WIPS and FO’s – Sweaters

So, I’m still working on Fidget’s sweater.  I have only worked on it a bit here and there after posting last Wednesday.  I did manage to sew the one neck seam and pick up the stitches around the neckband and knit that for an inch or so, but other than that it’s just sat in the work bag.  I was hoping to get to it today (maybe during Fidget’s nap while watching Breaking Dawn part 1 that Darling Hubby bought me yesterday) but it’s looking like it might be tomorrow or this weekend.  lol  I’m hoping for a snow day tomorrow for Bug since we are supposed to get our first big snow of the season…I can’t believe that tomorrow will be the 1st of March and we are just now getting some snow that will last more than a few hours!    At least if March comes in like a LION it will go out like a LAMB, right?

On the other hand, I did pick up my hooded cardigan a couple times over the week.  I finished sewing the button holes Monday night and last night at Craft Night I sewed on the buttons.  It’s a bit bigger than the last hooded cardigan I made using the same pattern.  Mostly because I used heavier yarn and I didn’t do a proper “washed and hung” gauge swatch.  I just went with the needles called for on the pattern and my quickly knitted up, measured, and then frogged swatch.  It’s fine as I prefer my sweaters to be a little baggy.  It’s not like the sleeves are too long or anything!  lol

Hopefully by next week I’ll have another WIP to write about.  One of my fellow January Jubilee mommies approached me asking if I’d make a blanket for her 7 year old daughter.  I’m looking forward to the task.  I have to take some measurements of Bug’s twin bed and calculate dimensions and figure out how much yarn I’ll need.  I also have to find a pattern.  I’m thinking flowery hexagon granny squares in purples, pinks and white with some light green.  I’m excited to start it!

Food for Friday! 2/27 – 3/11

So, this is a couple days late…I was having some issues with my computer and wordpress not working well together on Friday when I was attempting to write this.  I figured I’d bang this out quick while waiting for my yeast to warm up so I can make the bread for tonight’s Craft Night meal.  lol

I’ve been on a homemade, from scratch kick lately since I’ve been cutting out the soy and artificial and natural flavors and trying to avoid most preservatives/additives if I can.  I’ve been making homemade bagels (it’s not as hard as it sounds!), fresh baked white bread, and I even made homemade meatballs and froze them for later meals!  I also discovered (for those of you who don’t want to or don’t have time to make your own breads at home) that our grocery store offers a brand of bread from The Heidelburg Baking Company that is soy free and free of all those additives and preservatives! (It says right on the package it should be refrigerated.)  They offer flax seed, multigrain, oat, cracked wheat and even a French Peasant bread!  At my Price Chopper, they run about $4.50 a loaf (roughly 2.99/lb).  I haven’t tried them, but it is available, which is nice!

Oh, I did find, in my grocery store travels, that there is a brand of brownie mix called No Pudge!  I tried the Original flavor, which is fat free (bonus) and contains nothing but good stuff..no additives or preservatives!  There are other flavors, but check the ingredients!  You just add 2/3 of cup of yogurt (I used 1/2 of a cup of Stonyfield’s No Fat French Vanilla (6oz container) and an egg white since I didn’t have enough yogurt – this is an alternate direction on the box.)  I’m sure you could probably use some strawberry yogurt and a little vanilla to make different flavors.

And, since I’m a chocolate lover and avoiding the soy lecithin in chocolate has been tough, I’ve been searching high and low for something chocolate without all the extra crap.  I stumbled over a brand of chocolate bars in the organic section from a  co-op company called Equal Exchange.  I’ve only tried their dark chocolate with a hint of hazelnuts and OMG!  It’s so good and doesn’t bother my tummy!  <3  Love!  Plus, I get to eat 8 squares at a time for a serving and that gives me 3 servings per bar!  It is expensive, but I’m finding that the safe foods and the additive free ones are.  I just have to suck up the cost if I want to be happy!  lol

Monday – Rotisserie Chicken, oven roasted potatoes and fresh broccoli
Tuesday – Craft Night – My turn to cook – BLT’s on homemade white bread
Wednesday – Tacos – with homemade seasoning
Thursday – Chicken pot pie with leftover chicken
Friday – Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and veggies
Saturday -  FFY/Leftovers
Sunday - Baked Ziti

Monday – Double batch of Chili
Tuesday – Craft Night – Rose’s turn to cook – Hamburger Helper for the boys at home
Wednesday – Frito pie made with leftover chili
Thursday – Homemade vegetable soup
Friday – Spaghetti with homemade sauce and homemade meatballs
Saturday -  FFY/Leftovers
Sunday - FFY/Leftovers

WIP Wednesday – Sweaters!

I’ve been busy knitting lately.  I’ve got 2 projects currently on the needles and finished a 3rd (a hat) this past weekend for one of the ladies at my library knitting group.  I’ll try to remember to post about that on Friday (FO Friday.)
The first project I’ve been working on is my 2nd Hooded Cardigan in charcoal grey.  I’m approximately 95% done with it and just have to get through the sewing part…which is the part I hate the most!  Last night, at my weekly craft night, I finished seaming up the front button area and the corresponding pocket area and started stitching together the button holes.  I still have to finish the last 2 button holes, sew on the buttons and knit the pocket tops.  After that I’ve just got to weave in the loose ends and wash it and I can wear it.    Hopefully I’ll have it finished by this weekend.Here’s a picture of the almost finished product.

Charcoal Grey Hoodie (aka the Twilight hoodie!)

I also cast on another project on Monday since I was in the sewing stages of the cardigan and missed the knitting.  I decided that Fidget needed a wearable (aside from the hats that I’ve made him).  I was going through some of my friends projects on Ravelry and stumbled across the Coastal Stripes Pullover pattern.  It looked like a simple little sweater that I could use some of my leftover yarn from previous projects for.  I pulled out a couple skeins of black wool-ease leftover from my Tubey sweater and some half skeins of red and blue Plymouth Encore Worsted I had leftover from Bug’s Super Shirt.

Coastal Stripes Pullover

So far this little sweater has been super easy.  The first day I finished the back panel and the first 9 inches of the front.  I finished up the remainder of the front while Fidget napped and Bug and I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that we borrowed from the library.  We’ve been reading the Harry Potter series at bedtime and are now about halfway through the 3rd books.  Later, I finished one sleeve and cast on the 2nd one at Craft Night last night.  I’ve only got a couple more inches to go on the 2nd sleeve then I get to start sewing it together and finish the neckline.  I’ve done the sleeve edges in blue, but I think I’m going to do the neckline in the red.  I’m hoping that it turns out as cute as I’m picturing and I hope that Fidget will wear it and that it fits!

$h*t Knitters Say

This was too funny not to share.  If you are a knitter, you’ll understand.

Food for Friday! 2/13 – 2/26

Making a soy free menu is getting a little easier now that I know what ingredients I can use and what I can’t.  I did find that either Rachel Ray or Emeril (can’t remember which, but it was one of the 2) makes a soy free stock, so I can still make beef stew or chicken soup.  I use a lot of bullion, so cutting that out was going to to pretty tough.

I’ve been eating a lot of homemade pumpernickel bread.  While it’s not a dinner item, it’s good for breakfast or a snack drizzled with a little honey or even smeared with my beloved chocolate peanut butter (Dark Chocolate Dreams by Peanut Butter and Co.)  YUM!

Monday - Baked Fried Chicken, veggies and oven roasted potatoes
Tuesday – Craft Night – My turn to cook – Pizza roll-up or cheeseburger roll-up (I’ll decide once I find out if I can have the velveeta…I’m thinking not…lol)
Wednesday – Spaghetti with homemade sauce, homemade meatballs, and homemade Italian bread
Thursday – Biryani
Friday – Homemade hamburgers, homemade buns, homemade fries/sweet potato fries and veggies
Saturday – Cordon bleu (ham and swiss stuffed chicken breasts breaded with panko), mashed or baked potatoes, veggies
Sunday - Pasta, broccoli and homemade cheese sauce

Monday – Ginger-Orange Glazed Cornish Game Hens, broccoli and white rice.
Tuesday – Craft Night – Rose’s turn – Hamburger Helper for the boys at home.
Wednesday – Beef Stew (subbing out the broth for soy free stock)
Thursday – Game Night -  Pork Ragu
Friday -  Ham steaks and eggs
Saturday – Shepherd’s pie made with the beef stew
Sunday – Pork chops,  rice and veggies

Time For A Lego Party!

Bug was so excited for his big 7th birthday party.  We opted to do a home party and just keep it small.  For his 6th birthday we had the party at a local gymnastics club.  It was nice, but in order for it to be worth the money we paid, we had to have a ton of kids.  I told Bug he could choose 6 friends.  He invited 3 from school and 3 family friends.  Five kids came, so it was the perfect size!

Things got off to a late start.  Bug’s school friends were right on time…everyone else was running late.  The 3 ended up playing in Bug’s room for nearly an hour before anyone else arrived.  They were having fun playing with all Bug’s Legos and it was a Lego party, so it didn’t ruin anything.  I think most of my birthday parties growing up where I invited friends we ended up playing around rather than playing party games, etc.

Since our theme was Legos, I did some searching around and found some great idea sites.  The one that had the most great ideas was Homemaking Fun: A Lego Themed Birthday Party.  I ended up using the invite idea, which I personalized and had printed out in color and tucked into Lego brick envelopes that I made using primary colored card stock from my scrapbooking stash.  I cut circles out of lighter colored paper and hot glued them on to make the Lego pegs.  They looked pretty cool.

For the games I used the “Guess the number of Legos in the jar game.”  The person with the closest guess won a prize.  Darling Hubby had the honor of filling the jar and loaded it with all sorts of different shaped bricks.  I would have been lame and just used the rectangle bricks…he used car pieces, wheels, and all sorts of things.

I also used the Lego Toss game.  I used primary colored construction paper to make the rings.  I just taped them together and printed out the numbers using a Lego font I found for free on the web…I didn’t keep the link, unfortunately, but you can just search and you’ll find something.  The kids ended up playing this game quite a bit, even after the prize was awarded.  They even went back to it after the cake and ice cream was eaten and the presents opened.

On Pinterest, I found a PDF of a Lego Bingo Game.  Darling Hubby was kind enough to run out to his lab the morning of the party to print it with the color printer.  All the games were big hits!  For the prizes I bought the little Lego creator kits (5.99 at Target) (airplane, construction vehicle and race car).  They were big hits, too.

I also made gift bags for all the guests.  I picked up some primary colored rectangular gift bags at Target.  I got a 1.5 inch diameter circle cutter and cut up the extra bags to make them into Lego bricks.  If I used a lighter colored paper for the circles they might have shown up a bit better, but it got the point across.  I also printed out the children’s names using the Lego font.  I taped them to red construction paper and used a yellow marker to outline the letters like the Lego logo.  For the contents, I bought Lego mini figures, some candy Lego Bricks and tucked a pencil into each bag.  The mini figures were a big hit.  They all opened them before they left so they could see which figure they got.  The candy got rave reviews, too.  What’s better than candy that you can build with!

We of course had cake, ice cream and fruit and veggie platters.  You’ve no doubt seen the cake that I baked. For the table decorations and place settings, I picked up a party table cloth, yellow square plates, blue napkins, red forks, knives and spoons and green plastic cups from the dollar store.  Darling Hubby also picked up some birthday balloons from the dollar store, too.

There was, to Bug’s dismay, singing.  At least this year (unlike his 2nd birthday) he didn’t put his head down on the table and cry.

Make a wish!

Oh, and I can’t forget to include a picture of Fidget.  I think he’s warning me not to mess with his piece of cake!  He ate the whole thing, too!

Overall it was a great birthday party and one I’m sure Bug will remember for years.  Bug and his friends all had fun, which is the main goal of a party.  And seriously, what could be more fun than LEGOS!

Strawberry Cake From Scratch

Bug’s birthday party was scheduled for February 4th and if I wanted to share in the festivities and eat cake, I had to find one that was ok for me to eat.  All the boxed mixes contain soy.  Bug loves strawberries and asked for a strawberry cake (chocolate was easy, but not strawberry) and that left me to find a homemade strawberry cake…there are some out there, but they all use strawberry gelatin and not having a box in front of me I didn’t know if there would be soy or natural flavors included…plus I didn’t want the added food coloring, especially since I was already planning on dying the frosting red, green, blue and yellow.

Then I stumbled upon this little gem or a recipe.  Rather than strawberry gelatin it used real strawberry puree!  Score!

Here’s the recipe copied from the above link.

• 2 ¼ cups cake flour (sifted)  (I used All Purpose flour, sifted)
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup butter , room temp (2 sticks)
• 1 ¼ cupssugar
• 2 teaspoons strawberry extract (you can use vanilla if you can’t find strawberry)
• 1 cup whole milk , room temp
• 3 eggs , room temp
• ¾ cup pureed fresh strawberries(or frozen, thawed)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest(I left this out)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

  My ingredients

Directions:

Thaw (if necessary) strawberries and puree.  Bring butter, eggs, and milk to room temperature.

Combine sifted flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time; mix well after each addition. Next add pureed strawberries and extract and combine well. Gradually add the flour (and baking powder) and the milk alternating between them until completely mixed. Then add lemon zest and juice and mix well.

Lightly grease and flour a 13 X 9 pan or (2) 8″ round pans. Pour batter into pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Oven times may vary.  (Mine was done in 30 minutes, the recipes author did two 8″ pans that were done in 25.)

The cake just out of the oven.  It smelled delish, really just like a boxed strawberry cake, only better!

So the verdict…Darling Hubby asked me to make it again, leaving the frosting off.  My complaint was that it didn’t bake up fluffy like a traditional cake, though that might have been because I used AP flour rather than cake flour.  It was dense, more like a fudge brownie than cake.  It had good flavor, though.  Most of the kids ate it, but by the time we had cake they’d filled up on fruits and veggies.  lol  Despite the cake being soy free, it appears that butter is going to be another issue, but we knew that was a possibility.  Hopefully when my gut heals from all the soy damage I’ll be able to introduce milk and butter again (cheese seems to be ok for now).

Oh, and if you want to see the finished decorated cake, here ya go.

I followed the recipe for Wilton’s Fluffy Boiled frosting from the can of meringue powder and dyed it red, blue, yellow and green (the primary lego brick colors).  The red was a hit…I just hope it washed off the faces of our guests!  lol  Hopefully I’ll find time to write about the party tomorrow.  The day has gotten away from me and I have things to do before Darling Hubby gets home. 

Soy Free Update

So I’m still sticking with the soy free diet and things are going swimmingly.  I’ve had a few run-ins with some natural flavoring and some issues with butter, but aside from that, I’ve been feeling great!  My moods are still better, I’m clearer headed, and my heart palpitations have declined greatly…My weight has stabilized at around 135lbs (I’m only about 15lbs heavier than I was at my high school graduation).  I’ve also found a few friends who are possibly in the same boat with soy who are joining me on the soy free experiment bandwagon.  Not that I want someone to have a food allergy, but it feels good to not be alone and it feels good to be able to help someone else out.

I’ve also had some run-ins with some well meaning friends who, in a push to be helpful, practically cornered me (or so it felt) on my facebook page and were cramming the whole “gloom and doom, get to a doctor NOW!” stuff down my throat.  I did take a stand and asked them nicely to back off as I was feeling pretty bullied and yelled at and they turned around, kicked it up a notch and pretty much lambasted me for posting about my “ailments” and told me that I shouldn’t post if I didn’t want the comments.   Basically a blame the victim kinda thing.   “Well, she asked for it!”  I wonder if I should start commenting on my friends statuses who always talk about drinking/partying/getting wasted and ask if they need to go to an AA meeting.  Apparently, I post about my health too much and that warrants an inquisition about why I won’t see a doctor.  Maybe those drinking statuses are a cry for an alcoholic intervention…It’s the pot calling the kettle black, really.  In hindsight, I made the mistake of posting about my health on my wall and I’m not going to do that anymore.  Lesson learned.  Oh, and I’m sure I just pissed someone off…

I’m one of those stereotypical facebookers who post about exactly what they are doing/feeling, etc.  I don’t do it to get comments or pity.  I’m not a troll.  I just put stuff out there.  Most of the time my posts revolve around my knitting or housework and what I’ve accomplished or plan to accomplish for the day.  Same for this blog.  I just write and if my day to day stuff and experiences help others, great, if someone comes here and can offer help to me, even better.  I’m not just posting to get people to visit my blog.  Do I like to see my blog stats go up, yes, because I can only hope that my blog has been, in some way, helpful to those visitors.  I just feel like I’ve lost an outlet for my thoughts.

Anyway, I’ve learned a few more things though trial and error. Most of the teas in my cupboard contain soy lecithin or natural flavors.  I’m down to 2-3 boxes out of the like 8 that are in there.  I’m bummed because I can no longer have the buffalo wing sauce that’s in my fridge.  I love buffalo wings and spicy stuff…Also, antacids contain natural flavors and have a tendency to make my stomach hurt and my heart pound on top of the indigestion….yeah, won’t make that mistake again.  lol  I’ve learned that benedryl helps if I have accidentally eaten something with soy or butter.  Good to know!  I’ve also learned that the hand lotion I’ve been using contains soybean oil.  Nice.  At least I know that it’s not a contact allergy/sensitivity.  I’ve been using the lotion every day since I’ve cut out eating soy and I haven’t noticed any ill feelings or rashes.  I am going to find a soy free lotion as I have terribly dry hands in the winter and I have to put lotion on regularly or my hands will crack and bleed.  I’m slightly germophobic, so I’m always washing my hands and that doesn’t help the dryness.

At some point I have to post about my knitting and Bug’s birthday and birthday party from this past weekend.  I also plan to post about the soy free strawberry cake from scratch that I made…though this cake ended up bothering me…probably from the butter – it used 2 sticks!   I know it wasn’t the homemade meringue frosting as the night before the party I was eating it while decorating the cake and I was fine.  Either way, the cake was delicious, despite it’s density (it was more fudge brownie like than cake like) and the fact that it made my stomach hurt.

So, that’s the update for this week.  I’m continuing to improve and I’m happy about that.  Yay for good things!

Vast Improvement

Since cutting out the soy in my diet I’ve had a vast improvement in both my stomach pain as well as my foggy feeling head and my attitude/mood.   My stomach no longer rebels and hurts me after eating.  I’m in a happier mood most of the time, which is great for Darling Hubby and the boys.  I smile and laugh more than I did mere days ago.  I just feel better all around!

I’m still planning to get a doctor for a physical and get a good once over, but I think I really know what was wrong.  I had a doctor in mind after a recommendation from a friend, but after calling the office I discovered he no longer works there and that none of the other doctors are accepting new patients (figures, since it sounded like a great office – weekend clinic with no appts and it’s right around the corner)…so the search goes on…I just have to wait for the insurance company website to stop having technical difficulties so I can look.

I’ve been thinking about everything anyway and I’ve come to the conclusion that doctors would end up putting me through some nasty tests to rule out allergy, as most likely the blood/scratch tests would give negative results.  I rather not put myself through all that, especially since in the long run the real test is to avoid the offending allergen and then add it back to see how my body reacts after a few weeks.  I’m just skipping all the pokes and prods.  But, don’t worry, for all of you who are pushing for me to see a doctor, I will.

So, until then I’m going to continue with the soy omission and hopefully I’ll keep feeling great.  Some people say it could be a placebo effect, but I’ll take it for now.  I haven’t felt this good in years (nor have I weighed this little…lol)  A friend of mine (Barbara) who also has food allergies and is currently going through a cleanse to see what new food allergy she has, told me that by cutting out the offending allergy, my body is letting go of inflammatory responses  (excess water and toxins) and because of that there is a weight loss.  And it’s not because I’m not eating or because I’ve cut my calories…To be honest, I would go weeks skipping breakfast and eating junk food for lunch and then snacking all night and my weight was pretty much plateaued out at 142lbs.  I’ve actually started eating more daily than I ever was (making sure I eat something for breakfast, even if it’s just a banana) and it’s all healthier stuff (fruits, veggies, et.  I’ve started eating fruit daily and making my own bread and seasonings.  Monday night I made taco seasoning from scratch so we could celebrate Bug’s 7th birthday.  It was yummy, but I’m going to have to tweak it a bit to make it to my family’s liking.

Oh, I did find some chocolate that I can have.  It’s not straight chocolate, but it’s better than nothing.  It’s Dark Chocolate Dreams from Peanut Butter & Co out of NYC.  The ingredients list is peanuts, evaporated cane juice, cocoa, cocoa butter, palm fruit oil, vanilla, lecithin (from sunflowers) and salt.  There’s no hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup.  There’s no gluten, it’s certified vegan and it’s all around YUMMY!  Oh, and as a bonus, the jar is recyclable!  lol  I’ve been eating it for breakfast and snacks on toasted slices of homemade cinnamon raisin bread.  It’s also really good just on a spoon!

So if you think that you might have a food allergy, I encourage you to give an elimination diet a chance.  I know I’ve already inspired one of my fellow January baby mommies to give an elimination diet a try…she also has stomach pain after eating and has some bad food eating habits and wants to remedy this.  It’s actually nice to have a little support group.

You might not figure it out on the first try, but then again you might be surprised.  You might feel like a completely new person!