Not Just Any Oatmeal Cookie

I baked some yummy oatmeal cookies last week and I want to share the recipe with you. You have to keep an open mind about these because they are quite good, despite their somewhat odd list of ingredients. Most importantly, they are the perfect protein boosted treat/snack for my food sensitive children.

The original recipe for Lady A’s Oatmeal Cookies can be found on my friend Kristi’s Baby Food Steps blog here. She gets all the credit for coming up with these! Also, if you want to learn more about salicylates which is the latest food sensitivity we are tackling then take a look here. Kristi explains it better than I ever could.

Back to the cookies…I have made them exactly as the recipe states on Kristi’s blog, and both our family and our friends liked them. My only “complaint” was that they were a bit too sweet for my taste which is why I came up with this modified version:

Lady A’s Chicken Oatmeal Cookies with Applesauce and Maple Syrup

Homemade Chicken Liver Pâté

I have wanted to learn to make liver pâté from scratch for quite a while and now seemed like the perfect time since neither my kids nor I can eat the store-bought kind anymore. I grew up eating pâté on bread and my kids have eaten their share as well and really like it.

The original recipe is from zerowastehome. However, since we have various limitations including dairy and salicylates** I had to make quite a few changes and here is what I came up with:

Homemade Chicken Liver Pâté

2 oz chicken fat (can use butter if dairy is not an issue)

2 oz homemade lard (can use butter if dairy is not an issue)

1 lb organic chicken livers

Like a Child

I wish I could dream like my children. Their dreams are so attainable and are not weighted down by reason or worries about all the things that might not make them happen.

I wish I was as easily amused as my children. A milk moustache, little brother having a crumb stuck on his nose, mamma dropping a spoon so cereal splashes all over the floor. Little things that can be so funny to little minds.

I wish I could laugh like my children. Their laughter comes from a place deep inside their bellies, it rumbles through their little bodies and come out into the world with such vivid gusto.

Progress Report

I am finally sitting down to write another blog post, despite my month-long dry spell, I am determined to get back to it. Since almost a quarter of the year has passed I decided that a recap of my progress in relation to my New Years Challenges would be suitable. I am simply walking through the challenges and how I am doing with each one:

Challenge 1 - Organization, organization, organization!

I am extremely proud to say that I FINALLY feel like I have made real progress when it comes to organization. This is mostly due to the fact that I spent the better part of spring break on a solo organization mission while my husband and two oldest kids were away at my in-laws. I will touch more on the specifics of this later, but all that is important to note is that my house is mostly organized and it is "20 minutes from company-ready" which I will also explain later. It is a huge relief and though there are some smaller projects here and there to tackle still, the HUGE ones are done!! So stop on by :) (As long as you give me 20 minutes heads up....)

Gift Bags and Favor Bags

I have come to the realization that paper is my creative medium. I like working with paper much more than I like working with thread or fabric or yarn or wood or clay or anything like that.

Here are some origami bags that I have folded and that I had/have the intention of selling. They are the perfect size for a gift card or any other small gift. I also make a smaller version that is perfect for a party favor. I use all kinds of themed papers for holidays and also for special events like a baby shower, wedding etc. I would love to hear what you think of these!

Below are some samples of colors/patterns. I can make bags to match any specific theme; as long as the paper can be found then I can make them. :)
The large bags are approximately 4.25 inches wide, 3.5 inches tall and 1.75 inches deep. The small bags are approximately 2 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 0.75 inches deep.  All of the bags can have ribbons, adornments or tissue paper added to them.  



Valentine's Day Treats

My daughter has been in preschool for a whole 5 months or so and I feel like there is always something "special" going on. A special craft, a special program, a special snack, a special lunch and so forth an so on. As a mom of a child with allergies these special events turn into a bit of a production for me since I do want to try to provide a very similar, allergy-friendly alternative for my daughter. To be honest, I would be quite ok if there were less "special" things and more of the "normal" things. 

Anyhow, to recap some of the events we have had in these 5 short months...there are of course all the birthdays with a special birthday snack. Then there was the hot-dog lunch, the Christmas party (which I still intend to post about later on), and father's night. All of these required a special meal or snack or treat. Oh and not to forget the firetruck craft and the gingerbread decorating. The firetruck was made from graham crackers, oreos and pink icing. Thankfully there are allergy-friendly alternatives to both grahams and oreos and beet juice makes icing pink, so after a get-your-kids-piled-in-the-car-and-run-into-the-specialty-grocery-store-with-all-three-in-tow-BEFORE-school-starts-in-the-morning scramble we did manage to make it happen on short notice. And as far as gingerbread goes, mamma can stay up and make dough the night before, sure thing! 

Conversation...is it still an art?

I just got one of those envelopes in the mail that contains a bunch of ads and coupons for restaurants, gutter and roofing companies, carpet cleaners and mechanics etc. I usually flip through the stack quickly because you never know when there might be one in there that is for a company I actually use or intend to contact.

As I was flipping through the stack today there were mostly the same old ads that I have no interest in but then one caught my eye. It had the words “Create a conversation starter” on the front. It was an ad for customized smart phone cases. My immediate thought was “This is the way to start a conversation with someone???!!! Maybe I am really old fashioned but how about putting the phone down and then you would be able to start a conversation with the person the old-fashioned way. Maybe you could start by making eye contact with the person?  Maybe paying them a compliment, or say something about your surroundings or circumstances; or comment on the weather for that matter?