The Lorax bulletin boards

My twins love The Lorax, and have been searching for the book to go with the movie. I see a book in their Easter baskets... anyway! These are the board projects they made after watching the movie, I am so proud! They did a great job - they did all the cutting and glueing. And the Hoodies from last month are still up, they couldn't bear to take them down yet. They are from the book Once There Was A Hoodie. They adore that book!

Gluten Free Bagels

Yesterday we grabbed a package of Glutino's NY Style bagels. I have loved every single product I have tried from Glutino, until today. These bagels are rock hard even when completely thawed - hard to cut, and taste ... lacking. If you are interested in gluten free bagels, I strongly suggest you try Udi's bagels. They are AWESOME and I will never stray again!!! They're amazing with cream cheese and jelly, just sayin :)

Gluten Free (ok allergen free!) Chocolate Cupcakes

These are moist, just awesome! I was stunned when I finished making them yesterday they are just so yummy!

1 1/2 C All Purpose Flour (we of course use gf pantry's ap flour!)
3 Tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 C granulated sugar
5 Tbs canola oil (feel free to sub your fave veggie oil here)
1 Tbs white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C cold water

In a large mixing bowl combine cocoa, baking soda, and sugar and mix. Add oil, vanilla and vinegar, then pour water into the bowl. Stir well, making sure all lumps are gone. Pour into either lined cupcake tin (makes 12) or an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan.

Bake for about a half an hour, test with fork for doneness. YUM! Cool completely before using your fave frosting :)

Mario Kart DIY Party Decorations

My twin boys have decided to have a Mario Kart Wii party for their 5th birthday. So, since I'm always trying to find ways to make a dollar stretch, I'm making the decorations myself! I thought I would share some of the decorations we're making, since they are SO easy! I homeschool, so I already have tons of construction paper and glue sticks laying around.

First, we made stars. Super easy - yellow paper, scissors, a black marker. We taped some to a string and the rest we used tape balls to stick to the wall, the side of our old projection tv, any place the boys wanted to stick them!

Then, we made mushrooms. This one required red, white, and tan paper, black marker, scissors, and a glue stick. Nothing too involved, see?! I drew my best mushroom on a piece of paper, using a picture I found online as a model. Then, I cut the pieces up that I drew, and used them as templates to cut the red tops and tan faces.

I drew the eyes on with a fat sharpie marker, and used a dip bowl as a template for the white circles. For the edges, I just cut extra circles, glued them to the edge of the mushroom, and cut off the excess and used them again on another mushroom!

I have a happy birthday banner from at least six years ago, and it has justice league squares on it. So, I cover the justice league squares up with whatever we choose to use each year! Last time we used it we covered the squares with basketballs I drew on orange paper. Again, super easy!!

The party we had was just awesome! We played Pin The Mustache On Mario, Mario and Luigi bingo (we found images online and made a 5 square by 5 square card with all the images in different orders - so each kiddo could cover something when we called it!), and of course we played Mario Kart Wii. We found images of all the Mario characters together and printed it out with "Happy Birthday" across the bottom, and put all of the boys' Mario Bros toy characters on the mantle. Who knew we had so many?! And of course I laminated just about everything we made, because I am in love with my new laminator :)

For treat bags we found Mario coloring books to print and put in 4ct crayola packs and a mario pencil (found at party city), and we used these question mark blocks to fill with chocolate coins! We used brown paper lunch bags with a star stapled on the front to hold everything. AWESOME PARTY and we didn't spend one dime!! Even the cake mix was free with coupons! LOL!

* My ideas for next Mario party:
Chomp Chomp pinata
Mario and Luigi cupcake stand
and I want to make a BOO out of a white paper lantern... or white balloons, not sure yet.

Have you ever had an anxiety attack?

I haven't posted in awhile, because I'm trying to better organize my life and find a way to carry less stress around. Yoga is helping a lot.

I've had these odd breathing attacks since I got pregnant with my twins five years ago. My chest would feel like a belt was tightening around me, in the beginning I would hyperventilate, I broke out in sweats and hives, and it felt like a heart attack. They would last a minute or two, then I would get this euphoric feeling and feel like I had just participated in a triathlon. They came and went, and seemed to be brought on only by me doing too much strenuous exercise. At first, it was if I worked too hard in the garden. Then, I would get an attack if I walked up the stairs too fast, picked up a heavy laundry basket, or picked up one of the kids. Well, this summer it became a week of 8 to 13 attacks every day my week of pms. I even had attacks sitting perfectly still. I would wake up out of a dead sleep stuck to the sheets having an awful attack. One happened while I was teaching my oldest, I was just sitting at the table not even talking, and it lasted almost three minutes. I was stuck in that chair, moaning in the worst pain I have felt since childbirth. That made me decide it was time to talk to a doctor.

I apparently have anxiety. I don't bite my nails, or pick at things, I don't over organize things, I am not a clean freak. The only symptom of anxiety that I have is the anxiety attacks that randomly hit me. I will say I do a lot within the confines of each day, but I have always been like that and it's just "me". I teach three kids, I keep the house pretty clean, I keep up with house chores, I take the kids on field trips and to classes and to parties and such. I help deal with the occasional broken bone or laceration, eye appts, leaking dishwasher, etc. I coupon and match sales to save as much as I can at the grocery store. I manage our budget and pay all the bills. I was the president of our HOA board, and I have been scheduling and organizing field trips for a homeschool group I sort of started. I make a lot of food from scratch because of our celiac disease, but even that I have always done, I just changed my ingredients to gluten free.

I went to my regular doc, who gave me klonopin for when I have the attacks. It's a tranquilizer and holy cow does it make me stupid. He sent me to a cardiologist because my heart skips a beat once in awhile. Turns out that yes, that's all it is and it's ok that it does that. The cardiologist said since it follows my pms so much I should see a hormone specialist. Mind you no one had mentioned anxiety at this point. So, off I go and after what seemed like all of my blood going into vials my hormone levels are perfect. Off to my gyno, to see if there's some tumor growing or something funny going on. He said he too has anxiety attacks and immediately recognized that's what I was going through. He agreed the klonopin should be for horses, and told me to try wellbutrin. I had never been depressed in my life until I started taking wellbutrin. It made me want to do nothing but stay in bed all day. I stopped cleaning the house, I stopped caring about schooling, it was awful. So, I stopped taking it. The doc said to try out lexipro, and bam - it is doing it! I haven't had one attack since I started taking the lexipro, I have felt a few coming on but have had a ton of crap to deal with lately and honestly I expected to have attacks. I was pleasantly surprised that a simple pill could help me so much!

So, I now am on a six month plan for myself. I want to be back off the medicine within the next six months. In the meantime, I'm learning how to relax. I quit the HOA, I'm letting others organize homeschool get togethers, and I'm starting to do yoga. I'm trying to ask for help when I need it (I'm a very independent person), and I have changed how Big Kid and I work at school. I still teach him social studies and math, for everything else he gets a weekly assignment list for each subject and can ask anytime he needs help. Fridays we go over the week's work, and as long as his grades are good and his work shows effort we'll continue the new schedule. Big Kid likes it because he can get a week's worth of grammer for example done in one sitting, and can work harder to have a day off if he wants it. I like it because it has freed me up SO much during the week! I can now work with the twins so much more (who love any school related anything), and it has given me time to sit and just relax. I am being completely honest when I say I have only recently started taking the time to sit and do nothing for five minutes during the day. I'm beginning to see that I do too much each day... hard to admit to yourself tho, it sort of feels like admitting failure!

Now you know why I have been away from the blog, I hope reading this helps at least someone who has suffered an anxiety attack in their life!

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

I'm trying a new twist to an old favorite - we love cheesecake at our house, and pumpkin pie is the only dessert we pine for when whispers of Thanksgiving dinner start. Here's what we're making this year!

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

Crust:
2/3 C Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs cold butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either in a mixer with a whisk attachment or by hand, whisk together the ingredients until they look like coarse sand. Even in my kitchenaid mixer, I had to finish this task with a hand whisk. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes, and allow to cool completely.

Filling:
2 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 C sugar
1 Tbs vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 C canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Using either a mixer or by hand, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add pumpkin and spices into the mixture, and blend until well mixed. Pour into the prepared springform pan.

Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees, adding 10 minutes at a time if the pie isn't set yet. The middle should puff up as it bakes, then will lay back down. Filling should be "set", meaning the cheesecake won't be really jiggly if you shake it a little.

To remove from the springform pan, run a knife around the edge of the pie BEFORE you open the lock on the side, and please wait until the pie cools before you take the sides off. It will make a huge difference, I promise :)

I topped my pie with cool whip and a dusting of nutmeg, you could get creative and make it pretty! Ours didn't last five minutes so we didn't mind the presentation.

Gluten Free Banana Streusel Muffins

I had too many bananas, and 6 over-ripened. I found this recipe and was stunned at how tasty the muffins were! I of course bent the recipe to my own gluten free wants, here's what I did :)

Banana Streusel Muffins
Muffins:
1 1/2 C Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 over ripe bananas
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/3 C butter, melted
1/2 C brown sugar

Topping:
1/8 C Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour
dash of cinnamon
1 Tbs butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or use paper liners.

I always use my kitchen aid mixer, but you can do this by hand as well! Mix together bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder (I pile these together into one large measuring cup and mix them a little before adding to the wet ingredients).

Pour into muffin cups or tin.

Combine topping ingredients and mix until crumbly and well blended. Sprinkle generously over muffin cups and lightly press into the muffin batter.

Bake for 20 minutes or so, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*I think you could also make this as a cake, but I would use a greased 8 or 9 inch pan and bake it at 350 degrees, maybe for 30 to 40 minutes, using the toothpick test again. I haven't tried making it into a cake yet, so don't quote me!!

Celiac Disease and dishwashers

I was diagnosed with celiac disease 6 years ago, Big Kid was diagnosed 5 months ago. I still hover trying to teach him about gluten safety, I can't help it. About a month ago he started getting sick here and there, obviously glutened. I started to go nuts wondering if he was eating at a table after someone else did and didn't wipe their crumbs, if he made his sandwich on a dirty counter, really going insane because who wants their kids' guts ripped up by gluten?! One day I was emptying the clean dishwasher and noticed one of the forks had a bit of food stuck to it... and it suddenly hit me. What if our 3yr old dishwasher wasn't doing it's job already? I stopped using it completely and bam, Big Kid stopped getting sick. He hasn't had a single issue since I started hand washing our dishes!

So I'm thinking my pretty, all black, pricey dishwasher will be freecycled soon and I will install a set of drawers in it's place. So far hand washing isn't that bad, we even survived washing by hand after a good sized Halloween party! I fill one side of the sink with super hot, soapy water and soak and wash there, then put the washed dishes in the other side to rinse. I'm hoping I'm not being too wasteful with water!

The only thing I really miss about the dishwasher is how nicely it cleaned all the sippy cup valves and lids... I have yet to find the perfect brush to get into all the crevices of those darn lids!! Might be time to switch to an easier to clean brand (sorry playtex). I guess once I uninstall the dishwasher I just keep the water turned off on the pipe, since there is only a flexpipe coming out from under my sink to feed the dishwasher. Have to read up on that part.

Tim Burton's Red Queen DIY costume

My mom is helping me with the sewing, and we're about half done with the Red Queen Costume! I'll keep updating with photos as we complete more. I'm so excited! So far we have made the triangle in the front (since I am so not wearing a corset), and have attached the beads and roses. We used stiff interfacing and gold fabric, and my mom sewed maroon ribbon stripes down the front. We found a ribbon with pearly decorations hanging from it at Joann's, along with some gold ribbon to tie around my arms. Mom's going to make puffy sleeve tops, and she's in the process of making the gold outer skirt and the red underskirt. We're going to gather the skirts (separately of course) and put each on a black waistband, with an elastic loop and a button. That way it's adjustable. I'm using gold fabric and fusible web to cut out the hearts, my mom knows how to do everything! She showed me how to put a silicon ironing mat under the fusible webbing so I could iron on just the gold, then iron the gold hearts once cut onto the black backing, then cut those hearts out. Easy peasy! What we have so far:

For the black top I found a (still had tags) dress at Goodwill that had black lace sleeves and black lace across the top of the dress, and we plan to cut the bottom of the dress off, possibly using part of it to roll netting or stuffing into so the skirt stands out around my waist. We also shopped Goodwills for the gold fabric (shower curtain) and red fabric (tablecloth). I already had a crinelin from last year's Goodwill finds for my princess peach costume, perfect! I found the leggings on leg avenue's website, perfect fit. I watched this how to online for the hair and this for the makeup! Should be interesting, between back combing my hair for the first time and applying makeup (which I never do either), I'll be busy for hours just on my BLOODY BIG HEAD! I'll post pictures of the finished product. * I had an allergic reaction to some of the makeup (and glue for my eyebrows), this was the best I got while staying comfortable!

I love going to county fairs! The kids have so much fun and the colors are just amazing, both during the day and at night! Of course when you go at night you have to put up with all the local teens making out in every line, but if you can ignore that it's such a fun adventure :) 

DIY Spider Wreath

This was by far and away one of the easiest projects I have done for Halloween! I grabbed a grapevine wreath for $4.99 at Michael's and spraypainted it Krylon primer black. I bought three snakes from Walmart, used floral wire and wrapped them onto the wreath, painted them black with the same paint. It looks AWESOME!!! I might add more snakes to it, if I can find smaller ones. Make it look more "icky" :)

The spiders on the door are little clip on plastic ones I found for 20 for a buck, and I hot glued them to little cut up pieces of a magnet off of a used up to-do list. Yes, I'm cheap but I have SO MUCH FUN!!

Halloween is just around the corner!

This is when my inner geek truly comes out. I love Halloween!! I have pulled all the boxes of decorations and such out already, taken inventory and have a list in my purse of "wants" and "needs" if I see things on sale. I have decided I'm going to be the Red Queen from Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland movie. I now have short red hair (thank you two awful haircuts for forcing me to go so short), but I think with some curlers and teasing and a lot of hairspray I can make it a heart! We hit Goodwill over the weekend and got a black dress with lace sleeves and a vneck, a red tablecloth for the underskirt, a gold tapestry shower curtain for the outer skirt, and two white sheets to use for draping over the furniture (we're going to make it look like an abandoned house sort of). I'm so excited!! I'm already planning a menu for our party (we have a HUGE party every year), this year I'm adding edible bandaids, jello worms, and shrunken heads to the menu. I CAN'T WAIT! And no, I can't sew, my mother has offered to help me make the costume. And I quote "this'll be fun and we can do it easily". She's a miracle worker with fabric! I'll post pictures of our progress :P

Gluten Free recipes... what?

Today I tried being lazy - I have a pound of ground beef in the fridge and not a clue of what to do with it. I thought I would make meatballs, but don't have a good crockpot recipe. I googled and googled, read and re-read recipes. Shot down all the ones that require bread crumbs, because I don't keep gluten free bread crumbs on hand. They're icky. Then I shot down all the ones that call for a bag of frozen meatballs, gross! I got desperate and googled "gluten free meatballs" and suddenly everything had mushrooms, veal, pesto, cornmeal, cranberries, instant potato flakes (I don't even know what those are), cereal, rice, even crackers in the recipes. Um, what happened to good ol' meatballs? And I'm not putting crackers in my meatballs - gluten free crackers are so awful I won't eat them plain - what makes anyone think I want to eat them stuffed into meat?

I have my new assignment, and will post my results good or bad. I'm making spaghetti and meatballs in my crockpot today!!!!

New Pluot!

Every time we go grocery shopping, I try to buy whatever fruit is in season to keep a variety in our fruit diet. This month it's been pluot season, and oh my are they tasty! They are a cross between apricots and plums, and there are many varieties. I have no clue what variety this is but I was stunned when I cut it open! The outside is tan and spotty, but the inside is a vibrant red! And wow is it tasty :) I look forward to eating pluots every summer, waiting for them to show up in local shops! I'm thinking a pluot tart recipe is going to be coming soon...

Today's American History class

We are reading William Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope in our American History class. Today we read the introduction to the book and the first two chapters. I was both amazed at how much it moves you as you read, and that my son remembers so much of what I taught him two years ago, when South America was being explored by the Spaniards. The book's wording really makes learning about history engaging for a student who normally could care less about history in general!

One thing that specifically touched us was this excerpt, quoted from Ronald Reagan's farewell speech:

Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough, it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs [protection].

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important--why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, 4 years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, "We will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did." Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen, I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

Banana Shake - great for kids!

I first want to say these are naturally gluten free, most fruits don't have any gluten in them!

I have been making these shakes for my kiddos in the mornings, and I always polish off whatever's left in the blender! This makes more of a flavored milk than a shake consistency, which is perfect for my fussy-about-food twins. I just give them a sippy cup filled with the banana shake instead of their morning milk, and they chug it right down. The best part is it's full of good nutrients like protein! They are definitely in a weird food stage! They went through a period of not eating any meat, and now are against all fruits except apples and bananas. Ugh! At least I can hide good fruits and veggies in shakes, potatoes and mac n cheese! Yes - I'm that mom who puts sweet potatoes in my mac and cheese, and I sneak cauliflower into my mashed potatoes. Whatever works, right?!

To make the shake I throw everything into my blender until it's creamy! I use 1 banana, 1 1/2C milk,
blob in some honey (I don't know, maybe 2 to 3 Tbs), 1/2 C ice and depending on what's in season I might throw another fruit in. Today I added a little flavor grenade pluot that was too mushy to cut up and eat. Sometimes I add peaches, or some mango, but whatever you throw in don't put the skin in too - it'll change how it tastes and the consistency. That recipe will usually fill two sippy cups and give Big Kid a glass he's happy with. I do from time to time make a second batch, because I can't double this and still fit it in my blender. I have an antique blender that wasn't too great when it was new... I'll get a new one someday!!!

My favorite taste in my shakes is the honey. I bought a gallon (yes, a gallon) of honey from a local bee farm, and ohhhhh is it wonderful. I ordered the sourwood honey this time, if we ever run out I'll try the wildwood maybe! I am secretly hoping some of it crystallizes, my grampa used to spread crystallized honey on his toast when I was young and I haven't had any since he passed away. I love bees! We have a bee/butterfly garden out back, and most of my flowers up front are well loved by the bees. Bees are too beneficial to ignore!

High School Science

Here's where I admit I'm a total science nerd. Chemistry was my absolute favorite thing about high school! I can't WAIT to start "real science" with Big Kid! I made an amazon wish list of things I will need for 9th grade Biology, and realized I'm super excited even to start Biology. We'll be dissecting all sorts of creatures, getting a REAL microscope, making REAL slides to study... I CAN'T WAIT! See, my inner nerd is showing! I don't have the text I plan to use yet, Pearson's Biology: Exploring Life, but I have been poking around the used bookstores to see if it's available used. I feel it would be worth it even if I have to pay full price for it, everything I have read about it makes me think this is the book for us. I'm really torn about chemistry at home - I want Big Kid to experience a true chem lab for experiments, which of course I can't provide at home, but he could take chemistry at college as a senior as a dual enrolled student... or I could just give him 10th grade chem at home and do my best and he can really dive in when he's a freshman in college... lots to think about!!

Gluten Free Weekly Menu

People ask me all the time "What DO you eat" after I tell them I can't eat wheat, oats, barley or rye. I laugh and tell them I eat the same things I used to, just gluten free! They look at me with very strange eyes! I thought I would post a week's worth of meals at our house, just to show that we really do eat "normal" foods!! Now keep in mind I'm now feeding a 13yr old giant gluten free as well, the child eats like he's going into hibernation he's growing so quickly. I don't eat every single thing listed here, but he does!

I put all my veggies and snacks into ziploc bags to keep serving size from becoming an issue, so if I say "kettlecorn" it means a ziploc bag of one serving ;) And we drink all sorts of juices and water at our house - once in awhile we'll throw a bottle of Dr. Publix or cream soda in the mix. Our fave juice is V8 Splash, mmmmmm! I also want to note I use what is in season and what I have laying around, so this week for example you'll see lots of seasonal fruit, some of my zaycon chicken, and a bunch of tomatoes we received from a friend's garden. Our menus change weekly with the meat and fruit sales around town, and of course as the seasons change our menus change to reflect the new "in season" foods!

Day 1

Fruit bowl for breakfast, yum! Right now we have pluots of varying colors and flavors, kiwi, strawberries and blueberries, bananas and some nectarines and peaches.

Midmorning snack of carrots dipped in Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing

For lunch we made hot sandwiches using Udi's bread, miracle whip, lettuce, swiss cheese, and Boar's Head maple honey turkey. YUUUM! 

Afternoon snacks for Big Kid - kettlecorn, envirokids rice bar, bag of fresh cherries

Dinner has been in the crockpot all day - roast beef with veggies, it's a very flavorful yummy roast! Here's the recipe I use:

Crockpot Roast Beef

a few pounds of roast

2 Tbs butter

1 C water

1 Tbs worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic

1 bay leaf

1/2 onion, sliced

1 tsp sugar

1 envelope Sazon Con Azafran (found with taco makings, usually at Publix for us)

1/2 C ketchup

dash of flour (I use The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour)

veggies - I use carrots and potatoes

Put crockpot on high, place sliced onions and butter in crockpot. Sprinkle with flour. In a medium bowl combine the water, worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaf, sugar, sazon and ketchup. Set aside. Once the butter melts stir until pasty, then place roast on top of onions. Pour the liquid mixture over the meat, and turn the crockpot to low. Now here's where tastes will vary - I don't like firm veggies in my stews, so I boil my cut up carrots and potatoes for a half an hour then throw them in with the meat. If the liquid won't cover them I add another cup of water. Some folks like firm veggies, I personally don't! You can cook the veggies first or just throw em in raw, your choice. Once everything is in the pot cook on low for six hours.

Big Kid will usually have some sort of ice cream or popsicles as dessert. I join him from time to time!

Day 2

Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese for breakfast 

Midmorning snack of cauliflower with dip (few spoons of miracle whip, dash of worcestershire sauce, squirt of dijon mustard, and squirt of ketchup - until it's light peachy colored)

Lunch today is macaroni and cheese (quinoa elbow noodles and the packet of cheese from a box of velveeta shells and cheese, just wash the cheese packet off before using!)

Afternoon snacks of a kiwi, banana, and Smart Puff cheesy poofs

Dinner is Buffalo Chicken Wings with sweet potato fries - baked chicken wings with oil rubbed on the skin, then buffalo sauce is franks red hot mixed with margarine. MMMM good!

Day 3

This is our errands day so we have Envirokids cereal for breakfast

Steak and Shake provides lunch, frisco melts without the buns

Afternoon snack is the leftover mac and cheese 

Dinner turned out to be easy, tacos! We like Old El Paso's kits, everything is gf except for the soft tacos

A friend gave us tomatoes out of her garden, so we made baked tomatoes. Omg these are good! I bake them in the oven drizzled with oil, minced garlic, rosemary and oregano. 

Dessert is Big Kid raiding the snack bin - cheesy poofs and kettlecorn I think

Day 4

Breakfast was another fruit bowl, this time we found starfruit to add

We ate carrots with Kraft buttermilk ranch for a snack

Big Kid requested sandwiches for lunch, more honey ham and turkey with Udi's bread - he ate two sandwiches by himself and wanted more

For snacks we eat a bowl of Trix cereal, and have a bag of cheesy poofs

Dinner is chicken breasts with Chef Paul Prodhomme's poultry seasoning, with veggies

Day 5

Yogurt serves as breakfast for me, Big Kid had a bowl of Envirokids cereal and a banana

Snacks are plentiful today, Big Kid is hungry! He raided the snack bin a few times - envirokids rice bars, cheesy poofs, tortilla chips, and I think an apple

Lunch is more sandwiches, my child is addicted to lunchmeat!!

Snack is a fruit bowl and some cauliflower with dip

For dinner my hubby made a dish I don't get very often - sweet and sour pork with white rice! We steam the rice in a steamer, here's the pork recipe:

Sweet and Sour Pork

pork tenderloin or leftover loin (we used the ends of a big ol' loin we cut into chops)

3 Tbs cornstarch

1 egg

La Choy's Sweet and Sour sauce

oil for wok or skillet, maybe a cup and a half total

In a medium bowl stir together cornstarch and egg. Add cut up pork and stir to coat meat. Heat up a coating of oil in pan. In small batches fry meat until coating turns a golden brown, we still cut a big one open here and there to make sure the pork is white throughout. Place the cooked meat on a paper towel to remove excess oil. When all meat is cooked remove oil from the pan and return all meat to the hot pan. Add sweet and sour sauce and heat throughout. It's now ready to serve! See, it's not that hard :)

Big Kid hit the banana flavored popsicles for dessert.

Day 6

Breakfast is a fruit bowl, and cereal. Can't keep Big Kid full!

Morning snacks are cheesy poofs, toast with nutella, yogurt

Lunch today is leftover sweet and sour pork with rice

Afternoon snack for me was carrots with buttermilk ranch dressing, Big Kid ate ice cream, carrots and ranch, cheesy poofs, tortilla chips, and cherries. 

Dinner is my old reliable, teriyaki chicken. I use my sauce recipe and chicken breasts cut up, yuuum. Served over white rice with sugar snap peas, and this time I threw in some starfruit - I always say use what you have! 

Dessert was ice cream, not sure but I think I heard Big Kid in the pantry again hitting the snack bags. It never ends with a teenager.

Day 7

Breakfast today is something new - hot quinoa! I had to seriously sweeten it for Big Kid, I liked it with just a little brown sugar and raisins. I guess I want it to be oatmeal... sometimes it's all about expectations. 

Morning snacks are starfruit and strawberries, and cheesy poofs during a test (homeschooling)

Lunch today is hot sandwiches, like grilled cheese (Udi's bread) - Big Kid eats two!

Afternoon snacking is all over the place! Yogurt, nachos, popcorn, carrots, Big Kid just can't seem to eat enough lately.

Dinner tonight is undecided as of yet, I have chicken breasts thawed... might make italian chicken in the crockpot with the leftover tomatoes we still have (cut up tomatoes, oregano, basil, garlic, chicken breasts for 6 hours on low - last half hour throw in black olive slices for fun), or maybe chicken and beans dip in the crockpot (can of black beans, jar of salsa, can of corn, chicken breasts on low for 6 hours) 

Dessert is GOING to be breakfast apple pie tonight, I'm totally craving it!

Baking Soda and Vinegar Fun Experiment

Today the kids made "magic in a cup" as they called it! This was a really fun experiment. I had seen it many times online, and decided the twins were finally old enough to do it. Big Kid thought it was cool, but the twins were just amazed and were very disappointed when we ran out of spoons! 

I put a drop of food coloring on each spoon, then covered the spoons in baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). 

Then I partially filled little cups with water (plain H2O) or vinegar (acetic acid) and moved the cups around so we couldn't tell which was vinegar and which was water. They don't need much liquid in them, really! The boys got to pick a spoon and mix it into the liquid in the cup. Some were "magic" and others weren't :) This one here was definitely magic! The cups with water turned colors because of the food coloring, but the cups with vinegar made colored foam and erupted out of the cups. 

It's a double replacement reaction. The acetic acid reacts with the sodium bicarbonate to form carbonic acid, which is very unstable. The carbonic acid immediately comes apart into carbon dioxide and water, a decomposition reaction. The bubbles are the carbon dioxide being released! CO2 is heavier than the air so it pours out of the cup down the sides. You're left with a colorful solution of sodium acetate and water! It was fun to mix the colors when we were done too, as my four year olds figured out :)

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.