Netflix is my new best friend

My husband asked me a while back why I watch reruns on Netflix when I have a book half started.  He just couldn't understand what the appeal would be for me.  After my original reaction of telling him not to be so judgy, I had to think about it for a while.  There are several possible  reasons why I would choose to watch an episode of a TV show verses read a book, it seems like at times it is because I am not 'grown up' enough to enjoy 'airport dad novels'.  This might be true.  I love to read, but often after a long day I tend to lean towards watching a show verses reading a book. Maybe that makes me less intellegient or grown than some, and I am ok with that.
My thought on why I tend to watch a show on Netflix verse read is this: I don't like being alone.  Let me explain.  I am alone for the better part of my day, most of that is spent in realative silence.  Sure there is the patter of the dogs paws on the ground or the sound of the a car driving by, but there isn't much in way of 'voice' throughout the day.  I need that voice.  I need to hear people, even if it is little actors coming through the speaker on my ipad.  I need to feel like I have had some contact with people throughout the day.  And there are times when picking up a novel will give me that connection with the characters, but in my world of silence right now I need more than that.  I need to hear the voice.  So until I am able to build up my connections to the real world, until I can  fill my need for 'voice' with friends, classmates or co-workers, Netflix will fill that need.

That being said, I am working on a blog post about why I have since given up Netflix for Lent.  Until next time

Dairy Free bran muffins

I love having home made muffins in the morning for my boys to have at breakfast, or to throw into a lunch kit for an extra snack at school or work.  And let's be honest, I love to eat muffins too, all kinds, but if you suffer from a dairy allergy you know that muffins are something you normally should avoid.  Most store bought muffins contain milk, often buttermilk, so I make my own.
I use almond or soy milk as my dairy alternative, depending on who will be eating the baking, and I fake the buttermilk component by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to my almond milk a few moments before adding it.  You would never know the difference.  I love this recipe because it can last well mixed in the fridge in a sealed container for two weeks so that you can quickly bake some up on a Saturday morning for a quick hot breakfast.
In my new house my fridge is pretty small, so I just make half a recipe and bake them all at once, then I individually wrap them and freeze them in a zip lock bag, ready to grab one to place in a lunch kit.

Originally I got this recipe from a friend, and I am unsure as to where she got it, but I have altered it over the years.

Bran Muffins (Dairy Free)
Pre-heat oven to 400

4 cups Flour
4 cups bran
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking soda
2 cups white sugar
6 eggs
4 cups almond milk (add a tsp of white vinegar to your milk. Any milk alternative will work. Or if you don't want it to be dairy free, buttermilk)
2 cups oil (I usually use canola)
1/2 cup molasses (I like fancy molasses, but I don't think it matters)
2 cups raisins (or cran-raisins or a mix of both)

1. mix dry ingredients
2. mix wet ingredients in separate bowl and add to dry.  Stir just until blended, Do not over mix.
3. add raisins.
4. bake at 400 for 10 minutes then lower oven temp to 350 and bake for additional 6-10 minutes.  my oven only takes an extra 6 minutes.
You will know that they are done when they crack on top and are slightly firm to the touch.  If you want you can test if they are done by inserting a tooth pick into a muffin and if it comes out clean they are finished. The muffins should be nice and golden brown and smell delicious.

Suck it up Mister...and other things I say for his own good.

There are some days that I feel like the worst mother in the world, I think we all have those days but today was one of those days.

We recently moved to a new city, and my son has not adjusted super well to a new school and new friends.  To be fair there are days that I haven't adjusted well either, I'm just 'old enough' to deal with my emotions and more often then not, pretend they don't exist.  So I am trying to help my son learn how to discern when he can share his emotions and when he should pretend he doesn't feel them (see...worst mother in the world).

My son is a super sensitive 8 year old boy with a strong passion for justice and fairness and he is very compassionate.  All amazing qualities that I don't want to squish.  But with that often comes over emotional break downs, drama like you wouldn't believe and tears, oh the tears. So I find myself saying some of  my mother's favourite phrases "suck it up",  "Life isn't always fair", "you reap what you sow".  Man is it hard to tell your crying son that he needs to tough it up before the school bus arrives.  I can barely do it without crying myself, goodness I am almost crying just typing this, but he needed to hear it.  He needs to know that there are times that crying is good and right and appropriate and then there are times when he needs to hold it in.  School isn't as safe of a place emotionally as I wish it was.  I wish that he could express everything that he was thinking and feeling and have his class look at him and say 'boy that kid is sure in touch with his feeling and he makes a good point, we should all care as much as he does", unfortunately that isn't the case.  He is just getting to be known as the 'weird crying kid'. And it breaks my heart.  I want to sit outside his school and watch him each day.  I want to talk to each kid in his class and make them be his friends.  I want to shake each teacher and tell them that they should make the kids in the class be friends with my sad little boy, but none of those things will help him.  I want to tell him that one day the most perfect friend will just show up and come and talk to him as he sits there crying into his sleeve on the playground and that they will be best friends forever, but this is not an after school special.  This is real life.  If he wants friends to play with him, he may need to ask them to play.  He probably needs to take a deep breath, wipe his eyes and for the 15 minutes that recess is, pretend to have fun.  Pretend so hard and so often that before he knows it he is having fun.  He needs to ask for phone numbers to create play dates, he needs to stay in class, instead of heading to the office to cry. He needs to change his attitude, even though it is hard.

And he needs to suck it up.  And so do I, and there are times when you probably do too. As adults we know that we can't go around crying through meetings, dinner with friends or on the bus, we need to hold on to those emotions until we can release them with safe people, in a safe and appropriate place.
So along with saying 'suck it up' I am trying to create that safe place, here at home for him to release that sadness.  I am trying to help him nurture relationships, new and old, where he can express those emotions without judgement or fear.  I am trying to help him grow into a man who knows when to be strong and in that strength know when and how to express how he is feeling.  I am trying to teach my son that his compassion and sensitivity can be shown to the world through words, deeds and acts of justice, not through drama.

And that is not easy.  Thankfully I am not doing this alone.  We have friends and family and a church family (past and present) who are leading by example as well as with words of encouragement and prayers of support.  Even the school is trying their best to support him in this transition.  And he does have some great friends here and in our last city who are keeping in touch and helping him be happy.

I will keep being that mother who tells her son to suck it up, and I will be there to hold him when he just can't and celebrate with him when he suceeds.  This is just a season of our life.

Cross Posting

Ok! I won't do this for long, but for now I am cross posting my Mennonite Treasury of Recipes post here. So if you are looking for the great menno fun, follow this link.

http://mennonitetreasuryofmemories.blogspot.ca/

Stay tune for a few new blog posts for Highballs and Hair dos in the next few days.


Thanks everyone!

Treasury of Memories

I have always loved to bake and cook, ever since I was a little girl. It probably had something to do with the fact that my mother is a cook and baker.  If you need a meal cooked, a banquet catered or a recipe, my mother is the person to go to.  She has been cooking for fundraisers, schools and churches for as long as I can remember.  She would always convince me to help her with her cooking endeavors and I would always readily agree.  I would love to spend hours in the kitchen with my mom preparing meals for others, reading recipes and making up our own as we went.  One of her go to cook books was, and very much still is, The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes.

 This classic cook book filled with tried and true recipes was so worn that it no longer had covers, there were notes written in every margin and each blank space had other recipes scribbled in.  Some pages had been so used and spilled on that you could barely make out the recipe, then again those pages were mostly memorized already and consulted only as a formality.

I loved this cook book as a kid.  So when I saw it on the shelf of my local Ten Thousand Villages store in Saskatoon this past June I quickly bought.  I love thumbing through the recipes looking for the next one to try.  And that is when I decided that I would cook my way through this wonderful cook book.

Now here is the catch.  As much as I love this cook book, it has some quirks that may make cooking my way through it rather interesting.  This cook book was published in the 60's, a time of jellied food and easy casseroles.  Many of the recipes also take for granted that you know a lot about baking or cooking and they use many vague phrases like ' mix until it feels right' or 'add just enough flour' (without giving a quantity). So the results could be...interesting.  I will be picking recipes to make, following them to the best of my ability, with no changes or alterations, hosting friends to try the recipes and then blogging about them.

So come back often to check out what I'm cooking next.  I'm going to end this post with a quote from the introduction:
        "By the time the book was on the drawing board it was decided to add a chapter of Mennonite recipes. Many of these originate from times of want and austerity and are no longer in use but may be of interest for coming generations, perhaps as inspiration to adventurous cooks."

Consider me inspired!

5 ordinary products you would never believe contain dairy

I am one of the 2.5 million people in Canada with a food allergy.  Mine happens to  be milk and milk products.  And before you ask, I am not lactose intolerant, I am allergic, there is a difference.  I can not have any milk product or by product, whether they include lactose or not.  If I do, I get a full range of symptoms that include more than intestinal issues.  I won't go into the details.  Thankfully my allergy is not overly severe, but it is bad enough that I read every label as often as possible to avoid the symptoms.

Over the years I have discovered that you just don't know what you will find dairy products in, so I have put together this brief list of products that always seem to surprise people when I turn them down. There are of course many other strange products that contain dairy, but these are a few that have been served to me most often in an attempt to make a meal safe for me to eat.

I have listed them in no particular order.

1. Luncheon meat.  Well really processed meat of many kinds.  This includes most deli items, sausages, breaded cutlets and even some canned seafood.  The saddest for me is when I am celebrating Christmas or Thanksgiving somewhere and the host has used a pre-basted turkey, or a pressed ham, unfortunately I can not eat either *but cheat a little...you know I can't be rude and refuse all the food offered*  Thankfully there are a few companies processing and packaging more natural meats with less preservatives and by products.

2. Margarine.  That 'great' butter substitute contains whey, which is a dairy by product and will unfortunately will still trigger a dairy allergy.  Many super kind people would bake for me using margarine thinking it was safer than butter, and because my allergy is not as severe as some I would still sample their baking, but it would still trigger an allergic reaction.  There are a few companies putting out a vegan margarine which has a nice taste and is completely safe as allergies go.  I personally bake using a vegetable shortening but use a vegan margarine on toast.



3. Chips.  I know what you are thinking, 'oh good, those nacho cheese chips I love so much actually have some real ingredients in them'.  Well they do have dairy, but so so some brands of salt and vinegar, all dressed, ketchup and even some hint of lime taco chips.  Always read the labels.




4. Bread.  Many store bought breads have some dairy or modified milk ingredients in it.  I find this food one of the hardest to avoid, not only because I love bread, but because it is often the 'safest' item served at a meal.  Without being able to check every label in a restaurant or a friend's house, plain dry bread will most likely contain less dairy than a pasta sauce or salad dressing.  When possible choose a rye bread, as it has been my experience that they have little or no dairy in them.  This of course varies from recipe to recipe and brand to brand.  I have some great bread recipes that I make at home that are dairy free that I will share on this blog at a different time.

5. "Non-Dairy" alternatives. Many dairy alternatives still contain a milk by-product called casein, which does not have lactose, so is safe for those who are lactose intolerant but is not safe for those with a milk allergy.  This includes some 'cheeses', frozen dessert products and whipped dessert toppings such as Cool Whip. Just make sure you read all of the labels, or look for products that are labeled vegan as they will definitely be safe for all levels of dairy allergies.

Now, listing all of these things that you should be careful with a dairy allergy (and these are just some of the 'sneaky' ones) always makes me sad, like I am missing out on so many yummy (if not unhealthy) foods that I thought I would list one food that you would expect to find dairy but does not, Oreo Cookies!! To the best of my knowledge of food labels, Oreo cookies are dairy free! So bring on the Oreos!!

Over the next while I will post some recipes, great alternatives and 'work arounds' that I have used to cook well dairy free.  I will also share some of the online resources that I have found helpful as I have been working towards having a dairy free life.
Stay tuned.