We went camping...

We went camping a second time last weekend. Ron made his camping dinner of baked beans and hot dogs. The girls love it. Beans, and hot dogs. We also toasted marshmallows. We have not yet graduated to smores, but we think that it should be easy to do. I actually did buy Graham Crackers (I bought Nabisco Honey Maid brand), and brought some dark chocolate (Newman's Own brand) along. The girls loved the marshmallows toasted plain. Maybe next time we will have smores. We will let you know how they turn out :)

Cream Soups without Dairy

Do you ever feel like having cream soup, or need cream soup in a recipe? Imagine brand foods has a large selection of dairy free soups available in their line. We really like their soups and actually had the Cream Sweet Corn Soup today for lunch. Flavors include favorites like:-

- Creamy Chicken
- Creamy Sweet Corn
- Creamy Potato Leek
- Creamy Mushroom
- Creamy Broccoli
- Creamy Butternut Squash

these are just a few. More info under www.imaginefoods.com ..we have had them all and really like all of them. One thing to note so is that I usually add a little more salt and pepper to them

Enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Which child (and adult) does not love Chocolate Chip Cookies? I know that both my girls just LOVE them. Today we are having a few of our friends over in the afternoon. So here I am baking chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chips I just got at Whole Foods (they are Vegan Semi Sweet). The girls seem to love these as well :)

Here is my recipe

1 Cup softened Earth Balance
1 Cup granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Salt (I usually use a little less as Earth Balance is only available salted)
2 1/3 Cups unsifted flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 - 12 ounce package of chocolate chips (app. 2 cups)

- Preheat oven to 375
- Combine first 5 ingredients
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda and mix under the creamed mixture
- Stir in chocolate chips

- Drop 1 teaspoon about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet
- Bake for about 10 minutes

FYI - this recipe can easily be cut in half

We LOVE these cookies :)

Deschutes Brewery Pub in Portland

Last week we took Alena out for lunch at the newly opened Deschutes Brewery Pub. What a GREAT experience...they bake ALL of the bread themselves so the server was quickly able to determine which buns were without any milk products. Alena wanted to eat a hamburger. The fries are not breaded so they are also fine, the hamburger bun does contain dairy so our sever suggested for either the hoagie roll, or the multi grain roll. We went with the hoagie roll and it was great. The kids menu also includes grilled salmon, pasta (on the menu with butter & parmesan but in other restaurants we always order with garlic & olive oil), hamburger...Here is the link to the Portland Pub. http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/BrewPub/Portland+Pub/default.aspx

It was a great experience and we surely will be back with both kids.

Dessert...Soy Delicious Frozen Dessert Cookie

We just bought the Soy Delicious Frozen Dessert Cookies for the first time. They are absolutely fantastic. Sweet, decadent, everything you want in a dessert plus without any milk. Isn't that great? I like Soy Delicious Ice Cream anyway, but the frozen cookies are truly decadent if you are looking for a little more. More info at www.soydelicious.com

Pancakes for Breakfast

Is there a better way to start a great weekend than with a pancake breakfast? According to Alena it is the best...We made pancakes this morning. Alena made the batter, and I baked them. She was so excited that she wanted to try the first one right there in the kitchen :) Turns out that she almost ate the entire batch by herself. Mia Rose had one pancake, and Ron the other. We sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar on the pancake and rolled them up. Very, very yummy. They are quick and easy to make from scratch...the recipe is adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine, Revised and Updated, Rose Elliot, Pantheon Books.

Easy Pancakes
3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Soy, rice, or other milk you like to use
1/2 Cup water
1-2 melted Earth Balance, or sunflower oil
Oil for frying

1. Mix all ingredients together. Mix well until all lumps are gone
2. Heat oil in frying pan
3. Add 1/4 Cup batter (or more if you like them thick) to pan; tip pan so that batter runs all over
the bottom of the pan
4. Turn when the top is set, and fry bottom up quickly
5. Serve right away

You can serve them with cinnamon and sugar, spread jelly on top of them and roll them up. Otherwise Maple syrup works well too.

Have a great weekend.

Vegan Chocolate Chips at Whole Foods Market

Mia and I went shopping yesterday at Whole Foods Market. You know what we found VEGAN Chocolate Chips, Whole Foods 365 brand...How fantastic is that? I am just so thrilled, we also found animal cookies, and a bunch more fun snacks for kids. All items are Whole Foods brand and they are delicious...

We did it :)

Yeah - the dreaded blood draw is over with...let's just keep our fingers crossed that the levels of both girls were good. We went Wednesday up to OHSU and Mia Rose (the little one) was sent first by her big sister. She is the hardest one because she just cries (better said SCREAMS on top of her lungs) the entire time. A woman came in to see if she could help out....Mia Rose has already completely forgotten about it. Alena keeps talking about the draw and how she does not want to go back. She is so good so...she sat on my lap for the draw and was a real trooper. She cried a tiny bit...but hey, if I could I would cry during a blood draw too.

This time they took a little more because both girls are also enrolled in a research study. If you are interested in the study you can check it out at http://genetics.web.emory.edu/studies/galactosemia/index.php.

Not all is fun and games...the dredded draw

First the fun stuff - we had a great 4th. The flag cake turned out fantastic and everybody loved it. OK - we are still loving it b/c there is a little left...

The girls are due for a blood draw. I talked with my oldest about it a couple of weeks ago. "NO, NO, NO I do NOT want to go!!! It hurts! I don't like them hurting me. NO!!!!" This makes me feel so bad. She then asked why they had to get their blood drawn, and I explained that because of Galactosemia we need to make sure her levels are OK. Here is her response "NO!!! I do NOT want to Galatosemia!" Truth be said, I really was on the verge of tears. It makes me feel so bad, and in some bizarre way I feel so guilty of giving my precious little daughters a faulty gene. It is quite powerful and at that moment it overshadowed my general positive outlook. Don't get me wrong, it does not change my positive outlook but it just drove home the point that there are just additional things that need to be done in order to manage CG. - You may think "oh that's not a big deal", but to me its a huge deal. Like any parent I do not want my girls to have any pain whatsoever. I certainly will turn into the lioness doing everything to protect her cub. Yikes, I am getting off on a rant here...I know the draws are necessary, just procrastinated them a little. In any case the plan now is to go next week Wednesday. My oldest is in camp in the a.m., but she will just go a little late that day. Probably is better if she has an activity right after the draw anyways. Oh, and Alena (my oldest) already said...Mia (my little one) has to go first...

4th of July Flag cake

Yeah - it is the 4th of July. Every year I make a flag cake, some years I also make a "cheese" cake. This year is a flag cake only. Both girls helped me making it today, right now its baking in the oven. Let me tell you it just smells great :)

Here is the recipe for it. I FYI - I put it together from various cookbooks.

Flag cake Recipe

First
2-1/4 C flour
1-1/2 C Sugar
3 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 C Earth Balance (or shortening, or other margarine)
1 C Plain soy, or rice milk
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla

- Preheat oven to 350 - grease a 9x13" pan
- Mix up all the dry ingredients
- Add margarine and soy milk and mix up well
- Add eggs, and vanilla. Beat until batter is nice and smooth
- Pour batter into greased baking pan
- Bake for 40 - 45 minutes

Second - Stripes
- Any flavor of red Jell-O
- Make according to directions

- Let cake cool down for at least 15 minutes
- Use a fork for put holes into the top of the cake (the Jell-O will flow into the holes)
- Pour and spread Jell-O over the cake
- Cover with foil and put in fridge for 3 - 4 hours

Third - Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. Package of Tofuti Cream Cheese
1/2 C Earth Balance
1 tsp Vanilla
3 C Powdered Sugar
1 TBL Soy milk

- Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth
- Spread over cake

Fourth - Decorate

1 pint Strawberries sliced in half (or more)
1 cup Blueberries (or more)

Decorate the cake with the fruit - blueberries to the left red to make the stripes...

This sounds like it is a ton of work...don't worry it is really, really easy just a bunch of steps and it is so worth it.

Happy 4th!