Category — Holidays

The celebrations continue.  Have a very happy, healthy, safe and peace-ful New Year!

Our very best to you from “Rainbow On Your Plate” and Indigo Rabbit.

BE WELL!

It’s Christmas time and for those of you who prepare for the holidays with food allergies in mind I have a fun recipe for you to try: Holiday Honey Cake.  This recipe comes to us from “My Kid’s Allergic to Everything” Dessert Cookbook.  This cake keeps for weeks and it toasts up great!

1 cup rye flour

1 cup spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup softened butter OR mild-tasting oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Use one 5″-9″ loaf pan, ungreased and unfloured.

Mix rye and spelt flours with the baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon; set aside.  In a microwave-safe dish or in a small saucepan, mix honey, sugar, and water; heat slowly until small bubbles begin to appear.  Remove from the microwave or stovetop; in the dish or saucepan add the butter or oil; beat until well mixed.  Pour this into the flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes.  Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake for 40 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean and the top of the cake has begun to crack.

For the best flavor, cool completely after baking, place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for three days before serving.

Variation: You may use samll amounts of soy, barley, or millet flours in place of some of the rye and spelt flours for a silkier cake.  You can also make this a spice cake by reducing the cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon and adding 1/8 teaspoon each of ginger, allspice, and cloves.

May your holidays be bright, healthy and safe.  Many blessings to you from “Rainbow On Your Plate” and Indigo Rabbit.

Have a beautiful holiday with family and friends!

So it’s the holiday season.  I have lists lying around the house – lists for gift giving, to-do lists for fulfilling school charitable donation requests, lists for holiday cards, to-do lists for making my house presentable for when friends pop by (and we did have SURPRISE guests from out-of-state last week).  Among all these loose scraps of  paper, it seems I have overlooked a necessary one – the grocery list.

My cupboard is quite pathetically slim and each subsequent night’s dinner reflects a more creative use of maybe beans or eggs and whatever else I can scrounge out of the back of the freezer that looks half-way colorful (and is supposed to be that way!).

I know – grocery store today.  How long  can a child live off of dry oatmeal and slightly bendy carrots?

Shopping, cooking, living gluten free is no easy task, especially during the holiday season.  I’m always on the look out for decent, if not outstanding, gluten free alternatives to standard fare, no matter the holiday.

Take a look at this for some fantastic ideas for making this holiday gluten free bliss: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120503651

Halloween has arrived.  I live in a kid-packed neighborhood, so skimping on my candy inventory is out of the question.  So, how do I free my kids up to enjoy the holiday festivities while maintaining some reasonable sense of sanity over the impending sugar trough soon to come into my house?

When I was a kid my siblings and I were given 30 minutes to do whatever we wanted with our stash and then it was GONE.  That’s one approach (not a favorite). 

Another is to avoid at least some of the sugar stockpile in the house by handing out pretzels or toothbrushes (another huge mistake if you enjoy having an egg-free exterior to your home).

Check out http://kidshealth.org/parent/food/general/halloween_hints.html# for ideas on getting through Halloween without losing your mind, gaining 100 pounds, or having to fix architectural elements in your home damaged by kids bouncing out-of-control from their everlasting sugar high.

Easter has come and gone and I am relieved to confess that I am finally turning into a regular mom.

As you may have read in the “About Sandy” section (or will now if you’re so inclined), I am the proud daughter of the leader (at least  in my mind) of the nutty-crunchy parade of Southern California circa 1970’s-ish.  However it happened, I am a duplicate of her in some of those “crunchy” ways.

Until now, I have whispered to our local Easter Bunny to surprise our kiddos with healthy holiday treats – my husband is really such a good sport.

This Easter, however, I joined the club of normal people who enjoy watching my kids chow on jelly beans and chocolate eggs.  And more importantly, I’ll admit it’s way more fun to secretly munch from an Easter basket filled with sugary treats than it is from a basket full of lollipops colored by elderberries and all-natural yogurt-covered raisins.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love all those things (again, husband a hero), but for Easter 2009 my family became “normal” for the holidays.