Dippity Do Dah

The economy ate my wholesale accounts

2009-12-22T05:01:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing a slow but steady change over the last couple of years in my business. It started with just a few of my retailers ordering less. Then, a few stores actually closed shop. Over the summer I had a fairly large customer stop sending birthday gifts to his clients. That was a nice chunk of change that we relied on each month that vanished overnight. Two more stores closed. One large retailer stopped ordering all together...and now the first store to ever carry our products, the Anchor Room, has closed their doors too.

Honestly, except for the emotional attachment to Anchor Room, and the relationships built with employees, I haven't really minded the loss of the wholesale accounts. I am a busy mom, with lots on my plate. My day doesn't begin and end with DipSticks, so losing wholesale seemed manageable. After all, I work just as hard on those orders as I do for direct, retail orders, but I make half the money.

Then, the busiest season of the year rolled around and I held my breath. You just literally NEVER know what's around that crazy corner called Christmas Shopping season. As expected, I had very minimal wholesale orders, but I did increase my corporate and retail orders. I think all in all it evened out. I wasn't nearly as stressed this year, which came in handy, given the whole stress eating issue going around here. But, I'm certainly not knocking anyone off the Forbes list anytime soon either.

But, I'm okay with that. For now. I have many things to deal with that are more important than sales and profit loss reports. Kids for one thing. Health is up there pretty high too. Once both kids are in full day school (which will be this August!! Woot!) I will have lots of time, and if all goes as planned, my health will be back on track by then too. So, look out!

I know the economy had a lot to do with my sales decrease locally, but I've witnessed two other food businesses in LA and New York quite literally explode with sales this year. That tells me there's a lot out there in the big ol' interwebs that I have yet to tap. Very exciting and motivating....so now I'm making my list and checking it twice, to make sure I am ready for next years Christmas Shopping season. Many changes to come, but change can be good.

Emotional Eating can suck it!

2009-12-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

The last few months have been such a roller coaster around here. Not just professionally with the business, but personally too. Do you feel it? It seems like the whole world is churning around and making changes and freaking everyone out. Something just seems to be going on. I've bought more motivational/self-help books in the last two months than Oprah has had on her show ever. I'm still looking for the one that actually helps.

I've considered new religious points of view, I've looked into Yoga, I've sought professional opinions, and I've baked. Boy have I baked. Baking is therapy for me though. As soon as I start chopping and sifting and stirring, it's like there are no troubles in the world. One caveat....if you eat said baked items, you will gain weight. Based on the amount of weight I've gained this year, I'd say I've had one whopper of a stressful year.

But, I can't keep gaining, so I'm slowing down on baking these days and thinking about other ways of dealing with my stress. First and foremost, I had my thyroid medication changed which seems to really have made the most difference. Second, I have found some websites where I can check in and share my thoughts with others. Having that support system does make a big difference. And I'm going to try to blog more. I tried writing in a journal, but I can type so much faster than I write, that it just makes sense to do it this way.

So, bare with me as I write my way to wellness...physically, spiritually, and mentally. And please share your thoughts on getting through tough times. I'd love to hear them.

Announcements! Announcements!

2009-11-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

So, we've been a little busy around here in pretzel land. I've been working on some more aggressive marketing this holiday. And by aggressive, I mean I'm actually trying for once. You see, I have these things called children that, in the past, have required lots of attention from me. Not that they still don't, but they are much more manageable and understanding than during previous holidays. I think it goes without saying, that I prefer my sanity over pretzel sales any day. I don't think all business owners share my beliefs on that one, but for our family, this is what works.

Having said all that, I feel a little safer in attempting to secure more orders for DipSticks. So, while my days aren't entirely kid free, or stress free, I am quite a bit more flexible with what my options can be.

The best part is most people approach us anyway, so we've done pretty good so far without spending money or going crazy on getting new business. Case in point, the Hilton in Indianapolis contacted us a few weeks ago to try some samples of our pretzels. They loved them and are now carrying them as turndown ammenities for their special guests. Very cool.

Also, Crazy Sisters Coffee, in Lutheran Hospital, has shown interest and will hopefully be selling our little pretzels for the holiday season soon. Webbs Hallmark in southern Indiana has also called several times to find out how to carry the pretzels. We're playing phone tag now, but I'm confident once the kinks are worked out, we'll be there in no time.

Another exciting addition to the DipSticks family, although I'm not quite sure how it's going to play out in the long run, are my lovely and tasty cheesecakes. If you read this blog, you've seen them. They are fun to make and so delicious. And now, they can be purchased (well not now, but very soon!) at the Eagle Creek Farms Market in Winona Lake. Our pretzels will be there too in addition to ready to take home cheesecakes, and also by the slice served at lunch. I never imagined selling cheesecakes, but I'm not turning it down. My dream is to have a DipSticks Gourmet Coffee and Sweets shop someday and sell all my baked goods, pretzels, and great coffee. I can smell it already!

Overall, sales have been pretty good this year, despite the economy. But, the weird thing, is that while some stores like Hallmark and other smaller stores have really declined in sales, others have picked up, or we've added new ones. It all seems to balance out. I'm super thankful that I don't pay any overhead really at all, and no employees to worry about, and it's not our sole income, so that's a plus. It would be hard to run a brick and mortar business these days, and it's so sad to see some close up or lose hope. Maybe this holiday will turn things around. Things are looking up already!

Happy holiday shopping, and don't forget about our lovely gift boxes! (And the 4" pretzels are perfect for stockings and package tie-ons, too.)

A Trick and a Treat

2009-11-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a cheesecake I did for Halloween. Not because I had a party to go to or anything, just because the idea came to me....and I HAD to make it. Not sure what that says about me, but either way, this cheesecake turned out amazingly!

I wanted to do a pumpkin cheesecake for the orange color, but also because of the fall flavors that are in season now. By pairing it with an oreo cookie crust, I achieved a great black and orange look too.

Once I made the pumpkin batter, I quickly realized I didn't know how to approach the web idea that I had envisioned in my head. If I drizzled chocolate on after it was baked, would it work, or just smear? I wasn't sure. But, I wasn't sure what would happen if I did it prior either. I ended up just creating the spider web with melted chocolate that I poured onto the pumpkin batter before baking and hoped for the best. It actually worked way better than I thought! The chocolate sort of dried out and cracked as it baked, and gave it an even more eerie feel than expected. I was very happy with the results.

Next step, after the cheesecake cooled, was to make the spiced vanilla mousse. All my cheesecakes (except the turtle one, because frankly, with all that caramel and chocolate and nuts on top, it has enough going on!) have a flavored mousse of some kind piped around the edges. Usually they are done with a fancy tip, but it just didn't feel right using a star tip for a scary spider cheesecake. So, I just used a round tip and winged it. The result is some kind of spooky castley/tombstoney looking things. Some people thought they were ghosts, which is fine too.

The funniest part of this, was that I thought I'd be able to just melt some chocolate and start piping some realistic looking spiders. However, the first few spiders I piped ended up looking more like retarded ants. After a quick trip to my favorite place, googleville, I found some photos to work from, and finally started getting better results.

A quick dusting of nutmeg all over the whole cake, and my masterpiece was complete. Not only did this one look amazing, but the taste was ridiculous. I can't believe how good it was. It was very much like pumpkin pie, but had a light and fluffy texture and wasn't too sweet.

I plan to make this for Thanksgiving using a ginger snap crust, or maybe a cinnamon almond cookie crust instead of oreos, and just using the star tip for the mousse...sans spiders of course too! Cheesecakes are fun, yo!

Is there a doctor in the big house?

2009-09-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

For Jacob's 4th birthday, we got him a doctor's kit toy. He loves it and plays doctor all the time. Well, all the time except for when he's playing PlayStation Lego games (like batman, indiana jones, and star wars) with his big brother. He has learned the difference between good guys and bad guys, or so it became apparent this morning.

We were loading up the car to get Joshua to school, and Jacob was toting along one of the pieces from his doctor kit. He said, "Mommy! I got my doctor toy!" "Oh great!" I said excitedly. "Are you going to be a doctor when you grow up?" "NO. I'm going to be a bad guy."

That figures....

The playboy perfume pretzel, and other short stories

2009-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well this is an odd one, even for me. When I was in college, a friend of mine worked in a department store in the mall. She gave me a small sample of a trendy perfume named "Child." I held onto it forever. Like, a whole 10 years! I finally started wearing it and was all "Woah. This stuff is awesome!" So, after that tiny vial was almost empty, about a month later, I looked it up online. And surprise surprise, it's not sold anywhere except online now. I ordered some from beautyhabit.com, and waited anxiously for it to arrive. How does this have anything do to with pretzels? Wait for it...

So, when my order came, I immediately dabbed a bit on, and it didn't smell like I had remembered it. I waited a few weeks, and just never felt like it smelled the same. Like the genius that I am, I waited a good year before I thought, Oh hey, maybe I should email the company to see what is wrong with it.

I googled Child Perfume, found the link to the main company's website, and found the only email address on the contact page. After a short, but sweet email to a person named susan, explaining what had happened, I hit the send button expecting an auto reply saying thanks and hang on we'll get to you in a minute, right after we've taken care of the other 256 nut jobs ahead of you. So, when my iPhone beeped alerting me of a new email, I checked it and found quite a lovely surprise. Not only did Susan reply to my email, but Susan just so happens to be the ass kicking FOUNDER of the cult perfume. The founder! Replying to little old me! Personally! Within hours. I'm easily impressed apparently, but I know how hard it can be to keep up with emails, even just with a business my size. So, yeah, that was impressive.

As we chatted back and forth about the perfume, she noticed my signature that goes on every email that I send. The DipSticks company name and url are on there, and she had checked it out and said it looked incredible. After all the help she was to me with the perfume (oh, you still want to know what happened with the perfume? who cares! this is the exciting part!) I offered to send her a box of pretzels as a thank you. Then, she challenged me with a very unique request: To make a pretzel look like the Child bottle.

That seemed easy enough. At least the bottle wasn't shaped like a giant hat or something. It is a very simple, elegant roll on, with a black matte cap, and a frosty clear body, revealing the yellowish tinted perfumey goodness inside.

The biggest hurdle this task would have is what to roll the pretzel in. I roll all of my pretzels in something...even if it's just more pretzels. I do this for a few reasons. One being that they don't stick to the waxed paper that way, and another because it gives my pretzels the larger size I want.

But, since this bottle is so sleek, that wasn't really an option. I tried rolling it in multi-colored non-pareils and jimmies, to go with that childish vibe, but it looked lumpy and weird. So, I just went with straight caramel.

The yellow chocolate was easy enough to match, and the black wasn't as hard as I initially thought it would be either. I used dark chocolate and added black food coloring. Overall, it was a fun distraction, and Susan loved it. The next hurdle is to figure out if we can get a Child logo directly on the pretzel itself, just like the bottle has. Stay tuned.

As for the perfume dilemma and the playboy connection? Well, I've determined that somehow my body chemistry has changed. Because, I found my vial of the sample that I so dearly loved, and mysteriously it smells the same as the new bottle does. That means the common denominator is me. It use to smell good, now it doesn't, so my theory is that I am eating something, or something has changed, that is altering my biochemistry, hence altering the smell of this perfume. (But, that's for another, more scientific post.) With the whole sugar cleanse thing, I have a feeling I'll notice a difference. Oh don't you worry, I'll be posting about THAT in detail too.

Now for the part you've been waiting for. Susan was a former playboy playmate and partied it up with my rock gods, Motley Crüe and Poison. How amazeballs is that?! Yeah I hate that word too, but you come up with a better one! She's since moved on and is the nicest person I've ever not met. Even if this experience results in no sales, it was worth it to be able to say I know someone who partied with guys I have on a shirt somewhere in my closet...next to a jean jacket with pins of those other guys she partied with. And Ratt.

Vicarious living......sometimes it's good enough.

Have some wine with that cheese.

2009-08-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

I found this very interesting. My site stats show me how people find my blog. I did a keyword analysis and here are the top five searches people use that result in landing on one of my blog pages:

13.33% dairy withdrawal

5.49% dairy withdrawal symptoms

4.71% moscato wine brands

3.92% moscato brands

3.14% brands of moscato wine

So basically I'm only good for dairy and wine. Good to know.

Dear Sugar aka A letter to Satan

2009-08-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

I typically post a mini column called "dear dairy". It's my adorable play on words in which I complain about my dairy free woes. Or, more often than not, my attempting to give up dairy woes.

Two years ago when I did a candida diet, which isn't really a diet per se, it's more of a way of eating to cleanse your body of unwanted yeastie monsters, I noticed several things. My energy level was kkkrrrraaazy after about 2 weeks of being on it. My skin, while normally very clear, was even glowing with health. My weight dropped off like buttah on a hot cob of corn. And my attitude & depressive tendencies were G-O-N-E gone!

However, it is very very very hard to stay on that "diet". I've mentioned this before but it warrants mentioning again....you are supposed to, for the first 4 months, give up dairy, sugar, wheat, vinegar, yeast, mushrooms, alcohol, pork and all cured meats like bacon, caffeine..... and fruit. Dude.

I always start my diet that way, and give up a day or two later. Sometimes an hour or two later. While knowing that this eating will totally make me feel awesome, I appear to not care. I just want my cheetos. And starbucks, and taco bell. But who can blame me, look at all the things you have to "give up"! It feels like a prison sentence.

So, this time I only gave up sugar. I thought instead of overwhelming my body with such a huge change, I'd start small, but really? Sugar was probably the hardest to give up, so it felt huge.

To prepare for this, I got rid of ALL evil sugars from the house, and I brought in healthy sugars, like agave nectar and fruit juice sweetened cookies, as well as loads of fresh veggies and sweet fruits. I use to think that the raging headache I got a few hours into this diet was due to the caffeine withdrawal, but this time the ONLY thing I gave up was sugar, and - you saw this coming - I got a huge headache. SO, obviously the sugar was the evil culprit all along.

But, let me tell you. I feel awesome. I gave up sugar 7 days ago. Given the fact that I made a raspberry cheesecake for someone and received that package of goodies from sugarmohawk, I have eaten a little bit of sugar. But compared to my daily consumption, it has really been nothing. My energy level is getting back to normal, and my mood was improved within a day or two.

I exercised for an hour on the treadmill a few nights ago, and still had enough energy to go for a fast paced walk around the neighborhood with my hubby. You don't know how good it feels to get your life back.

It seems ridiculously obvious that sugar is the devil, but do we ever stop to really pay attention to what is going on in our body that might be caused by sugar? Are you tired? Are you at all mopey or hopeless or down? Is your memory slipping? Well, if you said yes to any of those, then it is so worth it to at least try giving up sugar for a week. Once you feel the difference and see the results, you won't want to go back. And, thankfully, with the great natural sugar alternatives available today, you don't need to.

I may start writing just about sugar for awhile, but I do plan to eventually eliminate dairy and wheat again. I will document each step though, so I have a clear understanding of what exactly my body reacts to.

I'd love to hear your sugar experiences, and tips if you have any! No artificial sweetener info though....I don't do fake.

lady on a plane

2009-08-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

I can't remember if I read an article about this, or saw her on a television show, but I remember vividly the story of a woman in the airline industry. It was just after 9/11 and she knew instinctively that her time as a flight stewardess was going to be coming to an end, given the trickle down effect this horrific incident would inevitably have on airline companies.

She had been a stewardess for most of her life, and wasn't sure what she should even do next. So, she just started doing everything. She began planting seeds everywhere she could think, and eventually many of those seeds sprouted at once! She found herself having money coming from all directions, just in time for her to lose her job, as expected. I believe she ended up writing a novel, and traveling the country as a motivational speaker, as well as penning several news columns.

I took inspiration from this at the time, and still hold onto it every day. As a stay at home mom, with a fairly successful business that brings me slim to zero cash, I often wonder what I really should be doing with my life. I am a multi talented, creative, intelligent person with interests in a wide variety of subjects. There has to be SOMETHING I can do to be "successful". (although, really what is success? but, that's for another, more philosophical post.)

First of all, I love DipSticks and won't ever give that up, but as much wholesale business that I do, I don't make a lot of money. Sure, we've made a profit technically, but I don't pull any salary. And I won't until I get more corporate orders and retail orders. Neither of which I can really focus on with two little kids running around. And let me be clear. I COULD do it, I just choose to put my family first at this time. Oh, and sleep. Yeah, I prioritize that too.

But, one thing is abundantly clear. I love food, and am super content talking about it, writing about it, watching tv shows about it...and obviously making it. So, as I focus on those "seeds" I have found that as I mention to people my love of food, as well as nutrition, that something interesting is happening.

Just last week I had a lovely email from a long time friend of mine with ridiculously spectacular news that I am not at this time at liberty to discuss. But, rest assured. It's huge. And totally food related.

And, a medical professional I've been working with has suggested a collaboration of sorts involving my helping clients with diet restriction options (such as gluten free, dairy free etc.) This could lead to even larger possibilities that even I had not thought of.

I am looking into going back to get my masters in Dietetics/nutrition. On one hand I'm very excited about this because I do love to learn. But, on the other hand, there's studying. And that whole part about going back to college.

I've been writing a column about food for Talk of the Town for a few months now and love it.

And, hey, just for kicks I have an invention I'm trying to get patented, and some adorable little bookmarks that I plan to launch on etsy soon. Those are my seeds. Grow little seeds, grow!

Sugar Mohawk

2009-08-26T05:41:00.001-07:00

It's ironic that the box of goodies I ordered from the etsy shop "Sugar Mohawk" came the week I decided to give up sugar.

Actually, I ordered it well before my sugar elimination strategy was laid out, on August 6th. But, she took awhile to ship it, and then when a box arrived on the 19th, it was the wrong order. I had ordered some bizarre items like chocolate covered cotton candy/peanut butter cups, and cinnamon coconut s'mores, but what was inside this box was lemon pound cake and lemon bars. Booorrrring. I could make those at home.

So, I promptly started a "convo" with ms. sugarmohawk on etsy and she quickly solved that issue. Promising overnight shipping and a $20 credit for future orders. However, the new order didn't arrive until today, August 26th. I gave up sugar on Friday. Either the gods don't really want me to give up sugar, or I've really pissed someone off. It was obviously not shipped overnight, and alas, no $20 credit in my package.

I opened the box, and everything was nicely packaged in clear cellophane bags with yellow stars on them. The bag of chocolate covered cotton candy cups had broken open, causing sugar to be all over the box. Ya see, cuz chocolate + cotton candy + peanut butter wasn't enough. She had to sprinkle sugar all over it too. Makes total sense to me.

I sliced one of those babies in half, and noticed the cute pink, not even remotely fluffy, cotton candy that was in the top layer, and a thin layer of PB in the bottom. One bite of this and two things came to mind 1.) this isn't natural, and 2.) this isn't real chocolate. Okay, and probably one more thing popped in there a little too late...you probably shouldn't have ordered these. They were not my thing, to be super nice about it. Which surprises me, because I am all about trying new things. The joke in my house is that if it says "new" on the label, I buy it. I'm just a wild and crazy gal, I guess.

After eating those, I was a little bit afraid of tasting the rest, but the crazy runs deep. I took a bite of the one I was most excited about: two almond cinnamon thins, with red velvet cake sandwiched in between, all dipped in "chocolate". I loved it. Really, I did. The cookies had gotten soft, which was to be expected, but it didn't really affect the overall taste.

I ate one of those, and then tasted the s'mores. These were described on sugarmohawk's etsy shop as: "imagine a fresh crispy cinnamon&sugar sprinkled graham...chops&chops of sweeeet IMPORTED Belgian Vanilla Cocoa Brick plopped with Fresh Coconut Marshmallows....placed in the DEEP WOOD BURN ROASTER and thennnnn.out dons a GORGEOUS SWEEET CAMPFIRE MUNCHER!(use sweet Local cut maple wood)"

They didn't taste bad, but really they tasted like any s'more I could make at home. I couldn't really taste the coconut, and a real campfire makes the best roasted marshmallows, hands down.

The one thing that I don't understand. Maybe it's just her shtick, but this person is fond of extra letters in her words. As you can see from the above s'more description. It was kind of annoying, and almost deterred me from ordering from her. But, seriously her creations are definitely uuuuunnnnique. So, more power to her!

Now, back to my regularly scheduled, boring, sugarless life...

UPDATE: Those little boogers are addictive, yo! Dammmmnnnn. Even the cotton candy pb cups were tastier when I went back for a second bite. My kids like them too. I suggest you check out her shop on etsy and at least give it a shot. There are seriously insane items for sale there. Heck, I may just go back in a few months to try these.....

*all photos, sugarmohawk

spacey and that's not a good thing.

2009-08-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

so, apparently blogger likes to just randomly add space wherever it feels like. so, in the following post about the krabby patty cake, you'll see ginourmous amounts of space. Don't blame me, it didn't look like that when I previewed it. I swear.

A Krusty Krab Birthday party!

2009-08-25T01:26:00.000-07:00

Dude. Why does time have to go so quickly!? Not only did my BABY just turn a whopping 4 (!) but that happened 4 weeks ago and I'm just now getting the blog up about his awesome party.

First I need to explain the history of my kids and their birthday cake choices. The first birthdays were always picked by me for obvious reasons, but as soon as they developed a personality and interests, it was clear what each one wanted. Unfortunately they often wanted the same thing, and sorry, as much as I love them, I just couldn't do that. Where's the creativity in making the same old cake over and over. Luckily it hasn't been too much trouble, until this last birthday. Jacob wanted a spongebob cake. But, I had already done a square yellow cake for Joshua, so I had to think outside the box, er, bun.

So, a giant hamburger patty, aka Krabby Patty, cake was invented.

After a quick trip to googleville, I discovered that I was clearly not original in this whole Huge hamburger as cake idea. Multiple sites were dedicated to their attempts at this feat. Many of them impressed me. Some of them just frightened me, but all of them were helpful in guiding my final choices.

I made a trip to Country Kitchen, our local candy supply store, and purchased my first ever fondant. I opted for the pre-colored stuff to make my life easier, but I'd be willing to try it from scratch next time. I bought primary colors since I'd be needing red for tomatoes, green for lettuce and orange (red and yellow) for cheese. the blue just got thrown out. My apologies to the fondant police.

One of the sites used a brownie for the burger portion of the cake. I thought this was genius, and a very clever way to get as much sugar as possible into this fast food fakery. So, I baked two white cakes and one brownie. I filled one cake pan up higher, to achieve more of a bun look.

I started mixing the yellow fondant with a tiny bit of red fondant. I'm glad I started with a tiny bit of red, because it didn't take much to turn all the yellow I had a nice shade of fake cheese orange. It works a lot like playdoh and was fun to use.

I layed it out on waxed paper and sprayed it with cooking spray, based on recommendations I found online to keep the fondant from drying out.

After I rolled the ball of fondant out flat, I simply cut it into the shape of a piece of american cheese.

I repeated this step until I had 3 slices,

One perfect slice.

The tomatoes were fun to do. Obviously rolling
them into a round circle was key, but one tip I found online was to square off the edges to make them look more like real tomatoes. I just used the blade of a knife and ran it around the edge of the circle. Then, used a toothpick to make the little indents on top for effect.

The lettuce was my favorite part. I used straight green for this, but if I were to do it again, I'd mix some white into, or maybe a little yellow. It was almost too dark green. To get it to look wrinkled like actual lettuce, I took more advice from the trusty ol' internets, and balled up my saran wrap first before pressing the ball out thin with my hand, then wrapped the saran wrap all the way around, making sure to keep it wrinkled. When I pulled the wrap off, it left all the lines, making it look very authentic.

Layering the cakes with a buttercream "mayo", and the cheese. I picked the edges off the brownie to make it look more hamburgery too. And it really did look like actual meat. Kind of creepy.

Added the lettuce and tomatoes....

I placed pine nuts on top to look like sesame seeds. Some sites used sliced almonds, but I thought these would look best.

Also, most of, if not all, the sites I looked at left their buns unfrosted. I opted to frost mine. Too much sugar is not an option on birthdays.

The final product.

I'm not sure you can see them, but the candles on top are spongebob themed, with cute little pineapples, and underwater flowers, and spongebob himself. Not too over the top. I then piped his name with a bright red buttercream to look like ketchup on top. The fries were made of sugar cookies, and drizzled with more "ketchup."

I printed the red and white paper from my computer to cover the cake board.

And, most importantly, the birthday boy LOVED it.

Gluten free is for (bread) lovers

2009-08-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

I'm always up for a challenge, and when a fellow columnist on Talk of the Town suggested I offer up tips on how to eat gluten free when you're a bread lover, I gladly accepted.

Now, believe me, you can google this topic 'til your eyes bleed, and I have. So, I think I'll approach this with my own personal account of the week I began my gluten free eating versus getting all technical about gluten and its potential adverse effects on certain people.

I began eating gluten free because I was following a candida diet, not because I was having any typical celiac or gluten intolerance symptoms. But, this diet required me to cut out wheat (gluten), sugar, dairy, vinegar, fruit and mushrooms among other things. "What's left?" you ask. I wondered the same thing! You'd be surprised!

After following this diet for one week, I added wheat back in, for no other logical reason than because I'm not that bright, and knew immediately that the reaction I was having was a great indication that gluten was an issue for me to address. So, I kept up with the gluten free eating.

As a huge bread/cracker/baked goods fanatic, I didn't quite know what to do with myself at first. I started out eating gluten free grains instead of bread products. Quinoa...brown rice...etc. But, eventually I needed bread. Real. Bread. Buns, sliced loaves, croutons for salads, anyway I could get it. I stopped at the local health food store and found that gluten free products have taken over the world. Anything that was formerly laden with gluten, can now be found gluten free.

My personal favorite is the Sami's Bakery Millet and Flax line of breads. I found hamburger buns, hot dog buns, wraps, and of course sliced bread. It is quite pricey, at over $5 per loaf, so I try to ration it.

One of my favorite ways to use the bread is to cut it into cubes, and toss it into a pan with melted butter (or ghee if you're dairy free) and some seasonings. Garlic powder, Italian seasonings, cracked pepper and salt seem to be best for my taste, but you could do whatever you want. Once the butter and seasonings are well mixed with the bread cubes, place them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, more or less, depending on how done you want your croutons. Add to any salad and let the crunchy goodness begin.

I do not have a bread machine, and the experience I have had with making breads in my oven has not resulted in anything worth trying again, so if you're looking for that piping hot, fresh from the oven gluten free bread....let me know when you find it! But, seriously, there is a plethora of gluten free resources available, and recipes are getting better and better each day.

Now that gluten is proving to be the culprit in weight gain, gas, achy joints, depression, cramps, headaches, eczema, and other deficiencies, it's no wonder people are starting to think outside the bun...literally.

Good luck on your gluten free adventure. You may just find you like it better!

Half Baked

2009-08-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

There's lots going on these days, and I have at least 4 blog posts in the wings ready to be posted, but in the meantime, check out this site. www.talkofthetownwc.com.

I have a guest column where I write about, what else, food! Much of what I talk about there revolves around baking, and eating, and gluten free living. Until I can get around to posting my new blogs about Krabby Patty hamburger cakes, williams sonoma cooking classes, and gluten free bread alternatives, feel free to mosey around my column.

http://www.talkofthetownwc.com/halfbaked/

Enjoy!

Communication overload

2009-04-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

Seriously. What is going on with technology? I started a blog a year or so ago, and at first was doing great at posting something every single day. Then, a few months back I joined Facebook, and my posts here dropped significantly. On top of that, I now have a Twitter account! I didn't know I had that many words, let alone the notion that anyone would even care to read them!

I'm going to attempt to figure out how to balance all of those so that I'm more consistently communicating about the business. If anyone has tips on that....send em my way. You can find me on twitter....facebook....here....email....phone. you get the idea.

What I Know...

2008-12-31T05:17:00.001-08:00

Now that a new year is about to begin, it's only natural to reflect on the previous year and contemplate what the new year could possibly bring. I've never been a fan of resolutions, in fact I've never really liked New Year's Eve and all the hype that goes with it. Call me a party pooper, but for as long as I can remember, people, myself included, have held New Year's eve as this magical night that will change them forever. It rarely ever does.

There is something to be said about HOPE, however. Hoping the next year isn't as crappy as the last year. Hope that you can finally kick that nasty habit. Hope that you'll finally achieve those goals you've been reaching for. I can dig Hope. It's that we pin it all on one single night that bothers me. I reflect on my personal life on a daily basis and try to tweak things here and there any chance I get. I set goals and reach goals every week. I'm always placing new limits on what I want to achieve, regardless of the date on the calendar.

When we place all those Hopes on one single night...one single hour, we are doomed to be let down. It's similar to starting a fasting diet on Monday and wondering why we can't make it to Tuesday without caving in. We think that if we don't make all those goals and changes on the first day of the new year, well, then the rest of the year is screwed. There's always next year!

What I think I want to do today, is take stock in who I am now. Look at what I want to achieve in the future, and what I think I'd like to work on changing. And try to find peace within. I might not succeed at every single thing on my list, but I might also achieve more goals if I don't put that pressure on myself. But I'm certainly not going to quit trying, just because I fail on the first few days of a new year. I'm going to pick myself back up every single day and keep trying to grow and learn from my past mistakes. I'll get there eventually...with or without the crazy hat or funny noise makers.

Maybe everyone should look at each day as a new day...a new year....and resolve to be the best person that they can possibly be.

Sometimes, this is hard.

2008-12-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying the time "off" that I've had over the last few days. The curious case of strep throat that I got Christmas day sort of forced me to sit down and not move for about 24 hours. Then, a few times, I even consciously CHOSE to just sit down and do nothing except watch the kids play. I've been reminding myself that this time in their life is so very fleeting, and I don't want to regret missing it. I have a tendency to carry around my iPhone and I'm catching myself more and more staring at it and doing work or other random tasks on it, instead of watching my adorable kids.

So, yesterday and Saturday I spent a great deal of time sitting on the sofa watching Joshua play his video game that Santa brought, and then I would switch gears (and seats) and watch Jacob play our home computer. He's only recently taken interest in NickJr.com games, and is surprisingly good at it. It is fun watching how well they adapt and learn these technologies.

However...today is Monday. I have work to do. But they don't understand that, so all morning I have been telling them "No, I can't watch you." and it's breaking my heart....and theirs. They just don't realize what Mommy actually does on a day to day basis. They think I should be allowed to just sit and watch them all day. Hey...why aren't I allowed to just sit and watch them all day? This isn't fair! Waaahhh..

Plus, it's actually kind of frustrating. I have a morning routine, and it's completely off today. I just want to go hide in a closet with my cup of frickin' tea that I should totally not be drinking in the first place. CAFFEINE! DAIRY! SUGAR! But, look, here I go....mmmm. That's some damn fine tea.

And not to mention this weight I've gained. FUN! Blurg. I just need a minute or fifty to relax and recuperate from these FESTIVE HOLIDAYS!!!! Blurg.

Those dancing days...

2008-12-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

As I've expressed on here before, I really dig music. And lately I've been inspired to jot down lyrics that at any particular time might ring true, or stand out for some reason. So, yesterday when I was listening to a song that I've heard a hundred times, and a certain verse caught my ear, I knew I had to share it. As I go through new and introspective phases in my life, I turn inward and look at what is going on within myself to see if anything is missing or lacking. These lyrics pretty much sum up my current view.

-----
Slow down, please slow down
I need to find peace, anywhere in me
I feel like I'm under water struggling to get air
I feel like I'm lost in this body, trying to get inside my head
I wanna know, what I'm thinking what I'm feeling
What I want my life to be
I wanna know how I like to plan to make things easier
For everyone but me

-Those Dancing Days "Hitten"

And the full video, if you so desire....it's a brilliant song.

Old country for new pretzels

2008-12-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago I was called by a DJ for the local country station K105. They wanted to interview me on air for a few minutes on the Tuesday before Christmas and discuss my pretzels. At first I was a bit unsure, and nervous about it, but ultimately decided to go for it. I've been on the radio before with no problems, but this would be the first time I've actually been in the studio. I assumed that would make me that much more insecure and lead to stage fright. But I couldn't say no, this was free advertising after all.

Our power came on Monday night at 6 pm, and we packed up our stuff and moved back into our frigid home, unpacked, got organized, and in bed by 11 pm. I woke up at 6 am the next day to blizzard conditions and really dreaded going to the interview. I went anyway, and got there with no problems. Although I nearly bit it about 5 times walking up to the doors...ice covered parking lot with snow to disguise it...a nice touch.

Once inside, the DJ's made me feel comfortable as I attempted to slice pieces of pretzel using a plastic knife. When this was clearly not going to work, they upgraded me to a butter knife. Not much better, but oh well, they got to taste some, which was the main goal.

It was kind of a weird interview actually. The previous radio spot i did, was full of questions and took about 5 or 10 minutes. This one was different in many ways. To begin with, one of the DJs asked me several questions off air, right away. I answered them. Then, once on air, he asked me those same exact questions. I assume it was so that I would relax knowing that I had the answer on the tip of my tongue, but seemed a little unusual.

Also, they asked me questions in between commercial spots and songs, so my on air time was fairly small. We did a give away of one of my gift boxes, and that was that. They said they loved the pretzels, and I got a lot of traffic from K105 to my site, but no orders. I hope it's because I mentioned that people should go to Hallmark or Espresso Gallery for a quicker turn around, and not because they didn't think they were worth it, but I might not ever know.

Ultimately I left feeling pretty good about it, and with a huge stash of tshirts, cds and dvds...it was well worth the frosty drive.

procrastination

2008-12-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

i have pretzels to make. i have strep throat. i have one child getting over strep throat. i have a messy house, and lots of laundry to do. i have a christmas luncheon to prepare for that was postponed due to said strep throat. i don't want to do anything.

sometimes i miss being a kid...

Powerless

2008-12-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

A week ago, Friday, the power went out at our house, as it did in thousands of homes across our county and surrounding areas. I didn't think too much about it at first, because we've lost power lots of times over the years for various reasons, and never went more than a few hours before it came back on.

This time was different. The cause of the power outages was due to a layer of heavy ice that had coated the wintry trees, allowing them to all crack under pressure and cave into homes and onto power lines. We awoke to a huge *bang* Friday morning, and found a very ginormous limb of one of our maple trees lying just perfectly across our garage roof, and down onto our deck in the back yard. First appearances indicated no real damage to our home, except that it made for quite the obstacle course for getting our golden retriever out to potty. She's lazy though, so it was a good change of pace for her. (although the next day, as Joshua was looking into our garage and saying, "Look! A tree branch!" we realized another limb had found its way through the roof on the other side of the garage...)

As evening approached i was hearing rumblings that power wouldn't be back on in some parts of the city until Christmas Eve. I still didn't worry...that wouldn't be us. But, at this point, most of our friends and relatives were also out of power, and the prospects of it being on by morning were looking dim. So, we took the high road and went to New Haven to stay with Mark's aunt and uncle. We packed enough for one night.

The following day didn't bring much better news. Three fourths of the city was without power, and the trees were continuing to shed limbs onto recently repaired lines, delaying the efforts even more.

So, we trekked back home to check on things, and gather more goods to bring back with us to our temporary home. It was dark and cold and ominous there, and it honestly felt a little like the end of the world. Our street was lined with cold, icy trees, and cold, icy cars. There were no sounds, no lights, and no people. The only sound I detected was our neighbors generator. Other than that, it was a very creepy stillness. It actually reminded me of that Spongebob episode where Squidward goes into the future and everything is spray painted chrome, except in this case everything is spray painted with heavy ice that puts major kinks in holiday plans.

By Sunday, we were still without power, and had no idea when it might come back on. Lots of people bought generators and kerosene heaters and melted snow over gas burners to wash dishes, and roughed it like true survivalists. We, on the other hand, were living the high life. A flat screen tv in literally every room, a real live pac man video arcade game, a pool table, and food and beverages out the wazoo. Nice, friendly hosts who catered to our every whim. It was like we were on vacation. Except that I had this nagging feeling that didn't allow me to relax. I felt just a little off. Perhaps it was because we weren't in our own home. Perhaps it was because we were invading someone's routine unexpectedly. Perhaps it was because I felt like we weren't capable of taking care of ourselves. It was like we packed up and mooched off of someone else and didn't even try to figure out how to survive on our own. I know we have two small kids, but still. It would have felt great knowing we could conquer anything as a family, without the help from anyone else. Perhaps that's my type A personality talking. Who knows.

As it turns out, Joshua became ill with Strep throat and it was quite the blessing to have a nice warm home for him to recuperate in. I am very grateful for that. Luckily, too, my orders had all been completed and shipped out on Thursday just before Armageddon hit, so at least my business didn't suffer any. And, power finally came back on Monday night, so i spent Tuesday putting our house back together, and Wednesday wrapping presents and prepping for Christmas like a mad woman. Only to get strep throat myself come Christmas morning...a day spent in bed, ahhh the memories.

So, what lesson to learn from all of this? I don't know. Maybe take stock in what kind of emergency preparedness plans we should have lined up for such an occurrence in the future. Maybe just be freaking glad we have amazing relatives who don't mind a crazy family dropping in on them for 4 days. Maybe just be thankful our power is finally on, as many across the area still do not have any, not to mention the thousands of people across the world without a home at all.

The true meaning of Christmas, perhaps.

Feeling Good

2008-12-19T07:23:00.001-08:00

Over the last few weeks I've received orders from a variety of sources. Local customers who might have seen our pretzels around town, wholesale customers who order year round, and internet customers who happen to stumble upon us.

But it's always fascinating to me that anyone feels like my little old pretzels are gift worthy. I had a lady order a gift box a few days ago, and the gift tag read "Enjoy these sweet treats made right here in Fort Wayne!" It gave me a little tingle to know that a grandmother wanted to send my product to her grandchildren, and that she made a point to say they were locally made.

And, yesterday, when I dropped off some pretzels to the Anchor Room, a lady who saw me placing the pretzels in their basket, said, "Do you make those?" And after I told her that I did, she responded, "Oh, those are just wonderful. Weren't you in the mall too?" And that led to my discussion with a complete stranger about my tiny business and our retail adventures. Her comment left me feeling warm and fuzzy though. When people mention they remember us from the mall, I know we made an impression on them, which makes that whole crazy experience worth it.

In a weird way, it's like I'm making lives just a tiny bit better by having created this little business called DipSticks. All across the country (I've shipped to california, florida, las vegas, missouri, utah, arizona, kansas, alabama, new york, & north carolina just in the last week!) people are opening shipping boxes to reveal a nice little chocolate gift that a loved one sent, or that they ordered for themselves, and this all happened because I developed a few crazy pretzel flavors.

I'm not saying that life wouldn't go on without them, or that I'm eliminating global warming or something, but it is pretty cool anyway.

Tis the season!

2008-12-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can't believe how fast this holiday has flown by. It seems like every year I am surprised by this business and what all it entails.

This year, given the economic uncertainty, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I assumed sales would be down, and had kind of relaxed a bit. But it didn't really work out that way.

I usually get a huge influx of wholesale orders a few weeks after Thanksgiving, and then again just before Christmas. And every single time I feel like I'm not capable of doing it all, but somehow we manage to get by unscathed. And then, just when I least expect it, come the internet orders!

I don't actively market my web site for various reasons. First of all, I am a one man band for the most part, and keeping track of multiple internet orders is more time consuming and stressful than just one or two wholesale clients. And, secondly, I do my website myself, which limits some of the options that most retails sites have. So, until I have someone more capable managing my site, I will always downplay it a little.

Inevitably though, each Christmas, the masses find me despite my lack of marketing. On Monday I received 6 nice sized web orders, and Tuesday had several orders as well. These are usually very welcome orders, as they are retail, meaning full price, so we do make more profit on those orders. But, they are also the more time consuming orders too. Some people place orders for 1 each of several different flavors, which can take as long as doing 100 of one flavor. Some expect immediate turn around, not realizing they are dealing with a mom and pop shop. And, of course, I do my best to fit what they need, because the last thing I want is for any customers to be upset at our customer service.

I'm not even remotely looking this gift horse in the mouth though. I actually look forward to a day when I can handle hundreds of online orders with no stress at all.

Perhaps when my youngest son is in Kindergarten I can donate more of my time and energy to that, but for now I'm okay with the way things are going.

We'll be on a local radio station in a few days too, which is going to be fun and a little nerve wracking at the same time. I always get nervous, but things tend to work out just fine. It's been a great year, and I look forward to what 2009 brings.

Happy Holidays to you all, and have a blessed New Year!

New flavors and spinners at Hallmark!

2008-11-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hey! Good news. We have been upgraded to the new spinners at Hallmark stores. The black counter top display units that we use at Espresso Gallery are now being used at the 4 local hallmarks as well.

This is great news because the old baskets we used just weren't as appealing. Often, I'd pop in to check on the stash, and find several pretzels just tossed randomly into the basket, with the hang tags bent, or the bows undone. Not appealing.

Not only will this give us a more prominent position in the stores, but it will also clean up the look.

In addition to these new spinners, we also just dropped off several of our holiday and seasonal flavors. Candy Cane, Gingerbread Man, Snow Bunny, Snowman, Christmas Cookie, Hot Cocoa, and others.

I can't wait to see what these new displays do for our sales at Hallmark, we may just be switching all of our stores to these spinners.

Blame Facebook

2008-11-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

I've been severely neglectful of this blog for too long! I've signed up for Facebook and have been addicted ever since. And on occasion I fit in a few hundred pretzels too...oh and those pesky kids do need some care, but only every 5 minutes or so.

I hope to soon update this blog with news from pretzel land, but until then...come find me on facebook!

History Lesson: Snow Bunny & Snowman

2008-11-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

These two flavors came about in an unusual way. Typically I like to think of inspiration for a pretzel first, like an ice cream flavor, or candy bar. Then, I figure out what it is about that particular item that makes it good, and try to recreate it.

For example, the Gone Bananas flavor is created around the Chunky Monkey Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I took banana flavored caramel and rolled it in walnuts and then dipped it in dark chocolate. It reminded me of that ice cream, and tasted great, so it was a keeper.

But this one was created bass akwards. My friend Lesley and I were playing around with flavors one day a few years ago, and she said, "I wonder what coconut and marshmallow would taste like on a pretzel?"

I froze for a few seconds, thinking, "But that's all wrong! What would we call it? What chocolate would we dip it in?" I had never tried just combining random flavors first and then figuring out the rest of the details.

So, after what seemed like milliseconds, I said, "We could dip it in white chocolate and call it Snow Bunny!" After tasting this final product, we both loved it and a new pretzel flavor was born.

It wasn't long after that, the Snowman pretzel was born, to give customers a coconut free option.

The Snow Bunny is sprinkled with coconut and cute little edible snowflake confetti, and the Snowman is sprinkled with tiny white balls. I really wanted to find edible carrot, and black top hat confetti, and sprinkle black nonpareils on it to create a Frosty the Snowman look, but for some odd reason there are carrots, but no hat tops! Come on people...weddings!?

So, check out your neighborhood hallmark stores (in Fort Wayne that is) and you'll be seeing these and other Holiday Flavors soon...

Turkey Day desserts at Williams Sonoma

2008-11-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

So, I've attended three cooking classes in the last three weeks, and am just now finding one worthy of blogging about. The first class was about my beloved French cuisine, but the only great thing to come from the class was the Wild Mushroom Tartlet (Poached Pears in spiced Red Wine...uh. No.)

Then the next week was hors d'oeuvres. The class I signed up for and the class I ended up with were two different things. There were four recipes, or so I thought, but we ended up doing almost 8. We ran out of time..actually we went into double overtime, and had to omit one.

My favorite from that class was the Quick Fried Shrimp with Sweet Toasty Garlic, and the Fried Green Olives. Sounds disgusting, I know. Even for an avid olive lover like myself, I was skeptical, but they were so good it nearly made me want to plunk down the $150 for the deep fryer. But, seriously, people. I do not need a deep fryer. No good can come of that. Before you know it I'd be dipping my pretzels in there, ala deep fried snickers, and/or burning the house down.

The other two mildly passable hors d'oeuvres were two nut mixes. One being a curry based salty mix, and another having candied bacon in it. Um..if it's got candied bacon, I'm there. It was a sweet mix, with dried cherries in it, and pralined pecans too. Yep, it's going to be a good one for the holidays.

But finally, the Thanksgiving Desserts class. On the schedule was, in the order I was most looking forward to, Cranberry Cheesecake with Chocolate Cinnamon Crust, Bourbon Pecan Pie with Buttermilk whipped cream, Spiced Pumpkin layer cake with Cream Cheese frosting, and Molasses Gingerbread cake with Cinnamon whipped cream.

The first dish we sampled was the pumpkin layer cake. The cream cheese frosting also had pumpkin puree in it, which I've never seen done before. It was very moist and flavorful. I'll definitely make it someday.

The next one she made in class was the Bourbon Pecan Pie. First sign of doom was that they couldn't put bourbon in it because they don't have a liquor license. Um, dumb question....why the bejeesus put that on the menu then? That was the whole reason to get excited about it. Everybody knows what a regular old pecan pie tastes like. Then, the final blow was that, even 35 minutes after class was technically over, the pie wasn't done. I didn't even get to taste the non bourbon pecan pie. I guess it's lucky it didn't have bourbon, or I'd have camped out waiting for that beyotch to be done!

Next up to taste was the one I was most looking forward to. You know my current obsession with cheesecakes..so it's not a surprise that it was the cranberry cheesecake with chocolate cinnamon crust. However, the chef decided to do these in the mini, mini form. They were very dried out and the crust to filling ratio was way off, and so the bottom of the cake was hard as a rock. I could not even detect the slightest bit of cinnamon either. And the cranberry sauce just didn't do anything for me. Sounds like I'm being picky. I am. You expect a lot out of these cooking classes when you're paying $40, and I was a little bummed.

But, the saving grace was, ironically, the one recipe I wasn't excited about. That'll teach me! It was the Molasses Gingerbread cake with cinnamon whipped cream. They baked it in a nice bundt pan that was shaped almost like the Swiss Alps. The edges were just a bit chewy, like the edges of brownies, and the center was the most ridonculously moist cake ever. Huge taste of gingerbread and cloves and cinnamon. The molasses wasn't overwhelming at all. I will be making this cake for Christmas too.

It was a very fun class though, and I met some nice people. Foodies are usually fun people and love to talk, so we all got to gabbing about favorite recipes and food tips. I love these classes, and can't wait until the next batch comes closer to Christmas. If you ever get the chance...novice or professional, I highly recommend these classes.

Woodburn Missionary Church event

2008-11-03T06:32:00.001-08:00

This weekend was quite busy, but fun! I had the pleasure of being involved in the Woodburn Missionary church Women's ministry spa day.

About 100 women attended, and were treated to break out sessions, snazzy fruity drinks with flowers in them, a well thought out cruise theme, and lots of shopping.

We were part of the shopping experience, obviously, and had a table set up to sell our pretzels, apples and marshmallows.

I had no idea what would sell and what wouldn't, so I tried to bring a variety. The most popular item were the 4" pretzels, and then the marshmallows. I was surprised by that actually. I thought the caramel apples would go fast...especially the new Pumpkin Pie ones. The are to die for. But, for whatever reason, we only sold about half of what I brought.

Everything else sold like hot cakes.

My mom came with me, and kept me awake all day. I had about 4 hours of sleep the night before, and got up way earlier than should be natural. And, being on the candida diet, I had no caffeine to perk me up either...just a bag of brazil nuts and some celery. Mmmm. Hmmm.

Mark and the boys stopped by during lunch and livened the day a little, but the boys quickly discovered the Lito Deck, and bailed into the "pool". Jacob was strangling the fake palm tree when Mark quickly decided to get out of there.

Here's a picture when they were actually sitting still.

Overall it was a fun filled day and I got some cool nail polish from the girls at the booth next to us.

I will definitely be there again next year!

Alaska is Purple

2008-10-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

My darling little 5 year old has started the much anticipated age of "why?" Yep, every stinking thing that comes out of my mouth is followed closely by "Why?"

It doesn't even matter what I say. I could say, "Joshua let's go outside" or "Joshua your shirt's on backwards." and still..."Why?"

After weeks of trying to answer each question logically, I finally had a moment of desperation in which I truly just needed him to shut the heck up. So, one night when Joshua asked if he could have apple cider, I said "NO. IT's all gone."

"Why?"

"Because you drank it all."

"Why?"

"I guess because you really liked it, and now we need to get more from the store."

"Why?"

Seriously? Are you kidding me? I could not take it any more. So my answer to his last "Why?" was "Because Alaska is Purple!"

And he said, "OH. Okay."

If only all conflicts could be resolved that easily.

History Lesson: Turtle & English Toffee

2008-10-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

After discovering how good the lemon crunch tasted on my Lemon Meringue Pie pretzel, I very quickly followed it up with some more traditional tastes. Everyone loves a turtle, with caramel, pecans and chocolate, so of course I had to try rolling a pretzel rod in pecans. It was a no brainer, and tasted fantastic. At first I used whatever pecans I could find at the grocery store, but quickly found out how expensive, and inconsistent in taste they were.

Fortunately I was able to to get connected with a company in Georgia selling some amazing pecans. But buying them individually was a bit expensive. As time passed, and the Turtle pretzel became by far the number one selling pretzel, I was able to justify the expense of purchasing a large box of pecan pieces, which ultimately saved me money in the long run.

My next traditional flavor had to be toffee. Who doesn't love a Heath Toffee bar? But this was going to be so much better with the addition of caramel. I started out doing things the hard way as usual, and bought Heath bars and crunched them up.

Eventually I realized they sold pre-crunched Heath toffee bits at the store, and have since moved up to using bulk Heath toffee bits from my wholesale supplier.

These two simple pretzels have become the number one and two top sellers consistently, year after year.

Busy bees

2008-10-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

As fall has made its appearance, so has lots of work for me. It seems like the weather got a bit cooler and all of a sudden everyone remembered to eat chocolate!

I've had lots of orders lately, for the pretzels, but also for the marshmallows and apples. Those caramel apples are a big hit, and I've created two new flavors for fall: Harvest, and Trick or Treat.

They aren't necessarily new flavors, because I've used them on pretzels for a while now, but they are new to the apples. They look great and taste awesome too. I'll try to get photos up eventually, but that is not my forte. I like taking pictures...I don't like taking the time to upload and prep for web. I'll get to it eventually, I promise.

In the meantime, the boys are keeping me busy as usual. Joshua has become a huge fan of kindergarten, which makes my day start much easier. No more fighting me on the issue, and he usually loves doing homework too. (the picture above is of us at the beach house in NC doing homework. He actually liked doing it on this day.) He's starting to sound out words and read books, which is simply inspiring. As a parent there is something magical when your child starts to grasp such huge concepts like reading. It's a little frightening at the same time, because that means prom is just around the corner, but I'm trying to take one milestone at a time...

History Lesson: Lemon Meringue Pie

2008-10-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

First of all, HOLY CRAP these pictures look bad. I seriously have to get on that. For one thing, it's just a really bad angle, but mostly the thing that bothers me is how much bigger the pretzels are now than they were when I first started making them. This one looks so skinny!

Anyway, back to the point of this post. When I first decided to make these pretzels as a business, I knew I had to think of other flavors besides my original, Plain Jane, pretzel. Who can make a business on just one candy flavor, or cookie flavor? So, I got busy thinking of flavor combinations.

My favorite dessert, as you already know, is Lemon Meringue Pie. So, my first pretzel flavor attempt involved a lemon flavored candy crunch, and white chocolate to imitate the meringue. I looked at the pretzel as being like a "crust" for the pie, which then led to several more pie flavors, such as Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Banana Cream Pie, but more on those later.

The tart lemon candy mixed very well with the sweet chocolate and caramel, and the pretzel provided just the right salty crunch. With this flavor being a winner, the possibilities were endless. From here I just started throwing all kinds of combinations together.

Of course some ended up better than others. Some flavors you just knew were going to be great, and they ended up being the worst. Other flavor combinations seemed weird, but ended up being my favorite. I think I'll do a post on some of those odd ones too.

I have 50 flavors, but I'm sure I could come up with 50 more!

History Lesson: Plain Jane

2008-10-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is the one that started it all! My mom and I would make these every year around Christmas time. We actually purchased pretzel rods, and Hershey's Classic individually wrapped caramels. I would unwrap each caramel by hand and put them in the microwave to soften them a bit. Then, I would wrap each caramel around a pretzel like a rope, dip it in different kinds of chocolate, and if I felt really adventurous, I would sprinkle edible confetti on them.

For a two year old's birthday party once, I colored them purple and orange and sprinkled them with neon colored mini dinosaur shapes. They were the hit of the party, and it got my brain thinking.

After asking around if people would buy these, I decided to pursue the idea of turning these delicious treats into a business. But, there were so many changes to come, and the fun was just beginning...

History Lesson: Harvest

2008-10-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

Harvest

I thought it would be fun to go back and look at how some of my flavors were created. I've been making these for so long that I have a tendency to forget exactly how fun and unusual it was to create some of them.

For example, I was making caramel apples the other day using my mix called "Harvest" which is comprised of red hots, candy corn, and cocktail peanuts.

To most people, that combination may not sound appetizing. It certainly didn't to me when I was kid. But, nevertheless, bowls of this combination were found all over my house around this time of year. Even relatives had it. I always picked out the candy corn by itself, or occasionally I picked out a peanut or two, but never ventured as far as eating them all at once.

Then, a few years back I got adventurous and decided that there HAD to be a logical reason why these three very specific food items were always found mingling together. So, I took a deep breath, grabbed one of each thing, and popped them in my mouth. Holy crap! That was good.

Years later, when trying to think of a seasonal pretzel for the fall, I immediately thought of this combination. After dipping it in milk chocolate and then sprinkling it with fall colored edible leaf confetti, the new "Harvest" pretzel was complete. It should be great on an apple too.

Stop touching me, and other fun stuff.

2008-10-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

My kids have reached that age. I'm assuming it's a stage, perhaps one that lasts forever, but still, not something that is my fault, ok?! Sorry, I'm a little on edge...

What I mean is. My two wonderful boys have decided that it was time in their young life to start complaining about each other. It started a few months ago with Joshua getting upset if Jacob took something of his. That I can understand. I mean, if someone takes something of yours you have the right to be peeved.

But now it has morphed/escalated into a situation where not only does Joshua HATE everything that Jacob does, but Jacob is aware of this, and does it ten times more often.

Example: I walk to pick Joshua up from school every day. I have a double stroller in which Jacob sits behind Joshua. The very second Joshua sits down, Jacob is in his face. Usually it's to say "hi Joshua" but lately it's to make some annoying noise or to "spit" at him. no, he's not actually spitting, it's just a raspberry kind of sound, but it is annoying.

So the rest of my formerly enjoyable walk home has turned into bickering and whining between them. "Stop touching me!" "bbbzzbzzzbbzz" "Stop spitting at me!" "Bzzbbbbzzzzzzzzz" "Stop it!"

I can't even blare my headphones loud enough to drown out the sound. I'm trying to decide if I should give up the walking and kill the environment a little more with my gas guzzling SUV, in exchange for saving my ever loving mind. Not sure which is more hopeless at this point.

And in other topics, I've gotten a fairly large order recently for the mini pretzels (about 600 of them) and OMG it's so not a fun time. It is taking forever to do them for some reason and I've run into multiple issues. My wholesaler has been out of the required sprinkles, the pretzels have been too big for the desired packages, resulting in me needing to go a size up, the type of cereal wasn't right at first, so we had to change to a different one.

I'm not totally complaining, because I like the company I'm doing these for, but at some time when you own a business you wonder if time involved is worth more than actual money paid.

Lots going on in the coming weeks...gearing up for the holidays. I can't believe it's Fall already. I love the cold temps for candy making, but I do miss the sunny warm days.

Fall inspired cooking

2008-09-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

While on vacation in North Carolina, I saw a road side stand with a huge sign out front that said "Our own Sweet Potatoes!" I was intrigued at the idea of using fresh, locally grown sweet potatoes so I snapped up a pound or two and took them back to the house not having a clue what I was going to do with them.

One night for dinner, my sister in law, Dari, was making some fried pork chops, and we decided that roasted sweet potatoes would go well with them. I cubed them and added a little oil, butter, brown sugar, fresh chopped garlic and black pepper. Roasted them in the oven on 450 for about an hour, and they turned out ridiculously delicious. The edges caramelized and were a bit chewy. Everyone loved them, and now my affair with sweet potato has followed me home.

At our local Amish market, Schmuckers, I saw some freshly picked sweet potatoes and couldn't resist. But instead of making the same dish as I had in NC, I decided to look up cheesecake recipes using sweet potatoes. Sure enough...I found one.

So on Friday, I had nothing to do, well actually I had a crap load to do, but nothing that actually had a deadline. I took that as a sign to just bake the day away.

The cheesecake called for graham cracker crust, a sweet potato filled middle layer and a praline topping. The crust went smoothly, but I had some issues with the sweet potatoes. Mostly my issues were that I apparently can't read.

I had already peeled and cubed the potatoes and baked them for about an hour before I realized I was supposed to bake them before peeling them. This meant that my potatoes were tough and hard to puree. The cheesecake ended up tasting good, just a little more texturey than desired. The praline topping made the dessert and hid any cracks that popped up despite my best intentions. I attempted a mousse for the top, similar to what I do on my White Chocolate Raspberry cheesecake. I used a vanilla instant pudding and added nutmeg, but the flavors didn't go well with the more mild tasting cheesecake. It was almost like an eggnog flavor, maybe better for a pumpkin pie flavored cheesecake. Next time I think I'll just do a cheesecake flavored mousse with a bit of vanilla bean.

This recipe is a keeper though, and I think I'll make it for a thanksgiving event.

In addition to making the Sweet Potato Cheesecake, I made my Butternut Squash Soup. This soup calls for Butternut Squash, but I've always used it in combination with Acorn as well. It is a delightful, but rich soup that always hits the spot on a cool autumn day.

All that was missing from the day was making something with pumpkin....hmmm. Muffins sound pretty good about now. With a nice praline crunch to go on top, maybe even a shortbread crust layer...I may have to get back in the kitchen.

Got ya singin' it!

2008-09-26T04:08:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have this thing that we've done forever. I have no idea where it all started, perhaps he started it in college with his Dewey Geek friends. But either way, we've done it for as long as I can remember.

Basically you just start singing a song. The dumber the song, the better. And once the other person starts singing it you say "Got ya singin' it!" It's awesome when you can get someone singing a song like "Karma Chameleon" or "Jimmy Crack Corn".

But last night I was singing a little ditty from one of my favorite bands of all time...Ratt. Do not judge me.

So, there I was singing "Round and Round" and pretty soon my 5 year old, Joshua, was singing it. Mark and I looked at each other and yelled..."Got ya singing it!". We both nearly peed ourselves laughing so hard. Joshua had no clue why we thought it was so funny.

Personally I think it's fantastic that my son clearly has great taste in music.

Field Trips, Fevers and Fast deliveries

2008-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Just another day in my house.

It began at 4 a.m. this morning. My son Jacob, who had gone to sleep early last night with a low grade fever, woke me up wanting to go downstairs. I didn't fight him on this, because I never win. We packed up a comfy blanky and a teddy bear and landed ourselves on the sofa in front of spongebob. We were both back to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Joshua woke up at 7 and then my day began again. He was very excited because his daddy was taking him on a field trip with his kindergarten class to the Dekalb County Fair. In between getting him ready for the field trip and keeping an eye on Jacob's fever, I was trying to get myself into some kind of decent appearance for my first meeting with the owner of our client the Espresso Gallery.

Mark usually delivers the pretzels to them, but I wanted to meet her, and he was going to be gone on the trip, so I had planned to drop the pretzels off myself this time.

Got a snack for Joshua, some kleenex just in case the farm animals triggered his allergies, and his back pack ready to go. Mark was just down the street when I realized they forgot his back pack. Thank God for cell phones! I rushed it out to them, said goodbye for the fifth time that morning, and two of my family members were on their way to having a nice day.

Back inside to check on Jacob...still practically comatose on the couch. He just kept saying, "I hurt." I was beginning to worry that it was something like appendicitis or a bladder infection, but then I realized that I was also coming down with a sore throat and aches, and seriously doubted the possibility that I'd caught a bladder infection from him. That made me feel a little better knowing that he just had the flu. But, neither Motrin nor Tylenol were making a difference. Usually one or the other gets them back to normal feeling within a few hours, but this had been over 12 hours and no change.

I managed to pull myself together with a quick, somewhat professional looking pony tail. I finished getting the order together for the 4 coffee shops and was ready to walk out the door when my cell phone rang.

It was one of our best clients, however, they are also our most spontaneous clients. It is not unusual for them to call on a Monday and want 200 pretzels by Tuesday afternoon. Today was no different. They wanted a quick order of about 24 pretzels and 4 bags of bark by today.

Thankfully I had just made up a bunch to have on hand just in case. I left the house with my 3 year old just in his diaper and a t-shirt...but wrapped in a comfy blanket. Swung by the shop to pick up the order for the 4 Espresso Galleries and gather the new last minute order. Realized I had no idea how to get to the Espresso Gallery corporate offices and no way to contact Mark on the field trip. The owner of the store was unavailable as well. I searched their name on my trusty iPhone web browser, mapped out the location, and found it within a few minutes. Then, headed to deliver my other order in record time.

By the time we got back home, I was feeling a little run down, but Jacob was starting to perk up. One sucker and a few gold fish crackers later and the boy is practically back to normal.

After weeks of driving me crazy, my craft area finally got my attention today, and I began organizing it. Jacob made his way to the table and started getting into everything and singing...I knew then that he was going to be just fine.

A very crazy start to a somewhat typical day. Being a business owner is certainly never boring.

Oh blogging, how I've neglected you.

2008-09-19T10:18:00.001-07:00

I fully intended to get back home from North Carolina and post a brief overview of how our time was, and to complain about how horrible my kids were, but it seems life had other plans.

Being gone for a week meant putting some business things on hold, and now I'm playing catch up. Plus, we have gotten several orders, some big, that need finishing in the next few days.

I am thrilled to be this busy already. Actually, we've been consistently busy all year, but this is a great indication of what kind of holiday we have waiting for us. With the addition of the new products, especially the caramel apples, we have been able to reach new people and different budgets.

I'm excited about the next few months, and hopefully I'll actually get around to posting regularly again.

Tickled Pink.

2008-09-06T18:23:00.001-07:00

We got to North Carolina and to our beach house today. All I can say is that I am never coming home! We arrived just shortly after hurricane/tropical storm Hannah passed through. We weren't affected much, other than a later time of entry to the house, and lots of sand blown all around the deck chairs and fence.

But, the ocean is crazy right now. I've never been near the ocean during hurricane season, and especially not right after one, so it is quite the experience. The waves are huge and it's very windy and loud. I am loving it.

The boys are enjoying playing with all of their cousins, and running around like mad men. Luckily for me there are lots of adults (some sober) to keep a watch on them too. It's a big house, and easy to get lost in.

I plan to get some work done here, but it's going to be a bit harder than it was at the lake cottage. There's a slight difference between a tiny old lake cottage with orange shag and olive counter tops, and this 3 story, 8 bedroom mansion on the beach.

Seriously plotting the ways I can make enough money to own this thing...and prostitution is on the list....just kidding mom! I only wrote the words "call girl". Just kidding there too. Okay, maybe not.

Hurricanes

2008-09-03T04:35:00.000-07:00

We are planning our annual trip to the Outer Banks this week. With our leave day being Friday, I have a lot to do. Worrying about which hurricane is going to hit us first wasn't exactly top on my list when I first made it, but it has quickly landed there. I'm not sure if I'm terrified or excited. I've never witnessed a hurricane. I've had my share of tornado warnings, and seen a tornado up close and personal once though. At least a hurricane gives you advance notice, and we'll have time to escape if need be, but still...kind of puts a damper on the whole fun in the sun thing.

And in preparation for our leave, I've had to get a lot of business details under control. I always like to let my wholesale clients know in advance that I'll be leaving in case they need something while I'm gone. It has happened in the past where I get an order while on vacation. I can't drive home to fill any orders this time, so it's plan ahead or get nothin'!

Many of them ordered right away, and a few waited until the last minute, but I've got everybody taken care of. Of course there's the chance that I'll get an internet order, but I'm not too worried about that. Those are usually pretty flexible.

We've had several big orders lately and a few web orders too. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it keeps me on my toes. With Joshua being in Kindergarten, it has really given me a nice chunk of time to work and get things on a more organized level. It seems like it should be common sense, but I hadn't really realized how much more hectic things are with two kids.

Joshua has always been my quiet, obedient child. He doesn't really seem to take up much of my time or require a lot of attention, like Jacob does, but now that he's in school I'm noticing just how much time he actually did occupy. All the times I have to stop what I'm doing to watch him do some crazy stunt or look at his video game or get him juice/food etc. Not to mention all the times I just randomly stop to hug and kiss the heck out of him, or push him on the swing outside.

Kind of throws a kink in your focus, which can really slow down progress on any project. Now that he's not here, and Jacob seems to have calmed down quite a bit, I'm able to focus and get more done in a shorter amount of time. I have lots of leftover time to play with Jacob, and then by the time school is out, I'm refreshed and ready to handle Joshua and all of his crazy antics.

Who knows, I might actually get some more marketing done for DipSticks. Lately I've just been keeping up with what comes my way, I haven't actively been trying for new business. And, I'm even starting a second business...because I'm insane....so that is taking up a bit of my creative energy too. It's not the same kind of business, so it won't interfere or take any attention away from DipSticks, but it will give me something to do during the day.

I'll post more about that after vacation. I hope to have it finalized by then, and perhaps even a new client or two. Seems like hurricanes come in many forms...

Seriously not that busy.

2008-08-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged regularly since Joshua started school. You'd think that would mean that I'm so swamped that I haven't had time, but it's actually the opposite.

I have really been enjoying the time I have to spend with Jacob. He used to be the biggest pain in my ass. No, seriously. There have been numerous days where I calculated the process and potential pain of putting him back where he came from...or, at the very least, running away to join the circus where I could at least get cotton candy for my troubles.

But since we've had full days together, we've been traveling the town and doing all kinds of things that I never would have attempted a few weeks ago. In a store full of nick knacks...he was the perfect angel. Everyone going ga ga over his cute face, and his new race car shaped shoes.

In one day we hit three whole stores and a fruit stand! Beat that! And the only grief I had was that I had to keep telling him "It's a watermelon!" "It's a watermelon!" "Still..a watermelon!" But, otherwise, he was a perfect angel.

He's been playing with lots of blankets at home. At any given moment, if you walk into my house, there are at least 8 blankets confiscated from various parts of the house, all piled into a nest for him to sit in the middle of...or my favorite is when he straightens one out, piles all of the dog's toys on it, and steers it like it's an airplane. Or sometimes he says "All aboard" indicating how much of a multi-tasker that blanket can be.

Maybe it's the lack of peer pressure since Joshua isn't around. He doesn't feel like he needs to act up, or maybe Joshua is the instigator, but either way, I'm certainly not going to pinch myself.

Frustration worthy?

2008-08-25T16:36:00.001-07:00

There's this little website I know, called http://www.dipstickspretzels.com/. I've kind of become familiar and attached to this URL, considering I purchased it for my business back in 2002.

I picked that name because http://www.dipsticks.com/ was taken. It wasn't being used, mind you, just reserved and "For sale", presumably in the hopes that some car parts manufacturer or auto store would want it. When I approached the owner of this site about buying it from them the exact reply I received from a nice man in Shri Lanka was "We'll entertain the sale in the form of a five figure offer." Considering a typical URL costs less than $20 for a year, my exact reply to this nice, but clearly opportunistic man, was "Well, if by five figures you mean $100.57, then we might have a deal." I never heard back from him again. Was it something I said?

So, I moved on and thought long and hard about what other URL I could use for my newly forming business. I thought http://www.dipsticksgourmetpretzels.com/ was too long. I thought http://www.dipsticksllc.com/ was too formal, not to mention boring as hell.

So, I went with http://www.dipstickspretzels.com/ and was content with that until about a year ago. I had a group of students from IPFW's business dept. helping me with some marketing, and one of them brought to my attention a web site called, and pay close attention here, http://www.dipstickpretzels.com/. Did you see that? The "s" is missing after dipsticks. That tiny little spelling change has been the bane of my existence for quite awhile. The site is poorly constructed and the pretzels they offer are much different, with far less variety than my own.

They have changed absolutely NOTHING about this site in the last year that I've noticed, and there are spelling errors and bad grammar all over the main page. Don't even get me started on the graphics.

I emailed the owner of this site back in the fall. I politely mentioned that her similar URL was causing confusion to my customers and would she be interested in changing her name? I offered to pay for any fees that would occur due to this change as well. Her reply: "I have the same problem."

I took that as a no.

Since then, I have had to make sure that when I give someone my email address or URL, that I stress the fact that there is an "S" at the end of dipstick. But, I still get people calling me saying that I hadn't replied to an email, or that they mailed me something and I never got it, or that they couldn't find my pumpkin pie flavor on the site. After a brief moment of confusion, it usually hits me square in the face that, yes, indeed, they have forgotten the "S".

How much business have I lost because of this tiny difference? How much business might she have gained as well? I may never know. I keep secretly hoping that she won't renew her URL this time and I'll snatch it up too.

So, what's a business owner to do? How do I solve this issue, or is there no way to fix it? Maybe I could change it to dippitydodah.com or dipsticksareyummy.com or damngoodpretzels.com.

What do ya think? Should I change my URL, or just play the hand I've been dealt and hope the other party drops out of the game?

Deep Dish Plum Pie

2008-08-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to make the deep dish plum pie, finally. I was a bit nervous because it was for Mark's family. Not only had I never made a fruit pie, other than lemon meringue, but had never tried the lattice top that I was planning on attempting.

I bought some deep dark plums, and couldn't wait to see how red my pie turned out because of them. But, the first cut into the plums and I knew they wouldn't work. Most of them were either mushy, or had what looked like a worm canal all the way through that was hard and dry.

The rest of them had a hard, white spot in the center, so I just threw them all out....had Mark stop and get some more on the way home and hoped for the best.

I cut into one of the new plums, and they were white all the way through, and a bit on the hard side. I nearly puked. In just a few hours Mark's family was coming to dinner and the one thing I was looking forward to the most was turning out to be a disaster before it even started.

Not one to give up easily, I called Williams Sonoma and explained my problem. They said the pie may not turn out as red, but should taste good anyway. So, I plugged away and sliced up all these white plums, tossed them in sugar and cinnamon, and placed them gently in my freshly rolled pie crust.

I should say that the pie crust was almost a disaster too. I was doubling the recipe, and remembered to double everything except the butter and water. Kind of important parts. I didn't realize it until after I had cut in the butter and started adding more and more water to get it to pull together.

Then, after I realized that I had forgotten the double butter, I had to cut more of that in, and then try to remember how much water I had already added. Since I'm not an expert baker, and since I had heard pie crusts are a bit temperamental, I feared for the worst. It all pulled together fine, and I just decided that it was going to be okay even if the crust was a bit tough. I rolled it out and then cut my strips for the lattice top and criss crossed like a pro. It was very fun actually, and turned out okay for a novice, I think.

Despite the white insides, the pie filling turned out a beautiful bright red. I was very happy to see that, since that was almost the best part of this pie. Besides the sweet tart flavor that took you by surprise, it was that you could get such a beautiful red pie from purple plums that really made the biggest impact.

Everyone loved this pie, and the crust was ridiculously flaky despite my best intentions! I'd say this is definitely going to be a staple around here from now on. It was quite simple, but looked and tasted very impressive. I wish plums were available, in season I should say, all year.

The Recipes

Basic Pie Dough

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 T. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

8 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 inch cubes

3 T very cold water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles course corn meal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the water and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together.

Transfer dough to a work surface, pat into a ball and flatten into a disk (no need to refrigerate). Lightly flour the surface then flatten the disk with 6-8 gentle taps of the rolling pin. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn. Lightly dust the top of the dough or the rolling pin with flour as needed, then roll out into a round at least 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Makes enough for one 9-inch single crust pie or one 10 inch galette.

Deep Dish Plum Pie

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 T. cornstarch

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 1/2 pounds plums, pitted and sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 5 cups)

1 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 rolled out pie crust, doubled

Vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)

Directions:

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Place the plums in a large bowl, sprinkle with the sugar mixture and toss to distribute evenly. Immediately transfer to a deep dish pie plate that has been lined with pie dough. Dot the plum mixture with butter.

Carefully position the dough, however you want it, over the plums. Trim the edge neatly, leaving 1 inch of overhang, then place over the fruit, folding the overhang under and pressing against the sides of the dish to seal. Refrigerate the pie until the dough is firm, 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, position a rack in the lower third of an oven, and preheat to 375 degrees F.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperate to 350 and continue baking until the crust is golden and the filling is thick and bubbling about 50-60 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Serve at room temperature or rewarm in a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes just before serving.

Enjoy!

One down...12 more to go.

2008-08-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Monday was Joshua's first day of real school ever. Sure, he's done preschool, but this is the big time. And not only did he start Kindergarten...it is officially all day Kindergarten in my neck of the woods.

Lucky for me, I had a whole lot of things to do and people to see yesterday, so I barely had a chance to reflect on the monumental occasion. He was very excited to get there that morning, and when I missed the right entrance and had to go around the block he said, "Mommy! Hurry up or school will be closed!"

As I drove away and watched him in my rear view mirror, he jabbered happily away to the nice lady who was walking him to the door. He didn't need me any more. Not an easy thing to accept as a mom, and especially not for a control freak mom who will probably duke it out with any potential girlfriends for most affection. Yep, I'm that mom.

When I picked him up from school he was very happy to see me and said he wanted to play video games. I asked how school was and he said, "Good. But, mom...there are no computers. There are ZERO computers." We celebrated the moment with Dairy Queen, the official first day of school tradition starting now.

Today I had more time to think about him being gone. It was a bit more sad when I watched him walking all by himself this time to the front door. Apparently these 5 year olds don't need coddling much beyond the first day. "Get out there and figure it out kid!" I know they have to grow up, and I'm thrilled that he's reached this milestone, but man it's hard letting go.

I thought about him all day and wondered if today would be better or worse. I was able to walk over to get him this time, and the brightness on his face when he came bursting out of the front doors made all my worrying seem beyond ridiculous. He was so happy and talked about school and Mrs. Ritenour and the kids all the way home.

I suppose the first day of school will get better the older he gets. Or maybe it will get worse. When he's 16 and driving himself to school, and embarrassed that his mom wants to take a picture of him, I will be sad all over again...but this time for a different reason.

Some days....they be wasted.

2008-08-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day of nothing. I had plenty to do. And I did accomplish a thing or two, but for the most part, I seriously walked from room to room and stared.

I opened the freezer like 400 times. Not sure what I was looking for, and never actually getting anything out of the freezer, but boy I kept looking anyway.

Nothing sounded good enough to eat. Nothing sounded fun enough to do. I wasn't tired enough to sleep, but I wasn't energetic enough to exercise.

I was too tired to read, though, so I didn't even bother with that. And the kids were occupying the TV, so I didn't get to do that. Basically, my day, an entire ten hours of my life, consisted of me roaming my own home searching for nothing.

I felt guilty, because I'm usually so active and I definitely had things that I could have done. But I couldn't even motivate myself to change out of my PJ's, let alone work on a real project.

Do you have days like that? When everything on the surface seems fine. You're technically happy, but yet for some reason the rest of your body is telling you that something is off.

I was a rambling woman...for a brief moment, but now it's time to get back in the game.

The Yin with the Yang

2008-08-12T02:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received an email from the owner of the little shop in North Dakota who had inquired about the pretzels a few weeks ago. They loved the pretzels, have decided to go with a smaller company that would allow them to use private label. Private label is basically where a company such as mine puts another companies logo on the item to make it look like it is from that company. I wouldn't be interested in that because I'm trying to develop a brand and an image for DipSticks, and that's kind of counterproductive.

But, the good news is that the Chef at the hotel in Columbus Ohio, placed a nice sized order to be shipped soon. Perhaps this client will become as fruitful as our other hotel.

If you're going to get bad news, it's always nice to balance it with a little good...don't ya think?

DipStick pretzels are candy. Really.

2008-08-10T17:13:00.001-07:00

I submitted a sample of pretzels to a candy blog back in January/February. She is one of, if not the, best known candy bloggers in the country. I was very excited when she replied and said that she loved the pretzels, but she wasn't sure when she would blog about them.

Months passed, and sporadically I would see DipSticks on her "on deck" list of soon to be blogged about items, only for my name to disappear again in a few days. With this back and forth of excitement and let down, I was getting tired.

I quit checking the blog so frequently, assuming I'd realize when she had finally blogged about them once I started getting more hits to my site. But, that never happened. So, I checked her blog a few weeks back and noticed a poll on her site asking her visitors to vote on whether chocolate covered pretzels were considered candy. Considering her blog is only about candy...I knew where this was going. I immediately voted "YES!!!" chocolate pretzels are candy, but unfortunately I was in the minority. Apparently most people, or at least the majority of those visiting a candy blog, believe that a pretzel dipped in chocolate is not considered candy. I'm also assuming that this means she won't be reviewing my pretzels after all.

But here is where I take issue. Is a candy bar considered candy? What is a candy bar made of? Nuts, toffee, caramel....uh, yeah. Sounds familiar doesn't it? And, if you look at Hershey's Take 5 candy bar that has pretzels, chocolate, nuts and caramel, you could very well just call my pretzels a candy bar. In fact, many of my customers have described the pretzels as a "candy bar on a stick."

So, what does this mean? Probably nothing. Probably just that I need to find a blog that also discusses nuts and snack items, instead of just candy. I don't know if my persuasive abilities are good enough to convince a renowned candy blogger to discount her many voters and review my product anyway. And, on top of that, she may not give them a positive review. And, even more on top of that, what would her review, good or bad, really do for my business? Sure, a positive review would boost sales for a brief time, but it probably would die off eventually. And a bad review wouldn't effect me at all.

It's more than likely just an ego thing. I really dislike when people tell me they make pretzels "just like yours", or have seen store X carry pretzels "just like yours" and then ultimately finding out they are "just like" mine--oh--except that there's no caramel or anything rolled in that caramel. So, you're saying you dip a pretzel rod in chocolate and that is the same thing as what I do? That's like saying you can make a car, except that it has two wheels, and no engine. Exactly the same thing.

I want everyone to know that these pretzels are more than just a stick dipped in chocolate. They are truly a one of a kind experience, that has risen above the usual. A candy bar, with a convenient pretzel handle so that you don't get your hands dirty. What could be better than that?

Taking a spin.

2008-08-07T00:32:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I posted about my display options for the pretzels. And when I picked up our newest client, The Espresso Gallery, that was a big issue. We discussed some of the possibilities, and knew immediately, because of their decor, that a wicker basket was out of the question.

I picked up some cd storage bins, that were made of a silver mesh that I thought would go nicely with their contemporary look, but once I got them home and placed some pretzels in them, it was obvious that they wouldn't work. At the Espresso Gallery, our product would most likely be shelved high up on top of the bakery display cases, which meant that you'd never see anything but raffia if we put the pretzels in these cd bins. We needed something that would showcase the pretzels better, and allow people to see what they were immediately.

So, we looked at some other choices of displays from a catalog, ordered a few, and tried them out. The first one was white, and had white plastic hooks. Kind of (a lot!) cheesy, and not exactly the look I was going for. It was a flat unit, and I just couldn't deal with the plastic hooks.

While my other client, The Surface, has the exact display units I want, we couldn't find them anywhere. There's a good chance they were custom made, as they got them from an auction at a clothing store chain. I contacted the owner of The Espresso Gallery and discussed our options. After looking through some catalogs that were on her desk, she actually found something that she liked. We did the measurements, and decided to give them a try.

It's a tall black spinner counter top display unit, and it holds about 40 of the 4" pretzels at a time. It's taller than I had pictured, but it will actually work out well, and allow us to also display bags of pretzel bark, or caramel apples under the pretzels, or we can hang the 8" pretzels and bags of 3 pack marshmallows very nicely.

I'm also not 100% excited about our sign that goes on top of these. We obviously did them ourselves, which is even more apparent when you see them up close. But, we're going to try these out first, and then if they are keepers, we'll invest in some good quality signage.

We deliver these this week, so it will be awhile before we know for sure how it works, but hopefully these are a perfect fit.

Trial and error, baby, that's what it's all about...

Pecan Pie....Not just for Thanksgiving anymore.

2008-08-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

When I created the Pecan Pie pretzel a few years ago, I assumed it would be a holiday only flavor. But for some reason, ever since Hallmark sold them around the holidays, they've become a permanent fixture there.

In their last order, they included several Pecan Pie for each store, and it got me thinking. Does anyone eat Pecan Pie during the summer? I'm not even sure why people don't eat pecan pie all year round, but seriously, who does?

And why not? Pecans are certainly available all year long, and corn syrup is a grocery staple. Pie crusts are obviously available or easily made, so what's the big deal?

Maybe because it's a heavy pie, and summer is for light fruit pies. That's probably it, but what the heck, let's eat Pecan Pie all year long. Or, just get your Pecan Pie pretzels at a local Hallmark...even better.

A different kind of pie

2008-08-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended my fourth cooking class at Williams Sonoma, or is it fifth? I have blissfully lost track.

This time the focus was on homemade pizzas. We learned a basic, thin crust pizza dough, and a tomato sauce made from scratch. With those two foundation ingredients in place, we created three different pizza style dishes.

The first one was Pizza Quattro Formaggi. With four kinds of cheese, I was in heaven. Fresh Mozzarella, Smoked Mozzarella, Fontina and a fresh Parmigiano Reggiano that I think the Chef wanted to makeout with right there in front of us. No seriously. The dude was really into that cheese.

With prosciutto and basil sprinkled on top, our pizza was complete. Although, even after eating two slices and never getting a single piece of prosciutto, it was a very tasty, light pizza. Our pizza sauce was chunky and seasoned with just the right amount of oregano, thyme and basil, and mingled perfectly with the rest of the toppings. The crust was chewy and crisp, with a nice buttery taste.

Next up on our Italian journey were Pizzettes with Garlic, Mushrooms & Goat Cheese. And when I say garlic, I mean 32 cloves of garlic. Thankfully I didn't have a hot date last night...but wow was I prepared for a major vampire attack.

Actually, the garlic cloves were caramelized in a pan of hot olive oil first, and each pizzette got two cloves, so it wasn't like I ate 32 fresh garlic cloves. In fact, when you bit into one of the cloves, it was surprisingly sweet and mild. But you'd have to ask my husband if my breath was also sweet and mild...

With the addition of caramelized shallots, wild mushrooms and fresh basil, these mini pizzas were a unique taste bud tantalizer, but maybe not my favorite item of the evening. The chef got off track a bit from the recipe, and didn't brush the dough and sprinkle it with salt and pepper, which would've have made it a bit more flavorful. And, he didn't cook the mushrooms first, which would've brought out the flavor more. It didn't help matters for me either that each piece I had barely had any toppings. I didn't hold a grudge that I was given two pieces of pizza with NO prosciutto, and two pieces of pizzette with four times more crust to topping ratio. Nope, not upset at all. Not one bit.

The final dish of the evening, and the one that helped the class to run an hour over scheduled time, was the Sausage and Artichoke Calzone. Using the same exact dough and sauce, the chef added a jar of grilled marinated artichoke hearts, more of that temptress Parmigiano Reggiano, fontina and basil. Technically he wasn't supposed to put the sauce inside the calzone, and so he did one with and two without. I had a piece of each, and preferred the one without the sauce inside. I'm not sure if it's because I was overloaded on the sauce already, or if it was just better without it. While I was initially excited about the grilled artichoke hearts, they actually tasted just like regular old marinated artichoke hearts.

Overall, this class was fun, but honestly I expected a bit more. I had really hoped we'd play around with the crust, maybe do more than one kind, or add herbs, cheese, or anything at all to the dough to make it creative. I'm sure as a time saver, the chef opted to do just the one, but still.

And, the sauce was good, but a bit overpowering to have on each item. It wasn't a smooth sauce, because, yet again, the chef went off track and used fresh tomatoes and onions. This resulted in a nice chunky sauce, but if it would've been pureed, or had he used the called for canned tomatoes, it would've blended in better without adding so much texture.

I'm very glad to have taken this class. I did learn a lot about pizza dough, and how to form it, and even why it's good to toss the dough in the air. Something technical about the centrifugal force...only Alton Brown knows for sure, but whatever the reason, I'm tossing that baby when I make my own.

Individual Lemon Meringue Pies

2008-08-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

You all saw this coming....

Of course I had to make my Lemon Meringue Pie this weekend. How could I not after all that pie discussion at my class the other night. Instead of making one big pie, however, I decided to make 4 individual ones using my mini cheesecake spring form pans.

I started with my basic pie crust recipe and pressed the dough up the sides of the pans, baked them until golden, and then once they cooled, I removed the cheesecake pan. I highly recommend removing it at this step, because once the meringue is baked on and you remove the pans, it is disastrous. Take my word for it.

Since the chef at Williams Sonoma recommended I use a double boiler for the custard, I started out using one, but quickly realized that my recipe really needed to boil, and I wasn't able to achieve that with the double boiler. Kind of ironic. So, after stirring the ingredients for a few minutes, I made a last minute decision to transfer everything to another heavy pot. I boiled this mixture as usual, added my eggs, stirred for 4 more minutes, then finally turned off the heat and added butter and lemon juice. This time, for some reason, my custard didn't stick to the bottom of the pan. I am not sure if it's because I started the process in the double boiler, or if it's because I have new pans and they worked better than the ones I've used before. But either way, my custard turned out way better this time than any time before. No lumps. Smooth as silk.

This time, I added half fresh squeezed lemon juice and half bottled lemon because I chickened out. On my recipe I have in bold, underlined words. "REAL LEMON!!" And, by real lemon I did not mean actual real lemons from the tree, I meant the fake bottled kind called Real Lemon. So, I was a bit scared to do 100% fresh juice, even though I knew better.

It turned out great, but next time I will without a doubt use a full amount of the freshly squeezed lemon juice.

My meringue always turns out, in fact I'm not quite sure why people are so afraid of it. I like my meringue high, and I love the little toasted brown tips the best.

I love watching how the egg whites start as nothing, and just because you whip some air into them, they start to take form. With the addition of some sugar and cream of tartar, Viola! you've got meringue beautiness. Yes that's a word.

And, the final product tasted as great as it looked.

The only unfortunate part is that no one in my family, except my dad of course, likes Lemon Meringue Pie, which means I end up eating a lot of it, or in this case, giving it away to anyone who will take it.

In this mini form, it is much easier to share anyway.

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

mix the above well, and then add

1/2 cup oil

2 T. milk

Form into a ball and press into pie pan. Bake at 475 for 10 minutes, or until edges are just turning brown. Be sure to press sides of dough up the edge of pie pan.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 1/2 T. cornstarch

3 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 cup hot water

3 slightly beaten egg yolks, save the 3 remaining egg whites for the meringue

2 T butter, cut into squares

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt. Gradually blend in the water. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for 8 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Return this to remaining hot mixture. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Cook and stir 4 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Add butter. Gradually add the lemon juice. Cover entire mixture with plastic wrap, being sure to press the wrap directly onto the surface of the custard. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Pour into cooled pie shell, and allow to come to room temperature.

Meringue

Beat the remaining 3 egg whites with 1 t. lemon juice until soft peaks form. Gradually add 6 T sugar and 1/4 t. cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Spread meringue over pie, being sure to seal the edges to the pastry. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden. Cool thoroughly before serving.

I'm sorry...First day of what?

2008-08-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah. So. My 5 year old son Joshua is apparently growing up. I tried my best to prevent it. But, he has been nothing but ungrateful of my attempts to slow him down and keep him from entering the real world. The world in which people might actually expect him to pick up after himself, or wipe his own butt. A very scary world, of people who may not laugh at all his quirky jokes. Some people (though not very many) may get annoyed if he says "Watch this out!" 1800 times a day.

At some point he's bound to be called a bad name. There could be kissing involved. He might suck at kick ball...given his genetic pool, there's actually a pretty good chance of that.

But, regardless of my emotional pleas to stay a kid, he has gone and grown up, and will be entering Kindergarten in less than 30 days. I signed him up for registration today, and the administrator showed me the sheet of supplies to get. It just didn't feel right. I can still vividly remember loving the pre-school shopping excursions to get just the right pencils, and the perfect binders and adorable folders with kitties or hearts, or most likely unicorns. Some books I wrapped with cut up shopping bags and decorated them with glee, anticipating the start of what could be the best year ever.

So, this is just wrong. I can't possibly be the parent of a child who is ready to embark on that journey, can I? How will I deal with it? How can I drop him off in the morning and not see him again until 3:30? How will he survive without me?

My first year in Kindergarten was so different than Kindergarten is today. It was only a half day with no homework, and we actually took a nap. I remember playing with blocks and helping to hammer in nails for the "jail" that would be used in the school carnival. I remember my first boyfriend, Jerry Barnes...Holy crap, I had a boyfriend in Kindergarten. That means Joshua could end up with a girlfriend. Oh I'm not ready for this. Maybe we should home school.

Barking up the wrong tree.

2008-07-31T02:38:00.000-07:00

This week I've had the pleasure of making twelve pounds of S'more bark, and twelve pounds of Toffee bark.

A few months ago, the words Pleasure and Bark would not have gone in the same sentence. My first large order started out very sloppy and unforgiving and annoying and just overall not worth my effort. I had no reference point as to how much chocolate I needed, or how many ingredients, or actually how much I needed to make to end up with the correct weight amount in the end.

I ended up running to Country Kitchen multiple times for several items that I needed at the last minute. Not a pretty sight, but I got it done.

So, when I went into the kitchen to start the process of my bark order this time, I went at it with a different attitude. I had ordered lots of product from my wholesaler ahead of time, probably too much. I had plenty of pretzels, toffee, graham crackers and marshmallows too.

Once I started melting the chocolate I began to feel the relaxation that kicks in when I make the pretzels. It's like a zen zone where I just tune everything out and create. Since I had made a large batch one other time, I had a better plan this time. Believe it or not, it does take some actual thinking to get the bark the way I want it.

I prefer the S'more Bark to have the bottom layer white, with graham crackers and pretzels, and then the top layer to be milk chocolate with the mini dehydrated marshmallows in it, then I drizzle the top with white, and then milk. I think it looks best that way, and the same goes for the Toffee Bark. I start with the dark chocolate layer first that has the pretzels, and then the milk chocolate layer that has the toffee. Drizzle with milk, and then dark, and it's done.

Knowing that I prefer it this way means planning my chocolate melting process accordingly. Since most of my pretzels are made with milk chocolate, I have a tendency to melt the milk chocolate first, but obviously with the bark, I do the opposite. I have to melt the bottom layer of chocolate first, let it set up, and then melt the top layer and pour it onto the chilled bottom.

I was also able to measure the chocolate better this time. I placed 3 pounds of chocolate in each bowl, and therefore knew that each tray would be holding approximately 6 pounds of chocolate. One bowl of each kind of chocolate per tray=6 pounds. So, I made two trays of each flavor.

Probably the only slightly frustrating part is that there's a lot of hurry up and wait. With my pretzels, I can be melting chocolate while I'm dipping the pretzels in caramel, and then while I'm covering them in chocolate, I'm melting more caramel. Never any down time.

But with the bark, there's no in between step. You melt chocolate, that's about it. So, unless I get two microwaves, there's not much more I can do. If I plan ahead though, I can have other things to work on while I wait, like this blog for instance. Or, billing, letters, reading, organizing, ordering, phone calls, emails....the list is seriously endless.

So, bring on the bark orders...I'm ready for ya!

Dear Dairy

2008-07-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

This week has been a challenge. I cheated way more in a few days than I have in two months total. It started on Friday with a delicious lunch at my favorite restaurant, Pickles Cafe. It's located inside my client Plumtickled's building, and if I'm out that way, I always plan to meet someone for lunch, or just get it to go.

A panini with three cheeses, basil and tomato was perfect as usual. The tomato basil soup, a greek salad, and the mandatory chocolate peanut butter pie all satisfied. I didn't feel too bad, knowing it was all lovingly made from scratch, but it didn't stop there.

Friday night I met a friend for coffee, and had a huge Extreme Toffee Coffee Frappe from my other client, The Espresso Gallery. And of course I had to have a white chocolate macadamia scone. A nice cap to the evening.

Onto saturday, where I did fairly well until evening, when my husband and I celebrated our 11th year anniversary at the movies (The Dark Knight was freaking awesome!!) with just a tiny bit of popcorn, and then dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. I skipped my usual shrimp tempura and settled for california roll and hawaii roll. Neither were calorie free of course, and both had something in them that wasn't candida friendly. But, it was a celebration.

Then, on Sunday, I had to make Jacob's cake. Lots of frosting to be tested, and then of course I had to eat the final product. One piece of the white cake and one piece of the chocolate mousse cake. OH, and some ice cream.

Then, this all culminated with my pie eating marathon last night. Surprisingly, I've only gained a pound or two, but my cravings were a bit stronger yesterday. Luckily I have no other celebrations coming up, so I should be able to get back on track.

The sacrifices we must make for our loved ones....

Oh, Pie!

2008-07-29T03:46:00.001-07:00

"When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if not, mmmmmmmmmm boy!" -Jack Handy

At my third Williams Sonoma cooking class last night, we delved into the adventurous and tasty world of pies. I have always been intrigued by the intricacy of a good pie crust. I've never attempted the highly technical lattice crust top, but I have made several turkey cut outs from dough to place on top of my pumpkin pies. Sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon sugar, these adorable gobblers got rave reviews.

My very favorite pie of all time, however, is lemon meringue pie. But, oddly, not just any Lemon Meringue...it has to be my own.

Growing up, I had a neighbor who was a fantastic baker. Her name was Viola, and my dad always, always, after eating someone else's lemon meringue pie, would say "It's not as good as Viola's." I took that challenge and ran with it.

I got Viola's recipe and have been making it ever since. I still have a few things to perfect, one of which I learned last night. My custard always stuck to the bottom of my pan, no matter how I stirred, or what level the heat was on, so I asked about that last night. Turns out, I just need to be using a double boiler. No one else ever knew that I had custard issues, but I knew, and it always bothered me that is wasn't perfect. (OCD much?)

My crust on the Lemon Meringue Pie is a bit unorthodox, and not a typical roll out and trim kind of crust. It's from the old Azar's Strawberry Pie recipe and is a little on the sweeter side, and very flaky. Also, only requires 5 ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, milk and oil) that I mix right in my pie plate. I prefer it for my lemon pie, because it balances out the tartness from the lemons.

But, last night we made pie crust from scratch, and she demonstrated several crust techniques. I finally learned the lattice top, which isn't nearly as hard as I imagined. And, we did some leafs to place gently around the edge, which looked fantastic.

We made a total of 4 kinds of pies, and guess what? I sampled each and every one. That's right, 4 slices of pie. God, they had to roll me out the door. But, yum. It was worth it. Well, at least two of them were worth it.

Deep Dish Plum was the most ridiculous pie I have ever had. It is seriously edging out Lemon Meringue as favorite, but I'm going to have to make it myself to be certain. Not only did this pie have a glorious slightly tart, just perfect taste, but it also had the most beautiful red filling. The chef said the plums were standard purple variety, but somehow the cooking of them just brought out a deep crimson. Most people thought it was cherry. A plum pie is unusual, so I look forward to bringing this one to a backyard party soon, and hopefully impressing people with my handy lattice work too...

Wild Blueberry Peach was my second favorite of the night. We began the night mixing fresh blueberries and chopping the juiciest peaches and tossing them with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. The combination of the two fruits was brilliant and the juiciness was just right. I will make this one someday too.

Lemon Meringue Pie. Okay. This was a bit of a let down. When I walked in and saw that we would be doing Lemon Meringue, I was obviously overjoyed. My favorite pie, and we'd get to learn how to make it and get to eat it! I wouldn't even have to stand and stir all day to reap the rewards. Hello Heaven. But, once I took a bite, I was a bit disappointed. The use of the fresh lemons was very nice, I tend to use the bottled variety (gasp!) which I won't be doing anymore. However, the custard was, in my opinion, a bit freaky. It was much more whitish colored, maybe the word is opaque? Mine is so much more bright yellow with almost a see through look to it. More gelatinous, I guess. But this one had almost a texture to it, but yet I couldn't detect any actual texture with my tongue. It just had a thicker, more grainy without actually being grainy feel to it, and I didn't like it. My mom, who actually came with me for once, said she liked mine better, but everyone else in the room raved about it. Hmmm..I think I smell a cook off!

The one ego boosting part of this pie is that the chef said that Lemon Meringue Pie is considered the hardest pie to make. People are afraid of the meringue top I guess. But, I love making meringue, and I love making Lemon Meringue Pie. Does this make me a genius baker? Ummm..no. But, it does make me a serious Lemon Meringue Pie lover.

Cherry Almond. This one was probably my least favorite, and only because I can't do that to my beloved Lemon Meringue. Perhaps they should tie for last. This pie utilized the dark "Bing" cherries, and some finely chopped toasted almonds. I adored the almonds in this, but I would've preferred my cherries on the tart side. The ones used just had too much of a deep sweetness to them, and it kind of made for a sickeningly rich pie. Don't get me wrong, I like rich foods, especially in the dessert variety, but this just didn't add up. My mommy agreed, so there.

Overall it was a fabulous evening, and worth all the calories and miscellaneous non candida diet ingredients. My next class is on Monday, and we'll be discovering techniques to homemade pasta....that's going to be fun to look forward to.

I was nearly done in by a kickity kick ball

2008-07-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

My son Jacob turned 3 on Friday. I had a heck of a time thinking of what kind of cake to make him.

He loves Spongebob, trains and balls, but I've already done those cakes. I didn't want to do a similar one for him that I had already done for Joshua.

So, one day I asked Joshua what kind of cake he thought I should do for Jacob, and he gave it some thought. After a few minutes he said, "How about Wow Wow Wubbzy!" My brain did a very quick scan of Wubbzy's shape to determine if I could even make that, and since he is primarily a rectangle, I said "Yes! What a brilliant idea."

When the time finally came to plan the cake, I had opted for just a 9 x 13 white sheet cake that I planned on frosting yellow, and cutting out Wubbzy's little bumps/ears or whatever they are on top of his head. Easy. Peasy.

But, unfortunately at the last minute I also decided to add hands, feet, tail and a kickity kick ball. I cut the hands, feet and trademark tail out of cardboard with the intent of frosting them later. But, the kickity kick ball was going to be a chocolate cake made from scratch, with mousse layers and a ganache frosting. Blue with light blue polka dots...just like on the cartoon.

The sheet cake and appendages came off without a hitch. I frosted them all yellow, and piped dots on and around the cake to embellish. I finally traced all the parts with a black frosting, and made eyes, nose and mouth as well. Wubbzy was complete, and ridiculously cute if I do say so myself.

The chocolate cake on the other hand....

I have no idea what went wrong. I've made cakes for years, and never have I seen such a thing. The cake would not come out of the pans at all. They crumbled and cracked and fell apart, but I was determined to salvage it. I managed to get one cake round on the cake plate, then topped it with some chocolate mousse. So far so good. Then, I carefully placed the next cake on top. Very shaky looking, but I persisted. I topped it off with more mousse and walked away to rinse the dishes. When I returned, half the ball had fallen off. The cake cracked right along the side and fell. I glued the crap out of that thing with frosting and mousse and mangled it back to a semi-circular looking object. I was not about to be outsmarted by some flour and eggs, by god!

Then, my brilliant ganache idea was up next to bat. I poured it on top of the ballish shaped object, and watched as it ran all over my freaking table, and over the already perfectly frosted yellow hands of the Wubster.

I was not daunted by this however. Apparently I was in a good mood that day, because otherwise I normally would've tossed the whole entire chocolate mess into the garbage...or more than likely eaten the crap out of it from stress, but apparently this candida diet has also helped me cope with these type of situations. Who knew.

After cleaning up most of the spillage of the ganache, I carefully piped cute little light blue circles of buttercream all over the ball...only to watch them SLIDE RIGHT OFF!

I grabbed those frickin' frosting balls and walloped them back in the ganache bowl. I scraped off all the ganache I could without compromising even more of the cake/mousse fiasco, and mixed up a bit of dark blue buttercream. I swirled the buttercream in with the other remnants of blue ganache and chocolate mousse, creating, in my own mind, a nice tie dyed look to this lovely kickity kick ball. Not exactly the same as the show, but those are the breaks.

I carefully piped MORE light blue buttercream circles. Some of the ones on the edge started to slide off again, but I didn't care. I was SO done with that ball.

I cleaned up the ganache spillage off of everything I could and managed to mess up more of the yellow Wubbzyness, re-piped some of that, and called it done. Took my photos and wondered if I should Photoshop them before putting them on here.

In an effort of honesty and imperfection, I will post the actual photos. I'm so not an expert, but I pretend like I am in my own head, so this just kills me that the ball didn't turn out. I will do some research to see what happened. I don't think I left out an ingredient, but that's not an impossibility.

Most importantly, Jacob had a great time and loved his cake, and of course had no clue as to what mommy went through to get it just right for him. Everyone ate both cakes, and they tasted great, despite the crumbliness of the chocolate one. The favorite, oddly enough, was the chocolate mousse cake.

But from now on when I watch Wow Wow Wubbzy with my son, I will always, always hold a grudge for that Kickity Kick ball...

Before shot of the Wow Wow Wubbzy cake.

Wubbzy and Kickity, barely hanging on.

Closeup of kickity, giving into the pressure.

Jacob had a great day anyway! He loved his new light-up dino shirt, too.

Thank you lake for fixing my son.

2008-07-26T05:17:00.001-07:00

Awhile back I posted about my son Jacob not taking baths anymore. I received several great suggestions, but unfortunately none of them worked. Showers...outdoor baths....new toys. But, he was still terrified of the bath.

Then, we went to the lake for vacation. He didn't even get in the lake, but for some reason, now that we're back home, he wants to take baths all the time. He took two yesterday.

I have no idea what the heck happened, but thank the lord. Kids are weird.

When it rains, it pours...

2008-07-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I was gone last week on vacation. While away, I only had one business call for an order that I had to drive back to town to take care of. Actually I didn't HAVE to do it, I just wanted to. It was for our new client, The Emporium, and I was so excited that they had to reorder already, that I really didn't want them to wait. Plus, they had a farmer's market they wanted to take them to, so I obliged willingly.

I was a bit surprised at the lack of business related activity last week, but relieved at the same time for obvious reasons.

However, this week has already proven to be a busy one. I had an order for 15 apples from my client, Plumtickled Junction, which is celebrating Cowboy Day on Saturday. I also had a small order for four of our 6 oz. pretzels from a website we're on called indulgeinchocolate.com.

While busy making some extra pretzels to have on hand, I received an order for three of the Hallmark stores, which is actually fantastic! Not only did they just order a month ago for 4 of the stores, they normally only order this frequently for 2 of their stores, the Dupont and Apple Glen locations. So, I'm excited that business is picking up at their Northcrest location.

I was also delighted to see that they had doubled their order of our pretzel bark, which indicates that it must be selling well. The marshmallows were only reordered for one store, which was actually surprising, but that's okay. I'll take what I can get.

Then, I received a call from our oldest client, The Anchor Room, and they also ordered more than usual. I like where this is heading.

In addition to all of that, I had a great phone call with an Executive Chef in Columbus Ohio, who is interested in possibly using the pretzels as amenities in the rooms of the hotel in which he works. As always, I love me a fellow foodie, and we somehow got lost in a conversation about cooking classes and my crazy chocolate cauliflower. I'll be sending a sample package to him on Monday, I hope all goes well.

And finally, I received a wholesale inquiry for a nice shop in North Dakota. Perhaps we'll be adding another state to our contact page soon...we shall see.

So, my rest and relaxation is over, and business must go on...thankfully it has good timing.

Dear Dairy

2008-07-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life I went on vacation....and lost weight.

I have lost a total of 12 pounds so far, and felt awesome while on vacation. I brought lots of food to tide me over, and I exercised at least once, but mostly twice, a day.

Since my husband is now seeing my dedication to this way of eating, he asked me a question that I found easier to answer than it should have been.

He knows the struggle I've gone through to get in control of my eating. He's seen me start diet after diet, only to fail miserably. He's seen me jonesing for anything sugar filled, or deep fried to a point that he was scared for his life.

So, after going for a long bike ride, and following it up with some push ups and leg exercises, he asked me "What would you tell someone who didn't think they could do what you're doing?" My very immediate thought was "Do the part you love the most, first."

If you like exercising, start there. Don't start by trying to run a marathon. Walk the neighborhood, or play tennis. Go to the mall and power walk. Sweat to the oldies, or do Yoga...just move.

If you like reading, start with researching. The more you know about your body and food, the better chance you have of succeeding.

If you like food, or cooking, start there. That's where I started. I absolutely love to cook, and fortunately for me, I love most foods, so trying out new recipes was easiest for me. Once I had a few recipes under my belt that tasted great and were candida diet friendly, I had an arsenal to battle my addictions with. Instead of missing cookies, I ate cranberry macadamia cookies made with ghee and brown rice flour. Instead of missing pizza, I made my own with millet flax crust, rice cheese and a good sauce.

Once the eating started to show results, I began to have more energy, which resulted in my just walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Now, I'm up to 40 minutes on the treadmill, with lots of running spurts. I even bike for 30 minutes now, and on a good day I get to do both.

I will next add weight lifting in, and start toning and fine tuning.

There are lots of ways to get motivated to try a new diet or way of eating, but only you know what makes you tick. Don't follow a book or a fad diet, just read, get to know your body, and start somewhere. Starting is winning.

Technological Solitude

2008-07-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

While preparing to head to the lake last week for vacation, I looked forward to some down time. I expected the sun. I expected some long, country walks. I expected some quality family moments.

What I hadn't expected was my withdrawal from technology.

As a business owner, I am ALWAYS "plugged in." Email. Phone. Internet. Searching. Replying. Inquiring....working.

As a mom, I use technology frequently as a way of finding pertinent information for the crisis of the day (fevers, rashes, how rainbows get their colors) as well as just a way of coping with the day to day stresses of being a stay at home mom, by reading mommy blogs or just chatting with compassionate friends who are in the same boat.

After a few brief moments of solitude at the lake, I checked my beloved iPhone, out of habit.

What??? No service!? But it's my iPhone...a gift from the techno gods, how could it let me down?

I walked around, arm outstretched for hours, just hoping for a half of a bar...let alone all 5. I went to each side of the cottage and all the way out to the end of the longest pier (which fortunately happened to be ours) and still, only a fraction of a bar, and no Internet access. Where we were, was apparently far from an ATT tower, hence my lack of connection.

I finally discovered a spot by a window, that if I held my tongue out just so, and didn't breathe, I could get just enough bars, and my Edge connection for Internet access and email connection. Ahh, sweet relief.

Most people might think I'm a bit crazy for actually wanting to have contact to the outside world while on vacation, but I really love technology. I also love working on the business, so for me, working on vacation isn't really work.

Now, running after an insane 3 year old all day who can't sit still for two seconds, and absolutely without a doubt must always go in the opposite direction as you want him to and do what you told him NOT to do at least 5 more times...or trying to coax the 5 year old to come out of the cottage long enough to give his alabaster skin a rosy glow.....now that is work.

Foot Steps

2008-07-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

I've been exercising more lately, and I've noticed that my running shoes aren't fitting so well. For some reason my right foot was feeling very cramped in a shoe that has fit me for a long time. Is this a side effect of the excess weight I'm carrying around, or just a delayed growth spurt from the two pregnancies? I don't know.

However, what I do know, is that The Three Rivers Running Company is the best place in Fort Wayne if you're looking for new athletic shoes. I stopped in over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. They measured each foot, and, oddly enough, my right foot was a half size larger than my left. That confirms my problem, but still, what the heck is that about?

Then, they had me run on a treadmill while videotaping my gait. I felt a bit awkward at first, seeing my large ham hock calves and all, but once they told me the outcome, I felt very relieved.

Apparently my running style lacks a bit of stability, and can lead to shin splints, which I have suffered from in the past. The shoe they recommended was a balancing shoe, to provide support for my ankles. Brooks Universal Platform to be exact.

I also picked up some info on Fort4Fitness. It's a half marathon, 4 mile run/walk, Health Fair and Health Food Expo. Sounds like a goal I could achieve...especially since it's not until September 27th. I may have to walk it, but what the heck. You have to start somewhere, right?

Music is my boyfriend

2008-07-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

I am not a music reviewer by any means, and I really don't think a food/business/mommy blog is necessarily an ideal fit for a music review, however, I am going to do one anyway.

Perez Hilton frequently mentions music on his blog, and I always happily play the tune to see what it sounds like. I am a huge music loving freak, and will seriously fall in love equally with country, punk, rock, or soul. I have no prejudices, I even listen to ear shattering death metal from time to time thanks to my dear friend Eric, and I've been known to pop in some opera when the mood hits.

So, when Perez mentioned a pianist by the name of Brendan James, I played the tune, promptly downloaded it from iTunes, then after listening to it 500,252 times, I decided to buy the entire album.

While at the lake on vacation this week, I've been going on super long walks in between two wheat fields. With my tunes blaring in my ears and the wind blowing through the wheat, I think I quite possibly found what heaven is like.

Brendan James' voice has a soul so deep it gives me chills, and his piano playing skills are inspired. Maybe it's because I was classically trained on the piano that I identify with him. And by classically trained I mean three years learning from the preacher's wife next door to my childhood home, and then three years from an old geezer (albeit a very talented old geezer) in the thriving metropolis of New Haven. I can play the piano, that's all that counts. And I can appreciate the deep, penetrating therapeutic qualities of this music.

While running down the hilly country road, this music travels deep inside me, pulls out all the crap that I have going on, and just brings it out and disperses it into thin air for the wind to carry away.

What could be better than that?

I suggest downloading these to hear for yourself. You'll soon be hooked and want the whole thing. One suggestion though....you have to hear these in your earphones. To capture the full effect of the acoustic instrumentals and his voice, it needs to be as close to the ear drums as physically possible without doing permanent damage. Do this preferably while alone....kids screaming in the background tend to affect the desired outcome.

Green

All I can See

Early April Morning

Dirty Living

I hope someone out there is as inspired as I am by this music...let me know if you download it and what you think!

Holy Cheat!

2008-07-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the lake last weekend, and were expecting some friends and their children up for the day. I decided it was a perfect time to make some of those Chocolate Graham Cracker cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting, since they were similar to S'mores.

One bite and wow! I really didn't want to finish the rest of it, because it was very sweet, especially since I hadn't had that kind of thing in a long time.

But, it was quite tasty and I will share the picture of it. You can print the recipe from here if you want to try your own.

The bottom of the cupcake is actually a graham cracker crust, with a bit of chopped chocolate that gets melted on top before you add the batter. The top of the batter is sprinkled with graham cracker topping too. The marshmallow top is like a meringue and gets toasted with a creme brulee torch.

It's almost like a mini chocolate cake/pie all in one tiny package. I'll have some S'more!

Dear Dairy

2008-07-14T04:52:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how long I've been doing this. Do you? I think it's been a month or so.

I can successfully report that I have been doing very well on the candida diet this time. And, I am nearly 100% sure that I am on this way of eating for life. I have found so many great recipes and fun foods that I don't even miss the other stuff.

My weight loss has been fairly steady, especially since I added exercise in on a regular basis. I've lost about ten pounds and am feeling much healthier and more energetic.

Cheat days don't come as often as they use to, and I have found candida safe foods to replace some of the things I craved anyway. A nice millet and flax pizza crust with organic spaghetti sauce and ground turkey, with rice cheese is surprising delicious...to the point that my husband has even said it's the best pizza he's had. I'm not sure if he was serious, or just making sure I don't throw tomatoes at him, but either way...I'll take it.

A new favorite meal I've been eating is a spinach millet and flax lavash wrap with my mayo, fresh local tomato, avocado and lettuce, with a generous dash of freshly grated sea salt. That's better than a BLT if you ask me. And very filling considering how light it is.

I made a chai tea from scratch too, using hemp seed milk and stevia as sweetener, and it is better than what you can get at a coffee shop. Blend it with ice, and it makes the perfect summer beverage.

If anyone wants any info or additional recipes, I love answering questions, or motivating...good luck and happy eating!

Gluten Free Girl

2008-07-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a book called "Gluten Free Girl" by Shauna James Ahern, and it is like food porn. I am not joking.

If you like food as much as I do, then reading this book is highly recommended. Even if you aren't trying to go gluten free...and maybe especially if you're not trying to be gluten free. She goes into such wonderful descriptions of everything from her surroundings to the food to the people she's enjoying it with, that you actually feel like you're with her.

At one point I was dipping my toes in a lake in Seattle and peach juice was dripping from my chin. It's all I could do not to run right out and get me a bag of peaches...but I knew for certain, that they would not taste like the one she was eating. Hers came straight from a local tree in the peak of season. Mine would have been straight from some storage bin that traveled long distances to get here. Ahhh...glad that I have my imagination.

Her descriptions of vegetables and the recipes that she created out of her sheer need for something good that didn't contain gluten, sounded slightly strange, but even more compelling.

The first two I wanted to try were Shaved Fennel with Lemon Juice, and a Cauilflower dish containing some very interesting seasonings. I bought the fennel and the cauliflower, but decided on the cauliflower dish for last night's fish meal.

At first this sounded very exotic with huge potential for failure, and even more potential to taste bad, but what the heck, I'm a bit crazy.

If you enjoy rich, tasty food without all the fat and calories, then please, please try this despite your initial reaction. You will amaze yourself...and quite possibly your family too.

Photo from Gluten Free Girl Blog

Roasted Cauliflower with Smoked Paprika and Cocoa Powder

2 T Kosher salt

juice of 1 lemon

1 head cauliflower

3 T high quality olive oil

1/2 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 t. smoked paprika (do NOT use regular paprika...trust me on this. All stores carry the smoked version, and it has a smell similar to barbecue chips, delish!)

1 t. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. sea salt

1 t. cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Blanching the cauliflower. Bring a pot of 2 quarts of water plus the kosher salt and the juice of half the lemon to boil. Cut the florets off the stalk of the cauliflower. Put the cauliflower in the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and pour the cauliflower into a bowl full of ice water. Let it rest there for 3 minutes or until it is chilled. Remove the cauliflower and pat dry.

Cooking the cauliflower. Bring a skillet to heat on high, then add the olive oil. When the oil runs easily around the pan, add the thinly sliced onion. Cook and stir until translucent and soft, 2 - 3 minutes. Add the smoked paprika. Add the cauliflower to this mixture and coat them well. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is coated and the fragrance of the paprika is strong. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Roasting the cauliflower. Add the cocoa powder to the cauliflower. Add the salt and pepper. Toss the cauliflower to coat. Transfer this mixture to a roasting pan. Put in the oven and cook the cauliflower for 5 minutes. Drizzle the remaining lemon juice over the cooked cauliflower.

Feeds 4 Enjoy!

Note: Chocolate and Chili are traditional Mole flavors, similar to mexican hot chocolate which contains chocolate and cinnamon.

Provence est savoureux!

2008-07-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

Ahhh....Provence. If only I could meet you. We would have so much fun, strolling in the park, hand in hand, enjoying the night music and the exquisite food. Breathing the intoxicating air, while sipping on a glass of locally crafted wine.

Yeah, I'm dreaming, I know. But, hey I did get to try a minuscule sampling of Provencal food last night at my second Williams Sonoma class, so I'm allowed.

I have to say a few things first. I was in a super bad mood when I left for the class. My children have set out to destroy me, piece by piece, and yesterday proved they are masters at that skill. Other issues with different things throughout the day added to my mood, plus it was darn hot.

So, I left in a huff, and walked into the WS store, signed in, and sat down. Within minutes my mood was lifted. The first sampling of Provence was a tasty little bread stick, dipped in pesto. These were not the doughy, gigantic kind you find at a pizza joint, but thin, crispy sticks that had been coated in pepper, salt, or herbs. The pesto was made with basil and pine nuts, as usual, but also with an added dimension provided by unexpected cashews. I could have just scooped the pesto out and ate it with a spoon.

Next up was a traditional French Tart, made with Maytag Blue cheese, tomatoes, and fresh thyme. The crust was light and flaky, and the blue cheese was by far the best I have ever had. I can't wait to make this for our next dinner party. Very impressive looking, but easy to prepare.

A Chicken Salad Provencal was our third selection. And this was no ordinary salad. Seriously. This was a taste bud tantalizer from beginning to end. Lots of roasted chicken was partnered with cooked red potatoes and blanched skinny green beans, raw red onions, tomatoes, fresh basil and Nicoise olives, all on a bed of butter lettuce, and tossed in a lovely light and tangy mustard vinaigrette. The heat from the cooked vegetables combined with the crunch of the fresh ones, was surprising and the saltiness from the olives, with the tang of the vinegar and mustard just sent your taste buds on overload. And I wasn't complainin'.

To cap things off, we had a nice, dark chocolate mousse with white chocolate shavings. The mousse was light, yet had some texture to it and a hint of cinnamon, and the Guittard bittersweet chocolate used as the base was just the perfect, not too sweet end to the meal.

I will be signing up for a Summer Pie class, and hopefully others, because after all was said and done, I left that class on cloud 9 and it cured all the bluey blues I left the house with. I should take a class every night...might save some lives around here.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend these classes. You learn a lot about tools that help in the kitchen, but you also get to hear what the chefs prefer and other tips that come in handy. And listening to people who enjoy food as much as I do...now that is the cherry on top. There's nothing like a foodie conversation. The oohs and aahs that came from a small jar of pink sea salt and the moans at just the mention of a ricer used for smooth and fluffy mashed potatoes indicate you're in good company.

I didn't get the gastric side effects like last time either, which makes me think it was the liquid smoke that was in several dishes in the last class. Or, maybe it's just my body's way of saying, "Alimentaire français est bon pour moi." (French food is good for me.)

Random ramblings

2008-07-02T07:38:00.001-07:00

So, the weeks have been nice lately. I've been busy, but not so busy that I can't enjoy this beautiful weather.

With 5 new clients ready to place an order, I'm sure I will be singing a different tune before long.

We finally decided on a nice display unit for the 4 Espresso Gallery Coffee Shops. It's a black spinning counter display that the pretzels will hang from. I think it will look great in their shops, and really display the pretzels prominently.

One of our best clients just placed an order for 400 pretzels, so we'll be busy in the kitchen next week for that as well. Always nice to be this busy in the summer, even though it does pose some inconveniences with the weather, and humidity.

No free publicity yet with any of the blogs that I've sent to, but we're working to get some new marketing out there in a few months. And, with the United Way charity pretzel, I expect things will start to really pick up in the fall.

Sometimes it's hard to believe the economy is bad, considering all these pretzels I'm selling, but if people are like me, they're are eating chocolate as a small way of fending off the depression that is sure to set in if you think too long about the economic situation. I'm happy to be doing my part to lift morale.

I'm glad I'm not selling lettuce, that's for sure!

I heart Quinoa.

2008-07-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

I purchased a cookbook the other day, called Gluten Free, Sugar Free cooking. I rented it from the library first, and made a few dishes to make sure I liked it before buying it.

Two of the first recipes I made involved Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WA), which is a type of grain (actually it's a seed, but that discussion is for a different kind of blog.) It is a gluten free grain, and I was anxious to try something new, in addition to the organic basmati brown rice, millet and teff I've been eating.

Quinoa is as high in protein as dairy (almost 11 grams per cup), and is high in calcium, iron, B vitamins, zinc and potassium. It cooks quite a lot like rice, by boiling in water, or my preferred method, a veggie or chicken broth. It's apparently very versatile as you can see by the following recipes I tried.

The first recipe, Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa

We had already eaten most of our meal when I decided to take a picture of these, so the remaining dish looks a bit mangled. These are red bell peppers with a quinoa, ground chicken and pine nut "stuffing". Very easy to make, and so delicious. I wish I grew peppers in my own yard, so that I could make this more often without the expense or pesticide worry.

The second recipe, Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

This salad had a bit of a mexican feel, due to the added cumin and cilantro. But I think you could leave those out and add basil, or other seasonings to change it up. We served it with some ground chicken burgers that I added some cumin, garlic, red onion and cilantro to as well. Topped off with a big slice of avocado, and some homemade garlic pepper mayo, this was a nice dish for a hot night.

These little grains are interesting in that they start out as tiny little balls, but as they cook, the outer ring breaks away a bit, and leaves this cute little pearl looking grain. The center is translucent and soft, while the tiny rim is a bit crunchy and white.

If you're interested in the recipes, please email me or post a comment and I'll send them to you. Quinoa is a fun and wholesome grain to enliven any summer dish...and hey, you can even impress your friends and family by being able to pronounce it!

Literacy pretzel gets the seal of approval.

2008-06-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

My Literacy Speaks! pretzel, which was initially intended to be given out to speech conference attendees, has become a bit of a wild card.

The owner of Literacy Speaks! and I had discussed the idea of donating a portion of proceeds from the sale of the pretzel to a literacy organization, similar to what I do with the Jubilee! pretzel and cancer research.

A local Women's Initiative division of the United Way was first on our list, as they work tirelessly for those less fortunate, struggling to meet the challenges of school, specifically to close the gap before the third grade.

Quite surprisingly they took this idea and are running with it. Several ideas were tossed out, and it seems like their goal is to get this pretzel to everyone they can.

I will keep posting news as I get it. We haven't ironed out the details, but hopefully the little pretzel that could will make its way into the news and get lots of interest, so we can donate some money to a great cause. Making a difference in the community is one of my goals for this company, and this could be just the stepping stone we need. Stay tuned...

Cooking class $40, High Quality chocolate and vanilla $40, Free gas...priceless!

2008-06-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

So, I had my Williams Sonoma class the other night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I ate every morsel of food placed in front of me, as a sign of respect (yeah that's it!) and didn't bat an eyelash.

Knowing full well that at least half of what I was eating was a big Candida no-no, I ate it anyway.

Like a magic trick that only Criss Angel could perform, my abdomen bloated to at least 3 times its normal size within minutes of leaving class. And hand to God, that bloating did not end until about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

It was painful and frustrating and I still don't know what caused it. Was it the white flour in the mini buns, or the vanilla cake that was served as an afterthought? Was it the flour tortillas or maybe the pound of cheese on the portobello mushroom? There could also have been a preservative in the "natural" liquid smoke that was in several of the items. Maybe it was the Golden Skirt Margarita and ginger ale drink they served, non alcoholic of course.

All I know is I greatly appreciate that experience and am documenting every detail. I know that if I can find the foods that trigger these occurrences, I am that much closer to gaining the health that I deserve.

Of course that won't stop me from eating every morsel at the next cooking class...it's about Provence, are you kidding me! I'd endure 5 days of pain for that. But only for Provence...not for, say, Luxembourg. I'm not that crazy.

And here it is...

2008-06-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

I have officially finished, well sort of, the new website design. I have the main components redone, but I don't have all the sub pages done, such as all the flavors and policy/allergy pages etc.

But, for the time being, if you are interested in seeing the new design for the main index page, then click here. NEW FRONT PAGE

To compare the old design to the new, click here for the old front page.

You will not be able to click through, or at least if you do, know that you won't find much. Some of the links are dead because I haven't published those yet, and some just take you to the old design.

Please give me your feedback. Is this better? Does it make you want to buy? Are the pictures attractive? Do you feel like the layout is user friendly? What else do you notice that could improve the look or function?

Submit a comment and let me know. I appreciate feedback, good or bad.

Delayed

2008-06-24T04:13:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to have the new web design up, but that is not the case. We ended up going to the lake this weekend for a few hours, and I'm afraid the site design was re-prioritized.

I am very close, and will soon post just the front page for you to see. I'm happy with it for the most part, but my skills are limited and so until I can have it done professionally, with flash and java and all the bells and whistles, I'll probably wish it looked better, but it will do for now.

On the fun side of things, however, I attended my first ever cooking class at Williams Sonoma, and let me tell you. It was fun. We observed a chef make 4 different meals, all of which were very tasty.

They started with a chicken kabob that was rubbed in a curry-ish style seasoning with turmeric, cinnamon, cumin etc, and served with veggies. Next was an Italian burger with a great pesto and onions. The pesto was unique in that it also had cashews in addition to the more traditional pine nuts. Very tasty, and served mini style on tiny buns. Thirdly, and my very favorite was a shrimp taco with lime slaw. Good lord where do I start? The slaw was the best, and very fresh and zingy. But what made the whole thing was the way the chef did the taco shells. He very simply and lightly deep fried flour tortillas and placed them over a rolling pin until they set up and created the shell. The difference between these and the more typical corn tortillas was brilliant. The flour tortillas were much lighter and had a nice crisp without breaking into shreds on your plate. I can't wait to try these myself. I will definitely post the full recipe then.

Finally, we had a baby stuffed portobello mushroom with egg plant, sun dried tomatoes, black olives and smoked mozzarella/sharp provolone on top. These were tasty, except for the liquid smoke that I don't really care for. I prefer my smoke taste to come in smoke form, not so much the liquid variety. But, if that's your thing, you would love these.

Oddly enough, I ended up walking out with ingredients that had nothing to do with what was made. I purchased some Scharffen Berger cocoa for some ridiculous cupcakes I'm going to make someday for my cheat day, and a set of 3 different kinds of vanilla from Nielsen-Massey. A Mexican, a Madagascar Bourbon and a Tahitian. I have no idea what I'll do with those, but I can't wait to find out.

I am looking forward to my next class where we focus on foods from Provence, the first place on my list to visit someday when I'm rich and don't have tiny kids that scream and don't take baths. :)

But for now, I am still doing well on my candida food plan, feeling stronger each day, so stay tuned for more recipes and tips on that.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the new site up for feedback...I want your feedback. Please?

DipSticks at The Emporium!

2008-06-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that we will very soon be selling our Gourmet Pretzels at The Emporium, which is part of Joseph Decuis, in Roanoke.

They intend to sell them in their beautiful shop, as well as at some Farmer's Markets in Carmel, Zionsville and Roanoke.

Please stop by and support us by buying a pretzel, or letting them know you're glad they are carrying them.

We look forward to working with The Emporium, and hopefully bringing even more stores into the DipSticks family.

site-tastic!

2008-06-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

Working furiously on new site design...getting very excited. wishing someone else was doing it though. is that wrong?

check back next week for hopefully the full site re-do...

Bathroom emergency. Backup requested.

2008-06-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Internet, I need your help.

My almost 3 year old son Jacob has developed an acute fear of the bathtub. It may or may not have something to do with with potty training, and/or a battery operated fish.

Several months ago, great progress was being made on potty training him. We let him run around the house in his birthday suit, and he told us when he had to go. He even told us sometimes when he had a diaper on, or would take off his diaper and pants and head to the potty.

I thought a miracle was occurring, because his older brother was almost 4 before he was fully potty trained. Then, for some odd reason, out of nowhere, when we would put him in the bath he would freak out, grab his johnson and get out of the tub to sit on the potty. I thought at first he just had to go really bad, but now every time we take off his diaper he freaks out and grabs the goods.

I have even gone so far as to get in the tub with him, but this does nothing but get me soaked while he screams at the top of his lungs. He went almost 2 weeks without a real bath. We just washed him down with a rag. And his hair...forget about it. When I wash his hair, I wait for the pounding of the CPS to come knocking on our door. It's that bad.

A probable cause is that some soap got in some nooks that didn't feel so good, or maybe that my older son terrorized him with the battery operated fish. But, shouldn't those memories be gone by now? We've eliminated the fish, and any "soap in unwanted nook" sting should be gone by now too.

So, what do I do? I've tried being funny. I've tried easing him into it by giving him a bath in the sink. I've tried bribes and new toys and soothing words, but none of it is working.

I assume he will eventually grow out of this, but until then, how do I explain the smell?

Broccoli is green

2008-06-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

Joshua: Mommy, I want some food.

Mommy: What kind of food?

Joshua heads out to the freezer in the garage where nothing but organic bread, organic veggies, homemade soups and of course, ice cream reside. It doesn't take much to figure out which one he's heading for.

Mommy: Joshua, you can't have Popsicles. Or ice cream.

Joshua: But, mommy, I just want some food.

Mommy: But, Joshua, there's nothing out here that you want, trust me. And no Popsicles.

Joshua: But I want some new food. Not Popsicles.

Joshua looks in the freezer: "Broccoli"

Mommy: Broccoli?

Joshua: Yeah. Broccoli. I want some broccoli.

Mommy: You do know that's green, right? It's a vegetable. It's not broccoli ice cream.

Joshua: I know. I want broccoli.

After picking myself off the floor from fainting...I go make some broccoli. My lobotomy theory has been proven.

Losing it.

2008-06-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone cares, or if anyone can relate, but I am seriously, seriously, losing my freaking mind.

I don't know what happened between last week and today, but I'm leaning towards the possibility that my kids also got a lobotomy while we were in the hospital for their strep throat. I can't prove it, but that's the only logical option.

Since they started feeling better they have been nothing but ungrateful devil children put here on earth to see to it that I eat chocolate and shoot myself. In that order, of course. What would be the point of shooting yourself and then eating chocolate? That's just stupid.

To describe their behavior would take much more effort than I am willing to put into it this morning, but let's just say I am being pulled in twelve different directions by two tiny little humans who consistently piss each other off in ways that no one understands. Screaming and crying and hitting and whining. All, not on my list of fun times.

"I want food!" "I want juice!" "Spongebob!!!" "I want my computer!" I want more food!" "Apples!" "Crackers!" "Juice!!!!" "Jacob, stop hitting me!" "Jossa (jacob's word for joshua) AHHHEHHHEHEHEH!!!!" "

And now that summer is here, screaming at them is a bit more challenging. I'll say something like "What is your problem!? Why are you being such a pain?" only to look out the window and see my neighbor standing outside...through the open, screen window. Hmmm, can't even imagine what's going on in her mind. Perhaps, "Who to call? who to call? Child protective services or 911?" So, now I have to be more aware of the window situation, and before I let out a blood curdling screech, I quickly glance up at the windows. That determines my noise level.At least in the winter there's a slight barrier of glass to muffle the screeches.

Not that my kids even hear me. I say the same thing ten times in a row. "Joshua, don't swing that around in the house, you'll hit the dog or your brother." While Joshua is still swinging said object, "Joshua....I just said not to swing that." Swinging..."Joshua!!! What did I just say?!" Still swinging damn thing...."Joshua, I'm going to count to 5 (swinging) if you don't stop swinging that thing (swinging) by the time I get to 5, I'm going to (swinging) send you upstairs for the rest of your life." 1....2......Swinging, swinging, swinging, now I've lost it. I don't even get to 5. "Give me that thing right now," I say in my deepest, most evil voice and yank it out of his hands. Then let the waterworks begin. Hurray! More. Freaking. Crying.

My house looks like a bad Roseanne episode (wow that shows how out of date my TV references are), with dishes sprawled about, usually with the dog licking one clean, and toys that I didn't even know we had have some how found their way onto every square inch of my floor. The sofa cushions have become the best toys in the world, but only if they are stacked on top of each other to jump onto, or leap from. And then of course, all the sofa pillows, from both sofas, need to be placed strategically throughout the house, because if you don't walk on them, your feet will catch on fire.

I send them outside so I can clean up inside, and they inevitably end up whacking each other with a golf club or baseball bat, or a stick. One or the other comes crying inside to me within minutes of being outside. Why is this happening?!

I'm an only child, so having a brother/sister relationship is over my head. Maybe this is normal, but dear god. I should have been given more patience with each kid, not less.

The only solace I take in all of this is that my annoying neighbors who, on the north side of us have barking dogs and screaming kids, and on the south side of us smoke so much that I'm developing second hand lung cancer through my own house, are getting paid back with my crazy, out of control children.

When you find me dead in my house after shooting myself...rest assured, there will be chocolate smudges all over my face....

Blurbodoocery

2008-06-17T03:10:00.000-07:00

After carefully mailing a box of pretzels, along with a book to sign, to the founder of the blog Dooce, I promptly discovered that she was on vacation....in Florida. Thanks to blogs, a person can know very detailed information about the goings on in a complete strangers life. A little scary, but comes in handy sometimes.

I then began to worry if the pretzels I had packed would melt before she even got to try them, or if she would even get the package at all. I was just about to call the Utah post office to see if the package was still there, when I received something in the mail myself.

Since it was my own handwriting on the postage paid self addressed return envelope, you'd think I would have immediately known what it was, but NO. I stared at the return address and wondered who would send me something so random all the way from Utah. Then, duh, it dawned on me that it was from Dooce!

After opening the package and finding my book, I was apprehensive to open it. Would she have just signed her name only, or would she mention the pretzels. Would there be something special stuck inside, like she teased on her blog?

Well...see for yourself..
As you can see, she did include something special...a very cute picture of her photogenic dog, Chuck, and a dooce sticker.

She wrote: "To Christy. Holy crap, those pretzels were amazing. Didn't last 10 minutes in this house. Thanks for the treat, I hope you enjoy the book. Much love, Heather B. Armstrong"

I feel slightly like a rock star and a groupie all at the same time. The only other book I've had signed by the author was the time I saw Erin Brockovich at IPFW's Tapestry event about 7 years ago.

I love how the internet has brought people together like this. I have "met" some really nice people through blogs and message boards that I would never have, if it weren't for the internet.

So, thank you internet, for allowing me to look into people's homes and sometimes their souls, without even leaving the couch. And, thank you Heather B. Armstrong and Chuck for being the coolest strangers to sign a book for me.

And now, the aftermath

2008-06-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

As a stay at home business owner mommy, my work is never, ever, ever done. This weekend was full of crying and messes to clean, and hospitals, and medicine delivery attempts (yes I said attempts....those $%#@# kids are so difficult! it's bubble gum flavored for crying out loud!! What's the problem?)

And of course a tiny little holiday known as Father's Day, that we all attempted to enjoy the best we could. The kids were astonishingly back to normal. (and yes, there was an occasion that both Mark and I dared to wish that they were still sick. we are going to hell in about 5 minutes.) A crazy day filled with joy, laughter and screaming. Ah, normalcy, how I've missed ye.

Which brings me back to reality. I have work to get back to, now that the dust has settled. Things I put off over the weekend in order to deal with my sickies, are now needing prompt attention.

The boys however, have other ideas. They want ice cream, tea and mommy's undivided attention still. And why not? I gave them everything they wanted for 3 days, why should it end. I'm sure any minute now one of them will say "It's not fair!" But hey, life's not fair, and if life was fair, I'd be 5'10", a size 2, and sipping some giant cocktail with an umbrella on a beach somewhere, so get over it.

Now, back to my regular schedule, with the addition of kids hanging from each limb. Wish me luck...

How do you "do it?"

2008-06-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

Admit it. You were more than just a little afraid to read this, right? Maybe, you thought, I had decided to scrap the toddler and DipStick talk for something a little more X rated?

Well, have no fear, I have not jumped on that wagon. What I'm referring to is probably the most well known company tag line of my time, which is Nike's "Just do it!"

I was on the treadmill, thank you very much, and was kind of laughing at my routine. If I'm on the treadmill at my house, I have to have my iPod on, while watching the TV, while looking out the window. Is that insane or what? I seriously get bored out of my mind if one of those three are missing.

Now, if I'm at the gym, I don't need the window, because I can see all the other gym rats walking around, which is so much more entertaining than trees and birds, let me tell ya. But the TV and iPod are still a part of my routine.

Or, if I walk outside, I don't need the TV, but, obviously there are trees and birds o'plenty. Again, iPod earphones firmly placed in ears. One great thing about outdoor walking is that if I do get bored (sans TV and all) I can't just stop the treadmill and get off. I have to at least walk back home.

So how do you do it? What's your secret to physical activity? Share with us what you do to keep active.

Update do dah

2008-06-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

Whew. Another not so boring weekend around here, unfortunately.

The breathing difficulties ala Joshua ended up being Strep Throat. We did not even catch it until he tried to finally eat, and screamed like he had just swallowed razor blades, which I'm sure is what it felt like.

I looked in his throat, and sure enough, those pesky white spots. Unfortunately this did not get noticed until after doctor's office hours-of course-and I thought I'd wait it out until Monday, only applying some natural aids to comfort him.

This worked for the most part, except he was still not eating. He said, "I'm too sick to eat Mommy. I have bumps in my throat, see...." while sticking his tongue out. He said, "My heart is beeping too fast because I exercised and now my heart is too big." And, "I can't eat until I see the doctors." I giggled at his observations, but still worried a bit.

Then, Saturday morning came with the very hot to the touch Jacob, crying and moaning. I knew what I would find in his throat, but looked anyway only to find that, yes indeedy, he also had Strep.

I wavered about what to do for hours. We ultimately decided to take both to the hospital, and bypassed the stinky after hours clinic. I just couldn't wait until Monday for our doctor.

At the hospital, Joshua was hilarious. He proclaimed how comfy the bed was and thought we should take it to his doctor's office, and began his list of foods he wanted to eat once he was all better. Chips.....Goldfish Crackers.....and Muffins! Muffins with yellow frosting from the food store to be exact. Then, when daddy asked him to bring my purse to me, he said, "But I'm too sick, see...." While sticking his tongue out for proof. He also rubbed Jacob on the head to make him feel better, and picked out a nice stuffed puppy from the nurse's puppy drawer for him.

After assessing the damage, and rambling about third world countries and using big words I'm not even sure he understood, our doctor sent us home with the requisite antibiotic scrip, and we settled in at last in our comfy house. Joshua still wouldn't eat, and kept reminding us of the bumps. "I'm too sick to eat" while he's running around the house tormenting the dog.

I started to worry, as this was the third day with no food for him and he was starting to look a little Billy Bob Thorntonish. Finally, after many trials and requests, he settled on Pokemon macaroni and cheese. The first bite scared him, and I made him chew it like he was 90 years old "Until it's soft and smooth, gramps!"

He cleaned up two whole bowls of it and I did the hallelujah dance of joy. If you know me, macaroni isn't usually something to cheer about around here, but today it was heavenly.

Jacob is still struggling through this. Poor guy is sleeping it off in a big way. I hope by tomorrow their antibiotics will have kicked in and done their job. But, we will be closely following this up with some good quality PRObiotics to get those good germies back where they belong. yin and yang.

The great, great news about all of this, is that the breathing treatments were unnecessary, and that means Joshua may have outgrown his bronchitis/allergy induced asthma/whatever the heck the doctors pull out of their hat syndrome.

It's kind of strange how their illnesses played out so differently. Joshua's developed slowly, culminating with the painful spots on Friday, while Jacob's arose suddenly, on Saturday, which allowed us to treat them at the same exact time. This saved time at the doctor office, and will make it much easier on my ten day antibiotic memory assignment. Things have an interesting way of working out sometimes.

Breathing treatments and Brownies

2008-06-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

I have been very faithful to the candida diet so far this time around (except that one slip up with the cookie), but on Wednesday night my son had a bout of breathing difficulties that brought back all the stress and reasons for my weight gain. He was in the hospital twice back in the fall of 07, and I promptly stress ate myself to an all new high for me.

So, when my husband called me at work to tell me Joshua was having some problems again, right after the unthinkable fear of losing him to some strange freak disease got out of my head, my thoughts immediately went towards what to cram into my face to soak up all this pain.

I thought about stopping by taco bell, or Starbucks, but ultimately headed straight for home, my priorities are in tact! I was so busy with taking care of him that I never thought of food again, until morning. it was a rough night, but we got through it, and as soon as morning came and I assessed the situation, I felt the stress coming back. His fever wasn't budging, and his heart was racing. He rambled on and on about strange things, and I was really getting scared.

I was pretty sure going to the hospital wasn't going to be fun this time (not that the last two were a barrel of laughs). He knew what to expect, and no video games or nice, free blankets or wagon rides were going to make up for the sharp sting of the needles he got last time. He still cries when he sees me get my blood drawn. He thinks it hurts the same way the very long and painful shot he got did.

After a few more breathing treatments, and a quick call to any friend with kids, and then the doctor's office, I started giving him Tylenol, which immediately brought down his fever, which then brought down his heart rate. Motrin wasn't doing a thing, so this was a relief.

Once this immediate threat of a hospital stay seemed over, I did what any sensible mother would do, and began baking my freaking heart out. He put together puzzles and talked to me about Mario while I whipped up some magical brownies that were sure to save the world.

I knew not to eat any, but seriously, who was I kidding. I intentionally got the cocoa and sugar and eggs and butter...I knew what I was doing, and I was happy about it.

Once the brownies cooled and the frosting set, my youngest son and I dug in. After all of that, I didn't even give any to Joshua for fear of the sweets upsetting his stomach. He didn't want any anyway, so it worked out just fine.

After about 3 bites my stomach was saying, "No more, woman! Can't you control yourself even for a few days?!" I cleaned the dishes, and wondered aloud if this made me feel any better. And you know what? It did.

The mixing and the blending and the cracking of eggs, honestly made my mind stop wandering and creating worst case scenarios. I cried enough that day, and the few minutes of fixing these brownies halted all those worries. The taste of the brownies was so sweet to my newly cleansed self, but were just what I needed.

I packed the rest away, and immediately drank 4 more glasses of water and exercised my heart out. I think I'll be okay, and actually feel stronger than I have in the past when I've cheated. It helps that things seem to be looking up for Joshua. But, this time I want to gain strength by being healthy so I can be around for them when they need me the most.

This needy thing...it goes both ways.

Dear Dairy

2008-06-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

It's becoming more and more apparent to me that I need to address issues far bigger than just dairy. I had eliminated dairy, wheat, sugar and caffeine (and soy of course) with absolutely no increase in energy, and very slight weight loss. At first, with the withdrawal symptoms, I thought it was the dairy, but now it seems dairy is only part of the equation.

The energy increase I have seen lately is due to my finally taking some iron and multivitamins to address my pretty bad case of anemia.

However, I knew I had to still do something with my food to make me feel better, so I got out my handy dandy binder full of Candida information to see what the heck I did back then that made such a huge difference.

The first glaring thing I noticed was the AVOID list which included Dates, Cashews and Pistachios...uh....no wonder I like those Lara bars so much!

I knew to avoid fruit, but ate that anyway, telling myself that since God created fruit, how could it be so bad, but ultimately, the fruit sugars are just too much if you're struggling with candida.

I also realized that I hadn't been drinking near enough water, and had totally eliminated the fresh squeezed lemon from any water that I was drinking. Upon researching pH balancing, I learned that fresh lemon in water really does a lot for balancing your body's pH and restoring it to a more desirable alkaline state. Lemons are also a diuretic, which helps release a lot of water I've been retaining.

So, on Monday I began (AGAIN!) this candida thing. I had to go all out, no more "kind of" and just really do this the right way. I drank at least 8 glasses of water, each with fresh lemon. It's actually very refreshing, especially on these tropically humid days we're experiencing in the Midwest.

At the end of day 1, I had such a massive headache that I went to bed at 8:30, and didn't wake up until almost 8 a.m. My body was getting rid of some massive stuff apparently, and needed the extra sleep for the challenge.

Day 2 hit a bit of a tiny snag, but one that counts nonetheless. I caved in and ate a cookie around noon time (my will power is astonishing), and then promptly read some message board posts on the candida site I frequent, only to find a wonderful post from a girl who said "After being on this candida diet for 5 months, I will never eat sugar again, thanks to how great I feel." I immediately starting crying and self loathing for being so stupid.

When I followed the candida diet back in September, I truly did feel better than I ever have, so I know exactly what she is saying. Ironic how your mind tricks you into craving foods you shouldn't have instead of reminding you of what living feels like.

Sugar is an evil thing, and something that I may not ever overcome, but I will die trying.

Blurg.

2008-06-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

So, like I mentioned, there's this large, regional grocery chain I've been trying to get into. The one that turned us down twice so far.

I mailed a package a few weeks ago, only to find out there was a new candy buyer in the corporate office. I hadn't thought to call to find out who the candy buyer was because the old candy buyer had been there awhile, and I had just communicated with her before Christmas. But just in case, I called to make sure the new person received the package.

She hadn't gotten it yet, and I was more than a little anxious because I had overnighted it a week earlier with ice packs since their headquarters is in North Carolina. Needless to say, I justified that expense the first time around, but to do it again wasn't exactly top on my list.

I called today, and luckily got through to the actual person, instead of the waste land that is voice mail, and spoke with her regarding the package. Luckily, she had gotten it.

However, they are not interested at this time. What were the reasons?

1.) The pretzels don't have UPC codes, which is a requirement. Here's the tricky part about that statement. UPC codes cost over $700, and that doesn't count all of my product, or the special program you need to do your own UPC codes. And, this particular company is the only company to request UPC codes, which makes it a bit of a gamble. Now, of course, having the codes would enable me to pursue other stores, but most are too big for us right now, like Target, Borders, etc, so this was the smallest big option we had. If we got the codes and they still turned us down, then that money was spent for nothing. (for now anyway)

2.) They have two pretzel lines already that are doing well, and don't have room for another one. Now this I can understand. But, I had to ask them if these pretzels had caramel on them. All she could say was that they do a variety of things. I know what pretzels she is talking about and they are nothing like ours. You have no idea how many times someone tells me, "Oh, so and so sells a pretzel now, and it's EXACTLY like yours." I rush right over to see who my competition is and guess what? There is a scrawny pretzel rod, barely covered in chocolate with a few haphazardly dropped confetti pieces on them, usually sold 2 for a dollar or something like that. The weight of two of those is usually less than half the weight of one of my 4" pretzels.

These two reasons are way better than if she would have said, "I've had better candy from a vending machine!" but they still mean we have some work ahead of us before we play with the big dogs. Not a horrible position to be in, but darn it wouldn't it be so much fun to not have to work so hard at something??? That's a joke. I know things worth having are worth working for, but haven't I worked pretty hard at this one account? OR maybe these no's are telling me that this isn't the direction to go, yet.

We're pretty busy as it is, and with no actual employees, it's kind of amazing we do this much. Maybe once we have a few more vendors added to our growing list, we'll be in a position to hire full time people, which would ultimately allow us to get bigger accounts.

Who knows what is going to be that thing that takes us to the next level, but we're looking for it any place we can.

Thank you, Goblins!

2008-06-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

My 5 year old son, Joshua loves LOVES anything related to computers. At first I took pride in this fact, dreaming of the day he becomes the next Bill Gates. He has been a natural computer whiz since he was 3, maybe even earlier.

He now installs things on his computer and knows how to find what he installed, and then start playing it... sometimes to the chagrin of his parents. He knows the words download, install, delete, mouse, cursor, dot com and Internet.

It really wasn't until he started waking up talking about certain games, or telling me about dreams that had specific computer game references in them that I realized he was probably on the computer too much.

It started out, simply enough, as a way to have him learn how to use the mouse, and to learn from Teacher Dora, his colors and ABCs in a way that I couldn't teach him. It morphed into hand held video games when he was hospitalized for a breathing problem, and daddy wanted him to feel better. It most definitely did the trick, and that video game came in handy for many doctor appointments, and one more hospital stay. Well worth the expense.

However, as many parents do, we found ourselves in this never ending pattern of letting him play the video game all the time. At first it was the computer he was addicted to, now it has become this tiny little magical device known as Nintendo DS lite. Most days I would let him play for more hours than he didn't play it. I felt guilty for sure, but when I took it away he freaked out and cried and screamed and lost his mind. I knew deep down that was a sure sign of addiction...one that we needed to break pronto, but I had my own issues to deal with as well as a business that won't run itself, and needed the very elusive down time that that video game gave me. I succumbed to the "computer as babysitter" method of parenting.

After a few months of this, I noticed my son was losing his personality and just wasn't fun to talk to any more. Every question to him followed with an answer that didn't match. I would ask him how his day was at school and he would say, "And then these big guys would come and I would get them!" Stunned, I nodded my head and said something like "That's nice Joshua, now mommy needs to go put herself in time out for being a horrible parent."

So, this is when I invented the Goblins. The Goblins are these evil creatures that live in the ground and take little kids' video games. When he wasn't looking my husband or I would hide the video game, and when Joshua would inevitably start crying about where his video game was, we told him the Goblins must have gotten it. At first this didn't go over very well. He cried and wanted it back and stomped around, but after this happening a few weeks in a row (magically the goblins return his video game to some random spot in the house on Saturdays or Sundays) he started to play along with it.

Now, when he gets his video game back on weekends, he says "Mommy. I am going to sleep with my video game so those Goblins can't take it away." And, as any wonderful mom would do, I say, "That sounds like a fantastic idea Joshua, you are very smart!" Of course in a few hours one of us finds the video game lying somewhere out of sight from Joshua, and Viola! it comes up missing again. Darn Goblins.

So Saturday came and daddy was out of town and it was crazy yucky outside, so I decided the Goblins should make their return. We were upstairs and I said, "Did you hear that? I think I might have heard the Goblins downstairs, Joshua." He ran to the top of the stairs and listened and said, "I heard them again, Mommy! The Goblins are here!" And, he ran downstairs and saw his video game on the kitchen counter and yelled, "THANK YOU GOBLINS!!!"

These Goblins are becoming as sacred as Santa around here, and I'm thankful for it.

Let the melting season begin!

2008-06-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

Over the last few years my summer orders have increased....and so have my anxiety induced headaches.

I cannot tell you how many times I ship a box with ice packs and just cross my fingers. Luckily a customer has never received a box of melted pretzels, that I know of anyway.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean things haven't gone horribly wrong. Back when I used the printed labels on the bags, they would get wet from ice pack condensation and either slide off the package or the ink would run, rendering them unreadable. This seemed to always happen with one particular client of mine, Everything Indiana. I am so thankful that she's is the most awesome person ever, because she would just have me ship her more labels. But still, not the most professional occurrence.

Then, there was once when I shipped a box to a candy blogger in LA. This was in December. I did not even put an ice pack in because it was freezing here, but guess what? She described them as "pretzel soup." (note to self, LA can be hot even when we are cold) Again, luckily this wasn't an actual paying customer, but still, not the best impression to leave on someone you are really hoping will review your product.

So, Tuesday was a big shipping day for me. I had 110 pretzels to ship to Everything Indiana again. I was so worried if they would melt, because these were for a big client of hers, with no time to spare. I took extra care to place very large ice packs in them, and place several sheets of butcher block paper in between and bubble wrap to prevent any condensation damage (i learned that lesson quickly!) So, when I got the email from her that they hadn't melted I was so relieved...followed quickly by "Oh Crap!" as I read the rest of her email informing me that BOTH ice packs leaked their entire contents, and that once again I needed to send her some hang tags.

How the box didn't completely disintegrate before it got to her I have no idea. I guess the pretzel gods were out that day, but what a headache for her! Now she has to re-tie several (luckily not all!) of the pretzels.

I also shipped a package to Salt Lake City, UT that day. This time to a different kind of blogger. The woman behind the famous blog "Dooce" is signing her book for those who wish to send it to her, so I mailed my copy of her book "Things I learned about my dad...in therapy" along with a small gift box of pretzels as a thank you for the signing. I put an ice pack in and said "Good luck little buddy". I may never know how those turned out, but I suppose if her dog Chuck shows up on the site with melted chocolate pretzel pieces on his nose, I'll have a bit of a clue.

These things must be learned and I am ridiculously lucky to have learned them the easy way. To have mailed a giant box to a new customer, or to a large wholesale company or someone who doesn't take the time to understand that I'm a small company, would have meant bad impressions and probably no further orders from them.

But, the great people I have working with me now understand that I'm a work in progress, and so is DipSticks. They help out when they can, and supply me with great feedback about how to package things without breakage. (thanks to my client Two Cookin' Sisters, I've learned that 8" pretzels take a bit more cushion when shipping, cold weather or hot, and they gave me lots of packing tips that I use all the time).

However, shipping in 90 degree weather is no picnic no matter how prepared you think you are, especially when shipping to the West Coast. But even shipping within Indiana is risky.

It's not bad enough to wish cold temps all year long though...that's just crazy talk.

A good feeling, indeed

2008-06-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a difference a few weeks make. I haven't been eating as well as I should be, but now that I'm addressing my iron deficiency, things seem so much better. My energy is returning, which is resulting in my desire to exercise. I'm just going to go with that for now, and hope the food thing follows.

And, a huge feeling of accomplishment has swept over me all day today. Not only did I get through the craziest week ever, especially for being the summer, but I've also continued to send out packages and complete orders this week.

I sent out a very interesting package to a popular blogger (not perez, FYI) as a thank you for something, and who knows where that will go, but the feeling of sealing that package and sending it in the mail was so fulfilling.

Some of my marketing pays off, and some of it goes nowhere, but just the fact that I'm doing it is a win win in itself. To sit back and do nothing would be worse than putting my product out there and getting turned down.

I'm still waiting feedback from one huge vendor. I've been turned down by them twice now, but so far, I haven't taken no for an answer. When we make improvements, or when they get a new manager, I just send some more product. Someday we'll have the right combination and they'll say "Yes"...but if not, I'll keep plugging away.

A few weeks ago, in the deep crevice of my misery, I would have done all of this (the vera basket, the huge hallmark order, the new marketing shipments) and felt nothing. I would have thought "Who cares, it's all going to end someday." But thankfully, with a better outlook and a clearer head, I can see all of this for what it is.

It's a feeling of accomplishment. A feeling that I'm making a mark on the world. A feeling that I can be proud of myself. A feeling that my two boys can be proud of their mom someday for standing up for something she believes in and working hard to give them a legacy.

The knowing that I haven't quit this business and that I've created something unique from nothing but creativity and a little maniacal energy, is very fulfilling.

Some days are better than others, and some days just suck the life out of me, but I wouldn't keep doing this if it wasn't part of my soul. I chug through the hard work on days when I'd rather be six feet under, and relish in the minor accomplishment of finding a great basket on days when I feel like I'm on cloud nine.

My ups and downs may not be typical of an entrepreneur, but it's my path, and I'm carving it bit by bit...even if it is with a spork.

ABCs and 123s

2008-06-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

Amongst many other things that I accomplished last week, were these adorable custom pretzels for a company called Literacy Speaks! They design and publish speech and linguistic studies for teachers around the country.

Their plan is to use mini pretzels to give away to attendants of their lectures, as well as some of the 4" pretzels to key people involved in the entire production of their promotions.

The mini pretzels turned out adorably. They are basically the same as our dippity do dahs (i'm calling them mini pretzels though, due to logistical space reasons on the hang tags) but I placed the wet chocolate on top of an alphabet pretzel, using it as the bottom of the pretzel. When people pick them up, they will find a little surprise.

Each mini pretzel is dipped in our usual caramel, and rolled in honey nut cheerios.

You can also see the Alphabet and Numbers confetti I sprinkled on top too. The colors are chosen for the primary colors, and they also match the Literacy Speaks! logo.

The 4" turned out well too.

They chose the yellow one, which I agree with. The white one is nice, and accents the bright primary colors, but the drizzle hides the letters and numbers, and makes them almost pointless.

In a few months (sometime around October) they will begin handing these mini pretzels out to thousands of people in states all across the nation.

I have no way of knowing where this will lead, but I can't help but be excited.

As with my Jubilee! pretzel, I will also be selling these Literacy Speaks! pretzels on my website with a portion of the proceeds going to a literacy organization to be chosen by the owners of Literacy Speaks!

Merchandise from the Vera Basket

2008-06-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

Once again, not my best photographic work, but I wanted to get a photo of the logo merchandise I included in the Vera Bradley donation basket.

I order my items from a company called cafepress.com and have been very happy with their work. The photos don't do them justice, but they turned out very nice.

A khaki canvas logo hat

A nice, heavy ceramic logo mug

My favorite, a logo T, with chocolate colored cap sleeves. The back has a picture of the cross section of our pretzels with the website address.

I picked these three because I had no way of knowing who would inevitably win the silent auction. I also assumed whoever (or is it whomever, Julianne? hee hee) got this could also give a friend or family member something if it didn't fit, or wasn't right.

Overall, the printing of these looked great, and would provide DipSticks with more "advertising" if this person wears our items. So, if you see someone wearing (or drinking from) something with our logo on it, who isn't me, tell them thanks for their donation to breast cancer research!

Finally...the Vera Bradley donation basket

2008-06-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

After weeks of waiting, the time finally came last Wednesday to gather items for my Vera Bradley donation basket for the annual golf outing benefiting breast cancer research.

I had a dollar amount in mind, and knew that I wanted to put a little bit of everything in the basket, including some logo printed merchandise.

After scouring for just the perfect basket, I decided on this unique chest. It had a faux crocodile finish on the outside, with buckled leather straps and a sturdy brass lock closure. I liked that this one had the cloth straps inside that attached the lid to the base, which enabled me to design this without worrying about where to put the lid or if the lid would fall down onto the other items.

The basket included 2 caramel apples, lots of marshmallows and twenty four 4" pretzels, in addition to two 8" pretzels, a half pound of S'more Pretzel bark, a t-shirt, mug and hat with the logo.

Specially created pink chocolate marshmallows and dark chocolate marshmallows with pink chocolate ribbons drizzled on them were my favorite part. I tied them with pink ribbon too, which really stood out amongst all the browns.

I lined the basket with a rich espresso and maroon diamond pattern fabric instead of any paper filler. I was surprised at how well the colors all went together.

You can click on the photos for a closer look, but it was hard to capture the entire basket in one shot. Hopefully you get the basic feel.

I'm curious to know what it went for at the auction. Just because I put my heart and soul into it, doesn't mean someone felt the same way about it. Either way, it was for charity, and it was worth every penny and every second for me.

Coming to a "gallery" near you...

2008-06-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, the biggest news of the week is that one of the places I called a few weeks ago said "Yes!" to selling my pretzels. Soon, we can officially add FOUR new locations, all of which are the Espresso Gallery coffee shops here in Fort Wayne. The original Espresso Gallery, on 14, near Scott road, and the 3 new locations, formerly Aspen Coffee Houses, at Georgetown, Dupont Road and Jefferson Road.

We are in the middle of finding displays that will fit their decor, which is a beautiful contemporary look. Once that is completed, we will officially be selling our little 4" guys in their shops.

I am going to find a dark metal display that holds about 9 pretzels at a time, and they can place several of them around where they have room. The pretzels hang from the loops in the raffia bow, and look nice all lined up in rows.

The Marshmallows and 8" pretzels will be considered around holidays, and we are talking about creating an Espresso Gallery pretzel using their very own in house roasted coffee beans. That will be fun.

So, all the nervousness of calling and all the hard work of this week have totally been worth it. We have a whole lot of room to grow still, which means a whole lot of work ahead for us too, but I feel more and more each day that this is what I'm meant to do.

Now, having my own retail location with built in kiddie rooms would make this much easier, but I'm not complaining.

A week in hindsight

2008-06-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned ever so briefly a few times last week....that was a darn busy week.

To give you a slight idea, here is just a portion of the tasks I accomplished in 5 days:

200 4" pretzels in ten different flavors
50 8" pretzels in four different flavors
90 Jumbo Marshmallows
12 pounds of S'more Pretzel bark
12 pounds of Toffee Pretzel bark
2 Caramel apples

Some of the pretzels were for a custom order, which meant designing a custom hang tag.

I put together the Vera Bradley donation basket, which required shopping for the right basket and material and arranging the items at least 3 times before finally liking the way it looked.

On Friday, I delivered 2 of the Hallmark location orders (my husband delivered the other two), as well as the Literacy Speaks! order and the Vera Bradley basket. That was more than half a day right there.

Add to this a few birthday deliveries, billing and follow up phone inquiries.

In between DipSticks work, I also had Joshua's last day of preschool at the zoo, which took a good part of a day. I also work part time in the evenings at a non pretzel related job four nights a week.

Writing it all down like this makes it not seem like such a big deal, but this was the first huge order for the marshmallows and bark that I've had, which left lots of room for error. I ran out of chocolate and bags at one point, and had to order more and/or do a quickie stop at Country Kitchen, which is like 2 to 3 times more expensive than my wholesale place. Oh well, live and learn.

Then, there was the packaging of all that bark! Holy. I have made bark for years for family, but never had to weigh each bag to make sure there was exactly the right amount, and then heat seal and tie each one. They looked great though, once they were done. I just underestimated the time and ingredients it would take for that much.

And of course there's the never ending reading/researching trial and error that is my health. I am gaining some ground in that area though, which is nice. Monday I just wanted to sleep all day, but by Friday I was beginning to feel like my old self again.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, and for voting in my poll. Looks like you want to hear my ramblings regardless if it's pretzel or health related. I look forward to more busy weeks like this very soon...

This week nearly killed me

2008-05-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Whew. What a crazy week this was. I could begin by listing every single thing that happened, but frankly, I'm too tired.

I will post each thing individually over the next week. A little teaser is that I created a new pretzel, finished the vera bradley basket, which I think turned out very cute, and picked up some new clients...all very exciting in their own right.

I had hoped to take today off and spend the day playing with the kidlings, but I ended up in the car all morning delivering all these orders, and now I'm catching up on much needed laundry. Perhaps tomorrow I can sit down? Hahahaha. That's a good one.

I should actually clarify that, because as my husband said last night, "You sat down to eat." SO, technically, I have sat down today, I mean, I sat down while driving of course, and I'm sitting now while typing. So, I should stop whining and be grateful I sat that much, right?

But, I'm going to be picky and suggest that maybe sitting with absolutely no agenda would be kind of nice for a change too.

With that, I will now get back to my house cleaning chores. Laundry actually seems relaxing after the week we've had around here. Now that IS odd.

New post for a change

2008-05-29T06:05:00.001-07:00

I will be posting some time today or tomorrow with an actual post. I feel bad that the three people who actually read this blog have had to see the same post over and over for a week now.

It's been a seriously busy week for some reason. I can't even comprehend all that is going on, but will update shortly.

I'm currently finishing up orders for Hallmark, Plumtickled, Literacy Speaks, and the Vera Bradley Basket.

Last day of school for Joshua and miscellaneous other household/health appointments mixed in have made for a crazier than usual week.

Check back soon for riveting details...

Contemplating Change

2008-05-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

A big portion of my thoughts lately have been taken up by my health challenges. These, at first glance, seem to have nothing to do with this blog. However, when I started this blog it was a way to share my day to day struggles and joys of raising two kids while running a growing business.

To be a stay at home mom you need energy and strength. To be a business owner, you need energy and strength. So, you can imagine that as a stay at home mommy business owner, I need twice as much energy and strength. Neither of which is very abundant right now.

So, my urges have been to keep writing about my health and what I'm doing to get it back. But, I do recognize that not all of you come here for that reason. This is why I am considering starting a second blog dedicated solely to my health issues and the battle that I am waging to figure it all out.

On the right hand side of this post I have placed a poll. Please vote in it honestly and let me know if you think I should create a separate blog, or if you like reading about all my struggles and accomplishments...health, kids and all.

These polls are 100% anonymous, and I have no way of knowing who voted or how many times one person voted, so please, don't be shy.

Thanks for all of your support through this, and hopefully soon I'll be back to my old high energy self. But, for now, I am tired and run down, and desperate for cheesecake... :)

Larabar

2008-05-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

With a lot of my posts lately I've been referring to specific foods that are helping me deal with this new way of eating. I thought that by eliminating dairy/wheat/sugar and soy that I'd be limited on tasty options, but surprisingly they are everywhere these days.

Case in point: Larabars are these amazing little snack bars that come in a gazillion fancy flavors.
Peanut Butter Cookie: Peanuts, dates, salt

Coconut Cream Pie: Dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, coconut oil

Pecan Pie: Dates, pecans, almonds

Key Lime Pie: Dates, cashews almonds, unsweetened coconut, lime juice

Ginger Snap: Dates, almonds, pecans, ginger, cinnamon, cloves

Banana Cookie: Dates, almonds, unsweetened bananas

Cashew Cookie: Cashews, dates

Cinnamon Roll: Dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cashews, cinnamon
to name just a few.

According to the company's site, each bar is:
1 SERVING OF FRUIT * NO ADDED SUGAR * UNPROCESSED RAW * NON- GMO * GLUTEN FREE * DAIRY FREE * SOY FREE VEGAN * KOSHER

Each bar contains approximately 5 grams of protein, and around 200 calories. I pack them in my purse and car to make sure they are always handy for that sudden attack of fast food cravings. They are very filling despite how small they are, and I'm truly surprised at how different the flavors can be, given that they all pretty much have the same ingredients.

My favorite bars so far are the Key Lime Pie, and the Cashew Cookie. Something about them makes you feel like you're eating a brownie. The texture is so rich and chewy. A very satisfying sweetness, with just the right texture.

At around $1.50 to $1.70 each, they can eat the budget a bit, but are certainly cheaper than my big mac with extra sauce and small fry, and leave you without all the guilt and gas.

I found mine at the Health Food Shoppe, and at 3 Rivers Food Co-op, but I believe Kroger carries them, and perhaps other stores as well. I have not seen them at Walmart yet, which does not surprise me.

Out of all the protein/snack bars out there that I've tried, these get a 5 star out 5 rating. Dates may not be your thing, but you'll never know it once you've taken a bite out of these bad boys.

Coming soon...

2008-05-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

Four Hallmark stores in the Fort Wayne area will soon be carrying not only our 2 oz. and 6 oz. pretzels, but also our pretzel bark and the caramel marshmallows.

I'm very excited about this and can't wait to see how they do. It will be strange to walk into the stores and see all of my product, and I'm curious as to how they are going to merchandise them.

If you're in the area, stop by the Hallmark locations at Dupont Village, St. Joe Village, Northcrest Shopping Center and Apple Glen for a peak.

Of course now this means my holiday weekend will be more like a working weekend, but that's okay. Working with chocolate isn't really work, is it?

Ciao Bella!

2008-05-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my no dairy and no wheat mantra these days, I have discovered several frozen concoctions to get me through my sweet tooth.

This one is called Cioa Bella and is the Blood Orange flavor. It is a fat free gelato and I can't believe how tasty it is.

The ingredients are basic, which I love. Blood Orange juice. Orange Juice. Sugar. That's it.

The texture is similar to sherbet, but maybe a little less creamy. The taste actually reminds me of grapefruit. Very sweet, but with a sour, citrusy note.

For those keeping track at home, there is sugar in this, which I am not supposed to have. I save this for my "cheat days" and for when it's this or a box of oreos. I think the Ciao Bella is the safest bet when faced with that decision!

I can't wait for the weather to actually get warm. This will be a nice, gluten free, dairy free treat.

Thinking outside the cow

2008-05-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

As you know, I have eliminated dairy (among other things). I am at 9 days and counting!!

I am happy to say that I have found a substitute for pretty much everything that I used to love diary-wise.

Ice cream=Rice Dream
Milk=Rice milk
Cheese=Rice cheese slices
Butter=Earth Balance

But, since most sour cream alternatives are soy based, a no no for my thyroid, my beloved sour cream had eluded me....until Friday night.

I decided to tempt fate and have a Mexican dinner on Friday. My former self would have said, "May I please have some taco and beef for my sour cream and cheese pile?" But, my new self, made a heaping portion of freshly made guacamole with tons of fresh cilantro, garlic, onions and a little lemon and lime juice, and lot of chopped lettuce, with my favorite Dave's Artichoke Salsa and organic corn taco shells, and bit of organic ground beef.

Out of curiosity I mixed some of my homemade mayo with a little bit of coconut milk and fresh lemon juice, and are you sitting? I created sour cream. A non dairy, non soy sour cream.

It was a bit on the runny side, but once it was on the taco, it blended so well with the rest of the ingredients that you didn't even care. The tacos were so fresh and tasty, I think I'll make Friday nights Mexican night at the Smiths from now on!

Sorry I don't have actual measurements for the Non dairy sour cream recipe, but when I figure it out, I'll post it.