Celiac Accident

Joshua is able to take the Sacrament at church each week. Gluten-free bread is provided and they are always very careful when preparing it.

Today we had our first accident though. Rick and I were both suspicious when the GF tray was passed; it looked like there were two kinds of bread in the tray. Within a few minutes, Joshua had to leave the meeting to go throw up. He threw up again before the meeting was over.

Joshua didn’t want to leave church, but we felt it was best. He asked to stay to finish Sacrament Meeting and we agreed.

When the meeting was over and the kids were all settled in their classes, I took Josh home. He threw up several more times at home, poor guy.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes

I’ve always wanted to make pumpkin pancakes on Halloween morning, but never got around to actually doing it. This year I decided that perfect pumpkin pancakes were going to be a priority during Halloween celebrations.

I found a recipe online that looked promising and then I modified it to be gluten-free. I never know quite how my gluten-free modifications will turn out, so I was pleased when our pumpkin pancakes turned out just as perfectly as I hoped they would.

The pancakes were pretty thin, which could be seen as a drawback for those who like thick, fluffy pancakes. But they were moist and delicious and I loved the combination of pumpkin, spices, and chocolate chips. I served them with whipped cream alone and that was delicious, but you could also top them with butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, or syrup. These pancakes are perfect for Halloween, but they really are too good to only eat once a year! I’m sure we’ll make them during the rest of the year as well, and especially during the fall months.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

4 cups canned pumpkin (plain, no spices)
12 eggs (I know, a lot…)
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients. Cook in oil or butter, just as you would with regular pancakes. Serve and enjoy!

Two-Year-Old Tummy Aches

Asher has the genetic marker for Celiac Disease. This means that he could develop Celiac at any time, even though he doesn’t currently he have it. We have let him eat a “regular” diet for the past two years, although his gluten consumption is probably more limited than most toddlers’ just by living in our family. He has never shown any signs of Celiac Disease so we’ve continued to let him eat normally.

Now he is complaining of tummy aches. Being only two, Asher is limited in his ability to really tell me how much it hurts or where it hurts or what “kind” of hurt it is. All he can tell me is, “Mommy, owie tummy, owie tummy.” I’ve never had a toddler complain of recurring tummy pain so my mommy radar is already alarming over the issue.

Still, he is gaining weight fine, he’s not having diarrhea or throwing up, his belly is soft, his appetite is normal. There is no reason, other than his occasional tummy aches, for me to suspect that anything is wrong.

I don’t know if I should put him right onto a gluten-free diet, or if I should wait and see how he does.

Today… because I can’t think of a more creative title…

I have three extra kids today, ages 3, 2, and 1. Their mama, my sweet friend, is at the hospital having her baby even as I type. I am so excited for her! I am thankful that I can help out in such a small, but also very sacred way while she’s gone. There is no better compliment than trusting someone with your precious children.

So our house is full of babies and toddlers today. I have six kids under four, plus my three older children as well. It’s been fun. I love a houseful of little ones. I hope our family continues to grow in the coming years.

I got caught up the dishes that I neglected yesterday and I am catching up on laundry as well, but that process takes a lot longer. My roast is in the crock pot and it’s smelling delicious. There’s nothing like an yummy dinner that pretty much makes itself!

I tried a gluten-free bread mix today. I have always made our GF bread from scratch; I have several different bread recipes that we’ve come to love over the years. But today I tried a bread mix for the first time- Bob’s Redmill. It was easy to make, rose wonderfully well, and tastes delicious. I allowed even my “gluten kids” to sample small pieces and everyone declared it amazing. I will probably continue to bake bread from scratch, but it sure is nice to know that there is an easier option for rushed days or weeks. I’ll likely keep a bread mix or two in my pantry for times when we need bread and I don’t have time or the ingredients I need to make it.

Homeschool has gone well today. There were some tears over a vocabulary assignment, but otherwise the kids have stayed on task and done well. Braden floors me with how easily he is reading, and his penmanship is improving so much. Maddie is doing great with both reading and math. Joshua is learning to be more neat and organized and he’s taking great pride in his work. Brenna is so diligent and self-motivated.

Today we are busy with art projects and instrument lapbooks and State Pages for geography, so my kitchen table is once again crowded with paper and craft supplies. Honestly, a table full of crafts and creativity is one of my favorite aspects of homeschool. We are moving onto the Classical Period in our musical studies and we’re working on some fun creative writing assignments. Of course, there is all the usual math, grammar, spelling, and so on… but the more creative and exploratory aspects of homeschool tend to be my favorites.

Lacking any good snack foods, I threw a batch of my favorite gluten-free peanut butter cookies into the oven for an afternoon snack. These things are so easy to whip up that I often resort to them when we need a quick snack or treat. Of course, with nine small children in the house, peanut butter cookies were sure to be a major hit!

We are skipping gymnastics this afternoon. Brenna is disappointed and I really wish she could be there, but I don’t have carseats for the extra kiddos at our house today. She can miss one practice and be fine.

Rick has been working long hours so I am really looking forward to seeing him tonight.

Gluten-Free Pancake Muffins

What’s better than a pancake? A pancake muffin, of course!

I found a recipe for “Mini Maple-Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins” in a Betty Crocker magazine. Intrigued by the idea of a pancake muffin, I decided to modify the recipe to make it gluten-free. 

I made these delicious gluten-free pancake muffins on Saturday morning before we headed out to a cheer performance, a football game, and a gymnastics meet. They took less time to prepare than the actual pancakes did, which was great because our day was busy enough already. They were very portable as well and the kids were able to eat them in the van. As we found out when we ate the rest of the muffins on Sunday morning, they are also delicious dipped in melted butter and/or warm maple syrup.

Gluten-Free Pancake Muffins

Ingredients:
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 Tbs real maple syrup (next time, I will experiment with adding more syrup)
2 Tbs melted butter
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins (either 12 regular or 24 mini) with cooking spray.

Beat buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, and butter. Stir in flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Reserve a few chocolate chips for the top of the muffins. Fold the remaining chocolate chips into the batter. Pour batter into muffin tin and sprinkle each one with the left over chocolate chips.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until very light brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 3 to 5 minutes, remove from pan.

Eat on the go, or serve with melted butter and warm maple syrup for dipping.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

One of my favorite things about fall is baking. There is just so much to be enjoyed this time of year! I love all the foods that come from harvest time, partly because they taste good and partly because they are so classically reminiscent of autumn.

Pumpkin is one of my fall favorites. There are so many great treats that are made with pumpkin. Pumpkin also lends itself very well to gluten-free baking. It really helps moisten GF recipes and helps things hold together as well. Plus, all the spices used in most pumpkin recipes easily mask the sometimes unusual flavors of gluten-free flours.

Now that I’ve rambled endlessly, here is the Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that I made on Friday. It was delicious! It was flavorful, moist, and reminiscent of autumn. It was also gone quickly. Next time, I will certain double, triple, or even quadruple this delicious recipe! I usually freeze gluten-free baked goods so I always like to know how well a GF recipe will freeze. I did not get a chance to experiment and freeze any of this bread though; it was gone too fast!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients for one loaf:
1/2 butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (plain)
1 cup rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
**You could also substitute 2 cups of any GF flours or a pre-made flour blend**

Directions:
Heat oven to 350*. Grease only the bottom of a 9×5 bread pan.

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin with a whisk. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Spread into bread pan.

Bake 55- 65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for 2 hours on a wire rack.

Mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 tsp of milk. Blend until smooth and thin. Drizzle over the loaf and allow about 30 minutes for the glaze to set up.

GF Sugar Cookies

This afternoon, after Joshua’s morning football game and after two hours spent playing at the park, the kids and I tried a new gluten-free sugar cookie recipe. I love my regular recipe because it can actually be cut with cookie cutters, but I was out of some of the flours I needed so I opted to try a brand new recipe instead.

The cookies have molasses and nutmeg in them, making them a sort of hybrid between sugar cookies and gingerbread. They rolled nicely and cut easily, but then they didn’t hold their shape in the oven. We ate those anyway and made the rest by spoonful drops (thankfully, we experimented with cutting out just a few cookies so we had plenty of dough left over to make cookies that weren’t paper thin). We frosted the cookies with homemade cream cheese frosting, and they were truly delicious.

Half the cookies are gone and the rest are being frozen for later. I love afternoons spent baking with the kids.

Purses and Muffins

I recently cut off a pair of Brenna’s hole-in-the-knee jeans to create some easy summer shorts for her. She was thrilled. Afterwards, I tossed the two left over legs in her direction and suggested that she add them to her sewing kit. (She loves to sew and create so a few scraps of fabric are treasures to her.) Then I decided that there certainly had to be something fun and easy that we could do with the jean legs together. I figured it would be pretty easy to make some sort of purse.

So today, after homeschool and chores had been finished, the girls and I sat down to create. I found another pair of holey jeans and cut the legs off so that we could have enough material for both girls.

We cut the hem off of one leg each and then stitched the bottoms closed. (I did the stitching on Maddie’s because she was afraid to and then I stitched Brenna’s as well because she was frustrated with her own.) We cut the edges to create a cute fray and then the girls went to town decorating their purses. Maddie asked me to sew a heart on hers and then she literally went paint-crazy with our fabric paints. Brenna cut butterflies and flowers from fabric, placed them where she wanted them, and then asked me hot-glue them to her purse. She outlined them with puff paint dots.

For the straps, we just snipped jeans into slender pieces, tied them together to form a long handle, and then tied the strip to tiny holes I’d cut in the sides of each purse.

We all had lots of fun. Maddie kept saying that she would remember this day forever and ever. Brenna kept thanking me for the fun project.

The boys wanted to do a project as well so Joshua, Braden, and I made delicious gluten-free raspberry muffins together. We made a very small loaf of bread with the leftover dough. Tasty! We enjoyed the muffins for dessert after dinner. And then, having eaten three bites of tuna for lunch and having skipped dinner entirely, I devoured the entire loaf of bread myself. Now I am too full.

Today…

Today…

We did homeschool. Our school year is rapidly drawing to a close. I am excited for the completion of this year because it’s always nice to look back over the year and see what’s been accomplished. I also can’t wait to start the new school year. We really found our homeschooling “groove” this past year and the balance of big kids, little kids, and babies gets easier every year. I am excited for Brenna and Joshua and the many new things they’ll learn this year as a 3rd grader (gasp!) and a 2nd grader. I am also thrilled for Maddie; as she transitions to 1st grade, she will get more school work and I know that will make her happy. Braden, in his final year before kindergarten, has an exciting pre-K schedule ahead of him. We’ve already started some of his new lessons and he’s eating up both the new knowledge and the extra one-on-one time. The littlest ones will have plenty to learn and join in on as well. I’m sure Asher will be a particularly eager learner this year.

We did chores. I gave our regular schedule a bit of a face-lift this week and it has really helped our days run more smoothly. Our routine is largely the same, but the presentation and re-wording has changed things a great deal. We had a major shift in our job chart system as well and I really like the new system we’re using. I am seeing my children become more goal-oriented and less reward-motivated. Jobs are being done quickly and with minimal reminding. My energy level is increasing lately and I am happy to be able to tackle laundry and dishes as normal, rather than pushing myself so hard to do things around the house. Combine all those factors, and housework is going very well these days.

We made cupcakes. What can I say? They just sounded good. We made two dozen chocolate cupcakes this afternoon all frosted in delicious chocolate frosting, and ended up with two little boys absolutely covered in chocolate. Good times! I ate two cupcakes myself, the kids enjoyed cupcakes for snack, we gave some away, and we had just enough left over for dessert.

We read books. When my first three kids were small, we read constantly. We didn’t have a lot of other things to do at the time so reading and playing at the park were high priorities. Now things are much, much busier and sitting down with a pile of books multiple times a day is not as easy as it used to be. Still, I try to read to the little ones every day before naptime and I try to read to all the kids every night before bed. The effort is well-rewarded. I love snuggling up with tiny children and reading books. There is nothing else that holds quite the same sweetness as a lap full of toddlers, children on each side, and a stack of good story books.

Asher took a nap. It was the first nap he’s taken since coming home from our trip. I’m glad he finally took one because he still needs one in the afternoon. His sleep schedule and patterns are pretty messed up- for both naps and bedtime- after our vacation so this was progress.

We played with MoonSand. While the youngest two took afternoon naps and Brenna played with friends, Joshua, Maddie, and Braden played with MoonSand. It was fun to watch them be so creative. My kids love this stuff and I must admit that it is really fun stuff to play with. It’s got a great texture, doesn’t dry out, is easy to build with, and (best of all) MoonSand is gluten-free. I also love how totally easy it is to clean up after the kids are done creating with MoonSand. We brush it all back into a container and sweep whatever is on the floor into the trash.

We ate an early dinner. Rick has been leaving for work earlier lately and we still try to eat together when he does. It was a simple meal of chili cheese hot dogs and corn and cupcakes for dessert. It was yummy… but now I have heartburn.

We cleaned up again. Is stuff like that ever done?

I tickled Jacob. That boy has the cutest giggle and he’s so fun to tickle! I also admired his brand new tooth that just popped through his gums on Tuesday! He sure is a cutie!

We had baths. I’d already given the boys “baths” in our kitchen sink earlier in the day (after making cupcakes), but they ended up sticky with chocolate after dessert so it was off to the tub. Asher was less than thrilled at first, but then joined in the splashing and squealing that was going on around him. I love the smell of freshly scrubbed children. Sometimes I even use Johnson’s & Johnson’s on my big kids just so they’ll smell like babies again.

We had scripture study. I so enjoy our nightly scripture study. It’s nice to come together to study and pray as a family. We also took the time to talk about our daily family goals and see how we did for today.

Brenna and Joshua folded the laundry that I washed today. I bribed them though. In exchange for folding, they got to stay up past bedtime and watch TV while they folded. I’d say it was a win-win situation for all of us because they got to stay up late and watch cartoons and now there are three loads worth of freshly washed, neatly folded laundry waiting to be put away in the morning.

We read stories again. While Brenna and Joshua folded laundry and Jacob slept in his crib, the rest of us read stories. It was snuggly and nice and the kids’ hair smelled like shampoo this time. Afterwards, I cuddled up with the kids in Braden’s bed for a while.

I sang for like an hour. I don’t really know how long I sang to the little ones as they fell asleep, but it felt like it was at least an hour. I started with just a few Primary songs, but Braden burst into sobs when I announced that I was going to sing just one more song. “I don’t want you to leave!” he sobbed. So I reassured him and tucked him back under his blankets and then I sang and sang and sang until Maddie, Braden, and Asher were all soundly asleep. I was running out of Primary songs and Hymns by the end.

I remembered to put my older kids to bed. It was about that time that I remembered that Brenna and Joshua were still awake. I found them lounging on the couches, wide awake in front of the TV, with all the laundry neatly folded. I thanked them for their hard work, kissed them good-night, and sent them off to bed.

I kissed Maddie goodnight. Of course I kissed all my kids, both the sleeping ones and the ones who were still awake. But when I kissed Maddie, I paused for an extra moment and got a little emotional. After all, this is the last time I’ll kiss Maddie goodnight while she’s still five. Tomorrow is her sixth birthday!! And here I go getting teary again as I type that. She is growing up so rapidly. She is such an incredible blessing in our lives! Happy birthday (tomorrow) Sweet Girl!

I chatted with my awesome sister-in-law on facebook. Just as I was settling into bed, my sister-in-law sent me a text that she was on facebook. I was excited to talk to her so I jumped out of bed and hurried to the homeschool computer downstairs. (I still can’t remember to use my laptop now that it’s finally fixed!) We had a very nice chat and I was glad to talk to her.

I updated my blog. Which is what I am currently doing.

I went to bed and slept all night long with NO interruptions. Okay, I know I haven’t actually gone to sleep yet, but I’m adding that in because a little positive thinking never hurt anyone! If Jacob will sleep, then I hopefully will too! Positive thoughts!

Gluten-Free Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

I love recipes that are EASY to prepare and Santa Fe Chicken is certainly easy! It’s made in the crock pot, I usually have all the ingredients on hand, and it’s naturally gluten-free. Win, win, win!

Gluten-Free Santa Fe Chicken

chicken, cut into pieces
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
salsa (several cups, according to how spicy you’d like it)
1 package of cream cheese

Place chicken, corn, beans, and salsa into a crock pot. You can cook it on medium or high, for however long you need to, depending on how big and how thawed/frozen your chicken pieces are.

When the chicken is cooked through, add cream cheese and allow it to melt.

Serve over rice, noodles, or potatoes (we prefer rice) and top with cheese, avacado, tomato, sour cream, etc. We also like wrapping it in tortillas.

This recipe is great for reheating for leftovers and feeds a large group easily (just double, triple, or quadruple the recipe). It’s a favorite at our house and at all family gatherings!