It dawned on me this morning that it would be fruitless to bake my usual muffins in this 85 degree heat. In fact, many of the recipes that I could prepare in my sleep no longer offer practical planning solutions. Aha! Summer is finally here! I have been waiting forever! Now that heat plays a factor, here are some of my thoughts:

Dig out those frozen drink recipes

Dig out that waffle maker

Dig out the crockpot

Figure out how to use our outdoor grill

And of course.....

Keep on using the stove top and steamer as needed.

I also spent the morning reorganizing my kitchen cabinets. The gluten free books suggest that you dedicate one shelf cabinet, one freezer shelf, and one refridgerator shelf to completely gluten free food. This will help Dad, babysitters, and grandparents cope with the gluten free situation. It's also helpful to me, because it becomes quite obvious when supplies run low.

It dawned on me that the same exact system would help with the blood type diet, too. It would help teach the kids which foods are "beneficial" long before there are able to read. If your children can actually reach 'their' shelf without help, it also promotes their self esteem. I have labeled my little guy's shelf with Elmo and Cookie Monster Stickers. I think my older child will probably pick out dinosaur stickers. Seeing my kids get excited about "their" food warms my heart.

I chose to sleep on the floor of my toddler's bedroom last night. I made the mistake of allowing him to eat only meat for supper. I fixed green beans along with turkey burgers, (no bun) but he wolfed down the burgers and completely ignored the veggie. Now, I knew better. I knew that I should have stopped his intake of meat and guided him toward other foods. But, I was busy just keeping up with the flow so I didn't bother. At about 10 o'clock, I started to hear him cry. He didn't actually wake up, but it was obvious from watching him that SOMETHING was interfering with his sleep. After going back to bed and getting back up again (more crying), I moved my blanket and pillow to his room. A few soft words and a gentle rub on the back helped him get back to sleep. He cried out a couple of more times during the night but didn't wake.

Several hours into the day, he had his first constipation diaper. One hour later he had the big "D". I turned to my husband and said "This child has trouble absorbing and digesting his food. Eating only meat would constipate any child, but it wouldn't cause this much pain." My husband agreed. We just have to be very diligent and we have to teach him to eat from all food groups at every meal. On the short term, my toddler may refuse to cooperate and go to bed hungry. But, as a mother, I have to start teaching him about the long term right now.

Ok, enough! I hope my readers are still here......

I cooked two batches of gluten free waffles and browned up some defrosted hamburger meat for later use. I also cooked some pumpkin raisin cranberry bread using the bread machine.

Rice Waffles

2 cups rice flour

4 tsp baking powder

brown sugar - as much or as little as you like

1 - 2 cups nut milk

3 tbl olive oil

1 egg

Mix the dry. Beat the egg and add the wet. Better the waffle batter be too thick than thin. You'll figure it out after the first batch. Reheat in toaster if possible.

Buckwheat, rice, aramanth, millet waffles

Use the exact same recipe but use more buckwheat flour. Add cinnamon and allspice. If you choose to substitue water for the nut milk, watch out - if it gets too thin your waffles will not pop out of the 'non stick ' waffle maker. They will tear apart instead (the voice of experience......)

I used the pumpkin millet cookie recipe for the bread machine. I haven't tasted it yet so the jury is still out on whether it worked or not. My "master cookbook" idea is working nicely - but it does have a twist that I didn't forsee. For example, my first recipe was turkey cutlets. Since I didn't have any, I just make turkey burgers instead. So now I will take that page out of my notebook and place it in the back section. And since it is too hot to cook "applesauce meatloaf", then I will try grilling applesauce burgers. It all works out in the end.

Take care everyone.