Paul and Stacy Jensen Family

Learning

2012-01-11T11:01:00.000-06:00

I'm sure there should be a Christmas post here, somewhere. But, we aren't the best at blogging, especially during the busy holiday season.

I did want to share my latest game with Lex. When Alayna was little my mom made a simple matching game with coloured squares of felt. I don't know why I wait so long to start playing this game with my kids. Each one has LOVED matching the colours.

It took me matching a couple of squares before Lex caught on to the idea. Then he became a master - without teasing me by matching the wrong colours. Bonus, he tries to repeat the colour name after I say it.

After each match he would say, "Yeah, I did it!" while raising his arms. When all the pieces were matched he came at me for a big hug with more cheering and then sat down to play it again.

Our Newest Cook

2011-11-11T13:50:00.000-06:00

This is mostly a post for my mom.

Lex has learned how to move the chairs around in the kitchen to reach whatever he wants to reach.

This has increased his interest in our cooking. He no longer screams at us while we are cooking. Instead he pulls up a chair to help. I decided it was time to let him help make waffles.

Since he doesn't have his own, out came Alayna's apron and chef hat that Grandma Onines made for her a couple years ago. The hat did not stay on long after pictures were taken.

He was extremely cute and excited! I couldn't decide on just one of the pictures to share, so here they all are.

His job for his first time helping was to turn the mixer on and off. I figured since he always plays with it when it was put away, he would do well. And he did.

I Am A Marathoner!

2011-10-29T16:30:00.240-05:00

I ran 26.2 miles! It took me five hours and four minutes. That is the gist of this post. If you want to read about my experience in more (possibly boring) detail, feel free to continue.

I have been training for the Chosen: Marathon for Adoption for 16 weeks. The closer the race was the more I thought about it. The final week, it was ALL I could think about. I don't remember anything that I talked to anyone about during the last week, unless it was about my race. I was excited. I was giddy. I was a touch nervous, but knew I could do it. I started shaking with anticipation Friday night, and don't think I stopped until the race began!

Checking the weather beforehand, I knew it was going to be a perfect running day. 40° for the start, 50° by the half and 60° for my finish. To make race morning easier, I tagged along with the YMCA's running group, who were meeting at a gal's home only a short walk from the start. Perfectly warmed up from the walk, I started the race without my warming garbage bags, but with my gloves and sleeves made from thigh-high socks with the foot cut off. While we missed the pre-race revelries, I was part of the pack for the start and crossed the start line 3 minutes after the starting gun went off.

I ran the first half of my race with some friends from church, Jessica (who was pregnant, running her first half!), and Brooke joined us for the first mile before work. At the first mile, Brooke said that we had just run a 7 something mile! That didn't sound right, but my watch said the same thing. Coming up to mile 2 I noticed my watch still said only 7 and some. What?!?! Yes, I realized that I hadn't started my stopwatch, I had switched back to the time. The stopwatch and the interval timer were started at mile 2.

There's not much to say about the first 6.5 miles. It was a pleasant run with a friend. We chatted, noticed those that were on similar intervals or paces around us, and just plain enjoyed ourselves. The only important thing to note was, by the third water stop, I had already confused myself with my fueling plan vs. water stations vs. walking intervals. It sounds silly. I had been training with water, an Endurolyte (Hammer electrolyte pill) and amino pills every 2 miles and Huckleberry Gel every 4th. Suddenly, I couldn't recall if the water stop at 3.5 miles was my "4" or the next one. Adding to my confusion, I had only run 3:1 intervals (run three minutes, walk one minute ala Jeff Galloway), twice. I liked doing them that way, and enjoyed the company, so choose to use them with Jessica for the race. Except, intervals don't magically line up with the mile markers or the water stops. Hence my fueling confusion.

At 6.5 miles Jessica (and about everyone else, 1041 runners) turned around to finish the Half, and I continued with the few (143 runners) running the full marathon course. I talked with a gal, and then let her continue without me as I thought I would try to continue the intervals. After another estimated interval, around mile 7.5, I fell into step with a pair that stopped running after some beeping. When I discovered they were doing 3:1 intervals, I asked if I could join them and now had conversation, motivation, and a beeping timer for my run.

Another enjoyable 6.5 miles went by. It was fun chatting with Christine and Reynaldo. Our little group would regularly pass and be passed by two other groups of gals, and it was nice to chat with everyone we saw and cheer on the runners already on their way back. In no time at all, we were at the turnaround/half-way point. At mile 14 I noticed that my lower back was getting sore. I had warned my new running mates that mile 16 was always a rough one in my training runs, but as we went thru it my legs were feeling alright. I think the gloves and sleeves finally came off around this time, too.

By mile 18, my back was hurting enough that it was rough to start up on the run intervals, and when the beep for the walk intervals occurred I kept stopping to try and stretch it. Christine and Rey gave me so much encouragement and talked me thru. Somewhere in there I thought I was getting a second wind, which didn't last. I was starting to lag behind on the run intervals, but was able to catch up during the walks.

Around mile 22 Christine realized that if we could continue at this pace, we could achieve a 4:50 marathon, my "everything went perfect" goal. Except, this was also where we met "The Hill". For the first time, I was walking on the run interval, but my new partners slowed down their walks and gave me a lot of encouragement, and I caught up. I was able to stay "with" them for another mile before they pulled too far ahead on a run interval for me to keep up. I walked a lot of mile 23. While I tried to keep myself "running" a little more for mile 24, I kept stopping (and sitting) to try and stretch my back and legs. At the final water station at mile 25 I told myself it was my last sit down and I would run most of my final mile.

Then I saw the mile 26 marker, the turn to the main road. I could hear the cheers of the crowd at the finish. I saw the huge boards with messages of love and pictures of the children who's adoptions had been achieved because of this race last year. After the boards I saw my family cheering for me.

I became extremely emotional, an odd mix of ready to cry and a new burst of energy to finish strong.

And I did, finishing with a smile (which was noted by the emcee). My new running friends were there to cheer me in, as well as another friend who had finished her first Half 2 1/2 hours before. Amazingly, after running twice as far, I felt better after this race than I did after my half last year.

This is my finisher's "medal" made by the orphans in Haiti who will be receiving aid out of the entry fees. 100% of the entry fees goes to specific adoptions (if the runner was part of that adoption's team) or will be used for 3 different orphanages around the world.

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

It's not Halloween yet, but we dressed up for Trunk-r-Treat at the church tonight.

Alayna as . . .

Lavagirl

Cavell as a . . .

Knight

Lex as a . . .

Monkey

Our fun kids.

Scharffen Berger

2011-10-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

Lately, Paul and I have noticed that our tastes in chocolate have changed. The easiest way to describe this change? The darker the better. Paul would pick up a bar of darker chocolate every few weeks until one day, while enjoying a Lindt 90% Cocoa Bar, we discussed how disappointed we were whenever we splurged on a normal candy bar.

According to The Pioneer Woman, and her Great Baking Chocolate Debate, Scharffen Berger is THE best chocolate to use when baking. While Paul was in PA doing some training he ran across some Scharffen Berger at the local grocery store. Wanting to be a good husband, and not having much luck on the Penguins memorabilia front, he picked up a few bars for me.

The Nibby Bar.

Semi-sweet chocolate with crunchy, toasted cocao beans (nibs). This was nibbled over the course of two weeks while we debated the best way to use our other bars. Each taste reminded me that whatever I made with the others, it would be sublime.

70% Bittersweet Chocolate

I made gourmet chocolate ice-cream.

14 oz can Coconut Milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 Cup Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
3 oz bar Scharffen Berger 70% Bittersweet Chocolate
1 tsp Vanilla

Combine milk and salt in double boiler to 170°. Whisk together sugar and egg yolks. Temper with coconut milk. Return to double boiler for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. In a bowl break up chocolate bar (snag a piece to taste) and add vanilla. Strain custard mixture into chocolate. Stir 'til combined, and cool overnight in fridge. Then freeze in the ice-cream maker. It is so thick, this only took 6 minutes.

Paul and I loved this ice-cream! It was crazy thick. But, because there was not enough time for the ice-cream maker to churn in some air, it didn't make "as much" and was gone very quickly, which made us wistful for more, except it was extremely rich and we probably couldn't have handled more if it had been available.

82% Extra Dark Chocolate

Today I am making ice-cream with the last bar. I have doubled the recipe, except for the chocolate bar, since I only have the one. I also added half of the sugar to the coconut milk in the boiler at from the start.

We recently found Scharffen Berger chocolate at Central Market. We purchased the cocoa powder. I will be making our "magic shell" recipe (at the bottom of the Peanut Butter Ice Cream post) using this. Freezing it into a thin layer (on wax paper), I am going to break it up and add while churning, to make our ice-cream Double Scharffen Berger Chocolate.

Spanish Ice Cream Project

2011-10-13T20:19:00.001-05:00

Alayna's new teacher has her students turn in projects on a very regular basis. This teacher is is very excited about using technology in the classroom and for homework. She's applied for and won grant money to bring computers, iPods, and other electronics into the classroom. What I appreciate is that she confessed that she is not a computer expert but she is convinced of the importance new technologies in a modern student's curriculum. One of her goals for her students this year is to help them with 'Digital Storytelling'. Instead of writing papers or making posters, she wants her students to create movies, slideshows, and audio demonstrations of their knowledge.

Alayna's first big assignment was to show the class something that she has made. Alayna decided she wanted to show the class how she makes Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. Stacy took pictures of all the steps and than Alayna helped us build the slideshow you see below. Alayna did the layout and design of each of the slides on paper and Stacy mirrored that in Photoshop. Alayna than did all the typing to get the text on to each of the images. You can view the final product below.

More Hair

2011-09-30T12:51:00.002-05:00

This time it is the boys. Lex is almost a year and a half and has a little trouble peeking thru all of the hair in his eyes. Not that you can tell from these pictures since I had just moved it to the side.

Cavell went first to show Lex that it would be okay, and because we have let his hair be too long for too long.

Lex had a lot of fun watching him from the other car.

Then it was his turn in the fire truck.

Lex smiled when she used the clippers.

He was more concerned about the steering wheel than the scissors.

Instead of a baby boy, we now have a little boy!

New Beginnings

2011-08-18T19:49:00.031-05:00

Alayna is very excited for school to start Monday. Today was Meet the Teacher. Alayna wanted her hair to look good, so I took her to The Loft Salon. How did she want her hair? I'll give you a clue. We just read this book.

The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School

...

...

Any guesses?

...

...

One more chance.

...

She said none of her friends recognized her when they saw her tonight!

While it is shorter than she wanted, she decided that sending her hair to Locks of Love was more important.

Happy Birthday, Cavell!

2011-07-15T20:40:00.013-05:00

For almost a full year Cavell has been telling us that his next birthday will be his "Go Diego" birthday. Thanks to a lucky find at Hastings and a little dedication from his Mama, Cavell did indeed have his Go Diego birthday.

Some cupcake toppers for his playdate with a friend. Only one friend (Happy birthday to you too JackJack!) and the siblings, but they were too cute not to use all of the toppers.

Lex thought Cavell NEEDED a Diego doll. I think he was right!

Almost all of his Diego gifts were interactive, as Go Diego should be.

The Finale was the Go Diego cake. When asked what flavour he wanted, Cavell would always answer, "Go Diego" We decided on chocolate cake with a dulce de leche ice-cream layer. I made the top using a frozen buttercream transfer.

Will It Finally Happen?!?

2011-07-02T10:38:00.017-05:00

This morning Cavell ran down the hallway towards his room. Moments later he exclaimed, "I pee on potty!" I walked over to the bathroom and see his pajama bottoms and his discarded diaper on the floor. Cavell is sitting on the toilet, beaming, and still telling me he peed on the potty. And, there was pee in the potty!

I quickly created a Go Diego potty chart for Cavell to put his reward Go Diego stickers on. He already has two stickers from this morning that he earned on his own, without any help or encouragement. He is also making additional, unproductive, trips to the bathroom of his own volition.

Words can not express how excited we ALL are for this new step to be taken.

**Update: Cavell had only two accidents that first weekend. After that it has been over two weeks with no accidents. We can confidently say Cavell potty trained himself, quickly . . . if you blissfully forget the numerous attempts I had made since he turned 3 that he didn't really participate in.

Peanut Butter Cup

2011-06-22T19:25:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago we were in the freezer aisle buying spinach, Alayna was scoping out the ice creams on the other side. She wanted the Peanut Butter Cup. Except we were making "Purple Cow" flavour that weekend. Instead, we bought some peanut butter cups to store in the freezer for the next week's ice cream. It was very worth the wait.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice-Cream
1 Cup Peanut Butter (we used the creamy Jif Natural)
2/3 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2-14 oz cans Coconut Milk
20 mini peanut butter cups, most chopped into sixths but save a few to only chop into quarters)

Beat peanut butter, sugar and salt till smooth.
Stir in coconut milk. Cool mix in fridge for an hour.
Churn mixture in the maker. Transfer to a container, stirring in peanut butter cups. Freeze overnight.

As if that wasn't yummy enough, Paul made his very own "Magic Shell" type of chocolate topping.

Crispy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate topping.
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
1/4 Powdered Sugar
2 Tbs Cocoa Powder

Microwave oil quickly, like 15 seconds, to melt it. Stir in sugar and cocoa. Drizzle on top of frozen ice cream.

Lex

2011-05-31T19:49:00.000-05:00

Mostly thanks to Cavell, we have some pictures of Lex this month. I thought I would share them with everyone.

Chillin' over breakfast. Kix and raisins.

Hangin' at Carl Shurz while Alayna gets her certificate for completing 1st grade.

A little walk before bed.

Ice Cream!

2011-05-29T15:35:00.001-05:00

For Christmas this past year, Paul bought me this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker! Even better, he got it on sale for half the price, including the shipping.

Since December we have been making ice cream almost every week. Our first try was vanilla, custard-style ice cream with bits of our gluten free brownies for the mix-in using the recipe book included with the machine. Since then we have branched out and made our own recipes. We have had many successes, some repeats, a few that need fine tuning and one failure. What we haven't done is written them down. That needs to change. So, I will start with our most recent success.

Orange Coconut Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 - 14 oz cans of Coconut Milk (we use Thai Kitchen)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
orange zest from two cutie oranges

10 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 oz orange juice concentrate

Directions

While stirring, heat first 4 ingredients in a double boiler to 175°
Whisk together egg yolks and second 1/2 cup of brown sugar
Gradually temper egg yolk mixture with 1 1/2 cups of milk mixture
Incorporate the tempered egg mixture into the remaining milk in the double boiler
Stir and heat for 3 minutes

Place vanilla in a separate bowl and pour in the milk/egg mixture. Stir, and place into the fridge overnight.

Freeze ice cream mixture and orange juice concentrate in the maker. Transfer to a container and freeze overnight.

The kids liked theirs served in some cutie peels we had saved in the freezer. Paul even found some Orange Creme Magic Shell for our citrus treat.

Go Fish!

2011-05-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

Alayna participated in her school's first grade play Tuesday night.

Go Fish!
by John Jacobson and John Higgins

A Musical Play for Young Singers. A Tuna Fish that can't carry a tune? A Star Fish that can't get an acting job? A seven-legged Octopus? A Zebra Fish with spots? A Tiger Shark who wants to be friends with everyone? Join in the aquatic fun as little Tiger Shark and his unique collection of friends discover how their differences make them each special.

Alayna worked hard remembering lines and creating different characters for the auditions in March. She was given the part of . . .

Angel Fish.

Once she received her script she diligently went to work memorizing her lines and even deciding how she would deliver them. She went to early morning rehearsals for two weeks. She volunteered her mama to help with the set. After 10 weeks of practice Alayna made her debut on the stage.

She was excited to have wings. We also used a large amount of glitter and a little makeup. I know we are the proud parents, but I think she did really well. All of her lines were memorized, delivered well and, more importantly, audibly.

Commotion in the Ocean

"Maybe a little"

The Colors of the Sea

She was extra excited to have her best friend and favourite babysitter, Lindsay there. Thank you for coming Lindsay.

Go Fish

2011-05-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

Alayna participated in her school's first grade play last night.

Go Fish!

From Hal Leonard

A Musical For Young Singers

by John Jacobson and John Higgins

She worked very hard learning the different lines and creating the different characters for the audition back in March.

Alayna got the part of the Angel Fish. She began memorizing her lines as soon as she got the script. She went to early morning rehearsals for two weeks. She volunteered her mama to help with the set. After 10 weeks of practice Alayna made her debut on the stage.

She was excited to have wings. We also used a large amount of glitter and a little makeup. I know we are the proud parents, but I think she did really well. All of her lines were memorized, and more importantly, we could hear her.

Commotion in the Ocean

"Maybe a little"

The Colors of the Sea

She was extra excited to have her best friend and favourite babysitter, Lindsay there. Thank you for coming Lindsay.

Lex is Rockin'

2011-05-11T20:39:00.010-05:00

Lex loves to sit on the kids' rocking chair. Cavell brought the chair into Lex's room while he was eating lunch. Lex could barely take the time to finish eating before he dove off of my lap to speed-crawl over to the chair and climb up. It's even cuter when he tries to rock himself by wiggling back and forth and then claps.

Jelly Bean 10k

2011-04-20T20:05:00.029-05:00

I ran my Jelly Bean 10k at the gym, on the treadmill, Wednesday.
One of the Y gals took my picture at the beginning of my run

I tried to take one at the 5k mark. I wanted to show my race bib and not my armpit. This was more difficult to do than I thought it would be. Maybe this was because I was running at the same time.

My goals for this run were to get under 60 minutes, no matter what. Even better would be 58 minutes. I am happy to say, I PR'd at 57:17!

While I did walk a 1/2 mile to cool down, this is me picking up the boys from Child Watch 8 minutes after finishing my run. Lex did not care how sweaty or smelly I was; he just wanted to be loved by his mama.

I thought it would be fun to take our picture with the Y's Easter bunny, Daisy. Cavell made bunny ears and an Easter "basket" with eggs (all paper cutouts). He very happily hop-hop-hopped over to Daisy's cage.

Move Along

2011-04-16T20:47:00.001-05:00

Lex is now hypermobile. The walker has been taken out of storage and he took to it like a natural.

After only one day of use, he has mastered the walker including changing directions and making turns.

He has a little competition for resources. Cavell has decided that it is fun to use the walker to play postman. He walks around delivering mail from the walker and making his little brother upset.

Tale as Old as Time

2011-04-15T22:35:00.002-05:00

Belle and the Beast came to Alayna's school to sing one of their duets and invite the children to ask their parents to take them to see the show. She had been asking me about going since then. Friday afternoon I finally made the decision that I would take Alayna to see the 7 o'clock performance of Beauty and the Beast.

It was a production by the New Braunfels Christian Academy drama department. The teacher said that over 15% of the student body was involved in this production! The gal that played Belle was fantastic. For a high school senior, she was amazing. We could also tell that "Gaston" had a lot of good experience behind him. After the Beast sang his song (If I Can't Love Her) and I was applauding, I also explained to Alayna that what he had just sung was very difficult and he had done a fabulous job. Only after the play did we discover this was the boy's first experience in acting, and he hadn't even known he could sing before getting the part!?!

When asked what her favourite part of the night was, Alayna replies that it was after the show when she got to meet Belle. I wish I had kept a program so that I could give this young lady proper credit with her name. Belle was very kind to talk with Alayna and have her picture taken. Alayna hopes that we will have this picture printed and framed for her room. The Beast (now Prince) was also nice and spoke with Alayna but we didn't manage to get a picture with him.

Lex is 1

2011-04-13T20:56:00.005-05:00

Jelly Bean

2011-04-08T13:09:00.001-05:00

I have signed on to run the Jelly Bean virtual race! I will be running the 10k option. I need to decide if I will do it Wednesday the 20th on the treadmill or Saturday the 23rd outside. Anyone else doing this?

Another Pamela's Review

2011-04-05T13:09:00.034-05:00

I found one of the missing packs of organic cookie samples. Paul is now only accused of eating two of them by himself. It was the Dark Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk option.

I liked these. They were very chocolate-y. Dark chocolate. The chunks didn't have the same deep, rich, dark chocolate flavour, but they were a good match to the cookie. I loved that the chunks were just soft enough to melt in my mouth without being all melted on the cookie. The cookie itself was a good balance between crunchy and chewy. It wasn't soft and floppy when I held it, but it was easy to bite and dissolved while I chewed while still having texture. I would describe the texture a little bit like chewing sugar crystals, except they were chocolate. I liked these cookies.

We tried the corn bread mix this week. We weren't planning to use it, but Paul was making a brisket and we needed something to eat with it. What about corn bread? Okay. We started to read the directions and found an additional recipe for Cranberry Orange Corn Muffins. We made those.

You can see the stuck bits in Alayna's picture. Yes, she really likes brisket.

These corn muffins were good and will be made again. We loved the cranberry orange combo. Question is, will we purchase this mix or make our own? It was difficult to separate the super yummy flavour from what, specifically, the mix gave to the muffin. This was made more difficult by the fact that we baked these on the bottom rack (brisket was still in the oven) so they stuck to our liners and the "crusts" were a little thicker.

The texture on these were spot on for the way we like corn bread. While they were light muffins they had that cornmeal feel in the mouth. We like that. Our last homemade cornbread had too much, because we used some rather coarse cornmeal.

Who's the Fool

2011-04-01T18:42:00.072-05:00

Alayna had been making a big deal about April Fool's day recently, so we decided it would be fun to plan April Fool's Jokes for the tykes. Most involved their food and food colouring.

The morning started off with a colorful breakfast. The Kix cereal had a surprise of yellow food coloring hidden at the bottom of the bowl. As the kids added milk to their bowl, the milk turned a strange yellow color! This little trick went over pretty well with the kids, but things went downhill from there.

For lunch, Alayna had pink milk. Stacy put a couple drops of red food coloring in her milk to turn it pink. When Alayna came home, she proclaimed loudly that she, "doesn't like pink milk and it tasted funny." She took a sip and that was that. But the mind-taste connection would be illustrated even more later.

For dinner, Stacy worked hard the night before and April Fool's day to keep the kids from knowing what was in store, and actually prepare the tricks. Dinner was served in pajamas and the kids were told they needed to finish their cupcakes before they could have their dinner. Dinner was meatloaf "cupcakes" with blue mashed potato "icing" on top.

Stacy even tried initials in ketchup on top of the "icing".

Cavell took a nibble of the mashed potatoes before concentrating on the ketchup and ignoring the rest. Alayna ate most of her "cupcake" and then proclaimed that there was too much "icing" and it was too sweet so she was done with dinner. Lex ate like a champ and finished off a whole meatball and potato cupcake on his own.

We had to call the kids back to the table so they could eat a dinner of "Chicken Pot Pie." That took a lot of convincing and a little threatening. From the pictures, you can see just how much they enjoyed their meal.

Chicken Pot pie was a vanilla pudding with Mike & Ike candies cut to the size of diced vegetables and topped with a pastry crust. The kids immediately turned up their noses at the thought of chicken pot pie, but they at least had the decency to crack the crust and taste that.

They ate the crust. Alayna was the first to discover that the sauce had a sweet taste and was willing to give the innards a try. Cavell took one bite and decided that this was just too much trouble and left the table again. Alayna started to get into the meal and then complained that the candies were too hard to chew and there were not enough of them. She ate half of her pie and left the table as well.

Lex, Mom, and Dad cleaned up the leftovers without a single complaint. Well, Lex complained when the leftovers were gone and he couldn't eat any more pudding.

So I guess Alayna got us after all. We did all the work for the prank and we still ended up getting punked.

Pamela's, again

2011-03-30T17:04:00.127-05:00

I ♥♥♥ these cookies! The Lemon Shortbread cookies are delicious. I savored each and every bite of each one of the cookies I had from this box. I was sad that I had to share them with the kids. I was disappointed the kids liked them. I was vexed that Paul had more than one when he said he did not like them. He says they were too strong. I thought the intense lemon flavour was perfect. The words that come to mind to describe the flavour: lemon, refreshing, light, clean, crisp, rich, mmmmm. Texture wise they were perfect; firm enough to take a real bite, but soft enough the they almost dissolved in my mouth, small nuggets of something throughout the cookie that burst with extra flavour. Yes, I will be buying these. Yes, they will be for ME, the only person in the family that doesn't even need to eat gluten free. I need to stop thinking about these cookies, I think I'm drooling.

Pancakes. We checked out a kids gluten free cookbook from the library a couple weeks. The cover has a pancake face. Alayna has been asking to make pancakes with a face since. I don't think Alayna or Cavell have ever had a real pancake, even of the gluten free variety. Paul has tried a couple of high protein "pancakes" but they weren't good and don't count. Well, one can imagine Alayna's excitement when she saw the Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix.

Big success. Golden, fluffy and tasty. What more could you ask for in a pancake? Paul made a triple batch with the kids, who made faces on them with fruit. Even Lex enjoyed a couple of cakes. And just to put his Papa coolness over the top, the last cakes where served with leftover birthday ice cream with cherries and chocolate sauce on top.

There is a little over 2 batches left. Waffles do not tempt us. We have perfected our waffle recipe and make a double batch about every week. Now we need to decide if we will try crepes or muffins with it, or just have another pancake meal. This is a mix I can see keeping on hand in the pantry. Paul says we can and should make our own pancakes from scratch instead. Seeing how this was the first time we've made pancakes says that we "can't" do that. If we do, we will have to experiment to find The Recipe. If we try pancake recipes, they will be competing with these.

A couple of updates. I was looking at the picture of the organic cookies' box. It seems there were three more cookie packs of another, unknown to me, flavour. I did not get a taste of them, I don't even know what they were! I do know I found one of the wrappers in the living room in the kids' pillow corner, but that was the PB Chocolate Chip flavour. But, I put the box on the top shelf after I found the wrapper. It does make me wonder where the last three went. I have my suspicions that it was Paul.
Also, Paul actually liked the Chocolate Chunk Pecan Shortbread, obviously more than the Lemon Shortbread. He thought they were good. But, I don't think he liked them enough to bother buying them.

More Pamela's

2011-03-28T20:48:00.003-05:00

The mystery has been solved! My sister's friend's wife works at Pamela's Products. I guess she shared about our family of Celiacs and we became the recipients of a large sample package. Thank you, Stephanie, Stephanie's friend, Stephanie's friend's wife, and Pamela's Products. Now for more of our product reviews.

Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies. Yum. I should probably compare these to the Famous Amos cookies but it has been a looong time since I've tasted those. I happened to have some Chips Ahoy Saturday. These really are very similar, except the Chips Ahoy* are a little bigger and have more chocolate chips. Pamela's Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies are drier, in a crunchy way, which is still a tastey way. That's a good thing when it is what you want, which is what I want from this type of cookie.
* I am talking about the original, blue bag Chips Ahoy.

Ginger Mini Snapz. I don't remember eating ginger cookies before the family needed to eat gluten free. Then, I only bought the Mi-Del version because they were available at our regular grocery store and would be an acceptable substitute/improvement for graham crackers in the crust of our traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin cheesecake. Well, these taste like that, I think, it's been awhile. These have a strong flavour; tingle you tongue strong, which, in my opinion, is good for a ginger cookie.

We liked all three versions of the Simplebites cookies (remember the Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies from the previous post?). They are what one expects from a packaged snack cookie, even a regular gluten version. They aren't "to die for!" They aren't the best cookie you will ever eat. They are the kind of cookies you technically buy for the kids, but you will nibble on one now and then, and maybe pop another in your mouth here or there because these are enjoyable. Then you realize that you have probably eaten half of the kids' cookies, because, while they have been put out of reach of the children, you can still reach them. Or maybe that is just me (and Paul)?

I'm sorry to say we had some "fails" in our sampling. The boxed version of the Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies (Cavell is holding the box) and the Organic cookies: we sampled the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and the Chocolate Chunk Pecan Shortbread. We were also given samples of the Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies, but we aren't fans of the taste or smell of coffee items, so Paul is giving those to someone at work.

I had the same problem with the Chocolate Chip and PB Chocolate Chip cookies. They were too soft. Just holding a cookie felt like it was going to come apart in my fingers, or my thumb was going to poke thru from the bottom as the cookie fell around. There was some actual drooping of the cookie as I held it. I didn't feel like I could really bite the cookies. It was like they came apart when I started to bite them. While they weren't actually dry, the powdery texture they became in my mouth made them seem dry.

The pecan cookie was dry and hard, but still broke easily. While I could bite it, it just exploded into crumbs in my mouth. Those crumbs were rather tasteless. There wasn't much chocolate chunk to try and make up for the lack of flavour either. Maybe this is actually a flaw of any pecan shortbread? It's been a few years since I had a Keebler Sandies and I wasn't a fan of them anyway.

Not to worry, as you can see we have more items to review, and I'm certain the positives will out weigh these negatives.

Aloo Gobi

2011-03-28T20:14:00.001-05:00

Stacy attended an evening cooking class with a friend and learned how to cook a few Indian dishes. Her first attempt at home was the dish Aloo Gobi, made famous here in America from it's reference in the movie, Bend it Like Beckham. The dish is described as a traditional north Indian delicacy which is a dry dish made from Potatoes and Cauliflower and Indian spices. We just call it awesome. It's normally considered a vegetarian dish, but it tastes incredible when served on top of chicken!

Alayna and Cavell turned their noses up at the dish, but Lex really enjoyed it. Stacy and I were both surprised because this dish has a pretty strong flavor, but he kept diving for the spoon and sucking on the food to get all the flavor out before swallowing. At least one of our kids can appreciate a good chunk of cauliflower.

Here's the recipe Stacy received from the Executive Chef at Gourmage who taught the cooking class. The changes we have made are in parenthesis.

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil (We use just enough olive oil to saute the onions.)

1 Medium onion, medium diced

1 Bunch fresh Cilantro, separate leaves from stalks and chop the stalks

1 Small Green chili, minced

1 Large head Cauliflower cut into larger bite sized pieces (we've been using frozen)

3 White potatoes peeled and cut into bite sized pieces (we use sweet potatoes)

1 Can whole peeled tomatoes, grated (we use 1 can diced)

Thumb length fresh ginger peeled and grated (1 1/2 tsp of or frozen, grated ginger)

3 Cloves garlic, grated (minced)

1 Tblsp Cumin seeds

2 tsp Tumeric

2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Garam Masala (recipe follows)

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pan or Wok over medium heat. Add onion and cumin. Cook till onion is creamy golden. Add chopped cilantro stalks, tumeric, salt, and minced chili. Stir in tomatoes, ginger, and garlic. Mix well to combine and add potatoes and cauliflower. Completely coat the potatoes and cauliflower in the sauce and add a few spoonfuls of water (to keep vegetables from sticking). Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes (or until potatoes are tender). Gently stir in Garam Masala and remove from heat. Sprinkle chopped cilantro leaves on top and cover until ready to serve.

Garam Masala

1 Tblsp ground Cumin

11/2 tsp ground Coriander

11/2 tsp ground Cardamom

11/2 tsp ground Black pepper

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground Cloves

1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg

Birthday Followup

2011-03-26T20:26:00.025-05:00

In a couple of the cards Alayna received for her birthday, there was MONEY! Alayna was very excited and was ready to go shopping the next day. We made her wait until Saturday for a Girls' Day Out with her mama. Now she can share what she purchased.

Pink boots, a princess butterfly tiara with clip on earrings, and nail polish (sparkles and bright pink).

She wanted to show the flowers inside the boots.

Thank you Grandpas and Grandmas!

Pamela's Products

2011-03-26T17:40:00.044-05:00

Thursday we received a large, mysterious package; addressed to me from Pamela's Products.

I hadn't ordered anything and neither had Paul. While we enter any blog giveaway for gluten free items we read, neither of us had won any, or if we had, we hadn't given our name or address to anyone.
There was NO information about WHY we had received it! We even called our moms to check if it was a gift. Nothing. But, we were not going to complain when we saw what was inside. We'll even share our own review on the items we received.

Simplebites Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies. Not only was there a regular package, there was a big box of individually wrapped cookies. We had some of those while revealing the rest of the loot.

These really were extremely chocolate-y! You know it's good when, the next morning, you find empty wrappers in the kitchen. Yes, the children went downstairs in the morning and helped themselves to some more cookies. I put them on the top shelf of the pantry. By the end of the day, the parents had a couple as well.

Friday afternoon, I noticed that there was a little snip out of the top of a now open bag of Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix. I think Cavell was a little disappointed when he only saw powder inside. Paul made the cookies that night. We really like that we only had to add a stick of butter and an egg. Sometimes when we buy a gluten free mix, we feel like we have to add everything to the mix except the rice flour! The bag says it makes 18-20 cookies. What!?!? We used our regular, #50, cookie scoop and only had enough dough for 12. They did take the whole 20 minutes to bake, which seemed a long time for this size cookie, but was just right for these.

These were very yummy. Paul liked them enough that the children did not get to try any! We loved the cocoa powder throughout the cookie, and may try it in our own recipe. We loved the huge volume of chocolate chunks, and will have to add more chocolate to our own recipe. Really, I wouldn't mind buying a bag to have on hand in the pantry. But, $6 for 12 cookies? We wouldn't be making them every week.

We will share the rest in future posts.

Alayna is 7!

2011-03-23T16:36:00.067-05:00

In the morning she was greeted with streamers, a balloon, tiaras and cards. Sadly, the balloon was taken outside and lost to space before the sun came up. The cards were opened, enjoyed and saved.

The first present opened after school was her new gym bag and workout outfit. Followed by a trip to the gym with her dad. She got in a real good workout. This was then topped off with a trip to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and playtime at the playground. There was a balloon man, so her lost balloon was replaced with a couple of balloons that wouldn't float away. Then it was home for presents.

After receiving a Webkinz pet for her birthday last year, Alayna has been anxiously waiting for a new one. Welcome to the family, Heather; "like feather, except you replace the F with H."

Lex must know Alayna rather well. The joy that a mirror and hair accessories can bring to a little girl is amazing.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Onines gave her personalized scriptures. She could hardly believe she now has her own Holy Bible! I contributed a custom scripture bag with the CTR shield "freezer paper stenciled" to the front.

Alayna picked chocolate cake with cherries and a Cool Whip frosting, in large cupcake form. It was paired with homemade coconut, cherry, chocolate chip ice cream.

Happy birthday, Alayna! I think this is going to be a great year for you.

Failed Project

2011-03-18T13:14:00.001-05:00

This week has been Spring Break for Alayna. Since St. Patrick's Day was also this week I thought it would be fun to do a craft project with the kids. Thru a blog trail I can't remember, I found this tutorial to make "Crafts for Children: Stained Glue Shamrock Crafts".

After taping the templates under some wax paper, I poured glue in a little cup and happily started cutting string to length and passing them to Alayna. I had to stop and cut the cup because it was too tall for her fingers to push the string into the glue. Alayna and Cavell were now dipping and I was back to snipping. The kids were having trouble getting the glued string to follow their outlines. I knew I would have to help Cavell and told Alayna to watch what I did. Except it was really hard to get the string to follow the outline. In the time it took for me to get the first ouline done, the kids were bored and left. That's okay, once the outlines are done the string has to dry overnight and then they can do the glue painting the next day, which should be simple.

Alayna ended up playing at a friends' house the next day, so Cavell and I got ready to paint glue. Cavell LOVED painting glue. The filler glue made the string soft and pliable again. With his brush, Cavell managed to undo a fair portion of the outlining I had done on his shamrocks.

I took the time to carefully do the rainbow myself. It was not easy to keep the string where it needed to be or to keep the colours separate. After all that, our project took two days to dry instead of one, so they weren't done in time for St. Patrick's Day.

I took my rainbow off of the wax paper today, except most of the wax paper came off with it.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T12:56:00.002-05:00

This morning I ran the St. Patrick's Day Treadmill 5k at our YMCA. While I was aiming for some time between 25:30 and 26 minutes, I was quite happy with my 27:01. I earned some Lucky Charms.

Alayna was very excited for the today's "Green Out" at the Y.

We tried a shamrock hairdo and decided to add a little green.

In ChildWatch the kids tie-dyed some shirts in green and gold, received green leis, party blowers, shamrock stickers, a hat or crown, and their own Lucky Charms treat. Alayna had her face painted; a bejeweled, glittered butterfly on the left and a rainbow with a pot of gold on the right. Miss Nell also painted a shamrock on Alayna's hand. She wanted to make sure you saw it in the picture. Cavell decided he needed to pose the same way.

Lex's First Tooth

2011-03-12T08:40:00.002-06:00

Today, Lex cut his first tooth. He's been grumpy and drooling for weeks. This morning was the payoff. And he won't even let us take a picture.

Exersaucer

2010-12-01T19:48:00.001-06:00

Isn't it funny how the exersaucer always seems to be more fun from the outside?

When he's placed in it he yells and screams at us. He won't touch the toys.

But, when he's not in the exersaucer he will crawl over to play with it. He even moves around to play with the different toys.

Of course, the flash tipped him off that I was there with the camera and he needed to get a closer look.

And since I am sharing pictures of Lex excited to see the camera; check out this series.

The tongue sticking out while working hard is said to be an Onines Family trait.

Cavell Update

2010-11-29T19:29:00.001-06:00

We made an unconscious decision to spare our reading public from the horrors of Cavell's face for a while. It may have been out of sensitivity or it may have been because I got put in charge of the update and just never got around to actually doing the work.

Meanwhile, Cavell has continued his slow but miraculous healing process. The swelling has gone down on his forehead but is still present. The bruising has gradually worked it's way down his face, but still leaves a shadow. Below is a series of photographs we took over the last month as he progressed.

Once the black bruising left his face, the red seems so much more violent. While Cavell was in this condition, I took him and the rest of the brood to watch Stacy finish her half marathon. At one point during our wait, it started raining, leaving puddles of water on the ground. Cavell, being a boy, decided he needed to jump in the puddles. Cavell, being a 3 year old boy is a little clumsy and he skinned his knee. So there I am, in the rain with three kids wearing shorts and t-shirts. Lex is crying because it suddenly got cold and wet. Alayna is crying because she is done waiting for mom and wants to go home. Cavell, my obviously abused son, is jumping in puddles, soaking wet, with copious amounts of blood running down his leg. I have no idea how we didn't get picked up by the cops.

Satisfied with himself

That blood red eye was pretty disturbing

Aren't they cute?

The two scabs in the middle of his forehead remind me of a snake bite.

OK, which one is cuter? Tough decision, right?

When the deep red coloring started to fade, we were left with this dirty, shadowy, mix of colors. People knew that something painful had happened, but really didn't get the full effect at this point.

It just started to look like he had a really dirty face.

By Thanksgiving, the bruising had finally faded enough that it just looks like he has dark bags under his eyes. As pale as his skin is already, he looks a bit overworked, malnourished, and in dire need of a nap.

Of course, through it all,Cavell has remained his positive and upbeat self. Part of that is due to his total lack of understanding of just how much he could have milked this opportunity, and part of it is just the kind of kid he is.

Thanksgiving Dessert

2010-11-25T20:55:00.007-06:00

I know, most people have pie, pie and more pie for dessert on Thanksgiving. We are the Jensen Family. There are only four of us eating. We can't eat a lot of dessert, so we pick one dessert to have after our Thanksgiving Feast. The Head Baker of the Family is not a big pie fan. We can't even buy a ready made pie to satisfy the big pie fan of the family. Instead, we have adhered to an Onines Family Tradition and indulged in Pumpkin Cheesecake every year. I now admit to adapting the recipe many years ago, and not just to be gluten free. But wait! This year, The Head Baker of the Family cannot consume such large amounts of dairy (thanks to the beloved, new addition to the family). Why would I spend the time and energy making a delicious treat that I cannot enjoy?

During Family Home Evening a few weeks ago, the whole family helped to make the menu for our Thanksgiving Feast. Alayna requested carrot cupcakes. The Head Baker of the Family is not a big fan of carrot cake either. We have a recipe; I've made it; the family has enjoyed it. I didn't want that as the finale to our Thanksgiving meal. Luckily for Alayna, I had just read about a Brazilian carrot cake the day before. She just needed to accept that it would not be in cupcake form. When she saw the Bundt pan we would be using instead, she stopped pouting.

Bolo de cenoura
(from Glutenfearless)

Ingredients
Cake
1-1/3 C Rice Flour
6 Tbs + 2 tsp Potato Starch
3 Tbs + 1 tsp Tapioca Starch
1Tbs + 1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
1½ tsp Xanthan Gum
½ t. Cinnamon (optional)

3 C Carrots, grated (rougly 4 medium or 8 slender carrots)
3 Eggs
1 3/4 C Sugar
½ C Oil
1 tsp Vanilla

Glaze
2T cocoa powder
2T butter
5T milk
8T sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° grease and flour a 10" Bundt pan
In a bowl combine flours, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum, and cinnamon.
In your blender purée remaining 5 ingredients until smooth.
Pour the blender concoction into the dry ingredients and stir together until everything is well mixed and very orange.
Pour cake batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.
While still warm, invert the cake onto the serving platter.
While stirring, gradually heat glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. When the icing bubbles, keep stirring for another minute. Pour hot glaze over the cake while the cake is warm.

Notes/Verdict Boy, did we all enjoy this cake! Moist, fluffy, sweet . . . and the glaze, Wow! Not only is it yummy, it is fun to make . . . in the blender. It went from layers of ingredients to this bright orange slurry. It became a lovely orange batter when mixed into the flours.

Thanksgiving Breakfast

2010-11-25T11:20:00.001-06:00

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
(adapted from cinnamon rolls in The Gluten Free Kitchen by Roben Ryberg found here)
Ingredients
Rolls
2 Tbs Butter
1/4 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Milk, warmed (~105*)
1 Tbs Yeast
1 Egg
1/4 C Pumpkin Puree
1/2 C Potato Starch
1 C Corn Starch
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
2 1/2 Tsps Xantham Gum
2 Tsps Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Flavoring

Filling
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice or cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
4 Tbs chilled butter, cut into small pieces
Mix dry, cut in butter to form crumbs and spread over rolled out dough

Glaze
½ C powdered sugar
1 Tbs Pumpkin puree

Directions
Add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Cream butter and sugar. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft

Roll dough out between plastic wrap. Cover with filling, leaving a filling-free edge for sugar to spill over onto. Roll into a log and trim ends. Slice (with thread) into 8 or 9 pieces (roughly 1½ inches). Place in greased pie pan.

You can bake them now, or cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight.

Remove rolls from fridge and bring to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375°. Remove plastic wrap and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes and make glaze. Remove from oven. top with glaze and enjoy!

Notes/Verdict
I took them out of the fridge while the oven preheated this morning. I think they should be room temp before putting in the oven. I didn't get enough glaze, so I added another 1/4 C powdered sugar, the rest of my pumpkin puree (maybe 2 tsp), and a splash (maybe a T) of almond milk. Paul thinks we need to adjust even more to increase the pumpkin (hard) and spice (easy) flavours. We all LOVED these! They are all gone.

Chocolate Waffle Pillows

2010-11-08T14:28:00.002-06:00

This treat was the most anticipated recipe from the Mrs Fields book. I think that is because my kids KNOW waffles. We make waffles almost every week. We use our waffles as sandwich bread almost every day. Cavell calls them "Goggles." By 'them' I am referring to the waffles AND the sandwiches. I have recently convinced him that the meal is called lunch, NOT waffles. Just yesterday while playing with Alayna, he named the puppet he was characterizing, Goggles . . . I mean Waffles. The kids were extremely excited for Chocolate Waffle Pillows.

Chocolate Waffle Pillows
(adapted from Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book!)
yield 2 dozen

Ingredients
2/3 cup Rice Flour
3 Tbls Potato Starch
2 Tbls Tapioca Starch
1/2 tsp Xanthum Gum
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp salt (because I use unsalted butter)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
2-1/2 Eggs*
1 tsp Vanilla

Directions

Combine flours, xanthum gum, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined.
Drop by rounded Tablespoons onto each section of a hot, greased waffle iron. Cook approximately 1 minute (or more) and carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
Serve with any yummy topping(s), like powdered sugar, cocoa powder, raspberries, or whipped cream. We used chocolate syrup.

Notes/Verdict
Because I halved the recipe I needed 2-1/2 eggs. I beat 5 eggs together, weighed them and used half for the waffles and half for an omelet in the morning. I don't think they need as much xanthum gum as I used; they might even work with none. I liked these better off of our small squared waffle iron than from our larger/deeper, not quite Belgian, waffle iron.

These were easy to make. I feel bad that it took as long as it did to get around to making them. The kids LOVED them. Paul did not like them. I thought they were fine. I would describe them as a brownie that is almost on the fudge-y side, but isn't cake-y This might be because they were thin. They were a bit better as a warm dessert than as "cookies" in the cookie jar. If the kids think to ask for these again I would be willing make them, but I would suggest other treats instead. I might try "baking" a few other types of cookies this way, just to experiment.

Moving Down and Up

2010-11-06T17:21:00.001-05:00

It took me a moment to understand what happened to the Paddington Bears.

I think when the baby is able to sit up and pull his mobile down it is time to lower the crib.

Not a day too soon. After I took the pictures of the fallen bears and adjusted the crib down, I caught Lex pulling UP for the first time!

Pecans

2010-11-04T17:04:00.001-05:00

While waiting to pick Alayna up from school today, Cavell and I noticed one of the moms picking something up from the ground . . . and eating it! When Alayna came to the van, and I went to buckle in Cavell, I realized there were pecans on the ground. We gathered some. 10 of them.

Not all 10 are pictured.

We got to cracking.

and cracked some more.

Then we went to work peeling . . .

. . . and peeling . . .

. . . and peeled some more.

This took a lot more work than expected. Cavell kept throwing the cracked shells into the nut bowl, some did still have the nut in them. Alayna wasn't able to get any big pieces because she kept cracking her shell, and the nut, more to try and get them out. Not that I was able to get many big pieces either.

A bit of toasting and we had pecans for snack time.

We saved some for Papa.

Yummy!

That was a lot of work for such a small treat, but we enjoyed the experience together.

We'll Give AB Another Try.

2010-10-30T20:57:00.001-05:00

Do you remember when we gave Alton Brown's gluten free, chocolate chip cookies a try? We weren't impressed enough to try them again. But last week, I caught the middle of a Good Eats episode using leftover oatmeal (Oat Cuisine II). I have oatmeal for breakfast every morning. Dark chocolate oatmeal with strawberries, blueberries and almond milk. Yumm. The things he was making sounded good, except he was still adding flour. I was ready to turn it off until he said, "Hey kids, riddle me this, what the heck is wheat doing in an oatmeal cookie?" (the segment starts at 2:26-6:36) While deciding which treat to make today, Paul requested we try these cookies.

Oatiest Oatmeal Cookies
(Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown)
about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

16 ounces old fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch kosher salt
10 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 ounces dark brown sugar
3 1/2 ounces granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces raisins, optional

Directions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spread the oats into a single layer on a half sheet pan. Bake until lightly toasted, about 20 minutes. Cool the oats in the pan for 2 to 3 minutes.

Grind 8 ounces of the toasted oats in a food processor until the consistency of whole-wheat flour, about 3 minutes. Add the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to the food processor and pulse 2 to 3 times to combine. Set aside.

Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix on medium speed using the paddle attachment until light in color about 3 minutes. Stop once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce mixer speed to the lowest speed and add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture until just combined. Stop once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining toasted oats and the raisins. Stir to combine.

Scoop the dough with a 1 1/2-ounce disher or server onto parchment-lined half sheet pans, leaving 2 inches between each mound. Bake until the cookies begin to brown around the edges, about 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time. Cool the cookies on the pans for 2 minutes, then remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Verdict/Notes
We really like these cookies! Next time, we will toast more oats. The leftovers make great oatmeal, and then we will still have the full weight of oats after toasting (they lost a surprising amount of water weight!). We only had light brown sugar; I will try adding molasses to substitute for dark brown sugar. Instead of my tiny pinch of salt I used 1/4 tsp salt. We love the cinnamon flavour, but want to make it stronger. Next time I will double the cinnamon, and maybe add some nutmeg. I forgot to plump/hydrate the raisins. I will remember next time, and increase the amount we add. We made one dozen using two scoops each of our #50 disher, baked for 12 minutes. We also made 1-1/2 dozen using single scoops baked for 10 minutes. It is not even the end of the day, and these cookies are more than halfway gone!

Taggies

2010-10-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

When I was expecting Alayna, our new cousin, Tara, gave us a Taggies book.

Very sweet

I had also been reading a lot about Taggies blankets. The idea was that an "infant was often more interested in the satin tags on toys and clothing than the object itself." Other mothers I was talking with said how much their little ones LOVED their Taggies. I didn't understand why someone would spend money when they could make their own with scraps. Except, I didn't have such scraps. On my first visit home with the new baby (Alayna) I raided my mother's ribbon scraps and fleece. Mom and I made a tagged blanket . . . and Alayna couldn't care less about it. I thought, maybe she was too young. No, she never cared for tags. She liked when I would read her the book, but she didn't bother with the tags. Soon, the book and blanket where packed away with the baby things.

Cavell is born and all baby toys are pulled out again. Alayna loves all of the baby toys, but still no interest in the tag items. Cavell never cared about the tags either. When he outgrew the baby toys I debated whether I should bother packing the blanket and book with the others, or just pass them on.

As Lex has been developing I have been pulling out different toys that I think he would enjoy (and trying to keep them away from the siblings). The tags were not among those brought out. Then I started noticing that when Lex is done eating and rolls over, he was always grabbing the tags on my Boppy Pillow. I have pulled out my tagged blanket and finally have a baby that appreciates what he has.

This is also a good picture to share that, not only can Lex sit unsupported, he can sit himself up from crawling position.

1/2 Marathon Report

2010-10-23T14:05:00.133-05:00

In January I had a Sunday School lesson on goals and resolutions. Mine was to run a half marathon by the end of the year. I knew the Rock n' Roll San Antonio would be in November. After Lex was born I found a local Marathon and Half Marathon that was scheduled for their inaugural year when Lex would be 6 months old. The local Half Marathon was chosen based on the ease of accomplishing the logistics of feeding Lex and completing a race. Running a small race close to home would be a much better experience for the family and would still offer me the same challenges of running a larger race that adds two hours of driving time to the mix. So six weeks after Lex was born, the practice and preparation began.

Race Day!! I finished my 1/2 in 2:17:30. That is a PR by 30 minutes compared to my time last year. My training plan projection said I should do it in 2:15, and I am amazed that I was that close. I wanted to finish faster, and my training runs said I could. But there were some crazy hills, and I did not train on hills quite that size (or that many).

Note the sweaty armpits BEFORE the race started. Why do I run races on the hottest, most humid days of the year?

My friend, Brooke, and I were actually in the port-a-potties when the race started. We still crossed the start only 2 minutes "late". Very different from the Rock n' Roll last year. 35,000+ runners there compared to 1,200 at this race.

I did well through the pack on the up hills in the first 3 miles. After that the race said the course was fairly flat. HA! As I was coasting down some of the hills during the 4-6 miles, I knew I would have to try and run back up on the way back. I managed to get to the turnaround/half-way point in 63 minutes, which was smack on the pace I wanted. But, those hills between miles 7-9 were as tough as I ~~expected~~ talked myself into them being. It didn't help that the only mile mark I saw on the way back was for mile 8. I know I slowed down . . . a lot.

Just after the 10 mile point Brooke passed me. I was feeling rough. But, positive thinking kept her in sight the rest of the race. Even if it didn't give me a big push, it kept me from really hitting a wall. I knew I wouldn't hit my goal time, but after seeing the 3 mile marker again, I realized I could make my training time if I didn't wuss out. It helped that I could coast down some hills after that, even though my calf's hurt. Towards the very end there were still some little hills that felt much bigger now that I was running them again. I have a new appreciation for the stories of going, "uphill both ways" now. With about 1/2 mile to go I had to walk; roughly a block, about .1 or .2 miles. I finished at a jog. I went a little faster through the finish chute, but I was not able to sprint in strong.

This is when I mess up my races. After a training run I sip my leftover HEED and walk about a mile and feel good and recover well. At the race, I picked up my medal and a cold water bottle. Then, I STOPPED and GUZZLED the whole bottle of water. Next my body rebels and tells me what a bad idea it is to break my post-run habit. My legs cramped up so I grabbed a chunk of ice from the water trough and began icing my legs. I hurt so much I couldn't decide to stand or sit, so I sat down and got up and then repeated for about ten minutes. All the while, guzzling MORE water, refusing the electrolyte drink that is offered and then arguing with Paul over whether I should take the last electrolyte pill. I was well on my way to hyponatremia, (water intoxication that kills distance runners and others who drink too much water resulting in an electrolyte imbalance), and didn't even know it. And I hurt more and continued to feel sick to my stomach. All the while we are chatting with friends, including Brooke who says she hurts, but seems just fine.

After 20 minutes of this Paul (who had all 3 kids) made me get up and walk across the parking lot to get my bag (where I downed my recovery drink and felt even more sick). I tried to sit down again at this point and was severely reprimanded by Paul. It was time to stop the self-destructive behaviors and start listening to Paul. He made me walk with him the 1/2 mile up a crazy hill to get to the van and come home. He even gave me dirty looks when I walked too slow. It hurt. But then I felt better. Strangely enough, I needed to walk up that last hill at a decent pace in order to stop the pain. I would probably still be sprawled out on the asphalt in cramped up tears if Paul hadn't gotten me up and walking again.

So, no post race pics or entertainment; I didn't even check my "official" time and rank. But, with a little flexing and message for my cramping foot I felt normal before the 10 minute drive is over. Then I had to feed Lex, because he refuses a bottle and was starving after a 5 hour fast. I don't realize how full I can get during that time. I think I am using everything my body has for me on my run, but this was an interesting reminder that my body is still built for caring for a baby.

Paul (kindly) laughs at my bad race habit. He gets to since he saved me from it. He also says I like to pick the races on the most humid, warm days. Yes, our cool weather left us and I was running on the warmest, muggy day we have had in 3 weeks (temps in the 70's and humidity at least 80%).

Recovery

2010-10-22T16:54:00.015-05:00

Unless he is making a funny face, Cavell will not tolerate pictures. I haven't bothered him for one since Tuesday. Here is his funny face. He picked off another scab in ChildWatch today and this was the bandage they created since I didn't have his bandanna with me. He didn't want me to take it off. When I did anyway, he wouldn't let me take any more pictures.

When we got home later in the day, Cavell let me take some pictures if I held the camera the right way and let him take pictures of me. He makes me say "Almond Milk" since I'm not eating cheese right now.

I tried to get a shot of Cavell's closed eye. It is difficult to see (because he wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get it) but he has some green, flaking skin on his eyelid. I think this is from all the rubbing he did to his eye when he was trying to see.

The resiliency of children is AMAZING. Wednesday was the last time I heard someone comment that they thought he had on Halloween makeup or a mask; The Incredibles being the most common description. The only really dramatic part of his appearance now is how quickly he has healed. All of the puffiness is gone from his eyes. Even the bruising is very faded. While his skin is becoming mottled, the discoloring is dispersing rather quickly. He still has a big knot on his forehead, but nothing like it was. He has done such a thorough job picking at his scabs, there are only two left.

Don't Mess With Me

2010-10-19T10:37:00.001-05:00

Best news first. Cavell can see in the mornings! I also felt good taking him to ChildWatch at the YMCA yesterday. Yes, there was shock at his face. He didn't want to tell the workers about his fall, he just wanted to play with the blocks and do crafts. I think the biggest part of this is HE doesn't see his face like we do. He barely looks in the mirror. If he can't see it and he feels fine, Cavell doesn't get what the big deal is.

We didn't go to the Y this morning. Cavell made himself a walking bio haz-mat, again. It was a simple decision. We will be going this afternoon for Alayna's KidFit class and I am taking it easy on my legs with a bodyweight workout I can do at home during my taper week. We didn't need to go to the gym this morning.

it's oozing, not bleeding

He did let me use a bandanna as a bandage. Not only does it help to stop the bleeding that is occurring, it also keeps his fingers away from picking at the scabs and causing more bleeding. Another added benefit? He looks adorably tough.

Forgive the blood running down Cavell's face. I had to take the pic while he was willing, and washed it off after. I wanted to get a picture of Cavell's eyes. They look pretty cool in person. The whites of his eyes are pure red, but only on the outsides. The whites on the side of his nose are pure white, not even a line of red. How patriotic can he get with his red, white and blue?!

Weekend Treats

2010-10-17T22:02:00.004-05:00

Saturdays are our Treat Day! Throughout the week I like to think about and plan what our treat will be. There are multiple conversations about said thoughts and plans. Although, the word "conversation" implies two people participated. It is probably more correct to say I talk to Paul about the weekend's treat, and get the kids excited about it.

We have actually been thinking about this weekend's treat for awhile. Paul even participated in some of this thinking. Key Lime Pie. Except, the family can't have gluten, so we needed a different crust. I am avoiding dairy (for Lex), so we needed to avoid the sweetened condensed milk, and I didn't feel like using tofu.

Key Lime Pie

After a little searching we pieced together an idea for Coconut Milk Key Lime Pie with a Coconut Crust and Coconut Meringue Topping. Say it with me. Mmmmmmm, coconut goodness! This treat needed to be made Friday night so that it could set overnight.

Doesn't it look delish?!

Except, it didn't work out quite that way. I'll start with the crust. It disintegrated. The filling . . . did not set. The meringue . . . deflated. Was this treat a total failure? No, it was still yummy. Totally consumed by the end of the day. Cavell stole a piece while it was still cooling on the counter Friday. I admit to a spoonful that night to check if it was firming up. For breakfast, Paul "evened out" the pan where our bites where missing. And there was just enough left for the four of us to each have a small bowl for dessert Saturday night. We did need to give it a different name. Key Lime Pudding with Coconut and Whipped topping. It provided a definite spike to the family's insulin levels. It did NOT fulfill Paul's desire for a pie. We will have to come up with a different pie treat for a different Saturday.

Alayna has been asking to make Snowy White Chocolate Crescents from the Mrs. Fields book. Every. Day. It was her choice on the MUST MAKE list. It turns out, she only wanted to help with the rolling and shaping of the cookies.

Instead, she took pictures of Cavell helping to make them. When the dough was made I dutifully scooped out "level tablespoons" of the dough for the children to shape. They both did very well making dough snakes and then bending them into crescent shapes.

Except, these cookies did not keep their shape and looked nothing like the pretty, 3-dimensional cookies in the book's picture. Instead they became flat C-shaped cookies. There was no way we would able to roll the cookies in the powdered sugar (the other step Alayna wanted to help with) we could only dust them.

The cookies tasted okay; the whole batch has been eaten. Even Alayna agrees, these cookies are really NOT worth making again. Overall, a somewhat disappointing Treat Day. I still hold out hope that some of the other cookies we have lined up to make from this book WILL be a good find. But, we will have to wait until our next Treat Day to find out.

No More Pictures!

2010-10-17T12:56:00.005-05:00

Cavell is a bit tired of us taking his picture.

I took some shots on Saturday while he and Alayna were playing FireMan and FireGirl!

I can see how his eyes look like a Batman mask while he is in superhero pose. Actually, he made me think more of the Power Rangers.

When he was done being FireMan, Cavell told me he was done taking pictures.

He was still adamant about it at bed time. He started trying to hide his face by squashing it. We are able to get a shot of the bruise that appeared on the back of his knee. He has some other bruises that we are finding in surprising spots. We think they were deeper bruises that have started to move and are now showing up on the surface.

The only way Cavell would agree to any pictures is if I let him do funny faces.

Then he smiled for us.

Cavell is still waking with his eyes swollen shut. Fortunately, the swelling goes down during breakfast. I planned to start taking him out again when we could see his eyes. Now that we can he has begun to pick on his scabs. That wouldn't be too bad, except he becomes a walking "bio-hazard". See, he doesn't bleed when he takes it off, he oozes. It's disgusting.

6 Months

2010-10-15T14:45:00.001-05:00

Amid all of the excitement of Cavell's fall, Wednesday Lex turned 6 months old!

For the past month Lex has preferred to be at the table with the family while we eat our meals. Very often this involves him intently watching the food go into our mouths. Quite often this involves him reaching for our food. This has resulted in some close calls with food almost spilling or him almost touching something a bit too hot. In celebration of his 6 months of life we thought he could try his first "solid" food. We had some plain butternut squash from the family's meal for him to try.

Look at the excitement to try food!

I'll just let the pictures tell the story from here.

We'll give him a few days off before we make him try food again.

Cavell's Progress

2010-10-15T12:12:00.001-05:00

Cavell still wakes up blind. We figure that while he is laying down the swelling gathers instead of drains. This means extra poofy eyes and under the eyes and he doesn't even have the slit to peek thru. It is sad and amusing to see him walk around with his arms stretched out. I thought he would just want to sit on his chair, but he is just ready to move. Thursday morning he was using his stick horse as a walking cane.

He even let his sister act as his guide-dog. No, really. Alayna pretended to be a dog, and was guiding him around. Then randomly leaving him and calling out, "Owner, come over here!"

But, as the morning passes the swelling moves down and he can begin to see. While he was in front of a mirror, I asked Cavell what his face looked like. He said, "My eyes are down." I asked him what colour they were. "Blue." I didn't push it. For a little guy that is still working on his colours, I realized it wasn't fair to ask him what colour this is. Even I can't decide if I should say black, red, purple or ???

By the end of the day Thursday, even we could see a peek of his eyeball. Eerie to see that bright blue thru all of that darkness. It's hard to tell, but you should be able to see a little reflection from his left eye (on the right side) in this picture.

Because Paul was taking pictures of him, Cavell decided it was time to be goofy. This is when his papa asked him to try and open his eyes as much as he could. That involves his whole face moving, led by his mouth.

Since he was seeing and then not seeing, he also decided to play peek-a-boo with the camera.

There is a definite BOO!! factor going on.

Cavell's Day

2010-10-13T17:04:00.079-05:00

I know everyone is waiting for this post from Wednesday. Some missed the initial post with the story of how this happened. You can read that on the blog by clicking here.

We took Cavell to the doctor's office this morning. The front desk ladies didn't react. They thought he was dressed up early, being the Halloween season. One said it looked like he had on a Batman mask. What do you think?

to quote Nathan, "I am BATMAN"

They did call our NP (that my children really enjoy visiting) to the front to peek at him. Probably a good thing, so that she didn't have her initial reaction in front of Cavell. After being called back Cavell started to go into his stubborn, silent, pouting mode when the nurse wanted to weigh him. Once we were in the room he was his joking, jumping happy self. It was decided that the doctor would examine Cavell as well. As the doctor was looking in his ears and pressing on different places on his eyes and face, asking if it hurt, Cavell kept telling him that he hit his head "here" smacking himself on the red target you see in the pictures. I don't advise a close-up. It's pretty gross when it is larger. It looks even worse in person but the flash "cleans it up" a little. We aren't posting the more gruesome looking shoots we have.

Still pulling down his cheeks so he can see

It was decided that Cavell would have a CT scan to check for any skull fractures or swelling and bruising to his brain. While I did regular baby care for Lex (read that letting him nap in his own bed and feeding him) and picked Alayna up from school (early release day), Paul took Cavell to the hospital. There were a number of waiting areas involved in the hour it took before Cavell could have his picture taken. Cavell was happy to roam around and say hello to everyone he saw. But, the people he saw were too shocked by his face to respond. Cavell is used to happy responses and smiles and told Paul that nobody was saying hello to him.

Saying "CHEESE!!"

Before going in, Paul told Cavell that they were going to take a picture of his head and he needed to be as still as a statue. The let Paul stay in the room and even on the table on Cavell to help keep him still. Cavell did a rather good job. They were able to get a good shot of the top two-thirds of his head, which is where they needed it the most. He had moved while it was around his jaw. Because there was no swelling or complaints/pain there they let that go. The boys came home to wait for the radiologist and doctor to review the scan.

Talking to the Grandparents

After the doctor's call we immediately called the concerned grandparents to let them know that Cavell's skull and brain are sound and all of the bruising and swelling is outward. Even the doctor said he was amazed. With how bad Cavell's face looks, he was sure that there would be some internal damage.

Cookies You Can Make With Your Eyes Closed . . .

2010-10-12T19:23:00.002-05:00

. . . if you are 3 and have an adult to do the actual baking. This recipe is also from Mrs. Fields' book with only a minor adaptation for gluten free.

Lacy Oatmeal Cookies
yield 8 dozen (according to the book, 5½ dozen for us)

Ingredients:
1 cup quick oats
1/8 cup rice flour
1/8 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325*
Combine oats, flours, salt and baking powder and set aside.
Beat sugar and butter to a grainy paste. Add egg and vanilla, beating until smooth.
Add flour mixture and blend just to combine.
Drop dough by teaspoons onto lined cookie sheets, 2-1/2 inches apart.
Bake 9-12 minutes, until edges begin to turn golden. Cool and remove.

Ours do not look like the picture in the book. Probably because we used old fashioned oats. Possibly because I looked for more of a "creamed" look before adding the flour mixture. I don't know the why of not creaming the sugar and butter and then adding the egg and vanilla, do you? The book's cookies looked lacy. They actually said to "peel off" the cookies from the baking sheet. Ours had a little lace-ness to them, but also had a little poof. Either way they tasted really good.

Update on Cavell

2010-10-12T19:22:00.001-05:00

Our poor boy woke up at 3 this morning and didn't understand why he couldn't open his eyes. As one can imagine, he was scared. I was able to tuck him back into bed after some snuggles. A few weeks ago I watched a boxing movie that depicted someone slicing a black eye open. It was very disturbing to me. Paul explained that it allowed the blood and edema to drain out so the person could see. Now as I watch my blind little boy, I can understand why a controlled cut could be worth it. No, we are not going to drain Cavell's eyes.

When Cavell woke up again for the morning (at 5!) I was able to comfort him again and carry him downstairs to listen to the TV. He walked to the kitchen for breakfast and did a great job eating his ball cereal (aka Kix) and raisins. He didn't even spill his milk. When he was done I took him back to the chair by the TV.

7:30 am and Cavell was already bored. He began wondering the house, running into a couple of walls. He even went upstairs to hang out with his Papa, but needed to be carried down. By 8:30 he was able to just peek out from the bottom of his eyes. This made him think he could run around; except some things stick out further than the wall and he has run into those, with his head. He also asked for his frozen grapes for his eyes. He used them for a while, and then started to eat them.

10 am and Cavell has fallen asleep. Except, I couldn't tell. At 11 he helped me make some really simple cookies. He did a really good job and didn't even spill.

Cavell is again watching TV. To see out of the bottom of his eyelids, he needs to tilt his head back and stretch out his mouth to move his cheeks out of the way.

The swelling is moving down and away from his forehead which is good. It's obviously filled up his eyelids and now is migrating down his nose and starting to move down his cheeks as well. The entire upper third of his face is losing definition.

All of this seems to be hardest on the parents. Cavell is taking things in stride pretty well. He was climbing up on my lap and doing back flips on to the floor this afternoon. His sense of humor is fully intact. The positive we are taking out of this is that he has slowed down enough that we get to sit down and snuggle with him during the day.

Monster

2010-10-11T19:43:00.001-05:00

We call him monster. Don't know why, but he's always seemed like a monster. Cavell needs a costume for Halloween.
We are thinking Ferengi. . .

Or maybe Frankenstein?

What would be your choice? Here is what we've come up with so far.

Cute little monster, eh?

Here's the actual story. On our way home from a delightful parent teacher conference, Paul was walking and holding Cavell's hand. Cavell was in a playful mood and Paul would lift him up in the air and swing him a few steps before setting him down. Cavell got his hand so that he was holding Paul's hand instead of Paul holding Cavell's hand. As Paul lifted Cavell up in the air, Cavell's grip slipped and he fell, landing flat on his face and knees. Unfortunately, his face took the majority of the impact.

We got him up and carried him to the car. He was no longer crying, just a whimper. That was when we saw the golf ball standing up on his forehead. We immediately panic, finish buckling kids into "safety" seats and drive home to get ice. When we got him out of the van, the golf ball had turned into a softball.

We got him into the house and applied a bag of frozen grapes. Cavell and Paul camped out in front of the TV discussing the merits of applying the grapes to the forehead to reduce the swelling. Cavell was convinced that the grapes would do him more good on his knees.

About 20 minutes after coming home, Cavell stood up and walked over to the table to eat some Jello for his afternoon snack. He was talking and playful and even giggling. He returned to his chair to watch the rest of "Cars" and generally annoy his older sister.

At dinner, during the prayer, he dropped his head down on the table pretty hard. It didn't faze him a bit. While putting him to bed, he jumped into his bed and threw his head into the mattress pretty hard. Nothing.

Pupils are even. Speech is only as slurred as is normal for a three year old. We are ready to pronounce him as OK. Now if the parents can be as carefree about his head as Cavell is, we will be in good shape.

The pictures just don't do justice to the reality. His face is pretty gruesome. He started bruising up in the evening and has already started getting dark around his eyes and down his nose. His forehead is swollen all the way across the front now instead of a round ball. It's actually somewhat comical in a dark sort of way.

What will they think at the YMCA childwatch?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-09T19:44:00.002-05:00

I remember enjoying my first pumpkin chocolate chip cookie in the English Department at BYU. They were from the Provo Bakery (190 E 100 N) and I was told they were the BEST version I would ever try. I believed it. Due to different circumstances in life (that whole "gluten free family" thing being one) I haven't had a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie since I left the department. I no longer know what about those cookies made them that fabulous in my memory, but I have thought of them often, with longing.

I was recently informed that this recipe was the one to try for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It happens to be the recipe of my running friend, Heidi. It shouldn't surprise anyone, I have now made a gluten free version.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Food for Thought: Where Flours Bloom)
yield 3½ - 4 doz.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin purée
1 egg1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
2/3 cup corn starch
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp each cloves, nutmeg, ginger

1 c. mini semisweet morsels

Directions:
Cream butter and sugars together. Beat in egg, vanilla and pumpkin. Combine flours, xanthum gum, baking soda, salt and spices. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips to the creamed mixture and mix to combine. Refrigerate dough for a couple of hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. With wet fingers, slightly flatten and smooth the tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just set.

We all thought these were very yummy. They reminded us of little bites of a delicious cake. Are they as good as the cookies I remember from school? I don't know, but I do know that I had to lock up the cookies I could save from my family's greedy maws before all 4 dozen were gone in a single afternoon.

Brown Buttercrunch Cookies

2010-10-08T11:41:00.016-05:00

I checked out Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book! from the library.

Alayna and I went thru and marked all of the cookies and treats we wanted to try (that weren't just a chocolate chip cookie base with alternate mix-ins). Then I determined which had ingredients most likely to be on hand. From those, I had to guess which ones might be adaptable for Gluten Free flour substitutions. 200 recipes were ultimately narrowed down to 5 MUST MAKE treats before we need to return the book. Brown Buttercrunch Cookies was the first.

Brown Buttercrunch Cookies
yield: 2-1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
Cookies:
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar*
1 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick or instant)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour**
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze:
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Melt butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar over moderate heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high. When mixture boils, remove from heat and stir in oats, flour, and vanilla.
Drop by half teaspoons 3 inches apart onto lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes or until mixture spreads, bubbles and begins to brown. Let cookies cool for 1-2 minutes before rolling.
Roll around a wooden spoon handle, creating a tube. If cookies become too brittle, return to oven for 30 sec. to soften, then try again. Cool rolled cookies completely.

Chocolate Glaze:
Heat cream in microwave safe bowl until scalded. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and corn syrup. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes for chocolate to melt. Mix until smooth.
When cookies are cool, dip half of each cookie into chocolate glaze. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set.

*I only had light brown sugar, so added 2 tsp of molasses to the corn syrup
**I used 1/4 cup each of Rice Flour, Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch

Notes
I figured out to drop ALL of my 1/2 tsps of cookies onto one long piece of waxed paper. Then, when it was time for a new tray, I only had to transfer 6 of the blobs with my silicone spatula. Otherwise, my mixture was cooling off between batches making them hard to portion.

The recipe is not kidding about dropping by 1/2 tsps 3 inches apart! These puppies spread. I use half sheet pans for my baking (with a liner that I love) and only placed 6 cookies each time. That worked well, because there is not much time for rolling. I started about 25 seconds after removing from the oven and sliding the liner onto a cooling rack. While it was still too hot to want to touch, but not so hot that the cookie was too melt-y to roll. I had to roll fast, or the last one was too brittle and I didn't want to have to put it back in the oven because the next batch was already in. I only needed to bake them for 5 minutes.

Because you are only using 1/2 tsp per cookie, this makes well over 2-1/2 dozen cookies! Or maybe they are referring to the number of cookies that will actually turn out right. A fair number of mine broke,

the roll became flat,

or weren't quite a roll because of flat parts cracking and poking up.

I did get some good rolls.

Verdict
Meh. Not bad exactly, but not at all worth the effort and overheated fingertips.

I think there is WAY to much butter in these. Making them my hands became greasy and there were actually bubbles in the layer of butter left on my liner after each batch that I had to wipe off. After I finished, I double checked that it said 1/2 cup of butter and not 1/2 a stick. It really wanted the whole stick! Even the cooled cookies left my fingers greasy.

These aren't good cookies for nibbling either. Because they are so brittle, one bite seems to make the whole thing shatter. Cavell decided he needed to eat his over the garbage can.

Edit to add:
I am more willing to call this a candy, like a brittle, rather than a cookie. And, if I am in the mood for such a candy, I would rather make microwave peanut brittle. I'll save that recipe for a later post. If I want a light, sweet oat cookie, I will be making the Lacy Oatmeal Cookies.

Artisan Bread

2010-10-03T13:39:00.011-05:00

A while ago (January), Paul sent me a link to a recipe for a simple, free-form gluten free bread. The exciting part for me was that I had heard about the book (or maybe it was their first book) thru regular flour users that were loving the whole rustic bread idea and having great results using this method.
When a different GF blogger recently posted her great results and love for this bread I decided I would give it a go. I even had everything on hand.

Gluten-Free Crusty Boule
Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves

2 cups Brown Rice Flour
1 1/2 cups Sorghum Flour
3 cups Tapioca Flour (also called tapioca starch)
2 tablespoons yeast (can be reduced but you will have to increase the rise time)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (increase or decrease to taste)
2 tablespoons Xanthan Gum
2 2/3 cups lukewarm water
4 large eggs, whisked together
1/3 cup neutral-flavored oil or olive oil
2 tablespoons honey or sugar

Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt and xanthan gum.
Combine the oil, sugar and water, set aside.
Dump the eggs into the dry ingredients and then stir while you gradually pour and mix in the oil and water.
Stir until the dough is nice and smooth. Cover and rest on the counter for about 2 hours. Place the dough in the refrigerator and store for up to 7 days.

On baking day remove 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough. Use wet hands to smooth out the surface of the dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest on the counter for about 90 minutes. 30 minutes before baking time preheat the oven with a 5 1/2 quart Dutch Oven in it to 500 degrees.

The dough will not have grown much while resting, but it will seem a little bit puffier. Use a serrated knife to cut slashes in the dough. Lower the parchment and bread into the pot. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the heat down to 450 and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Allow the bread to cool completely before eating.

Because they said it makes 4 loaves, I halved the recipe. It's a lot of flours and xanthum gum to risk wasting on an experiment. When it was time to divide, I even weighed my dough balls. 2 dough balls, 1-pound each.

Look how well that turned out.
For reference, that is a sandwich bag the "loaf" is sitting on.
Can you guess how the inside turned out? That's right. Dense and heavy, and not in a good, hearty bread sort of way.

This is ALL the slices I got from a loaf.

I don't know why I keep following, to the letter, recipes that have me mix my yeast in with the dry ingredients. It ALWAYS fails. I don't think the beginning dough ball rose at all. But then, for the instructions to reassure me that I shouldn't expect the individual loaf dough balls to grow during their rest wasn't encouraging either. I know my yeast is still good. I am strict about checking the temperature of my water so I don't kill the yeast. IF I was going to try this again, I would let the yeast grow in the sugar water mixture instead. But, I don't think I'm going to try again. The flavour wasn't that impressive when I already have a bread recipe that has been successful every time. Although this does use less flours, yeast and xanthum gum per loaf - which could be worthwhile if they would rise more, you know, to the size of a regular loaf.

Lex, Again

2010-09-29T19:45:00.001-05:00

Do you remember when we shared that Lex was becoming mobile? He must have known we posted that and wanted to get further ahead. A week later he is everywhere and anywhere he wants to be. I caught up to him roving through the kitchen trying to follow his siblings outside!

Paul was recently teasing him about being just a baby, who couldn't even cross the midline. Crossing midline is an important neurological and physical developmental stage in infants. It usually occurs between 8-12 months of age. I, as the proud, frivolous, indulgent, mother have decided that Lex crosses midline on a regular basis and is advanced for his age. Paul, as the cold, callow, and objective, yet highly experienced and handsome, wheelchair professional who has done what it takes to help small children as well as adults cross midline for their first time, bases his more realistic opinion on actually observing Lex as he moves and plays.

This is not an example of crossing the midline.
Not even close.

This is an example of how cute Lex is sitting and playing with the alligator. Oh, did I mention the sitting? Yes, he is able to do that unsupported now. Yes, I am a proud mama chatting about her baby doing everyday things that every baby does.

Lex Developments

2010-09-22T11:02:00.008-05:00

Lex is growing up. He is much more fun to be around. Now when I leave him in ChildWatch at the gym, he doesn't cry the whole time. He has begun to play and have an interest in things. Like computers.

They start so young.

Lex is also becoming more mobile. The first clue is when you go to get him in the morning and he is not where you laid him down. We find he is on the other side of the crib, facing the other direction and flipped over. Instead of the "army crawl", Lex began moving with a full body "worm" motion. Now, he is working up to actual crawling.

Giggles, squeals, coos and babbles are his new form of communication as well. His favourite babble seems to be "ma". This means he says it more than once and I get to hear "mama" often! While I'm sure this is not actually a first word, I will take it.

Don't let the pictures fool you. This child stills retains a lot of resentment and anger over something. That much is evident in his screams. Happily, the interludes between crying jags are growing longer and are beginning to be filled with some pleasant indicators of personality development.

Cavell

2010-09-21T11:15:00.006-05:00

Cavell loves the camera. Cavell prefers to take pictures of himself. He seems to be most interested in his mouth.

I think it may be time for a lesson in the basics of photographic framing, composition, light and focus. Any volunteers?

Flamenco!

2010-09-09T06:29:00.002-05:00

Alayna has been taking a Flamenco dance class for a couple of months. This evening she participated in a demonstration at the library.

A few pictures before everything started.

Her teacher, Cristabell, gave a demonstration with the castanets.

Alayna danced.

and the finale with the whole class.

Alayna received many complements from the crowd of spectators. One lady was so impressed she commented that, "You can tell that she dances from her heart."

Original Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate Cake

2010-09-09T06:25:00.001-05:00

We made German Chocolate cake, gluten free. It was delicious!

We used the recipe from the Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate bar, but subbed in our gluten free flours*.

We did "cheat" and used Betty Crocker's Coconut Pecan frosting.

Gluten Free flour substitution
*2 cups flour =
1 1/4 c Rice Flour
6 Tbs + 2 tsp Potato Starch
3 Tbs + 1 tsp Tapioca Starch
2 tsp Xanthum Gum

Original Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate Cake

1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup Water

4 Eggs, separated

***2 cups Flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 cup Butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup Buttermilk

Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

HEAT oven to 350°F.
COVER bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round pans with waxed paper; spray sides with cooking spray. Microwave chocolate and water in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
BEAT egg whites in small bowl with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form; set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.
ADD egg whites; stir gently until well blended. Pour into prepared pans.
BAKE 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Immediately run small spatula around cakes in pans. Cool cakes in pans 15 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Spread Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting between cake layers and onto top of cake.

Bounce

2010-08-25T11:32:00.002-05:00

Lex is now at the age where he can actually "do" things. This is a quick clip of him on his bouncy chair. He was hanging out while we were getting breakfast ready, when we heard giggles along with a bit of rattling.

Sadly, my camera doesn't have sound when it makes a video.

First Day of School

2010-08-23T11:49:00.004-05:00

Alayna started 1st grade! She is still in the Dual Language program and is very excited to learn more this year. There was much excitement for her new backpack. It is pink and has 8 pockets!

Alayna wanted to start the school year with straight hair. We also added a few shimmers for her first day. She asked me to write a note to her new teacher so that she can recognize her without her curls.

Alayna's Creation

2010-08-02T11:59:00.006-05:00

This is a hair-do that Alayna created* by herself.

She says they are "golden roses" around her head "like a crown."

Can you see it?

She also said the curls needed to hang down from each rose, to be the stems.

*creation - Alayna thought of it and explained what she wanted. I actually did the hair.

Everything's Coming Up Annie!

2010-07-31T23:08:00.001-05:00

I was able to take Alayna to her first play. Annie!

GNO!

The theatre

Tickets in hand.

Waiting for the show to start.

Intermission

Alayna would not clap for Miss Hannigan, Rooster or Lily because they are mean. But, she did say that the people playing them did a good job. She was so excited watching the show that she kept creeping to the edge of her seat, until she was almost standing and taping her feet. I tried to watch her as much as the show, and there was always a smile on her face. A couple of times I even caught her mouthing along to the songs.

Alayna got to meet Annie after the show, and she gave her a hug. She was very excited about that. Sadly, no picture. Of course, Annie never curled her hair and had changed into regular clothes before she came out, so most would have wondered who this girl was that Alayna was hugging if I had taken a picture.

Project

2010-07-29T12:29:00.002-05:00

The children did an art project this week.

Peeling the wrappers off of ALL the broken crayons.

Sorting out the different colours.

The black, dark blues and purples where hard to tell apart.

Look at all those crayons!

Taking them out.

A new set of crayons.

Using the new crayons.

They don't work very well this way. We are going to break them in half to make "corners" that should colour better.

Prince Lex

2010-07-27T13:49:00.001-05:00

Alayna made a crown for Lex.

(it even matched his outfit)

She is the Princess, Lex is the Prince and Cavell is the dragon.

Paddington

2010-07-01T13:24:00.004-05:00

Lex was quite upset last night. Alayna suggested turning on his Paddington mobile. It worked.

Ah, the mad skills of focus and amusement at work.

The Fashion Show

2010-06-30T18:59:00.004-05:00

When Grandma Onines came to visit she brought many things. Gifts include: toys, dress ups, projects and clothes. Some of those clothes were projects for Grandma to finish while she was here. It turned out to be a good thing. She was able to measure and try the dresses on Alayna. While she has always been petite, we discovered she has been growing taller.

Following is the fashion show of Alayna in the dresses that Grandma Onines made for her.

This is an absolute princess dress. It's pink with butterflies AND sparkles.

This dress is Tutti Fruiti. The necklace was one of the projects brought to do with the kids. Alayna made hers before she saw the dress, but it matches as if made for it.

This is the dress made at Great Grandma Onines' house. She (Great Grandma) had decided to make dresses to send to the girls in Haiti through the Hearts Out to Haiti Mission. She asked the ladies in her Relief Society if they would make them with her. The other ward in her building wanted to help as well. Then the other wards in her stake joined in. In all, "189 handmade dresses and 150 T-shirts for girls and 30 pairs of vibrant-colored shorts for boys" were made and delivered. After helping with all of these dresses, my mom (Grandma Onines) made one more for Alayna out of some scrap fabric - that has sparkles. There were also shorts made for Cavell and Alayna.

The final dress is also from Great Grandma Onines' stash of fabric. Do note the pose. It was difficult to get any plain pics of Alayna in her new dresses. Something about putting on a fashion show means little girls must strike many poses.

Book Report

2010-06-28T18:31:00.001-05:00

Alayna, at 6 years of age, completed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this evening. This is her very first "BIG" book with multiple characters, main and secondary story lines, and a moral to be told. She devoured the book over the last couple of weeks, reading whenever possible. I remember asking her to put her book away while eating breakfast one morning because she wasn't eating, or she was dripping milk from her spoon onto the pages.

At the end of the book, Alayna gave us an impromptu oral book report. She described all of the characters including their satirical demise in the Chocolate Factory as they succumbed to their individual vices. She commented on the humor of a glass elevator transporting a bed full of grandparents through the roof. She even through out some random trivia that Grandpa had been in bed for the last 20 years. She summed up the general plot and shared her favorite parts.

What an amazing girl. I think we as parents have just had it made incredibly clear that our job is not necessarily to teach Alayna, who taught herself to read, but to make sure that she has every opportunity to learn available, and to make sure that she is never told that she is too young to do the work of learning.

Please, Sir, can I have s'mores?

2010-06-26T16:57:00.009-05:00

Because the family is watching Oliver right now . . .

and we made S'MORES!!!

That's right, we made gluten free graham crackers. We followed this recipe*, but ours didn't turn out quite the same. I didn't get a dough ball; just a mixture the consistency of frosting. The first time I tried to roll it out. It didn't work. The "dough" was too thick, and we ended up with soft cookie bars that barely stayed together. But, they tasted good.

This time I "frosted" the whole pan instead of rolling it out. That seemed to work, we ended up with some nice graham crackers. Some where a little softer and some where a little more crisp (and cracked). All tasted good. So good that I had to rescue enough from snacking fingers in order to make the REAL treat.

Can you believe my children have NEVER had s'mores before?!? Alayna thought they were the BEST and wanted us to make them again tomorrow. That's a no-go. But we will have them again. and again . . .

* We will make a couple of changes if we use this recipe next time. First, we will replace 1/2 cup of the brown rice flour with almond flour. We did that this time and it was extra good. Then, to try and get a dough ball, we will only add 3 Tablespoons of the milk to start with. If we need more liquid we will just add a little more at a time. Otherwise I think we might try this recipe.

A Picture of Lex

2010-06-25T16:00:00.002-05:00

Because people want to see pictures of babies as they grow, I thought I should share the most recent one of Lex.

The Big Visit Means a BIG Blog Post

2010-06-14T20:31:00.002-05:00

Grandpa and Grandma Onines came to visit the Jensen home. Alayna had a list of things she really wanted to do with her grandparents. Visit the Alamo, make a craft, bake cookies, eat pizza, go bowling and go swimming. Read on to see how we did.

Arriving late Thursday night the children allowed their grandparents to sleep in Friday morning while we went to the gym. After, an enjoyable afternoon was spent getting to know each other. Grandma makes that fun by bringing projects.
Saturday, the grandparents watched the children while Paul and I went for a run together.
The main event was Lex's baby blessing on Sunday.

Little brag, notice my knitting.
The blanket was from Alayna's blessing, the vest from Cavell's blessing and the booties where knit for Lex.

Monday I encouraged my parents to take a true vacation day for themselves and sent them to Gruene. I think they had a good day. We went to the grocery store.

Tuesday the kids and I spent a fantastic afternoon with my parents visiting the Wildlife Ranch.

This was the best shot I could get of the children and the absolute JOY they had on the safari.

In the petting zoo Cavell briskly walked from goat to goat giving them a pat or a hug and telling them, "hello."

Alayna really wanted the goats to eat out of her hand.

Grandpa got up close and personal with the zebras.

Grandpa said he wanted to experience real Texas bbq while here and we delivered. Paul introduced them to Cooper's BBQ. They ordered pork ribs.

Wednesday, oblivious to the flooding in our town, we took a trip down to the Alamo. (Does anyone else always think of Pee-Wee Herman when the Alamo is mentioned? Just asking.) I managed to take NO pictures of this outing. It was a quick trip. Paul called me, worried about more flooding, and wanted to make sure his family was able to get home. I don't think any of us minded. It was HOT and I don't think we would have lasted long enough to meander along the Riverwalk.

Thursday my parents ventured out on their own again. I believe the BX was involved. Anyone that knows my dad will not be surprised. They also visited Natural Bridge Caverns.

Friday we went bowling at the base. Alayna was excited, but Cavell was in LOVE.

The ramp was GREAT! No waiting as a child's ball r_o__l___l____s down the lane.

GPAW shared his first roll with Cavell. They had a rough time as a team. For the next game Cavell got his own game, and Grandpa was able to bowl a better game.

Grandpa even holds babies when they cry.

Saturday began with some baking. This is something the children love to do, and it was a chance to show Grandma how much they enjoy their Christmas presents.

Oh, they made snicker-doodles, by the way.
They are delicious, like eating tasty air.

Grandma had heard about a cultural fair at the Institute of Culture and wanted to go. Driving around to find parking, we realized it was quite crowded. Walking from our parking spot, through a different fair and to the entrance, we realized it was VERY HOT and we were not prepared beyond sunblock. The poor children were very red and based on the number of people Alayna was bumping into I would say they were close to heat exhaustion. We decided an outdoor fair was not a good idea.

We went to Mi Tierra at Market Square instead. Lots of water later, and a good meal, we had an enjoyable time wandering around the market while Paul waited in line for the bakery for some dulces.

This little gal was singing in the square. She's only 12. She was amazing. I think Cavell was in love; he sat right down on the pavement to listen to her. We were getting rosey from the heat again. I don't know how she could handle it and sing.

After church, Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa were able to enjoy some gluten free pizza with the family before they had to pack for their early flight. There was also a fashion show, but I think that deserves its own post.

Thank you for the visit. We love you and hope you had as great a time with us as we had with you.

Box Tops

2010-05-16T13:39:00.008-05:00

We have been collecting Box Tops 4 Education. Last school year Alayna's school earned $380 thru the program. With the collection in November they earned $553 so far this school year. This week is her school's final box top collection for the 2009-10 school year.

Here are Alayna's box tops counted up.

For every 20 boxtops Alayna brings in her name is entered in a drawing for a prize. This collection, the prize is a $50 gift card to Toys 'R Us. Alayna has five entries here.

We can't use a lot of the convenience food products that have box tops on them. Alayna is happy that there are box tops on the Chex cereal we can eat, and buy regularly. Not to mention the gluten free Betty Crocker mixes. Alayna asked her grandparents and great-grandparents to look for boxtops on any of the products they used, (i.e. Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Ziplock, Hefty, etc.). They found some and sent them to her. She was very excited to receive the mail.

"Thank you to my Grandmas and Great-Grandma!"

Please check out Box Tops 4 Education. There are nearby schools that have earned over $6,000! The top box top school in the nation is in TX and earned over $12,000!! Alayna would be very excited if you sent your box tops to her.

Boys

2010-05-14T16:27:00.004-05:00

This is how our boys look when I am trying to get us out the door to pick Alayna up from school.

It will be nice when school is out for the summer and I won't have to interrupt their naps to pick up Alayna.

Baby Lex

2010-05-11T11:41:00.005-05:00

I know that there are many of you that want to see more pictures of Lex. The thing is, we don't have many pictures of him. Babies just don't do much. Right now we are most excited when he does the least possible.

So here is a picture of Lex doing what we love the most:

Sleeping - without being held!
Priceless.

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-06T20:46:00.003-05:00

Being in the dual language program in Texas it would surprise none of our readers that Alayna took part in a Cinco de Mayo program. What would surprise you is that it took place on the 4th.

She told us all about her big skirt that is the colors of la bandera Méxicana, and that she had to hold it out, like this . . .

She demonstrated how she would turn, with her arm up in the air, and her partner holding her hand.

Many of the boys and girls dropped their arms the moment they were done with the presentation part of the dance.

Alayna's partner was a young gentleman and gave her his arm the entire time they were on stage, but not dancing.

It really was an enjoyable program. Cavell, Lex and I were able to see the morning performance and went with Paul to see the evening show.

AB Does Gluten Free?

2010-05-01T19:21:00.014-05:00

We have a gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe that we have been using for years and enjoy (no nuts, extra chips). But, what if there is another recipe out there that is better?

This weekend I tried out Alton Brown's recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. It is his "Chewy" take* on the Toll House Cookie recipe, using gluten free flours.

They are BIG! Twice the size of our regular cookies.

Except, I don't think he knows much about gluten free flours. Anyone who has watched an episode of Good Eats that involves baking knows that AB LOVES gluten and all its properties.

Yep, they look good, and taste alright. But, Alton's GF substitution was a lot of brown rice flour with a little bit of corn starch and tapioca flour. Anyone that bakes with gf flours regularly knows what will happen if you just use brown rice flour; a GrItTy texture.

Should we now try to adapt this recipe? Use a different flour mixture, adjust the brown to white sugar ratio, use some shortening instead of all butter? Or, do we move on to the next Gluten Free Chocolate Chip recipe? Should the next recipe be Ginger Lemon Girl's BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies or should we try her Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Of course, next week we might make a different kind of cookie, or an entirely different type of treat altogether.

* Transcript of episode

Hula Hoop

2010-04-25T20:20:00.003-05:00

Alayna has been practicing a lot.. Today I realized she really can hula-hoop!

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

2010-04-24T11:00:00.009-05:00

Paul's co-worker directed him to the BEST gluten free recipe for banana bread. It was perfectly dense, moist and delicious.

I was directed to a divine sounding* recipe for coconut banana bread with lime glaze.

*sounding - because I will never actually make the recipe to know if it tastes as good as it sounds.

And so I used both to make our own Gluten Free Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze recipe. And our version makes two loaves!

Yes, there was only half of one loaf left to take a picture of.

We really did consume it that quickly.

Gluten Free Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
adapted from Gluten Free Mommy and Our Best Bites

Ingredients
1/4 C Quick-Cooking Oats (I just ground some old fashioned oats a little)
1/4 C Almond Flour (I used the pulp left over from making almond milk, dried it and ground it down to powder)
1/2 C Sweet Rice Flour (aka glutinous rice flour - which contains no gluten)
1 C Tapioca Flour/Starch
1 C Rice Flour
2 Tbs Flax Meal
3/4 C Brown Sugar
3/4 C Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Xanthum Gum
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt

6 Tbs Butter, melted and slightly cooled (to avoid cooking the eggs)
2 Eggs, whisked
1/2 C Yogurt, Plain or Lime flavoured
1/4 C Milk or Lime Juice
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
3-4 Bananas, mashed

3/4 C Shredded Coconut

Topping
4 Tbs Shredded Coconut

Glaze
3/4 C Powdered Sugar
2 1/2 Tbs Lime Juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Add wet mixture to dry mixture until just combined. Stir in the 3/4 c coconut.

Pour into two (2) greased/sprayed 9 x 5 loaf pans. Sprinkle each with 2 Tbs of coconut for topping. Bake for 55-60 minutes, covering after 40 minutes when the coconut topping is toasty. Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan than remove.

Whisk together powdered sugar and lime juice and drizzle/pour over both loaves. Cool another 15 minutes. Slice and devour!

Big Brother

2010-04-20T10:00:00.004-05:00

Cavell is a wonderful big brother. Before Lex was born, Cavell and Alayna took a class at the hospital for big brothers and sisters. They were able to see the delivery room and the nursery (with a new baby). They were able to make their own hand prints with the "one sided ink" the hospital uses for baby's footprints.

They were taught about washing their hands before touching baby and how to be gentle and soft with the baby, especially baby's soft spot. Then they practiced holding a baby using a realistic doll.

It was very neat when Cavell asked to hold his new baby brother. He sat down and got his arms ready. One on the armrest to help support Lex's head and the other held up to immediately wrap around Lex and hold him.

Announcing Alexander Lee Jensen

2010-04-14T09:28:00.006-05:00

Born April 13, 2007

7lbs 2 oz

20 inches long

Blue Eyes

Cleft chin

Wise perspective on life

Stacy wanted to make sure she had a picture of herself in the hospital not wearing a gown. So in the middle of her contractions, she stops in the lobby, refuses the cute little 'ol lady with the wheelchair, and poses for a picture.

More pictures will follow as well as the story of the "explosive" event.

Showing off - again

2010-04-08T13:34:00.007-05:00

Yes, I knit another shawl. The Aquila. That is Latin for Eagle. It's something about eagle feathers on the edges, and water and the droplets on the water from the wings, I think. The instructions were in Finnish, but I knew enough about knitting to figure it out from the charts. It only took me one month!

Our Easter

2010-04-04T10:00:00.010-05:00

Let's start with the fun hairdo. We found it here, and Alayan HAD to have her hair done like that.

Egg-Tails! haha

Taking turns to dye the eggs.

This was Cavell's first year to participate in this step. There was a lot of jumping and running around, but he was very careful when it was his turn with the eggs.

Alayna was a pro this year.

Before we started, Alayna kept saying we were going to paint the eggs. She really thought we would use brushes and make designs. She used crayons instead.

Cavell loves to try anything Alayna does and enjoyed using the crayons as well.

Eggheads!

Easter morning involved a special breakfast.

Overnight Apple French Toast.

drool . . .

I found the recipe here. Unlike the original poster, we made the apple syrup. When it was baked we could see why she doesn't, but the syrup was too yummy not to consume.

We used our successful bread recipe, adding 3/4 cups of raisins. To try and get the swirl of real cinnamon raisin bread I folded a 1/4 c sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon mixture in before putting it in the pan.

Because it was wet outside, we had our egg hunt inside. Both children were very excited to start. It was hard to get a picture of them.

Alayna was an egg finding machine! Egg after egg. I remembered quickly how difficult it is to take pictures of children finding eggs. Lots of blurry pictures of their backs. Alayna was just too fast for any pictures.

Cavell would find an egg and get excited. He would finally put it in his bucket while we encouraged him to find another. Then he would take the egg out and put it back to look for another. By the time we got him to keep the egg in his bucket AND add another, Alayna's bucket was full. We had to stop her from looking in the other half of the room.

After a lot of coaching, Cavell did find the rest of the eggs. Following, large quantities of chocolate were consumed and Conference was watched. Overall a wonderful day to spend together as a family.

A Little Exercise

2010-04-01T14:39:00.007-05:00

Even during my pregnancy I have tried to maintain my fitness level.

But, when that weight becomes easy, they tell you to up the weight.

I currently bench double Alayna's weight right now. But, the balance is very different between a barbell and a 6 year old. Since I'm not supposed to increase my weights during pregnancy, I've just been increasing the reps. I look forward to getting back to the gym post-pregnancy and recovery and seeing how much more weight I can actually do.

Kite Day

2010-03-31T13:06:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was kite day at Alayna's school. Paul surprised her before school with a new Disney Princess kite. She said it was a really fun morning and wanted to fly her kite again.

She had enough patience to wait until Paul came home.

She came home from school with 2 kites, and said Cavell could use the one that she had made in art class. We were very impressed with how well her paper kite flew (I was helping Cavell).

It wasn't the perfect kite flying breeze, but it was the perfect evening together.

Is anyone else now singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite!" to themselves? I am.

Birthday Girl!

2010-03-22T09:59:00.006-05:00

Oh my, she is 6!!

In the morning she received some little gifts and cards from us. A little Rainbow Dash pony, Tinkerbell socks, and a flower headband (the one in the picture). In the afternoon she collected the mail and opened her cards from her grandmas and grandpas. This included money that she plans to use to purchase a doctor's kit.

Alayna and Cavell talked about her cake all day. There was much excitement for the cool whip frosting. We added a little strawberry juice with the milk.

We used Bette Hagman's gluten free lemon cake recipe, but subbed all lemon juice and lemon-lime soda with strawberry nectar, and the vanilla with strawberry extract. Simple strawberry preserves for the filling, and 6 strawberries on top. Very yummy. Paul, Cavell and I each had a little more. Alayna's piece was so BIG she couldn't finish hers.

We surprised her with a few more gifts after the cake. Her "real" presents.

The Princess and the Frog movie from Mama and the big Rainbow Dash from Cavell. Look at the joy and excitement in her face over these gifts. Only to be completely trumped by her Papa's gift a moment later.

"EEP!!!"

My little girl has her on mp3 player. We loaded it up with Playhouse Disney, Disney Princesses, old school songs from Disney movies, Disney songs in Spanish, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lavato, Jonas Brothers, and Taylor Swift. She loves it.

Her birthday celebration continues throughout this Spring Break week. Each day she is having a playdate with a different friend. She is very excited to have strawberry shortcake for snack, using the leftover frosting and a super yummy gluten free pound cake.

36 Weeks

2010-03-21T21:23:00.006-05:00

I don't know why, but I feel that 36 weeks is a good time to show some more pictures of the pregnancy progression. So here they are.

Only 2-4 weeks to go. I'm hoping 2. Paul probably wants something closer to the 4 range.

I'm feeling really good. I still go to the gym. But, I can't run or even walk on the treadmill and my baby belly is starting to get in the way of riding the bike. Oh well, I still lift some mean weights.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2

2010-03-17T11:57:00.001-05:00

I suppose it's only fair to post a pic of Cavell in his green as well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T11:46:00.004-05:00

I thought we would share a quick post of Alayna and her hairdo for this fun day.

Too bad the gold glitter didn't work this morning.

Snow

2010-02-23T16:50:00.008-06:00

I tried to get some shots of the snow we had today.

Can you see the flakes?

I guess it's harder to see than I thought. They were actually rather large, but wet.

Here you can see the total accumulation at our house.

After picking Alayna up from school we did see some houses with real accumulation on their roofs. Perhaps enough to make a snowball or two.

Since snow is a rarity in this part of Texas, Paul reported some of the reactions from his co-workers. There was the usual race to the windows to stare in wonder at the falling flakes. There was lots of panic and attempts to leave work early based on fears of icy death roads or being stranded at work. Salt was actually spread on the sidewalks to melt the snow. The temperature never got below 36 degrees.

Conversation at the Breakfast Table

2010-02-23T16:29:00.007-06:00

Cavell: Knock, knock.
Alayna: Who's there?
Cavell: Banana.
Alayna: Banana, who?
Cavell: Banana goes to Grape's house!

Both: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Cavell: Your turn!
Alayna: Knock, knock.
Cavell: Who's there?
Alayna: Banana.
Cavell: Banana, who?
Alayna: Banana goes to Grape's house!

Both: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Alayna: Your turn!

and repeat (ad nauseam). This is a joke that Alayna learned from her friend, Alex. We have taught Cavell another that he really enjoys.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Chooch.
Chooch, who?
Choochoo, you sound like a train!

But, he always goes back to Grape's house. I just tested this. I did the train joke, we laughed, he said it was his turn, did the train joke, we laughed, he said it was my turn. Train joke again, we laugh, his turn, train joke. I'm thinking I should get the recorder so you can all hear, but he says it's my turn. I start the train joke. "No. My turn!" and we move on to Grape's house. Since I couldn't get a sound recording, I took a picture instead.

Peacock Feathers

2010-02-20T19:36:00.006-06:00

This is a brag post for me. I finished the shawl I have been knitting.

This is the whole shawl, almost. I couldn't quite get tip to tip, it is 88" wide.

"The Peacock Feathers Shawl is a stylized version of a peacock's tail in full display, from the small feathers at the top of the peacock's back, down to the dramatic sweep of the tail."

Here is the tail feather.

Here are some side feathers.

Golly, pictures just don't do it justice. Probably due to my camera and lack of skills with it. I promise it is divine in real life.

Sweet Hearts

2010-02-19T09:31:00.005-06:00

As you may remember, Sunday was Valentine's Day. Alayna wanted a fun heart hairdo. We gave this one a try. Some people could tell it was a heart, and others just thought it made her look like a princess. Mostly, she was very happy with her hairdo.
Alayna had her school Valentine's Day party last Friday. We did a single version of this heart hairdo, with rope braids. When I dropped Alayna off at school on Tuesday (there was no school Monday) I was actually stopped by the Vice Principal to tell me how cute her hair had been and how much everyone loved it. Yes, that put a smile on my face.

Let's throw in a cute picture of Cavell. Paul gave him a haircut, and he is wearing the boots that Paul wore when he was little.