Remembering 9/11

Seeing the tributes to 9/11 today has brought back those same feelings of helpfulness and sorrow that I felt earlier this summer on our trip to New York City. Seeing the holes in the ground where not one but two towers once stood. The same towers that my soon-to-be husband and I visited on my first trip to New York City over 20 years ago.

On that first trip, we were in awe of the view from the observation deck of the Towers as we were able to seeing the beautiful and ever-changing landscape of this vast city. We proudly took pictures of each other on the outside deck as we were virtually alone up there, it was our little secret haven in the sky. And then onward to the Statue of Liberty for a hearty climb up to the crown of old Liberty.

This summer, many years later, we spent time in New York City with our two children. Our first stop was to see Lady Liberty herself. She seemed so majestic is all her glory on that beautiful, sunny day. As we headed back to Manhattan, we were trying to decide what was next on our one day tour of the Big Apple.

We knew the 9/11 memorial was close by but both my husband and I felt a bit hesitant to go there. We wanted to keep our memories of that day the same, especially after what happened when those two planes flew into the Towers and forever changed history. I know it was naive of us to think that "our" history should stay the same and that we could somehow block what happened. But we both knew that we had a story to tell our children. A story about how beautiful those Twin Towers were to us that day and how that memory will always have a special place in our heart.

We remained mostly silent as we wandered around the two fountains where each of the two Towers once stood. Each one of us lost in our own thoughts, listening to the soothing sounds from the water cascading slowly down to the bottom and back up again, almost like the cycle life; from death a new life begins.

And so as we walked around the memorial, our fingers slowly traced the names of those who died that day as if to better to remember them.

For us, this anniversary has a new and very special meaning. One that will include special prayers for those men and women who lost their lives and a special thanks to those very brave people who tried to help them. Rest in peace.

Vegan Blueberry Peach Strudel

Our family spent the last weekend of summer soaking up the sun and enjoying the waves in Michigan. We spent Saturday morning walking from farm stand to farm stand sampling and buying the many fruits and vegetables grown by the local farmers. We picked up an abundance of corn, red peppers, lettuce, ripe peaches and the last of the seasonal blueberries.

Blueberries and peaches happen to be two of my favorite fruits. I spend most of June wondering when they are going to be ready to be picked and ready for me to eat them all up! With an abundance of both succulent fruits on hand, I went looking for a recipe that combined both blueberries and peaches, and that could be adapted to omit any dairy, eggs or nuts at the same time. I found this recipe for Blueberry Peach Strudel from Donika on Mom What’s 4 Dinner.

Thankfully, Pillsbury Puff Pastry sheets are dairy and egg free so they worked out perfectly for this recipe! Instead of the peach jam mixture Donika used, I opted for fresh peaches and then added more brown sugar to sweeten them up a bit. I don’t like mine too sweet so you may want to add more sugar to the recipe if you like your strudels a bit sweeter. I also used vegan cream cheese instead of ricotta or regular cream cheese and no egg, just vegan margarine in the wash.

I think my strudel turned out pretty well and both of my kids loved them. Even my daughter who normal doesn’t like cooked fruit ate a whole strudel as soon as they were out of the oven!

Vegan Blueberry Peach Strudel (no dairy, eggs, nuts) 

2 sheets of thawed puff pastry sheets

1 cup frozen organic blueberries or fresh

2 T brown sugar

1 1/2 T cornstarch

2 ripe peaches, peeled and diced

10 tbsp of Vegan cream cheese (5 tsbp for each sheet of pastry); soften

1 T vegan butter or margarine; melted

Peel and dice the peaches and place in a small bowl. Add the blueberries, cornstarch, and brown sugar to the peaches and mix well.  Roll out dough; spread on the softened cream cheese about 5 tablespoons on each sheet of dough, and spread half the fruit mixture over the cream cheese. Repeat with other sheet of dough and ingredients.

Roll and cut each puff pastry dough in half. Seal both sides and cut a couple slats on the top.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush with melted vegan butter and bake at 400 degrees until golden (about 20-25 minutes). For a more golden crust, place under broiler for a minute. Dust with icing sugar. Perfect for breakfast or a snack. Enjoy!

Teachers Notice on Allergies

A couple years ago, right before my daughter was to start middle school in a brand new environment, I started feeling a bit panicked. How do I keep her safe when there will be so many more students and teachers to worry about?

The first thing I did was to have an open dialogue with the school nurse, my daughter's adviser, and her teachers. Medical forms had to be filled out and signed by the doctor and then sent to the school nurse. All medicine had to be ordered and labelled properly before dropping them off at school and 504 Action Plans needed to be created and signed by the parents and teachers.

Even with all the paperwork and all the details, I still felt there was something else I could do to help ensure the safety of my allergic daughter. That first year and every year since, I have sent her teachers a separate e-mail explaining her allergies and asking for their help. You see, on the first day of school, when they call on my daughter's name, I want them to look at her face and know that she is the one with severe food allergies. That way if they notice anything out of the ordinary, they will hopefully send her to the Nurse's office to be checked out. Another reason is that I know students often spend their lunch time getting extra help from teachers in their classroom. That means that they may have eaten their lunch (possibly a yummy peanut butter sandwich) on your child's desk. For some allergic kids, this could be a very sticky situation! For this reason, I kindly ask them if the teacher or the student could please wipe these desks right after lunch. This keeps the learning environment clean and allergy-safe. It's a win-win situation for all!

Here is a sample of the e-mail I sent out this year:

Hi! I usually send out an e-mail at the beginning of the school year to all my daughter's teachers. She is going to be in your class this year and I just wanted to let you know that she has severe food allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, all other nuts and sesame. 

My daughter is very good at managing her allergies so if you are going to have a party that involves food or any experiment or class activity that involves food, please let her know so she will be aware and can plan accordingly. Also, I know students frequently come to classrooms during their lunch to make up work. I little wipe of the desk would help us out greatly.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for all your help.

While this has worked out very well for us these past three Middle School years, I think our daughter will need to come up with a different plan during her High School years. So we will stick with our plan for the time being and next year will be a new year.

Allergy School Forms

I know I have been gone for a while but we have had a very busy summer. I will try to let you know what we have been up to and post some cool pics real soon. In the meantime, the new school season is upon us. How can it be that this summer has flown by so fast and I wasn't even aware of the impending 1st day until it was a week away?

Like most people, I am now in full "new school year" mode with shopping for new clothes, school supplies and boxes of Kleenex. Do they really need that much Kleenex? As a Mom of a teenager with food allergies, I also need to make sure her school health forms are in order. These forms are for any medicine she may need during the school year. We have a form for Benedryl, Auvi-Q Inhaler and asthma medicine. These forms need to be signed by her doctor or allergist and included with her medicine. I have been doing this for so long that I actually forgot about them this year. I quickly filled out the forms and drove them to her allergist. I have a feeling I may be a bit late with her medical forms but I will still be there the first day of school to drop off her meds to the School Nurse.

So people, think of this as a friendly reminder to get your medical forms filled out, signed by your doctor and delivered to your school! Let the new school year begin!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (no dairy, eggs, nuts)

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

(Based on a recipe from Veggieful.com)

I've always thought there was something magical about a red velvet cupcake. Maybe its because I never even tasted a red velvet cupcake until I was a teenager. The name itself holds a more elegant feel on your tongue both in speech and the way it melts on your tongue. It is not your average chocolate or vanilla cupcake. A step up on the ladder in my opinion.  Seriously cool color. Seriously cool flavor. Makes for one seriously cool cupcake. Being able to make something other than chocolate or vanilla for the batter makes for a much more exciting and a unique experience for your vegan cupcakes. After finishing the red velvet batter, adding a delicious cream cheese frosting on top completes a wonderful and exquisite treat for you to enjoy with your friends and family.

Makes: 16; prep time: 10 minutes
cooking time: 20 minutes

Cupcake Batter

   2 C all-purpose flour, sifted
   4 tsp. baking powder
   pinch salt
   1/2 C cocoa powder
   1 C  sugar
   1/2 C canola oil
   1-1/2  C soy or rice milk
   2 tsp.  vanilla
   1 T  apple cider vinegar
   4 tsp.  natural vegan red coloring

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

   ½ C Dairy free margarine

¾ C Dairy-free cream cheese

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2-1/2 C confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 370 °F and line 16 cupcake pans with liners. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and sugar. Stir until combined. Add in the oil, soy milk, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and red food coloring. Mix well until the batter is smooth and without lumps. Divide the mixture between the cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes or so until risen and the tops of the cupcakes bounce back when touched.

In a mixer, cream the margarine, cream cheese, salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar and mix on low for a few minutes. Increase to medium speed until light and fluffy. Chill for 30 minutes before frosting cupcakes.

Chocolate Chip Scones (no dairy, eggs, nuts)

My kids love this recipe for Chocolate Chip Scones and last weekend my son wanted me to make them for breakfast. For some reason I could not find my recipe even though I searched in all the usual places. Total panic mode! We really love this recipe!

I spent the next couple days trying to figure out where I may have misplaced it. Finally, I remembered that I had gotten it from a book in our local library, but then the problem was that I couldn't remember which one. After looking through about 20 Christmas books I finally found it! This recipe is adapted from a Gooseberry Patch, Christmas Book 13.

Chocolate Chip Scones (no dairy, eggs, nuts)

2 ½ C   all purpose flour (GF flour mix)

2 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp.   baking soda

¾ C      non-dairy margarine (sliced)

1 C       non-dairy chocolate chips (substitute chopped cranberries)

¾ C      buttermilk (3/4 C rice milk + 3 tsp. vinegar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make buttermilk by combining ¾ rice milk and 3 tsp vinegar and set aside. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Cut non-dairy margarine into flour mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in non-dairy chocolate chips and sugar. Slowly add the buttermilk until it is just blended.

I usually just spoon the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet but you can use a scone pan or roll the dough into two 8 inch circles and cut each portion into 8 wedges. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Drizzle glaze over the top and let stand until it hardens.

Glaze:

2/3 C  powdered sugar

1 T     warm water

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Add additional water if needed.

Life's Challenging Moments

I know my posts have been few and far between this past month. After Spring Break, which was wonderful, we hit one bump after another.

- Abbey (our dog) had a very large growth removed from her mouth and two other smaller growths removed from around her head. Thankfully, they were all benign.

- Our teen spent two full weeks in bed with a fever, severe headache and a sinus infection. She missed school for two weeks and had to make up all her school work for what she missed.

- Then, I got the same flu but my symptoms were not as bad so I was only out of commission for one and a half weeks.

- Our teen hurt her leg the first day back to track practice. We thought it might be a stress fracture but it turned out to be tendinitis in her knee.

- Then, I got the stomach flu. Well, what I thought was the flu, was really my Appendix which was removed. I spent even more time recovering, again. 

Sigh.

So now you know why we have been neglecting our blog but I promise we will be posting more in the future. We will be concentrating on some delicious recipes for you to try! To help us get out of our negative "funk" and because we finally had good weather, I've been working in our garden. Here are some of the beautiful colors and shapes emerging this spring to our backyard.