I've got another tasty recipe of my mom's here. We just got to visit with them for a week, and she made these bars for us that were so good. 

Of course, anything with chocolate in it gets a thumbs up at our house, so these were destined to be a hit. They are so chewy and gooey right out of the oven, and the next day after they had set up a bit more, they were still chewy and delicious.

I adapted the recipe to suit my own tastes, and I love how simple they are.



Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and dry milk. Stir in the eggs and oil.. Press two-thirds of the mixture into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Set remaining cake mixture aside.

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the milk, chocolate chips and butter. Heat uncovered until chips and butter are melted. Stir until smooth. Pour over the crust.

Drop teaspoonfuls of remaining cake mixture over top. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting.

Do you like cranberries? I think they're one of those love 'em or hate 'em foods. For me, I can't have a holiday meal without my precious cranberry sauce.

There's just something about the sweetness mixed with the tart, that makes each bite of turkey, stuffing, and whatever else you have piled on your plate, taste infinitely better.

In my humble opinion at least. I even sneak into the fridge to grab spoonfuls of the sauce - all on it's own. That's my relationship with cranberry sauce.

Anyway, enough about my love of sauce - the cranberry kind.

I also love cranberries in my desserts, and when I came across this Tasty Kitchen recipe for Cranberry Orange Bars, I just had to give them a try. I love how simple they are, and with just a few ingredients, you can have a great dessert to add to your holiday meal in no time. This also a great way to use up any leftover cranberry sauce you have from your turkey day meal!

You can snag the printable recipe and see my full post over on the Tasty Kitchen blog. So go check it out!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving leftover? Leave a comment below and let me know. :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Mine was full of waaaay too much good food, followed by promises to myself that I would never eat again, which were quickly broken by stealthy trips to the kitchen to pilfer leftovers.

One of my favorite leftovers to eat, is this sweet potato casserole that has been a part of Thanksgiving that dates waaaay back into my childhood.

Of course, when I left home it was one of "those" recipes that I just had to take with me. Thanksgiving just isn't the same without sweet potato casserole.

This casserole is full of perfectly fluffy sweet potatoes, topped with the best crunchy sweet pecan streusel topping. We're not re-inventing the wheel here, many of you have probably had this recipe in some form another. But every year I say, "I need to share my mom's sweet potato casserole."

So here it is.

You know what? November has sucked...big time. I know we're supposed to be feeling all warm and fuzzy and thankful this month, but circumstances sure are making it hard for me to remember that.

Have you noticed that Sprinkled With Flour seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet? That's because I've lost my old domain name (http://www.sprinkledwithflour), which expired while I was absent with my medical issues and miscarriage. It was auctioned off in the blink of an eye, and purchased by another domain company who has yet to respond to my email asking them if I can have it back.

So in the meantime, I've had to register a completely new domain name, which changes my site URL from http://www.sprinkledwithflour.com to http://www.sprinklewithflour.com. At least it's not too different. The major change is that by changing my domain name, I have lost ALL of my old referred traffic and Google rankings. In the eyes of Google, I might as well be a brand new blog, at least until the new URL has had time to get ranked.

At least I still have my Facebook and Twitter pages to direct people to the new URL. So if you're not already a Facebook Fan, please head over there and get connected, then you'll always know where I'm at! :)

I'm in the process of trying to update the new site in as many places as I can. Foodgawker was able to do one switch that updated all of my old submissions to the correct link. Unfortunately, any pins on Pinterest are linked to the old site, so I'm having to start from scratch there too.

So the moral of the story? If you have a custom domain name, make sure you renew in plenty of time to allow for any issues that may arise. Otherwise you risk loosing everything you've worked hard to build up.

Note: I am still Sprinkled With Flour, the only thing that's changed is the URL for my blog. Here's to hoping that company will give me back my domain name. Grrr.


1. If you have Sprinkled With Flour listed in a blogroll on your blog, would you mind updating the link to the correct site?
2. If you have recently linked to a recipe on my blog, would you also update the link to the correct site?
3. If you're not already a Facebook fan or Twitter follower, use the pretty links in the side bar to get connected with me. Then you'll never loose me again! :)
4. If you feel like it, a quick shout out on Twitter or Facebook, letting people know that I haven't disappeared and where they can find my new site would be GREATLY appreciated. I would totally come to your house and do all of your laundry for the next 6 months if I could. It's the thought that counts....right?

Warning: This post will be full of raw, honest feelings on the loss of our child. If you don't want to read this type of material today, or are here simply for a recipe, I suggest you skip to the bottom.

This is a hard post for me to write. My last one was filling you in on my pregnancy and the complications I'd been dealing with. Today I have to share that my baby was born into the arms of Jesus last week.

When I went for my 14 week checkup, the doctor wasn't able to find the heartbeat with her doppler, so we went into the next room to check things with an ultrasound. As soon as I saw the monitor and heard the deafening silence, I knew my baby had died, but I still kept praying, "Please God, let her find a heartbeat. Please God." As the doctor turned to me and whispered, "Amber, I'm so sorry." I already knew my baby was gone.

I was scheduled for a D&C the next day, and though having to go through the rest of the day knowing my baby was dead inside of me was hard, waking up from surgery feeling that emptiness was harder.

Miscarriage. It's something that can seem so common, but until you live it, you never know what you've lost. I may not have held my baby in my arms, or created memories together, but I carried the hopes and dreams of what the future was supposed to hold - with this particular baby - in my heart. That is what I have lost.

I've lost the chance to learn this child's personality, to know the contours of their face like the back of my hand, or feel the comfort of their small hand grasping my own. This is more than a setback in the plans for our family. We lost a child. A child that was unique and will never be replaced by another. If I'm being honest, I may not even have the chance to try again. My pregnancies are so difficult on my body and my family, it takes a lot of careful planning and consideration to decide if it's something we can go through again.

I'm hoping, given time, that I'll have the opportunity to give my son a sibling, and know the joy of snuggling a soft, downy head again. Until then, I'm focusing on healing my body from the months of malnutrition, and giving my son all the hugs and attention I wasn't able to give him these past few months.  I'm getting a great start with this delicious soup my sister-in-law made for me while I was recovering, which is a recipe of her friend Victoria Costilla. I was so lucky to have her there helping me, I cannot give her enough praise - thank you Christel!

This soup is full of vitamin C veggies and vitamin E from the brown rice. Did I mention it tastes great? And while it does have jalapenos in it, it's not too spicy at all.

3-4 cups water
2 chicken breasts with bone (or meat from a rotisserie chicken)
3-4 chicken tenderloins (not needed if using rotisserie chicken)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, diced
7-8 cups chicken broth
1 cup brown rice, uncooked
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen green beans
1 cup water
1-2 fresh jalapenos
1/2 tbsp black pepper
pinch of salt (to taste)
cayenne pepper powder
fresh lemon

Combine 3-4 cups water and the chicken breasts and tenderloins, cook until the meat falls off the bone, about 1-2 hours. Turn down the heat, remove from heat and shred chicken with a fork. Alternatively, you can use the meat from a rotisserie chicken to save time.  Return to stovetop and add the following: garlic, onion, chicken broth and brown rice. Cook until rice is soft and cooked through. Add celery, carrots, cabbage and green beans. Cook until veggies are semi-soft.

While soup is cooking, using a blender, blend one cup of water with the fresh jalapenos. Add the blended sauce to the soup. Cook about 10 minutes longer, adding more water if necessary until you reach desired consistency. The soup will thicken once the rice is cooked.

Before serving, remove any bones, garnish with cayenne pepper, salt and fresh squeezed lemon or lime. This soup freezes really well, and can be frozen in single one cup servings for reheating later.

**Update 12/5/2012: Unfortunately, I lost my baby last month at the beginning of my second trimester. It is very hard for me to deal with the fact that I went through all of this with no reward in the end. I am keeping this post up, to educate the public on what women go through who suffer with Hyperemesis.**

Hello all. If you've been checking in with me on Facebook, you know where I've been for the past couple of months. If not, well, I thought I should write a post to update you all.

We are expecting baby # 2, and while for most people this begins one of the best times of their life, for me it begins the worst. During my pregnancies, I suffer from a rare condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum, this disease affects less than 2% of pregnant women.. The definition of this disease: "HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids, with adverse consequences for the newborn."

Now you may be thinking, "Oh, you mean morning sickness."

No. Hyperemesis is more than morning sickness, and cannot even be compared. Besides extreme weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration, and depression, HG can lead to renal failure and death. It can become so unbearable and life threatening, that some women opt to terminate their pregnancy just to end their misery or protect their own health. To elaborate, I will try to explain my experience.

Since we knew about my HG in advance this time around, my doctor prescribed the usual anti-nausea medication for me, hoping early treatment would curb it. It didn't. The unrelenting nausea and constant vomiting began, but since I was still keeping some fluids down, I made myself suffer through it. I did this for 4 weeks, completely bed-ridden and unable to care for my child or even myself.

Anything was a trigger. Light, sound, smells (of course), motion, air moving across my face, even my son's hugs. Do you know how awful it feels to not even be able to tolerate your child putting his arms around you, or kissing you on the cheek?

As usual, it progressed and became worse. I lost an additional 10 pounds in 2 weeks, was vomiting hourly (NOT an exaggeration) and was pretty much just a pathetic lump crying convulsively on the bathroom floor.

Finally, my Dr ordered home health care and a Zofran pump for me to manage my condition, but since it was the weekend I had to wait for my insurance to authorize it. Gotta love insurance companies. When I finally got the go-ahead, I had not kept a single drop of liquid or any food down for 3 days.

My medical supplies were delivered and the home health nurse came out to get me set up. She had me pee on a stick to test my ketones and level of dehydration. When you have no nutrition for a period of time, toxins build up in your system and cause ketosis. Apparently I was off the charts at the highest level you can be.

Go figure.

She hooked up my IV, then showed me how my pump worked and how to change my infusion site.

Yes, I have to stab myself in the abdomen every other day. Actually, my husband does it. I'm too chicken. A nurse calls me every morning to get my ketone levels, log my weight, food intake and check on me.

The Zofran pump holds a syringe of my medicine, which is attached to a catheter that is inserted into my abdomen, this delivers a continuous dose to me throughout the day. I have to alternate the infusion site every couple of days, since the medicine is really irritating to the skin and causes redness and hard lumps.

After several days on the pump things began to get a little better. The vomiting episodes reduced, so instead of 20+ times a day, I was down to 5. I could keep tiny bites of only a few foods down, spread out throughout the day, and a bit of liquid. The nausea never improved, so the doctor upped my dosage and added in a supplemental anti nausea medication.

So as you can see, I've not been post-writing-worthy, or food-making-capable for a while. But things are looking up. If you know someone who has suffered from this disease or would like to learn more about it, go to www.helpher.org. It has tons of information and great resources. Not enough is known about HG yet, so more research is being done all the time.

For a bit of comic relief, here are the Top 10 Things Not To Say To A HG Woman. If you've had HG, I know you can relate. :)


10. Being sick is a sign of a healthy pregnancy
9. Don't be such a drama queen, perhaps you should see a psychiatrist
8. Take a shower and then take a walk outside
7. You should feel better by now, it's been 3 months
6. Eat lots of small meals daily
5. Think positive, it's mind over matter
4. Try seabands
3. You should try ginger
2. Eat some crackers

and the #1 thing not to say to an HG woman is...

1. Oh, I was sick too when I was pregnant too!

If you have been guilty of saying one of these phrases to an HG woman, than you need to educate yourself about HG. Education is power and HG women need their family, friends, doctors and nurses to educate themselves about this horrific pregnancy condition. Research has proven HG is not a "mind over matter" issue it is a physiological condition of pregnancy.

So the next time you come across a woman who has Hyperemesis...please don't suggest she eat crackers. She may just punch you in the face - after she pukes all over you of course.. :)