Why hello there....

I've got some new friends in my kitchen!
In no specific order, because I love them all equally....
7qt GREEN crock pot

I saw these at Wally World (for crazy cheap) before xmas and picked one up for the kids to give me. After E helped them wrap it, I made sure to keep talking about how I could really use a new crockpot. Hehe. I loved the look on Kelton's face when I'd say it.

4.5qt programable crock pot

Love this little guy! An xmas gift from my sweet hubs. I was holding on to my old 4qt just incase, but I'll have no problem letting it go after using this guy a few times. He's fabulous.

Food Processor

After wishing I had one 3x while cooking one week, we went ahead and took the plunge. I couldn't make myself spend the big bucks on a large on, so we went with a medium sized version. We picked it up on sale at Kohls and used a 30% off coupon! Since we eat salsa like nobody's business around here, it's getting plenty of use!

Speaking of my kitchen, I've been spending quite a bit of time in it lately (and not just b/c of my new friends). After we discovered oats were not a food Konnor should eat, I planned to remove them from my diet. E thought maybe I could still eat them since they never bothered him before. So I continued with my morning giant bowl of cheerios or granola and slowly Konny's entire body became covered in eczema. Not. Good. We've got it cleared up and obviously I've stopped eating oats, for real this time. Not a huge deal, but sometimes the blaring reality of food allergies can get you down. I know lately, E and I have both been feeling it.

I used to clean when I was stressed or upset. However, trying to clean while this (completely adorable) little monster is awake is totally pointless.




So I've found cooking and trying new recipes to be quite therapeutic. Monday evening, I knew we needed some comfort food, so I made a big pot of corn chowder. It is so delicious! I'm not really one to measure much when I cook, but here's how I altered the recipe:

3/4 of an onion, chopped and sauted in 2 T Earth Balance Spread
6 potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled until soft
bag of frozen corn
can of cream style corn, blended
chicken broth
coconut milk creamer
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and cook until heated through. I ended up adding a bit of corn starch too to thicken it up at the end. I'll probably omit the creamed corn next time.

Wednesday, I made Hamburger Vegetable Soup. I can't believe the amount it made! I cut it back to 1lb of meat (ground turkey) and 2 cans of tomatoes, but kept all the other veggies. After cooking the meat, I parboiled the rice and then just dumped everything into the crock for the rest of the day. Talk about deliciously easy! Next time I think I will substitute the potatoes for beans or something so the leftovers can be frozen.

A little nice weather never hurts to cheer one's mood either! Sunshine is good for the body and soul and we sure did enjoy it!

Seven Years Ago

I became a Mommy. It doesn't seem like it could really be that long ago when all 9lbs and 8oz of sweet baby boy was laid in my arms.



We started out the weekend by getting pictures done on Sat morning. Kelton has always loved getting his pictures taken! He is such a little ham! As always, I bought way more than I planned.



We grabbed Starbucks on the way home. I'm super horrified looking at this pic. His carseat needs adjusted in the worst way. I won't be able to sleep tonight until that's taken care of.


We made it home for a quick lunch and then headed to the bowling alley for his party! Although a bit chaotic, it was lots of fun!






Afterwards, we headed home for party #2! I used 4lbs of venision to make a whole lot of chili for our family and neighbors. I also made a soy free chocolate sheet cake. I've been having a lot of success with using coconut oil as a sub for butter/margarine. It was super yummy! I need to start braining storming on how I'm going to make a Konny-safe cake for his bday in LESS THAN A MONTH!!





Kelton's favorite gift....a roll of "bubble pop", which was one of the only things he specifically asked for. Daddy and I gave him the Crayola Crayon Maker, mostly because I really want to play with it!



We'll wrap things up tomorrow when I drop of cupcakes for his class at school! Now that's a lot of celebrating!!

GF Muffins and a busy new year!

Due to sick kiddies and bad weather, I've gotten a couple extra days at home recently. One of the fun things we've done is make Oatmeal Muffins! The recipe is from E's Aunt Peggy, who is GF. Which is funny because I also have an Aunt Peggy that is GF!! Weird, huh?

1 c rolled oats
½ c brown rice flour
½ c oat flour
1 T baking powder
1 t spice like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger
½ c soy milk or milk or water
3 T honey
Vanilla if desired
¼ c canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
Fruit—mashed banana, grated apples, dried cranberries with orange zest, raspberries, blueberries, pumpkin (may need to decrease milk and increase spice). Heat oven to 375 to 400, depending on your oven. Spray muffin pan with Pam or use liners. Combine dry ingredients. Mix egg, oil, honey and milk. Combine. Bake 20 to 25. Makes 1 dozen.

I used the following variations....

2 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c rice milk
1 t vanilla
1/4 demerara sugar
1/4 c extra light olive oil
3/4 c pumpkin

I used Bob's GF Rolled Oats and Arrowhead Mills for my other flours. They came out SUPER YUMMY and it was extra fabulous that we all could eat them! Could being the operative word since last week, we tried Konny on oats and it didn't go so well. Not an FPIES rxn (praise God!), but as soon as they exited, his bottom started bleeding. Seriously. Not. Fun. We're waiting a couple months before trying them again and just to be safe, I'm taking them out of my diet as well.


Konnor is 11mo now and although we had a little bump with the oats, he's eating all kind of other things....rice, corn, bananas, peas, carrots, pears, blueberries, strawberries, apples, prunes, spinach, turkey, chicken and there's probably more I'm forgetting!! This year has literally flown by and I can't believe his bday is only a month away!



I've been busy working on 2 baby quilts. One is Konnor's (for shame, I'm just now doing it). I had the top done then decided I didn't like it so I ripped it apart, now I just have to put it back together.


The other is for some high school friends of Eric. They're expecting their first baby (due on Konny's bday!!) and we could not be more thrilled for them. We've passed tons of our baby stuff down to them including lots of cute girly outfits. Her shower was a couple weekends ago and Mommy was absolutely glowing! I had lots of fun making cute decorations for the party!







This year is off to a running start! The boys are taking tae kwon do again, Kelton has boy scouts and I'm taking an exercise class. Plus, all of their birthdays are fast approaching. To help manage the chaos, E and I sit down on Sun evenings and plan out all our activities and dinners for the week. It really makes such a difference!


And I definitely need to mention that Katie only wears pullups overnight anymore and I totally can't remember the last time she woke up with a wet one! She's so funny! We're never quite sure what she's going to take with her at bedtime.


The first of the kids birthdays is this weekend!
I can't believe my Moosey is going to be 7!

The end of 2010

It seems like I blink and the next thing I know, I haven't blogged in forever?!? The end of 2010 was busy and I can't believe it's 2011!!

Christmas was lots of fun! Instead of sending out AOPA Christmas cards this year, we sent a photo card with some of the images from the photo session Yvette set up with Cat Photography last fall. Joshua Alan Photography used those images to design us a Christmas card.
I love the way it turned out!


Our family tradition is that the kids get to open their (very awesome) present from Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve and then Santa brings some other fun (but not quite as awesome) stuff for Christmas Day.


This year, Kelton got a digital camera, Katie got a kitchen and Konnor, a busy ball popper. Naturally all 3 of them spent most of the evening with the busy ball popper.










Can't forget to set out the milk and (GF)cookies for Santa!

And of course, matching jammies!

I used Bisquick's GF mix to make a cinnamon coffee cake. It was tasty, but the mix was expensive for a tiny box and has the potential to be contaminated with soy, so we'll stick with other gf flours.


The kids were pretty excited to see what Santa brought!





The next day we had Christmas with Mimi. Of course, she brought lots of fun presents. We gave her a personalized necklace from BAW Stamped Designs. I ordered a little late and she still got it to me in time. I highly recommend this great shop!




Konny's favorite was his new shoes! Tasty!

We got some awesome new dishes!

One of my absolute favorite things this year was Konnor wearing these adorable Christmas overalls!


Kelton wore them his first Christmas also and looked just as cute!


Oh and guess who plays peek a boo!?!

And of course, I turned 30! Eric and the kids surprised me with an entire day at Healing Waters! Then the kids spent the night with Nana and Papa so we could ring in the new year AND get a whole night's sleep! It was a great night!


One thing I did was create a list of 30 things I want to do in the next 30 years. Today, I discovered there needs to be a #31. There's a new home opening in Wichita for teen moms and their babies. The name.....Lady Bugg House. I'm not sure yet how it is I'm supposed to contribute, volunteer, or what. I'm going to pray about it first, but I definitely know I am meant to be involved with this somehow.