I pulled something at the gym this morning. Or, it's just lactic acid buildup and the soreness will go away soon. Either way - it's time to drink fluid until my eyeballs are swimming! I learned my lesson the hard way last week. Dehydration led to one massive headache. By the time the head starts to hurt, it's hours before I can get it back under control.

One to two full cups of water is recommended before you workout, 3 ounces during the work out, and another one full cup afterward. Urine should be a very pale yellow - almost clear. Or so I have read (Disclaimer there - Feel free to research things In humid conditions, double your water intake. I will not dance with the headache lady for that particular reason again.....

I was pleased with breakfast this morning. I made my six year old ground beef sausage flavored with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and freshly diced parsley! He also enjoyed my blueberry buckwheat muffins and told me that I should sell them )))) Tapioca flour has made my muffins the fluffiest and lightest they have ever been. It is now a staple within the kitchen. It has very little nutritional density, which is a shame, but the approval rating is well worth it. Peaches rounded out the meal.

The two year old was not as pleased. In fact, he barely touched anything (I had leftover Teff cereal mixed with brown sugar, toasted pecans and raisins.) I can't believe the difference between plain old nuts and freshly roasted nuts! Delicious! Hopefully, he will be hungry enough to eat the rice, brocolli and tuna dish I am going to make for supper. Hopefully.

The six year old was sent to school with dried mango slices, cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with walnut butter and grape jelly. He cried as I dropped him off and begged me to teach him at home. For as much as we butted heads this summer, I can't believe he prefers to stay home with me versus attending public school. I have personally met his teacher and I suspect she will force him to act more independently. I also suspect that my son may have a learning disability, and I have asked that the school test him. Not much will happen, as our school's funds are so tapped out that the resources are very, very thin. But I need to know if there is a medical reason for some of his challenging behavior. I need to know if he is just acting like a six year old or - if there really is an underlying and untreated variable which interferes with higher learning.

I already know that he is a highly anxious child whose fine motor skills are technically behind the line by just a smidgeon. I know that he shares certain characteristics with ADD kids, but not all of them. And I know one final thing-- for once, my husband and I are in complete agreement. Ritalin is not the answer. If his ADD test comes back as "highly probably" or positive, his diet will be seriously addressed by ALL family members - and not just me.

I recently ordered walnut butter from Futter's (futtersnutbutter.com). I mix it with plenty of jelly- because of course - he's used to the high sugar stuff. My sample came from Buffalo Grove, IL. I like it. Thanks for sending me a comment. Take care.

Recently, my six year old enjoyed sweet potato pancakes. I was so thrilled with getting more veggies down him that it inspired me to create a new vegetable bread. I took the standard Zuchinni Bread recipe and substituted white rice flour and millet. I used 5 eggs, doubled the baking soda and chopped up two cups of zuchinni, brocolli, and carrots. The bread looked and smelled wonderful (brown sugar, cinammon, and chopped walnuts), but was very dry. I had forgotten the oil. I feared that it would end up in the trash due to the kids picky eating habits.

"Necessity is the mother of all invention." Slice the sweet bread and soak it well using one egg and a little water. Fry it up using a non-stick (without scratches) pancake pan, add maple syrup or black strap molasses - and waaalaaah! The kids gobbled it down. They also couldn't see the green and orange colors floating throughout the bread.

On the pro side: my kids ate veggies, protein, and gluten free grain for breakfast. Hooray!

Money wasn't wasted!

Time wasn't wasted!

It was avoid free!

On the con side: Are my kids getting too much cholesterol due to the eggs? Hmm - 6 eggs spread throughout two cups of flour. I don't know.

Am I baking my vitamins right out of my vegetables?



Here's what I do know: we are improving slowly and steadily over time. Back to you soon.....

I hate making seperate meals. It's time consuming, there are more dishes to clean, and it's harder to multi-task. But then they are those days where my children obviously needed different types of food, and it feels good to be appreciated as a cook. Today wasn't too bad.

The O ate walnut butter and grape jelly on Ezekiel toasted bread along with a gala apple, raisins, rice cakes and a glass of juice.

The A's had rice noodles with sauteed spinach and tex mex chicken nuggets (leftovers thrown together.) Leftover spices along with ghee and salt seasoned this dish nicely. I worry that my O is not getting enough protein, but I suppose I should quit worrying. It's my job to stock my kitchen with healthy food: it's his job to actually eat it!

I just picked up some turkey jerky from our local health food store. I am hoping that the O likes it. If I receive a thumbs up, I may ask the store if they can get the beef jerky from Shelton's as well. That would solve my protein dilemna for now!

Good eats -- and thank you to Miss J and another Miss J who recently contacted me. I appreciate your thoughts!

The six year old helped me with this one. Celery sticks, moz cheese sticks, and gala apples complemented the meal.

chicken breasts

Garlic powder

Paprika powder

cumin

white pepper (an avoid, so go easy)

onion powder

oregano

dried thye

sea salt

olive oil

ghee

The name of this combo is garlic and tex mex spices. Cut defrosted chicken pieces into bite size pieces. Preheat a big frying pan without oil, and then add olive oil at the last minute (one tablespoon). Using white rice flour in a ziploc bag, coat the chicken pieces and place them into the pan. Allow 2 to 3 minutes for the bottom of the chicken to become brown, and add more oil or ghee as necessary. Spice the chicken while in the pan, and give it one minute for the spices to brown. Quickly, using a big metal spoon, stir the chicken and flip the pieces over and over again. (A bit like stir frying, I suppose.) Be careful not to let the spice burn, but do make sure that all sides of the chicken pieces get cooked.

Pour the chicken into a big bowl, as this will help keep it warm. Serve with simple raw veggies of any kind along with a sweet fruit, and wa lah! It is a very satisfying meal.

Meanwhile, my two year old is still suffering with either the goat cheese he consumed yesterday or some sneaky gluten which grabbed him. I knew something was up as he was a real crankpot this morning. Sure enough, the diaper told the story. I will give him some aloe vera juice and hope that will help. Truthfully, I am not certain if that is the perfect treatment for him, but I guess time will tell.

Good eats everyone!

Hooray! He loves it! I bought this stuff for my two year old Celiac, but the celiac turned it down! Since my O likes it, that's one more way to replace traditional wheat bread. Technically, I bought round spring rolls - the dry kind one can store within any kitchen cabinet. I guess they also make types that come from the freezer, but I haven't discovered those in my particular store yet. There are some great recipes on the net, and I hope to find several my kids enjoy.

I think my two year old turned it down because I filled it with lettuce, pinto beans and then pan fried them. They turned out a little soggy. We recently bought a toaster oven from Sears for 25 bucks (thank you Sears for that sale!) and I baked them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I filled it with simple moz cheese just to get my 6 year old to try it. Now that I have received a good review, I can work on a veggie meat combo or a fish veggie combo. I definately will have to play around with pan frying it as well.

We used to have pizza night every Friday. Perhaps I can make it "leftover" pizza night. For example, beans and rice, leftover chicken, tomato sauce, and cheese, leftover ground beef, pizza sauce and cheese, artichokes- garlic and spinach? I definately will have to play around with this one!

* There is only one good thing about the weather turning colder - the kitchen will be nice and warm once again!***

Well, I did it! I snuck some walnut butter down the kid (the older six year old kid.) He really is afraid of trying new things. I called it healthy peanut butter and then told him the truth after the fact. If I had called it walnut butter from the beginning, he would not have eaten it at all.

Still, I don't think he was pleased that he had been tricked. I think I will not use that technique again. I don't want to lose his trust! Desperate Moms to be continued.......

I just bought some "spring rolls" or rice paper. They are round, 100 % rice, and make nice sandwich wraps. I don't mind that they are a little bit sticky to the touch while moist, but my two year old does. Immediately after this blog I will be researching cooking techniques. I hear you can simply wet them and mold them to the shape that you need, or you can pan fry them to a nice crunchy texture.

I may look around for a chinese cooking class for beginners (or Asian cooking class). I think it would be worth the money to please my little one's taste buds!

I may have posted this one before. Please forgive the redundancy, but since my two year old child gave this one a 'thumbs up', I have decided to post the recipe today:

one can of sardines in olive oil or water

two ribs of celery

handful of parsley

lemon juice

red onion

2 tsp of minced garlic

tahini (1 - 2 tablespoons)

salt



Dice the celery, parsley and 1/4 red onion. Drain and mash the sardines. Add it all together along with salt, tahini and lemon juice. Mash very well and adjust flavors to taste. (I added a little extra salt and lemon juice.) The tahini has a slight bitter aftertaste - so mix well or use a little less. With some simple red grapes on the side, this was very satisfying.

As I think about it, were all 5 flavors represented? Sweet - the red grapes, Sour - the lemon, Pungent - the onion, Salty - the sea salt and the sardines, Bitter - the sesame seed (tahini). Someone once told me that if all 5 flavors were represented within a meal, then all major organs within the body have been nourished. (A chinese philosophy, I suppose?) Obviously, I am no expert. But I can say one thing-

That was one healthy lunch! Good eats everyone!