Allergies, Eczema, and EOE... Oh, My!

At long last, I am back! First I wish t apologize, for what is going to be a long post. Okay... it has been a while, but there is a good reason for that; I will explain: not long after classes started this year, I had a medical emergency which I had feared would happen sooner or later. You remember that I told you guys that I suspected that I had a condition known as eosinophilic esophagitis? Yeah, that problem... I had notified my allergist of this concern, and I was scheduled to meet with a GI doctor in three (yes, 3) months! I was worried, and I told my doctor this too, that I would have an emergency before I was able to make that appointment. Guess what? I did! September 25 at 9:30ish my mom took me to the emergency room for food impaction. Now, allow me to explain what food impaction is: quite simply, food gets stuck in your esophagus. And that is indeed a medical emergency. What was I eating? None of your business (although there is a rumor that I had made some rather dry, meatloaf that night...), what is important here is that for 5 hours I could not get the food to move its way down my esophagus.  That means that I had started eating around 4-4:30 pm.  One may well wonder if I had noticed any warning signs previous to this incident, and the answer is a resounding yes. I had been experiencing nausea for months, and it had only gotten worst over time; nothing ever came out, but my mom told me that it was  a side effect of eosinophilic esophagitis. Not only that, I had episodes of choking on my food, which like the episodes of nausea, had grown worse over time, in fact, the intensity and frequency of the choking was alarming to the point that my family was worried. Anyway, my mom took me to the emergency room, and I was taken back for surgery (not for a while, though it was around 2:00 am the next morning before anything really happened). The surgery went alright, except for the perforation in my esophagus. I woke up with a lot of pain in my throat, which I assumed was from the surgery (I had not idea there was a tear), and I thought that the pain would go away with use after all, I had my tonsils removed, and that is what I was told to do then, so it should have worked here, right? NO. The doctors came in and told mom that they needed to take me back for x-rays, they were worried that there was a perforation in my esophagus. At first, this did not sound too serious to me, until the doctors said that it could introduce major complications (e.g. food leaking out into the heart and lung area, infection, etc.), this sounded serious. So, I was taken back to do a swallow study, and let me tell ya: that stuff they make you swallow is disgusting (I was not doing a Barium swallow, I am allergic to it, guess how I know?). It was very painful doing the swallow study, but the images showed that there was indeed a perforation. My Radiologist, who had a funny last name, told me that this would require one of two or three options: I would either be given nourishment via a feeding tube until the perforation healed, the doctors could surgically repair the perforation, or I could be given fluids through an IV, and have nothing by mouth until the perforation healed. Naturally, I was not given much of a choice, but when I was taken back to mom, I broke down and cried, I was scared that I would be put on a feeding tube. Fortunately, the doctors thought that it would be best to give me nothing by mouth; surgery would be saved for an emergency, and a tube would have been too invasive, so for 4.5-5 days, I had nothing by mouth until my esophagus healed (I binged on Food Network). I think the worse part of the whole being-in-the-hospital was the fact that I was in the middle of classes! Thank God, I had very caring and understanding professors, or I would have been sunk. For the next two and a half months following the surgery, I had to eat a soft/pureed food diet, which was no fun. I am glad that it is over. Before the doctors let me go, I was scheduled for an upper endoscopy where they would take samples of my esophagus to see what was going on that caused the food impaction. The test results showed that I have Eosinophilic Esophagitis or, EOE. I can now eat regular food, it is advised though that I stay away from steak-like foods, but I will be using an inhaler (I will be swallowing instead of inhaling the steroid) help control it. Thanks for sticking with me!

A new journey...

Hey everyone, I know it has been a while (Hey, I'm in school!), but I thought that I would give you an update concerning me. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this before, but for the last five or so years I have had trouble with swallowing food, and also drinks, I have not been able to swallow pills for years (can you imagine how embarrassing it is when you have to ask your doctor for liquid medication, because you can't swallow pills? Never mind, don't answer that). For years I have struggled with choking on and throwing up food because of this issue, please note though, that I am NOT anorexic or bulimic, I wanted to eat, I just could not swallow. After a little research, and a trip to the doctor, I found out almost a year ago that my esophagus is narrowed at some places, thus inhibiting me from eating like a "normal" person. That said, I actually experienced something that I hoped that I would never have to deal with: Food impaction. Food impaction is scary, it is when food gets immovably stuck in your throat, and it is a medical emergency, especially if you cannot breath. I will share more as time allows, please stay tuned!

Just a Little More Time...

Hello Everyone! I know that it has been a loooong time since I have posted to the blog, but hang in there! I am still alive, just getting the seat of my pants wore out with classes. I will be graduating next month, and will hopefully get back to posting for ya :)
When I do get back, I will have a very interesting story to share, along with a few recipes, tips and ideas that I have gained along the way, so stay tuned!

Tomato-free Bolognese Sauce (an update to the first one)

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that one of the first recipes that I posted was a "Nomato Sauce". For a beginner like I was back then, it was an OK start, but I have been tweaking the recipe here and there, and I think that I have a sauce worth posting now! In the first sauce, I told you to use more beets than carrots, that was wrong, and I am sure that you guys have been turning out some rather funny colored sauce. I also added roasted peppers and oil into the sauce, that too is a no no (for me that is, nightshades bother my stomach, you can add them if you want to), the oil will turn your sauce pink. I could go on and on about what I did wrong in the first recipe, but that will not help you much, so let's get this party started! Oh, shout out to my little sis, she was the one who found that using more carrot than beets was the key to good color. Thanks Olivia!

What you need:

1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 Celery stalk (finely chopped)

1 Courgette (cubed)

1 15 oz can of beets

2 15 oz. cans of carrots

1/8 cup rice vinegar (or any other gluten free vinegar you can use)

1 tsp sugar

Olive oil

1 lb Ground meat (I use all natural grass fed beef)

salt and pepper

What you need to do:

1. The first thing you will need to is chop your vegetables, you could use the food processor to do this, but frankly, I don't like to clean more dishes than I need to, and I am pretty good at chopping anyhow.

2. Open your can of beets and RINSE and drain them. Don't and  I mean don't, like DO NOT boil them. The beets are already cooked, so you need not boil them; all they need is a good rinsing. Just rinse them until they water runs almost clear.

3. Blend up the carrots and the beets in a blender, a food processor will not do as good a job as a blender (I use a Nutribullet), although puree is more like what I do.

4. Now is a great time to cook your meat and saute your veggies, I generally do this at the same time. Make sure your meat is well done, fry it until all of the moisture is cooked out, and it is sizzling away nicely.

5. Season your meat with your spices, use as much as you desire.

6. Now is the time to pour in your carrot and beet puree, and add the vinegar.

7. Now you have a red sauce worthy of a plate (or bowl) of noodles!

I tried this recipe with meatballs, and I feel that I received better results with my sauce. For this variation I fried the meatballs only partially (I just seared them), and I poured the sauce over them and let them finish cooking that way.

Enjoy!

Cooking For a Family

Feeding a family can be challenging, feeding a family and dealing with food allergies is very challenging. Of course we all have to deal with the occasional picky eater, but when eating becomes life-threatening...we need a new set of tricks up our sleeves. If you have a family of your own, you can pretty much dictate what everybody eats since, I am assuming, you are the main cook. You can, if you so desire, have everyone in your household eat the same allergy-safe menu as your allergic child (or as you, if you are the allergic one), and you should have no trouble about it. You should, if you do, don't come after me; go after them.
    For me though, and people like me, cooking is not a simple process. It can be a challenge to plan six meals a day; two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. That can grate on the nerves. I have been doing it for ten years, and I have been able to somehow cook for myself and my family to some successful degree (my mother has taken over the cooking again, so that makes it a lot easier for me to cook my meals).
  First of all, what I made sure of is that I prepared meals that where allergy friendly. For example, I usually prepared beans, which are rather allergy safe, just add meat, and you have a nutritious meal.
Although this worked, I have family members who would complain that it lacked flavor (cheese, bread, and whatnot), so what I learned to do is employ help.
 I am blessed to have many siblings who love to cook, and who are more than willing to help in the kitchen; so while I made something allergy safe (like a meat sauce), I would recruit as brother or sister to shred cheese and boil noodles; all it takes is careful planning, and willing helpers. Hopefully this post was helpful to you guys!

Fish Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Carmelized Onions (What I ate for dinner)

This is what I ate tonight, it was very good. It was also my first successful attempt at sweet potato fries. This may be a long picture post, so I will cut my conversation short.

Here is what you need:

1 sweet potato (peeled)

1 onion sliced into circles

spoonful of  strawberry preserves (or brown sugar)

1 recipe for Salmon cakes (go ahead and do this first)

slice up your sweet potatoes like this:

Sweet potato is quite starchy, so it may take a little bit of muscle.

After you've sliced it into circles, slice the rounds into 'sticks', make sure they are roughly the same size, and look more or less (preferably more) like fries.

You will now want to toss them liberally with oil

and season generously with salt and pepper

Spread these babies on a cookie sheet so they have plenty of space (I used two sheets)

pop into a 425 degree preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes flipping half-way through so that both sides are browned nicely

While the potatoes are cookin' away, you can work on your onions. If you have already fried your Salmon cakes you can put the onions in the leftover oil, and cook on medium heat. Low and slow is the key here.

After a bit (make sure you check on your fries!), they should look like this:

When the onions have reached the coloring you desire (salting your onions will keep them brom burning too quickly), put in spoonful of strawberry preserves or brown sugar.

Stir this up to combine the ingredients...

And serve it up!

Please don't judge me, this was good. I hope you enjoy!

Three Ingredient Salmon Cakes (UPDATED)

From the time I was a child, I have loved and yet hated salmon cakes. Momma made them at least once a week, and I enjoyed watching her make them. So why did I hate them? Bones. Momma always left the spine bones in the fish, yuck! I hated to feel the bones in my mouth, and the soft crunch as I would chew a bone in my fish cake. Often, I would pick over my fish cake pulling out as many of the bones as I could find, and give them to my younger brother and sister. I am older now, and I cook for myself mostly, so I have had the pleasure of being able to debone my fish. Lately though, my mother has told me something which I think is the reason why she always left the bones in despite my protesting: They are a good source of calcium. So today, for the first time in years (don't ask how old I am), I left the bones in. But I have had another dilemma when it comes to making fish cakes (I know, everybody else call's them "salmon cakes", but this is what I have been calling them since I was a youth, and everybody in my household call's them the same), the issue of them holding their shape when cooking and not falling apart. I have hit upon a solution that fixes both the bone issue and the stability of my cakes: the food processor. The food processor breaks everything up, so I don't taste the bones, and it mixes everything to perfection! On to the recipe!

Slam on the brakes! Please read BEFORE you proceed (A very good friend of mine has let me know that this recipe did not work for them, I looked to see what step I missed, and behold! It was the most important step: you must drain the fish. So, Thank you Dr. Allan!)  O.K. you can continue :)

What you need:

1 13 3/4 oz can of wild caught salmon (drained)

1/2 a red (or any other kind) onion

ground oats about 1/4 cup

I did not take pictures of each step like I usually do, but it is pretty straight forward.  You can grind your oats (I forgot to mention: make sure you use gluten free oats! The brand I am using is Bob's Red Mill) in a clean coffee grinder.
Making sure you have the "S" attachment in your processor, pulse your onion, and dump in your drained can of fish (save the juices as they can be used for cooking), pulse until combined.
As you pulse your fish mixture, dump your oats in one spoonful at a time. Your mixture should have a fine consistency, and be a bit wet and sticky.
The next step is not entirely necessary, but it may help in forming your patties, wet your hands and make your patties.
Although I did not mention it, you should have a skillet or a pan heating up with a good amount of oil in it.
Carefully place your cakes onto the hot pan/skillet and fry until golden on one side, flip and fry on the other side. Your time will vary, so keep an eye on them!

The end result is about 6-7 beautifully golden Salmon cakes.

Enjoy! I know I sure did.

Simple Summer Salad

Although summer is almost over, it is not gone yet! And now is a great time to show you a salad that I enjoyed over the past weeks.  It is a very simple salad, with only 3 ingredients, 6 if you include the ingredients to the dressing, which, by the way is divine. Here is how I made it:

What you need for the salad:

Spinach (as much or as little as you desire!)

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

Leftover chicken (tuna or salmon will do too)

What you need for the dressing:

Half a ripe avocado

1/2 cup of rice vinegar

1/2 cup oil of your choice

What you do:

Toss the ingredients for the salad into a bowl, mix, and plate

throw the ingredients for the dressing into a blender, blend and pour into a jar

pour dressing over salad, and enjoy!

BTW, this was good.

Why Skinny Girl Big Plate?

When I initially started this blog, it was for the purpose of blogging about food that is allergy safe, and to some extent, sharing my own story of allergy. The name was nothing special, it did not mean much more than it said; I was (and still am) a skinny girl, and my portions are (were) rather large. If it had been any other situation it would have been titled accordingly (Fat Girl, Bitty Plate comes to mind... if I was a big girl on a weight loss journey), but now I have been thinking about what Skinny Girl, Big Plate really means to me, and for you, this is what I have come up with: The meaning of the blogs title is very symbolic (at least for me), the skinny girl is a realization of the restrictions that I/we must deal with in life, these restrictions are constricting, and not conducive of weight-gain (for that, I dare say some of us are glad). Yet, on the other hand, there is a big plate, which is the alternate reality of all of the possibilities that are available to me/us. Having multiple food allergies has forced me to look beyond the regular ingredients used in cooking and helped me to be creative. So, go ahead! Embrace your restrictions, and say "Hello!" to the world of possibilities that is now open to you!

Allergic Reaction...

It is important to know what symptoms you show when you are having an allergic reaction; everyone is an individual, so you cannot base whether or not you are having a reaction on what others say is "typical".
     I know personally that when I am cold, and I can't seem to get warm, something is not right. My muscles get sore and often swell, and my skin is warm or hot to touch. So what are your symptoms? Write them down, and make sure that you explain them to your doctor whenever the topic comes up. This is your body, and only you know what is going on inside. Some doctors only count anaphylaxis as an allergic reaction, they do not see developing a rash hours, or days later as allergy. This is incorrect information.
    Also, if you have had a anaphylactic reaction to any food in the past, let your doctor know, you may need an auto-injector if you do not already have one. Keep a list of the foods you are allergic to handy, it helps in a pinch when someone asks what you are allergic to, after all of these years, I still can't remember all of them, and it does not help that I have developed more!
   Oh yeah, if you do have allergies, it is a possibility that you will develop more; you just need to know what the triggers are for you personally, this comes with time. I have noticed that for me, whenever we move I develop a new food allergy (I need to settle down somewhere while there are still things I can eat left!).

I hope you all have been having a great summer. I am finally done with my summer classes, so I should have more time for posting!

Summer! And other issues...

Hi everyone! I know it has been some time since I last posted, but I have been busy with two things: Summer classes, and allergies.
     If you are a student, I do not need to tell you how stressful, busy, and demanding summer classes are, and if you are not a student well, let me just tell ya:  It's hard. Very. 5 week courses+ heat= no fun at all. But I have been plowing through.
     As for the allergies, I have just recently gotten over a prescription drug reaction (those are one of the worst reactions by the way), so I have been sick a lot for the past 2 or so months.
      Anyway, It's June and I am feeling great! The hot weather is not helping me much, but my hope is that summer will end, and fall will come; bringing cool weather, great clothes, and my favorite foods! Oh, about food. You guys maybe have noticed that I have not been posting any food recipes... I have to confess that all I have been eating lately has been spaghetti. Yeah. I haven't been feeling very inspired. But, I do have a recipe for Ginger cordial (non-alcoholic), that I think you will enjoy, hopefully I will be able to post that soon so be lookin' for it. In addition, I have been using my parents iPhones for all of my pictures; well my mom's phone was killed, and we only have my dad's phone; in short, I need to buy my own iPhone. I'll be seein' you guys around!

Mackie

My Anaphlaxis Story (Tribute to my Mother)

This may not seem like a Mothers Day post, but I promise you, it is. I would not be alive today if it had not been for my fast thinking mother and my sister Olivia.

It was December, 2008 I was attending a very small Christmas party (and when I say small, I'm talkin' like 8 people. Seriously) at the local community college. My sisters and I were apart of a club (Campus Crusade for Christ) at the college and as a group, we thought it would be fun to throw a Christmas party at the end of the semester for as many of the students as would come. Nobody came, so it was just the five club members, and three family members (my brother, and the wife and child of another member). It was a bit pathetic, but we soon were having fun playing "Dirty Santa" and listening to Christmas music.
    Before my siblings and I left for the party momma told me to make sure that I staid away from nuts; upon arriving, I let the hostess know about my allergy (I felt very responsible), she told me the only thing that had nuts were the brownies (they had walnuts). I made a mental note to stay far away from the brownies, but it did not matter, there were M&M's, Chex mix, there was a Veggie tray, and soda. I grabbed a hand full of M&M's, and consumed several hand fulls of Chex Mix during the party. Around an hour later, I began to feel a very tight pain on the left side of my back, "It's just a spasm." I thought. Breathing became a bit difficult, I excused myself and went to the Ladies room where I tried to stretch out the "spasm". Olivia followed me like a hound dog. "What's wrong?" she demanded, I waved her off telling her it was just a spasm. "Where?" she insisted, I was gasping for air, "My back...it's really bad..." Olivia grew alarmed and called Mom to let her know that we were ready to come home. I went back to get my purse out of the room, but apparently Olivia judged me unable to walk (I admit, my body was curling up),so she and my brother Sean hauled me out of the room (if you have ever seen a person carried off by two police officers, that's how they did it). We had to wait for my other sister Faith, who was saying her good-bye's. I was literally on the floor of the elevator gasping and choking, but we finally got down stairs to where my dad was waiting for us. Olivia helped me into the van, and we rode home in silence (I was grateful to live less than 5 minutes away from the college). When we got home I ran to my room and collapsed onto the floor while Olivia hurriedly gave momma the run down of what happened; they ran into the room after me. Mom was asking me if I could breath, struggling I told mom that I could exhale, but I could not inhale. Mom and Olivia carried me (yes, I was again being manhandled) into the living room and sat me down in a chair. Mom was giving out orders, Olivia was running around getting everything they needed, and daddy was pretty upset too, "They need to make sure that they have items clearly labeled for people who have life threatening allergies when they throw parties!" he was exclaiming, he included that I should not be allowed to eat when i was not in his or momma's sight (he didn't mean it). Mom gave me 4 full doses of Children's allergy medicine, while Olivia rubbed my back with muscle rub; mom told my older sister Faith to put me on my younger brothers' nebulizer. Three hours later, I was a but shaky  but I was laughing and able to take in a breath. Mom, dad and Olivia though, were not sharing in my laughter, I guess I was jittery from having come so close to dying, and they were frazzled have me come so close to death. My mother saved my life (so did Olivia), and I am eternally grateful.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mackie

The truth behind "Gluten Free"

    Hola Comrades! I just want to chat for a minute with you about "gluten free" foods, and while it may take longer than a minute for you to read this post, I hope you will keep reading because this is important.
     I have over the years gained experience with shopping allergy safe; it is easier and harder than you may think. If you are like me, there are a lot of foods you must avoid. Sometimes one may feel that there is nothing to eat in the state of Denmark (ok, that was a little cheesy), but if you keep reading, and follow these tips you will find there is more out there than you think. Oh, you may find this helpful as well.
    Not all gluten free foods are equal. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have been disappointed to pick up a box claiming "gluten free!" on the front only to find that it "May contain: Milk, Soy, Peanuts, etc..." when I look at the back. Some containers do not eve list some foods as allergens (!) trust me, I have used a cleaner that touted itself as "hypoallergenic" and one of the first 5 ingredients was soybean oil...
    One thing you must learn to do when dealing with allergies is READ LABELS. It could very well save somebodies life. You also need to know all of the alternative words for your allergy (did you know that another name for egg is albumen? It is also spelled albumin),  you can find places online with alternative words, this one is particularly good, in fact the whole website is very useful.
    I have also found some labels that say "gluten free" on the front, but in the ingredients list there is "modified food starch". If you ever run into these labels, my advise is to stay away from them! Modified food starch is another way of saying Wheat, and even if it may be a different kind of starch, like  corn for instance, it is best to just stay away because it could possibly be "contaminated". What does contaminated mean? For the allergic person it means that it may contain traces of the allergen (and for some of us, that could be life threatening).
   Thank you everyone for reading this post, I hope it helps!
Stay safe,
Mackie

The long awaited post

Hey guys, here is the long awaited post for a nut free chocolate spread. Now I have never tasted anything like Nutella, or anything like that, so I thought it was O.K. but you know me, I don't care for chocolate. I almost didn't post this recipe because I messed it up initially, but I fixed it the next day. My younger siblings though, were crazy for it! Let's make this stuff:

Here is What you need:

Chocolate Sauce recipe found here (use coconut cream instead of coconut oil, if you want)

3 cups of sunflower seeds (preferably unsalted) 

a splash of coconut milk (I'll explain later)

As you can see in the following three pics, I used coconut cream for this recipe. It did not make much of a difference though the other recipe was richer.

So add your coco powder, sugar, and hot water into the cream and mix.

Until you get a nice consistency. Set this aside.

Now pour the bag of seeds into a food processor (I do not think a blender will work for this)

This will take a while, but be patient! The end will justify the... wait, that's Relient K, never mind. just hang in there and DON'T ADD OIL. Okay? Thanks.

Like I said, it will take a few minutes.

Just keep scraping the sides down...and viola! you have sun butter!

add milk to chocolate (the first time I made this, I placed the chocolate directly into the fridge and then dumped it into this rather warm, from the blades, mixture. It looked ugly, and pasty, so I added milk to my mistake and blended it before adding it to the sunbutter)

and pulse it somemore adding as much chocolate as you want.

Next, spread onto a rice cake and enjoy!
(Note: if you do use salt roasted seeds like I did, make sure you add plenty of sugar!)

This is how I ate it...

New Look

Hi everybody! Have you noticed the sites new look? Please comment below and tell me what you think!

Much Love,
Mackie

I'm Back!

Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait, but I have just finished my finals; do you know what that means? Back to posting! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through the long period of non-posting. You're the best!

List of things that I use (or would use if I could!)

Gold Bond UltimateOkay guys, living with allergies is hard so I have a list of products that I use (some that I don't, but you might be able to) that may make it a little easier.  Here we go:

Food Products

Applegate Seriously, I love the chicken nuggets! Try them out!

Enjoy Life Foods They have a great range of products that have helped me along my journey. Check them out!

Bob's Red Mill They have a large selection of gluten free grains and flours to help meet your baking needs.

King Arthur Flour They have gluten free baking mixes to die for! Just mix in Enjoy Life Chocolate chipps and you have the perfect allergy friendly chocolate chip cookies!

Tinkyada Pasta Noodles What can I say? Perfect, perfect, perfect! I have been using these guys from the beginning. I seriously cried when I found out that i was allergic to wheat, and for no other reason than: I CAN'T HAVE SPAGHETTI!!! I was a mess. But thank God for moms, huh? She came home with rice noodles, and I've been hooked ever since (you should hear about the first time I ate spaghetti).

So Delicious Dairy Free Okay. Shut up. Wow. I luv their products (and for your information, luv is stronger than love)!

If you have an ALDI nearby try their selection of gluten free products. My niece has Celiac and she enjoys their frozen entrees. I also use their all natural ground beef, turkey sausage, and chicken.

Prego  I only used  Traditional, Garlic and Onion, and Garden Vegetable. The Cheese  was a no no for obvious reasons, but the Meat flavored sauce had yeast in it.

That's pretty much it for food products; everything else will have to come out of your own kitchen.

Makeup & Skin Products

All you guys (like, man guys) out there may not care for this part, but pay attention anyway (then again, you might). 

I'm not going to be too specific with lotion, but whatever you use make sure its fragrance free. I also look out for Lactic Acid, Soy (soya), Sweet Almond oil, Shea Butter, and Wheat Germ oil, these ingredients can even be found in hypo-allergenic products, so beware!

 I use Gold Bond Ultimate for my daily needs along with my prescription ointment, but use whatever works for you.

For lip balm I use Singing Dog Vanilla, sounds funny but it works. My personal favs are Mint and Cherry. I have also heard that Red Apple Lipstick has a great lip balm (not to mention lipsticks!) that you may want to try.

E.L.F or eyes lips face is where I get most of my makeup products. Plus at Walmart you can get some of them (like brushes, fake eyelashes, mascara, lip gloss, matte lipsticks, etc.) for 2-3 bucks! Not everything can be found at Walmart though; I bought the 144 color pallet off of their website but it doesn't look like they have it anymore.

Rimmel London is the main lipstick I've been using, I like the Kate Moss Lasting Finish  and the Moisture Renew Lip Colour.

That's about it for my products list. Check back often as I will be adding as I use more products.

Thanks!

Coconut Dip & Sour Cream

Hey Guys! It's been some time since I have made a post, but I have something I made last night you will enjoy. I promise, it's good. It's two recipes in one, the first one I used with my dinner last night, and the second I had it for lunch today, and I want more. Okay, let's get started.

What you need:

1 Can Coconut milk (not the lite version!)

Vinegar or lemon juice

basil

onion powder

Remember the Coconut Ranch recipe? You need to place the can of coconut milk into the fridge and let it sit there for a few days (this one has been in the fridge for about a week, yeah)

Put all of the solidified cream into a bowl.

This is what I used, rice vinegar can be found at any store. Pour some into the coconut cream and stir it until you reach the desired consistency and tang. This is the sour cream.

Yeah. It was good. Now add the other seasonings (you can use as much or as little as you want)
Umm. I forgot to snap that picture, but you can eat it with chips, or fresh veggies. Enjoy!

 

 

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Hey everyone! Easter is coming, and we all know that Easter means chocolate. Chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, chocolate treats of all kinds! Now I do not particularly care for chocolate (as I have mentioned before somewhere), but if I have to eat it, it needs to be milk chocolate, or it needs to be paired with mint if it's gonna be dark chocolate (I get it from my Dad, he and I love white chocolate). Anyway, I tried to make an allergy-free version of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (I loved those! Oh, how I miss them...),  they turned out to be rather large and quite chocolaty. Not at all what I wanted, but maybe you guys will like it? I will post the recipe later, just in case. So I have been on the hunt for a milk chocolate recipe to use for my little creations. Good for me, I have found one to modify! Unfortunately, I need to do some experimenting to get it right; what I came up with though is almost just as good!

What you Need:

2/3 cup coconut oil

2 cups coco powder

2/3 cup room temp. coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup hot (but not boiling) water

Start with the coco powder and the coconut oil (i think next time  I will use coconut cream)

Blend with a fork until fully incorporated and the consistency of a thick paste (sorry, forgot to take a picture of this step, but you guys get the point right?!)

Add the sugar, hot water and the milk and whisk until smooth

Pour into a container of your choosing and enjoy over brownies, ice cream, cake, or whatever floats your boat!

(It makes a lot more than this, I am using this one for another recipe)
Enjoy!

Update:

My sister (who, I might add, is a chocolate lover), says that this stuff is strong as coffee. So beware!

What I am currently doing...

Hey guys, as you all know, if you've been following my blog (if you haven't, what are you waiting for?!) I have bad allergies. All day I have one set of symptoms (indoor, outdoor allergies): sneezing, coughing, etc. and all night I suffer with the crazing itch of eczema (all I do is scratch all. night. long).  I have not seen a doctor yet, but I will soon, about the itching and sneezing, and coughing, but I have seemed to find a way to ease the suffering. I used to just take a 24 hour allergy medicine hoping that it would help, but at night I was still itching; I then tried an antihistamine which worked great for bedtime, but I was drowsy all day. The solution? 24 hour in the morning, and antihistamine at night. So far, it's been workin' for me.

Medley Soup

I know, it's Spring, and I did not post anything for St. Patrick's Day (gimme a break! I'm a college student!), but it's cold over where I live today so I feel like a soup. Here's how I made it.

You're gonna want to start with a good base, for me that's my traditional version of this sauce, to make it traditional I skip all of the extra veggies, and just add them to the soup later.

So, go ahead and grab yourself a can of beets and boil 'em! While you are doing that...

 Chop up your veggies...

 I used onion and squash (squash makes it look like there is corn in the soup)

Cook your onions and  until golden or soft, which ever you prefer.

 next cut up some Italian sausage (you can use whatever meat you like, this is what I had on hand).

Toss the squash, and sausage in with the onion and cook until sausage is browned, and squash is cooked. I love the smell of cooking onions!

 add extra vegetables of your choice (I chose broccoli, which I love).

 You should have your red sauce ready by now, so go ahead and dump it into the mix!

 Personally, I like to stir in olive oil or coconut oil after I have the soup finished, it just adds a bit of character to the soup, and besides, that's what Momma did to her soups when I was a kid. Except she used butter... 

 you can let your soup simmer for a while or serve it up immediately! Either way, it's good. Enjoy!

 This is where I generally post a picture of a dish with the finished product, but what can I say? I was starving!

Coconut Ranch Dressing

This recipe takes a long time, but I promise its worth it.
My favorite dressing for  salad is ranch dressing.
It's creamy, it's tangy and just perfect for dipping or pouring. Ranch makes any vegetable edible.
Here's how I made it

You Will Need:

1 14.5 oz can of coconut milk
 Salt
Pepper
Italian seasonings
Rice vinegar (or you can use lemon juice)

First, you need a can of coconut milk, NOT the lite version.  This is what I use.

You need the cream that's gonna rise to the top. Place the can into the refrigerator for three to four days (yes, 3-4 days). This step is absolutely necessary for the cream to rise completely and properly harden.   After the allotted time. open up the can and scoop out the hardened cream (don't toss the liquid that is left! You can use it to help thin out the dressing). 

You will want to start mashing up the cream and adding your rice vinegar, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.

It will look clumpy at first, but keep adding rice vinegar a little bit at a time, and the reserved coconut liquid until you have the desired consistency.

This would have been too thick for a dressing, but perfect for a dip!

This is what I was looking for. Now of course you will need to taste it as you go to make sure it's not too vinegary, or whatever.  Everything is to what your personal taste is, if you like yours spicy add some cayenne pepper to it! If you like yours a bit sweet, add sugar or honey to it, throw in some mustard if you like! It's whatever you want it to be. This is the goal

A jar of allergy safe ranch whenever you want or need it. This recipe will make about two cups of dressing, but that really depends on how much liquid you add. It should keep up to a week in the fridge (if it last that long).

FYI: This dressing does need to stay cold, it may harden a little depending on how much liquid you add (the more you add the less likely it is to harden), and it will melt if you pour it over something hot.

Enjoy!