ParentsR.Us » General

Why are Twinkies cheaper than Carrots?

Stephanie — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:53:08 +0000

It saddens me that it cost so much to have a healthy diet in this country. We do the best we can and I still feel we have too much “junk” food, but we can only afford so much. Add in a food allergy and the cost skyrockets. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some government incentive to eat heathy?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9cSPearFDU

Corn and Agent Orange?

Stephanie — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:39:51 +0000

Why do we even have to think about stuff like this?! What happened to just letting nature be. I just don’t understand why we need GMO’d anything. Oh yeah, that evil little thing called money.

I like reading Natural News, but I also know that things are often blown out of proportion over there. But, in the end, Agent Orange or not, genetically engineered food is not natural and is not what our bodies need in any proportion. I just briefly scanned this article, got irritated and wanted to vent ;)

Dow seeking deregulation of GE corn resistant to 2,4-D, a major component of Agent Orange by Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Stephanie — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:01:08 +0000

These are good. I’m not a sugar cookie person, give me some chocolate, but I can not stay away from these. I always hesitate when it comes to gluten free baking, you just never know what you’re going to get. I’ve tried things before that people rave about that tastes like cardboard to me. I picked up a box of Better Batter about a month ago. I’ve yet to find a good gluten free all purpose flour, so figured I’d give this one a try. I’ve been looking at the box just waiting for a recipe to try it out on.

Then along comes Facebook. A friend posted about a cookie recipe she had seen previously and one of her friends linked to the Melted Snowman cookies. How cute?! Finally living in a decent house with a great kitchen that I can actually use, I just had to give this a try. I looked at few recipes and then remembered that pink box. Seemed like a good time to bust it out huh?

I’m sooo glad I did. Maybe I’m becoming immune to that gluten free aftertaste or maybe it just (as I hope) doesn’t exist with this recipe. Either way, this is one to keep and reuse and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Recipe type: Cookie

Author: Better Batter

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Ingredients

2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, vanilla and almond. Slowly add to the large bowl while mixing.
Separate into two lumps, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough and begin cutting your cookies. Leave some space between them on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until they begin to brown.

Notes

If you’re making Snowmen cookies, you’ll want to ice the cookies first. I just mixed powdered sugar with milk to a desired consistency. Place large marshmallows on a greased plate and microwave for just a few seconds, you don’t want to blow them up too much. Carefully transfer the marshmallows to the cookies and use tubes of icing to decorate as desired.

Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings

Stephanie — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Mmmm. Here is a simple recipe for making gluten free Chicken and Dumplings using gluten free pizza crust for the dumpling portion. Now, I remember in the past making Chicken and Dumplings in the crockpot using flour tortillas for the dumplings. It was pretty good and very easy. I’ve contemplated doing the same with some gluten free tortillas, but something tells me it wouldn’t work so I never attempted it. It never occurred to me to use a Udi’s pizza crust! What a genius idea. I can’t wait to try this. Although, I’ll be crockpotting my version. I imagine I can find the old crockpot recipe I used, sub in the pizza crust and just let it cook as long as needed. I can’t wait to try this- once we’re settled in Texas. Give me a couple of weeks and I’ll give you a review

UPDATE: Be sure to read the comments. We made our own little version of this tonight for dinner and while 3 of the kids weren’t exactly thrilled, it was really good and we will be making it again. You just can’t beat a quick and easy dinner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBOZxAQvoyM

Traveling Gluten Free

Stephanie — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:08:35 +0000

I love vacations. Taking a break, not worrying about the day to day stuff, just focusing on fun. Then comes meal times. For most families, it’s no big deal, but for those with allergies, meal times out of town become nightmares.

At home, I know my local restaurants, I know what I can order and I know the chance I’m taking. But when traveling, I don’t know what restaurants are available, I don’t know how gluten free they are or what they have to offer. I’m the type that likes to know what I’m getting into. I want to know ahead of time if the restaurant can accommodate us and what they have to offer.

Sure, a lot of places can put something together, but just as many can’t or won’t. I hate needing “special service”, I don’t like drawing attention to my dietary needs. Please! If you run a restaurant, be it a chain or a just a simple local place, put your allergen menu online! Having it there at least lets us know that someone in your kitchen is aware of allergens, but it really helps in deciding where to go. If I have another “naked” burger I may scream! I don’t want to have to settle for the same stuff over and over, advertise what your gluten free options are online and with a special menu. I don’t mind asking for a gluten free menu, I love that, I hate having someone come out and rattle off a list to me. My brain does not handle that and I’ll forget everything I was told.

Things I learned:
1. Mexican food is generally a safe bet for anyone with gluten sensitivities. However, with most servers speaking english as a second language, it can be hard to get your allergen across. It’s definitely taking a chance, but probably safer than some other places. However, tacos and enchiladas do get a bit tiring after awhile

2. Rudy’s BBQ in Texas is great! Just remember to say no bread as soon as you step to the counter and watch your bbq being prepared. I had to bring attention to myself (hate that!) because one server dumped brisket off a sandwich onto the cutting table and my server tried to give us that cut of meat. No go! I totally understand cross contact, and that’s a chance I take, but I saw that one and was able to stop it. Nevermind that it took 4 servers to get her to understand she can’t do that!

3. Cheddar’s (Texas), while not having a gluten free menu, did the thing I hate the most by calling out the kitchen manager. He was actually very nice, unlike others I’ve encountered, and he made sure we had a great meal, including putting together a meal especially for my son. A specific menu would have been much more to my liking, but at least I know what to order next time.

4. Graceland (Mempis, Tn) is not at all gluten free friendly. I took a chance, a big chance and thankfully didn’t react too much. It’s best not to eat at Graceland though.

5. Brixx Pizza (Tn, Carolina’s and Va I believe) have a pretty darn good gluten free pizza. They are right on par with zPizza (my favorite), but not quite as good. The pizza could have been cooked a little longer, but we were just so hungry we didn’t really care.

6. There is an awesome little cafe/bakery in Austin- Wild Wood Art Cafe. Yummulicious! If you get the chance, you must try the sweets they offer. The entire place is gluten free and the bread they bake is pretty good.

There was more I wanted to share in this post, but by now I’ve forgotten. Lucky for you, I’m making that trip to Texas again this weekend

My crazy life!

Stephanie — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:58:34 +0000

When I wrote this blog post, back in June, about in.gredients, I never imagined that I’d be moving to Austin, nevermind by Thanksgiving! But, that’s how life goes, bad things happen and good things come of it.

We took a two week vacation to Texas (there’s a half written blog post sitting here waiting to be published) and upon our return, some things happened and we put some things in motion and now we’re moving back to Texas. Finally. My daughter and I left Texas exactly 15 years ago yesterday to join my husband in Florida. I’ve been waiting to move back ever since. And now we are. Wow.

Back to the land of Blue Bell. Oh how my waist will not enjoy that! But, we’ll be near family members that need us right now and we’ll be a much healthier environment than we currently are, so it’ll be worth it. Life is quite a mess right now as we sort through possession that can be kept and moved and those we need to part with, sad times and yet happy times. While we look forward to being closer to family, we are leaving some wonderful friends here. We’re leaving behind a wonderful homeschooling community that I can happily say that I had a big hand in building and an area rich in history, much that we’ve not even been able to experience yet. But, at the same time we look forward to the new opportunities that await us in Austin.

As one door closes, a new one opens. We’re sad to see this one closing, but we eagerly await the opening on the new door.

Finally Friday!

Stephanie — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:54:13 +0000

It’s been a dreary week, so much rain that I could so do without. But, perfect weather for a crockpot of chili right?! I don’t have a specific chili recipe, I kind of just toss in whatever I have on hand. I’ve been using the Simply Organic mild chili seasoning pack and it’s great. I love simple dinners on busy nights.

What goes with chili? Cornbread of course! I tried all of 2 gluten free cornbread recipes and fell so in love with the second one, that I looked no more. Gluten Free Mommy has a wonderful cornbread recipe, the only thing I changed was to add a little honey.

Today things didn’t quite go as planned, but that’s normal for me. Usually, an hour before we have to leave, I’m tossing things together and getting the cornbread into the oven so it’s ready when we get home. I was all happy with myself that I started the cornbread early enough that it’d be done before we head out for evening activities. But someone (nope, wasn’t me, couldn’t have been) did not set the timer on the oven as she is known to do and then began the math battle with the 2nd grader. By the time math was finally done, the smell of over baked cornbread was streaming through the house. Lovely. Oh well, the kids say it’s only “a little dark” and it’ll just have to do.

I’m so ready for a weekend break, even though we have a lot to get done, at least the husband will be here to help out!

Back to Reality

Stephanie — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:47:01 +0000

Vacation is fun. Tiring, but fun. All good things come to an end and we’re trying to get back into the routine of things. It’s so hard. We left two weeks ago, in a rush for a semi-planned vacation to visit family. We actually bumped the planned vacation up about a week due to a death in the family. We left so quickly, the house was a disaster. I totally forgot until we walked in.

Ok, I confess, for a moment I almost thought some one had broken in and ransacked the place!

It’s slowly coming back together though, very slowly. We’re going to have to work our way up to a full school day I suppose because we just are not getting it in at all. I do love the flexibility of homeschooling

A new direction

Stephanie — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:08:46 +0000

I use Facebook. A lot. I’m very protective online. Very. With Facebook’s new changes, I’m pretty unhappy. I’ve put a lot of thought into things and I’ve reached the conclusion that THIS blog will turn a little more personal. I have a few sites, but none of them felt quite right to blog the personal stuff on. Parenting is my life. Creating the best future for my children that I possibly can, is my entire day. This is where the stuff belongs. So, starting now, you can look forward to more short little quips throughout my day (as soon as I find a quick way to publish them), a lot more article quotes and several more thoughts. I probably won’t write posts about articles, as I tend to do, I’ll lean more toward providing a link and my short, one-sentence feeling on it. But, in the end, this blog is gonna get moving! You’re going to see more pics of my kiddos, but I won’t be revealing their names. I’m going to have to hide locations a bit more, which will be a challenge for me, but it’s all good. Life is about change, right?!

So, yeah, I’m a web designing, homeschooling mom of 4 still trying to find that perfect gluten free life. The cast is as follows: The Ice Skater, the Soccer Player, the Tball Player (formerly known as #3) and the Princess. They keep me busy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m not perfect by any means, but as parents, we all are just doing the best we can with what we have and know.

“Tapped”, a must see documentary

Stephanie — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:05:18 +0000

Tapped is definitely a documentary worth watching. Did you ever think about that bottle of water you were drinking? Where did it come from? Just how “healthy” is it?

This documentary examines big companies (Nestle, Pepsi and Coca~Cola) and how they get that wonderful, “healthy” water they sell. Did you know they move into communities and drain them of their water supply just to turn around and sell it right back to them? The film also touches on the plastic bottles themselves and the BPA and other things used to make them.

Now, I’m not totally against bottled water. It does have it’s place in the world. We mostly use our Klean Kanteens and Siggs, but there are often times we don’t pack quite enough to last through the day and I’ve had to pop into a store to pick up more water. But, bottled water isn’t something you should be buying regularly and carting with you on each and every outting. Just invest in a good reusable bottle and you’re good to go in most situations.

You can watch Tapped streaming on Netflix or purchase the DVD from various places. At the very least, check out this trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MCumz5lq4