We’ve been accustomed to cooking dairy-free for over 10 years, because my oldest daughter (who is 10) turned up with a dairy allergy pretty much as soon as she came into this world. So we’ve become good at knowing which brand of cake mix or granola bar, for example, typically doesn’t include dairy. We’ve also been adventurous in trying to make our own dairy-free cakes and granola bars (some good, some not-so-much), among other things, thanks to web sites like The Food Allergy Mama and Go Dairy Free.

Then we met a family that just moved here from the left side of the country, whose daughter is not only allergic to dairy, but also soy. Yikes!  I did not realize how lucky we were until I tried cooking without dairy or soy! We typically replace dairy with soy products, like dairy-free margarine (which is soy-based) and soy milk. Did you know even many canned spaghetti sauces contain soy products? (I found that out when I considered preparing spaghetti the first night we had our new friends over.)

Tonight we were invited to our new friends’ home, and asked to bring a dessert. Great! I love making desserts. I decided to make a chocolate cake because, well, who doesn’t like chocolate cake? I’ve frequently made dairy-free chocolate cakes, which are yummy, so I figured it wouldn’t be that hard, right? Hmmm. There are a few dairy- and soy-free chocolate cake recipes, but not very many with good reviews, except this one. It’s called the “Easiest Chocolate Cake Recipe” and it really is easy. I had all the ingredients on-hand, which was a bonus.

After I got the cake into the oven, I started searching for a frosting recipe. Here’s where things really got sticky (pardon the pun ). Virtually *all* the frosting recipes I found included some form or dairy or margarine. And lest you think I could use shortening, no! That is soy-based! So I went out on a limb and tried a powdered sugar/water combination, plus a tad bit of oil, some cocoa powder, and a little raspberry flavoring for good measure.

You can see the result in the photo. Now I don’t normally cut into cakes before taking them to someone’s home, but I was really nervous about this one (and maybe a little hungry), so I had to do it. The frosting was really really sweet, so I was afraid it would ruin the cake. But… (insert drum roll here)… it was good! The frosting *is* sweet, but the cake is moist, rich, and melt-in-my-mouth-yummy. Overall, it’s something I’m pleased to take to a friend’s house. I hope the girls all love it too! (I might need to admit to our hostess why I’m not so hungry for dinner now…)

As far as what I’d do differently next time, I think this cake would go well with a home-made whipped cream (of course I would use soy creamer, but that wouldn’t work for our soy-free friend). The whipped cream might be served on the side, so those who couldn’t eat the cream would still be able to enjoy the cake (which really is delicious enough to stand on its own, without any frosting at all).

P.S. A few people have asked why I didn’t just make two desserts – one for the girls with allergies, and one for everyone else. To those people I say: you obviously have never lived with someone affected by food allergies! Unfortunately, when eating out, at parties or with guests, those with food allergies are forced to eat separate meals *most* of their lives. Whenever possible, I try to prepare meals everyone in the family can enjoy, regardless of their food allergies. Of course this is not always feasible, but I like to at least try. And hey, it makes for some interesting experiments sometimes!

Last weekend I finally watched Julie and Julia. I don’t know why I let the DVD sit around my house for three weeks before watching it, because I love it! I think I am a lot like Julie was before she started spending a year preparing Julia Child recipes. I love to cook, but don’t always step outside my comfort zone in terms of what I prepare. Cooking is definitely an escape for me. As Julie mentioned early on in the film…

“Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That’s such a comfort.” – Julie Powell, Julie & Julia

Anyway, yesterday I made Beef Bourguingon. (Note the photo above was taken by my husband, because he said it just looked “French.”) That statement in itself is huge. First, it’s a French meal. I’ve never made anything French (unless you count french fries, which I don’t think you do). Second, it takes five hours to prepare. Yes,  you read that correctly: five hours.

Why did I embark on this ridiculous venture? I had always thought Julia Child to be a frumpy old women who cooked in a way that was beyond my reach. Learning about her life has taught me that I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Julia Child was a housewife searching for “something to do” with herself while her husband was at work. She tried various other “tasks” that were common among women of her age and social stature, but just couldn’t bring herself to really enjoy hat-making and the like. But she loved food. She joined a class of stooty men at Le Cordon Bleu (i.e., fancy French culinary school) and worked her tail off.

Then, she spent several years writing a cook book to help housewives in American learn the art of French cooking.

This is evident in the very first recipe I selected to try from her cookbook: Beef Bourguinon. It’s not a recipe that uses an expensive cut of meat. On the contrary, it uses 3lbs of “stewing beef” which I picked up for about $6 (on sale). The rest of the ingredients are likely to be found in most well-stocked pantries (save for the red wine maybe). The three cups of wine, coupled with the lengthy cooking time, turned the cheap meat into a fork-tender, rich and flavorful meal.

I learned a couple of other things along the way…

1) Mushrooms aren’t that bad. You may not believe this, but before yesterday I had never eaten (knowingly) a mushroom before. Never (on purpose). I always told people I didn’t care for them. But really that just meant this: I think they look gross and really don’t want to let one anywhere near my mouth. But I did it – I bought the mushrooms called for in the recipe and actually included them (there’s a first time for everything I guess). And… they weren’t that bad! I’m not dying to put mushrooms in my ice cream or anything, but I certainly won’t pass them up the next time they are offered.

2) American cooking is sweet. I have always heard that before, but never really understood it until now. This meal had absolutely no sweetness to it whatsoever. It was earthy, filling, and rich, in a way totally different than the meals we usually eat. Even when we dine out, our meals usually have some sort of “sweetness” to them. Being so accustomed to that sweetness, this was a bit of a surprise to our systems.

3) You shouldn’t touch a pan that just came out of the oven without some sort of hand protection (i.e., an oven mitt). Enough said.

Finally, I have a new appreciation for this women who dedicated most of her adult life to bringing French cuisine into the lives of typical American women. I look forward to continuing my journey outside of my culinary comfort zone. In fact, this week I plan to try something else I’ve never attempted: poaching an egg. Crazy, I know .

We’ve all heard lots about how cereals are “part of a balanced breakfast.” But let’s be honest… how many kids actually eat the part that’s nutritious. You know… the other stuff pictured around the cereal bowl in all those ads: an egg, a piece of toast, some fruit, and juice. A lot of mornings, most of us are lucky if we get something (anything) into them before they run to catch the school bus.

When my kids were still in diapers, my cousin (who is a nutritionist) gave me a stern talking-to about the health benefits (or lack there of) in cereal. Since then, some of my friends have taken to calling me the “cereal nazi.” I wear that badge of honor with pride, and have trained my children to read the side of the cereal box before ever asking if it can grace our pantry shelves.

Yes, my kids are the ones running down the aisle feverishly trying to find cereals with at least 3 grams each of protein and fiber, but as few grams of sugar as possible (4 grams = 1 tsp. added sugar. Most nutritionists and doctors suggest you look for cereals with less than 5-10 grams.). If you’ve never tried it, you have no idea how difficult this little task actually is. Most cereals have barely 1 gram of protein! In fact, a bag of Doritos will do more to starve off your kids’ hunger than a whole box of some cereals. And with few schools allowing morning snacks, I need to get as much protein as possible into my kids each morning to keep their brains focused on learning (without being distracted by a rumbling tummy). It’s amazing how a bowl of cereal with 10 grams of protein will really keep you satisfied until lunch.

Thankfully, we’ve all grown to love the Kashi cereals, and the few made by Kelloggs and Post that pass the test. And every now and then I buy one of “the other cereals” (such as my guilty pleasure – pictured above). But we don’t eat those for breakfast… instead, we’ve found they make great desserts (after dinner) on those days when an extra special treat is needed. Isn’t that what a product like that is for?

Get the facts… to check out how your favorite cereal fares when it comes to nutrition. And if you’re looking for easy alternatives to cold-cereal in the morning, how about a cheesy breakfast bean dip with chips, or toast with sliced apples and peanut butter (one of my daughter’s favorites)? Need more? Here are 100 more quick and healthy breakfast ideas.

Recently, my sister offered to keep my kids for dinner, which meant Wyeth and I got to order wings from our favorite place for wings: C.R. Wings. The last time I had checked out their web site, it was under construction. This time, however, the site was live and I immediately noticed the headlines were using a unique font not normally located on most web users’ machines. I happen to have this font, so I dodged over to Wyeth’s computer to see how the site degraded without the font. While there were a few headlines that displayed in verdana, the bulk of the site’s display text (headlines, pull-quotes, etc.) stayed true to the original designer’s vision (even though Wyeth didn’t have the font loaded on his machine).

Being the geek that I am, I viewed the site’s source to see what technology was used to achieve this feat, and found it to be sIFR. While I had heard of sIFR a while back, I hadn’t given it much thought at the time and haven’t seen it in use since. Upon seeing it on the C.R. Wings site, I knew I had to share this information (AFTER I ordered my wings of course – “Butter and Old Bay” is my favorite flavor in case you were wondering).

So the next time you’re looking for an easy way to add some pizazz to your site’s display text, check out sIFR. (And if you’re hungry, how ’bout some wings?)

I love web sites that make your life easier, and Tastebook.com is one of those sites. I enjoy cooking. I’m no chef, just someone who enjoys preparing food for friends and family. I have a couple of recipes I’ve honed over the years to be “near perfect” and those are the ones people frequently request. With Tastebook.com, I can now simply share the recipes through my online cookbook. It’s genius!

You can create as many online cookbooks as you want, and even have them printed and bound to store in your kitchen (offline). I love that you can add recipes from several online recipe sites (although I’d like to see them create relationships with even more recipe sites to make the whole process even better). You can even upload photos to further enhance your personal recipes. It’s a great replacement for my (offline) notebook of collected recipes (especially since many of those sheets are faded, torn, and stained).

Check it out when you get a chance. If fact, I’ll even share a favorite family recipe for Monkey Bread (or Monkey Ball Cake as the kids usually call it). Enjoy!