Monday, May 30, 2011

little super hero.

there are simply no words to how this encouraged my maddie.
and probably in a bigger way to me.

to be honest, looking at our "pill box" is making me want to quit.
and then I got this email from my sweet friend rachel
and her son to check out asher's blog.
encouragement from someone who has it WAY worse than us...
puts a little perspective on the "do work" mentality.

thank you, rachel. very much.
and thank you, asher...you're a super hero in our book. :)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

taking pills


(maddie wanted to post today, so this is what she typed.) :)

I was sick because I had a lot arsnick in me.
So I had to start taking pills and stuff like that.
I was scared at first but I could put stickers on my pill holder
and that is going to be fun
But I still have to take the pills and other stuff.
But it will help me.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mr. GoodBar

two things today...

one.
my mom made the most awesome dairy free, soy free, low carb "almost goodbars" that have been a hit in our house! :)  the original recipe is here...but she added the carob chip chocolate topping and mini-muffin cups. :)


Mock "PayDay" Peanut Treats
Inspired by this recipe by "Blenders"

Makes 6 bars


Ingredients:

1/4 cup peanut butter (no-stir type preferred)
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening, unsalted butter, or coconut oil
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon almond cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
sugar-free sweetener, to taste (I use NuNaturals stevia)
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
1 cp. carob chips melted

Preparation:

Add peanut butter, honey, and butter to a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high for one minute. Remove and immediately whisk in vanilla extract and heavy cream or coconut milk. Stir in sweetener, xanthan gum (if using), and pinch of salt. Taste and adjust if necessary. Fold in peanuts and drop in globs mini muffin cups.  Drizzle melted carob chips on top.  Chill in freezer until firm, then transfer to refrigerator.

And, second!  I'm loving this local harvest site...not only do they tell you were local organic harvest besides farmers markets are, there are a ton of blogs on people eating healthier and locally that are inspiring...definitely worth a check out!

Monday, May 23, 2011

trying


I love my dawn.
my dawny-dawnster ;)
she is an encourager and a long time friend
who has seen the ugly me and still loves me.
it could be partly because I married her brother,
but I prefer to think she still just loves me. :)

she emailed me this woman's blog that I now stalk and her blog helps me with
the WHY of why I am being more wise with what I put into my kids' bodies.

here's an excerpt from the "why mother's need to pick their priorities" post

__________________________________________________________

One Thing At A Time

Imagine a child walking in to the first day of school and the teacher saying,
“Ok. We need to read Chaucer, then do some Calculus, a little Mozart
and we’ll wrap up with AstroPhysics.”
Those are all important things.
But they are NOT important, in anyone’s estimation, to a first grader.
God does not address all of our faults and shortcomings at the same time.
Neither should we.
And sometimes progressing in one area means postponing progress in another.
Imagine if a football player shows up to practice and the coach says,
“First we’re going to work on our jump shot, then zone defense,
free throw shooting and dribbling.”
Those are all important skills….for a basketball player, not a football player.
When we don’t know who we are, where we are at, and where we are headed we get distracted by all the “important” things….because they are all around us.

Most mothers deal with comparison.
We feel bad because “Mrs. So and So” does such and such…and that’s REALLY important.
But is it really important to YOU?
Is it what God wants YOU to be doing right now?

Spend time with God.
Listen to His still small voice.
Know your purpose.
Pick your priorities.
Do the next thing.

________________________________________________________

this was encouraging to me today. :)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

better batter flour

hoo.freaking.ray!
a company who produces something gluten free that has "normal" taste buds!
this product is revolutionizing my kitchen this weekend.


run.  do not walk to the gluten free country store and buy it.
it's worth the price and I'm considering buying it in bulk online
at the better batter store.
seriously.  :)

we now have peanut butter cookies that I genuinely
can't taste the difference from the real deal.
and I made blueberry crumble muffins with the organic blueberries I got yesterday.
(of which maddie said taste gross...oh, well...micah and I like them.)



p.s.  don't freak out about the non-sugar/non dairy/organic ingredients...
I promise they don't taste gross.

p.p.s. really. :)

peanut butter cookies
1 3/4 cp Better Batter Flour
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 cp. Organic Unsalted Dairy Free Butter
1/4 cp. Agave Nectar
1/2 cp. Natural Peanut Butter
1/2 cp. Organic Honey
1 Free Range Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
peanut butter chips

*mix all together except the chips.  gently fold in chips once mixed.
*scoop into 2" balls and place on pan.  gently flatten with the back of a fork.
*bake for 8 minutes.
*cool on pan for a minute then move to cool completely on wax paper.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins
1 1/2 cps. Better Batter Flour
3/4 cp. Organic Honey
1/2 tps. Sea Salt
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/3 cp. softened Organic Dairy Free Unsalted Butter
1 Free Range Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 pint Organic Blueberries

crumble topping
1/3 cp. Better Batter Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 cp. softened Organic Dairy Free Unsalted Butter
1/3-1/2 cp. Organic Honey
*mush all the crumble topping together with a pastry cutter

Muffin Directions
*preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*line nine king size cupcake liners in your pan and spray with non-stick spray.
*mix all ingredients except for blueberries together...
then beat on high for two minutes.
*gently fold in blueberries.
*scoop 1/4 cp. scoops into liners.
*generously sprinkle crumble topping onto tops of dough.
*bake for 20-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out "clean".
*cool completely in pan.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

mocking pineapples.

I should be clear that in writing in this blog
I SERIOUSLY claim no knowledge on cooking.
or on how to go about this whole eating good thing in general.
I am learning...and this is just me writing down what I learn along the way.

so...you should know I have two organic pineapples that are mocking me.
mocking me because I have never cut up one.
ever.
yup, ever.
the aluminum canned ones have been fine by me for 33 years.
but since we're cutting out aluminum,
I now have two very rough and not friendly pineapples.
mocking me.
I like to eat pineapple...so it's time to learn.:)

so thank you jack in the yellow backwards hat with guy fieri bling.:)
p.s. I'm jealous of his knife, it looks pretty dang serious.
if you've never cut a pineapple either, here you go.

new kind-of a saturday morning

I'm learning that in order for my kids to really love a food, it's best to attach a memory to it.
I think thats one reason why they're loving the farmers markets so much
and actually even attempting things they normally wouldn't...just because its under a tent and is presented somewhat festively. :)
 
instead of the usual saturday morning dunkin donuts run,
first, we picked up our organic bountiful basket and tropical basket...
maddie was amazed at how much fruit and told me that most of our basket didn't even look gross! :)
and now have a ridiculous amount of food to figure out what to do with!
two pineapples|two vanilla beans|six limes|six nectarines|six apples|a dozen bananas|three kiwi's|three mango's|broccoli|lettuce|snap peas|corn on the cob|honeydew|two plantains|onions|cilantro|blueberries

any recipes you might have would be MORE than welcome! :)

then we followed it up with the gilbert farmers market.
after eating a free range, whole grain, nut filled, organic breakfast
they got to stop by the petting zoo and hold baby pigs (that I seriously laughed at micah trying to catch one for about fifteen minutes...and boy did it squeal LOUD) and another bunny named elizabeth that maddie wanted to take home! :)  then we got mad a non-toxic tattoo that looked like the sun from tangled...she LOVES it! :)

we brought home some tamales that mad got to sample and proclaimed that she loved...I never in a million years would have guessed that she would like a tamale!
and our new friend the tomato plant...I keep hoping they'll like tomatoes...but no luck yet!
I'm also noticing that farmers markets bring out a lot of dogs...which makes my kids happy...is this a normal thing?  if you're eating healthier, do you need a dog to be able to join the club? :)






seriously great new kind-of a saturday morning!

and what I quickly made as soon as I got home: :)

homemade vanilla extract
1 cp. vodka
2 vanilla beans

*slice vanilla beans down the center
*combine ingredients in a glass jar and shake once a week for up to three months for fullest flavor

Friday, May 20, 2011

the super farmers market

day 4.
SUPER thankful for the SUPER farm market this week!
(if you live in the area, click the hyper-link and "like" them...support local farm markets!) :)

m&m absolutely LOVED their adorable "moo-tique" and farm friends.
m&m got to feed baby calves milk bottles, goats and sheep seeds, pet a bunny, antagonize a giant turket, play catch with toby the farm dog and even go on a hayride.

and grandma and I got to shop for
organic vegetables, whole grain breads and hormone free/antibiotic free free range meat
(yeah say all that in a normal sentence - your tongue gets tied!)


this adventure totally boosted my ability to see "fun" in eating this new and overwhelming way! :)



I 100% agree. :)




they even had "green" eggs...I thought brown was strange enough...but green! :)


turk-zilla did NOT like micah. :)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

do work.



so now that my entire kitchen is stocked with strange new food I've never eaten before
I've begun to scour the internet and blogs for foods we can eat...
I'm starting to think that some of these people have no taste buds.

the "best sandwich bread ever" tastes like mealy cardboard.
I have yet to believe that brussel sprouts will EVER taste good.
having no diet coke in the house kinda sucks.
I'm getting desperate.

that's 90% of the reason why I've started this little blog...
we are a fast food loving, quik trip craving, "normal" taste bud family...
and I'm just now realizing how hard this is to just make good TASTING food.

time to start digging for better recipes and do work.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

the diet

so then how do we fix her insides without modern medicine?
diet and supplements (for a time)

things to avoid:
*artificial sweeteners: aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, maltitol, etc.
*flavor enhancers & preservatives: msg, nitrates, monosodium glutamate
*artificial colors & dyes: red, yellow, etc.
*canned foods and drinks: glass is acceptable
*refined carbohydrates: white sugar, white flour, corn syrup, enriched foods
*commercial meats: look for meat labeled "no hormones, no antibiotics, free range & organic".
*dairy products...sad day in our house.
*soy products
*chlorine & fluoride sources: tap water, fluoride toothpaste, etc

things to eat!
*1 quart of clean water per 50 lbs of body weight (this is hard and a major motivator to lose a few lbs. :)
*2 vegetables/fruit per meal
*25-35% of the meal should be a protein source (meats, eggs, beans, seeds, nuts, sprouts, quinoa, nut butters)
*40-60% of the meal should be carbohydate (100% whole grain un-enriched breads, pastas, rice and whole vegetables & fruit)
*15-25% of the meal should be fats (nuts, seeds, coconut oil, nut butters)

her list of supplements is going to kinda long in the beginning until her insides start to heal...most of which I know very little about...which is why I'm so thankful for Dr. Hill and his staff!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

the diagnosis.

liver dysfuntion.
pancreas dysfunction.
colon dysfunction.
anemia.
hypoglycimic.
toxic.
dehydrated.

you're probably thinking I'm describing myself...it would make sense.
I'm addicted to diet coke and have been beyond nutritional deficient in every sense of the word for years.
but nope.  I'm not describing me.

I'm describing my eight year old baby girl.

modern medicine said she'd outgrow it in time...
                      here's some steroid cream to put on her angry skin until she does.
she poops once a week and it shames the largest man's intestines?
                                            we have a surgery for that when she's older...
she might be allergic to cow milk?
               give her soy...it's better for her anyways.

everything kind of came to a head about a month ago for our house.

sitting in the bathroom with my peanut, watching her cry frustrated tears at another "accident" that she has grown so ashamed and embarrassed of not knowing how to even help her...
I was done with modern "medicine".