Friday, April 13, 2012

A second family favorite. Blueberry scones. I change some of the items in it.

Blueberry Scones Recipe

Photo by: Taste of Home Blueberry Scones Recipe

You'll want to stash a few of these homemade morsels in the freezer to serve to visitors who drop in unexpectedly. "Just pop a frozen scone in the microwave for 20 seconds or so, and you have a warm treat," suggests Joan Francis of Spring Lake, New Jersey.

Prep: 20 min. Bake: 15 min.

Yield: 16 Servings

20 15 35

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour ( I use gluten free flour, all purpose mixed with rice)
6 tablespoons sugar ( I put 8 TBSP of sugar in to make it a bit sweeter)
4-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, divided
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
I add 2 tsp xathan gum.

Directions

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a bowl, whisk eggs and 3/4 cup milk; add to dry ingredients just until moistened. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; gently knead in the blueberries.
Divide the dough in half. Pat each portion into an 8-in. circle; cut each into eight wedges. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush with remaining milk. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 16 scones.

Editor's Note: If using frozen blueberries, use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving (1 each) equals 220 calories, 9 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 48 mg cholesterol, 274 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

One of our morning recipes, Gluten free breakfast foods.

So we all know how hard it is to find a good gluten free recipe. I've found a few and as I find them I will share the ones our family loves on my blog website. One of our family favorties for breakfast is our famous Gluten free banana muffins.

Moist, tender, and flavorful, you'd never guess these delicious muffins are gluten-free.

Gluten-Free Banana Muffins

(9)	rate this recipe »
gluten free, quick-n-easy
Hands-on time:	15 mins. to 20 mins.
Baking time:	22 mins. to 25 mins.
Total time:	37 mins. to 45 mins.
Yield:	12 muffins
Published:	03/07/2011

Ingredients

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour or brown rice flour blend* ( I just use an all purpose flour gluten free flower and mix a bit of rice flour in it)
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) soft butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses or honey
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup very mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
*See directions below for making your own brown rice flour blend.

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan, or line the pan with papers, and grease the papers.

2) Whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon, and flour or flour blend. Set aside.

3) Beat together the soft butter, sugar, and molasses.

4) Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl between additions.

5) Add the dry ingredients to the mixture in the bowl in three parts, alternately with the mashed bananas, beating well between additions and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl one or two times during this process.

6) After everything is added, scrape the bowl again and beat at medium high speed for 30 seconds

7) Stir in the walnuts.

8) Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, mounding the cups full. The batter will rise above the level of each cup; that's fine.

9) Bake the muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before removing from the pan. Best served warm.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Changes, they are happening all the time.

Alot has happened since my last blog, due to our crazy life the blogs have kind of got lost in the craziness of our lives. But I'm going to do my best to change that for this blog as well as our family one. I want to help people around us understand Autism and the things that go with it. I want to help other families who go through the same daily struggles, I want to share thoughts, tips and tricks. Even things we create with the kids. Life can be full fun and adventurous if we just take the time to make it that way. I also would love to help Doctors, nurses and teachers understand how what they do and say effect our lives. I admit I'm no expert and I don't know everything, but what I do know I would love to share, who knows maybe it will help you somehow....

So a few updates to kind of get us all caught up

Back in December Mathias lost speech therapy services. We all tried our best to save his speech therapy services. We even tried to do co - treats to see if we could help. Much to our dismay we started loosing strides we had made via Occupation therapy.. So we decided that speech therapy would have to be put on hold and re evaluated in 6 months. Not only did we loose progress with speech therapy, occupation therapy but we also lost a bit at home. More stemming and non desirable behaviors. Thankfully we are now coming back up and making progress now.

Also we've started using the Pec system for the kids now above is a photo of the pec book we made. It includes photos of there breakfast foods, lunch foods, toys, feelings and daily activities. It seems to be helping them a bit and gives them a bit more independance as far as choices. But I belive they are still learning to use it... With time I'm sure we will see more progress as we are more consistent with it. Sometimes I forget to use them..... We are still adjusting.

Also we have discovered the boys have a milk allergy and that Adriel has a bit of gluten allergy. The doctor told us to reduce the amount of wheat so for the most part I try to totally cut it out. We also discovered all 3 of the younger kids, Adriel, Mathias and Ellie have peanut allergies. So part of my blog will now include yummy recipes I learn to make that make having a food sensitivity easier to live with.

Another recent thing that has happened is we have discovered that Mathias, and Ellie's peanut allergies are far worse then we had originally though we've now found out that they are fairly sensitive to the oil from the peanut and upon contact have reactions. Though Mathias's is far worse then Ellies. To the point that Mathias and Adriel has been pulled out of school until we can meet with the principle to come up with a feasible solution to insure the safest educational environment for the twins.

Thus far we have noticed only good things since the twins have been pulled from school. Much to our surprise they are doing better at home then they had when they were going to school every afternoon. I'm not an educational specialist, but obviously we are doing something right. We will convene later with the school to brain storm some plans and try to figure out what is helping them to be more productive.

Also in the last few months Ellies teacher through Evergreen in home early head start brought program information about a program to help other parents and to help doctors understand how a diagnosis effects families, it's called the Great MINDS grant... I' excited to participate in a program and as long as Joshs schedule is free will go to a training class April 25th to learn how to present my story to people and doctors. I'm super excited and will let everyone know how it goes....

Anyways on with life I have tons of stuff to do and I have to start on the gluten free buttermilk biscuits... Recipes, and more fun to come later....