Coping Mechanisms for a Dairy Free Winter

As you may have heard... we have gotten more than our fair share of snow this winter. I have been a pretty good sport about it as we have been bombarded over and over again... but a few days ago I snapped. Really snow? Can you give us a break? The snow is well over my waist in the untouched areas, snow banks in my front yard and near where we have shoveled are feet over my head. Shoveling is getting more challenging because we are having to hurl the snow higher and higher above us!

Anyway... before we have headed into each storm I have planned a few yummy recipes to make our cabin fever not as extreme. I have also been doing a lot more creative cooking this winter since I am eating dairy free for the first time in my life. Bennett seems to have a major sensitivity to dairy so I have cut it out all together (nothing with milk, yogurt, butter, cheese... trickier than you think because those things are in everything....). To be truthful I have struggled with going dairy free. The holidays were tough and I was not always a good mama. But things have gotten better as I have expanded my cooking repertoire and now I think I will eat a lot less dairy even when I can have it. Fun meals we have cooked and eaten have included sushi, pork vindaloo, Pho, tamales, coconut ice cream, thai curries, french silk pie, and much much more.

Eating creative food has helped me not to feel too restricted. For a while I was trying to also diet/cut calories while going dairy free and that was really tough for me. When I would mess up I would binge on dairy (example: delicious frosty from wendys)... but when I mess up now it doesn't just affect me and my diet it affects Bennett. So... I have put dieting on hold for now as I focus on avoiding dairy. I was just a little too neurotic cutting out too much. However, as a natural outcome of cooking more creatively I have been eating pretty healthy. Although... I did discover Oreos do not have dairy in them (disturbing, yes?)... so that has not really helped my case.

Anyway - I hope you are keeping warm and enjoying some yummy cuisine this winter.

Summer Magic in a jar

One of my favorite things about summer is fresh summer fruit. I didn't really experience this a lot in Texas as it is a bit too hot and we didnt live in a region with a lot of fresh fruit (at least growing in a place you could easily pick!) However! One of my great loves of Michigan Summers (and Falls) is the bounty of delicious fruit. This year John and I went strawberry picking, which was a first for me. Fresh strawberries to me can only be described as nature's candy. We spent the day of and after picking enjoying an abundance of berries, as well as canning some up into yummy jam to be savored all year long. Here are a few of the highlights of our canning process. Canning may have been a theme for this summer... I just finished doing salsa and also did Rasberries and Blackberries. Peaches are up next :)

1. Start with great, yummy fresh fruit. This stuff spoils fast when you pick it yourself, so use it really fresh.


2. We washed and hulled the strawberries, and began mixing with sugar. Yeah-- this is some sweet stuff.


3. We used pint sized jars... these babies have to be washed and sanitized before using for canning.



4. The steps of acrually preparing the jam aren't here as they didn't get documented as it was hurried. However, the recipe we used can be found here. Here we are putting the jam in the jars.



5. And now to boil thse babies to seal them up. This was done only for a short period so this jam is not very cooked-- tastes just like fresh berries!



Voila! Yummy jam.



What are you doing to capture the magic of summer?