I don't mind cooking. But I don't want to make two different meals for dinner, or deal with a young child who's annoyed she can't eat what we're eating. So, I've been trying to find meals suitable for a toddler who's allergic to milk protein and soy, yet still appetizing for my husband and I, and cost effective.
Tomorrow, my daughter is going to try fish for the first time. And I've found a way to make it yummy for my husband and I, yet totally something she can eat. The bonus is, it doesn't require any of her crazy expensive dairy- and soy-free replacement foods!
Broiled Tilapia
Fillets of tilapia (or other similar thin white fish like sole, haddock, bass, pike, etc.)
Olive oil (I actually use Blue Menu omega oil since I like the flavour mixture of olive, grape seed, and flax oil)
Salt and pepper
Dill
2 tbsp dijon mustard (make sure it's soy free)
2 tbsp mayonnaise (we use Helman's olive oil mayo since it's soy free)
1 lemon
1) Turn the broiler on in the oven and preheat it while you are getting everything ready.
2) Prep a pan (that will comfortably fit your fish fillets in a single layer) by spraying or brushing it with oil. I'm not sure if PAM is soy-free or not, we use a pressurized sprayer that you fill with your own oil and pump yourself to pressurize.
3) Lay out your fish in the pan and drizzle the fish with olive oil. Then sprinkle approximately 1/4 tsp of of dill per piece of fish and also sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4) Mix the mustard, the mayonnaise, the juice from the lemon, and a good shaking of dill together in a bowl and stir until you get a smooth consistency.
5) You're oven should be preheated sufficiently at this point, put the fish in the oven for 6-8 minutes. It should be cooked through and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Let sit for a minute before serving with the sauce drizzled on top.
Yummy! Of course you'll selected the number of fillets you need based on the number you are feeding. I think the sauce could easily be enough for 4 to 6 fillets.
It's super easy and healthy. I love the fact that it allows me to get dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes! We had it with baked sweet potato and a cranberry quinoa salad tonight. Oh, and by the way. . . I learned today that you can make quinoa in a rice cooker. Super easy!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Finding Balance
I recently read the following and it really connected with me. I thought I'd share.
Right Living in a Consumer Society by Roger Pritchard
We feel alienated from our work. We don't love what we do, we merely tolerate it. We work only to earn money, and we use that money to consume more than we really want. We feel a dissatisfaction with our lives, and yet we feel powerless to change.
Our modern economic system is based on the manufacture of goods, the extraction of natural resources without regard for the consquences, the progressive eliminiation of meaningful work, and the constant increase of consumption. Consumption is insatiable: we want more and more and the economy has to grow and grow to meet our needs--just like some cancer.
We are materially wealthy beyond our own wildest dreams. Yet we feel uneasy. Studies have shown that there is no correlation between happiness and wealth, fulfillment and material possessions. People in our society regularly report that to be happy they "need" about double their current income.
"Right livelihood" offers us a positive alternative, a middle path between growth for its own sake and stagnation. An increasing number of Americans are following this path. Many of us are looking for ways to break out of the current system. We want to reduce consumption, conserve natural resources, cut down on pollution, eat more simply and nutritiously, bring more spirituality into our lives, and develop more of a sense of community. More and more of us are convined that each generation should meet its needs without jeopardizing the life support system of future generations.
Those of us who start on path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption.
The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spond it on material pleasures?
Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is degnified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity. Work, in this view:
* makes you honey with yourself,
* requires that you develop your faculties and skills,
* empowers you to do what you are really good at and love to do,
* connects you in a compassionate way with the outside world,
* supports the philosophy of non-destructiveness and sustainability, and
* integrates work with personal life and community.
In our time only artist have been given permission to look at work this way. So you might say you should consider your life a work of art. And whereas those who follow the way of the starving artist are expected to accept poverty as the price they pay, those who follow the way of right livelihood are not. Right livelihood gives material well-being a place, it simply does not put it on a pedestal. In right livelihood, material wealth is not the "bottom-line." The true goals of work are, rather, self-fulfillment and wisdom--and, ultimately, enlightenment.
Those who pursue right livelihood are neither in poverty nor strung out in an overextended cycle of material consumption for which work is simly a means. They do work that feels and is right for them, for their community, and for the planet.
Most people find that it takes years to make the transition from the mainstream to this new way of life. First you have to admit that you are responsible for your self-actualization. Then you have to make the journey. This can be a painful process--to let go of the old and familiar ways always is--but most people are very satisifed with the results.
Don't think you have to take this journey alone. In fact, it's terribly important that you look around and find people and groups who wupport the right livelihood way of life. Giving and getting support while trying to meet the challenges of learning a new way is key. And shartin gthe journey with others of like mind ensures tha tyou keep your motivation high.
You can start small, perhaps by recycling or using more public transit. As you gain experience and confidence you can begin planning larger steps such as a career change.
Most people find that it takes years to make the transistion and settle into this new way of life. But once they have embarked most people report increased feelings of self-esteem and well being. They feel good that they no longer wupport the damage that the industrial era has done to the planet and to people. They have found a positive, balanced alternative through right livelihood.
Right Living in a Consumer Society by Roger Pritchard
We feel alienated from our work. We don't love what we do, we merely tolerate it. We work only to earn money, and we use that money to consume more than we really want. We feel a dissatisfaction with our lives, and yet we feel powerless to change.
Our modern economic system is based on the manufacture of goods, the extraction of natural resources without regard for the consquences, the progressive eliminiation of meaningful work, and the constant increase of consumption. Consumption is insatiable: we want more and more and the economy has to grow and grow to meet our needs--just like some cancer.
We are materially wealthy beyond our own wildest dreams. Yet we feel uneasy. Studies have shown that there is no correlation between happiness and wealth, fulfillment and material possessions. People in our society regularly report that to be happy they "need" about double their current income.
"Right livelihood" offers us a positive alternative, a middle path between growth for its own sake and stagnation. An increasing number of Americans are following this path. Many of us are looking for ways to break out of the current system. We want to reduce consumption, conserve natural resources, cut down on pollution, eat more simply and nutritiously, bring more spirituality into our lives, and develop more of a sense of community. More and more of us are convined that each generation should meet its needs without jeopardizing the life support system of future generations.
Those of us who start on path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption.
The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spond it on material pleasures?
Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is degnified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity. Work, in this view:
* makes you honey with yourself,
* requires that you develop your faculties and skills,
* empowers you to do what you are really good at and love to do,
* connects you in a compassionate way with the outside world,
* supports the philosophy of non-destructiveness and sustainability, and
* integrates work with personal life and community.
In our time only artist have been given permission to look at work this way. So you might say you should consider your life a work of art. And whereas those who follow the way of the starving artist are expected to accept poverty as the price they pay, those who follow the way of right livelihood are not. Right livelihood gives material well-being a place, it simply does not put it on a pedestal. In right livelihood, material wealth is not the "bottom-line." The true goals of work are, rather, self-fulfillment and wisdom--and, ultimately, enlightenment.
Those who pursue right livelihood are neither in poverty nor strung out in an overextended cycle of material consumption for which work is simly a means. They do work that feels and is right for them, for their community, and for the planet.
Most people find that it takes years to make the transition from the mainstream to this new way of life. First you have to admit that you are responsible for your self-actualization. Then you have to make the journey. This can be a painful process--to let go of the old and familiar ways always is--but most people are very satisifed with the results.
Don't think you have to take this journey alone. In fact, it's terribly important that you look around and find people and groups who wupport the right livelihood way of life. Giving and getting support while trying to meet the challenges of learning a new way is key. And shartin gthe journey with others of like mind ensures tha tyou keep your motivation high.
You can start small, perhaps by recycling or using more public transit. As you gain experience and confidence you can begin planning larger steps such as a career change.
Most people find that it takes years to make the transistion and settle into this new way of life. But once they have embarked most people report increased feelings of self-esteem and well being. They feel good that they no longer wupport the damage that the industrial era has done to the planet and to people. They have found a positive, balanced alternative through right livelihood.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Dairy and Soy Free Cookies. Yum yum
Anyone else out there dealing with food allergies in a small child, I feel your pain. My little one is too little to understand why she can eat the cookies with everyone else at Sunday School. :o( And it isn't that we didn't send a snack for her, it's that I didn't know they were having cookies, and apple sauce and a banana just don't cut it in comparison to cookies. So, time for me to make cookies that she can have since there don't seem to be any cookies in stores that she can have other than ones that contain peanuts!
I've modified a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe to come up with something yummy that everyone should be able to have (except for her Uncle Todd who happens to be allergic to almonds).
I've modified a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe to come up with something yummy that everyone should be able to have (except for her Uncle Todd who happens to be allergic to almonds).
Makes about 50 small cookies
Ingredients
½ cup 125 ml Sugar
½ cup 125 ml Brown sugar
1 cup 250 ml Dairy and soy free margarine
¼ cup 50 ml Almond milk (or other milk substitute)
1 teaspoon 5 ml Vanilla
2¼ cups 550 ml Flour
1¼ cups 300 ml Dried fruit of your choice (we like dried cherries—but check that they haven’t been coated in soy oil)
1 teaspoon 5 ml Baking soda
Steps
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
1. Soak whatever dried fruit you plan on using in hot water.
2. Cream margarine and sugars until light and fluffy (you can use a wooden spoon or a mixer).
3. Slowly add the almond milk, mixing well, then add the vanilla.
4. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl then add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir to blend.
5. Fold in the dried fruit.
6. Drop by teaspoons on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets (If using stone-wear baking trays greasing or parchment-lining is not necessary).
Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
I haven't looked at any brands of chocolate chips or bakers chocolate to see if there is a variety she can have. There certainly weren't any chocolate cookies on the shelf of the store that were dairy and soy free.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
I killed the camera!
Well not really, but I have to deal with the fact that the card in it is completely full. Somehow I have to find time when my little girl is awake to download all the images/video on to my husband's computer so they can be deleted off the camera. So I am still showing, just can't do posts with pictures. . . yet. . .
I'm also off on a permaculture/gardening kick. I have to have the planting plan submitted for my community garden plot this Friday, so a lot of my possible computer/sewing time is being spent on that. I'll have more to share with you soon!
In the meantime, if you are interested in permaculture at all and university lectures don't scare you off, nc state distance education has a set of twenty-nine 90 minute lectures the include topics such as soil ecology, vermicomposting, green architecture, etc. This of course excited me to no end. If you feel the same way check it out here: http://mediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=f5a893e7-4b7c-4b79-80fd-52dcd1ced715
I'm also off on a permaculture/gardening kick. I have to have the planting plan submitted for my community garden plot this Friday, so a lot of my possible computer/sewing time is being spent on that. I'll have more to share with you soon!
In the meantime, if you are interested in permaculture at all and university lectures don't scare you off, nc state distance education has a set of twenty-nine 90 minute lectures the include topics such as soil ecology, vermicomposting, green architecture, etc. This of course excited me to no end. If you feel the same way check it out here: http://mediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=f5a893e7-4b7c-4b79-80fd-52dcd1ced715
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Exciting news!
The sun isn't up, the snow is falling and I'm sitting here smiling. Why? Because I'm sitting here in my cozy alpaca socks and planning my garden plot! :o)
I got the news yesterday, I was able to get a garden plot in one of my local community gardens. It made me smile.
So now I'm off to You Grow Girl's post about the lazy gardener's seed starting chart (in excel--so it does all the math calculations for you) and to http://www.seeds.ca/ to find out when my local Seedy Saturday or Sunday (seed exchange focused on heritage varieties) is.
I got the news yesterday, I was able to get a garden plot in one of my local community gardens. It made me smile.
So now I'm off to You Grow Girl's post about the lazy gardener's seed starting chart (in excel--so it does all the math calculations for you) and to http://www.seeds.ca/ to find out when my local Seedy Saturday or Sunday (seed exchange focused on heritage varieties) is.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
I LOVE treehouses!
There something you probably don't know about me. I LOVE treehouses! And I dream of one day having a low maintainance, environmentally friendly cottage.
This is a part of me that hasn't been reflected on my blog so far. Really all I've wrote about is sewing, food, and baby stuff. There is a lot more to me than that! I feel it is high time that I share more of this part of me. After all, I can't be the only person out there that has this dream can I?
I've loved treehouses since I was little when Philip, Ashleigh and I built a really cool one all by ourselves. My room was the biggest and the floor was a discarded door. How could any 9 year old not think it was the coolest thing in the world?
Well, I'll be thirty this year, and I'm not afraid to admit that I want another treehouse. The one we built as kids is long gone and it is high time there were another in my life.
The one I want to build is going to be a more adult version with things like a level floor and actual walls around the outside. I'm planning on doing a spiral staircase around the tree trunk and have a pulley system for carrying things up (like groceries and luggage). It will be in the neighbourhood of 550 square feet. We may put two small lofts in it for sleeping spaces. It will house a small kitchenette, a banquette, and some comfortable seating, and maybe a small wood-stove. On the outside I want to have a small screened in porch (4 1/2' x 10') with a few chairs hanging from the roof of the porch like swings.
I have the tree picked out. Well, almost. . .
I'm having trouble deciding.
Do I pick the lovely oak tree that is very conveniently located at the end of the driveway that is in a more sheltered area (it doesn't get a breeze in the summer and comes with a very populous mosquito population)? Or, do I go with the tree that you have to cross the river by boat to get to? The second tree is a lovely maple tree beside a very calming creek and has a lovely light breeze in the summer.
I have to wait a couple of years before the necessary amount of money will be saved, so it isn't a decision I have to make today. But I really feel I need to settle on one or the other to get an action plan in place.
Decisions, decisions!
Regardless of how much I want to treehouse, I have to start with something a lot less glamourous. The dreaded outdoor bathroom.
As I write this there is a broken chemical toilette sitting in a falling down structure the same size as an outhouse. Our current solution is to bush pee and for other business drive to the nearest town (10 minutes out). Clearly not an ideal solution, or a viable longterm one. Especially with a little one that we will need to start potty training at the end of summer!
Eventually we want to be comfortably able to use the property on weekends during all four seasons. It's on a river, so it would be really cool to go skating there in the winter (as long as the ice is thick enough) and then make s'mores! That means having a winterized bathroom is ideal for us.
The property is off the grid. So just plugging in a small space heater isn't an option. I'm actually looking at using passive solar to heat it 90% of the time. It has to be built from scratch, so if we can adjust a few small things when constructing it and not have much in terms ongoing heating and cooling costs, why not? Especially when it only means increasing the cost of construction in the neighbourhood of 10%. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than ongoing fuel costs, especially with the way the cost of fuel just keeps increasing.
I just need to really focus and pick the right composting toilette. So don't be surprised if you hear more about them.
Friday, February 3, 2012
eatrightontario.ca
If you live in Ontario, you may be interested to know that we have a free service that allows us to connect with a dietian really, really easily. I'm not sure if other provinces have this or not.
Yesterday I phoned the toll-free number and was pleasantly surprised when I was talking to an actual human in less than two minutes! And a helpful human at that. She had loads of great information and I feel like I have more of an idea of what we're going to try as a milk alternative for my daughter. Although, it's possible she has grown out of her milk protein allergy at this point, so guess who gets to try a very small portion of milk this weekend if I can find the ear plugs (having a screaming child on your shoulder trying to sooth them makes the ear plugs necessary).
Yesterday I phoned the toll-free number and was pleasantly surprised when I was talking to an actual human in less than two minutes! And a helpful human at that. She had loads of great information and I feel like I have more of an idea of what we're going to try as a milk alternative for my daughter. Although, it's possible she has grown out of her milk protein allergy at this point, so guess who gets to try a very small portion of milk this weekend if I can find the ear plugs (having a screaming child on your shoulder trying to sooth them makes the ear plugs necessary).
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