Ranch Dressing

I miss ranch dressing. It has always been my topping of choice for most any sort of salad, veggies, and occasionally even chips. But, with The Bean's need to be dairy free, I have had to forgo most creamy dressings. HOWEVER, I found this dairy-free ranch dressing the other day, and modified it just a bit to suit my needs. The original recipe is here: Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing Recipe.

Here is my modified recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (I used a bit more of this)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder (I used onion flakes to give it some texture)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard  

Mix the lemon juice and the coconut milk together and let sit for 10 minutes. Then whisk in the remaining ingredients. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. If you prefer a less-thick dip, add slightly more lemon juice and coconut milk. For a soy-free dressing, use canola mayo. 

I forgot to take a picture of it. Bummer! But it. was. amazing. Especially the next day on fresh veggies. Hurray for dairy-free ranch!

Diaper Liners

The Bean began eating solids on her six months birthday. (She was DYING to eat them before then, but I somehow held her off!)

 

Sweet potatoes are a definite favorite. I am enjoying watching her experience "people food", but her diapers since then have become...interesting, to say the least! The first time I changed a "sweet potato diaper", I brought it into the bathroom and gave it a good swishing in the commode as instructed by the cloth diaper websites I had studied. (Exclusively breast-fed babies have water soluble diapers, but solids don't dissolve, and I don't feel like picking pea skins out of my washer.)


Well, it might go without saying, but the diaper swishing experience was NOT memorable in a good way. I decided right then and there to order diaper liners.

These have saved my cloth diaper experience. The package comes with 200 liners. The toddler size is too big for The Bean's diapers, so I chop them in half. They have caught most everything so far, and if it's just a wet diaper, I toss them in the wash with the rest of the diapers. They come out clean and ready to be reused! So nice.

Cloth Diapers

It's just not a blog about cloth diapers if I don't blog about cloth diapers. Okay.

Cloth diapers aren't for everyone. In fact, I was pretty vehemently opposed to them myself before The Bean came along. I can't even remember why (pregnancy amnesia!). But, as I started talking to various moms about cloth vs. disposable, it became clear to me that I should at least give it a try. (More for The Bean's well-being and our budget than anything else.) I spent hours researching the different kinds out there. Hours. There are SO. MANY. OPTIONS.

However, the more reviews I read, the more I kept coming back to BumGenius. Specifically, the 4.0's. I was intrigued by the cloth diaper variety packs, but since I'm the type of person to settle on ONE of something and use it to the exclusion of everything else, I decided I needed to decide on one kind and stock up! (I also feel the need to mention that I feel like a total nerd blogging about cloth diapers. There, I said it. I feel better now.)

Cotton Babies had a (supposedly rare) sale on BumGenius 4.0's about the time I was looking to buy, so I took that as a sign and purchased twenty-four cloth diapers. It was a happy day when they finally arrived. I'm pretty sure I carried them around the house and bored the husband to tears exclaiming about the pretty colors and adorable snaps.

I started using them when The Bean was two weeks old, and THEY. HAVE. BEEN. WONDERFUL. I could not have asked for a better experience. It took a while to figure out a washing and drying sequence, but now that we have a routine in place, it's a cinch. They were a little big for a two week old (even one The Bean's size), but she quickly grew into them.

So...six months later, I have had no issues with them. Bleaching and sun drying them once a month takes care of stains and lingering smells, and The Bean has had very few diaper rashes. Score. Also, I can probably count on one hand the number of significant blow outs we've had to deal with in the past six months. I highly recommend them.

Confessions of a cloth diaper enthusiast (and a new mom): I color coordinate my diapers.

A friend gave me a couple BumGenius 3.0's (with velcro), and although I LOVE having pink diapers in my collection, I also understand why there is a 4.0. The velcro just doesn't hold up for multiple washings and lots of wear and tear. It tends to become frayed and won't stick to the laundry tabs. Cotton babies sells replacement velcro tabs here, and these seem to work pretty well, but I'd rather have the snaps and not worry about velcro. All for now.

Onion Rings

Found a great recipe for onion rings and modified it to be dairy free. Hurray! The original recipe can be found here: Old Fashioned Onion Rings.

Here is the modified recipe: 

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup coconut milk (I'm sure you could use soy milk as well)
• 1 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (or as needed)
• seasoned salt to taste
• 1 quart oil for frying (or as needed)

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt into a gallon sized ziploc bag and shake until thoroughly combined. Add onion rings (works best to add 1/2 of the batch at a time), and shake again until onions are well-dusted, then remove from the bag. After all the onions are covered in the flour mixture, add the eggs and the milk to the bag and mix until thoroughly combined. (The batter will be thick.) Add the onions (1/2 of the batch at a time) to the bag and "mash" the bag until the onions are covered in the batter. Remove onions from bag and place on some sort of rack (cooling rack, roasting pan rack, just something with holes/slits in it) to drip.
Heat the oil to about 350 degrees (use a thermometer!). In a large Tupperware container (or some sort of container with a lid, sprinkle some bread crumbs, add a few batter-covered onions, replace the lid, and shake until the onions are covered with crumbs.
Place the onions in the hot oil and fry until golden brown and DELICIOUS (about 1-2 minutes). Remove from oil and place on paper towels. Continue the process until all the onion slices have been upgraded as previously described.
Add salt/seasonings to taste, (we eat ours with a little salt and KETCHUP), and enjoy!

Onion rings are pretty time intensive, but these are totally worth it. So next time you have a spare hour, give 'em a try.

A Beginning

Well, here we go!