So in an effort to try and post more. To make my brain start thinking in words. My fingers typing with speedy precision like days of old. I’m going to copy other bloggers I read and post a ‘what can I eat that’s GF’ type post every morning highlighting what we had for dinner the night before. Because unless I’m sick and not eating. I promise you, Morgan and I eat every single night and it’s home-made dinner. Not cereal, not pre-made from a box food (unless it’s leftovers LOL) it’s something I threw together, with 6 kids and 1 20 yo underfoot. And only TWO of us are GF. So it better be good I’m I’m going to hear it about making everyone else eat ‘yuck’ to feed Morgan and I…
So on to lasts nights dinner!
Chicken Corn Chowder
(this would also be super in a crockpot. Just put all steps together huh?)
Bacon Grease (optional) or 1 TB oil
1 cup of diced chicken (I used 2 large cans as they were on sale)
1 small onion
1 TB parsley
Place chicken, water and all in a pot, dice up the onion, and place in the grease.
Simmer together for an hour.
Add in:
6 cups of water
5 large potatoes diced
1/2 tsp basil
Simmer for 2 hours on low.
When the potatoes are breaking apart, help them along by mashing them either with a special mashing tool or the back of a large spoon or fork. This will thicken the broth.
Add in:
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn, or 1 can corn.
My 15 yo daughter recently (like a month ago) decided that even though she can’t get tests to say definitively that she has Celiac disease like mom. She can look in the mirror, and she can talk with mom about what Mom’s symptoms were like when she was 15.
Lets see.
Stabbing pain under left rib – check
Major issues with mood swings and serious depression – check
Everything is FULL OF DRAMA AND OMG MOM! – check
Headaches every afternoon – check
Occasional stomachaches – check
Occasional bouts with the Big D – check
Occasional neuropathy in hands and feet – check
Pretty severe bone/muscle pain a couple of times a week – check
Then throw in some of her own symptoms, like a blood vessel in her hand popping about once a month (very painfully too) and you’ve got a teen who is willing to try and feel better.
This time last year, it was NO WAY mom, I’m not EVAR depriving myself of all these foods that I love. But then the depression hit, and you would do anything not to feel like that again. Not to mention the daily headaches right when she needs to practice her clarinet and oboe, right when she’s got homework, and right when she’s trying to talk on the phone, type on the internet and do chores at the same time.
So she approached me, I was supportive. I made her awesome lunches to take to school, other kids were jealous LOL. I made sure we had plenty of snack foods and yummy stuff that was healthy for her to have around the house.
Then she started feeling better…. then she started feeling MUCH better.
This of course, seriously upset her. My younger daughters say stuff like ‘thanks Dad for the monkey arms!’ or ‘Thanks Dad for the hairy back!’ But Morgan says ‘Thanks mom for the Celiac!’ with just the right tone of sarcasm! Even though she feels so much better, and even though she’s been prevented from all the medical issues I had as an adult… She still mourns (and whines). I point out that my dad is being tested, that her G. Grandmother has all the symptoms and that BOTH of her parents died of complications from probable celiac disease in the 40’s. But of course it’s my fault (same as the big butt, large upper arms and shortness are all my fault too LOL!!)
My Grandmother and Grandfather in 1950
Luckily. She’s got a mom who is a good cook, and luckily she loves to experiment with foods. (eating them not cooking them) So it’s a simple matter to make delicious food that she loves and is naturally gluten free most of the time.
Then 3 days ago, one of her good friends that lives about 3 houses down from us was put on a gluten-free diet by his doctor. Now she has a buddy to commiserate with. But unlike her, Micheal doesn’t have a family that is supportive, he’s pretty much stuck eating meat and potatoes unless he comes over here. And that gives Morgan an appreciation for just how good she has it.
And that’s never a bad thing for a teen, especially when it’s NOT their mother reminding them LOL!!
So what did Morgan take to lunch today? In her cute little thermos she took a large serving of our ‘Thai’ Chicken Soup.
I invented this a few years ago while pregnant with Morgan’s baby sister and Hot and Sour Soup was the ONLY thing keeping me fed. It killed my nausea and made me feel like 100 bucks. I wanted to know if there were other relatively spicy foods that I could eat and feel better.
Thai Chicken Soup
8 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 bunch green onions
1 whole chicken
1 whole cabbage – regular or Asian – diced
1 can water chestnuts
1 can sliced bamboo
1 can black beans
1 jar Thai Spicy Sweet Sauce (GF)
2 TB diced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
2 cups snow peas (optional)
I usually cook the chicken in the crockpot the day before in 6 cups of water. I debone it and use the broth it creates in the stew.
In sauce pan, place oil, garlic, ginger and chicken and sautee for about 15 min. Then place in 8 cups of chicken broth. Add in the diced cabbage, water chestnuts, sliced bamboo, and beans. Simmer for about 20 min. Then add in the sweet chili sauce, snow peas and garnish with the diced green onions to serve.
This soup also has the added benefit of all the goodness of mom’s homemade chicken soup, but with added ’spicy’ to clear your sick head too. It makes a great out of the box comfort food at our house. I usually freeze individual portions after Morgan and I stuff ourselves silly LOL!
My baby is 2 today. At 4:15 in the morning 2 years ago my water broke (a first for me after 3 other children) and we embarked on this new adventure after only a couple of hours in the hospital. Kaia shot out of me so fast, with only 1 push, the midwife barely had a chance to catch her. Kaia’s daddy flinched watching Kaia slide towards the floor. Then she stopped slipping, yelled and yelled and yelled while they weighed her, checked her signs. Then they handed her to me to nurse and she ate with gusto for 45 min. Little piggy.
Kaia is so different from my other children in a lot of ways. She says Who-wee instead of horse and chocklitt in a deep growly voice like her big sister did as a toddler. Her penchant for getting up between 5:30 and 6:15 is definitely like her big brother Owyn. He’s often found getting her a bowl of cereal, and then getting me while she’s happily munching. Just because the two of them awake at about the same time.
Otherwise, she’s daring, climbing trees, ladders, shelves, tables, you name it, with ease. I think she’s fallen maybe a couple of times. No serious bruises or bumps. My other kids have been covered in both to the point where I was scared to take them out publicly for fear people would think we were abusive! She KNOWS how very cute she is, and utilizes that with every breath, batting her eyelashes, fluffing her hair, the perfectly turned smile, with just the right amount of dimple. She loves wearing beautiful clothes, but has no problems with putting on a gorgeous dress, then going outside and helping me dig holes, or climb trees, or dump dirt into her water table to make mud pies.
She’s a dancer. I really believe that this little girl has got talent, serious talent. We are going to have to find the money somewhere to get her dance lessons, because talent like this shouldn’t be squandered. I danced as a child, and did ballet, until I was old enough to be on toe shoes (before my teachers daughter, who was the same age, because I was that good), but we moved, and we were poor. And I’m not built like a dancer. Never have been. Maybe a dancer for rap video’s when I was thin. But Kaia doesn’t have my body. She’s got her daddy’s body. And he’s tall, thin, and with long long legs and muscles that would be perfect for dancing (if only he had rhythm LOL).
Kaia’s almost completely potty trained now, and she did it herself honestly. She still wears diapers to bed and if we are going to be out of the house for more than 30 min. But I guess it’s time to sell off my diaper stash. I’m going to be sad to see it go. Seriously. However, and here is where birthday comes in LOL. We don’t have money for presents, and we don’t have money for decorations. But I do sew, and I do have a cretive mind.
What does Kaia need? Well she needs panties to be honest! She’s wearing her 7 yo sisters right now, and while Ingrid is very very thin, so they kind of fit, they are very saggy, and they aren’t Kaia’s. So after I’m done typing this out, I’m going to finish sewing Kaia some panties out of one of her daddy’s old t-shirts and appliqueing some decorations on them. She’s going to squeal with delight I know it LOL! Kaia also needs more nightgowns, I got so sucked into depression with my 3 oldest children gone to their fathers for the summer that I just wasn’t capable of anything but doing normal household chores. My brain isn’t wired to be creative and to create when I’m that sad.
I’m also finishing up the birthday banner I started, and Kaia also saw this dress on a blog I was reading:
and is now DEMANDING a dress like this. Yes, she’s only 2. You’d think she’s 4 with how she picks up on the fact that ‘mommy can make this for me’
So today, it’s underwear with hearts and starting a rainbow dress for Kaia. Then finishing a banner (it’s only bias tape, I don’t know why I’m resisting *sigh*) Then MAYBE another nightgown. At least I’m helping to get rid of more of my fabric stash right?
I’m also making my ‘famous among friends’ crockpot spaghetti sauce, and the kids are already saying ‘It smells so gooooood’ and ‘It’s making me huuuuungry’ LOL, plus a chocolate brownie cake (GF) with chocolate icing. Because Kaia IS a girl (and is related to me LOL)
A few days ago, I put a whole fryer chicken in the crockpot with a cup of water and let it cook for hoooooouuuuuurs. Yes dears, probably about 12 hours LOL! I put it in the fridge before going to bed.
Day 2? I deboned the chicken, the bones were nice and soft at this point and my dog was quite please with her chicken broth and bones breakfast.
I put all the chicken meat back in the crockpot with a can of diced green chiles, and a small jar of salsa verde.
I let it cook about 3 hours, added a can of black beans, some cumin, garlic, salt, cilantro and another can of green chiles. (heh)
For the tamale/masa covering, I followed the instruction upon my package, but instead of using lard, I used bacon grease. Mmmmmm bacon. It really added SO much extra flavor and didn’t detract at all from the taste.
The kids have declared them best ever and kept hovering over the pot I had them steaming in LOL! Even the picky 2 year old ate a small one.
You want to see pictures? My oldest daughter took them, she’s a much better photog than I ever thought of being. I’m artsy in a lot of ways, but not THAT one LOL
Spreading the masa on the cornhusk
Now for the filling
Rolling the tamale up
Tieing a knot on the tamales
Tamales in the pot for their steaming
Kaia entertaining herself while mom makes dinner
My photog doing a self portrait with her little sister
tells you weekly what all the Buy One Get One sales are. Mine are normally at Publix, with only a couple on Wednesdays at Harveys. However, BOGOfetcher doesn’t send the emails out until Thursday. So, if your local store like mine, does theirs on a specific day. I’d check their website. For instance, this Wed. My Harvey’s had a BOGO on red potatoes, 3.99. Of course they all went into mashed potatoes and then the next day into potato salad, so they were gone in 2 days LOL, but they were awesome while they lasted.
Another place to get ideas: A blog called 5DollarDinners. This is kind of self explanatory. heh. She talks about how she’s bought the sales, often with coupons as well, and what she makes out of them very cheaply. She’s only got 4 in her family versus my 6-9 depending on whether all the kids are here or not (We’ve added a Katy to the family) So a 5 dollar dinner that would feed all of us is truly an accomplishment. Usually they are around 8 to 10 dollars.
DealSeekingMom – another blog that is also self explanatory. She and a hoard of other deal seekers post their local prices, coupons etc. For instance, today I was alerted that KFC is unveiling their new grilled chicken and for today only they are giving away a piece FREE to any ol’ person who walks in! Hey, free bit o’ lunch if I’ve got to drive to town today!
So onto the menu. We were going to have Thai Chicken Soup today for dinner, Only I totally spaced putting it AWAY after I made it (my kids came back from Florida so I was distracted) and I woke up this morning to find it on the stove *sigh*
Luckily it was just 1/4 of a bag of garbonzo beans (about 20 cents) Left over chicken bones, skin and drippings, simmered into soup, frozen, so really, I’d already used the chicken, so we’ll call it free. One head of cabbage – 38 cents and half a bottle of Thai sweet chili sauce (1.50) So all in all, it was a mistake that cost me a little over 2 bucks and a couple of hours in time. But I haven’t been feeling all that well lately and weirdly enough, that sweet chili sauce has been settling my stomach… Plus I just HATE wasting food.
So anyways. Now I have to come up with other things to eat…
Some of the things on sale this week include pork picnic roast at 99 cents a lb, I’ve already mentioned the BOGO potatoes, plus frozen broccoli, sausage and BOGO salad.
I’m seeing…
1. Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes with sausages and gravy – comfort food from my childhood and Welsh Grams) I’ll post that recipe Tuesday, since my grandmothers seems to be ‘not normal’ LOL
2. Grilled Smoked Sausage plus grilled squash, and baked potatoes
3. Chicken soup with Rice (whole fryers are on sale) (all 9 of us will be here for this dinner and the other 2 are PICKY)
4. Salad with bacon vinagrette (since the salad’s that are on sale also include various other veggies) I’ll probably add some kidney beans from my pantry for extra protein.
5. Taquitos (baked, not fried) mexican rice (with pollo y tomate and cumin) and refried beans (from the freezer, homemade)
6. It’s Ian’s birthday and he’s requested Shepards Pie (basically a thick beef stew with a crust) and ‘pumpkin juice’ (it’s my honeys’ birthday as well and he says he looooves my Shepards Pie, so that will do)
7. Oldest Daughters birthday, she’s at school, so I’ll ask later today.
Looking at all this, besides the two birthday dinners, for which we have a ‘free rein’ type thing. Most dinners are going to cost about 8 dollars for all of us. Not bad huh?
Oh and I’ve got to recreate these two cakes for my children’s birthdays. LOL
mandrake cake
We are figuring, mini terra cotta pots, ice cream innards, oreo toppings, and some sort of gooey candy for the mandrakes, maybe tootsie rolls, maybe that stuff that I can’t remember the name of now, or maybe some fondant to sculpt..
The 2nd cake is for my 14 yo.
Potter Puppet Pals Cake
Puppet Pals were invented by Neil Cicierega, see here
(so of course, I’m putting Wizard Swears on the Cake LOL her favorite is Voldemorts Nipples)
Of course, as a mother, I think they are REALLY dumb. However, he also does stuff like this next one, which I think is hilarious and very catchy (just see me grocery shopping when I run across Hamburger Helper)
Then, there is the teenage answer to this video that my birthday girl made with a Katy and a Noelle
Ok, on that note, it’s time to head to the grocery store!
So the other day I was at my local grocery store and saw that they were advertising pork shoulder for .89 cents a pound. Its prices like this that I tend to go OH BOY! and buy enough for a couple of dinners.
This one I bought JUST small enough that it’d fit in my crockpot (I think it’s an 8 qt)
I placed the pork shoulder, bone and all, in the crockpot around 11am, with 2 cups of water, put my slow cooker on med (mine has warm, med and high) poked at it occasionally, stirred it up when it started falling apart, and generally just made sure it didn’t dry out. (and of course sampled from time to time just to make sure no one was going to get food poisoning right? LOL)
The next day I took the pork shoulder out, cut it the rest of the way off the bone, finished cutting it into smaller pieces and shredding it and put half of it back in the crockpot with my favorite bbq sauce.
The rest I put aside for the moment.
Taquito Filling
For the taquitos you will need
1 can diced green chilis (usually it’s 1/4th of the size of a regular can)
1 can enchilada sauce (I like green or red)
1 small onion
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8th tsp paprika
chili powder and chili seeds to taste (more for hotter filling)
1 TB oil
Put all the ingredients in the crockpot and let cook on high for about 4 hours. Mixing occasionally. When it’s fully cooked and shredded, you can take the whole thing out and put it in a bowl, then place it in the fridge for an hour. In this way you can easily remove the grease. Or, like me, you could add 3 TB of cornstarch into 1/5 TB of water, stir throughly, then add to the meat mixture.
To make taquitos (at least how I do it) first you must get the corn tortilla’s softened. In my experience, if you don’t at least soften them by cooking them in oil for a minute they will crack and break on you. Steaming them is fine for using them as a form of bread, but to roll them for taquitos, you’ll have to fry them momentarily in oil. Also in my experience, coconut oil seems to leave the least amount of fatty grease behind.
So, best use of tortilla’s, fry one, then add filling to it, and roll up, placing seam side down on a metal cookie sheet (or something that can be placed in the oven) continue until you are out of filling, then put in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.
I serve ours with sour cream and guacamole. (mmmmmm) and a side dish of refried beans, rice cooked in tomato and chicken (tomate y pollo) boullion and sprinkled with cheese, or a side salad. The kids LOVE taquito night LOL!
This is part of my Monthly Menu, which you can find Here
Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
(serves 10)
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes
1.5 lbs fresh sausage (we get ours at the butcher shop)
1 small red onion
4 cloves garlic or 2 TB garlic
1 bag frozen spinach
4 carrots grated
1 zucchini grated
.5 lb diced mushrooms
1 can sliced olives
1/4 tsp anise seed
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp majoram
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
(I make my own Italian seasoning and I just use 1 1/2 tsp of that)
Place everything in the crockpot, making sure the sausage is either in meatballs or smooshed into the sauce as fine as possible for meat sauce. Stir well and let cook for 4-6 hours on med. stirring occasionally.
Add another 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
I use this recipe in Wacky Mac (which is basically this sauce with Tinkyada’s spiral veggie dyed noodles as before we were GF we bought noodles called ‘Wacky Mac’ and the boys loved that WAY more than spaghetti). I also use this recipe in Lasagna, and Spaghetti and meatballs. It’s also something that freezes well, either in jars, bags, or freezer containers. Great for popping out and thawing on those nights you don’t feel like cooking (or at my house, those nights that your honey is cooking LOL)
Normally, when I cook, I love to make sure that there are lots of textures, colors and flavors. I really have some sort of ‘thing’ where eating should be an experience. It’s something we do everyday, why make it just about vitamins and energy, when it could be nourishment for all of your senses, and not just your body?
Unfortunately, when my honey and I first got together, there were a lot of hurt feelings on my part, and a lot of bewildered confusion on his part, because he didn’t know what he’d done to upset me, but he didn’t want to repeat it.
We’ve finally reached a spot where both of us get what we need, and the kids get what they want as well (that is, Mommas True Cooking). But occasionally, I need to do what my honey likes as well. Which is simple food, man’s food. Meat and potatoes food. The flavors are less complex, as is the texture and colors, but it’s still good for all that.
I needed to learn that less complex didn’t necessarily equal bland and tasteless. And he needed to learn to have an open mind about food from different countries. He needed to learn that eating when it’s dinner time is important to me. Eating as a family brings us all together and helps us bring our day to a close as a family unit. Not eating when the others are eating, and just having a bowl whenever and ralphing it down in the kitchen standing up, gave me the impression that he didn’t really want to eat the food, was forcing himself to eat the food, and was only eating when he got really hungry. Plus it was cold and congealed by that point. I’ve learned however, that if it’s hot outside, well, I’d better prepare food that’s best served cold, or put his food in the refrigerator because he’s not going to eat it hot. He simply can’t.
So dinner time isn’t a battleground anymore (well, not much, there’s the usual battles over manners with 6 kids) And we can all sit down in our really long kitchen, with 2 tables pushed up together and enjoy our family over a colorful dining experience. Mostly. Sometimes, like yesterday, I knew my honey had had a rough day. I had lots of errands to run, groceries, helping an older friend of ours to a Docs appt about 30 min away. Picking up step-daughters from bus stop. Stuff like that. So I gave my crockpot the job of cooking dinner for us. I also took this opportunity to satisfy my honeys taste for simple food. Just a few ingredients, no overwhelming, strong flavors, plus meat and potatoes.
Place in crock pot, cream of mushroom soup and worsheshire sauce, stir together. Then place roast in crock pot. Slice potatoes thinly and place all around roast. Lightly salt and pepper. Leave in pot for about 6 hours on high.
When nearing doneness, remove roast from pot and place in fridge to cool. Add into pot
1 cup frozen peas or 1 can of peas
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp sage
1/4 cup cold milk mixed with 2 TB cornstarch/tapioca starch/mochiko
Stir together. Take roast out of fridge, dice it up, and place back into crockpot. Stir well. It should have thickened up by now. Turn off the crockpot. Spoon out dinner into bowls, let cool (it will thicken more as it cools) and serve.
I got a lot of rave reviews, from both the picky kids and the picky honey. My oldest (who cooks most like me) and a friend we had over for dinner (who eats my kind of cooking) both said it needed more spices, but was other wise pretty good. (but they both had seconds LOL)
This is part of my Monthly Menu, which you can find Here
She can look in the mirror, and she can talk with mom about what Mom’s symptoms were like when she was 15.
