hmmm, one of those not so complacent days

Can't put my finger on it, but things just not right today. First and foremost, I can't figure out why the picture on the top of this blog is so big. I mean, trust me, I think they are the cutest things ever, but not sure they need to be giant size.
Sunshine went happily to school this morning....sure, because it is Grandparents day and she checks out early. So, that leaves me and Giggles home alone together all day. Really, though? He's sick-ish? I've changed enough diapers for one day already, and it's not even nap time. Ugh.

Oh, and it's laundry day. What could be fun about that? Well, actually I love, love, love the smell of fresh laundry so that's not so bad. Plus, I've just discovered Mrs. Stewarts Laundry Bluing. Wow, do my whites look bright!

But, I came up with a fabulous allergy free Banana bread recipe that we all love! AND a flax bread recipe that is sooo delicious. So, since it has flax in it, I can eat unlimited amounts right? I mean, in the sake of heart health right. Of course, the treadmill has been calling my name, all in the sake of heart health, and I'm just not up for answering these days. I keep saying tomorrow I will start back to running. Maybe I will today! Well, we'll just see how nap time goes, ha ha!

I will post the new fabulous recipes soon. As soon as I clean up the test kitchen ;)

Allergy Free Recipes

Ok, I'm going to try and get all of our allergy free recipes posted. Check the link to the right of the page. I will try and keep the organized by egg free, dairy free and soy free.
Giggles is allergic to Dairy, Soy, Eggs, Chicken, Oats, Barley, and Rice so all recipes will be free of these things. I've noted substitutions. So,for instance, if you need an egg free recipe but don't need it to also be dairy free then you can easily add back in the other tastier ingredients.

Finally, a not so bad egg free vanilla cake

Planning Giggles' party was fun.....but the cake was a true baking challenge. He is allergic to everything. Well, at least it seems that way. I'm pretty good about figuring out what to substitute but no eggs in cake? That's a tough one. I've tried 4,237,923 different varieties of egg free cake recipes. Well, maybe not that many, but it sure seems close. Some are not so bad, but just don't have that cake feel. You know, the light and airy fluffy goodness.

So, I finally found a cake mix that is dairy free and has minimal soy (ironically it is the Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix). I tried making it with sprite, buy oh my that was so sweet. So, our final product was the cake mix and club soda. Not half bad. We know have an Egg Free Cupcake recipe we can live with.

Not so hard, either. Dump the cake mix in the Kitchenaid (no one should ever have to bake without a kithenaid). Then club soda in place of all the additions on the back of the box (water, egg, oil/butter). I ended up using about 10 or so ounces of club soda.

They didn't turn out half bad. Warning, though: You must use cupcake liners. These are a consistency almost of Angel food cake so a little harder to remove. Also, notice the centers sink in a little bit. Eh, no big deal. Extra spot for frosting.

Final decorated product. For the frosting I used the Wilton Buttercream Icing recipe. Instead of butter and traditional shortening I substituted Spectrum Shortening and used coconut milk. (it doesn't give any kind of coconut flavor but is a little sweet)

My sweetest ever taste tester, Giggles, thought it was delicious.

Giggles Turns 2

I don't even know how this is possible. He is still my snuggly little guy that likes me to rock him to sleep. He's a toddler now? Is that right?

He is such a joy and his laugh is so infectious. We had such a great time planning his party, and I  think he thought it was a big hit. It had all the important toddler components. Sugar, kiddie pools and brand new trucks!!