Headed to Crazy Town on the GFCF Train

I'm on a mission. I didn't think I baked a whole lot, so taking the steps to become a GF family wasn't a big deal. I figured that I baked about 3 or 4 times a year. We wouldn't miss flour at all!

Or so I thought.

I've found that I: make fried chicken (in coconut oil, thank you), bake cupcakes, bake loaves of bread in my bread machine, bake zucchini bread, make pancakes (ok, so Dear Husband does that) and bake banana bread often enough to actually need an all-purpose flour on hand. I also have the motivation to make some pumpkin muffins.

But I don't have the right flour. *bangs head into wall*

So I've been scouring the internet for a recipe for an all-purpose flour that I can mix up here at home. I *thought* I bought the right ingredients, but alas, I was wrong. One thing I found out, though, is that potato flour (not potato starch, the 2 are not the same) would be really tasty for fried chicken. I'm actually looking forward to trying that.

I have Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Potato Flour, and Tapioca Flour. And Cornstarch.

So, dear readers, what do you suggest as an at-home recipe for all-purpose flour?

Also, is Rice Milk a fine sub for cow's milk or soy milk?

Autism X Six

I just watched the program on Discovery Health called "Autism X Six" and I have to say, it was really interesting. The family has 6 children, all of them fall somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. Their older 3 all have Asperger's, like my son and I, while another 2 have classic Autism, and the youngest has PDD-NOS.

Watching their 9 yr old Aspie was not unlike watching my own 8.5 yr old Aspie.

I've set my DVR to record each new episode. I do wish I could figure out when it will be on; I've been unsuccessful in that regard. I'll keep looking, but for now my DVR will do it for me. :)

The family's websites can be found here:
Autism Bites
Autism Bites Blog

Did anyone else see this program? Please share your thoughts!

*ETA: Apparently it was only a single episode. Bummer! Although I did wonder how well those kids would have handled being on camera constantly.

Gifts and after-school irritation

I had purchased my kids each a present today. My older son is interested in chess so we found a wooden chess/checkers/Chinese checkers board on sale at Target. The board flips over for Chinese checkers. My daughter likes Barbie & Polly Pocket so we bought her a tiny Polly-type Barbie. We also bought her a 3-pack of Hannah Montana pencils. We bought the baby a Cookie Monster. He likes to eat Cookie's eyes.

We did this because my daughter has been wanting presents to unwrap. lol!

Well, when my kids walked in from the bus, so did 4 other ppl. My friend, her daughter and niece, and another neighbor kid. My friend said they were just saying "Hi" and they were going. They were in my house maybe 30 seconds.

The only thing that slightly bugged me was that my friend's daughter asked for an apple and I wanted to say no, but didn't.

I feel like a jerk for thinking this because it's selfish, but here goes... The apples are for my kids and their lunches and their snacks. I'm typically very generous and wouldn't deny a child a piece of fruit, but I just went grocery shopping and am limited on what fruits my daughter will eat. (Apples are one of the few.) Additionally, we only have 1 vehicle and it's a stick shift. I don't drive stick and my husband isn't always available for grocery store trips. (He does this thing called 'work'. It's kind of important.) Walking is not an option for me. (Texas. It's hot and I fatigue easily.)

So anyway, back to my story -- The neighbor girl asked for an apple. I said yes and just figured I'd let it go, not a big deal, really. I know that's a silly thing to be upset over. Besides, if a kid wants a fruit or veggie, by all means, eat it! It's healthier than chips or candy, right? Besides, it's one apple. Come on.

What irritated me was that the other neighbor girl that came in w/ everyone just helped herself to an apple and rushed out my door! She never asked, never said thanks, nothing. That irritated me. The rudeness. But this kid is rude anyway. I do what I can to put up boundaries, but I'm not always successful.

And all the while my kids were gleefully opening their gifts, excited, happy, and I missed it. :( (Thirty seconds goes fast w/ all the hubbub!)

Anyway, my son LOVES his chess/checker board and my daughter LOVES her tiny Barbie and her Hannah pencils. I'm glad. I had a hard time picking for her, so success is great!

I'm just really irritated that I missed their joy because I was distracted.

I'm stepping into the GFCF wading pool

Isn't that a really cool picture? My husband found that online somewhere and IM'd it to me. Since I went grocery shopping today I thought I'd stick that in my blog.

Our new doctor (an MD, Naturopath, & Homeopath), Dr. P, has recommended that we begin GFCF eating. (GFCF is Gluten Free Casein Free for those who are wondering.) So I've begun researching and finding ways to adapt our usual meals to this way of life. So far so good. I had formerly been quite unsure of how to begin, but now I think I'm at a good place mentally and I can handle it.

Today I did up a grocery list based on my meal plan below. I discovered the GF section of our groc store! Weee!

Spaghetti (rice noodles and will puree cauli and put it in the sauce)
Roast beef w/ carrots, potatoes, and rice maybe w/ gravy (anyone have a recipe for gravy? Post it!)
Chicken nuggets (printed off a GF recipe, got some flours for it)
Hamburgers (no buns)
15 bean soup w/ sausage (kids hate this, though, so I may have them eat sandwiches or something. )

I'll do enough for 2 meals then freeze leftovers. Convenient, no?

*Side note: The sausage is pork. Dr. P told us to get away from pork so I need some Pork- Free sausage suggestions! Recipes welcome.

I also picked up some GF flours and am hoping to make an "all purpose" flour mix. I had planned to make banana bread but changed my mind for now because I don't want to experiment w/ my banana bread just yet.

I found some GF breakfast bars that I hope the kids will like and I'm going to make oatmeal muffins for breakfast. My daughter didn't like the last batch, so I'm going to run my oatmeal through the food processor first and hope she'll like it better w/o the big oat bits.

I also have to find a way to limit sugar intake or change what I use, but my grocery store is limited in what they have for sweeteners. I'm thinking stevia or honey. I have molasses, at the moment. Ideas?

To summarize, I need the following:

GF Gravy recipe
Pork Free sausage (recipe? Brand name? Surprise me!)
Natural sweeteners that are NOT sugar (we also don't use Splenda, Equal, or Sweet N Low)
Any tips for GFCF living are also VERY welcome!

Thanks in advance, readers! :)

PETA has a new billboard linking Milk & Autism

This is infuriating to me on so many levels. Ok, I have issues w/ PETA anyway because I think a large portion of their marketing is fear mongering and it wouldn't surprise me if much of it is untrue.

Their marketing pamphlet mail-outs are disturbing (which is their goal, obviously) but that only made me toss them in the trash. They also like to picket the KFC by my house. And I've only ever seen 3 or 4 picketers there. I guess they forgot that people in Texas like their meat.

This 'Autism/Milk = Bad' campaign really chaps my hide.

First, my son has Asperger's Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). He's a great kid and the Asperger's is not BAD or horrible nor will it kill him. It's challenging, I assure you. But we do survive and get by in life.

Second, my kid didn't get autism from drinking milk because my kids aren't that interested in ingesting dairy products anyway, unless it's chocolate milk. And that's a rare treat -- a few times a year. I don't think humans are designed to drink the milk of another species, most especially into adulthood, but I'm not going to vilify you because you like ice cream or yogurt or use real butter or even have milk w/ your cereal. You're an adult. You can make your own choices.

Third, ASC's are from before you're even born, people. You don't "catch" autism and you can't be "cured" of it. Are there therapies to help someone on the spectrum? Sure! GFCF comes to mind, as does heavy metal chelation. Do I advocate for that? Absolutely. You must do what works for your family. But you can't make autism happen from drinking milk.

Want some links to this?
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

So there's my rant.

A weekend with little girls

I just spent the evening washing, drying, and folding laundry. We had a friend's little girl over for the weekend and, of course, as little girls are wont to do, the young ladies felt it necessary to try on every article of clothing in my daughter's drawers. When they were done with that, they went for the closet. In between trips to the clothing, they decided to rearrange the toys and whatnot. I should have taken pics. It was insane.

More than once I assisted in cleaning up that room so they could actually see the floor. More than once I was knee-deep in pink crap. More than once I half-expected the baby to come crawling out of there w/ hair bows and makeup on his little chubby face. More than once I wanted to hide under my bed with the cats.

I now sit here on my couch, while my husband plays XBox, surrounded by mountains of clothing yet to be put on hangers. Above my head. I am not kidding. Both sides. And in front of me is a very well packed rectangular laundry basket full to the top of neatly folded little girl clothes. Her big brother's clothes, you ask? Oh, his 3 pr of jeans and 4 shirts are neatly folded in one of the square baskets. With room to spare.

Tomorrow: Reorganize dear daughter's clothes. Again. The same as I've done the last 40-eleven times.

My child ate cat food

The baby is almost 11 mos old. He's a pretty easy going little guy and quite calm. He doesn't cause a lot of trouble and is very happy and smiley. :)

Especially when he eats the cat food.

He gets in there and smacks his hand in the water, gleeful all the while. Then he goes for the dry bits. In they go!!!! And he crawls out here chewing on something.

Hmm... Well, at least he's not getting into the litter box! :D

(FTR, this is why we typically have a gate across the bathroom door.)