear(one pear half)

3T canola oil

3T Honey(or Agave, etc...)

1/3C water

Mix dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients and mix well. It should all come together in sort of a very thick paste. Press 1/2 the crust into an 8x8 pan, layer with the fig mixture, and press the rest of the crust on top. Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 16 bars.

These even got the Cupcake seal of approval.