crunch time.

today is stressing me out.  I have SO much to do, my list is so long i don't even know where to start! so, i'm sitting with A and putting music on the ipod for the trip.  at least i'm checking off things on my list.

oh yeah, and i'm making this gluten free bread. yep, i'm going crazy trying to pack, clean, and prepare for the trip .. but I decided to try a new recipe cause we are out of bread... I went to the health food store and TRIED to buy GF bread. I tried. but i just couldn't .. it was all hard and awful looking, and so so expensive. I can't pay $6-8 for a loaf of bread when i have all the ingredients in my pantry!i hope it turns out.. i don't have time to make another loaf..

Edited to add...

the bread is great!

packing.

I love traveling, but i HATE packing and unpacking..  unpacking is way worse..  It seems like the whole operation gets more complicated every time we take a trip. (I guess we have been adding kids to the equation pretty quickly if you want to go there)

Last year i had it down. I was good.  I had everything packed in outfits. everything all together, pants and a shirt and coordinating layers in case it was hot/cold.  now? turns out that my big kids don't have that many pairs of pants. so... no clever outfit packing for our nearly 3 week trip.  I'm also going to do a lot of laundry on this trip.. but not being able to organize is driving me nuts. I once read a great blog about packing in ziplock bags.. a whole day's worth of clothes for each kid.. wow. that would be great. (it would also be great if i could find it, oh well) except that my kids don't have enough clothes to do that and i can't predict the weather! the weather is really the big one. these people must be going places with predictable climates. anyway. 


I've done pretty good so far, its only Wednesday and i've packed 3 bags. one for M, one for J and A, and one full of stroller rain covers, rain coats, hats, and ponchos. how this will all fit in the van? i have no idea.  I still have so much left to do that i can't even list it here.  

Now i'm going to try, with the kid's 'help' to go pack my bag.  wait, that's right, i don't have enough underwear for the next 3 days plus what i need for the trip..  i'm going to forget something trying to pack ahead of time.

oh and did i mention we're driving 24 hours, with 3 kids under 6? no big deal i tell you. its no. big. deal. more to come on that.

All fruit smoothie..

 I love smoothies. 


For a long time i thought i couldn't have them, because i couldn't tolerate that much dairy..   then i started ordering smoothies with 'no yogurt' (and no banana, cause i hate bananas) and realized  they were actually pretty good!  and i love being able to say i ate all this fruit for breakfast. 

 I start with a bowl, cut up, peel and add 
1/2 apple
1/2 pear
1/2 kiwi 
1-2 hand fulls of unsweetened frozen berries (i used strawberries and blueberries this is where the peeling stops) 
and some apple juice, just enough to sweeten it and add a little liquid.
i do not use ice (why water it down?) or banana (again, i hate bananas)

oh yeah, and don't forget the spinach! really, you can't taste it ..  and fresh is better than frozen in my opinion.

I use this handy-dandy stick blender  - really, i never thought it could handle frozen fruit, but it does great. oh, and all the half fruits happen because i give the other half to the kids .. you can always use a whole kiwi, and either an apple or a pear .. really, it tastes the same.. you can also use unsweetened apple sauce instead of apple. If you wanted to plan ahead you could slice and peel and freeze your fruit ahead of time and have a more frozen and faster smoothie..

easy gluten-free dairy free any kind of muffins

 2 cups gluten free flour*  

1/2 cup sugar (any sugar, i've coconut sugar, raw sugar, evaporated cane juice etc. )

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk (i have used almond, rice, or coconut)

1/3 cup vegetable oil (i used coconut oil this time, i've also used olive oil)

I added chocolate chips and vanilla extract .. with whole grain flours you may need more liquid but i didn't .. i threw everything together but if you want to be proper, you mix dry ingredients, then wet then combine..   then fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full and bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. 

ta da! Muffins!

*a GF AP flour would work - or i mixed rice flour, sorghum flour and potato starch (corn starch works too) - i think i did like 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup starch, 1 cup sorghum .. and about a teaspoon of xanthan gum or guar gum as part of the flour mix

EDIT:  I now use 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup millet millet and 1/2 tapioca starch  - much better! 

once upon a time...

I like lists.  I like to check things off and see that I've accomplished something.  It just isn't the same to write the list and check the boxes at the end of the day, it is ok, but it really doesn't count.  I just can't seem to write a list that I'll stick to ahead of time.. Plus, the every day over and over type stuff like laundry and sweeping the floor, it just isn't that exciting to check that stuff off anymore - yet it takes up so. much. time.

So. what do i need?  another time sucking thing to do - and that is why I'm writing here.  But lets just think of it like a list.. a list of things, because at the end of the year, it'd be really nice to be able to look up that recipe i made up, or feel like i did make at least one thing every now and then.  then somehow sweeping the floor won't be the only thing i did all day.