Giving up Dairy

Hi, y'all!!  Remember me?  :)  Another "meet someone I think is funny/cool/sassy" post to tide you over until actual blogging occurs over here again.

Remember when I had to give up dairy when I was nursing G-man?  And it was so awful, all I wanted to do was complain... and share the precious few recipes I had that my whole family loved... and then complain again?  Well, we're at it again (so this is the 3rd time I've had to give up dairy... out of 3 babies, for those of you keeping score at home!)  This punkin fooled us and kept her symptoms away until she was 7 weeks!  Sigh....

Anyway, to cope this time around, I've done 2 things:

Started reading this blog.  MODG. 

Omg... she is toooo hilarious.  I've had to walk away from my desk at work because I was laughing so hard that I feared I might snort or choke on my (soy) starbucks or something.  Today, she's talking about giving up dairy, too... Hello again food, you dirty dirty lady.  I was first introduced to her by a friend who also has a newborn....and this post totally describes my maternity leave:  10 things about boob feeding that only I'm going to tell you. 

You're welcome.  ;)

The other thing I did.... I ordered this cookbook from Amazon:  Go Dairy Free. 

I hate that the only thing I've cooked from it so far was some yummy cinnamon bread.  (I might have woken up on a Sunday morning.. after a Saturday evening out without kids!.... and needed something yummy and carby.)  Anyway, my menu planning has been totally a low priority lately, so I keep going with my dairy-free standbys:  chili, BBQ chicken, grilled chicken, fish.... But as soon as I try some, I'll be sure to pass them on!!


xoxo,

From the Semi-Homemade Cookbook: Brisket Tacos

Y'all. The other day, I got the brilliant 'idea' to make brisket tacos and they were soooo good, that I had to share. Okay, this isn't my idea, per se..... Brisket tacos are on many the menu at mexican restaurants around here. And I never order them. But they always LOOK so good.... So, I found this recipe on Gourmetmomma's blog and I'm going to share with you 2 ways to make amazing brisket tacos!

Okay, first, her way, which was how I intended to do it. I even bought the ingredients. I just had an issue with one of them.... you'll see....

Okay, first put the brisket in your crockpot (you know how much this working mommy loooves her crockpot!), fatty side up. Yes, fat. I know, I know, you like to cook healthy like I do... but there's no getting away from fat when you're cooking a brisket. It's required!
Put raw garlic cloves (mmmm!) on top of the brisket, about an inch apart, and then add salt. (My BIL swears that sea salt is better for you, and it actually tastes better, so I use that.)

*** Source of all pictures are Gourmet Momma!***

Add a layer of oregano and cumin. This is my kind of cooking... no real measurements. Drives Mr. Fix-It insane. ;)

Then pour on green salsa. Salsa is one of my absolute fav foods. It's why we moved to Texas. Just kidding. Kinda.

Turn on your crockpot and do something else for the next 6-8 hours... my brisket was about 3ish lbs and, at 7 hours, it was per-fect! It'll look something like this, swimming in all that juice:

Pull the meat apart until it looks like the picture at the top. Steal a few bites to 'make sure it's okay.'

Okay, so now for the semi-homemade version....

Like I said, I bought ALL these ingredients. But when I went to get the brisket, they had 2 options. (Now, you know we're in a recession, and I was at wal-mart... I'm assuming a 'real' grocery store might have had better options, but....)

Option #1: a 30+ lb brisket. Not kidding. I had to check to make sure I wasn't at Sam's.

Option #2: a 3-4 lb brisket, that was already seasoned

I went with #2. (Duh.) And can I just say.........OMG. It was perfect. I was working late the night we ate it (of course), and Mr. Fix-It called me at work, just to tell me that it was the best thing he'd had to eat in the last 6 months, at home OR in a restaurant. Wow! That's probably the best cooking compliment I've ever gotten!

You can serve with whatever you like, but it honestly doesn't need much doctoring. I liked it just with corn tortillas and Mr. Fix-It's famous homemade guac. Mmmmm.... Add cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomato, if you want... but I think less is more here. Try it - you'll love it! And this is one recipe (walmart shopping or not!) that is truly easy on the wallet...

Where was this when I needed it?

A Dairy-free cookbook! (It's also gluten-free and wheat-free, if you're interested!) And it looks like REAL FOOD in there! For only $20! Hmmm.... I'm going to bookmark this in case #3 makes my life as difficult, I mean restrictive, I mean challenging, as the first 2 did when nursing!

Oh, and if you have time, you should also check out the Designer Duct Tape (maybe Mr. Fix-It needs some!) and the awesome Happy Birthday cake pan. All of this is from Spoon Sisters! Enter code NEW to get 10% off on any amount (no minimum!)

Nothing - seriously, nothing - could get me out of the funk I was in Friday evening over not going to OK for my sis's shower. Even though Mr. Fix-It really did pull out all the stops... he brought home stuff so we could make chili (my absolute fav!) and he brought home ICE CREAM.... which I haven't had since Sept, when I had to quit eating dairy for my sweet g-man. (Quick update... I've been weaning and we've gotten him to tolerate regular - i.e., NOT the stuff that costs an arm and a leg - so we're working towards 100% weaned. That makes me both happy and incredibly sad. But that's a whole other story...)

So you can imagine how insanely mad I was when I called my mom Sat and she was looking at conditions pretty much like this:

Seriously?! Apparently, this massive storm had missed.... So, I spent the next 30 min calling everyone I know in OK and looking at every weather radar.... And that's when we did something I still can't believe we were able to do! We dressed both kiddos and ourselves and packed clothes, bottles, gifts and shower food in right at 30 minutes. WOW! We had nothing packed - I have no idea how we did it that fast.

Now, fast forward to a few hrs down the road.... and we run into this south of OKC:

Um, WTH? The radar had showed we might encounter some rain. Not blinding wind, whipping snow around and giving us about 1/4 mile visibility. Crap. Seems we can't win for losing. Mr. Fix-It was SUCH a trooper in getting us there. And we arrived at the location, exactly 20 min before the shower started!

Y'all, what a whirlwind.... we weren't in OK for even 24 hrs.... we got back to a house that looked like a tornado had been through it, as we were literally throwing things around to get out of the house. But, my sister was so excited.... it was all worth it.

I'll download pics and will soon share with you: A Semi-Homemade Baby Shower (a snowy edition)

From the Semi-Homemade Cookbook: Dairy-free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, y'all know my whole thing is semi-homemade. As in, my pretty standing mixer has only seen use a few times. Sorry, that's true. I love it, but I don't have time to use it. Until now. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Especially if it involves chocolate.
So... if you find yourself on a dairy-free diet OR if you're simply breastfeeding and want something yummy that promotes this, try these yummy cookies! Even if they ARE homemade. As in, from scratch.


OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup shortening - or use 1 stick, it's much easier!
1 cup white sugar
1 cupe brown sugar
(I can't even believe I eat this - it's so against my normal, fairly healthy eating habits! Before this, I'd never in my life used shortening. And all this sugar? Eeek!)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together shortening and sugars in super cute, under-utilized mixer. Add eggs and vanilla - mix well.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 CUPS oats
1 cup Ghiradelli semi-sweet choc chips (they're yummy & dairy free!)

Fold the above into creamed mixture. Roll into small balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. (Hmmm, I've never noticed that part of the directions... but I don't make mine much of a ball anyway.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min.



I somehow got here without the pic of the finished product, but I'll put that up later.... OMG, it's so YUMMY! I've had to get away from making a batch of these every. single. wk. It's ridiculous!

Now, if you're wanting to go the semi-homemade route for a chocolate fix, follow these easy instructions: Go to the grocery store and get some oreos. Okay, you're done! (I know, it's weird that oreos are dairy free... don't think about it for very long!)

Lookie what came today!

Mmmmmm.........

Everyone has their favorites, and what's even funnier is how many people I know that store their cookies differently. For example, I put my Thin Mints straight into the freezer... and my other favs, the Trefoils, will be calling to me from the pantry. Big Sister picked out the low sugar choc chip cookies, and Mr. Fix-It loves those peanut butter sandwich ones. He stores them where no one can find them (just kidding, Mr. Fix-It!!)

Good thing that none of them are dairy-free.... so they have a chance of sitting around the Semi-homemade household for awhile...

C25K update and other Friday night ramblings...

Y'all. I just jogged for 25. straight. minutes. I'm still breathing hard. I love running!! When I'm done. And I still haven't decided if I'm totally impressed with myself or completely embarassed by how lame my Fri nights have become. Either way. And AGAIN, I had to remind myself that I am not, in fact, a rapper. I don't have on gold chains, don't go by the name Ice-mom or E-pain or any of that. But I do love some rap to make me forget how much I don't enjoy jogging.

What happened to movie night with Mrs. Everything, you ask? Well.... my brother in Dallas had great tix to the Mavs game tonight (that's basketball, for all you girly girls who don't know!) so I told Mr. Fix-It he could go with him. Because I'm an amazing wife. ;) And for the record, we're still going to the movies. Tomorrow. I think.

Alright, time for dairy-free talk. For those of you who don't know, g-man has a milk allergy and (because I'm still nursing him), I cannot have any dairy. Big Sister had the same issue, but in a much less sensitive way. With her, I avoided cheese, milk, yogurt. It sucked but was totally doable. With G-man, I must read every label. If there is milk or milk protein or any of a million words that mean milk... I can't have it. So you can imagine how void my life is (just kidding! well, kinda...) and how excited I get when I find foods I can actually eat.

Case in point... have y'all had these chips and just not told me about them?

I hope not! YUMMY! If you're a fan of thai, you'll love 'em! I ate almost the whole bag this wk (it's a small bag.... full of air, mostly.... okay, I ate the whole bag!) Try them!! I'm guessing they're hard to find because I was at a somewhat fancier grocery store (getting free antibiotics for g!), but I'll try to look around.

And soon I'll get around to sharing my dairy-free oatmeal choc chip cookie recipe. Amazing. I just pulled some cookies out of the oven now. Since I jogged, I can have some. Right? ;)

Okay, time to do some etsy window shopping... I'm looking for some birds to finish up Big Sister's room. Here are a couple I'm looking at so far....

Happy weekend, y'all!

And antibiotics save the day!

So, why didn't we think of it earlier? After debating with Mrs. Everything thru the afternoon... about whether or not they should bring their daughter P (Miss Priss) over for our v-day dinner... it occurs to her. P is actually on a stronger antibiotic than Big Sister. So, she's safe! Thank goodness....

So, let me back up.... the day started out with Mr. Fix-It coming home to the mini-muffins that Big Sister and I baked for him. Aww.... ;)

The kiddos got clothes for Valentine's from us (don't judge - we're in a recession, okay?) and toys from their grandmothers (so, see? It all works out!)

The Everythings came over and thank God the Everythings are who they are. Meaning 3 of us had just stepped out of baths/showers and the house looked just slightly better than chaotic. And for some reason, for them - and only them - it doesn't matter to me. As much. ;) And just look what Mrs. Everything brought me.

Awwww, just made my evening! I love, love tulips and I've been telling Mrs. E forever that maybe, just maybe, if I had one of those Aqua Globes from tv, I could keep a plant alive. Because I have the blackest of thumbs. I'll have to let y'all know how it goes...

Anyway, the Everythings brought yummy steaks and we threw in some baked potatoes and Big Sister and I's heart shaped cookie became a heart shaped brownie, due to a lack of oats for the oatmeal choc chip (dairy free) recipe we had in mind. (And fyi... I'll do a post sooner or later about living dairy free... but Ghiradelli makes the best dairy free brownie mix. You can't even tell!)

Happy Valentine's day to the Everythings and all of you!

See how much fun the daddies had? I just had to share! ;)

Semi-Homemade Birthday Party

So, I told you that I like to throw really fun, creative parties. And I've been fairly capable of that in the short years I've been a mom. But... then came this year, with the big family Christmas at OUR house, the run of illness including RSV, the still-adjusting-to-2-kiddos-plus-2-full-time-careers... the list goes on. Long story short, we got to January without a party planned for Big Sister.... and her birthday was Dec 29. Damnit.

Don't get me wrong, we did the family thing while everyone was here for Christmas... but it wasn't the creative kind of party I like to throw. It was a BBQ dinner after G-man's baptism, with balloons and a Tink cake (eek - a character! How did this happen?!) Oh, and some rock band with Mr. Fix-It and Uncle Frank:

But, in my mind, a party isn't a party unless there's some type of theme and everything - invites, cake, food, decor, everything! - ties back to it. I felt like I'd run out of time and I can't describe to you the sadness I felt that I'd let down my precious 3 year old (okay, so I don't think she even noticed, but that's the kind of irrationality that comes with being a mom, right?)

I tossed around the idea of doing what everyone else in her preschool class was doing - gym/bounce house-type parties.... the ease of it all was very tempting... but it was going to be hard to be as creative as I wanted. In the end, Mrs. Everything had the brilliant idea that the 4 of us and the 3 of them would load up and go to Great Wolf Lodge - a mini vacation.

I immediately got started on a safari/camping theme... Okay, so I only needed one invite, BUT.... in my mind, the invite would make it a 'real' party, so I whipped one up quickly late on a Fri night. Here it is:

Instead of a cake, I made cupcakes with oreo 'dirt' and gummy worms crawling out.... (Believe it or not, it was entirely dairy-free! Duncan Hines cake mixes are dairy free. But even more unbelieveable is that frosting can be dairy free and so are oreos!! Let's just not think about how or why that's possible...

We had so much fun! We got there on Fri, had dinner, got in the pool and did the baby slides... they kiddos played until 9pm, then time for storytime at the bell tower, and then the infamous cupcakes at 10pm!! Troopers! The next morning, we headed back to the waterpark and Big Sister rode all the rides (even some she wasn't tall enough for!), did the lazy river, and ate way more Oreos than a kiddo ever should. Unless it's their birthday. Super fun!

And that's how I did just enough to give her a creative, but not entirely time consuming, bday party.... semi-homemade.

And people, bare with me as my pics aren't in the order I wish they were... this damn blogging, I knew I didn't have time to figure it out....

There's no denying it now.... I'm in my 30's

And I'm not just now getting to the party either! So, I'm 31... okay, let's move on.

But really, I had the. sweetest. birthday yesterday. Especially considering I had a super sick husband and baby and Big Sister had strep. The weekend before, sweet husband (he's a builder... let's call him Mr. Fix-It and when I come up with something clever we'll change it).... took me to the mall where he had me pick out a super cute outfit from Gap. Now, this outfit suggested I'd be spending time at a spa.... but never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with this!

My sweet friend Mrs. Everything (who helped plan this whole thing - lucky me to have such a dear friend!) picked me up Sat morning with a soy vanilla latte (that's a whole other topic in itself... that I've gone dairy-free while nursing my sweet baby boy G-man. Anyway, that's my current fave at the 'Bucks... As we're discussing how nice it will be to get some grown-up girly time without wiping up spit up or feeding someone or even hearing the word "mommy," she drives us there.... to Cooper Spa! This is a super nice, we-can't-afford-it-in-this-recession spa.

OMG, it was amazing... I was pampered for hours! First a massage. Usually, I don't have the attention span for massages and I don't relax well.... that doesn't make me a very good massage participant. But I didn't want this one to end! Love.ly. Then on to a facial - my first one! (I'm sure the tech could tell!) Then manis and pedis and lots of good girly talk. We left and had lunch and both kiddos were up from naps when I got home. Heaven. Just the best. I love you, Mr. Fix-It and Mrs. Everything!