Dairy Free Anyone!

So I'm currently staying in Utah with my baby sister who just had a baby of her own. My little niece has been having some tummy problems and the doctor told my sister to cut all dairy out of her diet. So the second she said that of course we wanted some cake. Guess what though...cake mix has dairy in it. So does granola bars. So do the veggie burgers they eat. Good grief. So we went online to see if there was a good cake recipe using soy milk. Guess what pretty much everything we saw said, "Help my soy milk cake taste gross." So that wasn't really an option. So then I found a recipe for angel food cake. So we made angel food cake. Of course my sister couldn't have any cool whip because the generic she had in her fridge was not dairy. So I guess generics are not always the way to go. Regardless though it was pretty good.

I posted this picture of the kitchen aid because I realized while I was making this cake there is no way that my little hand held mixer could ever spin fast enough to get those egg whites to peak. So next time I have $320 lying around...in twenty years or so this is the mixer I want :)

Oh I also wanted to mention that #1, my little man, wants to be the next David Archuleta. #1 runs all over the house singing songs but most recently he has started making up his own little diddies. While we were eating this dairy free cake in silence he busted out "This is the cake with no milk!" Then he repeated that like three times. When my little sister got ready to leave he started singing, "Don't leave me, don't leave me, don't leave me." And then when they walked out the door he started singing, "They left me!"

Two Things I Want!

A certain husband of mine is always saying it is impossible to buy me things because I always buy what I want. For that gentleman I'm posting two objects I covet. Honey do what you like with this knowledge!

I want this Ipod. Now that I run I understand how nice it would be to have an Ipod that clips onto your shirt. Who need TV! That's why I have Netflix. All I want is music so I don't have to listen to election news.

My sister has this chair in her house. Two nights ago when my daughter was screaming from nine to midnight this is where we sat. I LOVE THIS CHAIR! It rocks but it supper light weight and looks way cool. Also the air rest are low enough that they wouldn't cause problem with nursing a baby. No we aren't having a nursing baby anytime soon you just notice these things when you know you aren't finished with your family yet. The kids love this chair and the footstool that comes with it as well. They've been on it the last two days rocking away. I like the fact that they can rock it and I don't have to worry about anyone's fingers getting pinched or run over.

Favorite Earrings

These are my favorite earrings. At this point I probably have six pairs. My mother and sisters probably have other thirty. My mom gets them from a friend at University. Her family back in Bolivia (maybe they are Peruvian...in my mind right now I can't decide) makes them and she sells them in the states for ten bucks a pair, or five dollars a pair for the family discount. They are adorable and they make me feel good because they make/sell them to help pay school fees for all the children in the extended family. Who can say no to that cause.

Why parenting should not involve comparing.

Just when I was starting to feel good about my parenting...

A Ode to the Date

So I just looked down and realized today was 3-11-08! Here is a shout out to my younger self.

Chocolate Milk Heaven!

So a certain friend of mine who shall remain nameless mentioned that our potlucks don't have the same multicultural/cosmopolitan feel that she is used to in the bigger city she came from. She's right. Instead of humus and dim sum we often eat corn bread and friend chicken. It is good comforting food that our kids eat (well hopefully eat if we can pry them away from each other and up to the table). To tease her I showed up at our last potluck with biscotti instead of my traditional chocolate chips cookies. Biscotti is simple to make and taste great although Dr. J did question why I didn't just make regular cookies. The man has no vision! I used a recipe similar to this one although mine came out of my kitchen bible...thank you Betty Crocker! I took my little rock hard cookies to my potluck and my friend chocked them down since I made them especially for her. Then another women said, "I wish I had some hot chocolate." EUREKA! Being the non coffee drinker that I am I didn't understand what the point of biscotti was. Now I know. These little gems are like heaven dipped in hot chocolate. Dr. J would claim I am exaggerating. I'M NOT!

Green Ipod Give Away

My current favorite site, imomies is giving away two green ipods for St. Patrick's Day. Hurray what a fabulous idea! If you are interested in being part of the contest go here. In the spirit of St. Patricks day I found this veggie tales clip that Ezra and I love. I have to admit this is the first time in my life I ever learned anything about St. Patrick's Day besides it being a day for green pancakes, drunk coeds, and corn beef. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNQYoAubHB4&feature=related

I Love Rebates!

I know stores do rebates because they figure people will forget about them and never get their money back but if you don't forget them they can be an awesome way to try all kinds of stuff for free! I LOVE REBATES! The site imommies is always posting new rebates. Here are two I just took advantage of. #1 circuit city.com will let you order Epson 5 by 7'' story teller photo book creator, a 25 pack of 3M pot it adhesive photo paper, and a 25 pack off semi-gloss photo paper that once you factor in the rebates is all absolutely free. You have to buy by March 8th and you have to have the order shipped to your local store for pick up but it is an awesome deal. #2 fun rebate out there is from Noxzema. You can pick up one of their razors and they will reimburse you for up to three dollars. I also stumbled across a scotch tape rebate. If you buy their scotch tape runner they will reimburse you the price of the product. The only problem with this deal is though that you have to find a tape runner at the store that has the rebate on it. I was in the scrapbook section at Wal-mart looking for tape and just glanced up and saw the "Try it Free" sticker. Anyway here is to free stuff!

Coupon Mania!

One of my old college roommates is really into coupons. I've always been a little wary but with the desire to save a buck or two here and three I've joined her. Wow, there are some crazy good blogs dedicated to getting as much as you can for the least amount of money. I found out about CVS dollars (in store credit you get for buying certain products) and lets just say who can say no to free toothpaste or razors. Another fun thing I found through one of these blogs is Ebates. This is a site that compiles all the rebates out three floating around on the web. Just for signing up they give you a ten dollar rebate once you make your first purchase. I ordered the 2008 Entertainment book for Salt Lake (these are the books chalked full of half off coupons and buy one frees for your area restaurants and entertainment venues). Obviously my area is to small to warrant it's own happenings book and I wasn't sure if they coupons would apply in the southern half of my state but I figured I'm going to be in Utah for almost three months this year anyway so why not have some fun while I'm there. The book is already half off since the year has started. Then I got a ten dollar rebate for making my first purchase and an extra six dollar rebate ebates was offering. So the whole thing is basically going to end up costing me a dollar. Here is the instructions if you are interested. If you sign up for ebates and give them my e-mail address as the referrer I get more rebates so keep that ceslade@gmail.com in mind :) Oh and here is the fun site where I found all these coupons and ideas.

Baking Soda

Baking Soda oh how I love you! Last summer my sister taught me that to get off that really gross burned on build up that you get on your stove all you need is a little baking soda and elbow grease. Let me tell your or stove has never looked so good. I remember asking her how she knew how to do that. She said that our grandmother taught her to use baking soda to clean off silver and one day it just clicked for her that it would work to scrub the stove. So this Sunday I'm standing in my bathroom trying to figure out what accessories to wear. I have some silver jewelry that I really love but pretty much every piece I own was tarnished. Ten minutes before you need to leave for church is not the time to be contemplating why you have never owned silver polish. Then like lighting I remembered my sister saying that. I ran downstairs, covered my bracelet in baking soda paste, and rubbed that tarnish right out. Hurray the day was saved. So now I have just one more reason to love baking soda; keeps the smells out of your fridge, good to clean your stove, keeps your garbage disposal smelling good, makes your cookies rise, and now cleans your silver up nice and shiny!