Cards and Cooking

Hi, welcome to August's post! This has been the summer of the sickies - nonstop doctor appointments. Of course Avyn always provides more than his fair share, but the rest of us contributed too. In between playing taxi service and nurse, I've enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen and in my craft nook. Although digital scrapbooking still gets the lion's share of my creative time, I found that I really missed the hands-on papery stuff. So this summer I dived back in, dug out my paper supplies, and played!
I especially enjoy making cards that I can send to my family and friends. I get the fun of making them, and then the fun of giving something special and handmade! Win-win! Here's a few from the past couple of months:

Everyday Eclectic by Echo Park, Ranger Stickles in Silver and Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Broken China, baker's twine

Simon Says Stamp May card kit

Random letter stickers, paper, and buttons from my stash; washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market

Hybrid fun! Second Chances and This is Me ATC backgrounds by Design by Tina, printed and mod-podged onto card base. Washi tape and old chipboard letters from my stash.

Lime Rickey 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey, washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market, baker's twine from WRMK, Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Now for the cooking part - I tried out a new recipe yesterday that seems to be a huge hit with the kiddos. It's based off of these Toddler Muffins. I made one version almost identical to the original with a couple substitutions for ingredients I didn't have, and one version wheat/dairy/egg-free for Avyn. These came out so super moist, and Cai actually scarfed down three before I put on the brakes! He'll never know they're so healthy...

Ready to pop in the oven!

Toddler Muffins (regular)

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran (I used plain old-fashioned oatmeal)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 16 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

Toddler Muffins (Top 8 Allergen-free)

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil (or other butter replacement)
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
1/4 cup applesauce

1 Tblsp ground flaxseed mixed in 3 Tblsp water (or replace the applesauce and flaxseed with your favorite egg substitute, enough to equal 2 eggs)
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur gluten-free multi purpose flour)
1/2 cup gluten-free oatmeal or oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (again, I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 17 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the oil and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and egg substitute. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

I plan to bake up more batches before our cross-country trip in a couple weeks to take for snacks. They also seem to freeze well. Delicious, and a great way to sneak veggies into my picky preschooler's diet! I hear that other veggies work well in this, too. Try different baby food varieties or fresh squash instead of jarred, etc. And if you find a particularly great combination, let me know! 

Introducing ... my bosses

Well I had planned on posting a fun list yesterday of my favorite new releases, and I had a blog post half-ready for today about single-tasking. Little did I know, "the bosses" planned a different agenda. So today, you get a family update! Never fear - I'll get back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow or Wednesday. Now, meet the bosses - here they are with mama, who is obediently performing her snuggle duties :).

Cai, my almost-2-year-old (I can only say that for a couple more weeks - yikes!), experienced his first stomach bug that had him throwing up several times yesterday evening. He appears fine today, except for decreased appetite. I am very glad - mommy doesn't handle vomit well.

Avyn, who will be six months on the 27th, is a bit more complicated. He's suffered from a persistent cough since around Thanksgiving, and constant congestion basically since birth. His pediatrician diagnosed stridor and reflux, but my "mother's intuition" kept insisting that something else is wrong. It's been affecting his eating and sleeping (which also happens to affect mommy's sleeping). So today I finally called the doctor, explained my concerns, and they got us in this morning. Well, the appointment was at 11 am, but we didn't get in until nearly 12:30 pm. Typical doctor's office. Our doctor agreed that something is up, and ordered food allergy testing, because his symptoms may fit with a food allergy (since I'm nursing, he gets everything I eat). She also discovered that he has huge tonsils, so we'll probably need to see an ENT specialist to deal with that. Finally, she prescribed an antibiotic since his cough and congestion have been worse the last few days with greenish mucus (sorry if that was TMI!). Poor little guy probably has a cold or infection on top of the chronic problems.

We should find out results from the allergy panel in 3-5 days. Although I want answers, I selfishly hope he doesn't have allergies because that would restrict my diet! Lactose intolerance runs in my husband's side of the family, too - I'm not sure I could go without milk! But if it isn't allergies, there may be a more serious issue, like with his tonsils and/or adenoids (which the doctor couldn't even see because the tonsils were so big). And I'm sure I could handle avoiding dairy for a while.

Do any of you, or your children, have to (or choose to) avoid milk products or other foods? Is it a huge pain in the butt, or do you just get used to it? Have you found any great-tasting "replacement" milk (or replacements for other foods)? Thanks for sharing!