The Skinny on No Sugar

Well, I wasn't quite prepared for the reactions that the "Sugarless 2011" challenge evoked! So, I'm going to write a whole post outlining just what exactly next year is going to look like.

On a side note, I'm going to be super annoyed if I die next year. I'll be the one kicking and screaming at the Pearly Gates, crying, "...but I wanted one last chocolate sundaaaaaaaaaae!"

Of course, I'm not planning on going anywhere, so let's get on to business. I probably would have done better to call this "Sweetless 2011", because there's no way to avoid sugar in food entirely. It's EVERYWHERE, from your loaf of whole-wheat bread to the ketchup on your hot dog. What I'm doing this year is consciously avoiding sweet things. This means I will eat none of the following:

• Chocolate, candy, cookies
• Anything served as a dessert (ice cream, cake, pie, etc.)
• Muffins, scones, and other sweet breads (besides what I'll make for the Bread Challenge)
• Pancakes, waffles, crepes
• Sweet drinks (pop, juice, hot chocolate, and yes, caramel frappuccinos. This is going to be a long, looong year)
• Non-plain yogurt (Yoplait may as well be a dessert, there's so much sugar in one of those!)
• Jello (not that I eat much, it just kind of popped in my head)

I feel like I'm forgetting something, so I'll probably have to come back and add things as I think of them. I usually don't put sugar in anything I'm cooking unless it's already a sweet food, so that shouldn't be an issue. Oh, and I hate the taste of fake sugar (Equate, Sweet n' Low), so I won't be using those, either. And I've never tried stevia, but I've always thought that was kind of a cheating thing anyways, so that's off the approved list, as well.

Of course, I have a couple sweet exceptions: fruit and honey. Fruit is kind of a duh exception, but why honey? Because I eat oatmeal for breakfast nearly every day, and I need something on top. I'm not out to make myself suffer this year or anything. Besides, I have a pantry stocked with local raw, organic honey that has some nice health benefits, and I'd hate to let it go to waste!

A big reason I'm doing this is because the doctors are 99% certain I had gestational diabetes with Baby D. After all was said and done, I found out that not only did my mom have GD problems with her pregnancies, but her mom did as well, so I'm dealing with some powerful hereditary factors at work here. In fact, when I later read the story of my birth, it was scary how exactly it matched Baby D's! So anyways, I think the Sugarless 2011 will help me get on track for the next pregnancy. Not to mention, help out with the dental side of things!

Are you making any dietary changes this new year? I've always thought going organic was pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure my heart wouldn't be able to handle the checkout counter. I have some friends that are going vegan, and then my husband is cutting out junk food. I'd love to hear about yours!

Not so fast with that Christmas trash!

Remember all that cellophane packaging on your gifts? Well, when you sew a few layers onto a piece of terry cloth...

... add ribbon loops and a flannel backing, and then zigzag the edges...

...you have a texture toy that makes a pleasant crinkle crinkle sound. A visual, aural, and tactile delight!

Apparently, it's also delicious. Look at those little fingers entwined in the loops!

These aren't your Mom's resolutions!

I'm really excited about my New Year's resolutions. Usually, my resolutions have been all about improving existing behavior: exercise more, clean more, read my Bible every day. Usually, it's a giant list. And usually, this happens...

But this year, I'm doing things a little differently.

This year, they are challenges.


And best of all, there are only two things on the list.




1. The Bread Challenge

 I'm pretty horrible at making yeast bread. I can make the Five-Minute Artisan Bread all right, but even a monkey can do that one. Adam goes running the other way whenever I announce that I'm MAKING the sandwich bread for the week, because my loaves are always really crumbly and too flat. So, this year, I'm going to become skilled at making breads and bread-y products by making a variety of breads, one a week. I really, REALLY wanted to do this one last year, but morning sickness hit me right after Christmas and kept me out of the kitchen for the next couple months.

2. A Sugarless 2011

That's right, no sugar in the Year 2011. I already lead a fairly low-sugar life (I never drink pop and hardly ever buy candy), but now I'm going to up the ante. The only exception will be the occasional sweet bread from my Bread Challenge, because I wanted to do that first, and I think I need to do a few sweet breads in order to get the entire bread experience. When I told Adam about this one, he immediately jumped on the bandwagon. Since we got a ton of Christmas sweets, I suggested that we finish up what sweets we do have into the new year so that we don't die trying to eat everything in the next two days, but Adam thinks that's a bad idea. What would you do?

So those are my New Year's resolutions! Do you make resolutions, or do you think they're a waste of time? Have you ever had a resolution that actually lasted the entire year?

I Made a Cloth Diaper!

I've always been really intimidated by the thought of sewing diapers. What if they leak? What if they don't fit? How the heck do you put in the elastic, anyway? But yesterday, mad desire for a free fitted diaper trumped fear of elastic, and I whipped one up in a surprisingly short amount of time. Today, I'll put it to the test! I already have a list of "Things I'll do differently next time", so I may have to make a couple more before posting a tutorial. But here's a sneak peek at my fitted, reversible diaper:

I hope it works!

Destashing Giveaway-- Cloth wipes! *CLOSED*

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember my post about making cloth wipes from old flannel sheets. By the end of the sheet, I had over sixty wipes! But after diapering Baby D for a few months, I discovered that I only use about thirty wipes. There are actually some wipes at the bottom of my stash that have never even been touched!

So here's my Christmas gift to you:

Two readers will each receive a fifteen-pack of my cloth wipes!

They are made with two layers of repuposed 100% cotton flannel. They were originally cut 8"x8", but after several hot washes, they have shrunk just a little bit. Some of them have been used (but they are squeaky-clean, I promise!), and may have some color variations in the thread. I was just making them for myself, so I was all about using up those half-spools of thread. But don't let this scare you-- they really get the job done! I use disposable wipes when I'm out and about, so I can tell you from my experience that one cloth wipe usually takes care of the mess that requires two or more disposable wipes. For those using disposable diapers: if you're looking for a way to cut down on the waste but aren't too thrilled at the prospect of handling poopy cloth diapers, then cloth wipes are a happy medium!

How to enter?
Tell me about one of your all-time favorite Christmas gifts. That's it. I'm making this one nice and easy for you. :-)

Giveaway will end 11:59 P.M. January 6 , 2011. Someone gets to ring in the new year with some free cloth wipes!  The winners will be chosen by random.org.

Winners will be contacted by email, so please leave an email address with your comment!

Christmas Home Tour: Downright Edition!

Welcome, welcome! Here for the tour? Well, it takes about fifteen seconds to walk through my apartment, so it'll be a short one. Let me just open that door for you...

Right inside the door, we have the Christmas tree, complete with the floor ornaments that the cats have successfully knocked off the tree.

Putting up the tree is one of my favorite Christmas activities, because so many of the ornaments are old friends that I have grown up with. Here's an ornament given to me by my life-long best bud, Laura. I think she gave this to me when I was in the third or fourth grade.

This one is dated 1987 on the back. I was one year old when my grandparents gave it to me, making this my oldest ornament!

Yes, that is Ursula in my tree, compliments of a sibling. Don't you wish your tree was as evil as mine. :-)

Adam gave me this one when we were dating. We have a strange relationship.

I painted this Santa at a pottery studio a couple years back, when my youngest brother came to visit. Isn't he the most epic Santa ever?

Adam got this one from our alma mater last year. We wryly call it "Our $100,000 ornament." Shudder.

Adam cut this off the stump of our first Christmas tree and then woodburned it. He definitely has a creative and sentimental side! :-)

I finally bought some nuts this year. Now Christmas is official at the Downright Domesticity. And, no, we  haven't gotten around to actually doing Advent this year, but I am happy to at least get the candles up this year.

Adam and I both have our own little Christmas trees. Adam bought mine for me when we were engaged; and when he discovered post-marriage that NO, I was not going to make the big tree silver and blue, we bought one for him. Here is Adam's:

The Nativity set. The stable is hiding somewhere, so this year, they're going open-air.

In the living room, Mendelssohn puts on his Christmas finery. Even though he was Jewish. Did you know he wrote the tune for Hark the Herald Angels Sing?

The nutcracker ornaments from Adam's childhood have a mafia feel about them. Don't watch too much TV, or you'll be sleeping with da fishes, knowhaddi mean?

In the kitchen, my signature brown sugar shortbread is on its way to fattening a few unsuspecting souls.

My sister Annalynne made me an Advent calendar, a la the one from our childhood. Last night, I accidentally knocked it over on the way to bed. I said, "Whatever!" and stuck them back on any which way. The result was a Marc Chagall Christmas scene: 

My tree got relegated to the bathroom this year.

It's music-themed, with all sorts of mice playing little instruments.

Not even the bathroom mirror is safe from the Christmas spirit!

I ran out of decorations by the time I got to the bedroom, so that concludes the Christmas tour! Have a warm and fuzzy Christmas, and don't trip over the little reindeer on the way out!

Just What I Needed

I'm certain that the people you meet are not accidental. Every meeting, even the small, random conversations with total strangers, are orchestrated by God, I've always thought.  Most times, I can't understand why and maybe never will, but no exchange is meaningless. Anyway, I've been a bit blue lately. Not a day goes by that I'm not struck with sadness about the events surrounding Baby D's birth; and some days, it's a little more than that. A birth story, an article, news that someone's in labor, or even sometimes just looking at Baby D will set me into a deep funk for days. Mainly I harbor a deep bitterness against the current medical system and worry quite a bit about the next pregnancy, and I'm trying to work through all that. Doing some research a couple evenings ago, I wasn't too surprised to learn that oftentimes NICU parents suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and I also would not be surprised to learn that I have a mild case.

Anyways, I went to church this morning. Baby D, who normally loves the opening music, inexplicably started wailing halfway through, so I carted him off to the nursing room to calm him down. After I got him all sorted out, I went to wait the foyer waiting to go back in the sanctuary, and met another woman sitting there. Baby D is a conversation magnet, so before long, I found out that this lady had gone through three C-sections, starting with her oldest, who was unexpectedly born a month early. And she was so... normal. Happy, even. It was just nice to see someone a few years on the other side of the trauma of an unexpected birth, a C-section, and a probable NICU stay (I'm just guessing, the baby being a preemie and all). She even went on to have more C-section births, and guess what? Her life went on.

It was a few minute's exchange, but I found it healing. 

Did the lady know? Probably not.

Was it random chance that I left the sanctuary and met her? Probably not.

Sometimes, the Holidays...

... are meant for snuggling with your favorite pal.

Quick Homemade Pizza

Hello, I'm back! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your turkey! By now, you have probably used up all the Thanksgiving leftovers (if not, you might want to think about, um, opening that tupperware), so today I will tell you how I made a really quick homemade pizza this past weekend!

The words "quick" and "homemade pizza" usually don't go well together because of two time-consuming tasks: making the crust, and simmering the pizza sauce. So here's what I used: for the crust, the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipe; and for the sauce, ingredients (with TONS of spices) that I threw together about thirty seconds before slathering it on the pizza.

Here's what you do: turn the oven to a very high temperature. I turned mine to around 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, and then sprinkle liberally with cornmeal.

Cut a chunk from the Artisan bread dough and shape it however you want on the cookie sheet- round, square, rhomboid- whatever your fancy! Just make sure that it's thin.

Now, for a super-delicious touch! Mix a few tablespoons of olive oil with a couple teaspoons of basil. With a pastry brush, brush the mixture all around the edge of the crust. Voila, you now have a delicious breadstick-like crust! I keep meaning to try this with Parmesan cheese, but I'm pretty sure the pizza would explode from sheer awesomeness.

Now, for the sauce! Here is approximately what I used:

6 oz tomato paste
6 oz tomato sauce
1 T olive oil
1 T Italian spice mix
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. black pepper (I'm a pepper lover, so you may want to use less or skip it altogether)
Dash of salt (depending on your toppings, you may want to add more)
Water, to your desired consistency (don't make it too thin!)

Mix it all together, and put your desired amount on the pizza. Top with mozzarella.

For toppings, I used pepperoni, sliced Roma tomatoes, and sliced garlic. I wasn't entirely sure how the garlic would work, but it ended up being a most delicious addition!

Now, stick that puppy in the oven until the cheese is nicely browned. It took mine about 10-15 minutes.

I wish I had some pictures, but we inhaled it before I even thought of blogging about this. This pizza was even approved by a four-year-old-- the normally picky little guy ate two whole slices! Pretty good, considering that I stuck a cup or so of whole wheat flour into the bread dough. ;-) We ended up with a bunch of extra sauce, so I'm thinking of assembling and freezing some more. Eat your heart out, Red Baron!

And as you can see, cooking is definitely an art to me! How about you? Is cooking more of an art or a science to you?