Year: 2005

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NonDairy, NonEgg, NonPeanut Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made this recipe (courtesy of Steph – thank you!) Friday night for a get-together with friends. Figured they might come in handy to someone who reads this if you have any people in your life who cannot eat some of the ingredients listed above. I made the bar variation as it is so much less time consuming. They were delicious, and did not at all taste like they were “missing” something!! Enjoy!

1 cup margarine (use Fleichmann’s Unsalted for a nondairy margarine)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs water
2 Tbs oil
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12oz chocolate chips (use Bakers Chocolate Chunks – they’re made without milk)

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream margarine and sugars together. Add next 4 ingredients and beat well, until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt and add gradually to the large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes.

Bar Cookie Variation: In a greased 9X13 pan, spread dough and bake at 375 for approximately 15 minutes, till golden brown, and till a toothpick/tester poked into the middle of the pan comes out clean.

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Jay’s Blender Salsa

Over the past 2.5 years, I’ve been perfecting a salsa recipe. My first attempts ended up with the name Jay’s Chop Chop Salsa due to my efforts to create a tasty salsa that didn’t involve actual cooking. A second iteration of that salsa is described in Salsa, Round II. A later evolution was called Jay’s Green Salsa due to the stunning amount of cilantro which turned the tomato base a distinct green color.

My latest modifications have resulted in what I consider an excellent salsa that is somewhat lacking in its, ah, visual aesthetic appeal. Of the various names that came to mind, Jay’s Blender Salsa seemed the best alternative given the way it looks. But oh does it taste delightful! I’m using smaller bunches of cilantro and cutting off more of the stems, thus the color is a rather ambiguous red-green mishmash. Here’s the recipe.

Jay’s Blender Salsa

1 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 medium-sized jalapenos
1.5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 small bunches of cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice

Cook jalapeno(s) in boiling water until tender, then drain. Remove seeds for more mild heat. Add all the ingredients but the cilantro in a blender and puree to a smooth consistency. Cut stems off the cilantro below the leaves. Add cilantro and blend to desired consistency.

Note: If you use “no salt added” tomatoes, you may need to add more salt.

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A Little Pocket Change

On a typical Sunday morning at church, our “pew” is a rather busy place. We have 4 little ones sitting with us now, two of them boys aged 3 and 4, who, while admittedly pretty well behaved for little boys, still require a lot of guidance and direction through the 1 1/2 hours of worship. Our smaller boy often ends up between Jay and I since he usually needs the most attention/help from us. And usually at least one, and sometimes both of us are very attentive and aware of exactly what he is doing as we help him learn what it means to be in worship, behave appropriately, etc.

This morning during the offering, the choir was singing – this is a regular portion of our church service. However, this morning my little brother was part of a trio that was singing a portion of the choral anthem which was a piece taken from Haydn’s “Creation”, and was just glorious. So Jay and I were a little more absorbed in this particular anthem than we might be on another week. Jay passed the offering plate in my direction. As is his usual custom, Nicolas “helped” by handing the plate from Jay to me. But today he added a new component: while passing the plate with one hand, the other hand reached into the collection plate and plucked out a coin. How Jay and I both missed this, I do not know. But as I received the plate from Nicolas, I caught the glint of the shiny quarter in his little chubby hand. Horrified, I whispered, “No, no!” to my puzzled little boy, and since the usher was waiting with a smile on his face (yes, HE saw what Nicolas was up to!), for the plate to reach the end of the row, I gently took the coin from Nicolas and popped it back into the plate. I didn’t figure an extended dialogue with my three year old, ending with a request for him to return the stolen coin himself to the plate would have been fair to the rest of the congregants who were themselves waiting for the plate, hopefully in their cases to put money IN rather than taking it out!!

In any case, I had work hard to suppress my laughter for the remainder of “The Heavens Are Telling”…and don’t you think (without the remainder of the lyrics from this song written in) that this particular title is hilarious given the situation in our pew this morning??!!

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And Now, A Word From the Youngest Member of the Family…

Hi Everyone! Yesterday I turned 5 weeks old. I weighed 10lbs 12ozs at the doctors, which means I am gaining just over 1 oz a day. That’s because I eat so much! In addition to eating, my biggest project these days, besides seeing how many diapers I can possibly go through in a 24 hour period, is perfecting my smile. I really only smile for Mommy, because well, she’s the one who spends the most time with me and all. It’s pretty hard to get all my little facial muscles in just the right way so as to produce that disarming baby grin. But last night Daddy got lucky and he caught my little smile on camera. It’s only a side shot, so you won’t get the full effect, but i hope you enjoy it. Here’s me, with my sweet Mommy:

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Some Thanksgiving Reading

I referenced this book last year on our Thanksgiving Day post. This year I thought I’d mention it sooner in the season so you could look for it at your local library (I see our local system does in fact have a couple copies available!) or favorite local or web bookstore (click on image to purchase it at Amazon).

The Thanksgiving Story

I purchased and read this to the children last year to give them an introduction to the Thanksgiving holiday. I think it is a fine addition to our library, and recommend it highly. I was delighted to learn it had received the honor of being named a Caldecott Honor book.

It follows one Pilgrim family’s journey from England to America and documents the hardships the Pilgrims endured to make a home in this new land where they could worship God as they felt they ought. It is told simply enough for beginning readers to enjoy on their own, yet also does a great job of not oversimplifying the story. Our two eldest (aged 3 and 5 last year) old loved the book and its beautiful illustrations. Alice Dalgliesh has presented us with a wonderful account of the first Thanksgiving, helping children to gain an awareness of where this special holiday originated, and why we take time on this day each year to thank God for His blessings to us.

We’ll enjoy this book again this year, and for many years to come.

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Blast From the Past

This morning when my carpooler picked Abigail up for school, I heard a sort of familiar tune coming from her car stereo. It took me a second or two to place it and then I exclaimed to her, “I had this record when I was a little girl! I loved it!” She said that she had it too as a child and enjoyed it, and had picked it up for her kids to listen to now.

I hadn’t thought of this album in years so I got out on the web and it turns out they don’t sell the record anymore – big surprise! But you can get it on cassette or cd: It’s called the Music Machine and here is the best price I could find for the cd online, new ($6.99).

The album is about a boy and girl who learn all about the Fruits of the Spirit through a series of songs that this Magical Music Machine creates. The song that had been playing in Elizabeth’s car was one of my favorites, about a little snail named Herbert who races around impatiently doing everything in “double time”, not at all appropriate for a proper snail. His father takes him aside and speaks to him about being patient. Hmmm…that’s one of the Fruits of the Spirit I struggle with probably more than any!

I found some music clips online:

This clip is from the song about Faith:

The second is from the Patience song– this portion of the song is the slow part, sung by Herbert’s father.

The rest of the music clips can be found here. It was really fun to listen to all these and realize I remember almost EVERY lyric to these songs I probably first heard about 26 years ago!

So, tell me: did any of you have this record as kids??

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3 Weeks Update

I’ve not made time to post recently. We’ve been preoccuppied with some rather frustrating nursing issues, among them a nasty and rather stubborn case of thrush. Thankfully this situation, despite being both painful and irritating, has not hindered young Josiah’s growth. Yesterday morning, on his 3 week birthday he was a respectable 9lbs, 12 ozs. Very nice, indeed! This picture was actually taken over a week ago, but he looks so blissfully at peace in it that I wanted others to enjoy it too:

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Abigail versus the trampoline

Last night, Abigail and I went to an informal father-daughter event for the first graders at her school. While the daughters played together, the men made some tentative plans regarding something the others referred to as “camping”… it involves tents or some such. Then we had a fun activity involving everyone, followed by some informal hanging out among the fathers and more playing for the girls.

Much of that playing involved this fantastic trampoline that had one of those nets fully enclosing it that more or less turned the whole thing into a bounce house. Right about the time I was wrapping up a last conversation and getting ready to extract Abigail, I heard a terrific scream that immediately transitioned into hysterical wailing. I ran for the trampoline… isn’t it odd how you can immediately recognize you own child’s scream?

Abigail had severely twisted her ankle, was in significant pain, and couldn’t bear any weight on the bad foot. I got her home where we treated her with Ibuprofen and ice and finally managed to get her asleep in bed. Today, at Tricia’s prodding (as I thought the ankle was improving quickly), I took Abigail to her pediatrician. From there, I was thankfully able to get in directly with an ortho specialist. We arrived home around 5:30 pm with Abigail sporting a new “shoe”.

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Turns out she had done some minor damage to the growth plate on the end of a bone (i.e. she had a minor break). The good news, the very good news, is that it is a walking cast, and she is getting around great.

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One Week Old

I’ve been waiting to post this entry till my “Picture Guy” can doctor and upload a new photo of Baby Josiah to go with it. But, the days roll by and “Picture Guy” just can’t seem to find the time. Maybe it’s because he’s driving kids to school, giving baths, doing hair, making lunches, cooking spaghetti, cleaning the dishes, oh yeah, and there’s that little detail of a job at Alcatel which he is somehow managing to keep up as well. heheh! Well, “Picture Guy”, you are off the hook for now, and doing a great job! Perhaps, dear Readers, we’ll have some more photos of our darling little man in the near future to share with you. For now, I’ll just give everyone a bit of an update on the runnings of our household now that we are six instead of five!

I’d say that for being home only a week from the hospital, with four children under the age of seven, things are going fairly smoothly. Jay went back to work (some part time days, some full time days) last Tuesday. He doesn’t have a ton of vacation to use to stay home. But, as I alluded to in my rather sarcastic opening paragraph, in the times he is home, he’s been excellent about caring for the older three kids and their needs, and somehow allowing me to sleep in most days. He has kept up with quite a lot of different things this past week, and I am very thankful for his hard work and support.

We’ve had a few family members (Jay’s Mom, and the Aunts Sandra and Jamison, as well as Uncle Andrew) in and out some days to help with the children and things like laundry, which has been really appreciated. And friends from school have begun bringing delicious meals to us, which I find so comforting after welcoming a new baby into the house. Thanks so much to everyone who has been chipping in to help around here.

For his part, Josiah is absolutely wonderful. I am so in love with my baby boy, and I think I am enjoying him more than I’ve ever enjoyed a newborn before (and I’ve enjoyed all of them very much!). He is generally a very contented baby, and there are certainly plenty of people here to make him feel quite loved! He’s having some trouble getting to sleep at night, yet while he doesn’t sleep for long stretches at night, he nurses well and goes back to sleep pretty easily after each feeding. This is a blessing for it means I get to go back to sleep pretty easily too!

The children are mostly adjusting very well, though our little Nicolas is feeling a bit displaced as evidenced by his behavior of late. While he loves his little brother, and is very gentle with him, he is often very sad and cries a lot about most everything. I am hoping that with extra measures of love, and ongoing reassurance that we love him very much even with this new addition to the family that he will begin to seem more himself again soon.

Thank you to all of you for your warm welcome to Baby Josiah, and your calls and notes of congratulations over the last week. We feel God has blessed us abundantly with our four children and we are full of joy and thankfulness.