The buy nothing Christmas

or as I like to call it- the stress free Christmas. So far - it's great! I walk past the Christmas ornaments and feel free to ignore them. Since I am not having Christmas I can also ignore commercials, sales and general appeals for gifts and cash.

It's nice and I like it! So far this is the best Christmas season that I've ever had. And let me tell you- it isn't all about money! It is about STRESS and not living up to other people's Christmas expectations. My mother and my daughter are cut from the same cloth and it's not regular cloth- it's holiday cloth. If there isn't a turkey (gag!) then it isn't Christmas.

People generally think I'm a scrooge. I'm really not a scrooge. I just resist the notion that a 'perfect' Christmas involves shiny gifts under a decorated tree before you eat turkey. I especially resist the turkey! =8-|

Since yesterday's recipe was a scam...

Sometimes I forget who I've said to whom... And you already got the sour milk cake earlier in the month.

So how about Blueberry wild rice pancakes...

1 cup rice milk or milk
1/2 cup cooked wild rice
1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup fresh (snicker...) or frozen blueberries

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, wild rice and sugar. Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Sitr in egg yoke and vanilla. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine rice flour, baking powder and salt. Add to milk mixture, stirring just until blended. Fold in blueberries. Beat egg whie until stiff and gently fold into the batter.

Heat a lightly greased nonstick skillet over medium heat until water dropped on the surface bounces before evaporating. Scoop out 1/4 cup of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles appear all over the top surface, then flip and cook until bottom side is lightly browned, about 1 minute per side. Keep warm and continue with the rest of the batter.

Serves 4.

Now I know everyone is going to have a pause about wild rice. Yes, it is expensive, but just pause for a moment. Open your mind to new and delicious ideas. Wild rice is the seed of an aquatic grass and the Ojibwa people people call it a 'gift from the creator.'


Reasons to eat wild rice:
-It's delicious
-It's whole grain
-It's gluten free
-A 100 gram serving contains 26 grams of folate (a B vitamin that assists in red blood cell formation- Something to consider if you are pregnant!)

To cook wild rice take one cup of wild rice and boil it gently in 2-3 cups of water. The amount of water depends on your rice. It takes ABOUT 45 mintues. I boil for several minutes then turn the heat off and it finishes within an hour. You know it is ready when about half of the grains are curled and broken open. It is very chewy, but don't worry it is done!

You can just do extra water and drain it when you are done,but you are losing nutrients that way. One cup of wild rice makes three cups cooked- so just think what a SMALL amount 1/2 cup of cooked wild rice really is. It's just a little bit of leftovers really. :-)

1 serving = 1/2 cups of cooked wild rice

81 calories
3.2 g protein
17.2 g carbohydrates (don't worry- these are whole grain carbs. They are good for you.)
0.3 g fat
1.5g fibre
4 mg sodium

Each serving is 1.4 servings of whole grains. Most people put a little in with white or brown rice, but I encourage you to try it on it's own. Make it the star of your meal instead of meat. :-)

Recipe to share... :-)

I used to make a sour milk cake with cornmeal in it and the kids really liked it. This recipe is pretty similar.

1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
1 cup whole grain flour (I used brown rice flour, whole wheat works well)
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk (or sour soymilk OR probiotic yogurt - this will make it less like a brick and more like cake or cornbread)
2 tbsp melted butter (or other fat of your choice)

In a bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk to blend.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs (very important if you are using gluten free flour), add milk, butter and beat well. Pour wet and dry together and blend. If you are using gluten free flours let it sit on the counter for a couple hours. Spread in a greased pan and bake in a preheated oven until the top is golden and the edges are beginning to pull away from the sides (about 30 minutes, 400 F) I make it in the toaster oven.

This is a good recipe to get ready the night before and mix up quickly in the morning or make at quiet time and have ready for supper. If you serve it with jam you can get away with calling it 'dessert'... if your family hasn't had cake in a while.

This makes 8 servings and is *about* 200 calories/ serving. Because meals are a lot simpler, now, at my house I might serve just this with apples or a light soup or just by itself with tea. Of course it is lovely with chili.

Adapted from "The complete whole grains cookbook" by Judith Finlayson.

That's MY sister!

Jam Tart (and some strangers that I don't care about) talking about steel fabrication.


Linking you breaks my rule about not showing faces, but I asked permission first. She's much cuter in real life... you know... if you know any single guys in their twenties...

Just saying... :-P

November stuff.

Right: Sgt. Schmidt acting as escort to the wreath bearer.

General update :-)

There is a lot of stuff to update, I guess- the living room, gluten-free living, bulk shopping... and my Christmas bonus!

The Living Room- All the furniture is back in place, but stuff is not on the book shelves. I have a place that is on the small side and a family that is on the large side so rearranging anything is a little like a puzzle. The 'dining room' AKA the 'treadmill room' got rearranged so things would fit a little better. This prompted a little rearranging in the kitchen and entry, also. I haven't been just sitting around ignoring you. I've been busy! :-)

Gluten-free living- Everyone came to me last night with a two week update. The general consensus is that it is good and they will eat whatever they are given at the end of the month. Everyone feels better, BUT (this is the caveat so pay attention) I think anyone WOULD feel better if their junk food intake went WAAAAY down. We are basically following the Canada food guide for serving sizes. Snacks are measured portions of nuts, pumpkin seeds, apples and popcorn and the meals are 95 %+ whole grains. I am still using white rice noodles sometimes.

The first 10 days were the worst for cravings, but they dropped off dramatically this week. The first week was BAD, though! You know that scene from 'The Two Towers' where Gollum is rolling on the ground, shreiking because he is so hungry? Well, asking teenage boys to give up bread is a little like that!

I've lost about 7 1/2 lbs in 7 weeks and dh has lost 11 lbs in a month. His Dr was SO impressed with him. Dh has only been doing the gluten-free for 2 weeks, but it was a lot of whole grains for a week or ten days before that- SO- that brings me back to the caveat: Eating whole grains instead of processed is what makes you loose weight not gluten free. In my opinion.

Also! I am very careful about what the family is eating so that it is BALANCED meals and snacks. We are also taking daily vitamins. (B, C, D, Calcium with magnesium, multivitamin and lecithin or Omega 3,6,9)

Bulk Shopping- Now, it has been pointed out to me that I was a little vague on my bulk shopping experience. There is really no mystery. When apples are on sale you find the guy wearing an apron and stocking in the produce section and ask him for a case of apples. After you do it a couple of times they recognize you.

We use the same cashier, shop on the same day of the week and at the same time of day- so it is the same people that we see every week and they do know us. Several of them know us by name. I have four teenagers and I buy a LOT of food. Well a lot compared to a single college student, anyway!

So back to the fruit. It depends on mark up what kind of price I get at the till. Sometimes I get a better price and sometimes I don't. I always buy cases of sale things on 15% off day so I am definitely getting a sale.

So things like whole grains, pumpkin seeds and brown rice flour I was buying from the bulk section. I can't get brown rice flour anywhere BUT the bulk section. Anyway- I asked our cashier if I could get things in cases from the bulk section. She took my number and passed it on to the bulk manager who phoned me back and quoted prices for me on cases of grains, etc. She also told me the size of the cases so that I would be able to do a little planning. Many of the cases are between 3 and 5 Kg. so there is little chance of them going bad before we can eat them.

When I was ready to order I went to customer service and asked for someone from the bulk department. It is not a top secret facility- they just tell you who works in that department. There are only three of them, on a rotation, so they all know me or know of me, now. Believe me- if you order ten pounds of Quinoa your bulk manager will know you, too!

So- no secret - just ask!

And now... my Christmas bonus. It is probably called a yearly bonus, instead, though since it comes in November. I got the bonus for providing a special service to the company- I didn't quit. :-) Anyway- I spent 1/5 of it on a new breadmaker. It was a completely deccadent purchase. I didn't NEED a new breadmaker, but the new one has a gluten-free cycle!

I've been making bread in my old breadmaker and it is okay... fine... if you have forgotten what bread tastes like or feels like in your mouth. If you haven't- it is a reasonable facsimile, at best.

The other great thing is that the new breadmaker makes CRUST on the bread. Gluten free products are usually made with more of a batter than a dough and can end up kind of spongey. I made the first loaf last night and is a lot like the gluten-free bread that you buy in the store, but perhaps, slightly less dry.

And when I take the price of the machine and the cost of ingreadients compared to buying bread it will pay for itself after 28 loaves. 28 loaves might sound like a lot to some people, it isn't much at this house!

Did you ever wake up and just HATE everything?

My living room is just NOT working and it is making me crazy. Those in real life would say I am always crazy. I take exception to the term 'always.' And Jam Tart will say, "you are rearranging your living room AGAIN?!"

Sigh... I am. I put a bison chuck roast in the crock pot because the family won't be fed supper, otherwise. We *could* just order pizza from the place that opened up right down the block from us, but pizza isn't gluten-free, is it? :-) Everything is made more complicated by eating this way.

If you don't hear from me in a couple days send rescue personnel. I may be buried and need assistance. The family would notice me eventually, but not until the roast is gone...

A proper breakfast...

What is a 'proper' meal? This is something that has come up a lot in the last week in my house.

When I was growing up breakfast was cereal with cow's milk or white toast with jam or white flour pancakes or sometimes bacon and eggs. My mother ALWAYS said, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Breakfast is the meal where you break your fast- the 12 hours, or so, that you didn't eat during the night. It is probably as important as any other meal.

We have discovered wonderful gluten free cereal that we eat with soymilk, but it is expensive (about $8/750g) and wouldn't be something that I could reasonably afford to feed six people every morning.

We made friends with the people from the bulk department of our local grocery store and they ordered some grains for us. I can buy them one little scoop at a time, but I have to be careful about not running out before the week is up. I can also get a much better price on things if I buy them a case at a time.

The cases are not very large- most under 5 kgs each- and reasonably priced/ Kg. I measured it all so I know how much each cup costs- which may be a little too compulsive for some, but it helps keep me on track budget-wise. The long grain brown rice is the exception as it comes in an 18.40 Kg (40 lb) bag. I had never even SEEN that much brown rice before!

And that brings me back to breakfast which is the whole point of this post! I made a large pot of brown rice and I know it cost a dollar to make it. I made the rice and everyone had it the way they wanted.

I had leftover egg salad and rice with a little butter on it. A little fatty perhaps, but I'm cold!
DH had rice and egg fried together with a little cheese and two slices of pepper ham on the side.
Brown bear had the same minus the ham.
Sunshine Girl had cheese on hers.
Everyone got what they wanted and had a hot, gluten-free breakfast for a lot less than the $7/ meal that is the maximum that the budget will allow.

We all had a discussion about it this morning, though. Is it a proper breakfast? It isn't really any different than eating oatmeal for breakfast, in my opinion, but a couple of the kids declined. It's okay because the rest of the rice is still there and they will just get it for lunch instead. :-)

A long, but interesting history of breakfast for those that are interested.

Food Thoughts

Surely it is the responsibility of each generation to take the knowledge of the last generation and build on it. We all want our children to be one step better, smarter and healthier than we were were, right?

I've always been interested in where my food comes from, but it is TOUGH to make healthy choices and still be socially responsible, though, isn't it? :-)

The other day Sunshine Girl mentioned something about rice chocolate... Sunshine is a purist. She says she will eat any gluten free chocolate, but the Organic, Vegan, Kosher, Gluten-free, Equality Trade, Rice milk dark truffle bar must give her a small feeling of piety when she eats it!

It also has no artificial colour, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics or GMOs. If *I* ever ate anything that virtuous I'd certainly tell you all. Every day I'd tell you how wonderful I am! It never occurred to me that Fair Trade might not be FAIR ENOUGH... it's got fair in the name.

And that is why we have the next generation to show us something new, right? :-)

Sour Milk Cake

This is my *favourite* frugal cake recipe. It is something that I would make when I had lots of sour milk and not much else in the fridge.

Sour milk cake

1 tsp soda
1 1/2 cups sour milk* (I use sour soy milk or yogurt)
1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. butter, soft or melted (or margarine or oil)
1 egg

1 cup of cornmeal and 1 cup of whole wheat flour whisked together.

*You can use fresh milk, but let the batter sit on the counter for several hours so it can thicken up. It should be the consistency of a thick cake batter when you put it in the oven.

Add the soda to the sour milk then give it a little stir. Add everything but the flour mix and whisk it together. Add the flour and cornmeal mixture and blend.

If you want to make this gluten free you use whatever mixture of GF flours that you like for the 1 cup of flour. I used 1/2 cup white rice flour and a combination of brown rice flour, millet flour, egg replacer (soy flour) and a couple tablespoons of ground golden flax seeds. It came out quite nice. In GF baking terms- it wasn't a brick like the 'bread' I'm expirmenting with.

I bake mine in the toaster oven 325F for 30 minutes. 9 inch pan or greased muffin tins. I use Pam spray instead of greasing because life is short, my friends.

When the kids were little I used to make this a couple times a week for breakfast. I would blend the dry together and the wet together before I went to bed. In the morning it was easy to get the wet bowl from the fridge and dump it into the flours. Then I would put it in the toaster oven and wander away to start my morning routine while the kids slept.

It's also something you can make up during quiet time in the afternoon and just let it sit in a covered bowl on the the counter to bake while the rest of the meal is cooking. It is good with soup, stew, curried vegetables or just as dessert.

I bake it in the 13 inch pan that came with the toaster oven so everyone can have lots of little squares. Schmidt says he put Cool whip (leftover from Brown Bear's birthday) on the last piece he ate. Dh asked him how many pieces he ate. He replied, "I don't know... about 11."

=8-| It was probably an exaggeration, but you can never tell. Those teenagers are HUNGRY.

The Olympic Flame!

We were THIS close to the flame this morning! I have always been a big fan of the Olympics and it was a personal thrill to not only see the flame, but to be SO close to it.

I knew there would be heightened security, but I have honestly NEVER seen so many police in one place in my life. Not ever.

There was a moment where I got fan girly and did a high pitched squeal, but Sunshine held me down and admonished me NOT to run into the road to touch it...


You will all be happy to hear, I'm sure, that I did manage to contain myself. Mostly. :-)

Customer Appreciation Day

It was customer appreciation day at the health food store. A lot of things were 20% off and there were samples of a few products.

I tried a detox lemonade that cures EVERYTHING. It was powdered lemon and magnesium . I didn't buy it.

We ate delicious cheese made by milk that was produce by very happy cows. We didn't buy it. We drank sugar free organic lemonade. We were tempted, but didn't buy it.

We DID buy a loaf of gluten free bread for poor, bread craving Brown Bear who turns 17 today. And a box of gluten free, chocolate covered biscuits. We are having celebratory cheese toast for lunch today and everyone is pretty excited about it.

It was a fun outing and we supported a local business.

'Tis the Season...

The snow is on the ground... the commercials have been on since the first... it must be time for Christmas. Except, perhaps we've forgotten Remembrance Day!

Yes, I hope the irony of that statement wasn't lost on you... :-|

Veteran's Affairs Remembrance week

Sgt. Schmidt says he will be VERY disappointed if you don't observe Remembrance Day!

Free pumpkins! :-)

Today is grocery day and you could get a free pumpkin with purchase. DD and I each got one. I've got them cooking down right now and tomorrow they will be soup... or maybe muffins. There will definitely be toasted pumpkin seeds and we will have to fight over them because there is never enough.

Pumpkins are the best thing about fall!

Cutting back... the land line.

Dh and I have been talking about whether or not we need the land line. It's not horribly expensive- just $40/ month (+ long distance), but dh has been unemployed for ten months and we are looking at cutting back where ever we can.

We set up the answering machine and turned off the ringers. The answering machine comes on and records the message. We have the cell phone and it is our new 'house phone.' We still have the cell because of contract reasons.

When I was a kid we lived in a small mountain community in B.C. and had no running water or electricity. We also had no phone. One of the people further up the mountain had a phone and there was some kind of system where you could use the phone or get messages. If you had an emergency someone would come down and deliver a message. If you wanted to go visit you planned ahead with people or just dropped in. I think people planned better and life wasn't so tightly scheduled.

I'm going to strongly encourage people to e-mail me instead of calling. For more than a decade my mom insisted that she couldn't e-mail because she didn't have time and didn't want to. When she got the answering machine yesterday she e-mailed. If my mom can e-mail me then so can everyone else...

It has been strangely quiet without the phone ringing all the time. I like it! :-)

All Saints Day or the day of half priced candy...

We aren't Catholic so it is the day of half priced candy. :-)

Yesterday the boys paced around the house moaning, "cake... caaaaaake." Brown Bear practically accused me of neglectful parenting because I never took HIM begging for candy. It is just the cravings talking so I asked him if the problem was that he wanted half price candy. Of course he said - yeeeeees.

This is something that I've noticed with the gluten free diet. When we stopped eating gluten we started to CRAVE sugar. We didn't eat white flour before or high sugar products so this was odd to me. Because of the cravings I've started to do several mini meals a day (or three meals and two or three snacks.) I'm eating the same (gluten free) food and the same number of calories - it is just spread through out the day.

I've been mostly gluten free for a couple weeks, but I have noticed a difference in my sinuses. I can breathe through my nose. Is that what those two face holes are for?? =8-D I am sleeping better at night and I don't have the same level of pain. I have always had muscle, joint and bone pain. ALWAYS. For as long as I can remember.

So if that is the only benefit I ever get - breathing through my nose and being able to get out of bed in the morning without pain it is probably worth it. I wouldn't trade a battered fish stick for it, I can tell you that!

Oh, and a disclaimer before I go. I don't think gluten, cow's milk and sugar are the root of all evil. I think if you these things aren't a problem for you then quitting them won't fix anything, right? I am only saying that 3 days of gluten free whole grains was enough to change *my* life and *I* am never eating it again.