Thank you, my friend from Belgium! Your encouraging words left a big bright spot in my day! I am wrestling with what all families experience at one time or another. It's time for me to expand my roles and take on even more responsibility. Or, it's time for my husband to redefine his roles as our family grows and evolves. In the end, I suspect we will both have to adapt and compromise!

I have been able to prepare meals which encompass all four traditional food groups. We had leftover venision sausage, chicken sausage, pumpkin bread, grapefruit, bannanas and plums for breakfast. Drinks included healthy soda for the kids (prune juice, apple juice and carbonated water - good for both an O secretor and an A non secretor). Mom, of course, starts the day with lemon water and then switches to coffee after the meal.

Lunch today included more of the same leftovers with new fruit thrown in (grapes and leftover grapefruit.) Dinner will include the last of the meat along with sauteed onion and collard greens. Dad won't go for that so I will ask him what kind of veggie he might like. We also have some gala apples that would work with the collard greens, so I will slice those up.

My experiment for tomorrow will be preparing my rice noodles, northern beans and soy sauce. Very simple, but I don't know what to do with white northern beans. I will, however, know what to do with them by the end of the week, because I have already cooked a week's worth in my crockpot! Take care everyone.

I just stumbled across Shelton's gluten free turkey web site. Eureka! During those times when I cannot get to the local grocery store, I now have another resource. I have heard about Shelton's for a long time, but I did not realize what a multitude of products they now produce. The turkey jerky looks very interesting, and thanks to the local school district charging 2.70 for every hot lunch, it is actually less expensive to buy gluten free, antibiotic free, turkey jerky from California! Hooray! No guilt for overspending can be found here! Portable meat is on the way! (Pardon my rambling.)

I cooked up a big batch of white northern beans last night. I plan on cooking rice pasta, veggies, and then adding the beans in with some type of spice. And of course, the question is - which spices? I look forward to experimenting this week. Any suggestions?

Happy Father's Day to all Dad's out there (including my own!) May you all be blessed with sunshine and plenty of time to fish! Take care.

It's an issue that everyone faces at some point in their life. I like what I have accomplished, but how can I keep it going as life demands more and more of my time? How can I keep my children away from the "hot lunches" that the school system provides as more of my time is devoted to earning a paycheck?

How do I find the time to shop properly and visit various health food stores or farmer's markets?

How do I continue to excersise, clean the house, support my children's individual needs and make time for a relationship with my husband?

These lines of thought are inspired by the fact that I took last weekend off. I spent two and a half days acting as if I were single again. Then I dove head first into a week filled with summer classes and the normal deadlines. I also fell off of the wagon and reverted back to some of my older habits (too much coffee, not enough veggies or fruit.)

On a good note, I am incorporating collard greens back into my life. I sauteed one leaf with onion, added chopped up leftover salmon patties and threw in some eggs. It was a very tasty and very nutrition packed version of scrambled eggs.

Lunch was a classic black bean dip with - you guessed it - a chopped up collard green leaf instead of the traditional parsely or cilantro. The traditional chip was replaced with a salted rice cake. Snack will hopefully be a slice of toast with coffee, and dinner will be fish with a rice/veggie combo. I am also craving grapefruit so that will be thrown in there somewhere.

So the thought hits me-- who is going to take over some of these chores when I start spending time at "work?" Who is going to cook my children's lunch or grocery shop properly? Why have I scheduled myself to work seven days a week, and everytime I take a 'day off', life is such a scramble?





I am so silly. Our summer deadlines are different and I am feeling off balance. I just need some time to think, and I will figure it all out. Here I come, second cup of coffee. Good eats everyone.

Holy moly! I just found a 55 page book entitled "partial listing of mainstream gluten free products available through the chicago area" sponsored by the Wheaton Gluten free support group. Fifty five pages! Certainly, its not BTD compliant or milk free, soy free, etc - but the point is - I can now buy so many more things at the store without needing to call every 1-800 phone number on the package. I feel like doing cartwheels!!!

I also just recently learned about an Organic resteraunt in Rockford, IL called Halsa on East Riverside. I like to cook for my family, but on those days when I simply don't have time or the energy, I should find it easier to buy those convenient "back up" products. And things like birthday parties and family outings, do not have to exclude my little guy now - thanks to this 55 page book. Amazing.

Both kids have been with me all week. Breakfast included grapefruit, strawberries, Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Toast for the O and gluten free corn crunch for the little A. (Dadamo and I differ on this one. He states no corn for the A non-secretor, but I just havent seen any evidence that corn bothers my little guy, yet.) I can honestly say that the corn crunch gluten free cereal is a very empty source of nutrition! I tried to make up for it by offering raisins as a snack: rice noodles, and pinto beans for lunch. I seasoned the rice noodles by using gluten free Swanson chicken broth, salt, a little pepper, a little goat cheese and corriander. My O was offered grilled cheese using Ezekiel Sesame Bread and mozerella. The same fruit was offered to him as well along with Chocolate soymilk.

I am about to switch my gluten allergy kid over from rice milk to almond nut milk. All milk products are enriched so I don't have to worry about the calcium intake. If I were in charge of dinner, I would lean heavily on the veggies. But I am not. I am taking a couple of days off and leaving Dad in charge. He is pretty well versed on what gluten free people can eat, and I have my kitchen organized and labeled. My next challenge will be focusing on fish for lunch (one meal for both kids.) I would still like to make both breakfast and lunch beneficial while allowing dinner to be a neutral. What is really going to be interesting, is the fact that I am NOT making Sunday my cooking day. Ergo, I won't have anything quick and easy ready to roll out Monday. Sometimes, necessity is the mother of all invention! Take care everyone.