Mark 9:37

"Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."

Amen.

Mini Post Monday

• It has taken me a while to get into the Christmas spirit this year, but it is slowly creeping up on me.  I guess putting clues to where a treat is hidden in the advent house daily has been getting me in the mood.  However, the thought of wrapping all the gifts I've collected almost kills the joy for me.

• I did finish the Christmas treat boxes I planned with the Hot Chocolate Pods and Truffles.  I even added spiced nuts.  Everything turned out really yummy!

• I really dislike cleaning showers.  If you were to do a random shower inspection, I'd fail 99 times out of 100. But I did clean my shower this morning.  I feel very accomplished.  Anyway, if you were planning to do a surprise shower inspection, today would be a good day, okay?

• Jerry graduates next week!  Woo-Hoo!  Go Jerry!  My husband has an MBA now.

• I am enjoying hearing Christmas music this year.  Most years, I'm tired of hearing it by now.  Isn't that sad?

• Packing for a trip with allergies is a lot of work.  I'm putting together baggies with all the dry ingredients for our baked goods so I don't have to try to find obscure things like amaranth flour in a small town.  So much planning ahead!

• I am so jazzed that the library called today to tell me that the two books I put on hold are available for me to pick up.  It's the little things in life that really float my boat!

Redefining Pie Crust

Every year I make Jerry apple pie for his birthday - it is our family tradition.  Jerry loves apple pie more than any other desert there is, and I didn't want to have to let this tradition fall by the wayside because of allergies.  Jerry cannot have wheat at all, and he has to rotate soy (shortening), both of which seem to be essential for a good pie crust.  But then I found this blog post.  I thought the addition of cinnamon to the pie crust sounded good for an apple pie, and although I have not been very successful with rice flour products turning out well, I decided that for Jerry, I'd give it a try.  I'm really glad I did, because it made an excellent apple pie that the whole family enjoyed! 

(sifting together all the dry ingredients - doesn't the cinnamon look yummy?)

(cutting in the butter - how can you go wrong with butter?)

One big difference from traditional pie crust is that you have to let it refrigerate overnight before you use it.  It is also a bit thicker than a traditional crust, but other than that, I think most people wouldn't think anything of it if I served it up to them!

(ready to refrigerate overnight)

I know that most people reading this blog don't need to make allergen friendly foods, but I wanted to post this anyway for a couple reasons:

• You should try adding cinnamon to the crust of your pie sometime - it's really yummy!
• I am proud of the way my allergy-friendly cooking has improved to the point that I make things that actually taste good!
• You never know when you'll need to make something for a person with allergies or other health problems, and now you'll have a source! :)

Mmmmm....hot apple pie!  Who has the ice cream?

Mini Post Monday

• Did you know that Amazon is giving away free Christmas music this month? Check here every day for a new song to download. However, beware of Dec. 4! Explicit lyrics in Christmas music is jut not my style...
• I found Andrew in the hamper this morning with two pairs of Jerry's underwear hanging around his neck and my pj pants on his head. Yeah, it's a good thing Andrew didn't come with a twin. There just isn't enough trouble in our house for two of him.

Andrew with his two current favorite things: toothbrush and singing snowman.
• The bathroom remodel is going along swimmingly. The old tub/shower enclosure is cut away, a new tub is installed, the tile is demolished, the toilet is out, the sink/counter top is out, all the cabinet doors removed (to be painted), and the one wall that is going to be tiled has been removed and the sheetrock replaced with cement board for tiling! Guess how much of that work I personally have done? :)

This is what it looks like behind/under a bathtub/shower enclosure!
• We found a place that lets you design your own tile mixture! We fell in love with glass tile sheets, but all the ones we found in stores are either rather plain or rather expensive. Jerry found Modwalls and we started playing around with color. Here is the link for the custom blend generator. It is so much fun to play with!  Below is the custom blend of colors we are going to order for our bathroom.  This tile will go on one wall as an accent.

• Aaron has become an avid reader! We are heading out to the library in a few minutes and he will check out 15 or so chapter books. Those will all be read by next Monday's trip to the library! A boy after my own heart!
• Andrew is starting to show signs of more serious food allergy. :( He is red around the mouth after meals quite often, his whole body is covered with spots of eczema, his diapers are not so nice, and he is rather fussy. Sigh. I guess I need to limit what he consumes now, too. I don't think we can get any actual testing done until his is two, but I plan to ask the allergist when we are there next. 
• Sorry about the lack of pictures. I haven't downloaded any all week...maybe I'll get to it later today and add them in!

Dreams Can Come True...

...it can happen to you...

Guess what greeted me at the door when the doorbell rang recently? Do you see the label on the box?

Do you see the shiny red metal? 

Are you drooling yet?  I am.  Unashamedly.  It isn't pretty on me, but I'm okay with that.  Check out my brand-new, Vita-Mix Super 5200 in all its glory!

This baby rocks!  It has both wet and dry canisters, so I can basically make everything short of pure gold come out of this puppy!  I have made all sorts of flours in the dry canister and it works great!  I have also used the wet canister to chop veggies for soup and blend almond butter. I plan to never chop veggies for soup again.  I am not kidding when I tell you that I put a quartered onion in this thing and 4 seconds later had diced onion.  The carrot and celery took about 3 seconds.  I accidentally let it run for close to 5 and so my pieces were super tiny!  I cannot wait to really give it a work out.  Do you know what the coolest thing about it is?  To clean it, you just fill it with water and a drop of soap and let it run for 30 seconds.  It runs so fast that it heats the water and cleans the entire inside like a dishwasher!  Then you just let it dry and it is good to go again!

I paid $20 extra to get it in red, which is crazy!  I think that when you are paying as much as you have to for one of these, they should throw in red, a 20 lb. turkey, and stock options for free, but hey?  Who am I to complain?  Now it matches the rest of my kitchen appliances!

Science!

Did you know that you can grow a new carrot top from the kitchen scrap top of a carrot?

We just put the top of a carrot that I cut off to use the carrot for dinner in a bowl with water.  Within a day, the carrot stump had sent out roots into the water, and in a couple days leaves were popping out of the top!  I wonder if we had put it in the ground if we would have gotten a new carrot.  I'm guessing no, but I wouldn't have guessed all that greenery would grow either!

We also tried sprouting an avocado seed.  I've done this before, always with great results, but for some reason it wouldn't work this time!  We tried two seeds and they both just shriveled up and/or molded. 

Isn't the picture great?  I told Aaron to frown to show that he was sad that the seed didn't sprout.  Apparently, if you tell a six year old to look sullen, he smiles; however, when you try to get him to smile, all you get is sullen.

Pictures of the Day

Rachel got a bead stuck on her tooth.  I thought we were going to have to take her to the dentist for a little while but we finally got it off.

In keeping with our homeschooling weirdness, my children have turned a little bear named Eggs into a mummy.  History, you know.