Bad meat at Publix :(

Today I am so glad I bought all that chicken from Zaycon. This is the third and last time I have been burned buying meat at Publix. First time it was packs of nasty chicken breasts, brought home and every single package smelled like rotten trash. Then it was the pork spareribs fiasco. We had guests coming over for chinese spareribs. I bought a huge rack, the next morning it smelled horrible in the fridge. Brought it back, was given a second rack. Got it home and it too stunk. I threw away the meat and gave up. I wrote to publix through their website, but sadly got no response.

Zaycon Chicken

This is my first time buying meat in bulk. My first time ordering from Zaycon Foods, first time getting fresh chicken. I had nothing in my new chest freezer, and had no clue how to use the new foodsaver machine I bought in anticipation of the bulk chicken order from Zaycon!

So first I have to say it was super easy picking up my order. There was a refridgerated truck in the parking lot at the given address, I gave them my name and bam - they put plastic down and put the box o' chicken in my car and I was off. Did you know that fresh chicken actually has a pleasant odor to it? I have always bought my chicken from a local grocery store, and even if you use it right away - when you first open the package it has a little smell of death on it. You know what I'm talking about! The fresh chicken smelled... well, nice! I was floored. The chicken breasts you get from Zaycon are collosus and I mean HUGE. I am totally impressed with the quality of meat I received and will definitely be ordering from them again!!

It took me two and a half hours to trim and bag all the meat, but keep in mind I was a newbie to using my food saver. I put the bags of chicken on cookie sheets and in my freezer, so I could work with one bag at a time and not spoil the rest. It was awkward because I didn't find my rhythm until the last bag. I washed my hands at every turn until my hands were stinging, so I looked at it logically. I ended up trimming an entire bag, throwing away the fat (there wasn't a lot!), washing hands, and putting a breast and a half in each foodsaver bag. I figure with six of us eating that is plenty - that's how big the chicken breasts are! I went through two 10ft foodsaver rolls, but it took me awhile to get the size of the bags right. I also had to let the sealer cool off a few times - but overall I'm very pleased with the little machine I bought. I got the 2400 series, and it just rocks. Of course, I have yet to look in the freezer to make sure everything I did yesterday is still sealed... but I have high hopes!!


Overall I am extremely pleased and I saved a ton of money!! I paid $1.79lb for the boneless skinless chicken breasts, and around my parts if the chicken isn't on sale it's $4.99lb. Substantial savings for us :)

Gluten Free Chicken and Pineapple Kabobs

These came out super tasty - but a fair warning they need to be cooked either on a grill or on foil. They get sticky!

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
pineapple chunks
veggies of your choice - we think peppers would be awesome, add what you think would work!
teriyaki sauce recipe
skewers

Alternate meat, veggies and pineapple on the skewers. Grill or bake until almost cooked through, and brush with teriyaki sauce. Finish cooking and pour more sauce over them to serve! Super easy and yuuuummmy!

Gluten Free Smoothies

Lately I have been into making my own smoothies at home. Most are tasty, but I have had a disaster once or twice. Most recently I bought a maradol papaya - they are huge! They aren't sweet or gooey like the payapa's I'm used to, they're firm and not sweet at all. I grabbed a mango to go with it, and blended the papaya, mango, and some ice. It was ... savory I guess? Not quite what I expected, so I added some honey. Now THAT was a money shot - they were just awesome!! I usually put fruit with vanilla frozen yogurt into the blender and so it's like a fruity milkshake - this was something new for me. Yum!

Gluten Free Thai dish

Yes, I officially call this "Redneck Thai". I have no clue what originally made us put hot dogs instead of chicken in, but it came out just gold. The saltiness of the dogs goes so well with the peanuty yumminess of the sauce, and the noodles are just awesome! Ok, noodles are awesome compared to other gluten free noodles available in my local stores. It's slim pickins. It's officially called Thai Peanut Noodle Kit, but once we put the dogs in it we felt completely redneck, and out came the name. No, it's not the healthiest dish in the world but seriously once you're forced into eating gluten free (thank you celiac disease) sometimes you just have to indulge. Everything can't be all fresh fruit and vegetables!! I used to totally indulge myself and eat two huge bowls of Sugar Smacks cereal, since going gluten free Redneck Thai is my two bowl indulgence. A few times a year. Someday I'll figure out how to make gluten free Sugar Smacks then it's watch out world... and my waistline!

A Big Shout Out To Udi's!

Thank you Udi's for the most wonderful thing - hot dog buns!! I now eat hamburgers and hot dogs just like everyone else does, on a bun! I just grab one from the freezer, heat it up in the microwave and it's just heaven. Heaven! I'm so glad these are available in our area, since Big Kid will now have to eat gluten free with me. He would be upset if he could never again have a burger on a bun :) Udi's you make gluten free life so much easier! We also enjoy Udi's gluten free bread loaves and chocolate muffins, omg are they amazing. WOOHOO! GO UDI'S!

The end of a long hard day of homeschooling

This is Diesel, resting after a long day of laying on our books while we homeschooled :) We have one cat who is the typical cat, he loves us but acts like a prince. Diesel is just a fool. He's more like a dog than a cat, and is completely loyal to Big Kid. He cries when Big Kid sleeps at a friend's house, and lays next to him just about every day, all day. I use Diesel as an excuse to never have to put up with owning a dog!!

Red Velvet and Yellow Cake Gluten Free Cupcakes

I must first admit I use Paula Deen's recipe for the red velvet cake, and just substitute The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour when she calls for all purpose flour. I didn't make the frosting, since I was crunched for time I used Betty Crocker's whipped cream frosting. It was white and tasty, fit the bill perfectly. Yes, it's gluten free. I used my favorite go-to awesome recipe from Chef Talk - this recipe - for vanilla cake, and just added blue food coloring until it looked good and blue. The layers looked awesome when they came out of the oven, I had no idea they would color the papers too! They looked so fun frosted with red white and blue sprinkles! And as always, both cake recipes were just amazingly moist and tasty.

I personally find it really easy to pour my cake batter into disposable icing bags and just clip the tip, and squirt exactly how much batter I want into each cupcake liner. Less mess, less frustration especially when you are using bright red batter! I don't use the bags for icing, for some reason I always blow a side out when I use them for frosting. Maybe it's the way I squeeze the frosting out, or how I hold the bag in my hand. When the side pops frosting goes everywhere ... and it only has to happen a few times before you use a different bag! I am in love with my stained old Wilton white frosting bag, and now I have so many frosting tips I really should learn how to use them all!! Someday, when my children are grown I'll need something to do to keep me occupied. I'll learn how to use frosting tips then :)

Patriotic Toenails

Yes, I am a redneck. My husband laughed and told me I can no longer call myself a "yankee" with the paint job I just put on my toes! I am by no means a professional stylist and I promise I don't have the talent it takes (ok or the patience) to paint straight little white lines. Here's the secret - you know how after your kids take all the stickers off a sheet of stickers, there is a sheet of sticky paper that the stickers were cut out of? I cut that into tiny little strips then stuck the strips onto my nails. To make the X blue I cut the four corners off the sticker sheet and stuck them on my nail - painted two coats of blue, and took them off. I used the same white strips on both nails, and just cut the strip into tiny little squares to make the stars. Not perfect, but I did at least get 13 stars on the confederate X to represent the 13 colonies! I could not however fit 50 little stars into the American Flag nail. Still, pretty spiffy for a half an hour and some sticker leftovers! I painted them with two coats of topcoat once I was done. They'll last at least through the weekend, we're having a Fourth of July bash :) Yeehaw!

My son has celiac disease

:( Unfortunately I have passed this lovely disease onto my oldest son. He's 13. I think I am taking it harder than he is. When I told him he simply hugged me and told me he doesn't blame me. He then asked if we could make custard and creme filled donuts at home! Priorities I guess ha!

I have been dealing with celiac disease and the gluten free diet since July 2006. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it yet I'm going to the doctor in a few days to find out if I am anemic. Apparently I don't have a "great" handle on the diet! I certainly don't want my son to become anemic, so I may make an attempt to find a dietitian who actually knows about celiac disease. The one I went to when I was diagnosed couldn't get past the "no wheat" part, and kept telling me to eat toast and oatmeal to help my body recover from the years of diarrhea. Um, no thank you. I have a hard time giving some health professionals enough credit. For six years I was told I had HIV, then when the tests came back negative I was told I had IBS and was sent on my merry way. For six years. I knew the doctors were morons, IBS does not make you have the symptoms I had. I assumed I had cancer and they just couldn't find it, even with all the colonoscopies they did. I bled a lot, it really was horrifying. Now I know it was my body busily killing the villi in my small intestine! Who knew?!

All of that said I guess I should just be really, really thankful that my son didn't have to go through what I did before finding out we were celiacs! And yes, I'm willing to give dietitians another go, maybe I'll find someone who wows me. I still can't believe I have passed celiac down to my child :(

Happy Independence Day!!

We're reading The Story of America's Birthday, to familiarize the twins with the holiday in general.  It's hard to explain religious freedom to four year olds, it was easier to tell them that the colonists didn't like the King of England so they started a new country. Was that the wrong thing to say? LOL!

Our July 4th projects are mostly planned to start in July, since we took a week off for summer vacation. The twins wanted to make a flag, so this is what we came up with! They cut blue and red paper up, then drew their version of a flag - just the box and the stripes. Then they glued the pieces on, and put white star stickers in the blue box. They loved the project, and were very proud when they were done. They couldn't bear to see the Octonauts go so we still have Kwazii, Peso, Pinto and Captain Barnacles on the red white and blue bulletin boards! I think today we might make fireworks with glue and glitter on white paper :)

Octonauts Projects

I posted maybe a month ago about the boys wanting to do some Octonaut projects. We ended up making their four favorite characters and using both of their art bulletin boards to make an underwater scene. They did a lot of projects to make more ocean creatures, our monthly theme was Ocean Life so it was perfect timing! We're starting a new theme and I really need to take the Octonauts and their fishy friends down, but I'm sad to. I know it's silly, but this was my favorite boards they have done so far!! The twins are growing up so quickly - Thing Two can now count to a thousand by 100's, count to 100 by tens... and Thing One can read! Yes, my child suddenly popped out with a level 1 reader and had almost no hesitations reading things like "The fat cat sat on the wet mat". OMG! I read to them constantly, and I knew they had a serious love affair with letters, but that just blew me away. Almost all of the Explode the Code level 1 book I bought is review for them - who knew?!! Math is fun for them, we're using the BJU Math 1 book. It's a little easy for them but they need the practice writing their letters. They are so not babies anymore, and zoomed right past being toddlers! But they do still fall and hit their heads a lot... poor boys are top heavy!

Summer Days of fun

I love nice summer days! We filled the 6ft snapside pool (found at Walmart on clearance last fall, yay!) and put it on our patio, so it would be a little warm but still refreshing by afternoon. We waited for the house to shade the back patio, and let the fun begin! Big Kid likes to break out with the sprinkler, the twins for the most part stay in the pool and shoot Big Kid with the foam water shooters. It's so nice to have a backyard with soft grass, a shady spot with a table and comfy chairs to sit in, and kids who love playing outside so much! We played for hours yesterday, and it hit me all of a sudden how lovely the afternoon really was. I usually hate summer because I get so darn hot, but playing in the backyard is just awesome in my book :)

Gluten Free Chinese Spareribs Recipe

I used to eat at a Chinese restaurant in Lexington Mass with my grandparents when I was young. It was a big deal for us all to go out together, and it felt very special to me. They served the best spareribs I have ever tasted - until last night! Seriously, you'll be amazed at how simple this recipe is and how exquisite the taste is. The bonus is they can be made gluten free or with regular soy sauce!

Update: a "reviewer" told me that this is also excellent on salmon fillets, I can't wait to try it on fish - yummy!

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.


Chinese Spareribs

3 to 5lb pork spareribs
1/2 cup soy sauce (I use La Choy, it's gluten free and low in salt content)
1/3 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of a deep cookie sheet with foil. Either use one piece or really pinch the edges of two pieces together - with sauced recipes like this if the liquid leaks under the foil it will become part of the sheet.

Cut spareribs between the bone into individual ribs. Place on lined cookie sheet meat side down.

Mix the soy sauce and honey together, and brush or pour lightly onto ribs. Bake covered with foil for one hour.

Remove tray from oven, throw away covering. Pour the remainder of the sauce over the ribs into the pan, and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes. Cool for five minutes if you can stand the wait!

Butterfly Garden

I love butterfly bushes! Ok, I love flowers in general but seeing butterflies flock to a bush in my own backyard is just awesome. I'm also really enjoying seeing all the hard work we have put into our gardens come to fruition! My flowers are BLOOMING like crazy!!!

This photo is from the first year we planted our butterfly garden, ordered for $29.99 from Spring Hill Nursery. 

And here it is two years later, wow! I have already had to seriously trim back the blue butterfly bush, the pink one is uncut still. The bee balm took off like crazy, I moved half of it up front and I still have probably 30 blooms in each area. I did lose a few plants, the dianthus never came back and the coreopsis came back but never bloomed again after the first year. I have added some verbena to cover up the dirt, it's tiny but it should take off nicely. I moved the lilies to the front garden to make room for the lantana (keeps coming back every year!) and bee balm to spread. Woohoo! I love it when gardens work!

Memorial Day

Let us take a few moments this Memorial Day to reflect on the meaning of the day, to observe the day and be mindful of the sacrifices of others before we go and enjoy the freedoms they bought for us.

Butterfly

This little guy spent most of the day on our blue bush yesterday. That has to be comparable to a year at least for us, butterflies have such short life spans! I was honored to be able to witness his beauty :) This is why I was so supportive of Big Kid planting a butterfly garden a few years ago. I cleared a good sized area for him and helped him order two butterfly bushes (pink and blue), scarlet and magenta bee balm, and some dianthus. The dianthus didn't make it through the year, and never came back. Three years later the blue bush is HUGE, the pink one is doing alright! The bee balm is just lovely, and comes back thicker every year. They attract tons of butterflies, it's so fun to watch!

I have discovered gluten free cookies - that taste GOOD!

I have tried the crap that is offered as gluten free cookies in our area, and it's a joke. Pamela's cookies fall apart in the package before you even get them home, and feel grainy for some reason when eaten. Eating sand is NOT enjoyable. I have tried a few other brands I found around, and they were just ... lacking anything a cookie should be. Vitacost had a coupon out and a great shipping deal, so I ordered some Kinnikinnick oreo type cookies and Schar shortbread cookies. I really miss buttery shortbread cookies, and I seriously have considered the consequences of eating a few oreos, I miss them so! The Kinnikinnick oreo type cookies gave me the worst indigestion I have had in years, but I still find myself eating one every few days... glutton for punishment I guess. The Schar are AMAZING!!! They're buttery, not sandy at all, and taste JUST like those girl scout shortbread cookies I used to devour. FINALLY!!!!

Thank you Schar, for making one of my food dreams come true :) Now I just have to find a place locally to purchase them, since there is no way I'm spending $6 on shipping alone for shortbread cookies. They're amazing, but I'm still somewhat of a cheapskate and don't "need" cookies to survive. Yet.

Octonauts Project

My twins love the Octonauts. They watch the show daily and pour over the books. Yesterday I started our ocean life theme, and read a few books - Fidgety Fish and Commotion in the Ocean. We made octopus as a project, and while Thing Two was finishing putting the "suckers" on his octopus legs, he stated that he wanted to make a Captain Barnacles project. I was totally caught off guard, but managed to cut out enough pieces to make Captain Barnacles, Kwazii Kitten, Peso, and Pinto. Thing Two is a perfectionist to a degree, his eyes had to be straight etc. but Thing One just went at it with the glue bottle and had a blast! I was impressed at their finished results - they look pretty darn great if you ask me!!! Thanks to this show (ok and a few Diego episodes) the boys know all about whale sharks, oar fish, sea stars, it's just amazing how much they retain and enjoy learning from tv shows and books! I'm glad there are so many nice educational shows on tv these days, because while we don't watch a lot of tv it's really nice to know when they do sit down to watch a cartoon they can watch Little Einsteins, Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, Wild Kratts!

Do you make folder games?

We love folder games! We have tons of them, but the boys' favorite has always been the pickle game. It's simply pickle jars with dots on them, and they put the pickle in with the right number on it! They love all the games, and have been playing them for at least two years... I know I should introduce more challenging games, but they so love the ones we use now!