Food – Page 2 – xangelle.com

Christmas Eve

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is over, but is it….

The weeks leading up to Christmas were a bit insane with trying to get all the presents made, but we did it. In fact, this year, I was actually ready for Christmas by the morning of the 24th. That’s the earliest that I’ve ever been ready. Now, to be honest, we did have to run out to the store to pick up one thing and trade out some pajamas that we bought for Judah. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I bought his original pajamas 2 sizes too small…..anyway….other than that, Christmas Eve was a nice relaxing day.

We started having a Christmas Eve Fondue with Jon’s parents a few years ago and it’s become a Tradition. As soon as we start to think about Christmas, decorate for Christmas, or start to think about making presents….the kids start to ask about Christmas Eve fondue.

I love that we have these fun traditions with our family. It just seems to make things more exciting and special.

Judah is especially excited because the entire fondue was Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free. So it was safe for all of us. YAH! What’s even better….it was FREAKING DELICIOUS!

After we finished our meal, we decided to open presents first and then to come back to eat dessert – Chocolate Fondue – after we were finished opening presents.

Siah was SO Excited! He could hardly wait to open his presents. Jeremy was also so VERY excited, but he just wanted to be able to give the presents that he had bought with his own money! It was very sweet.

This is the first time that Judah has really “gotten” into opening presents and he had so much fun. He absolutely LOVED this present that his Nana & Papa bought for him.

He has played with his car non-stop.

After we opened our presents, we headed back for some Chocolate Fondue!

Angelica was loving her some Chocolate Strawberries…

And then her and Nana started to goof around a little….

It was pretty funny!

After the Chocolate Fondue, we sent the kids off to change into their Christmas Pajamas. Isn’t he cute?

Nana and Geli….

Xani….all three, so pretty!

We started a game of Apples to Apples….

I played about 2 rounds and then Judah couldn’t handle it any longer…..

….and so I put him out out his misery.

After the game, we sat down for our traditional Christmas Story. This year we choose to read, Humphrey the Christmas Camel.

After all the kids were put to bed, and the stocking’s were stuffed and the house was closed down for the night……we headed off to bed….this is probably the earliest that we’ve been to bed on a Christmas Eve…only 1:45am. Not bad, eh?

To see all of the pics from Christmas Eve click here….

Gluten-free Waffles

Recently, I’ve been reading about cooking gluten-free by weight and by ratio; and it is making SUCH! A! FREAKING! HUGE! DIFFERENCE!

I’m making more consistently DELICIOUS gluten-free food.

Cooking by weight – by ounces or grams – makes such a big difference because there is such a huge difference in between a cup of twice sifted white flour and a cup of packed whole wheat flour…..throw in all the difference flours that I’ve been using in the gluten-free baking (millet, sorghum, amaranth, rice, almond, teff, quinoa – just to name a few) and if you are cooking by cups then you can have a huge discrepancy in each batch of baking that you make and more often than not you end up with some nasty crap….(I’m not trying to be offensive, I’m sure your gluten free food is delicious). BUT, cooking by weight means that if a recipe calls for 500 grams of flour – on my scale, I’ll always use 500 grams of flour no matter what flour I use or how sifted or packed it is….

Cooking by ratio is about understanding what ratio of flour to liquid to fat is required for different items…

Once you have the basic understanding of what the basic building blocks of bread, or cake or pancakes are….you can start playing by adding different ingredients in.

Now, not all of my attempts have worked out perfectly the first time I’ve tried, but I’d say that more of my “tries” are successes as opposed to failures and that is a big deal to me. I hate whipping something up and “hoping” that it’ll turn out, only to have it be a colossal flop and then having to throw all those ingredients out….not cool!

This morning, Xandra really wanted waffles and I figured that it couldn’t hurt to try. I’ve got a delicious recipe for gluten-free pancakes and figured that it couldn’t be that difficult to do waffles.

The ratio I used for waffles is 1-1-1….1 egg, 1 part flour, 1 part liquid.

If you estimate that one cup of regular wheat flour is about 120 grams – then I used that “120 grams” as my measurement.

And this was the result…..

You can see Judah’s hand in the corner. He didn’t even want to wait for the picture, but he started in on them as soon as I put the plate on the table. He doesn’t know what he can or cannot eat…all he knows is that I make delicious food and he wants to eat it. I love the fact that I can make food for him that will make and keep him healthy.

They turned out PERFECTLY. Yes, I’ve gotten a little crazy with the CAPS, but I’m pretty excited. In fact, Jon turned to me and said that my gluten-free waffles were even better than his waffles….and he’s the king of the pancakes and waffles in our house.

They were light and fluffy on the inside, and crispy on the outside; and with a little “soy-free Earth Balance” and some Maple Syrup, they were heavenly. It was the perfect start to this rainy, grey day.

Even Jeremy (who is incredibly picky) and Angelica (who doesn’t eat waffles) said that they were yummy!

Here is the recipe that I used.

2 eggs
240 grams of Flour (I used a homemade GF Flour Blend)
240 grams of Milk (I used Coconut Milk)
2 tsp of Baking Powder
2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of Cardamom
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
1/4 tsp of Almond Extract
2 oz. of melted butter (I used Soy-Free Earth balance)

I poured about half a cup of batter between the two sides of our waffle maker and this made about 8 waffles.

Judah LOVED them…and kept asking for “more, more!”

I can’t wait to have waffles again! Maybe for dinner tonight??? Okay, probably not, but they were really, Really, REALLY yummy!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I feel better when I don’t eat flour. I love the things that I can make with flour and yet, when I eat too much flour….I just end up feeling bloated and gross.

Last week, my sister and I decided to support each other in our healthy food eating habits. We were feeling a bit off and knew that if we were accountable to someone that we’d have a greater chance of eating responsibly as opposed to just popping whatever was in front of ourselves into our mouths. So far it’s working. I am less bloated, feel more energy, feeling less sugar cravings and well, I’m just feeling better all around.

Basically we are eating 3 meals a day – no snacking in between. We are eating no sugar, no flour, no dairy – just sticking to whole foods. I think that we might shake it up this next week and do 2 smaller meals, 2 snacks and one larger meal. Neither of us are loving feeling like we need to stuff ourselves at each meal so that we’re not hungry in between meals. I’d rather just plan to eat some veggies or fruit in between meals instead of fighting the hunger.

I had made up our weekly meal plan before I agreed to start this with Debbie and PIZZA was on the menu for Friday night. I could have just had something different, but I remembered that I had heard of a Vegetable Pizza Crust somewhere before and so I went searching.

I found this recipe and with a few variations, I decided to try it.

I used 1 cup of grated cauliflower, 1 egg and 1/2 cup of goat mozzarella, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of basil.

You mix all of the ingredients together and mix really well. You end up with something that looks kinda like this…..

I got a piece of parchment paper and spread the mixture in a pizza shape (otherwise known as a circle).

I used my fingers and a rubber spatula to spread it all out. Mine was about a quarter of an inch thick. I popped it into a pre-heated oven that was set at 450 degrees Farenheit and waited for about 20 minutes or so….until it looked like this….

It needs to be cooked until the edges have browned. If you cook it just enough, then the crust will hold together and you can pick it up and eat it with your hands just like a pizza. If you under cook it, then it will be a bit sloppier and less easier to handle. (Just a friendly, helpful little tip)

I had found some Organic Chorizo sausage at Organic World out in Maple Ridge. Lots of the regular pressed meats have chemicals and wheat in them and as I’m trying to avoid those ingredients, I was happy to have found a spicy, healthy and very tasty option.

I put a thin layer of tomato paste, topped it with the Chorizo Sausage, some Goat Feta, Red Peppers, Kalamata Olives and finally some Goat Mozzarella. Just before I put it in the oven, this is what it looked like….

This is what it looked like after it had cooked at 375 degree Farenheit for a few minutes until the cheese had melted….

Doesn’t that just look delicious?

The kids had been commenting about how good the house smelled…kinda like Parmesean Cheese toast and while it did smell and look pretty darn amazing – I will admit that I was slightly concerned that it would taste less amazing than it looked.

I needn’t have worried. It was DELICIOUS! SO Yummy! I will definitely be making this pizza again and again and again.

I had used a whole head of cauliflower, 3 eggs and 1 brick of goat mozzarella and it made 3 large pizza crusts. We ate 2 of the crusts on Friday and I cooked up the third crust and let it cool. I put the cooled crust into a large freezer ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. I pulled it out of the freezer on Saturday afternoon and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. It was only slightly frozen when I piled a bunch of topping on it and threw it in the oven. After the cheese had melted, I pulled it out and served it for lunch. The only difference that I could tell was that it had a slight cauliflower taste, but overall I liked it and so I think that the next time I make pizza, I’ll probably make enough so that I can freeze a few crusts to be able to pull out and whip together a pizza when I need a quick easy meal.

If you are trying to avoid wheat and dont want to buy the guten free crusts…I’d offer this as a delicious alternative. Let me know if you do try it and what you think? Does it sound appealing to you or just plain disgusting?

Incentive is a Powerful Thing

It’s amazing what you can accomplish, if you want something bad enough.

This video was taken before Judah was trying to stand. He’s never “really truly crawled”. He does this weird army crawl thingy and he’s only seen his cousins do the stairs about twice. You can see how shaky he is…..

15 out of 56

Well, we are 15 days (2+ weeks) into Delayed Intensification 2 which is 56 days long (8 weeks). This is the second to last stage before Maintenance. So far, Geli has had a Lumbar Puncture, one dose of Intrathecal Methotrexate (into her spinal fluid), one dose of Peg L-asparaginase divided into two shots (one in each thigh). She has had two doses of Vincristine and 2 doses of Methotrexate (both of those into her port in her chest).

She has been doing pretty well. There have been some down times, some barfy feeling moments, and a lot of great moments. Some times the chemo makes food and water taste “off” and that sucks. Sometimes, it’s difficult to sleep and yet regardless of how much sleep Geli does get, she feels overly tired most of the time.

Her body is working overtime to heal and process the poison injected into it and she’s fighting so hard and most definitely winning this race.

Geli has been at school all last week, except for Thursday when she had to go in for her last chemo dose. She has no chemo this week and we are planning for another great week at school.

As her parents, we are thrilled to see her attending school, hanging out with her friends, just being as normal as is possible in this crazy situation.

She is working hard on her grade 8 school work and while she’s not done as much work as is required from her school mates, she’s done really well on keeping up to date with the essential assignments that her teachers have given to her.

Angelica and a friend scored a perfect mark on an oral presentation that they have been working on over the past month or so. That was definitely a bright spot over this last week.

We’ve been out walking most days and the exercise and fresh air are wonderful. You don’t realize how much you take your health for granted until you spend a huge portion of a year not feeling well and laying on a couch and then you realize that even a simple walk requires almost more effort than you have to give. BUT….summer’s coming and swimming is important enough that we are trying to build up strength so that we will be able to swim without needing a life jacket or having to rest after 5 mins.

We are really, REALLY looking forward to summer. Angelica will be on Maintenance and we will be defining a new normal and this summer will be a most welcome break from this past year. I think that we are all looking forward to a bit of a relaxing summer.

I’ve been trying desperately to stay on top of the house and have been running at warp speed from morning till night and unfortunately most of the night too (thank you very much children). I’ve had almost no down time and I’m desperate for summer with no homework, a bit more of a relaxed schedule, once a month visits into the hospital, no deadlines……I can’t wait.

We have managed to turn our house up side down and I think its a good thing, BUT…..it’s not without it’s challenges. We did move our bedroom down to the basement along with the two little boys. Geli and Xani are up in what was the master bedroom. Jeremy is still is his room and we’ve moved the “TV/Rec Room” up to the big room that used to be Siah’s. I will try to get pictures soon, but so far this particular room arrangement is working well.

Xani is still struggling pretty hard and it’s difficult to watch her struggle and hurt.

Jeremy is rocking his Lego Root Camp and just being Jeremy. Recently, we tweaked the meds that he’s taking and it’s made a great difference.

Josiah is 3 years old and while the whiny voice and testing of behavior is not the most fun….he’s doing really well. I believe that he’s settled greatly from the initial chaos and while there are still things that we can and will work on with him….he’s doing SO much better. We’ve been trying to color a bit and he’s loves to spend one on one time with anyone. He stresses a bit about not knowing “how” to color and wants to have one of us color “with” him by putting our hand over his, but we keep practicing and he’s getting a bit more confident that he “can” color all by himself.

Judah is getting so big and I can hardly believe that 8 months have past us by. While I’m still not eating wheat (he seemed to have some gluten issues), soy or dairy….the intestinal issues that Judah was dealing with seem to have settled and he is doing much better. I have never really had a baby who has eating issues and yet, Judah is giving me a run for my money.

He will eat rice puffs or rice cakes or potato puffs any time any where, but try to give him some thing that might actually have taste or nutritional value in it and he clamps his lips and crosses his arms in front of his face and uses his arms in a windshield wiping motion to knock the spoon out of your hand.

I’ve tried to see if he will feed himself and it’s very hit and miss and so I’m not stressing about it too much because I don’t want to “create” a HUGE issue. He’ll eat when he eats and seriously…..it’s not like he’s wasting away, eh? He’s quite the chunk!

He has the sweetest personality and is so happy and squish-able and lovable and we are just so thrilled he is ours. (I just wish he’d sleep a little more consistently – he can….it’s just very hit and miss and I think that more sleep would make this whole situation just a little easier to handle.)

All said, we are doing okay! I wouldn’t say that things are the MOST AMAZING EVER, but we are surviving. One day at a time, we are making it through this…….A lot of that is due to you and your prayers, encouragement, love and support……we are so thankful to you all.

Celebrating Late

It was my Momma’s Birthday on January 14th, and I missed it.

My Mom and Dad

I didn’t completely forget about it, but I never got a hold of her to wish her a happy day and to let her know how much I love her. I thought of her a few times, and each time, i told myself that I’d call her as soon as i finished whatever it was that I was working on at that exact moment.

Then I woke up the next morning and MAN….I felt bad. But, she’s my momma and she loves me and she loves to celebrate life – any day, any time for any reason……and so it was all good!

We asked my parents to come and have dinner with us this past Monday night.

I knew that we were going to have them over and yet for whatever reason (I’m going with lack of sleep) I totally zoned on the fact that we were having them over “for her birthday”. I can’t even believe this myself. I’ve dropped the ball on a lot of things lately. My brain just doesn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders these days, and that’s not so cool!

And that’s how I found myself at 3:30pm in the afternoon getting ready to think about make dinner (we were gonna eat at 5pm) and realizing that I had done NOTHING about a birthday cake. I didn’t even have a pie or muffin or anything made up that we could even just “pretend” was something “birthday” related.

I quickly tried to think of a quick alternative. Normally, it might just be easy to pop to the store and pick up a cake or some other dessert, but with the different food issues, that’s not really an option for us.

And then I remembered, Udi’s Double Chocolate Muffins. These little beauties are Dairy, Egg, Soy and Gluten Free and…they are actually delicious. Most importantly, I could pick some up at both of my local grocery stores, IGA and Save On.

I figured that I could make some powdered sugar icing with my soy-free Earth Balance and some almond milk and at the very least, we’d have something to stick a candle in.

It’s not the most beautiful birthday dessert that I’ve ever thrown together, but I was able to throw it together in less than 10 minutes and for a last minute rush job that takes a dairy, soy, egg and gluten free food issues into consideration, I think it’s pretty good.

We had some great family time and enjoyed celebrating life, and got to eat some yummy chocolate cake as a bonus.

I sure love you, Momma! You are worth celebrating, EVERYDAY!

An Almost, Not Quite, Sort Of Normal Day

The baby is upstairs sleeping and seeing as he slept for a grand total of 10 minutes this morning as opposed to the hour he has been doing – I’m really REALLY hoping that he sleeps for a while….I’d love 2 hours to make up for the hour that he missed this morning, but even an hour would be AWESOME.

Josiah is quietly watching a movie while he snacks on his lunch.

Geli has actually gone to school. I was really nervous about that this morning, so I’ve done lots of praying for her. Her counts were just above the border of her being allowed to go to school and it’s so important that she believe that she “BELONGS” at school that we told her she needed to go. She is finally feeling better. The effects of the steroid have mostly worn off and aside from being tired because we’ve recently had a few too many late nights in a row…she’s doing pretty good.

My house is tidy and mostly clean, thanks to the help of an AMAZING woman.

I’m eating the MOST delicious oatmeal cookie and needing to write out a list of things that I absolutely MUST get done this week. That sounds all big and important, but really I need to write out a grocery list and a list of things that I can do to clean the house while holding the baby (in the sling)….ya know things like wiping the window sills or washing the windows, folding laundry….just easy stuff!

Okay back to those DELICIOUS cookies that I was talking about.

I had a craving for Oatmeal Cookies a while ago and while most Oats are “contaminated” (I dislike that word, it’s so “evil” sounding) with wheat, you can buy guaranteed gluten-free oats and so I did.

I googled Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookie Recipes and read through many MANY links and decided to go with this recipe. (If you read my last few posts, I google quite a bit, if you haven’t noticed. It’s how I come up with the “base” of most of my recipes and get patterns and most of my other useless information. HA!)

I used the All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix from Gluten-free Girl and the Chef and then I started altering the recipe to suit me and my tastes. I only used 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats and added in 1 cup of unsweetened coconut to make up the 3 cups. In place of the 1 cup of raisins, I substituted 1/2 a cup of cranberries and 1/2 a cup of these chocolate chips. I used Earth Balance Soy free Spread instead of the butter. I did use an egg because I put cranberries in them and that means and NO CHILD in my house will eat these because they have “raisin type food” in them. It was so very clever of me. I made the MOST DELICIOUS COOKIES and they are mine…..ALL MINE!

If my diet weren’t strict enough, I think that I’ve figured out which foods are bothering Judah and I believe……hopefully…..that he is now, actually, on a forward moving, positive trend. We’ve eliminated Gluten, Dairy and Soy….which basically leaves me with nothing left to eat. Okay, so that’s not true at all, but some days it feels like that and so I’ve consoled myself by having little treats like this around the house. I could totally make these cookies dairy, gluten, soy and egg free just by using Ener-G Egg Replacer, but for this batch, it wasn’t necessary – thanks to those pesky little cranberries. But, it’s worth giving up all those foods for my child’s health and if I’m being completely honest….I feel way better eating like this too. The soy is a bit difficult because I use it as flavor in my cooking and I LOVE miso soup, but I don’t believe that it will be gone forever….just until Judah is a bit healthier and his guts become a bit stronger.

Anyway, I made these one evening after the kids had all gone to bed and as soon as they came out of the oven, I tasted one and YUM!!!!! Then I sat down at the kitchen table and ate WAY TOO MANY. I dunked the warm cookies into a cold glass of Almond Milk! These are amazing and I’d serve these to anyone and they’d have no clue they were so altered.

These are not cookie substitutes….these are cookies…real, honest to goodness, chewy and crispy, delicious cookies.

If you have some food “issues”, these could be your next favorite cookie (if you like oatmeal cookies, that is) and if you don’t like raisins or cranberries…just increase the chocolate chips or the oatmeal or the coconut by half a cup.

Alright, I’m off to make my lists….

Christmas Eve

Last year, we had a Christmas Eve Fondue with Jon’s parents and my kids LOVED it.

In fact, this year in November Jeremy started asking about that thing that we do every year….with the sticks and the cheese and the chocolate and the dipping. I finally figured out that he was talking about our Christmas Eve Fondue only…..we had only ever done it with the kids ONCE.

But I would LOVE to start a tradition of a Christmas Eve Fondue.

This year we were unsure how the whole celebrating Christmas with the families was going to look because we had Angelica to think about and her blood counts to take into consideration. Fortunately, everyone on both sides of our family was healthy and there was no issue about that. We did stay at or close to home though and it was only immediate family.

Jon’s parents came to celebrate Christmas Eve with us and it was such a great evening. We were able to have dinner and open presents and there was nothing terribly stressful or horribly rushed about the evening. The biggest challenge was making a dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free fondue……….that tasted DELICIOUS. See, if I had used regular bread then when it was dipped into the cheese, it could have pieces that fell off and I could have eaten then and then bad things would have happened…and so it was necessary to make the entire fondue safe for everyone.

But…a gluten-free, dairy-free fondue can be done and it can taste so SO YUMMY!

The first thing that I did was to call my friend who is the manager of a Cheese and Bake Shop in White Rock and ask for her suggestions for some cheese that I could use in a fondue that wasn’t from cow’s milk. She suggested I use a mellow Goat Gouda and a crisp tasting Sheep Cheese.

This is the same friend who shaved her head raising money to support our family. She is honestly the most amazing person and such a great, great friend. We’ve known each other our whole lives and I love her like a sister. In fact, when we went by the store to pick up the cheese, we had someone ask if we were sisters. If you saw pictures of her, you’d know that was a great compliment. She has the most gorgeous HUGE blue eyes, the highest cheekbones and the greatest, most amazing smile. She is one of those people who are beautiful, both inside and out.

Anyway, she suggested that we try these two cheeses and the end result was AMAZING! It was a fabulous non-cow dairy cheese fondue and EVERYONE loved it and it was the perfect blend of cheese and had absolutely NONE of that nasty “goaty” taste.

If you are needing some cheese or fresh bread or any treats to go with cheese or fresh bread, I would totally suggest you check them out. Amazing products, Amazing staff and the management is…….AMAZING!!!!

The Roadhouse Bake Shoppe on King George in White Rock, BC

Back to Christmas Eve….the Cheese fondue was so SO Yummy! We had a bit of trouble with the oil fondue not being hot enough and we had even started it heating about an hour earlier, but while we were waiting for it get a bit hotter, everyone was downing the cheese fondue. I had bought some gluten and dairy free bagels and had cut them up into hunks. It was perfect for dipping. I had blanched a bunch of veggies and the kids were plowing through them too. I had cut up some moose meat and some chicken and also had some tempura sauce on hand but that stupid oil just wouldn’t get hot enough.

Cheese

We had eaten more than half of the cheese and Jon was turning the burner off so it wouldn’t burn to the bottom of the dish and CRACK….the dish broke….and that was the end of our cheese fondue.

It wasn’t exactly funny at the time….more annoying than amusing. The oil still wasn’t boiling and so I just took the meat to the kitchen and cooked in a pan and then we finished off our dinner.

It was just nice to be able to “be together”….that’s one of the important things about Christmas to me….having time to spend with family.

We cleared off the table and got to the “most important part of the meal” – according to Jeremy – the Chocolate Fondue.

There is a (dairy-free) Lindt Dark Chocolate that when mixed with a little soy creamer, makes the most delicious dairy free chocolate fondue. I have taken it to many places and no one ever knows or guesses that it’s not just a normal chocolate fondue.

Josiah gives it two thumbs up. We had TONS of fruit and also dipped some cookies into it. We ate until there was no more chocolate and everyone was full.

We cleared the table and started opening presents.

There were the “traditional” Christmas Pyjamas from Momma and Daddy.

For whatever reason, Jeremy needed to model his…both the front and the back…..and we HAD to take a picture…what a funny kid.

The evening ran WAY PAST the kids “normal” bedtime and Judah was a bit cranky which is never very fun.

But, He seemed to get a second wind and cruised on for at least another hour.

It was a great night and we enjoyed ourselves so much. After the kids went to sleep, e tidied up the house, put the presents under the tree and just after 1 am, just as we were getting ready to head to bed – the baby woke up…..and I cried. Okay, i didn’t, but I could have….and he did just nurse and go back to sleep so it wasn’t that bad.

In my mind though, Christmas Eve was a great night. Lack of sleep, food mess-ups and all…..

Do you have any favorite Christmas Eve traditions?

Feeding on Creativity

That post last night comes pretty close to the worst post I’ve written yet. It’s so disjointed, and really has no point, and look….hey…..cookies.

My coffee table at this exact moment. What does it say to you about me?

In my defense it was late, I had just made way too many fussy cookies, I was watching a show and chatting with Jon about something or other……all the while dreaming about my bed.

See, I probably should have just gone to bed early again, but I’d been in bed and sleeping the previous 3 nights at 9pm and seeing as we “get things done” after the kids go to bed, I’ve been feeling pretty useless and like I’ve accomplished NOTHING. And so I chose to stay up and “get some things done” and posting was on that list.

But, hey, we’ll just go with the fact that I was able to cross one thing off my list. Sometimes, it can be about quantity and not quality, right?

Even I don’t believe that. I’m much more of a quality over quantity type person, myself…..most of the time.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Not in a bad way, more that I’ve got a lot of thoughts inside my head and I’ve not had enough opportunity to get them all out of me.

I love to be creative. I love to make things. I love to find things to make my life and my family’s lives more healthy and more beautiful, and easier and more enjoyable and if I can do so in a simple manner, then I get even more excited. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to find the energy or the time to be creative. Recently, I’ve been feeling antsy to be able to make and create and while I think this is a good thing…….. with the chemotherapy, and 5 kids and the back load of stress, it’s a little frustrating and has me wondering if I’m just trying to “escape” from things.

I think that it’s important to do things that “feed” you and over the past 5 months, there’s not been too much time or energy for that, and so I’m trying to make sure that I allow myself some time for things that “feed” me and at the same time I’m trying to make sure that it doesn’t become all consuming.

So far, I’m able to work on some things and then put them aside when I need to focus on the kids and family and then to be able to pick them up again. I feel…..well, as corny as it sounds, I feel more alive. I’m excited to try to accomplish as many of my daily chores and tasks in a decent amount of time, but then to be able to stop and give myself a few moments to be creative. I’m trying to find the balance in all this chaos. Most of the time, it’s easier said than done.

But, with Christmas coming up and gifts to be given…….I’ve chosen to work on gifts to give and I’m pretty excited about some of the ideas that I’ve come up with. Some are old ideas, and some are new, but I get to be creative and so for me……it’s fun!

I love to be able to see what other people make and do. I love to look things that others make because I am always trying to see if I can come up with ideas that I can tweak to be able to make things. I like to be able to use things that I have or that I can obtain easily, so I’m constantly on the lookout for new ideas that are fairly simple. I like simple. I’m not so big into complicated. But I guess that’s all relative, isn’t it? What might be simple for you might be very difficult for me. We are all so individual and each of us have our own unique giftings and skills. That’s what makes this world an amazing place.

Some of the things I’ve made I can share and some I have to keep a secret, but I’m hoping to share a few of my ideas over the next little while and then maybe you can tweak my ideas and use them to create things of your own to give or to keep.

ps. those jam thumbprint cookies in the photo above – gluten, dairy and egg free. I used this recipe and used Vegan Becel instead of butter and Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of eggs. I also added about 3 more Tablespoons of Rice Flour than they called for as the Vegan Becel makes the dough a little oil-ier than normal cookie dough. Try them, they are amazing. Almost like shortbread.

MMMmmmmmm

Things have been busy over here in so many different areas.

I keep thinking that I’ll have a moment to update what going on and instead I’ve ended up with a backlog of things to write about and new things just keep on happening. That’s life isn’t it? It just keeps moving forward at a steady, predictable rate; even if you desperately want it to slow down and especially if you want it to speed up.

In case things weren’t already crazy enough, I’ve recently needed to remove gluten from my diet. I mentioned a while ago that Judah was having some gastro-intestinal issues. Removing dairy seemed to help a little and yet it really didn’t help like I thought it would. When I went to the doctor, it seems that his issues are dairy, gluten and yeast related and we are trying to figure out if this is a short term deal or a much more serious situation.

It’s been just over a week since I removed the gluten and while things are not great, they do seem to be a little bit better. Judah seems to be in less pain and that’s a huge deal for me.

I found this recipe for gluten-free Oreo cookies and figured that I’d attempt to alter it to make it dairy-free and egg-free. I baked up a batch tonight and it’s amazing.

Jon figures that they are good enough that you’d never know that they were dairy, egg and gluten-free. They are sooooo yummy and I know the kids are going to flip when they wake up in the morning.

Angelica is starting the 4th stage of the chemotherapy tomorrow morning. She went and got blood work done this morning and when her counts came back this afternoon….they were FABULOUS!

We were hoping that they would be high for the start of this round and they are, especially compared to how low they were last week. They are low for normal, but high for Geli.

Xani has been quite sick over the past week. It was almost like the flu but with no barfing or fever…….she’s had a headache, sore muscles, an all over achy feeling, runny nose, cough, and I think that she’s finally, slowly, on the mend.

Jeremy turned 10 years old yesterday and I’ve got a bunch of stuff to update on him.

Siah has not been sleeping very well and as a result, he’s been a bit of a goofball during the day. Lots of tears and whining and fussing and moaning and screaming….it’s a bit wearing. And I’d love to say that I have some great ideas and plans of what to do with him to work through this rough patch, but….ya…..nope! Nothing! I’m not sure if I’m too tired to come up with something or maybe I need to be just a little bit tired before “it” comes to me. I dunno, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out or maybe he’ll grow out of it all before I have to come up with something.

Christmas is coming and I’ve been baking (gluten-free, of course) and we’re trying to get things ready so that things will be peaceful and calm. I can at least hope for peace and calm, right?

I’m hoping to find a few moments to be able to get a few things caught up on here (and in real life). Should we take bets on whether it will actually happen or not????

Ah well. Life keeps moving along and I keep on moving with it, whether I like it or not.

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