recipe round-up | Eating 4 Balance

Howdy Ho Ranger Joes!

I have this very strong feeling that I’ve used that as an introduction on this blog before. But even if I have that’s okay because it’s a fantastic one at that. Doesn’t it just bring back great childhood memories and make you all warm fuzzy inside?

I sure wish I was all warm and fuzzy inside. Instead as you read this I will be shivering my butt off stargazing.

Yes. Stargazing. In the middle of ~~Winter~~ (okay, so it’s not technically Winter yet but it’s snowed, it’s cold, and I’m counting it).

But yes, tonight I am going to my school’s planetarium to look at stars for my Astronomy class. I could have done this months ago when it was summer and warm, but I love venturing out by myself at 9:00 at night during the Winter where I am so bundled up in my coat/scarf/gloves that even if someone did attack me and try to steal my non-operating cellphone, their fist would basically just bounce off my mountain of puffy layers.

Or perhaps if I showed them my bubbly, burnt foot they would feel sorry for me and go bother someone else.*

Don’t worry. I will keep you updated with ALL of the photos of my lovely foot through its recovery stages. This is only Day 2. If my phone was functioning properly you could see how awful it looks today.

*Nothing’s really concrete yet and it’s basically a toss-up if they would actually believe my pitiful story.

As it is though, I have t-minus 40 minutes before I should leave and thus only 40 minutes to write this post. While that may be a lot of time for some people, it doesn’t seem to be nearly enough for me. Actually I’m kind of just panicking thinking about it.

39 minutes to go.

Moooving on…

Lately I have been seeing some pretty incredible holiday recipes all around and they are just getting me more and more excited for Christmas! One thing my Pinterest feed is lacking though is some good, quality holiday recipes that us allergic folks can make and eat. Every time I click on a recipe I cross my fingers and hold my breath… then I scan the ingredients list and sigh.

For clarification purposes, I am NOT anaphylactic to any foods, I just think these comics are hilarious.

Really, it’s no one’s fault that I can’t eat 99% of the recipes they post. Actually, it’s kind of MY fault for following people that post nothing but recipes I can’t eat. Their pictures are just SO BEAUTIFUL though!

Case in point: http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/peppermint-butter-cookies/

Instead of complaining any further though, here is what I propose:

I would like to plan a 12 Days of Allergy-Free Christmas Recipes

(Title pending).

This would all depend you guys though, because I would like some of you to co-host with me! 🙂 Twelve days would be way too many recipe round-ups and I’m pretty sure that you would get tired of it fast. Instead we could divide and conquer, each taking up responsibility for one of the twelve days. Each day would have a different theme. For example- appetizers, beverages, main dishes, side dishes, cookies (maybe even split cookies into types- gingerbread, sugar, chocolate), pudding, cake, muffins, casseroles, soup, salad, lunch, breakfast, candy… That way there wouldn’t be an overlap, and we would increase the chances of someone finding at least ONE recipe in each of the categories that would fit their dietary needs.

We could start whenever, counting down literally to Christmas, or even perhaps end a few days before. You could announce what theme you will be hosting in the next few days, make a call out for recipes that fit the bill, and then post a recipe round-up (along with a new recipe of your own) on the specified day.

Sort of like some of these recipe round-ups: Fall Favorites, WITHOUT the Pumpkin, or 20 Apple Dessert Recipes.

Or like my recent Catching Fire round-up! https://eating4balance.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/catching-fire-wiaw/

At the end what we would have is an incredible collection of recipes that would be a wonderful resource for those with food allergies or dietary restrictions. (Now, this wouldn’t mean that everything has to be egg/wheat/dairy/peanut/etc-free. I’m just suggesting that it be free of a few things. Maybe vegan or vegetarian, maybe Paleo or primal, or maybe even just simply or simply dairy-free or egg-free!)

So… Do I have any volunteers? It would be wonderful to get up to 12 bloggers to participate (or even more!), but whatever we get will be perfect. If enough are interested I will post a more concise and detailed post in the next few days with what you need to do, a button to include in your post, etc. I will probably also create a page on my blog where I will link all of the posts together at the end so that anyone who comes here will be able to find you as well!

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Who would like to participate?

You don’t need to have a food allergy blog to join in … Just be a blogger with a willingness to devote one day/post to this “extravaganza!”

If you do want to join, you can also pick what day you’d like to post, and what theme you want to do (it can be whatever you want, just specific enough that there won’t be tons of overlap!).

And if you don’t want to join, that’s okay too.

You can just follow along. In the comments share any ideas/thoughts/suggestions that you have for this big round-up!

You can also email me at allehays[at]gmail[dot]com if you want to participate or have any questions/suggestions.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their encouragement on my Friday and Monday posts. Your support, advice, and kind words are much appreciated.

Now, today is the first Wednesday of March and thus we have a new WIAW theme!

However, I’m going to pick up all of the lovely greenness next week and go on with my original plan. A recipe round-up!

Last week I asked my fellow WIAW-ers to share their favorite vegetable recipes and as you can tell below, you guys definitely delivered.

Women in Real Life’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Carrots and Quinoa

Jennifer at Jenmi Jenmi’s Cheesy Garlic Cauliflower Bread

Meghan at Clean Eats Fast Feets’ Roasted Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Meghan also contributed her Cheddar Cauliflower Soup

Heather at Kiss My Broccoli’s Cauliflower Dessert Crust Pizza

And now for the title of this post… I bet you were all wondering about that one, am I right?

Ha. I love corny jokes.

Yes, I went to the dentist yesterday. Fortunately it was just a routine appointment; however, I ended up being there for about an hour (twice as long as normal) because I had to get three sealants touched up. Got to prevent those cavities! I’ve already had enough drilling in my mouth for a lifetime.

One of my best friends also is having to go to the dentist this week, except her’s is an oral surgeon. Wisdom teeth. Ugh.

I’ve already had my wisdom teeth removed, but I wouldn’t wish that on anybody over their Spring Break. Please say your prayers for her that everything goes alright!

Continuing on with the tooth theme, in my business lab I have a group project involving researching Oral-B Toothbrushes and thinking of new innovations that the company could make to their product. One part of market research is interviewing customers. Remember how I told you how awesome you all were? Well, I need some help.

We are not legally allowed to enter a grocery store and ask consumers questions about their products, so I am ~~pleading~~ asking you to fill out the survey that my group has created. If you are kind enough to fill out the survey, you can either reply in the comments section with your answers, or you can email me at alleyhays [at] gmail [dot] com. No… my name is not alley… That is a story for another day folks.

And your reward for being so awesome and helping me out with my school project? Check back later this week for two new recipes. Two.