Easter

Here are a few pictures from Kaylee's first Easter adventures.


She's not so sure about this "Easter Bunny" character. But is a huge fan of Jesus, the baskets, and plastic colored eggs!

A Tooth Cometh

Yes, it's true, Kaylee's first tooth has broken through. We weren't expecting it to be this one, but I guess that the ominous 'they' are right in predicting the center bottom ones to come in first. It is the right one that has won the race and poked it's little toothy head out from her gums to greet the world. We expected it to be one a little farther back as that's where there was more of a bump in her gums and where she tended to concentrate her chewing, I'm sure that one will be soon to follow though. Now though, I live in fear of being bitten with something that will actually bring about real pain. I guess it was only a matter of time. Surprisingly enough though, the whole ordeal wasn't as bad as I figured it would be.
I'm pretty sure I have our little miracle on a string to thank for that though. A few weeks ago, after reading more about teething I bought Kaylee an amber teething necklace that she has worn pretty much nonstop. We took it off at one point because we were paranoid about her sleeping in it, and forgot to put it on the next day and wow, big difference. She was insanely irritable and unhappy. So she wears it and it seems to work. As a bonus she looks super cute in it, like a little surfer baby.

Muffins

If you know me lately you know I have a serious muffin/cupcake addiction. I'm not sure how to get over this one, so I just keep playing with it and discovering lots of yummy treats to keep me from starving throughout the day when food is just beyond my ability to make because of baby, housework, etc. keep me too well occupied to think about cooking. So I keep a muffin supply and I get by alright. So here I am finally joining the ranks of those sharing quality cooking information in the virtual world of the internet. Like most things I make, unless I'm cooking specifically for someone else, this one is gluten free. I know there's a lot of controversy about whether or not oats qualify as GF or not, but I tend to lean towards the they're alright side because I buy the certified GF Oats and make my own flour. Plus I figure I'm the only one who is really going to suffer if there is contamination, so I risk it. If corn were the ingredient in question I'd probably not risk it. This recipe was adapted from the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook by Cybele Pascal of which I am not a fan, but I got it from the library so I figured I'd try a few things from it and see what I could do with it.


1 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
1 cup rice milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sunflower oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup oat flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts

bake at 400 for 20 min
11 muffins - I am incapable of making 12 ever!

These were a rotation food, can't always have sweet potatoes, but when I can this is a good way to have them. They didn't last very long.

What Constitutes as "Lisa Safe"?

Since I am constantly being asked what I can and can't have, I decided the easiest thing for me is to just post a list that people can read through if they are really interested. I struggle deciding whether to write up the safe list or the not safe list... They are both pretty close in length at this point. I'll go with the not safe, so anything that is NOT on this list is safe, providing that it doesn't contain some sort of contamination from something on the list (ie: corn, wheat, dairy etc.). These are the things that we are currently avoiding.

• Corn - all varieties, in every form
  
• Soy - only lecithin is OK, and sometimes oil
  
• Dairy -all forms
  
• Gluten grains : wheat, barley, rye and related grains here is a helpful site about things that contain gluten.
• Millet
  
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
  
• Peppers - all types
  
• Shellfish
• Nuts -Pecans, peanuts, almonds
• Fruits - Papaya, bananas, strawberry, orange (all types), tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, lime, kiwifruit
  
• Chocolate
• Meats - lamb, pork, turkey
• Anything with caffeine or artificial sweeteners
• Sugar - trying to limit, and if possible no refined sugars
  

I think that's all, but I will probably be editing this as I tend to forget things.

conglomeration of thoughts

• Struggling to blog.... I'm still a a loss as to how people who blog find the time to write so much? I'm lucky to return emails within the same week much less find time to type up novels about everything that happens in my day or runs through my head. Much less recipes, there are lots that I'd love to share, but I really suck at blogging!
• The people who make the majority of baby clothes never had a baby!
• Enlightened once again to the battle going on constantly for our minds and our attention. Satan has quite the influence in this world and sometimes it is really hard to take every thought captive. This hit me again the other day when I was on a walk and saw a bumper sticker that read "One man can make a difference... Jesus did" and my immediate response was 'well He was God' and I had to stop to again realize that he was also fully human. Why is it my tenancy to have this view?
  
• Cooking/baking with real vanilla beans is so worth it.
• No matter how many times you try to discipline a cat, and different strategies you employ, you will always lose the battle to keep her off the table. At least this is how it goes in my life thus far. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
• Sleep is not so over rated anymore... I think I will always be tired. I'm resigning to not responding that I am tired when people ask how I'm doing, from this point forward if they don't know that already it's not worth me bringing up, it's just a fact of life that I need to grow to see past and find something new to *complain* about
  
• Being sick sucks!
• My house will never be clean... or stay clean for more than an hour after I've finished scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, etc.
• We have too much stuff.
• People although all very similar are all quite different and unique.
  
• There will never be enough time to do all of the things I want to do. I don't know how anyone could ever be bored in this life.