Cookbook??

I want to write a cookbook.

Now, I know what your saying..everyone writes cook books and there a millions of them. I don't care!

I have been on this crazy lifestyle food change for a while and I realize one thing, there are no good gluten-free/dairy free cookbooks. They just don't exist. And that really sucks! What sucks the most is the all the books I have seen have really obscure ingredients that you would have to live in a big city or have a farmer's market next door. It is ridiculous. What about the busy Mom on the go? There are so many children who have been put on a PKU (gluten-free/dairy free) Diet for their autism, AD/HD, and a laundry list of things. Where is there help? Can you whip up a meal that kids will love, eat, and not complain. You give any kid who is used to eggs, fried tofu in the morning and you are gonna get some groans if you don't know how to fix it right. These are the people I want to help. People who don't have the budgets to by the EXPENSIVE gluten-free mixes and helpers. I want to teach people simple clear cut helps that you could do at any local super market with just a few ingredients.

The hardest part of the GF/DF diet is trying to get adequate fiber, calcium, and minerals from other sources. It is really similar to putting together a Vegan diet. There are a lot of the same challenges that go into both. Vegan is actually easier. I know what your saying...how could Vegan be easier, Vegan can be a hard life change. Here is why it is easier. If you are Vegan you can use Analogs, bread, spelt, wheat, and grains. Your diet is very well rounded in proteins and fibers. Yes, being gluten free we get to use meat. But, you have to use it very very wisely. A lot of people go gun-ho on meat and make themselves sick. When you are GF/DF everything is a balance act you body is so sensitive while it is healing that everything has to be done just right.


You think it would be easy but 90% of products on a market shelf have gluten or maltodextrin. I would like to write the cook book in a clear and easy manor that anyone could do it and help them ease into this lifestyle transition. I need to write out a idea ,a couple of sample recipes, and a rough theme and see if any publishers will bite. It might take me YEARS. Already I have about 10 recipes under 7 different categories that could encompass a lot of ground. I just feel sorry for my family. They have to suffer through the trial phase.

Picking up new things to try.

I love to keep my hand busy. I always tend to have 100 projects going at the same time. I guess it's the old adage of "idle hands are the devil's workshop" My husband hates the amount of UFOs (un finished objects) that run the house. I have come to realize that I am obsessed with thread arts. Most would see my stashes of thread, yarn, and floss and faint in the floor. I feel it's the zeal of learning an art form that hardly anyone does anymore. If you are ever around me for any length of time I am always doing something. Been with Zach for almost 8 years and he told me the other day.. "you know you have never uttered the words I'm bored or there is nothing to do." I am proud that i am NEVER bored.

I get so saddened by the sheer amount of woman my age who have hardly to no home skills what-so-ever. If you handed them 5 yards of fabric, a pattern, spool of thread, and a sewing machine and told them to make there own dress....I think they would cry. It just baffles my brain sometimes. but, I have to remember I come from a LONG LONG line of domestic Goddesses. We are MacGyvers of the sewing and thread arts world. (trying not to toot my horn-but I have got skills) One of the things that I was taught was never stop learning. If there is something you don't know how to do..ask or read. And with some of my work that is what I have done. B/c no one in my family knits and I learned off of You tube. So in that spirit i am learning some new skills. I have learned to Tat. which is easy and fun once you learn.

and I have learned to do an embroidery technique called Chicken scratch. It was very popular in pioneer days. It's making a comeback with people who love retro things (me)

I love the Joy of learning some new thing. I want to share so bad. Some women around here don't care. I am willing to offer lesson for free to anyone. They give me excuses like I don't have the patience to learn or sit down...but, they are watching stupid reality TV all night long. I just don't understand it. But I do have a glimmer of hope. The Local fabric shop asked if i would be interested in teaching Embroidery classes...so who knows. The only people I can get interested in crochet are men. Which is awesome. Men have the neatest and tightest stitches. I just wonder if this recession that we are living in and won't be out of for a long time if home arts will be back in everyones home. I hope so. So many people don't know what joy they are missing.

Camping!

Ahhhh...camping!

It was one of my most favorite things to do as a child and I can't wait to pass it on to my children. There is something about sleeping in a tent, hearing the night sounds, and waking to a dew drenched campsite. I think alot of people now days have lost touch with nature. They are happier to be in a hotel and have everything withing walking distance. I love to leave all the world behind and just sit and absorb nature. I can't think of a better way to spend the sabbath then walking a nature trail and taking in the beauty all around. I don't know why most people don't do it as often as they used to. Plus, everyone now days has campers, 4 wheelers, and posh sitting areas......that is NOT camping. If you have never been...what is stopping you. Tent camping doesn't cost much and is very rewarding.

Here are some of my tried and true camping tips:

-buy a large plastic tub and fill it with things specific to camping. You can find cheap plastic kitchen goods and utensils at dollar store, salvation army, goodwill, and even garage sales. buy things to only be used and kept in your "Camping Tub"...Don't forget the can opener!!!! and since everything stays in the tub you won't forget things like hot pads or matches.

- you can find camping gear on sale or garage sales. you would be surprised how many people sell camping equipment. try craigslist.

-I use the mesh lingerie bag for my dishes. when you wash and rinse your plate, silver wear, and cup. Zip them up in a bag and hang on your clothes line. It works great. It saves room b/c you don't need a drainboard or extra towels. If you have a lot in your party you can write names on clothespins and keep every one's dishes separated. you don't have to dig for you supplies. time to eat you have everything right there.

-I divide the campground into sections. kitchen, tent, other. buy a smaller tubs that will fit into my big "Camping tub". put all things in designated totes and then store in larger tub. Makes it nice when you reach your campsite late and trying to set up in the dark. You don't have to pilfer through everything just to find the hammer and bungees.

-be creative! old sheets make good tableclothes and shade cloths, christmas light are fun to hang up if you have electricity at your site, old wire hangers make great hot dog roasters. just remember that it's suppost to be fun.

Camping is easy to do. you can go to camping web pages and find checklist of the things you need and will use. If you camp at a national park they have fire pits ready for you. If you can light a BBQ you can cook and camp. Try it! get out and get in touch with nature!

Frustration

My oldest son Collin has speech problem. That statement doesn't sound that bad. but, when we first found the problem and had him tested 2 years ago he was 4 and speaking at a 18month old level. It was hard to process but we got on the wagon and started to work to improving speech.

It honestly took a while for me to do anything. I have friends that are close to me with children with ADHD and Autism so you see your child and say he seems normal. He will just grown into it. He is just a late bloomer. Then I finally learned a most important lesson. NEVER compair your children to anyone or anything. Only focus on your own children and don't keep up and follow books that are usually written by people who don't have children.

When you have a child who has difficulties you constantly have to walk the edge of a blade. On one hand you want to be there and help with everything and make sure he knows he is supported. On the other hand you want him to spread his wings and try to fly on his own and learn to handle life in his own terms. This is hard to process and puts stains on everything around you. It especially hard for Moms. We always have this envision of what our child are going to be like when we carry them in the womb. No mother is ready to hear there child has problems. Sometime you blame yourself. Was it something I didn't do? I knew drinking that soda was bad, did i eat to much fish, did i not take enough vitamins. I know that sounds silly but to a Mom she understands. You always feel like you fell short. You just have to be careful not to go overboard with the therapy and drills and be a Mom first. As a Mom we want to right all the wrongs even if we where not at fault at all.

Having him home has full time has been a real test of myself. I am been trying to help him during the summer since school is out. Collin has therapy for an hour a day during school and he is doing well. Right now he is learning to read and struggles so hard with basic sounds and smashing word sounds together. I was helping him read and he gets so frustrated. "Mom, it really hard." He said. Then it kinda dawned on me. trying to get him to make sounds he might not be able to do is kind of like asking a cripple person to walk. That if I push them hard enough they can do it. I have backed off working so hard and getting so frustrated as i was with him and when he feels ready we work on things. I have to hand it to him, He works really hard and wants to learn. It's hard sometimes to realize that you have been pushing your own agenda and not seeing that he is trying so hard to keep up.

It still doesn't sound to hard. but, trust me only someone who has gone down your path knows. It is the worst when he is looked down on...not by peers. Collin is very well like and has lots of friends. It is parents and family that look down on him and judge him so harshly. It is difficult to get family to understand and you wish you could tell them off...but you can't. I have the worst time with this at church of all places. They don't realize they do it they change there voice tone and over pronounce words just around him and not with other children the same age. The handle him with kids gloves. They come to me and say, "OOHHHH, I was able to understand a couple of words today. and he was able to sing some of the words to songs you must be so proud." though I know their intentions are Nobel. It almost feels like a slap in the face sometimes. He is no different then other children. He can understand everything you say...sometimes to much..LOL! He has also tested off the charts when it comes to concepts. He has it all inside he just can't get it out. That frustration make him a bit hyperactive. He is constantly looked down upon for it.

Imagine how frustrating it would be. Lets say you go to a foreign country and you know just a bit of the language. You are starving and you go into the local restaurant to get a bite to eat. You can't really read so you try the best you can to put together what words you know to try to tell them you want some food. But, instead of looking at your hand actions and working to try to understand you they talk to you and try to get you to talk by slowing there speech and over pronouncing. How frustrated are you gonna be?? You may get nowhere and are still starving. Now imagine that same thing in a language you can understand but can't speak.

There will come a time when this will all be behind Collin and he won't remember most of it. But, as a Mom it's hard to see your child struggle. I guess this is more an outcry to people who look down on someones child. Everyone had done it.. I have done it to. Kinda hard not to when a child is screaming their head off in Wal-mart. Now that I have been down this road for a while I understand and give a smile of comfort to the frazzled parent and you should to. Trust me. Just a smile and not a look of disgust or contempt can do wonders.

Getting used to having 2 boys again.

Things have been WILD around here!!! Having Collin back home 24/7 is a change. He has had to adjust back to the slower pace of home and i think he if finally getting the hang of it.

We are working in our workbooks and doing some penmanship excises. It is amazing how much energy little boys have. I have got to hand it to elementary teachers, they must have the Patience of Job.

Collin has matured so much that we are starting to do a reward and punishment system. Collin has matured past the time of "time outs". So this is the system I devised. For every good deed, job asked to do, or chore he is given a "token". I was going to use Bingo chips but they where sold out everywhere around here. So i opted for a Poker chip. He collects them in a bank and i have different things he can buy with his tokens. Treasure chest (small $1 toys) 5 tokens, 25 tokens gets you a new book, 50 gets you a night at the Movies, 75 a new DVD of choice, and the ultimate a Leapster 2 game for 100. To this there is another side. If he is discipline for the same action 3 times we take away a chip. More or less he is "paying" for bad behavior. This had caught on like wild fire!! when he goes back to school Zach and I talked about giving tokens for 100% papers. My teacher when i was in elementary school did that and we are worked so hard to get and keep good grades. I remember 100 chips= ice cream party! i will never forget how hard we all worked to get that.

I also have a new way to divvy up chores also. I have a board with 4 pegs on it. Each day i put a card on the pegs that tell the different jobs to do for the chores that day (4 per day). They are laminated and have pictures to help...things like make bed, pick up toys, feed Daisy. it has a pocket for the cards when they are completed they go into. It is the child's responsibility to do his chores by bedtime at there time. I am getting this one set up as i speak so i will post pics of the finished project.

The last idea actually come from my father. When Collin and Owen are a bit older i will start this one. I was talking with Dad about how kids these days have no concept of money management and skills. And he said something to the fact that to bad you can't give them fake money for purchases to get them used to the idea. Then *Bing* light came on and i devised a system.
At the beginning of Summer you give your child a Budget for the summer...lets say $200. that sounds like a lot but for 3 months...that isn't much, especially if you have a pre-teen. you put the money aside to make sure you have the funds so the system will work...No IOUs. Give you child the same amount in fake money. either money you make or monopoly money. When they want to spend it they have to give you the amount in fake to get the real or if at the store purchase and take out the cash later. you can go to the bank and get blank starter checks and you can teach them how to keep account of cash spent. Do not give them any more cash unless you want to add to the amount with allowance or if they do a job. I will see how this work in about a year or so.

Just some ideas that are being used around our home to help learn to be responsible.

BUSY!!!!

Wow! i have been a busy bee here lately. i know you have to! so i took a second to share an idea for this time of year when everything is GO! GO! GO!!

When our lives are always stuck in in a car, event, family, BBQ, graduations, weddings, and so on, our bodies take a tole. When is the last time you had to fix or sit down to a good balanced meal? if you are like me it's hard to remember to grab drive through..hehehe.

So is there a middle ground? i think so. i have been making a lot of juice here of late. my wonderful mom has kept out an eye for juicers at garage sale and she nabbed me a Jack LaLanne brand new for $25. which is awesome. Most run about $100. but that is money well spent. If you don't have one i suggest you go and get one! you can make a juice that will give you almost 3 servings of your veggies that you can drink on the Go!. Now, i know what you are thinking. That is what V8 is for or the "naked" brand. Well let me tell you something. all of those brands are pasteurized and it does have some vitamins but really most are lost in pasteurizing. so, you are paying for overpriced juice. Plus, if you make it at home you can tamper with taste and you know what you are drinking.

So here is my recipe for green power juice. if you have never drank homemade juice it might be something totally strange and you might want to take it easy and use more carrots or apples at first to get used to the texture and taste.
Make this ahead of time on the weekend. portion this out for your week. use old water bottles to fill and stick in your freezer. Why the freezer? well you want to suspend the vitamins in there freshest form. if it sits to long in a fridge it will lose vitamins. so if you juice it, drink it fast!!
My Recipe:
3 lemons ( peel them but leave the plith(white part))
1 head of celery (just wash and cut off root, leave leaves.)
6 apples ( you can mix sweet and tart, i prefer tart)
ginger about 2 inches more if you like some bite
2 heads of romaine lettuce
1 heads of Kale ( this will give it a bitter wang but it is the greatest super food you can eat)
1 head broccoli
3 kiwi whole (do not peel. you want all the minerals just under the skin)
2 cucumbers

1 bunch parsley

2 bunches spinach.

taste. if it needs more sweet for you add more apple, pear, carrot, or green grapes. get crazy with the recipe. some like fennel, parsley (good to get you off of caffeine), cilantro, hot peppers, green bell pepper (highest vitamin C you can get), aloe juice, sweet potato, strawberries, papaya. the list goes on and on. i added about 3/4 a cup of aloe vera juice. you can find that at wal-mart or health food stores.

pour into bottles. set one in fridge and freeze the rest. At night take it out of the freezer and put in fridge.

There you go! a fast easy breakfast that is packed with all the things you need to keep you going. plus it's cheap. all the things on my list you can get for under $20 bucks/ divide by 7 days=$2.86. you can barely get a store coffee for that. so what do you have to lose.

YARN!!!

Well, i have received an amazing gift this week. One of my friends grandmothers passed on and she received most of her estate. She was a crafter and had lot of supplies. My friend Terri knew i was a crafter and decided to give me the yarn and crochet thread b/c she didn't use it. I was to say the least surprised when i received 6-33 gallon bags of yarn. Thrilled and almost overwhelmed with such a gift i knew i had to put it to good use.

I have decided to try to start a yarn ministry around town. There are dozens of happy "hookers" who work within the town. I wanted to start to make good for local charity chapters.

Well this is more of an undertaking then first expected. Digging around town i found there is no town based organization. I like the people at the "Linus foundation" When i was in the hospital with Collin they gave him a blanket while he was there. I wanted to help in that way. The "Linus foundation" give blankets to preemie children, traumatized children, foster children, and children in stressful situations to give them a constant comfort. I didn't accept that blanket for i have made a lot of my own but the kindness of strangers trying to giving comfort the best way they could really stuck a cord. So i am going to talk to the local shelters and hospital tomorrow and see if they accept this kind of donation. After i establish what they accept and need then i will campus the city for helper and yarn donations.

Wish me luck and send prayers my way! Hopefully this will be the start of a very fulfilling chapter of my life and maybe even a lightning rod to those seeking fellowship with God.