Hello! I am Hanunyah and welcome to Ranch Girl's Sweets and Treats! Grab a cookie and stay awhile . . .
I am a little girl who was born on the 12 day of April, in the year of 1999. On August 3rd, 2010 I started this blog. I am blessed to have awesome parents that homeschool me and my 10 siblings. (See this article for questions you may have about homeschooling). I am the 7th child. We run a 40-acre ranch in Northeast Oklahoma with bunches of activity - goats, sheep, llamas, dogs, donkeys, pigs, cats, chickens, ducks, guineas and whatever else comes our way! Living on a ranch is truly a blessed, yet busy way of life.
I like drawing realistic pictures (mainly animals), and photography. I have been drawing since 2007/2008, and have very much progressed since then. It has taken much learning, time and practice. You may see my work here (and below). And, I have been taking pictures for probably even longer.
The Conclusion: Since I am home-schooled, drawing and photography is great school. Much practice, practice.
As a "side note", my family and I have a few food allergies/sensitivities - the main one being gluten, and then cow dairy and corn.
The gluten - most of my siblings and I have issues with gluten. After we discovered our intolerances (in the beginning of 2009), my grandma and cousins also realized gluten affecting them. It is actually not hard to eat gluten-free, contrary to popular reaction.
The dairy - my little 6 year old brother (who has Down Syndrome) is the one most affected in our family by the cow dairy. Why I say cow dairy? Well, he handles the goat milk completely fine (that's why we have milk goats!) - he can eat all the goat milk and goat milk products we make - yogurt, cheeses, butter, etc. We have tried sheep milk - not so well. The reaction (choking episodes that are horrible when he eats it, and a rash when it is just in the house) - the sheep and cow both affect him severely.
My oldest brother has the corn allergy. We first found that he reacted to gluten (his legs would hurt really bad; he felt like he was dragging), then corn. His symptoms would improve when we removed an allergen, but they kept coming back. He finally tried going on the GAPS diet in the June of 2011 - he now feels the best he ever has! It really helped him. Me and my dad also went on the diet, and feel better too.
The Conclusion: My oldest brother would be happy following at least the general outline of the GAPS diet his whole life. Most of the rest in the family still follow a gluten-free diet, and of course, my little brother stays away from dairy (cow and sheep) and gluten for now.
So, do I like to bake? Yes. I remember making "Hanunyah Creations" in 2008, when I was 9 years old. Little did I know that I would be creating allergy-free just a couple years later. Though I did bake with gluten for a little, I still don't remember using much dairy (because we found about my little brother's dairy allergy before the gluten). Then we went gluten-free. I've been baking gluten-free ever since. We went gluten-free in the beginning of 2009. It is probably easier for me to bake gluten and dairy-free because this is how I learned to bake, rather than others who had always baked with gluten and dairy for years upon years and then switching.
The main thing I remember making with gluten was oatmeal cookies. I don't know why, but I was after a good oatmeal cookie recipe. My family can tell you how those dairy-free gluten-full cookies were. I tried recipes upon recipes. Problem: I used oil 1-to-1 instead of butter. Now? Easy. Solution: lard (or shortening). You may say, "eeeeww . . . lard?" - I use it just like shortening and butter. It works for me. The thing is, no gluten is needed to make the perfect oatmeal cookies. No flour needed to make great oatmeal cookies. The recipe? Click here. And you can use oil - for some reason they are not greasy like my first oatmeal cookies.
The "problem" with gluten-free baking is . . . it's gluten-free. Gluten makes things rise. Gluten holds things together. Gluten is smooth, airy. Rice flour on the other hand, does not rise on it's own. Most of the time it is "grainy". You just have to experiment, tweak and add different things, and it does eventually work.
Dairy-free baking is not hard either. But you want to make cheesecake? Well, there are so many substitutes out there. For us it is especially easy, because we can make everything from goat milk (yep, even cream cheese!).
The Conclusion: If you like to bake, and want to bake allergy-free, you have to just keep at it until you get success - otherwise you won't get anywhere. Though I am not an expert at all and have not been baking that long, from the little knowledge I have I may be able to help with your baking problems. Feel free to email me - h2 (at) gotdownsyndrome (dot) net .
The most important thing in this life is doing everything to the glory of God (the God of the Bible). The only Faith we have found to be true to the Bible can be found here.
The Conclusion: "..........of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all." - Ecclesiastes 12:13
I hope you find my blog helpful! Feel free to leave comments, and I'm always open to suggestions.
~ Hanunyah
A little about me . . .
The Conclusion: Since I am home-schooled, drawing and photography is great school. Much practice, practice.
The gluten - most of my siblings and I have issues with gluten. After we discovered our intolerances (in the beginning of 2009), my grandma and cousins also realized gluten affecting them. It is actually not hard to eat gluten-free, contrary to popular reaction.
The dairy - my little 6 year old brother (who has Down Syndrome) is the one most affected in our family by the cow dairy. Why I say cow dairy? Well, he handles the goat milk completely fine (that's why we have milk goats!) - he can eat all the goat milk and goat milk products we make - yogurt, cheeses, butter, etc. We have tried sheep milk - not so well. The reaction (choking episodes that are horrible when he eats it, and a rash when it is just in the house) - the sheep and cow both affect him severely.
My oldest brother has the corn allergy. We first found that he reacted to gluten (his legs would hurt really bad; he felt like he was dragging), then corn. His symptoms would improve when we removed an allergen, but they kept coming back. He finally tried going on the GAPS diet in the June of 2011 - he now feels the best he ever has! It really helped him. Me and my dad also went on the diet, and feel better too.
The Conclusion: My oldest brother would be happy following at least the general outline of the GAPS diet his whole life. Most of the rest in the family still follow a gluten-free diet, and of course, my little brother stays away from dairy (cow and sheep) and gluten for now.
The main thing I remember making with gluten was oatmeal cookies. I don't know why, but I was after a good oatmeal cookie recipe. My family can tell you how those dairy-free gluten-full cookies were. I tried recipes upon recipes. Problem: I used oil 1-to-1 instead of butter. Now? Easy. Solution: lard (or shortening). You may say, "eeeeww . . . lard?" - I use it just like shortening and butter. It works for me. The thing is, no gluten is needed to make the perfect oatmeal cookies. No flour needed to make great oatmeal cookies. The recipe? Click here. And you can use oil - for some reason they are not greasy like my first oatmeal cookies.
The "problem" with gluten-free baking is . . . it's gluten-free. Gluten makes things rise. Gluten holds things together. Gluten is smooth, airy. Rice flour on the other hand, does not rise on it's own. Most of the time it is "grainy". You just have to experiment, tweak and add different things, and it does eventually work.
Dairy-free baking is not hard either. But you want to make cheesecake? Well, there are so many substitutes out there. For us it is especially easy, because we can make everything from goat milk (yep, even cream cheese!).
The Conclusion: If you like to bake, and want to bake allergy-free, you have to just keep at it until you get success - otherwise you won't get anywhere. Though I am not an expert at all and have not been baking that long, from the little knowledge I have I may be able to help with your baking problems. Feel free to email me - h2 (at) gotdownsyndrome (dot) net .
The most important thing in this life is doing everything to the glory of God (the God of the Bible). The only Faith we have found to be true to the Bible can be found here.
The Conclusion: "..........of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all." - Ecclesiastes 12:13
I hope you find my blog helpful! Feel free to leave comments, and I'm always open to suggestions.
Hanunyah,
ReplyDeleteYou have wisdom beyond years, I am so glad I found your blog, smile.
Keep up the fabulous baking, cooking, and love for God, He is the only way, truth and life! John 1:1
Blessings, and I look forward to seeing more of your amazing drawings too, smile
you are a very talented girl, your parents should be very proud of you, I know God is!
Juliette
Hanunyah,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you could post your 3 musketeer recipe?
Also what can you use to replace lard?
Neighgirl
I was saving the 3 Musketeer recipe for my cookbook, but I'm not exactly sure when that's going to happen . . . seems overwhelming at the moment :). But yes, I was planning on posting that recipe.
DeleteI use lard (or vegetable oil) as my main baking fat because we don't do butter here. Shortening or butter may be used in place of lard.
Was wondering if I could use the picture of your baby calf? This is for an invitation for a pot luck meal. (No, we're not eating baby calves at the dinner--just fried chicken.) I just thought he was so cute.
ReplyDelete