A new experiment in baking

Already to go for lunch tomorrow - ie I forgot to take a picture earlier :)


Those are Jeremy's (!!!) fingers in the pan - that NEVER happens! - he is not a sweets guy - especially not cake!


Newest addition to my baking cupboard, I'm excited to try other things with this.

So, I was to bring a dessert for our care group tonight, and I really wanted to be able to make something for one of our friends who has a number of allergies. I saw it as a challenge and wanted to try something new. So, I just googled "dairy, gluten, corn and soy free desserts" looked at the first result and decided to go for it. And I was pleasantly surprised. I have always had a misperception that gluten free means taste free. Totally wrong, and in some ways more flavor! I was telling Jeremy tonight that I was glad it turned out so well and he asked "what was different"? ha! He thought it was great and said it was better than other cakes, so guess I'll be making this again.

I also learned a few things along the way. vegetable oil and canola oil are NOT the same. This recipe called for canola and I thought that's what I had in the cupboard, onlt to find out mid-recipe that it was vegetable oil made of soybean oil that I had! - Big no no! So, went searching. I had bought some coconut oil at Natural Pantry today because I have had friends talking about it on facebook and wanted to try. So, I thought, well, could I substitute that? So, I went on a search, trying to talk to someone who used it, my first attempts were failed but I did talk to a friend who I haven't talked to in probably three years! It was great to hear her voice and fun to hear what she does with the coconut oil, and she told me how it changes consistency, and sure enough tonight when I got home, it was more liquidy that it was today when I baked with it. So, anyhow, I substituted straight across the cocunut oil for canola oil, and I don't think there was any difference.

So, all this to say I enjoyed trying something new, buying new ingredients, all of which are probably better for me anyhow, and am looking forward to seeing what else I can make with them! And here are a couple of pictures.

Here is the recipe for anyone interested.

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Corn-Free Chocolate Cake
perfect without frosting! but you know you want to frost it

3 cups gluten-free flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put all ingredients into mixing bowl and beat until smooth and no lumps remain. Consistency will be like a standard cake batter.

Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan OR 2 round cake pans. Bake 35-55 minutes or until top springs back when touched. (shorter for cake pans, longer for the 13×9)

Remove from oven and let cool, if you’re able, until room temp. Frost as desired.

This is the recipe for frosting that the blogger I found used, but I was unable to find "corn free powdered sugar". so I bought a Namaste Toffee Vanilla Frosting Mix and made it with palm shortening and coconut milk.

Basic Frosting
3/4 cup palm shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract, if desired
enough milk to make smooth and creamy

Beat shortening with sugar and flavorings and add milk until desired consistency. Beat additional 3-5 minutes or until super fluffy and smooth. Frost cake when cooled and dig in!

And, I should give credit, I found this at
http://beyondthewheat.com/gluten-free-recipe/gluten-and-egg-dairy-soy-corn-free-chocolate-cake/

Hmmm...sorry, I don't know how to do the cool link thing. Oh well, you can figure it out. :)

And what's a post without this little guy?

And last, but not least....

It's been a big blogging day for me. I always want to put stuff on here, sometimes it is just a matter of having time to sit and do it, and in the evenings when Jeremy is studying I don't get computer access. :(

So, here are some pictures of the little one, I swear he just gets more fun every day!


Hey Dad - do you like playing in these drawers too? They're so much fun!
Little did he know, that Daddy was putting the child latches on! :)


About to take off....


So cool just standing here at the couch, posing for mommy!


Someone (Grandma) gave me whip cream to play with!!


If Mommy leaves the Duplo container in here, then surely it means that she wants me to stand on it!


Bath Time!!


Super Baby! I thought it was funny how he turned his bib around and it looks like a cape!


He enjoyed getting to eat his own chicken leg!


This is how much he enjoyed it!


This is the rubber thingee for opening jars, also one of his favorite finds, he pulls this out the drawer and puts it in his mouth and cruises around the kitchen.

A few things I've been doing...

The one thing I've found you can make for a boy and is pretty easy it bibs! So, I've been perfecting my bib making. After finding some cute Halloween material, it occured to me, that then it would only last a month, but being as brilliant as I am, I thought of to do reversible bibs, with a different season on it, so now it will at least last 2-3 months! If I were really brilliant, I would make like a winter/spring one, but I'm not there yet. :)



So, I've had this idea for while and finally did it. As a baby gift I made a receiving blanket, out of two pieces of flannel, so thicker than the thin ones that are sold in stores, then two burp cloths, and two bibs. I had fun working on this during Jonathan's Sunday afternoon nap and while Jeremy was busy with homework and studying.



I got to use a few different decorative stitches also, which was fun to play with.



My Grandma sent me a bag of scrap fabrics when I started quilting a couple years ago, and I haven't done anything with them yet. BUt I found them in my fabric stash yesterday and started sorting and am excited about putting them into a quilt.



After canning with friends last month and discovering how easy it was, I wanted to do some more, and Jeremy loved the salsa. So, my mom and I had a salsa making and canning day last week. We ended up with 22 jars and she is already talking about making more, it has been so popular at her house! Such a fun way to always have something homemade on hand.



I have been trying new recipes, and last week it was Crispy Chicken Nuggets, I'm not a big fan of frying and Jeremy was shocked to come home and see me doing it, but the result was amazing, so I may do it again!

Yes, I am a Homemaker

So, I've been thinking about this post for awhile, and it's time to get some of my thoughts out. Recently I was filling out a form and it asked for "occupation" and much to my shock, I stumbled over my answer. What am I? What do I do? First I thought "wife", but no, I'm also a mommy. Stay at home mom? NO, I'm more than just that, and then it popped in my head, "homemaker". Homemaker, wow that doesn't sound nearly as great as past things I could've filled in there, baker, that was fun, server, fun, restaurant manager, wow I had really achieved something there. But well, now, I'm a homemaker. Wait Brandy, this is the occupation I've been wanting to fulfill my whole life, I never desired to be those other things, ya I enjoyed it, and I was good at it, but this is what I have been wanting and praying for for so long, and I was struggling to write it down. But, alas I did. :) But, it got me thinking, I really am a homemaker, and I do love every bit of it. Yes, there are definately days when I think it would be so much easier to just drop Jonathan off and go to a job outside of the home, he can get exhausting, and especially in this stage we are in, but but nothing is as satisfying as this. I get to see every little thing that Jonathan does. Recently, I have gotten to see him start to stand and take a couple of steps, just the other day he started to clap his hands a little. He also loves to make noise on anything possible. But, more than that, I get to make this house of ours into a home. I get to see my husband off to work in the morning (I used to leave before him), making him a lunch and talking to him while he eats breakfast, I'm here during the day, cleaning throughout the week so that I don't have one day that I have to get it all done. This is a trick that took me a little while to figure out, but I think I've scheduled my weeks better now. And in my "spare" time, i get to work on fun projects, currently I'm into things that have to do with fall, and trying to find fun things to make for boys - not nearly as fun as creating for a girl, but I'm finding things to do. I truly do enjoy everything about what I get to do as being a homemaker, a stay at home mom. I get to spend time with other moms during the day. I even get to do a Bible study during the day now, something that would've never been possible before. I am truly so grateful for getting to do what I do, and hope that I don't forget it!



My little laundry helper! This is his favorite blanket, he sleeps with it, knows that it means time to nurse, etc., so it cracked me up his persistence in trying to get it out of the dryer.



My guys getting a little rest after a long night - yes, really that means I should've been sleeping too. :)

Other projects of the summer...

Before all the flooring, my other goals of the summer/spring were to make our spare room into an actual guest room with bed and all. :) This way I had a better place for grandparents to stay when they came to visit, and it was used every month this summer, each time with the bed in a different spot, or set up, but I'm so glad to have a place to easily customize to whoever is here. :) I also recently decided that I wanted somewhere to keep my sewing machine set up, so I reworked the room yet again. And am very happy with the result.

And, our Memorial Day project was to pull out a portion of the deck and patio out back and put in grass. I don't think I took any before pictures of the deck, but I do have a couple after ones here. We don't have a huge yard, but felt like by having more grass, especially next year when Jonathan is running and playing around, it will be more condusive to a toddler. :) And, yet again, my brothers got roped into our long weekend priject, they were such a great help to Jeremy and I, and we really appreciate their willingness to help out!

Pictures of the Cutie

And just yesterday he FINALLY started saying MAMAMAMAMA, however, it is not nearly as prevelant in his vocabulary as DADADA, but it's at least a start! :)



He wanted to play on the other side of the gate with Miles :)



My re-purposing of shelves in my house, he was able to pull the shelves off of the bookcase I had in there, so I had this shelf elsewhere, and swapped them. He likes how easily he can pull his toys off.



I thought it was naptime for him, he didn't so in his protest, he put himself in this position!

The Big Unveiling...

Well, here are the long awaited pictures from our Labor Day weekend project!! I took the true meaning of the word, and anyone that was willing I had laboring! ha, nothing like laboring a baby, so there should be no complaints!

We so appreciated all of the help from my parents and brothers, it was a blessing to have them all here working so hard and helping up to get this done by the end of the weekend, there were still a few small things to be done through the week but our house is now back in liveable condition!!

WE decided to go with the hardwood after we already bought new carpet, because with some of the signs of allergies that Jonathan has been showing, we thought this to be the best solution, and with no worries of it having to be replaced down the road. We are so happy with the outcome, and I love how it has totally changed the look of our house! Even my hand me down kitchen table looks better on the hardwood, and I think I can get a few more years out of it! :) It was amazing to me even when we put the kitchen appliances back in place, and how they just looked so different that they previously did on the off-white lino of before. OUr other new addition was a microwave. This was a great find, our old one went out the week before we did the floors, and I found this virtually new one off of Craigslist! woohoo! and it looks so nice in the kitchen as well!

And JOnathan is also loving it, he has learned that he can crawl even faster across the flooring, and has onld had a couple of bumbs and bruises. :)