July 29, 2011

TESTING 1, 2, 3....



this morning i felt well enough to test out a recipe. me in the kitchen? laughable. ridiculous. ludicrous. are all words that come to mind. and me baking? scary. disastrous. fire. equally applicable thoughts.

sometimes the (possible) benefits outweigh the risks.

parker's weight has dropped dramatically in the past month. since his gall bladder attack he's lost about 10 lbs. he is now down to 69lbs. i'm more than a little concerned about it. but how exactly does one go about fattening up a kid who on top of having to eat (for the most part) wheat free, dairy free, and sugar free must now adhere to a low fat diet? how on earth is that possible - especially when the child's mother is a lost cause in the cooking and baking department.

anyhow, today i was feeling up to the challenge. we are all big fans of the island oat bar they sell at starbucks. deeeeelicious. i managed to find a sugar, wheat, dairy free, kinda low fat version online. we decided to test it out.

and guess what?
not only did i end up with an edible product - they actually tasted fabulous! and they were easy to make. even for me. of course, as simple as it was, we still almost ran into a complication...

i mixed them up no prob. put them in the oven. and then promptly forgot about them. i'm not that much of a space cadet that i forgot to set a timer... however, the timer concept only works when one remembers to stay within ear shot of said timer.
so the timer went off. and i did not hear it.

avery and parker heard it.
they turned it off.
but didn't think to let me know.

fortunately, the pleasing and comforting aroma of oatmeal and cinnamon wafting through the house summoned me to the kitchen...eventually.

happily, the oven was not aflame and our oat bars were not yet burned beyond recognition.


my island oat bars
find the recipe here: www.geniusbreadrecipes.com

the taste testers in this house gave them 2 thumbs up. they were very flavorable however the texture was slightly crumbly...ok, a lot crumbly. i'm thinking i might have actually underbaked them...but no one knows for sure because no one knows exactly how long we actually baked them for. of course, the recipe calls for milk and i did substitute that for almond milk. which may or may not have impacted the texture. i have no clue.

at any rate, they were yummy and have all been consumed and no one is showing any signs of food poisoning.

now that i'm all impressed with my successful baking experiment, i've been inspired to test out a few new things on my blog. it's a little antiquated and outdated and could use a bit of an overhaul
. little did i know when i started blogging about my fight with lyme that it would eventually grow to include the unthinkable - congenital lyme. who could've ever imagined that my battle with lyme and our family's journey would end up taking such an unfathomable turn. but that is exactly what has transpired. now, 2 years into both of my son's battles with this insidious disease, it's probably time my home page and side bars reflect that "my" fight has truly become "our" fight.

so, bear with me, as i test out some new looks and options over the next few weeks... i don't know how it will go and i'm a little worried (ok a lot worried) that i might end up frying my hard drive, losing some stuff or blowing up my laptop.
after all,

embed,
urls,
and
widget
are terms that are as foreign and confusing to me as
emulsify,
braise,
and
deglaze .

at any rate, here goes...testing 1, 2, 3...


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