Not-quite Architecturally Sound "Gingerbread" House

This morning as I was dropping the Babe off at school, her teacher asked me if one of her planned activities would be safe for the Babe.  They were making Gingerbread Houses from a kit.  Definitely not safe, especially with the Babe's high level allergy to wheat, egg, and dairy.  I think her teacher had that figured out, but wanted to make sure before excluding the Babe.  Its not that she was actually excluded, its just that the activity was saved for the afternoon when the Babe wouldn't be present. 

The Babe knew about the planned activity, probably because they spent the morning reading about the Gingerbread Man and gingerbread houses.  So, as we left she asked if we could make one.  I had planned to clean this afternoon, and really didn't feel like baking, but I didn't want to disappoint the Babe.  So instead of cleaning some toilets and doing laundry, we baked and iced cookies.  First, we made sugar cookies that we had to roll out and bake.  For the house, I cut those shapes, but we had a lot of dough to make hearts and flowers out of.  Then I made vanilla icing.  The house is definitely not structurally sound, but it is so far holding together.  Other than safe lollipops, we don't have candy, so its a very "vanilla" house without any gumdrop or other candy decoration.  It still tastes good (based on all the cookies and frosting I already ate).  Here's a photo of the house and some of the frosted cookies.

 

I have finally found, and modified, a sugar cookie recipe that results in cookies that taste decent and have normal texture.  Here's my recipe for the cookies.

 

Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies



1 1/4 C White Rice Flour
1/2 C Sorghum
1/2 C Potato Starch
1/4 C Tapioca Starch
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/3 C Margarine (I prefer Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)
1/4 C Soy milk
2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (unless planning to bake dough later).
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix rice flour, sorghum, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, margarine, soy milk and vanilla.  Beat together with stand mixer or an electric mixer, until creamy.
4. Add in dry ingredients to mix, and beat until dough forms. 
5. Wrap dough in wax paper and refrigerate for 15 minutes, or up to a couple of hours.
6. Take dough out of refrigerate.  Take half of the dough and place between two large pieces of wax paper.  Roll out dough, cut into shapes with cookie cutters, and put on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Continue process until fill cookie sheet (remember to leave some space between the cookies).
7. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes.  They will not get brown. 
8. Repeat process of rolling out and cutting dough and baking until you've used up the dough. 
Eat and Enjoy!

Another goodbye

Thanksgiving came and went not with a boom, but with a hiss.  It was a quiet, uneventful day, that started with the three of us watching the Macy's Day Parade and reading the large, ad-filled newspaper.  Throughout the day I worked on dinner, which included a whole turkey, gluten-free stuffing, dairy-free chocolate chip ice cream, and apple pie.  It was the first day in about two weeks that we could really be together as a family, after my husband had been gone for business and to help his mother, who lives in Florida, post-surgery.  Once he returned home he had a lot of work, so Thanksgiving really was our one day together.  I had anticipated enjoying the rest of the weekend, but that was not meant to be.

Sadly, we received an early morning call that his grandfather had passed away Friday morning.  The remainder of the day was focused on how to get to Florida for the funeral.  My husband was able to leave Saturday morning.  Unfortunately due to our location and time of year, it was virtually impossible for me to join him unless we either wanted to spend a fortune flying someone to us to watch the Babe, and then me to fly with him, or in the alternative, spend two long days driving with the Babe to Florida which would also require pulling her out of school for a week.  We plan to make this drive in a couple of weeks, and didn't think it would be best to do that with her two times so close together.

The Babe and I won't be able to join everyone as they say goodbye to her great-grandfather.  She still doesn't fully understand the concept of death, although she does bring it up every so often.  I think when we see her great-grandmother without Pop, it may have more meaning in context that he's gone.  For now, the Babe knows he died, but I'm sure questions will arise.  In the meantime, we will remember a man who served his country, on the beach at D-Day, and loved his family.   For him, family was very important.  He will not be forgotten.

Thanfulness

As we approach Thanksgiving, I've tried to discuss with the Babe about what we're thankful for.  This year Thanksgiving falls at the same time as Hanukkah (a unique occurrence on the calendar).  With all the holiday adds, and soon to be gift receiving on her part, I anticipate a lot of greediness popping up.  I want her to remember that we are very fortunate. 

My daughter told me that at school yesterday they made a picture, and then were to write down what they were thankful for.  My daughter is thankful for grocery stores.  Now we don't live in a third-world country nor in an area with little industry.  When I saw her paper this morning, I laughed with her teacher about it.  Apparently its not so much the stores themselves, but the Babe is thankful for grocery stores because that is where we get food.  That makes complete sense.

This year I am thankful for our health and that the Babe is able to attend school.  Those are the big things in our lives. There are a lot more things I'm thankful for, such as our family and our new home.  We have an abundance of things to be thankful for.  While I have a lot to be thankful for, we are also hopeful that this season sees our extended family in continued good or improving health.

A Wonderful Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone, and we survived.  In fact, we did better than just survive.  The Babe had a wonderful day for many reasons.  In fact, it started a week or two prior when we were "Boo'd" by an anonymous neighbor.  Apparently our fairly new subdivision was having some fun, where a mysterious Halloween bag would show up on your doorknob.  One Sunday morning when my husband went to get the newspaper, he found our bag.  Our initial thought was Uh Oh!  Dreading the thought that it would be filled with candy, we were thrilled that everything in the bag was fun things for the Babe, and none of it involving food.  I suspect whoever gave this gift was someone I had met recently, but whomever did it, it was great.  When we had to "pay it forward", I made sure to keep it food-free, and gave it to a family that I knew was having some food intolerances or issues.

As for Halloween, it started with the Babe going to school.  I haven't discussed this here yet, but she's been enrolled part-time in a private kindergarten.  They have been wonderful, and have tried to be very conscious of the environment and any potential hazards.  Its a small building, and they knew the classrooms that satellite off of hers were all having pizza delivered for lunch on Halloween.  As they couldn't control the delivery time, we agreed that I would pick the Babe up by 10 a.m. to avoid the potential risk from airborne dairy. 

When I dropped her off that morning, we gave out little goodie bags.  I was able to tie in a little food allergy lesson, hopefully raising a little awareness and/or future tolerance.  Basically, my message was that you can have fun without food.  The message probably went over the 4 and 5 year old heads, but everyone was happy.  After I picked up the Babe, we headed home where we made sugar cookies.  I tried out a new recipe (to be posted at another time), and the Babe had fun rolling out the dough and cutting out pumpkin shaped cookies.  Later, we decorated foam picture frames that were Halloween-themed.

Our neighborhood had trick-or-treating between 6-8 p.m.  I had intended to speak to the families in my cul-de-sac in advance about having a safe treat that I would provide them to give her.  I had bought a bunch of little items.  Well, I didn't get a chance to talk to them, so I told the Babe that if she didn't get a safe treat, I'd have something to swap for it.  The Babe insisted she'd get safe treats.  Well, guess what?  For the most part, she was right.  It was wonderful. 

In the afternoon, the family behind us dropped off a little goody bag with a non-food item, because the mom knew she couldn't give candy.  Then once the Babe was ready to trick-or-treat, we headed off to the three nearest houses.  House number one gave the Babe a bag with her name written on it filled with...no food!  There were other treats like stickers, bubbles, slap bracelets and more.  Truly wonderful!  Then the next house the father said they had two different treats they were giving out but he wasn't sure which was safe.  One was a possibility, so I took that one, which will be swapped.  I appreciated the gesture though.  The third house they gave the Babe a package of crayon rings and a little (3x5) princess coloring thing.  Can we say totally amazing?  I hadn't talked to any of these parents in advance, yet they all got it.  The Babe was included.  This was her first year we actually dared to trick-or-treat, and what a treat it was!   All those things I got just-in-case, so she wouldn't be disappointed, weren't necessary.  In fact, I gave her some at the end of the evening, and the rest are going to be saved for next year.  The Babe had a fun-filled, totally safe Halloween. 

We celebrate any thing that brings us closer to "normal", and while we may have tap-danced around a few potential hazards to make the day a success, we still got to dance.

Bed Police

So we survived our move.  It seemed in the last week before we closed on our new house, we kept having one hurdle after another.  We've been in our new house almost two weeks, and were mostly unpacked after the first week.  While that is fine, the best part of our new house is the sleeping arrangements. 

Before we moved, at least a month ahead, I started letting the Babe know about our new house.  Oh, and a local phenomenon.  Have you heard of the Pennsylvania Bed Police?  No?  Well, don't tell the Babe that!  I let her know that in Pennsylvania, all children have to sleep in their own bed.  I don't know the punishment if they don't, but the Bed Police might come over and we don't want that.  I did such a good job, that after our first night in the house when we had only one bed set up for sleeping, she was concerned.  I told her we had gotten permission for that night, and the next, when her bed wasn't yet ready, for her to sleep with us.  The third night in the house, her room was unpacked, her bedding washed and bed made, so that meant she had to sleep in her own bed.  She wasn't too happy about it, but complied.  In the middle of the night she woke crying that she wanted to sleep in my bed, but I reminded her that wasn't possible. 

She does not like the Bed Police, but it has worked so far.  There is no debate about where she is going to sleep.  Granted, one night she had a little bed-wetting accident, so of course she came in to our bed.  The Bed Police know that kids can't sleep in wet beds (hopefully this doesn't give her any ideas).  While she might wake in the night calling for me, she knows she can't sleep the night in my room.  I might spend a few hours in her bed, but as long as its not every night, that's fine. 

Lots to Do

I'm questioning my sanity.  Ok, not my sanity, but really, what was I thinking?  Friday, the movers started packing the basement and garage.  I baked cake for the Babe's birthday (not for her party- that will require more baking).  We had a house showing, requiring some picking up.  All in all, I started to feel overwhelmed.  Sunday I am having the Babe's 5th Birthday party.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, will be more packing, and then we are on our way.  This weekend I will be baking for her birthday party, as well as packing for about ten days as once the movers return Monday, if it is not set aside in a specific spot, it will be packed.  That means clothes, food, medicine, and anything the Babe might need for entertainment (DVDs, toys, art supplies).  Plus, a few more errands thrown in, like I must remember to get to the dry cleaner before we move.  There are also a few issues on the other side of the move that will hopefully be settled before we get there.  Lots to do.  It would help if I could sleep...perhaps in a few weeks.

What's in a Name?

Lately I've been entertaining a bit more, trying to squeeze in visits with family and friends that I know we will be seeing less of after our move.  I've come to realize that the Babe has been getting funny with names.  Wives have been called by their husband's names, others by their related title ("I must talk to your wife"), and others by names of different friends.  Sometimes I think its truly a slip of the tongue, but once she has you on the hook, she keeps playing it up. 

A friend recently visited, who the Babe has met on several occasions.  Halfway through lunch she started calling him by another male friend's name.  She knows both well, and knows they are two totally different men (in stature, in ethnicity, and personality).  However, after a few slips of the name, she clearly got a kick out of calling him by the wrong one.  So for the rest of the afternoon she delighted in calling him by the wrong one.  Sometimes it was with a straight face, but a bright twinkle in her eye.  Fortunately he was a good sport.

The Babe is turning into more of a ham, but she's also becoming more demanding.  She was very upset yesterday that our guests chose to sit in the dining room to linger over adult discussion rather than to come and play with her.  After a while, we joined her, but she was definitely put out.  Clearly being an only child has led her to believe that anyone who is in our house is here for her, to either entertain her or be entertained by her.  Of course age is a factor, too.  I do try to instruct her on what is appropriate.  Oftentimes though most people find her precocious, so she gets away with it and the lesson isn't always enforced.   While I want her to be able to play and have fun, I also want her to know what is appropriate and be polite.  I don't think we need to be sticklers for manners, but there are definitely a few things we need to work on.