ReadyMom.com Natural and organic living for my family

What wonderful finds!

mrsgarageflower — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:13:22 GMT

I just ran across the most wonderful magazine for families like mine, and I am guessing yours too. It's called Living Without. Perhaps it's not new to you but I do live under a rock. I bought one issue and am hooked! From cover to cover there is useful information for cooking with food allergies. The current issue has recipes for holiday sugar cookies! Our little girl can have Christmas cookies! We can make them together!! Oh there's even a gluten free flour breakdown. Just amazing! I will be sure to be getting this from now on.

Benadryl Perfect Measures is another. Actually, this is not a new find, we've been carrying them in the "medicine bag" along with the epi pen jr. and albuterol. But yesterday we used one in an emergency situation and it really made me kind of grateful / giddy / relieved happy that they are around. My husband ate a chicken quesadilla at his parent's house and then kissed our daughter on the cheek. Next thing we know she has hives right where he kissed her and they are spreading towards her ear. Those perfectly measured Benadryl miracles were just what we needed. My only wish is that we could know more about the plastic that contains the medicine.

Finally, another mom whose blog I read religiously has just posted about an all natural eczema treatment by a company called Exederm. She's having a give away, which is cool. But way more cool is that this company claims their products contain:

No Fragrance
No Color or Dyes
No Parabens
No Lanolin
No Sodium Laureth Sulfate
No Propylene Glycol
No Formaldehyde
No Phthalates

Wow! Check out her blog here...http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2008/11/15/natural-eczema-control/#comment-78582

Technorati Tags: food allergies,gluten free,eczema,naturemoms

Play dates

mrsgarageflower — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:24:24 GMT

Since our twins started school a few weeks ago the list of their new best friends keeps growing, much to my delight. Who could not like my kids? They are hilarious, fun, smart and cool. It is the total package. And before you think I am one of those parents, let me assure you that I have not met a child yet that I did not feel was worth more than their weight in gold, I am that parent.

They have had play dates before. But they were the children of MY friends. Today my son had one of his new friends over to play. There were sword fights. One was Batman and the other was Ironman. There was soccer and the swing set and a lot of running and giggling and yelling. It was a very good day for my son. My daughter, on the other hand felt a little left out. While the boys were engaged in their sword play I heard her announce to them that they could both be her heroes. They did not acknowledge the apparent compliment.

Note to self: Next time schedule a play date for each of the children at the same time.

About the bread

mrsgarageflower — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:15:20 GMT

I never did get back to the bread I was going to make with the gluten substitute. It was by Orgran. It didn't work at all. I tried to make a bread following a traditional recipe, really I was going out on a lark here and was not too disappointed when I ended up with a heavy lump that would not even rise. But I tried again following a gluten free recipe, this time I was extremely disappointed. I ended up with a loaf of bread that was not even one inch high. It rose, to the top of the pan and as it cooled, it fell. Now this Orgran is one part to five parts gluten free flour mix and I followed the recommendations on their box. I have used this mix to make my chocolate chip cookies, a tried and true gluten free recipe, only to have them remain in teh same shape they left the scoop in. They do not spread out, and b/c of that they are dense with a strong flavor not quite pleasant. The chocolate chips make it bearable. I found a new site, which has a recipe for sandwich bread, it's at Gluten Free Cooking School. Her recipes look fabulous and she gets rave reviews. Plus I love that she shares information to help with baking the gluten free way! I urge you to check out her site.

Namaste

Canning

mrsgarageflower — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:09:05 GMT

No and yes.

No, I have not made my daughter bread, but that is what I absolutely have to do after church today... or she doesn't get a sandwich in her lunches this week.

Yes, I did some canning yesterday. Perhaps it was my anxiety or maybe my lack of experience but I really could have used an experienced canner in my kitchen. And I looked for one... I asked everyone that I knew and even some that I don't, at least not very well.

I canned 8 pints of BBQ sauce and 4 qts of baked beans. Two of my qts didn't make it and we have to eat those in the next few days. But I know what I did wrong. I filled the jars too full. I lack the ability to tell how long an inch is and so an inch of head space is a crap shoot with me. I also failed miserably on those tests in school that asked you if the triangle would fit inside the circle. Which is why I am never able to figure out how big the container needs to be for the leftovers from dinner. It all relates!

So anyway those two qt jars were filled too full and overflowed and thus a seal could not be made.

I was feeling pretty good about myself, I made a condiment that has no artificial colors or flavors or preservatives or corn syrup. Yes I was feeling pretty darn good. Then as my pressure canner was hissing away and I was doing some research on Ball's website I found that they line the insides of their canning jar lids with bisphenol A!!!!!!!! Can you freaking believe? I never saw it coming.

The whole plan behind canning was to make our lives easier in terms of choices (BBQ sauce for example) and my own life a lot easier (no need to soak beans today for baked beans on Tuesday). Now I ask myself, at what cost?

So now my search is on for canning lids w/out bisphenol A. If anyone knows of any I would love to hear about them.

Namaste

Quest for bread

mrsgarageflower — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:01:00 GMT

Isn't this stuff the sustenance of life? So why is so hard for my family to have decent bread? Well, really just our littlest one. The rest of us eat this multigrain bread off the supermarket shelf that doesn't have any corn syrup or preservatives in it. But the littlest one, well hers has to be wheat free (gluten free), egg free, milk free... and so on.

Here is what happens. We buy really expensive mixes, I am not kidding we pay around $6 a loaf - THAT I MAKE!! - and it starts to rise. Oh it rises beautifully. I always fall for this charade. I am looking at this gorgeous loaf in the bread pan that has risen to the top of the pan, yes that's as good as it gets for gluten free folks, and by the time it comes out of the oven it's fallen. The bread at the crest of it's dome is about 1.5 inches high. Our daughter's sandwiches are cracker sized.

All this was to tell you that I bought something new today and I can't wait to try it tomorrow night. It's a gluten substitute. I will reveal the name after I have tried it and give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Gluten is so very important in baking b/c it's what makes bread dough, for example, elastic. And b/c it is elastic, as the yeast creates bubbles, those bubbles become trapped in the dough... dough rises. Without gluten it's very difficult to get a rise... eh hem... but it's even harder to keep it! ah...

I am simply dreaming of making my daughter a yummy pizza dough, making her sandwiches on regular sized pieces of bread and baking her cakes that aren't so dense. It almost makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I think about our holiday dinners this year.

Namaste

Corn syrup the unnatural sweetener

mrsgarageflower — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:59:00 GMT

As I said in my last post, we have eliminated corn syrup from our family's diet. Well, since it really is in every thing you buy at the grocery store, we had a few products in the fridge and pantry with corn syrup in them and I was not about to throw those out so we finished them up. Although we did give away several bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, that one hurt.

Why are we choosing to not ingest corn syrup? Everyone knows corn syrup is the sweetener of choice in breads, salad dressings, sodas, ketchups and restaurant foods just to name a few products. Check your cupboards now and I would be surprised if you aren't appalled by the amount of corn syrup you are feeding your family on a daily basis.

Corn syrup is made from corn starch. It's a complicated process, involving a few steps where enzymes are added which convert the sugar in the starch to syrup. Despite the complexity, it's still cheaper to make corn syrup than it is to purchase sugar. Plus corn syrup acts as a preservative and extends the shelf life of the foods. So for food manufacturers it's a win/win. Corn syrup is cheap, plentiful and allows their product to stay fresh in our pantries longer than home made food could. In our busy world don't we love convenience?

But what is it doing to your body? According to the Mayo Clinic corn syrup is a major contributor to the obesity problem facing the United States. The scariest thing about corn syrup is that only one organ in the body can process it, the liver. Unlike every other sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, fructose or glucose which can be processed by every cell in the body - even blood cells! Think about it, that is how diabetics check their blood sugar level, by testing their blood. But you can't test your blood for your corn syrup level. And it contributes to obesity b/c the liver is so efficient that it readily converts the corn syrup to FAT which goes straight to the blood stream - heart disease in a bottle.

Considering the sheer amount that the average person consumes in a single day is dizzying. That is a lot of work for the liver. In fact, it can cause the liver to become cirrhotic and plugged with fat, not unlike an alcoholics liver.

There is good news for us and you though. By and large, organic products do not contain corn syrup. My son's "special sauce", poppy seed dressing had corn syrup as the FIRST ingredient, but we found one by Breanna's which tastes delightful and has none of the nasty stuff. Heinz sells an organic ketchup which does not contain corn syrup.

Oh and yesterday's bread had a slight mishap, I forgot it in the oven. Hubby has to go to the healthfood store during lunch again today for another mix. If anyone has a yummy gluten free-egg free- dairy free bread recipe let me know.

Namaste

How hard can it be, being healthy?

mrsgarageflower — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:56:22 GMT

Hi there. I am a mom. And as simple a statement as that is, those in the know immediately feel my joy and pain, excitement and anguish. I need help and I hope this can be an outlet for all the other mom's out there who are looking for information and a friendly shoulder.

I have 4 children. Two are grown, one is in college in perpetuity and one married with a baby son. And I have 5 year old twins. When I was raising the older two, they slept on their tummy's just fine. They ate mashed carrots from my plate at 6 months just fine (shhh... don't tell anyone but I was known to actually serve them straight from my fork!! My super sharp fork!). They took lunch items in sandwich baggies (please... don't gasp, I feel guilty enough) and if I splurged, I would buy the baggies with the ziploc. Oh and I shudder when I remember the Little Debbies I sent with them and the blue Kool Aide - though their dad was the Kool Aide fiend... I was a juice box mom, I swear! (yes... packaging, I can't win!)

But all things change. You already know the habits that I mentioned above that I did not repeat with the second two kids. Back to sleep... yeah.... Now it's organic carrots and homemade cloth napkins. And nope, I don't pack any baggies. A waste free lunch, that's what I am talking about. yeah... And the baking, I just love the baking... but I have more on that later, much more.

In my efforts to be green, eat green, wear green and live all things green, I am often left feeling it would be easier to push a boulder up a mountain. At least I would know how. Oh and just when I am trying so hard here comes the resistance... you know those family members, or should I say those nay sayers dressed as family members, who complain at inconvenience or roll their eyes and purse their lips at our new lifestyle. Why does trying to live a green lifestyle conjure up images of a happy smiley family, all shiny and aglow, when really it has made me a hater? Not a real hater... I don't hate everything or everyone, per se. Maybe just a little bit though, ok a little bit. I get a tad angry when I read someone write that it's so easy... just make the decision and do it. Give up your SUV! Sell it!! The little voice in my head says, ok so you aren't driving it but someone else is right? And what are you going to drive now? Wish I could afford to both take a loss on the sale of our SUV and still afford to buy a hybrid. Is this out of reach for other Americans too? Or is it just me?

And this isn't the only area that I can't wait to hear your successes and failures and opinions about, we have a child who suffers from severe food allergies and who has asthma. Our list of forbidden foods includes beef, fish, soy, dairy, egg whites, wheat, and peanuts. Think about that. Beef, fish, soy, dairy, egg whites, wheat and peanuts. And yet I manage some pretty good cupcakes, and some mediocre cakes and slightly less than mediocre breads. It stinks. Our family decided that as a family, en banc, we would unify in this diet. We love our daughter so much and couldn't bear the thought of her eating a plain chicken breast while we dined on something more delicious. And it has had the unexpected surprise of fostering a creativity in the kitchen that I didn't otherwise have. I was always a good cook, but I made the traditional fare and was heavily influenced by all the fun places I have lived. New Orleans was very good to my family in terms of delicious recipes. Yummm! I have adapted many and the internet has been a terrific resource. So meals are getting better. I hope we can share some recipes here!

Additionally, we have cut corn syrup from our diets, you have to read this. And we have eliminated food dyes and preservatives, you have to read this and this.

So my goal is to share with you all of MY successes and failures and opinions on trying to live the healthiest and happiest lifestyle that my family can. I hope you will share advice, critique and funny moments too. Well I am trying yet another bread recipe.

Namaste