… who is beginning her transition to sleeping with the big girls!

Recently she announced that she was going to start giving us  turns. Gabby would get to sleep with her one night and we would get to have her for one night. Quite fair – don”t you think? But when it came time for Gabby’s turn Cici redid the math. “I think I will give you TWO nights and so Gabby can have her turn another night!” I was fine with that.

Last night though – she was really in a pickle. I found her standing in the hallway well after she had been sent to bed. She went to the girls room and peeked in. It was all dark and filled with the quiet sounds of sleep. She pulled the door shut and came to my room and stood there for a second. Heaved a heavy sigh and returned to the girls room! Peeked inside and then returned to my room. I took that opportunity to question her as to WHY she was not in bed with her sisters yet?

“I doesn”t know what to do, Mama. If I leep in the deir woom, I will mis DIS room. But if I leep in dis woom I will miss DAT room!”

Poor little girl – what a dilemma! So I solved it for her – “Since the girls are all asleep already – just get into my bed and sleep here tonight.” She was cutting zzzzz in less than a minute.

 

When confronted with this:

A man tells his children: “Yes you can play in the dirt, as long as you put your boots on.” and almost as an after thought “Just don’t fall in.”

A woman realizing that the hole is big enough to swallow a full grown man (Please just examine photo for proof!) upon noting children grabbing boots and running outside decides to follow and  ask her children; “What are you doing on that pile of dirt?”

And when they tell her ‘daddy said they could play in the dirt as long they don’t fall in the hole’, she commands gently chides them to come down off that hill and get on the porch and to NOT move from there  until the hole is filled in!

And that, dear readers, is the difference between a  man and woman! At least in this household!

What exactly does Alleluia mean. If we look it up on dictionary.com we find the following which is pretty accurate as to how we in the church define it.

al·le·lu·ia  [al-uh-loo-yuh]

1.

praise ye the Lord; hallelujah.

noun

2.

a song of praise to God.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English  < Late Latin  < Greek allēlouíā  < Hebrew halălūyāh  praise ye Yahweh

I did some brief research this morning because while I knew that the alleluia is omitted from the Mass during the 40 days of Lent – I was not sure why! According to catholicism.about.com “traditionally, it has been seen as the chief term of praise of the choirs of angels, as they worship around the throne of God in Heaven.” During Lent we are focused more on the “kingdom coming” and not  so much the kingdom as come.  This is evidenced by the readings from Mass, as well as in the Liturgy of the Hours , becoming focused on the old testament journey towards Christ’s salvation.

In addition, to emphasize our own personal journey towards the second coming and our eventual life in Heaven we no longer join in the singing with the Angels and so the church removes the the Alleluia and only brings it back on Easter.

We can help our children experience this in a very visual way if we join in with Catholic Icing as she buries the Alleluia with her children today  or tomorrow. As this is a double birthday in our home – and we have an unplanned Solemn High Mass as well, we will bury the Alleluia tomorrow! I’m looking forward to doing this and if I’m really organized maybe I will even have some pictures to post of it tomorrow. (If taking bets odds are 60 to one I fail… )

If this very simple but very meaningful activity is something you would like to do – click here and drop in on Catholic Icing!

(If you care to read a slightly more detailed description as to why Catholics omit the Gloria/Alleluia from the Mass – click here and here.)

… or in this case a wand!

Cecilia, who is three, was dancing about singing her fairy song as she waved her colourful pencil wand!

“I am a fairy. This is my baby! Here is my wand for changing diapers!“

Where was this wand the past 27 years of my life??

Spring time week one dinner menu

1) Chicken Casserole*

2) Spaghetti**

3) Indian Lentils & Rice ***

4) Mac & cheese & canned stewed tomatoes  (boxed) LEFT OVERS for 14 yr old

5) Baked Beans (variation of this recipe)

6) Barbecue Chicken, potato salad & broccoli

This is a six day menu plan as I have a small fridge and even smaller freezer.  I know – ridiculous given the size of our family! But on day 7 I will go out and get more groceries based on a new plan. Below are some notes.

*Original recipe came from Saving Dinner (p112 of first edition)  & was called Green Chile Chicken Casserole I exchanged 24 oz bottle of mild salsa sauce for the green enchilada sauce because was worried chile sauce would be too hot. Omitted the corn tortillas as was worried they would be soggy. Recipe will be included.

** Spaghetti was served as wheat pasta for majority of family & gluten free pasta for my daughter. I had not discovered corn or rice pasta yet, now I can serve it with gluten free pasta for the whole family. They prefer the rice over the corn pasta. Keep in mind that rice and corn pasta weighs more than wheat pasta so 1 lb of rice/corn pasta yields significantly less than a lb of wheat when cooked. Learned this the hard way!

Rice appears to yield slightly more cooked pasta than corn.

*** INDIAN LENTILS w/rice Our first attempt at this recipe was a fail. UTTERLY! It’s found on page 17 of Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely from savingdinner.com. We hope to dry it again and add in crushed tomatoes and we will also add the rice sooner as it did not cook quickly enough.

NOTE – I DO NOT TYPICALLY CO-ORDINATE DAYS OF THE WEEK WITH DINNER SUGGESTIONS, our schedule will determine when we eat what. I have at time, put certain children’s names with meals so that I know who I am going to ask to make what.

I have a confession to make:

I.Hate.Writing.Menus.

Thank you Bethany for your help today!

She wrote this menu with my assistance – which consisted of muffle moans and groans in response to her questions. In my defense I was nursing the beginnings of a migraine which might have something to do with the changing weather!

Summer Menu – Week One

(Again, I have not associated days of the week with the meal choices, the weather and schedule will determine which day we have what on!)

French Fries, Chicken (Broiled breasts with lemon pepper) Broccoli

Corn Chowder & Biscuits (This chowder recipe will be a crock pot recipe, come back later for actual recipe)

Bean Salad with Salsa & Taco Chips

Sweet n Sour Meatballs, rice and a green vegetable (This is my own recipe -  come back later, my head hurts to much to post it right now! My apologies!!)

Chicken Quesadillas, tomato salad (wheat flat bread for those who tolerate gluten and corn tortillas for those who don’t)

This is a five day menu as we are only a few days from the next pay-cheque and a new monthly budget!

Lunch ideas – not necessarily gluten free!

Egg Salad Sandwiches (gluten free bread, purchased, have not yet found an affordable source of either European flours or rice flour etc.)

Cucumber Sandwiches (see above)

Tomato Soup

Veggies from the garden and dip

The gluten addicted starved mice will play… and eat! Last night it was premade bake in your own oven pizzas from our favorite store. Tonight its freshly baked WHEAT FLOUR bread that will be created into sumptious deli like sandwiches. Complete with our favorite dill pickles on the side and maybe even some soda. Its our last fling with gluten as our daughter returns from her mini vacation with her best friend tomorrow. Then I need to get serious about some summer gluten free menu planning.

I think I have perfected my potato salad recipe, at least I got some fine compliments on it over fathers day weekend. So pop back in later and see if I have managed to get it posted.

Now I’m off to sink my teeth into some delish potato bread with all the fixins for a mouth watering deli sandwich.

I know that I am Scots to the bone and I LOVE CHEAP! And better yet I love free. I am forever comparing oz to cents and seeing how many cents an oz this soup costs over the other and so on. And ‘yardsaling’ – there are only two other people who beat me at yard sales - my daughter and my hubby! They can sniff out bargains galore.

Recently though we moved to an area where yard sales are hard to find so I have had to satisfy my yearnings for cheap, yet good quality, items via the various consignment shops until…. my friend Sonya introduced me to  giveaway lotteries. Now I was vaguely aware of them but had not investigated them too closely until my friend emailed me to ask if I would like to get some FREE dresses as she had won a coupon to this upscale online boutique and had already bought a kazillion dresses (ok I exaggerate, but I’m excited about this whole giveaway thingy!) AND still had some internet cash left…

Would I?

YES! So I was able to pick out three beautiful upscale (and MODEST) dresses for my three youngest girls. Oh – well guess what? There was STILL some cash left on her gift card so would my son like something?? (Are you kidding me??) So a pair of shorts and sneakers later… and I was hooked.

So here I am shamelessly hawking the first giveway I am attempting to enter… HOWEVER – don’t judge me until you see how deliciously cute these shoes are!  And I promise  – you will not find your inboxes crowded with posts that are nothing but a shameless attempt on my part to win free clothing, ipads and the like. Nope! Not a worry. My goal is still to write funny cute posts about my kids, share our struggle joy in pursuing a gluten free lifestyle (Guess what I did the first night my gluten free child was not home??) and to perfect menus and recipes that are gluten free.

In fact – Father’s day dinner was entirely GLUTEN FREE! (Well, I think it was, but I have to admit the barbecue sauce was not home made so potentially had soy or gluten in but hey it was mostly burnt cooked off, right?)

So  now run (aka click) over to this blog and check out the incredibly cute shoes! I was supposed to pick ONE pair as a favorite – come on  – ONE PAIR? I’m feeling an infinity with  Imelda Marcos; but only for my kids’ closets – not mine. Me – I only have three pairs of shoes…. )

(Oh, and in case you are curious as to what I did with Bethany gone for the night… I went straight to the store and bought gluten infested ravioli and jarred spaghetti sauce….)

(PS – clicking on the links to my favorite picks is for your enjoyment only! I do not gain extra entries for them – I just REALLY like the shoes!)

This salad is the creation of a dear friend of mine, Flora, and enjoyed this the first time at her birthday party. And man, can this girl cook and throw a party. Delicious food and all severed with a flair and beautiful style. The true south reigns at her table!

So without further adieu here it is:

Spinach Salad

 Ingredients for actual salad:

2 (6 oz packages) of raw spinach*

½ cup gorgonzola cheese (less or more depending upon desired taste)

½ cup dried cherries

Vinaigrette:

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar

3 Tbsp honey

1 small shallot, finely chopped (You can substitute green onions if need be)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

Servings: 10 ½ cup portions (approximately)

Flora’s Notes:

I have adapted this recipe from several sources. The cheese is optional and other dried/fresh fruit could be substituted for the cherries. The balsamic vinegar in the vinaigrette is my own addition. You might be able to increase salad servings by adding an extra 3-6 oz of spinach while keeping vinaigrette portion the same.

* At a later time Flora and I talked about the amount of spinach and determined that the bags may have been larger. I will be checking when I purchase my spinach from my favorite store. I will be making this salad this week and will updates as to how this amount of vinaigrette spread over two bags of spinach which I am certain is larger than 6 oz. Be sure to check back in a few days to see!

This week I will be serving this as a side to pork chop or chicken main dish along with rice. But this salad makes an awesome side to just about anything and will bring you raves to any function you bring it to. I intend at times, with Flora’s blessing, to replace the dried cherries with bacon bits! We substituted cranberries the first time we made it here at home.. and I have to say – there were a lot of cranberries sitting on the edges of plates. Maybe we just put too many in…

I will not have days of the week written by the dinner meal choices and, I as mentioned in another post these menus are for evening meal choices only  and do not include breakfast and lunch choices. In time I will add these to my published menus. As well, I will be posting recipes that will link to the meal’s name. But this will take time! Be patient with me and soon we will have a smooth flowing well organized set of GF menus & correlated recipes intermingled with my continued personal posts – that will hopefully be amusing, enlightening and enjoyable!

1) Ham & lentil soup  p.268 Sonoma Diet (yeah I have tried that.. lost some weight, then fell back on the sugar wagon and weight loss stopped! But its a great source for GF meal ideas!)

2) Spinach salad & pork chops (or chicken breasts depending on this weeks sales) * rice. (Brown or white) (Sorry this ones in an email to me… but it will be the first one I post and trust me its to DIE for! Really!!!)

3) home made potato salad & roasted ham (the ham leftovers will be used in various ways the next week) Ooops the potato salad recipe is in my head… maybe I can post it the same day as the spinach salad???

4) black bean quesadillas p213 Saving Dinner 1st edition. I’m actually thinking of messing with this recipe so it can be served over rice as the kids were not overly impressed with the corn tortillas.

5) crock pot chowder p 72. Saving Dinner 1st edition. I have made this once before and am looking forward to working it back into my repertoire. Of course, I will have to triple the recipe – as usual.

6) G F Pizza (click here) If you are not aiming for gluten free than order in your favorite pizza, add your favorite brand name to your shopping list or the ingredients for your favorite home made recipe. I’m not sure what we are going to do yet mostly because I have yet to track down sources for the various flours & ingredients needed in GF mommy‘s recipe.

Some weeks I plan out 6 dinners and other weeks – 7.  Not sure why the discrepancy. It just is!

So this week its a six day plan. As even Old Mrs Hubbard would be impressed by the bareness of my cupboard I am pressed for time and recipes will be added daily instead of all of them going up today. So for THIS week the menu planned is for inspiration only. For my readers that is. I have the cookbooks and other copies of recipes to be used. In case you HAVE the same recipe books – where appropriate I have included the book and page number.