Adoptive Momma Tears Flow

Spring time makes for wonderful fresh and new memories. Like the memory of the very first time our son brought me a Taraxacum officinale, a weed, better known as a Dandelion. I remember that day quite well, he was around 18 months old and we were walking home from an errand. Thinking back to the nine long years that we waited for a child and Spring days of wondering, "Will I ever be brought a bouquet of Dandelions, picked by eager chubby little hands?" The day I got my beautiful yellow weed was a day that will stick out in my heart and mind forever. That day my little man learned the difference in tears, happy tears and sad tears. As a teenager he can discern the difference in them with regards to his Momma pretty well now.

Just yesterday the nearly 15 year old young man brought me a Taraxacum officinale, a weed, better known as a Dandelion. That little yellow weed filled this adoptive momma's heart with love and her eye's with tears, happy tears that is. It made me thankful that he thought of me, stopped during his busy day and took the time to smell the flowers, even if they were just weeds. These are simple little pleasures a Momma gets and uses as teaching moments for her son. I remind him that his wife will enjoy getting a simple bouquet of flowers on a rare occasion, just because he thought of her. 

I treasure these moments as the days are fleeting and soon those Dandelions will be untouched. But I think that somehow I will be getting a bouquet of flowers in the Spring from my little man when he is all grown up, no matter where the Lord plants him.

Moe

 

Taming The Electronics Monster

I thought the blog title Taming The Electronics Monster is pretty telling. Electronics can become a monster in our home and eat up lots of our valuable time. I recently read a blog post by Sports Mom Survival Guide. She has a really cool idea and a printout to make your own printed "Electronics Tickets" for your children. You can print out 15 minute or 30 minute tickets to give to your child.

click here for FREE printable

Up until 7th grade we had implemented no media during the week and then 30 minutes per day on Sat/Sun. After that we have done 30 minutes per day and 60 min on Sat/Sun. For our family media means radio, TV (which we only have FREE TV channels), DVD's, VHS, Internet, Amazon Prime, video games and educational games). An extra 30 min can be earned through extra chores.

There are two areas that I am lenient on, one being in the car I have on talk Christian radio, Dave Ramsey, Medical School HQ podcast or a CD with a homeschool convention speaker.  The other being on Saturday mornings, the Homeschooled Young Man likes to listen to some young adults Christian radio programs. So while he is doing his chores or lounging ni his room he has free rein to listen to those programs.

Now on rare occasions (Mom is ill, Dad is off a day etc) then we will have a media frenzy, but it's very rare! Maybe 3x per year. It's usually either a Bugs Bunny or Deadliest Catch marathon...lol...yes, I know weird picks, but we like them!

I have printed mine out and and laminated them. Pretty cool idea!

How does your family Tame The Electronics Monster?

Moe

Gluten Free & Weight Gain?

I found this interesting article from Schar and thought my gluten free readers would like it.
Have you gained weight since you started eating gluten free? Click here to find out why.

Yes I have! Well, at first I lost 20# in less than two weeks and totally freaked out my doctor. That was almost 4 years ago, since I have gained 30# eating gluten free.

I have to agree with the article, I think I eat a lot differently now than I did when I first went GF. At first I had no idea what I could eat, so I stuck with plain meats, veggies and fruits. Then as the years went by I started adding in gluten free convenience foods, pre-packaged foods.

Moe's Pizzeria

Yep, you guessed it gluten free PROCESSED FOODS have been a down fall for me. The article from Schar really spoke to me. I have done Weight Watchers in the past and I pretty much can tell you the Points Plus value of foods, well the other day I got out my Points Calculator and started figuring up points for my gluten free foods. HELLOOO!! Major wake up call. My favorite go to Udi's pizza crust, sauce, cheese, pepperoni and green olive pizza was 24 points!! And I was still hungry after eating it. YOZZAA that is like a full day of points right then and there. My favorite GF blueberry muffin 8 points!

I'm starting to see where my 30# came about! I never looked at the carbohydrates of foods until this article and I am a bit shocked. The carbs in a slice of wheat filled white bread is much lower than a slice of gluten free white bread. The Points Plus value is higher too and the gluten free bread slice is tiny!

This week I am embarking on eating less processed and more meat/veggies/fruits. I had some $$ left on a gift card from Amazon and I bought a cool little gadget to makes veggies more fun...hahaha, if that were truly possible. It shipped yesterday, I will try it out and report back to you.

How about it? Have you gained or lost weight being gluten free?

Moe

p.s. This blog post contains a number of references to products, I have not received any compensation for these product mentions.

Announcing the MOST POPULAR BLOG POST of 2014!!!

Gluten Free McDonalds Iced Cheese Danish Recipe. Yep there you have it folks...the MOST POPULAR BLOG POST of 2014!!!

Anyone ever remember eating a McDonalds Iced Cheese Danish back before going gluten free? Those were my favorite with a nice hot steaming cup of coffee! Which would then turn into running to the bathroom for the next 2 hours, terrible stomach cramps and bloating. Well fast forward to today and see how this recipe was born. I had posted this recipe gluten-free homemade culvers butter burgers buns and as I was thawing out the buns and eating them one by one through out the month, I thought, hhhhmmmm something tastes familiar here. Well I came across a recipe for cheese danish that was made with gluten ingredients. I toyed with the idea of making a gluten free danish, and thoughts of the McDonalds Iced Cheese Danish began to dance in my head! lol.

So here is what I came up with...

Make this recipe with me...bake a batch of the above recipe from my link, using milk (whatever kind you want, not the water, I like the water ones with hamburgers and milk ones with the danish recipe).
After the buns cool, slice them in half to separate the top and bottom bun. Then whip up this recipe...

Filling:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese (dairy, light, non-dairy)
1 cup sugar (try fake sweetener if you like that instead)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (I used corn free)
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 350* degrees and grease a 9x9 or 9x13 inch baking pan (depends on how many you make). Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg together until smooth. Place buns cut side up in the baking pan and spoon on the filling. Bake for 20-35 minutes until the top is golden brown. Top with glaze after cooling for 20 minutes. These are great frozen too. I placed them in sandwich baggies and have eaten them frozen for breakfast. Using soy milk 2 danish (equal to a full bun-2 halves) is 6 WW points. YUM!

Not burned, but caramelized, oh, these were mighty fine!

These were so good! They may not be as pretty as the ones from McDonalds, but my family loved them...lol. I made them some special ones just for them. I took whole wheat bread, buttered it, sprinkled it with sugar and then added on some of the filling, baked it just like above and added glaze after they cooled. BIG HIT!!
Enjoy!
Moe