New recipe day

I had to take the van to the dealership this morning to have the BCM, that was just replaced, looked at, my van has been acting funny again and not wanting to start like it should.

So since the kids and I were going to be stuck at the house most of the day, or at least till the dealership called , I decided that I would try out a new recipe for GF and DF banana chocolate chip bread  that I found a few weeks ago by glutenfreegoddess , one of the blogs I follow.

( it was either that or clean and do laundry, and well, I prefer baking over cleaning and laundry any day :)

Bananas are a staple fruit in our house. I buy them as often as I buy milk, which is once a week.
I like how versatile they are and how I can just pluck one from the bunch and toss it in my purse for a quick on the go snack for myself and the kids.

But, what I don't like is how they tend to turn brown so fast at certain times, if we don't eat then quick enough, especially during the summer months.
Which means during the summer I tend to do more baking with bananas, then I do during other times of the year.

my ripe bananas

The original recipe called for the bread to be corn and egg free as well, but since I did not have lite olive oil, nor do I like the taste of olive oil when I bake, I used canola oil and I also used cornstarch. I did not add any eggs , just because I did not want to, and I only had 2 bananas instead of the 3 that were called for.

all my ingredients

my helper

Normally when I bake GF I use my mixer, but since I did not need to use that much flour I was able to do it all by hand, well okay more like I used Sasha power :) ( that's what kids are for, right???)

my muscle

And it never fails every time I go to bake or cook Ian likes to take all my dirty measuring cups and play with them. I find it funny and cute, especially since he thinks he is being sly and that no one sees him take the stuff off the counter. ( I hope this is not his future profession, if so he is in for a long "stay" some place not so nice)

my thief

they make great teethers, too

my super cute bread pan my BFF Andrea gave me for Christmas

my bread dough ( tasted good too ;)

By the time it was ready to go into the pan and the oven Sasha was sore so I got to put it in the pan.
(I like how I go to bake and the all flock to the kitchen to help, at times it drives me insane, but I just have to remind myself, it is times like these that I will miss the most when they have all left the "nest". )

in the pan and the oven

Ian waiting for the bread to bake

fresh from the oven, and smelling so GOOD

want a slice???

I have to admit, to date, this has been the BEST tasting banana bread I have ever made, whether GF or not.
Even Gabriel asked for seconds and he normally is a one slice type of guy.

This I will be adding to my 'little green book" of recipes and will be making again for sure, with maybe just a few more chocolate chips added to the mix ( for Sasha of course ;0).

And we are off...

Well Friday has finally gotten here, YAY!!

I am very excited, the younger two and myself are headed to Tx, Mansfield to be exact, for a nice week long, vacation with family and friends, on 480 acres in the middle of nowhere, while Sasha is staying behind to be with G.I.Joe.

I LOVE going home , even if it is for only a week. The food, the HEAT, minus the HUMIDITY, the stores, the sites, CHURCH and catching up with family and friends. Are all things I look forward to when we get a chance to go back to Tx.

I hope to come back with some great pictures and some even better stories.

Plus maybe a little peak at the city we are considering moving to when G.I.Joe gets out of the Army to go to school.

So I will see you in a week. Enjoy :))

our suitcases

Gabriel getting ready

Ian "reading" and waiting for me to dress him

Me still packing

What did you eat growing up?

As we were sitting around yesterday listening to Sasha tell us that there is "nothing to eat in the house!!", when the pantry and frig are filled to the brim with food, just not stuff she WANTED to eat at that time, got me thinking about foods that I ate growing up that I don't buy for our kids.

Which lead to  G.I.Joe and I talking about things we ate as a kid and how our parents did not have all the resources and knowledge available to them, like we do today, to help them make better informed choices about which foods are GREAT for you, which ones are okay to eat, but in MODERATION and which foods you need to really just STAY CLEAR OF all together.

And how even if they did have all the info readily available to them, that our parents would still have shopped the same way that that did, since that is how they were raised and " if it was good enough for me, then it is good enough for you" was often a saying that was tossed around like a hot potato.

 As well as some times it boiled down to money. Since both of us came from single parent families, money was often tight or spent in other areas, and so it was shopping on a budget and that meant buying the cheaper brand items which also translated into the " fattiest" items.

So I decided to make a short and combined list of a few items that we thought of.

And I must say, I am surprise that I am a healthy person today, well as healthy as one can be with UC and Gluten Sensitivity,  given all the fat, sugar and processed foods that I ate growing up.


But, at least now I am armed with knowledge that helps me make informed choices for my kiddos, that hopefully they will continue with as they grow into adulthood and have their own children.


boxed mac and cheese
white bread
whole milk
sunny D
kool-aid
Dr.Pepper
different brands of surgery cereal
ding dongs
bologna
regular ground beef ( the kind with ALL the fat , not 80/20 or 93/7)
 canned corn, green beans and peas only
whole fat cheese
no fruit
hot dogs ( the original all beef )
ramen
 whole fat mayo ( the only kind you could buy)
whole fat butter ( the only kind you could buy)
regular potato chips ( full fat style)

from my fridge

what we ate growing up:

 

A "New" kind of day

This past Thursday the weather was dreary and rainy so the kids and I just had a lazy day. Not really to much on our plates, especially since G.I.Joe had funeral detail and would not be home till later that evening.

view from my back porch, left side

and view from right side of my house

Sasha playing on line

Gabriel and Ian playing the WII

That is, until the UPS man came :)

I wonder what it could be????

my new mixer and yes my 12th kitchen gadget LOL!!!

 It was like Christmas morning around here after he left the box and of course once I saw what it was I JUST HAD TO try it out and what better way to do that than to try out a new recipe that I found, coffee cake muffins, on one of my favorite blogger sites gluten free on a shoestring.

all washed and ready to go

all my ingredients

And since I was testing out new things today, anyway, I decided I would try my new reusable muffin liners too.

the liners

the muffin batter

Gabriel with the batter beater

the boys with the topping beaters

before the topping was added

 after the topping was added

fresh from the oven

how Ian ate his

Gabriel was not going to be out shined by his little brother

and my muffin cups, in tact

These muffins were great. I loved the taste and texture and I assume the boys did too and they went really well with my coffee the next morning :)                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                    
So I will definetly be making them again.                                                                                                                                           As for my new reusable muffin liners, LOVED THEM!! As you can see from the picture, there was no problem with      stickiness, the muffins were very easy to remove from the liner and the clean up was as simple as placing them in the    top rack of my dishwasher and moving on with life.                                                                                                                     
                                           
Over all my day of testing "new things" was a HUGE success. And I can't wait to do it again.                                                                    

Just call me Mrs. Gumby

Merriam-Webster defines flexible as

: characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements <a flexible foreign policy> <a flexible schedule>.

If I had to describe a military wife in one word, that word would be flexible. We might not enter into our marriage being this way, but you can bet the military will "train you up" to be that way in no time at all, whether you want to be or not :)

And this weekend I had the privilege of being flexible on more than one occasion, thanks to the Army :0) 

Yesterday evening G.I.Joe received a call letting him know that he had staff duty on Saturday, starting at 0900 until Sunday at 0900. (Staff duty is a 24hr "gig" where he gets to sit at a desk with 1-2 other soldiers and do what ever staff duty does, but is not allowed to sleep for the 24 hrs nor leave the building. Then he will come home and sleep for about half the day)." So our whole weekend is pretty much shot.", is what I say to him after he gets off the call. "But, at least we have Sunday dinner", is what G.I Joe says back to me. And all I wanted to do was scream "what about our plans?" and to throw a temper tantrum like our 15 month old does. Of course none of this would have done any good, since duty to the job is a BIG part of the military life and any good military wife knows this. So I just grinned and said "yay!!" and went about my not so merry way.

 Nothing like a last minute call from the Army to just throw your whole life upside down, even if it is just for a day.

 I had no idea what I was going to do with the kids today. But, as the good Army wife I am, I knew that it was my job to come up with something to keep them entertained and but, also to keep myself from ending up in the nut house. All while still being available for my soldier to run him things that he just happened to "forget" while he was leaving for work this morning. Or, in this case, to bring him and his colleague lunch :).
  
 This morning I got to spend some time with G.I Joe before he left for work.
It was one of the few times when all 3 of the kids were actually still sleeping, so it was just me, him and my coffee.

my other love

 

G.I.Joe putting on his boots for work

 As soon as he had left I heard the boys playing upstairs in their room so I went to go get Ian from his crib.
Instead I walked in on the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Gabriel had climbed into Ian's crib and they were both just having a grand time hanging out and playing.
I had only cracked the door a little so I was able to run back down and grab my camera and take a picture.
Was to adorable of a shot to miss and who knew when I would get the chance again. ( of course they both saw me with the camera)

Ian and Gabriel , brotherly love :)

 Then I went and checked on Sasha, thinking that maybe she would be awake at 0830. NOPE!!
 So I just HAD TO take one of her. ( I might tell her one day :0)

Sasha

Once I got Ian and Gabriel down stairs and settled with cartoons I decided to be nice and make then regular blueberry muffins, which is a treat around our house, while I also made some GF banana bread from a gluten filled recipe that I love, Love, LOVE, but adapted to be GF for me .

the mix, yes I cheated :P

they smelled so wonderful, but not for me :(

my ingredients for my GF banana bread

even the batter is pretty. look at all the banana pieces

now this, this IS for ME!!

After we had all eaten and Sasha had cleaned up the kitchen, I let them all watch t.v. or play on the computer while I got my Turbo Jam on.

this stuff is so much fun

While I was working out G.I Joe sent me a text asking if I would get him and his friend Boyd ( who just happened to be working staff duty with him , hmmm coincidence?  I wonder :) lunch , since they could not leave. And Boyd's wife had lent her care to another solider for the weekend, so had no way to get them lunch.


I saw the text after I was done with my work out, and by then it was already after 1130, so I had to quickly get the boys washed up and dressed while Sasha got herself showered and dressed. Once she was done I jumped into the shower myself.
Needless to say I have never seen us all move so fast before or the kids be so cooperative. ( maybe there is something to be said about this staff duty after all).

Once we were all "dressed and pressed" as G.I. Joe likes to say, we headed to a local Chinese place in town to pick up lunch for the guys and then it was off to Sonic for drinks. Cause man can not live on water or Rip its alone Dede don't you know this??!!! 

Once I had the food and drinks I then headed back to Polk to deliver the "goods" and spend a few moments with G.I Joe.
By time I left G.I Joe it was already after 2p and the kids and I had not had lunch yet, when I asked them what they wanted , of course, it had to be Chinese and not the one in Leesville , NO Way Mom that would be to easy , it had to be the one in DeRidder which is a good 20 miles from Fort Polk.  
And of course I took them, but only because Ian was asleep and I knew that a longer drive would enable him to get more sleep. 

where the kids and I went

the Sushi plate Sasha and I shared

Sasha

Gabriel working on his second plate

Me ( Sasha said I needed to be in a picture too)

my own personal plate

Ian taking a break from eating

I like going to this particular restaurant the it is always clean and the staff there is friendly and because of their Sushi. It is always fresh and they have a great variety of it. Plus they have a good selection of GF food, which is always a good thing.

As we were leaving G.I Joe sends me a text asking if I could run by the house and bring him a few items. Sure I say as soon as we are done at Walmart I will be there, should be no more than an hour.

 

 After we leave the restaurant I decided to go to the Walmart in Leesville instead of DeRidder, since I am more familiar with the layout there, to pick up a few items that the commissary does not carry. Which means I have to drive 25 miles back to Leesville and go right past Polk. ( I am so smart at times, I kill myself LOL)

 

Well my in and out for a few items turns into a little over an hour . How could I resist the pleading and begging of my adorable hoodlum , aka children, when they ask to go look at the toys or the make-up or the cameras. Please, Please Mom.

By the time we left Walmart , get to our house,  pick up the items that G.I.Joe wanted, take them to him and get home it is already after 8p and we had been gone from the house for 7 hours.

 It was time to rest and chill for the rest of the evening before bed time.

So I let the older two do there thing while I bathed Ian, put him down and work on my blog.

how they like to chill

how I like to chill :))

Over all I think the day went pretty well. We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves, even with out me planning every step of the way.