Ice Cream Maker

I really want to get an ice cream maker so that I can make my own ice cream and put in it whatever I want. Can anyone help me and recommend a good brand that's not overly expensive? I was thinking of getting this one here.



It's an Cuisinart ICE-20. If you have an ice cream maker do you use it often?

Joining The Chalk Board Craze

So easy! Just a little chalk board spray paint .. then ... voila! Unfortunately I can't draw ...LOL!

Black Bean Brownies

I just couldn't get over the fact that they had black beans in them. :P I tried so hard to like them, but it was a psycological thing. My children not knowing about the beans, loved them and thought that they were the best brownies I've ever made! :D

Neopolitian Granny Afghan In The Works

I'm half way there! I hope it looks nice when it's finished.

I want to thank you all for your words of encouragement and tips for my white sugar free and white flour free diet. It helps so much to have someone encourage you! I think that I'm a sugar addict. I'm not just saying that, I really believe that. It's not that I pigged out on junk food, but I did have a little every day. All I would need was a couple of cookies or a sample of ice cream or a handful of mints after dinner. Can I say cappuchino? Oh how I loved my cappuchino. Now that is gone and I'm searching desperately trying to replace that void with naturally sweetened goodies. I'm also examining what I am eating and realizing not everything has been sugar free. It takes awhile to spot these things.

1. Condiments have sugar
2. Most salad dressings have sugar
3. There's sugar in crackers
4. There's sugar in the tasty soy and almond milks
5. After I bought a great big billy bee honey bottle, I soon realized the proper honey to use is unpasteurized.
6. Custard powder likely has sugar in it
7. Carob chips have sugar in them and I can't find grain sweetened chocolate chips anywhere.
8. My flavored brown rice chips have sugar in them

Waaaah! LOL! I'm the type of person that has to get rid of it completely out of my diet because I cannot control the cravings for it if I don't. It's got a strong hold on me! I can't even have it in moderation. Little by little I'll get there. I just bought sucanat and I'm wondering if I should have bought date sugar instead? What is the best natural sweetener out there? Is it agave nectar? How about natural maple syrup? It's readily available in Canada. I do have a supply of it fresh right from Quebec. Is "evaporated cane sugar" a natural sweetener? I need to research, research, research! The trouble is, there are conflicting reports out there. That's what makes it hard. There is no one way that is the proper way. There are no straight answers it seems.

This is what I hope to accomplish by eating this way ..

1. Good health ... less eczema out breaks on my legs, and better skin ( my skin is SO dry and sensitive)
2. Loose weight
3. No more cavities!
4. Although I go through spurts of energy and have "high" days I also then have my down "low" days, I hope to have even more energy especially through out the summer months
5. Less ear troubles
6. I hope eventually eating this way will cause me to want to exercise (LOL!)

Flowers and Almonds

I received a pretty little tulip bouquet from some old friends of ours this weekend. She gave me a hug and told me I was just like a daughter to her. I've carried those words with me over the last few days. I'm extremely thankful for these good friends of ours. They're indeed like family. My children love them very much.

I went ahead and tried to make some almond milk. I soaked the almonds over night in water then rinsed and drained them in the morning. I put them in the blender with some water and a bit of maple syrup and then strained the milk.
Here are the results.



So I went ahead and made brown rice pudding with it.



It tasted healthy! But when a gal is craving for sweets, and is desperately trying to stay away from white sugar .... these are the results. I also made custard with custard powder, there was no sugar listed on the ingredients however in the ingredients it says that there is "flavor". Does that mean sugar too? I looked at the nutritional information and it says ... " Sugars, Total ..... 10.9 grams. So I'm led to assume there is sugar in there then. :( It's really discouraging because everything has sugar in it.

I had my cake and ate it too!

I made a healthy-ish kind of cake yesterday. It was my birthday. :)

I made this cake here. Basic Chocolate Cake
It was a little dry, I must have baked it to long. Also I made my own maple syrup sweetened icing and shouldn't have. I should have used Heidi's icing recipe. This cake would be good with a sugar free custard or tapioca pudding.

All in all, I'm glad I made it. It's waaay healthier then your average cake. And it's suppose to get truffle like as it sits. I can't wait to try it today!

And for my birthday dinner I made these potatoes. Lori's Skillet Smashed Potatoes I sprinkled garlic salt on my potatoes and put the potatoes on top of a green salad along with an olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing. I found myself some sugar free, white flour free, crusty bread to eat with it! It was delicious!



And a little birthday present I ordered for myself.

A book called "Super Natural Cooking." There were great reviews on this book, the recipes are suppose to be delicious! I can't wait until it arrives!




And The Handsome Man got me the sweetest card EVER.



Inside it reads:

You came into my world
softly, gently,
gracing it with light,
laughter, and love.
Changing all things
for the better.
If ever a woman
were a blessing,
that woman
is you.

I think I'll keep this card forever.

Painted Stairs

Well after MANY hours of sanding and stripping the paint off of my stairs with paint stripper and staining the stairs in anticipation of beautiful elegant looking stairs, I was disappointed. The stairs didn't look good at all. They're just too old. So I decided to paint over them. Imagine that after all that work! At least it was worth a try. I then had the bright idea of painting the treads black and the risers and trim the beige color and was disappointed again. The black paint was so black, it made the stairs look so dark. So this is what I ended up with. At least they are really shiny, and that's all I have to say about that project ...lol!

I'd take a better picture but my card is full.

Sick Again

I have to say, we were healthy all winter long until about the last 4 weeks or so. We've had fevers, coughs and colds. One of us would get well and another one of us would get sick. This week it's my turn. :( I have a bad sore throat. I just hope it isn't strep. I am susceptible to strep throat and the last time I had it was the worst I've ever had, I couldn't speak for around 3 days and it was hard to swallow my own saliva. I was a total mess.

I'm sipping on some echinacea tea right now. Oh how it feels good going down.



Ahhhhh! It feels sooo soothing. In a few more hours, I'll have myself another cup.

Today it's snowing.

Tapioca Pudding

Who says eating healthy has to be terrible tasting? I have been craving something sweet, the banana cookies didn't last long. I've been searching the internet for some yummy recipes. I found this tapioca pudding recipe. Mmmm! Mmmmm! Even if it does look like frogs eyes! LOL! ( My friends in school use to call it frogs eyes when I was a little girl)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups skim milk ( I used soy milk)
1 1/2 cups agave syrup ( I used pure Canadian maple syrup, it was sweet, 1 cup should be enough)
1/2 cup tapioca
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups cold water

Directions

1. Soak tapioca over night in 2 1/2 cups cold water.
2. Drain tapioca and place in crock pot with milk and cook on high for 2 hours.
3. Mix yolks and agave.
4. Temper and add into crock
5. Cook for 15 more.

This is seriously delicious! The only disappointment was reading the ingredients on my soy milk and seeing that there was cane sugar and corn syrup solids in there! I had forgotten that was in there. It's going to take me awhile to get into the grove of things here. EVERYTHING has sugar in it. Next time I will make my own almond milk!